serious? the rules for patentability are that lax?
btw, there's prior art on the ice cream thing. curry powder is a mixture of spices that have all been mixed with various dairy at various temperatures before. chili ice cream is quite popular, and turmeric is a very popular natural yellow colour in all manner of foods (it tastes quite floral, so it's compatibile with sweets, and it's not derived from coal tar which is a bonus). cumin might be difficult to find in ice cream, but it's not unheard of in yoghurt in indian cooking, and quite common with sour cream in mexican. coriander seed is used in pretty much everything.
additionally, spinal blocks are difficult and don't always work so well. the anaesthetists are fixated about spinal health, for obvious reasons. they're shooting blind for a tiny area, and if they fuck up, they fuck you up.
my wife's spinal block wasn't so pretty - it came out patchy, there was still feeling in blotches well below the block. when they turned the dosage up, the block went so high it was in danger of shutting her breathing down.
possible. i think those detected a change in the audio metadata IIRC, but you could be right, as the ac3 metadata is never set correctly anyway (the "benefit" of setting it wrong is that you can make the ads EVEN FUCKING LOUDER than they would have been at their correctly mastered level).
extending the analogy, i suppose Oracle could assert copyright on the comments in the code. the only problem there is they'd almost certainly not be the same unless google had access to Sun's source tree back in the day.
it started on patents. when bullshit was called, it moved to copyright infringement of the headers.
that's the big problem - to not use a car analogy, think of a program as like a giant recipe. the code is the method, the headers are the ingredients list. Oracle wanted to assert imaginary copyright on the lists of ingredients for Java.
i use the food analogy because food recipes are not copyrightable. you can steal all the recipes from all the cookbooks and publish them yourself and be perfectly fine, so long as you don't copy the photos or pontificating between recipes.
also note that cookbooks sell very very well in spite of this.
a patent (at least, how they used to be) describes an invention. the invention is an implementation of an idea.
i hate to nitpick, but there's a difference between selling an invention and sitting at home going "i thought of that!" and whining that everyone steals your ideas when an idea cannot be owned unless you work to manifest it in the physical world.
the problem with the patent system is all the "...on a computer" rehashes of existing _ideas_ providing a loophole that allows patents to effectively be granted on ideas.
a software patent would be fine if it covered more than dead simple subroutines. if the software performed a similar function to a machine designed for a task, and the patent was on the entire implementation, it'd all be peachy. the problem is code is not math, it's not literature, and it's not a physical object, so the patent system is just not equipped to deal with it in an analogous way to machines.
the very best 35mm is still below 1GP. look at the MTFs. just because the grains are smaller, doesn't mean the dye clouds left behind after processing are, or that the light hasn't diffracted to all hell on its perilous journey through the film.
the sharpest stocks are the thinnest, and thus have bugger-all dynamic range.
the ones with the best dynamic range tend to be the fastest stocks, which are grainy and not too sharp.
digital has beaten film for quite a while now. it's just a matter of making it work as well and people learning how to shoot properly with it.
oh, also, prior art out the whazoo. DVDs have PUOs, standardized before 1998. VHS tapes had index marks. all pro tape formats had all manner of cue formats.
this munges up the keyframes (I frames) in a stream when it detects a cue embedded by the network (ADS START HERE!!1!). therefore, if a device is designed to fast-forward by skipping over the predicted (P and B) frames, it cannot do this as it can't find the I frames needed to display anything at all.
this will fail on sane devices because fast-forward is usually implemented as skipping just the B-frames (that are predicted off both I and P frames), while decoding the I frames and P frames.
this will further fail because MPEG-2 decoders are fast enough that they can decode the stream in it's entirety fast enough for a practical fast-forward (my 5 yo computer can do it on CPU only, 1 core only at about 200fps).
this will fail even further because a trivial firmware hack could detect this "cue tone" and skip the ads _entirely_. they're basically implanting a trivially readable signal that usefully tells us what are the ads and what is the show.
world population doubling time = ~61 years. (source = wikipedia)
moore's law says processing power doubling time is 1.5 years.
we can't do it now, but the infrastructure can be built and simple math says it will be possible given enough time, and in reasonably short order, too.
