I can at least understand trying to kill terrorists. Civilians get killed because of our desperation to kill the terrorists. I mean, it's horrible and all, but at least there is an understandable goal there.

This seems just flat out petty. If we hacked websites to locate terrorists, or anticipate attacks, or disrupt their finances, I could understand that. But to hack in and just insert our own video? And admit that we did it? It just makes us look like script kiddies putting "USA rulz!!! LOL OMG" on stuff.

Crap like this makes our enemies hate us just a little bit more, and makes our allies just a little bit more reluctant to support us, and doesn't accomplish anything material.

Um, yes it does. Article I section 8 is exactly an enumerated list of items Congress is allowed to write laws about. And the 10th amendment explicitly says anything not on the list (or added later by an amendment) can't be done by Congress.

Wait, what constitution are you reading? Article I section 8 specifically details the kinds of laws congress can pass. "Taxes, duties, imposts and excises" are the very first things mentioned.

He showed up during the Eugenics Wars, which didn't get much press coverage because they happened at the same time as the O.J. Simpson trial.

Hmm, I guess we aren't at all on the same page here. Nerds are not, in my experience, trying to gain social acceptance, they are just trying to enjoy things they enjoy.
I basically see two options here, someone who enjoys D&D/Star Trek/Computer Programming/Whatever can either:
Continue enjoying the things they enjoy and accept the fact that the majority will shun them for it, or
Give up on things they enjoy, and pretend they enjoy things that really don't give them pleasure, so as to try fool their peers into thinking they are more 'normal'.

I've tried both approaches at various times in my life, the second one is not only a very sad way to go through life, but it is also ineffective. The others just see through your sham and shun you anyway.

Being a good person really doesn't enter into it, nerds are generally quite nice and respectful of others (there are exceptions). That is, in fact, one of the "weird" behaviors that set them apart from others, nerd sub-culture doesn't engage in the usual put-downs and insults that "regular" kids like to dish out.

You can enjoy Magic the Gathering without forgetting the rest of the world.

Who's forgetting the rest of the world? I'm not sure what you are even getting at here.

You can enjoy D&D and not drone on about it endlessly to people who don't care.

Ok but that's a fairly universal human failure. People who love football (or whatever) are just as likely to drone on about it endlessly to people who don't care. Its just that since there hobbies are more popular they have fewer people complaining (because more people share their love of football/whatever).

Also, all this stuff you mentioned is just entertainment. Do you really think entertainment choices are this important?

Well, your original post already mentioned not giving up computers and math and such. What else does that leave besides entertainment choices to cause one to be labeled as a nerd?

Being labelled is not a behavior. If it doesn't fit, it's a lot less likely to stick.

Ok but usually in this case it does fit and therefore stick. Nerdy kids do, in fact, like nerdy stuff

Preemptively giving up is not really good for much. It's a poor lesson for kids. It tells people they can't count on you for anything.

I don't understand what you are even getting at here. Are nerds giving up on something? The kids are just trying to enjoy things they enjoy, and getting harassed because the majority doesn't enjoy those things and labels them as "uncool".

Why not give up the subculture behaviors and identification instead?

Because the subculture behaviors are things that they enjoy. Magic the Gathering/Japanese Animation/D&D/whatever are things that are appealing and fun for kids of a certain personality type (nerds) and so they associate with other kids with similar interests.

The nerd label comes wether you want it or not. You can try to pretend you don't like that stuff and are into mainstream stuff but that's a pretty sad way to go through life and everyone else usually sees through your fakery anyway.

What annoys me is that nobody offers what is really needed - more elbow room.

My legs fit fine in nearly all airline seats. I hate having to try to suck my arms into my torso in a desperate attempt to avoid physical contact with the stranger next to me.

Business Class fares are completely astronomical. I might consider paying 10%, 20%, or even 50% more to avoid sharing an armrest (that isn't even adequate for one person, let alone two). But last time I checked, Business Class tickets were about $5000, around 4-5 times economy class tickets. (I was comparing LAX to Hong Kong at the time)

If that's true though, then there should be no talk about permits. If "Bigfoot's" activities actually constitute harassment or if there is a legitimate public safety issue, then the Park should be flat out saying "no you can't do that".

By making it a "you don't have a permit" issue, it really smacks of the park rangers don't like it, but it hasn't actually crossed the line.

I mean, are they saying you CAN harass/endanger people as long as you do get a permit?

I sure as hell did when I was in primary and secondary school! Yeah I don't have to think about it NOW, after having done it for decades. But in my childhood 95% of the effort of writing was concentrating on making the letters actually look like letters. And that seriously bogged down the actual process of learning how to write well. I was pretty much saved by the introduction of widespread computers when I was in High School.