Norway to Build Doomsday Seed Bank 273
Kagu writes "According to the BBC, Norway is planning to build a Seed Bank in the Artic Permafrost to protect all known variations of seeds in case of worldwide disaster." From the article: "Mr Hawtin said there were currently about 1,400 seed banks around the world, but a large number of these were located in countries that were either politically unstable or that faced threats from the natural environment."
Are they hiring? (Score:3, Funny)
I already sent my donation in the mail! (Score:5, Funny)
Meanwhile in Dr. Evil's stronghold... (Score:2, Funny)
Mwuhahahah!
Re:old news... it was alredy on digg.com (Score:2, Funny)
That's old news.
KFG
Hopefully... (Score:5, Funny)
... they have some good pot seeds frozen. Why should post-apocalyptic pizza stores go bankrupt?
Also in the works is: (Score:4, Funny)
2) Water Supply -- Unless whatever is causing the damage will filter water.
3) Source of Light -- That volcanic ash could certainly block out needed sunlight.
4) Parking Garage -- Fer yer John Deer and other machinery (unless the human toll was minimal - labour = food)
5) Dummies Guide to Farming -- Tony Blair, George W, and all our favourite characters will get a spot in a safe location. To that I say, save the farmers.
6) Apiary -- Most plants require Pollination.
The above is by no means a complete list.
Thank goodness we have the seeds. Now I don't mean to be extremely critical since in many cases it could be sufficient. However it would be prudent to consider other requirements for growth other then just the seeds.
i saw that movie already, it's a bad idea (Score:4, Funny)
sure putting all that genetic material in the frozen wastelands sounds like a good idea, but then you get mutant sled dogs wandering away from the destroyed frozen norwegian science outposts, and pretty soon kurt russell has to fire up the flamethrower and do some genetic mutant ass kicking
sorry, this seed bank idea is bad news
Re:Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Short Story (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, I read that one in (I think) the second Dangerous Visions collection. I wonder what he was driving at with the obvious dig at Arthur Clarke?
I hope there's a foot of lead included in that shielding somewhere. To me that would seem the most vital shielding they could provide.I think they should build huge space ships with clusters of geodesic domes attached to them with artificial gravity pointing inwards and send it into orbit around Saturn. One member of the crew should be a homicidal environmentalist maniac with a talent for programming with a soldering iron. There should also be a crew of robots who are actually more intelligent and better trained than the human crew, which, now that I mention it, invalidates most of the above ideas, but any way.....
Re:Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Short Story (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like a challenge!
I'm forming a high skills mercenary team to go in and get those seeds.
I'll need an Olympic level biathlete , a demolitions expert, a Harrier pilot, a (preferably beautiful) horticulturist, an eskimo, a fence, and possibly an astronaut and/or a Mason.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Re:dirty! (Score:3, Funny)
how'd you know it was the Gilmore Girls, huh?
as for me... uhm... my uhm... wife wrote that comment
Re:Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Short Story (Score:3, Funny)
Take that, Dolphins! (Score:5, Funny)
Picture this.... several hundred thousand years from now...
A series of archaeologists from the now dominant evolved-from-Dolphins species that runs the planet finds a mysterious encased tomb. Cracking their way through the concrete covering, they find a collection of primitive seeds. Despite the training provided by their utopian society, enroute to the museum a couple of seeds manage to blow away and germinate in the soil nearby. Slowly but surely, plants from a long-forgotten era slowly grow and displace the native flora. Despite their best efforts, the native flora is rapidly killed off, being entirely unsuited to compete against these primitive plants. The rapid change in the flora leads to a collapse of the entire food chain, and subsequent extinction of the dolphin race.
And then us monkeys get another crack at it! Take that Dolphin overlords!
Re:Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Short Story (Score:2, Funny)
Re:anyone else? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:anyone else? (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like something out of one of my weirder dreams...
Re:Some of my heroes (Score:3, Funny)
If those were from strains that were no longer existent or hard to get, then you could call them heroes. If they were widly available, they were fools.
OTOH, I would of ate them in any case.
Re:Location, Location, Location (Score:4, Funny)
Doomsday??? You insensitive clods! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Take that, Dolphins! (Score:3, Funny)
Worrying about seeds is rather pointless really. We need to be worrying about souls. This world is temporal, but eternity awaits everyone, it's a matter of where you spend it.
Just my input, is it worth anything? Is it as valuable as everyone elses, or is my opinion less valuable because it's not popular? Let's see...
I don't know about you, but (Score:3, Funny)
What happens if it gets lost? or a bird eats it then shits it onto an innoscent park some where.
1 year and a little water...kabooom!
just to risky...
Re:Are they hiring? (Score:1, Funny)
The same place where your mom makes her withdrawals.
Re:Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Short Story (Score:5, Funny)
I should kill you for saying that, but my programming won't let me.
They should have seen it coming... (Score:2, Funny)
Say, Gunter, vot is zat zound? Asks Olaf.
Vhy, I dunno! Says Gunter. It sounds almost like a vhistle!
They ponder the problem for a few seconds, and look out the window of the seed bank guard tower where they were having lunch a minute earlier. Gunter speaks first.
Olaf, there is a very strange circular shadow on the ground. It covers ze whole base!
Yes, I see, Gunter, what can zis mean?
Both men look up. The meteor Doom hangs over their heads for an instant, just like the big evil sphere in The Fifth Element, improbably rotating with a very slight cant, and then descends. Unfortunately there is no Wild Hottie available to save them... All the models are in New York for "Fashion Week". The meteor falls directly on them, squashing them all as flat as a day-old tostada.
The resulting release of energy wipes out all the plants on Earth, and the survivors think, "yeah, we should have seen it coming... Doesn't it always happen that way?"
Re:politically unstable? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:politically unstable? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:politically unstable? (Score:1, Funny)
bugger
doomsday seeds? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Are they hiring? (Score:1, Funny)
Have your Mom send your used tissues to Spitsbergen, Norway after she cleans your room after an exhausting night of "one-handed surfing", if you catch my drift and I think you do. BTW, try not to get any hand lotion on the tissue, it might ruin your only realistic shot at being a father.