``Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation retards progress,'' Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court.
I'd like to reword that a bit:
"Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation is the progress of retards"
Seriously, though, maybe it's just the nature of the patent-related articles I see on Slashdot, but the real quote seems like the most concise statement on obviousness I've read.
The good news is that this court apparently recognizes the original purpose of patents.
The bad news is that this blindingly obvious quote was selected for inclusion in the article because the patent system has been viewed as a driver-of-revenue instead of a driver-of-innovation for so long.
The concept is democracy gone crazy, like those idiotic TV shows where the audience votes for who's the best performer.
Democracy gone crazy? Democracy is crazy. The tyranny of the majority, etc., coupled with systemic misinformation?
There's a reason that democracy in its pure form doesn't exist anywhere in the political world -- it's a flawed system. If the goal is good discourse, then any site should realize this and not allow a purely democratic system.
However, my guess is that the owners of Digg aren't interested in maximizing the quality of comments on the site. They are interested in maximizing revenues from the site -- and the number of hits they get suggest that they are doing something right. It may be in the best interest of the user to have an "ungamed" Digg -- but I don't see it affecting the bottom line there, since they already have so little credibility.
(Or, only sign up with manipulation services which publish a privacy policy promising never to share your information, especially not with sites like Digg. Then if Digg buys them out, then the site has violated their privacy policy and Digg as the new owner inherits the liability for that, so you can sue them, right?)
That's a nice piece of logic to prevent your information from being shared, but I don't think it would work that way. If Digg bought out that service, then Digg becomes the new owner at the same moment that it becomes privy to the information; and a company cannot be held liable for sharing information with itself in the absence of a no-data-retention agreement. Even so, how many companies out there do not have a we-reserve-the-right-to-change-this-agreement-with out-warning clause attached to their privacy policies?
I am reasonably postive that death camp guards on their day off do NOT sprout horns and lurk in dungoens and beat foreign reporters to death for fun.
Ha, the trick's on you then. What actually happens is that on their day off, Dungeon-lurking Horn-besprouted Beaters-to-death-of-Foreign-Reporters guard death camps.
Until they are specifically involved in a relevant action, they have no legal standing, and therefore there is no reason to notify them.
Motion for discovery against John Does #1-50? They are involved, should be notified.
Motion for blanket authority to demand ISP records, which is what your summary focuses on? No notification, since it's a non-issue. No press release needed to publicize the motion.
It's called foulbrood. It's what kills beehives. Any apiculturist (beekeeper) can tell you all about it.
And any beekeeper worth his salt would tell you that foulbrood is bacterial, not fungal, and is treated with tetracycline antibiotics -- Terramycin is what I used when I kept bees.
In addition, foulbrood exists in almost every hive -- it's hives that are weakened for other reasons that are really damaged by it. So, for example, a hive that did not have adequate food supplies (such as if bees didn't return to the hive with pollen) would be more likely to have a huge foulbrood problem.
It's this knee-jerk environmentalism. Everyone was quick to blame cell phones, or some other junk science bullshit, for a problem that didn't exist.
Yes, there was a lot of speculation that was evenutally found to be false. That's science for ya.
/Never mind the fact that several bee parasites are ravaging North American hives due to successive mild winters, which may or may not be due to anthropogenic environmental problems.
And who the f*** decided that using two punctuation marks is acceptable on the internet... never mind asking who the f*** decided that * is an acceptable replacement for letters in a written sentence (not just in a file system)?
People were told Not to go to record stores on July 4 between 11 am and 2 pm, buy some DVDs, leave the store, realize that it contains a DRM label, change mind, go back to store and return the item...
Apparently, it didn't work last year.
I think I see why... whoever organized that might need to rethink their cunning plan.
I wonder what the reaction would be if no attention was brought to this and suddenly hundreds get affected by this because the ISPs don't give a rats about their users and give the RIAA whatever they want.
This ruling would not change that at all. The RIAA could request info from ISPs before.
