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Smerity @Smerity
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A friend interested in growing plants read about the issues with fake seeds (plastic, grass not <plant>, ...) and pondered "Imagine a post apocalyptic world where seeds are guarded in seed libraries?". Enter: "The Windup Girl".
Spoiler-free "setting the scene": Genetic engineering lead to food wars where companies created plagues and pests to destroy natural and competitor edible plants in order to lock in a monopoly. Think terminator / suicide seeds but next level.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_u…
Thailand is one of the few independent nation states and can only survive due to a genetic seed bank they've created that they treat as a national treasure. Imagine if a war broke out over Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_…
Back to reality: Pavlovsk Experimental Station. It was started in 1926 and at one point more than 90% of the collection was found in no other research collection or genebank. It houses both seeds and plants as not all plants can be "bred true" from seed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purebred#…
In WW2 during the Siege of Leningrad (1941-1944), scientists from the Institute of Plant Industry moved much of the collection to a secret location. Twelve of the scientists died of starvation protecting the edible collection.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlovsk_…
I mention this partially as tying it back to reality blew my friend's mind and also as I ended up almost losing "The Windup Girl" and only found it again after a Google search of "post apocalyptic sea walls seed vault science fiction -doomsday seeds genetic modification" lead...
... to a 280 page book called "Biopunk Dystopias: Genetic Engineering, Society, and Science Fiction" where the entire summary of "The Windup Girl" is only half a page long. This is honestly so I can find it again without having to recreate that Google search or sifting Twitter 😅
Last bit: Whilst mentioning agricultural scientists, Norman Borlaug et al. never gets enough credit. The high-yield, disease-resistant dwarf wheat deployed in Mexico + Pakistan + India is responsible for "saving over a billion people from starvation".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Bo…
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I wasn't going to do @Twitter's "Tweet the meaning behind your Twitter handle" - but then I remembered many people have introduced me with the wrong first name when they can't use @Smerity (including some _very_ high profile introductions 😅), so:
If you're someone lucky enough to have introduced me incorrectly, I promise I don't mind, it's just hilarious ^_^ You're always welcome to use Smerity or to introduce me as Smerity - and if it's a really important intro maybe just copy+paste ;)
If this was science I would really need to compensate for the relative probability of each name's occurrence. There must be a wealth of strange research related to naming things such that it conveys a concept or is easily spelled or it's uniquely suited to be a popstar name or...
Read 6 tweets
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Digitization is vital to preservation as bits are our best insurance against time and entropy. Bits are resilient to chronic underfunding as storage gets cheaper. Bits can never replace the original but can allow universal access for sharing our culture and preserving it.
Underfunding may be the tragedy here but there are many tragedies no amount of funding can prevent over a long enough timeframe. Digitization may only offer a ghost - but it's a ghost that will never age and can and will get captured in the fabric of our infinite digital museum.
When something of value is truly lost any recollection is better than none. Even with lossy methods of digital preservation we are still offered faint possibilities of improved quality as technology improves.
fastcompany.com/3047045/in-the…
Read 5 tweets
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McCain served his country with honour and I hope his legacy lives on. Until this last week I hadn't heard this story - it's a story worth reading. He had empathy and understanding, formed from his own beliefs and experiences, which we could all benefit to learn from.
It's interesting that his tag of maverick may well have been him just remaining consistent as the political landscape changed around him.
As if a perfect follow up to his bipartisan and maverick status:
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My friends are cooking up some pretty amazing looking films for 2019. Take a look at all of the awesome genre cinema you have to look forward to next year!

<A LONG THREAD WORTH SCROLLING THROUGH>
GUNS AKIMBO, from New Zealand's @JasonLeiHowden (DEATHGASM), is a violent action film starring Daniel Radcliffe that looks to be equal parts brutal and ridiculous. It also stars MAYHEM's Samara Weaving!
PET SEMATARY, from @starryguys (STARRY EYES) and @StephenKing, looks absolutely stunning. The locations in the trailer are gorgeous, and I'm a big fan of the cast (including Amy Seimetz and @JohnLithgow). In cinemas April 5th.
Read 17 tweets
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Showing its acute understanding of the economic problems facing Americans, Trump's Council on Economic Advisers just released a report on—I kid you not—"The Opportunity Costs of Socialism."

