2021 Current Events Discussion Thread

[OrangeSAM]

Country crossover star Morgan Wallen (from Tennessee, mullet guy) is also a name to know if you don’t already - latest album is called Dangerous; "7 summers" and "More Than My Hometown" are his latest singles.

...Guess I spoke too soon.

I've been dunking on him from day one. Never liked his music, and "More Than My Hometown" is one of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life.

Is it too soon and/or too arrogant to say "I told you so"?

I'm still waiting on TPH to drop an album.

[Bamaman]

Country crossover star Morgan Wallen (from Tennessee, mullet guy) is also a name to know if you don’t already - latest album is called Dangerous; "7 summers" and "More Than My Hometown" are his latest singles.

...Guess I spoke too soon.

He seems like a bit of a--dare I say?--idiot. Wasn't he scheduled to play on SNL and had to have his appearance postponed because he didn't follow COVID protocols?

He should run for Congress where he can say stuff and he still gets defended.

[Johnblue]

He’s not as pretty as AOC or the rest of the squad.

[polaris]

Note that due to Joe Biden being old:

> Donald Trump is the FIRST president to be older than at least two predecessors AND younger than at least one successor
>>>>> In fact, he is older than three predecessors AND younger than at least one successor

> George Bush is the FIRST president to be older than at least one predecessor AND younger than at least two successors

> Joe Biden is the second president to be older than four predecessors

You can review this spreadsheet for further details:

https://gofile.io/d/tigyg4

~

(Unlikely and maybe uninteresting asides)

> If 47 is born before 1946:
>>>>Clinton will become the SECOND to be younger than four successors;
>>>>Bush will the FIRST to be older than at least one predecessor AND younger than at least three successors [this would be "Breaking his own record" in a a way, though]
>>>>Trump will be the FIRST to be older than three predecessors AND younger than TWO successors -- this is also "breaking his own record" in a sense. However, this would be interesting in that Trump would then be the first president from whom
[number of predecessors older than] + [number of successors younger than] = 5
>>>> Obama will be the THIRD president to be younger than three successors

> If 47 is born between 1946 and 1961:
>>>> depending on when, either all four of the above will occur, or just the Bush & Clinton & Obama, ones, or just the Clinton & Obama ones, or just the Obama one, or none of them

> If 47 is born after 1961 (after August 4 to be spec.)
>>>> They will be the first since Eisenhower to be younger than all their predecessors AND older than all their successors [but the second part of that would be subject to change for c. 40 years]

[Robert K S]

Pearl Milling Company is the new name of the brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/09/business ... index.html


Normally I wouldn't think an item like this would belong here, but with the cultural significance this and a few others hold, I can see it crop up with the clue giving the new name and asking what it used to be.

That certainly seems notable enough trivia for a clue, but I wonder how, as a practical matter, they would raise it without invoking in the clue, or requiring a contestant to invoke in a response, a name that was considered racist enough to ditch as a brand.

A technical IP law quibble I have with the article is its characterization that parent company PepsiCo "purchased" the trademarks. One may have to pay fees to apply for registration with the USPTO, but one cannot simply "purchase" a trademark. CNN must have received e-mails because in the time it took me to write this post, CNN substantially revised its article to, among other revisions, omit the language I'm complaining about, but it's still there in "children" articles posted by other organizations that licensed the content, like this one. The part I'm talking about stated: "PepsiCo announced on June 17 that it was getting rid of the Aunt Jemima name and branding. The beverage and food maker's attorneys purchased brand name and logo trademarks for Pearl Milling Company on February 1, according to records filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office."

[alietr]

A technical IP law quibble I have with the article is its characterization that parent company PepsiCo "purchased" the trademarks. One may have to pay fees to apply for registration with the USPTO, but one cannot simply "purchase" a trademark. CNN must have received e-mails because in the time it took me to write this post, CNN substantially revised its article to, among other revisions, omit the language I'm complaining about, but it's still there in "children" articles posted by other organizations that licensed the content, like this one. The part I'm talking about stated: "PepsiCo announced on June 17 that it was getting rid of the Aunt Jemima name and branding. The beverage and food maker's attorneys purchased brand name and logo trademarks for Pearl Milling Company on February 1, according to records filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office."

So, is your quibble with calling filing for a new trademark "purchasing" it? I would agree with that, but existing trademarks do get bought and sold all the time.

[Robert K S]

So, is your quibble with calling filing for a new trademark "purchasing" it? I would agree with that, but existing trademarks do get bought and sold all the time.

Trademarks are actually not so simply fungible as that. So-called "naked" trademark assignment is a good way to lose the trademark. The underlying purpose of trademarks is consumer association of a good with its source. If you're not the source of the goods, you can't just obtain the trademark from someone else, slap the trademark on your different-source goods, and expect the trademark to continue to be enforceable.

[econgator]

I think that sometimes companies just use words to use them. From the article linked above:

""Quaker worked with consumers, employees, external cultural and subject-matter experts, and diverse agency partners to gather broad perspectives and ensure the new brand was developed with inclusivity in mind," the company said."

What exactly is inclusive about a water mill and/or the name?

