"I see fraternities and sororities as artificial friends for sluts and drunkards that have no/real/ friends. It's all synthetic and meaningless. "
Yeah? And your point is?
My days in the frat were some of the happiest, drunkest years of my life (though 19 years ago). Being 17 and having kegs continuously on tap was an excellent experience.
I wouldn't trade my family for anything, but I can't knock the fun memories!
Yes - it's listed in the "Fees" section (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/1999/f ee2000.htm) as things listed as "SIR" - statutory invention registration. The application is at http://www.uspto.gov/web/forms/index.html, listed as PTO/SB/94.
The PTO describes the SIR and its predecessor as:
* Defensive Publication (DEF)- Issued instead of a
regular utility, design, or plant patent, it offers
limited protection, defensive in nature, to prevent
others from patenting an invention, design, or plant.
The Defensive Publication was replaced by the Statutory
Invention Registration in 1985-86.
* Statutory Invention Registration (SIR)- This document
replaced the Defensive Publication in 1985-86 and
offers similar protection.
Taken from http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/p atdesc.htm.
This exact item exists, and has been discussed on Slashdot.
It's a class of patent in the US called the SIR, and it exists so that when government funded research is done, the SIR establishes formal prior art, and no one else can claim it as a regular patent.
I wish I could agree, but I am just way too cynical.
I can't believe that most people (OK, 99%+) would actually take the time to inform themselves MORE than they do now.
Ask yourself why do people in the US only vote for large national elections? Because those are the only ones where people have a clue as to what candidates are running and what they are about.
I like to think of myself as a reasonably aware, intelligent person who tries to be a good citizen, but I simply don't have time to keep up on what my local park board candidates stand for, what my state representative stands for, or who actually follows through on campaign promises.
What I do do, at best, is scan the candidate summaries in the local paper the week of an election. Most of my friends don't even do that.
So how can average citizens be expected to keep up on more issues? Be able to make informed choices on social security reform, tax overhauls, NSF grants, or any of the million potential outlets of democracy?
My cynical response is that at best, they will scan newspapers/TV/radio/Web and vote according to pre-packaged, pre-digested, slanted, biased reports. Especially openly biased material like newspaper editorials.
And my worst fear is that media hype will send the public into a frenzy of mis-informed action, however well intentioned. How many people would have voted on new immigration laws based on reports on Elian Gonzalas (sp?)? Impeach Clinton? Grant any money at all to the NSF? Would a Mapelthorpe piece on 60 Minutes result in a shutdown of the NEA? I think so.
I don't think badly of Joe Sixpack, I just think citizens no longer have time to conduct their own research into issues, and keep up adequately with issues. Federal congressional members have significant staffs to keep them moderately aware, and they devote full time to government. How can I, who can barely find time to do the dishes at night, stay on top of foreign policy in the Middle East?
If forced by well-intentioned Democracy proponents into taking a more active role in self government, I would turn to the media - and I have absolutely zero faith they do anything except their actual mission, which is to increase stockholder equity.
So we have poorly informed people being spoon fed spam-like news digests by profit-motivated media outlets - a recipe for disaster. Sorry, that's how I see it.
If America ever becomes a democracy, I'm leaving the country. The founding fathers had no idea how helpful the idea of a republic is - they were concerned with the population (well, white, affluent, landowning, male population) being too stupid to handle voting, but it was never more problematic than today.
The media utterly controls our every thought and opinion. Due to control of the release of facts, even many spirited dicussions on Slashdot are a bunch of us who heard the same media reports discussing implications - but in the vast majority of cases we are all basing things on what we hear N+1-hand. It is exceedingly rare in the "real world" (whatever that is) when the public can personally experience a situation.
If the media goes on a vandetta against a political candidate, bill, law, issue, country, etc., the public will follow suit. Imagine what could happen if the public could vote to impeach a president? Even less actual work than ever would get done, with officials continuously pandering to public opinion. The shifting winds of public opinion could instantaneously result in knee-jerk reactions by a public whipped into a frenzy. Wag the dog...
Republics may be lead by representatives that every 2/4/6 years (in the US) have to pander to public opinion, but imagine if they had to constantly? How would an American public make decisions on public works, national defense, international commerce, space and science, or any other detailed issue?
Imagine the MP3/napster debate - one really good speech by either side and the public confirms or elimninates copyright law.
Are politicians in the US republic great? No, they are cheating, lying, lazy, marginally felonious lawyers who seek only their own self-interest. But I'll take that any day over a public who receives most of their information from People magazine.
Bottom line - I strongly question a goal of promoting more democracy.
Use DB2. My companies' system is 35TB running DB2 on AIX. I realize it's not Linux/Intel, but the same truly industrial strength DBMS is available for Linux, from an early proponent of Linux (IBM).
Slashdot Mirror
Does Gnome work on FreeBSD?
