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As much as the idea of patented seeds is ridiculous and dangerous (IMO), this particular argument wasn't going to fly.
The more important part of the decision (FTA): "But Kagan said the court's holding only "addresses the situation before us."" There was no wider ruling on whether seeds are patentable as IP or anything sweeping like that.
In the end, this windfarm's problems weren't regulations or "sacred ground" of some nearby tribe. It was just a huge case of NIMBY from certain, powerful residents in the region who had connections and cash.
And in this case, I can't totally fault the NIMBYs this time. Unless one is wearing rose-colored glasses about "going green", large windmill farms are an eyesore. Sure, they're a novelty to look at - as you DRIVE BY THEM in the middle of nowhere (such as the one in the barren hills on I-10 between LA and Phoenix, near Indio, CA). If I had them to look at all the time, however, it'd be no better than throwing up giant power lines and trusses a ways behind my backyard wall. If I'd paid millions to have a nice cape view and had some treehugger coming in and spoiling my view, I'd be pretty pissed off too.
This is worthy of a "+6, Insightful" moderation.
Assuming we're talking only about audio recorded or remastered by the music industry anytime after around 1990, any debate about lossy vs. lossless file formats for saving music is practically meaningless. This is because the the music industry's sound engineers overdrive the music's levels to the point of distortion and massive sound wave clipping. This is done solely because louder music sells more copies, and if any sound engineer complains about quality, they don't get any future work, so the problem isn't going to go away anytime soon.
In the end, no file format (lossy or lossless) can polish a sonic turd...
There really needs to be a system in place to gather data on people who are on this level of medication
It'd be too Big Brotherish for too many people - especially the older generations that need that data gathering the most.
That is actually the correct answer.
Just the fact that you posted this shows that the parent poster's seemingly paranoid worries about overreaching powers in the hands of "do-gooders" in the federal government aren't unfounded.
Just in case you're inferring that liberal views play a role in wealth generation: The prosperity of SF, LA, NYC, Boston, etc. has very little to do with liberal views. Any arrogant pricks from those coastal cities who think that are kidding themselves.
Instead, the wealth comes from their geography (i.e. sea ports). Throughout history, cities along important trade routes have always been places of wealth and prosperity. They create wealth just by EXISTING where they do because they steal from... er, add duties to goods bound for... everyone inland who wants those goods, whether it be union bosses and their crony friends, greedy bankers/merchants, "liberal" politicians with their rich friends, etc... And the sea ports in the United States are no different.
Yes, wealth does lead to education and enlightenment, which can dispel some incorrect notions that poorer, less-enlightened people fall prey to (bad religion, ignorance, prejudice, etc.). However, that wealth also leads to comfort, which almost invariably leads to pride, and eventually decadence - and you can't easily be decadent with a socially conservative viewpoint.
In other words, wealth from trade leads to liberal views - not vice versa. And if SF (and all of its smug) were picked up and thrown inland 100 miles, it would lose its liberal viewpoint within a generation as the wealth left the city - along with all of the freeloaders at all levels of society who mooched off of it.
Your society is structured to create misery.
True. Our entire society has become one that doesn't take responsibility for its actions because nobody is holding us accountable for our fiscal and social irresponsibility - yet. Until then, we'll just keep on driving towards the fiscal day in the not-too-distant future, when our country will become "nothing but an old-folks home with an army."
And if things still didn't change when creditors start calling the American Bluff, then everyone but the truly wealthy would then be facing the prospect of living in the misery of a collapsed and/or powerless government - and the chaos and death that would surely follow.
The sad part is that the financial problems (and the social imbalances involved in the government's spending plans) could be fixed quite quickly if the poor had to actually start paying federal income taxes - even if it was a really small amount, or just a piece of those Earned Income Credit freebies they get annually (i.e. "no more welfare until you pay your taxes this year".) If those people suddenly felt like they had some skin in the game - even if only to keep the welfare checks and other freebies coming - they'd wake up pretty quickly to balancing the budget and the population's real needs. At that point, BOTH parties would have to work to balance the budget, and (at least temporarily) kick corporate lobbyist pressure to the side to get it done.
I don't know how many of the "nerds" here are Catholic, but with a possible membership of almost a billion people (active or not), that's a lot of people this could affect personally here on this site.
Also, this particular pope is quite conservative in his views. What happens when the next pope comes in and has a more reformist idea set and says that God's told him to reveal something like, "Gay priests are acceptable - don't ask, don't tell," "Priests can marry if they want," etc., that's a major social shift that will have ripples across society.
Even more importantly, imagine if the new pope suddenly said, "Birth control is ok..." That simple utterance from Vatican City could slow starvation and tame resource usage in poorer, more uneducated countries where millions devout Catholics take the Pope's word as law. All of a sudden technologies like GMO crops are viewed a little differently as food demand dips and the spreading of HIV or other STDs drop precipitously over time.
