"Pollen... Pollen"

All I could think about was... No shit it's pollen, now shut the fuck up.

Your video, The Pollen Count is High, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

>> ^Fusionaut:

ah-CHOOO!


God bless you! *cough* *breathing problems* ...

that's not pollen, it's smoke, there is a very confused hippy with a bent spliff at the base of the tree now...

http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/12/07PARIS4723.html

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004723

USTR FOR SUSAN SCHWAB
DEPARTMENT FOR E - REUBEN JEFFERY AND EB - DAN SULLIVAN
FROM AMBASSADOR STAPLETON

SUBJECT: FRANCE AND THE WTO AG BIOTECH CASE

¶1. (C) Summary: Mission Paris recommends that that the USG reinforce
our negotiating position with the EU on agricultural biotechnology by
publishing a retaliation list when the extend "Reasonable Time
Period" expires. In our view, Europe is moving backwards not
forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with
Austria, Italy and even the Commission. In France, the "Grenelle"
environment process is being implemented to circumvent science-based
decisions in favor of an assessment of the "common interest."
Combined with the precautionary principle, this is a precedent with
implications far beyond MON-810 BT corn cultivation. Moving to
retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to
EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices.
In fact, the pro-biotech side in France -- including within the farm
union -- have told us retaliation is the only way to begin to begin
to turn this issue in France. End Summary.

¶2. (C) This is not just a bilateral concern. France will play a
leading role in renewed European consideration of the acceptance of
agricultural biotechnology and its approach toward environmental
regulation more generally. France expects to lead EU member states
on this issue during the Slovene presidency beginning in January and
through its own Presidency in the second half of the year. Our
contacts have made clear that they will seek to expand French
national policy to a EU-wide level and they believe that they are in
the vanguard of European public opinion in turning back GMO's. They
have noted that the member states have been unwilling to support the
Commission on sanctioning Austria's illegal national ban. The GOF
sees the ten year review of the Commission's authorization of MON 810
as a key opportunity and a review of the EFSA process to take into
account societal preferences as another (reftels).

¶3. (C) One of the key outcomes of the "Grenelle" was the decision to
suspend MON 810 cultivation in France. Just as damaging is the GOF's
apparent recommitment to the "precautionary principle." Sarkozy
publicly rejected a recommendation of the Attali Commission (to
review France's competitiveness) to move away from this principle,
which was added to the French constitution under Chirac.

¶4. (C) France's new "High Authority" on agricultural biotech is
designed to roll back established science-based decision making. The
recently formed authority is divided into two colleges, a scientific
college and a second group including civil society and social
scientists to assess the "common interest" of France. The
authority's first task is to review MON 810. In the meantime,
however, the draft biotech law submitted to the National Assembly and
the Senate for urgent consideration, could make any biotech planting
impossible in practical terms. The law would make farmers and seed
companies legally liable for pollen drift and sets the stage for
inordinately large cropping distances. The publication of a registry
identifying cultivation of GMOs at the parcel level may be the most
significant measure given the propensity for activists to destroy GMO
crops in the field.

¶5. (C) Both the GOF and the Commission have suggested that their
respective actions should not alarm us since they are only
cultivation rather than import bans. We see the cultivation ban as a
first step, at least by anti-GMO advocates, who will move next to ban
or further restrict imports. (The environment minister's top aide
told us that people have a right not to buy meat raised on biotech
feed, even though she acknowledged there was no possible scientific
basis for a feed based distinction.) Further, we should not be
prepared to cede on cultivation because of our considerable planting
seed business in Europe and because farmers, once they have had
experience with biotech, become its staunchest supporters.

¶6. Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target
retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a
collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the
worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and
must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an
early victory.

¶7. (C) President Sarkozy noted in his address in Washington to the
Joint Session of Congress that France and the United States are
"allies but not aligned." Our cooperation with France on a range of
issues should continue alongside our engagement with France and the
EU on ag biotech (and the next generation of environmental related
trade concerns.) We can manage both at the same time and should not
let one set of priorities detract from the other.

PARIS 00004723 002 OF 002



Stapleton

A lot of beautiful closeups. You could even see the pollen sticking to the legs and abdomens of the bees in some shots. Very nice.

