When Fija first started studying Uchinaaguchi, there were no classes for people wanting to learn the language, so he surrounded himself with elderly speakers and organized a small group of people who shared his interest. It took Fija 12 years to reach his current level of fluency and he's determined to smooth the way for future students.

Michael Geist writes in with the latest news on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the secret, closed-door copyright treaty that will bring US-style copyright rules (and worse) to the whole world. Particularly disturbing is the growing support for "three-strikes" copyright rules that would disconnect whole families from the Internet if one member of the household was accused (without proof) of copyright infringement. The other big US agenda item is cramming pro-Digital Rights Management (DRM) rules down the world's throats that go way beyond the current obligations under the UN's WIPO Copyright Treaty. In the US version, breaking DRM is always illegal, even if you're not committing any copyright violation -- so breaking the DRM on your iPad to install software you bought from someone who hasn't gone through the Apple approval process is illegal, even though the transaction involves no illicit copying.

The study is a product of the Future Analysis department of the Bundeswehr Transformation Center, a think tank tasked with fixing a direction for the German military. The team of authors, led by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Will, uses sometimes-dramatic language to depict the consequences of an irreversible depletion of raw materials. It warns of shifts in the global balance of power, of the formation of new relationships based on interdependency, of a decline in importance of the western industrial nations, of the "total collapse of the markets" and of serious political and economic crises.

What's in a name? Not much, when it comes to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. As Luc Devigne, the top EU negotiator on ACTA made clear today, he has no intention of limiting ACTA to, you know, its name.

It became rich as America's compliant vassal state. Now Japan's efforts to move on are being thwarted by the US.

Jag bestämmer mig för att säga till henne och alla andra i väntrummet precis som det är. Att vi just fått in en tonårspojke som ser ut som ett plockepinn invärtes och att läkarna opererar honom. [...] Dör han på operationsbordet kan det gå snabbt. Överlever han rör det sig om åtskilliga timmar.

En efter en av de som aldrig borde sökt vård på en akutmottagning kom nästan lite skamset och bad att få tillbaka pengar och patientbricka och sa att det nog var bättre att de vände sig till vårdcentralen på måndag.

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Kristdemokraterna vill locka väljare med en akutgaranti. Ingen, menar partiet, ska behöva vänta mer än fyra timmar på en akutmottagning för att få träffa en läkare. Men om man kan vänta fyra timmar på en akutmottagning, och det inte beror på något slags felbedömning, så är man sannolikt på fel ställe från början. Medicinskt är en akutgaranti ett ungefär lika angeläget vallöfte som en intensivvårdsgaranti för förkylda.

Throughout recorded history most people who have wanted a household article have bought or bartered it from someone else – in past times an artisan or trader, more recently a seller of mass-produced products. With few exceptions (such as some clothing) it is rare that any of us make such articles for ourselves these days. That may soon change.

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In the first part of this paper, we review the history of 3D printing and describe recent developments, including a project initiated by one of the authors to bring such printers into the home. We then examine the IP implications of personal 3D printing with particular reference to the bundle of rights that would typically be associated with a product that might be copied.

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We opened homepage titled "Friend" with an aim to achieve a common progress of humankind and contribute to promoting mutual understanding and cooperation under the ideals of independence, peace and friendship.

A fascinating mix of friendly greetings, celebratory "news" and harsh propaganda from North Korea.

In a nutshell:

* After a landmark court ruling, the German perspective on the validity of software patents is now closer than ever to that of the US. * Basically, Germany has now had its own Bilski case -- with the worst possible outcome for the opponents of software patents. * Recently, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office upheld that approach to software patents as well, effectively accepting that a computer program stored on a medium must be patentable in principle. * Defense strategies such as the Defensive Patent License are needed now more than ever.