So put an md5sum of the bios on the CD, and check it against the running bios on boot. If different, flag an error.

You mean like what pretty much every importer already does? To be fair though, clearly it's a workable business model because there's plenty of example in the wild.

Almost right; From wikipedia: "From 1978–1987 the Subaru BRAT carried two rear-facing seats (with seatbelts and carpeting) in its rear bed to meet classification as a "passenger vehicle" and not a light truck." This was in direct respons to a so-called "Chicken tax" from the early '60s. Look up Chicken Tax on wikipedia - it's an interesting read how a tax intended to protect a certain market had ramifications for a completely different industry for many decades to come.

I have a saying which is pertinent here (and summarises your post quite nicely I think): "Poor man pays twice"

This. Exactly the same thing jumped out at me - if you're not using ipython notebooks for data analysis, you're (probably) not doing it right.

I don't understand it - even if you have the right of way, you're still dead.

Yeah, agreed. I have some old proprietary IRIX software I'd really like to be able to run, and don't want to have to fire up (read: make work) any of the old SGI hardware I have lying around. Would be better if I could just emulate it...

Reply to remove my incorrect modding.

I don't think openscad is "important" in the sense of the summary, but I'd never heard of it before and it certainly looks interesting. Especially for someone like me whose brain works better dealing with text than images.

That's putting the cart before the horse. If you listen to Hans Rosling he will tell you that when there are abundant resources, low child mortality follows, and then the birth rate naturally goes down. This has happened many, many times. So what I am basically saying is you will get the same effect by supplying clean water and health care to the third world, along with of course the life expectancy benefits that go along with those.

Good, can you submit it please? Randall has been too long in putting up his next instalment after "Jupiter Descending".

Reminds me of the football (soccer) star who said when asked what he did with his fortune: "I spent a lot on fast cars, booze and women, The rest i just wasted."

Yep, agreed. I'd buy a 4x4 camper and do the pacific rim. Australia through South East Asia, China, Mongolia, Russia, Alaska, Canada, USA, Mexico, all the way down to Chile. Adventure!

I have no mod points (and I've already posted in this thread anyway); but I find your post interesting and informative. Does the premise of your last paragraph depend on US tax law?

I didn't post merely to blow smoke up your ass though - I am genuinely interested in your sig line; can you explain it?

I've often thought about this; you know, dreaming of winning the lottery and all. I often think, if I won the lottery, I could spend all my life finishing all those projects I have to do. But then, most of those projects are in place because I don't have a lot of money, so the impetus to do them is gone. Also, part (a lot?) of the fun in the projects is because it's a challenge to complete on a limited budget. If I had a lot of money, not only would the project be useless, but the fun part would be removed because suddenly there is no budget constraint. I wonder if my life would be empty if I had a lot of money? At least I could travel more, which would be great. But all those electronics and programming projects I have and enjoy doing - well, would i enjoy them as much if I weren't constrained by money?