Wikipedia's only selection mechanism is consensus and as such it's only evolution is towards not offending the preconceived notions of those who edit it. Once WP has nothing in it anyone objects to it will have adaptd to its environment perfectly.
That does not strike me as being a great goal for an encyclopedia, even one which uses WP's rather odd definition of that word.
My university will pay for the lawyer fees to file the patent,
Well, for starters, your "university" should have been releasing the invention to the public, not locking it up in a patent. Basically, any "university" that supports patents is undeserving of the name.
Yeah, yeah - I know. Universities are for making money, not improving the human condidition. Heard it all before.
You want to get paid for inventing things? go and work in industry. You want to be paid for teaching? then don't tell us what we can and can't do with the knowledge you impart.
Just as an update: Gutsy Gibbon downloaded, runs from the CD fine on the laptop and (with the addition of a firmware file) can run my WiFi. But it won't install. It thinks the 80GB Toshiba 8025GA ATA disc is a sata drive and throws up everytime it tries to access it.
I've lost track of how many versions of Ubuntu don't work for me now.
Isn't "Ubuntu" an ancient word meaning "Can't install Gentoo"?
Well, ironically, I've got a laptop here that has Gentoo on it (WiFi working fine) but I have yet to find a machine (out of at least 5 over several years) on which Ubuntu would install and work. I'm dowloading GG now in the hope of getting a machine my mother can use but so far "Ubuntu" has meant "Can't install at all" to me.
The thing you get from the patent office should be an exchange. We give you this funny monopoly right, you tell everybody in plain English how it works.
In that case the explanation would have been:
It uses cookies. DUH!
Using someone else's invention (cookies) to do specifically what that invention was designed to do (recognise returning customers) is not something that even the most retarded patent examiner should have considered for a second.
EVERYONE knew how 1-click worked as soon as they heard of it for the simple reason that lots of people were already doing it and simply had never thought they could patent somthing someone else had invented and left to the public domain.
Microsoft *IS* an unprecedentedly evil company bent on advancing its own aims at ANY and ALL costs regardless of the resulting chaos and damage that it may cause in its wake.
Well, yes, they are. But it's hardly unprecedented. Most of the laws limiting what actions stock brokers can and can't do are a response to the mess that such companies caused in a free market back in the days of the Rail Barons. There are hundreds if not thousands of companies that would happily let children starve to death or die of AIDS etc. if they can make a quick buck out of it. That's what unregulated capitalism is all about, when you get down to it: pure Social Darwanism. That's part of the reason it doesn't work as a means of building any sort of civilised society, which in turn is why supporters of unrestrained capitalism have taken to denying the existance of society as a means of avoiding responsibility for the suffering and damage they leave, as you say, in their wake.
"We" is only smarter than "me" if "I" am below average intelligence or "we" are very small in number. A chess grandmaster would easily beat the whole of/. if we were voting for our moves. In fact the only way to make "we" smart enough to win such a game would be to have another grandmaster vetoing the choices. In which case, what does he need us for?
Rather, the system is broken because of the length of the monopoly (maybe not monopoly after the E-Bay case) granted to the holder.
That is correct: any length greater than zero is a broken patent system.
Patents are a left over from the middle ages and have no useful role in modern society where every single person can sit down at a cheap computer and create new inventions from their own original thoughts.
When invention was a rare and difficult thing that required physical processes and investment to bring to market there was some argument for special governmental protection of the few who were educated or special enough to engage in it. That time ended when the first computer program was writen. Physical invention may still deserve patent protection (but I doubt it), but software is far too advanced to need it and in fact is hampered by such outmoded ways of treating the economy.
just so those 4 people in the world that complained that the LOTR wasn't word for word like the books will be happy
Such people are never happy with any adaptation no matter how close to the original material. It's simply not possible to adapt such a story to the cinema and not change things. At the very minimum it's impossible to match what such pedants imagined in their heads so something will always bother them.
On the other hand, Jackson's version was just plain bad.
I have to ask, did you also go and watch the second and third movie also? If so, why?
Saw the first in the cinema, said I wasn't going to pay to sit throught that sort of crap again. Fiancee talked me into going to the second shit-fest. That was that. I've never seen the third and I still want my money back for the first two. Jackson couldn't direct traffic in a ghost town.
So you're one of the four people in the world that think that books should be adapted to movies exactly word for word.
No, I'm one of the other four people that still thing that people who can't direct shouldn't be allowed to. Jackson butchered LotR, sure, but that's nothing to do with adapting such a long book. Anyone would have to make cuts and changes make LotR into a watchable movie (or set of movies). Everything that worked in the films was down to other people: the acting (in the face of a terrible script), design, cinematography etc. were all superb. But Jackson's "I flicked through the book once and didn't like it" script sucked, and his direction was comically bad.
