Haven't Monsanto's patent claims hinged, at least partly, on the fact that their wheat has larger yields and thus give greater profits to the farmer?
If a farmer is unable to sell his wheat crops, or if the price of his crop was damaged due to encroachment of GMO DNA into his crop, I wonder if he would be able to "strike first" at Monsanto, claiming damage due to Monsanto's negligent release of the strain!
Again, I'm sure someone['s lawyers] will make millions...
THIS may be the proverbial straw that breaks the back of big-business GMO.
If farmers can't sell their wheat, then they will stop buying GMO seed. It's a perfect storm for the way market forces shape products and individual actions.
"'What happens if you buy a device for an employee and they leave the job a month later? How are you going to settle up? "
This is ridiculous. If the company buys a device for the employee, the employee is obligated to return it at the end of their employment. Period. Any other answer is simply a manager/administrator that doesn't want to pay for the hardware OR for the resources necessary to manage the hardware. I work in the Medical IT field, and BYOD is a very hot topic these days. My answer is always this: employee-owned devices should have NO access to the internal corporate network.
Just as employee-owned computers/laptops/etc shouldn't be allowed on the network, neither should employee-owned mobile devices. They're just too big a vector for incoming threats.
Since just about everything uses USB cables these days, anyhow, why is anyone bothering with designing chargers targeted towards a specific device or family of devices? Just put a USB A receptacle on there, and call it done! Let the licensing be taken care of by those who make cables.
Oh, and one thing I'm NOT confused about is Apple's strategy....screw you, Apple. I'm sick of paying for products that you need to have an apple computer to program for... for an OS that only runs on your hardware, despite having the ability to run just about anywhere... for products that don't have user-serviceable batteries...and for your stupid, non-compliant connectors. I bought my last apple product 5 years ago, and I haven't looked back.
So the same systems that verify if a potato chip is bad couldn't do a quick visual inspection of each pill, make sure it's the right shape, size, color, and has the correct markings?
Seems like there are already industrial systems in place that can handle this - no need to do so much as reinvent the technology!
While human error like you describe above certainly exists, these systems can also catch drug allergy interactions, drug-to-drug interactions, and even food-drug interactions. Along with the already-existing systems in most pharmacies, these systems provide another layer of protection for patients. They also provide doctors with real-time best-cost analyses, allowing them to prescribe the most effective, least expensive drugs based on a patient's particular drug coverage. This may help to lower the overall price of healthcare and insurance coverage.
Protection from the errors you describe isn't technologically insurmountable, either. Robotic systems that are linked to the prescription and automatically fill prescriptions eliminate the pharmacy errors, and EMRs that provide diagnosis/drug checking are likely right around the corner. Doctors don't like the latter much, however, because they are perceived as taking too much of the medical process out of their hands.
Disclaimer: I work in the field, but am NOT associated with any particular vendor.
Even more effective than stand-alone eRx systems are Electronic Medical Record systems with integrated eprescribing. The ability to better track & manage patients' problems longitudinally provides for much better care and better outcomes.
I recognize that there are, however, some fairly major privacy concerns....many of which still exist at the ePrescribing level. Let's face it, if a system knows what you're taking, it doesn't take huge logical leaps to deduce your underlying conditions.
The fact that 3 million people are in jail (1% of our population!) is a testament to many things, but us standing up for ourselves isn't one of them. It's a testament to a drug policy gone wrong, to government laws & regulations that can make ANYONE a criminal, to victim-less crimes being prosecuted at increasing rates...
But if you truly do trust the government over your neighbors, then I pity you. We need to stand together with our neighbors. Instead, we let the distinction between D and R (or L, like me!) foster our mistrust and hatred of one another.
I would suggest that Sony and other developers base their statistical analysis on game time, etc. on the TRUE lifespan of a sold copy, including used sales, instead of solely on first-sale plays. Then they can come up with a true pricing model based on the very legal practice of the sale of used games, instead of trying to circumvent gamers' rights.
