The POWER architecture has been around longer than X64, the vast majority of linux software comes with source code and compiles fine on power (and arm, mips and anything else) so it doesn't matter what the underlying processor is. A lot of the software that doesn't come with source these days is java based, which will run just fine on power too.

Except for a small number of fairly niche apps, most linux based server loads will work fine on a power system.

If your apartment building is big enough, club together to get a leased line which you can all share... They will install dedicated lines anywhere if your willing to pay the installation costs.

That's where sites like spamdecoy.net come in, use that email address and make up any other information they ask for...

The license database already includes information about what type of fuel a car uses, the same system that recognises license plates can also be configured to flag cars using the wrong fuel, or with an engine over a certain size etc.

That will just cause people to buy/rent a second car for use on the days their existing car isn't permitted...
The registration database includes information as to wether the vehicle uses petrol, diesel or electric etc so it's no harder to enforce.

The problem is that the world is just too complex, that even the few of us who want to understand and make informed decisions cannot be experts on everything...

I always tried to sign my emails with PGP or S/MIME, 99% of recipients have no idea what that is, either in government or commercial circles.

Not so much that its "cool" to share stuff...
Most of the kids share stuff because that's the only way to get hold of it. We used to trade games (on floppies) as kids because we couldn't afford to buy all the games and lending the originals to friends was irritating (floppies get corrupted/lost, etc).
Also cracked copies were often better, as they took out various irritating copy protection schemes, there were many games where i kept both the original disks and a cracked copy because i preferred to play the cracked copy.

Pity it's written in ruby, that's a bit too heavy for most small routers...

The USB interface is probably faster than the old drive anyway...

I assume the drive in that laptop is IDE, so get a USB to IDE adapter and connect the drive directly to a newer machine.

If you're going to implement any kind of technical filtering it needs to be done at the network layer, and not on the physical machine that the kids have access to. If you do it on the physical machine then they will inevitably find a way around it, even as simple as booting a livecd.

Ofcourse the key is education, this content is out there and kids will inevitably get access to it sooner or later. Whatever controls you implement on your own network or devices, the kids will either find a way to bypass them, or have access to an unfiltered network/device somewhere else. And if something is blocked, it becomes more interesting to the kids and they will actively seek out ways to get at the blocked content, whereas if it was unblocked the kids may not even have any interest in it...

A good example is alcohol, when i was in school many of the other kids in my class were forbidden from touching alcohol and that made them seek out ways to obtain alcohol... Myself and a few others were never forbidden, our parents allowed us to try alcohol if we wanted... I found alcoholic drinks tasted quite disgusting, and lost interest in them.

The current crop of phone cameras are certainly still inferior to dedicated cameras, but they're good enough for most people most of the time and thats what matters.
Most people won't carry a camera with them at all times, but they do carry a phone and its good enough for occasional shots. A lot of those images are going to end up posted online at significantly lower resolution than even a phone camera can manage anyway, and they will be viewed on tiny screens.
Aside from the convenience of being always in your pocket, phones have the added convenience of connectivity so you can upload your pictures immediately.

Proper cameras will always be a niche for those who enjoy photography or do it for a living, but for the vast majority of people a phone camera is all they will ever need.

The decline in price of full laptops, combined with the increasing price of netbooks (more powerful hardware because windows needed it)...

What is likely to work however, is a cracked version of that software.