What's with the anti-science shit liberals are on lately?

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-07-30 19:33

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not even trying to make that claim - it's just that the vast majority of anti-GMO arguments I see that have any sort of backing via a study make no attempt to distinguish between the effects of (say farmers working in a field covered with) pesticides/herbicides vs. the idea that the crops genes are tweaked.

**Kohan** · 2013-07-30 19:43

Originally Posted by Kuya

You guys done dick waving?

An intellectual challenge is much better than cheering on Chipotle for not serving three-headed cow meat in their assuredly native-produced tortillas, isn't it?

Originally Posted by kuronosan

Nope, it's what I didn't know before. It's all good now.

It pleases me when someone's opinion has changed for the better, such as in this case.

I had come into this thread expecting to expand upon information related to HFCS, but that was already handled. Instead, I'll say this: there is a reason for avoiding HFCS in certain contexts, but it is not related to whether it's a sugar or not (as evidenced). It's related to its flavor profile in comparison to other sugars, and how it is used in the products you're consuming. For example, I prefer cane sugar-sweetened sodas, and for a few reasons: one, imported varieties (e.g., from Germany or Japan) are tailored to countries other than the United States, and are therefore not as overly sweet; two, they produce a different reaction in relation to the carbonation and foaming when poured (although it's unsurprisingly difficult to track down detailed information on this, as trying to search about sugar and HFCS on Google just yields many demonizing articles); and three, in some cases, their formulas are akin to older varieties, which I may prefer for sentimental reasons.

In terms of how sugar performs in relation to food preparation and directly related subjects, here's an extremely thorough explanation.

**Jaybar** · 2013-07-30 20:59

Wow glad that last question sparked some good conversation about corn - some things I didn't realize at first.

Another conversation burster - I know of some farms that allow certain pest-eating bugs to run wild on their crops since they don't actually eat the crops. When harvesting comes along the bugs are simply shaken off by the tumblers in the crop-picker-machine. I think one of the most common ones were ladybugs because they can't even grab onto most/all crops but like to eat the ever living shit out of pests that we use pesticides for. The farmers compare pesticides to friendly-fire.

This really has nothing to do with GMOs but archi brought up an important distinction between farmers that use GMO seeds/products and ones that use GMO+pesticides. I think a lot of the ire comes from the latter.

**Restrat** · 2013-07-30 22:03

You actually are better off burning the corn in an old school power plant and using the electricity for electric cars than converting it to ethanol to fuel cars- it's a pretty awful fuel source, especially considering the efficiency of an electric vs combustion engine

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5930/1019.short

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-07-30 23:06

What the world

needs now

is Teslas

more Teslas

**Abandon** · 2013-07-30 23:07

yours fall apart yet?

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-07-30 23:11

lol, naw didn't get one, fucker didn't fit in my garage, had to cancel the reservation

hoping my nissan holds out until 2016 so I can get the Gen III Tesla.

**Abandon** · 2013-07-30 23:13

only 2.5 years, you'll be fine

**Kohan** · 2013-07-30 23:15

Originally Posted by archibaldcrane

lol, naw didn't get one, fucker didn't fit in my garage, had to cancel the reservation

hoping my nissan holds out until 2016 so I can get the Gen III Tesla.

Too bad. I was going to ask if you regularly drive on the 91 for any reason, as I see a white Tesla on my work route at least once a week.

**Chun Liroy** · 2013-07-30 23:17

Wait are you serious Archie? That sucks lol.

Rich people problems etc.

**Abandon** · 2013-07-30 23:18

apparently not that rich, lol@small garage

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-07-30 23:25

Hey, 400k doesn't buy you much in LA.

**Chun Liroy** · 2013-07-30 23:30

Originally Posted by Abandon

apparently not that rich, lol@small garage

My bad.

Moderately rich white people problems.

**Abandon** · 2013-07-30 23:32

Originally Posted by archibaldcrane

Hey, 400k doesn't buy you much in LA.

welcome to compton

**Kohan** · 2013-07-31 00:05

Originally Posted by Abandon

welcome to compton

Two car garages and everything.

$245000 / 3br - ****COMPTON 3BR NICE NEIGHBORHOOD.PRICED TO SELL QUICK!! (BRING OFFERS *COMPTON*)

**Cantih** · 2013-07-31 00:28

Yeah, no matter the garage, I wouldn't put a Tesla in Compton.
That said, the home and rent prices in Compton are the only ones in the county that approach being in line with real incomes. Even then though, they're still a bit high.
And, you know, Compton.

It isn't Detroit though.

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-07-31 00:36

Hey, the mortgage/property taxes/insurance on my 3bd/1.5ba in Echo Park is only like $400/mo more than the 1 bedroom Koreatown apartment I was renting with my wife before I bought this place. Totally worth it.

Except for the damn small garage - that's what I get for buying a house built in 1932. The Tesla technically fit, but I'd have to fold in both mirrors to clear the girth (it's the widest sedan made as far as I can tell - 4 inches wider than an S-Class, 7-series, etc.) and even then there was only about 1 inch clearance front-to-back to close the garage door behind it.

These pics don't do how tight it was justice, especially the width:

Spoiler: show

I had a guy from the tesla forum bring his over to check out the dimensions. It was scary watching him pull in.

**Kerberoz** · 2013-07-31 00:51

Originally Posted by Chun Liroy

Obviously it's biased, but I enjoyed watching it when I was forced to in class.

in case anyone is curious about this particular bullshit:

long version: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/ta...law-burzynski/

tl;dr version: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Burzynski_clinic

**shaddix** · 2013-07-31 09:01

Archi you need to put some motorcycles in that garage.

**Kuya** · 2013-07-31 16:51

Gonna post some comments from an NPR article later. Gonna be fun.

Thread: What's with the anti-science shit liberals are on lately?

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