I'm not entirely convinced that marijuana was deciding to make itself attractive to humans...it just figured out how to make its own insect repellant and be super sticky so as to better catch pollen. It's probably not trying to make us happier by growing these days stickier and stickier...it may well just be desperate for pollen because the females are isolated by us.

>> ^ponceleon:
What floors me the most is the clarify of the water. I've never seen flooding which was this clean before...


Read carefully, he actually APOLOGIZES FOR IT NOT BEING CLEARER! He complains about pollen and dust.

If anyone needs some contraband flowers, pollen, etc. just let me know.

Well, I could have gone with warm and moist, but I think I'd be getting into icky territory.

Your hind-quarters are swollen with pollen.

In reply to this comment by NicoleBee:
But its so rainy here! Maybe cold and clammy

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
You're hot.

That is all.

Edit: Well, there's more, but I think "hot" covers so many topics...

1. Like my brother Ornthoron did, I study physics.

2. I get really good grades.

3. Like my brother Haldaug, I play the jazz saxophone. As he actually studies music, I can't really compare myself to him.

4. I also play the clarinet and the piano.

5. I got much better grades in nynorsk than bokmål, even though bokmål is the language I use.

6. I've had socialist democrat leanings for most of my life (gasp!)

7. I'm being torn in a liberal direction by my brothers and a persuasive right-wing extremist friend (by Norwegian standards).

8. Hanging on videosift doesn't help.

9. While i've never really believed in any god, I didn't call myself an atheist until about a year ago.

10. Despite this I was baptized and confirmed a Lutheran Christian. Hey, it's a cultural thing!

11. I read a lot of popular science, and like to pretend I know something just because i've read a book about it.

12. At around 8 years of age, I had a philosophy discussion club with two friends.

13. My favourite philosopher is Daniel Dennett.

14. I learned programming in High School on a Casio 9850GC+ calculator. Among the programs I wrote was a drawing program and a Mandelbrot fractal generator (which used over an hour to draw a single frame!)

15. Since that i've learned real computer languages, but have never really finished a programming project.

16. Since I moved out, I've usually gone to bed two o'clock in the morning.

17. I still do not drink that much coffee...

18. I own a Flower Stick (a kind of Devil Stick for newbs). I am good enough at it to impress people who have never seen one before.
People who have seen one is another matter...

19. Despite my grass pollen allergy, I haven't taken more than about three packs of antihistamines in my life.

20. I am a slow writer. I'll be back with a few more!

>> ^ponceleon:
It's not lupus.
Also, quick note: allergy shots are fairly effective too (they cured me of my severe allergies) and don't involve things crawling around in your anus.


1) Allergy shots only work on a few things (cat dander, pollen... stuff you inhale). There's no allergy shot for MS, food alergies, Chrohn's, etc.
2) Allergy shots take years of injections to work and cost quite a bit. This would involve drinking a glass of water every five years and working right away.
3) Hookworks don't crawl around your anus. That's pinworms which are highly infectious to others and yeah - totally gross. Plus they're already common in the US. Hookworms you'd never see. The worms have a lifespan of five years and they're never a worm outside your intestines. Microscopic eggs are the only thing you could see if you wanted to inspect the contents of your toilet with a microscope. Also, it's basically impossible to pass them to others in countries with toilets. If you do have the conditions in your home to pass hookworms to others I am NOT coming to your house. ;-)

>> ^Crawlius:
>>
I am not fortified against the idea that there -might- be systems in the cosmos which exert that kind of influence... But as of yet, such effects are undetected. Astrology is, like many things in the theatre of spirituality, a belief in the unseen. It is in its very nature to betray logic, and it is for this reason that you receive criticism.
But the Mayan Calendar...? Fuck it. 2012 will speak for itself.



aw man... yea... to be perfectly honest, and I know many of you will laugh at this, but from my humble observation, I see between 60-90 % of people falling into similar patterns of astrological (yearly/seasonal/solar/lunar/planetary/galactic) significance.
it could be because of the patterns in variation as we grow up during specific growth stages... these in repetitive cycles of maybe of sun, humidity, oxygen, bloody gamma rays, pollen, weather... gravity, black holes, 97 % of the missing matter out there, I don't know! some kind of evolution pattern or something... In Entropy it is postulated that if time is change, and change is light, then wouldn't a presence of such bodies influence the infinite possibilities of our patterns? One would be closed minded to ignore the unknown and unproven false, unlike the idea of "god".

