IANAL but...
Seems to me there is a "prior art" clause in patents, and it includes publishing. All you have to do to prevent a method (not an idea) from being patented, is to publish something saying "look, you can do this in this way!'. I.e., once Arthur C. Clarke had described geostationary satellites - impossible at the time, but a good idea and coming soon - that particular method could not be patented. (But a specific technology for fine-tuning the orbit daily to stay on course- probably could have been.) Even if the inventors themselves publish the concept, if it predates the patent application, they are SOL, IIRC?
For example - here's my big idea I'm going to get rich on! The CCD and laser technology is such that you can build a bank of cheap CCD eyes and IR laser diodes aimed at movable mirrors; construct a spread-out array (20? 100?), each laser too weak to damage human eyes or flesh. Hook it to a computer, with targeting software that can pick out insects; use several cameras for depth perception.
An insect flies by, the banks of lasers swivel to focus on it, and within a second, voila! Crispy dead insect, no harmful insecticide. Acquire next target!
Of course, my prior art is the movie "Millenium" with Chris Kristoffersen, and seveal generations of kids with magnifying glasses. So I probably couldn't patent that anyway!
But, now that it's described, can anyone get a patent for anything except specific portions? (I.e. quality targeting software?)
Which is also unobtrusive, is a turbine that looks like a jet engine. A tube with a series of fans inside; if the current is decently fast, it will turn enough to create electricity. If the current is not fast enough, then you don't get eanything.
Unfortunately, making a long-term sealed generator and submersible it is probably not a home project. I suppose it also depends on what sort of stuff coming down the river might eventually plug the rotors. But at least it would be submerged and hidden. As long as it does not impact river navigability (and you don't chew up a few swimmers with the blades, ha ha) who's going to notice and complain?
If you don't actually have a drop, the usual waterwheel, dam, etc. solutions won't work. You could try that Roman trick, if you are allowed to moor a barge in the river; put a big paddlewheel in the barge; hook it to a bunch of auto alternators, and get some power inverters?
If you had the paddlewheels mounted in the center of the barge and enclosed in an insulated deckhouse and turning all the time, probably (?) they would not freeze. (Just HOW cold does it get there? Flowing water, of course is never below zero...)
I think the in the future, the operating system will be killed by irrelevance. After a while, it won't matter what your operating system is.
How? Consider the computing needs of the user of the future. Primarily, they will need to read mail and browse the internet. (Oh, and play games, and DVD's, etc.) The average user won't care what operating system is underlying their equipment - you could do most of these functions with WinCE, or stripped down LINUX.
What else do you want to do?
- Run compute-intensive, graphic-intensive tasks? buy a module for that. Use a form of browser-based terminal to connect and use the service it provides.
- Storage, read, write CD/DVD/BlueLaser media? Use a network-attached storage device for that.
- Printing - use a network attached printer.
- Timer event devices?
- Web servers? - a feature of storage devices...
Watch for the complex computer to decompose into a number of devices; none of these are going to need a full Windows OS, and the functions will be so trivial that most will make do with very stripped version of public or licensed software. USB functionality will evolve into full network functionality.
When to many such devices are too prevelant, a retailer or service provider can try to impose change at their peril. Do you deliberately want to lock out 30% of your customers? What advantage would any replacement for, say, Flash as a protocol/file format have to have to displace it? Same for real networks; not to mention HTML, etc.
The whole computer succeeds for now because the cost of dedicated devices is about the same for less functionality; and the interface/protocol is not quite fixed enough. When a browser tablet can connect as easily as your pC (because every home has a home router with DHCP, the first building block in this new world order) and when that device can be made for signifcantly less than a computer - then Microsoft will truly be doomed.
Hmmm... Let's see.
The auditors have some questions about his business expenses.
"There's been some very unusual expenses for this lab, would you care to explain..."
"Well, we've been buying the sake for... ummm... making speaker cones. yes,that's it! We've spent 20 years with our research budget on making speaker cones. Research gets really intense around spring break, and also about the time of our Christmas party, as you can see from our expenses profile..."
It's debatable whether opening up your computer is an "act" of file sharing. I also recall the RIAA head in (testimony to congress? Lawsuit?) saying that some filesharing happened automatically on install with some programs.
What a dumb thing to say. Give your defendants an automatic out by your own words.
