I think part of the problem is that a lot of inventions are really just the next logical step from current systems, and especially when you have a lot of independent groups working in similar areas, the chance of inventing something truly unique is quite low. One of the problems with the patent system, I think, is that it affords the first "inventor" an enormous advantage over everyone else who might also come up with the same idea independently.

I'm not saying there aren't often genuine inventions and patent worthy things, but a lot of stuff that is just an iteration beyond what went before isn't really an invention...

Personally, I hate it when someone touches my screen and leaving behind smeary fingerprints when they're trying to point to something. It can only get worse If they actually get to control my system by doing that...

That said, there are occasions when it'd be handy, but it's not something I'd want the majority of the time.

Maybe the US government, but historically European governments have issued bonds to raise capital, although this has the unfortunate consequence that a substantial portion of all future taxes just goes to pay the interest on previously issued bonds. It's only relatively recently that "quantative easing" has been seen as a viable option by governments over here, but even then it's reserved for emergencies because if overused it would inevitably result in massive currency devaluation and then hyperinflation.

I think it's significant that lower powered devices such as Arduinos are starting to become more popular, and C is the natural if not the only choice for a lot of these types of chips.

DO NOT DO THIS. Seriously, whether you like their coding style or not, there's better things you can be doing - for example your own work. But reformatting someone else's code (or even worse, restructuring it) can make it impossible for them if they're still working on the code and need to merge their code back in to what you've turned it in to, or for them to fix bugs in that code later on.

There's also the very strong likelihood that you won't actually understand all the subtleties of the code and you'll break something in the process. I remember a junior programmer doing this at a previous company who refactored and reformatted the code of a colleague who was about 20 years older, so basically the same situation. The younger guy's check-in comment: "Refactored code to look nicer". The older guy's next check-in comment: "Refactored code back to working" (he reverted the entire changeset back to his version).

So, the upshot is that at best you're just going to make the other's guy's life harder, at worst you're going to break the code in the process.

Personally, my golden rule is to change the minimum possible with each check-in, unless the task is specifically to refactor or rewrite a big chunk of code. If that means temporarily abandoning your preferred code style to work in a style that's consistent with the code area you're working in, then do so. Of course, that's what coding standards are for - to try to ensure the style is uniform is the same across a project, but that's often not possible across language boundaries or on projects that have merged.

The OP states he only has linux in the house. I did this exact same thing a few years back, using abcde which is an interface to cdparanoia and cddb.

I set up an automounter script that automatically ran abcde when a CD disc is inserted. It reads the TOC in a couple of seconds and asks you to confirm the CDDB entries, which in most cases is just pressing enter twice. When it's finished it can even eject the disc for you. I'd literally just pop to the computer room every 10 minutes or so and just swap the disc and let it carry on. Probably about 10 seconds per disc.