• Less of a startup culture and mentality. It's more typical to get a "job for life" and hang on to it for all you're worth. Many Italians are tremendously creative, industrious, inventive people, but are going to find it more difficult to express that in some form of business.
• The side effects of this mean that there are fewer people to talk with, and network with, fewer potential employees willing to risk a startup, and so on. For instance, people are at times more suspicious of a new company - both clients and suppliers.
• As I mentioned in my other article, it takes a lot more money to get started in many European countries - something like 10,000 Euro in Italy. Other places like the UK are cheaper, and apparently Germany is introducing some legislation to ease the burden on new companies. I really hope this changes in Europe because it's such an easy change to make: don't extract money from companies until they're making it.
• More bureaucracy. I think that higher taxes, once you are profitable, might be worth paying for the social system you get in Europe, but the cost of sorting out paperwork falls inordinately on smaller, newer companies. Big, established firms can hire people to deal with all the rules and regulations, and probably have contacts in the government that can help them out in some cases. Smaller firms are the ones whose time is really going to be wasted running around to different offices trying to figure out what they have to do.
• Smaller, fragmented markets. Localization is not a lot of fun in some ways, and trying to translate everything into all the languages of the European Union is a huge undertaking. In the US, you get a huge market with just English and the US Dollar. Even beyond language issues, the culture changes less in the US from place to place, meaning that you have a more homogeneous target.
• Lack of acceptance of failure, both culturally and institutionally. If you go bankrupt in Italy, it's a very serious problem. Apparently (although this is second hand, I'm not 100% sure of it - maybe someone can confirm whether it's actually true?), you can even lose the right to vote. Plenty of people in the US try several times before they get it right.

• Even if your undertaking fails, you still have health care. Likewise, there are other bits and pieces of social support (that change from country to country) that mean you're probably not going to land quite so hard on your rear if things go wrong.
• Lots of smart, educated people. I never lacked for plenty of smart people to talk shop with in Padova, and didn't miss the California bay area at all from that point of view. Open source is really big in Europe - perhaps, in part, because for many people it's a better avenue for their talents than creating a business, when doing so is difficult and less common.
• Work/life balance. Sorry Mike, but the amount of people who are truly going to strike it rich is pretty small. If they want to work hard, great, but it's nice to have some other options, in terms of good, lasting friendships (rather than everything revolving around work), knowing plenty of people from outside your field, people living in and belonging to a community (how many people spend their whole lives in the bay area?). When I moved from San Francisco to Padova in 2000, I went from a world gone mad with money and the dot com craze to one where there were rich and poor, families, young people, old people, and many people who were not working for some dot com. That's not to say that people don't work quite hard in Italy - two hour lunches are a thing of the past for most anyone I know.
• Smaller fragmented markets can be an advantage, too. By the time some valley-based startup finally gets around to noticing that languages other than English exist, it's possible to capture a smaller market. Ok, so you won't be the next Google that way, but there's good money to be had in doing so.
• In some ways, the staid, established, don't rock the boat way of doing things in some industries may present big opportunities for outsiders to come in and pull the carpet out from under everyone. This is especially true of internet/web companies that can get started quickly and cheaply.

• If you're not careful, you can get completely sucked in to work - your life revolves around it, your friends are mostly work friends, and if something happens to your job, a lot of that goes poof. This is especially true in places like the bay area, where so many people are 'transients' - just there for a few years, without any real roots in the area. This is ok if you'll potentially make a big pile of money, but long term it's unhealthy.
• Less of a sense of building for the long term. Personally, I don't want a "job for life", but I think there is some value in loyalty (the genuine sort, not the sort created by legally not being able to lose a job) between employer and employee that has been lost in the US. Being able to count on someone growing with your company, and as an employee, knowing that your company will do what it can to help you out even in tough times are things that capture some value. The US seems to be heading towards a "Coasian" world where everyone is a freelancer, and while that efficiency is hard to deny, I wonder what is lost in the process.
• The competition is tough. Sure, it is in Europe too, but in Europe everyone may compete quite hard during the year, but still all take that one month vacation (although that is becoming a bit less common, especially amongst people my age), whereas in the US almost no one gets that kind of benefit - even if you wanted to take unpaid time off, people would look askance at that kind of behavior. That said, if you need to stay open in, say, August, in Italy, to compete, you are in big trouble, because for many businesses it's simply impossible because it's a chain reaction: all your suppliers and clients shut down, so you really have no choice.

