Actually, Lithium is one of the least abundant elements in the universe, at least in terms of elements that don't decay radioactively. Quoth wikipedia:

Though very light in atomic weight, lithium is less common in the solar system than 25 of the first 32 chemical elements.

The lack of lithium in the universe is one of the great unsolved mysteries in astronomy.

Oops, I wasn't looking carefully... the minimum cost for true bluewater broadband is $1500/month.....

Marine satellite broadband. It ain't cheap (cheapest plan is $400/month), but seeing how much they're spending on the rest of this boondoggle, it should be affordable for them....

Actually, they still sell logic chips and miscellaneous electronic components, albeit fairly well-hidden in the back of the store. I had a last minute idea for a project for a summer camp group I was leading last week and was able to pick up all the components I needed from RadioShack. Admittedly, the selection isn't what it used to be, but it's still there when you have a sudden pressing need for resistors, LEDs, transistors and capacitors....

Who knows what this "rebranding" will do for that section of the store....

This is not a new idea. Actually, this idea has been thought about before and dismissed. The researchers referenced propose using millisecond radio pulsars for navigation. This is a poor idea from an engineering standpoint because it requires having a large collecting area of radio dishes in order to get an apporpriate signal level.

A better idea, which is currently being researched, and was suggested four years ago (at least the earliest I recall it being mentioned) was using x-ray pulsars, which require much smaller collecting area. See for example this thesis on the subject.

Most of what you say I agree with. I do realize that lots of the information is available offline (I can think of two sources which it could easily have come from). The fact that the GOP (and/or henchman) is searching either of those sources is what bothers me.

What I am somewhat concerned about is that you state that this business information could be used to look up my SSN. Most universities have similar information posted for all graduate students, researchers, and professors. Is it true that anyone could then lookup SSNs, or only someone who is in a position of trust (in your case, managing pensions). A quick search online showed sources whereby it might be possible, but they required additional documentation to prove the looker-upper had the right to access that information.