doesn't matter if the EU honors them or not. as long as two things happen
1) the company in the EU has a branch in the US through which to file the patent with the US patent office
2) the company accused of violating this patent has either an office or bank account in the US or sells the product which allegedly violates the patent in the US.
if those two conditions are met, the company holding the patent can sue in the US, bypassing the EU completely.
all that companies in the EU will have to do if software patents are denied in the EU will be to set up a small arm of the company in the US. since most software products are sold here as well, they can just do the litigation here in the US. all it would take is for the company violating the patent to have an office or bank account in the US or to sell the offending product in the US...
We've been down this road before
on
A Worm's Worm
·
· Score: 1
we had the same basic thing with the cheese worm. someone made it to fix the li0n worm, but it ended up causing its own problems because it pummeled the living daylights out of networks while trying to propogate
first, there is nothing to stop them from ammending the constitution to do away with the term limit (and this political climate is the perfect time to try that).
second, changing the constitution would not be absolutely necessary. all that needs to happen is for the government to declare a state of emergency and then take over all means of production, transport, etc because of FEMA (and yes, it can be used like that). everything can come under control of the current government, including the current government. democracy goes out the window and what is basically martial law can be enstated...
one of the things that really amuses me about this is that my uni (i am a rather recent grad) is getting in the news yet again because someone thinks something happening here is negative.
we're a real rebel culture, alright. a nearly city-wide halloween "block" party that resembols mardi gras on acid, several unofficial street parties a year, time change "riots" (blown well out of proportion by the media). why so many parties? because we work just as hard (if not harder) as we play (believe it or not, it's pretty tame around here most of the time in all honesty), and now *gasp* asking students if they would be interested in something that would cost them more in tuition.
what a concept. but then, this is also the university that got a licensing deal with M$ that lasted for many years and had bill over a barrel (OU paid almost nothing for the site license and any student or staff member had access to copies. they could even have personal copies made for a rather modest fee)
want to know the funny part? i'm an engineering major. know what most of the people in my section use in the labs? unix. know what a lot of them use at home? bsd, linux, and mac. and it's not exactly a small group within the university.;)
there will never be zero demand for weapons, firearm or otherwise. even if your "average" citizen had no desire for them, the people who still want to do them harm would desire weapons.
the worst that could happen is a lot more than knives and fists. there were a *lot* of ranged weapons around long before the gun and rudimentary guns are not that difficult to fabricate.
man is a social creature, but he is also a predator. predatory nature is always going to be expressed in some way, some cases more violently than others (everything from competition in basketball and other sports, to hunting, to violence against each other). we are, at our core, animals, and have the same needs and desires, really.
as far as everlasting damage goes, it would not be nearly as common as you seem to think it would. the saying "an armed society is a polite society" is rather true. you tend to be much less prone to violent outbreaks without good reason when you know that your actions can bring immidiate and heavy consequences. your views have been colored by a very long campaign that says violence is bad and anyone who knows how to be violent is bad. unfortunately, a lot of people have. it's the product of a rather one-sided ideology (and, unfortunately, ideologies are often one sided).
to put all of this in perspective, i'm not just spouting my idealistic views. there have been several times when my life or the lives of people i care for have been in question because of someone else while i was there. since i'm writing this, i think i'm still here.
you can't expect everyone else to be idealistic and nonviolent. you can only be the best person you can be and still be prepared for other people to be both the best, and worst, that they can be. like i said, i tend to be very non-violent and laid back, but i am prepared to be direct and brutal if need be. utopia got its name because it could not exist.
guns are just a tool, like a screwdriver or a hammer. they can all be used for constructive ends or they can be used to do harm. it all depends on the person using them, but just because bad people have used them in the past is no reason to say that the tool itself is bad and nobody should have it. that mentality only works on the people who play by the rules, and the people who do harm with those tools do not play by the rules.
the only thing becomming a sheep ever did was help feed the wolves.
