Best I've seen was a guy sitting back from the road a bit with a big sign: "Bet you can't hit me with a quarter."

Adults have ADD too. If I do not occupy the idle parts of my brain, they begin to demand attention. Music does this well. Xm comedy channels work nicely too, but can draw my main attention sometimes. The other end of the spectrum is, when I do get my focus on an important or interesting project, all outside sources are ignored. We had a tornado tearing through the neighborhood a couple years ago, and my screaming wife had to hit me to get my attention away from what I was doing to get me in the basement... THAT kind of concentration.

Similar, except I used nail polish to make the mute a bright red for easy locating.

Everyone has their own issues, I guess. I no longer work from home, but I did for 4 years, supporting HPUX servers for a government contract. I set up an office in the dining room, which we never used. It had no door, but was a separate space. I could have easily installed a door, but didn't need to. I sat the family down when the job was offered and asked them if they could respect my workspace if I worked from home. 8yo said yes, but wanted to know how to tell if I was just playing or working. Good question, so I hung a sign by the door. Green on one side and red on the other. Took some getting in the habit to turn it, but it worked well. 3mo gurgled happily and drooled. I took this as agreeing to my terms. The wife said yes. What she meant was "yes, unless it is an emergency." And by emergency, she meant anything that wandered across her mind at any given point. So after the first week, we sat down again. I thanked the 8yo for his efforts in watching the sign and respecting work time. Then I asked him if he can help mommy learn how to do this. The temperature in the room dropped noticeably, but my point was taken. She quit bothering me. In fact, for about 3 days, I thought she had lost her voice, but she got over it. The youngest, once toddling, was more of an issue, but a baby fence and some teaching solved that after a month or so. At the end of the year I spent a couple weeks vacation time building an office, bathroom, guest room, and home theater in the unfinished basement I had ignored for years. I wound up working in the dining room often, it was easier to interact with the family during downtime.

Add to this, I DESPISE WITH A BURNING RED PASSION when they refuse to let me skip forward over their god damn ads. Seriously, if I hit Menu, then I should get a menu, not an icon telling me to quit hitting buttons. I copy every DVD I have, and strip out that shit. The FBI warning hasn't changed since 1974, I con;t care to stare at it for 10 minuets every time I insert the DVD. And Disney, with your 30 previews before I can play the movie: Kill yourself. Painfully if possible. Fire will do. This is the primary reason I may become a serial killer of marketing people. Fucking brain dead morons, the world would be a better place without them. But, that's just my humble opinion.

Looks like Baen has it right. http://www.baen.com/library/intro.asp

Like many, I would appear to be a golden catch for the RIAA if they ever came after me.
1) I have a large collection of MP3 music. Not the largest, but about 1Tb or so of music alone. I also have several external drives full of movies. Enough that I have external drives named "Comedy" "Action" "Documentary" etc...
2) I will not cooperate with letters or demands. They will have to seize my computer.
3) Said laptop is encrypted with TrueCrypt to a decent (but not maximum) level. I will not cooperate on the pass phrase. yes, phrase.

4) and most importantly... I own every song or movie I have. Either ripped from CD/DVD or purchased online legitimately.

I do run torrents for a variety of things, I am no innocent. Mainly to try a game and see if I want to buy it. If I like it, I go buy it. If not, I don't. Yes, that is piracy by definition, and I accept that. But RIAA/MPAA has no authority on games. All that effort they would spend on getting mys system, breaking in or getting a court to force me to let them in, then identifying the "pirated" content will result in me showing proof of ownership for it ALL, and a counter-suit for harrassment, pshych damages, damage to reputation, trauma on my kids, loss of work, and anything else I can throw at them at prices I get to deem appropriate ($7000 a song sounds reasonable to them, so why not me?) I will assrape them and use sand for lube.
I have the perfect lawyer in mind. Ruthless, and would eat his way through a bussload of nuns to get to his goal. just the kind of lawyer every person hates, but secretly wants on their side in the courtroom.

Not all children are created equal. Attempts by anyone to intimidate my 12 year old girl are met with a stubborn streak comparable to Jason Bourne... She has asthma. Her PE teacher apparently does not believe asthma is a real disease. He told her as much and ordered her to run with the rest of the class. She refused, and when he threatened to have her punished, she pulled out her phone, and while standing there in front of him turned it on (phones required to be off at this school) and called me. Stared him in the eye while she asked me to come take care of this fascist pig. I came to visit with her, principal, and the PE teacher. He was apparently set to intimidate me as well, but as soon as he stepped close to me I asked him politely to step away, as my USMC training and war experiences make me unpredictable when threatened. Mr tall, dark, and pudgy decided to re-think his tactics. I did have to discuss the fascist remark with her. Really, know what a word means before using it in an insult.... He's clearly a despot wannabe. the principal is the fascist. The principal took her out of PE, something she swore was not possible at the beginning of the year, state requirements prohibit it. I took my daughter out to dinner of her choice and we discussed how she was right to stand up against an authority figure in the wrong. Pride flowed from me in copious amounts.

The difference between Christianity and Islam: Islam has been more successful in controlling the law of the land. Had Christianity succeeded in many of it's attempts at making the law (or succeeded longer-see Puritan law) then they would be no different. ANY religion, given the reigns of power, inevitably steers toward totalitarian control and intolerance of any but their own. And, usually, strained tolerance of their own.

If their position is that the document in question is a forgery that never existed... what are you going to subpoena? You: "I demand the original document!" Them: "Take that up with whoever created it." Judge: "They can't produce what did not exist. Since their check cleared, overruled."

Look up SLAPP and the various laws against it. It's already illegal... it just doesn't phase them.

I find it highly amusing that people are questioning the data based on minor irrelevant circumstantial data when the subject is an organization that makes sweeping generalizations denying proof based on minor irrelevant circumstantial data.

The best example of "hoisted with their own petard"! Warner insisted itunes and the like clearly state that the downloaded file is not owned, but is licensed for the buyer's use. Very very specific about that. Now all the sudden it's actually sold, when they realize the artist (who they claim they are protecting with this mess) points out that they get significantly more for a license than a sale. They demanded it this way, let them pay for it.

If someone came and confiscated my computer, by the time I got to trial (many months, years even), what are the odds I would remember that password? I travel abroad, and my laptop is encrypted with TrueCrypt. I change the pass weekly. If you grabbed my comp today, in a month I would have trouble remembering which password was in use at that time. In a year, no hope that I would remember it. I might, after a few hours of guessing and sparking memory get in... but if there is incriminating evidence on there... I would have even greater difficulty remembering.

Asimov and Heinlein went to laborious detail on the physics of travel. Early Heinlein very much so.