You'd Prefer An Argonaute

While walking through the MIT campus this evening I passed by a parked red Hummer truck emblazoned with the word “BioDefense.” The ostentatious and environmentally ruinous Hummer as a vehicle to protect life from harm? Ironic yes, but actually probably a travel vehicle, and advertisement, owned by a company named BioDefense corporation. They sell a device called the “MailDefender”, a chamber that converts your anthrax, smallpox, plague, E. coli, influenza, HIV, botulism, ricin, and bird flu laced mail into safe reading.

OK, I don’t mean to be facetious – I’m aware people have died from such bioterrorist mail – but I’m amused by any product advertised on the side of a Hummer.

Surely the long-range lights (see roof) stop anthrax in its tracks. And botulism is no match for that grill bar.

I drove a Hummer once and couldn’t stop laughing. It was a big, bright orange disaster, with enourmous tires so tall that they reached my belly. You know a street vehicle is ridiculous when you need to grab a handle to pull yourself in.

So I was sad when I read Chinese investors decided to buy the Hummer brand. Hummer is the one GM species I wanted to see go extinct.