This almost certainly refers to methods of poultry processing; immersion chilling of freshly slaughter poultry has been the rule in the U.S., but air-chilling is becoming more common: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/apr08/chicken0408.htm

A traditionally immersion-chilled carcass absorbs a good deal of water; immediately freezing that carcass traps more water in the tissues.

An air-chilled, or "dry cleaned", bird is much more akin to the result of traditional animal husbandry, and by most accounts yields a superior cooking and dining experience.

Ford at least served on a carrier, the Monterey, during WWII, and was a longtime member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee while in the House. Better him than, say, Reagan. Naming things after any recent politicians is noxious, though.

Well prior even to publication of RFC 1149, similar protocols were employed in the CAD business, as documented by a source I'd hope more Slashdot readers would be familiar with.

   

The only way I can imagine scaling anything like the existing
Patent scheme is via a peer-review system; that would also cut
down greatly on these highly-visible nonsense patents.

Obviously a system to reasonably choose and allocate "peers"
needs a great deal of careful attention, research publications
have been wrestling with these issues for years, but seldom
with the transparency that allows useful conclusions to be
drawn from their experiences.

I'm not sure if the welter of international agreements now
governing so much of IP law allows this sort of change, though;
the current system may be ossified in place by treaty.