ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 59,563
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- Eblana
They look like pips from a grapefruit, watermelon or citrus fruit. Bit odd.
Picard doesn't use the f-word!
More on the Chinese mystery seed packages here:
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ry-seed-parcels-world-biosecurity-china-uk-us
It could be an invasive species. Or it could be carrying a disease.This is daft. What kind of gardener would not plant strange seeds to see what they might grow into?
Its hardly like its going to grow into a giant beanstalk, is it?
I can't find that this was posted anywhere else and since it's now petered out, I'm linking it here. This is a very good (but long) read on the mystery of the seed packs from China that were delivered in both the UK and US. I loved this story.
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE AMAZON MYSTERY SEEDS
Why did so many Americans receive strange packages they didn’t think they’d ordered?
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/unsolicited-seeds-china-brushing/619417/
I believe the article suggests this happened in the UK as well.Thanks for that.
Good Lord.
The conclusion: lots of people are very dull, late-stage capitalism throws up some surprisingly unlikely phenomena, and the U.S. media is constantly fishing for the tentacles of the Yellow Peril.
With a slightly deceptive decontextualisation, this is a great thumbnail sketch of modern Americana:
[Doyle] Crenshaw, who lives in Booneville, Arkansas, was watching Channel 5 in late July 2020 when he saw an item about Chinese seeds.
He knew just what they were talking about.
I believe the article suggests this happened in the UK as well.
Not sure how familiar you are with "dollar stores" here in the US (the most ubiquitous variety store) but they consist of nothing but junk merch from China (or other countries with even lesser quality control) for a dollar or two. People LOVE them. Yet they complain about China and Asians. People are generally not nuanced and thoughtful.Certainly--plenty of simpletons in the UK, too.
That said, I consume British and U.S. news-media in roughly equal shares, and I would say that although the media in both countries push a consistent line of Sinophobia, the U.S.'s is more obvious.
Not sure how familiar you are with "dollar stores" here in the US (the most ubiquitous variety store) but they consist of nothing but junk merch from China (or other countries with even lesser quality control) for a dollar or two. People LOVE them. Yet they complain about China and Asians. People are generally not nuanced and thoughtful.
Nevertheless, the USDA clearly remained unconvinced by my arguments. El-Lissy reiterated to me that the agency still thought all the circumstantial evidence pointed to brushing. “We continue to believe it is implausible,” he said, “that thousands of people around the globe ordered seeds and either forgot about them or lied about forgetting them.”
I've been a recipient (2019-20) of assorted unasked-for parcels via Amazon, as part of sellers' brushing tactics!...The online retail giant told the BBC that it will now only allow the sale of seeds by sellers based in the US. US officials said gardeners should not plant seeds of unknown origin. The packages are believed to be part of a global "brushing" scam to gain positive reviews for online selling sites....
Probably it's down to the Chinese version of AI - and it's trying it's best to send out into the World that little bit of joy!I believe the article suggests this happened in the UK as well.
So, my mother in law, who is not internet savvy, will regularly click on dubious shopping sites (or Amazon merchants) and order "flowers" that are really seeds. They come in poorly marked packs from China. She gave me them once and I grew them. Turned out they were lotus seeds. If you look on Facebook, for example, they advertise seeds for fake flowers (like "rainbow roses") that don't cost that much. They take forever to arrive. With the pandemic beginning, people for sure did order some of these things and forgot. And maybe it was partially a brushing scam. Considering all the garbage merch that we get from China here, this story does not sound all that surprising to me.