Right, but none of that applies to Apple stock. They don't pay out dividends.

> A: Apple does not currently pay dividends on its common stock. Apple paid dividends from June 15, 1987 to December 15, 1995.

(Also see http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/25/on-apples-40-billion-and-whether-they-should-pay-dividends-or/ )

> If you are holding long term, then you can make money on dividends

Apple doesn't pay dividends, which is why I chose them as an example.

And I still don't understand what drives it.

Take Apple stock. What's the actual value in buying Apple stock? The only value seems to be from selling it again to someone else who wants to buy it so that they can sell it again to someone at a higher price.

Is that really it, or is there something that I'm missing?

In real numbers, there is no such thing as the number 8.99999..991

There is in hyperreals, but not reals. Where are you reading that from?

The KDE C++ math classes are "eigen": http://eigen.tuxfamily.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
This is just a library (well actually a set of inline header files)

More generally, there are programs like "maxima" (symbolic manipulation, integration, etc) and "octave" (like mathlab).

I would love to see more work go into maxima :)

> And if your just using skype for calls to regular phones you really are missing out, skype typically have much worse rates/packages than most standard sip providers

It's good enough though, and simple to setup for my friends and family, and works on linux and windows.

> So you pay for a proprietary service? If you start talking to all your clients through skype, what happens if they decide to crank up the prices?

Then I switch to a different service? There are various equivalent services that can dial normal phone numbers.

> By locking yourself into a proprietary service like that you are taking a step backwards.

I'm not locked in at all. There's absolutely nothing preventing me from switching to a another SIP service or to a BT landline. My clients would not notice.

I'm a contractor living in the UK and have a customer in Germany and a customer in Finland. I speak to them every single weekday for half an hour (daily scrum..) and do so by skype.

I use a "real phone" (the N900) and I dial their real phone. My N900 uses the wireless connection in my house to connect to skype. They can even call me since skype gives me a real phone number. I do pay for both services, but it's not very much.

It's not even hard or complex to setup. The N900 comes with skype built into it. I give it my login details for skype (or create a new account) and then when I make a phone call it asks if I want to use the normal phone system or skype. And that's it.

And even better, if the other side does have skype, the call is free and can have video as well (the N900 has a second small video camera for that purpose). I have used this when I have to travel and want to talk to my baby.

Hah, yes. I always just use the gregorian date and so far noone has complained. But birth dates do seem to be always in the year of the emperor.

No, like that 99% of the time when they aren't doing anything.

Someone has to pay for that too.

What about the running costs of the fire department? What about all the time the firefighters weren't doing anything but still on time?

What useless rhetoric. Next up, there are some people who are in favor of taxes but still do tax evasion. And some people are in favor of police, but still commit crimes.

Kinda. The report is a bit light on details, but it sounds like he tried to get the police and court to force Animalcare to reveal the details. But Animalcare had not done anything wrong, hence their refusal.

It doesn't sound like he tried to get the police or courts to just get his dog back instead.

I do occasionally see ads I'm interested in, but sometimes they get a bit creepy.

For example, I'm looking for a house near where I live. I used a particular website to look for properties. The next day I go to youtube to listen to some music, and on the right it's got a flash ad from the property website, showing houses for sale exactly where I was looking and in the price range. I was actually interested in a few of the properties that it showed and click on a few. But the whole thing was a bit unnerving!