You talk as if second order mixed PDEs are difficult. Last I checked, they are treated in junior level courses. 1st year of grad school you learn to throw down the matrix form and it turns in linear algebra, Hamiltonians at worse.

When I did it, we cranked exponentiated matrices by hand. The symbolic tools weren't available. Now you just buy Mathematica. If you're ambitious you join the mathematical python/ruby/perl community.

This ain't rocket science (that's so 70s). It's a little harder. We have the tools for it though.

I always laugh at people who say they are waiting until they're ready to have children. I tell them no one is ever ready.

I agree with Catherine Price though. The most important thing is taking care of 'em. I wish child care weren't a women's issue, it really is everybody's issue.

It's like looking out the window and there's someone weeding your garden.

You could offer a drink or let the dogs out.

I guess we know what kinds of neighbors Hasbro and Mattel are.

True confession - I am an IP lawyer. disclaimer - this is not legal advice.

A few pokes on wikipedia and it appears that the inventor of scrabble died in 1993, hence copyright over the game won't expire in the US until 2063 - unless it already has for various reasons.

a few more pokes show that the trademark is still live.

patent protection is long gone.

So, yes, hasbro does have protectable IP.

On the other hand, I always ask clients if it's time to let the dogs out or if there is a way to make a profit from cooperation. Most of these things are settled or abandoned anyway. Might as well start down that path before paying tens of thousands to get a proper lawsuit off the ground.

ummmm, isn't buying scrabulous outright one way of doing a deal?

You described Hasbro's bargaining strength. The only reason not to do a deal is if it takes less resources to quash and re-invent than it takes to assimilate via purchase, license, etc.

The oddness happens when one side gets their dander up. Hasbro could just want to be a bully and ignore the profit potential. Scrabulous might want to play victim and ignore the profit potential. It happens all the time. That's when us lawyers make the big money. Otherwise, we just help our clients understand positions of each side and the value/leverage of those positions.

"Best practices" as defined by people who want transparency into sovereign wealth funds. Is it actually best for the sovereign nation or does it otherwise promote the interests of its people (or monarch if it's that kind of government)?

Mutual funds don't have to have that kind of transparency. Neither do large multinational corps with big investment divisions. Or would transparency be good for them too?

On the other hand. As an investor, I'd like to know exactly what they're doing and when.

Lovely, another peta stunt. Hey Andrew, how's about a video of what the other bovines are doing on that particular day. I bet it looks fun too.

peta really is all about peta. Sometimes I think that they are funded by agri business because they create so much ill will. It's all so hollywood where people either join peta or scientology. Of the two, I prefer the scientologists because they at least try to improve the human condition.

This one reminds me of when some peta types got the horse drawn carriages banned from downtown. The horses didn't seem happy enough. Somehow, those folks thought that the horses would be put to pasture where they would frolic away their remaining years. Didn't happen.

The court recognized that there is a difference between harassment and sexual harassment. That's a good thing. Most would agree that it is also a good thing that the law recognizes a difference between assault and sexual assault.

Maybe the court's message was that plaintiff needed to prove ALL the elements or change the charge to one wherein she could prove all the elements.

If you want to be a comic, test your material in person on real people. You get a lot of feedback that way. Beginning comics usually bomb but improve their act over time by watching their audience and dumping material that doesn't work.

Loose the laugh track. It takes a bombing act into the pathetic realm.

Maybe the punditry will finally notice the giant rift between conservatives and the GOP. For years I've been telling my republican senator and congressman that a) I'm a registered republican, b) I back it up with campaign donations, and c) I really don't appreciate (fill in the GOP betrayal du jour). Lately, I've donated to Democrats and written 2 letters for each donation. One letter tells the Democrat why a conservative is donating money across the aisle. The second tells my senator/representative that I gave money elsewhere and why.

Interestingly, I've received very good responses from some Democrats. The republican ones just repeat white house talking points, half of which are lies.

So, oddly, the Democrats are finding themselves the party most representative of liberals AND conservatives.

guess you had to be there

at the titty bar.

Wow. Amazing that a sci-fi action flick metaphorically communicates so very many aspects of the American psyche. I better re-watch clockwork orange to learn about the British.

How would we feel if the jumper was swarthy and cruising through porous U.S. borders? Guess that depends on how pre 9-11 you feel. Many of us remember extremely lax border security. Sorry, I still haven't managed to get my fear on about swarthy foreign people.

Then there's the "ugly american" bit. Remember being young? Old stuff was just old stuff that old people care about. That crosses cultural boundaries.

Ah well, some people never had dreams about flying. Maybe Hannaham is one of them.