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Did you pay your licensing fees to use the frowny emoticon????

You may or may not know it, but the frowny emoticon is a registered trademark of Despair, Inc!

Be sure to license before use, to avoid any nasty lawsuits :)

.02

cLive ;-)

They already did!

They already did!

:-( is patented by Despair Inc.

I guess :-) is still free, so go for it!

--Harri

Despair, Inc. has held the trademark on the :-( for some time, now.

Read all about it.

Despair, Inc. has held the trademark on the :-( for some time, now.

Read all about it.

:-( is trademarked.

We're getting there, still not quite "there" yet though...

"There is no reason to not use that dark fibre, and no reason to assume that it wouldn't be used. In fact, it would be ignorant to think it would just go wasted, never touched, because it can fill the roll it's needed for just as well as this new plastic fibre, possibly better, as we do not know the throughput on this new fibre. Also, from a cost standpoint, no matter how cheap it is to lay this new fibre down, corps have already eaten the cost of laying that dark fibre. It would be foolish to lay down new fibre when there is perfectly good fibre already laid, just waiting to be lit up."

People have been saying this for years, and yet companies continue to lay new fibre without ever turning on the dark fibre already available. This article has some excellent information on why I'm right. To quote a nice part of it, "...companies that installed fiber conduits in the late 1980s to latecomers who started installing cables last year. ... Most of the fiber is unused and many of the companies that installed it are struggling. ... the conventional wisdom among telecom experts is that about 95 percent of the nation's fiber is unused, or "dark." "

On to the next silly response...

"...couldn't qualify as a rant... and your two lines were not
a) a violent or extravagant speech or writing
or
b) a speech or piece of writing that incites anger or violence.

Perhaps you could call it a bit sarcastic, but definately not a semi rant, rant, or a raving.
"

Well, now let's see if this holds true.
If we click here and go to the noun, we find, "1 a : a bombastic extravagant speech"
Ok, let's go further. If you click here, you'll see that it says bombastic means "overblown". And if you click right over here, we'll see where extravagant means, "2 a : exceeding the limits of reason or necessity" (as in, overblown).
So a rant is... Something which is overblown and exceeds the limits of reason or necessity. Sort of like saying we should chop up all the dark fibre? I think so... :)

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I think you'll find something more fitting to your personality either here, or there, or maybe here, or perhaps there, or here.

And as for 3 people being wrong, and you being right? Please check here.

Thankyoupleasedrivethrough

We're getting there, still not quite "there" yet though...

"There is no reason to not use that dark fibre, and no reason to assume that it wouldn't be used. In fact, it would be ignorant to think it would just go wasted, never touched, because it can fill the roll it's needed for just as well as this new plastic fibre, possibly better, as we do not know the throughput on this new fibre. Also, from a cost standpoint, no matter how cheap it is to lay this new fibre down, corps have already eaten the cost of laying that dark fibre. It would be foolish to lay down new fibre when there is perfectly good fibre already laid, just waiting to be lit up."

People have been saying this for years, and yet companies continue to lay new fibre without ever turning on the dark fibre already available. This article has some excellent information on why I'm right. To quote a nice part of it, "...companies that installed fiber conduits in the late 1980s to latecomers who started installing cables last year. ... Most of the fiber is unused and many of the companies that installed it are struggling. ... the conventional wisdom among telecom experts is that about 95 percent of the nation's fiber is unused, or "dark." "

On to the next silly response...

"...couldn't qualify as a rant... and your two lines were not
a) a violent or extravagant speech or writing
or
b) a speech or piece of writing that incites anger or violence.

Perhaps you could call it a bit sarcastic, but definately not a semi rant, rant, or a raving.
"

Well, now let's see if this holds true.
If we click here and go to the noun, we find, "1 a : a bombastic extravagant speech"
Ok, let's go further. If you click here, you'll see that it says bombastic means "overblown". And if you click right over here, we'll see where extravagant means, "2 a : exceeding the limits of reason or necessity" (as in, overblown).
So a rant is... Something which is overblown and exceeds the limits of reason or necessity. Sort of like saying we should chop up all the dark fibre? I think so... :)

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I think you'll find something more fitting to your personality either here, or there, or maybe here, or perhaps there, or here.

And as for 3 people being wrong, and you being right? Please check here.

Thankyoupleasedrivethrough

We're getting there, still not quite "there" yet though...

