I flew to the US from Australia a couple of months ago to do the New York Marathon, and I didn't really find the security too big a problem. It's there, it's a bit painful, but quickly forgotten by me. Certainly wouldn't stop me flying there again.
Been a while since I read this in my C++ days but highly recommended.
The communication medium may be the messenger. But would the rioting and looting have taken off to the same extent without Blackberries and Twitter?
They aren't culpable, but it seems reasonable to explore ways to help prevent this happening in future.
The marginal cost of copies after the first is precisely zero for software.
And the first copy sold doesn't pay for the cost of development - for the current version or any future versions.
You assume that, in the absence of piracy, that some of those people would have purchased, but there's no basis for the assumption beyond the notion that somebody likely would have paid. Maybe somebody would or maybe somebody wouldn't have, but it's completely speculative as we don't know what would have happened.
So because it is inevitably speculative, you think "oh well, piracy is ok because we can't *prove* income was definitely lost"? It's a reasonable assumption that *some* income is lost, even if it is speculative.
And ultimately, another key issue is whether it is right or wrong to appropriate someone's efforts against their wishes.
You made the mistake of using the term "stealing" instead of "infringing copyright". Those on slashdot who have probably never written a line of code in their life will latch on to this like ticks, and avoid the real issue - that infringing copyright costs software developers money. The BSA may exaggerate the amounts, many infringers may not have bought the software if they had to pay, but some sales and some income is undoubtably lost.
Of course, I'm not saying that all programmers have to become admins to remain in technical jobs, but it is a very common path and there are very few programmers who are still programming into their 40's.
Not true. I've been programming professionally for 20 years (in my 40's), I work with another programmer in his 40's, and many of my friends are in their 40's still programming.
By issuing rapid tiny orders increasing in value, traders using HFT can quickly determine the maximum price that common traders are willing to pay. Knowing the buyer's limit price gives a seller an unfair advantage.
HFT increases liquidity and narrows the bid/ask spread, which helps the common trader. But it can also be used to determine the maximum price that common traders are willing to pay, which is cheating.
I bumped into him about 5 years ago, and he was a married roofing tiler with 3 kids and his own business. A little bit of compassion and the firm guidance of a firm but fair adult can turn any juvenile delinquent around.
Nice to hear a good news story. Good for you and him.
Yes, it's an impressive cathedral, and the Magna Carta is definitely worth a look. Old Sarum, the original Salisbury, is an interesting place too. It's very close by.
It always surprises me that you *can* walk away from a mortgage that is underwater in the US.
You certainly can't just hand over the keys in Australia - you'll still get pursued for the remaining debt after the house is sold by the bank.
Actually insuring debt (e.g. against bond defaults) is an important component of investment banking. Look up credit default swaps for example (obviously in need of regulation!).
Frequent trading is very important in helping to make markets liquid. That's why market makers are very useful. Without liquidity, no-one knows what anything is worth.
So yes, there is a lot of automated trading machines around, but they still do make a useful contribution to market liquidity.
Dick Fuld may have taken a lot of money out of Lehman Brothers over the last decade ($500 million?) but I'd still rather have my life than his life nowadays.
But here's the thing.. The money is circulating for no particular reason. There are not goods and services being exchanged in the frequent trading financial sector.
The money is circulating for very good reasons. Companies with revenue in one currency are hedging against expenditure in another, insuring debt, hedging fixed term interest rates against floating rates, primary producers are hedging their crop prices, miners are hedging the price they receive for what they mine and so on.
Granted, there are a lot of speculators out there. But most financial instruments out there were invented to mitigate risk and for hedging (ok, maybe CDOs were just invented to make money!).
Oh I see. It is ok to infringe to *avoid* paying money, but not so when it comes to *making* money. Right.
Our OS who art in CPU, UNIX be thy name. Thy programs run, thy syscalls done, In kernel as it is in user!
