(Yes, I am back. I tired of not writing my thoughts and not having anyone read them.)
For those who don't know me, I actually have a vested interest in the patent system. I almost became a patent examiner at one point, I was going to be a patent lawyer earlier in life, and currently I am very active in pursuing patents for me original ideas. If you follow patents you will know that there is a lot of talk recently about the laws in congress currently. I am not going to discuss them today but I would like to lead you to an interesting article I found: (http://thisismynext.com/2011/08/11/broken-patent-system/).
Rarely is there a conversation on patents that start at basically first principles and tried to bring the debate into that context. This does that work and I appreciate it. I think it is often missed how important patents are to the public good. (The use of copyrights and their length is another conversation entirely.) I think this posting rights the conversation around patents appropriately for the current times. Whether or not you agree with software, medical, business, etc. patents you should spend the time reviewing this it is worth your time.
For me I still sit in my position I have had for a long time. This is the system we have and so I have to work inside of it. Failure to seek protection for my ideas and inventions would be self-destructive. However I do notice that there are issues with the current system, mostly due to ambiguity and human nature in charting the course of this section of the U.S. Code through time. I try to remember that for every bad patent there is a good one out there, someone who was able to monetize their work and get rewarded for their effort. For every neat new widget there are a million copies 20 years later. I don't like waiting 20 years but I would rather have that then nothing. I also realize that not everyone is going to agree and I would like the system to be simplified, I would vote at the ballot for this, but I need someone who is intelligent working towards this end and I currently have little to no hope that the current government (all of them) can do anything about it.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Book I have been reading for 4 years
It isn't often that I don't finish a book for years, well I just finished one last night that took that long. This book was "Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosphy." It took me a long time to get through it which is indicative of my review of the book. Unfortunately I have read a lot of the 'pop culture and philosphy' series of books and after a while it is just the same thing over and over. This book was actually a little different in that some of the essays were unique but I don't think that saved the book. I feel the series on a whole has gone downhill and this book was a clear example. It just wasn't engaging. I remember having an intense reaction to the movie (I am an evangelical Christian for reference, or at least I think that is the sect that most defines most of my beliefs though there are major differences between me and the dogma). Anyway. I can't recommend this book. If you want to read about philosphy and christianity there are better books and if you want to read one of this specific series there are way better ones as well.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Quick Post: Classic Daily Show
So for some reason this segment of the Daily show has been in my head recently. So I am posting it. :-)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| South Park Death Threats | ||||
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Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Video round-up
Thought I would highlight a couple of videos I watched tonight because they were interesting. So here we go:
1) Question: Do you think reason.com could defend government intervention in the fishing industry and spin it towards a free market solution?
It was interesting to here this argument which I had never really heard made. I think there is a moral hazard in the other way though for instance, overstating fishing reserves or promoting the growth of one species over another so they can get more of the quota. I just never thought I would hear that argument before.
2) Question: Can John Stewart attack someone from the American Enterprise Institute?
Answer is yes again. I don't know what I think about this answer. I think John Stewart instead of actually attacking the book attacked the methods the soft sciences use to understand the world. I feel like this attack was slightly unjustified. Also he didn't really let the guest talk enough. The guest was trying to say that there was a dissonance between the views the voters had and their actions and John Stewart wanted to take his argument to an extreme. This was extremely unhelpful to the discourse in my opinion. He would have better served his audience to not have gone that way. However he did have good points that this isn't some vast conspiracy and that sometimes the markets are messed up and need a little help from the government. The problem is the government is usually the source of those problems but I digress.
3) The last set of videos are the most recent videos on 'Uncommon Knowledge'. I won't post the link since you can get to it from the sidebar and I can't really recommend the videos. The discussing was all about foreign policy, Israel, and Iran and I feel the discussion wasn't intelligent nor thought provoking and in general boring and unhelpful.
1) Question: Do you think reason.com could defend government intervention in the fishing industry and spin it towards a free market solution?
It was interesting to here this argument which I had never really heard made. I think there is a moral hazard in the other way though for instance, overstating fishing reserves or promoting the growth of one species over another so they can get more of the quota. I just never thought I would hear that argument before.
2) Question: Can John Stewart attack someone from the American Enterprise Institute?
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive - Arthur Brooks Unedited Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
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| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive - Arthur Brooks Unedited Interview Pt. 2 | ||||
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Answer is yes again. I don't know what I think about this answer. I think John Stewart instead of actually attacking the book attacked the methods the soft sciences use to understand the world. I feel like this attack was slightly unjustified. Also he didn't really let the guest talk enough. The guest was trying to say that there was a dissonance between the views the voters had and their actions and John Stewart wanted to take his argument to an extreme. This was extremely unhelpful to the discourse in my opinion. He would have better served his audience to not have gone that way. However he did have good points that this isn't some vast conspiracy and that sometimes the markets are messed up and need a little help from the government. The problem is the government is usually the source of those problems but I digress.
3) The last set of videos are the most recent videos on 'Uncommon Knowledge'. I won't post the link since you can get to it from the sidebar and I can't really recommend the videos. The discussing was all about foreign policy, Israel, and Iran and I feel the discussion wasn't intelligent nor thought provoking and in general boring and unhelpful.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Quick Post: Changes in the Republican Party
I found this article on Newsweek. It has some interesting thoughts. Basically the idea is the the heart of the republican party is moving ideologically. This distinction is seen in the southern republican ideology moving into a western republican ideology. I will say I completely disagree that Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are western republicans. They belong to the trendy moron republican crowd.
What is most exciting though is that western republicanism is very libertarian in roots and ideology. I guess my hope that the republican party would split between the trendy moron crowd and the libertarians is instead a movement to a more libertarian viewpoint. I don't know how truthful this article is but it is thought provoking.
