As is customary at this time of year, we’re taking a break. see you on or around 9 January 2012. Meanwhile, here’s a little something to tide you over, which we think admirably expresses our philosophy here at ABD towers.
Mea culpa
The best thing about blogs is that they allow an immediate reaction. The worst thing about blogs is that, well, they allow an immediate reaction. So it kind of behooves the blogger to highlight the times when more considered reflection might have been appropriate. There have been two such times recently. So let me set the record straight.
First, those pesky cucumbers. It has been pointed out to me that resistance to Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV) has not in fact yet been found, contrary to what I suggested in my post of a couple of days back. I misinterpreted the results of the evaluation data made available on the CGN website, because I don’t know enough about the subject. So no finder’s fee for me, alas. But on the plus side, I did learn a lot about cucumbers. And also that if you’re going to look for data on cucumbers, it helps to know something about cucumbers.
Second, that SE Asia regional seed bank stuff. There I was guilty of jumping to a conclusion. There were clues in the original article, and also in the official documents I dug up, that should have warned me that we were talking here about a repository of relatively large quantities of high-quality seed of new, modern varieties, not smallish samples of traditional landraces. And indeed I was suspicious, and sent out feelers to various people who I felt sure would know more. Sure, the documents were ambiguous, but if I had just waited until the experts’ replies were in, I could have simply clarified the situation, rather than accusing the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation of ignoring their national genebanks and the international collections at their disposal in their rush to establish an arguably unnecessary regional structure. So apologies to them. And thanks for teaching me that a seed bank is not always the same as a genebank.
Ok, but of course none of this means that I won’t shoot from the hip again in future. It’s probably way too late for me to learn that lesson.
So we were missed, after all
Easing back into the never-ending treadmill that is blogging, I thought I’d share with you one reader’s appreciation of our efforts:
Thanks for writing on this subject. There’s a bunch of important technical information on the internet nowadays. You’ve got a lot of that info here on your blog. I’m highly impressed – I try to keep a couple of blogs pretty neat, but it’s seemingly impossible at times. You have done a solid job with this one in particular. How do you manage to do it?
Thanks for that sincere and heartfelt praise, Mr Spammy, of Tips to Losing Weight, and in answer to your penetrating question, sometimes I wonder myself.
Good news, everyone
We’re taking a break for a couple of weeks or thereabouts. That’s not the only good news, though. Our parting gift to you is an episode of Futurama. 1 Not just any old episode, mind you, but the 2010 Xmas Special, which demonstrated just how deeply into popular culture the Doomsday Vault has penetrated. Here’s a clip. 2
Monomaniacs will of course care only for those 2 minutes. We urge you to watch the entire episode, which contains more delightful and insightful jokes than you can shake a stick at. Personally, I’ve always preferred Futurama to the Simpsons, and this just confirms me in my ways.
See you soon.
We are not an organization
We’ve had a couple of flattering comments on some obscure pages lately. 3 One asked:
Please, let me know, if your organisation supports our research work.
The first response is that we are not an organisation. Just a couple of guys discussing agricultural biodiversity. With occasional wonderful contributions from our friends. But, hey. Thanks.
The second, possibly much more important response is that no, we don’t support anyone’s research. We can barely support ourselves. We often get asked about support, and all we can do is sympathise with the difficulties researchers face, especially those outside the mainstream. There really isn’t much we can offer.
In the very traditional realm, IFAR has a small grants program that might be a source of funding.
Thinking a bit sideways, it could be worth trying to get something like Global Giving to take a project on board, although pure research is unlikely to make it. I discovered them through a campaign to educate girls, and it seems like they have some really interesting ideas.
Finally, a completely off the wall suggestion that first emerged in our posts about the Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter: Kickstarter. Sure, they say they’re mostly about creativity, but what could be more creative than finding new ways to use agrobiodiversity to solve problems of food and nutrition security?
If you are aware of other possible sources of small grants, why not add them to this post in a (totally legitimate use of a) comment?