you'll find that a lot of the incidents with guns as far as death and injury go are against people who feel that it should not be up to them to defend themselves.
take away gun ownership rights. it won't stop the kid who is already using an illegal gun (not registered, etc) from getting an illegal gun. it will just stop the people that play by the rules from having one to defend themselves with.
a lot of it really does come down to people becomming more and more passive (and thinking that passive means not doing *anything* violent instead of only using violence when necessary). personally, i am a rather passive and laid back person, that does not mean, however, that i will let someone try to do me harm or do harm to other people, and i am quite well trained to deal with such situations.
and even if a gun is not available, there are weapons all around you. knives, pipes, tree branches, car antennas. don't think that someone who wants to do you harm won't pick up one and use it on you.
i'm not saying any of this in a harsh tone, just being honest.
what's wrong with making firearm ownership a right?
one of my favorite quotes on the topic (because it is true all too often. think of china where the communist government went so far as to outlaw kung fu. and i'm sorry, but wushu does not compare, honestly.) - "am armed person is a citizen, and unarmed one is a subject"
China's tradition of looking to the past for answers to the future came from Confucius. i agree that he had several good ideas, but his was not the only system in china (and unfortunately his disciples took it places he would never have wished). the other two main systems at his time were the taoists and the buddhists.
the government supported the confucian ideal because it could be used by them to justify themselves. the unquestioning following of authority was quite alright with the people in charge.
on the other hand, the government often feared the taoists because their doctrine was more one of dealing with things as they come while keeping an eye on the future. the wicked should not rule and no power should be completely in control. these were the people that were pivotal in the overthrow of many dynasties.
so, you will find that it is, in some ways, the fault of "wicked people" that the system is the way that it is. by taking an accepted doctrine (which had a great deal of merit in some situations), and using it for their own end over a VERY long time (over 2000 years), they have made something which is really a perversion of what could have been a very good thing.
but that's just my 2 cents having grown up around asian influences. mod me down for a troll if you like.
At about 6' tall and built somewhat like a gorilla, I'm not exactly a sterotyppical geek either. I didn't have a lot of the problems that some of my friends did, and I can think of all of three or four fights that i got into when i was in k-12 (most of those were because of people who were self-proclaimed martial arts experts and wanted to try themselves against the kid who had learned kung fu from just about the time he started school)
I was relatively popular with most of the groups, didn't really have any trouble with dating, and amusingly enough I ended up getting engaged to a model (who happened to be another geek and also into martial arts. go figure). The engagement didn't work out, but that sort of thing happens in life. If I had it to try again, I would (I would do some things differently, but I would try it again).
Now, I've just finished college, am working on some software for some buisness associates of mine, and looking for a full time job since my last one ended when I graduated.
Just goes to show you that being a geek can work quite well. You just have to be willing to actually get out and deal with people. Don't act like they're any better or worse than you and take things as they come. The most important thing is not to work hard, but to work hard and still have time for fun (which includes having a sense of humor, especially about yourself).
Funny that you say the education process should be sped up. One of the most important parts of things such as the design of software and complex systems is creativity, otherwise you are just following instructions hashed together from other sources instead of being innovative.
Creativity is usually learned through play when we are younger instead of focusing entirely on the "concrete" things such as science. By speeding up the education process, you take time away from that play by causing it to be used to learn those concrete skills at in less time.
Interestingly enough, the "cutting out" of a large portion of childhood by forcing children to "grow up" faster is, according to a few buddhist monks that I have known, one of the main reasons that people seem so unbalanced anymore; why they have so many problems with substance abuse, etc.
To be honest, I still have a small set of legos on my desk (sitting next to stacks of manuals) as a tool to clear mental blocks.
Slashdot Mirror
12 replies to this and he's already been slashdotted? sheesh
his bandwidth must be issed by a hamster.
