Just like when planning for a very large purchase, be thorough and methodical in researching your options. Firstly, dismiss the plans that do not offer sufficient coverage. Secondly, dismiss plans that have yearly or total lifetime limits that are too low. Thirdly, read reviews, opinions, and small print on whatever plans are left. Finally, pick whichever fits your budget, preferably from a company whose last quarterly statement is not deep in the red, since the latter is sure to raise rates or compromise coverage.

Finally, remember that long-term disability is an absolute necessity in addition to life insurance (and possibly even more important). Make sure it's a policy with a completely different company.

If you go about it in a cool, organized manner, you will find the coverage you need... but don't be alarmed when you have to pay at least $15'000/year for it.

In the Wired article, Evan regularly logged in to the internet and even conversed with people involved in the hunt.

Clearly this is not the way to disappear from society, so I wouldn't be surprised if the contest includes rules mandating you to do certain things that make you catchable.

If someone with outdoor experience just walked off in to the wilderness, they would not be found. The Appalachian Trail might as well be an interstate freeway compared to the isolation that's possible if you just wander off cross-country.

I'd love 10 grand to go on a month long backpacking trip, and you better believe a lot of other people would too!

Also, clean out your bank account. They have the right to go in and take money back out of your bank account. In some cases they can even overdraft you, so make sure you do not have overdraft "protection." Or just don't use the cheating bastards.

I only use Paypal for small ebay stuff, but cringe ever time I use them for exactly this reason.

That's bollocks, policy is in no way determined by a croporate honcho...

If it's a technology person, that's a red flag. I'd expect them to at least have their own domain name. It doesn't cost THAT much and looks far more professional.

Heck, even my cat has her own domain name.

If it's a non-tech field, meh, I don't care that much. But I have to chuckle when I see a small business with a website and their own domain name, but still using @comcast or @aol on their business card for email.

Our CEO refuses to have an IT department. While it can temporarily detract from normal job duties, it does force you to learn how to do IT work. Every employee learns how manage their Linux workstation with very little hand-holding. The primary benefit seems to be that if one finds a problem, there is no waiting for someone else to fix it, you roll up your sleeves and get it done yourself.

Having a "go-to" Linux guru that many cite at /. is an alien concept here.

Funny how every one of those things you listed with the exception of the military can be done cheaper and more effectively by the private sector.