I lived with my grandparents who worked at the Czechoslovak embassy in Lisbon. Spent my vacations and occasionally Christmas back home with my parents.

You dont have to look that far into the past. Back in the 1980s, I was flying about once or twice per year between Prague and Lisbon and back. Always used Czechoslovak Airlines. The plane was largely empty, so I got to sit in the front, in facing seats with a table between them. Even when I had to sit in the "regular" class (I hesitate to call it economy, because it was nothing like today's cattle pens), we got a stewardess taking orders for drinks and snacks. And we got linen napkins with the main meal...

Ok, enough nostalgia. I'm now at the stage where speed is secondary to comfort. I want my zeppelins back!

This would be true, if Megaupload willfully stopped paying Carpathia. However, they expressed the willingness to continue paying them for the servers, if they had the funds available. These funds, however, were frozen by the US government, who is thus responsible for Carpathia not getting paid, and as such has taken over the duty to maintain the data integrity. It's actually nothing new - authorities in the US have been doing similar things with physical property for a while, via asset forfeiture; the only difference here is that it's digital property. And that can be much more easily routed outside the authorities' reach in the future.

1. Take people's data, hold it hostage
2. Tell people to pay if they want to see the data ever again
3. Profit!

All this, of course, is contingent of the hostage taker having access to the data storage. Solution is simple: don't store your data in a country with such practices, or with a company with ties to said country. The Internet should finally recognize the US as damaged area and route around it.

What ARE the effects on the brain for prolonged and repeated sessions of lying on the grass pretending to have a knee injury?

Same here. I was never willing to spend the money for Photoshop, so I "grew up" with GIMP. And with Inkscape, instead of Illustrator. So when my company, where I designed the marketing materials as a side job, decided to "professionalize" and get me Photoshop and Illustrator (I believe versions C2), I struggled for a while with the UI and then decided to go back to my old software. I'm sure Adobe products are amazing - otherwise they wouldn't sell so well - but after all the time, it's difficult for me to readjust.

I'm glad Robby the Robot made the list, as the representative of classic robots. But I'd love to have seen Class M-3 Model B9, General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot, just to see how it messes up the poll layout.

Only cops, soldiers and private security with the right paperwork.

And since recently, and quietly, cops and soldiers of the U.S. of A.

Someone tried to assassinate the prime minister in the 90's, but couldn't get past Canada's final boss: The prime minister's wife wielding an Inuit soapstone carving. True story.

The supreme court suggested that the law be chaged so that after the facts the cops need to fill out a form explaining why they did it. C-30 already includes a provision requiring the cops to rubber stamp their own actions afterwards.

Arrested for wearing a t-shirt: USA! USA!

Tazered and arrested for asking a question at an open mic question period: USA! USA!

Accused of hate speech: CANADA HAS NO FREEDOMZ! OMG!

My "bank" is called TD Ameritrade and the interest vehicle is commercial bonds. Still not much extra income - usually between $30 and $40 per year - but enough for a yearly supply of PC games via GOG ;)

Many people are happy when they get a tax refund. These people probably play the lottery as well. Personally, I always strive to owe as much as possible without incurring penalties ($1000 in the US). It may not be much, but this is a money that I have at my disposal throughout the year, to accrue interest or capital gains. It may not be much, but every penny counts.

I can picture the issue http://thepigskindoctors.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/nerds.jpg