"I see fraternities and sororities as artificial friends for sluts and drunkards that have no /real/ friends. It's all synthetic and meaningless. "
Yeah? And your point is?
My days in the frat were some of the happiest, drunkest years of my life (though 19 years ago). Being 17 and having kegs continuously on tap was an excellent experience.
I wouldn't trade my family for anything, but I can't knock the fun memories!
Yes - it's listed in the "Fees" section (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/1999/f ee2000.htm) as things listed as "SIR" - statutory invention registration. The application is at http://www.uspto.gov/web/forms/index.html, listed as PTO/SB/94.
p atdesc.htm.
The PTO describes the SIR and its predecessor as:
* Defensive Publication (DEF)- Issued instead of a
regular utility, design, or plant patent, it offers
limited protection, defensive in nature, to prevent
others from patenting an invention, design, or plant.
The Defensive Publication was replaced by the Statutory
Invention Registration in 1985-86.
* Statutory Invention Registration (SIR)- This document
replaced the Defensive Publication in 1985-86 and
offers similar protection.
Taken from http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/
Hope that helps!
This exact item exists, and has been discussed on Slashdot.
It's a class of patent in the US called the SIR, and it exists so that when government funded research is done, the SIR establishes formal prior art, and no one else can claim it as a regular patent.
See, that was easy!
I wish I could agree, but I am just way too cynical.
I can't believe that most people (OK, 99%+) would actually take the time to inform themselves MORE than they do now.
Ask yourself why do people in the US only vote for large national elections? Because those are the only ones where people have a clue as to what candidates are running and what they are about.
I like to think of myself as a reasonably aware, intelligent person who tries to be a good citizen, but I simply don't have time to keep up on what my local park board candidates stand for, what my state representative stands for, or who actually follows through on campaign promises.
What I do do, at best, is scan the candidate summaries in the local paper the week of an election. Most of my friends don't even do that.
So how can average citizens be expected to keep up on more issues? Be able to make informed choices on social security reform, tax overhauls, NSF grants, or any of the million potential outlets of democracy?
My cynical response is that at best, they will scan newspapers/TV/radio/Web and vote according to pre-packaged, pre-digested, slanted, biased reports. Especially openly biased material like newspaper editorials.
And my worst fear is that media hype will send the public into a frenzy of mis-informed action, however well intentioned. How many people would have voted on new immigration laws based on reports on Elian Gonzalas (sp?)? Impeach Clinton? Grant any money at all to the NSF? Would a Mapelthorpe piece on 60 Minutes result in a shutdown of the NEA? I think so.
I don't think badly of Joe Sixpack, I just think citizens no longer have time to conduct their own research into issues, and keep up adequately with issues. Federal congressional members have significant staffs to keep them moderately aware, and they devote full time to government. How can I, who can barely find time to do the dishes at night, stay on top of foreign policy in the Middle East?
If forced by well-intentioned Democracy proponents into taking a more active role in self government, I would turn to the media - and I have absolutely zero faith they do anything except their actual mission, which is to increase stockholder equity.
So we have poorly informed people being spoon fed spam-like news digests by profit-motivated media outlets - a recipe for disaster. Sorry, that's how I see it.
If America ever becomes a democracy, I'm leaving the country. The founding fathers had no idea how helpful the idea of a republic is - they were concerned with the population (well, white, affluent, landowning, male population) being too stupid to handle voting, but it was never more problematic than today. The media utterly controls our every thought and opinion. Due to control of the release of facts, even many spirited dicussions on Slashdot are a bunch of us who heard the same media reports discussing implications - but in the vast majority of cases we are all basing things on what we hear N+1-hand. It is exceedingly rare in the "real world" (whatever that is) when the public can personally experience a situation. If the media goes on a vandetta against a political candidate, bill, law, issue, country, etc., the public will follow suit. Imagine what could happen if the public could vote to impeach a president? Even less actual work than ever would get done, with officials continuously pandering to public opinion. The shifting winds of public opinion could instantaneously result in knee-jerk reactions by a public whipped into a frenzy. Wag the dog... Republics may be lead by representatives that every 2/4/6 years (in the US) have to pander to public opinion, but imagine if they had to constantly? How would an American public make decisions on public works, national defense, international commerce, space and science, or any other detailed issue? Imagine the MP3/napster debate - one really good speech by either side and the public confirms or elimninates copyright law. Are politicians in the US republic great? No, they are cheating, lying, lazy, marginally felonious lawyers who seek only their own self-interest. But I'll take that any day over a public who receives most of their information from People magazine. Bottom line - I strongly question a goal of promoting more democracy.
Use DB2. My companies' system is 35TB running DB2 on AIX. I realize it's not Linux/Intel, but the same truly industrial strength DBMS is available for Linux, from an early proponent of Linux (IBM).