"There is no reason to not use that dark fibre, and no reason to assume that it wouldn't be used. In fact, it would be ignorant to think it would just go wasted, never touched, because it can fill the roll it's needed for just as well as this new plastic fibre, possibly better, as we do not know the throughput on this new fibre. Also, from a cost standpoint, no matter how cheap it is to lay this new fibre down, corps have already eaten the cost of laying that dark fibre. It would be foolish to lay down new fibre when there is perfectly good fibre already laid, just waiting to be lit up."

People have been saying this for years, and yet companies continue to lay new fibre without ever turning on the dark fibre already available. This article has some excellent information on why I'm right. To quote a nice part of it, "...companies that installed fiber conduits in the late 1980s to latecomers who started installing cables last year. ... Most of the fiber is unused and many of the companies that installed it are struggling. ... the conventional wisdom among telecom experts is that about 95 percent of the nation's fiber is unused, or "dark." "

On to the next silly response...

"...couldn't qualify as a rant... and your two lines were not
a) a violent or extravagant speech or writing
or
b) a speech or piece of writing that incites anger or violence.

Perhaps you could call it a bit sarcastic, but definately not a semi rant, rant, or a raving.
"

Well, now let's see if this holds true.
If we click here and go to the noun, we find, "1 a : a bombastic extravagant speech"
Ok, let's go further. If you click here, you'll see that it says bombastic means "overblown". And if you click right over here, we'll see where extravagant means, "2 a : exceeding the limits of reason or necessity" (as in, overblown).
So a rant is... Something which is overblown and exceeds the limits of reason or necessity. Sort of like saying we should chop up all the dark fibre? I think so... :)

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I think you'll find something more fitting to your personality either here, or there, or maybe here, or perhaps there, or here.

And as for 3 people being wrong, and you being right? Please check here.

Thankyoupleasedrivethrough

We're getting there, still not quite "there" yet though...

"There is no reason to not use that dark fibre, and no reason to assume that it wouldn't be used. In fact, it would be ignorant to think it would just go wasted, never touched, because it can fill the roll it's needed for just as well as this new plastic fibre, possibly better, as we do not know the throughput on this new fibre. Also, from a cost standpoint, no matter how cheap it is to lay this new fibre down, corps have already eaten the cost of laying that dark fibre. It would be foolish to lay down new fibre when there is perfectly good fibre already laid, just waiting to be lit up."

People have been saying this for years, and yet companies continue to lay new fibre without ever turning on the dark fibre already available. This article has some excellent information on why I'm right. To quote a nice part of it, "...companies that installed fiber conduits in the late 1980s to latecomers who started installing cables last year. ... Most of the fiber is unused and many of the companies that installed it are struggling. ... the conventional wisdom among telecom experts is that about 95 percent of the nation's fiber is unused, or "dark." "

On to the next silly response...

"...couldn't qualify as a rant... and your two lines were not
a) a violent or extravagant speech or writing
or
b) a speech or piece of writing that incites anger or violence.

Perhaps you could call it a bit sarcastic, but definately not a semi rant, rant, or a raving.
"

Well, now let's see if this holds true.
If we click here and go to the noun, we find, "1 a : a bombastic extravagant speech"
Ok, let's go further. If you click here, you'll see that it says bombastic means "overblown". And if you click right over here, we'll see where extravagant means, "2 a : exceeding the limits of reason or necessity" (as in, overblown).
So a rant is... Something which is overblown and exceeds the limits of reason or necessity. Sort of like saying we should chop up all the dark fibre? I think so... :)

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I think you'll find something more fitting to your personality either here, or there, or maybe here, or perhaps there, or here.

And as for 3 people being wrong, and you being right? Please check here.

Thankyoupleasedrivethrough

We're getting there, still not quite "there" yet though...

"There is no reason to not use that dark fibre, and no reason to assume that it wouldn't be used. In fact, it would be ignorant to think it would just go wasted, never touched, because it can fill the roll it's needed for just as well as this new plastic fibre, possibly better, as we do not know the throughput on this new fibre. Also, from a cost standpoint, no matter how cheap it is to lay this new fibre down, corps have already eaten the cost of laying that dark fibre. It would be foolish to lay down new fibre when there is perfectly good fibre already laid, just waiting to be lit up."

