Ok, so I'm not going to disagree that our space policy is not provocative; however, I think the provocation is minimal...the policy mainly discusses engagement of an enemy's space property in the event of a threat to the US, it doesn't say that we're going to just start destroying everyone's satellites and cripple their communication. Every time the US makes a statement regarding military strategy or defense our own people and the media twist it to make headlines and get a response...after all that is their job.
The reason that the development of weapons by other countries such as those in the Middle East, Korea, and China is provocative is that they are run by dictators. Often dictators make irrational decisions, and the world can't afford to have someone just pointing a weapon all over and shooting it off as if it were a water pistol.
Now, most of us are all guilty of irrational decisions; however, democratic nations are (supposed to be) designed so that a decision can not be made by one individual provided that one political party does not control more than one branch of the government. A majority vote is needed to engage in war. Therefore, the likelihood that the US will just start blasting off missiles, lasers, or whatever else is very unlikely - and that is why we feel that it is ok to have certain weapons and that its not ok for other countries.
As a side note from a proponent of democracy: that is the beauty of our last election, the Democrats kicked butt because the people are tired of the decisions made by the Republicans. Now the Republicans can't just run a muck.
I am American and I have to agree with you about the removal of Saddam Hussein. The entire Middle East is unstable...why?? The citizens of Middle Eastern countries are oppressed by their leaders and poverty stricken, the only individuals that have power are the leaders and oil rich families. These countries have few sources of commerce, the main resource being oil; therefore there are few ways to overcome poverty. What does everyone know about poverty - IT LEADS TO CORRUPTION, DISHONESTY, AND THEFT. Add religous radicals to the fire and you have one heck of a mess.
Iraq was not ready for democracy and will not be anytime soon from the way it looks. As bad as this sounds, a dictator was needed to keep the country in check.
Unfortunately, I believe that we've made a big mistake and have involved ourselves in a war where the opposition's strategy is similar to that of the North Vietnamese...suicide bombs, remote detonation, etc... how do you combat that??? What did we do in Vietnam...we just left. The sad thing is that if we leave Iraq we're going to leave it in a chaotic civil war of political and religous parties that will ultimately end with another dictatorship and we'll be back at square one.
Can we fix our mistake - I don't know...probably not, at least not without angering millions, losing thousands of our own citizen's lives, and making our children and grand children pay for this continuing war. Is it worth it...I don't think so...what about you?
Ok, I think I should elaborate on my post. I agree with artifex2004, this does sound to be a sort of algorithm; however, I think that the system that the patent describes could not be built on a single algorithm, rather a compilation of commonly used algorithms/ideas...and a few unique algorithms/ideas within this patent. For example:
"2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user-entered metadata comprises a member of the group consisting of: tags, comments and annotations. "
- this to me sounds like a message board or blog, which Flickr supports, BUT SO DO HALF OF THE SITES ON THE WEB
"4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic for ranking is further operable to rank a media object based at least in part on an access pattern related to the at least one media object.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the access pattern is based at least in part upon the number of click throughs of the at least one media object.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the access pattern is based at least in part upon the number of views of the at least one media object."
- doesn't amazon already do 4, 5, and 6? I know I am recommended items to purchase based on my access patterns and views
"37. A method for determining an interestingness rank for at least one media object, the method comprising: accepting metadata concerning the at least one media object from at least one user; and ranking the at least one media object based at least in part on the identity of a second user who requests the rank of the at least one media object.
40. The method of claim 37, wherein accepting and ranking occur at a server and each user is associated with a corresponding client"
- again, this sounds very similar to the system Amazon uses to rank items. And, as for number 40, can we say COOKIES.
Ok, so the problem is this:
From patent suits that I've read over, I've seen that a owner of a patent can claim infringement based on individual claims within the patent. So how do we handle claims that are not original such as those above???
Maybe we should analyze the "end to a means" and just blow this entire patent out of the water by patenting "marketingness", since that is often the aim to ranking content on the WEB.
IN A NUTSHELL: THIS PATENT IS STILL REALLY STUPID
Don't you just love how many of these companies go about patenting an idea (or similar idea) that is already used by the masses. This is such a joke, next thing you know (providing the patent is upheld) Yahoo will start suing folks like Amazon and our beloved Slashdot for patent infringement. Most people wouldn't even consider patenting something that is already, to some degree, "common knowledge". I thought the whole purpose of patenting was to protect intellectual property that has yet to be implemented or conceived. Hmmmm...I guess I'm just totally wrong in that assumption.
Ajax may be nifty, but for all intensive purposes it should be a last resort for enterprise applications. Most large corporate applications should consider 508 compliance and web accessibility guidelines. With that said, one simple requirement of accessibility renders Ajax useless -- an application must work without javascript! Its true that postbacks and page loads may be a pain and may be slow under heavy loads, but Ajax is not the accessible solution. From the VERY little that I've read about Curl...it seems to be a much better solution...at least the content is actually loaded and not dynamically created in the DOM. On the other hand there is the issue of applets. Anyone agree, know a little more about Curl, or other accessible solutions?
