Vat Grown Chicken – It’s What’s for Dinner!
The United States has become the second country in the world to approve “cell-based” chicken for public consumption, joining Singapore, who legalized the experimental food in 2020. The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the green light for the controversial product, which is backed by Bill Gates, earlier this week.
Billed as a major tool in the fight against “climate change,” the so-called “cultivated chicken” is grown in a lab. The costly process involves extracting stem cells and giving them a nutrient-dense bath in vitamins, minerals, salt, and even soy inside a steel bioreactor. An average batch takes about two weeks to harvest.
Proponents argue that the controlled, indoor environment ensures sanitation standards are more easily met, and that the alleged harmful effects of raising animals on a farm are avoided entirely. Critics question not only its moral aspects but its purported nutritional benefits as well.
“I’d rather eat my shoe than lab-grown meat,” dietitian Diana Rodgers told The New York Post Wednesday. TV personality chef Andrew Gruel called it “a junk product” filled with “additives.”
On average, Americans eat 8 billion chickens per year. At present, two California-based companies create lab-grown poultry — Upside Foods and Good Meat, a division of Eat Just Incorporated. Upside was founded in 2015 by a former Mayo Clinic cardiologist.
According to multiple media outlets, Bill Gates is among the investors in both Upside Foods and East Just, which began selling synthetic eggs to retail stores in 2019. Gates has backed an array of other companies pushing genetically modified food as well, including Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods.
Upside’s Chief Operating Officer Amy Chen spoke with Fox News host Neil Cavuto earlier this week about the USDA’s approval and the future of “cultivated food.”
Bullet Points:
** ‘The difference between a thief and a congressman: When a thief steals your money, he doesn’t expect you to thank him.’ -Walter E. Williams
** (Politico) A decision on whether to send cluster munitions to Ukraine is on President Joe Biden’s desk, and could be finalized this week, according to two U.S. officials.
Biden is expected to approve sending the weapons, one of the officials said. Ukrainian forces are struggling to break through Russia’s front lines during their counteroffensive and officials believe providing the munitions will give Kyiv an edge, as its supplies of conventional weapons dwindle.
** (Townhall) Cocaine in the White House – Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino said it’s not hard to figure out who could have brought cocaine into the White House given how security protocols differ for members of the president’s family.
“There’s absolutely ZERO chance anyone other than a family member brought that cocaine inside the White House complex,” he said on Twitter. “No chance that would make it past the mag/security checkpoints. Family bypasses those.”
** The Next Pandemic – The UK are frightened mice – A UK government adviser is confident any future pandemic lockdown and compulsory mask edicts will be met with compliance because people have learned a new behavior and, “in principle, you can switch it back on.”
The Bashi Channel
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
ID the Tank – h/t Albert Kirk
Maps
Americans with Ukrainian ancestry – EdB is on the map.
The map that got The Barbie Movie banned in Vietnam: Yes, that is China’s Nine-Dash Line off the coast of “Asia.
Geographic distribution of full/partial basements in new single-family homes started in 2015
Gator Population in the United States
File under Regional Quaintness
Utah has no shortage of quaint, small-town diners. None of them, however, feature ‘ho-made pies’ like Thunderbird Restaurant.
Opened in 1940 and part of the Thunderbird Resort that includes a Best Western hotel, golf course, and RV park, Thunderbird Restaurant oozes mid-20th century charm and has been a favorite stop for travelers to Zion National Park – only 15 minutes to the west – for decades.
The restaurant’s sign advertises ‘ho-made pies.’ Wood was scarce during WWII and Jack didn’t have a sign big enough to write the whole word. The name stuck and the family ownership continues to celebrate its quirkiness. The place is worth a stop if you’re visiting Bryce Canyon and Zion’s National Parks. The parks and the Thunderbird are about a 5-hour drive from the White Wolf Mine, so it’s not a trip that I make often, but it’s still worth a thought if I happen to be in the area.
IDA:
1. AVERO 685
2. VG 33 FIGHTER
IDT:
T-31 SHERMAN DEMOLITION TANK
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Avro York
2. Arsenal VG-33
Identify the Tank:
M4A2E4 Sherman
HogsbreathSS nailed the tank. T-31
You both identified the aircraft correctly.
Nice. I immediately thought Sherman then I remembered they had made a couple of different variations it was just nailing down which one.
