I was under the impression that patent law does follow this rule and that "software" patents are really just business method patents in the context of software. The problem is that the idea of a "business method" is too broad and too easy to dress up as novel even when it isn't (especially when it applies to software).

A correction. I should have quoted the 501(c)(4) rules ...

http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Other-Non-Profits/Social-Welfare-Organizations
"The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. However, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity. However, any expenditure it makes for political activities may be subject to tax under section 527(f)."

Some of the organizations in question may really qualify for tax-exempt status under current law, but any such organization with clear political ties should expect to be scrutinized, and the IRS has the authority to do so. If an organization doesn't want that, then they can just pay their taxes like the rest of us.

The IRS is entirely within their right to highly scrutinize requests for tax-exempt status. They just need to do so without political (or racial, gender, etc) bias. The tax rules against political groups getting 501(c)(3) status are already in place ...

http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Charitable-Organizations/Exemption-Requirements-Section-501(c)(3)-Organizations
"it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates"

The IRS just needs to to their job and enforce it-- FOR EVERYONE.

The IRS was right to apologize, but they apologized for the wrong thing. They should have put EVERY political group seeking tax-exempt status through this kind of scrutiny. The fact that these groups (both left and right) get to avoid taxes while manipulating elections is embarassing. Of course, the real problem is that they have so much power and so little transparency to start with, but if the only victory we can get right now is to make them pay taxes, let's start with that.

Here's a start. http://xkcd.com/1127/
Yes, it's xkcd, but it's no joke. It's a serious graph based on mathematical analysis of voting similarities. Notice the severe erosion of moderate republicans in recent years. The democrats show some of it too but not nearly as much. This is a real problem for the republican party. Just look at the last two presidential elections. Republicans with moderate histories were forced to redefine themselves to appeal to a republican base that is supposedly allergic to any hint of compromise. This is a disservice to all citizens-- moderates, democrats, and certainly republicans. I really want to have more than one viable candidate I can vote for, but it's difficult for me to support a candidate who acts like a puppet to some party agenda.

I got a fully paid phone (won as a door prize) unlocked by AT&T back around 2005, but I had to go through multiple levels of customer support to do it-- took a lot longer than a minute. It is somewhat surprising that they unlocked a phone for you while still under contract, but technically they don't need the phone to be locked if the contract's early termination fee covers the phone subsidy.

Manufacturers generally have no interest in locking the phone (definitely not to a carrier and often not even the bootloader). It does not benefit them. It's the carriers that want locking and will usually make that a requirement before subsidizing or promoting the phone.

Don't you see? WD has invented the idea of having an SSD and an HDD show up as separate devices! It's ingenious! Next they're going to move beyond computers and re-invent the classic Swiss army knife. Instead of having all the tools inconveniently stuck together, they'll have a bunch of separate tools in a box!

I'm pretty sure he was making a reference to Rep. Mike Rogers' comment on opponents to CISPA.
http://www.google.com/search?q=mike+rogers+cispa+14

I think he is saying that upgrading to a newer version of MySQL could possibly be more difficult than going to MariaDB. If MariaDB forcuses more backwards compatibility than MySQL (I don't know whether it does), then that would not be too surprising. Of course, if you are not otherwise planning to upgrade your DB version, then doing nothing will be easier than changing.

I almost never use IE and I haven't found a site in years that required it to work well (barring some internal corporate crap).

I do agree that Firefox went through a rough spot by jumping into a rapid release cycle without preparing enough for the challenges that brings. However, they seem to have gotten things working pretty smoothly now. There are frequent updates, but I no longer see things breaking like I did when they first started it.

From wikipedia...
"Eich is best known for his work on Netscape and Mozilla. He started work at Netscape Communications Corporation in April 1995, working on JavaScript (originally called Mocha, then called LiveScript) for the Netscape Navigator web browser. He then helped found mozilla.org in early 1998, serving as chief architect."

Since Eich both invented the language and helped found Mozilla, it seems like a pretty fair statement to say they (the Firefox/Moziilla team led by Eich) invented javascript.

Also note that he actually INVENTED javascript. He didn't just write an implementation of it. He is the original creator of the language itself.

I'm not sure exactly how much of your statement is sarcasm, but for anyone claiming that biological differences justify this, you should be careful what you say lest someone hold you to it. Do biological differences really mean a father should not be given equal opportunity to spend time with his child? In the reverse case, how readily should we accept "biological" arguments for giving women lesser treatment? Also remember that a policy like this creates a perverse incentive to favor employing a man instead of a woman-- he's less of a financial liability.

You silly person. Real gamers don't go to work. :)

Maybe not, but their standard weights do. Darn things just can't get enough bacon and cheese.

Right! And you can only assume they will pass those savings onto the consumer. I expect movie prices to drop dramatically any moment now...

any moment now...

hmm...