decode

17 ms·

121.
by decode 17y ago
"If you want to tell your children they can be anything they want, you can't end up with a perfectly egalitarian society as a result." There are no people in the world who can do anything in the world. Even if your child had all of the int
122.
by decode 17y ago
"Those aren't mutually exclusive and neither is their inverse." They certainly aren't in general, but in a meritocracy they are. A meritocracy, almost by definition, assigns more value (and therefore dignity) to those who are more capable.
123.
by decode 17y ago
"The solution offered is offensive, amounting to randomly allocating power and privilege amongst a given population rather than allowing the best and brightest make their case through personal excellence." The important question that the au
124.
by decode 17y ago
IANAL, but I think many patent lawyers would suggest that Bob consider a provisional patent application. This generally much cheaper to draft and file than a full patent application, it gives you an earlier filing date if you decide to go
125.
by decode 17y ago
I think your analysis is off. It's not a matter of the ease of committing the crime, it's a matter of the punishment fitting the crime. Clicking a mouse is no more work than pulling a pistol's trigger, but we have completely different exp
126.
by decode 17y ago
You just described the field of journalism.
127.
by decode 17y ago
You're basically asserting that people are rational agents doing subconscious (or perhaps conscious) algebra in their heads. I thought we learned long ago that people are not rational agents. Sometimes it is useful to model people as rati
128.
by decode 17y ago
I took an electricity class at the local community college last year. The teacher spent about 20 minutes of the first lecture doing exactly this. He presented a basic model of the brain where mental effort creates new connections in the b
129.
by decode 17y ago
It depends a lot on what field the patent is in, but less than 20% of utility patents take 5+ years to issue. It looks like the average time has been about 3 to 3 1/2 years recently. http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/07/patent-applicat
130.
by decode 17y ago
Apparently, the PTO doesn't actually do this anymore. President Obama was misinformed in his statement. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2010/01/14/president-obama-calls-u...
131.
by decode 17y ago
"With a company that produces something and also sues over patents, there is at least the possibility of a countersuit / crosslicense / armed truce." Unless you're a startup that just wants to make a good product and isn't interested in spe
132.
by decode 17y ago
It doesn't work with Patent Trolls (AKA Non Practicing Entities). What is the team of scary lawyers going to do? Since the trolls don't actually have a business or product, you can't sue them for patents they infringe. And their whole bu
133.
by decode 17y ago
Just this weekend I watched Machinima.com's documentary series on the history of Valve Software: http://www.machinima.com/film/view&id=42271 One of the common themes in the series is Valve's frequent choice to delay shipping in order
134.
by decode 17y ago
Unless, of course, the following things make you come alive: torturing small animals, clear-cutting forests, running Ponzi schemes, igniting bombs near daycares, exploiting poor people in the developing world, taking advantage of the mental
135.
by decode 17y ago
Possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana in Ann Arbor, Michigan is a civil infraction with a $25 fine, like a parking ticket. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_laws_in_Ann_Arbor,_Mic...
136.
by decode 17y ago
Yes, that's right, except for the important part. I'm sure the percentages are off, but here's the basic idea: To correctly form simple German sentences you need to learn 90% of the non-vocabulary elements of the language. To get to maste
137.
by decode 17y ago
That's not the point. The point is that in order to communicate simple things correctly in German, you need to learn a lot more than to communicate simple things correctly in English. But to have correct mastery of German, it's not a larg
138.
by decode 17y ago
"On the other hand, you might have a language with difficult basics, but relatively simple mastery once you have the basics down" My impression, as a native English speaker who has learned German, is that German is much more like this than
139.
by decode 17y ago
"I guess I'm of a class of people who disagree with this assertion. My counter-assertion is that all contrived writing is a waste of time, both for the writer and a reader." I disagree with you in two ways. First, what I described is not "c
140.
by decode 17y ago
On the one hand, the linked essay is addressing a restrictive situation: sometimes you are asked to write on a particular subject for a particular audience, and you don't have a choice. This can happen in the classroom, on the job, or at a
141.
by decode 17y ago
It's worth noting that the 3D Graphics patent was deemed invalid based on the "machine or transformation" test given by the Federal Circuit Court in the Bilski decision. This decision has been appealed to the Supreme Court, who will rule o
142.
by decode 17y ago
This is my favorite part of the article: Intellectual property is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. The primary reason for this has been the success of the U.S. patent system in allowing the innovative company in a field to develop and ma
143.
by decode 17y ago
A few questions and critiques: This principle of "nondiscrimination" will make illegal any attempt by broadband and content providers to offer the advanced services consumers want - prioritized high-definition movies, games, television sho
144.
by decode 17y ago
One caution: depending on the school you go to, being in the Master's program might not afford you any opportunities to do any real research (outside of semester projects for your classes.) I did a CS Master's at Michigan and there's a huge
145.
by decode 17y ago
It's also worth noting that it can actually hurt your image if you try to bolt on virality when you don't know what you're doing. You can become a laughing stock. I'm reminded of recent failures by two of the largest engineering companies
146.
by decode 17y ago
"Given that you have a published book with a clear description of the subject matter, it is a very strong case." Does he actually have a description of the subject matter? I haven't read Beautiful Evidence , but Tufte's descriptions of sp
147.
by decode 17y ago
That's not so far off from how Olin College was created, except with 5x as much money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_W._Olin_College_of_Eng...
148.
by decode 17y ago
To be fair, they're not claiming sparklines itself, rather the integration of sparklines into a spreadsheet. That still doesn't seem useful and nonobvious to me, and on top of that there seems to be prior art, but don't mischaracterize wha
149.
by decode 17y ago
Apparently Microsoft filed for a patent on this in May of 2008. It's fascinating to me that Edward Tufte isn't mentioned anywhere in the patent application. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2009/0282325.html Interestingly, that's the sa
150.
by decode 17y ago
If you can make tripwires and landmines that still work in 10,000 years, you can probably do better things with nuclear waste than just put it in a cave. Remember: the earliest known writings are less than 6,000 years old. We're talking ab

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