Meanwhile, why would anyone want to be the first to find out whether the courts agree in Canada that initiating a download is the act of sharing, and allowing sharing is not? You know it will go to the Supreme Court, and you'll pay for lawyers all the way.
Of course, there has not YET been requirements to keep records, so the current court cases are still in the process of trying to discover who owned what IP addresses when. Several big ISP's are saying they don't have the history records, and there's no guarantee that the current owner of the IP has had it for very long.
An MP3 with DRM is just another incompatible file format. If my current MP3 players and my current DVD/CD/MP3 player stero system won't play it, it ain't MP3.
Mark Twain: "If you call a dog's tail a leg also, how many legs does a dog have?"
"5?"
"No, 4. Just calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one."
Yes, I recall the case. They had video cameras in the ceiling. Some shady organization of a far eastern persuasion, so I'm sure the unfortunate clerks of the same ethnic background wer "persuaded" to cooperate.
There was also a case at a big NYC store (NYC? Macy's?) where the girl tried to rip off a German tourist with a double swipe (credit card no.?) using a card reader attached to a Newton(?). The German guy happened to be a computer tech and raised bloody hell until store security took the equipment.
NAFTA caused jobs to move to Canada? Jeez, the antiNafta nutbars up here were warning about all the jobs moving to the USA and later Mexico. Minimum wage of less than two bucks in Arkansas and all that crap.
Yeah right, our minimum wages are for service industries. We'ew going to close our Walmart and Burger Kings and move them to Little Rock!
Some jobs have moved to Mexico. Meanwhile nowadays Mexico is complaining that it's losing those low-pay, mobile jobs to China and other places that are so cheap that it doesn't matter they're not free trade enabled...
I use my Archos MMJ (20) for MP3 playing and photo downloads on trips. Beats carrying a laptop. Never bothered with the video feature, although I did see someone who did.
If you're going to record TV, you probably want to edit out commercials. Waht a pain without the right software...
I have an Archos Multimedia Jukebox. It's main advantage is to download photos directly fromcamera cards on a trip - so I don't have to take a laptop on my trip around Italy or Australia. No indication the MS CEment will do that.
I haven't used the video feature. The screen is too small, and the setup is too fussy. By the time you record/capture a show, process it and download it, you've probably seen it already; unless there's movies you're obsessive-compulsive about (The Matrix? Pr0n?) why bother? If the long-promised video recorder module works with it, as advertised, I may eventually use it - but then why wouldn't Archos give their MMJ the same timer functionality as a VCR? (I wonder if it would work with those Sony TV glasses as an output?)
My fear with Microsoft is that they would leverage their technology to lock out whatever they want. Only certain codecs? Only WMA files? Only content/video created with MS Media Centre? Sorry, can't download except through WinMedia Centre? Time-limited video? Any such restrictions will make this thing DOA.
The ideal media centre would allow you to insert a DVD in your computer, and have the file come out the other end for download, fully processed, in half an hour or less... How many companies will allow that to happen?
I have to agree with a previous poster - the Archos problem is battery life. Mine started out as 8 hours, and over the last 18 months is down to about 3 to 4hours, with quirky behaviour where sometimes I only get 1.5 hours or it won't turn on. Apparently, there are no replacement batteries available. I hear stories of iPod batteries that die and cost $99 to replace. Anyone who wants in on this market has to solve the battery life/cost problem.
Most problems seem to be a cascade of interdependent upgrades. The fix is only available when you go to the latest OS. Yje latest OS is incompatible with this, this , and this. Oh, these are upgradable, but there are issues with the supplied drivers. Go to the internet.
The other interesting issue is with intermittent electronic problems, which being erratic, are hard to diagnose. I don't know how many computers we had in the 286 days where the solution lay in a new power supply (and a surge suppressor from then on!). Sometimes diagnosing these is not worth the hassle - it is easier in a business environment to replace!
But do we need all these upgrades? No! The established Windowing environment of choice works fine. The major changes seem (are) deliberately engineered for incompatibility to force updates on us; but the average Joe, who can't fix these himself is frustrated. Cosmetically, he doesn't see a difference between W98 and XP, and doesn't see why the latest stuff shouldn't run in either environment.
A while ago I heard a proposal to stop spam using a falsied "From" address. This would add to the DNS MX entries an "authorized relayer" record. if the Email did not come from an authorized relayer of the return address, it would be rejected. (Default, no authorized relayers but the Email must be coming from the original server).
