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Amazon Glacier is supposed to be pretty cool for long term archival. It's cheap per gigabyte, but the caveat is that there is a wait time to pull your data out of their archives, so it's not suitable for something that needs to be online immediately. Haven't tried it quite yet, but the idea makes sense to me. https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/

http://books.google.com/books/about/In_Defense_of_Childhood.html?id=hO9dPgAACAAJ
"The pressures of modern life are increasingly squeezing the adventure, the wonder, the physicality -- the juice -- out of children's lives. Virtually every arena of kids' experience is now subject to some form of outside control, and this is a serious threat to the unique spark that animates every child. Lamenting risk-averse parents, overstructured school days, and a lack of playtime and solitude, this book is a clear and compelling plea to save childhood."

The challenge of addiction will only get worse:
http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/B0057DC3VY
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

My mobile devices have actually contributed to my creativity. I'm a writer, and I've come to depend on my mobile devices quite a lot to, well, write. From my first palm Zire to my current Motorola Flipout, I've depended on my mobile devices to write and edit my various stories. The internet connected devices have also been tremendously handy to do quick research on the various subjects relevant to my writing. In each of the boredom cases listed in the article, I'm much more likely to be continuing whatever current story I'm working on or doing research directly related to it. Before my mobile devices, I had to use a notebook if I wanted to get some writing done away from the computer. Obviously, that was quite a lot less convenient than a handy gizmo that fits comfortably in my pocket and is easier to read than the nigh-indecipherable scribble of my handwriting. So you'll see me standing in line between the guy texting his girlfriend and the girl giggling at the latest grumpy cat picture while I'm actually doing something worthwhile, and creative.

If you're curious, my first completed, published novel, which was written entirely on mobile devices, is available here:
Amazon Trade Paperback (Createspace pays me better, but it's still Amazon),
Lulu epub, Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.
It's also free in its entirety on wattpad. I've actually gotten sales from people who started reading it here.

My mobile devices have actually contributed to my creativity. I'm a writer, and I've come to depend on my mobile devices quite a lot to, well, write. From my first palm Zire to my current Motorola Flipout, I've depended on my mobile devices to write and edit my various stories. The internet connected devices have also been tremendously handy to do quick research on the various subjects relevant to my writing. In each of the boredom cases listed in the article, I'm much more likely to be continuing whatever current story I'm working on or doing research directly related to it. Before my mobile devices, I had to use a notebook if I wanted to get some writing done away from the computer. Obviously, that was quite a lot less convenient than a handy gizmo that fits comfortably in my pocket and is easier to read than the nigh-indecipherable scribble of my handwriting. So you'll see me standing in line between the guy texting his girlfriend and the girl giggling at the latest grumpy cat picture while I'm actually doing something worthwhile, and creative.

If you're curious, my first completed, published novel, which was written entirely on mobile devices, is available here:
Amazon Trade Paperback (Createspace pays me better, but it's still Amazon),
Lulu epub, Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.
It's also free in its entirety on wattpad. I've actually gotten sales from people who started reading it here.

Exactly, thanks. I think too many geeks try to overthink anything with crypto, like you are dealing with a Bond villain when IRL we are talking about a beat cop. No offense but while I know several beat cops and while they could take me in hand to hand or target shooting breaking even simple crypto? Not so much.

So for what he is wanting to do, which was keep beat cops from just hitting the erase button so that they will actually have to destroy private property to get rid of it? You can get an E350 for just $69 shipped which gives you a dual core that idles at less than 5w and at load is only 16w, slap in a small case, 4Gb or 8GB of LDDR 3 RAM, and an SSD? You can have a system for less than $200 that will do everything he is wanting to do and can even be used later on for many other jobs. Hell I've been yanking P4 boards and replacing them with E350s in office boxes. works great and actually gives better performance for a lot less power.

Hilarious, a lot of the creepy Google privacy concerns are there because they've seen how far Facebook pushes the envelope and think they can too.

I don't think Google is a "We can too" operation, they've done pushed past the envelope many times.

Google already has their own "Android", the Motorola Xoom 3G/4G sold by Verizon. While it can be used as a phone,
I imagine that function used mostly for video chatting.

