I think they would ultimately be looking less for specific threats than trying to profile individuals for follow-up snooping. Ie.: Someone who's politically extreme, associated with radical groups, uses aggressive language, obsesses over politics, FB "Likes" survivalist sites, extremist groups, etc. -- just to collect individuals names' to later use more focused forms of snooping. This kind of DB would be useful in spotting "problematic" demographic groups.

Or for scanning social media, as our (US) government does ( http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/02/29/144257/what-the-dhs-is-looking-for-in-your-posts ). I guess scanning for specific keywords isn't particularly useful since no one actually uses those keywords. "Stick it to the man" (or whatever) is more likely than "use high explosives to target key government infrastructure, such as bridges and airports" (or whatever).

Seriously, who's going to tweet something like that?

I try to make sure I always get a small refund. I like having a small short-term savings account with no fees. Yeah, no interest, either, but at the amount I'm talking about, fees would roughly equal interest. This gives me a little piece of mind that, if I screw up during the year, I'll have a paycheck in Feb to get me out. If not, then I stuff it in savings and start racking up my 22 cents/year -- or whatever it may turn out to be.

Maybe I'd come out a few cents ahead if I didn't, but I wouldn't have a sure-thing in Feb of every year -- just in case I screw something up during the rest of the previous year. It's usually not needed, but there have been a couple of times that it was a real life-saver. Other times, it goes into the bank, and eventually into an investment.

Won't this just encourage other companies, or even US companies, to switch to a national domain?

Actually, Anonymous "formed", as it were, years ago, and they did it for the lulz, not for vigilante justice against the growing influence of corporate fascism. They just happened to jump on this, also.

That's completely make-believe. There was no "eye of the needle" backdoor to any walled cities. That was an excuse invented to cover for rich people pretending to be Christians.

http://www.debunker.com/texts/needleye.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_a_needle#Christianity

Logical flaw: How are you supposed to find happiness and joy if you're stuck with a lifetime of eating algae, nuts & veggies?

I think I'm going to have to settle for 72 years of steak, pork, fried foods & beer.

They'll target a school, a tube station, and a water-treatment plant. Several hundred will die within the first few weeks. Until at last the true goal comes into view . . . after the election, lo and behold, a miracle. Some will believe that it was the work of God himself, but it will be a pharmaceutical company controlled by certain party members that will make them all obscenely rich. But the true genius of the plan will be the fear. A year later, several extremists will be tried, found guilty, and executed while a memorial is built to canonize their victims. Fear will become the ultimate tool of this government. And through it our politician will ultimately be appointed to the newly created position of High Chancellor. The rest, as they say, will be history.

Not break it as much as control it. I doubt they see that as a bad thing. In the olden day it was difficult for people who don't have access to large amounts of capital to publish information to a large audience, and people with large amounts of capital are already a part of the system. With the intarwebz, anyone has that publishing capability, and the US Government has little control over that. This gives them that control.

Add Steinbeck's Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat to that list. Hilarious books. Could also add Grapes of Wrath for something more powerful and meaningful, but it's a pretty thick book to read in a single sitting -- Cannery and Tortilla are both short. Another book that's probably too big for a single reading is Catch-22. That was probably the funniest book I've ever read (warning, though, about half the people who read it hate it, and the other half are right).

I also loved The Stranger by Camus. Also short. (And if you never understood the song Killing an Arab by the Cure, this will explain it.)

In fact, you could probably just find a good collection of classic American short stories and go with that.

That's basically what the Libertarian Party is, or at least is supposed to be, but our system doesn't really allow for a 3rd party to make any progress. They can't get on the ballots in every state, they usually can't get into televised debates, and, since everyone knows that either a Democrat or a Republican is going to win, they chose what they believe to be the lesser of the two evils. The libertarians who value social freedom higher will vote for a Democrat, and the ones who value laissez faire economics higher will vote for Republicans, since they know there's not a chance in Hell that the LP is going to win, in the end.

I used to stop by the gym on my way back from smoke break (yeah, yeah . . . I know), and bounce a medicine ball against a wall for 1 or two minutes, or do a few pull ups, or something else like that. Just enough to raise my heart rate, but not enough to break a sweat. I lost a lot of weight like that.

Anything that raises your heart rate will do it. Jumping jacks, run in place, push ups, crunches . . . whatever. Just do it for a minute or maybe 2 once an hour. It'll make a HUGE difference.

I have a couple friends -- a coder and an e-store manager -- I met skateboarding. A couple years ago, when I was 37, I took skateboarding back up to get some exercise. Turns out that a lot of geeks do that sort of thing. I met a couple more at the neighborhood swimming pool. I've met some at motorcycle rallies, in photography classes, snow skiing, and on bicycle rides.

The common thread amongst all of those is that they require only one person. You don't have to have someone with you -- or worse, a group -- to do them. Most other geeks are just like you -- they'd like some like-minded people to chat with, but don't want the burden of a massive circle of friends, so they find things to do on their own. Like skateboard at the local park. Or ski. Or shoot some pictures. Etc.

Just anything that can be done solo, but allows for a bunch of solo people to get together and chat.

Better: http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/05/the-whiskey-pc/

I've always wanted to do that, but I never have the parts. Maybe I should fly more . . .

So was Hitler, so I think it's kind of appropriate.