Stupid patent tricks: wait until Chris, Jan, and Sue hear about this

IBM has received a patent for using first names to determine and assign gender to avatars: Slashdot - IBM's Teri-is-a-Girl-and-Terry-is-a-Boy Patent. If the name can be used by people of either gender, such as the case of Pat, then the user will be assigned a"generic, genderless human figure image as his or her avatar."

Johnny Cash sings "A Boy Named Sue":