JUST SAYING
BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
Notebookventura@gmail.com
The Shape of Stupidity
The Huffington Post headline read: “How ‘The Shape Of Water’ Makes People With Disabilities Feel Less Human”
Subheadline stated: “The movie, nominated for Best Picture, tells “disabled people [that they] should go and be with their kind,” one critic said.”
The media stories about the movie being insensitivity toward the disabled was total BS.
The “Thought Police” in the Land of the Easily Offended will find a way to open imaginary wounds and flash their “hurt feelings” like badges.
It’s a movie about a creature who gets laid by cleaning lady. A story with a good happily-ever-after ending.
Like millions of others, I didn’t take away any earth-shaking philosophical message about disabilities, PETA or Women’s rights to bang underwater beasts.
It was Hollywood – $12 ticket will get you 120-minutes worth of entertainment not a Sermon on the Mount parable for the ages.
BILL MAHER: Following the Pulse of Tweeter
Bill Maher’s nails it when he says that legitimate news agencies like the New York Times need to stop putting the pulse of Tweeter accounts on stories based on what a small group of people are posting, especially those peddling phony outrage about trivial matters.
My App Creation
In 2010, I was fortunate to land a media fellowship to Loyola School of Law in Los Angeles while working at the Ventura County Star.
And, there in a classroom is where my idea was spawned for an app that can be used as a legal tool in case people are stopped by the police.
Through the years, my creation stayed in my head. Frequently, I thought of ways to make this app better or probed its weaknesses and tests its strengths.
I knew I would have to patent my invention, and that would be difficult because I had absolutely no experience on how to do this. I certainly didn’t want to fall prey to an “Inventions” cons on the Internet or TV that are long on promises and BS and short on results.
So eight months ago, I decided to learn as much as possible about patents and how to file one with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. I read the bestselling patent book, “Patent It Yourself” by Attorney David Pressman — made notes and more notes. I spent hours reading and re-reading what was at first difficult to understand.
I also listened to the audiobook, “Sell Your Ideas With or Without a Patent” by Stephen Key. Listened to it once, twice and recently finished listening to the book a third time. Key has dozens of patents, and he gives some valuable advice about the patent process and the marketing of ideas.
Then, there was some information on Youtube about patents. It was helpful. Of course, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had a ton of information and an excellent and helpful 800 number.
But the most difficult task in filing a patent is describing through very precise words. Words that are capable of hurling legal loopholes that can clearly detail how something works and attached images showing this.
I spent $5,000 to contract with an app development company to get the wireframes for the app completed. That took several meetings to map out what I wanted.
It took two weeks to do patent searches and finally, write the provisional patent application or patent pending.
The work paid off and last week, I got a letter from the Patent and Trademark Office stating that my application had been accepted and was given a filing date — Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2018.
My patent application number is 62/710,239. The tough job is going to be marketing, and finally filing a nonprovisional patent application within a year.
BTW: I am almost finished with another patent for a totally different invention.
I am very proud of my efforts in finally achieving another goal in life.