**EDIT**
I'm finding other sources that say that sterile "terminator seeds" are a patented technique, but that Monsanto has promised not to use it. Straight from the horse's mouth:
http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/terminator-seeds.aspx

So it appears that my info below is wrong. I will try to talk with my family and get the full story. That being said, I'll leave my original comment and the followup below unaltered.
*********


My firsthand knowledge of this stuff was from more than 10 years ago, and also when I was pretty young (early 20's). So I did some web searching to try to get updated since your question is a very interesting one:

http://web.mit.edu/demoscience/Monsanto/about.html

According to that, Monsanto is the company behind "Roundup Ready", and their corn (and other crops in the line) do use sterile "terminator seeds". It also mentions that farmers "must purchase the most recent strain of seed from Monsanto" each year.

I was never in the decision-making structure of my family farm, but I did remember that we couldn't just buy the Roundup Ready seed *once* and then hold a small amount back as seed for the next year and continue to get the benefits.

I'm not 100% sure exactly how the modification for sterility works -- I don't know if the plant will sprout if you plant the sterile seeds and just fail to produce any ears / fruit, or if it just won't germinate at all. I do remember that we had to be quite careful to fully clean out the corn grown from the GM seeds from our storage bins, and better yet to store our non-GM corn to be used for future seed in entirely different bins. That was done to make sure that we didn't end up planting any of the sterile stuff.

I'm sure that the seed dealers that sell the GM stuff really push farmers to buy and plant it every year, as hinted to in that link. But you certainly don't *have* to. On the other hand, if you go back to non-GM seed for a year or two or more, you can't use a strong herbicide like Roundup if you have an unexpected outbreak of weeds or other pest plants -- the Roundup would kill the non-GM crop along with everything else.

Basically, I don't specifically begrudge companies like Monsanto for their practices concerning these GM crops. The "terminator seeds" are controversial, but don't seem like a big deal to me. If you could buy GM seeds once and then just hold back some of your harvest for next season's seed, they'd only get your money once AND we'd probably lose the original strains. So I see that as kinda win-win, especially if you don't 100% buy into their sales department urging you to use GM seed every single year.

I don't want to sound like a shill for Monsanto -- some of their other practices are pretty shady, particularly political lobbying. But from the perspective of my family farm, the GM corn that we use was/is a real beneficial thing. Significantly less pesticide/herbicide use over time, and it allows for expanded low/no till farming. Before herbicides, tilling was one of the only ways to kill off pest plants. But, it also makes the fields lose some moisture and nutrients. Expanded farming and ubiquitous tilling was largely the cause of the "dust bowl" dirty 30's. Anyway, I'd say that a lot of good has come out of modernized techniques and technology like GM crops.

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I think that older brother is now significantly less likely to accidentally knock a girl up later in life. Helpful lessons can present themselves at the most unexpected times.

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HAH! ok the one at 1:39 was unexpected

So, if you had had quads instead of your one child, I would be in the right to berate you if you complained, felt overwhelmed, or didn't offer your full attention lovingly at all times?
What would you suggest a parent that's only equipped to raise one or two children do when they unexpectedly end up with four? Spartanize them?

Edit: and thanks to a lack of sex ed, no, some don't know how that happens.

unexpected *quality

No, it's for those times when an orgy breaks out unexpectedly.

Unexpected, have a *quality

That is a super fascinating youtube channel right there. Thanks, dude!
I love to hear the opinion of japanese people on this. It's very unexpected and interesting. Really changed my perspective a bit.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Unexpectedly awesome 3-part harmony!

Video gave me an unexpected warm fuzzy feeling *promote

Admittedly, i don't watch this type of video often, but it the twist of the ragdoll is interesting and it must take a great deal of skill, concentration, and body control. Kudos.

To be honest, this video made my heart unexpectedly ache so intensely that I had to take a walk after watching it and then sit in a quiet corner for some self reflection time. After an uncertain amount of time and 2 cups of tea, I realized what memory string this was plucking. Suddenly the magnitude of this emotional disturbance made sense. This wasn't a single thread, but something that spanned across years of my life. This girl reminds me of an exgirlfriend from long ago. She loved theater and did events part time. We were deeply in love and I thought we would be married, but life often doesn't fit in with unsought expectations. Often we are told to chase our dreams; however, this, for me, was only told to me in relation to what job or career I went into. I guess that I'm slow or just never thought about applying this advice to life as a whole. Well, regrets are a waste of time, but it nice to revisit the memories. Thank you for the sift. If I might beg your indulgence, I did do have one picture that was snapped of us in an unrelated news story. Unfortunately, it's the only photo left as I lost all of mine. Here is Bella and I getting a drink at the local bar.

And perhaps more unexpectedly: “Starbucks is a place where these types frequent and a lot of body fluids are exchanged there. But the thing that I was not aware of is that there has been information that has been released… what Starbucks was doing, is they were taking specimens of male semen, and they were putting it in the blends of their lattes. Now, this is the absolute truth.”

I am so firmly in driver category #1 that I printed my own T-shirts that have the road sign most people ignore that says "slower traffic keep right" and on the back they say "keep right except to pass".
I used to get upset at my grandmother who would drive 40mph on the freeway to be "safe". I would repeat 'How is it not a wreck if we get rear ended by someone going the speed limit? You know we get hurt MORE being hit unexpectedly from the rear, right?' It never helped.
Thank you Vox, for explaining it well.