I'm not a physicist, but from what I understand, it's still an open question whether Dark Matter "exists." At least according to Wikipedia, one prominent explanation is that it points to a flaw/correction needed in the current model of gravity. Whether that's additional relativity corrections over large scales, or some sort of quantum effects is still an open question.

Willful patent infringement is 3x damages. So if they asked for $2billion up front, $6billion is a reasonable extrapolation.

Not that any part of the patent process in tech is reasonable.

Whatever you think, you're wrong.

If your actions cause damage to my person or property, I have every right to see that damage redressed. In a civil society, the government is the way we redress that damage.

If you're dumping garbage on my property, the government has every right to pay to clean it up and charge you for the damage your actions cause. If that modifies your behavior and you stopping dumping trash on my lawn, so be it.

It's exactly analogous if you're pumping trash into my air. The government has every right to charge you for the damage your actions are causing, and use that money to better society. That's what a gas tax is, and a higher gas tax would give people a much clearer idea of the actual costs of their decisions.

They're called negative externalities. The free market system isn't even guaranteed to be an overall positive sum game if they aren't addressed. They're *exactly* where your freedom to choose ends. In this case, your freedom to choose ends at my lungs. Limiting negative externalities are one of government's legitimate purposes.

That's an insanely ignorant suggestion.

That would incentivize people to move their power usage from off-peak times to on-peak times, forcing power companies to build *more* capacity for on-peak utilization. The pricing you describe is the *exact opposite* of the actual economy of the power industry, and any company that tried it would end up out of business.

The fact that solar only generates during the day makes is a boon for power companies, it prevents them from having to build expensive plants for peak production while leaving lots of profits in providing baseline power with existing investments.

You need to re-read the thread. Blind Biker said, roughly "1987a is some observed evidence that neutrinos don't move notably faster than light. Until they mesh with, explain, or disprove that data, I'm not buying it." No articles of faith, observed data (1987a) that makes biker very skeptical. That's exactly science.

4.3 Million patents gone! Sayonara you innovation starving sunsabitches!

Wait, what?

Or maybe it will have always been filed about ten years ago?

Google will do the same thing to advertisers, cut them off permanently with no information about why ("to prevent giving people information to circumvent our algorithms," or something to that effect.) I think it's pretty common among online advertisers.

Also, the idea that this is because of the "add me on Google+" ad appears to be pure, inflammatory speculation.

By your logic, Dropbox can't copyright the term either. Which they are trying to do, in the same business space.

Either Dropbox can't be copyrighted, in which case Dropbox the company is SOoL, or it can be, FilesAnywhere has precedence, and Dropbox is SOoL.

I assume they're talking about things like tracking where you use your credit card from to detect fraud/identify theft. Amex is on the list, and I think that' probably a valid concern and security tool for them. Presumably, at least some of the other companies have similar fraud concerns.