I've had the exact opposite happen - 400 student lecture, Prof spends 3-5 minutes on lecture, the remainder of the period answering questions in detail, TAs for this class pretty much had to fill in the rest of the lecture. 20 student lecture? Prof says "See me after class, talk to your TA, or come to my office hours on Thursday".
The first article you link to does not have the same conclusion as your very brief summation, nor is it ever stated in the article that "GMOS are allergens".
The article does discuss allergens, including the possibility of introducing allergens from one organism to another through GM techniques as well as the possibility of using GM techniques to remove allergens from certain organisms.
Portraying the article the way you did comes off as dishonest.
Sure it's a choice, I certainly made a choice when I decided I was no longer a christian, but that was also a fairly painful and difficult experience to go through. Most people are religious because they've been indoctrinated from birth and it is a central and significant part of their life. I consider myself an athiest now (and have for over 30 years) and while I have a very negative opinion of religion as a whole, I also recognize that it can be a critical part of a person's identity and generally refrain from ridicule and mocking. Criticizing their beliefs is a completely separate issue, especially when it involves them imposing their beliefs on others through violence, threats, or legislation.
While a definition relating to organic farming itself is given, definition #3 is likely the origin of the term. From google:
Organic 1. of, relating to, or derived from living matter. "organic soils" synonyms: living, live, animate, biological, biotic "organic matter"
Chemistry of, relating to, or denoting compounds containing carbon (other than simple binary compounds and salts) and chiefly or ultimately of biological origin.
(of food or farming methods) produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial agents. synonyms: pesticide-free, additive-free, natural "organic vegetables"
2. Physiology of or relating to a bodily organ or organs.
Medicine (of a disease) affecting the structure of an organ.
3. denoting a relation between elements of something such that they fit together harmoniously as necessary parts of a whole. "the organic unity of the integral work of art"
synonyms: structured, organized, coherent, integrated, coordinated, ordered, harmonious "a society is an organic whole"
characterized by continuous or natural development. "companies expand as much by acquisition as by organic growth"
Scrabble has some flexibility in regards to skills, at least if you're looking to make it enjoyable. My wife is not a native English speaker, so if we play together, we throw out the standard scrabble dictionary and allow words from her native language as well as proper nouns. I'm not sure how highly competitive play goes, but I usually adopt the approach that I need to maximize my score, while minimizing tile usage. This makes the game just math, with valid plays restricted to the set of tile combinations listed in the official scrabble dictionary. Playing informally with my wife, we just use a set with different elements. 2 letter combinations can be extremely valuable, and the set of valid 2 letter plays is fairly small, making it easy to memorize over time, after that a good working knowledge of valid 3-4 letter combinations combined with a good strategy can make a player dangerous.
I can't speak for Chinese or Korean, but Romanized Japanese is a pain in the ass. Even writing only in the Kana, Japanese is rough. The Kanji isn't actually that difficult to learn, helps greatly with understanding the language and even learning only a couple hundred characters (which can be done fairly quickly) can help immensely (also, the more you learn, the easier they get). A benefit to non native speakers is that each character has an abstract meaning associated to it that can often be learned in the student's native tongue. Even if the student forgets how to read/pronounce the character, as long as the character isn't being used solely for phonetic properties, the student can probably get a basic understanding of any signs/documents using those characters. I'm a bit out of practice with my Japanese, I couldn't "read" a sign to you in the traditional sense of the word "read", but if it includes characters I still remember, I can still provide you the general gist. It may not sound useful, but being able to differentiate male and female toilets is often a useful skill when travelling, as well as being aware of warnings. A lot of this is lost when the language is Romanized, and can even make translation difficult as the Kanji don't represent "words" as much as they represent abstract meaning.
English and its (relatively) close relatives do well with Romanized characters as they've evolved together for quite some time and therefore seem natural and simpler to native speakers. Japanese got a hell of a lot easier to learn once I got over my apprehensiveness about learning Kanji.
I'm kind of surprised Scrabble hasn't really gotten any mentions here. While not perfect, it has an overall good design, balancing player skill against chance on each letter draw and allowing players to play both offensively and defensively.
