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Im not as young as I used to be, and as I have ripened ("matured" doesn't seem to apply), I've tried to adopt a more-accepting, roll-with-the-punches attitude. Safety pins through the nose, headbanger music, fruity beer, reality TV, ultra-high-volume cell-phone talkers-all these and even more now spark little more than a shrug of the shoulders and a repetition of the line from philosopher and InformationWeek columnist Lou Bertin: "That's why there's chocolate and vanilla." But I do have my limits, and they were crossed last week by the United States Patent Office.
The Patent Office took another bizarre step down the twisted path toward institutionalizing business methods by conferring patent status on the computerized process of automating the paperwork involved in commerce across national borders. So if you used to take your truckload of tomatoes from Seattle to Vancouver and sell it for $500 cash and get a paper receipt, and you now do the...