Patents [heavy sigh]

Morale among progressive reformists rode an all time peak going into January 2009. President-elect Barack Obama was poised to take power and spirits were running high. So many people believed great changes were in store for our nation. As soon as the appointments began that elation subsided rapidly.

Software patents have been a huge obstacle to the advancement and development of new technologies and the opening of new avenues of business. For creative, hardworking programmers and development teams with innovative insights, building on available knowledge faces legal challenges and financial hurdles because of the current judicial interpretation of patent law. It's impossible to say exactly how many worthwhile, life-improving software projects have been shelved because of litigation hungry corporate legal departments with their feelers out for ideas that traverse terrain that has been registered, but the impact on software developers has been very significant and burdensome.

For a clearer explanation of dept of that impact one must look beyond the initial claims of infringement. Software patents stop business projects in their tracks not only when pieces of code and processes under a claim of ownership have been used, but all advancement that would be built on that usage is also halted. The existing new software under a claim of infringement becomes unavailable, and also any future advancements that may have come from that software ceases to be possible. The effect of software patenting is stifling.

Many supporters of the Electronic Frontier Foundation had high hopes that the 2008 shift in power would herald a more insightful legal approach to patent law. Fingers were crossed that Justice Department appointments would contain the names of some of our nation's full field of brilliant, forward thinking attorneys. The announcement of the appointment of a significant percentage of attorneys who had previously worked with the Recording Industry Association of America put a damper on the emotions of anyone who was giddy with optimism. Those appointments indicated that the interpretation of digital rights wasn't heading down an openly reformist path. For some people, at that moment those appointments were announced at the very beginning of the Obama Administration, progressive supporters had been betrayed.

Currently, in related news, there's a case before the Supreme Court involving medical patents. Rather than attack the fact that such patents shouldn't exit at all the defense attorneys are arguing over the scope of the patent in question. Perhaps they believe that path has a higher probability of success. Once again, however, an opportunity to challenge the validity of current patent practices has been missed. The lower courts have created law through ruling, and so far it still stands.

This issue may seem like trivia to the average citizen. Patent law may become more important to them when someone in their family faces medical hardship because of it. Perhaps that's what it takes for more people to care about how corporate greed has defined the law of the land. The technical details of obscure rulings may have to start killing people before the issue really takes center stage. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Updated:
It should be pointed out that the stifling effect of current patent jurisprudence as applied to medicine is that potentially life saving advancements may be shut out due to doctors being barred from applying an independently derived procedure if the procedure applies to an area that has already been patented. As with software, the initial block to innovation potentially blocks much greater progress. That avenues of treating people may be shut off because of legal interpretations based on corporate profit is really quite chilling, and very serious.

Dos:
I completely left out the biggest reason these patents shouldn't exist, for those who need context. They all deal with intangible processes. They have nothing to do with concrete inventions.

Open Source: Some Context and Direction

This blog contains a lot of references and commentary on open source computing, Linux primarily. Before switching to Linux from Windows, open source operating systems seemed like something only programmers and experts used. Having used Unix and Apple computers while I was a young adult I had the mistaken impression that anything that ended in *nix meant command line computing only. Immediately upon installing a Linux system that mistaken notion was forever dispelled. It turned out Linux these days isn't any more complicated than Windows, at least not for someone who uses their computer for more than entry level productivity.

The primary attraction behind switching to a Linux system was security. First Windows 95, and then Windows 98, exhibited a pattern of bogging down after a few of months of use. Applications and processes slowed down over time, until usability was so impacted the problem could no longer be ignored. By the time Windows XP came out protection against spyware, adware, backdoor orifices, trojans, viruses and worms wasn't optional. For anyone who spent a lot of time on the Internet without security software the computer was a sitting duck. On top of that, quite often the security slowed down the computer almost as much as malware and malicious code. Linux is invulnerable to the vast majority of such material, and so the switch was made.

In the course of developing proficiency in creating a desktop to be proud of, compiling, command line code and in depth security fluency becomes part of one's knowledge base, at least for those who desire a full featured computing experience. A computer is a marvelous thing. It can be used as a home entertainment system, an advanced tool for calculations and scientific processes, and it is especially magnificent in the realm of communications and data transfer. It is in the lattermost area that security information is so incredibly valuable.

It was while learning how to streamline the Linux kernel that I first discovered the answer to all the questions I ever had about hacking. Once the mystique of hacking vanishes the dividing line between ethical hacking and the malicious and illegal becomes absolutely clear. Those who use the techniques available for intrusion into private and public systems can provide no rationalization for their actions that can make the practice acceptable, although the justice system does take into account the difference between thrill seekers and those out for profit.

