However the taps are a derivative work; one that is neither a satire nor used for educational purposes. The taps, therefore, are not within the bounds of fair use and thus all your foot are belong to Lars.

Wait, what was the question again?

Designers are to artists as engineers are to scientists or as innovation is to invention.

Last time I looked into this it seemed like CCR (continuity of care record) was becoming the document standard for these records but the VA already had a system that did not use that document format. Has the industry / government settled on a document standard for (textual) medical records yet?

"Reagan proved deficits don't matter," said Dick. I believe he was one of your guys.

Scanning through the threads, I've read at least a half-dozen cowards all spouting the same nonsense: politicians are all corrupt, don't bother to do anything, being cynical is cool, corporations are a monolith that all believe the same thing and have an iron grip on our democracy. If you really believe this, why not sign your name? Afraid the corporate interests are going to track you down and give you an award for successful promotion of FUD?

Innovation has turned into one of the biggest weasel-words in the English-language. Innovation: slapping a "spring-fresh" banner on a box of laundry detergent. Invention: new, non-obvious advancements in the art. Patents were supposed to be about protecting invention. If software patents actually protected new inventions but ignored obvious "innovations" then I think a lot of us would be less likely to want to throw out the entire system.

> Did you know that the president of China is a scientist? President Hu Jintao was trained as a hydraulic engineer.

So, he's not a scientist, he's an engineer. That's not a slam against engineers (or scientists) but I believe that the two outlooks are very different.

Yes, in that Frankenstein, for example, is Mary Shelly's "implementation" of a story about a the hubris of man and man's inhumanity to man. I don't think Microsoft is accusing Google (by proxy through companies with less resources to defend themselves.... I think Microsoft learned this tactic from Darl) of literally copying code or artistic elements so they have to rely on the U.S. broken system of software patents.

Agreed. But, lacking specific domain knowledge, in the real world, I've had about 20 times where I wished I had a design and/or art degree for every time I wished I knew higher level math. Sure, I'm never going to refine a sort algorithm or build an unbreakable cryptographic algorithm but my users are more likely to appreciate a UI that is intuitive and appealing.

Yes, there is lots an lots of profit to be made on post-9/11 hysteria. This is one of the few times you don't need to put "???" in the underwear gnome's business plan.

Your armchair punditry is completely on target. Can you imagine the outcry if congress passed a bill to invest in Facebook? But, pass through $12.9B from AIG to Goldman Sachs so they can invest in Facebook... that's okay. This is just an awful idea: the company that owns congress is investing in the company that knows everything about you.

When it was first announced (5 years ago now?), I thought the Optimus Maximus keyboard was going to solve this problem. With a little smarts built into the keyboard I wouldn't mind esoteric key combinations if the result was displayed directly on the keyboard. Something like this might, someday, be the solution but at $1500 dollars it's going to be a while and assuming a direct-brain interface doesn't come first.

The fact that there's still people there is just another example of the extreme cowardice of the right wing. When we actually tried to get some of those guys in front of a real court of law all the tough Republicans started crying about the danger. Republicans, man up! Stand up for the Constitution; all of it, not just the 2nd Amendment. Stop pissing your pants.

And tomorrow they'll advertise "up to 100 mbit/s". That's the awesome thing about this gimmick, Comcast can double their advertised speed every year without actually spending any money on infrastructure.

I can hear the tea baggers screaming from here, "Obama's socializin' the interwebs!"