The Email "From" address would have to originate from an Email server that matched its DNS entry. You could still fake the IP address or the DNS Service, but this is not as trivial as faking the "from" address.
I suppose we'll see this when ISP's care about spam.
So what do you do if the passenger pulls out their PDA? Jam on the brakes?
California is known for this sort of brilliance. Many years ago they made it illegal to get into a car with a drunk driver. Your taxi driver gets pulled over and blows over.08, you get charged with criminal offence and hefty fine too. Doh!
I would suggest that a piece of equipment used by a passenger should be exempt. Or should they be banning cell phone use in the passenger seat too?
PS> Where the heck is open liquor in the back seat legal? Open liquor accessible to anyone in a vehicle is a criminal offence in Canada. Those limo bars always amaze me! As for the take-out window in the bar I saw in Jackson Hole long ago... hmmm.
I don't doubt that the new format machines will read existing DVD's - just as current DVD players read CD's and CDRW. But...
Now you're in the vicious cycle - if the HDVD reads regular DVD, where's the incentive to upgrade? The longer manfacturers dither and brawl, the longer before there's a de facto standard. By then, everyone will have their DVD player and see no great reason to switch. HDVD discs will then be a specialty item, significantly more expensive - like records vs. CD's were - and few people will buy them.
What's the market share of DVD already? 33%? 50%? What will it be by 2006 when those new players are finally $200 or less? To be successful, a format must show an order of magnitude improvement (2x or more). At a certain point, who cares? I can tell the difference between vinvl and CD - but the new audio formats like DVD-whatever(?) haven't taken off. Who cares?? Who can tell? DOA! (Heck, I can't tell MP3's from CD, and I'm told it's noticeable.)
I spent a fortune replacing my records with CD's, because the improvement was noticeable even to me. I can see the DVD's improvement over VHS. (Who can't?) Will the average viewer care about the difference between 480i (upconverted by your smart TV) and 1080p? Will they feel ripped off if the HDVD version has only 720p?
Will the box sets of TV series be upgraded, or is the source material only available at 480i? (What's the point of computerized enhancement?)
In fact the American founding fathers were very hostile to the concept of corporations and limited companies and did not want them to be allowed in the USA.
At the time limited companies were considered a way for people to hide behind a legal fiction to steal and cheat the general public. Fortunately, nowadays they're not considered a legal fiction.
The stunned cow put the soft foam cup between her legs and drove off. Guess what happened when she hit a bump?
I think this is more a case of a bunch of jurors being swayed by the gruesome pictures and the "they got ltsa money" attitude.
The McD coffee is sold at 185F (IIRC?) where it tastes better and stays warm longer. (Good concept for take-out coffee). This is a good coffee practice, a few other vendors do too. It says on the cup "Caution - hot contents". And very few people are unaware it is made with boiled water...
Other typical coffee vendors sell it at 140F or so, to avoid these problems, and let the coffee sit a few hours without that burnt taste...
No, it means what it says... You are granted a license to be a "Phone COmpany". With this comes special rights that others don't have, such as the right to string cables all over the place, dig trenches and bury cable, cross roads, etc. - but only for Phone Company services.
Note this is a Phone Company right. If you allow anyone to use the service, you must offer it WITHOUT discrimination to all comers at a fixed price. You can't give your own internet subsidiary a free ride to use the phone lines for internet. If your internet subsidiary doesn't pay the market rate, then really what's happening is the average plain old phone customer is paying for the internet users. The CRTC (and the FCC?) specifically (are supposed to) guard against "monopolist" activity -where the captive audience subsidizes the crushing of the competition in related fields. (Sorta like where MS-Windows profits subsidize all those other money-losing software activities).
So Bell has to charge Sympatico the market rate for the DSL access service they provide; and Sympatico's business plan has to show that they have a "reasonable expectation of profit" at that rate. Well, if Bell can quantify a market rate and charge it to Sympatico, then they can do the same calculation for AOL or Shaw or whomever.
If it were just Ford deciding how much to charge Ford Leasing for rental cars, say, only the shareholders would care. But because were dealing with a special regulated and effectively a monopoly business - regulations apply. It's not socialism.
It's as if the water commision in town ran its own restaurants, and nobody else could use tap water for a restaurant. (Truck it in if you want to run a restaurant, you commie...)
