In a word, the big determining factors for your brother's path are "Curiosity", "Desire" and "Time". If he's got all three, he can start out with pretty much any language as long as he's got a tutorial or book that's simple enough for him to read, a simple development environment or testbed. Having some sort of project or goal in mind helps out, too. I was about 10 or 11 when I started out with Apple BASIC then I took on 6502 Assembly language (a must for any aspiring protection-cracking software pirate back then) and eventually took QBasic and Pascal once it was available in school. Most of my friends that had an interest in programming took a similar path except they started out with C64 BASIC or whatever came with their computer. As far as what languages to start with, I've seen some fun introductions to Python. With all sincerity, if your brother doesn't have at least two of those three factors working for him -- particularly the desire to learn -- then you'll probably be wasting your time. If your brother doesn't have the desire, you won't be able to teach him how to program a microwave oven.

To make a long story short, nobody cares. If you weren't ever prosecuted and the body was never recovered, why would your prospective employer care about the deed? If that job requires a Top Secret Security Clearance and your employer is willing to spend up to $20,000 to do a deep-tissue background check, chances are that brief mention in that silly little zine will be among the last of your worries. The next thing you should acknowledge that you're not going to be able to erase all traces of yourself and that zine. Aside from being a waste of time pondering it, you don't have the money or resources. There are people who have been trying to erase parts of history since the beginning of civilization. Everybody has at least one sexual encounter in their past that they regret whether it was with a snaggle-toothed woman, confused drunk man or thoroughly startled livestock. That's part of life. Own the f*** up or it will PWN you. All that said, the real lesson here is to Control Your Press – and it's never too late to start. Whether through the posting of blogs or articles, it's very possible to generate enough content of your choosing. By putting your name on it, Search Engine spiders will eventually come to embrace those links more than the ones connected to some ancient g-files from the 80s and 90s. Good luck and next time use protection.

Ugly Lesson #1: If a product or service is truly your baby and you're that emotionally attached to it, do NOT sell. Business is all about consumption and, just like food that gets consumed, it will never maintain the same state even minutes after it begins to get processed. Megacorp isn't interested in acquiring your company because you're a great bunch of guys. They want your product or some component of your product and they will do a great job with the foreplay to convince you to sell. More often than not they don't care about your vision or company mission; they want to incorporate your product into THEIR vision and they are only bringing your team along solely for the brain trust to further develop and act as the kernel of the future support structure for the product. Megacorps are also not into allowing the little guy to get leverage on them so, rest assured, they will do their best to make sure every inch of your product is documented to insure that you or anyone on your team can be replaced or "downsized" at will.

Ugly Lesson #2: If the offer is enough to satisfy you and your partners, consider selling the product and not the entire company. Use the infusion of capital to grow the business or, if it's that much money, take up a new career sport fishing off the coast of the Caribbean island of your choice.

Ugly Lesson #3: If you decide to sell, you are going to need to adjust your expectations. Any kind of merger or acquisition is a lot like a marriage. The early foreplay and sex is phenomenal but once the honeymoon is over, Megacorp will stop with the romance and start acting real because they now have what they wanted. Throw any idealistic impressions of how things âoewill beâ out the window because now you are working for them. You will abide by all their policies (not just the ones you like). You will go along with whatever they say, regardless of how much it might bother you, and if you protest too much they won't think twice about throwing you out like a javelin. Even Steve Jobs got fired from Apple once upon a time. Unless they have somehow breached the contract, you can't take your company or your product back once the deal is done.

If you want to love and nurture a baby, do yourself a favor and go ahead and have a baby. Don't make the mistake of loving a business like a baby because, quite candidly, you never know if that child is going to die young (which happens most often) or it will grow up to find a cure for Cancer or become Frankenstein's Monster. A business is a business, a vehicle to make money by providing a product or service (and hopefully its something you love to do). My advice -- if you are going to sell your company, sell it, walk away and don't look back. A quote comes to mind: "Remember Lot's Wife".