From my last post
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/07/multiyear-assistance-package
Politico article:
So we’re going to be paying for more up armored Audi’s BMW m series Mercedes-Benz s Gucci and dolce Gabbana and of course up armored range rovers because that’s what you need for for the Ukrainian refugee struggle. Should be interesting to see when the triggers pulled on that considering he meets with Ukraine and Sweden at the NATO conference coming up. Time to liquify some taxpayer dollars offshore somewhere I guess. Shameful disgrace.
BORROWED money – at taxpayer expense. We owe $32 trillion.
Also Politico:
“I spent formative years of my life in Afghanistan looking at kids seeing young Afghan children walking around without arms and legs decades after cluster munitions were used by the Russians in the ‘80s, and I don’t want to see that with Ukrainian children,” said Representative David Crow (D, Colo.)
Yet the thought of mutilated Ukrainian (or any Slavic) children no doubt brings a smile to certain cold faces. Payback!
Been there brother. Will never give up getting those left behind after that abortion event I still out of there. But yeah I agree let the flesh storm rain someone once advised 500 days ago that give me dedicated link to a10s on station I’ll cover the first 100 miles put 234 more jtac operators down that 200 mile line of Russian armor… We would have torn that armor apart within 48 no more than 72 hours. War over. But as we all know this was never about that.
Why end a war that needs to be endless to feed the Swamp?
Yeah backed by what the administration’s good word. We can still turn it all around. But my great grandkids kids will be paying for the still long after I’m gone. Anyway I shot you an email. We’ll send a couple more after I have some coffee and get my thoughts straight 🤙
fda and usda both gave approval of the fake meat even though there was evidence that it caused/accelerated aggressive cancers. yum. seems gates can’t kill us fast enough. he wants to block the sun with aluminum flakes now. like that will stay up there forever. of course they’re asking permission for something they are already doing.
They’re doing it for your own good Riverrider.
Though it does sound like something from the Matrix.
Mr. Gates is purchasing all that farm land (and, as far as I’m aware) allowing it lie fallow while investing in cultured meat (NB: no longer any scare quotes).
My only questions: How many politicians (of any and all stripes) does he support? Is it possible to determine? Who are the other investors?
Those answers are, yes, you can find that out. It doesn’t take much effort. He supports the democrat party, though, and the Swamp, and spent as much time on Epstein’s Island as he could. You don’t really need to know more than that. He likes to have sexual intercourse with children and he’s a democrat, but I repeat myself.
Upside Foods and Good Meat were both acquired by Soylent Industries.
Yes, life imitates art.
You can’t make this stuff up.
I wonder if the Barbie people put in that map (sua sponte) to curry favor with China, or if they just asked the Chinese* “what can we do for you?” and the idea came from the Chinese.
*and who (specifically) do you call if you want to do the bidding of the Chinese?
Any road, the line on the childish map has pushed aside any talk about The Message (social engineering aimed at the West) apparently embedded in the movie.
*and who (specifically) do you call if you want to do the bidding of the Chinese?
Hunter, in behalf of 10% Dad.
Duh! (slaps head) Of course. I wasn’t thinking.
You stepped into that one Mike_C.
At least it’s unambiguous.
Plausible deniability on steroids.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ifqTAI8B51g
Had a high-end design client tell me he had a meeting with another entrepreneur friend, said he needed to hire me, that I could walk on water (engineering-wise). I said reluctantly, “Oh great, just what I needed.” Then with a smile he said to me, Your job is to find the rocks hidden just under the surface.
Best advice ever.
I’ he/her//swingin dick mike foxrot am back from the job for e i landscaping and perimeter check of property in humidity i r haven’t experienced since Cambodia. Oh how about when you pull youre truck in a parking lot away from everyone else but once you return there are vehicles,(EV’s) w/ Ukrainian rainbow stickers on either side to where you cannot open the doors all the way oppressed raged ppl. Do you stap the harmonica to the underbely of one ,use that brush guard/winch for something than its intendend urpose or maybe move them so that hey are so close together and watch the showfrom afar??? maybe emp device or water even..where’s the reperations mike!!!
Pickups aren’t supposed to be used as pristine Armorall’d grocery getters…climb in thru the split window, drive straight back (ooh, was that a scrape?), tie off the tow strap and drag them both backwards until the EV power trains give out, unhook, then drive off.