Of course, where they get the small ISP's is the entry requirements. Their own T3 line to the next floor in the building will be much cheaper than the competition's line across town... Plus the CISCO 5500, plus the 5 servers for security and authentication, plus... plus...
Guaranteed the requirements will keep out anyone smaller than themselves anyway.
Why? If you want to collect taxes based on miles driven, do the "odometer reading at license renewal" thing. Better yet, pick a substance like say, gasoline, that is roughly proportional to distnace driven and tax it. Wow!
Why use a techincal solution when a simple one works? "We don't want to raise gasoline taxes by 2 cents - the voters might get angry! No,wait, let's make them all install $100 devices with a $100 install fee and annual certification fee instead!"
What happens if the power to the device dies? Would a simple blown fuse or snipped wire save you hundreds of dollars? (What about out-of-state drivers?) Will it be a criminal charge to be driving with a blown accessories fuse? Will my pocket GPS scrambler save me hundreds of dollars? Maybe that'll be an add-on feature of new radar detectors... Will the petroleum consumption police require you to fill out a form if you fail to use your car in any 3-month period, certifying that you did in fact park it?
Better yet, would the GPS prove you were driving on municipal roads so Oregon has to share these revenues with the appropriate city and county governments? Can I open a shortcut across my property and get a state subsidy for it? My driveway needs repaving... maybe I can set up GPS braodcast simulator that tells any nearby vehicles they drove on my private road.
Truly a "Galactically stupid" idea.
Asimov - is credited with approaching robotics from a logical, scientific point of view. (machines don't have emotions).
Heinlein - In "Waldo, Inc." actually describes Waldoes, mechanical hands for remote work for a person with degerative muscle disease who lives in orbit.
Vernor Vinge - True Names and Other Lies- Describes a typcal Internet MUD years before anyone else.
Some French Guy - wrote a story "By The Rivers of Babylon" about a member of a primitive tribe from upstate NY who visits the bombed-out city, has a vision of back when "...they turned the night into day for their pleasure." A typical post-atomic apocalype novel? Except this was written in 1938!
There's also the famous story of the FBI visiting the offices of Astounding (now Analog) magazine in 1942 or 43 to ask about a science fiction story describing atomic bombs. Here they are trying to maintain the strictest secrecy and some guy is dreaming this up and describing it in the public media.
Slashdot Mirror
Dr. Mbingo Mbango Mbongo
Doesn't want to leave the Congo,
Oh no no no no!
IANAL but... Seems to me there is a "prior art" clause in patents, and it includes publishing. All you have to do to prevent a method (not an idea) from being patented, is to publish something saying "look, you can do this in this way!'. I.e., once Arthur C. Clarke had described geostationary satellites - impossible at the time, but a good idea and coming soon - that particular method could not be patented. (But a specific technology for fine-tuning the orbit daily to stay on course- probably could have been.) Even if the inventors themselves publish the concept, if it predates the patent application, they are SOL, IIRC? For example - here's my big idea I'm going to get rich on! The CCD and laser technology is such that you can build a bank of cheap CCD eyes and IR laser diodes aimed at movable mirrors; construct a spread-out array (20? 100?), each laser too weak to damage human eyes or flesh. Hook it to a computer, with targeting software that can pick out insects; use several cameras for depth perception. An insect flies by, the banks of lasers swivel to focus on it, and within a second, voila! Crispy dead insect, no harmful insecticide. Acquire next target! Of course, my prior art is the movie "Millenium" with Chris Kristoffersen, and seveal generations of kids with magnifying glasses. So I probably couldn't patent that anyway! But, now that it's described, can anyone get a patent for anything except specific portions? (I.e. quality targeting software?)
Unfortunately, making a long-term sealed generator and submersible it is probably not a home project. I suppose it also depends on what sort of stuff coming down the river might eventually plug the rotors. But at least it would be submerged and hidden. As long as it does not impact river navigability (and you don't chew up a few swimmers with the blades, ha ha) who's going to notice and complain?
If you don't actually have a drop, the usual waterwheel, dam, etc. solutions won't work. You could try that Roman trick, if you are allowed to moor a barge in the river; put a big paddlewheel in the barge; hook it to a bunch of auto alternators, and get some power inverters?
