Spain

Well, last Saturday I played one story I made for this Spanish medieval-demonic roleplaying game, Aquelarre. The story was supposed to be played in the RPG convention of Dublin, Leprecon, so I made the characters related to Ireland : four Irish characters (based on the three priests and the servant from Father Ted) go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia. The game didn't get any players during the convention.

So, last weekend, the story got finally played. The players spent way too much time trying to get St Jacob's shells from other pilgrims (so they have proof that they went to the shrine, but without actually going), and ended up stealing them from another priest. Like, three hours were spent in that shitty side quest. Then, thanks God, shit got serious, so at the end the girls liked it.

GODDAMMIT THE TEXT DISSAPPEARED fuck

ok, few words. Constantine in Hellblazer is pretty much like Doctor Who in 'The Christmas Invasion'. He mutters six words and a Prime Minister is removed. Or James Bond, sure he could yippee-ki-yay the shit out of the baddies with a Gatling gun, but he instead sleeps with the wife of the bad guy to get access to a computer. I haven't seen that much in superhero comics, I find that the style is more throwing fire from the fists while quoting Patton. Both styles are equally vaild.

Has the style of Constantine in the new comics changed so much? I guess he still has a cynical spirit, at least?

They made some preliminary calculations, regarding the warp speed spaceship. If they make the warp ship work, it would sweep at least part of a planetary system while braking.

(*) I'm not kidding. The summer this year has been a scorcher so far. We've had several weeks of temperatures ranging from 24 to 32 degrees (Celsius), and very little rain.

I call scorcher to 40-42 celsius and drought, but the center of Spain during Summer tends to do that to your values.

Do they still sell legally weed to foreigners in Amsterdam? Also, did you pass by Anna Frank's museum? I found disappointing that they did not show the original diary, when I was there. Has that changed?

I got a book about Irish ghost stories.

One of them is this one.

That is purely national law. It should be easy to kick out international companies like Monsanto. Just, like, nationalise the industry?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalization

I don't think, in the particular case of Monsanto, the public opinion in India and in most of other countries was going to give a fuck. Of course, US may invade, but if you do the whole procedure in a nice way, I think they would have to leave (or else become national).

What I say is that, theoretically, it is possible.

I am sad that instead of talking about the patent of antigravity shoes invented by Michael Jackson we started talking about corporate politics.

Anyway, there it goes another Monsanto issues for those interested

http://truthstreamme...re-permissible/

As far as patents are involved, it happens that patents work following the principle of 'good faith'. In dubio, pro reo. The person who sues should be able to prove that the sued one has intention of selling the product. In case of self-replicating inventions, I would say that they should also be able to prove that the farmer bought the seed, and was not contaminated by GM seeds.

Why this does not work? Because of money, mainly.

http://rt.com/usa/mo...ue-farmers-547/

This decision is explained probably because Monsanto is not responsible for the seeds sold to farmers, but the farmers are responsible of not controlling them.

It would be extremely easy to put a law in which you are allowed to use GMO in controlled environment. Here is a comparison between EU and US laws regarding GMO:

http://www.cfr.org/a...-politics/p8688

This is not really a patent issue, but national and international legislation, and patents are a fraction of the whole issue.

I bring you Grand Magus.

Ok, instead of searching and reading ratings and critic´s opinions and expose myself to spoilers, I will just ask a short question; I have the series of Gargoyles, should I watch Gargoyles or Constantine?

ouch. fuck her, she's hollow.

He already did, it´s written right there.

I find that when you link a person with bad memories, it is a damn relief to forget that person´s name. Sorry for your ego, maybe you did not matter to her. On the other hand, you may have left a scar so deep that the best she could do to keep her well being was forgetting that she met you. Hm... Maybe that´s worse. Ok, pick the best option.

Where is that Lovecraftian mansion?

I see, so they are already on sale. Thanks, I could only find previews or online order. Time to go to the shop and look for coins between the pillows of the armchair.

I saw the smaller ships and that Mon Calimari cruiser at a comic shop on Free Comic Day. The detail is very intricate. They did a good job on them. Looks like a sound purchase to me.

 

They are going to do a Star Trek line of ships in that same manner eventually, too.

