Not an IP lawyer, (those people are EXPENSIVE), It’s perhaps less about the idea than it is about the process to get there. And yes the patent office does make mistakes at times. It’s just expensive and hard to correct those mistakes because it generally takes a judge to do so. And I’m willing to bet this patent is valid in the EU also due reciprocity agreements and trade deals. It would take an EU judge to invalidate the patent, which would cost as much as doing so in the US.

One thing that I have learned over the years is that no patent is actually really valid until a judge bangs a gavel and says yea or nay to the patent, (I’ve held a couple). Until then, it pretty much just a piece of ass-wipe paper you can wavy around and hopefully scare off others that don’t have the money or want to spend the money to challenge the patent.

Yeah something as simple as washing your hands can be painful at times when you are above average height. The vanities are too short and the faucets set too low. While my wife doesn’t want them in the bathroom, I did put a tall goose neck faucet on the kitchen sink. I don’t need to bend over to use it, so I tend to wash my hands in the kitchen. I would recommend installing one if you can.

A lot of tall people have chronic leg and back pain because nothing is designed and built for them in the everyday world. Everything is just a tiny bit to short or small. From stair steps to chairs and tables to desks, to cars, to toilets. Everything is always just a bit off. It doesn’t seem like much, but the accumulative stress and strain on your joints will cause pain. You don’t really notice in your 20’s, but by the time you hit your 30’s you will start to feel it. And as you get older, it won’t get better. Exercising won’t stop the accumulated wear and tear.

And the “Just remodel your kitchen” is a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that? Are you going to drop $50,000 on me to do that? That “Big and Tall” shit costs extra-- a LOT extra because it’s custom. And will you be explaining to my wife why SHE can’t reach anything in the kitchen anymore? And will you make up the cost difference if I sell this house? That remodeled kitchen that fits me will make selling it a lot more difficult because very, very few average sized people would find the extra 2" to 4" higher counter tops and cabinets to be at a comfortable height. Or do I need to remodel it yet again to fit the average person?

And being in a crowd isn’t much fun. The tops of everyone else’s head look pretty much the same. Kind of hard to tell the difference of who’s who. And since few can see over my shoulders, I end up at the back of the crowd to be out of the way which often separates me from my friends. Going to movies or a theater sucks because the seats are too close together and my knees are jammed up against the seat in front of me. It’s painful for me and annoying to the person in front of me. And the person behind me can’t see through my head.

And as far as “tossing and orange ball into a hoop to make millions of dollars.” Not everyone wants to play that game nor do we fall into the .1% of 1% of people on the planet that are actually good enough to get paid millions to play basketball.

Oh, and before I go. Would you mind picking up that pencil off the floor for me? You’re short and much closer to the floor than I am.

Oh I’ve seen pictures of them. Just haven’t seen one in the real world nor seen one tossed on the ground. I do suspect they just aren’t popular around me. Smokers around here probably prefer real cigarettes.

That seems like a “you” problem at the polls in your state. Not an issue here.

I live closer to Winnipeg than I do to my state capital. We are often referred to as “Canada Lite” by other states.

I had that misfortune when I was teaching math at my local school for 4 years.

I probably spend more time you side than you do. I just mostly do it in a forest.

I wouldn’t claim to be all that enamored of humans as a rule. But I’m not a hermit in the classic sense.

Yeah, I live in legal weed state. The nearest dispensary is a mere 20 miles away. I’m not even sure they sell vapes. Flower and edibles for sure, but I have no idea if they sell vapes. (I’ve never been there-- weed just ain’t my thing). But I still don’t see any used ones tossed out. Maybe we are just neater people here and don’t litter.

Ain’t no night clubs within 100 miles of me. Plenty of bars, but no night clubs.

Perhaps where you live. I recently helped a young man get an e-bike, (somewhat mentally handicapped-- we raised funds to purchase the bike to get him to have better mobility), We got him an Aventon Cargo bike. The local bike shop plainly stated they would work on any e-bike you brought in. And that that all of the area bike shops were the same.

One does not turn away a paying customer.

Perhaps it’s odd, but I have never seen anyone use a vape in public. Nor have I seen one just lying on the ground. I maybe need to get out the forest here and visit civilization for a bit again.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The bikes are very simple and the battery pack can be rebuilt. Any decent bike shop should be able to repair an orphaned e-bike.

At some point the toys would fail, they were 8 and 9 year olds after all, but it could take a month or more in the hands of children. I was pretty shocked. I did have a paper wad cannon that had a spring that was printed all in one inside the barrel. The first few had issues with the compression spring breaking when over compressed by the kids. But a bit of a redesign of the spring by making it beefier, it not only lasted nearly the whole school year but the kids got more range. Much to the other teachers and parents disappointment.

I’ve Printed LOTS of PLA living hinges and even springs. They do work just fine for the limited to moderate cycles they last. I’ve printed 100’s of toy catapults and other small toys in PLA and then handed them out to 8 and 9 year old children. They held up amazingly well under that abuse.

You do realize that human touch can differentiate between .01mm? It’s why braille works so easily.

That’s nice for people who don’t need to be out of bed until 6ish in the morning. See how much you might enjoy it when you need to be up a 4:30am every day. The last damn thing I need is the sun being up until 10pm and a bunch of clowns whoopin’ and hollerin’ until 11pm because DST.

Whelp, I ain’t helping the cause. I might be running Fedora on both my computers, but I can’t be bothered to game.

FreeDoom isn’t a game, it’s a lifestyle

Your original inference was that no AI was useful at all and all should be banned.