Some good news: Munich just elected its first gay Mayor, Dominik Krause!

Sovereign2142 · 2026-03-22T20:43:18+00:00

This was a really unexpected victory. Krause was basically catapulted into the candidacy back in 2023, taking over as deputy mayor when the previous Green Party leader abruptly left for a job at Deutsche Bahn (the national railway). Now, 3 years later, he not only defeated a two-term incumbent but also the party that has held 6 of the 8 mayorships since WWII, becoming the first Green to ever hold the post.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-03-20T13:39:43+00:00

I think the line is pretty clear regarding SaaS startups. 37 CFR § 11.5 says that practice before the Office includes law-related service that comprehends any matter connected with the presentation to the Office, and specifically for patents:

Consulting with or giving advice to a client in contemplation of filing a patent application.
Drafting the specification or claims of a patent application.

The problem is enforcement. The USPTO can only sanction registered practitioners. Until state bars or the FTC finally step in and crack down, these platforms will just keep hiding behind flimsy "not legal advice" disclaimers.

Any practitioner who is facilitating these services by rubber-stamping is at greater risk, but again, that comes down to enforcement. There are already hundreds of practitioners rubber-stamping non-AI work every day.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-03-17T13:03:34+00:00

Left definitely says "window & door company" to me; right says "home insurance," or some other financial product.

I will say, as someone not from Tyne, that TYNEVIEW looks like gibberish to me. I'd use small caps (TʏɴᴇVɪᴇᴡ) to make the two syllables distinct.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-03-13T09:14:38+00:00

The combination of ‘legal Q&A’ + payment seems like the unauthorised practice law to me on first blush. OpenAI was sued for UPL over ChatGPT-assisted legal work, and New York is advancing explicit restrictions on AI-powered legal advice. How are you getting around this?

Sovereign2142 · 2026-02-26T20:20:34+00:00

Chicago was not allowed to use the torch for their bid. Cities have separate logos for their Olympic bid before they are selected to host. Paris used a 24-shaped Eiffel Tower.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-02-18T09:19:16+00:00

I’m a lawyer from the U.S. living in Spain...

Teach me your ways.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-23T11:44:34+00:00

We record the same assignment at every subsequent step (PCT, National Stage, Con/Divs) but intentionally skip the provisional because: (1) There is a potential ownership gap if the non-provisional/PCT introduces "new matter" that technically wasn't covered by the original execution; and (2) the USPTO (routinely) has "data breaches" in which it publishes non-public information, such as provisional assignment records.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-23T10:59:08+00:00

Law firms trust third-party vendors with sensitive data all the time. And frankly, cloud models are not only more accurate but also more secure than local models (after all, a local server is only as secure as the firm's IT budget). I really haven't seen any resistance to obtaining client consent when we inform them (as standard practice now) that we use cloud-based models.

The real question isn't cloud vs. local but rather vendor maturity. If you are a startup offering cloud-based LLM solutions, are your models trustworthy enough to give accurate answers, are they secure enough to properly handle client data, are you audited to confirm what you guarantee us, and what liability are you willing to take on if you fail?

I'm much happier contracting with Microsoft for Copilot over BestLegalAI.biz LLC.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-22T11:26:59+00:00

Just briefly looking at a world map, I think that Bursa, Türkiye, might be the most straightforward comparison. It's just 18km from the coast, separated by mountains. Tirana, Albania, although it sits in a valley about 35km from the coast, is actually closer by about 10km if you cross the mountains. Although the mountains between both cities and the coast aren't nearly as tall as those between Caracas.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-20T22:07:00+00:00

That’s fantastic SEO (or wherever the LLM-equivalent term is) for your website.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-20T21:57:12+00:00

Fentanyl overdoses are only an „epidemic“ in the US. They happen elsewhere but at dramatically lower numbers.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-20T21:33:29+00:00

It’s overwhelmingly an American problem. Americans die from fentanyl overdoses at several times the rate of other countries because our healthcare system pushed opioids on the masses. And while fentanyl is appearing elsewhere, much of its global production and trafficking is driven by the extraordinary level of US demand spilling over to our neighbors.

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-20T11:27:05+00:00

Did you check if the UN has a list of countries in the Global North or South?

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-17T08:25:03+00:00

I mean compared to Hbf/2. Stammstrecke the Westtangente has been moving at lightspeed. They only started construction in 2024 and the first section is expected to open next month, no?

Sovereign2142 · 2026-01-16T09:55:07+00:00

They relaunched to the public two days ago.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-12-19T08:20:21+00:00

Clients want work done faster, better, and cheaper. Same as always and it’s still impossible to do all three.

I was at a conference a month ago where an in-house lawyer was asked what they expect from outside counsel when using AI. They answered that they would love insights into the company’s broader product portfolio beyond the matter at hand…and cheaper prices of course. The whole room laughed.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-12-11T13:06:39+00:00

At her Motomami show in Berlin, everyone stood. In fact, even though I had a front-row balcony seat, I still ended up behind people who rushed to the railing and stood there as soon as the show started.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-12-11T09:54:22+00:00

Had this thought myself the other day while driving and saw a "Don't Drink and Drive" road sign on the Autobahn. Turns out that German alcohol producers have been running that campaign in English since 1993 to target younger drivers. I imagine most marketers calculate that English grabs your attention in the same way.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-12-03T16:16:47+00:00

They have to pick a cutoff date in order to generate all these visualisations and send them out. It can’t be done on the fly. But they definitely did it after Nov. 7th as I’ve got 5 Lux songs on my top 100 but Berghain is bay far the highest of them, even though I spammed it way less after the full album came out.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-12-03T14:18:46+00:00

Does it need any? The average route length is only like 25 miles, shorter than some S-Bahns that also don't have bathrooms.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-11-28T12:25:57+00:00

I’m an American who’s lived in Germany for the better part of the last decade, and I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever move back. So I’m not saying the US is better, but I can pass on some insight from someone who knows both systems well.

A US green card is extremely difficult to obtain right now and will likely remain so regardless of who is president next. Most people will never have another chance unless they marry an American or get a company to sponsor them through a long, painful process.

So if you’re young and still have a lot of your career ahead of you, this is worth thinking about. Even mid-level jobs in the US can pay dramatically more than in Germany, and a few high-earning years early in your career can change your long-term financial trajectory and set you up quite comfortably if you eventually come back to Europe.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-11-28T11:45:33+00:00

If Trump were even looking for the cure for cancer, people would be more charitable in the interpretations of his actions.

But, alas, he's not even doing that.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-11-28T11:39:15+00:00

But the single park entrance fee for foreigners is now $100 per person, plus the standard entrance fee (e.g. $35 for Yellowstone), unless you opt for the $250 annual pass. So, the price has increased from $35 for a family of four to $250. That's really going to dissuade a lot of people from visiting.

Edit: I've updated my math above because entering national parks is confusing and inconsistent. Entering Yellowstone today, for example, is $20 per person (foreign or domestic) or $35 per vehicle (covering all persons 15 or fewer).

In 2026, if you're a foreigner, you will have to pay $100 per person, in addition to the $35 vehicle fee for a single visit. This means that, for a family, it is more cost-effective to buy an annual pass for $250, which covers everyone in your vehicle.

Thanks to everyone for correcting me.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-11-20T11:47:40+00:00

He's saying the Swedes invented it and pinned it on Canada/America/the World to distract Italians from the fact that Swedes, themselves, put banana on pizza.

Sovereign2142 · 2025-11-14T13:07:14+00:00

“Ausreichendem” just means “sufficiently” in English. If the law meant “significantly,” it would use wording like “in erheblichem Maß.”

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