The point remains that anyone affected can challenge this in court, when they are affected.
So who, exactly, should have been party to this motion? Every ISP? Every person who uses the internet? What happens when we extrapolate to all ex parte motions?
Bet people would be calling FOUL!!!! then...
Exactly, which is why we have a legal system to adjudicate this. The courts exist so that people can cry foul, and have a legal option for determining if a "foul" actually occurred.
When the RIAA requests the information, then is the time for ISPs to challenge whether they have to hand over the info.
Until they are specifically involved in a relevant action, they have no legal standing, and therefore there is no reason to notify them.
Mountains out of molehills again.
"Secretly"? Seriously? This is in the public record, it's not sealed. Or should anyone making any kind of legal motion be required to send out a mass mailing to anyone potentially affected?
I'm all for shutting down the ridiculous tactics of the RIAA, but this hardly qualifies -- the reporting is sensationalistic and misleading. When the RIAA demands information from an ISP, then the ISP can fight back (in court) if they choose to do so -- which is exactly why the judge in question did not rule on the general applicability of the issue, and instead just granted that particular request.
Well the big problem with the logic of the article is that it's not the Macs that increase the TCO; according to the quote you provided, the higher support costs would happen whether the "creative types" used PCs or Macs. I.e. PEBKAC issues exist regardless of OS; I'd guess that Publicis Group might see an even higher support:user ratio if those creative types were using Windows.
The article goes on to say that some of that may be because these particular Mac users whine a lot and need more help (my words), but also "... due to the nature of the tools we use on the Mac."
I think you meant to say "... due to the nature of the tools who use a Mac"
When did a Witch Hunt become a quest for the truth?
When did a quest for truth become a witch-hunt? You can assign whatever label you want to it, it's quite possible for the motivations for the impeachment to be a bit of both. Kucinich & friends make political hay, and nearly everyone benefits from exposure of the truth. That's how politics work, and it doesn't disqualify political actions from also having beneficial effects.
Two -- Cheny's not the target. Cheney's going to have to defend himself, and his interactions with the president will come out. It's at least possible that real solid evidence against the president will emerge.
Tha'ts it, in a nutshell. Impeachent proceedings are the only way that the Bush administration can be forced to testify under oath.
I think Kucinich is not only headhunting, he's hunting for truth... where that truth leads is anyone's guess.
To blame the Dems (not that you did) for politicization of impeachment is a bit off... the administration and their allies can cry foul all they want, but it seems to me that Bush & Co have been acting like they have a get-out-of-jail free card simply because Clinton was impeached. Not only that, but if there were not impeachable actions taken, it would be a moot point -- so any finger-pointing needs to be directed at the administration, not it's critics.
The OP should remember that it's not just the right, but the duty, of the public (and their representatives) to question elected officials.
I'm not saying recycling is bad, but the allegation that we're chopping down the rain forests is just plain wrong; it's sensationalism.
No, it's not wrong, unless by "we" you mean the paper industry. Rain forests are being cut down constantly to grow soybeans, for example.
That's why the amount of trees in North America has been steadily growing over the past hundred years
That's not the only reason, nor is it the prime reason. The prime reason is reclamation of previously deforested land by youn forests.
There are more trees today than there has ever been, and the simple reason is because we use a lot of paper.
That is some circuitous, and likely fallacious, logic. There are more trees than there have ever been because most of the US's forests are young, and have a higher tree density than mature forests. It's also misleading, since tree farming is quite different than reforestation; though I'd guess that young forests and tree farms have a greater rate of carbon sequestration than mature forests in temperate climes.
I'm assuming that these are standardized timed exams, in which case factual knowledge is more important than the speed at which one can make logical deductions.
The more complex the problem, the more ways people can solve it, and the amount of time it takes varies more.
Do you penalize the kid who takes more time coming up with and applying complex trig identities rather than applying easy geometry?
