So, yeah, it's easy for us to point and laugh at this and say it's just a useless farce.. but this effects us all actually.

The brief filed states that Teller is suing because the rival's trick supposedly violates a 1983 Copyright he filed for the trick. What is important here is that the Copyright filing DOES NOT describe how the trick functions, but instead HOW IT LOOKS. On those ground, Teller is suing.

I believe this is important. Why? Because I think it is similar to SOFTWARE PATENTS.

Of course, obviously PATENT != COPYRIGHT, but the similarities in this case are still apparent. Unlike every other kind of working patent, software patents generally describe the outcome/result of something instead of the actual mechanism (patents of physical things are based on the WAY it works, not what it produces, SW patents are generally based i the end product).

If suit is upheld it means software patents *could* have an extra life, and indeed if a vendor wants to squeeze out competition they could simply file for a COPYRIGHT on the visible result of the software too.

IANAL, but food for thought.

The problem with calling it "a Ferrari without a paintjob" is that it's not a Ferrari of a movie. Hell, it's not even an Hyundai Elantra of a movie.

At least watching the workprint made it fun: "Claws Grow".

Post signs that your parking lot stating it is "Private Property" and "Parking by Permission Only" or control the access via a gate or something, you are then (generally, varies by country and state) allowed to set parking however you see fit. Very many pay-parking-lots in my area do not have accessible spaces and are allowed to do this because they are not technically "public". (Yes, I actually asked city hall and that's what they said).

UNLESS you are also an employer in the US. In which case you must follow ADA guidelines and provide spaces based on the size of your lot and/or workforce size.

This is, of couse, all academic to argue about since once you are in a position to actually NEED those space (really, physically need them) you don't care how much other people are annoyed by them.

The leads are weak!

I mean, of course, a T.J. Hooker reunion show?

I would be playing the World's Smallest Violin for Apple right now, except someone already has the patent for it and has threatened to sue me over it.

2001: Record labels sue my.mp3.com in to oblivion.
2011: Record labels can't wait to suck on the iTunes Cloud teat.

He didn't have to. Have you SEEN the ANIME that has been coming out of Japan for decades? Thousands of Manga authors already predicted it! Let's hope the predictions of two-wheel-drive electric motorcycles and sexy, sexy robots also come true.

So the "Too long; Didn't read" of this basically is:

"It's too hard to write portable code."

"FIAT currency tends to be.."

I believe you mean 'fiat', not "FIAT". Fiat currency is legal tender that has value backed by decree of a policymaker; The FIAT Currency is the new hatchback from the Italian automaker.

You have no equity? If they haven't offered any to you in exchange for this, frankly, ridiculous effort you should say the following:

Dear Mr Bossman.

Kindly piss up a flagpole. If you do not have a convenient flagpole, I can direct you to one. If you have no piss, I will happily furnish you with as much as is required.

Regards,
your name

Cold, dead digestive tract?

That's my favourite kind of sushi! How did you know?

Most of us are Americans(TM) anyway, and have no idea where this "Essex" or "Finnish" you speak of is located. Likely they're both next to other countries we don't know the location of, like Myanmar, Quebec and Idaho.

There is a difference between "not knowing math", "not understanding math" and "not doing well at math."

I am horrible at math, and I've been bad at it all my life. I failed Pre-Algebra THREE TERMS IN A ROW in High School. I suck at math, period.

But, I am a successful programmer and developer and I've written a lot of code that does really complicated math... so how does that square?

The difference is that even though I can't do math, I know *what I can do* with it. I know what an Interquartarial Mean will do for me, but I have to look it up in a book every time I use it to know *how* to do it. In this case, yes, it is obvious that I would have a _better_time_ if I knew how to do this stuff without looking in a book, but I've fared pretty well. Lacking math skills doesn't mean I'm a suck programmer, it just means I may have a harder time with code that uses a lot of math.

Someone above posted "Two candidates, one knows math and one doesn't, you want the one who knows math"; that's true if all else is equal, but you never have two candidates for a job you are identical except for one thing. You buy the whole package and if you think their other qualities outweigh their lack of math skills then that's one you choose.

The oldies among us may remember this is also the same problem that Windows CE had in the beginning, mid 1990's. There were at least three different CPU platforms, four form factors with at least as many distinct input methods and an array of mutually incompatible screen setups.

In the early 2000's then Microsoft Decreed several standards for the hardware and the rom customisations. The OEMs whined but in the end it allowed the devices to unify somewhat, albeit painfully. The fact Windows Mobile 7 exists at all is because of this decision.

Yes, you can argue that Windows Mobile (the direct descendant of WinCE) is a failed state, but I think it would also be agree'd that it would have been dead long, long ago had MS not done what it did.

Google has the additional "problem" (if you will) of Android being open-source. With WinCE, Microsoft could be the ultimate gatekeeper but there is nothing stopping any device manufacturer from doing whatever the hell they want with Android. They may try to initiate some kind of "Google Certified" plan to signify that an OS variant meets certain interopability standards... but the LSB has tried to do that on the desktop and, well, has it had the traction everyone hoped?

This becomes one of the larger arguments for the 'Walled Garden' approach Apple has taken and I guess that's the choice you make: stability, predictability that comes with restrictions or variability and instability that comes with openness.