of course, banality becomes a problem. i wouldn't even want to review 20 mins of other people's conversation in a day. even ones tagged with saucy keywords would prove incredibly boring.
but with truth being stranger than fiction, expect the NSA to become the most prolific writer of movie scripts the world has ever seen. think of all those romantic comedies...
because Assange just looks like a criminal on the run. he should face the music, and if the USA go after him, he can get asylum then. right now he's not able to prove they're going to get him.
he's just gotta make sure than when he does face Sweden, he has a plan if the USA come for him. but not answering to a legit (or not... that's what courts are for after all) case against him just turns him into a regular douchebag who treats women like shit.
Jesus wasn't the messiah until they nailed him up, after all.
just because Assange has the World's Most Fragile Ego, doesn't mean his supporters should too.
right now, he's not in a position to claim "political asylum". until he answers to the charges against him, any asylum he claims would be "criminal asylum", which most countries aren't really into granting.
NOW
if he goes to Sweden, and finds the USA trying to get their hooks into him regardless of the proceedings of the case against him in Sweden, he might find many countries willing to grant him asylum.
right now he looks like he's just trying to escape Sweden, not the USA. this is only losing him support. wikileaks was a nice stunt, but sadly it didn't change the world.
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serious? the rules for patentability are that lax?
btw, there's prior art on the ice cream thing. curry powder is a mixture of spices that have all been mixed with various dairy at various temperatures before. chili ice cream is quite popular, and turmeric is a very popular natural yellow colour in all manner of foods (it tastes quite floral, so it's compatibile with sweets, and it's not derived from coal tar which is a bonus). cumin might be difficult to find in ice cream, but it's not unheard of in yoghurt in indian cooking, and quite common with sour cream in mexican. coriander seed is used in pretty much everything.
what the fuck, man?
this wasn't exporting, this was one guy who was overheard speaking Farsi.
trade restrictions are for exports, not retail.
this store was in Georgia, and I don't mean the former Soviet Georgia.
an online survey. the "age" field is very comprehensive on this point.
additionally, spinal blocks are difficult and don't always work so well. the anaesthetists are fixated about spinal health, for obvious reasons. they're shooting blind for a tiny area, and if they fuck up, they fuck you up.
my wife's spinal block wasn't so pretty - it came out patchy, there was still feeling in blotches well below the block. when they turned the dosage up, the block went so high it was in danger of shutting her breathing down.
what about a nice Gin and Tonic?
possible. i think those detected a change in the audio metadata IIRC, but you could be right, as the ac3 metadata is never set correctly anyway (the "benefit" of setting it wrong is that you can make the ads EVEN FUCKING LOUDER than they would have been at their correctly mastered level).
it would be worth it.
extending the analogy, i suppose Oracle could assert copyright on the comments in the code. the only problem there is they'd almost certainly not be the same unless google had access to Sun's source tree back in the day.
it started on patents. when bullshit was called, it moved to copyright infringement of the headers.
that's the big problem - to not use a car analogy, think of a program as like a giant recipe. the code is the method, the headers are the ingredients list. Oracle wanted to assert imaginary copyright on the lists of ingredients for Java.
i use the food analogy because food recipes are not copyrightable. you can steal all the recipes from all the cookbooks and publish them yourself and be perfectly fine, so long as you don't copy the photos or pontificating between recipes.
also note that cookbooks sell very very well in spite of this.
no, a patent is not on an idea.
a patent (at least, how they used to be) describes an invention. the invention is an implementation of an idea.
i hate to nitpick, but there's a difference between selling an invention and sitting at home going "i thought of that!" and whining that everyone steals your ideas when an idea cannot be owned unless you work to manifest it in the physical world.
the problem with the patent system is all the "...on a computer" rehashes of existing _ideas_ providing a loophole that allows patents to effectively be granted on ideas.
a software patent would be fine if it covered more than dead simple subroutines. if the software performed a similar function to a machine designed for a task, and the patent was on the entire implementation, it'd all be peachy. the problem is code is not math, it's not literature, and it's not a physical object, so the patent system is just not equipped to deal with it in an analogous way to machines.