Open source makes securing Linux desktops and servers easily possible for the individual, instead of something that has to be done with third party software. While learning about security all of the techniques and methods used by malicious hackers becomes transparent. When the task of hardening your system becomes tedious and time consuming any mistaken romantic perception of the hacker conjured by pop-culture, like the movie with Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller, will likely go right out the window. The learning experience is still highly enjoyable. None of that experience comes out of using a proprietary operating system.

So, yup, there's some context and direction...
;)

Also, and it is a BIG also, many Linux distributions come with GIMP, the GNU version of Photoshop. I'm a visitor using Windows here and I am hurting without a photo manipulation program. Thanks for nothing, Mickeysoft.

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Creepy Walls: Pyramid Head at the top, with his impression of Boxxy ♥s Addy [Pyramid Head will mess you up, man] -- all Silent Hill.

More Than A Few Words

Recently Whiskey Fire had 8000 unique hits in one week. An uptick in political interest, especially an expanding interest in the smart mouthed left wing intelligentsia, warms away some of the chill of the mausoleum where some of us crawled away to die after the plague of bipartisanship consumed the passion of the 2008 election. 2012 will have none of the fire and thunder "Renegade" conjured to life during his first whirlwind campaign, but with contenders like Newt Gingrich waiting in the wings there's at least sure to be plenty of high entertainment.

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Bin-jip, or Three Iron, from director Ki-duk Kim, delivered a surprising neural experience with lengthy periods of silence and fluid examinations of internal space. The story follows a young man who breaks into the homes of strangers in order to feel life from their perspective. Along the way he picks up a battered wife who appreciates the allure of the peculiar nefarious practice. She speaks almost as little as he does.

The couple wind up in police custody after staying at the home of a deceased older man. Even so, while the mute burglar goes through a period of confinement the mood of the film only sinks briefly. Shortly after his release he haunts the residences where he previously trespassed before returning to the home of the discontented wife and her loathsome husband.

Ki-duk Kim began to develop the theme of secrets outside the 180° range of human vision and the impossible hidden relationship between the woman and the burglar as the movie ran out of time. Perhaps Kim judged that the improbabilities of the plot grew too cumbersome, but the suddenness with which the movie ended felt like an admission of defeat by the director. The story cried out to be made more plausible and wrapped up tidily. Instead it ended with what seemed like an obvious appeal to admirers of dreamy romance.

This movie would be great for a dreary, rainy day when the viewer has nothing else to do. The fact that it is subtitled makes it cumbersome for a date or for watching with a group. However, it was quite a pleasant diversion.

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The L.S.U. Tiger football team: It really doesn't get much better than this season. For superstitious reasons nothing more will be said here, except Geaux Tigers!

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The Housemaid: An excellent flick about the trials and tribulations of a live-in servant. Husband does the nanny. Wife's mother tries to kill the maid. Wife poisons the lady's unborn baby. The rich bitches destroy her life. The wealthy husband shrugs and goes on with his. Nanny hangs herself and burns to death simultaneously. An extremely captivating reel.

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The Twilight Samurai completely destroyed any notion that it might be part of the stereotypical Samurai slice-and-dice genre. YƓji Yamada created a classic with this work. The portrayal of a low level Samurai working for his lord in the pre-Meiji years came across as brilliantly realistic. The continuity of the tale glowed with a vivid, transcendent normalcy, and thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhe camera work almost makes the viewer feel like a present observer.

It's difficult to understand why this movie is not more heralded by fans of historical fiction and Asian culture. Perhaps it's because of such travesties as the :
A 19th-century samurai tries to protect a battered wife.
That description could not be any farther from the truth. This movie is worth owning, and that is not something one will read here very often.

Yet Another Review

Any aspiring screenplay writers out there should know that there really is very little in the way of adrenaline exploitation that has not already been done, nearly ad infinitum, in Asian cinema. The Man From Nowhere delves into that sub-sub-genre of crime scenarios that deal with organ harvesting, heroin trafficking and child slavery. Thankfully the subject has now been covered with all due sensationalism, and no one will be led to cover it for its newness. Never fear: The culprits meet their deaths in gratuitous bloody sequences, along with just about every character connected to them in any way.

The "man from nowhere" dishes out the beyond-the-law vigilante justice, and his character is about as cliche as they get. Former spy -- check. Martial arts expert -- check. Mysterious air -- check. He's not the conventional muscle bound protagonist, however, as the movie starts out with glimpses into his life as a pawn shop owner and operator. When his dream life was shattered by criminal hands he abandoned his service to the state and went into the hock trade. He just happens to be the neighbor of a little girl who gets snatched up by the scuzziest people the writer could envision. Like any mysterious hero lethal in hand to hand would, he embarks on a quest to save the child.

