The sheer number of patents in the U.S. is fueling frivolous litigation and drastic action is needed to make patents more difficult to obtain and easier to invalidate, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit said Tuesday. > more ... (0 comments)
Hors D’oeuvres
Judge Posner for the Win: Drastic Action Necessary To Un-F*ck U.S. Patent Regime
Sometimes you really have to hand it to Judge Posner.Rep. Michele Bachmann Threatens To Leave Minnesota Over Gay Marriage
So much awesome:Congresswoman Michele Bachmann threatened to leave Minnesota today if the state goes ahead with its plans to legalize gay marriage. In an interview with a local television station, the conservative firebrand said she believes God will destroy Minneapolis once the legislation is enacted, and wants to be far away when the reckoning happens. > more ... (4 comments)
Polled GOP Respondents Say Obama Hangnail Worse Than Holocaust
Announcement: Ignorant fucktards who think all this Benghazi bullshit is the worst thing to to happen since Jesus died are required to report to their local suicide booth immediately.… there’s no doubt about how mad Republicans are about Benghazi. 41% say they consider this to be the biggest political scandal in American history > more ... (2 comments)
Bioshock Infinite Causes Christian Gamer To Cry And Make Piddles
Some excitable christian fundamentalist nerd got all worked up into a lather because the game Bioshock Infinite required the main character to undergo a baptism.
“As baptism of the Holy spirit is at the center of Christianity – of which I am a devout believer – I am basically being forced to make a choice between committing extreme blasphemy by my actions > more ... (1 comments)
Just read this: This afternoon Senator Reid asked unanimous consent to go to conference on the concurrent resolution on the Budget. Senator Cruz was unavailable to be on the floor at this time to object. Out of respect for the long tradition of comity in the Senate, Senator Reid withdrew his request. Your eyes might drift to > more ... (1 comments)Why It's Important For Atheists To Stop Worrying About Religionists' Fee-Fees
Sean Carroll rightly calling on atheists to speak out and stop being polite about it:We have a responsibility to get the word out—to not be wishy-washy on the question of religion as a way of knowing, but to be clear and direct and loud about how reality really works. > more ... (1 comments)
We Paid For the Shadow Demon, We're Gonna Use the Shadow Demon
I realize that of all things featured in life’s rich tapestry this hardly rates a mention, but apparently another Dungeons and Dragons movie is making noise in the ‘Wood: The studio is actually quite far along in the development of the project, as it will use a script by Wrath Of The Titans and Red Riding > more ... (1 comments)The Loudly Ignorant Become Less So Once Shown They're Ignorant
I’m surprised that any of the fervently ignorant people surveyed in this study ever ended up moderating their positions. I wonder if the researchers included teabaggers in the sample population…
Four researchers at three different institutions joined forces to ask a simple question: why is it that people have such extreme positions on subjects that are rather complicated and nuanced? > more ... (0 comments)
I’m a sucker for arty books and paper inventions. (Not necessarily books about art, although those can be interesting too, if unaccountably heavy and given to making my floors creak.) The Museum of Lost Wonder, various items in the Wondermark Goodsery (no relation), the Edward Gorey Dracula Playset (of course), and pop-up books of > more ... (0 comments)Today's Trivia: Presidential IQs
Just found this Wikipedia list that has IQ scores for all U.S. Presidents (excluding Obama). The biggest surprise is how low Wilson comes considering his background and education, though it kinda makes sense considering how much stock he put in his own intellect, only to make the same mistakes again and again and never learn > more ... (1 comments)Says Library Right There in the Title, That's Why
Apparently, folks ain’t yet tired of shifting water from Bucket A to Bucket B and back, or of moving piles of sand about with tweezers, and took the opportunity last year to piss in over 450 collective libraries’ ears regarding such nefarious libri malvagi as Captain Underpants and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time > more ... (0 comments)Do a Little Dance, Make a Little Love
Watched the Spike Jonze Director’s Series collection last night — man, I had not realized he had his fingers in so many of my yewt’s wonderful musical pies. Cannonball? Check. Sabotage? Check-check. Da Funk? Checkity-check-check. But what really made me want to do a little dance and/or make a little love was watching Christopher > more ... (0 comments)That's a Funny Joke. Wait, What?
