More patent idiocy

[Chris Carlen]

Hi:

These folks want to patent this:

http://multitemplight.com/id5.html

They can't explain why a laser looks speckly.

My dad had dual fluorescent tube drafting table lights going back before
I was born using a mix of warm white and cool white to get a more
pleasant "white".

Prior art?

The patent system makes me rather irritated. I hope this doesn't get
patented. I was just sitting here thinking of putting 3 different color
temp CF lamps in my ceiling fixture to get a more balanced white. Then
I found this. Ridiculous. Every trivial obvious idea people want to
patent.


Good day!

 

[Rich Grise]

Hi:

These folks want to patent this:

http://multitemplight.com/id5.html

The guy's obviously a nitwit. Look at his first sentence:
"Have you noticed how a group of neophyte musicians who are poor soloists,
sound pretty good as a band."

No, I've noticed the opposite. If you put together a bunch of wannabe
musicians who aren't very good, it sounds like CRAP.

Well, these days the kids seem to prefer noise anyway.

And just for our edification, what _is_ it that makes a laser dot
look grainy?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Ian Stirling]

And just for our edification, what _is_ it that makes a laser dot
look grainy?

Interference.
The bits of surface with a path length from the laser to you
of an integer number of wavelengths to you reflect light that interferes
destructively with the bits of surface that have a half wavelength
path difference.

 

[Andy]

No, I've noticed the opposite. If you put together a bunch of wannabe
musicians who aren't very good, it sounds like CRAP. ---- Rich

Andy replies:

However, if you put together a bunch of vocalists, like in a church
choir,
NONE who have any solo ability, with some practice they can sound
pretty good as a choir. It all depends on the circumstance.....

For the record, laser dots look grainy because they are made
with wheat lasers. Everything looks grainy with wheat lasers. That's
why they use gas or rubies.

Andy

 

[Dirk Bruere at Neopax]

Interference.
The bits of surface with a path length from the laser to you
of an integer number of wavelengths to you reflect light that interferes
destructively with the bits of surface that have a half wavelength
path difference.

Well, it certainly winds up the cat.
His enemy, Red Dot, always starts out from behind the washing machine before
ending up there again after running around taunting him. He often stakes out its
hiding place in his spare time waiting for it to make a mistake.

Takes his mind of the hamster, at least.

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

 

[Rich, Under the Affluence]

Well, it certainly winds up the cat.
His enemy, Red Dot, always starts out from behind the washing machine before
ending up there again after running around taunting him. He often stakes out its
hiding place in his spare time waiting for it to make a mistake.

Takes his mind of the hamster, at least.

Speaking of laser tormentation, one time in Thailand, I was renting
a nice bungalow in a nice neighborhood downtown Ubon, and I had a
neighbor whose window was about 6' from mine, about a half-story above
in elevation; he could look down from his living room window and see me
sitting on my couch. One time, I was lying on the couch with my GF, and I
spotted a little red spot out of the corner of my eye. "What was that?"
Both my GF and I kinda got our hackles up - we weren't sure what that
flittering, flickering red spot was - I remember thinking, "Do they have
red fireflies in Thailand?" And I swear, all of the hair on my head stood
up, and a goodly portion of the rest of my body. "What the
****!!!!?!?!??!" And my GF was about to panic - you know, how you can,
like, feel it? Anyway, after a few seconds of this, I realized, my
neighbor worked in the laser designator shop, and he had brought home a
little demo laser - this was in 1975 or so, well before the days of the
laser pointer. He laughed, and I wanted to smack him. Scared the **** out
of me! Not to mention my GF! (I could say it led to hot sex, but that
wouldn't distinguish it from anything else I did with my GF in those
days...)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich, Under the Affluence]

No, I've noticed the opposite. If you put together a bunch of wannabe
musicians who aren't very good, it sounds like CRAP. ---- Rich

Andy replies:

However, if you put together a bunch of vocalists, like in a church
choir,
NONE who have any solo ability, with some practice they can sound
pretty good as a choir. It all depends on the circumstance.....