"For example, there was plenty of "evidence" that the sun and all planets orbit around the earth."
Unfortunately, the only available evidence was the BELIEF that the Earth was the center of the universe, that we were somehow special. Why did they believe that? Because they were told that the Bible told them so.
Scientists were also somewhat cowed by accusations and convictions of heresy - you don't challenge something that a HUGE power base is established around, if you value your career, well-being, or neck! We value Copernicus because he had the temerity to stand up for the *truth* and the evidence behind the truth...not the truth of the day.
Unfortunately, I think that's much like what we're seeing now. There is a HUGE power base around the environmental movement. Billions of dollars are being made on this - and they're not about to see their investments in power or capital returns reduced to nothing by something as troublesome as "the truth." Careers are being made and lost on this - and there's a lot of political wrangling around either side.
I'm not saying that there IS or IS NOT anthropomorphic global warming - I just think that there remains enough doubt about the subject that it warrants further investigation - and does NOT warrant panic, nor wholesale changes to current socio-economic norms....yet.
They know because their numbers tell them that cheating has decreased by about 70%.
Of course, it's in their best interest to show a decline in cheating....
If that were the case, then the military would not have made the mistake of launching this in view of a major city, and certainly not when atmospheric conditions would light the exhaust plume to provide MAXIMUM visibility.
Slashdot Mirror
Reading the design study by Peter Limon (http://vlhc.org/Limon_seminar.pdf), I couldn't help but notice that it made rather liberal use of Comic Sans.
I'll probably burn some of my karma to say this, but I must say it: Nothing screams professionalism like Comic Sans.
That's true.
Haven't Monsanto's patent claims hinged, at least partly, on the fact that their wheat has larger yields and thus give greater profits to the farmer?
If a farmer is unable to sell his wheat crops, or if the price of his crop was damaged due to encroachment of GMO DNA into his crop, I wonder if he would be able to "strike first" at Monsanto, claiming damage due to Monsanto's negligent release of the strain!
Again, I'm sure someone['s lawyers] will make millions...
I specifically refrained from saying "Free Market" or any derivative thereof.
The regulatory environment is the field on which the market is set.
Interesting point.
It'll make someone ('s lawyers) millions, I'm sure!
THIS may be the proverbial straw that breaks the back of big-business GMO.
If farmers can't sell their wheat, then they will stop buying GMO seed. It's a perfect storm for the way market forces shape products and individual actions.
"'What happens if you buy a device for an employee and they leave the job a month later? How are you going to settle up? "
This is ridiculous. If the company buys a device for the employee, the employee is obligated to return it at the end of their employment. Period. Any other answer is simply a manager/administrator that doesn't want to pay for the hardware OR for the resources necessary to manage the hardware. I work in the Medical IT field, and BYOD is a very hot topic these days. My answer is always this: employee-owned devices should have NO access to the internal corporate network.
Just as employee-owned computers/laptops/etc shouldn't be allowed on the network, neither should employee-owned mobile devices. They're just too big a vector for incoming threats.
Since just about everything uses USB cables these days, anyhow, why is anyone bothering with designing chargers targeted towards a specific device or family of devices? Just put a USB A receptacle on there, and call it done! Let the licensing be taken care of by those who make cables.
Oh, and one thing I'm NOT confused about is Apple's strategy....screw you, Apple. I'm sick of paying for products that you need to have an apple computer to program for... for an OS that only runs on your hardware, despite having the ability to run just about anywhere ... for products that don't have user-serviceable batteries...and for your stupid, non-compliant connectors. I bought my last apple product 5 years ago, and I haven't looked back.
So the same systems that verify if a potato chip is bad couldn't do a quick visual inspection of each pill, make sure it's the right shape, size, color, and has the correct markings?
Seems like there are already industrial systems in place that can handle this - no need to do so much as reinvent the technology!
Not true!