Hollywood did not dump this film on the world. The California film industry may not be cutting edge with a lot of its story choices, but that can be a good thing, depending on one's perspective. Korean film makers don't seem to be burdened by the same PTA outrage that would surround a movie like this in the United States. Sometimes the lack of moral filters allow for a truly inventive and awe inspiring work of cinema, but at other times the viewer winds up with a movie like this. Anybody who can watch this movie and simply shrug their shoulders has probably seen too many movies. Welcome to the club. The proper reaction is probably to be deeply shocked and offended by the violence and subject matter. For those who are already jaded: It wasn't totally terrible, it was just mostly terrible, but it did make a couple of hours go by very quickly.

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::bonus review:: :)

Meanwhile, in the romance genre, Windstruck tells the story of the person with the worst aim in all of Korea, a policewoman in Seoul. Don't let other descriptions fool you. You may hear that the movie is about love and loss, that it deals with matters of the heart and grief, and the touching of two souls. It is really about how the lead female actor (who would have been great in any role) can't hit the broad side of a barn with her sidearm. That fact remains consistent throughout the movie. Sure, she has a lover that bites the dust, but that doesn't help her get any better with her pistol. I'd be frightened to meet a person who could make it through the entire two hours and three minutes without laughing.

For the sake of honesty it should be said that the movie is a sappy romance, frivolously so. It waffles between happy and sad and has a wide variety of endings to choose from. The director made it impossible to know for certain if the boyfriend was shot to death. Instead the viewer is forced to choose their own interpretation of events. The movie is a flop as a normal romantic comedy, but was still enjoyable overall. It really helps that the leading lady is so pleasant to look at.

A Somewat Normal Title


A Bittersweet Life - Easily the most pointless bit of underworld tinged violence to come out of Korea in the past few years. The main character has no likable attributes, except that the female audience may find the actor attractive. Even suspending disbelief doesn't serve to make the movie's action remotely credible. It was not an unenjoyable film, but it failed to provoke any deep thought at all. The action sequences weren't executed well enough to salvage any good comments about.

The best that can be said is that the design crew saved this piece of cinema from utter mediocrity. Some of the sets were very attractive and set a handsome tone for bloodshed and gun play. If it weren't for the photography and attention to surroundings A Bittersweet Life would be a complete waste of time. It has a big following though, and a lot of fans who would disagree strongly with this negative review.

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Nein Emerging
- I went back to music, or something a lot like it. Plan to upload eventually. It is in fact called Nein Emerging. Have not abandoned "Blood Red Mist," just giving it a major rethink. Writing about a broken family disintegrated my motivation for the work; dark fantasy rears its hideous brain filled appendage once again.

Ghost Cities -- Brooklyn Bridge -- Robokopter


Google Earth photos of the Kumtag Desert in China show gargantuan earth projects in the middle of nowhere. The scale of some of these projects defy normal human perspective. One of them covers approximately two miles of width and four miles of length. The Nazca Lines immediately come to mind when viewing these photos. Of course unlike the ancient Peruvians the Chinese have machinery. Maybe a high ranking party member in Beijing had too much time on their hands and thought it would be fun to mess with the imaginations of Westerners. via Gizmodo.

The OWS Brooklyn Bridge march yesterday

Meanwhile, the occupation of many areas of major American cities has ended, but the Occupy movement won't be changing its name. These protesters have restored hope to some people in the United States that citizen activism is in the middle of a renaissance. No matter what name they take, the fact that so many people care enough to put their lives on the line for the betterment of the common working people of our country is highly admirable. The shortcomings of the movement are far outweighed by the existence of the movement itself. Occupy Wall Street has set a precedent worth more than any other grass roots movement in the past thirty years. As long as people have the knowledge that hordes of fellow citizens hold the same beliefs they do and are willing to take direct action to effect change, then the armor of big money can continue to be worn down. And maybe, just maybe, with continued work and diligence in this vein the tide of economic hopelessness will begin to turn in favor of an expanding middle class and greater opportunities.

Cheers to Occupy supporters nationwide for creating a bright spot on the economic horizon that has been bleak and dark for so long. A big part of that brightening is camaraderie -- an ideological one for those who can't make it out, and a physical one for those on the front lines. They deserve more recognition than simple words can give.



