Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 08:17:04 PM

 

[Florida bans lab-grown meat, adding to similar efforts in three other states]

#2

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by Tonitrus - Today at 08:13:30 PM

Perhaps only tangentially related to climate changed...but still a great example of anti-environmental lunacy from parts of the right-wing:

Florida bans lab-grown meat, adding to similar efforts in three other states


May 2, 2024, 1:33 PM PDT
By Natalie Kainz
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Wednesday banning and criminalizing the manufacture and sale of lab-grown meat in the state.

The legislation joins similar efforts from three other states — Alabama, Arizona and Tennessee — that have also looked to stop the sale of lab-grown meat, which is believed to still be years away from commercial viability.

"Florida is fighting back against the global elite's plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals," DeSantis said. "We will save our beef."

Lab-grown meat, also known as cultivated meat, has attracted considerable attention in recent years as startups have raised millions of dollars to improve the technology meant to create a climate-friendly alternative to traditional meat sources. Cultivated meat is usually grown in a metal vessel from a sample of animal cells. They multiply in a container called a bioreactor while being fed with water, amino acids, vitamins and lipids — a process that can be difficult to do at scales large enough to create enough food for commercial sale.

Still, some companies have made strides, with two California startups receiving approval from U.S. regulators last year to sell lab-grown chicken.

Those companies said Florida's bill stifles innovation in a space that is becoming competitive globally.

"The United States has a tremendous lead in terms of alternative proteins right now. We have 43 cultivated meat companies in the world. But this kind of political rhetoric and these laws put that in jeopardy," said Tom Rossmeissl, the head of global marketing at Eat Just Inc., the company behind cultivated meat brand Good Meat.

Upside Foods, another cultivated meat startup, said the ban could put the resilience of Florida's supply chain at risk by hindering the state's ability to address the projected doubling of global protein demand by 2050.

"This type of discriminatory legislation jeopardizes the United States' leadership in biotechnology and enables countries like China to gain unfair advantage," Upside Foods said in an email to NBC News.

The main competitor in the cultivated meat industry is China, which included the technology in its latest five-year agricultural plan as a way to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and stave off food scarcity.

Lori Berman, one of 10 Florida Democratic senators who voted against the bill, expressed similar concerns about China. She called the bill "shortsighted," seeing cultivated meat as a solution to future food shortage problems.

"The cattle industry lobbied against cultivated meat, so we are now banning an entire industry in our state," Berman said. "We're just short-changing an entire industry."

Dean Black, a cattle rancher and one of the Republican Florida representatives who pushed for the bill's passage, told NBC News that cultivated meat is a national security concern. He fears concentrating protein production in factories could lead to famine if those facilities are struck by a missile.

At the bill's signing, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said the ban was meant to protect "the integrity of American agriculture."

Advocates say the ban is pre-emptive because cultivated meat is still far from competing with regular meat. Good Meat's product is still more expensive than even high-end organic meat products. It may take decades before production can be scaled up to reach price parity.

Paul Shapiro, author of the book "Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World," likened Florida's bill to banning video streaming to try to protect Blockbuster video stores. Shapiro is the CEO of The Better Meat Co., which makes plant-based "meat" from fungi.

"The legislation that was enacted in Florida is seeking to kill this industry while we're still in the cradle," Shapiro said. "Even under the most optimistic estimates, meat grown from animal cells is not going to be on the market in any meaningful way for another five to 10 years."

Good Meat spent three years working with federal regulators to ensure food safety, but the ban's supporters still have health concerns. Black said more research is needed to assess whether lab-grown meat contains the same micronutrients as real meat.

"Although the FDA has said that this type of product is safe, that doesn't mean it's healthy," Black said. "In Florida, we don't want our citizens used as guinea pigs."

Justin Tupper, president of the United States Cattlemen's Association, called the bill a "win" for similar reasons. Although he said he doesn't fear competition, he is concerned about chemicals in the new product.

"We don't want lab-grown meat weighing on the backs of our good reputation of the safest, best protein on the planet," Tupper said.

But Rossmeissl and Shapiro said there's little merit to health concerns, because cultivated meat has near identical nutritional value to real meat. Furthermore, conventional meat often has fecal and intestinal pathogens, and antibiotic residues, that need to be cooked out for safe consumption, Shapiro said.

"With clean meat, you don't have to worry as much about intestinal pathogens when you're not growing intestines at all," Shapiro said.

