In proof that I don't just talk about patents and copyrights, read this article. It's Business 2.0's fourth annual review of the most shameful, dishonest, and just plain stupid moments of the past year. If it weren't true you could almost laugh!
We might finally have the
patent that breaks the camels back. This is the most horrific patent I've seen
yet. Geek.com
is running the story right now, but hopefully the mainstream news services will run
with this. Basically, if you're too lazy to read the links, it says this:
A method for assigning URL's and e-mail addresses to members of a group comprising the steps of: assigning each member of said group a URL of the form "name.subdomain.domain"; and assigning each member of said group an e-mail address of the form "name@subdomain.domain"
I guess I infringed when I got beck.servebeer.com. Of course the patent was filed
by a lawyer, who is just using it as a vehicle to sue some people with deep pockets
(Network Solutions, Inc. and Register.com) hoping they'll buy him off rather than
fight. If this isn't proof that the patent process is broken, I don't know what is!
Okay, I always new McDonald's was bad for you. I mean it can't be good, just look at
it. And I was intrigued by the film about 30 days eating nothing but McDonald's.
But then I read This
review and I became quite frightened. In just 30 days the guy developed serious
health problems. That makes me wonder: I spent over a year working at McDonald's.
During that time I probably ate 15 meals a week there. Plus, I was eating at other
fast food restraunts pretty much daily. I wonder how much irreversable damage I did
to myself?
In lighter news I had a really great weekend. On Friday night Kathrine and I went
out with Mia and Ryan to Graceland to see a show. The Fitness opened up with some of the most fun
synth pop I've ever heard.
... ( more... )
Another evil story about the music industry. This one is from the UK just to prove that they're just as evil as the RIAA. Seems kind of silly to force someone to raise their prices just because they found a cheaper legal source for the product. Shouldn't they have just made importing the CD's illegal? By doing what they are doing here they could force me to raise my prices even if I was selling CD's at a loss just to get people in my store.
I don't know how this sounds to you, but to me this is worse than Watergate. Watergate had no real affect on any political outcomes, just the work of one paranoid man. This is much worse.
Something else I found which made me laugh was this comic on penny-arcade. It makes the point that the only way to stop SPAM is to make them go door to door. The CAN-SPAM act is just a huge joke.
I've been slacking a little. Been a little too busy and/or sick to post. But I did see some interesting news today. This is a great open letter to the new head of the MPAA. It tells them exactly how to minimize piracy. Now the question is, will they listen?
Well, the year is over. Well almost. It's close enough so that I'm revealing my top 5's of 2003. It probably says something about me that I've been agonizing over this list for days. I'm not sure what that says about me, but I'm sure it isn't good. Anyway, enjoy the list and feel free to tell me how you feel.
I read something today at The Onion that would usually strike me as very funny. However, even though the The Onion prints fake stories, this would seems real to me. Do you have "full screen" movies too?
Well the RIAA had a major legal setback today. This
story has hit all the news wires today and declares that they can't have the
names of the people they are trying to sue. I feel bad for the people that already
settled their lawsuits.
In other music news, I bought a ton of new music yesterday. New albums from Death
Cab for Cutie, The Rapture, The Stills, The Shins, IMA Robot, and The Decemberists.
I haven't given them all a critical listen yet, but so far I'm impressed. It makes
me happy that the new hip music is mid 80's Brit Rock since it's always been one of
my favorite genres.
Stay tuned, I will be having my top 5's of the year soon. I know you've all been
waiting at the edge of your seats.