GOVEROTRAGEOUS: The USPTO grants very broad patents for ideas that are neither new nor revolutionary

Friday, December 27, 2024

https://www.zdnet.com/article/open-source-fights-back-we-wont-get-patent-trolled-again/

Open source fights back: ‘We won’t get patent-trolled again’

  • Businesses using open-source projects like Kubernetes are being targeted more often by patent trolls. Now the open source community is launching a counter-offensive and looking for volunteers.

Written by Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Senior Contributing Editor
Nov. 14, 2024 at 12:41 p.m. PT

*** begin quote ***

Edge Networking is a patent troll. This means it buys up patents — not to use them but to extort money from anyone who might want to use the patent. Let’s say you’ve posted a job listing for a Kubernetes engineer. An Edge bot will spot this, assume you must be using Kubernetes, and then slap you with a cease-and-desist note claiming you’re violating its Kubernetes patent and you must pay them a licensing fee. Welcome to the wild, wonderful world of 21st-century patent trolls!

*** end quote ***

So, here we have the root of the problem  — the USPTO.  And, vultures use the USPTO flaw to extract wealth from the finances of companies.

Too expensive to fight so they just fold and pay,

Seems like the Gooferment needs to rebalance the scales of justice in this case.

When the USPTO invalidates a patent, it should charge the patent holder a fee for the wasted effort.

If the patent troll has several patents invalidated, the Federal District Attorney should review the facts for an abuse of process claim.

It’s only fair.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLICY: Biden commutations are not a strict rejection of the federal death penalty

Thursday, December 26, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/12/23/us-news/biden-commutes-death-sentences-of-child-killers-and-mass-murderers-2-days-before-christmas/

Biden commutes death sentences of child killers and mass murderers 2 days before Christmas
By Steven Nelson 
Published Dec. 23, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 men on federal death row — a list that includes at least five child killers and several mass murderers — in a stunning act of clemency just two days before Christmas.

Biden, 82, gave the reprieve to the nation’s most violent murderers — nine of whom were found too dangerous to live after butchering fellow inmates — as part of his effort at “ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” the White House said.

President Joe Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Dec. 16, 2024. 7

President Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Dec. 16, 2024. AP

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said in a statement.

“But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

Biden, who opposes the death penalty, lowered each of the 37 sentences to life in prison without parole. He did not say why specifically he considered the original penalties unjust.

*** end quote ***

If he commuted EVERYONE, then I could believe that this is his moral decision.  (Which BTW I’d agree with!)  By his other actions, killing people and not extending commutation to everyone, I doubt his sincerity.

Some of these commutations cover a convict that is too dangerous to keep confined.  (This is my exception to the “no death penalty” policy.)

So, I don’t understand his partial view of morality.  And, he doesn’t explain his “in good conscience” rationale.

Befuddled and befuddling.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Policy | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

DISCOURAGING: Illegal comits murder after sneaking back in

Thursday, December 26, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/12/23/us-news/nyc-subway-burn-suspect-is-illegal-migrant-from-guatemala-who-sneaked-into-us-after-being-deported/?lctg=6080ba40747925275a09dcd3 

Fiend accused of burning woman to death on NYC subway is illegal migrant from Guatemala who sneaked into US after he was deported
By Jennie Taer and Joe Marino 
Published Dec. 23, 2024
Updated Dec. 23, 2024, 9:37 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

The Guatemalan migrant accused of setting a sleeping F train passenger on fire and then watching as she burned to death sneaked into the country illegally after being deported — and then stayed in the New York City shelter system, multiple sources confirm to The Post.

He first entered the US at the Arizona border in 2018, when he was nabbed and deported just days later for crossing illegally, multiple sources told The Post.

He then re-entered the US at a subsequent unknown date, sneaking past US authorities. It’s unknown how long he has been in New York.

*** end quote ***

Clearly, DJT47 will have his “deportation” chore firmly in mind.  Why do we have to tolerate such behavior?  It’s a stain on all the good people who want to come here.

Argh!

—30—

Leave a Comment » | DISCOURAGING | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

PEACE: Let’s never have to entertain troops at war again

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/12/21/entertainment/bing-crosby-struggled-to-sing-white-christmas-to-troops/

Bing Crosby struggled to sing ‘White Christmas’ to troops, ‘most difficult thing’ in his career

By Brie Stimson, Fox News 

Published Dec. 21, 2024

Updated Dec. 21, 2024, 10:16 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

I asked Uncle Bing one time, ‘What was the single most difficult thing you ever had to do in your career?’ We were out playing golf one day, and I didn’t know what he was going to say,” Howard told Fox News Digital. “I didn’t know if he was going to say, ‘Well, it was, you know, learning lines for the movies or working with a difficult director.’”

He continued, “He didn’t have to think about it at all. He said, ‘Well, 1944, we were over with the USO troupe.’ And he said, ‘We gave an open-air concert for 15,000 GIs and British Tommies in an open-air field in France.’”

