Reform the US Patent Office!
The definition of “patent”, courtesy of the US Patent and Trademark Office: A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. …
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The day after the CMMYs
Critical Mass works hard. We know that from all the various nervous ticks we’ve developed over the years from working too hard. So you can imagine that when we play, we make up for the difference. There are two annual …
Why no-one should care that Google censored itself in China
Today, 14 February 2006, is being touted as the day people are to “break-up” with Google (also here). They’re to sever their relationship, their ties, their love for what is still the most dominant search …
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On being a Know-it-all
I am a know-it-all. Both in the best and worst senses. I became one as a kid. When all of my friends were reading Hardy Boys or Lord of the Rings, I was reading through Time Life books, learning how the universe worked — …
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Starbucks discontinues Chantico?
I hate Starbucks. Not because the word “Starbucks” has come to mean anything so popular and prevalent as to find it on every street corner. Not because they’ve taken the idea of luxury coffee and turned it …
Back from the dead ... sorta
Wow. Long time no write, eh? It’s amazing how one’s life can change so dramatically in such a short period of time. Things that had once been hugely important become minor, and things you never imagined having a major …
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Enter the Conservative Canadian government ... exit social open-mindedness
Canadians are strange. I know — I’m one of them. In some places in the world, such as our oft-maligned (deservably or not) neighbour to the south, people vote for a person and the position/platform that they take in the …
2005, A Year in Review
Well, last year was a quiet one for information on me. Many reasons, none of which I’m going to bother to detail here. (One, you don’t need to know. Two, I really don’t feel like having to explain everything.) So, in as …
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An early Christmas present from our beloved federal government opposition
Minority governments are always a touchy thing. This is something the Americans have trouble with — in a two-party system, you don’t get minority governments, just slim margins. In multiple party systems (three or more), …
The Canadian government has gone shady
Y’know, I used to believe that all the really shady governmental meddling always happened south of the border. Little did I know that our own government has been setting the stage to run things that we’d been taking for …
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