How much money is currently being wasted on litigation and licensing?
That money would fund a STAGGERING amount of new product development, research, or advancement of current products, but its being WASTED on lawyers working for patent trolls.
All the politicians want science, technology, and engineering jobs, but then they pass laws that destroy and hamper innovators and creators.
Software patents should be completely illegal. Patents on computer hardware should have a term of 12-18 months. Copyright on anything should be 20 years or less, a generation of protection for a work should be enough.
The absurd length of copyright and the extreme vagueness allowed in modern patents is killing the innovation we will need for the economy to actually improve.
Yes, where politics is defined as getting people in the media to trumpet your cause and agree with everything you say.
And most definitely Bill Clinton was far better at politics than either Obama or Bush. Although this is partly because he realized that "his team" wouldn't come after him for things like welfare reform and that by giving the republicans much of what they were asking for with said reform, he could neutralize complaints from their base. Although being thwarted with respect to debating Clinton on policy, the Republicans decided that fussing about his personal life was necessary.....
Obama has been bombing Libya for months now without invoking the war powers act.
If Bush had done that the Democrats would have organized marches with millions of participants protesting.
Those millions just sit at home because it's "their guy" that is doing it this time.
By the same token many of the Republicans that supported Bush's actions with respect to Iraq are now pissed off at Obama. Sure he's violating the war powers act and they can catch him on a technicality, but you sure as hell know they'd have been fine with Bush if he had violated it.
Its all about "my team" vs. "your team" anymore. Americans don't stand on principle, they just proudly wear the label for their side that they belong to. And they belong to that side because they've always belonged to it.
Its sickening.
And of course both of our political sides happily sell us out to the Movie and Music industry, even though they're small potatoes compared to industries that'll be harmed by these brain dead laws and treaties.
The entire concept that "Management" is a core discipline that someone can learn and then they can run _any_ type of company, even with no understanding of it whatsoever is one of the worst things to have come out of the 20th century, and looking at that century, thats really saying something.
Exactly!! The war in Afghanistan has gone on waaaaay longer and cost waaaay more than initially expected. And those costs are ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE larger than NASAs whole budget!!
Bitching about the cost of NASA is a political game. Congress complains about how much NASA costs, but try to cut their precious defense spending and they all start crying about how we shouldn't do it.
I've decided one thing regarding the next election and it's that I will refuse to vote for anyone who is against cutting defense spending.
I always love the "but the USSR was not TRUE Communism" line.
True Communism requires an elite ruling class with total control over the activities of the entire populace.
That elite ruling class requires obscene amounts of power, lets call it.... absolute power.
It is well known that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Therefore any Communist state ever attempted will be run by people that are fantastically corrupt.
Now we could discuss the distribution of power in Capitalistic systems, because its there too. But at least in capitalism the people, err consumers in capitalism's case, are required to have at least a little decision making power for themselves....
So, after you've rounded up all the religious scientists to keep them from practicing science, which group will you come for next?
ANYONE who says "those who do not think like me should be dealt with" deserves no respect and no consideration. This is true whether the others are scientists who believe in God, or whether the others are homosexual.
A corollary to this is that while I agree an attached keyboard is a nice thing, when I'm using my netbook instead of my iPad, I get an urge to touch the screen to click on icons, links, and such.
So if we start spreading to other worlds, then a spacefaring race that by definition would have spread to other worlds would come to kill us for our spreading to other worlds.
As noble as everyone is trying to make the aliens case sound, it would be as wrong as any other mass genocide has been.
The case of killing us because we're in their way I can understand.
The case of killing us because its a noble thing to do is total bullshit.
Why the heck is it so popular nowadays for many humans to be so anti-human?
The goal of EVERY species on this planet is its continued survival, us included. Of course, not all species succeed.
WE are only species on the planet uniquely equipped to have even a chance of surviving the inevitable destruction of the Earth. Hell, we would undoubtedly save a few other species while we're at it.
I just don't get this "HUMANS BAD" crap that so many are spewing.
I agree that what it is now is a PR campaign. Thats not what it used to be, but that is what it is now.
I have no time for a "fiscally conservative" Tea Party that won't even look at cutting defense spending and is too scared to propose real meaningful reform of Social Security and Medicare.
I am downright outraged at the new Tea Party litmus tests for "socially conservative" policies. The Tea Party was intially all about spending because really, in the end that all that matters. But now they're all cowtowing to the old neocon social values.
The Tea Party was hijacked by the last remaining vestiges of the neocons. But it did start out as a movement attempting to put the breaks on the runaway spending of TARP and Obama's stimulus. It's just not that anymore.