The maya have been interpreted and revived in a few ways, but it seems their astrology is much more basic (and complex). They go for numbers of days where each day is a unit, a minimal integer. They fit in 27.32 day moon cycles within the yearly 365.242199 days. They take out days of time to correct the calendar in incredibly precise ways with 13 moons fitting perfectly in a year (as opposed to 12). The pattern of days taken away is eerily harmonic and speaks of greater cycles going on... then, also there is a parallel (slightly more iffy, more spiritually? based -dna supposedly-?!) calendar (tzolkin [dreamspell interpretation]) talks about a 260 day year with 13*20 (tones and tribes) matrix of different combinations ... and it all makes sense in a measure of time kinda, but indeed minimally (or so much so we don't notice it)in practical life, but almost seems more of a game than a prophecy, but lets anyone imagine their most intense vision... and if we can do all these wonderful things, can a prophecy be a vision? or vice-versa?

I wish more research were done on the subject, might be a good retirement project. If 2012 is an excuse to be happier for those who chose that, or fear for those who chose to fear, yea fookit, let it happen, let the SHTF! pffft! fear is a disease and a disorder and creates more disease and disorder. Once you start realizing how delicate things are, you start paying more attention to detail.

There's a few things to point out here, one most fruits as we know them produce much more fruit to seed ratio than their wild relatives. So the 'natural' investment isn't like what you'd see in the grocery store. You may have known that already I just felt it necessary to point out. Also pollen is part of the fertilization phase, as a pollen producing plant can often also produce a fruit.

The rest is just speculation on my part, so take it for what its worth. Being disbursed by animals rather than say wind or just dropping to the ground has a few benefits over the former. With fleshy fruits where the animal swallows the seeds and eventually passes them, the seeds pass along with the fecal matter which I'd imagine would be a good high nitrate fertilizer, plus another seed eating animal such as a squirrel or bird would be less likely to go picking through feces for a meal. Only humans do that, what with their high priced monkey poo coffee beans (yeah I'm sure a few other animals do to). Even when the animal actually eats he seeds, in the case of squirrels, they tend to bury a lot more acorns than they actually eat, thus the seed become buried in the ground where if not found again by the squirrels it can germinate.

Animals can travel far and aren't hampered by which direction the wind happens to be blowing in, so there's always the benefit of that. Plus some of the seeds in fruits are a bit larger, which would have a harder time traveling on the wind. A larger seed generally means more nutrients for the potential plant to draw on.

Also evolution isn't always what seems the most logical, it's what develops and what works. So it not like some ancient not quite apple trees were sitting around and decided fruit was the way to go, it was a trait that developed, it worked and so now many happy animals have delicious apples to snack on. It's actually a fairly common occurrence in nature, two or more different methods for dealing with the same problem develop. Mammals have bear live young, birds have eggs, both have their draw backs both have their advantages, and both seem to work as of this point in time.

Anyways that's what I got, hope I was at least somewhat insightful.

"If there was no God, there would be no reason for the world to be as beautiful as it is. trees wouldnt need to be green, flowers wouldnt be bright colors, the sky wouldnt be blue, or in some cases, red at the sunset. thunderstorms wouldnt be calming, rain wouldnt be cleansing. God just made them that way."

This is a beautiful way of saying "Because." Everyone of the examples can be explained by science: trees are green, because chlorophyll is green. Chlorophyll is green, because it absorbs blue and red light, thus reflecting green light. Flowers are bright colors, because natural selection has shaped them thus, because bees and insects are attracted to those colors, and the flowers that attracts bees get to multiply (spreading of pollen). The color of the sky is determined by the scattering of lightwaves in the atmosphere. Thunderstorms are calming because you think they are calming (some people are scared of them). Rain is naturally cleansing, because it's a bunch of water running over everything. Also "feels" cleansing because it reminds people of their shower. Incidentally, acid rain is not cleansing (or rather VERY cleansing).

There is no reason, no purpose of our existence. There is no end-goal. Life is living.