asmithmd1

Did you watch the video? He also says, “we don’t know what’s on the back side of the moon”

I guess we have decided to elect political representatives are just egotistical camera whores, but why should the top decision maker at a technical agency be a complete idiot who is ignorant about many things the agency he runs has done? It would be like the head of the air force saying airplanes fly because of flubber

Uh, no. The ONLY time we see a new moon is during an eclipse. Other times the moon is above or below the sun and is too dim to see. A lunar eclipse is when the moon passes into the earth’s shadow and they happens during full moons

Boeing would lock non-conforming parts in a cage so there is no chance they will be accidentally used. Unfortunately, managers would overrule an inspector and get the parts released for use

Because Boeing did not actively try to hide the design flaw they knew about as they did with the 737 Max

Tell me you have never worked in a publicly traded without saying it.

This is EXACTLY what late stage "political" companies are like. There is no rational way to decide who gets the window office vs. the internal office. Everything is "political"

And Bose. MIT, the nonprofit owns 100% of the for profit company

Very nice intro. I like how you introduce networking layers. It seems you are starting to go down the path of explaining how computers and servers work - and that is certainly daunting. Maybe just stick with networking and introduce more of that and how real world systems (T1 and Ethernet) are just changing voltages at some point - and can be swapped in or out because of network layers. Then build up packet switched messages TCP, Telnet, HTTP

I try to get back to a real world analogy, think of a bank:

Can you try opening the public door off hours and discover it is locked? Yes, of course.

If the the public door is unlocked, can you now go inside the bank and start trying different combinations to open the safe? No, you will be arrested.

Anytime you move from probing a website with a browser to using other tools, your actions are subject to interpretation

Thanks for the thorough research, not just on-line, but including calling people.

I occasionally go down rabbit holes like this and I have not gotten the helpful responses from officials I have contacted in the New England area. I don't know if I was telegraphing some agenda the officials did not want to further, or if it was because you were dealing with "Minnesota nice" people. I first heard of Minnesota nice when a curmudgeonly co-worker was grumbling about calling Anderson Window, "I hate calling them, they are so effing nice!"

Thanks for sticking with me and engaging.

I agree that design patents should not have a compulsory license. Interesting that Birkins patent expires in 3 years. I will set a calendar reminder to look into knocking them off in a couple years :)

I appreciate your thoughtful disagreement with my assertion that it is possible to set a compulsory license fee that would be "value neutral" between patents as issued today, and patents with a compulsory license. I think there is something that could be done to reform patents along these lines, but it is a harder argument to make and that argument DOES start going into the "value to society" area and is therefore purely political.

Now I understand what you are saying. The only way I see individuals deriving value from scarcity is with brands - not functional patents. Even with technical luxury goods like watches and cars, which may also include patents, the real customer scarcity value comes from showing others they are rich enough to buy and flaunt those goods. Can you think of an example where something purely functional is only valuable because it is scarce? Maybe private jets? If jets dropped in price 50x, private airports would become crowded and destroy much of their benefit. But then the gating luxury good would switch to being a member of a private airport network or something.

I am talking about a change to patents, not copyright and trademarks which are exclusive essentially forever. You can still strut around with a $20k Birkin bag (If they deem you a worthy buyer of course) that delivers the same functionality as a $100 purse. No one will be allowed to make fake Birkins and destroy their exclusivity. But if Hermes patents some new zipper, you would be able to duplicate their zipper and pay them a license fee. You would NOT be allowed to mention their brand. Patents are about function, not color, size, style or ornamentation.