If you had the paddlewheels mounted in the center of the barge and enclosed in an insulated deckhouse and turning all the time, probably (?) they would not freeze. (Just HOW cold does it get there? Flowing water, of course is never below zero...)
How? Consider the computing needs of the user of the future. Primarily, they will need to read mail and browse the internet. (Oh, and play games, and DVD's, etc.) The average user won't care what operating system is underlying their equipment - you could do most of these functions with WinCE, or stripped down LINUX.
What else do you want to do?
- Run compute-intensive, graphic-intensive tasks? buy a module for that. Use a form of browser-based terminal to connect and use the service it provides.
- Storage, read, write CD/DVD/BlueLaser media? Use a network-attached storage device for that.
- Printing - use a network attached printer.
- Timer event devices?
- Web servers? - a feature of storage devices...
Watch for the complex computer to decompose into a number of devices; none of these are going to need a full Windows OS, and the functions will be so trivial that most will make do with very stripped version of public or licensed software. USB functionality will evolve into full network functionality.
When to many such devices are too prevelant, a retailer or service provider can try to impose change at their peril. Do you deliberately want to lock out 30% of your customers? What advantage would any replacement for, say, Flash as a protocol/file format have to have to displace it? Same for real networks; not to mention HTML, etc.
The whole computer succeeds for now because the cost of dedicated devices is about the same for less functionality; and the interface/protocol is not quite fixed enough. When a browser tablet can connect as easily as your pC (because every home has a home router with DHCP, the first building block in this new world order) and when that device can be made for signifcantly less than a computer - then Microsoft will truly be doomed.
The auditors have some questions about his business expenses.
"There's been some very unusual expenses for this lab, would you care to explain..."
"Well, we've been buying the sake for... ummm... making speaker cones. yes,that's it! We've spent 20 years with our research budget on making speaker cones. Research gets really intense around spring break, and also about the time of our Christmas party, as you can see from our expenses profile..."
What a dumb thing to say. Give your defendants an automatic out by your own words.
Meanwhile, why would anyone want to be the first to find out whether the courts agree in Canada that initiating a download is the act of sharing, and allowing sharing is not? You know it will go to the Supreme Court, and you'll pay for lawyers all the way.
Of course, there has not YET been requirements to keep records, so the current court cases are still in the process of trying to discover who owned what IP addresses when. Several big ISP's are saying they don't have the history records, and there's no guarantee that the current owner of the IP has had it for very long.
An MP3 with DRM is just another incompatible file format. If my current MP3 players and my current DVD/CD/MP3 player stero system won't play it, it ain't MP3.
Mark Twain: "If you call a dog's tail a leg also, how many legs does a dog have?"
"5?"
"No, 4. Just calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one."
Yes, I recall the case. They had video cameras in the ceiling. Some shady organization of a far eastern persuasion, so I'm sure the unfortunate clerks of the same ethnic background wer "persuaded" to cooperate. There was also a case at a big NYC store (NYC? Macy's?) where the girl tried to rip off a German tourist with a double swipe (credit card no.?) using a card reader attached to a Newton(?). The German guy happened to be a computer tech and raised bloody hell until store security took the equipment.
NAFTA caused jobs to move to Canada? Jeez, the antiNafta nutbars up here were warning about all the jobs moving to the USA and later Mexico. Minimum wage of less than two bucks in Arkansas and all that crap. Yeah right, our minimum wages are for service industries. We'ew going to close our Walmart and Burger Kings and move them to Little Rock! Some jobs have moved to Mexico. Meanwhile nowadays Mexico is complaining that it's losing those low-pay, mobile jobs to China and other places that are so cheap that it doesn't matter they're not free trade enabled...
I use my Archos MMJ (20) for MP3 playing and photo downloads on trips. Beats carrying a laptop. Never bothered with the video feature, although I did see someone who did.
If you're going to record TV, you probably want to edit out commercials. Waht a pain without the right software...
I have an Archos Multimedia Jukebox. It's main advantage is to download photos directly fromcamera cards on a trip - so I don't have to take a laptop on my trip around Italy or Australia. No indication the MS CEment will do that.
I haven't used the video feature. The screen is too small, and the setup is too fussy. By the time you record/capture a show, process it and download it, you've probably seen it already; unless there's movies you're obsessive-compulsive about (The Matrix? Pr0n?) why bother? If the long-promised video recorder module works with it, as advertised, I may eventually use it - but then why wouldn't Archos give their MMJ the same timer functionality as a VCR? (I wonder if it would work with those Sony TV glasses as an output?)
