as for the internet service, i used to drive through your part of the state quite a bit, and always though it looked like a nice place to live. but i can’t say i envy you your internet.

i agree that the one who does the creating ought to get the intellectual property rights, but i’ve also done a fair amount of arguing [imagine that] in defense of plagiarism. more on that at some other time, though.

The official list of WordPress smilies is here, but I’m so used to people assuming #7 that I don’t bother.

Regarding drug research – the companies pay a minimal royalty to the National Institutes of Health or other Federal agency to use their research. I haven’t been able to verify that they also tend to add their own patent which essentially covers the design of the pills and packaging, which is really a copyright thing.

I want a return to the original concept that you have to create something to get the intellectual property rights.

Oh, you should put up some of your art work, but you have to watch the resolution. It has to be high enough to really show the work, but low enough that the graphics compilers don’t rip it off. It isn’t easy, as a relative has been making adjustments on her photos for years and still isn’t happy. A virtual gallery is one marketing tool.

Over here in the Embarq zone, no one provides free anything. We are lucky when national ISPs have a number that only costs us 25¢ per call.

the cat ws drooling because i’d just given him his last pill [those things taste nasty] while he was supervising my blogging. he hadn’t yet braved the phalanx of kittens to get to the food bowl at the other end of the room.

the only tripe allowed on this table is that which i’m typing into the computer.

bryan,

wrong again.

i still had a handful of offers for free dialup service to work my way through, even after 2 years of [free] dialup service. i only recently relented and started paying for a faster internet connection because i was starting to feel guilty about using my employer’s time and equipment to research stuff to whine about later on my own [free dialup] time.

did i mention that my computers are all [free] hand-me-downs? as was the [free] digital camera that i’ve been taking all those kitten pictures with.

i’ll concede this much: if i told you that i was powering all this equipment with a [free] hand-me-down solar collector and that i had secretly tapped into the neighbor’s phone line, those would be lies. i have been paying for phone and electric service all this time.

seriously though…

i’d have to agree with you on all those points.

among other things, i’ve read that drug companies also develop drugs based on research that’s originally been paid for by public funding, and then gain patent rights to the drugs. i haven’t gotten around to researching this one yet, so i don’t know how true it is.

and grrrrrrrrr they don’t need to be patenting “novel life forms” and DNA sequences.

even more seriously, i really would like to know how to make that smiley you speak of, but i never did figure out which key is “twisted.” is there a dictionary somewhere of all these smileys? i tried all the ones i ususally use in instant messaging, but most of them don’t seem to work here.

[of course i wouldn’t expect you to pass up another tug. i wouldn’t, why should you?]

The cat is obviously a serious foodie. You’ve gotten him/her all excited with your fine dining fantasies.

What a hilarious thread… you two should, um, I was going to say “charge admission,” but considering the topic…

Drug companies should not be able to renew or extend patents when all they have done is make minimum alterations to their basic formulations, rather than creating something new.

People who create nothing, like RIAA, should not be allowed to own copyrights or patents. Transferring rights should negate them. The purpose of rights is reward creativity, not enrich corporations.

Oh, unless you have figured out some way of getting on the ‘Net without paying an ISP, you are paying for everything you do on line, you are just not paying the people who create it. [What, you thought I would pass up another tug?]

besides dumping the privateering health insurance insurance industry, we also need to rein in big pharma, including making some serious changes in the way drugs are patented.

[not to mention that i’d like to become fabulously wealthy by selling my paintings]