I know, Creative had it first. You can pull all of the patent information from the last time we discussed this issue but the fact still remains that a patent application date does not establish when an idea was first formulated. The Patent Office can only issue based on what is available, so it will be up to Apple to prove, if it can, that its interface was documented and notarized before Creative. That will mitigate Creative's claim of uniqueness and would change their patent status.
But that whole discussion pales in comparison to the larger issue of patents granted for things that the entire industry knows has shitloads of prior art attached to it. These defensive patents are what will kill innovation in this country, not piracy as Microsoft and the RIAA will claim.
Write your representative and tell them you DEMAND patent reform.
People naturally want to control their own lives in their own interest; and, people naturally want to control other's lives in their own interest. Any social system will reveal this in some manner.
Then how do you rationalize the success of businesses? They are far from your libertarian ideal in the most important respect: workers (employees, 'staff', and the ubiquitous 'associates') lack any ability to control their own lives. There is little difference in organizational principles between business and the communist states of the 20th Century except in the expected outcome of the use of resources. A small clique of people controlled the resources and means of production (board of directors, politburo) and the workers supplied the labor with little expectation of meaningful return. A few in the middle were given the impression that they were going to be elevated - some day - to a position of power. They toiled on in a middle management role controlling the lowest ranking labor so that the ruling bodies could perpetuate their hold on power.
...it is not at all surprising when they fail or are corrupted or are coopted by a handful of charismatic sociopaths.
Apparently there are a few more parallels between 20th Century communism and the modern capitalist state than you may have realized.
Mind you, I am no proponent of communism. I object to the lack of freedom that it imposes on the people it is supposed to be liberating. But the modern corporate structure is showing all of the signs of the 20th Century communist state with little to stand in the way of its complete dominance over us. The democratically elected republic that we promoted throughout the world during the Cold War is receeding quickly, at least in the US.
"It will be a cold day in hell before I feel sorry for the victims of any dictatorship ever again."
Wow, that is pretty cold. I'm sure that there are millions of Ashkenazi who would violently disagree with you.
Hell, your attitude was clearly reflected by Americans before WWII when a boatload of Jewish refugees arrived in the US. The authorities turned them back to Europe, and certain death. Good thing we have learned from that mistake and now try to recognize these tragedies before they exterminate millions of people. We haven't been entirely successful, but we still have folks like yourself who frustrate our efforts to save lives.
I now know why you have such a piss-poor understanding of science: You have a limited historical perspective. Try sitting down with victims of the Holocaust and make the same argument about tolerating dictators. You might also parade your lack of sympathy for the victims again and see if they let you get to the door.
History, science, foreign policy, global epidemics,...
The scientific method means test and reproducable results.
Are you back to rehash your lack of understanding?
The scientific method is based on observation and experimental tests. Theories (as opposed to wild-ass-guesses) are explanations formed on the basis of experimental and observational evidence.
My eleven-year-old daughter has a better grasp of the scientific method than you do, Todd.
Anything less is not the scientific method.
And you have proven, yet again, that you haven't any clue, Todd.
You might want to delve a little deeper into the foundations of science before you dig yourself deeper into a hole of misunderstanding. I would start with the philosophers of the 17th Century. Work your way back to the present before you make an ass out of yourself - again - Todd.
You are the one that wants to open the floodgates of inference and allow nonfact to pollute the knowledge base.
Yeah, like God is verifiable. Where is the 'fact' in that statement, Todd?
I guess you also have no idea of the meaning of "faith".
Sorry, but you are just retreading the same old tired arguments - some dating back 400 years.
Those arguments were found to have no scientifc foundation then and continue to lack scientific foundation now.
The funniest thing about this colloquy is that you actually believe that you have an original argument.
Sorry that you can't see the difference between making stuff up and not making stuff up.
This information is obviously vital, and should no doubt be covered in Biology class!.
Heh, one should think so. But there are soooo many non-believers out there.
I told my local school district a couple of years back that if they continued to insist that prayer be not only allowed in school, but lead by a teacher, that I would first convert my children to their grandma's religion (she was of the Blackfoot tribe), and then sue under federal law to force the district to accomodate their worship in the school. Since they would have to accomodate my children during "prayer time", I knew that having a bunch of whooping, dancing students in the classroom would be too much for them to take.
They dropped their proposal because they eventually realized that in order to stay neutral with regard to the Establishment Clause they would have to accomodate every religious belief to avoid having their policy ruled unconstitutional.
Intelligent Design will have the same fate when every religion in the world demands equal time in the science classroom.
Representatives of the Galactic Federation will be visiting with you tomorrow geomon. Don't go anywhere. Oh wait...just got word. Mormon missionaries want sloppy seconds.
*shrug* there doesn't have to be any evidence. but, that does mean it shouldn't be taught alongside evolution as an "alternate theory"
Great!
