Homeopathic treatment for Divorce: voodoo flower essence

The concoction called Surprise Shock Divorce Combination essence I found here (http://rainfloweressence.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=R&Category_Code=DHE) was tested by a friend at his lab's HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography) Releasing Divorce/ Loss Anger essence (http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/100905519/Chysanthemum_Flower_Extract_Herbal_Extract_Chrysanthemi.html) reveals chromatographs no different than the Shock Divorce essence above.

Homeopathy: a huge molecule of a funny flower

Using expedient generalization, I told the "doctor" about high molecular weight molecules having little chance of making it into the homeo dilutions, the "doctor', having no background in math or chemistry, conveniently abandoned the defense of the unique protein dilution, and stated that high dilutions which have no chance of retaining a single original molecule do preserve the memory of the molecule. I requested any scientific article showing experiments with water having memory. It is a very fair request: after all, scientists dedicated lifetimes to studying seemingly small, insignificant aspects of water's chemical properties. Surely, homeopathy should be basing its hydro-memory facts on years of research using at least atomic-, and ultraviolet- absorption, mass spectrometry gravity and high pressure liquid chromatography.

The homeodoctor quickly showed me to this passage "...succussion whereby the energetic blueprint or pattern of the substance is held in the remedy but without any of the original material." -no empirical data exists to substantiate this belief. from this site which is highly popular with patients. I offered a bait (a hypothetical scenario) that in the case of having to recover from mercury exposure, a patient would be given a dilution or succussion of mercury. The homeodoctor agreed(!) To which I offered that the succussion probably no longer contains a single ion (they forgot the existence of such) of mercury, and such a patient would be better off saving money and drinking municipal, (somewhat contaminated enough to contain sadi mercury) water from a kitchen faucet. He let out genuine laugh and grew thoughtful. QED. Enough said.

Homeopathy treats the individual rather than the disease so the range of conditions that can be helped is huge! Whilst a diagnosis can seem useful, in homeopathy it is rare that the same complaint is always treated with the same remedy

here is a good example:

A 30X ( 1:1000) dilution means that the original substance has been diluted 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times. Assuming that a cubic centimeter of water contains 15 drops, this number is greater than the number of drops of water that would fill a container more than 50 times the size of the Earth. Imagine placing a drop of red dye into such a container so that it disperses evenly. Homeopathy's "law of infinitesimals" is the equivalent of saying that any drop of water subsequently removed from that container will possess an essence of redness. Robert L. Park, Ph.D., a prominent physicist who is executive director of The American Physical Society, has noted that since the least amount of a substance in a solution is one molecule, a 30C solution would have to have at least one molecule of the original substance dissolved in a minimum of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water. This would require a container more than 30,000,000,000 times the size of the Earth. Actually, the laws of chemistry state that there is a limit to the dilution that can be made without losing the original substance altogether. This limit, which is related to Avogadro's number, corresponds to homeopathic potency of 12C or 24X (1 part in 1024). Hahnemann himself realized that there is virtually no chance that even one molecule of original substance would remain after extreme dilutions. But he believed that the vigorous shaking or pulverizing with each step of dilution leaves behind a "spirit-like" essence—"no longer perceptible to the senses"—which cures by reviving the body's "vital force." Modern proponents assert that even when the last molecule is gone, a "memory" of the substance is retained. This notion is unsubstantiated. Moreover, if it were true, every substance encountered by a molecule of water might imprint an "essence" that could exert powerful (and unpredictable) medicinal effects when ingested by a person.

Medical insurance call: a case of iridology

The economic crisis apparently has an effect on my business: the patent consultancy has been falling off, and there is a notable increase in the demand to settle alternative medicine cases. It's all logical - people have less capital to secure their intellectual property, and less capital for conventional medical treatment. Hence, they turn to the soothsayers of the alternative medicine, which in the end are as brutal on the bank account as conventional medicine. The most recent case is that of iridology. The state insurance commission called me with the case of a patient that started to combine ear-nose-and-throat MD visits with visits to an iridologist. The lab tests for the last year showed plenty of vitamins, iron and a good liver profile. The patient complained of sinusitis, which really was a reaction to dry, furnace heating-dried air. Yet the iridologist decided that the patient's iris indicated a lack of selenium (!) as well as iron, which was responsible for the stuffy nose. The patient stopped going through with the MD's prescribed, over-the-counter treatments, and made other decisions that complicated medical insurance claims, and prompted me being called onto the scene. I immediately advise the patient to start using a vaporizer, which she had (ultrasonic), and she found a good deal on a hot-water vaporizer that can be attached to the furnace. She immediately reported relief in breathing through her nose. I made an appointment with the iridologist, and made a usual request for a free advice. In the process, I asked the iridologist very basic questions, which challenged the laughable principles of the scam:

1. the founder of the iridology did not know enough about owl's eyes to start making deductions about human eye;
2. the iris is an island in the middle of the eye, relying on the air for oxygen absorption, and on the nutrients seeping through the glassy matter of the eye;
3. the only physical connection to the rest of the body is a nerve that controls dilation of the pupil.
4. iridology has had no clue of the selenium inside the human body, for the last 150 years.

The iridologist has failed to show me the presence of iridology research materials analyzing the ENT problems. Nor did the iridologist produce any publications that are peer reviewed. She referred me to many of internet web sites that brag about case stories (not studies) where diagnoses were made using the owl's eye ideology of the scam's author, with no other lab or doctor-administered tests. I also challenged the iridologist to explain the difference between the iridology assessment of the selenium and iron deficiency, and the professional alb results consistently showing the contrary. That prompted the iridologist to say that iridologists and their patients are successful "because they have faith in it." QED. Case finished.

Nigerian scams are getting into patents and academia

A patent holder's lonely way by Jonathan Hum and Dov Gold From the 26 January Barrons, page 18

Medical researchers at 12 major universities were shocked recently when they got letters from Nzedegwu Robert Olisa III, demanding $155,000 payment from each lab. Olisa alleged they had violated his patent and copyright with their activities in proteomics - a hot niche of biotechnology that studies the genetic recipes for proteins. Olisa filed infringement complaints with the FBI and the National Science Foundation. Note: a new twist to asserting a patent. The patent is U.S. patent 7,244,702, filed April 2003, and only cites three U.S. patents as prior art. "People are pirating my work.", Olisa said. "They are squishing me." He told Barron's his drug was the subject of 3,000 medical journal articles. Asked for citations,he then said it contained ingredients that have been mentioned in medical journals. His Web site (www.biologicalagents.com) suggests that the drug is useful against cancer, tuberculosis, malaria and HIV. Members of the Assocation of Biomolecular Research Facilities are puzzled by Olisa's bold claims. Olisa also says he owns the patent for detecting 12 of the 20 standard amino acids of which proteins are made. "We're not going to pay his demand.", said University of Minnesota legal counsel Brian Slovut. "We evaluated his claim and determined that there was no validity to it." Note: Brian - you are so wrong. Olisa's patent is one of Jon Dudas' many high quality issued patents. Christopher Viney, general counsel at Roswel Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, concluded that its lab practices didn't infringe Olisa's claims. Government patent examiners don't always understand the fast moving science of proteomics, noted Harvard University lab manager John Neveu. He said Harvard isn't paying. Olisa promised to call off the collection agents if the alleged infringers pay up. But they had better act fast. Olisa said he is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and is shipping off to Iraq in a few months.

Non-prosecutable scam:

True Story - Australian Police have been totally unable to recommend a prosecution for the following scam: A company takes out a newspaper advertisement claiming to be able to supply imported hard core pornographic videos. As their prices seem reasonable, people place orders and make payments via check to the ASFP company. After several weeks, the company writes back explaining that under the present law they are unable to supply the materials and do not wish to be prosecuted. So they return their customers money in the form of a company check, using the full company name. However, due to the name of the company, few people ever bother to present these to their banks. The name? - The Anal Sex and Fetish Perversion Company source

ANOTHER PROFESSOR GENERATES STUPID ARTICLE ON PATENT REFORM

The 11 August 2008 edition of Forbes, page 30, has an opinion piece by real estate law professor Michael Heller of Columbia Law School on patent reform. What's next, an article on patent reform by divorce settlement law professor? If nothing else, his opinion piece supports the argument that Mark Chandler of Cisco and his ilk in the CPF are whiners. Heller argues that too many crappy biotech/pharm patents are stifling research and driving up litigation costs. His solution? Change the formula for patent litigation damages (gee, I wonder where Heller gets some of his academic support)? Not once in the article is any mention of reforming the incompetent and corrupt PTO management, which gets rid of most of the problems Heller and Chandler whine about. That's the law professors' solution to every legal problem - anything (like more legislation) but what might actually solve the problem. Columbia Law School is near New York University, which means nothing, except it gives me an opportunity to insult once again the IBM scam otherwise knows as the NYU Patent Public Peer Review joke.