It baffles me however why DRM even matters for Netflix.
It is easier for me to watch something on Netflix than it is for me to download it illegally and watch it. Therefore, why would I download anything illegally that is available on Netflix.
Hell, I've watched things on Netflix that I own on DVD because I'm too lazy to find the disk and put it in the player.
If Netflix had no DRM, I know for a fact that it would run on Linux, as I've gotten sliverlight to run on Linux.
DRM for Netflix is completely unnecessary. Why would I want to waste disk storage for something I could stream whenever I want?
For all the posturing about science education we as a culture are literally completely turning our back on it.
It frustrates me to no end that NASA is facing large budget cuts, but the military is not.
NASA funding is literally less than 3% of the total we spend on defense. 3%!!! A cut in funding of defense of 5% wouldn't even be felt, but no, lets make sure we cut NASA instead.
I have no idea how the hell you'd "replace" the Oahe dam. And its been maintained just fine. Its the water flow policies that are being questioned here.
Actually he line coming from AGW folks regarding this region was to expect widespread drought.
Recently I saw an article that indicated that some models of climate assumed that higher temps would lead to more water vapor at high altitudes which would lead to more warning. What appears to be happening, however, is that there is more water vapor at lower altitudes which means more rain.
I'm fine with scientists changing their theories in the face of new evidence, but to stare that they told us this is what was going to happen is incorrect. They actually told us this out come wasn't going to happen.
Also, the dam system on the Missouri is fully built out, suggesting more dams is an ignorant observation in this discussion.
Slashdot Mirror
Bingo!!
How much money is currently being wasted on litigation and licensing?
That money would fund a STAGGERING amount of new product development, research, or advancement of current products, but its being WASTED on lawyers working for patent trolls.
All the politicians want science, technology, and engineering jobs, but then they pass laws that destroy and hamper innovators and creators.
Software patents should be completely illegal. Patents on computer hardware should have a term of 12-18 months. Copyright on anything should be 20 years or less, a generation of protection for a work should be enough.
The absurd length of copyright and the extreme vagueness allowed in modern patents is killing the innovation we will need for the economy to actually improve.
oh, I can't imagine why...
In the future, we will look back on this as another signpost on the path of Facebook's fall.....
Yes, where politics is defined as getting people in the media to trumpet your cause and agree with everything you say.
And most definitely Bill Clinton was far better at politics than either Obama or Bush. Although this is partly because he realized that "his team" wouldn't come after him for things like welfare reform and that by giving the republicans much of what they were asking for with said reform, he could neutralize complaints from their base. Although being thwarted with respect to debating Clinton on policy, the Republicans decided that fussing about his personal life was necessary.....
Are you serious??
Obama has been bombing Libya for months now without invoking the war powers act.
If Bush had done that the Democrats would have organized marches with millions of participants protesting.
Those millions just sit at home because it's "their guy" that is doing it this time.
By the same token many of the Republicans that supported Bush's actions with respect to Iraq are now pissed off at Obama. Sure he's violating the war powers act and they can catch him on a technicality, but you sure as hell know they'd have been fine with Bush if he had violated it.
Its all about "my team" vs. "your team" anymore. Americans don't stand on principle, they just proudly wear the label for their side that they belong to. And they belong to that side because they've always belonged to it.
Its sickening.
And of course both of our political sides happily sell us out to the Movie and Music industry, even though they're small potatoes compared to industries that'll be harmed by these brain dead laws and treaties.
oooooh, damn I wish I had mod points.
The entire concept that "Management" is a core discipline that someone can learn and then they can run _any_ type of company, even with no understanding of it whatsoever is one of the worst things to have come out of the 20th century, and looking at that century, thats really saying something.
Because android's user interface on tablets is horrible and webOS's is way better.
And I'll just assume the windows tablet stuff you mention was a joke.
Exactly!! The war in Afghanistan has gone on waaaaay longer and cost waaaay more than initially expected. And those costs are ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE larger than NASAs whole budget!!
Bitching about the cost of NASA is a political game. Congress complains about how much NASA costs, but try to cut their precious defense spending and they all start crying about how we shouldn't do it.
I've decided one thing regarding the next election and it's that I will refuse to vote for anyone who is against cutting defense spending.
I always love the "but the USSR was not TRUE Communism" line.
True Communism requires an elite ruling class with total control over the activities of the entire populace.
That elite ruling class requires obscene amounts of power, lets call it .... absolute power.
It is well known that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Therefore any Communist state ever attempted will be run by people that are fantastically corrupt.
Now we could discuss the distribution of power in Capitalistic systems, because its there too. But at least in capitalism the people, err consumers in capitalism's case, are required to have at least a little decision making power for themselves....