Why not include Scientology along with Judeo-Christian creation?
You think a Christian parents are pissed that Little Johnny was told by his teacher that man evolved from a common ancestor to apes, just wait until he comes home and tells Mommy and Daddy about a Galactic Federation founded 5,000,000 years ago, Teegeeack, H-Bombs, and body thetans.
One problem is that the "editors" feel the need to post six million stories a day instead of 4 or 5 (2 or 3?) quality ones.
You are probably right, but overload is not one of those reasons I accept when dealing with service providers. Slashdot has long since past the day when it was a true community-driven entity. If they are indeed fielding that many stories in one day, then they need to reconsider the editing process and allow it to be handled in the same way as the comments - a metaediting function.
It seems strange that the output side of Slashdot is community-driven but the input side is a tightly protected priesthood.
Long-time users are asking the question: Is Slashdot becoming irrelevant? More posts express that sentiment as the number interesting stories are being buried by accidental and deliberate duplicate entries, and the flood of Linux vs. Microsoft war stories, grows by the day. A collective yawn has developed among nearly all three-digit UID members and it is now moving into the four- and five-digit UIDs at an alarming rate. Can Slashdot stop the slide into sheer obscurity?
I've been looking for recent satellite photos of the affected area. Unfortunately, the aerial photos from the AP pool don't provide the extent of the disaster that a satellite shot can.
The Miami Hearld is reporting the announcement today that researchers have completed a map of the chimpanzee genome. Work will begin in earnest to compare the results of this work with results from the 2001 completion of the human genome. Researchers caution, however, that specific genetic markers that identify humans from their primate counterparts will be difficult. Eric Lander of the Broad Institute comments "But it's not trivial to be able to say, 'Here is an inventory of the most important differences, and now go at it and figure out which of these differences contain the signatures of what is distinctively human.'" Chimpanzees genetic code is approximately 99 percent identical to humans.
Considering the implications that this work could have on medicine if they can identify which portions are human (i.e., those that make humans susceptable to AIDS and Alzheimer's - diseases that do not affect chimps), I would have thought that this story would have been good enough for posting.
But hey, why not another post in the Linux/Microsoft wars. It gets the flames going.
An astronaut that will rather resort to violence than being caught swearing that he really was on the moon.
Read the link again. Not only was he asked (demanded) to swear on the Bible that he landed on the moon, he was held against his will and shoved against the wall.
The asshole who pinned him is lucky that Aldrin didn't ask that kidnapping or false imprisionment charges be brought against him.
And as for the issue of his 'swearing on a Bible', Aldrin is a very religious man. He asked for permission to bring religious materials to the moon. Although some of the stuff he brought had questionable religious value (he brought a Masonic banner - cool, but not easily justified considering the weight considerations), his faith should not be the subject of some asswipe's manic obsession with debunking the moon landings.
Now if only the US military's laser-guided weapons were half as good!:)
That is an interesting contrast, isn't it? NASA's current shift to manned missions will probably shake out any of the remote sensing folks. That would make them free agents available for the DOD to pick up for cheap.
Huh, that sounds just like a lot of religious beliefs I can think of.
Well.... yeah. But there are other groups (eco-extremists) who also ignore stunningly simple facts to promote their view.
I tend to cut religous people more slack. Religious belief is one of the only truly human behaviors. As far as we can acertain, other animals do not possess religiosity.
"All you lunar hoax conspiracy theorists out there can just consider this the remake, with 2005-class special effects."
I love conspiracy knotheads. They always ignore evidence that is readily available to them that would disprove their theory immediately.
On several Apollo missions, astronauts planted mirrors facing Earth. The mirror were useful for measuring the distance of the moon from the Earth and the change in readings was used to confirm the theory of plate tectonics. We now use GPS surveys with permanently mounted stations.
Funny how facts available to everyone can be ignored by people with an axe to grind.
Slashdot Mirror
I know, Creative had it first. You can pull all of the patent information from the last time we discussed this issue but the fact still remains that a patent application date does not establish when an idea was first formulated. The Patent Office can only issue based on what is available, so it will be up to Apple to prove, if it can, that its interface was documented and notarized before Creative. That will mitigate Creative's claim of uniqueness and would change their patent status.
But that whole discussion pales in comparison to the larger issue of patents granted for things that the entire industry knows has shitloads of prior art attached to it. These defensive patents are what will kill innovation in this country, not piracy as Microsoft and the RIAA will claim.
Write your representative and tell them you DEMAND patent reform.
People naturally want to control their own lives in their own interest; and, people naturally want to control other's lives in their own interest. Any social system will reveal this in some manner.
...it is not at all surprising when they fail or are corrupted or are coopted by a handful of charismatic sociopaths.