If by "hope" you mean "There's hope that Peter Jackson will have a heart attack and die before shitting all over the Hobbit." then perhaps it's the right word.
"Do you want the Linux that works with Windows? Or the one that doesn't?"
The one that doesn't. The one that does will be loaded down with all sorts of bloat to cope with 20 years of shitty programing by 3rd rate "engineers" who's design briefs consist of a calendar with launch dates on it. Being compatable with that dog pile is no way to make a quality product. Which isn't a big deal for Novell, obviously.
Don't be an asshat. I'm not judging Iran for supporting the insurgency in Iraq (as with the nukes issue - they'd be crazy not to) - I'm just saying its a fact, and that China amongst others are supporting Iran in this enterprise because it suits their interests.
That's true but you grossly overstated it in your OP. China is not bleeding the US dry by supporting Iran. The US is losing some cannon fodder in return for huge stockpiles of oil and the chance to test new technology in actual combat situations. The aristocracy's view of that is that the cost is so low that isn't even worth noting. Iran is supplying a limited amount of physical support, probably most of it by unoffical volunteers who remember what the Americans did to them back in the Iran/Iraq war, and China is doing nothing much more than making supportive noises. When Israel finally blow the crap out of the Iranian nuke projects, China will not intervene.
What's interesting about Iran is that after 9/11 they seemed to be the only country in that part of the world that felt bad about what happened. I believe they were one of the few countries that held candlelight vigils that night and prayed for the victims of the attacks.
Yes, but that didn't fit Rumsfeld's self-justification so they had to be pushed and pushed into a corner so that they'd support I'madinnerjacket who would in turn spout the correct rhetoric to give a causus beli for an invasion. Which in turn is another reason for them to support the uprisings in Iraq - if the US sorts out Iraq then they'll get it next.
Iran has no reason to do anything except hurt the US where it can, and that's entirely of the US's own doing.
China is already bleeding the US in Iraq (via its proxy Iran)
Oh, grow up.
Iran and Iranians are only too happy to aid the insurgents in Iraq for the very, very simple reason that a bunch of total cunts dropped weapons of mass destruction on them in the form of nerve gas and bio weapons. Who were these bastards that went beyond any acceptable limits of civilised behaviour? Well, goodness me! It seems that it was the good old US of fucking A and it's ongoing mission to bring democracy and strong IP laws to the world! And strangely, dropping plagues on Iran has led to anti-American feeling there?! They're just unreasonable, those ragheads.
If America had treated my country the way the US treated Iran, I'D be an insurgent too, and I suspect you would too, without any need to listen to anti-China fairy stories.
Apart from anything else, there's a mountain of reasons to hate China without having to make new ones up. Unless, of course, you are really just trying to justify some other totally unconnected policy.
THAT'S WHAT'S OBVIOUS! Cookies are for recognising returning users. 1-click uses the fact that the user is recognised to look up their information. THAT'S WHAT RECOGNISING A USER MEANS!
Jesus fucking Christ - these people are STUPID STUPID STUPID MORONS.
Slashdot Mirror
That does not strike me as being a great goal for an encyclopedia, even one which uses WP's rather odd definition of that word.
TWW
Well, for starters, your "university" should have been releasing the invention to the public, not locking it up in a patent. Basically, any "university" that supports patents is undeserving of the name.
Yeah, yeah - I know. Universities are for making money, not improving the human condidition. Heard it all before.
You want to get paid for inventing things? go and work in industry. You want to be paid for teaching? then don't tell us what we can and can't do with the knowledge you impart.
TWW
I've lost track of how many versions of Ubuntu don't work for me now.
TWW
Well, ironically, I've got a laptop here that has Gentoo on it (WiFi working fine) but I have yet to find a machine (out of at least 5 over several years) on which Ubuntu would install and work. I'm dowloading GG now in the hope of getting a machine my mother can use but so far "Ubuntu" has meant "Can't install at all" to me.
TWW
In that case the explanation would have been:
Using someone else's invention (cookies) to do specifically what that invention was designed to do (recognise returning customers) is not something that even the most retarded patent examiner should have considered for a second.
EVERYONE knew how 1-click worked as soon as they heard of it for the simple reason that lots of people were already doing it and simply had never thought they could patent somthing someone else had invented and left to the public domain.
