buridan's blog

Therefore, although invited to do so by several amici, we decline to adopt a broad exclusion over software or any other such category of subject matter beyond the exclusion of claims drawn to fundamental principles set forth by the Supreme Court. See, e.g., Br. of Amicus Curiae End Software Patents; Br. of Amicus Curiae Red Hat, Inc. at 4-7. We also note that the process claim at issue in this appeal is not, in any event, a software claim. Thus, the facts here would be largely unhelpful in illuminating the distinction between those software claims that are patent-eligible and those that are not not.

[From Groklaw - The Bilski Decision Is In: Buh-Bye [Most] Business Methods Patents - As text & updated 3Xs]

----------------------------

the courts finally said.... 'no, you have to apply the supreme court guidelines and law' and when that happens, common sense prevails and any patent that can soley be performed in the mind of a person was voided.

“We helped create a highly educated part of the working poor, and it’s starting to get attention from outsiders,” he said, noting that unions are trying to organize part-timers, and lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are examining the issue. [From Official Offers Harsh Critique of Policies Toward Adjuncts]

---------

i hope that this makes it clearer to people who want to be a professor that it isn't really the best thing to be, nor quite so profitable as one would think.

Designing for learning in Virtual Worlds

Designing for learning in Virtual Worlds | Virtual Worlds Research Project

Seminar at Roskilde University

Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies
Monday, October 13, 2008, 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Room 43-2.29 ---------
This is my first event in Denmark this year, but not my last:)

I edit the transdisciplinary studies book series with Jason Nolan

. I wrote the Series Introduction to this volume.

Towards Humane Technologies: Biotechnology, New Media and Ethics (Paperback)

Jamie's Ministry of Food, the celebrity chef's new TV series, is a powerful portrait of the socially excluded. It also reveals an enduring truth, says Felicity Lawrence: our diet today is as much about class as it always has been - and it will take more than a one-man mission to change that

[From Felicity Lawrence on Jamie Oliver's TV series Jamie's Ministry of Food | Life and style | The Guardian ]

-------

Given that we face the same sort of issues in the United States, with students coming into classes with various nutrition related illnesses, I think it might be worth considering some of the points made in this article about the issues about food in the U.K.

It is a bit off-topic, and it is nominally about a tv series, but I think it points toward some distressing issues that translate into computing behaviours also.

For a long time I was working on a dissertation looking at Open Source technologies. Today, I did not turn that dissertation in. That project has been shelved. Today I turned in the first draft of a dissertation on the Critical Political Economy of New Knowledge Technologies. I have a ton of research on Open Source things, but in the end, I looked at all that has been done in the last few years and decided descriptive sts work on open source technologies didn't really interest me so much as much as cyberinfrastructures, e-social science, and virtual worlds. Which, I've been writing a good bit about in the last few years. So That's what the dissertation is about and its in draft.

How a professor spends time

[From 水鳥君: How a professor spends time]

----

How Umberto Eco spends the working hours of an average year....

September 19th (every year)

is International Talk Like A Pirate Day

[From The Official site for International Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19]

Thwarting the Copycats

[From Thwarting the Copycats ]

-----
While the background story is pretty normal, the review is handy.

When it comes to today’s kids and their use of technology, a new report sponsored by the British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee reveals some very interesting results. The biggest shock to many will be one that is actually quite obvious to those who work in education.

[From Student Shortcomings - Anything but Masters of Technology - OpenEducation.net ]

-----

open education has a nice revealing report about student's skills with technology.