Reasons why it's a good idea:

It isn't made of corrugated cardboard.

Sounds like a great way to get a nice $2000 machine for only $4000. After all that do you end up with a surplus case, keyboard, mouse, and monitor? Or can you actually buy a Mac without the I/O devices? Wouldn't it be easier to just buy the components individually, then install them?

Was this rule in place when you signed up? If so, you're being an asshole and pissing off everyone else who joined the health club under the pretence of a cellphone free environment.

I am surprised that a post containing the words "SETI", "80 legs", "crawling", "computer", "spider", "farm", and "unused power" does not have the plot of Jodi Foster listening to radio telescope and discovering evil giant mutant cyborg space spiders are trying to invade earth and capture humans as batteries

A "non-removable motherboard"? What do you mean, like a motherboard that's attached to the case with screws? I've never seen a single case that has a motherboard attached in a way that you couldn't remove it.

Thank you for making my point. IT workers don't receive the 'recondition' you speak of exactly because we are not special. Don't conflate having specialized knowledge with being special or even uniquely vital. Anyone with a modicum of intellect can be trained to do IT work, as many people can be trained to do farm work or become a teacher. Farmers and teachers get very little reconnection in our world--a lot less on average than IT workers (just look at monetary compensation)--but I'll wager they are a lot more vital to society when it comes down to it. I'm not trying to dis IT work, or IT workers. I'm just saying keep some perspective; society is a complex beast, and we are simply one part of it.

Just a bit of a nitpick: while I can't speak for Hebrew, Arabic has "waw" (a 'w'-like vowel) and "yah" (a 'y' like vowel) as well. They're the long forms of the "damma" and "kasra" diacritics.

I'm impressed you know about the two languages, though. Very cool.

I also remember getting a check for $5 from a class action lawsuit brought against Nintendo for price fixing (third paragraph).

That story took some real digging btw. For a minute I thought I had dreamed it up.

I purchased a Toshiba M200 (off lease, through eBay) for under $300 before going in for back surgery. I simply wouldn't be able to use my heavy 15" wide screen laptop after surgery, so this seemed like a real boon to be able to use it while stuck in bed healing. The flip-top laptop has a 2GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, an upgraded 160 GB hard drive, and a 12" screen, but not optical drive.

That was two years ago and since that time, it has replaced a more powerful desktop and laptop (the heavy 15") to become my primary PC for email, web browsing, light web editing or coding, and light gaming. I use the other two when the demands exceed what the little laptop can do. It really excels in a few areas:

1) Graphics: In the past, I used a USB tablet for art or photo editing, but it didn't feel natural - I wasn't looking where I was editing.

2) Notes: It's very natural to fire up One Note (or similar app) to take notes during a meeting. I'm not killing trees and it's easy to organize my notes in my documents. Plus, I can go back and edit the notes after the meeting to clean things up. 3) Browsing: If I'm just wondering around on the web, I'll often go into tablet mode and click through the web. On the rare occasions that I need to type a search term, I'll use either recognition (OK, but not thrilling) or the on screen keyboard (slow but more accurate.) It's a relaxing and enjoyable for me. 4) Pen games: I'm addicted to several pen-based games that are almost impossible to play with a mouse. A crossword puzzle using handwriting (with good recognition) is an absolute blast! However, it's not well suited to programming, web design, 3D gaming, or other high demand uses. It simply lacks the power for that, so I'll switch to the desktop and other laptop for those uses. The flip-top (swivel-top? Convertible?) gives me the best of two worlds. I can use it like a standard laptop when doing email and other common office tasks, but can easily convert to tablet mode when needed. Unlike some other comments, I've found the tablet PC to be reliable and well-built. A little care goes a long way, so flipping the screen around at a moderate pace goes a long way to preserving the cables in the pivot. I'm an IT manager for my department and support several professors who use tablet PCs as virtual white boards and then record the session with Camtasia or other capture software. They then post the work to the class website, so the students can play back the equations at their own pace. It greatly improves student retention of the math work. Overall, I'm very impressed and use the little tablet as my primary PC. It's not perfect (lacking an optical drive, moderate power, and just 2 USB ports), but it does the job for me.

Things that have proven cost-ineffective (such as public transport which, except in special circumstances, tends to cost far more per ride - in money, risk, and rider lifetime - than individual vehicles).

1) Obviously the point of investing in new public transport technologies is to improve them. You seem to be ruling out any potential technology that could be called "public transport" out-of-hand, which makes no sense
2) There's no reason public transport might not rely on individual vehicles. Heck, that's what taxis are.
3) There are economically viable public transportation systems all of the world, including the US (commerial air, for one). Dismissing them all as "special circumstances" is a loophole big enough for a double-decker bus.
4) I'd love to know what you were thinking when you said public transport is more risky.

Don't get me wrong, the bus service where I live is a huge time waste and I never ride it. That's why I'd love it if somebody invested in finding something better.

I've found that 3/4 of them were things I either figured out myself or learned form other people before the term "design patterns" had ever been invented.

ten million is chump change

A lot of those images in the idea montage were blatant "green gadgets".
This sort of thing certainly attracts attention and will probably pull the votes. Unfortunately.

I *love* short games. They are the kind I can play over and over, like Resident Evil 2 or Eternal Darkness. Those 50-hour marathons drive me nuts because they move so slooooow. That's why I've only ever played FF7 twice in my life - it's a good game but just too darn long.

The only way you make a government that cannot be corrupted is to limit the powers of the government to a small amount. The constitution of the US tried to do that, but yet the document had many flaws and loopholes over the years that let the government become more corrupt.