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The point is not to criminalize everything so as to support the prison/industrial complex, such as Corrections Corporation of America and other such sleazoids. Once upon a time in America, there weren't mentally ill people on every street corner yelling to the moon.....

Book recommendation of the day: Nomi Prins' Jacked: How the Bush Republicans Are Picking Your Pocket

Those who want corruption want stupid patents so they can scare others away from working in their area of technology. They don't care if they sometimes lose a few court cases due to stupidly weak patents. In general, taking something to court is so expensive that the corrupters win just because of the threat.

A major way those who want corruption destroy government effectiveness is by starving the agencies of operating funds. That's what happened to the patent office. The corrupters won't allow hiring of enough people to do the job well.

For a discussion of starving the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, regulates the stock exchange), see this article: Keeping the SEC on a Starvation Diet. The corrupters don't want their stock manipulations discovered. They want more of this: Enron fraud, this: WorldCom fraud and this: Tyco fraud.

They are corrupting the IRS (U.S. Internal Revenue Service, collects taxes), too. The corrupters definitely do NOT want their tax returns to be audited, so they arrange that there is not enough money for audits: Bush Request for IRS Not Enough, Report Says

They are corrupting the courts. Those who want corruption spend huge amounts to get lazy judges elected, and work for the defeat of judges who do a good job.

Another major way that corruption of the courts is accomplished by not giving the courts enough money to operate. A 2003-06-24 op-ed article by Charles Williamson, then president of the Oregon State Bar, in The Oregonian, the Northwest's largest newspaper, said, "The crippling loss of nearly one-third of their staff have left our courts unable to hear criminal cases such as car theft, shoplifting, prostitution, fraud and identity theft."

The Bush administration has been appointing heads of government agencies who reduce the role of those agencies. After they destroy the effectiveness of the agencies, they go back to running their businesses, and the corruption gives them more profit.

The book Other People's Money discusses corporate corruption. It's excellent. Secrets and Lies: Operation "Iraqi Freedom" and After: A Prelude to the Fall of U.S. Power in the Middle East?, by Dilip Hiro is an excellent book about the corruption that led to the most recent U.S.-Iraq war.

The corruption is extremely widespread. The books mentioned above and the 3 movies and 34 books reviewed in this article are not enough to tell the story: Unprecedented Corruption: A guide to conflict of interest in the U.S. government.

In general, most Americans don't want to know how corrupt their government has become. Most don't read books. The TV news they watch is heavily influenced by the corrupters. For example, GE, one of the largest sellers of weapons, owns NBC, one of the major ways Americans get their news.

It's all part of a wider corruption. Large corrupters spend huge amounts to get lazy judges elected, and work for the defeat of judges who do a good job.

Part of the way corruption of the courts is accomplished by not giving the courts enough money to operate. A 2003-06-24 op-ed article by Charles Williamson, then president of the Oregon State Bar, in The Oregonian, the Northwest's largest newspaper, said, "The crippling loss of nearly one-third of their staff have left our courts unable to hear criminal cases such as car theft, shoplifting, prostitution, fraud and identity theft."

The corruption of the patent office is part of the same thing. Large corrupt corporations want stupid patents because they can scare others away from coming close to their technology. They don't care if they lose a few court cases. Taking something to court is so expensive that they win just because of the threat.

The book Other People's Money discusses corporate corruption. It's excellent.

35 Books and 3 movies say the Bush administration is the most corrupt the U.S. has ever had: Unprecedented Corruption: A guide to conflict of interest in the U.S. government.

Many Americans don't want to know that their government has become corrupt, so you can expect hostile comments if you try to talk about corruption.

As mentioned previously, shop somewhere else than BN.com. Try fetchbook.info, which is a search engine for new and used books from 110 bookstores.

What I gleaned was that it's sold used at half.com for under $25 shipped and new at Overstock.com for less than $30 shipped.

Don't know if this has been pointed out yet, but Fetchbook.info is good for checking prices on books.

No. Some people enjoy taking apart and building automobile engines. Some people enjoy designing and building their own aircraft. Some people enjoy growing fruits and vegetables in their own backyard garden. Some people even enjoy coding their own software. So, there is nothing ridiculous about some people enjoying electronic assembly.

I envy, but also pity those who have the time and dedication to invest in such pirsuits.

Here, let me really make your day:

FetchBook.info

List of books on this page:

Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits, Vol. 4
McGraw-Hill Circuit Encyclopedia & Troubleshooting Guide, Volume 2
McGraw-Hill Circuit Encyclopedia & Troubleshooting Guide, Volume 3
McGraw-Hill Circuit Encyclopedia & Troubleshooting Guide, Volume 4
Printed Circuit Board Materials Handbook
Measuring Circuits
Converter & Filter Circuits
Electronic Technology Handbook
ELEKTA Professional: Knowledge-Based Systems for Electronics, CD-ROM & Manual

Quality Technical Books

Partial list of books on this page:

The Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits, Volume 6
The Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits, Volume 7
The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications (2003), 80th Edition
HF Digital Handbook
Spread Spectrum Sourcebook
Complete Wireless Design
Secrets of RF Circuit Design

I understand this may sound a little harsh, and many Slashdotters "root for the underdog," but I'm sure some of us here probably work in the consumer product industry and make our living designing/building/selling these things.

This has nothing to do with "rooting for the underdog." People build these projects usually because they ENJOY building these projects!

The last thing we need is another one or one-hundred rogues to take away our business by giving away plans for cheap knock-offs.

There are thousands of bakers and cooks in this country, and here I am with a recipe book...

Personally I wouldn't spend my time and money into these projects for a few reasons: they haven't been certified,

That's your choice, of course, but you won't help our society by attacking the hobbiest market.

My Mom sews clothes for people. Nobody has certified her, either, but people actually buy things she has made.

they were designed by an amateur or amateurs (usually), and the cost of time, frustration, raw materials and tools required far exceed the price of just buying an off-the-shelf unit.

There is nothing like the satisfaction of seeing your own project actually work. After I installed an oil pressure gauge in my old Dodge Dart, I spent a lot more time watching that gauge than I required to read the oil pressure.

Years ago, "Radio Electronics" magazine featured directions for etching and assembling the motherboard of a 386 computer from scratch. A hobbiest who could build one of those and make it work definitely would have a lot of bragging rights, even though most people would not understand what he meant when he says he built his own computer.

I enjoy assembling my own computers from component parts. It's kind of therapeutic. Besides that, I have yet to see anyone offer a computer off-the-shelf that is exactly like I want.

And to a lesser extent, they are intended to undermine an existing company's business by discouraging the purchase of their product and instead building a cheap rip-off that is "almost" as good.

Boy, that's going to be a tough sell...

A list of his books

Since what you're looking for is about as broad as the universe, I figured I'd point you to the man who set me straight back in 8th grade. Godel, Escher, Bach not only taught me much about the arts, sciences, and mathematics, but it rekindled a passion for learning that the education system had done it's best to beat to a pulp. And that's a passion I still have today thanks to him.