Romans didn't have a number zero.

Good point, but the question the article addresses is if they could have physically built one, not designed one.

I think that's why I don't find it a very interesting article. The capability to build isn't very useful unless you have a theory that informs it.

First thing that came into my head as well.

Nulla/nihil.

philosophical (or philological question): is having a word for 'nothing' the same as having a number 'zero'? my answer would be no. when zero entered western civilization from the east, my understanding is that it triggered profound changes. yet indo-european languages have probably pretty much always had a word for 'nothing'.

Yes I think you are correct.

Nil/null/nothing is different to zero. The former is the lack of anything and the latter is an integer with no magnitude. This is something I'm always having to hammer into our developers' heads over and over again.

'nihil' translates to nothing, but 'nullus' translates to 'lack of' and was recognized and used as a number, even if the symbols didn't reflect this. Just because zero wasn't typically used when teaching mathematics (i.e. teaching quantity instead of number line) doesn't mean that there was no concept of 'zero' in the numerical sense. Both the romans and the greeks had concepts and proofs based around negativity and zero.

However, modern notation, including negative sign, zero, and algebra, are all rooted in eastern and middle eastern cultures.

The number zero wasn't itself the big thing, it was the introduction of a positional numeral system, which needs zero to represent quantity in a given position, so you can note numbers such as 101 to mean "one hundreds, zero tens, one ones")

Many cultures had at least a word for zero/nothing in the context of numbers, but didn't have a positional numeral system, and in many cases didn't have a numeral notation for it either.

Games like L4D are designed to run on Xbox which uses DirectX

What do you mean "designed to run"? Most big studios have a layer between their application code and the OpenGL or D3D interface to make it portable. They're no more designed for DirectX than they are for OpenGL.

Whenever I look at screenshots I always try and click the close button in the picture. Every time.

Free healthcare and dentistry

If either side is compromised it is difficult to reissue (e.g. if they are undercover in another country). The beauty of public keys is that they can be revoked and the other side can use your new key without you having to transport/transmit a private key in peril.

This is a good point.

A problem with public keys is that they rely on math that we presume is hard.

One Time Pads do not depend on that.

Some of The Muppets videos went viral on YouTube in the past few years.

Other short form work also tends to go viral, YouTube is often credited with rejuvenating SNL, despite NBCs insistence on taking down every clip

People are brands too. I almost only watch talk show interviews in clip form.

That would take 25% of the per unit price for a start. Then there's the lack of control.

Awesome Window Manager is great for dual monitors. Once you master it you can switch focus between them without leaving the keyboard.

Much more expensive per episode though

Yes this is why Sony just announced big loses. All Japanese exports are getting more expensive in dollars http://www.google.co.uk//finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds...

Same happened with Nintendo. Largest losses in three decades. "Nintendo had a $690 million foreign exchange loss in the first six months of the fiscal year that began April 1, the company said."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/201...