People have been saying this for years, and yet companies continue to lay new fibre without ever turning on the dark fibre already available. This article has some excellent information on why I'm right. To quote a nice part of it, "...companies that installed fiber conduits in the late 1980s to latecomers who started installing cables last year. ... Most of the fiber is unused and many of the companies that installed it are struggling. ... the conventional wisdom among telecom experts is that about 95 percent of the nation's fiber is unused, or "dark." "

On to the next silly response...

"...couldn't qualify as a rant... and your two lines were not
a) a violent or extravagant speech or writing
or
b) a speech or piece of writing that incites anger or violence.

Perhaps you could call it a bit sarcastic, but definately not a semi rant, rant, or a raving.
"

Well, now let's see if this holds true.
If we click here and go to the noun, we find, "1 a : a bombastic extravagant speech"
Ok, let's go further. If you click here, you'll see that it says bombastic means "overblown". And if you click right over here, we'll see where extravagant means, "2 a : exceeding the limits of reason or necessity" (as in, overblown).
So a rant is... Something which is overblown and exceeds the limits of reason or necessity. Sort of like saying we should chop up all the dark fibre? I think so... :)

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I think you'll find something more fitting to your personality either here, or there, or maybe here, or perhaps there, or here.

And as for 3 people being wrong, and you being right? Please check here.

Thankyoupleasedrivethrough

We're getting there, still not quite "there" yet though...

"There is no reason to not use that dark fibre, and no reason to assume that it wouldn't be used. In fact, it would be ignorant to think it would just go wasted, never touched, because it can fill the roll it's needed for just as well as this new plastic fibre, possibly better, as we do not know the throughput on this new fibre. Also, from a cost standpoint, no matter how cheap it is to lay this new fibre down, corps have already eaten the cost of laying that dark fibre. It would be foolish to lay down new fibre when there is perfectly good fibre already laid, just waiting to be lit up."

People have been saying this for years, and yet companies continue to lay new fibre without ever turning on the dark fibre already available. This article has some excellent information on why I'm right. To quote a nice part of it, "...companies that installed fiber conduits in the late 1980s to latecomers who started installing cables last year. ... Most of the fiber is unused and many of the companies that installed it are struggling. ... the conventional wisdom among telecom experts is that about 95 percent of the nation's fiber is unused, or "dark." "

On to the next silly response...

"...couldn't qualify as a rant... and your two lines were not
a) a violent or extravagant speech or writing
or
b) a speech or piece of writing that incites anger or violence.

Perhaps you could call it a bit sarcastic, but definately not a semi rant, rant, or a raving.
"

Well, now let's see if this holds true.
If we click here and go to the noun, we find, "1 a : a bombastic extravagant speech"
Ok, let's go further. If you click here, you'll see that it says bombastic means "overblown". And if you click right over here, we'll see where extravagant means, "2 a : exceeding the limits of reason or necessity" (as in, overblown).
So a rant is... Something which is overblown and exceeds the limits of reason or necessity. Sort of like saying we should chop up all the dark fibre? I think so... :)

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I think you'll find something more fitting to your personality either here, or there, or maybe here, or perhaps there, or here.

And as for 3 people being wrong, and you being right? Please check here.

Thankyoupleasedrivethrough

There may well be, but check out Despair for the perfect antidote. After working alongside and suffering from the bs emerging from the mouthes of Management Consultants, I am in frank admiration for how much can be paid for so little.

How do they intend to identify the specified IP ranges?"

Easy, use this.

"What if the RIAA anonymously pays consultants? There are plenty of people out there writing exploits who would love a regular paycheck, especially a fat one."

Worried about consultants? Read here.

"What if whoever the RIAA hires fakes their source IP?"

I doubt the RIAA could manage to find anyone intelligent enough to forge ip headers. If they did, I'd imagine it wouldn't be too terribly difficult for ISP's to work together and backtrack the actual packets flowing through the routers.

it's too bad you're just a fucking moron.

It's too bad you can't recognize a funny quote from despair.com.

Conformity is a powerful magnet, even if you're aware of it and actively trying to be different (which itself can be a kind of conformity).

