patrick.net

Thom, I was only ribbing you - paraphrasing your remark above.

Uh, you're kidding about this right? There is a reason that America (along w/ the West in general) is the CENTER of innovation in the world. Our patent and trademark and system definitely needs work but it is what ALLOWS the small guy to actually be able to beat the big companies. Without that protection innovation would cease. No one will work on anything new and innovative if it can just be stolen.

How many NEW products (ie not modifications of existing technology) has China produced in the last 20 years vs the US?

There's also a whole other discussion about how the West vs East teach their kids which results in different skillsets in this area.

Plus your arguments are contradictory. In one paragraph you say that we need to be more like China and then later you say that govt taking over business doesn't solve the problems. Hello!? In China the govt owns everything.

Riley is correct in that the best ideas are sometimes bought up by big corporations and shelved, usually if the invention in question is a threat to their industry. One example would be the special electric battery designed for the proto-electric car that was bought by one of the big petroleum companies. But I would cite such as examples as more of a shortcoming of free industry - almost a trifle compared to the drudgery of draconian rule, which seems like it would be an impediment to the very fundamentals of invention.

Because of our corruptable form of government,

Holy shit, there's a form of goverment that isn't? Sign me up!

Uh, you’re kidding about this right? There is a reason that America (along w/ the West in general) is the CENTER of innovation in the world. Our patent and trademark and system definitely needs work but it is what ALLOWS the small guy to actually be able to beat the big companies. Without that protection innovation would cease. No one will work on anything new and innovative if it can just be stolen.

Yeah! Who would work on technology if they couldn't prevent people from "stealing" what they're doing? People who want to fix the IP system make me so mad that I almost crash firefox!

rileybryan says

Laws must be put in place to make sure that a patent cannot be slightly modified and resubmitted, creating perpetual patents.

That "slight modification" has beem plagueing us for a long time. I can see a patent on a transister, but not on the Darlington Circuit which is really just two transisters stuck together. That Darlington patent is from the early 50's.

The house Patrick grew up in. A bargain at $150,000, down from $250,000. Might make a decent rental. Rent would be about $1,000 per month.

Thanks! I did not know about 1 and 2. The others are on my to-fix list and will probably get fixed in the next few weeks.

Is anyone here surprised that OTS gets his news from the Enquirer?

Originally lenders resisted fair housing / fair credit legislation because they were too conservative. Once they saw that most of the lower income people were actually making good on their loans they decided to just start letting everyone borrow as much as they want. If someone makes $30,000 a year and wants a $100,000 loan, it's a little higher risk than the $50k / 150k guy, but it's still reasonable. That's what these laws were originally trying to make happen. However, the lenders liked the higher interest rates that they could charge for those at-risk borrowers and decided that now, not only was the $30k guy no bigger a risk than the $50k guy, he was actually qualified to BE a $50k guy so they gave him a $150k loan instead. Meanwhile, the $30k guy, with barely a high school education, believed the BS that the loan officers were telling him about how he can easily refi later once his property value goes up. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions

The article seems to say that Mozillo isn't at fault 'cause he tried to warn us. Like a train switchman who purposely switched the tracks knowing that the train's gonna wreck so he calls and leaves a message on his boss's phone telling him. After the train wrecks, he shrugs his shoulders and says, "I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen." Mozillo participated - he was driving the train - and he encouraged the practice with his employees. He's guilty.

Maybe Michelle is having trouble coping with Colonel Sanders switching to grilled chicken?

Mikey, that was chicken of you! Sure, you got a leg up on the competition here, but you must keep abreast of the issue. Your fowl language took me aback, you got under my skin. I don't know eggsacktly where I'm going with this one, but I do know that the news feeds don't mention anything about the Colonel. They seemed to grill the interviewees fairly well - but again, it was chicken shit to quote the Enquirer 'cause this rag is lining bird cages everywhere. That's its value.

Oh, he was no 'champion' of the underdog and you know it. He (like the other lenders) discovered that 'high risk' people could be charged higher interest rates despite having default rates that were not substantially different from 'low risk' people, and he LOVED it -- which is why they pushed it further. It was never about helping anyone. They made more money from the risky borrowers than from the good borrowers, and so they suckered everyone into borrowing like a risky borrower would borrow. If they didn't believe this, they would most certainly not have been offering interest-only loans to high income, high FICO borrowers. By making EVERYONE borrow at sub-prime rates, they made a killing. Now they're reaping the rewards of that stupidity.

On the Sidelines says

Which is patently false. But Mozilo (stupidly) believed it:

How is it false? Default rates amongst so-called "prime" borrowers are now higher than "sub-prime". Clearly the way that we judge credit worthiness is very flawed. There was supposed to be only a 5% default rate for people with credit scores above 750, but in housing we're seeing numbers nearly 4x that. But what do you expect? A guy making $20k a year can still have an 800 FICO, but that doesn't mean he can afford a $200k house. At the same time, I make over $150k a year and have a sub-700 FICO (I don't use credit very often). Who's more credit worthy?

