Yeah, I acknowledged the existence of design patents. The fact they exist doesn't stop them from being stupid. I had two points, one of which is the design patent shouldn't exist in the first place as it is not relevant to the philosophical basis for a patent system (fostering technical innovation). The second point was that your suggestion that the patent protects against consumer confusion is flat out wrong. That is the intent of trademark protections; design patents instead protect the design full-stop, regardless of the utility of the item. If Apple's rounded rectangle design patent is valid, then they could sue the makers of the Etch-a-Sketch or those little rounded-corner chalkboards we had as kids (prior art much?). Trademark protections address a legitimate issue (consumer confusion), design patents do no such thing while also providing far more wide-reaching implications in their enforcement. This is why I said "the very concept of a design patent is utter horseshit."

No, that confusion is what trademark law protects against. The patent system is design to foster TECHNICAL innovation, and the very concept of a design patent is utter horseshit.

Not to mention appearance and "look and feel" are TRADEMARK issues, and have no business anywhere near the patent system.

I would think so, yes. Nobody gives a shit when academics and journalists bitch about it; they're commoners. It's been obvious from day one that HFT is a zero-sum game that has no value outside of allowing large financial institutions to skim free money off the top of the markets. Since the primary benefactors of HFT have been the fabulously wealthy, its significant when billionaires like Cuban, who probably has/could profit(ed) substantially from HFT due to his wealth and connections, publicly speak out against it. Despite the short term profits available with HFT systems, he seems, unlike many other rich people, to recognize the potentially catastrophic destabilizing effects HFT has on markets.

Between this and his recent live TV appearance where he rips Skip Bayless a new one, Cuban is rapidly becoming one of my favorite billionaires.

China is also home to the largest middle class population of any nation, already exceeding 300 million people and growing rapidly. Most Chinese by percentage of China as a whole may still live in poverty, but in absolute terms, the Chinese middle class is the size of the ENTIRE POPULATION of the United States. Considering a larger middle class, and a greater societal emphasis on academic excellence, it's not far fetched to think that China may have a larger population (in absolute terms) of well educated young adults than the US.

Even better than this, get a job working at a local bar or restaurant. You'll learn everything any other unskilled hourly job will teach you, with the added bonus that many of your coworkers will probably be attractive, slutty girls. And if you're shy/socially awkward, waiting tables is probably a good start to breaking through that barrier.

Do executive level recruiters fill entry-level positions? It seems that in more senior positions, nobody gives a shit about GPA because you have a experience and performance history that is more important. However, it was my experience looking for my first job out of college that GPA is VERY important when it comes to entry level engineering positions. Many places won't even touch your resume unless your GPA is over a 3.0. The big companies compete very hard for new graduates with GPAs of 3.7 or higher. This is all reflected in your starting salary. My evidence is merely anecdotal, but my peers with 3.7+ GPAs got offers with significantly higher starting salaries than those with the same degree, but lower GPAs.

Increased availability of aid and loans may very well create some tuition inflation, but I seriously doubt it is the major driving factor at public universities. It took me a while to graduate since I got called up to active duty for a while, but the tuition at the in-state public land grant university I attended nearly doubled between when I entered as a freshman and when I graduated. In 2003, tuition and fees was about 2200 USD/semester, but had ballooned to just over 4000 USD/Semester in Spring 2011. As far as I am aware, there hasn't been massive increases in the availability of aid or loans in that span (in fact, I'd argue generous private loans have become LESS available since 2008). What HAS happened is massive state budget short-falls due to economic downturns and short-sighted tax cuts. When the state is short on cash, higher education funding seems to always take the brunt of the damage in budget cuts, so public universities make up the difference by hiking tuition and/or recruiting out-of-state students.

You must not be from Texas.

The V-22 isn't in use anywhere? That's odd because I deployed with CV-22s to Afghanistan in 2010, and we lost 4 men and an aircraft to a crash during combat operations.

I'm not necessarily defending the airframe, but it very much is in use in Afghanistan. The Marines have been using it in theater even longer than the Air Force.

If there's one thing the elderly NEVER forget to do, it's to vote.

Yeah, because that whole Articles of Confederation thing and 13 different currencies worked out real well, didn't it?

I have not used the N9, but I share your sentiments on the issue of multitasking. Last year I transitioned from Maemo on my n900 to an android handset after my charging connector went on the fritz (for the second time, though this time out of warranty). While it was nice to finally have a mature ecosystem full of applications, I immediately found android's task switching to be infuriating. I had no idea what was running and what wasn't. It seemed like whether an application was merely hidden or killed outright seemed like a matter of sheer chance at first.

Maemo handled it much better, and it's interface was cleaner, more intuitive, and far more powerful. All it needed to be perfect was a small bit of polish and for developer support to reach critical mass. I miss my N900, and I wish Nokia would have stuck to its guns and doubled down on Meego/QT :(

In your situation, the black man is likely arrested on sight, charged with voluntary manslaughter or worse in a matter of days, and held without bail. Nobody outside of the local media would even notice; It's a tragic death, but nobody is outraged since a black man is in jail for murder and that's not news in this country.

*Woooooosh*

Man, that aircraft is flying low over us!

GP was being facetious/sarcastic by pointing out that strong regulation of job markets doesn't necessarily result in jobs disappearing. GP's whole point was that the German economy is holding up just fine despite labor regulations that many assert "kills jobs."