The idea of a will has existed for quite a while now. And your loved ones will, in all likeliness, find it a lot more useful if you leave them a dead-tree folder with all the collected information on insurances, people to notify, financial information etc. Much less creepy than postmortem emails, and less likely to end up in the spam filter. Not to mention that such a folder is useful in other situations too, such as if you have an accident and end up incapable of taking care of your affairs.

I'm as big a fan of Germany and European democracy as the next man. But Roman democracy was hardly the same thing as modern democracy.

*cough* Greek democracy came first...

And the Romans weren't that different, really. You were a citizen, you got a vote. And their tribus system for voting (you vote in your district, then the district gives one collective vote) is no different from the current US system. The only real difference I can see is that voting rights weren't universal, but when you think that Switzerland didn't allow women to vote until well into the 1970s, that's not that "unmodern" either. Personal wealth as a factor of how much your vote counts for was still around in the 1900s too.

The constitution worked as well for them. They had the mos maiorum, and enough of a legal system that laws were well published, could be changed and abolished. In the late republic, legal representation was available too, and while bribes were involved, it also worked along the principles of proof. There's a reason why Roman Law is the basis of European legal systems. They had the senate to function as a parliament, the consuls, praetors etc. as the elected government, and the tribunes of the plebs as the checks and balance system who could even call all citizens in to vote for major issues.

The Romans actually had a very modern approach to elections, too. You could buy votes, bribe other candidates, lobby your way into getting the support of parts of the elite, spread rumours, marry a woman of an influential family... and if it all didn't help, you claimed a god told you it was okay. You tell me where that's different from what happens in modern democracies.

American labour law is shocking. I had a choice a few years ago between contracts based on American and German law. The American contract had a considerably better salary, but only a third of the annual vacation time, minimal health insurance, could be terminated within two weeks rather than two months, and of course no paid sick leave...

I took the German contract, and I've never regretted it. The salary may have been lower, but I was safe when I broke my leg, didn't have to limp into the office on the first day out of hospital, and it didn't hit me financially because it was all covered by state insurance.

Given the choice, I'd never work under an American contract.

From what I understand, in some countries you can take indefinite "sick" leave, without doctor's note nor explanation. After your regular leave is up, you then earn 50%. After a period, the gov't pays it. When you're "better", you can just show back up to work, and they're obliged to give you either your original position back, or a comparable one.

In Austria you can take indefinite sick leave, but you need a doctor's note. After three days it's mandatory, but your employer can demand it on the first day. However, the doctor's visit is paid for so you don't incur any costs there.

Typically the doctor will write you a slip that covers the time he expects the illness will take to be cured. If it's not over by then, you come in for another visit and get it prolongued.

The employer has to cover the salary for the first week, after that the full salary is paid for by the government health insurance. Theoretically indefinitely, as long as your employer doesn't fire you and your doc still agrees that you're ill. There is no thing such as sick days or unpaid sick leave here. When you're ill, you stay at home until you're better.

Dubious product qualities aside, 1.3 billion Chinese won't want to touch it. "Bing" (pronounced like non-Chinese people are likely to) means "illness" or "plague". It's a really common word.

The whole idea of having an OS is that it's supposed to give me a platform on which I can run programs with no extra fuss required. Windows does that. MacOS X does that. Linux does too, but it takes a lot more effort. I'm not at a computer to tinker with the OS, I'm here to get something done.

The papers here in Austria say that according to the minister of science/research, part of the funds will be allocated, but not necessarily all of them. They aren't saying anything about specific new projects yet, only that it frees up 20 million Euros a year.

Seems like the first indications are coming up that the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. The newest numbers apparently are 26 confirmed cases in total, and 7 deaths. With 2500 suspected cases (and the WHO estimate of the real number of cases ten times that high), it's no more lethal than any other flu.

It's simply too early still to really call the numbers on it, and the rate of infection is going to matter. But from the looks of it, it's way too early to panic.

We just got the details, and it's not just the seriously wealthy. Half a million Euro (650,000 USD) is enough for you to turn into an enemy of the working class.

Half a million - that's your family home for 300,000, plus retirement fund savings and a few insurances and things like a car. It's not a sum that's incredibly hard to reach for middle-class people.

Anyone with enough money that qualifies as "wealth" would protest, but there are far too many people who see that kind of thing as a great solution. Never underestimate the envy of those who think the rich bastards don't deserve what they've got.

I'm Austrian, and the social democrats in power are talking about implementing a "wealth tax". Nobody is quite sure yet what exactly they want to tax and what will be exempt, but the idea is not as outlandish as it seems.

They'll also scare off a disproportionatley large group of customers. Pretty much every study on consumer behaviour in the last years says that the LGBT market is the fastest-growing with a lot of spending potential, and these are people who'll spend more money than average on books. They're also more likely to do online shopping. Not the kinds of people you want to annoy in your online business.

Absolutely with you on Thief and Civ 3&4.

The Caesar series is another one. C2 improved on C1 with new possibilities, C3 took it to perfection, and anything that came after that, along with all the spin-offs, did nothing but "simplify" the bits that were so much fun in C3.

If you think of Judeo-Christian values, I suggest you take a look at Catholic churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Europe. You'll find plenty of statues of her as she breastfeeds baby Jesus. Visible nipples are occasional extras.

Judeo-Christian values frown upon sex in a lot of ways, but they don't consider breastfeeding to be sexually connotated.

It surprises me that Amazon.com is only making this move now. I work for a company that supplies Amazon Germany, along with a number of retail customers. The retailers get the standard 5-layer cardboard box with product pictures, information etc., while Amazon has their own mail order box - sturdier, different info on the outside, and with a designated spot to stick the address label on. In the household product sector, it's been a standard for years by now.