I think that's because practically everybody who can talk, can sing -
carrying a tune is another matter. I think it's a matter of self-
confidence. I'm a singer, and quite good at it, although my voice
is more suited to choral music (preferably barbershop, but SPEBSQSA
charges these days), and I've noticed that, if there's somebody to
follow, most people can hit the note spot on. I've done ersatz
duets with people who weren't very good, and I've found myself
switching to their part, when they follow me. The point being,
if there's a bunch of people singing, staying in tune is almost
trivial - just sing the same note everybody else is singing. That's
almost natural. But playing an instrument? Nah. If you can't play
an instrument, you can't play it.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Robert Baer]

No, I've noticed the opposite. If you put together a bunch of wannabe
musicians who aren't very good, it sounds like CRAP. ---- Rich

Andy replies:

However, if you put together a bunch of vocalists, like in a church
choir,
NONE who have any solo ability, with some practice they can sound
pretty good as a choir. It all depends on the circumstance.....

For the record, laser dots look grainy because they are made
with wheat lasers. Everything looks grainy with wheat lasers. That's
why they use gas or rubies.

Andy

ONLY *wheat* grain? What about rice grain?

 

[ngdbud]

I'm just a student, but what grain are you guys talking about? Besides,
i thoughtthe specles were because of diffuse reflection, by the time
individual light rays reach your eyes two waves 180 degrees out of sinc
(as my book put it, saying a full wave was 360 degrees) hit your retina
in the same place cancelling each other out making a black spot.

 

[Mac]

Well, it certainly winds up the cat.
His enemy, Red Dot, always starts out from behind the washing machine before
ending up there again after running around taunting him. He often stakes out its
hiding place in his spare time waiting for it to make a mistake.

Takes his mind of the hamster, at least.

That, of course, is patented, too.

Probably you mentioned it specifically because it IS patented. But some
might not know. This patent is well worth a read, and was obviously done
as a joke.

5443036: Method of exercising a cat

You can go here:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm

and paste the patent number (above) into the query bar.

--Mac

 

[Dirk Bruere at Neopax]

That, of course, is patented, too.

Probably you mentioned it specifically because it IS patented. But some
might not know. This patent is well worth a read, and was obviously done
as a joke.

5443036: Method of exercising a cat

You can go here:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm

and paste the patent number (above) into the query bar.

Yeah.
I suppose that now I have publicly confessed he can sue me for royalties.

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

 

[Dirk Bruere at Neopax]

Speaking of laser tormentation, one time in Thailand, I was renting
a nice bungalow in a nice neighborhood downtown Ubon, and I had a
neighbor whose window was about 6' from mine, about a half-story above
in elevation; he could look down from his living room window and see me
sitting on my couch. One time, I was lying on the couch with my GF, and I
spotted a little red spot out of the corner of my eye. "What was that?"
Both my GF and I kinda got our hackles up - we weren't sure what that
flittering, flickering red spot was - I remember thinking, "Do they have
red fireflies in Thailand?" And I swear, all of the hair on my head stood
up, and a goodly portion of the rest of my body. "What the
****!!!!?!?!??!" And my GF was about to panic - you know, how you can,
like, feel it? Anyway, after a few seconds of this, I realized, my
neighbor worked in the laser designator shop, and he had brought home a
little demo laser - this was in 1975 or so, well before the days of the
laser pointer. He laughed, and I wanted to smack him. Scared the **** out
of me! Not to mention my GF! (I could say it led to hot sex, but that
wouldn't distinguish it from anything else I did with my GF in those
days...)

Valis.

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

 

[CC]

http://www.tinaja.com/patnt01.asp

Yes, Don, your web page about patents disillusioned me about the systam
long ago. Now everything I run into about them gets a cynical
prejudice. And I'm rarely disappointed.

Keep up the good work.

Good day!

 

[Robert Baer]

That, of course, is patented, too.

Probably you mentioned it specifically because it IS patented. But some
might not know. This patent is well worth a read, and was obviously done
as a joke.

5443036: Method of exercising a cat

You can go here:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm

and paste the patent number (above) into the query bar.

--Mac

??? "directing a beam of invisible light" ???
How the heck does one direct something invisible,
and
How the heck does a hand-held laser apparatus produce invisible light?

 

[Robert Baer]

Yeah.
I suppose that now I have publicly confessed he can sue me for royalties.

Only the *cat* has the right to sue...

 

[keith]

Mac wrote:

??? "directing a beam of invisible light" ???

Can you see the beam? I can't. I can only see where it strikes something
solid.

