John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006), Government by Fox News, pompous asses patenting music appreciation, Steve Bridges, George Bush at Fox Feed
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WHAT's WRONG WITH THE United States Patent and Trademark Office? Many things. Patents are being awarded foolishly and recklessly. Many people comment seriously and in depth on this. Great examples of watchdog/activist/informative sites include the EFF's Patent Busting project:
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Lately I've been thinking about this absurd and potentially harmful patent awarded to Microsoft last year. Despite its name - "System and methods for training a trainee to classify fundamental properties of media entities" - it really is a patent on a music appreciation course. MS wants to prevent anyone from doing certain nontraditional teaching of music appreciation using nontraditional methods all collected under this esoteric and quite flawed series of approaches to the subject.
This deserves a lot of ridicule so I'll start now and come back to it later. This patent would be very humorous if it wasn't a real patent granted to a Goliath-sized bully by some very incompetent examiners at the USPTO. Patents are to be enforced - anyone found to be doing something similar must be stopped.
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The inventors of these patented systems and methods, no doubt, want to be cool and have put forth examples from several styles of music. Bringing disparate musical styles and examples together is very old. What these inventors have done is making something esoteric and useless to any one but a few other music appreciation teachers who might want to seem cool and try to connect with their students by trying themselves to be cool and diverse.
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But learning the arbitrary "methods" put forward in this invention would be time and effort not well spent. The methods represent new bottles that don't necessarily contain good wine.
The patent incorrectly identifies Jaco Pastorius as Jaco PaTorius.
The patent incorrectly states that "Sweet Home Alabama" is in 3/4 meter. In other words, "Sweet Home Alabama" is a waltz or minuet. Sometimes failing at cool shows what you really are, MS.
The inventors also claim that They Might Be Giants' "32 Footsteps," Primus "Coattails Of A Dead Man" and Frank Zappa's "G Spot Tornado," are "QUIRKY songs." !?!?!? Zappa's "G Spot Tornado" is an instrumental composition performed by a Synclavier - the other two songs are vocals. How is this Zappa instrumental work - or any instrumental work - quirky? God spare us from the combined force of government, Microsoft and failed music pompous ass appreciation teachers.
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"THIS IS WHAT CONSERVATIVES REALLY WANT - GOVERNMENT BY FOX NEWS." - George Will speaking about the new White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow from Fox News, on ABC's "This Week," Sunday, April 30, 2006
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One of my heroes, John Kenneth Galbraith, died yesterday. I was always inspired by his intellect, wit and kindness. I once heard him say that he was put on Earth to afflict the comfortable. Those words immediately struck a chord with me.
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STEVE BRIDGES http://www.barberusa.com/attract/bridges_steve.html and George Bush were great last night at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. I would buy their performance if it was available as a DVD. Maybe it can be YouTube'd or BitTorrent-ed by now? They both delivered excellent comedic lines with perfect timing in their exchanges and delivery. It's a damn shame that George Bush is president and not a comedian or worker outside of politics. I think he'd be great at a horse and livestock supply store. And wouldn't you just know it..... Fox has such a store:
http://www.foxfeed.com/horse_livestock.html#anchor_horse_livestock
If his last name wasn't Bush, he would not have gotten so far to cause such problems and pain for so many. As a president he has been a failure. But I love his work in comedy. It's Sunday and it's a good day to emphasize his good qualities. And they are.....
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