TWW
Well, yes, they are. But it's hardly unprecedented. Most of the laws limiting what actions stock brokers can and can't do are a response to the mess that such companies caused in a free market back in the days of the Rail Barons. There are hundreds if not thousands of companies that would happily let children starve to death or die of AIDS etc. if they can make a quick buck out of it. That's what unregulated capitalism is all about, when you get down to it: pure Social Darwanism. That's part of the reason it doesn't work as a means of building any sort of civilised society, which in turn is why supporters of unrestrained capitalism have taken to denying the existance of society as a means of avoiding responsibility for the suffering and damage they leave, as you say, in their wake.
TWW
In that case there are no rights since anything can be revoked with a big enough gun/army/mob/vote.
All rights are subjective.
TWW
TWW
As the GP was saying, so what? What does it matter to MS if they have no trust and billions of dollars of sales?
TWW
What does Hotmail's limit matter when it won't deliver the bloody emails in the first place?
That is correct: any length greater than zero is a broken patent system.
Patents are a left over from the middle ages and have no useful role in modern society where every single person can sit down at a cheap computer and create new inventions from their own original thoughts.
When invention was a rare and difficult thing that required physical processes and investment to bring to market there was some argument for special governmental protection of the few who were educated or special enough to engage in it. That time ended when the first computer program was writen. Physical invention may still deserve patent protection (but I doubt it), but software is far too advanced to need it and in fact is hampered by such outmoded ways of treating the economy.
TWW
Just bullshit. I wish I got paid to make shit up like that.
As a non-drinker, that sounds great to me.
You can compile your kernel from source in almost any distro.
TWW
En garde!
Such people are never happy with any adaptation no matter how close to the original material. It's simply not possible to adapt such a story to the cinema and not change things. At the very minimum it's impossible to match what such pedants imagined in their heads so something will always bother them.
On the other hand, Jackson's version was just plain bad.
TWW
Saw the first in the cinema, said I wasn't going to pay to sit throught that sort of crap again. Fiancee talked me into going to the second shit-fest. That was that. I've never seen the third and I still want my money back for the first two. Jackson couldn't direct traffic in a ghost town.
TWW
No, I'm one of the other four people that still thing that people who can't direct shouldn't be allowed to. Jackson butchered LotR, sure, but that's nothing to do with adapting such a long book. Anyone would have to make cuts and changes make LotR into a watchable movie (or set of movies). Everything that worked in the films was down to other people: the acting (in the face of a terrible script), design, cinematography etc. were all superb. But Jackson's "I flicked through the book once and didn't like it" script sucked, and his direction was comically bad.
TWW
TWW
Podcast, n. A downloadable file tarted up to sound like new-media.
TWW
Yes...why is that? Who's behind it, that's what I'd like to know!
TWW
The one that doesn't. The one that does will be loaded down with all sorts of bloat to cope with 20 years of shitty programing by 3rd rate "engineers" who's design briefs consist of a calendar with launch dates on it. Being compatable with that dog pile is no way to make a quality product. Which isn't a big deal for Novell, obviously.
TWW
That's true but you grossly overstated it in your OP. China is not bleeding the US dry by supporting Iran. The US is losing some cannon fodder in return for huge stockpiles of oil and the chance to test new technology in actual combat situations. The aristocracy's view of that is that the cost is so low that isn't even worth noting. Iran is supplying a limited amount of physical support, probably most of it by unoffical volunteers who remember what the Americans did to them back in the Iran/Iraq war, and China is doing nothing much more than making supportive noises. When Israel finally blow the crap out of the Iranian nuke projects, China will not intervene.
TWW
Yes, but that didn't fit Rumsfeld's self-justification so they had to be pushed and pushed into a corner so that they'd support I'madinnerjacket who would in turn spout the correct rhetoric to give a causus beli for an invasion. Which in turn is another reason for them to support the uprisings in Iraq - if the US sorts out Iraq then they'll get it next.
Iran has no reason to do anything except hurt the US where it can, and that's entirely of the US's own doing.
TWW
Oh, grow up.
Iran and Iranians are only too happy to aid the insurgents in Iraq for the very, very simple reason that a bunch of total cunts dropped weapons of mass destruction on them in the form of nerve gas and bio weapons. Who were these bastards that went beyond any acceptable limits of civilised behaviour? Well, goodness me! It seems that it was the good old US of fucking A and it's ongoing mission to bring democracy and strong IP laws to the world! And strangely, dropping plagues on Iran has led to anti-American feeling there?! They're just unreasonable, those ragheads.
If America had treated my country the way the US treated Iran, I'D be an insurgent too, and I suspect you would too, without any need to listen to anti-China fairy stories.
Apart from anything else, there's a mountain of reasons to hate China without having to make new ones up. Unless, of course, you are really just trying to justify some other totally unconnected policy.
TWW
TWW