How the heck does one direct something invisible,

I can't see the "beam" in the garage door safety, but I can "direct" it
toward the receiver. I can't "see" the beam of a dopler radar unit, but I
can direct it.

and
How the heck does a hand-held laser apparatus produce invisible light?

Infrared or UV LEDs? Dark Emitting Axial Diodes? ;-)

The light isn't invisible, only the beam. The point is that the cat
doesn't correlate the sneaky dot with the human "directing" it. ...at
least not for a while. I had a pointer that "drew" an outline of a
mouse (I don't think the cats really cared). After a while our cats
figured out the scam and gave up the chase.

 

[Bret Ludwig]

Yes, Don, your web page about patents disillusioned me about the systam
long ago. Now everything I run into about them gets a cynical
prejudice. And I'm rarely disappointed.

Patents enabled Steve Wittman and Percival Spencer, to name two of
hundreds, to live most of their lives as eccentric inventors with money
instead of eccentric factory workers or ranch hands who invented as
time and money permitted (or usually didn't).

Patents are why McIntosh Laboratories still sells a fair number of its
amplifiers to transformer wind houses for bench test gear. Patents are
why no one but Leitz made M-mount lenses for Leicas (or bodies for
M-mount lenses) for almost forty years.

A good patent for a good product coupled with merchandising and
marketing skills is still a _good thing_ to have.

Don is high-centered on the fact that many patents can be broken by
Prior Art with enough work. Many can, but it rarely happens, for good
reasons. Don's Magic Sinewaves, if they ever do really work-I'm not
saying they do or don't-will be a test case.

 

[Dirk Bruere at Neopax]

Patents enabled Steve Wittman and Percival Spencer, to name two of
hundreds, to live most of their lives as eccentric inventors with money
instead of eccentric factory workers or ranch hands who invented as
time and money permitted (or usually didn't).

Patents are why McIntosh Laboratories still sells a fair number of its
amplifiers to transformer wind houses for bench test gear. Patents are
why no one but Leitz made M-mount lenses for Leicas (or bodies for
M-mount lenses) for almost forty years.

A good patent for a good product coupled with merchandising and
marketing skills is still a _good thing_ to have.

Don is high-centered on the fact that many patents can be broken by
Prior Art with enough work. Many can, but it rarely happens, for good
reasons. Don's Magic Sinewaves, if they ever do really work-I'm not
saying they do or don't-will be a test case.

A patent is a bargaining chip in court and is only useful if:
a) The patent is for something people want.
b) You can afford to enforce it.

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

 

[Bret Ludwig]

Bret Ludwig wrote:

A patent is a bargaining chip in court and is only useful if:
a) The patent is for something people want.
b) You can afford to enforce it.

Blatant violations of clear patents for desirable products can
sometimes be fought on a contingent fee basis, but the goal generally
is to get someone else to fight it for you. Colossal companies will
spend high sums to beat a patent on occasion but the smaller ones are
usually happy to buy you out, because beating you means everyone can
then use the idea. Meaning your huge legal bill and frequent bad
publicity gives you no comparative advantage.

No one is infringing the Ellison throttle body injector, a patented
variation on the old POSA carburetor bringing stupid prices for two
decades now.

 

[keith]

Patents enabled Steve Wittman and Percival Spencer, to name two of
hundreds, to live most of their lives as eccentric inventors with money
instead of eccentric factory workers or ranch hands who invented as time
and money permitted (or usually didn't).

Patents are why McIntosh Laboratories still sells a fair number of its
amplifiers to transformer wind houses for bench test gear. Patents are why
no one but Leitz made M-mount lenses for Leicas (or bodies for M-mount
lenses) for almost forty years.

Why? At that time patent protection only lasted 17 from issue (now
20 years from file). Forty years??! All of these patents have long since
run out.

A good patent for a good product coupled with merchandising and
marketing skills is still a _good thing_ to have.

So is a little knowledge.

Don is high-centered on the fact that many patents can be broken by
Prior Art with enough work. Many can, but it rarely happens, for good
reasons. Don's Magic Sinewaves, if they ever do really work-I'm not saying
they do or don't-will be a test case.

Patents can be broken with lotsa money, sure. I believe his larger point
is that they're worthless for those without an equal pile of bucks to
defend the patent. All a patent gives you is a right to sue.