File this under things that are obviously untrue but that I don’t really care that much about. It’s all about the lobbying campaign anyway with these things, but you have to wonder if it were actually true, wouldn’t she be starring in movies beside the already tired Iron Man franchise? (2 comments)Tsarnaev going to go through the criminal justice system. The right choice, but somehow I knew the Administration would call this one right. This is one thing they’ve been both right and firm on in the past. (2 comments)I'll Say It Until I'm Blue In The Face
As we all know by now, you’re as likely to be injured in a terrorist attack as much as we are likely to ever suffer an appropriate reaction to a mass killing after 9/11. Just sayin’. (0 comments)The Obama Administration is threatening to veto SOPA/PIPA’s cousin CISPA. Much as I rag on those guys at times, they have a very good record on opposing these sorts of internet invasion bills, and I’m happy to give credit when it is due. (1 comments)
THE GRAPEVINE
Key quote: “Facebook is a simple system for the masses that do not really care about technology and do not want to learn anything new except something easy like Facebook.”
Dvorak prefers that we go back to using email lists to share family pictures, or snail mail?
His argument is basically that people should use technology to do stuff (like starting your own website) instead of using a prefab system that takes liberties with your personal information and privacy. It’s an interesting argument, though I think different things work for different people.
that prescription would work for maybe about 2% of the populace, give or take. dvorak pretty much admits as much at the end of his article (i.e., “There is no reason for anyone with any chops online to be remotely involved with Facebook, except to peruse it for lost relatives”). most folks treat technology as a utility and flock to utilities that serve a need they are searching for. facebook was faster, more attractive, and easier to use than things like myspace and friendster, which is why people flocked to it and why rupert murdoch is ritually torturing, on a daily basis in a dank basement somewhere, the idiot who made him buy myspace.
by the way, in terms of good technology writing etiquette, he should know better to equate a technology platform with AOL. comparing anything technological to AOL is like comparing someone to Hitler. Bad form. ;-)
Yeah, I think they made that a corollary to Godwin’s Law.
hmm, whatever would we call such a law?
one key point that dvorak misses is that AOL was created to be The Community. facebook was created to facilitate people’s existing communities.
at its root, dvorak’s article really isn’t much more than a techie baby boomer’s first steps into the calming waters of starting to tell those damn kids to get off his lawn.
That’s a good distinction to make. There is that whiff of a tech nerd lashing out against something that’s actually easy to use, which is the sort of impetus that led to older versions of the Unix text editor using “g” as the command to find something in the text.
yeah, when i saw that he didn’t bother to pay any mind to that distinction, i started to smell old codger lounging on his front porch in a rocking chair cradling a shotgun. after all, the community aspect of AOL/Compuserve was such that people primarily went to AOL/Compuserve to interact with other AOL/Compuserve users in forums that AOL and Compuserve created (see, e.g., chat rooms). Sure, Facebook provides a similar mechanism to chat with people and post stuff to a group, but the users you’re interacting with are all generally people from some kind of a real-life context. i think it makes a mountain of difference. but perhaps not to old codgers who want to yell at the kids today, what with the saggy pants and that galdurn hippity hop music! :)
That a Ladykillers reference? Always love one of those.
indeed :)
John Dvorak.. John Dvorak… where have I heard that name before? Oh right! Twelve years ago when PC magazines used to be relevant.
Also, is there any greater irony to “1,530 people like this. Be the first of your friends.” ?
indeed. why does anyone read a magazine devoted to what has become essentially a commodity these days. maybe they have articles on ipads too? :)