My fear with Microsoft is that they would leverage their technology to lock out whatever they want. Only certain codecs? Only WMA files? Only content/video created with MS Media Centre? Sorry, can't download except through WinMedia Centre? Time-limited video? Any such restrictions will make this thing DOA.
The ideal media centre would allow you to insert a DVD in your computer, and have the file come out the other end for download, fully processed, in half an hour or less... How many companies will allow that to happen?
I have to agree with a previous poster - the Archos problem is battery life. Mine started out as 8 hours, and over the last 18 months is down to about 3 to 4hours, with quirky behaviour where sometimes I only get 1.5 hours or it won't turn on. Apparently, there are no replacement batteries available. I hear stories of iPod batteries that die and cost $99 to replace. Anyone who wants in on this market has to solve the battery life/cost problem.
Most problems seem to be a cascade of interdependent upgrades. The fix is only available when you go to the latest OS. Yje latest OS is incompatible with this, this , and this. Oh, these are upgradable, but there are issues with the supplied drivers. Go to the internet.
The other interesting issue is with intermittent electronic problems, which being erratic, are hard to diagnose. I don't know how many computers we had in the 286 days where the solution lay in a new power supply (and a surge suppressor from then on!). Sometimes diagnosing these is not worth the hassle - it is easier in a business environment to replace!
But do we need all these upgrades? No! The established Windowing environment of choice works fine. The major changes seem (are) deliberately engineered for incompatibility to force updates on us; but the average Joe, who can't fix these himself is frustrated. Cosmetically, he doesn't see a difference between W98 and XP, and doesn't see why the latest stuff shouldn't run in either environment.
A while ago I heard a proposal to stop spam using a falsied "From" address. This would add to the DNS MX entries an "authorized relayer" record. if the Email did not come from an authorized relayer of the return address, it would be rejected. (Default, no authorized relayers but the Email must be coming from the original server).
The Email "From" address would have to originate from an Email server that matched its DNS entry. You could still fake the IP address or the DNS Service, but this is not as trivial as faking the "from" address.
I suppose we'll see this when ISP's care about spam.
So what do you do if the passenger pulls out their PDA? Jam on the brakes? California is known for this sort of brilliance. Many years ago they made it illegal to get into a car with a drunk driver. Your taxi driver gets pulled over and blows over .08, you get charged with criminal offence and hefty fine too. Doh!
I would suggest that a piece of equipment used by a passenger should be exempt. Or should they be banning cell phone use in the passenger seat too?
PS> Where the heck is open liquor in the back seat legal? Open liquor accessible to anyone in a vehicle is a criminal offence in Canada. Those limo bars always amaze me! As for the take-out window in the bar I saw in Jackson Hole long ago... hmmm.
I don't doubt that the new format machines will read existing DVD's - just as current DVD players read CD's and CDRW. But...
Now you're in the vicious cycle - if the HDVD reads regular DVD, where's the incentive to upgrade? The longer manfacturers dither and brawl, the longer before there's a de facto standard. By then, everyone will have their DVD player and see no great reason to switch. HDVD discs will then be a specialty item, significantly more expensive - like records vs. CD's were - and few people will buy them.
What's the market share of DVD already? 33%? 50%? What will it be by 2006 when those new players are finally $200 or less? To be successful, a format must show an order of magnitude improvement (2x or more). At a certain point, who cares? I can tell the difference between vinvl and CD - but the new audio formats like DVD-whatever(?) haven't taken off. Who cares?? Who can tell? DOA! (Heck, I can't tell MP3's from CD, and I'm told it's noticeable.)
I spent a fortune replacing my records with CD's, because the improvement was noticeable even to me. I can see the DVD's improvement over VHS. (Who can't?) Will the average viewer care about the difference between 480i (upconverted by your smart TV) and 1080p? Will they feel ripped off if the HDVD version has only 720p?
Will the box sets of TV series be upgraded, or is the source material only available at 480i? (What's the point of computerized enhancement?)
In fact the American founding fathers were very hostile to the concept of corporations and limited companies and did not want them to be allowed in the USA. At the time limited companies were considered a way for people to hide behind a legal fiction to steal and cheat the general public. Fortunately, nowadays they're not considered a legal fiction.