Kevin says

On the Sidelines says

Which is patently false. But Mozilo (stupidly) believed it:

How is it false? Default rates amongst so-called “prime” borrowers are now higher than “sub-prime”. Clearly the way that we judge credit worthiness is very flawed. There was supposed to be only a 5% default rate for people with credit scores above 750, but in housing we’re seeing numbers nearly 4x that. But what do you expect? A guy making $20k a year can still have an 800 FICO, but that doesn’t mean he can afford a $200k house. At the same time, I make over $150k a year and have a sub-700 FICO (I don’t use credit very often). Who’s more credit worthy? Obviously, the guy making $20k a year is a better credit risk. I'd loan him a million, because he pays his minimums and believes in the credit system. You, on the other hand, bad risk. You might only borrow what you can afford, pay it off early, and make the rest of (us) look bad. :)

On the Sidelines says

The Enquirer broke the John Edwards story. It is the only major news source that provides credible stories on Democrats anymore.

The Enquirer is also the only reliable news source about space aliens on earth. See "Men In Black". Hell, I like to drink. No problem with that as long as no one gets hurt and work gets done. I'll probably catch some shit for this, but I think Muslims and Mormons are way too uptight and could both benefit from learning to appreciate red wine.

Utah just changed their liquor laws so that you don't have to join a private club to buy a real drink. But they have some stupid-ass rules like the mixing has to be done out of sight. And you have to intend to order food to buy a second drink. Pretty damn stupid if you ask me. They also have a set number of liquor licenses available in Utah. The only way that you can apply for one is to be up and running as an establishment, then apply. But they're running out of them, so some places that opened probably won't get licensed. That, too, is pretty damn stupid. Did I miss something, or were those photos of a man & his wife walking & not smiling? Nothing Tara Reid like in those pics, if you ask me. A person can read anything into any photo, doesn't make it so.

Two drinks w/dinner is a drinking problem? She's not exactly a 90 lb woman and for most people a social outing takes place over several hours where the blood alcohol level dissipates. I know some women feel whoozy after several sips. Others don't feel the first one at all. I don't have a problem w/the first lady falling into the second category.

Being the first black lady is a hard job,not only that why not have a drink are two ! she is only human. Theresa Starks-Farid

The Original Bankster says

BABY GOT BACK!!!!

And ribs!

OMG! The first lady ordered a second martini! Call the fucking press, send her to the Betty Ford clinic... this chick needs an intervention!

The bitch need a perm with LYE in it!!!!!

OK, now blockquotes should not get munged, and now there is also a comment preview link on the comment edit page. So first you have to create a comment with the comment box at the bottom of a page, but then when you edit it you can preview how your edit will look. Quote nesting now works correctly. I never could reproduce space between paragraphs disappearing. Let me know if you have exact instructions for how to reproduce that. Soon I will also make a new post be in the same forum the user was in when he clicked "Write A Post".

Hey, I can put the preview function on this page too... OK, it's done. Seems to work.

Pretty good for a ten year old!

You might want to consider this problem: husband: lifelong Repub until last election, FIL: lifelong Repub, me: Independent but have voted mostly Repub. We all can't stand the woman and think she's an idiot. We were scared for our country watching her following swell because we thought she'd get us into WWIII. Also very po'd at the Republican party for what they've become. You wouldn't believe how many conservatives I know who feel that way. I don't think the party cheerleaders understand how polarizing she is. Can you win w/a divided party? Can you afford to lose any more membership?

IMHO she's too whiny, and too many ethics issues. She was the gov, stepped down because she didn't want to be a lame duck (she said). But she was voted in, and bailed on the state. Of course, she started bailing the day she accepted the vp nom. I think she'd be a horrible president.

"she didn’t want to be a lame duck" So you're saying she's Daffy and her popularity is down? Or are you saying she's a quack? Or a feather head with no pluck? Well, waddle it be? Is her goose cooked? And who's gonna pick up the bill? Was it all just a foul pond scheme?

Tenpoundbass says

I’d love nothing more than a two term Palin presidency, to Slap America out of stupid and the Notion that our only valid choices is either one of the two busted broken parties running around the world embarrassing me for America every chance they get.

Oh please. Palin agrees with 100% of the Republican agenda. The reason that the GOP turned against her is because she became a great big joke -- a caricature of the right that drove the independents screaming in terror. Name one GOP policy that Palin isn't a supporter of. Name one of Palin's policies that isn't in full agreement with the GOP. On the other hand, a Palin presidency might convince the left leaning states that the union needs to be dissolved, which is probably the best outcome for the people at this point. Let the whackos elect whackos to run their countries and keep them out of everyone else's business.

jabailo says

Destined to lead. Destined for the White House. Sarah Palin is the real champion of the middle class. That is why the media attacked her. She would have prevented the puppet Obama from shovelling 2 Trillion of our money to the DOW and Wall Street.

