The 'What the fuck!' thread

[glatt]

[Gravdigr]

Revenge is about to be served, methinks...


Remember me posting about my neighbor nabbing Momdigr's adopted kitten? Heheh, look at this shit!

I came around the corner the other afternoon, and saw this cat head-shaped reflection on my house.



I asked, and, neither Popdigr, nor Momdigr had ever seen it before. We've lived here, in one combination or another, for ~43 years, give or take, and none of us has ever seen this before.

And look what's producing the reflection:



That's right, it's coming from catnabber's house! His bedroom window, to be precise!!

Has Sassy returned from the dead to haunt her nabber? Will Catnabber hear ghostly mews and meows in the night? I hope he never sleeps again.

***************************

Is it odd that a (supposedly) flat, rectangular window makes a round(ish), cat head-shaped reflection, or what?

She even has a halo!

I think stronger forces are at work...

Go go ghostcat!!!!

[Sundae]

Grav I have to say, you may make me laugh more than any other Dwellar.
That just gave me a huge guffaw, sitting on my own in a public place (free wifi)

(I shall give them your name if I am sectioned...)

Thank you for that.

[Carruthers]

What the Dickens? A group of five Miss Havishams took to the London Underground this morning to promote a special screening of Great Expectations on TV channel Drama this weekend.
Each model spent over three hours being transformed by a top team of stylists, costume designers, make-up artists and dressers. Miss Havisham was recently voted the most haunting literary character of all time in a poll by the channel.

A trip on the London Underground (aka 'The Tube') offers the opportunity of spotting some of the more eccentric aspects of human behaviour at the best of times.

The reaction of the other passengers appears to be one of sheer indifference. They've seen it all before.

[footfootfoot]

they're all too young to be miss havisham.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Candles that create another candle from the melted wax. Of course some of the wax gets burned up, so I guess each generation would be a little smaller.

[DanaC]

That's a clever idea.

[Griff]

That's really smart. I wonder if that is an old idea resurrected?

[footfootfoot]

You could use the candle to power a tiny steam engine perpetual motion machine!

[xoxoxoBruce]

It was a guy named Ben Shine who claims inventing it, and says "world wide patents pending".

I have been delighted and overwhelmed by the incredible response to my Rekindle prototype.
This interest, along with the thousands of emails which continue to be received, clearly demonstrate a genuine demand for the product - which is superb!
I am now talking with several reputable brands who have expressed interest in developing it further with me, so news of any progress will be updated on this website and via the newsletter

Translation - Holy shit, one of my art pieces has gone viral which smells of commercial possibilities, so I better scramble it I'm finally going to make any real money for a change.

[glatt]

It's already been invented. Well, at least 90% of it has already been invented, and the patent on that 90% hasn't expired yet, so he's actually infringing someone else's patents.

US Patent number 6,220,855

A candle stand and wax recycling assembly for capturing, retaining, and forming wax run-off from a first candle as the first candle burns during use. The candle stand and wax recycling assembly includes a platform assembly adapted for supporting a first candle, a receptacle coupled beneath said platform assembly adapted for receiving melted wax, a wick member, and a wick holding assembly.

Actually, Google shows that the maintenance fees haven't been paid on time, so that patent has lapsed.

Again with the fees. US government, why do you fee your citizens to death? First passports and now patents. Where's my pitchfork?

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by glatt

Where's my pitchfork?

The pitchfork will never pass committee.

Just grab a torch and get in line.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Sundae

Grav I have to say, you may make me laugh more than any other Dwellar.
That just gave me a huge guffaw, sitting on my own in a public place (free wifi)

(I shall give them your name if I am sectioned...)

Thank you for that.

Made m'day a little bit.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Don't be fooled, Grav, she just wants your body.


glatt, those patents look like they do the same thing, except they make a fatter new candle. The patent fees were probably not paid because there was no commercial interest to monetize.
I've mixed emotions about whether that's good or not. I suppose it frees up the idea for someone to try to make improvements or use as part of something new. An entrepreneur/inventor would be wary of investing time/money on a project which could be derailed by somebody holding an obscure patent.

[glatt]

I don't understand the intricacies completely, but even when a patent owner is late paying the maintenance fees, there are additional hoops that they can jump through in order to get the patent "turned on" again. But I think that the more time goes by, the harder it is.

I like it that a patent owner has to do a little work to keep a patent active. It furthers progress in inventing stuff when an idea isn't legally tied up for decades.

Oh, and I also like it that Google has indexed all the patents so you can search them. It was easy for me to find that prior patent on the same idea. I think the new invention can patent putting a wick in the recycling container to make a candle. I think that little bit is new. But I think that's it.