Allied Security Trust comes out with the latest patent policy scam

Newswires report that a group of big high tech companies have combined some of their monies to buy up patents that "tr-lls" might assert against them. Yet another patent policy scam to avoid addressing the real issue - incompetent PTO management that allows too many crappy patents to issue. Some of the companies in the combination, the Allied Security Trust, include Verizon, Google, Cisco, Ericsson, HP and others. Companies will have to pay $250,000 to join, and ante up $5,000,000 for an escrow account to be available to buy up patents. Why is this a complete joke? First, this anti-tr-ll scam has as a chief executive office Brian Hinman, former VP of IP for the biggest and first patent tr-ll, IBM. Since IBM created most of the tr-ll tactics being used, I suppose Himan is in a good position to recognize and fight such tactics. Let's face it folks - this whole tr-ll scare is the patent world version of swiftboating, drenched in tons of hypocrisy spewed by tr-lls themselves. I mean, if Google wants to help the patent system a bit, it will immediately stop wasting the time of the Patent Office, drop all appeals related to its 1-click patent, and dedicated the patent application to the public. Otherwise, Google should shut the frk up about obnoxious players in the patent world. Second, this defensive tactical move is probably too late, given that the big tr-lls bought up a lot of patents before anti-tr-llism became popular, and that the tr-ll companies bought a lot of the higher hanging fruit. I ask, what's left to be bought that is obnoxiouslly assertable? Companies like Acacia have had enough time and enough money to sweep through the issued patents to find crap to assert. Anything left can be laughed out of court. Third, and most importantly, the only legitimate complaint is when people assert crappy patents that should have never issued in the first place. If you have a really good patent, one searched well, I say sue everyone you can find. If these companies, and others, didn't know about your technology, that's their fault for not taking the patent system seriously, which includes monitoring patents in your field of technology. The high tech companies are the biggest bunch of whining crybagies I know of in the patent world, as compared to the pharma companies, which for decades have had mature patent monitoring programs. The high-tech industry, thinking itself above the mechanics of the patent system, refuse to do any of this, and then whine when hit by a crappy patent. So the real problem is people wrongly and unethically asserting crappy patents. But what are the companies in this Allied Security Trust, or the Coalition for Patent Fairness, doing to help fight the issuance of crappy patents? Are they: - submitting less of their own crappy patent applications to the PTO (hey Google, drop your 1-click appeals), so the PTO has a lesser workload and more time to issue higher quality patents? NO - organizing prior art in their respective fields of technology, to use themselves, plus make available to the Patent Office, to help lessen the level of crap being issued by the PTO? NO - are they using the political clout to get Congress to investigate and clean up incompetence and corruption in PTO management? NO - are they pooling their monies together to develop software tools to analyze patents that they can use themselves and donate to the PTO to help lessen the level of crap being issued? NO - are they using their clout to fight the unconstitutionality and excessive costs of Markman hearings - (a specification is not fully enabled under 112 if you need a friggin claims construction done after the defendant has been sued)? NO So much like the Software Patent Institute, the Public Patent Peer review initiative, various PTO-business partnerships, the Public Patent Advisory Committee - this new Allied Security Trust is another patent policy scam that will do nothing to change things and once again deflect attention and resources from the real problems plaguing the patent system.

Phishing the phishers

A n enterprising group of fraudsters from Morocco calling themselves Mr-Brain has launched a website that offers easy-to-use phishing site code, email templates and other hacking tools. The website offers phishing kits for many of the most common targets, such as Bank of America, eBay, PayPal and HSBC. The tools and code provided by Mr-Brain are designed to make it extremely easy for other fraudsters to deploy realistic phishing sites. Only a very basic knowledge of programming is required to configure the PHP scripts to send victims' details to the fraudsters' chosen electronic mail address. Deploying one of these fully working kits can be done in as little as one minute – another factor that adds to their appeal.

