This week, our winning comment on the insightful side comes in response to our recognition of this month’s stupidest patent: Ford’s patent on a windshield. After one commenter said it looked strikingly similar to one from a car he used to own, Whoever won first place by taking that up a notch:
Looks suspiciously similar to the shape of the windshield of every car built in the last 30 years
FTFY.
Furthermore, arguably, the shape is functional, not ornamental: it is shaped to fit in the hole at the front of the passenger compartment.
In second place on the insightful side, we’ve got a comment from That Anonymous Coward in response to the Supreme Court shutting down Lexmark’s third and final IP avenue for blocking third-party ink cartridges:
It would be impressive if the printer makers just got together and made standard ink carts.
Stop selling printers at a loss, give up the dreams of money raining in on ink, and actually push the tech forward.They can gain public support by pointing out that a unified cartridge market is better for the planet. They can be recycled easier, no trying to remember special code numbers in a sea of code numbers. I need a black cart, I need a magenta cart, etc.
The reason carts get refilled, remanufactured, & knocked off is there is a HUGE gap in what it actually costs to produce them vs retail prices.
Offer us better printers at a reasonable price (seriously, I know MULTIPLE people who just bought a new printer everytime the ink ran out because it was cheaper) & a unified ink platform. You’ll kill off a majority of the 3rd parties in the market, because its a good price everywhere and not $50 for something that might print 20 pages before crapping out.
For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out by heading back to last week’s comment post, where one commenter suggested that the rise of “blue lives matter” laws are caused by “society breaking down”, leading Roger Strong to set the record straight on that:
Violent crime and robbery rates in the US have been dropping for decades. The same goes for police fatalities.
Even the great 1950s were a myth for most people. Society was just better at sweeping the problems under the rug.
Nice try though.
“Let others praise ancient times; I for one am glad I was born in these.” – Ovid (43BC – AD18)
Next, we’ve got a comment from DannyB with a small correction to our headline about cord-cutting rates being worse than you think:
I have to disagree
The rate of cord cutting is not worse than you think.
It is better than you think.
Over on the funny side, our first place comment is some straightforward reductio ad absurdum from Jordan Chandler in response to a former FCC commissioner using the Manchester bombing as a prop to claim net neutrality aids terrorism:
Why does the government let unfettered access to food, water, and oxygen by terrorists? Who are these people providing them with electricity? Also those women that give birth to them, who’s allowing that to happen? Also, Arabic, why is that a thing? Why do we allow terrorists to learn any language besides American? All these terrorists are alive too, why do we allow them to grow up?
In second place, we’ve got sorrykb with a quip on our post about our response to Titan Note’s DMCA threat, featuring a letter by Ken White:
uh oh you printed the whole letter. Now Ken’s going to sue you for copyright infringement.
For editor’s choice on the funny side, we’ve got a pair of comic proposals in response to major issues. First, it’s one more nod to DannyB for his solution to the TSA laptop ban:
At present, TSA can take away your drink, and then you are allowed to purchase a new drink once inside the secure area.
How about allow TSA to take away your laptop, and then you are allowed to purchase a new laptop once inside the secure area.
Problem solved. Everyone happy.
Next up: this should also apply to expensive jewelry. It could be a bomb.
And finally, we’ve got Rekrul with an idea for fighting Congress’s latest surveillance bill:
How to kill this bill in one easy step:
A democrat stands up and says “Thank you gentlemen. This will make the FBI’s investigation of Trump’s Russia connections much easier.”
That’s all for this week, folks!
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Author: Leigh Beadon