From a purely mathematical point of view you are incorrect.

The proof isn't that there's less than 70million units between each prime (like there's a lot of primes with a gap of two units eg 29 and 31, 41 and 43 etc). the proof is that there's in infinite number of prime pairs with a maximum of 70 million units between them.
You can still find gaps significantly larger. Those gaps are present between numbers that are NOT prime pairs.

eg: 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 39 40 41 42 43 44
Here there is a prime pair with a 2 unit gap between them (41 and 43), however the number 37 has a larger gap on either side, because it is not a part of a "prime pair". In your thinking you are excluding the primes that are NOT paried, and the gaps between where one pair ends and another begins. Each of which, according to the proof still has the ability to exceed 70 million units.

Disclaimer: I did not fully read the proof posted in annals of mathematics, but I'm pretty certain that this is the gist of it

Given that the only "real use" for large primes is cryptography, I was in my nerd mindset thinking that this means that there will now be a near finite amount of processing power required to break algorithms.

However, I keep comming back to xkcd aswell: http://xkcd.com/538/

Well, I can add that here in the EU, we have many different laws, so we can actually measure the difference, and have many road safety studies done also regarding cellphone usage.

And one of the remarkable things was a Swedish study (in Sweden there is no hands-free driving laws) some years ago that showed that the act of conversing over a phone was what distracted you, not the fact that you held the phone in your hands.Thus pretty much shooting a big hole in the "hands-free lobby"s argumentation. As far as I remember it, they did however allow for police to make a judgement call and ticket drivers talking on the phone while driving, if it is determined that the driver is driving not driving responsibly due to use of the phone.

Here in my country, the cops just fine you for talking on a hand held phone, but handsfree and texting (which is proven equally bad, or texting which is probably worse) is for some reason OK. Even the cops I talk to sometimes apologize for handing out a ticket for something they think shouldn't be a ticket-able offense.

My take on things is that the laws dont keep up with the science and the people using it, if we keep making laws that tell us what NOT to do.

You may be correct.
I also noted another post later which indicated that maybe the point of the controller was not to actually mimic real life, but to allow the player control his avatar better. And in that respect this type of controller will definitely fail.
But the idea of putting your "mouse aim" in a headset, and your movement on a treadmill, allowing you to "only" have to control a much smaller number of functions would seem beneficial, in that the human computer you mention will also be better able to cope with "running, turning your head and pressing a button" than actual hand-eye coordination deciding which 6 buttons to press instead. If the controller allows for more accurate movement controls (and I'm sure later versions will), and we present people with an option to actually get some exercise while playing, I'm all for that. I'd venture a guess that the jumping and movement of the WII controller was a large part of why parents (like myself) allowed their kids to play with these types of consoles: It provides a false impression that your kid is actually playing something "real".

As are kneeling, crawling, zooming, jumping. backpedaling, activating stuff (opening doors etc.) and other functions. I would also venture a guess that rotation gets done a lot quicker on the PC than on a treadmill as I didn't notice the kid moving much more than 40-60 degrees in any direction in a hurry. I'm guessing because the system is slow or inaccurate in response to this type of movement.
And I'm sure I can "easily" win using these techniques, when fighting someone who hasn't got those options.

While it may just be a matter of integrating these functions into the controller (possibly in the gun), these are lacking, and often used functions. I also see some limitations in that it would probably be difficult to integrate this into tank/airplane/helo movement, for vehicles, and chutes, ropes, ladders and ziplines in other games. But for a customized game this would be nice. Unfortunately I have seen too many controllers that only support a few games die because they lack the option to be used in other games. Light guns, VR goggles, the 360 orb, the gaming glove and a few others spring to mind (Yes, I have spent far too much cash on gaming, I know)

I'd love to back the development though, and will definitely sign up for the kickstarter when it goes public. I'd also love to buy one of these eventually.... But I doubt my GF would let me keep it....

and i'm sure this kind of tech is just something that will be given away ;)

Fine, then why should I not just go pirate the latest [insert name of big US recording star here] if I am only violating US law and I am not a US citizen ?

We happen to live in a global world, Globalization is a fact that business will have to deal with. This includes American businesses aswell as Chinese, German and everyone else.

Agreed, court orders, mandates etc. will be difficult to enforce across national borders. that doesn't mean that a company doing business in a country wont comply with local laws there just the same. No one needs the aggravation of fighting legal battles, getting a bad reputation etc. Sometimes it's a lot easier to comply than to complain.

Yes, or.... Which has been the debate over here, the hired labor costs maybe underbidding the local labor costs. Thus displacing local talent because of the cost. Most businesses doesn't run on philanthropy after all, which makes it a legislation issue to protect local jobs (albeit fighting globalization would seem futile)

We've had examples of companies (well at least one that got some press) where they show one contract to immigration services that shows the foreign IT hires as getting at least minimum wages. but the local hires also had another contract stating how much they would ACTUALLY get and that they'd be fired or fined if they did not lie about their salary to immigrations.

I was appalled, and quit the company shortly after. I continue to be amazed at the lengths people will go to turn a profit.Professional businesses should be able to see the huge impact illegal or immoral activities can have on their sales, brand or reputation in the market.and no secret is safe enough that it will never become public knowledge.

While the OP did say "old dog new tricks" and all that. I'd also consider maybe asking Bob, as the creator of the system, to maybe learn a new technology, and compare it to his own, to make a side-by-side comparison of the features and possiblities of a new vs old system. Maybe even ask him to port a few of the documents to show feasibility of doing this. Then have him present his findings to the rest of the team. If he's a professional, he'll either come up with a whole new set of changes he wants on the old system (because I'll bet any new system has a lot fo smart features his hasn't being 10 years old and all), or he'll see that the new system is a good way to store stuff, and clean up the old documents at the same time.