Another version of the Xoom is just a tablet no 3G/4G, which I have. Normally one would log into Google and stay logged in.
Those with security concerns like myself log in only when needed then log out when done.
Going one better I also disable the WiFi.

Never used the Xoom 3G phone but here's a simulator which shows it's very much like the Amazon Kindle
(just more expensive and very nice).
http://support.verizonwireless.com/simulator/Motorola/xoom/simulator.html
It's branded Google with no mention of Verizon, and one shops at the Google store https://play.google.com/store

As sold by Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Android-Tablet-Verizon-Wireless/dp/B004NNVHUC

Motorola Xoom is at it's end life, It's last Android version was 4.1, but rooted I have 4.2.1.

First of all YOU get to choose what case you want, if you want an ultra slim case? get a shuttle, its YOUR choice, not one size fits all. I chose that system because as someone who actually BUILDS HTPCs I've found that most folks? Honestly like the new black cases, they usually come with silver or red accents and look quite spiffy. You can of course turn it on your side if that is what melts your butter, or there are several companies that make HTPC cases that look like everything from a VCR to a Mac Mini, again YOUR choice so if you don't like my taste in cases? Cases start at around $22 at geeks, personally I like this one as it looks really nice sitting straight or on its side, kinda like an Xbox.

Second...driver updates? Seriously? does ANYBODY do that anymore? this is like Linux users saying "Windows has daily BSODs!" because they haven't actually used a Windows machine since Win98. I'll tell you the same thing I tell my customers, if it ain't broke? DON'T FIX IT. Unless you are using some weird exotic hardware its really pointless, i haven't seen a non GPU update that gave so much as a single FPS in performance and Steam will now tell you "Hi, you have a graphics card update, would you like me to apply it?" and that is that, hell it doesn't even need a reboot anymore so you can just surf for a minute or two while it installs, so that is a non argument.

as for those "other reasons" it all basically boils down to used games which guess what? MSFT and Sony are killing with the new consoles! Aren't they just doubleplus smart? I know I've built 3 HTPCs in the past 2 months for folks that heard about the killing of used games and said "Well screw that". As for price? Actually...yes they ARE that cheap, in fact I know of which I speak because both of my boys game so I usually buy games 3 at a time. In fact the only problem we've had, if you want to call it a problem, is that during the sales they have 4 packs discounted so heavily (probably for exactly the reason you bring up) that its cheaper for me to buy the 4 pack when we only need 3, but I just give the fourth to one of the boys and let them gift it to one of their online friends, no biggie. During the Xmas sale I spent MAYBE $150 and we ended up with so many AAA titles that I honestly haven't even played a third of what we bought yet, oh the curse of having so many cheap AAA titles...its soooo hard LOL. And the MP is beyond simple, its just "Hey you wanna play?" and there ya go. I'm taking the weekend off thanks to getting a dose of strep and I just got done handing out a pile of loot in Borderlands to the boys, took less than 3 minutes for all 3 of us to be in game. I seem to have a knack for finding rare loot and they suck at it so I've maxxed my bank out and just pass out the good stuff i don't need to the boys. If you haven't tried it? Its really fun. I'm hoping BL2 will be on a Steam sale soon so I can pick up 3 copies so we can jump into together like we did with BL1.

Finally as for BPM and needing devs...why? You want the easiest way to drive around without a controller? BAM! You're welcome. If you have a wife or GF they will love the hell out of you for getting it, the keyboard is instantly familiar to those that do a lot of cell texting so they can just fly on it. After getting one one of my customers is getting ready to have me build him ANOTHER HTPC for his den because his wife put her little hands on that controller and that was it, she is tweeting and FB updating and just flies on the thing, she loves the hell out of it. Notice the trackball under your thumb, that plus the left and right triggers under your first and second finger mans that this and a wireless controller and its just the same as a console only better. After al

I see lots of comments about needing to know the vulnerability right now, and even panic about taking servers down until it's fixed. I can't help feeling that if that's your reaction you're doing it wrong.

That a reaction exists right now is wrong to begin with. They need a book and some training.

I think his parents must have given him this http://www.amazon.com/dp/1481807129/ when he was young.

the little models and small items I've seen people print could have been bought for a few dollars

http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Space-Marine-Terminator-Warhammer/dp/B000VT45O2

Just picked an example at random. Just a few dollars?