Then how do you rationalize the success of businesses? They are far from your libertarian ideal in the most important respect: workers (employees, 'staff', and the ubiquitous 'associates') lack any ability to control their own lives. There is little difference in organizational principles between business and the communist states of the 20th Century except in the expected outcome of the use of resources. A small clique of people controlled the resources and means of production (board of directors, politburo) and the workers supplied the labor with little expectation of meaningful return. A few in the middle were given the impression that they were going to be elevated - some day - to a position of power. They toiled on in a middle management role controlling the lowest ranking labor so that the ruling bodies could perpetuate their hold on power.
Apparently there are a few more parallels between 20th Century communism and the modern capitalist state than you may have realized.
Mind you, I am no proponent of communism. I object to the lack of freedom that it imposes on the people it is supposed to be liberating. But the modern corporate structure is showing all of the signs of the 20th Century communist state with little to stand in the way of its complete dominance over us. The democratically elected republic that we promoted throughout the world during the Cold War is receeding quickly, at least in the US.
Did you really mean this:
"It will be a cold day in hell before I feel sorry for the victims of any dictatorship ever again."
Wow, that is pretty cold. I'm sure that there are millions of Ashkenazi who would violently disagree with you.
Hell, your attitude was clearly reflected by Americans before WWII when a boatload of Jewish refugees arrived in the US. The authorities turned them back to Europe, and certain death. Good thing we have learned from that mistake and now try to recognize these tragedies before they exterminate millions of people. We haven't been entirely successful, but we still have folks like yourself who frustrate our efforts to save lives.
I now know why you have such a piss-poor understanding of science: You have a limited historical perspective. Try sitting down with victims of the Holocaust and make the same argument about tolerating dictators. You might also parade your lack of sympathy for the victims again and see if they let you get to the door.
History, science, foreign policy, global epidemics,...
There is just so much you are wrong about.
The scientific method means test and reproducable results.
Are you back to rehash your lack of understanding?
The scientific method is based on observation and experimental tests. Theories (as opposed to wild-ass-guesses) are explanations formed on the basis of experimental and observational evidence.
My eleven-year-old daughter has a better grasp of the scientific method than you do, Todd.
Anything less is not the scientific method.
And you have proven, yet again, that you haven't any clue, Todd.
You might want to delve a little deeper into the foundations of science before you dig yourself deeper into a hole of misunderstanding. I would start with the philosophers of the 17th Century. Work your way back to the present before you make an ass out of yourself - again - Todd.
You are the one that wants to open the floodgates of inference and allow nonfact to pollute the knowledge base.
Yeah, like God is verifiable. Where is the 'fact' in that statement, Todd?
I guess you also have no idea of the meaning of "faith".
Sorry, but you are just retreading the same old tired arguments - some dating back 400 years.
Those arguments were found to have no scientifc foundation then and continue to lack scientific foundation now.
The funniest thing about this colloquy is that you actually believe that you have an original argument.
Sorry that you can't see the difference between making stuff up and not making stuff up.
So fossils are made up?
Sorry, but you have lost again,...
Todd.
80% of Americans believe in UFOs.
The idea that science should be subject to an American plebisite is horseshit. Science belongs to no one nation.
Those of us who have been touched by his noodly appendage generally prefer Angel Hair to dreads.
Of course. How silly of me.
My apologies.
This information is obviously vital, and should no doubt be covered in Biology class!.
Heh, one should think so. But there are soooo many non-believers out there.
I told my local school district a couple of years back that if they continued to insist that prayer be not only allowed in school, but lead by a teacher, that I would first convert my children to their grandma's religion (she was of the Blackfoot tribe), and then sue under federal law to force the district to accomodate their worship in the school. Since they would have to accomodate my children during "prayer time", I knew that having a bunch of whooping, dancing students in the classroom would be too much for them to take.
They dropped their proposal because they eventually realized that in order to stay neutral with regard to the Establishment Clause they would have to accomodate every religious belief to avoid having their policy ruled unconstitutional.
Intelligent Design will have the same fate when every religion in the world demands equal time in the science classroom.
If the Scientologists get their theories in, so should Pastafarians.
I'll go for that only if the Invisible Pink Unicorn is included in the curriculum as well.
IPU2U2 - Amen.
Pastafarians.... That one is good too.
Do they wear dreads?
Representatives of the Galactic Federation will be visiting with you tomorrow geomon. Don't go anywhere. Oh wait...just got word. Mormon missionaries want sloppy seconds.
Crap.
There go my plans for the "Friday Virgins Dance".
*shrug* there doesn't have to be any evidence. but, that does mean it shouldn't be taught alongside evolution as an "alternate theory"
Great!
Why not include Scientology along with Judeo-Christian creation?
You think a Christian parents are pissed that Little Johnny was told by his teacher that man evolved from a common ancestor to apes, just wait until he comes home and tells Mommy and Daddy about a Galactic Federation founded 5,000,000 years ago, Teegeeack, H-Bombs, and body thetans.