If Bob has the gatekeeper syndrome, then putting him in charge of the transition, will simply make him the gatekeeper of a new and improoved system. Which if he can see the benefits of the transition, would make him feel even more appreciated.

In my view: The important part is to not criticise his system, but let him do it himself. He KNOWS the flaws of the old system. Getting him to admit them will make it easier for him to see why the system needs to be updated.

Well, You're absolutely correct. That IS the problem with xDSL. That the DSLAM is too far away to provide decent connection. Many countries/areas in Europe and Asia that doesn't use fiber, "simply" places a LOT of DSLAMs close to the customers. Admittedly, if you can only service 2-3 people with it, you'll likely not want to make that investment as a provider.

My guess here is that with the fiber close by, and if this is a small town, the effort of setting up a new DSLAM or other infrastructure might not be that big, compared to the extra earnings from selling higher speeds to the customers.

Hence the reason for my suggestion to get the neighbours to sign LOIs that they'll buy the higher speed or better service if it's offered to them. This might show a good business case to the current provider. I'll go out on a limb too, and believe that the area might not have competitors simply because it's so scarecly populated that there's little incentive for competition.

Well, the projects I have been running have all been based on either wifi or xDSL. So I can pretty much only provide my expertise in these areas, BUT......
I see a couple of possibilities:

1) Contact the preexisting DSL provider in your area, and tell them that fiber is now available in the area. Ask them if they would be willing to provide a new DSLAM in the area connected to the fiber, which would boost the speed of the internet considerably (if the DSLAM is within a mile or two you should easily be able to get a stable 20 Mbit connection, which I assume is better than what you have now). Its always easier to lobby someone else to do the job they're supposed to, than it is to start competing with them......

2) Contact the people providing the fiber and ask them what servicepartners they have that are last-mile providers. Contact some of them and ask if they would be intrested in setting up shop in your town. Get the local populace to sign a letter of intent, that they will switch providers, if they can get better or faster internet at the same or lower cost..... Again with the lobbying, but it's an easy way out

3) Consider setting your own lastmile service up. But use xDSL connections or wifi, because FTTH would require that you start digging fiber to each house. I doubt you could make a profit on that if you're a one-man operation. In a hilly area, get a permit to set up repeater antennas on the highest areas. I'm sure you have cell service in the area too, so ask the local cell providers if you could use their towers. Usually, they have the permits in place, and you'd just have to pay rent, or simply swap services with them (your internet for their towers), if you can find someone who'll go for a straight swap..... This option requires a lot of footwork, and negotiation, but it's possible even in an industrialized and regulated society, it's just a lot harder than in Africa ;)

4) Get a group of friends together and work out a division of labour, make plans and set them into motion... More people = less burden on the individual.

I'd say it's possible, but if the market was big enough that you could live of it, then I'm sure you'd have more than one provider covering your area at the moment. So dont expect to get rich in anything except experiences :D

True. As a matter of fact. Speed doesn't kill. At least over here in Europe it doesn't. Speedlimits have just been raised on local danish highways from 80 to 95 mph. (110 kph to 130 kph), and what we saw was that the number of fatalities actually went DOWN....

While politician scrambled to reverse their positions on speed kills, a few smart people actually noted that what had happened during that same period of time was that general traffic safety measured had gone way up. Including speed control. ie. we no longer had a lot of people doing 150-200 mph, because now the police meticulously stopped pretty much everyone going faster than the limit.

So while the number of accidents still went up last year, the number of injured and fatalities went down, because of increased traffic safety and awareness. So I'm all for higher speed limits, as long as traffic safety is still number 1....

Unfortunately, I dont think the article is available in english, but feel free to use google translate:

http://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/trafik/article4776883.ece

This algorithm may be able to idenify sideeffects when combining medicines.

However, sideeffects are by definition only negative. Once "results" rather than side effects are put through the same algorithm, we may be able to identify better and cheaper ways to combat disease. And we may even be able to find cures for known diseases with combinations of drugs that have never been tested before.

It's all about the data.

In my country it's common to talk about salaries openly, for the express reason that this way as employees, you understand that if someone gets more than you, they're likely contributing more, so if you want more, you have to increase your value.

Now, in "street speak", this translates to: older employees have to learn new skills. As a consultant, I often have to learn stuff before everyone else, because it's expected of me that I can teach the stuff that everyone else has just heard about.
And I'm ok with that. My salary isn't as high as it has been, but its still ok. MY problem is that IF the company I work with decides to bring in a couple of new kids with some hot skills, then the minute their skills are no longer hot, who gets the boot when that's all THEY know, and they're also the most expensive colleagues around ? If they were paid the same, the choice would not be one of money, but of skill and compatability. And if everything keeps going strong, and the expensive new kids are not fired, then everyone else in the department will start asking: "Hey, if we can afford to pay THEM this much, then why can't we afford to pay US the same ?" And THAT will be expensive for the company.

If You need the skills now, but are not willing to increase Your general salary levels to a point where you can attract those skills, then you use consultants. Yes, they're more expensive, but You pay double for a year, after that your own guys should be able to take over at the normal costs, and then you only have to contend with inflation and normal payraises. Depending on the size of your staff, you'll have saved the extra cash spent in 2-3 years easily.

It is my understanding that most major (but timelimited) projects are staffed this way today.

It's not. Cosumer protection is very efficient in Europe. Only if he looses and wants to appeal will it cost him a bundle.Then again, if he looses it'll cost him a bundle anyway ;)

I'll withhold judgement untill I get a decently translated version of his allegations, but frivolous suits are rarely brought in Europe, because only the accused have the right to free counsel, usually.So for the time being I'll assume that the company has tried to reason with the guy first.