I'll take option one, thanks. It's only been the defacto standard for the internet for a couple of decades.
The Internet isn't broken, copyright law is!
I view the internet as one of the top five creations of mankind. While recorded music and movies are nice, they are not that important.
So, after you've rounded up all the religious scientists to keep them from practicing science, which group will you come for next?
ANYONE who says "those who do not think like me should be dealt with" deserves no respect and no consideration. This is true whether the others are scientists who believe in God, or whether the others are homosexual.
Your basic assumption is that the actions of our government make sense.
I can assure you that many of their actions do not.
A corollary to this is that while I agree an attached keyboard is a nice thing, when I'm using my netbook instead of my iPad, I get an urge to touch the screen to click on icons, links, and such.
So if we start spreading to other worlds, then a spacefaring race that by definition would have spread to other worlds would come to kill us for our spreading to other worlds.
As noble as everyone is trying to make the aliens case sound, it would be as wrong as any other mass genocide has been.
The case of killing us because we're in their way I can understand.
The case of killing us because its a noble thing to do is total bullshit.
Why the heck is it so popular nowadays for many humans to be so anti-human?
The goal of EVERY species on this planet is its continued survival, us included. Of course, not all species succeed.
WE are only species on the planet uniquely equipped to have even a chance of surviving the inevitable destruction of the Earth. Hell, we would undoubtedly save a few other species while we're at it.
I just don't get this "HUMANS BAD" crap that so many are spewing.
Golden path anyone???
For less than 3% of the current US defense budget, you could FULLY FUND NASA!!
Why the HELL is NASA always the FIRST thing talked about when cutting, and Defense always the LAST.
Or Defense budget is OBSCENE.
I refuse to acknowledge anyone who is "fiscally conservative" who's first priority is not cutting the Defense budget.
I'm looking at you tea party!!
Exactly!
Ya gotta love math!!
Great post!
I agree that what it is now is a PR campaign. Thats not what it used to be, but that is what it is now.
I have no time for a "fiscally conservative" Tea Party that won't even look at cutting defense spending and is too scared to propose real meaningful reform of Social Security and Medicare.
I am downright outraged at the new Tea Party litmus tests for "socially conservative" policies. The Tea Party was intially all about spending because really, in the end that all that matters. But now they're all cowtowing to the old neocon social values.
The Tea Party was hijacked by the last remaining vestiges of the neocons. But it did start out as a movement attempting to put the breaks on the runaway spending of TARP and Obama's stimulus. It's just not that anymore.
It baffles me however why DRM even matters for Netflix.
It is easier for me to watch something on Netflix than it is for me to download it illegally and watch it. Therefore, why would I download anything illegally that is available on Netflix.
Hell, I've watched things on Netflix that I own on DVD because I'm too lazy to find the disk and put it in the player.
If Netflix had no DRM, I know for a fact that it would run on Linux, as I've gotten sliverlight to run on Linux.
DRM for Netflix is completely unnecessary. Why would I want to waste disk storage for something I could stream whenever I want?
Dang, I wish I had more mod points!!
But then we're missing a +1 sad truth mod point.
For all the posturing about science education we as a culture are literally completely turning our back on it.
It frustrates me to no end that NASA is facing large budget cuts, but the military is not.
NASA funding is literally less than 3% of the total we spend on defense. 3%!!! A cut in funding of defense of 5% wouldn't even be felt, but no, lets make sure we cut NASA instead.
In the the world of mobile operating systems they have become very very irrelevant.
Mobile is one market space where they've failed to use their Windows Hegemony on the desktop to maintain a strong position.
Even thought its late in the discussion, I just have to respond to this.
Do some research on the Missouri river dam system before spouting off on your "republicans are band and our infrastructure sucks" nonsense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick%E2%80%93Sloan_Missouri_Basin_Program
I have no idea how the hell you'd "replace" the Oahe dam. And its been maintained just fine. Its the water flow policies that are being questioned here.
Too true.
But at least next time they're debating their policies they'll have pictures to explain why flood control is a worthy thing to be considered.
Actually he line coming from AGW folks regarding this region was to expect widespread drought.
Recently I saw an article that indicated that some models of climate assumed that higher temps would lead to more water vapor at high altitudes which would lead to more warning. What appears to be happening, however, is that there is more water vapor at lower altitudes which means more rain.
I'm fine with scientists changing their theories in the face of new evidence, but to stare that they told us this is what was going to happen is incorrect. They actually told us this out come wasn't going to happen.
Also, the dam system on the Missouri is fully built out, suggesting more dams is an ignorant observation in this discussion.