our manhood is safe, then? :)
the very best 35mm is still below 1GP. look at the MTFs. just because the grains are smaller, doesn't mean the dye clouds left behind after processing are, or that the light hasn't diffracted to all hell on its perilous journey through the film.
the sharpest stocks are the thinnest, and thus have bugger-all dynamic range.
the ones with the best dynamic range tend to be the fastest stocks, which are grainy and not too sharp.
digital has beaten film for quite a while now. it's just a matter of making it work as well and people learning how to shoot properly with it.
you'd be hard pressed to have as deep a field as this camera though.
or get as good a dynamic range on such a high contrast stock.
or have as good MTF characteristics (3-layer film is actually piss-poor at this, as much as i love the look of it).
that's already happening.
but the stuff that comes out of places like Somalia is tagged "made in China"...
or Apollo 1... but they weren't in space yet.
no, they need to take off, and nuke the airport from orbit.
oh, also, prior art out the whazoo. DVDs have PUOs, standardized before 1998. VHS tapes had index marks. all pro tape formats had all manner of cue formats.
this munges up the keyframes (I frames) in a stream when it detects a cue embedded by the network (ADS START HERE!!1!). therefore, if a device is designed to fast-forward by skipping over the predicted (P and B) frames, it cannot do this as it can't find the I frames needed to display anything at all.
this will fail on sane devices because fast-forward is usually implemented as skipping just the B-frames (that are predicted off both I and P frames), while decoding the I frames and P frames.
this will further fail because MPEG-2 decoders are fast enough that they can decode the stream in it's entirety fast enough for a practical fast-forward (my 5 yo computer can do it on CPU only, 1 core only at about 200fps).
this will fail even further because a trivial firmware hack could detect this "cue tone" and skip the ads _entirely_. they're basically implanting a trivially readable signal that usefully tells us what are the ads and what is the show.
this should keep the MAFIAA quiet for a while.
it's an ineffective token move, no doubt designed to placate an ineffective and token business model and keep them off their back for a bit.
interesting.
world population doubling time = ~61 years. (source = wikipedia)
moore's law says processing power doubling time is 1.5 years.
we can't do it now, but the infrastructure can be built and simple math says it will be possible given enough time, and in reasonably short order, too.
of course, banality becomes a problem. i wouldn't even want to review 20 mins of other people's conversation in a day. even ones tagged with saucy keywords would prove incredibly boring.
but with truth being stranger than fiction, expect the NSA to become the most prolific writer of movie scripts the world has ever seen. think of all those romantic comedies...
cross that bridge when you come to it, dude.
because Assange just looks like a criminal on the run. he should face the music, and if the USA go after him, he can get asylum then. right now he's not able to prove they're going to get him.
he's just gotta make sure than when he does face Sweden, he has a plan if the USA come for him. but not answering to a legit (or not... that's what courts are for after all) case against him just turns him into a regular douchebag who treats women like shit.
Jesus wasn't the messiah until they nailed him up, after all.
why was this modded troll?
just because Assange has the World's Most Fragile Ego, doesn't mean his supporters should too.
right now, he's not in a position to claim "political asylum". until he answers to the charges against him, any asylum he claims would be "criminal asylum", which most countries aren't really into granting.
NOW
if he goes to Sweden, and finds the USA trying to get their hooks into him regardless of the proceedings of the case against him in Sweden, he might find many countries willing to grant him asylum.
right now he looks like he's just trying to escape Sweden, not the USA. this is only losing him support. wikileaks was a nice stunt, but sadly it didn't change the world.
this.
taxes are a good reminder to markets that there's more to life than profits :)
but policy is not determined by vote. that's where it breaks down.
policy is determined by who has the most influence on the policy-makers (who we vote for).
so it's the one with the "loudest voice", and dollars = decibels.
where there is no infrastructure, there is religion.
when a ruling power cannot effectively educate it's people, there are religious people doing it for them (for free!).
in this way you could take religion as being a kind of base level of education that will reach everywhere.
the goal of an enlightened society is to educate people even halfway as effectively, or they'll be dominated by supernatural thought.
religion will keep a people alive, but rarely can they achieve greatness without demystifying the world.