Patent trolls take note - 40 year old prior art.

Amazon sells meat? Excuse me, I gotta update my shopping list.

Yes, but they've carefully limited their selection to not offend anyone after the horsemeat scandal:

http://www.amazon.com/ThinkGeek-Canned-Unicorn-Meat/dp/B004CRYE2C/qid=1364496739&sr=8-1

I agree with the idea of alternative investments as being worthwhile. For both personal and institutional investors.

However the fact is that there are not many alternative investments that are actually beneficial. Most just add risk without commensurate returns.

There is a really good introductory book on the topic if you are interested into getting in to the nitty gritty.

http://www.amazon.com/Only-Guide-Alternative-Investments-Youll/dp/1576603105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364494591&sr=8-1&keywords=alternative+investments

I recommend it quite highly.

I agree. The moment I saw this, I thought immediately of The Unincorporated Man. The tale-telling isn't perfect, but the world-building is scary-believable. Especially since we now have an example of someone actually doing this!

Like this one for instance?
Burgers-Smokehouse-Porterhouse-Eight-oz

...that's from the same source as Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 gal, 128 fl. oz., right?

No. There's not a substantial market for it. The market is for things that make it _easier_ for people to post every last second of their lives online (Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instragram, Youtube, etc). The vast majority of the public will see encryption or anything else that interferes with instant narcissism as broken.

Amazon says "No." There is a growing market for dashboard cameras. And they're cheap. Really cheap. Forbes even published an article last month suggesting that they may become mandatory on new cars. As far as people posting "every last second of their lives online." You should really google "russian dash camera". They love posting those things online. It's quite the rage right now. No sir, you are dead wrong.

The market is very much alive and growing fast. And nowhere is "instant narcissism" listed in the reasons people are buying them. Security. Safety. Documenting scams people try to pull (Drive a nice car? Got nice insurance. Target for a personal injury scam). Documenting the police "No officer, I wasn't speeding, and this GPS-enabled dash cam proves it." The only "instant narcissism" I see is from a jaded troll on slashdot going for extra karma by dragging in a favorite scratching post for the slashkiddies: Hipsters. And hey, while I appreciate the sentiment, you're just flat wrong here.

Maybe the FBI should just require we record every form of communication 24/7.

If I remember correctly from the book 1984, home TVs were used to monitor behavior. And if they were turned off for too long, it immediately flag you as suspicious. I think its time to just implement this.

If you can't see my rabid sarcasm in this post, you probably wouldn't object to my proposals anyways.

"You have nothing to fear if you're not doing anything wrong."

Whenever you post this, you also should post a link to Three Felonies A Day, and maybe some articles involving the TSA and IRS auditing.

Spend $20 on this 7 port 2.0, 3amp usb hub, I've been using it for a year now with no problems. It won't fully charge an iPad or kindle, not meant to, but it runs 7 external harddrives without a hiccup... http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Port-Speed-Power-Adapter/dp/B003Z4G3I6/ref=pd_rhf_cr_p_t_1_BS8H

This is Bezo's second patent application this month..

Maybe he got a hold of this book?

Here's a book more suited for the modern times.

Wait, why is this comment modded down?

From the spec sheet:

Processor - ARM Cortex A9 Dual-Core @ 1.6 GHz, Quad-Core GPU Mali 400 MP, 3D OpenGL (ES 2.0)

Product features has Android as the OS but the Technical Details has XP Pro. I'm not sure where that screw up came from, but this listing is from Gaiacom not Amazon itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Archos-GamePad-Capacitive-Touchscreen-Android/dp/B00ADLCC9I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364226556&sr=8-1&keywords=archos+gamepad

To reduce reliance on connectivity, I suggest deploying games (especially multiplayer ones like OpenArena) and off-line educational content (e.g. RACHEL) on the LAN.

Developing countries tend to have poor connectivity, especially in rural areas. The only available option may be a data-capped SIM-based USB dongle, so I recommend deploying a low-power 3G router with battery backup and traffic shaping capabilities (e.g. ZyXEL MWR211)

Also $400 is a cheap toilet seat. http://www.amazon.com/SW554-01-Washlet-Elongated-Toilet-Cotton/dp/B0011YSEUC/

This is one of the central insights of a book entitled Seeing Like a State, basically that all sorts of disastrous policies have been implemented not because they were likely to be successful at solving some particular problem (e.g., Stalinist collectivization of agriculture gave peasants a certain area of land, regardless of its quality, rather than the traditional division of best-medium-poor lands in roughly equal quantities to each family in a village even though this made it almost impossible for an outsider to identify who owned what) but because they made people's actions more visible to the state and thus more controllable (and more easily taxed).

This is the practice on Amazon's EC2: "Pricing is per instance-hour consumed for each instance, from the time an instance is launched until it is terminated. Each partial instance-hour consumed will be billed as a full hour." Source http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/

how do you build a lathe without a lathe? Or a generator without electricity?

Or high-speed rotating gravity nullification discs without high-speed rotating gravity nullification discs?

Shouldn't we have some book that explains how to quickly bootstrap ourselves back to current levels of civilization?

Such information was collected in the 1950s, stored on microfiche, and copies provided to major US fallout shelters, along with a reader that only needed sunlight. I have no idea where to get that now.

There's a classic set of books, Build Your Own Metalworking Shop From Scrap, by David Gingery, just for this purpose. The first book, Build Your Own Charcoal Foundry, starts the process. The books do assume there's plenty of metal scrap around; you're not expected to start from ore.

Getting up to pre-WWII levels from very little can be done. Much of Europe and Japan had to do it after WWII. Although many of the skills have been lost. How many people today can operate a lathe?

Remember to get the metal knob. Melting the plastic one when making bread does not a happy home cook make.
http://www.amazon.com/Le-Creuset-Stainless-Medium-Replacement/dp/B006MVYE44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363990411&sr=8-1&keywords=metal+knob+le+creuset

Doesn't matter, the audiophile market is not rational

Evidence on Amazon.

Not this guy, hell he apologizes for having to call me, its like he's embarrassed like he is doing something but doesn't know what because he isn't the most computer literate guy but he never does anything that I don't tell him to do, if I say do something he does and if i say don't he don't, so that isn't it.

As far as parts not bad? As far as I can tell the CPUs aren't bad, i yanked 'em out of the board and put them in another which I later sold, worked just fine, RAM checks, the graphics card used to be mine and i put it back in my old system to see if it has issues, it works fine, the ONLY thing I can tell you for certain is bad is the boards but damned if I can figure out WHY they are bad, not a mark on 'em. When we changed the board and CPU last we went ahead and changed the PSU but I have the PSU here in the shop and I plugged it into a spare board I had lying around and it seems to be working just fine so whatever it is only seems to cook the boards. As far as what UPS I had him get something similar to this one, like I said the guy doesn't make a whole lot of money so I had to get something he could afford.

I told him to call an electrician and have the lines checked but since its ONLY the desktop being cooked I'm probably reaching but I'm all out of ideas. the guy is a mechanic at a shop so its not like he can afford one of those industrial UPS units or a gamer laptop but so far the laptop has been perfectly fine ONLY the desktop is affected...I'm stumped.

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks)

Posted this instead of bitching about this review not being "News for Nerds and all that Matters."

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks)

Posted this instead of bitching about this review not being "News for Nerds and all that Matters."

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks)

Posted this instead of bitching about this review not being "News for Nerds and all that Matters."

Really? I don't believe that. What about when your political opponents are wrong? Is it not the time for coercive paternalism? "In many cases it would advance our goals more effectively if government were to prevent us from acting in accordance with our decisions."

So, agree or disagree?

I'm old enough that I've lost count of how many times I've been proven wrong. So, in order to minimize the damage, I try to live my life always allowing for the possibility that the other guy is right, and I'm the one who is wrong.

That obviously doesn't mean I won't believe I'm right and the other guy is wrong. For example, in this conversation, I clearly think you're the one who is wrong. I've also already said I think the Tea Party has some crappy ideas and that communism can't work. It means that I don't discount the possibility that I'm just not seeing something they (or you) are seeing. What that does is allow me to listen to your arguments and try to find the merits in them, not just try to find how I can discredit you. If your arguments don't convince me, than I'll present my counterarguments. If I can't convince you, and you can't convince me, than one of us is wrong. I may continue believing I'm the one who's right, but I don't know that's true. So I'll vote my way, you'll vote another. If most people are voting against me in an issue I feel strongly about, I'll try to move someplace where more people believe as I do, but I won't try to force everyone else to change to my beliefs because I have no way of knowing for sure that I'm not the one being stubbornly wrong.

Really? I don't believe that. What about when your political opponents are wrong? Is it not the time for coercive paternalism? "In many cases it would advance our goals more effectively if government were to prevent us from acting in accordance with our decisions."

So, agree or disagree?

As someone who has used AutoDesk Inventor, PTC Elements/Pro, and Solidworks in an engineering setting, they are all pretty much the same toolset but with the buttons rearranged. If you want to use CAD software, though, what really matters most is whether you can find a guide that is well-written on how to use CAD software for things. You may, in fact, want to take a course at the local community college. Whatever software they use, you can then buy and be at least moderately experienced with it.

My college uses http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Solid-Modeling-Using-SolidWorks/dp/0073522694 this book and it's pretty well-written, if you would rather avoid having to take a course. Solidworks is very capable of doing anything a hobbyist might want to and more.

Definitely mod up, he is right because it seems to me that ALL main stream 3D CAD software (solid edge, solid works, autodesk inventor, etc etc etc) are all basically the same, just the arrangement of the GUI is different. The nuts and bolts are the same.

Also, the commercial big name packages are a LOT easier to use than the freebies. It's like the difference between Adobe Premier and Vegas Video. One is intuitive, and the other is like trying to eat soup with a hammer. "You're gonna have a bad time"

Perhaps a tour through TPB would be in order? Oh, wait, that's just a joke I would never advocate piracy.

Nice straw-man rebuttal you've got there.

Also:

Bani-Sadr, the former President of Iran, has also stated "that the Reagan campaign struck a deal with Teheran to delay the release of the hostages in 1980," asserting that "by the month before the American Presidential election in November 1980, many in Iran's ruling circles were openly discussing the fact that a deal had been made between the Reagan campaign team and some Iranian religious leaders in which the hostages' release would be delayed until after the election so as to prevent President Carter's re-election"[15] He repeated the charge in "My Turn to Speak: Iran, the Revolution & Secret Deals with the U.S."[16][17]

^ "Bani-Sadr, in U.S., Renews Charges of 1980 Deal". Nytimes.com. 1991-05-07. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
^ http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2621268
^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0080405630

I was in a similar siatuation a while ago and chose to host everything on my own. Sure it means a bit of work (and I have to admit I'm not quite done yet) but if you enjoy sysadmin stuff it's not too time-consuming and you might be able to learn something, i.e. I chose to use FreeBSD which I'd never used before. Plus things like owncloud should make calendar and contacts synchronization quite simple without relying on third parties to keep their services running.

Of course the major downside is that you will have to do backups and hard drive replacements on your own. With a reasonable RAID configuration and using one of the many cloud storage providers for (of course highly encrypted) backups that shouldn't be too bad though.

Or you could do something in between, i.e. rent a "server" from somebody like amazon or gandi if you don't want to worry about hardware.

To me, the small amount of work and money that is required to run my own infrastructure is certainly worth it not to have to trust a third party with my data, plus running your own things gives you great options for random hacks and fun little projects.

Where can I pre-order my opt-out of all this 3D tech?

I remember that scene from Back to the Future II all too well, thank-you-very-much! :P

Apply to least-favored eye, starting just within the ridge of bone surrounding the orbit, and moving inward and down in a smooth enucleating motion. Avoid exposing delicate fabrics or electronic devices to aqueous and/or vitreous humors that may be released under pressure.

Ah, in favor of tyranny - what a surprise. You'll be glad to know you're not alone - intellectuals have been speaking the same words as you, but calling it Coercive Paternalism instead so it sounds good.

"In this book, Sarah Conly rejects the idea of autonomy as inviolable. Thus in many cases it would advance our goals more effectively if government were to prevent us from acting in accordance with our decisions. Her argument challenges widely held views of moral agency, democratic values and the public/private distinction, and will interest readers in ethics, political philosophy, political theory and philosophy of law."

No more freedom because we might make choices that Sarah Conly disagrees with. What was that bit in George Orwell's seminal tract on tyranny, Animal Farm?

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"

Xest makes some good points about reasons to be more optimistic. However, I've certainly been pessimistic about this myself in the past. Here is an excerpt from a satire I wrote about this and posted to slashdot over a decade ago in relation to an article: "MPAA to Senate: Plug the Analog Hole!" after sending a copy of the US Department of Justice who had asked for comments (I also sent a copy to Richard Stallman who said it made him laugh):
http://www.pdfernhout.net/microslaw.html
"My fellow Americans. There has been some recent talk of free law by the General Public Lawyers (the GPL) who we all know hold un-American views. I speak to you today from the Oval Office in the White House to assure you how much better off you are now that all law is proprietary. The value of proprietary law should be obvious. Software is essentially just a form of law governing how computers operate, and all software and media content has long been privatized to great economic success. ... [Inaudible shouted question] Prisons? There are only a million Americans behind bars for copyright infringement so far. No one complained about the million plus non-violent drug offenders we've had there for years. No one complained about the million plus terrorists we've got there now, thanks in no small part to a patriotic Supreme Court which after being privatized upheld that anyone who criticizes government policy in public or private is a criminal terrorist. Oops, I shouldn't have said that, as those terrorists aren't technically criminals or subject to the due process of law are they? Well it's true these days you go to prison if you complain about the drug war, or the war on terrorism, or the war on infringers of copyrights and software patents -- so don't complain! [nervous audience laughter] After all, without security, what is the good of American Freedoms? Benjamin Franklin himself said it best, those who don't have security will trade in their freedoms. ..."

Sad it is all becoming a little too true, even with some progress on the drug war front.

As I've realized, the USSR had to guard its borders to keep people from escaping that often dysfunctional society -- and we've all been told that showed how bad a country they were. But the USA needs to guard its medicine cabinets instead to keep people from escaping -- what does that say about the USA?

Some books related to your points:

"War is a racket" on the profit-oriented ("fascistic") military-industrial complex
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

"Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me" on cognitive dissonance
http://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/0156033909

In one of Freeman Dyson's books, like "Infinite in All Directions" he talks about the coming conflicts between government and individuals wanting to redefine themselves biologically, where drug use is just a first example of a more general issue.

On the accelerating problem of addiction to "supernormal stimuli", which is a much more general issue than "drugs":
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/B0057DC3VY
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html

By the way, some health ideas to look into, including vitamin D deficiency and eating more vegetables and omega-3s, which can help in avoiding depression:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

When all else fails, somethign from Howard Zinn:

Xest makes some good points about reasons to be more optimistic. However, I've certainly been pessimistic about this myself in the past. Here is an excerpt from a satire I wrote about this and posted to slashdot over a decade ago in relation to an article: "MPAA to Senate: Plug the Analog Hole!" after sending a copy of the US Department of Justice who had asked for comments (I also sent a copy to Richard Stallman who said it made him laugh):
http://www.pdfernhout.net/microslaw.html
"My fellow Americans. There has been some recent talk of free law by the General Public Lawyers (the GPL) who we all know hold un-American views. I speak to you today from the Oval Office in the White House to assure you how much better off you are now that all law is proprietary. The value of proprietary law should be obvious. Software is essentially just a form of law governing how computers operate, and all software and media content has long been privatized to great economic success. ... [Inaudible shouted question] Prisons? There are only a million Americans behind bars for copyright infringement so far. No one complained about the million plus non-violent drug offenders we've had there for years. No one complained about the million plus terrorists we've got there now, thanks in no small part to a patriotic Supreme Court which after being privatized upheld that anyone who criticizes government policy in public or private is a criminal terrorist. Oops, I shouldn't have said that, as those terrorists aren't technically criminals or subject to the due process of law are they? Well it's true these days you go to prison if you complain about the drug war, or the war on terrorism, or the war on infringers of copyrights and software patents -- so don't complain! [nervous audience laughter] After all, without security, what is the good of American Freedoms? Benjamin Franklin himself said it best, those who don't have security will trade in their freedoms. ..."