--

The problem illustrated by the article seems to be two-fold:

-One: The USPTO has to change the way they award patents/tradmarks. Claims such as the ones we've been seeing recently will piss off enough people that legislative action will be inevitable. Spam will have it's day once enough congressmen see an incentive to approach the subject properly (positive reaction) or they get targetted themselves (negative reaction). Either way, the issue gets the attention from decision makers. So you know, I'd honestly prefer the first method.
-Two: Less obvious an answer is that the software industry expanded too fast. Companies are pressured to delivery products without much/any testing. The speculative stock values of dot-coms fell apart and agitated investors pressure the companies to do whatever to resurrect their portfolios. It's human nature to want something more when it's taken away. Getting more on topic, the extreme speculation that was seen by all a couple years ago found it's way into the business models of the same companies through questionable patentand trademark moves (I can't think of a copyright example just now wrt computers, but there are tons of suspicious claims in the music industry).

Then there's the issue of people who jump on the bandwagon. I've run into those who use some net jargon and offer to design a site for me or friends. The first question I ask: "What's the HTML/http stand for?" <10% know the answer. Too many people claiming to know anything.

http://www.despair.com/stup24x30pri.html

You can't go wrong with Demotivators in calendar or poster form. Heck, every one even lists 'disaffected students' as an ideal target audience!

Okay, so they're not illegal, but they'll give your bright-eyed student a glimpse at the future of things to come after they start actively using your other gifts...

http://www.despair.com/ignorance.html

One of these .

Do Not Fold, Bend, Mutilate or Spindle this agreement.

ELECTRONIC END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR FROWNY(TM)

NOTICE: THIS IS A CONTRACT. BY OPENING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT. Please read this agreement carefully.

The following document contains Despair Inc.'s Official Registered Trademark, which combines a colon (":") with a hyphen ("-") and an open-parenthesis ("(") to create an ASC-II depiction of sadness, henceforth referred to as the "Frowny(tm)". This document also includes related documentation. In return for acquiring a license to use the Frowny(tm) and its requisite documentation, you agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. Scope of Use. You may cut and paste the Frowny(tm) into one(1) and only one email, which may in turn be sent to one and only one recipient, who is restricted from further forwarding or otherwise duplicating this Frowny(tm). Neither you nor the one legal recipient of this Frowny(tm) may resize, recolor or otherwise modify this item upon receipt of it. Failure to comply with any of the aforementioned terms will be a violation of trademark law and will as well void any warranty for the accompanying Frowny(tm).

2. Proprietary Rights and Obligations. The structure and organization of the Frowny(tm) is the valuable property of Despair. You agree that no copies shall be made of the Frowny(tm), and that your single use of the Frowny(tm) in email shall be accompanied by this unedited Electronic End User License Agreement. As well, you agree not to alter, reverse engineer or disassemble the Frowny(tm). Removal of any individual component of the Frowny(tm) is expressly forbidden and may result in a miscommunication of your demeanor to the recipient.

3. Assignment. You may assign your rights under this Agreement to a third party who agrees in writing to be bound by this Agreement prior to the assignment provided that you transfer the sole copy of the Frowny(tm) and this related documentation to the third party and provided that you have not used the Frowny(tm). Except as set forth above, you may not assign your rights under this Agreement.

4. No Other Rights. Title to and ownership of the Frowny(tm) and documentation and any reproductions thereof shall remain with Despair. Except as stated above, this Agreement does not grant you any right (whether by license, ownership or otherwise) in or to intellectual property with respect to the Frowny(tm).

5. Term. This license is effective until terminated. Despair has the right to terminate your license immediately if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. Upon any such termination you will destroy the original Frowny(tm) and its related documentation.

6. Use Restrictions. The use of the Frowny(tm) with any Instant Messaging Client, including America Online's Instant Messenger, is expressly forbidden, as it may induce a permanent and irreversible transmogrification of the Frowny(tm) into an icon which, while retaining some recognizable expression of sadness, is severely jaundiced and no longer protected by trademark rights extended to registration 75502288.

7. Warranty. DESPAIR MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE, OR STATUTORY, AS TO ANY MATTER WHATSOEVER. IN PARTICULAR, ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS ARE EXPRESSLY EXCLUDED.

8. Limit of Liability. (a) IN NO EVENT WILL DESPAIR BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST SAVINGS, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY PARTY, EVEN IF A DESPAIR REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. (b) Some states or provinces do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.

9. Governing Law. This Agreement will be governed by the laws in force in the State of Texas excluding the application of its conflicts of laws rules. This Agreement will not be governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the application of which is expressly excluded. If any part of this Agreement is found void and unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of the Agreement, which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms. You agree that the Frowny(tm) will not be shipped, transferred or exported into any country or used in any manner prohibited by the United States Export Administration Act.

