Sounds like they just used a 32 bit signed int to represent money in the system. This is an unfortunate mistake, but one that is made so easily. The Integer 32 type is one of the most commonly used types in any strongly-type language like C, C++, Java, C#, etc.

I recall a project I worked on a couple of years ago. We had to replace all of the int32 representations of a particular data-point with int64 representations. After doing so, and thoroughly testing, we still had bugs cropping up for months because of the difference in data types. I would imagine that the WoW people are hesitant to change the data type for money in the system, and have instead placed limits on the value.

Scottfree, good point on the use of "American".That does actually describe a couple of continents. I guess most US Citizens say that because it is a shortening of United Stated of American. However, I still disagree with you on the fact that this group Means has put together legally represents the Lakota. Some of these individuals may be some tribal leaders from various reservations, but if this were serious it would have come from the presidents of the various Lakota Sioux groups, not Means or some delegation that he has assembled.

This would not be the first time he has claimed to speak for all of the tribes and nations without any real authority. From scouring several local news sources such as kotatv.com, RapidCityJournal.com, and a couple of other local papers, I have only found information supporting the fact that he is not formally speaking for the Lakota.

I lost respect for Means a long time ago. He never manages to bring about any positive change for his people. At best he is radical that doesn't get that his actions hurt his people more than help them. At worst he is an attention whore. He is certainly no MLK.

First, I want to say that the Lakota have pretty much been screwed by the federal government for a very long time. Having said that, Russell Means and his band of loud mouths do not represent the Lakota people. He is not the leader of any tribe, nor does he hold any office. In fact, when he tried to become a tribal president he lost the election. There is a saying in South Dakota, "Its dangerous to stand between Russel Means and a TV camera." I am not Native American, but I have heard this sentiment loud and clear from Native American friends on more than one occasion.

Having grown up in the area, I can tell you that *all* of the Native Americans I know are against any type of succession from the US. They consider themselves Americans. Of course this is a small sampling of just my friends and acquaintances, so take that statement as such. They do, however, want the millions of dollars owed to the various tribes by the federal government.

The formatting of the Forbes page does not do well on a high-rez monitor. There is a "print" link that does read well:

http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/13/cory-doctorow-fiction-tech-future07-cx_cd_1015money_print.html