Combinatorial chemistry techniques seem to be the inspiration here. Also known as trial and error (albeit in a rapid well-organized fashion). Not exactly a new idea, but this is an interesting new implementation.

Then go to the company's shareholders and offer your services to them for half his price. They'll clue you in as to his worth to the company and your lack thereof.

Well of course they will. The company's shareholders are all cronies of his company's president. His position has almost nothing to do with his talents or skills, and almost everything to do with his connections. It's not what you know, it's who you know after all.

Admittedly though, figuring out how to meet, befriend, and influence the right people is a skill in itself, and it's a skill in which the average Slashdotter is either woefully inadequate or not morally bankrupt enough to pursue.

I sincerely doubt the customer service rep has any idea whether or not the SSN is really gone. I'm sure they're more than happy to change the number displayed on the screen in front of them though, and as far as they are concerned that means the old number has disappeared.

But yes, behind the scenes, the SSN is almost certainly still present in a change log or on backup tapes somewhere. There's zero chance these companies go through the effort to completely purge your SSN from every log and tape. Once they have that number in their system, they've got it forever.

Indeed they are. There is a gas station near my house which is generally 5-10 cents cheaper per gallon than the local competition. The only catch is that you pay more if you want to pay with a credit card.

Asking enough "experts" until they found one that gave them the answer they wanted was par for the course amongst the Bush Administration, and it was hardly restrained to legal matters. This behavior was common in a variety of scientific, environmental, and economic areas as well.

"Don't throw the Constitution in my face anymore. The Constitution is just a Goddamn piece of paper."

Correct.

What it all boils down to is what is admissible as evidence in criminal court.

Remember, the rules for what is admissible in civil court are much more lenient, and the burden of proof is also much lower. Hence, the findings of a PI (private, not public, investigator) may be allowed there. Arguably, these differences are not fair and just, as civil penalties have the potential to disrupt one's life to an even greater extent than a short prison sentence might, but that is an entirely different topic of discussion.

You forgot an important one. Average home price in 1966: $22700 Average home price in 2008: $290400 ~13x inflation Anecdotally, when my father bought my childhood home in the mid-70's, the purchase price was ~1x his yearly salary. When I bought my family's home in the early-00's, the purchase price was ~4x my yearly salary (coincidentally working a very similar job to my father's), and I bought much less home than the banks would have let me. Even now, my home is still valued at over 2x my yearly salary (my salary has increased significantly over the past 9 years, while my home's value has decrease slightly). The point being, as far as the housing market has fallen already, there is still a significant amount of correction needed before it returns to where it was only 30 years ago.

They make caffeinated Sprite now?

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

Local Fox Station != Fox News

Actually, we'll be able to live for $1,000,000/day, which, adjusted for inflation, would be about $1/day today.

No, we're proposing that they get our money.

Adventure of course.

America has at least some excuse, what with being founded at least in part by Puritans and all.

What's Australia's excuse?