Google has released the fourth Developer Preview (DP) of Android P for the Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL. The update has arrived a bit later than expected as Google releases the DP4 every year during the end of June. The DP4 images are now live on Google’s website for the four devices, and the OTA updates are being rolled out too. However, users on the Android Beta program have to wait a bit longer as the updates aren’t quite out yet. If you’ve installed the previous Developer Preview manually, you can wait for the OTA update or manually upgrade to the latest DP by downloading the system image file. This new update includes some changes, strangely enough, because, in DP4 and DP5, Google usually fixes the bugs and stabilises the overall performance. Surprisingly, the DP4 comes with a handful of new features such as revised gesture navigation button, a toggle for choosing light/dark mode and others.
Alongside Google, Essential also released a new Android P Beta update to the Essential PH-1 smartphone and other devices in the Android P Beta program such as the Nokia 7 Plus, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S will pick up the update very soon. Coming to the features included in the new DP4, Android Police reported that Google has modified the gesture navigation back button, which is now similar to the Xiaomi’s on-screen back navigation key.
It’s also reported that the recent apps navigation bar now occupies the entire bottom portion, rather than the half portion. Lastly, the best feature added by Google is the ability to manually choose dark and light launcher themes. Google has now added a new setting ‘Device theme’ under the Display section with three options- Automatic (based on wallpaper), Light and Dark. So if a user selects the Dark theme, then the navigation panel becomes dark. Earlier in Android 8.1 Oreo, Google added this functionality, but it was limited to automatic- so if you set a white wallpaper, the navigation panel will turn White, and if you a set a wallpaper with a dark background, it turns dark.
These are the changes included in the Android P Developer Preview 4. We will keep you posted about the Android P Beta 3 OTA rollout.
When does a program for Genetically Modifying "Organisms" become....
... Eugenics?
[NOTE: During this research the Desk came face to face with one of the darkest aspects of science. But throughout it all, it tried to remain Rational, Reasonable, and Objective, at least somewhat. Something that was very difficult to do as it "connected the dots".
"I need the Dr to research this and tell me if it's true. Can you tell if fruit has been genetically engineered by the PLU code at the store?"
"Yes, Ma'am. But remember, you asked."
First we'll look at the PLU tie-in and examine exactly what 'genetic engineering' is, then we'll stroll through a much larger, and darker issue and perhaps end up living out an old, somewhat chilling, statement usually reserved for those who deserve it. But in our case, all we did to deserve it was to order lunch: "Tonight, is a good night, to wake up, Screaming."
"To PLU or not to PLU, that is the question."
And the answer to that question is: Yes, and no. And... it really depends.
Some of the 1500 label codes that appear on fruits and vegetables actually do identify GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), or Organic, or whatever, produce. And some codes don't. And different codes for the same item may or may not tell you anything special about the produce in question. Most large chain stores use the standardized PLU codes administered by the Produce Marketing Association (see link below), but not all do. The same with shelf labeling as the definitions of organic, non-GMO, free range, fair trade, sustainable, does not contain man made nanoscale ingredients, and so on, as there is no agreed upon legal definition for any of it, and as of this writing, compliance with any or all of the PMA's standards is entirely voluntary, and as there is a fee associated with the Association, some smaller chains, wholesalers and local stores don't belong to it. As for that roadside stand, the 'informal markets' if you want the fancy word for them.... you're kidding yourself.
And on top of all of that, you have to add in a trust level with your wholesaler and retailer and the high school kid that is putting the produce out.
Once the sticker is put on the celery at the processing facility for the hormone filled artificial color sprayed pesticide riddled factory farm by the sticker machine, it is supposed to stay on the product until removed by the consumer. It is supposed to. Did the produce guy peel that label off and then put it out in the Organic Local Grower bin at twice as much per pound? Who knows? You have to trust that they didn't.
Can you, the average consumer, tell the difference between a Hybrid and a GMO and a Heritage item by just looking at it? No. At least in most cases.
Oh, by the way, just in case you trip over some of these terms, some of the people in this field call what we are talking about "nucleic acid bioengineering", "transgenic", or even "xenotransplantation", or other such mouthfuls instead of saying Genetically Engineered, or Genetic Modification, and suchlike, which make some people come down with an acute case of the fantods. It is all the same thing- the tinkering with various flora and fauna at the cellular or chromosomal level.
For our purposes here, we will try to stick to the abbreviation GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) whether we are talking about corn, goats, or people. OK?
Yeah, 'people' were on that list. But we'll come back to that, "trust us on that."
The same issue of trust goes for locally raised produce versus that Agribusiness/factory farm with the celery we mentioned earlier. In many cases, produce from a few miles away will look more or less like its cousins from a thousand miles away in everything but the price. So it is not unheard of for some businesses to sell stuff trucked in as local at a sometimes significantly higher price. Any repercussions, including charges of false advertising or fraud from the misrepresentation are usually a minor inconvenience at best and some bad publicity at worst. Some outfits see it as simply the cost of doing business.
Of course those sorts of unscrupulous businesses aren't the ones you want to do business with to begin with. And such intentional acts are nothing short of criminal, and one would hope that such things would be an aberration instead of a standard business practice. But you really can't know can you?
And face it, the people putting out the stickers with the GMO information on them say on their 'biotechnology' page on their website that they believe these types of foods to be safe and healthy. So one has to ask how motivated they are to label things that ARE modified when their members can charge more for food that, supposedly, is not.
"The Produce Marketing Association believes that sound science must be the basis for decisions about all food safety issues. Based on extensive scientific research and extensive review by the U.S. government and international food and science experts, biotechnology has been deemed to be a safe and viable technology. PMA supports the government's decision regarding the regulation of produce developed through traditional as well as new biotechnological methods."
And now another wrinkle into the mix.
While the PMA says it is a world-wide trade group, it really isn't. Yes, many South American countries have producers and regulators that are members, as do New Zealand and Australia. Which is a wonderful thing as they export a lot of produce to the US. But membership is not required and many suppliers in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and others simply chose not to belong.
Again, the group is voluntary and has no legal standing other than the willing compliance by its members. As to what standards a second string supplier from Peru or Brazil adheres to is anybody's guess, and, as we'll see in a few moments, some countries allow GMO and otherwise meddled with produce to be sold for export that they restrict inside their own country. As for how export-only stuff is labeled, well, there's that matter of trust again.
And Now Comes GMO and other flavors of what some call "Franken-Food".
We're going to start of talking about plants, then we'll talk about animals, and then we'll go from there. Eventually, we'll answer the question by raising several more.
WARNING: you may not like what you read. Beginning with the fact that some experts say that nearly three quarters of the food and beverages on supermarket shelves contain genetically modified ingredients. Such as sugar from GMO sugar beets, of which very nearly 100% of those used in commercial production in the US have been genetically engineered for a variety of reasons including being pesticide and rot resistant. And wait until you see the numbers on corn and soybeans, which are in almost everything in one way or another.
And don't look now, "LL rice 62" is on its way.
The genetic modification of food through hybridization began, well, when do you think? In the 1970s with the rise of 'factory farms' and massive agribusinesses? After World War Two? Maybe with Luther Burbank and his garden in the 1900's. And a hybrid has been genetically modified. Its two sets of