• There are certainly bureaucratic obstacles in the US, but are much more maneageable, and don't hit smaller/newer companies quite so badly.
• It's cheap to get started. As per my other article, the actual state filing fee in Oregon for an LLC is $55, and that's all you really need.
• The culture is definitely there, especially in the right places like the Bay Area, but even in plenty of others.
• You aren't bound to employees for life, and it's easy to find freelancers. I know I'm contradicting myself, but I think it's actually a complex issue, and there are definite advantages to not having people who expect or at least want to find that job for life.
• A large target market. Go online in one state, and you can, for the most part, deal with customers all over the US, in one language.
• Things turn around faster. I have more of a sense that when there are problems, they get fixed. Companies (the debacle of the automakers notwithstanding) are more often allowed to fail, or at least put in Chapter 11. Sometimes this means that when things are bad, they get really bad, but also turn around and get better sooner.

The time for pragmatism is now, but Senate Republicans don t recognize that. Senate Republicans have yet to realize that the GOP lost so many seats in 2006 and 2008 because the American public has a greater desire for pragmatism than ideology.

The time for pragmatism is now, but Senate Republicans don t recognize that. Senate Republicans have yet to realize that the GOP lost so many seats in 2006 and 2008 because the American public has a greater desire for pragmatism than ideology.

$ A=1
$ B=A
$ echo $ $B 
bash: $ $B : bad substitution

$ echo $ !B 
1

$ eval echo \$$B
1

And of course there is no reason software cannot start as a gem (for people close to the ruby community) but as it's popularity increases packages can be created that are more tightly integrated into the native package manager.

• we throw plastic bags and paper cups into the canals and drains around our cities.
• we evade taxes and even pride ourselves on reducing government power as a consequence.
• we throw lavish "rave" parties where drugs and alcohol flow freely.
• we destroy public roads and public spaces for our own private needs.

• garbage blocks the canals, which leads to floods during heavy rains.
• the lost taxes means reduced training and equipment for our police and other emergency forces.
• the drugs and alcohol that are distributed at the "rave" parties are bought from the same smugglers who also bring guns and RDX.
• public roads are in no shape to supply things required during emergencies.
• public spaces are not available for relief efforts since they are illegally occupied or damaged beyond use.
• our under-paid police force has its hands full dealing with the thousands of little violations that we commit.
• our police force is so used to looking the other way while our top brass and gold-laden classes are violating the rules that they can be forgiven if they cannot distinguish them from the "real" terrorists.

<VirtualHost *:80>
	...
	# some stuff
	...
	# PerlSections rule.
	<Perl>
	$Location "/"  =  
		SetHandler => 'perl-script',
		# some stuff
		PerlFixupHandler => 'Axiombox::Awbox::Fixup',
		# some other stuff
		DirectoryIndex => 'whatever.html',
	 ;
	</Perl>
</VirtualHost>

package Axiombox::Awbox::Fixup;
use strict;
use warnings FATAL => qw(all);
use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(DIR_MAGIC_TYPE OK DECLINED);
use Apache2::RequestRec;
sub handler  
	my $r = shift;
	if ($r->handler eq 'perl-script' &&
		-d $r->filename              &&
		$r->is_initial_req)
	 
		$r->handler(Apache2::Const::DIR_MAGIC_TYPE);
		return Apache2::Const::OK;
	 
	return Apache2::Const::DECLINED;
 
1;

<Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin/myapp>
	RewriteEngine on
	RewriteBase /cgi-bin/myapp
	RewriteRule ^$ index.cgi
</Directory>

• [1] http://www.rfc-ignorant.org/tools/lookup.php?domain=gmail.com


• [2] http://gabriellacoleman.org/blog/?p=1121


• [3] http://www.rfc-ignorant.org/tools/lookup.php?domain=verizon.net


• [4] http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/11/28/leaving-optus/

• Should I purchase a used dead-tree copy of the novel, and lug it around, inconveniencing me, causing more CO2 emissions by shipping the book to me, and in the airplane because of its added weight, as the only way I can comply with copyright law? Furthermore, should I do this to set an example to all of the younger generations that are treating copyright law much more casually, much as essentially all drivers casually ignore the law’s dictats to not drive faster than the speed limit? (Many have argued that the current state of affairs with respect to music and etexts and copyright law is bad because it encourages people to not respect the rule of law — I guess, as the argument goes, if people don’t respect the copyright law, what’s next? Torturing prisoners in Guantanomo in violation of the law? Oh, wait… too late…)
• Should I purchase a used dead-tree copy of the novel, slice the binding off, and then run pages through a scanner and an OCR program, then spend hours reformatting it into an .LRF file so I can read it on the Sony eReader? Would that be considered fair use?
• What if I purchase a used dead-tree copy of the novel, but to save the time and effort of scanning the pages and correcting the OCR errors, download the pirated e-text, and convert it into an .LRF file and enjoy it on my Sony eReader?
• What if I don’t purchase the dead-tree copy of the book, download the pirated e-text, and send a money order (so it can’t be traced) for roughly the same amount of money as the cost of the used dead-tree version of the book to the author, with a letter explaining why she was receiving this check?
• What if I just download the pirated e-text, justifying my actions that no one is actually getting hurt my downloading the text and reading it; after all, since it is long out of print and not available from any booksellers as a new book, the author isn’t going to be getting any more royalties anyway.

