On May 20, 2006 Dean Kamen spoke to the graduating class at Franklin Pierce Law. At the ceremony he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Needless to say, at first he did not understand why he was invited to a law school’s graduation. He conceded that with his many patents he could probably use a good patent lawyer.
erm…did anyone ever figure out why? Not that it isn’t an honor, I’m sure, but law school? MIT, WIP, sure, but Pierce Law? Well, at least the message, or one of many, is spreading. I’m not sure how fond of GP they will be though. 
In my former job, I used to tell my electrical engineering students, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste, so don’t go to law school.”
Not all lawyers are a waste of intelligence, but with so many of them and so few ambulances to chase, the ones who really contribute to the greater good are getting harder to find.
Maybe someday we’ll have so many engineers and scientists that they’ll run out of useful work to do and run amok, threatening the world with needless innovation? No, I guess that won’t happen. :rolleyes:
And always useful things to do, is an awesome thing. It means that we can make the world a better place. We would not want to see engineers and scientists be bored, because that is not a pretty site… 
(btw, has anyone noticed how freaky this smile is?)
So, if I’m not mistaken, couldn’t he refer to himself in any documents he sends out as “Dr. Dean Kamen, L.H.D. (h.c.)”?
I also heard that Dean would be here in rochester for another graduation friday. I wish i cold go to see it.
They will all be patent lawyers
the good kind, the ones who write patents
not the ones who challenge patents :^)
Dean will be at RIT this Friday for graduation. I got invited to go, so I will take photos.
So he could have a wardrobe change?
I don’t know… I think I see a denim collar sticking out of his dress, oops, I mean gown… er… graduation garb thingy.
Looks like a denim cuff, too. Guess this really is Dean Kamen, after all.
I’d go for denim all the way - gown, hood, the works. Little FIRST zip pull.
Yup -
You mean like the Virgina based patent firm NTP Inc. who went after RIM, one of the biggest supporters of Waterloo University and in turn one of the biggest supporters of FIRST in Canada?
On a more serious note, I am glad that most of the lawyer comments have been tinged by a note of humour. After all. without lawyers what would stop another individual without FIRST like principles to come and steal your idea, unless of course you offered to share it. But upon a bit of searching on wikipedia (its not the devil!) “The school is internationally recognized as a prestigious Intellectual Property training center. For that reason it attracts students from around the world. The school founder is Robert H. Rines a respected lawyer, inventor (holds more than 60 patents), researcher, composer and M.I.T. professor.”
On another note, anyone notice the flag of Taiwan hanging prominently in the background? I am surprised by that fact but if anywhere that it would be displayed in, it would be a U.S. education. Particularly since they have partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing.
So it may not be that strange why they bestowed this honour upon Dean after all?
so maybe they are hoping that they will get a president like their founder? As long as they like denim…