What is most exciting though is that western republicanism is very libertarian in roots and ideology. I guess my hope that the republican party would split between the trendy moron crowd and the libertarians is instead a movement to a more libertarian viewpoint. I don't know how truthful this article is but it is thought provoking.
Pay me to wait
I usually don't talk much about investing in a particular way. However I am posting about a blog posting which I found interesting. For refernce I haven't verified the analysis. It seems like there is more than meets the eye from the chart but the chart is pretty compelling if it is even partially true.
I have been investing a lot of dividend paying stocks recently. Even though I keep losing money in a lot of bets the dividends just keep on coming. I will likely continue to invest mostly in this way. Partially because it is simplier from a longer term perspective. As long as the company can afford its dividend you are being paid to wait, which is helpful. I have said that there is a tough problem with companies that don't give dividends yet have huge margins, they tend to invest poorly. Anyway. I liked the graph so I posted this.
I have been investing a lot of dividend paying stocks recently. Even though I keep losing money in a lot of bets the dividends just keep on coming. I will likely continue to invest mostly in this way. Partially because it is simplier from a longer term perspective. As long as the company can afford its dividend you are being paid to wait, which is helpful. I have said that there is a tough problem with companies that don't give dividends yet have huge margins, they tend to invest poorly. Anyway. I liked the graph so I posted this.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Deduction that is sinking America
As most reader know I am not friend of the mortgage interest deduction in America. If changes the costs of housing and skews them against apartments. It also causes people to unreasonably assume you will get a huge deduction for the interest and get themselves into trouble. Well I was glad to come across a posting discussing the mortgage deduction. This was set off by an op-ed in the Boston Globe.
This is a very important discussion that needs to be had in America. The mortgage deduction really needs to be rethought. While I would like to completely remove all market skewing taxes I do not really think we will be able to do that. So I think removing it above a certain areas with a phase out. This seems to be a really good option, as long as we don't index to inflation, this will eventually work itself out which would be great.
This is a very important discussion that needs to be had in America. The mortgage deduction really needs to be rethought. While I would like to completely remove all market skewing taxes I do not really think we will be able to do that. So I think removing it above a certain areas with a phase out. This seems to be a really good option, as long as we don't index to inflation, this will eventually work itself out which would be great.
Moving up the Ladder
There was an interesting article on NPR (yes I sometimes read that too) about mobility in India. What was interesting to me is that this article says the best way for a person to move up, especially someone who isn't in primary education, is to move from poor to a manufacturing job. The point of the article is that there is no manufacturing jobs in India.
So this made me think of two things. First, which countries are the ones that have both services and manufacturing sectors that are robust or growing robustly. While investing in India can make money it seems like the political stability and future growth prospects are shadowed by this problem. China doesn't have enough manufacturing jobs and is starting to move to a more service oriented (and high-tech) economy. This doesn't help the poor, and this could be really bad. I think this is a good place to look to when considering investments, countries where both areas are growing.
Second, I have often wondered if the world is hamstrung because they see America (a developed economy) and so the citizens want to jump quickly to more advanced economies from simplier less developed economies. In the 1900's the American economy couldn't just jump to 2000. This was an advantage, as trailblazing does, to slowly grow into larger shoes. I fear that this aspiration of emerging economies is driving unnatural growth in a way that significantly divides the populace. In all countries there is a small number of people who can benefit from such a fast change and most emerging economies have an even worse story to tell with regards to that. I worry what this could do to those countries.
So this made me think of two things. First, which countries are the ones that have both services and manufacturing sectors that are robust or growing robustly. While investing in India can make money it seems like the political stability and future growth prospects are shadowed by this problem. China doesn't have enough manufacturing jobs and is starting to move to a more service oriented (and high-tech) economy. This doesn't help the poor, and this could be really bad. I think this is a good place to look to when considering investments, countries where both areas are growing.
Second, I have often wondered if the world is hamstrung because they see America (a developed economy) and so the citizens want to jump quickly to more advanced economies from simplier less developed economies. In the 1900's the American economy couldn't just jump to 2000. This was an advantage, as trailblazing does, to slowly grow into larger shoes. I fear that this aspiration of emerging economies is driving unnatural growth in a way that significantly divides the populace. In all countries there is a small number of people who can benefit from such a fast change and most emerging economies have an even worse story to tell with regards to that. I worry what this could do to those countries.
Awesome Idea
So this is awesome, Planet Money has bought a piece of an MBS for $1000 (originally it sold for $75000) and they are tracking the progress of the MBS. This is so neat. For $1000 they have quite a story for their blog. The tracking widget is here.
Man I wish I had thought of it, it would have been a great hook for a blog and since I am not great at picking stocks I may have made more money than I am currently making in the market.
Also they have a map of where the mortgages are located. So neat. Such a great idea, wish I had thought of it.
Additionally what is interesting is that the New Jersey Carpenter's Vacation Fund is suing the company that made the MBS (Royal Bank of Scotland). It keeps getting more interesting.
Man I wish I had thought of it, it would have been a great hook for a blog and since I am not great at picking stocks I may have made more money than I am currently making in the market.
Also they have a map of where the mortgages are located. So neat. Such a great idea, wish I had thought of it.
Additionally what is interesting is that the New Jersey Carpenter's Vacation Fund is suing the company that made the MBS (Royal Bank of Scotland). It keeps getting more interesting.
Maps that changed the world
Thought this may be interesting to those who read my blog. It is a listing of maps that changed the world from the head of maps collections at the British Library. Note that Google maps is on there.
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