https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/seed-giants_final_04424.pdf

In most cases the outcomes have been settlements, most farmers simple can’t afford to sustain the fight. I think there have been some that made it through the court system and ended up working against the farmers.

I haven’t read this whole report, but I read the relevant section starting on page 29. It was sourced from this Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/12/monsanto-sues-farmers-seed-patents

Seed patent holders have previously, successfully, sued farmers who inadvertantly grew patented plants they did not intentionally plant, but arrived on their property through natural means.

The point here is, some farmers will be ‘forced’ to plant golden rice by circumstance, not intention. Are they liable for that, or not? In the US and Canada, historically, they have been.

A strong second for Weawow. What a great weather app.

Where is the line?

We interact with hundreds if not thousands of chemicals in every ordinary act of life. This is not just unavoidable, it’s normal and natural, and has been going on for centuries if not millenia.

Are you proposing we stop cooking food (which results in chemical alterations of the underlying food). What about soap?

You have a point, but you’ve oversimplified it and taken it to an extreme where it’s no longer a sound or balanced idea.

Look…

Not a remake, but there’s a sequel on the way… I’m not super hopeful but maybe I’ll be surprised? Flashback did get a remaster and release on (at least) Switch, but i found the controls unintuitive and dissatisfying. It was a bummer.

Technically true, but it needs to be non militarized, can’t purchase the missile mounts (or the missiles etc.). My point stands.

But this already isn’t true. Even if I could afford it, I can’t buy an F16, anthrax or a nuclear warhead. So, isn’t this just about where the line is being drawn? The line itself both already exists and doesn’t seem to be contested.

Blackbeard’s Ghost. Watchable on Disney+ right now. Family friendly, great performances and some epic physical comedy from Peter Ustinov (voice of Prince John in Disney’s Robin Hood).

I will also accept “I am rubber, you are glue” as a possible answer.

Anything related to hamsters and/or the smell of elderberries.

I’m not sure what kind of role you had in the industry, but I’m not sure what you’re saying is entirely accurate… although there are some bits in there I agree with:

Lots of programmers and artists don’t really care about the final game, they only care about their little part.

Accurate. And that’s ok. A programmer whose job it is to optimize the physics of bullet ricochet against thirteen different kind of materials can go really deep on that, and they don’t need to (or have time to) zoom out and care about the entire game. That’s fine. They have a job that is often highly specialized, has been given to them by production and they have to deliver on time and at quality. Why is that a problem? You use the corrolary of film, and nobody cares if the gaffer understands the subtext of the Act 3 arc… it’s not their job.

Game designers and UX designers are often clueless and lacking in gaming experience. Some of the mistakes they make could be avoided by asking literaly anyone who play games.

Which one? A game designer lacking in gaming experience likely wouldn’t get hired anywhere that has an ounce of standard. A UX designer without gaming experience might get hired, but UX is about communication, intuition and flow. A UX designer who worked on surgical software tooling could still be an effective member of a game dev team if their fundamentals are strong.

Investors and publishers often know very little to almost nothing about gameplay and technology and will rely purely on aesthetic and story.

Again, which one? Investors probably don’t know much about the specifics of gameplay or game design because they don’t need to, they need to understand ROI, a studio’s ability to deliver on time, at budget and quality, and the likely total obtainable market based on genre and fit.

Publishers – depending on whether you are talking about mobile or console/box model – will usually be intimately familiar with how to position a product for market, what KPIs (key performance indicators) to target and how to optimize within the available budget.

This is why you have some indie devs kicking big studio butts with sometime less than 1% the ressources.

This has happened. I’m not sure it’s an actual trend. There are lots of misses in the game industry. Making successful products is hard – it’s hard at the indie level, it’s hard at the AAA level. I would estimate there are a thousand failed Indies for every one you call out as ‘kicking a big studio’s butt.’ Lots of failed AAA titles too. It’s just how it goes.

The same, by the way, is true of film, TV, books and music. A lot of misses go into making a hit. Cultural products are hard to make, and nobody has the formula for success. Most teams try, fail, then try again. Sometimes, they succeed.

Irrelevant?

Prompt was: a billionaire who has done anything good, not, a billionaire who has never done anything not good.

Current Agha Khan founded the Agha Khan Development Network which has done a fair amount of good in the developing world.

The apple was never whole… it was simply tightly grouped and a subgroup has been severed from another

Thanks! This article really clears up a lot of the details that help the simulation make sense.

Also, in this simulation are the customers arriving in equally spaced intervals or is random arrival time within the bounds assumed?

Can you elaborate on the math here? (I believe you, I just want to understand the simulation parameters better).

I love this sentiment, and it can be true, but it also creates this idea that ‘heart’ alone has a high bearing on whether or not a product of any kind (book, film, statue, game) will be successful in its market ambitions.

It doesn’t always correlate. I would argue if often doesn’t correlate. Any indie film or game fest is chock full of projects with a ton of heart. Few of them graduate to success in the market place.

I’m not saying heart is a bad thing. It’s a damn great thing. But strong business fundamentals are a good thing too. And sometimes, you also just need that extra bit of luck or uncontrollable virality too. To find success, you stack the deck with as many good plays as you can, and heart is one of them.

Success is not a recipe, and if it was, everybody would be doing it…

Smells like… Victory?