[DBear]

Note that due to Joe Biden being old:

> Donald Trump is the FIRST president to be older than at least two predecessors AND younger than at least one successor
>>>>> In fact, he is older than three predecessors AND younger than at least one successor

> George Bush is the FIRST president to be older than at least one predecessor AND younger than at least two successors

> Joe Biden is the second president to be older than four predecessors

You can review this spreadsheet for further details:

https://gofile.io/d/tigyg4

~



> If 47 is born after 1961 (after August 4 to be spec.)
>>>> They will be the first since Eisenhower to be younger than all their predecessors AND older than all their successors [but the second part of that would be subject to change for c. 40 years]

I'm taking the odds that 47 will be Kamala Harris and relatively soon.

[opusthepenguin]

I'm taking the odds that 47 will be Kamala Harris and relatively soon.

If you were born from April 5, 1916 to November 22, 1963, you couldn't reach age 25 without having a sitting president die in your lifetime. But I'm guessing more than half of us on this board have never had it happen. And of the ones that have had it happen, quite a few don't remember it.

[alietr]

So, is your quibble with calling filing for a new trademark "purchasing" it? I would agree with that, but existing trademarks do get bought and sold all the time.

Trademarks are actually not so simply fungible as that. So-called "naked" trademark assignment is a good way to lose the trademark. The underlying purpose of trademarks is consumer association of a good with its source. If you're not the source of the goods, you can't just obtain the trademark from someone else, slap the trademark on your different-source goods, and expect the trademark to continue to be enforceable.

I was thinking along the lines of a company acquiring a manufacturing facility for a product and the rights to that product and its name. The trademark can be a valuable part of that acquisition.

[alietr]

I'm taking the odds that 47 will be Kamala Harris and relatively soon.

If you were born from April 5, 1916 to November 22, 1963, you couldn't reach age 25 without having a sitting president die in your lifetime. But I'm guessing more than half of us on this board have never had it happen. And of the ones that have had it happen, quite a few don't remember it.

Waterside Drive is in good condition, so it won't happen for a while.*


* Part of my commute home (back in those days when I had commute) included Waterside Drive, which is part of the usual funeral route to the National Cathedral when a president dies. It was built poorly originally (along a hillside), and tends to decay rather quickly. But just before a presidential funeral, it always gets quickly repaved so the hearse won't hit any serious bumps.

[arjavrawal]

Note that due to Joe Biden being old:

> Donald Trump is the FIRST president to be older than at least two predecessors AND younger than at least one successor
>>>>> In fact, he is older than three predecessors AND younger than at least one successor

> George Bush is the FIRST president to be older than at least one predecessor AND younger than at least two successors

> Joe Biden is the second president to be older than four predecessors

You can review this spreadsheet for further details:

https://gofile.io/d/tigyg4

~



> If 47 is born after 1961 (after August 4 to be spec.)
>>>> They will be the first since Eisenhower to be younger than all their predecessors AND older than all their successors [but the second part of that would be subject to change for c. 40 years]

I'm taking the odds that 47 will be Kamala Harris and relatively soon.

Wouldn't be so sure about that. Biden is remarkably healthy for a 77 year old. Don't count him out.

[Robert K S]

Wouldn't be so sure about that. Biden is remarkably healthy for a 77 year old. Don't count him out.

Don't mind Opus DBear, he's just leaving clues for the Secret Service and the FBI.

[opusthepenguin]

Wouldn't be so sure about that. Biden is remarkably healthy for a 77 year old. Don't count him out.

Don't mind Opus, he's just leaving clues for the Secret Service and the FBI.

What are you dragging me into this for? He's talking to DBear. DBear's the one sussing out the odds of presidential death and taking the morbid side of the wager. He's the one the Secret Service and FBI should be talking to. I'm harmless. Chirp. I say, chirp.

[Robert K S]

Hah, it must have been that alietr post just above where you quoted DBear that threw me. That'll teach us all to quote anybody.

[alietr]

So, is your quibble with calling filing for a new trademark "purchasing" it? I would agree with that, but existing trademarks do get bought and sold all the time.

Trademarks are actually not so simply fungible as that. So-called "naked" trademark assignment is a good way to lose the trademark. The underlying purpose of trademarks is consumer association of a good with its source. If you're not the source of the goods, you can't just obtain the trademark from someone else, slap the trademark on your different-source goods, and expect the trademark to continue to be enforceable.

As long as we're posting comic strips, Pearls was on point yesterday.

Trademark Office.gif (142.86 KiB) Viewed 80 times

[Robert K S]

A classic example of confusion of forms of intellectual property. A perfected method of personal isolation would be better protected as a patent, not a trademark.

I never understood why the Patent Office and the Trademark Office have been joined in a single Patent and Trademark Office, when the two really have nothing to do with each other, or why, if such a union is deemed appropriate for some reason, the other major form of registrable intellectual property, copyright, is not also handled within the unified office.

[alietr]

I will say that I make it a practice to never rely on comic strips for legal advice.

[Robert K S]

This one is pretty good advice.

Advice.jpg (73.29 KiB) Viewed 71 times