Bottom line: This just may be big news for nerds - even those who could care less about the Catholic church, or any organized religion.
(Disclosure: I'm not a Catholic.)
I've seen the dropping of letter case for at least one major CC company for a password I use (I found out by accident). PaSsWoRd is no safer than password...
That suggests to me that they are much more concerned about protecting the DB tables with the hashes in them from being stolen, vs. what the password combo actually is...
While many commenters have blown off the original article as a scam, this kind of "intellectual theft" is pretty common in one-off, temporary, contract job situations.
For example, a few years back I had an "interview" for some subcontracting work with a former consulting firm I'd done some work for in the past. I needed any cash, so to ensure I got the work I ended up talking to them for an hour or more about about what I would do. The end client was there asking questions, listening and taking a few notes, etc., and I grew a little suspicious. By the end of the meeting, I had a feeling that I was being used for free consulting, but not having set a clear payment plan for my time up front, what could I do? In the end the client was so excited that they decided to do the work themselves after the meeting, based on the direction I had pushed them, and he decided I wasn't needed. The former colleague semi-apologized later, but I would've appreciated getting at least a one hour consulting fee (which they stiffed me on).
The moral of the story: Have a clear understanding UP FRONT that you will be billing for ANY time you give for ANY temp/contract work... Even for friends/former colleagues... If they're really pros/friends, they'll understand and pay up.
For your sake, definitely use UserIDs (adding a number for dupes).
Here at my (large) university, they use both for email, where first.last@school.edu is an alias for userid@school.edu (the primary email).
Though few people use the userID@school.edu email, it does help that the school assigns user-friendly IDs based on their given names (if a custom one isn't selected). Ex. Patrick Peterson -> userID ppeterso. To deal with dupes, they do add numbers at the tail end as you suggested. If a Parker Peterson comes in later, they get a number on the tail end - ppeters1, ppeters8, etc. The same methodology could be used for first.last aliases by default (either with First.Last3@school.edu), and people can add a limited number of common aliases (i.e. First.M.Last@school.edu, etc.) if they want.
That makes either email address friendlier than obscureID938@school.edu. (In my experience, most people still choose First.Last@school.edu first over userid@school.edu. And (more importantly, IMO) many users don't even remember email addresses anymore, and rely upon autocomplete in Outlook/Exchange, etc.
the majority of people have become so lazy and apathetic that until someone makes a big deal out of political shifts that are happening,
Wanna wake people up? The solution to this is simple: Cut down on the freebies that half of the country now expects on a daily basis. Make everyone pay a little in income taxes (vs. thousands annually in "earned" income credits, freebies for having more kids, etc.). THAT will wake people up faster than anything else.
The kicker: If the government doesn't do this, then the basic economics of inflation or debt spending will do it for them. "Where's my check???", or, "I can't even buy my Cheez-Its with this debit card anymore!" will have the same effect - with even uglier results.
We've reached the tipping point where enough Americans - either through ignorance, or the "47%" factor Mitt Romney talked about (to the chagrin of liberals everywhere) - are content to let things continue, however, so I'd bet on the latter in the not-too-distant future. Tack on the millions more in illegals that will become citizens, a majority of which will immediately hold out their hand for the government freebies (including higher education pell grants and loans they'll default on, like many current former students) will likely be the breaking point...
Even tools that are only supposed to make us FEEL like we have a voice in government are being lifted out of the average Joe's reach and placed only in the hands of those with resources (i.e. money, and/or people).
It's even more ironic that this is (by chance) being done during Obama's presidency. The voice of the people was gonna be heard under this president. It was gonna be different. Riiiiiight...
Bottom line for many of us: 1) Cut back on the sugar and 2) take breaks from sitting. It really is that simple.
I'm a developer chained to a computer screen most of the day. Until early last year I was 220-225 lbs. (at 5'11"-6') - your stereotypical, middle-aged, pot-bellied developer dad.
Then one day last spring, I stopped eating the leftover junk on the snack table at work. Then I started eating eggs for breakfast sometimes, instead of a large bowl of "healthy" cereal. Jerky replaced a crappy hamburger when I didn't pack a lunch. Then I cut way back on the 9PM donut and diet soda runs to Circle K and the 11PM chips and salsa fests. If I had a sweet snack like ice cream, it'd be a scoop or two - not a full bowl of it.
That's all I changed. No crazy, expensive exercise DVD sets, gym memberships, or "chicken and leaves" diet torture. I just took a little more responsibility for what and how much junk I was eating.
I was genuinely surprised to see that over the next 3-4 months I dropped to 200-205 lbs, and I've stayed there, ever since. It's a sustainable change that has helped my belly size (I look better and feel a lot better) AND my wallet.
I also get up and walk around a few times a day. Instead of cigarette breaks, it's walking breaks. I can still think about what I'm working on, and my back and legs feel much better afterwards.
My haircut is totally traditional!