DailyDirt: You Have Won Second Prize In A Beauty Contest! Collect $10.

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Mar 30th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

There are a lot of online contests, sponsored by all sorts of organizations (usually non-profits). Some of the contests are challenging, and others are just a little strange. Here are some examples that caught our eye.

A professor of cybernetics promotes the Google Science Fair by encouraging kids to explore and experiment.. and by telling students that one of his own projects involves putting human brain neurons into robot bodies. Great, now kids everywhere are wondering how to scrape brain cells out of their younger siblings. [url]
Play matchmaker for a guy named Chas... and get a chance at winning $10,000. If Chas marries the girl you recommend for him, collect the money -- or cut out the middlemen, ladies. [url]
PETA has a $1 million prize for anyone who can sell the first in vitro chicken in "commercial quantities" by June 30, 2012. The lab-grown meat also has to pass a taste test from a panel of PETA judges -- hmm, but how do those judges know if it tastes authentic? [url]
To discover more interesting stuff from non-profit organizations, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: challenge, contest, in vitro chicken, science fair
Companies: google, peta

21 Comments

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Marcus Carab (profile), 30 Mar 2011 @ 4:09pm

Damnit PETA! You are like a scientist and a hippie stitched together at the kidney. Why can't you stick to cool ideas like this, and sensible meaningful stuff like your endocrine disruptor lobbying, and get some damn control over your creepy street teams.
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- scarr (profile), 30 Mar 2011 @ 5:27pm
  
  Re:
  Agreed. This is bafflingly cool of them.
  
  I just hope the taste test doesn't mean they're comparing the candidates to whatever chicken they ate that made them go vegetarian.
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  - Shaun Wilson (profile), 31 Mar 2011 @ 4:21am
    
    Re: Re:
    Actually from the sounds of things they're comparing it to fake chicken:
    
    Judging of taste and texture will be performed by a panel of 10 PETA judges, who will sample the in vitro chicken prepared using PETA's own fried "chicken" recipe. The in vitro chicken must get a score of at least 80 when evaluated in order to win the prize.
    
    I was liking the sound of it too but another of their conditions also makes me quite dubious about their honesty:
    
    Manufacture the approved product in large enough quantities to be sold commercially, and successfully sell it at a competitive price in at least 10 states.
    
    It would seem likely that a company would have to be quite some size to be selling in 10 states. They'd also likely be making 10's or even 100's of millions a year competing on an ethics standpoint (ie to vegetarians etc) without being able to "sell it at a competitive price" compared to "real" meat. And this needs to happen in 2 years to qualify for the award???
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- Michael Ho (profile), 30 Mar 2011 @ 6:09pm
  
  Re:
  I sorta wonder if the joke will be on PETA... when someone submits an entry for their fake chicken contest... and tricks them into eating real meat.
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  - AW, 30 Mar 2011 @ 6:41pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Well you really wouldn't want to do that. As I'm sure you have to demonstrate your whole process it would be a lot of effort, and just so you understand in vitro IS real chicken. It's not an analogue, there are already tons of those that taste like chicken, chicken is actually easy. A brand I particularly like is called Quorn and it's like a commercial when people realize it's not chicken, red meat on the other hand really just can't get the flavor down. Red meat is actually really greasy if I accidentally eat it and kinda tastes gross.
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- Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2011 @ 11:07pm
  
  Re:
  If you'd asked me an hour ago what would be the most likely thing PETA would do with a large supply of in vitro chicken, I would've said "throw them at random passersby". Color me surprised.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2011 @ 5:15pm

Play matchmaker for a guy named Chas

Not if you lack flash.

PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals, right?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2011 @ 5:32pm

I once was told by a meat producer that "artificial meat" would never disrupt their business LoL

What I wouldn't pay to see his face right now and ask if he is that sure today.

But I feel sorry for all those people who were mandated to upgrade their chicken production facilities to standards that made them slaves of banks.

