Yeah, that was my thought too. There's loads of low-temperature fuel cells. Here's the chart.
Very true - here's my China/patent story.
on
Patents Don't Pay
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Watching that happen to the company I used to work for. It's a really funny thing to watch. I'll tell the story without too much detail to avoid any hot water that might land myself in.
My former company - they make a widget. A specialized consumer widget. Other companies make similar widgets. They all began a patent war.
Widget for my former company has feature A and feature B. Other company patents the idea of combining features A and B in the widget. Company now has to make two widgets, one that does A and one that does B, even though the functions are complimentary and easily related. Obvious. And so on, and so on, and so on. The company would pay you if you had a patent idea there, so they would have something new to beat each other up with. Situation continues for years, with these small companies carving up the widget patent space so tightly it becomes a maze of legal decisions to simply make a non-infringing widget. Two main players emerged, my former company and one other.
Then, super-huge conglomerate X shows up in this widget space, and buys both major companies in the battle, as well as a couple of the small ones. Anyone see the punch line yet?
They didn't care about the companies - they wanted their patent libraries to lock out competition. Soon as they shored up their position in the market, they dismissed the engineering staff for all the companies but one - and outsourced the widget to China. And now that widget's market is locked up. There are no entry level players in this widget market anymore. Just megacompany X, and their single Chinese knockoff.
I get an inappropriate sense of glee when I tell clients that they can't do this or that or they have to spend x^2 dollars to make something obvious happen because of DRM issues.
For instance, I have two Windows 98 boxes in my basement I got from an auction. Am I a Windows user? Do I count twice? Or not at all since they'll never be powered up (got them for cheap long ago, never used them, will probably donate them to Goodwill).
And how about all those pirate boxes in Asia? Do they count or not?
If I had to guess, I'd say that WGA was (at least partially) an attempt to count windows users. And we all know how that worked out.
If you want proof, look at the quality of their backpedaling.
...the entire thing was a mistake and was only an internal site they forgot to password protect...
Riiiiiight. I'd love to use that the next time the RIAA comes knocking. "Honest! I thought that P2P application was only on my local net. I forgot to password protect it."
Notice how that works for them but would be insufficient for us.
If they think this new announcement has succeeded, I believe they will find they are mistaken. In other words, not to put too fine a point on it, GPLv3 worked.
I translate this as the following:
GPL Team: We just released GPL3.
MS: It doesn't apply to us.
GPL Team: We win!
I'd wait until a little more time has passed and lawyers on both sides hash it over a bit more before declaring victory. Especially against MS.
Seriously, this looks like a job for VMWare! Fight honeypots with honeypots!
Make a virtual machine completely empty other than a copy of Windows. Download their software onto it, and download the movies. The software has nothing to report back.
I would rather work hard, enjoy my work and come off with some sense of achievement than dick around all day.
You posted this on Slashdot, at 10:15 AM.
On a more serious note - IMHO, dicking around is important to being an engineer. I can't work a problem unless I see the whole thing. Sometimes I just don't see it, and can't work until I do. And that means sitting around staring out windows for hours on end. Or posting on Slashdot. It doesn't look like work, but it is.
If foosball centers you and takes you to the place where you find your answers - go play foosball. Anything that produces a net gain at the end of the day is worth doing.
The funniest part of the "But Clinton" defense of this regime is that it works by saying that Bush and Clinton are alike, something partisan Bush defenders should have a hard time accepting. Especially since these are the same guys who screamed the loudest for Clinton's impeachment.
Wow, how about you sit right over there with kettle, in the black section. You seem to be the other side of the coin from your lovely creation museum link. You seem to think that the moment a person espouses a faith that a giant brain sucker comes along to reduce their intelligence.
I only have what my eyes and ears report. I don't have any faith to give me any extra information beyond that. What I've seen is what I've seen. And what I've seen is that modern organized religions don't stand up to critical analysis very well.
And yes, I think that espousing a faith does damage your brain. It teaches you that you should accept things you cannot see or prove. It reaches conclusions without ever being touched by logic or analysis. I think it's a reckless way to take in your facts.
I was addressing the confirmation or refutation of religion by little green men. I am not afraid of that, I asked if you were.
Why in the world would I be? I have nothing at stake where religion is concerned. Christians, being members of a religion - do.
Perhaps you should not get ruffled by the fact that their are people that believe different then you do, for their will always be someone who is that way.
I have no problem with what anyone believes. Believe as you like. But the topic was about the little green guys and why they haven't phoned us. And I still think that's the answer.