Yes. You reward the kid who finds the accurate and fast solution. If you wanted to test trig knowledge, you'd design a problem not solvable via easy geometry.
As to factual knowledge being more important, I'd say that's almost never true in mathematics. Being apply to apply mathematical concepts logically is what math is all about. If the student grasps the material fully, then there should be plenty of time to complete the exam.
Many tests are actually designed to take more than the allotted time. How much the student completes is also used to measure how fully the student knows the material.
Furthermore, the Chinese question required a proof... the English one, just simple answers. Sure, the math is similar, but the Chinese question requires a much more complete display of understanding.
This, I believe, is due to the high cost of grading non-multiple choice exams -- which is an illustration of how the English (and US) systems choose cost-savings and absolute metrics over educational quality.
but I am legally not allowed to wire anything in my own house because of the new laws.
What state do you live in? Most states allow you to do all the wiring in your own home if you choose to (though you'll still need to meet code at inspection time, and I wouldn't recommend complex wiring unless you really know what you're doing). It's electricians-for-hire that must meet licensing requirements, AFAIK. I recently remodeled part of my home, and there were no legal problems at all with doing the wiring myself...
Moderated funny, but this is the gist of the grading system in the high school I went to. Regular courses have normal point value (A = 4.0, B = 3.0 etc), but "hard" classes got a +1 modifier. For example, An A in AP BC Calculus was worth 5.0. In addition, classes were weighted by duration, with each 120 minutes per 6-day cycle (don't ask) assigned a credit value of 2.5. Class meets 40 mins each day? 5.0 credits. A class with a lab meets 40 mins each day plus an additional hour every third day? 7.5 credits.
GPA was determined by adding (grade point + modifier)*(credit value) for each class, then dividing the total by the total credit load.
This rewarded students for taking "hard" classes -- but it also punished students for taking enriching classes as electives; the strategy to maximize GPA was to take the minimum number of classes each term, while saturating your schedule with "hard" classes.
While this system worked fairly well for me (graduated with over 40 college credits from AP classes my last two years of HS), students in the race for valedictorian (unlike myself) missed out on the opportunity to take elective art, music, literature, or history classes that could have really enriched their education.
Slashdot Mirror
The good news is that this court apparently recognizes the original purpose of patents.
The bad news is that this blindingly obvious quote was selected for inclusion in the article because the patent system has been viewed as a driver-of-revenue instead of a driver-of-innovation for so long.
There's a reason that democracy in its pure form doesn't exist anywhere in the political world -- it's a flawed system. If the goal is good discourse, then any site should realize this and not allow a purely democratic system.
However, my guess is that the owners of Digg aren't interested in maximizing the quality of comments on the site. They are interested in maximizing revenues from the site -- and the number of hits they get suggest that they are doing something right. It may be in the best interest of the user to have an "ungamed" Digg -- but I don't see it affecting the bottom line there, since they already have so little credibility.
Motion for blanket authority to demand ISP records, which is what your summary focuses on? No notification, since it's a non-issue. No press release needed to publicize the motion.
In addition, foulbrood exists in almost every hive -- it's hives that are weakened for other reasons that are really damaged by it. So, for example, a hive that did not have adequate food supplies (such as if bees didn't return to the hive with pollen) would be more likely to have a huge foulbrood problem.
Yes, there was a lot of speculation that was evenutally found to be false. That's science for ya.
/Never mind the fact that several bee parasites are ravaging North American hives due to successive mild winters, which may or may not be due to anthropogenic environmental problems.
And who the f*** decided that using two punctuation marks is acceptable on the internet... never mind asking who the f*** decided that * is an acceptable replacement for letters in a written sentence (not just in a file system)?
Yes... the point is to cause a stack-overflow and crash the governmental system.
I'd take Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, or even Don Ho over American Idol any day... and they're dead!
The point remains that anyone affected can challenge this in court, when they are affected.