His uncle told him Dinah Shore and the Andrews Sisters were at the show “‘and we had a lot of laughs and the boys were having a wonderful time, great fun.’ But he said at the end of the show, ‘I had to sing “White Christmas.” And I had to get through the song with 15,000 guys in tears and not break up myself.’”

“And a lot of those boys died the next week in the Battle of the Bulge,” Howard added.

*** and ***

But he said, ‘If I’m entertaining troops, I’m not going to wear anything phony like a toupee. Forget it.’ So he went onstage without a toupee for the troops, but he also insisted that the front rows at those shows were reserved for the enlisted men. No officers or higher-ups sitting in the front rows. Those were all for the guys on the front lines.”

*** end quote ***

Noblesse oblige

And, why war is terrible on everyone.

Dona Nobis Pacem

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Peace | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

PEACE: Dona Nobis Pacem

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

From AntiWar.com

https://antiwar.com/donate/

*** begin quote ***

Many American leaders are more interested in using war to fight for peace. Unfortunately, they have convinced many Americans into believing that war is the only path to peace. They do that by using fear and lies.

Antiwar.com works to inform people about what is really going on, and to show them alternatives to the plans of war-hungry politicians.

*** end quote ***

I’m upset that I am paying for Israel to kill children in Gaza. 

I’m upset that I am paying for a war in Ukraine that has wiped out a generation of young men there.

I’m upset that the Military Industrial Congressional Complex keeps finding new wars for the USA to fight.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9, NIV).

Seems like we can never just have peace.

Dona Nobis Pacem

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Peace | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLICY: No “entangling alliances”; No NATO; No UN

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

https://www.lewrockwell.com/political-theatre/trump-to-leave-nato-as-brussels-attacks-musk/

Trump to leave NATO as Brussels attacks Musk?
By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
November 11, 2024

*** begin quote ***

America first, no foreign wars, protect America’s borders.

US out of NATO and the UN. Put the troops on the Mexican border.

NATO threatened Elon not to have the twitter space with Trump, we should leave NATO.

I want to stop Ukraine and Russia war and NATO should indeed need to reevaluate

There is no NATO, there is the United States. We shoulder pretty much all the burden.

Leaving NATO and threatening to leave NATO is a bargaining chip for negotiations.

Good. Kick out the UN next.

*** end quote ***

No “alliances”.  Period!  Full Stop!

NATO is an idea who’d time has passed.  Let Europe defend itself.

The UN was a Wilson pipe-dream.  It has failed to bring peace and, in fact, their “peacekeepers” are a problem.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Policy | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

DISCOURAGING: Everyone might have seen the 8th grade tests from the turn of the century … …

Monday, December 23, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/12/a_half_century_of_miseducation.html

December 17, 2024
A Half Century of Miseducation
By John M. Grondelski

*** begin quote ***

The New York Times reported December 4 that math and science test scores for U.S. fourth and eighth graders have been essentially stagnant since 1995. Nor have they have been stagnant near the top — lots of countries outrank us — but rather in the middling middle. American elementary/middle school students perform behind Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, England, Ireland, and Poland.

“’This is alarming,’” opined a Department of Education commissioner.

Yes, it is, but perhaps not just for the reasons the article identifies.

The spin of the article is that scores are down and American kids have lost significant ground as a result of the pandemic. Author Dana Goldstein says the results corroborate “a large body of research showing significant academic declines since the Covid-19 pandemic began.” “Experts are debating potential causes,” reports Goldstein, including maybe the fact that American public schools were shuttered comparatively longer than in other countries.

Let me argue that spin is far too limited and selective.

*** end quote ***

I’m not an “educator”, but I can observe some factoids that do NOT inspire confidence.

  • Everyone might have seen the 8th grade tests from the turn of the century.  Some of those questions even I couldn’t answer.  As a fat old white guy retired injineer, I should have been able to “nail” the math and geometry questions.  Not so.
  • There’s a meme on Facebook that talks about a circa WW2 car owner’s manual that decribes how to adjust the valves.  Today’s say “don’t drink the battery acid.”
  • The amount of money spent on education in 1988 per pupil was enough the send kids to the private Petty School in Princeton.  Those amount have gone up from there.
  • Teacher’s pay has stagnated.  But budgets keep rising.  Teachers’s unions in the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee dominate the state legislature.
  • All the stats say either we are birthing stupider children or “education” ain’t educating.
  • Asian children seem to be doing just fine.  Indicating that non-Asian parents are not motivating their children to excel at anything other than “feeling good about themselves”.
  • And, my perpetual gripe, “participation trophies” that denigrate accomplishment and fail to teach children to deal with setbacks early in life.

In summary:

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” — attributed to Einstein

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — attributed to Einstein, Ben Franklin, and Rita Mae Brown

So what can we change?

  • Eliminating the Department of Education seems like a reasonable start.
  • Returning “education” to the local communities’ control
  • Disempowering teachers’ unions
  • Ending “public education”!

Seems “simple” to me.

