I don't think it's nearly that serious. As a software developer, I like it when people pay for software. A small company like this will pay for the software if they become successful and get bought. It's obviously sad that they do not take software licensing seriously but I don't think it's ethical to destroy a business just because it takes a cavalier perspective toward licensing. You can offer proposals for licensing (i.e. present quotes from M$ or Nullsoft, etc.) I wouldn't do it too often, though. M$ and Nullsoft offer licensing schemes to help a company like yours become compliant. Someday they will pay for the software and it seems highly unlikely that anyone will sue or prosecute you. Pretend that they are on the "No-Payments-Until-2014" plan.

Somebody's got to bankroll the wars, economic stimulus and social security. It's not gonna be Wyoming.

Thinking about it a bit more... the new 'Twilight'-esque vampires are almost a deliberate reversal of the vampire legend. "Trust the secret masters, they may suck your blood but they're really the good guys". And that's the same mindset as the zombie apocalypse survivalists: the small band of elite versus the uneducated dangerous masses.

I don't like that development one bit, actually. Not one bit.

Too true. The Peggy Noonan article just sticks to the traditional "government bad, market good" dogma that got America and the rest of the world into this mess in the first place. If anything, she accidentally proves her own point even more deeply by showing that the opposition to the current US administration doesn't have a fucking clue either.

Personally, I think the problem is that value has become divorced from reality. Used to be, you could mine some coal, or manufacture a sprocket, and that was value. Now the big money is in squeezing money out of intellectual properties and trying to sell off dodgy debt packages. Its not clear anymore, at least to the layman on whom the economy ultimately depends, what if any value there is here. If you lobby to have the law changed so the same IP makes twice as much profit, that registers as economic growth when measured by GDP, but what value have you created?

Illiterate. And a closet case, too - you must be.

No one gets so quick to the accusation of "fagot" (sic), than does the fellow wishing to be speared like a kabob on Schwarzenegger's knob.

"They don't understand that if they start to tax me so that I'm paying 60%, 55%, I'll stop."

Top marginal tax rates were around 90% during the 1950s, and 50% or higher during most of the 1980s.

The economy, and the nation, survived.

It's time to restore taxation on the aristocrats. Raise the top marginal rates, restore the inheritance tax, and tax capital gains the same as earned income.

Who is John Galt?

He's a fictional character in a sophomoric novel that takes place in a fantasy world with less relevance to our own than Tolkien's Middle Earth.

...that is the question implicit in TFS. Godwin's law does not apply if comparison to Nazis/Hitler/etc. is appropriate. TFS appropriately summarizes an inappropriate comparison of that type made in TFA.

Godwin, not Godwin. Goddamn.

Mind you, TFA is hilarious, in its own way. The archbishop does not appear to grasp the meaning and implications of genetics, or the related arguments made by Dawkins.

Yet if MS tried the same tactic of requiring MS branded hardware, the whole world would cry foul. Sounds like monopolistic tendencies in the EULA.

The Metamorphosis - Kafka. They should read something by him someday. This class is a good excuse. (short)

1984 - Orwell. This has one of the best first pages in English literature. It brings up the subject of torture that has been in the news lately. (long)

Nightfall - Asimov. This is shorter than I, Robot. (short)

A Scanner Darkly - Dick. This has a wonderful anti-drug message. The writing style is bracingly weird. (medium)

Flowers for Algernon - Keyes. This discusses themes of accomplishment, capacity, happiness and loss. (medium)

Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut. This is sexier, shorter and more fun than Slaughterhouse 5. (medium)

Brave New World - Huxley. (long)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Rowling. This has scholastic themes and is regarded as well written. (long)

Stranger in a Strange Land - Heinlein. This is thought provoking. (long)

Neuromancer - Gibson. This is from the edgy part of the sci-fi genre. It has some racy scenes. (long)

The Sword of Shannara - Brooks. This is a straightforward fantasy novel. (long)

The Hobbit - Tolkien. More fantasy. (long)

Lord Foul's Bane - Donaldson. This is wacky but it does focus on solipsist and humanist themes. (long)

Battlefield Earth - Hubbard. It's a little long but reads fast. One presidential candidate said this was his favorite book. (really long)

Anthem - Rand. This is a short one. (short)

The Dispossessed - Le Guin. This examines socialism. (long)

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Anno. This is manga and may be too expensive or sexy for the classroom. It covertly covers teen issues. (really long if you read them all)

(The kids should've already read something by Bradbury. You don't need to read something else by him. I left out Dune because it strikes me as unoriginal and too long. I think Lovecraft's stuff is depressing. War of the Worlds by Wells is good but no longer relevant. Crichton, Ellison and Card are fun but I think you can live without them. I would only read one fantasy novel. I would pick Lord Foul's Bane because it would make for some hilarious classroom discussions. There is also http://fantasybedtimehour.com/ that analyzes Lord Foul's Bane in minute detail. Here's a list of the top sci-fi books: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html)

Completely lame. Maybe somebody will patent the practice of rickrolling next?

People knock America about a lot of things but I have to tell you that this really and truly is the land of the free. If you love freedom, and I do, you can't go wrong with America. I can be rich or poor, racist or angelic, a gay atheist or conservative catholic. I've seen people speak their minds on university campuses. I've watched Bono from Ireland make fun of the government or our country in a sold out stadium. If something needs to be sorted out in America, it is generally sorted out through the laws on the books. I must sadly point out that I use the word, "generally" in that last sentence. My heart is a little heavier for that. One day the Guantanamo prison will be closed and more care will be taken to offer habeas corpus and freedom from torture to detainees but you should not let this dissuade you from going to America. You are freer to speak your mind here and freer to live your life your way. Our constitution specifically guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and you should see for yourself how well we maintain such precious priorities in this country.

I learned to use fortran77 in college. I would've been better off learning Java or C++. I would've enjoyed a class that discussed collecting data, processing it and producing control signals on the cheap. Every place I worked used some kind of customized system to do that and I almost never worked with anything I had seen in classes I had taken.

Witness the Fierce beauty of this Soon to be Lost Art form:
Evangelion Runescape Clan

I'm bummed. They put the ads on the side and I could just upload my pages. Clunky but free. --
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;

How 'bout image voting. All votes in an election get translated into bits in a 24-bit bmp file. People could download the image at anytime as the votes are counted. They would have an executable to tally all the votes in the image or their individual vote (based on a password). You could also generate a "public" password that you could send to the press so that they could keep track of your vote for you. I'm sure we could figure out the "write-in" candidate problem. Benefits:

• You can vote online.
• A tampered election is immediately obvious.
• Premier Election Systems will not thwart the will of the people