I can't wait to see that one.
Well, yes, but than we would have just another K5.
;)
OUCH!
One problem is that the "editors" feel the need to post six million stories a day instead of 4 or 5 (2 or 3?) quality ones.
You are probably right, but overload is not one of those reasons I accept when dealing with service providers. Slashdot has long since past the day when it was a true community-driven entity. If they are indeed fielding that many stories in one day, then they need to reconsider the editing process and allow it to be handled in the same way as the comments - a metaediting function.
It seems strange that the output side of Slashdot is community-driven but the input side is a tightly protected priesthood.
I don't know and I don't care.
The lethargy is expanding!
Oh, the humanity!
Long-time users are asking the question: Is Slashdot becoming irrelevant? More posts express that sentiment as the number interesting stories are being buried by accidental and deliberate duplicate entries, and the flood of Linux vs. Microsoft war stories, grows by the day. A collective yawn has developed among nearly all three-digit UID members and it is now moving into the four- and five-digit UIDs at an alarming rate. Can Slashdot stop the slide into sheer obscurity?
I agree. But we are just the customers and this forum is beginning to look more and more like Microsoft.
YOU VILL TAKE THE ABUSE UND LIKE IT!
Nice link. Thank you so much.
I've been looking for recent satellite photos of the affected area. Unfortunately, the aerial photos from the AP pool don't provide the extent of the disaster that a satellite shot can.
Chimpanzee Genome Holds Clues To Humanity
The Miami Hearld is reporting the announcement today that researchers have completed a map of the chimpanzee genome. Work will begin in earnest to compare the results of this work with results from the 2001 completion of the human genome. Researchers caution, however, that specific genetic markers that identify humans from their primate counterparts will be difficult. Eric Lander of the Broad Institute comments "But it's not trivial to be able to say, 'Here is an inventory of the most important differences, and now go at it and figure out which of these differences contain the signatures of what is distinctively human.'" Chimpanzees genetic code is approximately 99 percent identical to humans.
Considering the implications that this work could have on medicine if they can identify which portions are human (i.e., those that make humans susceptable to AIDS and Alzheimer's - diseases that do not affect chimps), I would have thought that this story would have been good enough for posting.
But hey, why not another post in the Linux/Microsoft wars. It gets the flames going.
If the standard model says that gravity is caused by the exchange of gravitons...
Oh, I see. So where is the demand for:
"TEST. TEST. TEST. REPRODUCIBLE RESULTS."
You tone is less demanding than when you are not discussing the origin of humans.
I guess you are too big of a wimp to be a scientist.
Coming from someone who exhorts disdain for the scientific method, I take that comment as a badge of honor.
You are Jerry Falwell make good company.
An astronaut that will rather resort to violence than being caught swearing that he really was on the moon.
Read the link again. Not only was he asked (demanded) to swear on the Bible that he landed on the moon, he was held against his will and shoved against the wall.
The asshole who pinned him is lucky that Aldrin didn't ask that kidnapping or false imprisionment charges be brought against him.
And as for the issue of his 'swearing on a Bible', Aldrin is a very religious man. He asked for permission to bring religious materials to the moon. Although some of the stuff he brought had questionable religious value (he brought a Masonic banner - cool, but not easily justified considering the weight considerations), his faith should not be the subject of some asswipe's manic obsession with debunking the moon landings.
Nicely done.
:)
I almost did a spit-take.
Now if only the US military's laser-guided weapons were half as good! :)
That is an interesting contrast, isn't it? NASA's current shift to manned missions will probably shake out any of the remote sensing folks. That would make them free agents available for the DOD to pick up for cheap.
Huh, that sounds just like a lot of religious beliefs I can think of.
Well.... yeah. But there are other groups (eco-extremists) who also ignore stunningly simple facts to promote their view.
I tend to cut religous people more slack. Religious belief is one of the only truly human behaviors. As far as we can acertain, other animals do not possess religiosity.
That was GREAT!! A 72-year-old astronaut puts a guy on his ass with one punch!
Thanks for the link.
"All you lunar hoax conspiracy theorists out there can just consider this the remake, with 2005-class special effects."
I love conspiracy knotheads. They always ignore evidence that is readily available to them that would disprove their theory immediately.
On several Apollo missions, astronauts planted mirrors facing Earth. The mirror were useful for measuring the distance of the moon from the Earth and the change in readings was used to confirm the theory of plate tectonics. We now use GPS surveys with permanently mounted stations.
Funny how facts available to everyone can be ignored by people with an axe to grind.
TEST. TEST. TEST. REPRODUCIBLE RESULTS.
Got a test for every theory?
How about gravity?
I guess you are back to technician.
Thanks for playing.