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The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault
Anonymous Cow writes "A giant refrigerated genetic bank built into the island of Svalbard has been brought online. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway is designed to house up to 4.5 million seeds in the case of a catostrophic event. The bank is funded by the Norwegian government, Monsanto Corporation, and the Gates, Rockefeller, and Syngenta Foundations. The Global Crop Diversity Trust has completed construction of the doomsday vault and is getting the facility ready to preserve the genetic heritage of the world's agriculture for future generations. There will be no full-time staff, but the vault's relative inaccessibility will facilitate monitoring human activity. Spitsbergen was considered ideal due to its lack of tectonic activity and its permafrost, which will aid preservation. Locally mined coal will provide power for refrigeration units which will further cool the seeds to the internationally recommended standard 20 to 30 C."
Will Monsanto's attorneys survive the apocalypse to collect license fees for the patented GM technology in the seeds?
They say the mind is the first thing to
"Don't worry, don't you remember that slashdot article about that vault?"
"What vault?"
"The doomsday seed vault! It'll save us all, we'll have plenty to eat as soon as we can get some crops planted."
"That's great! Where is it?"
"The Arctic circle."
"What?"
"Well, they needed to keep the seeds cold so they'd stay viable."
"How in the fuck are we going to get to the north pole?"
"Um, oh yeah. Peopleburgers it is then."
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
You've seen this I hope?
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
Svalbard is not exactly the choicest site in the world for something as important as a doomsday seed vault. The island is run by Panserbjørnen and witches!
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
What about more controversial seeds, like Marijuana?
What is the Elvish word for "friend"?
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
So what happens when all the people who are supposed to be mining the coal die? No one thought, "hey maybe this thing should run on solar power"?
Kharma is like a boomerang. Mine is broken.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Of course it makes sense. You don't want all that time and money wasted. Why not graze some cattle on the land to help spike the ball with some methane?
Microsoft is in charge of security. Anyone will be able to get in if they want to.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I can't remember anyone asking *me* to donate. WTF?
Like I'm not important or something?
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Putting Monsanto in charge of the last remaining anything is like putting Kirstie Alley in charge of the last remaining cookies. Except that Kirstie Alley isn't pure evil.
I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”
Can the pollen from the terminator plants infect humans and make them sterile? That wouldn't be too good.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Are you so stupid that you can't even read Wikipedia?
The trigger mechanism, I concede, would take more power to run, but since it will only turn one once to blow its load, the power source doesn't have to be too plentiful, and it doesn't have to last the full 1000 years. A whole bunch of fuel-powered generators that are turned on by the Watcher. They fire up, expend their energy getting Seed going, and then die.
Now, the real bitch of it all would be if disaster hit, and all the surviving humans knew of the vault was legends of old-- every ten years, valiant warriors must trek to the north to the devise that is to keep the Earth full of life, an wind the Magical Switch to keep The Great One going. =)
UTF-8: There and Back Again
Let's dump a backup of all Slashdot stories and all seasons of Stargate SG-1 in there too. You know, just in case.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
I suggest 4 8 15 16 23 42 numbers to reset every 108 minutes. :D
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Frozen humans.
Good, meat with my corn gruel...
Wait, this place is only about 1100 km from the North Pole, and they have to run refrigeration to get the temps down to 25 degrees Celsius? Man, that global warming is brutal!
I assume you meant to say 20 to 30 K, no?
I don't think our Ape masters would appreciate all this seed fodder raining down on them.
it would be rather ironic if they discovered a gigantic underground vault full of Jurassic plants left by the dinosaurs for future civilizations in the event of a large extinction event.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
Reduce, reuse, cycle