Slashdot Mirror
Ha, I don't think there is an airline in the US that could afford to install one of them. The airlines are already crying for government funding.
Ok, so I'm not going to disagree that our space policy is not provocative; however, I think the provocation is minimal...the policy mainly discusses engagement of an enemy's space property in the event of a threat to the US, it doesn't say that we're going to just start destroying everyone's satellites and cripple their communication. Every time the US makes a statement regarding military strategy or defense our own people and the media twist it to make headlines and get a response...after all that is their job.
The reason that the development of weapons by other countries such as those in the Middle East, Korea, and China is provocative is that they are run by dictators. Often dictators make irrational decisions, and the world can't afford to have someone just pointing a weapon all over and shooting it off as if it were a water pistol.
Now, most of us are all guilty of irrational decisions; however, democratic nations are (supposed to be) designed so that a decision can not be made by one individual provided that one political party does not control more than one branch of the government. A majority vote is needed to engage in war. Therefore, the likelihood that the US will just start blasting off missiles, lasers, or whatever else is very unlikely - and that is why we feel that it is ok to have certain weapons and that its not ok for other countries.
As a side note from a proponent of democracy: that is the beauty of our last election, the Democrats kicked butt because the people are tired of the decisions made by the Republicans. Now the Republicans can't just run a muck.
I am American and I have to agree with you about the removal of Saddam Hussein. The entire Middle East is unstable...why?? The citizens of Middle Eastern countries are oppressed by their leaders and poverty stricken, the only individuals that have power are the leaders and oil rich families. These countries have few sources of commerce, the main resource being oil; therefore there are few ways to overcome poverty. What does everyone know about poverty - IT LEADS TO CORRUPTION, DISHONESTY, AND THEFT. Add religous radicals to the fire and you have one heck of a mess.
Iraq was not ready for democracy and will not be anytime soon from the way it looks. As bad as this sounds, a dictator was needed to keep the country in check.
Unfortunately, I believe that we've made a big mistake and have involved ourselves in a war where the opposition's strategy is similar to that of the North Vietnamese...suicide bombs, remote detonation, etc... how do you combat that??? What did we do in Vietnam...we just left. The sad thing is that if we leave Iraq we're going to leave it in a chaotic civil war of political and religous parties that will ultimately end with another dictatorship and we'll be back at square one.
Can we fix our mistake - I don't know...probably not, at least not without angering millions, losing thousands of our own citizen's lives, and making our children and grand children pay for this continuing war. Is it worth it...I don't think so...what about you?
Ok, I think I should elaborate on my post. I agree with artifex2004, this does sound to be a sort of algorithm; however, I think that the system that the patent describes could not be built on a single algorithm, rather a compilation of commonly used algorithms/ideas...and a few unique algorithms/ideas within this patent. For example: "2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user-entered metadata comprises a member of the group consisting of: tags, comments and annotations. " - this to me sounds like a message board or blog, which Flickr supports, BUT SO DO HALF OF THE SITES ON THE WEB "4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic for ranking is further operable to rank a media object based at least in part on an access pattern related to the at least one media object. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the access pattern is based at least in part upon the number of click throughs of the at least one media object. 6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the access pattern is based at least in part upon the number of views of the at least one media object." - doesn't amazon already do 4, 5, and 6? I know I am recommended items to purchase based on my access patterns and views "37. A method for determining an interestingness rank for at least one media object, the method comprising: accepting metadata concerning the at least one media object from at least one user; and ranking the at least one media object based at least in part on the identity of a second user who requests the rank of the at least one media object. 40. The method of claim 37, wherein accepting and ranking occur at a server and each user is associated with a corresponding client" - again, this sounds very similar to the system Amazon uses to rank items. And, as for number 40, can we say COOKIES. Ok, so the problem is this: From patent suits that I've read over, I've seen that a owner of a patent can claim infringement based on individual claims within the patent. So how do we handle claims that are not original such as those above??? Maybe we should analyze the "end to a means" and just blow this entire patent out of the water by patenting "marketingness", since that is often the aim to ranking content on the WEB. IN A NUTSHELL: THIS PATENT IS STILL REALLY STUPID
Don't you just love how many of these companies go about patenting an idea (or similar idea) that is already used by the masses. This is such a joke, next thing you know (providing the patent is upheld) Yahoo will start suing folks like Amazon and our beloved Slashdot for patent infringement. Most people wouldn't even consider patenting something that is already, to some degree, "common knowledge". I thought the whole purpose of patenting was to protect intellectual property that has yet to be implemented or conceived. Hmmmm...I guess I'm just totally wrong in that assumption.
Ajax may be nifty, but for all intensive purposes it should be a last resort for enterprise applications. Most large corporate applications should consider 508 compliance and web accessibility guidelines. With that said, one simple requirement of accessibility renders Ajax useless -- an application must work without javascript! Its true that postbacks and page loads may be a pain and may be slow under heavy loads, but Ajax is not the accessible solution. From the VERY little that I've read about Curl...it seems to be a much better solution...at least the content is actually loaded and not dynamically created in the DOM. On the other hand there is the issue of applets. Anyone agree, know a little more about Curl, or other accessible solutions?