The end of the Internet as you know it is closer than you think. SOPA has a name that belies the horrible vagueness and potential for misuse in the actual bill. It would be more accurate to call the Stop Online Piracy Act the Totalitarian Internet Control Act. Ron Paul and Nancy Pelosi have both stepped forward in opposition to SOPA, and they don't agree about very many things. It will hurt our country far worse than it will help. I have been loathe to speak out against it since normally everything I condemn gets passed and everything I support gets trounced, but this matters too much to remain silent. I'm already bracing for a move to a national dimnet should this piece of legislation become law. The government will not be able to stop those of us determined to remain free of a federal stranglehold on information.



The above photograph was taken by a helicopter drone sent over streets in Poland by protesters there. The little white circles are the tops of police helmets. The protesters wanted to get a better view of police activity by filming it from above. Technology available only to the military and elite police for so long is now becoming more affordable and widespread. Turnabout is fair play. From Infowars, where footage from the helicopter drone is available.

LSU Obliterates Auburn -&- "Election"

The #19 team in the nation, the Auburn Tigers, came to Baton Rouge with hopes of upsetting the BCS #1 ranked LSU football team. Auburn did manage to put points on the board, somehow. This is the second time this season LSU has defeated a long time SEC opponent by the largest margin of victory in the history of their meetings. The score was 45-10. Alabama poses a real challenge on November 5th in a game that's sure to be a nailbiter, but right now the LSU Tigers seem like Roman's going into battle against Celts. They have continued to devastate opponents. They are a convincing top ranked team, to say the least.

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Louisiana had elections today. Before they started it was crystal clear nothing would change in this district. Groovenor Gin Doll has the big race sewed up, even with 9 people running against him (in fact he won very big). I refused to pick a different candidate because none of them really worked to win the office. They certainly did not tour Baton Rouge's inner city, and that shows how little they care. Jindal could never get my vote while remaining a member of the Glorious Oligarchy Party; the GOP has led the middle class to the brink of destruction. Gotta work hard to remember Louisiana kicks ass, otherwise some of the minor black marks against it will make the whole place seem like a detestable, poverty stricken third world country again.

A Table:

Election WinnerGovernor JindlBy a mileNo competition What election? Sad, really. Sorry, activists.


A Colored box:



With elections like the one we had yesterday it's easy to understand why some people give up on the entire process, thinking it meaningless. If everyone in Tiger Stadium, Death Valley that is, had actively voiced support for change and voted to make it happen, the outcome may have been different. That's more difficult than drinking beer and watching LSU make grown men cry, however. Voter apathy may have had less to do with this election than football, to be honest.
[Another meaningless comment.]


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Have been reading Templesmith's Gentleman Corpse series. It's a great little work of dark comedy. No comic book has been this enjoyable in so many years I can't remember. It follows the adventures of a corpse possessing maggot named Wormwood. The very polite and refined maggot solves ghastly crimes. Highly recommended.

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How does someone miss a spelling error in their title? Finally noticed 2 weeks later.

Louisiana ~Bans Cash

The state of Louisiana banned the use of cash in the purchase and sale of secondhand items. Antique stores, pawnshops, flea markets and yard sales will all be prohibited from using legal United States tender when doing business. Individuals engaged in commerce involving anything besides brand new goods will be forced to use credit cards, checks or money orders.

Louisiana House Bill 195 was passed and signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal. We are now our own country. United States money is no good here. The law was passed and signed without any significant media coverage.

Legislators who support the law claim it targets criminals, and that banning cash transactions will help combat the sale of stolen property. It sounds an awful lot like treating a symptom rather than curing a problem. The sale of stolen goods could not possibly account for even an entire percentage of cash sales in the state. The legitimate 99+% will now suffer because of extremely shoddy legislation. The law is unconstitutional, idiotic and shameful. Un-be-fucking-lievable.

Glorious Oligarchy Party Declaration: All your tender is belong to us!

When entering the Republic of Louisiana, please present your papers, and while traveling remember to keep your face exposed at all red light cameras. It's for your own safety. The Party knows best. There will be no anonymity in commercial matters. "Protection over privacy." So say the elite, so must you all say.

Review-a-thon, or Not

Stumbled across perhaps the most epic music share session of all time. Considered reviewing a bunch of the albums and posting the links myself, but decided it would be a humongous undertaking. Instead decided to forward the entire spectacle and leave the burden of fair use reviews to the reader.

United States law: You can download an album. After that you have 24 hours to review the album and post your review somewhere. After that you must delete the album from your hard drive in order to remain compliant with United States copyright laws. The artists often very much appreciate the attention and the review. If you do a good job, then instead of breaking the law you have contributed to the prosperity of the musicians. It's good sportsmanship to review imports as well, even though you do not run the risk of legal action for not doing so.

God Tier Share Thread

Get out there and force a bunch of takedown letters to [file hosting service]. If nobody complains, then the musicians aren't getting any attention. Show the music industry some love.
 
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