Reminds me of a post I saw on Get Rich Slowly awhile back on ditching a dream job for a boring one. Interesting perspective. Emotional investment can be taxing in its own way. I started in a job with very interesting problems but lacked meaning, then moved to a job with much more meaning but with less interesting problems (that eventually turned into boring, frustrating, and stupid problems). I've since found one that's more balanced, with interesting problems that I care about to a moderate degree.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/03/18/reader-story-i-...

Indeed. The growing free software & hardware communities, and the numerous companies they spin off, are an existence proof that patents aren't a requirement of a working economy. They aren't going away any time soon until free hardware makes up a larger proportion of the market, because the current patent holders have too much to lose, and can buy politicians who will keep propping up the current system. So, start more successful free hardware companies that ignore the patent system, gradually rendering patents less relevant and less damaging.

This is one of the most clear & succinct - and more importantly high exposure - statements on the value of open source that I've seen to date. The same message from other sectors like 3D printing has been thoroughly muddied by the proprietary side of the market - who have benefited from the expiration of key patents & widespread open source designs.

"...limited demand for its products"? Not in Orange County, CA.

Heh, maybe they mean that the Roadster "only" sold 2,450 units, 2008-2012. That's small potatoes compared to the big automakers but the comparison is pointless.

We can keep FPTP without the pathologies of plurality voting with something like Approval or Condorcet voting.

One of the most comprehensive guides to diplomatic critiques I've seen was written for the Critters science fiction & fantasy writing workshop. It serves a critical need in that venue:

http://critters.org/c/diplomacy.ht

Washington DC's one of the few places in the US I've seen with that same escalator etiquette in the Metro. I love it. Unfortunately, it doesn't usually apply at shopping malls.

For an overdose of information on this topic, see:

http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/

Using LyX, you can't even type extraneous space without extra effort.

Difference being that police don't make their livelihood from the people they go after; rather, the people the "parasites" prey on. There are a few exceptions, like seizures from drug dealers to augment taxpayer funding.