In the modern world here is a tip, never ever get in debt, you will pay dearly for that mistake.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2011 @ 6:04pm

Peta
I think they should have serious meat eaters do a blind taste test. I'd volunteer.
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AW, 30 Mar 2011 @ 7:06pm

You know I find it so weird how much avarice and rancor there is over PETA. Are they really any different than any other special interest group out there? People go out of their way to do 3 things, ask if it's healthy, ask why I do it and then proceed to tell me they could never do it. It's never changed in the 7 years I've been vegetarian. I know there are some obnoxious people out there, but most of us long term vegetarians don't push our views on anyone, it's too darned exhausting and the ridicule for being known as a vegetarian can be withering. I've had people try to sneak bacon in my food, tell me I'm a bad parent (We've got a VERY healthy baby girl), tell me there's no reason and try all these tactics to trick me and find some flaw in my beliefs.
Plain and simple the reason most vegetarians I've met decided to become vegetarians is that they want to cause the least amount of harm they can. As humans we are uniquely in a position that many of us actually can make a choice in what we eat. Through one choice we could effectively slow global warming (meat farms are one of the highest greenhouse gas producers), we can lessen the amount of pain we cause others on the planet and improve our health if you eat properly (though I'm not exactly the thinnest guy in the area). It's not the right choice for everyone, but even if you chose to have one vegetarian meal a week, say plain pizza, it would be like taking half a million cars off the road.
If something like that isn't for you make sure you hold your meat producers accountable for poisoning the environment(I wish this was hyperbole)Swine farmers and chicken farmers are notorious for how badly they treat the environment causing huge fish kills in the Mississippi river delta and causing algae blooms that kill off other ocean life, some of which is foodstuff, which in turn raises the price of that seafood.
Didn't mean to make that sound preachy, just sharing the reasons I chose to become vegetarian. So basically it all comes down to the same question, what choices are you willing and able to make to provide a better planet for the next generation. Any choices you make are ultimately yours make the choices you're able to live with.
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- Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 30 Mar 2011 @ 8:23pm
  
  Re:
  I think a lot of the rancor is due to their appearance to care more for the rights of animals than the rights of humans. When it comes down to choosing between the two, they readily side with the animals.
  
  I'm not a vegetarian but I'm friends with a few (and related to one) and haven't run into the preachiness that often gets attributed to them, for whatever that's worth.
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  - Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 31 Mar 2011 @ 6:35am
    
    Re: Re:
    My hatred started with their "Apocalypse on a plate" campaign witch compared eating meat to the Holocaust (and trivializing the Holocaust). Then it blossomed into full blown detest when I found out they think I'm evil for having a pet cat (they call it slavery, and trivializing another horror of our past).
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- Kaden (profile), 31 Mar 2011 @ 5:19am
  
  Re:
  "Are they really any different than any other special interest group out there?"
  
  Not a lot of other special interest groups are this ridiculous: http://features.peta.org/PETASeaKittens/ .
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Pixelation, 30 Mar 2011 @ 7:34pm

I can see it now...
"All new 'Lab Meat', tastes just like chicken. I suppose it will give Spam a run for its money, since we won't know what's in either of them.
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Hugh Mann (profile), 30 Mar 2011 @ 10:08pm

In vitro chicken. . . .
I thought KFC had already done that, and that's why they had to change their name from Kentucky Fried Chicken, since they weren't selling "real" chicken anymore.

HM
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- Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 31 Mar 2011 @ 6:30am
  
  Re: In vitro chicken. . . .
  KFC changed it from "Kentucky Fried Chicken" to "Kitchen Fresh Chicken" due to it not having the word "Fried" in it. Makes it sound more healthy.
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People For The Ethical Treatment Of Cells, 31 Mar 2011 @ 2:10am

Stop PETA Now!
Is nothing sacred to these people??
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Chris in Utah (profile), 31 Mar 2011 @ 6:16am

Gameful.org
Ya might have wanted to include Gameful considering its one of the hottest kickstarter project & gaining steam. Though personally it needs a little work. The current challenge is an eye grabber to.

http://gameful.org/
Gameful Challenge #2: OPERATION: END BOREDOM

Take a look at the newest Gameful challenge! The goal? Design a game that makes a boring job more challenging for the worker while producing better results for the business and/or its
customers.
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- Kaden (profile), 31 Mar 2011 @ 6:35am
  
  Re: Gameful.org
  Wow! Great news! I am very interested in your viewpoints and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
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  - Chris in Utah (profile), 31 Mar 2011 @ 6:51am
    
    Re: Re: Gameful.org
    My viewpoints are already in on the getsatisfaction for the site.
    
    Though I must say the newsletter segway stuck me as an attempt at sarcasm so if there's anything not covered here Feel free to ask away.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2011 @ 4:57pm

"Great, now kids everywhere are wondering how to scrape brain cells out of their younger siblings"

I feel like I lose brain cells every time I see these techdirt ad pages. How about better content and less ads?
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