AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Sunday, May 31. 2009

The ruling from the patent office was an affirmative one for Ms. Eyeshine. Mr. Hammer’s whole strategy was to play on the gender prejudice against her in the field, which may have worked if she hadn’t had the full weight of Herd Thinners Inc. behind her. The mere presence of R.L. led to a quick and speedy hearing. Mr. Hammer’s protestations to take it to a higher court were made literal when the Herd Thinners lawyer chased him up a tree.
With the patent safely in hand, Ms. Eyeshine’s claim to the process is unchallenged. Now the hard part begins. Turning any kind of invention into an actual product is a long, torturous path, filled with regulatory hurdles, funding issues and the always fickle nature of the marketplace. The good news for her is that the main headaches now belong to her major investor, Herd Thinners, Inc. They’re the ones who have to shepherd the invention through the journey.
I think that’s the first time anyone’s ever used the word “shepherd” in conjunction with “Herd Thinners, Inc.”
My guess is that Ms. Eyeshine’s process will end up mainly being used in mass transit since it requires at least one passenger who has fur. That eliminates a large number of potential buyers...including humans.
This week's question: now that summer vacation is here, where humans like to do for holidays?

Posted by Lindesfarne at 13:01 | Comments (20) | Trackbacks (0)

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This year I am going to go to Yellowstone National Park with my cousin and her husband (I will be there August 9, so you will not see me on the blog that week). Next year I plan to take a Caribbean cruise.
What kind of vacations do you have in your world, Lindisfarne?
Oh, BTW, the reason Herdthinners supported Ms. Eyeshine's invention is because they could use the pelts of their victims to supply the fur for drivers without passengers with fur.

#1 Thomas Mazanec (Link) on 2009-05-31 13:30 (Reply)

Cruising is a great vaction. One suggestion, if it's in your price range, try a cruise to Bermuda instead. I've done both and I found it was more enjoyable to spend time in one spot rather than the rush of getting from island to island.

#1.1 joeb on 2009-05-31 21:02 (Reply)

Fenton and I have indeed visited Bermuda...the human Bermuda.

#1.1.1 Lindesfarne Dewclaw on 2009-05-31 23:25 (Reply)

I visited Bermuda when I was 11. Let's see what I can recall:
1) Horrific sunburn
2) Getting stung by a Portuguese man-of-war
3) Weird insect chirps that sounded like Sputnik
4) Smuggling out a leaf that grew plants from its edges
That's about it.

#1.1.1.1 Thomas Mazanec (Link) on 2009-06-01 01:02 (Reply)

If it's the 4th of July in the USA, blow stuff up. Usually fireworks.

#2 Robert Langdon't on 2009-05-31 13:38 (Reply)

I'm not sure about 'shepherd.' I'm certain that R.L. (or some employee) has tried to 'shepherd' a flock or two into their coffers before. Maybe they weren't successful, but it's probably been tried.

While mass transit may be a good place for electric vehicles, would the fur-bearing passengers (A.K.A. the power source) get a discount for riding? BTW, you weren't here long enough to find out but many humans are quite hairy. Probably not hairy enough to power an electric vehicle, though...

What do we do for the holidays? Some go to the shore: our changes of being attacked by sharks (that is, unintelligent eating machines over here) are quite low. Some go white-water rafting. Some go to the mountains to 'get back to nature.' Some go to historical places, amusement parks or places that combine both. However, the 'nature' activities are nowhere near as dangerous as it would be for somebody on your side to go into The Wild for a few months. For most of us, the danger level increases only fractionally: the most dangerous parts of our vacations are usually the automobile rides to get where ever we're going.

#3 CharlieG on 2009-05-31 13:43 (Reply)

'grats on your friend getting the patent.

Holidays, in the US people often take a trip to see family living far away. There may often be a local event people will go see on certain holidays, such as a military show on Memorial Day or a fireworks show on the 4rth of July. They may also go to the beach, have a barbecue with the neighbors, or go to a picnic.

#4 Bixyl Shuftan (Link) on 2009-05-31 14:13 (Reply)

Our vacation habits seem quite similar. Here, too, the most hazardous part is the actual journey (for different reasons; like no longer being in your natural habitat where your defenses work best).
R.L. may be disappointed if he's counting on getting an equal electrical static charge from a dead pelt. While it's certainly possible to get a result, I think the interaction of a live passenger (even a drowsy one!) creates more current. We'll have to see.

#5 Lindesfarne Dewclaw on 2009-05-31 14:29 (Reply)

wouldent more enery be requird to stroke the fur than youd get from stroking it? this sounds like a violation of thermodynamics.

#5.1 asdf on 2009-05-31 16:31 (Reply)

Hit the beach, and maybe an amusement park or two.