I had assumed your later "cheerfully optimistic" statement was about something else, simply their landing.
It was. If aliens landed and made themselves public, I'd love to meet them.
our belief in God (and/or Jesus/etc.) does not require us to take the Bible as 100% fact
Maybe I'm too much of a geek, but I really don't see how Christians can get to pick and choose what's true in their Bible or not. Is it the word of God? Or not? Seems like a binary choice to me. And - if it's not 100% fact, then why is your Deity screwing around with your heads? I've never understood this and would love to.
I also find it interesting that as time marches on, Christians keep having to move more and more of their book into the "well...this part isn't meant to be taken literally" category. I hope the progression is linear.
As a geek who strongly believes that there is a God, I find that the more I learn about the universe, the earth, biology, etc... the stronger my beliefs become. After all, what's more impressive; A god who just magically wills everything into being, or a God that oversees an incredibly rich, complex, and fascinating universe for its inhabitants to explore?
This runs parallel with my belief. But - I'm a Deist, not a Christian. Little green men don't invalidate anything in my world view. If I find something new, I simply change what I believe. I'm not tied to a 2000 year old book.
How would it do that? I'm thinking you'd have to stretch things quite a bit to make the Christian Bible fit into a world with little green Tau-Cetites. I don't have any proof mind you, just a hunch.
I am not afraid, why are you?
A perfect example of what I'm talking about. In my experience, this is the kind of logic you get from people of faith. You read my post and this is your comment upon it. It's as if your critical thinking faculties are shut down. You didn't see the words, or take anything from their meaning - you applied your vision to it. I said something negative about people of faith, therefore you must say something bad back. Even if you have to ignore what's under your nose and make it up. What I actually did write was this:
"I'd like to meet them if they're around. I've got nothing to lose, it wouldn't change my world views by very much at all."
How does that translate to fear? Sounds like cheerful optimism to me.
Don't worry, it's a rhetorical question - I don't expect you to have a cogent response.
I'm ready. I'd bet you're ready. But most of humanity is not.
Three out of four Americans are Christians, and they're definitely not ready. So are most other people of faith - since little green men from Tau Ceti would pretty much blow their creation stories out of the water.
It would be instant chaos. Three out of four people...or more, depending on what part of the world you're from. Suddenly, the foundation and moral code they've all built their life on - is provably false. And therefore...gone. They would go nuts.
If these guys are smart enough to cheat physics and be here, they're probably smart enough to not go public. As a species, unfortunately...we couldn't handle it. Which is a real bummer for me, personally. I'd like to meet them if they're around. I've got nothing to lose, it wouldn't change my world views by very much at all. But for most other folks it would be simply too traumatic.
It ain't SoundExchange that's deciding they should collect those royalties, it's the *government* deciding they should, and it's actually not a bad idea.
Of course it's not a bad idea - if you're the one collecting the checks. And just because the government says it should, that doesn't mean it represents what the people want. Let me introduce you to a concept called a Lobbying Group. Just because you can lay down big bucks and effect a change in the legal system does NOT mean it's what the people want. It's what the industry wants, and they are radically different things.
They can simply sign some forms and demand their cheque.
It's as simple as that! No...actually it's more like this. You must join to collect your money. Resistance...is useless.
It is, as it happens, *particularly* good for the small and independant artists, as radio stations would have a hell of a time tracking down and dealing with every random garage band they decided to play.It is, as it happens, *particularly* good for the small and independant artists, as radio stations would have a hell of a time tracking down and dealing with every random garage band they decided to play.
Provided of course that the band in question actually wanted to get paid. Some of us make music just because we like it, you know. It was art before it was a business. Some folks think of it still as art. Not everything amounts to a "cash flow opportunity".
Without compulsory licensing, I'd bet the vast bulk of college, independant, and web-based radio stations would shut down completely, thanks to the overhead of negotiating licensing deals.
And yet, these are the exact same groups compulsory licensing are shutting down. Wow, what a surprise! The people who promote indie music are the ones being nailed, all the while the shill says that these are the people he's trying to help.
Shouldn't an artist be able to give away his own music if he wants to without fear of industry retaliation?
If you're asking this question, then you don't understand who you are really dealing with.
The music industry thinks they own ALL music. Not just the RIAA affiliated bands - all music, EVERYWHERE. My proof? SoundExchange. They are demanding royalty fees for all music streamed over the net from net radio - and get this - from EVERYONE. Doesn't matter if you're a member or not, they will collect on your behalf in preparation for the glorious day you elect to join the Borg. Until then they're happy to bill people for all music, everywhere.