Phishing the phishers

Mr-Brain's intentions are to encourage as many people as possible to use their phishing kits, for all is not what it seems at first glance. Careful inspection of the configuration script reveals deceptive code that hides the true set of electronic mail addresses that are contacted by the kit – every phisher who uses these kits will unwittingly send a copy of each victim's details back to the Mr-Brain group. The configuration script exploits the case-sensitivity in PHP variable names to disguise Mr-Brain’s electronic mail address as an unrelated but seemingly essential part of the script, encouraging fraudsters not to alter it. The injected electronic mail address is actually contained in a completely separate PHP file, where it is encrypted in a hidden input field named "niarB", or "Brain" backwards. Yet another PHP script reads the value from this input field and decrypts it before supplying it to the configuration script. Most fraudsters are unlikely to notice this level of obfuscation and will assume the script is working normally, as they will also receive a copy of any emails produced by the script. When Netcraft decrypted the contents, the hidden input field revealed one of Mr-Brain's Gmail addresses, which is used to covertly capture details from all of the phishing kits that have been deployed on their behalf by other fraudsters. A comment at the top of one of the scripts aims to deter these fraudsters from examining the script that decrypts the hidden field: Earlier this month, Netcraft also exposed a similar phishing scam targeting Bank of America. This, too, was authored by Mr-Brain and was configured to covertly send harvested credentials to a different Gmail address. Each phishing kit listed on their website is accompanied by a description, showing what kind of information it steals from victims. One page on their website lists a selection of Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and PINs under the heading "Free and Freash [sic!] Credit Card". Mr-Brain claims that all of the scam pages offered on its site are undetected by Mozilla, Opera and Internet Explorer. Netcraft blocks these sites when they are detected by the Netcraft Toolbar community, and propagates the block to all companies which licence the Netcraft Phishing Site Feed.

Microsoft's iPhoney patent is phoney

Microsoft's new iPhone patent is probably a piece of pure excrement, once you subtract out all of the nonsense in claim 1 and focus on the last two clauses that might be an invention, except for the fact that the patent ignores tons of prior art. The Microsoft patent is: United States Patent 7,225,409 Graphical user interface for a screen telephone (filed August 1999, based on August 1998 provisional) and the only possible "innovation" (someone can explain that to a company that thinks innovation is putting a touch tablet in a coffee table) are the last two clauses of claim 1: and wherein execution of the one or more methods of the application programming interface is responsive to the input from the application for customizing the customizable visual user interface, wherein the telephony module includes an operator agent for determining a media mode of an incoming call. So Microsoft is proud to have invented a customizable telephony app that switches handlers depending on the type of incoming call. This patent so outraged a discriminating member of the patenting community, that he reviewed the filewrapper, and found out the "innovation" is even less - just the last clause, since the examiner rightfully argued the rest of the claim was anticipated by an earlier patent, U.S. patent 5850433. Pathetically, and as an abuse of the PTO's resources, it took Microsoft 8 (non-final) rejections to get this allowance. Worse, this last clause is invalid in light of yet another patent, 5,493,609, the abstract of which talks about media mode switching for incoming calls: A telecommunication system provides voice and data communications over a conventional telephone line that can be dynamically switched from voice mode to any of a plurality of data modes (e.g., fax, modem, or VoiceView protocols) during a single conversation. Each station includes a telephone for voice communications and switching means for selectively connecting the telephone to the telephone line in voice mode and disconnecting the telephone while operating in one of the data modes. A modem provides data communications over the telephone line in any of a plurality of data modes. Voice is the default mode of operation. Prior to switching into a data mode, the originating station first transmits a start signal over the telephone line that includes a mode signal indicating one of the data modes. If a station detects a start signal transmitted by a remote station, a controller directs the switching means and modem to automatically switch from voice mode to the selected data mode in preparation for receiving data from the originating station. The stations also can also query one another to exchange information on their respective capabilities. Now, the switching goes on outside of the conventional telephone, but it is trivial and KSR-like obvious-to-try move the switching into a computer telephony application (for which there is also prior art). So after 8 (non-final) rejections, Microsoft gets a patent claim that with a little more searching can be invalidated. And Microsoft knows this. So why is Microsoft utilizing limited PTO resources pursuing such crap? It is yet another example of Microsoft's lack of interest in patent quality, and makes a mockery of Microsoft's participation in IBM's scam of a prior art project, scam in that both companies could better support patent quality by doing better searches for their own patent applications, instead of abusing the PTO. Both companies lie about their support for patent quality, one reason they are silent on people who lie about their professional experience to become PTO (Deputy) Directors (as if you thought I could resist the sarcasm!)

Entombment, Amazon, Netflix, and Schlafly

In this post:

• BountyQuest/Amazon's 1-click goofup
• Netflix sued for infringing "optimizing interest potential" patent
• Phyllis Schlafly opposes patent reform bill

This year's Halloween patent: U.S. patent 748,284 - "Method of preserving the dead" - "... whereby a corpse may be hermetically sealed within a block of transparent glass" by pouring hot, molten glass all over it. Use it next time you get a lack of utility rejection from the PTO.

