There is a difference. I don't think anyone is claiming the inhabitant(s) of SeaLand are made of a distinct ethnic, cultural, or religious group. It is also worth nothing that even without land, groups can have rights under international law. Take the Palestinians for example.

And yet the minimal standards are much higher than most people actually do.

My take: Do audits and auditors do anything to secure your systems? Rarely. Do having real hoops to jump through and jobs/salaries/bonuses on the line for failure prompt people to try to secure their systems? Frequently.

You are conflating scientific certainty with the need to make policy/engineering decisions. Yes relativity is a theory, not a certainty bu lLet's say you were in a position of designing a satellite. Would you say to yourself "self, relativity is just a theory so I can ignore it"? Or if you were drilling for oil would you say "tectonics is just a theory I'll spend $2million to drill this well and ignore the theory". Or a text book company "Climate change is just a theory, all other theories are exactly as valid. . . .

Another option is SQL Azure. You get most of the features of on prem SQL Sever, but billed monthly. If you are storing a reatively small amount of data (~10GB or so) it is pretty cheap and get 99.9% up time with littl to no effort.

It is far superior to MySQL geographic types. I'm partial to MSSQL, but PostGIS is a close second.

I worked in Qatar (not in IT), which is technically a war zone by USG standards. It is also the wealthiest country on the planet and obscenely safe. I didn't even bother to lock my door. The pay there was good, but not insanely good. I looked into IT work in Afghanistan and would have made ~$300K. That job would require two things. 1) A USG security clearance and 2)willingness to literally be on the front lines and get shot at. Not all war zone are created equal. Pay will reflect that.

Now you will probably hear a lot of folks talking about the danger etc. Yes, it is a war zone, but your odds of being killed are very low. I'd say your two biggest concerns in a place like Iraq are: 1) dying in a traffic accident, which would be just as likely in India of SE asia. 2) Dying of boredom. THAT is the big issue. These places are boring. And the security you are forced to endure will piss off most geeks. You see it, it is designed to slow you and everyone else down. There is a lot of theater and it can get tedious.

That said, If you spend all your free time indoors reading obscure tech blogs, then I say go for it.

Read the title of the thread "should composting be mandatory in US cities". Where is the charging me part?

This is why I consider Libertarians imbeciles. Replace X with "driving on the right side of the road (or left when in Britain)". . . . . . Still think the answer is "No"?

These sorts of trials/prosecutions, where the USG invokes national security to avoid presenting evidence, are becoming all too common. We currently have 800,000+ citizens with TS clearances (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/). I used to. I'd be happy to serve on a jury in these situations and I assume many other folks would too. With that many people to draw from I would think we could find a good jury pool and give people a fair trial instead of dropping charges or kangaroo courts. It would be slightly more expensive, but I don't understand why this couldn't work.

Doesn't Congress declare war. Isn't the Predisent commander in chief? Why are we letting the military decide what is and what isn't an act of war? Seriously, this strikes me as dangeraous! What happens when the pentagon declares somethig an act of war and the president decideds it is not? Can the military decide that the president is in on it and unilaterally launch a war?

This is bad.

Just signed up with the evil empire. Got a 20% raise, stock and bonus. Better job too although the commute sucks.