Copyright infringement in Spain is only considered a crime if there is an intent to earn money with it. No judge is going to rule different because their duty is to enforce the law and the constitution, not to change it. To compensate the loss of income due to private copy, we pay taxes when we buy any device able to reproduce any copyrighted work (photocopiers, CDs, iPods, hard disks, ...). There is also a tax for TV and radio devices on public places.

That's because Spain signed The Protocol to the Geneva Conventions relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. According to it, states have a duty to try or extradite anyone charged with having committed any violation to the Geneva Conventions on the basis of universal jurisdiction.

As of 14 January 2007 it had been ratified by 167 countries, with the United States, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Iraq being notable exceptions.

If you never wrote anything useful, or are not able to think of any meaningful goal, you are still on a basic skill level. If you need other people to motivate you to keep learning, programming may not be your vocation. It isn't the end result what motivates a developer, it's the joy of learning, and writing software is part of it. But don't despair, I guess you didn't see the whole picture yet. Choose a language and start reading weblogs, you may find a vibrant community to inspire you. And more important: have fun, only that will keep you going.

So the 24-year-old coming out of Stanford will have a view of technology that the 29-year-old would never think of

..said the 40-year-old.

The Timing of Steve Jobs's Liver Transplant I'm curious about the reported timing. The Journal story says "about two months ago", but I heard from a bunch of sources last week at WWDC that Jobs had been seen on campus the week before - i.e. about two weeks ago. I mean, he was there walking around, giving people hell like usual. Regarding recuperating time, the Journal story has this sentence:

Recovery from a liver transplant is relatively fast, said William Chapman, a specialist at Washington University who has no direct knowledge of Mr. Jobsâ(TM)s case.

But six weeks doesn't sound "relatively" fast, to me. It sounds crazy fast. I don't know how authoritative it is, but here's what health-cares.net says regarding liver transplant patients:

After discharge from the hospital, patients are seen every week (for approximately three weeks) in the outpatient clinic for an examination and monitoring of blood tests. During this time, medications are adjusted based on the levels found in your blood. After approximately one month, patients are usually seen only two to three times during the first year. Also beginning at one month, blood is checked every other week; eventually, it is checked only once a month. Most patients are encouraged to resume physical activity, including work, after three to six months, depending on their recovery. Patients may resume heavy activity, including workouts, at six months.

So I'm thinking that if Steve Jobs had a liver transplant, it was more than "about two months" ago.