The music industry thinks it owns all music. Everywhere. If there was a way to drill a tap into your head and bill you every time you think of a song, they'd do it.
So yeah, Prince, having the audacity to make a song and give it away clearly goes against everything these morons believe. I wouldn't be surprised to see them ban him completely.
In response - we, the public - should buy every single thing Prince makes. After he releases it over the net independently. Money straight to the artist with no insane middlemen. This could be where it starts.
Hey hey hey, slow down there cowboy. Watch that backbone stuff - you don't know me, so don't pretend to.
As it is, I happen to agree with you. But I'm saying that idealism only goes so far. These are people with guns and macho ego complexes large enough to be seen from space.
And for the record, I've stood up to cops before. I've never seen anything good come from it. You're better off to do everything in your power to end the encounter as quickly as you can. Yes sir. No sir. And get the hell away from the guy with the gun as quickly as you can. Confrontation is something they specalize in. If you feel like gambling a few teeth - by all means go for it. I've tried it before and never had any luck with it.
For a good idea of what I'm talking about, watch this. It's cops ganging up on and beating the crap out of a U.S. Soldier at an airport. Three broken ribs. And the cops are still on duty with no reprimand, and the department says it's all ok. For carrying a Sprite through a security point.
Good luck with your crusade. Pay your insurance up first.
IIRC, one of the ways that life could be wiped out on this planet is if a nearby star goes supernova and bakes us with the neutron output.
Obviously, this isn't the case with this star or people would be emptying their IRAs and going to Rio - but I have to wonder. Will there be any impact here on Earth from the explosion?
They hate it, and they are the ones enforcing a lot of loosely written laws. And they have guns - you pretty much have to do what they say. If that sounds thuggish, it's only because I mean for it to.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, that was my thought too. There's loads of low-temperature fuel cells. Here's the chart.
Watching that happen to the company I used to work for. It's a really funny thing to watch. I'll tell the story without too much detail to avoid any hot water that might land myself in.
My former company - they make a widget. A specialized consumer widget. Other companies make similar widgets. They all began a patent war.
Widget for my former company has feature A and feature B. Other company patents the idea of combining features A and B in the widget. Company now has to make two widgets, one that does A and one that does B, even though the functions are complimentary and easily related. Obvious. And so on, and so on, and so on. The company would pay you if you had a patent idea there, so they would have something new to beat each other up with. Situation continues for years, with these small companies carving up the widget patent space so tightly it becomes a maze of legal decisions to simply make a non-infringing widget. Two main players emerged, my former company and one other.
Then, super-huge conglomerate X shows up in this widget space, and buys both major companies in the battle, as well as a couple of the small ones. Anyone see the punch line yet?
They didn't care about the companies - they wanted their patent libraries to lock out competition. Soon as they shored up their position in the market, they dismissed the engineering staff for all the companies but one - and outsourced the widget to China. And now that widget's market is locked up. There are no entry level players in this widget market anymore. Just megacompany X, and their single Chinese knockoff.
Sometimes everyone loses a patent war.
Learn to use the source, you must.
I get an inappropriate sense of glee when I tell clients that they can't do this or that or they have to spend x^2 dollars to make something obvious happen because of DRM issues.
It's not inappropriate at all!
With Intel and VMware close partners, I'll bet VMware will have a say as to the next series of commands to be added to their x86 line.
They would never abandon AMD, but they could say that VMware gets better performance on an Intel chipset with the new XYZ command extension set.
It would be an excellent move, too. They wouldn't abandon any of the market, but it would tip the scales in favor of their new benefactor.
You can download it here. Screenshots here.
Not possible. Trolls can't get cancer - they regenerate.
No real way to count them, either.
For instance, I have two Windows 98 boxes in my basement I got from an auction. Am I a Windows user? Do I count twice? Or not at all since they'll never be powered up (got them for cheap long ago, never used them, will probably donate them to Goodwill).
And how about all those pirate boxes in Asia? Do they count or not?
If I had to guess, I'd say that WGA was (at least partially) an attempt to count windows users. And we all know how that worked out.
If you want proof, look at the quality of their backpedaling.
Riiiiiight. I'd love to use that the next time the RIAA comes knocking. "Honest! I thought that P2P application was only on my local net. I forgot to password protect it."
Notice how that works for them but would be insufficient for us.
I totally called this.
Earlier Slashdot post.
If they think this new announcement has succeeded, I believe they will find they are mistaken. In other words, not to put too fine a point on it, GPLv3 worked.
