Hey Mark Wilson, quit whining and just replace your battery. If you can't work a screwdriver yourself, I'm sure someone around here still knows how. You can buy replacement batteries on eBay, Amazon, or ifixit.com even comes with detailed instructions. Most models take about 10 minutes.

Not any more. Five thousand slashdotters just did that.

Monsanto would have spent the money and had it blocked from market because it does not use any pesticides. (remember their successful round up ready approach lets them charge for GM seeds AND for the pesticides for the genetic disease they unleashed. Oh yes, it's a genetic disease, they didn't make the plant sterile for the same reason they someday will likely create pathogens where only they have the cure. )

The summary says the trial failed. A trial is a particular kind of experiment that's more like an engineering test than it is a basic research experiment. In trials you're testing something that you very much want to succeed.

It's pretty clear that you can't just shake some of your patented magic dust on my stuff and then claim it as your own. Monsanto got a lot of press for bullying farmers, but to my knowledge no case against someone accidentally growing a GMO has ever gone to court. In the Schmeiser case in Canada, Monsanto dropped all the claims regarding accidental contamination, probably because the court would have found against them.

I do research too. Part of my research is paid for by public grants, part is paid for by companies who want me to test their (patented) products. I much prefer the public grant model, and I think research in important industries like health and agriculture should be mostly done publicly. But that's not the case now, and it's only heading towards less public funding. The cost for that is patents and proprietary techniques. You can't have it both ways.

When most people say "processed food" they really mean "engineered food". Bread is processed, yes, but so is cooked meat, and there's A reasonable theory that the Invention of cooking made food more easily digestible, freeing up energy to evolve our big brains in the first place.

There's also evidence that prepared food that is literally engineered to be as cheap as possible, taste good and make you want more, may not be so good for you.

It would be interesting to see what we came up with if a significant number of people knew that working on things they're interested in was a viable choice. You could also no longer use the excuse "but I have to eat" for doing unethical things at the behest of your employer. Which is why it will probably never happen.

If they have access to venture capital or stock market funding, they're the big boys. The only reason for pre-ordering is to provide capital for the little guys who can't get it from somewhere else.

Carbohydrates are also essential to the diet, particularly for the brain. Many tissues in your body are reasonably happy burning a variety of things, but your brain likes it's glucose very much. You can't just eliminate or seriously restrict a nutrient and not have negative consequences.

The problem is that many people have diets that are wildly skewed. They may eat too little fat and too much carbohydrate. Or too much fat and carbohydrate and too little protein and micronutrients.

Sounds like most workplaces, actually. Except for the exercise wheel.

If your wife was "sensitive" the neighbours having mayo in their fridge, you might have a slightly different opinion.

Do they like rock and roll or classical better? Porn or reruns of I Love Lucy?

Cells may respond to particular frequencies more than others. They don't give a shit if it's modulated or not.

You cannot hear EM signals. You may be able to some high frequency sounds from poorly made electronics that most older people can't anymore. On the other hand, you may have tinnitus.

Easily detected with proper longitudinal analysis.