BOUNTYQUEST/AMAZON'S 1-CLICK EMBARRASSMENT

A recent Slashdot revealed a bit or irony about one of the more recent public prior art scams, BountyQuest.

Slashdot writes: "One last dose of irony - in explaining the prior art he used to reject the 1-click claims, a USPTO Examiner cited the very same TV remote control patent that was deemed to be unsuitable in a 1-Click prior art contest run by the O'Reilly and Bezos-bankrolled (and now bankrupt) BountyQuest (just last year, Amazon testifed to Congress that the contest failed to find prior art for Bezos' patent)."

Yes, a reason why a) BountyQuest was a joke, and b) these public prior art scams are ripe for abuse. There is only one solution - fire the jokers in charge of prior art handling at the PTO, and bring in some people who know how to supply examiners with the time, tools and resources to do the searching themselves - which they can do.

NETFLIX SUED FOR infringing "OPTIMIZING INTEREST POTENTIAL" patent

Over the years, I have spent a fair amount of time trying to bust the Netflix patents. Decent filing date - decent claims - always a trick to bust. A bit of irony then in seeing Netflix sued by a company called Refined Recommendation Corporation. The patent is 6,606,102. You can pretty much wipe your ass with this patent, for its late filing date and lack of any non-patent prior art. Will you jerks growup and do some searching before asserting such crap?

One additional crap note: you will see the word "valence" below, a ruse to distract the examiner. How's "valence" defined? ".... user interest and disinterest (valence)" in something. So why not just use "interest" like every other software recommendation system?

And finally, is it really surprising that RRC is a subsidiary of Acacia, which seems to be in a contest with Niro to see who can find the most crappy unsearched patent to assert?

PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY OPPOSES PATENT REFORM

Hey, even rightwing extremists get it right once in a blue moon (or red moon when they look at it). "The Patent Act is a Cheat on Americans", by Phyllis Schlafly, www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23109 "A combination of foreigners who make a business of stealing out intellectual property, and the multinationals who want to avoid paying royalties to small inventors, have ganged up to get Congress to do their bidding".

Damn, she stole my next script idea. "Chinese Government: Hey Microsoft, Intel, IBM. You want us to give you more protection. Then work to undermine the U.S. patent system." Of course, that could explain the "Basic Chinese for Dummies" on Dudas' desk.

eBay buys Fraud Sciences

US online auctioning giant eBay and its subsidiary PayPal will soon be better protected from online fraud. This comes after news that PayPal has purchased Israeli online risk tools startup Fraud Sciences for $169 million. The small privately owned company, which only raised $7 million in investment before the buy-out, has developed verification technology for securing commercial transactions on the Internet. Fraud Sciences' technology is designed to uncover fraudulent credit card purchases by verifying that the customer making the purchase is in fact the cardholder. It uses a technique, known as 'identity proofing', which builds on the behavioral practices already used by many online retailers to detect fraud. Tel Aviv based Fraud Sciences was founded in April 2006 by Shvat Shaked, and Saar Wilf. They will be joining PayPal's technology and fraud management teams alongside Fraud Science's COO Yossi Barak. Other Israeli startups that have made the news recently are Modu and YouFig. Investors in Fraud Sciences include Redpoint Ventures, BRM Capital and entrepreneur Eli Barkat, who acquired a 40% stake in the firm for $5 million. He is set to make 12 times that amount in the exit. Fraud Sciences, which will continue to operate out of Israel, had originally intended to raise $11 million in a two-stage financing round, but in the course of due diligence, PayPal offered to buy the company out. eBay and e-commerce enabler PayPal have been facing an increasing battle against online fraud. They plan to use Fraud Science's risk tools and analytics to expose scams and deceptions targeted at their companies, and to accelerate the development of next generation fraud detection tools. Scott Thompson, president of PayPal, said the acquisition of Fraud Sciences fits into eBay's recently announced plans to significantly improve trust and safety across its sites this year. "Integrating Fraud Sciences' risk tools with PayPal's sophisticated fraud management system should allow us to be even more effective in protecting eBay and PayPal's hundreds of millions of customers around the world," he said. This is the second Israeli purchase for Californian Internet auction company eBay and its first purchase of a security technology company. In 2005, the US giant bought price comparison company Shopping.com, for $634 million.