Despite what appears to be a big-budget lobbying effort by the pro-patent fraternity, Hon Simon Power announced today that he wouldn't be modifying the proposed Patents Bill hence software will be unpatentable once the Bill passes into law.

As we've previously pointed out software patents aren't black and white, and there are certainly pros and cons.

I agree, but I don't beleive you. I'd believe that if you didn't turn around and say things like this in the same article:

The very nature of software should preclude it from patentability in our view.

Sounds like you think its pretty black and white, to me.

Eliminating all patents of software because the issue is "complicated" is similar to eliminating all copyrights because of fair use issues. There is a lack of serious intellectual exploration of the patent issue.

NZ ends software patents?

Men who spent more than 23 hours a week watching TV and sitting in their cars (as passengers or as drivers) had a 64 percent greater chance of dying from heart disease than those who sat for 11 hours a week or less. What was unexpected was that many of the men who sat long hours and developed heart problems also exercised.

What a counter-intuitive result...you can't sit for hours at a time even if you exercise regularly.

Its hopeless...

Phys Ed: The Men Who Stare at Screens - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Ron Griess of the Chart Store shows this chart of the 3 secular bear markets of the 20th Century, plus the current Bear market, which began at the beginning of the present century.

The end of the bear market and most likely the bottom of the market will occur sometime between 5 to 10 years from now.

4 Secular Bear Markets | The Big Picture

Judge Nancy Gertner knows that Joel Tenenbaum did it. Tenenbaum, the second US target of the RIAA's five-year litigation campaign to complete a trial, eventually admitted his music-sharing liability on the stand—and Judge Gertner issued a directed verdict against him. But when the jury returned a $675,000 damage award, they went too far. Way too far.

In fact, according to Gertner, they trampled the Constitution's "Due Process" clause. In a ruling today, the judge slashed the $675,000 award by a factor of 10, to $67,500.

Judge slams, slashes "unconstitutional" $675,000 P2P award

The U.S. military’s new Cyber Command is headquartered at Ft. Meade, Maryland, one of the military’s most secretive and secure facilities. Its mission is largely opaque, even inside the armed forces. But the there’s another mystery surrounding the emerging unit. It’s embedded in the Cyber Command logo.

On the logo’s inner gold ring is a code: 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a

Crack the Code in Cyber Command’s Logo | Danger Room | Wired.com

When presented with unwelcome scientific evidence, it seems, in a desperate attempt to retain some consistency in their world view, people would rather conclude that science in general is broken. This is an interesting finding. But I'm not sure it makes me very happy.

When the scientific evidence is unwelcome, people try to reason it away | Comment is free | The Guardian

This comic fucking nails it. I'm referencing this in every online debate for the foreseeable.

24 Types of Libertarians | The Big Picture

A boat captain working to rescue sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico says he has seen BP ships burning sea turtles and other wildlife alive.

This is going to become a textbook item in corporate PR classes.

Is BP burning sea turtles alive?

We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.

Op-Ed Columnist - The Third Depression - NYTimes.com

The same people who brought you these horrible changes — rising wealth discrepancy, massive unemployment and a crumbling infrastructure – have now further institutionalized the policies that will keep the causes of these problems firmly in place.

Its quite another thing entirely to have this sort of stuff said to you by a professional wall street economist.

Wall Street Reform: Politicians Lie, Media Applauds, America Suffers | The Big Picture