While human error like you describe above certainly exists, these systems can also catch drug allergy interactions, drug-to-drug interactions, and even food-drug interactions. Along with the already-existing systems in most pharmacies, these systems provide another layer of protection for patients. They also provide doctors with real-time best-cost analyses, allowing them to prescribe the most effective, least expensive drugs based on a patient's particular drug coverage. This may help to lower the overall price of healthcare and insurance coverage.
Protection from the errors you describe isn't technologically insurmountable, either. Robotic systems that are linked to the prescription and automatically fill prescriptions eliminate the pharmacy errors, and EMRs that provide diagnosis/drug checking are likely right around the corner. Doctors don't like the latter much, however, because they are perceived as taking too much of the medical process out of their hands.
Disclaimer: I work in the field, but am NOT associated with any particular vendor.
Even more effective than stand-alone eRx systems are Electronic Medical Record systems with integrated eprescribing. The ability to better track & manage patients' problems longitudinally provides for much better care and better outcomes.
I recognize that there are, however, some fairly major privacy concerns....many of which still exist at the ePrescribing level. Let's face it, if a system knows what you're taking, it doesn't take huge logical leaps to deduce your underlying conditions.
The fact that 3 million people are in jail (1% of our population!) is a testament to many things, but us standing up for ourselves isn't one of them. It's a testament to a drug policy gone wrong, to government laws & regulations that can make ANYONE a criminal, to victim-less crimes being prosecuted at increasing rates...
But if you truly do trust the government over your neighbors, then I pity you. We need to stand together with our neighbors. Instead, we let the distinction between D and R (or L, like me!) foster our mistrust and hatred of one another.
In the real world, faced with $244,000,000 in lawsuits, the contractor folds up and declares bankruptcy.
Then everyone will have a laugh and the taxpayers will pick up the tab.
Lovely PLUMAGE, the Norweigan Blue!
I would GLADLY pay $10 a month for ESPN's offerings via the web.
I would likely pay MORE than that for online offerings of the NCAA football season, streamed over the web.
I would suggest that Sony and other developers base their statistical analysis on game time, etc. on the TRUE lifespan of a sold copy, including used sales, instead of solely on first-sale plays. Then they can come up with a true pricing model based on the very legal practice of the sale of used games, instead of trying to circumvent gamers' rights.
Thank you, Encyclopedia Brown!
Libertarians are right-wing economically, but more left on social issues.
We're actually kind of right-wing extremist AND left-wing extremist. Makes us awfully fun at parties! ;-)
I'm past my contract terms with them and sick of them, to boot! If they do this to me, then I'll tell them to take their plan and shove it.
"For example, there was plenty of "evidence" that the sun and all planets orbit around the earth."
Unfortunately, the only available evidence was the BELIEF that the Earth was the center of the universe, that we were somehow special. Why did they believe that? Because they were told that the Bible told them so.
Scientists were also somewhat cowed by accusations and convictions of heresy - you don't challenge something that a HUGE power base is established around, if you value your career, well-being, or neck! We value Copernicus because he had the temerity to stand up for the *truth* and the evidence behind the truth...not the truth of the day.
Unfortunately, I think that's much like what we're seeing now. There is a HUGE power base around the environmental movement. Billions of dollars are being made on this - and they're not about to see their investments in power or capital returns reduced to nothing by something as troublesome as "the truth." Careers are being made and lost on this - and there's a lot of political wrangling around either side.
I'm not saying that there IS or IS NOT anthropomorphic global warming - I just think that there remains enough doubt about the subject that it warrants further investigation - and does NOT warrant panic, nor wholesale changes to current socio-economic norms....yet.
This may be one of the funniest posts I've ever seen on /.
Bravo!
You forgot a step...
5. Profit!
They know because their numbers tell them that cheating has decreased by about 70%. Of course, it's in their best interest to show a decline in cheating....
If that were the case, then the military would not have made the mistake of launching this in view of a major city, and certainly not when atmospheric conditions would light the exhaust plume to provide MAXIMUM visibility.
Probably nothing. The news over here has no freaking clue what a metre is!
That's all good, until they start to hurl moon rocks at us, via a robot-built rail gun.