Easy - they just decide they are above the rules, file the paperwork and fee, and hope the USPTO is dumb enough to grant the trademark. In 2007 they filed a trademark application for the name "Princess Aurora". If you are uncultured you may think there's nothing wrong with trademarking Sleeping Beauty's name, but if you know ballet at all then you know Tchaikovsky gave that name to the lead role in his Sleeping Beauty ballet back in the 19th century. If the USPTO is stupid or corrupt enough to award that trademark, then no ballet troupe or school in the United States will ever be able to perform Sleeping Beauty without paying Disney for their permission. Never mind that they took the public domain character from Tchaikovsky's work, or that most of the music in their 1959 animated movie was composed by Tchaikovsky, since Princess Aurora was a character in their movie they think they have total right to that name!

When I lived in an area prone to a lot of lightning storms, I got into the habit of putting my backups into anti static bags, then into a cardboard lined steel ammo can with a desiccant pack.

Steel ammo cans can be purchased at any surplus store and many outdoor/hunting stores. They will protect from lightning as well as electromagnetic pulse. They come with a rubber gasket making them waterproof, but they are not fireproof - if your house burns down around the ammo can, the heat will destroy your drives.

So, if you are really paranoid, get a fireproof safe big enough to store the ammo can...

In my second year of high school I built my own 8 element Yagi antenna and used it to contact MIR. Contact was shortly after sunset, all I had to do was point my antenna at the right dot of light moving across the sky and move the antenna to track. When the space station entered Earth's shadow I just did my best to continue earlier movement.

The radio was something I had built myself from a kit in the summer before my freshman year at high school.

Doing something new or unique for your project is praiseworthy; something people have done for decades with mostly off the shelf parts, not so much.

Earlier this year I renewed my passport book and also requested a passport card. The book has a shielded cover so it can't be read when closed, and the card came with a foil envelope that effectively shields the RFID chip from being read. I wonder if the NY and WA licenses come with something similar.