Making steel from iron qualifies as "Dangerous Fun" (as george carlin would say) to some of us. i miss it :)
doesn't matter if the EU honors them or not. as long as two things happen
1) the company in the EU has a branch in the US through which to file the patent with the US patent office
2) the company accused of violating this patent has either an office or bank account in the US or sells the product which allegedly violates the patent in the US.
if those two conditions are met, the company holding the patent can sue in the US, bypassing the EU completely.
all that companies in the EU will have to do if software patents are denied in the EU will be to set up a small arm of the company in the US. since most software products are sold here as well, they can just do the litigation here in the US. all it would take is for the company violating the patent to have an office or bank account in the US or to sell the offending product in the US...
It's my subway defense system
we had the same basic thing with the cheese worm. someone made it to fix the li0n worm, but it ended up causing its own problems because it pummeled the living daylights out of networks while trying to propogate
first, there is nothing to stop them from ammending the constitution to do away with the term limit (and this political climate is the perfect time to try that).
second, changing the constitution would not be absolutely necessary. all that needs to happen is for the government to declare a state of emergency and then take over all means of production, transport, etc because of FEMA (and yes, it can be used like that). everything can come under control of the current government, including the current government. democracy goes out the window and what is basically martial law can be enstated...
one of the things that really amuses me about this is that my uni (i am a rather recent grad) is getting in the news yet again because someone thinks something happening here is negative.
;)
we're a real rebel culture, alright. a nearly city-wide halloween "block" party that resembols mardi gras on acid, several unofficial street parties a year, time change "riots" (blown well out of proportion by the media). why so many parties? because we work just as hard (if not harder) as we play (believe it or not, it's pretty tame around here most of the time in all honesty), and now *gasp* asking students if they would be interested in something that would cost them more in tuition.
what a concept. but then, this is also the university that got a licensing deal with M$ that lasted for many years and had bill over a barrel (OU paid almost nothing for the site license and any student or staff member had access to copies. they could even have personal copies made for a rather modest fee)
want to know the funny part? i'm an engineering major. know what most of the people in my section use in the labs? unix. know what a lot of them use at home? bsd, linux, and mac. and it's not exactly a small group within the university.
makes you wonder, doesn't it?
sorry about the readability. i missed chaging the formatting. it's been a little crazy this morning
there will never be zero demand for weapons, firearm or otherwise. even if your "average" citizen had no desire for them, the people who still want to do them harm would desire weapons. the worst that could happen is a lot more than knives and fists. there were a *lot* of ranged weapons around long before the gun and rudimentary guns are not that difficult to fabricate. man is a social creature, but he is also a predator. predatory nature is always going to be expressed in some way, some cases more violently than others (everything from competition in basketball and other sports, to hunting, to violence against each other). we are, at our core, animals, and have the same needs and desires, really. as far as everlasting damage goes, it would not be nearly as common as you seem to think it would. the saying "an armed society is a polite society" is rather true. you tend to be much less prone to violent outbreaks without good reason when you know that your actions can bring immidiate and heavy consequences. your views have been colored by a very long campaign that says violence is bad and anyone who knows how to be violent is bad. unfortunately, a lot of people have. it's the product of a rather one-sided ideology (and, unfortunately, ideologies are often one sided). to put all of this in perspective, i'm not just spouting my idealistic views. there have been several times when my life or the lives of people i care for have been in question because of someone else while i was there. since i'm writing this, i think i'm still here. you can't expect everyone else to be idealistic and nonviolent. you can only be the best person you can be and still be prepared for other people to be both the best, and worst, that they can be. like i said, i tend to be very non-violent and laid back, but i am prepared to be direct and brutal if need be. utopia got its name because it could not exist. guns are just a tool, like a screwdriver or a hammer. they can all be used for constructive ends or they can be used to do harm. it all depends on the person using them, but just because bad people have used them in the past is no reason to say that the tool itself is bad and nobody should have it. that mentality only works on the people who play by the rules, and the people who do harm with those tools do not play by the rules. the only thing becomming a sheep ever did was help feed the wolves.