I translate this as the following:
GPL Team: We just released GPL3.
MS: It doesn't apply to us.
GPL Team: We win!
I'd wait until a little more time has passed and lawyers on both sides hash it over a bit more before declaring victory. Especially against MS.
Seriously, this looks like a job for VMWare! Fight honeypots with honeypots!
Make a virtual machine completely empty other than a copy of Windows. Download their software onto it, and download the movies. The software has nothing to report back.
Get the movies you want, then zap the VM.
As soon as he starts to lose, all he has to do is mention the Nazis and get a retrial.
I would rather work hard, enjoy my work and come off with some sense of achievement than dick around all day.
You posted this on Slashdot, at 10:15 AM.
On a more serious note - IMHO, dicking around is important to being an engineer. I can't work a problem unless I see the whole thing. Sometimes I just don't see it, and can't work until I do. And that means sitting around staring out windows for hours on end. Or posting on Slashdot. It doesn't look like work, but it is.
If foosball centers you and takes you to the place where you find your answers - go play foosball. Anything that produces a net gain at the end of the day is worth doing.
it's hard not to think the whole thing is one big slam on the government.
Art and literature have always been used as commentary on all sorts of social issues. Why should comic books be exempt?
The funniest part of the "But Clinton" defense of this regime is that it works by saying that Bush and Clinton are alike, something partisan Bush defenders should have a hard time accepting. Especially since these are the same guys who screamed the loudest for Clinton's impeachment.
Say it with me everyone...Slick Georgie.
Wow, how about you sit right over there with kettle, in the black section. You seem to be the other side of the coin from your lovely creation museum link. You seem to think that the moment a person espouses a faith that a giant brain sucker comes along to reduce their intelligence.
I only have what my eyes and ears report. I don't have any faith to give me any extra information beyond that. What I've seen is what I've seen. And what I've seen is that modern organized religions don't stand up to critical analysis very well.
And yes, I think that espousing a faith does damage your brain. It teaches you that you should accept things you cannot see or prove. It reaches conclusions without ever being touched by logic or analysis. I think it's a reckless way to take in your facts.
I was addressing the confirmation or refutation of religion by little green men. I am not afraid of that, I asked if you were.
Why in the world would I be? I have nothing at stake where religion is concerned. Christians, being members of a religion - do.
Perhaps you should not get ruffled by the fact that their are people that believe different then you do, for their will always be someone who is that way.
I have no problem with what anyone believes. Believe as you like. But the topic was about the little green guys and why they haven't phoned us. And I still think that's the answer.
I had assumed your later "cheerfully optimistic" statement was about something else, simply their landing.
It was. If aliens landed and made themselves public, I'd love to meet them.
our belief in God (and/or Jesus/etc.) does not require us to take the Bible as 100% fact
Maybe I'm too much of a geek, but I really don't see how Christians can get to pick and choose what's true in their Bible or not. Is it the word of God? Or not? Seems like a binary choice to me. And - if it's not 100% fact, then why is your Deity screwing around with your heads? I've never understood this and would love to.
I also find it interesting that as time marches on, Christians keep having to move more and more of their book into the "well...this part isn't meant to be taken literally" category. I hope the progression is linear.
As a geek who strongly believes that there is a God, I find that the more I learn about the universe, the earth, biology, etc... the stronger my beliefs become. After all, what's more impressive; A god who just magically wills everything into being, or a God that oversees an incredibly rich, complex, and fascinating universe for its inhabitants to explore?
This runs parallel with my belief. But - I'm a Deist, not a Christian. Little green men don't invalidate anything in my world view. If I find something new, I simply change what I believe. I'm not tied to a 2000 year old book.
Or confirm it.
How would it do that? I'm thinking you'd have to stretch things quite a bit to make the Christian Bible fit into a world with little green Tau-Cetites. I don't have any proof mind you, just a hunch.
I am not afraid, why are you?
A perfect example of what I'm talking about. In my experience, this is the kind of logic you get from people of faith. You read my post and this is your comment upon it. It's as if your critical thinking faculties are shut down. You didn't see the words, or take anything from their meaning - you applied your vision to it. I said something negative about people of faith, therefore you must say something bad back. Even if you have to ignore what's under your nose and make it up. What I actually did write was this:
"I'd like to meet them if they're around. I've got nothing to lose, it wouldn't change my world views by very much at all."
How does that translate to fear? Sounds like cheerful optimism to me.
Don't worry, it's a rhetorical question - I don't expect you to have a cogent response.
I'm ready. I'd bet you're ready. But most of humanity is not.
