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I don't think that democracy can exist in the modern world. A better term for what we *call* 'democracy' would be 'mediacracy'.

Methinks "mediocrity" would be more accurate. As noted elsewhere,

Mediocrity:
It takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late.

This seems a very fitting description of how the US election process is being handled...

Power corrupts, while absolute power corrupts absolutely.

But it rocks absolutely, too.

Reminds me of one particular demotivator...

I'd say that if your prior inventions are so transparent that they could be stolen from a list, then they are probably not the sort of thing that ought to be patentable. Say for example, a method for organising tracks on an MP3 player by category and sub-category menus.

Sadly however, what ought to be patentable, and what is patentable are two very different beasts.

:-(

First rule of consulting, if you solve the problem you are out of a job.

See also:
http://despair.com/consulting.html

Puh-leez. As you can plainly see in this example, Creative is represented by the stick-man with the small ... stick, Creative's legal staff is represented by the stick-devil, and Apple is represented by the two stick-men who appear in the beginning. Any questions?

I think Despair.com said it best in their half-hearted, but sadly successful attempt in patenting the frowny-face emoticon.

If that's not screaming failure in our U.S. government, I don't know what is.

Yeah, him and the rest of us... :-(® :-D

I'm sure many of you have seen this.

Consulting

If you're not part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.

What the hell is Google thinking? Any mention of their name is great publicity and they should be happy with it. Instead they look like a bunch of corporate penny mongers trying to be a general inconvenience.

It almost reminds me of the time that Despair, Inc. patented the frowney emoticon :-( and threatened to charge anyone that used them. "Let our message to trademark violators be clear. Whether you are a 4th grade nothing using your momma's AOL account, or you are Time Magazine's 'Man of the Year', we are going to hunt you down, and when we do, we're really going to give you something to :-(® about."

The only difference is that Despair was only joking :-P.

--
"A man is asked if he is wise or not. He replies that he is otherwise" ~Mao Zedong

Needs to follow in Despair's footsteps and get into inspirational videos.

I've known quite a few managers who could have used the wisdom in this poster: http://despair.com/motivation.html

...Because none of us is as dumb as all of us. (http://despair.com/)

Very true. Actually, I think the stupidity of an organization is more a function of how large it is. Government always meets that criterion (well, except for France just after the Revolution). As corporations get larger, they get dumber and dumber until you have "B Ark" types always coming out with "mission statements" and insulting the people (such as research chemists at some pharmaceutical companies) who do the actual research (A-ark) and the actual work (C-ark). When you can easily divide a company into its A-ark, B-ark and C-ark people, that's when it is too big to be intelligent. Or, as Demotivators so eloquently put it...

Two things came to mind when reading this thread, and your post in particular:

• Individuality
• Conformity

This campaign is ridiculous. Although, I think it's pretty fitting that they have the punk music like motif on their website since it's the same "anti-estabishment... but not really" crap that this idont.com stuff is.

All of this nonsense makes me want to start another Fight Club.

Two things came to mind when reading this thread, and your post in particular:

• Individuality
• Conformity

This campaign is ridiculous. Although, I think it's pretty fitting that they have the punk music like motif on their website since it's the same "anti-estabishment... but not really" crap that this idont.com stuff is.

All of this nonsense makes me want to start another Fight Club.

Says it all, I think.

Avarice isn't too bad a theory, but I have trouble believing that the RIAA/MPAA could be so dumb.

I don't.
http://www.despair.com/meetings.html
"None of us is as dumb as all of us"

I think that this says it all.

With that point in mind, NASA has commissioned a new official poster for the ISS project.

It's kind of funny to see how this meme has come to be interpreted so seriously. ^^

The Frownie(TM) :-( is trademark of http://despair.com/frownies.html

That the Frenchman hasn't bothered (or perhaps succeeded) in getting a trademark on it before now in the US is a weakness is his position. While Wally World probably has a case for a trademark on the smiley, given the prior and widespread use of the smiley, the scope of the trademark deserved ought to be exceedingly narrow. I doubt the USPTO will get that, though. So of course, whoever gets the trademark, the public is likely to get it up the backside. =(
Fortunately, the frowny has already been trademarked separately.

It's a pity that the current law requiring vigorous defense of a trademark to prevent loosing it logically precludes making the voiding of trademark a legal penalty for attempting to unreasonably extend the trademark against reasonable public domain and fair uses. Imagine if Bass started sending threatening letters to gay pride groups. Whoever wins this fight, the rest of the world is likely to see similar nonsense on anything smiley-like anywhere... which, saccharine though the smiley is, will not help make the planet a happier place.

If I remember correctly, the sad face: :-(

is already trade marked by Despair Inc.

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

And it is already registered. So I don't see why one can't register a trade mark from the smily face.

All you jokers replying to this with ":-(" don't realize the irony of your actions -- fronies are a registered trademark of Despair, Inc.

A direct link to frownonthis.html is in order.

Actually, the sad face is owned by despair.com
http://www.despair.com/frownonthis.html

See the actual posting at
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&e ntry=75502288

Despair Inc. already has the frowny emoticon trademarked.

Also trademarked: http://www.despair.com/

If you don't feel exhausted at the end of a 10 hour day, your job is too easy. The kind of job robots will be doing soon.

(Comment shamelessly stolen from here).

All his failed projects remind me of this depressory: The only consistent feature of all your dissatisfying relationships is you.

in fact, "none of wii is as dumb as all of wii"

I think this poster http://despair.com/motivation.html is exactly what you need.

because someone just patented the Frowny - http://www.despair.com/demotivators/frownonthis.ht ml

Seriously, how long before someone patents your emotions. Brave New World had nothing on this!

Ever seen the "de-motivations" poster with a hammer above a board full of bent nails and divots? Tag line - something akin to there's no end to what you can really mess up as long as you keep trying...

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

Keep trying Scott (not)

I have been a reader of slashdot for years and a reader of Digg for a few months. What's going on at Digg doesn't really suprise me. Once a site become popular it's bound to be exploited, for marketing, for personal ego trips, you name it. Letting the community run the show is a neat idea in small doses. But collective intelligence sooner or later devolves into the lowest common denominator and open to manipulation. Just look at congress for a good example of that.

To people who think collective intelligence can truely make us all better, I point you to despair inc's take on it http://www.despair.com/idiocy.html

Slashdot is not perfect, neither is digg. I consider slashdot a tyranny of editors that happen to point stories of interest to me. I consider digg a mob of mindless users who sometimes find stories of interest to me. So now digg is a bit more on the tyranny side. So what?

Power corrupts.

None of us is as dumb as all of us.

Its much easier to succeed, if you never try anything difficult.

I assume that you work for the government? You get promoted faster if you're doing simple jobs and announce it as if it required a lot of hard work to achieve it.

http://despair.com/incompetence.html - 'Nuff said.

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

The moral of the story will either way: it never pays to give up.

Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.

Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Planning: Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress.

Persistence: It's over, man. Let her go.

Failure: When your best just isn't good enough.

Defeat: For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them.

Humiliation: The harder you try, the dumber you look.

Pessimism: Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.

Potential: Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (Note: Must-see photo on this one!)

-

Since he seems to be a contributing editor right now, can we just turn off stories submitted by Roland "LOOK WHAT SOMEONE ELSE CREATED THROUGH MY WEBSITE BECAUSE I CAN SUMMARIZE WITH GREAT DEXTERITY AND ADD NO VALUABLE COMMENTARY" Piquepaille? It's like posting links to slashdot on slashdot!

What the fuck?! Can't this guy work for a living? Oh! He's French! That explains it...

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