So who, exactly, should have been party to this motion? Every ISP? Every person who uses the internet? What happens when we extrapolate to all ex parte motions?
Exactly, which is why we have a legal system to adjudicate this. The courts exist so that people can cry foul, and have a legal option for determining if a "foul" actually occurred.
When the RIAA requests the information, then is the time for ISPs to challenge whether they have to hand over the info.
Until they are specifically involved in a relevant action, they have no legal standing, and therefore there is no reason to notify them.
Mountains out of molehills again.
"Secretly"? Seriously? This is in the public record, it's not sealed. Or should anyone making any kind of legal motion be required to send out a mass mailing to anyone potentially affected?
I'm all for shutting down the ridiculous tactics of the RIAA, but this hardly qualifies -- the reporting is sensationalistic and misleading. When the RIAA demands information from an ISP, then the ISP can fight back (in court) if they choose to do so -- which is exactly why the judge in question did not rule on the general applicability of the issue, and instead just granted that particular request.
Well the big problem with the logic of the article is that it's not the Macs that increase the TCO; according to the quote you provided, the higher support costs would happen whether the "creative types" used PCs or Macs. I.e. PEBKAC issues exist regardless of OS; I'd guess that Publicis Group might see an even higher support:user ratio if those creative types were using Windows.
I keed, I keed.
But Dad, you told me I was going to get my Just Deserts!
I think Kucinich is not only headhunting, he's hunting for truth... where that truth leads is anyone's guess.
To blame the Dems (not that you did) for politicization of impeachment is a bit off... the administration and their allies can cry foul all they want, but it seems to me that Bush & Co have been acting like they have a get-out-of-jail free card simply because Clinton was impeached. Not only that, but if there were not impeachable actions taken, it would be a moot point -- so any finger-pointing needs to be directed at the administration, not it's critics.
The OP should remember that it's not just the right, but the duty, of the public (and their representatives) to question elected officials.
That's not the only reason, nor is it the prime reason. The prime reason is reclamation of previously deforested land by youn forests.
That is some circuitous, and likely fallacious, logic. There are more trees than there have ever been because most of the US's forests are young, and have a higher tree density than mature forests. It's also misleading, since tree farming is quite different than reforestation; though I'd guess that young forests and tree farms have a greater rate of carbon sequestration than mature forests in temperate climes.
As to factual knowledge being more important, I'd say that's almost never true in mathematics. Being apply to apply mathematical concepts logically is what math is all about. If the student grasps the material fully, then there should be plenty of time to complete the exam.
Many tests are actually designed to take more than the allotted time. How much the student completes is also used to measure how fully the student knows the material.
Furthermore, the Chinese question required a proof... the English one, just simple answers. Sure, the math is similar, but the Chinese question requires a much more complete display of understanding.
This, I believe, is due to the high cost of grading non-multiple choice exams -- which is an illustration of how the English (and US) systems choose cost-savings and absolute metrics over educational quality.
Moderated funny, but this is the gist of the grading system in the high school I went to. Regular courses have normal point value (A = 4.0, B = 3.0 etc), but "hard" classes got a +1 modifier. For example, An A in AP BC Calculus was worth 5.0. In addition, classes were weighted by duration, with each 120 minutes per 6-day cycle (don't ask) assigned a credit value of 2.5. Class meets 40 mins each day? 5.0 credits. A class with a lab meets 40 mins each day plus an additional hour every third day? 7.5 credits.
GPA was determined by adding (grade point + modifier)*(credit value) for each class, then dividing the total by the total credit load.
This rewarded students for taking "hard" classes -- but it also punished students for taking enriching classes as electives; the strategy to maximize GPA was to take the minimum number of classes each term, while saturating your schedule with "hard" classes.
While this system worked fairly well for me (graduated with over 40 college credits from AP classes my last two years of HS), students in the race for valedictorian (unlike myself) missed out on the opportunity to take elective art, music, literature, or history classes that could have really enriched their education.