Three out of four Americans are Christians, and they're definitely not ready. So are most other people of faith - since little green men from Tau Ceti would pretty much blow their creation stories out of the water.
It would be instant chaos. Three out of four people...or more, depending on what part of the world you're from. Suddenly, the foundation and moral code they've all built their life on - is provably false. And therefore...gone. They would go nuts.
If these guys are smart enough to cheat physics and be here, they're probably smart enough to not go public. As a species, unfortunately...we couldn't handle it. Which is a real bummer for me, personally. I'd like to meet them if they're around. I've got nothing to lose, it wouldn't change my world views by very much at all. But for most other folks it would be simply too traumatic.
It's easy, and fun! Here we go:
It ain't SoundExchange that's deciding they should collect those royalties, it's the *government* deciding they should, and it's actually not a bad idea.
Of course it's not a bad idea - if you're the one collecting the checks. And just because the government says it should, that doesn't mean it represents what the people want. Let me introduce you to a concept called a Lobbying Group. Just because you can lay down big bucks and effect a change in the legal system does NOT mean it's what the people want. It's what the industry wants, and they are radically different things.
They can simply sign some forms and demand their cheque.
It's as simple as that! No...actually it's more like this. You must join to collect your money. Resistance...is useless.
It is, as it happens, *particularly* good for the small and independant artists, as radio stations would have a hell of a time tracking down and dealing with every random garage band they decided to play.It is, as it happens, *particularly* good for the small and independant artists, as radio stations would have a hell of a time tracking down and dealing with every random garage band they decided to play.
Provided of course that the band in question actually wanted to get paid. Some of us make music just because we like it, you know. It was art before it was a business. Some folks think of it still as art. Not everything amounts to a "cash flow opportunity".
Without compulsory licensing, I'd bet the vast bulk of college, independant, and web-based radio stations would shut down completely, thanks to the overhead of negotiating licensing deals.
And yet, these are the exact same groups compulsory licensing are shutting down. Wow, what a surprise! The people who promote indie music are the ones being nailed, all the while the shill says that these are the people he's trying to help.
Sure, pal. Sure.
Shouldn't an artist be able to give away his own music if he wants to without fear of industry retaliation?
If you're asking this question, then you don't understand who you are really dealing with.
The music industry thinks they own ALL music. Not just the RIAA affiliated bands - all music, EVERYWHERE. My proof? SoundExchange. They are demanding royalty fees for all music streamed over the net from net radio - and get this - from EVERYONE. Doesn't matter if you're a member or not, they will collect on your behalf in preparation for the glorious day you elect to join the Borg. Until then they're happy to bill people for all music, everywhere.
The music industry thinks it owns all music. Everywhere. If there was a way to drill a tap into your head and bill you every time you think of a song, they'd do it.
So yeah, Prince, having the audacity to make a song and give it away clearly goes against everything these morons believe. I wouldn't be surprised to see them ban him completely.
In response - we, the public - should buy every single thing Prince makes. After he releases it over the net independently. Money straight to the artist with no insane middlemen. This could be where it starts.
Hey hey hey, slow down there cowboy. Watch that backbone stuff - you don't know me, so don't pretend to.
As it is, I happen to agree with you. But I'm saying that idealism only goes so far. These are people with guns and macho ego complexes large enough to be seen from space.
And for the record, I've stood up to cops before. I've never seen anything good come from it. You're better off to do everything in your power to end the encounter as quickly as you can. Yes sir. No sir. And get the hell away from the guy with the gun as quickly as you can. Confrontation is something they specalize in. If you feel like gambling a few teeth - by all means go for it. I've tried it before and never had any luck with it.
For a good idea of what I'm talking about, watch this. It's cops ganging up on and beating the crap out of a U.S. Soldier at an airport. Three broken ribs. And the cops are still on duty with no reprimand, and the department says it's all ok. For carrying a Sprite through a security point.
Good luck with your crusade. Pay your insurance up first.
IIRC, one of the ways that life could be wiped out on this planet is if a nearby star goes supernova and bakes us with the neutron output.
Obviously, this isn't the case with this star or people would be emptying their IRAs and going to Rio - but I have to wonder. Will there be any impact here on Earth from the explosion?
They hate it, and they are the ones enforcing a lot of loosely written laws. And they have guns - you pretty much have to do what they say. If that sounds thuggish, it's only because I mean for it to.
Check out this Google search to see what I mean.
99 times out of 100, if a cop wants his way he's going to get his way. It's wrong, but it's also how the world (unfortunately) happens to work.