Or destined to continue on her path as national scapegoat for the republican party? time will tell.

Sarah might become an independent. The Republican elite don't seem too happy with her. After Obama's over taxation damages the economy further along with brutal inflation in the wings, the populace will be out for blood. (no pun) The liberals are slowly discovering that Obama is a bankster suck up who likes his Oreos double dunked.

jabailo says

Sarah Palin is the real champion of the middle class. That is why the media attacked her.

Champion of the middle class? Where do you get your weed? Which of her stated policies and objectives supports the middle class? Her opposition to health care, her support for big oil, or her support for cutting taxes on the rich? Perhaps you think her theft of $480m in federal funds for the bridge to nowhere was helping the middle class somehow? No? How about her outright lies in claiming that she didn't want the money in the first place? Only a moron would believe that she is any different from any other Republican. Every single stance that she has ever taken has been right in line with the GOP agenda. She's pro-war, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-stem cell, pro-gun, anti-union, pro-death penalty, pro-creationism, and a global warming denier. How is that ANY different from ANY OTHER mainstream GOP candidate? Claiming that she's "different" is intellectual dishonesty. She has the exact same agenda as every Republican leader since Nixon. By the way, "the media" didn't attack her. The left attacked her (obviously, just as the right attacks leading democratic figures), and Comedians mocked her for coming across as a complete idiot and not being able to speak coherently. The GOP doesn't like her because they think that she cost them the presidency. I don't think that's entirely fair though -- it was GOP who lost the election. The real Presidential race in 2008 was the Democratic primary.

By the way, “the media” didn’t attack her. The left attacked her (obviously, just as the right attacks leading democratic figures), and Comedians mocked her for coming across as a complete idiot and not being able to speak coherently.

The media did attack her. They attack everyone, and she's no different. But she did make it easier...

elliemae says

he media did attack her. They attack everyone, and she’s no different. But she did make it easier…

Which "media"? Other than the left (who attack every leader on the right), and Comedians, who was attacking her? Was Fox, WSJ, or any other right wing media outlet attacking her?

Please, she is totally unqualified for any public office. She has a laughably naive and sheltered world view which is apparent to anyone watching her fumble through her interviews on TV. We gave her a chance, and found a governor so woefully unqualified to lead the US that she thought foreign relations with Russia meant waving from your front porch as you look out across the Bering Strait. You know what would be really funny? Let's have a game show where we bring presidential candidates up and ask them really basic questions about geography and foreign countries, like "Please point to Iran on a map of the world." I bet she'd fail even basic geography. Hell, I bet she couldn't even point to most US states. She could probably find California, Alaska, Texas, and Florida, but I bet she couldn't find much else... Now, regarding her hypocrisy as a so-called "conservative", this is all the proof I need to know that she not only took money for the bridge to nowhere, she promoted it in her race for governor: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/palin-nowhere-shirt.jpg (damn can't post pics)

I wouldn't vote for Palin for dog catcher. I didn't vote for Obama. I didn't vote for McCain. I voted for Ron Paul. If I had been in a state where it might have been close, I MIGHT have held my nose and voted for a mainstream repub or dem. Palin would have made it an easy choice as I would have had someone to vote against.

Tenpoundbass says

That stuff didn’t stop Bush now did it? Bush couldn’t tell the difference between WMD’s from Shineola, and he said New-que-lur around polite company. He was president twice.

Palin's dad isn't George H.W. Bush, and turd blossom won't have anything to do with her. I'm highly skeptical that the GOP would actually allow a non-white male be their candidate any time in the next 20 years. she could run as an independent, sure, but all that would do is split the GOP vote and guarantee another 4 years for the democrats.

This is the woman some like to compare to 'Jackie~O'??? I swear, the dog has more grace and poise than does it's handler. And where did she buy those jumbo~sized shorts? 'Big Dogs'? Her drinking doesn't surprise me one bit. Actually, I won't be surprised if it turns out she has been seeking refuge in stimulants and depressants.

Yeah elliemae, how about that bee hive state? This is how you deal with Utah and alcohol. 1. Order your home brew supplies out of state. 2. Have it delivered US mail if possible. Nosy Mormons need a warrant to open US mail... UPS, FedEx... That man on the puppet strings Orin Hatch just pops your box right open... We won't even get into how Orin's tan out oranges John Boe-hner's tan... 3. Brew and consume at home like it is the prohibition era. Remember, it is like that Star Trek episode with the "Will of Landru" and mind control cultist everywhere programmed to report on you. Keep cult members at bay, never let them persuade you to attend their "gatherings," or enter your house or for god's sake see your home made beer until you finish your phd and get the hell out of there... At least that is what my cousin told me... he did 3 1/2 years in Utah...

Just need a little yeast and some grapes and alcohol is inevitable. Wine yeast is better than bread yeast, but they both work.