If e-books have peaked it probably has much to do with the increased sale of tablets.The increasingly common "jack of all trades, master of none" devices make for a painful reading experience. There are a few excellent e-readers still on the market and for those who travel across land and sea such devices are a boon (assuming that you enjoy reading in the first place).

If you begin with Ubuntu first you will then go onto appreciate Arch, when you're ready for it. Both have their place.

My major gripe with facebook (and the reason why I refused to sign up) has always been that they force users to reveal actual data about themselves, initially through the use of university email accounts and then extended to allow workplace email accounts. They have also been known to delete profiles where the user has attempted to hide behind an alias. Thankfully google has not done this and as such my google account profile contains a phony name with a DOB and location to match.

Orly? Beer is a daily reminder and a wonderful example of the endemic hypocrisy of the legal system in many western nations (likewise tobacco) - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5230006.stm