#6 Jim on 2009-06-01 01:28 (Reply)

I must admit, to me, a good vacation is one in which I can actually put all my attention into whatever it is that intrigues me at the moment. This is often actually the same sort of thing I do for work, but it's so nice to just be able to indulge any fancy at whim that I don't need to travel.

That said, there are many places of natural beauty. When I actually arrive at them, sometimes that's what intrigues me at the moment. I like the feel of granite and of limestone caves; I'm less intrigued by flowers and plants, but then I'm a bit odd...

#7 Derv on 2009-06-01 02:10 (Reply)

I heard some rabbit theft is moving into the boarding house and your family has something to do with it Lindesfarne! Does this mean i have to up the security to my room?

#8 Dragon Lizard J (Link) on 2009-06-04 00:14 (Reply)

Vacations depend on the individuals. I personally love going places with my girls ages 11 and 12 and of course DH. My favorite vacation to date is Disneyworld in Florida. I got to see my favorite donkey, Eeyore, as well as the head mouse and his girl friend. My youngest daughter visited Minnie's house and had a blast!

I think as long as you are with the ones you love, where you go won't matter as long as you have each other healthy and happy.

#9 Cheryl on 2009-06-04 11:06 (Reply)

I'm going to...I actually have no idea where i am going;my roomate is planning,apparently to kidnap me this summer and make me go somewhere that i won't know where it is until we get there.She has been devising elaborate plans and acting very strangely.She majors in drama,aflter,I think it's in her blood.;-D
Also,I study etymology,or the history of words.I am curious t ofind out what some of our words might mean in your English.For example, words like humanism and humanity. These words,likely have radically different mean ings in your world,considering that humans,are,i don't know,a Fictional Theme.What with human conventions and all.Care to shed some light on this?

#10 Margot on 2009-06-04 12:50 (Reply)

Dusting off the Human Suit right now and preparing for the convention that happens in just a few hours.

Anyhow...the blind leading the blind...as far as I've been able to discern, 'Humanity' has something to do with their species, as a whole. I kind of grouping that gives comfort in one being able to rely upon another. Though, as far as I've been able to tell, Human "sheep" and Human "wolves" group together, looking like one another. Guess you can only tell by the missing numbers, the day after. Can't they just smell one another and tell...or something?

#10.1 jup-reindeer on 2009-06-04 22:21 (Reply)

By conservation of energy, and the 2nd law of thermodynamics, the work done rubbing would have to exceed the work done pushing the car. When I was about 5 years old, I too, thought of a way to create energy from nothing: Make electricity jump across a spark gap, and use a microphone to capture the spark noise and make more electricity. Today, the most popular perpetual motion machines or free lunch machines involve the government. A patent falls in the free lunch category. Of course it doesn't work. Good ideas are a dime a dozen, and getting a patent just makes the inventor vulnerable to monopolization and enslavement by a single producer; and the inventor does need a producer, because bringing an idea to market involves engineering, accounting, documentation, production, quality assurance, shipping, marketing, sales, liability, and customer service. The best an inventor can do is to put the idea in the public domain, hope that many producers adopt it, and make money from consulting. The smart inventor makes his invention part of the rapidly growing "Open source" world.

#11 Joseph D. Rudmin on 2009-06-04 20:00 (Reply)

Lindesfarne, your comment about Mr Hammer's "defense" of his actions has made me curious: is the prejudice against females the same or less than the prejudice against other species? As the sciences are also largely male-dominated, what's your own experience with the female/species discrimination Venn diagram?

#12 Anna on 2009-06-06 07:50 (Reply)

I'll be going abroad with my Gran to Turkey. I assume it's called Turkey over on the other side?
Then it's up to Norwich to visit relatives, then down to Devon (UK) to visit Tintagel and places of interest down there.

But generally I like to relax and 'chill out' when not travelling to places.

#13 Luna on 2009-06-06 18:14 (Reply)

I often take trips to the local zoo. That's short for zoological park. It's where we keep specimens of exotic (usually nonlocal) nonsentient species for conservation, breeding, and also the education of our offspring. The better zoos, like the one in the city where I live, are linked to international breeding and conservation programs, and have spacious habitats rather than literal cages.

These are necessary due to our appetite for land in the last few centuries. We often pushed apex predators out of their territories, then nearly wiped them out when they started killing us. (Being without bodily defenses, tools like guns and traps were our best defenses.) Then their former prey began multiplying unchecked, and we killed them for food, taking their place at the apex.

The displaced predators and over-abundant prey animals are the usual display animals at the zoos.

#14 Luke on 2009-06-07 02:21 (Reply)

To Anna; yes, I myself have had some challenging experiences as a female in a male-dominated environment. I've had to be twice as capable at every turn.
To Luna; yes, the country spanning Europe and Asia is called Turkey.
To Luke; here, zoos are gated communities.

#15 Lindesfarne Dewclaw on 2009-06-07 13:22 (Reply)

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