I'm not going to link to it, because no-one's eyes should have to see this nonsense.
But I am grateful that the President's top economic advisers are spending their time refereeing debates between the Marxists, Leninists and Maoists. They've added immense clarity, where before there was only debate and vision. </sarcasm>
Can you imagine working in the White House and thinking: "I know what this country needs right now: A pointless treatise on socialism. Because if there's one thing a market economy underprovides, it's pointless treatises divining the distinction between communism and socialism."
Read 10 tweets
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Day 3 of #ScaryMovieMonth If you were a fan of It Follows, then check out Lace Crater. Don't watch the trailer, it gives the whole movie away. There's light visual horror, but that isn't what will make you cringe—it's the intimacy of watching it all go down. It's so absurd.
Day 4 of #ScaryMovieMonth is a twofer. The Aussie movie Wolf Creek came out in 2005 (rent on Amazon for 3.99) & it is BRUTAL. It could very well make you puke from fright & then those weird scary bastards went & made a whole terrifying series out of it (also called Wolf Creek).
Day 5 of #ScaryMovieMonth my recommendation is Unsane with Claire Foy. Being gaslighted into thinking you're crazy, being in a place where women are only believed when the truth is profitable & a man obsesses over controlling you—it is on the nose horror for today.
Read 32 tweets
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End Fed. Prohibition on Marijuana..

@FLGovScott
Reschedule & Legalize

Stop putting people in prison for Pot! In 40+ years, I have NEVER known anyone to have hallucinations from Pot alone!

This burden is on the tax payers.

Stop the drag on our Economy
congress.gov/bill/115th-con…
DEA forced to remove #Fake information from their website in the dangers of Marijuana

Imagine that!
safeaccessnow.org/iqa_victory
@FLGovScott

DEA has ignored to reschedule regardless of losing a court battle to remove #Fake Information.

How many young adults are liked up over THC based oil or wax? Look at the numbers.
Enough of the UN making our decisions.
Even they are now 4 decriminalization!
Read 4 tweets
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A carefully crafted red pill on Valerie Jarrett:

The unholy alliance of Muslim Brotherhood + Communism

AND

The 16 yr plan to destroy the U.S. via a nuclear armed Iran - the catalyst for WW3.

#QAnon #MAGA #WWG1WGA #IStandWithRoseanne #Trump #ThursdayThoughts @realDonaldTrump
On 5/28, @therealroseanne tweeted this in regards to Valerie Jarett.

On it's surface, the tweet appeared to be a jab at VJ's appearance,

and the MSM took the bait hook, line & sinker- faining outrage & calling for the cancellation of Rosanne's show.

#QAnon #MAGA @POTUS
Rosanne's seeming gaf forced VJ out of the shadows and into the forefront of trending topics. VJ's connections with the Muslim Brotherhood and Communism are now under a public microscope. So, let's examine closer, shall we?

#QAnon #MAGA #WWG1WGA #Trump @realDonaldTrump #POTUS
Read 15 tweets
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NEXT UP: 2nd-seed Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) vs. 15th seed Tardigrade (Milnesium tardigradum) #2018MMM
The tardigrade was discovered by German Pastor J.A.E. Goeze in 1773. He dubbed it a "water bear" based on the way it moves-like of a bear lumbering around. Water bear isn't the only name for the tardigrade, however. It is also known as the "moss piglet". #2018MMM
A moss piglet known by any other name would be just as indestructible. Tardigrades are "extremophiles" that withstand environments up to and including the vacuum of space. The post-apocalyptic world is one of cockroaches and tardigrades. #2018MMM
Read 23 tweets

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