I'm a developer and primarily develop in Java. However, I do program in Python from time to time. Without getting into a Holy War about scripting versus strongly typed languages, I will say that I would take less money to program in Java. I just enjoy it more. It probably has more to do with familiarity than Java being "better", but the syntax, third party tools, third party libraries, IDEs, etc. all contribute to the satisfaction of programming in that language.

For a second I thought Slashdot was starting to get into sports reporting.

What would your cost basis be for miners? Could you count the cost of electricity and equipment or would it be considered zero?

...as it zips by us at nearly 385 cheetahs.

Someone needs a sarcasm detector.

I feel like we are in the process of defining a superhero.

This is a challenging option in a corporate environment when you need to hire someone to support said framework after you have left the company unexpectedly.

They are not tiles anymore. They are colored runes. Five colors to be specific. Some runes work well together. Other runes are enemy colors and can't be played together.

The title must be a joke. I can't even read 464 pages in 24 hours let alone be able to run the exercises necessary to actually learn it.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

A touching story about focusing one what matters in life from the point of view of a nerdy geek with months to live.

I "Like" all my representatives regardless of party and whether or not I agree with them. In essence what I want to do is "follow" them so I can keep tabs on what my representative's PR machine is pumping out.

This is great. If real embarrassing information is leaked, they can just claim it was part of this program...

You make some really solid points.

1. This is a choice (albeit usually a steady income is chosen over trying to market and distribute material yourself.
2. I wouldn't marginalize the indirect benefit. Actors still get paid well.

That may be true. But piracy is not just culture items. What about software? As a software engineer it would be nice to create an Android app and sell it and not have to worry about one person buying it and then everyone else getting it for free. I deserve (maybe) more than 99 cents for the effort I put into creating the game. I agree with patent reform (the current state of software patents makes me more scared to create that Android game than piracy) and reducing copy-write limitations (great video about the history of it). 28 years is plenty for me. If people still want to buy version 1.0 of my software after 28 years, then the masses can have it!

ps. I appreciate your time in having this constructive debate.

I'm not philosopher, but one of the reasons our society works is that there is general agreement that we own the product of our labors. In many cases we transfer that ownership to our employers for exchange of a steady income. If piracy were widespread and accepted, there would be many talented folks who would not expend the effort to create software, music, movies, etc. because they would get nothing tangible in return.

You could argue that we should all work for the good of society as a whole, but in the real world communism doesn't work. The important thing to do is find a balance between capitalism and individual rights. The creator should have the choice of whether they want to give it to everyone or charge 99 cents on then Android market. When it comes to stopping piracy I don't understand how anyone can be against creators having ownership and control over their creations.

Stopping piracy is not evil. But the methods to do so can be.