Rossmeissl added that consumers should be free to choose whether they trust the product.

"This isn't about safety. This is a culture war," Rossmeissl said.

#3

Gaming HQ / Re: STELLARIS: New Paradox Gam...

Last post by Tonitrus - Today at 08:06:11 PM

One of the things I've also noticed in my Stellaris playthroughs, is that even a massive military tech advantage (in weapons/shields) will never seem to scale well to overcome a significant numerical advantage.

This may be by design, but hits hard against tech-heavy, "tall" playthroughs.

#4

Gaming HQ / Re: STELLARIS: New Paradox Gam...

Last post by Tonitrus - Today at 08:03:23 PM

Did space combat ever get better, or is it still blobs of ships chasing other  blobs of ships?

The "Doomstack solution" is something that has always interestingly evaded strategy computer gaming AI.  Either from a structural/design flaw, lack of care about the AI, etc.

You'd have thought our recent evolutions in AI would have solved it...but it may just be a structural problem (e.g. the rules applied to large fleets, use of the hyperlane system) that ties down the alternatives. 

The AI would need a reason to NOT use a doomstack...and none seem apparent. And that the AI uses a doomstack seems to essentially force the human player to respond in kind.

#5

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 06:13:06 PM

As to Hamas not being a genocidal threat just because they lack the power... If the Palestinians were in a position where such an idea was remotely within the bounds of possibility then it's unlikely Hamas would have prospered as they did.

This is kind of weird, Jimmy Carteresque claim.  You're in effect saying as power increases so does empathy.  History shows that is not a universal correlation.

Again Hamas are dicks. You'll not get many with the remotest understanding of the situation that doubt this. What has people upset is not Hamas fighters being killed but civilian neighbourhoods being levelled, children blasted to bits, and artificially imposed famine.

Your argument contains the seeds of its own undoing.  Hamas are angry enough about something, whether it's Jews still being alive, or living on their sacred land that extends from the river to the sea, or Israel not negotiating a two state solution in good faith, to stuff Israeli babies into ovens.  Western protestors are angry too, whether about university endowments that include Israeli stocks, or US weapons sales to Israel, or whatever, to occupy university grounds and buildings, and to sometimes chant violent slogans and sometimes threaten Jewish students and sometimes destroy university property.  To my eyes the implied violence of the protests is increasing.  So if the trend line of implied violence moves closer to actual violence, what does it mean to support Palestinian civilians and oppose Hamas?

#6

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Zoupa - Today at 04:36:59 PM

Incredibly rare Brexit win:

UK law to ban live animal exports clears parliament

#7

Gaming HQ / Re: News from the lovely world...

Last post by Jacob - Today at 03:21:50 PM

If they put the advertising where advertising is in the real world - i.e. along the edge of the pitch - it might not be too bad.

If it interrupts gameplay, it'll be terrible.

Jacob, this is the post I was responding to.  The assertion you made that in the real world advertising is only on the sides is not accurate and so holding a non real world to a standard that does not exist in reality has its flaws.

My bad. Should've used "e.g." not "i.e."

#8

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Jacob - Today at 03:20:35 PM

Interesting.

I suppose it's not impossible to do "random path before clicking on the captcha box" behaviour, so I guess this box is will eventually lose it's efficacy.

#9

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 03:09:54 PM

Why bots can't click "I'm not a robot."

#10

Gaming HQ / Re: News from the lovely world...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 02:39:34 PM

If they put the advertising where advertising is in the real world - i.e. along the edge of the pitch - it might not be too bad.

If it interrupts gameplay, it'll be terrible.

Jacob, this is the post I was responding to.  The assertion you made that in the real world advertising is only on the sides is not accurate and so holding a non real world to a standard that does not exist in reality has its flaws.

Surely I meant it figuratively.
It's not just on the sides. It's on shirts too and the sporting goods companies logo everywhere is advertising too I suppose.
But there's a world of difference between footballs pretty low key sponsor logo on the shirt and say motor sport where you've a thousand sponsor logos all over the driver and car.

I honestly don't seethe problem with it if it's done like in most films. Guy gets a drink - it's Pepsi. They're paying for this. But he's getting a drink as a natural part of the script. He's chatting to a guy outside a shop. He doesn't just suddenly stop to talk about the cool refreshing taste of Pepsi.