—30—

 

Leave a Comment » | DISCOURAGING | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOVERNACIDE: Here’s an example for the death penalty; inmate too dangerous to imprison

Sunday, December 22, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/12/17/us-news/beloved-texas-detention-officer-dead-after-being-assaulted-by-pure-evil-inmate/

Beloved Texas detention officer dead after being assaulted by ‘pure evil’ inmate
By Associated Press 
Published Dec. 17, 2024, 10:14 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

WAXAHACHIE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man being held in jail fatally assaulted a detention officer who was returning him to his cell following the one hour he was allowed out of his lockup each day, a sheriff said Tuesday.

Isaiah Patrick Bias, a 28-year-old who worked at the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office for over six years, was assaulted Monday afternoon at the county jail in Waxahachie, south of Dallas.

Sheriff Brad Norman said during a Tuesday news conference that Arron Semeion Thompson, 45, from nearby Ennis, has been charged with capital murder in Bias’ death.

*** and ***

Officials said Thompson has been in jail since last month on charges of assaulting a public servant, public intoxication and evading arrest.

Thompson’s bond in Bias’ death was set at $2 million. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.

Norman said the Texas Rangers will investigate.

*** end quote ***

As a little L libertarian, I don’t think we should ever permit the Gooferment from using the “death penalty”.  If we do, then political opponents are at risk from their adversaries.

The one exception that I make  —  every good rule has exceptions  —  is when the convict is too dangerous for the people we ask to guard them.  This appears to be such a case.

As a species, we need to have firm rules of acceptable behavior.  For our own survival, this should be one of them.  “Kill a correction officer and forfeit your ‘right to life’.”  Simple self-preservation.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | GOVERNACIDE | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOVERNACIDE: Tucker Carlson agrees that capital punishment is a wrong

Saturday, December 21, 2024

TCN Morning Note: Capitol Hill in Chaos, Government Shutdown Looms

Tucker Carlson Network

*** begin quote ***

Commentary 

If guilty, Luigi Mangione deserves to spend the rest of his days in prison. Anyone who purposely takes a human life should never walk free again. Independent of the need for justice, such a man poses too much of a public safety threat to ever return to America’s streets.

The accused CEO killer is not a heroic figure. He is a villain. That will remain true no matter how many Nintendo-costume-donning protestors rally in his defense. As we wrote last week, “He is smug, lazy, and ultimately, a groveling coward.” With that being said, the government’s apparent aim to have him sentenced to death is a disturbing and destructive objective.

In addition to being nonsensical and hypocritical, the idea that we must kill killers to prove that killing is wrong is emblematic of modern American leadership’s tragic disregard for the sanctity of human life. We see this in foreign, immigration, and domestic policy.

Permanent Washington has spent the past three years fervently funding the war in Eastern Europe, cheering on the slaughter of an entire generation of Ukrainian men. Fentanyl overdoses kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, but the government actively works to make it easier for people to smuggle those deadly drugs across the Southern border. And since the turn of the century, the left has transformed its abortion rhetoric from describing the deadly procedure as “safe and rare” to telling women to “shout your abortion.”

It’s not clear what’s behind this shift, but it’s remodeling America away from its religious roots and instead in the image of a frightening death cult. We must reverse course.

Abolishing capital punishment would be a logical first step. No matter what heinous acts a person may commit, they are still human. And judging them is up to God, not their fellow man.

*** end quote **

Dona Nobis Pacem

—30—

Leave a Comment » | GOVERNACIDE | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Found an old ship wrecked. It can tell us about our history

Saturday, December 21, 2024

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/shipwreck-near-kenya-may-be-from-vasco-da-gamas-final-voyage-and-would-be-archaeological-stardust/

Shipwreck Near Kenya May Be from Vasco da Gama’s Final Voyage and Would Be ‘Archaeological Stardust’

By

Andy Corbley –

Dec 12, 2024 

*** begin quote ***

While the true provenance of the vessel is unclear, the discovery would be of monumental importance to the study of maritime archaeology, and the history of European exploration.

It was originally identified near the city of Malindi in 2013 by Caesar Bita, an underwater archaeologist at the National Museums of Kenya who received a tip from a local fisherman.

*** and ***

Lying at shallow depths of just 20 feet, this ship is protected by the local population, who are part of a community archaeology project and who the team intends to train so that they can monitor the finds and participate in their recording and analysis.

Elephant ivory and copper ingots have been excavated from the wreck, where few timbers from the ship remain. The divers have uncovered pieces of the hull after digging some trenches on the seafloor, but other features remain covered in coral.

*** end quote ***

While it may NOT be the headline making ship, it still has some historical significance.

I’m amazed that in 20 feet of water, it’s still basically unexplored.

I’m also amazed at the Educational Institutions that have such niche fields of study.

What can we learn?  Not even a clue, but anything we do learn shinks that Fourth Qaudrant of the JoHari window (“what I can’t see and what you can’t see).  That has to be good.  Ignorance of human history is a fatal flaw.

—30— 

Leave a Comment » | HALL OF FAME, INTERESTING | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »