Is there a practical difference between this and crowdfunding the defense or a site or the eff defending a patent troll lawsuit? Others paying for legal services. Granted Gawker got what they deserved as a result of their terrible reporting and editorial standards but while I don't agree with Thiel on much his ability to fund others legal issues is what it is.

I think the real lesson should be this is why you never allow a random group of internet users to use your password from a previous position to enter website that isn't yours.

Oh it does. There are a number of "old folks" that have been fired after stupid posts. Police and teachers are the leaders of the pack in this group.

Considering these posts are an example of your decision making abilities, judgment and character I'd say it's useful information for employers. A good predictor of future behaviors is past behaviors. Posts about skipping work, stealing from previous employers, and other past employment is useful info for potential employers. So are posts about willingness to take on extra responsibility, actions that have resulted in positive outcomes for employers and examples of good decision making skills.

In the past I bought high end or built my own. The last thing I bought was a desktop right off the shelf of BestBuy to browse the web primarily. It's a dual core Pentium with some kind of NVidia graphics card I put in it myself. Logitech media keyboard and mouse and maybe 4 or 6 gig of ram. All my gaming is now on a console. I'm not an engineer so there is no need for a smoking tech monster dimming the lights when I cut it on. When you get older and don't need it for work you get more and more utilitarian.

The original movies have always been kids movies. For us old timers we were teens or less when we saw them and loved them for the action, adventures, swashbuckling laser space fights. As we grew older our glass became rosier and rosier. We then started making Jedi a religion on the census and other squirrel crap nutty stuff like that. The prequels came out and we hated them because they "ruined" our star wars. We all failed to notice that our kids loved them though. Try getting your 6-8 year old to sit through star wars then pop in Phantom Menace and see how long they sit. Star Wars movies were always made for kids to love, we just stopped being kids. Go back and watch other shows that we loved. All out young nerd loves were just that. Let me know how well the original Transformers or GI Joe cartoon holds up. Go find the high school head cheerleader while your at it. She may have a little grey in her hair too.

All these people in an uproar over a story posted on a blog that was sent to a mom and pop tech blogger via a Google hangout that was originally from a 3rd party email. There are no names, dates or times on any of the claimed. At the bottom of the page are a bunch of tacked on edits. I have more concerns with the people that are taking this info as fact and their gullibility than the police state arguments they are making.