Something like that may have occurred. Read about it later in the weekend paper 🤔
Do tell..hehe
Regional Quaintness. In my younger days, I had occasion now and then to travel to my ancestral roots in Sanderson, TX by way of Ft. Stockton. I remember driving by Paisano Pete.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/paisano-pete-worlds-second-largest-roadrunner
I have been to Fort Stockton. It wasn’t that long ago. Maybe a year or two. I think that I stayed the night in a motel there and then ate some decent TexMex. Pete is the second largest roadrunner, but where is the largest?
From the link–
“Unfortunately, in 1993, Pete lost his world’s largest title to an enormous statue in Las Cruces, New Mexico…”.
The other point about synthetic/cultured/fake meat for some Jews and most Muslims is whether the dietary restrictions would place it beyond the pale. For Jews the kashruth arguments might go on for centuries, e.g. is turkey kosher? for a short history vide: https://www.kashrut.com/articles/turk_part5/.
It appears that the companies involved in the reseaarch and production of cultured meats are being backed by several billionaires: vide: https://www.halalinjapan.com/blog/is-lab-grown-meat-halal
My questions:
can these new man-made comestibles be consumed by the religious who follow either kashruth or the Islamic dietary laws? can the people who make these decisions be influenced (qua $) by concerns for the welfare of their flock?
There was a Harry Turtledove short story about (IIRC) this gene-engineered pig that not only had a cloven hoof but also chewed cuds. The protagonist was a Rabbi contracted by the biotech firm to advise them on whether/how to market this novel animal.
Spoiler: the rabbi tries bacon made from the animal. Later his wife asks how it tasted. He replies that it seemed okay, but the whole thing was so stressful that he doesn’t really remember. Something like that, anyway.
My question is whether it’s possible to make some animal so revolting that Chinese people will NOT eat it.
As a tangent, I seem to recall that locusts are halal. Good enough I guess, but it seems like a lot of work to cut all those tiny throats in the proscribed manner. (Then again, we used to devein shrimp by hand, and they’re about the same size, so what do I know?)
PS, I wasn’t making fun of your questions. I brought up the Turtledove story because it seemed relevant — we ARE now living in science fictional times. No flying cars, but SF nonetheless. Turtledove’s rabbi didn’t make any pronouncement in the story; he’s too smart a writer to fall into such controversy. But I thought that it was actually a very good SF story, being about ideas, about how technology could or would affect human society.
Fake meat. Tried the Burger King variant on a bet with a vegan coworker. They said I would not be able to taste the difference. I won; way to salty for me.
Cluster munitions. The gift that keeps on giving. Even the ones that defuse themselves after a set time have a failure rate. Not something you want to do to your own country if you can help it.
Plus one on the idea that there always has to be a war to continue the graft/grift.
Cocaine in the White House. The ting that surprised me is that it got reported at all. That Secret Service agent has been demoted and is now investigating counterfeit currency in Antarctica.
Cultured Meat: I’m glad to learn that the Chicken Heart from Fat Albert will be on grocery shelves soon. They should make the “thump-thump” sound their ad jingle.
Actually, although I have zero interest in eating cultured meat, and it is obviously designed as a lever to make us stop eating real meat, I still think it’s kind of cool, as it was a staple of the SF of my youth.
Cluster bombs: I just wish we could (would) use them ourselves, ICM and cluster bombs are terrifically effective munitions. I don;t really think there’s any point in trying to keep the post-battlefields “clean” anyway; both sides in that conflict are mining the hell out of the place, because they are not idiots and want to win.
-Kle.
The cultured meat that has cancer cells in it raises more questions than it answers. I’ve seen that it’s still more expensive to grow than a real chicken and it has a bigger “carbon footprint”. I personally don’t buy the idea that “carbon footprint” matters in the least, but the people who are most likely their target market probably do care.
The big question to me is that chances are very high that we have all eaten cancer cells before in our lives, just going by the common observation from oncologists that we all generate a few cancer cells or tumors every day and our immune systems kill them off, then figuring it applies to all animals. Does our digestive system, that mix of hydrochloric acid and enzymes that rip proteins apart, rip apart the bad cells and render them harmless? I asked one of the carnivore doctors on YouTube and he never answered.
