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Oh, ok. Not too long. I was hoping they weren’t just going to start setting up franchises and milking them. I went and looked up what they’ve done and what they’re doing:

• Toy Story – 3 films & a TV show
• Cars – 2 films (+1 incoming) & a TV show
• Finding Nemo – 1 film (+1 incoming)
• Monsters Inc. – 1 film (+1 incoming)
• Non-Franchises – 6 films (+2 incoming)

I have a close friend who just graduated with a BFA in computer animation, whose dream job is to work at Pixar. So I really hope they keep it up!

about 19 hours ago on 'Monsters University' review: Pixar makes prequels look easy 1 reply

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I’m just waiting for them to make another movie that isn’t a prequel or sequel. Looks like I’m gonna have to wait a while longer, based on what they’ve got on the way.

1 day ago on 'Monsters University' review: Pixar makes prequels look easy 1 reply

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I’m still using Master Collection CS4, and it looks like I’ll eventually be upgrading to CS6 and then cashing out my chips. For a person who upgrades to the versions of Adobe software as soon as it comes out, perhaps the subscription model might save them money in the long run. But for me, having to pay $50 every month just isn’t feasible.

Hopefully they figure out how to make providing software to artists who need every tool in their toolbox available, and can’t fork over $600 a year to make it happen.

1 day ago on Adobe Creative Cloud apps now ready to download, including improved Photoshop (hands-on)

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The goal of many GMOs is to cause them to be naturally resistant to certain pesticides/herbicides, making it pest/weed control easier (see Round-Up ready corn and soybeans). With genetically engineered crops like these, you can spray certain pesticides while the crop is growing and not just before planting, because where the chemicals may have damaged the crops before, now the crops are engineered to withstand that damage. The result is increased spraying and potentially higher concentrations of toxic chemicals in the crop.

That’s not the only issue with genetically engineered crops, however. Besides chemical-resistant crops, another way to improve crops is to cause the plant to produce the chemicals themselves, as a secondary compound. Now, this has benefits in that less spraying of chemicals is required. A common secondary compound that is included, Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, is relatively safe and has been used in organic farming for a fairly long time. Bt-containing GMOs include cotton, tobacco, potatoes, corn (Round-up ready and Bt), and soybeans, among many others. But, what we are starting to see is the pests that were once susceptible to Bt are starting to develop resistances to it. Even though the toxin has been in use for a long time, it has never been present in the plants in such a concentration and duration as now. This could mean that we are starting to see a evolutionary arms-race between crop scientists and the pests they’re trying to keep down.

In the end, GMOs (and pesticides/herbicides/fertilizers) are all about treating the symptoms, not the cause of the issues we have with agriculture. Massive crop blights and malnutrition threatening to wipe out our food supply? That’s because we have gigantic monocultures. If we hedge our bets and had 16 different varieties of potatoes growing in Idaho, instead of the vast swaths of Russet Burbanks that we have now, maybe we wouldn’t be at risk of losing them all to the Colorado Potato Beetle. For nearly every crop out there that’s at risk of failure due to a pest/weed, it’s a similar story.

I’m not trying to say GMOs are entirely terrible, however. Like with all things, they’re a mixed bag. While they may be causing increased chemical exposure or more resistant pests, they’re also allowing more food to be grown in areas that used to lack enough water, or strains that contain vital nutrients to help stem malnutrition. And if I were the person benefiting from those, I’d take cancer at 65 over starvation at 15 any day.

But I think that the more transparency, the better, when it comes to things like this. If I can have the resources to make an educated decision about what I am putting in my body, that’s a good thing. And knowing Chipotle, if they have GMO-labelled foods, they’re going to explain why they’re using it instead of a Non-GMO alternative, something that in the end might increase acceptance of GMO foods. GMOs are something that have only been around for the last 30 years, and that’s not a whole lot of time. We are just starting to figure out what we want and what is good when it comes to these things, and increased visibility means increased awareness and education, which in turns means more conversations about where we want the future of the food we eat to go.

1 day ago on Chipotle becomes first US fast food chain to label all genetically modified ingredients

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Just wait for him to sell it to Google.
Google Island, here I come!

3 days ago on Oracle CEO plans resorts, restaurants, and EV chargers for Hawaiian island overhaul

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I can’t ever get my Instant Queue down below 200 titles. I add new ones as fast as I watch them.

3 days ago on Netflix signs exclusive deal for over 300 hours of original DreamWorks Animation content