Sad it is all becoming a little too true, even with some progress on the drug war front.

As I've realized, the USSR had to guard its borders to keep people from escaping that often dysfunctional society -- and we've all been told that showed how bad a country they were. But the USA needs to guard its medicine cabinets instead to keep people from escaping -- what does that say about the USA?

Some books related to your points:

"War is a racket" on the profit-oriented ("fascistic") military-industrial complex
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

"Mistakes Were Made, But Not By Me" on cognitive dissonance
http://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/0156033909

In one of Freeman Dyson's books, like "Infinite in All Directions" he talks about the coming conflicts between government and individuals wanting to redefine themselves biologically, where drug use is just a first example of a more general issue.

On the accelerating problem of addiction to "supernormal stimuli", which is a much more general issue than "drugs":
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/B0057DC3VY
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html

By the way, some health ideas to look into, including vitamin D deficiency and eating more vegetables and omega-3s, which can help in avoiding depression:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

When all else fails, somethign from Howard Zinn:

Yes, my 3-year old PDA has twice the resolution

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-e805-Pocket-Windows-Mobile/dp/B0000DBJUB

No it didn't.

"Intel processor at a phenomenal 400 MHz"

The original iPhone had a 400Mhz processor

[The Axim] has twice the resolution

No it doesn't

"The 4.0 TFT Transreflective Color display offers 240 x 320,"

The original iPhone had a 320x480 resolution.

it should become apparent that the touch-friendly UI alone would not have given momentum to the iPhone release if it was not for marketing and fanboy-ism."

Apple only sold 8 million of the original iPhones.

Now lots of online businesses peddling second hand goods will spring up in no time.

You're right, it's happening already! Look at these evil merchants of second hand books I found just searching online:

http://www.amazon.com/New-Used-Textbooks-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=465600
http://www.abebooks.com/
http://www.powells.com/

If somebody doesn't do something soon, we'll be seeing merchants of second-hand records and CDs and videos as well!! I've even hear rumors that there are some brick-and-mortar institutions springing up and collecting second hand materials and LOANING THEM OUT FREELY TO ANYONE WHO ENTERS! Have we reached such a nadir of respect for commerce and capitalism that we're going to allow every moocher and freeloader in the 47% to simply BORROW someone's intellectual property without paying for it?! I'm shocked the Supreme Court would hand such a victory to the Marxists and Linuxists.

If you look at the latest reviews at Amazon (when the servers should have calmed down a bit), you'll see that most are still giving it 1 star. And it's not just DRM/server problems, but also because the game is flawed in various ways according to many:

http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Arts-41018ted-Edition2-SimCity/product-reviews/B007VTVRFA/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Linus wrote Linux because of the high price of the Unixes at the time (his own words at the time); Microsoft had nothing to do with it.

And just for fun. The relaxed social safety of Nordic countries allows you to screw around a bit and try interesting things (which might lead to innovation, as in the case with Linux...or Pirate Bay).

For those who want to know more, I just read this interesting and quite complete book on the archeology of alcohol. It would be worth a book review on /., but I'm not good at writing those.

You are 100% correct. There's nothing there I'd disagree with.

However, lots and lots and LOTS of folks feel that "privacy" == "let my ID come out to PLAY!"

Humans don't seem able to behave without boundaries and rules.

In any case, alea jacta est. For a LONG time, internet trolls and really sociopathic folks have been using the same tools that we are screeching about in the hands of governments to do truly despicable things.

Exhibit A

It's only when folks who can track them down and punish them get the tools that the caterwauling starts.

Here's an interesting book (How To Disappear). It tells how skip tracers work. They use a lot of old-school techniques, and have been using these same techniques long before the Interwebs.

True anonymity has always been a myth. People who rebel; either legitimately or not, always take a risk. The old Internet fostered a myth of "risk free rebellion."

Like unicorns and high sidhe, risk-free rebellion doesn't exist. If you truly believe in what you are doing, you will find a way to fight. It is a lot more difficult, these days, but, as the Al Queda folks in Yemen (who, unfortunately, truly believe in what they are doing) are showing, good old human ingenuity still tends to come out on top.