How does Ripple decide which offer to fulfil if they offer the same rate?
If two offers have the same exchange rate, how does Ripple decide which one to fulfil first?

What would be the best way to start writing a script to automatically run a bitcoind server on an Ubuntu startup, make regular backups and restart from a backup on error. Would this normally be done through a cron job?

Bitcoin decides on a global clock by the blockchain - every mined block is another tick of that clock.

In Ripple, there is a global ledger that keeps advancing in time - the ledger number keeps increasing all the time, and the ledger represents the state of the system at time t.

What synchronizes this ledger? How do different Ripple nodes know when they should advanced their ledger counter?

I would like to keep backup of my wallet on paper, but that's impossible or at least impractical when the bitcoind keeps creating new addresses for "change". I know it is possible in theory to do it by sending the change back to the sending address. And I know there are privacy implications when doing this. But I care more about security than anonymity in my case.

Is there an option to turn off "change" addresses in bitcoind (the original Satoshi client)?

The official BAMT faq says "never use sudo. never never, always log in as root. [emphasis in original]". Is this a BAMT-specific issue, a more general issue with sudo that I should ask about on Super User or Server Fault, or what? I can't find any general complaints warranting this strong a reaction, and I can't find anything BAMT specific. Why, in an application where security is usually important, should I never use a tool which is designed to enhance security and which I've never heard this complaint about before?

Is there a good tutorial on how to use bitcoins exit nodes?