I would tend to agree with that for any game played professionally, maybe the competition itself may still be enjoyable, maybe even more than normal at that level, but the amount of work you would have to put into it to maintain your skills would seriously detract from the day to day enjoyment of it. I'd apply that to poker, chess, settlers of catan or counter-strike.
I don't mind chance in games, so long as it complements the skill/strategy aspect of the game. I like poker as an example, chance determines the hands in play but a skilled player can turn the weakest hand at the table into the winning hand, at the same time chance can override a seemingly impossible to beat hand.
And then there is Mario Party which destroys relationships.
While it doesn't have a single player mode, you can "sim" one by creating a match and setting it to invite only, it just irks me that it includes an offline local multiplayer component that still requires a network connection.
I've got no issue with PS+ being required for online multiplayer as I was a longtime xbox live subscriber with the 360, my only gripe with the game is that it has local offline split screen multiplayer and PS+ is required to access that mode as well.
Unfortunately, didn't look closely at the package when we bought it, on the box it states that a connection is required. Getting home we found out that PvZ doesn't just require a connection, it requires PS+, I'd have passed on it for that reason alone except my significant other really, REALLY wanted it and isn't as "principled" as I'd sometimes wish;)
We ended up getting a PS+ account in order to play it, maybe it would have worked after initial sign in with networking disabled, I suppose I could always test it.
I more or less posted this on the last thread, I can't speak for Xbox One as I do not have one, but the PS4, it's games, disc or download work just fine without a network connection as long as THE GAME doesn't require an internet connection.
During the outage I only had 2 games I was unable to play, Destiny (where online is kinda the point) and Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare because for whatever reason EA requires a network connection on that game even though it has a local play mode. The rest worked, regardless of whether or not they were on disc or downloaded.
Maybe they figure that by the time you get through the second step you'll have reconsidered buying a blender that plays "margaritaville" while it blends.
Can't answer that question as we unboxed and hooked up before the network went down and I can't remember if we were able to get into the main system before setting up the network.
My experience has been that unless you are already in Offline mode (or put the computer in sleep vice shutdown), Steam and most of the games (some older games and indies will still run directly from executable) will not work unless you have a network connection and can connect to Steam. I travel a lot for work and am often without network connection, so this has been a huge deal for me, especially when offline mode decides it needs to authenticate and prevents me from accessing my games for the remainder of my trip (work around, sleep mode). The button "Start steam in off-line mode" that pops up when there is no network connection/steam unreachable has NEVER worked for me.
Unless they've changed how the system works with a recent (past couple months) client update, I'm sure these issues persist. Maybe it works for you, great if it does, but I wouldn't doubt _xeno_'s post either as their experience has been similar to mine.
Why do these systems need network access to play a game bought on a disk? That is the bigger question, sure I can understand only supporting multiplayer through a centralized service, my issue is with the activation and phone home crap. There is no "good" reason someone should not be able to use these things without network access for single player experiences.
Customers out realize that the system is brittle because Sony and Microsft created a hard dependency where there never needed to be one. It might not be their fault they are attacked, but they do know or should have know they are targets. Hopefully the lession they take away from this is that basic functionality should be there if you have the system and game disk fresh out of box. Maybe you can't update, download new content, do multiplayer but folks ought to be able to at least play with it even if the network is down.
I can't speak for MS and the Xbox, but I managed to score a free PS4 at a work holiday party and there are only two games I have on disc that have been unplayable during this outage, Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare (the game has an 'offline' mode that should be accessible when the network is down, but apparently not) and Destiny (on-line is kind of the whole point of the game, so at least understandable that it doesn't work). Everything else I own, even the stuff that was acquired digitally and downloaded straight to HDD works just fine.
So yeah, Sony did not create a hard dependency where there never needed to be one. During the outage the system has been playable, the majority of the games have been playable, disc or not. Instead of playing Destiny, I played Samurai Warriors 4. Aside from not being able to play on-line games, the only real difficulty I could see someone having is with a new console needing an update in order to play some newer games as I'm not sure if there is a work around for that. In the past I've seen companies ship games with console updates on disc, not sure if that practice still happens.
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I've had the exact opposite happen - 400 student lecture, Prof spends 3-5 minutes on lecture, the remainder of the period answering questions in detail, TAs for this class pretty much had to fill in the rest of the lecture. 20 student lecture? Prof says "See me after class, talk to your TA, or come to my office hours on Thursday".
