Monday January 10, 2005 Omni - where are they now? (April 1991)
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This issue also included the wonderful short story They're Made of Meat" by Terry Bisson, a must-read for science fiction fans or anybody else who enjoys superb humor for that matter. Two continuum articles: |
- Cheaper by the Russians: a piece describing where Yuri Shestov,
a Boston University computer scientist who emigrated to the U.S in 1974,
used his old comrades to do some work for Intelligent
Resources International (IRI). The Russians provided the expert services
(which were worth $60 an hour in the U.S) for the equivalent of $3 an hour.
No need to ask what's happened since then. Out-sourcing of this sort of work has become the norm. It was only in 1991 that this was considered newsworthy. Although nowadays, a lot of companies are reconsidering and in-sourcing is becoming popular.
- Gourmet Garbage: an article suggesting that edible food packaging
should be considered to help reduce the tons of garbage that Americans
generate each year. Toby Thompson of the Rochester Institute of Technology
says "Why don't we eat the damn stuff?". He goes on to add "We eat apples and
grapes and other things that that come in their own natural packages".
Thompson would like to see this extended to other foodstuffs such as rice
and wheat. Pasta packaging could be dropped into the water and boiled off.
Labeling would be done with vegatable dyes rather than toxic inks.
Thompson has been lobbying (back in 1991) the food industry for funding and support. So far there have been a few nibbles but no bites.
Fascinating idea. The sort of thing that would really be useful. Did it get implemented? Is this happening now? Googling around found a lot of "Tony Thompson's", but there doesn't seem to be any progress with man-made edible food packaging.
( Jan 10 2005, 01:08:05 AM PST ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [2]
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Posted by Doug Curtis on January 11, 2005 at 08:02 AM PST #
Thompson always was a bit cracked. I worked with him at william Associates Advertising on Jefferson Road in Henrietta back in 1961. He listens to no one except himself, and, gratefully, he has always had a lot of wonderful ideas and good things to say. So let's listen up. Good minds like his won't be around forever.
Posted by Roger B. Smith on August 19, 2007 at 08:45 AM PDT #