If I had a nickle for every slashdot post with the title "Using an IDE makes you a faster/slower/dumber/smarter/sexier/thinner/holier/racist/terrorist programmer", I'd be a richer man

I think it's fair to say no one living today will see fusion in their lifetime, especially anything from the national ignition facility.

I dunno, this sounds like more than just a description of a screen:

1. An illumination device, comprising:
a light source, comprising an array of a plurality of light emitting devices;
an illumination uniformizing means disposed in front of the light source to uniformize a light emitted from the light source, the illumination uniformizing means comprising:
an incident plane, the light emitted from the light emitting device array is incident therefrom;
a bottom plane, comprising a scattering pattern thereon;
a projection plane opposite to the bottom plane, wherein:
the light incident from the incident plane being scattered by the scattering pattern, while the light incident from the incident plane being totally reflected between positions of the bottom plane other than the scattering pattern and the projection plane; and
a reflective side plane opposite to the incident plane, wherein the scattering pattern is gradually condensed from the incident plane towards the reflective side plane; and
a polarization converter, disposed between the illumination uniformizing means and a light valve, to polarize the light from the illumination uniformizing means into a polarized light.

These patent wars are all just a big circle jerk. Google first invests in IV, now they fight with them. Nest, a company that Google just bought for $3B, recently bought a bunch of patents from IV, which Google is now the beneficiary of. Google also bought Motorola, largely due to its patent portfolio that it could use in retaliation from other patent lawsuits. This is not a moral war with good guys and bad guys, it's just a large cluster-f#@% among corporate tech titans.

Does this article make everyone else as sick as it makes me?

Actually, board games, food recipes, and fashion designs are all patentable.

Board Games: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2011/12/22/patenting-board-games-101/id=21356/
Recipes: http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/independent/eye/201306/ADVICE.jsp
Fashion: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2008/10/16/nike-sues-walmart-on-design-patents/id=217/

It's not just a rectangle. It's a rectangle with curved corners. Further, the glass extends end-to-end extending over the bezel and giving it the appearance of a single monolith. From a lateral position, there is a slight curve, rather than sharp corners. There is only a single button placed directly in the center and symmetrically opposing is the camera. All ports are on a single side with the main port centered. These are all distinctive features and calling it a "rectangle" oversimplifies it greatly.

Patent lawyers trying to bust patents from the mid 1990s live on this stuff. Call your local friendly intellectual property law firm and see if you can unload the whole batch. They'd probably pay much more than $1.00/book.

"he pledged $1 million of his own money to fight the troll that went after his company"

One million is a drop in a bucket. A good legal team can burn through that in about three months. It will take a lot more than that to get through the 10,000 or so patents owned by the big trolls like Intellectual Ventures.

Does Wikipedia Make People Smarter? It seems that wikipedia is developing a very clicky culuture; you read the first few sentences of an article before clicking on to the next. It repudiates hard study and concentration in exchange for instant gratification. Is this a good thing? Shouldn't our culture strive to make incredible objects of beauty and knowledge rather than a shallow understanding of everything?

The complaint can be found here:
https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Florida_Southern_District_Court/0--13-cv-61358/Intellectual_Ventures_I_LLC_et_al_v_Motorola_Mobility_LLC/1/

The court docket is here:
https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Florida_Southern_District_Court/0--13-cv-61358/Intellectual_Ventures_I_LLC_et_al_v_Motorola_Mobility_LLC/

Disclosure: I run this site.

April 4, 1995... go!

While somewhat creative, I don't think any of your ideas would work:
1. Heightened pleading standards would require about two or three hours of attorney-time per defendant. It could conceivably help, but only marginally. Most plaintiffs would find what they need on the internet.
2. This already is the rule. To sue on a patent, you must own the patent. If you want someone else to sue, you create shell company, assign the patent to the shell company and get them to sue. Your specific suggestion wouldn't change a thing.
3. Looser pays would help fix the troll problem, but it's also a pretty intense fix and could end up hurting lots of IP holders with valid infringement claims.
4. You can already directly appeal most non-final orders. It's called a mandamus and is only allowed in relatively egregious cases. Allowing a mandamus in more routine cases would likely increase the cost of defense, not decrease it.
5. This would have no effect. The complaint must already be verified by an attorney, many complaints are already signed by multiple attorneys, and many of the attorneys are admitted by the USPTO.

This is a huge problem, and I cannot believe counterfeiting was not even mentioned in the ITC report. Fake chips have shown up in military equipment, threatening untold number of lives. Here's a presentation by an Analog Devices rep reporting on the problem (pdf): http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/statemnt/2011/11%20November/Toohey%20Slides%20B%2011-08-11.pdf

Have you ever been on a date with someone who leaves their phone on the table and checks it every 30 seconds? Now imagine being on a date with someone but their phone is implanted over their eye and they do not stop checking it at all. Die Google Glass, Die.