I don't get it - why do people go through that extra step of going to the Google homepage to begin searching? My browsers' home pages are set to about:blank; and when I want to Google something, I use the Search Bar in FF and the address bar in Chrome (I don't use IE if I can help it but even that has a search bar!).

My suggestion would be to sign up on the Sun Java Forums (now confusingly branded as the 'Oracle' forums in some places; and looking rather ugly) and try and answer questions that newbies post. Sure, some will be really dumb and some will be of the help-me-get-my-assignment-done kind, but you'll also see questions that make you wonder 'yeah, why *does* it work that way?'. I found that explaining what I already knew helped make the concepts concrete for me, and looking at the explanations that others gave helped me learn new things and new ways of doing things.

Of course, the suggestions that were already given - picking a project and working on and visiting sites like projecteuler.net or topcoder.com and working on problems posted there - are much better; the forums will mostly help you improve your Java skills and occasionally give you some general insights into programming and problem-solving.

Parent's sig applies perfectly to those that moderated him "insightful". The number of "Ifs" in the comment remind me of FOX news commentary.

Nowhere is it being proposed that you can no longer extend Firefox -- it's just that you will need to use a more user-friendly language than XUL to do it. It's called something else, and suddenly those that don't take the time to read the linked articles freak out and declare that the end of the world has come for Firefox. Does anyone not think that the Firefox team would have thought through the consequences and decided with sober mind that they're positive?

Another poster has already quoted the firebug response, but here goes again: "I don’t think these changes will have a big impact on Firebug. Firefox will continue to support extensions while the jetpack technology matures. We can adapt as we go along"

If the creators of an extension as complex and deeply embedded in Firefox as Firebug think it's going to be ok, then maybe that's a sign that we should all just take a big breath and chill out.

It is Pitch Black. You are likely to be beaten up by Vin Diesel.

KeePass is pretty awesome:

1. FOSS
2. 'Unofficial' ports for Linux, Mac OS X, JME, iPhone, BlackBerry, PalmOS and Android

These are features on the Windows build so I'm not sure how many of these are available on the ports:
3. You can secure your passwords DB with a passphrase, keyfile or your Windows user account (I don't know why anyone would pick that one though, one reinstall and you're locked out)
4. Nifty features like automatically clearing the clipboard after a timeout, automatically locking the interface on certain triggers and auto-type (automatically type in the username and password into other windows, like a form on a webpage when you hit a key combo)
5. Auto-generation of strong passwords

It'll create an encrypted DB of your passwords which is stored as a file. So you can easily take it with you. I use Dropbox to sync mine across all my machines. And if you use a portable version on a USB stick, you can access your updated DB from any machine.

That doesn't necessarily require the stormtroopers to be clones. Most (if not all) armed forces have some sort of height and weight requirements.

Someone should let this guy know!

Or 'Go to Google.com'