Now honestly, even if it's organic matter that made it over with the rover, if it's reproducing and surviving on the planet, that's plenty interesting news.

Well, for any large company, it's possible, indeed likely, that I may be immensely proud of the project I am working on, while simultaneously either being unaware or even actively disliking the product of another department of a company.

What the hell type care are you driving that costs 400 dollars to fill up the tank?

Essentially yes, that's it exactly. It's a lot simpler to write a 5000 lines of python and 300 lines of C than it is to write 20,000+ lines of C. Plus Python manages most of the memory management for you so you have less chance of memory leaks. I would argue that the reduction in bugs memory bugs and more maintainable code would justify saying that one should use two languages in this case. It's not a matter of which is better overall, it's that python is easier to read, whereas C is faster. Use both where their benefits are most powerful.

I agree that javascript is too often spoken poorly of as a programming language, but having the addition operator not be commutative is just twitch inducing. See the Wat video, or try
[] + {}
{} + []
in you're JS console.

I prefer a graph paper notebook. Easier to draw on (for me at least), guide lines for sketching, and I've got a log of every great idea all in one place, no worries of someone coming along and erasing it.

OTOH, Valve typically has been very amenable to fan material before. If Valve was approached as a production partner, with limited oversight over production, one might even be able to encourage them to chip in as a publicity event. Keep the same director, writing and special effects designer as the production leads, let some valve employees chip in additional writing and or settings/special effects.

the bigger question in my mind is "Is there enough plot to Portal to tell a full length movie?" for all that the game was amazing, the plot basically is, wake up, get tested, break free, kill GLaDOS, escape. Not a lot of room there for dialogue, plot twists, or character development. This clip worked on the basis of capturing the ambiance of the portal universe, the dystopia and the feel of relentless monotony. not sure that would work for a feature length film.

I'm sorry, but my inbox will only accept two letters, so I'm afraid you are guilty of hacking.

Note: This was unrelated to the events preceding Pluto's expulsion, which was the result of his fraudulent claims to be an only child.

You obviously haven't run into rotating popup adds. Close one and two more open. ;-)

The point of the Economist's article is not that Patents are inherently completely useless. It is that patents, as they currently work, slow innovation. They point out that innovating individuals are no longer able to proceed with their inventions because they are being attacked with patent infringement lawsuits as soon as they prove they have a viable product.

One of the interesting points they bring up is the inherent fallacy in the "defensive patent". Since patents are by definition supposed to be given only for things which take unique insight to develop, if your opponent is infringing on your patent by accident, it did not take unique insight to develop it.

I guess my point is, the Economist is advocating Patent Reform, not abolishment of patents. While I am not associated with them, I believe they would likely advocate Copyright Reform, but not copyright abolishment.