you'll find that a lot of the incidents with guns as far as death and injury go are against people who feel that it should not be up to them to defend themselves.
take away gun ownership rights. it won't stop the kid who is already using an illegal gun (not registered, etc) from getting an illegal gun. it will just stop the people that play by the rules from having one to defend themselves with.
a lot of it really does come down to people becomming more and more passive (and thinking that passive means not doing *anything* violent instead of only using violence when necessary). personally, i am a rather passive and laid back person, that does not mean, however, that i will let someone try to do me harm or do harm to other people, and i am quite well trained to deal with such situations.
and even if a gun is not available, there are weapons all around you. knives, pipes, tree branches, car antennas. don't think that someone who wants to do you harm won't pick up one and use it on you.
i'm not saying any of this in a harsh tone, just being honest.
what's wrong with making firearm ownership a right?
one of my favorite quotes on the topic (because it is true all too often. think of china where the communist government went so far as to outlaw kung fu. and i'm sorry, but wushu does not compare, honestly.) - "am armed person is a citizen, and unarmed one is a subject"
China's tradition of looking to the past for answers to the future came from Confucius. i agree that he had several good ideas, but his was not the only system in china (and unfortunately his disciples took it places he would never have wished). the other two main systems at his time were the taoists and the buddhists.
the government supported the confucian ideal because it could be used by them to justify themselves. the unquestioning following of authority was quite alright with the people in charge.
on the other hand, the government often feared the taoists because their doctrine was more one of dealing with things as they come while keeping an eye on the future. the wicked should not rule and no power should be completely in control. these were the people that were pivotal in the overthrow of many dynasties.
so, you will find that it is, in some ways, the fault of "wicked people" that the system is the way that it is. by taking an accepted doctrine (which had a great deal of merit in some situations), and using it for their own end over a VERY long time (over 2000 years), they have made something which is really a perversion of what could have been a very good thing.
but that's just my 2 cents having grown up around asian influences. mod me down for a troll if you like.
Kitchen sink? Nah. It'll just require the same machine it takes to run longhorn ;)
coffeehouses with wifi internet access
i know it's where i like to do my dissention (and debugging) *evil laughter*
At about 6' tall and built somewhat like a gorilla, I'm not exactly a sterotyppical geek either. I didn't have a lot of the problems that some of my friends did, and I can think of all of three or four fights that i got into when i was in k-12 (most of those were because of people who were self-proclaimed martial arts experts and wanted to try themselves against the kid who had learned kung fu from just about the time he started school)
I was relatively popular with most of the groups, didn't really have any trouble with dating, and amusingly enough I ended up getting engaged to a model (who happened to be another geek and also into martial arts. go figure). The engagement didn't work out, but that sort of thing happens in life. If I had it to try again, I would (I would do some things differently, but I would try it again).
Now, I've just finished college, am working on some software for some buisness associates of mine, and looking for a full time job since my last one ended when I graduated.
Just goes to show you that being a geek can work quite well. You just have to be willing to actually get out and deal with people. Don't act like they're any better or worse than you and take things as they come. The most important thing is not to work hard, but to work hard and still have time for fun (which includes having a sense of humor, especially about yourself).
Funny that you say the education process should be sped up. One of the most important parts of things such as the design of software and complex systems is creativity, otherwise you are just following instructions hashed together from other sources instead of being innovative.
Creativity is usually learned through play when we are younger instead of focusing entirely on the "concrete" things such as science. By speeding up the education process, you take time away from that play by causing it to be used to learn those concrete skills at in less time.
Interestingly enough, the "cutting out" of a large portion of childhood by forcing children to "grow up" faster is, according to a few buddhist monks that I have known, one of the main reasons that people seem so unbalanced anymore; why they have so many problems with substance abuse, etc.
To be honest, I still have a small set of legos on my desk (sitting next to stacks of manuals) as a tool to clear mental blocks.
all things in moderation...