10. Entire Agreement. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, UNDERSTAND IT AND THAT IT IS THE COMPLETE AND EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF YOUR AGREEMENT WITH DESPAIR WHICH SUPERSEDES ANY PRIOR AGREEMENT, ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND ANY OTHER COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN DESPAIR AND YOU RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AGREEMENT, AND YOUR OBLIGATIONS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT SHALL INURE TO THE BENEFIT OF YOUR LICENSORS WHOSE RIGHTS ARE LICENSED UNDER THIS AGREEMENT. NO VARIATION OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT WILL BE ENFORCEABLE AGAINST DESPAIR UNLESS DESPAIR GIVES ITS EXPRESS CONSENT IN WRITING SIGNED BY AN OFFICER OF DESPAIR.

11. Government End Users. The Frowny(tm) and documentation are "Commercial Items," as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. 2.101, consisting of "Commercial Computer Artwork" and "Commercial Computer Artwork Documentation," as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. 12.212 or 48 C.F.R. 22i7.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. 12.212 or 48 C.F.R. 227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Artwork and Commercial Computer Artwork Documentation are being license to U.S. Government end users (A) only as Commercial Items and (B) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Despair Incorporated, 660 Preston Forest Center #153, Dallas, Texas, 75230-2718.



Despair and the Frowny(tm) are registered trademarks of Despair, Incorporated.

Inquiries and comments about either the Frowny(tm) or this licensing agreement may be directed to feedback@despair.com.

Additional information about Despair may be obtained by visiting http://www.despair.com.

End license agreement. Please refer to the "Frowny(tm)" Owner's Manual for instructions of proper use.

Copyright (c) 2001, Despair Inc.

Unfortunately, that air of superiority is a common side effect of being better than everyone else.

It was despair.com, who trademarked the :-(. There were no patents involved.

More details on this page.

Or see the recent 9 Chickweed Lane takes on the question (starting around the beginning of March).

those despair.com demotivator calendars...see this which goes something like "it could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others"

Couldn't have said it better myself.

This test image was displayed in the same video mode as before (VESA 640 x 480@85Hz).

I'd be interested in seeing the results from the same experiment, except with a framed Despair, Inc. poster hanging on an old-skool-Mac beige or old-skool-iMac blue wall, with funky Star Trek red alert lighting (or disco lights too), and two 17" monitors at 1600 x 1200 side by side, with a third 15" montior running some spiffy Winamp visualization at 1024 x 768 to the left ome, and a funky Sharper Image thing glowing on the desk.

Or you can just do the experiment at 1280 x 1024.

Turbyne
"Guys cry over cars; men cry over boats, but real men cry over guns." - unknown

At least in case of IE, all I have to clean out are the favorites it creates, in Media and Links. Not that bad.

Don't forget to

Yes, remember what they say at despair.com:

"The only consistent feature of all your dissatisfying relationships is YOU."

http://www.despair.com/consulting.html

anyone see Despair's new paper-shredder decals?

you can now convert your boring old office paper shredder into one of three types- an "employee suggestion box", "customer suggestion box" and my favorite, an "Enron Document Storage" system.

funny stuff. how long til they get sued?

at least Despair's patent dispute for emoticons was a joke. I thought we kicked British butt out of our economy a long time ago.

I've decided that I'm giving out these. Maybe I'll get lucky and won't have to worry about spending a load of money for an ounce of sex. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

What's next, a reference to the Amazon Learning Perl book?

The fundamental assumption Katz seems to make about the net appears as:

... since the Net was supposed to be one of the most powerful devices ever for connecting with humans.

I'm wondering where the design goal of "most powerful device ever for connecting humans" became a design goal in evolution of the internet?

It probably wasn't anywhere in the early days of DARPA, where military dollars almost certainly were spent with the hope of someday having redundant (attack resistant) communication... or at least just keeping up with the Soviets.

It probably didn't come about under the National Science Foundation funding, where aside from continuing to fund "computer science", the 'net was a tool for collerabation between scientists. Admittedly, that's closer to what Katz believes the net was "supposed to be".

And finally, in the transition away from NSF funding to private funding, perhaps the 'net did change to a new fundamental goal.... but somehow I doubt that the telcos and other backbone providers, Network Solutions/ICANN, ISPs and the vast number of companies who now fund the internet infrastructure ever believed the net was "supposed to be" what Katz has in mind.

