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In 1992, the FDA declared that biotech foods were the same as conventional foods – because the biotech companies said so. The number 8 was then instituted since the produce industry thought consumers would prefer genetically modified food moreso than conventionally grown food. It did not take long for them to find out differently. Although the number 8 designation can still be found, it is rare. The biotech industry is also fighting any sort of labeling for their inventions – now that they know consumers really do not want them. As it stands now, Hawaiian papaya is about the only food you will find that has the number 8 in front of it.

If the UPC starts with 9, it's organic. If it starts with 8, it's GM.

Incredible. That seemed like a myth, but I looked it up and it's indeed true.

The link covers labelling for North America, the UK and Australia.

It's a conspiracy, man.

Oh, I agree but it wasn't because of the alcohol industry.

How can so many special interests screw the rest of us so completely and get away with it?

That's it right there. Hemp is one of the most industrially useful, if not the most useful, plants there are. Clothes is made from it, it can be used in construction. It can be eaten, actually hemp seeds are one of the most nutritious foods there is. It can be used for oil, and it can be made into fuel. Plastic can be made from it. And that's just the tip.

It's a clear violation of the social contract.

It is that. Actually Thomas Jefferson once said farmers should be required to grow hemp, but he could never propose such a law because he knew that it would violate farmers' rights.

Falcon

True, but the redeeming factor of soy is that it provides complete protein.

"Hemp Seed Protein"
"Hemp seeds have the most complete edible and usable protein in the vegetable kingdom."

I can't find the complete list right now, but there were more than a few others

Welcome to the universe. You are made of exploded stars.

This begs the question; which elements heavier than iron (#26) are essential components of the human body?

According to Wikipedia, we contain trace amounts of cobalt(27, part of vitamin B12), copper(29), zinc(30), selenium(34), bromine(35), strontium(38), molybdenum(42), iodine(53), and lead(82). All of these (except strontium, it seems) can cause medical problems if absent. (yes, even lead!)

You also may contain traces of arsenic(33, if you play with ant poison), mercury(80, if you eat too much tuna), and gold(79, if you drink too much Goldschlager). Some multivitamins also contain nickel(28) and tin(50). Certain quack "nutritional" supplements contain silver(47), gold(79), platinum(78), germanium(32), indium(49), and who knows what else... Be sure to cook your supernova thoroughly before eating!

"... hydrogogic rocket fuel ..."
Perhaps you mean "Hypergolic":

[following "from Dictionary.com"]
hypergolic
adj.
1. Of or relating to a rocket propellant consisting of fuel and an oxidizer that ignite spontaneously on contact.
2. Using such a fuel.

[From German Hypergol, a hypergolic fluid propellant : from hyper-, extreme (from Greek huper-. See hyper-) + Greek ergon, work; ...
[/end/ "from Dictionary.com" ]

One such substance found in some mushrooms is "monomethyl hydrazine" see: http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/mushrooms/mor el.htm and use your browser's "find on this page" to search for "MMH" or "rocket fuel"

Since Actinobacteria are gram positive bacteria, Usnea lichen extract might be effective. It certainly would be worth a try as it's only about $10 for a bottle of tincture. (I just did a search and found some from HerbPharm for $7.99/bottle; it's commonly available)

Usnea is a lichen known as 'Old Man's beard' that is commonly found on tree branches in wet areas (we have it in abundance here in the coastal Northwest). The active component, usnic acid has been shown to be effective against gram positive bacteria. There has been some renewed interest in Usnea since many of the more modern antibiotics have become ineffective against many strains of bacteria.

I'm a med student - I had to respond to this one. There are 6 types of tactile receptors, of which nerve endings attached to hairs are one. Hairs provide basic information about movement - the wind or your clothes moving past your skin etc.

The tips of your fingers are hairless. That's obvious - look at them under a magnifying glass or microscope if you have one. Fine touch sensation is provided by Tactile Discs and Tactile Corpuscles located in the ("live") skin of the dermis. The skin is not made exclusively of "dead" cells, but of many layers, and the ("dead") epidermis at the surface is quite capable of transmitting movement down to these cells.

You can check all of this out if you want.

People have hair on their heads mainly for insulation (get a crew cut in the middle of winter if you want to prove this!) although I agree that hair on the head has a limited use in avoiding collisions. I suspect that subjective loss of sensation in the face after shaving is due to the trauma of having run a blade over your skin, and the stinging sensation from the damage to hair follicles.

It's called sapphire (or Corundum ). It's used for windows for all sorts of exotic applicaions.

When the Bible was first assembled from the Gospels, Acts, Revelations, and the various letters of the apostiles to the early churches, there was much debate as to which versions of various books to include. Most of the books of the Bible had various differences as they were copied by various scribes attempting to preserve them before the first collections of them were gathered. Here's a good timeline of the history of the Good Book.

Furthermore, there's the Pseudepigrapha. These are rejected books of the Bible that scholars of various times either considered falsified or otherwise not worthy to include in the Bible. Usually, they purport to be written by a Biblical figure, but were generally not believed to have actually been written by them at the time of the Council of Laodicea. Then you have the books where are in the Catholic Old Testament but not in the Protestant Old Testament. These are the books most commonly labelled as Apocrypha.

Here's some more info on early church texts.
Here's a FAQ on the history of the Bible.

You can find a lot of this on Google if you know what to look for, but I've been nice and included links without bizarre obscurist religious or UFO ranting. The "lost" books of the Bible are a rich source of material for people with fringe beliefs that are looking to justify them or people who have an axe to grind with mainstream Christianity.