That's a feature, but it's not a good feature to have (for Bitcoin). A currency's success is measured by its ability to facilitate commercial transactions, not by its ability to make you rich simply by holding it. That's what *investments* are for. Currency isn't an investment and shouldn't be.

The fact that there could never be any more Bitcoins ever again would encourage speculation and hoarding, which is not what you want from a medium of exchange.

If you're worried about currency devaluation and put some of your money/time into Bitcoins, that makes sense as a hedge against inflation (ie. an investment), but nothing more.

Yes. And you can't have an intelligent designer without an intelligent designer designer.

From there it's turtles all the way down.

Indeed. I'm a bigger fan of the GPL in most cases, but there is room enough in the world for both camps (crazy talk, I know). Now you have your compiler under a suitable license for you and your fellow travelers.

[citation needed]

I think you know the answer to your question of why certain technology must be outlawed or taxed more. It's because by the time the technology becomes cheaper than fossil fuels we will have already done the damage.

I'll meet you half way and say, lets just get rid of all the implicit subsidies for fossil fuels that already exist and then tax people on the externalities they create. Hell, that in and of itself might be enough to make renewables cost effective.

I'm reasonably sure we're past the point of no return, so it might not even matter.

Yes, criminal copyright infringement is that way. Civil infringement is a strict liability tort. That means you're on the hook even if you took reasonable steps not to infringe and did not ever intend to infringe.

So you could still be on the hook for the infringement of copyright if a copyright owner took you to civil court. Going to federal PMITA prison would require mens rea.

Echoing SiriusStarr, make sure you install the tweak tool and get familiar with the shortcuts.

I complained like crazy when Debian Sid went to GNOME 3.0. I moved to XFCE + Compiz for awhile until I decided to give it another try. It took a few weeks to get used to, but now that I have retrained myself and gotten used to it, I wouldn't go back.

I don't think its for everyone and the fact that 3.0 was very unconfigurable is what gave everyone a heart attack. It's getting better. Some people will never like it, and that's fine. Different strokes for different folks.

If they're in another country, it's hard to get them to pay anything in a civil case, DMCA or otherwise. I don't know what to tell you other than "talk to a lawyer".

Yes, that's generally the case. On an "at will" contract, you can be terminated for any reason that isn't explictily illegal. If the employer believes they were fired for an illegal reason, they have to make the case. The assumption is that terminations are for legal reasons absent evidenct to the contrary.

The "double standard" is because EULAs are designed to restrict what you can do with a piece of software over and above what copyright does to restrict you. The GPL and other FOSS licenses give you rights you don't already have.

I respect the GPL because it recognises one thing that EULAs never recognise -- the unlimited right to run the program.

I've got a Math degree (not Math Education, mind you, just plain Math). I couldn't find a job to save my life for awhile, but sooner or later I took a tech support job and was moved up to Quality Assurance and may one day move into development.

One thing I *want* to do, but just don't have the fortitude to do is take some of the actuary exams. If your wife is a standard math nerd, doing actuarial work should be right up her alley.

I guess she can really do whatever she wants. A lot of place will just take anyone that isn't an idiot that has a degree. I'm sure anything that she wants to do will be rewarding in and of itself.

I'm not too bothered by it all. As a wise man once said, I don't mind if I have to pay, so long as the people who've been pocketing my premiums also have to pay. Of course that was about insurance, but the same principle applies.

I don't care if I get anything out of it, just as long as the cocksuckers have to pay.

Even though the U.S. dollar is experiencing rampant inflation in 2012

This is a false statement, unless you consider low single digits to be rampant.

The CPI and BPP bear this out. The CPI is done by the government, so if there was enough of a conspiracy, they could conspire to keep the official numbers down. I don't think any alleged conspiracy could reach the BPP.

That is exactly what they do, however instead of calling it a civil union they call it marriage. It's incredibly confusing for most people. Doubly so when the people who do the "state" marriage is performed at the same time as the "religion" marriage.

I agree though. If you want "tax/property benefits" you get "civil unioned". If you want God to sanction you, you get "married".

Agreed.

It'd be like saying you're going to boycott the federal government. The only way you can do it is to move to a different country.