I was just reading about this oncoming banana disease, and flowing through my tiny little head were questions about how bananas will be handled by U.S. law.

The details: We're all eating the same kind of banana, the Cavendish, which are all essentially a clone of the same damn thing. Along comes this disease, which wiped out another variety years ago, ready to wipe out our Cavendishes leaving a dearth of bananas for us to consume.

A race is on, the article says, to find a replacement—which means breeding a new genetic copy.

So, my questions are: how do you think the patent rights of bananas will shake out if the Cavendish is eliminated and a mega-corp scores a genetic patent and;

Do you see the banana, an entrenched, cloned, monoculture as an eerie model of what the Windows world can expect in years to come?

Begun, the clone war has!

Well my venerable NEC FE700 has started that slow decline toward death. Before it fails completely I figure I'd better get a new monitor. Here's my requirements:

• minimum 17" — I do a lot of photographic work and like the size. 19" would be ideal for the space I have to work in, but the ultimate arbiter is my wallet (which leads to the next criteria)
• Cathode ray — I've heard that besides being cheaper CRT is better for color fidelity. Is this true? Either way, at the prices CRTs are going for, and the lightness of my bank account, it looks like CRT is the way to go.

If you have any suggestions, or warnings, I'd love to hear from you.

You know, the more I think about wikipedia the more I think it could easily be paid for by the likes of Brittanica, etc.
"Verified Pages"
Duplicate Entries in the Wikipedia that are checked by professionals then "frozen". The "Edit" buttons are either grayed out or point to the latest 'unverified' update.
Content providers--Those that do edit pages 'upward,' improving accuracy, can 'sign up' where their work is tracked (anonymously, if they wish). Those who 'score high' in accuracy, and wish to try their hand at professional quality control, can sell edited articles of their interests to verified content providers.
Perhaps they could click on the afore mentioned "Verified Content Provider's" edit button and be directed to an affiliated account where their work can be tracked by the company. Their work is 'free content, with weight' until frozen, creating 'paid, guaranteed content.'
The Verified Content Provider gets competitive market where the writing and editing jobs go to those that prove their mettle, lowering their production costs while raising quality.
Those in all educational pursuits, professionals, enthusiasts, students and teachers, benefit from a system that helps raise the bar in quality information.
Is this doable? Am I covering old ground, or is this the elephant in the room?