Subj : Re: How much should I charge for fixed-price software contract? To : comp.programming From : Randy Howard Date : Sun Aug 21 2005 07:03 pm Richard Heathfield wrote (in article ): >> Oh my. This /is/ a hot button for you. You have to be joking. > > It could have gone like this: It seems that you really, really, really, really, really, really take this seriously. > "And in today's news... Randy Howard, a programmer from Tar Heel, North > Carolina, You could at least put me in some place other than NC. Furrfu. > was arrested by Russian police whilst speaking at a convention of > programmers in Moscow. Mr Howard had been discussing certain programming > techniques with his Russian audience, drawing on his work in the US for > examples of how to control nuclear reactors safely. In Russia it is against > the law to write software to control nuclear reactors unless you are > employed by the State specifically for that purpose. It seems to also be against the law in Russia to program or operate them safely, even if you work for the State. :-) > Mr Howard wrote his > reactor control programs in the USA, but the Russians don't seem to care. > The Russian ambassador to the US has been summoned to the White House to > explain this outrage, and a number of Senators have been discussing the > possibility of grain sanctions against Russia. As if. I don't see grain sanctions against russia or any other country for someone being arrested (even falsely) for potentially breaking a law. More importantly, nobody in the US would know about it in the first place, since Russia would have made sure nobody talked about it, free speech not being such a common entity around the globe as one might hope. > The Navy is on full alert, > and the Pentagon is watching developments with care." Even less likely. They wouldn't go to war unless Russia kidnapped the blonde-headed braindead daughter of some trailer-park queenie and shipped her in a box to Aruba. Nothing but children is important to the US anymore. Luckily, there are more than enough of them to occupy their attention. > A mild exaggeration, no doubt. An extreme exaggeration. > But the point is that such behaviour by the > Russians would indeed be outrageous (and inexplicable). If there was such a law, and if the Russians thought that I had broken it, then even I could understand it happening. I certainly have no desire to be in a russian prison (or any prison for that matter). > But because it's > Americans doing it, it seems to be okay to some Americans. That's called > "special pleading". No, we simply understand that mistakes are made. The mistake you are upset about was corrected, perhaps too slowly in your opinion, but it was. He's not currently making license plates and making new friends in prison, he's probably writing software somewhere else. That's the way it is supposed to work. You cannot enforce laws and never make mistakes. I would expect the British people understand that pretty well after shooting an innocent person quite famously just recently. I would claim that was a more egregious example than yours, or the actual event with DS. >> Well that much has been obvious for a very long time. What is >> less obvious possibly, but much more important is that the US >> voting population is willing to accept it, provided it occurs >> slowly enough. > > Yep. Like the frog who can't tell that he's being boiled alive, provided you > raise the temperature slowly enough. I almost mentioned that originally, but wasn't sure if it was in general use world-wide, or just something that I had heard somewhere that was only heard of in parts of the US. -- Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR) .