Sure, it would be nice and probably the world would be a better place if the internet did somehow empower the majority of the population to truely communicate with each other.

But wishful thinking doesn't make it so. And to believe it was "supposed to be" is simply delusion.

But not as ridiculous as the great frowny emoticon debate. I guess I'll also have to stop writing capital I's and lowercase l's. :-(

Oops.

That was Despair, Inc., who trademarked the frowny face :-( for greeting cards, calendars, etc. You can find some (humorous) details here.

That was Despair, Inc., who trademarked the frowny face :-( for greeting cards, calendars, etc. You can find some (humorous) details here.

It's a good thing you suggested :( and not :-(

I think it's rather amusing that on the Handspring Treo page, on one of the pics of it, they talk about the ability to send text messages(SMS), and on the screen on the treo, it reads, "I think our internet connection is down again :-("(hope they got permission from despair inc to use their trademark symbol), and right under that pic they talk about the Treo's wireless net capabilties...

-Henry

I get very little trouble for being quirky, though. I've even had jobs where they make a point of bringing interview candidates past my office.

The most important part of being a quirky engineer is being competent. You have to make it abundantly clear that your quirkiness doesn't detrimentally affect your job performance.

Raw productivity, though, is not enough. You also need to be present during reasonable hours to be accessible as a resource to the other engineers, to answer questions for folks from other parts of the company (such as Marketing and QA), and you have to make it to the meetings.

I'm not sure how long this is going to last as an available mode of operation. As more and more people become programmers because it's a job, rather than because they like messing around with computers and are willing to redirect their messing around for pay, the fraction of quirky programmers will diminish. (I've experimented with inducing it-- when one previous job changed buildings, I purchased the Medium-Sized Treasure Box, the Bag of Mystery, and a gallon of Tiny Treasures from Archie McPhee, spread them all out on a spare desk, and said "It's free!" Unbeknownst to me, a friend in QA spread a lie that I'd be terribly hurt if people didn't take at least one. Weird goodies spread over the entire company, and some people started bringing in some of their own.) As long as we can keep the correlation of quirkiness and competence high, though, we should be able to keep software engineering safe for weirdness for a good while yet.

Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people...

I must say, on a more serious note, that I'm in the middle of a great book as I write this that I'd highly recommend to all. It is by Thomas Frank, the author of The Conquest of Cool and Commodify Your Dissent(some essays in it, anyway).

The book is One Market Under God . It is a profoundly engaging read, and discusses more than the matter of the eroding social contract that Katz touches on (and someone else rightly notes has been worsening over decades). It really delves deeply into mid-to-late 90s "New Economy" mythology- examining the religious texts of the myth (FastCompany, RedHerring, Wired (esp. Kevin Kelly's insufferable and blasphemous revisitations of the original luciferic lie itself, we-shall-be-as-gods!)), the Gods of the religion (the dotcom wunderkinds, the new economy billionaires, the venture capitalists, etc.), the mad prophets of the religion (Tom Peters et al), and of course, the religion itself- our New Economy! .

HIGHLY recommended.

I like the demotivational posters from
Despair, Inc, also available from Thinkgeek.

I like the ones at http://www.despair.com. Beats the fsck out of those damn "Successories".

Representative sample: Mediocrity

I like the ones at http://www.despair.com. Beats the fsck out of those damn "Successories".

Representative sample: Mediocrity

great, make broad generalizations about a large group of people based on your limited high school chess experience.

i'm glad you could share.

let's see if I have this right. people who think they're smart because of great skill with a game of strategy are way off base. here's a question: how much difference can you really point out between chess, a mathematical proof, and computer programming... they all require very similar cognitive processes. perhaps you can prove me wrong, or give me a pointer to 'scientists' who have proved it.

as for chess clubs having poorly-socialized members, and linux user groups coming in a close second... i'd like to direct your attention to the following...

and last of all. you say that chess is stupid, and magic and d&d are real games of strategy that demand true intelligence. how about this... maybe some chess players think that fantasy games are immature? i don't, but just a thought.

With stuff like HTML4.0 and JRE1.x being pretty commonplace, do we really need yet another browser?
I mean, apart from some cool features what really sets it aside from the rest is probably its (admittedly: nice =) interface.
So my question is: What more is a browser than an address bar, a status bar and a HTML/Applet viewer with back button? Does it really matter which one you use?

PS: Mozilla just got itself a huge potential market, sadly all non-MS Despair Inc. 2000-2001