The Cambodian government will be the one doing the looting...

I understand that the hack wasn't really a hack, but that doesn't change the theory that this is an issue with the board rather than 1 or more students. Regarding the number of records changed, it certainly doesn't have to be more than 1 student doing the hacking. It's obvious to change several, or a lot, of records to hide the one you really care about.

If there was tampering, why is it the assumption of the education board doing the tampering? Maybe other students found this obviously easy "hack" but improved upon the method to actually modify the data.

That's a terrible idea for two reasons. (1) It kills the little guy. Now, only the big patent trolls or large corporations will be able to afford the fee. (2) Who thinks giving the government an interest-free loan for a several years is a good idea? If it's not interest-free, then who pays for the management of all this money?

That makes no sense. Application fees occur at the time application, typically many years before rejection or approval is known. Instead, perhaps apply a large Post-processing Rejection Fee and leave the application fees somewhat untouched.

On the other hand, they could look at the provisional application process. Maybe provide a cursory review, require certain fields be filled out so that these unpatentable patents get short-circuited at the beginning. For something that gets initially "rejected" through this new process, require a significant re-application fee.

I'm curious how many aliens are dying on the planets surrounding the colliding stars?

I didn't make that claim, but in response to your comment I would say there are two approaches: (1) we need more control over automobiles, too, or (2) those controls don't work, so remove them from both automobiles and guns. I think we all agree we need to find a happy medium. But, as long as people like Capt James McCarthy keep equating guns with cars, then let's make sure it's a full comparison and not selective. Gun rights activists always want to talk about how more dangerous cars are in terms of life lost and injuries, like that justifies fewer controls on guns. It's a non sequitur argument and amazingly lots of other gun rights activists turn off their brains and buy into it.

You do not need a license to carry a gun in Florida, but there are restrictions on how to carry (i.e., to carry a ready weapon you need a concealed weapons permit). Also, that's not an example I gave. I was talking about licensing the equipment, not the person. You don't need ANY registration or background check. I can easily buy from a complete stranger. There are gun shows ALL THE TIME where this is very actively encouraged.

Regarding licenses, note that I didn't even mention licenses of people. I was talking about equipment registration. Anyway, that analogy works, too. You don't need a shooting license (equivalent to a drivers license) to various reasons, but it's not all-inclusive. In short, it's a lot easier to own and operate a hand gun than to own and operate a car. But, quite honestly all that was beside my point which was simple, and honestly your analogy is kind of a strawman and I'm simply answering it in kind: as a gun rights activist, don't make the analogy to car death rates unless you're willing to accept the continuance of the analogy to registration. You can see by the responses here that most gun rights activists can't stomach that.

Good analogy. So, let's put the same restrictions on guns like we do on automobiles here in the U.S. You know, registration is required, licenses are required, insurance is required. In some states, an inspection is required. How does all that work for you?

A good way to improve the golf game.

You must be out of your Balkan mind.

In 50 years, 200K might be cheap for a Galactic Virgin.

Money is one question. I'm curious what will be the caveats, such as "Virgin Galactic is not reasonable for any passengers with heart conditions, etc. And you must be this high."

It is safety issue. There's a world of difference between creating an unmanned rocket for resupply and creating a fleet of passenger space ships.

To be shortly followed by a letter of apology from said patent attorney, whose business shall immediately take a dive.