I know some researchers use it although many also use the Unreal engine (which is free under certain conditions).

That is mainly because any moron can drive a car and thus it is far more likely to be killed due to the driver than due to the machine. And the government doesn't review code that flies planes (Boeing would have a major fit over that), they mainly make sure that certain maintenance has been done and safety measures taken, similar to having your car inspected.

Even if it did, where are you going to go. Nice communications you've got there, it would be a shame...

In practically any market in the US, there are only ~2-5 players, all of them collude on prices and service.

I have a gun, thank you for stocking up for me.

It is useless at this point even if it had no false positives. It can only 'predict' earthquakes with an error margin of days. Any seasoned geologist can do that these days, we've known about earthquake predictors for quite some time and given the measurements, you can predict an impending earthquake quite successfully. The problem is what to do with the data. We can't "fix" earthquakes or stop them before they happen. If you predict an earthquake in San Fransisco or Tokyo that may happen in the next 30 days give or take 10 days, how are you going to evacuate that city for a month?

Even if you simply warn people, you are going to incite panic, riots and looting. And the first time it doesn't quite predict it right on the money, people will lose their trust in the system even though it is scientific and a statistically significant prediction. Or it will be used for someone's financial gain.

The only thing we can do about earthquakes is move people away permanently from earthquake zones. The problem is that people like to live in earthquake zones because it's cheap and earthquakes are generally (with the right construction methods etc) not that bad.

I faxed a copy. Nothing anyone can't generate online/fake.

Doesn't mean he can't. Plugins can be licensed differently than the main software (eg. nVidia drivers in the Linux kernel).

Copyright may belong to the company but does not mean the license can be assigned an open license or even become public domain. Where in the world do you work that all companies are vehemently against licensing their work openly.

The company may own it, but if it's licensed openly, depending on the license, he may be able to take it and work on it later in a private setting.

All software I develop, even for companies is licensed under GPL and published in public. I have contracts that describe that my work is done as such and I alter any form contracts that specify otherwise. I so far have not had a whole lot of pushback on the issue after I describe the benefits to the ones in charge (the biggest benefit for them being that I as a company/contractor/developer do not close the software I make for them and they are thus free to find another developer).

Depending on your position and relationship with your employer and their understanding of the ramifications, you may be able to convince them.

Copyright holders can't change the license retroactively in most open licenses. Once it's distributed/sold, the license prevails over the whims of a holder.

I have. If you develop, with the consent of your boss, open sourced software, your boss can't retroactively change the license once it has been distributed. I do not sign non-compete nor IP contracts and develop GPL under my name by contract.

If you're entitled (by contract) they can't change the terms. The issue with staying is that you hit the job market at the same time as your ex co-workers giving you less of a chance for a good negotiation.

All this talk about where you work and contracts is irrelevant if the code is licensed to be freely shared and modified. Make sure your company understands the benefits of open source, then have them allow you to develop under said license. When you decide to incorporate under a different entity, you can resell the open source code using your private resources.

No it's not. There are second rate citizens all over the world, refugees in Europe for example or Tibetans in China.

Although poverty has some influence on 'petty' criminality such as theft and drug use, education levels and religion are the main correlation in assault and rape crimes.

Given that in urban US there are many that are anti-education and pro-religion, the cycle will repeat itself.

Why in the hell would anyone train their replacement though? If you see your job forcibly being taken over by someone else, I would say screw you and walk away.

I live in a 'tract' housing. I don't mind doing the work, the cost is very cheap (60k for 2500sqft vs 300k for 1500 sqft), even if you have to gut/raze the building and rebuild, that would be cheaper than a plot of open land 2 miles away.

I don't know where you live but in the US you're not allowed to just strip lead paint from walls or asbestos and trash it. You need a professional asbestos/lead abatement, permits, trash and dust handling etc.