The stunned cow put the soft foam cup between her legs and drove off. Guess what happened when she hit a bump? I think this is more a case of a bunch of jurors being swayed by the gruesome pictures and the "they got ltsa money" attitude. The McD coffee is sold at 185F (IIRC?) where it tastes better and stays warm longer. (Good concept for take-out coffee). This is a good coffee practice, a few other vendors do too. It says on the cup "Caution - hot contents". And very few people are unaware it is made with boiled water... Other typical coffee vendors sell it at 140F or so, to avoid these problems, and let the coffee sit a few hours without that burnt taste...
No, it means what it says... You are granted a license to be a "Phone COmpany". With this comes special rights that others don't have, such as the right to string cables all over the place, dig trenches and bury cable, cross roads, etc. - but only for Phone Company services. Note this is a Phone Company right. If you allow anyone to use the service, you must offer it WITHOUT discrimination to all comers at a fixed price. You can't give your own internet subsidiary a free ride to use the phone lines for internet. If your internet subsidiary doesn't pay the market rate, then really what's happening is the average plain old phone customer is paying for the internet users. The CRTC (and the FCC?) specifically (are supposed to) guard against "monopolist" activity -where the captive audience subsidizes the crushing of the competition in related fields. (Sorta like where MS-Windows profits subsidize all those other money-losing software activities). So Bell has to charge Sympatico the market rate for the DSL access service they provide; and Sympatico's business plan has to show that they have a "reasonable expectation of profit" at that rate. Well, if Bell can quantify a market rate and charge it to Sympatico, then they can do the same calculation for AOL or Shaw or whomever. If it were just Ford deciding how much to charge Ford Leasing for rental cars, say, only the shareholders would care. But because were dealing with a special regulated and effectively a monopoly business - regulations apply. It's not socialism. It's as if the water commision in town ran its own restaurants, and nobody else could use tap water for a restaurant. (Truck it in if you want to run a restaurant, you commie...) Of course, where they get the small ISP's is the entry requirements. Their own T3 line to the next floor in the building will be much cheaper than the competition's line across town... Plus the CISCO 5500, plus the 5 servers for security and authentication, plus... plus... Guaranteed the requirements will keep out anyone smaller than themselves anyway.
Why? If you want to collect taxes based on miles driven, do the "odometer reading at license renewal" thing. Better yet, pick a substance like say, gasoline, that is roughly proportional to distnace driven and tax it. Wow! Why use a techincal solution when a simple one works? "We don't want to raise gasoline taxes by 2 cents - the voters might get angry! No,wait, let's make them all install $100 devices with a $100 install fee and annual certification fee instead!" What happens if the power to the device dies? Would a simple blown fuse or snipped wire save you hundreds of dollars? (What about out-of-state drivers?) Will it be a criminal charge to be driving with a blown accessories fuse? Will my pocket GPS scrambler save me hundreds of dollars? Maybe that'll be an add-on feature of new radar detectors... Will the petroleum consumption police require you to fill out a form if you fail to use your car in any 3-month period, certifying that you did in fact park it? Better yet, would the GPS prove you were driving on municipal roads so Oregon has to share these revenues with the appropriate city and county governments? Can I open a shortcut across my property and get a state subsidy for it? My driveway needs repaving... maybe I can set up GPS braodcast simulator that tells any nearby vehicles they drove on my private road. Truly a "Galactically stupid" idea.
Asimov - is credited with approaching robotics from a logical, scientific point of view. (machines don't have emotions). Heinlein - In "Waldo, Inc." actually describes Waldoes, mechanical hands for remote work for a person with degerative muscle disease who lives in orbit. Vernor Vinge - True Names and Other Lies- Describes a typcal Internet MUD years before anyone else. Some French Guy - wrote a story "By The Rivers of Babylon" about a member of a primitive tribe from upstate NY who visits the bombed-out city, has a vision of back when "...they turned the night into day for their pleasure." A typical post-atomic apocalype novel? Except this was written in 1938! There's also the famous story of the FBI visiting the offices of Astounding (now Analog) magazine in 1942 or 43 to ask about a science fiction story describing atomic bombs. Here they are trying to maintain the strictest secrecy and some guy is dreaming this up and describing it in the public media.