I stopped going to the big lecture.
The first article you link to does not have the same conclusion as your very brief summation, nor is it ever stated in the article that "GMOS are allergens".
The article does discuss allergens, including the possibility of introducing allergens from one organism to another through GM techniques as well as the possibility of using GM techniques to remove allergens from certain organisms.
Portraying the article the way you did comes off as dishonest.
Sure it's a choice, I certainly made a choice when I decided I was no longer a christian, but that was also a fairly painful and difficult experience to go through. Most people are religious because they've been indoctrinated from birth and it is a central and significant part of their life. I consider myself an athiest now (and have for over 30 years) and while I have a very negative opinion of religion as a whole, I also recognize that it can be a critical part of a person's identity and generally refrain from ridicule and mocking. Criticizing their beliefs is a completely separate issue, especially when it involves them imposing their beliefs on others through violence, threats, or legislation.
I still prefer the 360 controller, but the Dualshock 4 is a huge improvement over previously stagnant dual shock form factor.
While a definition relating to organic farming itself is given, definition #3 is likely the origin of the term.
From google:
Organic
1. of, relating to, or derived from living matter.
"organic soils"
synonyms: living, live, animate, biological, biotic
"organic matter"
Chemistry
of, relating to, or denoting compounds containing carbon (other than simple binary compounds and salts) and chiefly or ultimately of biological origin.
(of food or farming methods) produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial agents.
synonyms: pesticide-free, additive-free, natural
"organic vegetables"
2. Physiology
of or relating to a bodily organ or organs.
Medicine
(of a disease) affecting the structure of an organ.
3. denoting a relation between elements of something such that they fit together harmoniously as necessary parts of a whole.
"the organic unity of the integral work of art"
synonyms: structured, organized, coherent, integrated, coordinated, ordered, harmonious
"a society is an organic whole"
characterized by continuous or natural development.
"companies expand as much by acquisition as by organic growth"
Scrabble has some flexibility in regards to skills, at least if you're looking to make it enjoyable. My wife is not a native English speaker, so if we play together, we throw out the standard scrabble dictionary and allow words from her native language as well as proper nouns. I'm not sure how highly competitive play goes, but I usually adopt the approach that I need to maximize my score, while minimizing tile usage. This makes the game just math, with valid plays restricted to the set of tile combinations listed in the official scrabble dictionary. Playing informally with my wife, we just use a set with different elements. 2 letter combinations can be extremely valuable, and the set of valid 2 letter plays is fairly small, making it easy to memorize over time, after that a good working knowledge of valid 3-4 letter combinations combined with a good strategy can make a player dangerous.
I can't speak for Chinese or Korean, but Romanized Japanese is a pain in the ass. Even writing only in the Kana, Japanese is rough. The Kanji isn't actually that difficult to learn, helps greatly with understanding the language and even learning only a couple hundred characters (which can be done fairly quickly) can help immensely (also, the more you learn, the easier they get). A benefit to non native speakers is that each character has an abstract meaning associated to it that can often be learned in the student's native tongue. Even if the student forgets how to read/pronounce the character, as long as the character isn't being used solely for phonetic properties, the student can probably get a basic understanding of any signs/documents using those characters. I'm a bit out of practice with my Japanese, I couldn't "read" a sign to you in the traditional sense of the word "read", but if it includes characters I still remember, I can still provide you the general gist. It may not sound useful, but being able to differentiate male and female toilets is often a useful skill when travelling, as well as being aware of warnings.
A lot of this is lost when the language is Romanized, and can even make translation difficult as the Kanji don't represent "words" as much as they represent abstract meaning.
English and its (relatively) close relatives do well with Romanized characters as they've evolved together for quite some time and therefore seem natural and simpler to native speakers. Japanese got a hell of a lot easier to learn once I got over my apprehensiveness about learning Kanji.
Simple.
God got up to use the bathroom and grab some chips.
Take your silly propaganda elsewhere.
I'm kind of surprised Scrabble hasn't really gotten any mentions here. While not perfect, it has an overall good design, balancing player skill against chance on each letter draw and allowing players to play both offensively and defensively.
I approve.
