Now, even this vegetarian realizes that there are a couple of tiny little problems with this...
There are but two retinas per cow - and lots of cuts of meat, which commonly is processed in different plants. Do only the two most superior steaks receive the data-infused retinas, or will they begin barcoding each flank and loin cut as it is portioned? Where will etiquette allow for the barcode reader to be placed on a formal dining table? Or, perhaps, as with a fine wine, you will be allowed to read the history and geneaology of your hamburger patty before ordering it? As for tracking the movements of mad cows and chickens... Are we finally on the verge of discovering why the chicken... Oh, never mind! Happy New Year everyone! It's been a long time since I've participated, however, I have peeked in from time to time. Best wishes, Jo Jo Jordon Owner JJC - TerrAnalysis GIS/GPS Consulting & Certified Instruction www.TerrAnalysis.com P.O. Box 752, New Haven, CT 06503-0752 203-996-1012 Terra - "From Latin, meaning Earth, ground, land, country, soil." Analysis - "The separation of the whole into its constituent parts for individual study." > > Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 10:50:14 +1030 > To: MapInfo-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > From: "Simmonds, Ashley (OPT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: RE: MI-L GPS'ing Mad Cows > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > now they just gotta start including the retina's with my porterhouse. i > think it might be kind of courteous to at least find out how the cow lived > before i eat it. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bill Thoen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, 1 January 2004 12:23 PM > To: MapInfo-L > Subject: MI-L GPS'ing Mad Cows > > News here on the TeeVee tonight was talking about a Ft Collins, > Colorado company offering a new product that scans retinas of > cattle, recording both the scan and the GPS location of the cow. The > retina scan acts as a unique Id (even for clones), so the > information can be uploaded into a master database, and voi-la! You > can now get instant access to find out where the cow was born, what > it was fed, and where it moved around the world before it was, um... > "processed" into meat products and other assorted gobbets. > > Precision agriculture? GPS? Ft Collins, CO? My first thought was > that it had to be the next cool idea from our own Red Hen Systems, > but no... Ft Collins is full of high-tech ag businesses. This new > upstart is called Optibrand (http://www.optibrand.com), and the > retinal scan idea was the company's alternative to the traditional > (cow painful) technique of red hot iron branding. Add to this idea a > wireless connection to a central database (with scan image as a > unique beastie id and a GPS location) and the day's not far away > when you can swipe your PDA over your next order of Col. McBucket's > chicken fried blasphemy to decide if you're going to eat it or not. > > Well, probably it won'y be quite like that, but it does beg the > question, "What can you do with GIS if you could track and map the > movements of mad cows, pigs and chickens?" Of course, to those who > know, the words 'mad' and 'chicken' are sort of redundant. > Especially roosters. > > - Bill Thoen --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 9734