• [1] http://netpatia.blogspot.com/2008/02/multiseat-computer-with-ubuntu-804.html


• [2] http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=155


• [3] http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_ewald_asks_can_we_domesticate_germs.html


• [4] http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html


• [5] http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_full_on_animal_movement.html


• [6] http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/alan_kay_shares_a_powerful_idea_about_ideas.html


• [7] http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_barber_s_surprising_foie_gras_parable.html


• [8] http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080/page/1


• [9] http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/


• [10] http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/11/the_future_of_e.html

• [1] http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/05/28/xen-hosting/


• [2] http://www.linode.com/


• [3] http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/11/24/slicehost-vs-linode


• [4] http://www.slicehost.com/


• [5] http://www.rackspace.com/


• [6] http://www.netapp.com/


• [7] http://www.joyent.com/


• [8] http://www.nexenta.org/

• [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Joy


• [2] http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html


• [3] http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog


• [4] http://blog.ted.com/2008/11/what_i_worry_ab.php


• [5]
  
• [6] http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=161

$ cat function.c
int global = 100;
int function(int i)  
	return i + global;
 
$ gcc -c function.c

0000000000000000 <function>:
   0:	55                   	push   %rbp
   1:	48 89 e5             	mov    %rsp,%rbp
   4:	89 7d fc             	mov    %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
   7:	8b 05 00 00 00 00    	mov    0x0(%rip),%eax        # d <function+0xd>
   d:	03 45 fc             	add    -0x4(%rbp),%eax
  10:	c9                   	leaveq
  11:	c3                   	retq

• 0,1: save rbp to the stack and save the stack pointer (rsp) to rbp. This common stanza is setting up the frame pointer, which is essentially a rule used by debuggers (mostly) to keep track of the base of the stack. It's not important for now.
• 4:Move the value from edi to 4 bytes below the stack pointer. This is moving the first argument (int i) into the "red-zone", a 128-byte scratch area each function has reserved below the stack pointer.
• 7,d: Move the value at offset 0 from the current instruction pointer (rip) into eax (i.e. the return value). Then add the incoming argument to it (retrieved from the scratch area).

$ readelf --relocs ./function.o
Relocation section '.rela.text' at offset 0x518 contains 1 entries:
  Offset          Info           Type           Sym. Value    Sym. Name + Addend
000000000009  000800000002 R_X86_64_PC32     0000000000000000 global + fffffffffffffffc

$ gcc -shared function.c
/usr/bin/ld: /tmp/ccQ2ttcT.o: relocation R_X86_64_32 against  a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC
/tmp/ccQ2ttcT.o: could not read symbols: Bad value
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

$ cat function.c
int global = 100;
int function(int i)  
	return i + global;
 
$ gcc -fPIC -shared -o libfunction.so function.c
$ cat preload.c
int global = 200;
$ gcc -shared preload.c -o libpreload.so
$ cat program.c
#include <stdio.h>
int function(int i);
int main(void)  
   printf("%d\n", function(10));
 
$ gcc -L. -lfunction program.c -o program
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./program
110
$ LD_PRELOAD=libpreload.so LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./program
210

$ gcc -fPIC -shared -c  function.c
$ objdump --disassemble ./function.o
./function.o:     file format elf64-x86-64
Disassembly of section .text:
0000000000000000 <function>:
   0:	55                   	push   %rbp
   1:	48 89 e5             	mov    %rsp,%rbp
   4:	89 7d fc             	mov    %edi,-0x4(%rbp)
   7:	48 8b 05 00 00 00 00 	mov    0x0(%rip),%rax        # e <function+0xe>
   e:	8b 00                	mov    (%rax),%eax
  10:	03 45 fc             	add    -0x4(%rbp),%eax
  13:	c9                   	leaveq
  14:	c3                   	retq

$ readelf --relocs ./function.o
Relocation section '.rela.text' at offset 0x550 contains 1 entries:
  Offset          Info           Type           Sym. Value    Sym. Name + Addend
00000000000a  000800000009 R_X86_64_GOTPCREL 0000000000000000 global + fffffffffffffffc

$ objdump --disassemble ./function.o
00000000 <function>:
   0:	55                   	push   %ebp
   1:	89 e5                	mov    %esp,%ebp
   3:	a1 00 00 00 00       	mov    0x0,%eax
   8:	03 45 08             	add    0x8(%ebp),%eax
   b:	5d                   	pop    %ebp
   c:	c3                   	ret
$ readelf --relocs ./function.o
Relocation section '.rel.text' at offset 0x2ec contains 1 entries:
 Offset     Info    Type            Sym.Value  Sym. Name
00000004  00000701 R_386_32          00000000   global