I would tend to agree with that for any game played professionally, maybe the competition itself may still be enjoyable, maybe even more than normal at that level, but the amount of work you would have to put into it to maintain your skills would seriously detract from the day to day enjoyment of it. I'd apply that to poker, chess, settlers of catan or counter-strike.
I don't mind chance in games, so long as it complements the skill/strategy aspect of the game. I like poker as an example, chance determines the hands in play but a skilled player can turn the weakest hand at the table into the winning hand, at the same time chance can override a seemingly impossible to beat hand.
And then there is Mario Party which destroys relationships.
I like my board games to be based purely on chance. #LifeforLife
While it doesn't have a single player mode, you can "sim" one by creating a match and setting it to invite only, it just irks me that it includes an offline local multiplayer component that still requires a network connection.
I've got no issue with PS+ being required for online multiplayer as I was a longtime xbox live subscriber with the 360, my only gripe with the game is that it has local offline split screen multiplayer and PS+ is required to access that mode as well.
Unfortunately, didn't look closely at the package when we bought it, on the box it states that a connection is required. Getting home we found out that PvZ doesn't just require a connection, it requires PS+, I'd have passed on it for that reason alone except my significant other really, REALLY wanted it and isn't as "principled" as I'd sometimes wish ;)
We ended up getting a PS+ account in order to play it, maybe it would have worked after initial sign in with networking disabled, I suppose I could always test it.
I more or less posted this on the last thread, I can't speak for Xbox One as I do not have one, but the PS4, it's games, disc or download work just fine without a network connection as long as THE GAME doesn't require an internet connection.
During the outage I only had 2 games I was unable to play, Destiny (where online is kinda the point) and Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare because for whatever reason EA requires a network connection on that game even though it has a local play mode. The rest worked, regardless of whether or not they were on disc or downloaded.
Maybe they figure that by the time you get through the second step you'll have reconsidered buying a blender that plays "margaritaville" while it blends.
I spent a few years living in Japan. I miss not needing to own a car.
Can't answer that question as we unboxed and hooked up before the network went down and I can't remember if we were able to get into the main system before setting up the network.
We could also make the argument that the sound from the trumpet is itself digital, with an exceptionally fine grained sampling.
My experience has been that unless you are already in Offline mode (or put the computer in sleep vice shutdown), Steam and most of the games (some older games and indies will still run directly from executable) will not work unless you have a network connection and can connect to Steam. I travel a lot for work and am often without network connection, so this has been a huge deal for me, especially when offline mode decides it needs to authenticate and prevents me from accessing my games for the remainder of my trip (work around, sleep mode). The button "Start steam in off-line mode" that pops up when there is no network connection/steam unreachable has NEVER worked for me.
Unless they've changed how the system works with a recent (past couple months) client update, I'm sure these issues persist. Maybe it works for you, great if it does, but I wouldn't doubt _xeno_'s post either as their experience has been similar to mine.
Why do these systems need network access to play a game bought on a disk? That is the bigger question, sure I can understand only supporting multiplayer through a centralized service, my issue is with the activation and phone home crap. There is no "good" reason someone should not be able to use these things without network access for single player experiences.
Customers out realize that the system is brittle because Sony and Microsft created a hard dependency where there never needed to be one. It might not be their fault they are attacked, but they do know or should have know they are targets. Hopefully the lession they take away from this is that basic functionality should be there if you have the system and game disk fresh out of box. Maybe you can't update, download new content, do multiplayer but folks ought to be able to at least play with it even if the network is down.
I can't speak for MS and the Xbox, but I managed to score a free PS4 at a work holiday party and there are only two games I have on disc that have been unplayable during this outage, Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare (the game has an 'offline' mode that should be accessible when the network is down, but apparently not) and Destiny (on-line is kind of the whole point of the game, so at least understandable that it doesn't work). Everything else I own, even the stuff that was acquired digitally and downloaded straight to HDD works just fine.
So yeah, Sony did not create a hard dependency where there never needed to be one. During the outage the system has been playable, the majority of the games have been playable, disc or not. Instead of playing Destiny, I played Samurai Warriors 4. Aside from not being able to play on-line games, the only real difficulty I could see someone having is with a new console needing an update in order to play some newer games as I'm not sure if there is a work around for that. In the past I've seen companies ship games with console updates on disc, not sure if that practice still happens.
The hardest part with that these days is just putting up with the game.