ELO Did a song similar to this....
"Yours Truly 2095"

My Casio Commando is a ruggedized (water,shock,vibration,salt spray) resistant Android phone...

I wouldn't expect a hw fault with it. It's hw failure rate should be pretty low.......
Other companies also produce ruggedized android phones.

Did the other phones they discuss have ruggedized versions available?

-- Sam

What is their security posture like? (Don't answer here...)

Have they done any security audits or reports internally - even if they haven't, do they have someone in the company who is familiar with the security posture the company has across the board? This could be a person who has it as his formal job, or someone handling network and system operations who is familiar with their setup and had a general interest in security.

That person needs (I think) to have a sit-down with appropriate staff and then with the CIO to discuss what can be done to immediately perform any key hardening and tightening up some defenses. They should also check their system to see that their appropriate configurations are intact and haven't been compromised. There may be limits to what can be done immediately, but this would be the time to tighten up the easiest ways for their networks or systems to be compromised, and eliminate some unnecessary risk. The biggest risk may be if any systems were already compromised.

This company could bring in a consulting firm (and maybe it should), but I'd start by leveraging in-house knowledge and see if they immediately couldn't identify / review where they stand, what current risks exist, and what can be fixed in 24 hours, 48/72 hours, one business week, and longer. For now, the company shouldn't skimp on the overtime pay for these efforts, or at least let the people involved know their efforts are important and will be appreciated, and their efforts will be rewarded in some manner.

Let us know how things work out... Good luck...

-- Sam

From the classic problem...

From Wikipedia:

The puzzle was invented by the French mathematician Édouard Lucas in 1883. There is a legend about an Indian temple which contains a large room with three time-worn posts in it surrounded by 64 golden disks. Brahmin priests, acting out the command of an ancient prophecy, have been moving these disks, in accordance with the rules of the puzzle, since that time. The puzzle is therefore also known as the Tower of Brahma puzzle. According to the legend, when the last move of the puzzle is completed, the world will end.[1] It is not clear whether Lucas invented this legend or was inspired by it.

If the legend were true, and if the priests were able to move disks at a rate of one per second, using the smallest number of moves, it would take them 2641 seconds or roughly 585 billion years;[2] it would take 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 turns to finish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi

Khaaaaaaaaaaaan !

Sorry, I thought you mentioned William Shatner... My bad

I had a late model Apple II+ (Revision 7 motherboard). Loved the machine.

The System Manual for the Apple II (forget the exact designation) had a fold-out circuit diagram of the entire system.

One of the other manuals also provided a significant amount of assembly code (relating to some aspect of the system). I don't remember the exact nature of the code provided.

I wouldn't want to absorb meythl mercury either...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylmercury

The Japanese also had a very bad situation with it (Minamata Bay)

Neat... From the Prime Curios page (reachable under http://primes.utm.edu/curios)

http://primes.utm.edu/curios/page.php?short=12121

12121 is
The smallest palindrome with three prime factors, with none of them being palindromes themselves (12121 = 17 x 23 x 31).

Class action ?
(Pun intended)

NewsForge did an interview some time back about Open Source and Defense...
http://samnitzberg.com/Papers/Why_open_source_works_for_weapons_and_defense__interview__JAN_2006.pdf

-- Sam

The original is no longer in use, but I respect the effort this team performed (video link below) to replicate an analogue of it using Legos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLPVCJjTNgk

I'm a big fan of at-home network storage- similar to what other posters have written about.
It sounds like 2TB should be fine for you, and you can get an external 2TB hard drive to backup to and put in a fireproof box.
If you set up a VPN router, you could access anything at home or away.

It sounds like you wanted a more direct notebook - based solution.
I haven't used them myself, but it sounds like 1TB notebook internal drives are available, e.g.:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/27/wd-ships-industrys-first-2-5-inch-1tb-hard-drive/
and soon, 2 TB should be available.

Even if you have some limitations on your boot disk, you should be able to run 500GB on your primary internal drive, and many notebooks will support a second hard drive. You might be happy with this approach - you can carry all your photos on your notebook, keep a backup on another drive on your notebook, and leave a 2TB at home for backup purposes should anything bad happen to your system or it gets stolen.

Also, you might want to do a post later to let us all know what decision you ultimately come to and how you like it.

Good luck-

Sam

"Rouge"

Maybe it just likes to wear makeup :-)

"My favorite part about this story is that they are burning the house down without due process of law. "

I'm already queuing the Talking Heads song in my own head.... you know the song....

-- Sam

There is a show in the UK, and some stations used to get it here (in the US) called "Tiny Planets."

For kids, this is / was a great show - it centered around two nice aliens and their experiences with objects (spacial and music-related), playing nicely, taking care of oneself, etc.

There was also a website with Tiny-Planets related games online (please take a look for it), downloadable coloring pages, and more.
You can also get Tiny Planets DVDs.

Anyway, anything associated with Tiny Planets I'd strongly recommend, and I think you child is at about the right age to enjoy it.

Best regards,

Sam

PS - I only have a minute or I'd dig up the links. My apologies for not providing more details.