A mon calamari? What are you talking about, the ship in the middle? In the webpage of the game they say nothing about a mon calamari but if it is, I am going to get that shit. I want so dearly the card of Ackbar.

Have you seen the corellian corvette? And you say they are small?? They are like 8 times an xwing, which is more or less the size of a thumb!

I don´t know whether I should get one or not. Probably it will cost too many battle points, I don´t think it is going to be useful against the speed of the tie fighters. Not to speak that the dimensions of the warzone would have to be increased too...

How big are the ones you´ve seen, more or less?

I have been informed about the fact that Montsanto already sells seeds that give sterile plants.

So, I have no clue anymore about how could possibly be patent infringement. Do the farmers cross the plant so it gives seeds, hence doing indirect infringement? Does the specific case of the infringements happen only for a specific type of non-sterile crop?

There are too many unknowns.

Expensive but isn't this beautiful

What is going on? Why do I get so many leaflets in my box with photos of people smiling? Do they want anything from me?

Seriously, as a Spaniard in Belgium, I don't even have a clue of where to vote.

Damn son, those guys at deviantart...

This one from http://piecee01.deviantart.com/

Buh! I slept a bit, feeling better. So in summary.

Patents follow national law. So legislators can make a law that protects small farms versus crop researchers. I know that is kind of utopic because then the US will invade.

With respect to the moral issue of 'owning life', I don't think that point would hold in court. That particular type of life (more resistant to herbicides etc) did not exist before human intervention, so yeah, there is kind of ownership. It is not quite the same as selling a cow and then asking for money from the milk they produce.

I see that one big point of discussion is: does the purchaser of a seed hold the right to breed second generation seeds? If so, does the holder of the rights of the original seed lose the rights after selling the product?

Fuck, are you going to make me read? Jesus christ. I am too tired for this.

Ok, done. It wasn't so long, thank you.

So, I see no special thing here. Monty forces the World Bank to force India to buy their shit. India accepts it because slaughtering lobbyists is frowned upon, for some reason.

Then Monty shoves down the throat of farmers their stuff. And the farmers cannot use their own seeds because honestly they are weaker than Monty's and they are taking over the fields. Also the farmers do not own the seeds because Monty has the rights. This is the only moment in which patents have something to say, and you know what, India just have to pass a law that says 'in case of infringement of patents related to plants and seeds, the infringer has to pay one fourth of the earnings directly derived by the plant produce' or some law-sounding shit like that. Patents have to follow national law. Montsanto would make some math and lose interest in Indian market. Of course, lobbyists won't let this happen. But that has little to do with patents.

I have a bad day, the world is a huge whorehouse and if you remove patent law in seeds and things like that, Montsanto will create plants that last three generations and then become sterile, they will steal all genetic studies from competitors and give us all cancer for a few decades, so their shares keep on growing.

Fuck I am thick. Only just now got that. Well done, sir.

Poutine is the official word for Vladimir in French. Because the direct romanization of Putin in French is a slang for 'whore', putain.

I actually did not know that poutine is a dish.

Um, I just scrolled down the thread, I may be misunderstanding something, but... is it going to be a Constantine/My Little Pony crossover?

I see that you know already that patents do -not- grant you the right to use a technology or sell creations.

You cannot patent existing things. You cannot patent ubiquitous skills or things because it would be theft. That´s spot on. If there is a clusterfuck by the examining division, like the Amazon thing, then you can still oppose a patent (which, in USA, it is probably expensive, but not so in Europe).

With respect to the plant and animal patent, I am not in the field, but I know that you can breed dogs and sell them with no patents involved. Because as I said, patents do not give you the right to sell creations. So, in which sense the ´patents on living organisms´ are the worst? I am genuinely interested, as I said it is not my field.

What I can tell you, though, is the following.

In Europe there are offices that protect animal or plant varieties, the CPVO. Take this situation: Company X, after shitloads of investment, makes a new rose that changes colour with the time of the day, for instance. The company X wants to sell these roses, but if it starts selling them as they are, other companies will just take a seed and copy it. Zero investment, total win, and fuck company X.

Funny thing, because of the CPVO, you cannot patent animal or plant varieties in Europe. Individual plants, or organisms made by bioengineering, that yes, but not a plant variety.