SiG
Pretty sure cooking kills cancer cells, which should apply pretty universally to chicken, if not beef.
-Kle.
people have learned a new behavior and, “in principle, you can switch it back on.”
Try me.
“Ho-Made Pies”
Up in Door County, Wisconsin, a little ways before the ferry dock over to Washington Island, came up on a well-worn sign next to the road (with requisite arrow): Bea’s Ho-Made, with ‘Pies’ below. Best cherry and apple pie we ever had, and reasonably priced.
Manosphere saying: You can’t turn a 304 into a housewife.
Thunderbird Bird: Hold my beer, and look! You CAN turn her into a pie chef.
“304”??
Never heard that one…
Type 304 into a calculator (the point is the seven-segment display) and turn upside down. In that “font” the upside down 304 spells out “hOE”.
I haven’t watched the Barbie movie but understand it’s controversial, geopolitically.
Wat to visit that diner.
The Webcomic “Failure to Fire” has a guy working at a gun shop that also sells ‘Ho-Made Jerky’ as in jerky made by actual prostitutes. Pretty good webcomic. And Biden hasn’t changed at all. The webcomic was from the Obama years. https://ftf-comics.com/ Pretty good comic and shows nothing’s changed in the gun-control world.
Here’s the thing about vat-grown meats. There is a niche market, very very veeeeeery small, for potential vat meats in space travel. And in possible colonies in space or on other planets. Small. Really small. So, yes, investigate.
Will I willingly eat that crap? Nope. I remember the mostly soy and filler burgers in school, the ones with the fake grill marks painted on with food-safe inks. That were heated in water baths in ovens. That poop sucked back then, and the flavor and texture hasn’t much improved.
Seriously, if vegans and vegetarians are so in love with vegetables, why do they keep making fake meats and processed garbage that supposedly tastes like meat?
There’s a sign that used to be on I-75 in Florida (may still be there, haven’t been on that section of the interstate for years) that said/says, “Meat, it’s what vegans cheat with.”
Totally agree. And meat animals can be raised in areas that aren’t good enough for high-yield crops. So that’s perfect there.
As to animal effects on the environment? A cattle ranch in Brazil on reclaimed forest land produces much less pollutants than an equivalent amount of actual Amazon Rain Forest. Most of which was, back in the day, clear cut by native peoples and used for farming and ranching. Actual rain forests are actually net CO2 and Methane producers. Farms are excellent carbon sinks and grass and leafy vegetables are much better at producing volumes of O2 than trees and viney crap.
But why bring reality into it?
Vegans working to create meat substitutes (Love Burgers were soy bean or tofu or some such nonsense)…begs the questions:
Why do cross-dressing whatevertheheck’s always transition to one of two (aka.binary) sexes while spouting there are 42 other “genders”?
Why does the non-binary t-shirt on Amazon only allow you to select either male or female?
Only two example to show that sides mental illness hypocrisy.
There’s a lot of gluten-based or soy-based food called “mock chicken” or “mock abalone” (!) or “mock sausage/intestine” (same word in Chinese). It’s Buddhist fare, but other people eat it too. These generally taste fine, but are most certainly NOT “just like chicken” or whatever.
That said, decades ago my girlfriend and I were in Vancouver. We found this Buddhist restaurant called “Bodai” which had the most amazing vegetarian dishes that really really tasted good, including this mock shrimp that was about as good as the real thing. (I also behaved in very un-Buddhist fashion by shouting at some Germans. It was early Spring and cold. These Germans couldn’t decide if they wanted to eat there, and they held the door open (single door, no vestibule) while they argued amongst themselves. After about a minute of cold air blowing on everyone inside, I shouted (from the back where we were seated), “In or out! Make up your mind and close the door!” They left. Sigh. I’m lousy at the Buddhisms.)
A few years later we returned and were driving around looking for Bodai. Couldn’t find it and were circling the blocks where we thought it was. Nothing. Then we noticed there were a lot of women in skimpy, slutty clothes standing on the street corners. GF and I looked at each other. “I do believe we look like we’re cruising,” said my GF. “Maybe we should fuck off to a Tim Horton’s,” said I. The neighborhood had clearly changed. Many of the women were worn-out (and strung out) looking natives. It was sad.