this would be an interesting book to read :)

I find it interesting that you suggest that the TSA "Stop the knee jerk reactions", when in the first paragraph of your post, your two "smarter ideas" are to effectively ban all non-US travelers who are from, or who have been in Yemen, and even more ridiculously, to ban all incoming passengers/travelers who have successfully cleared security screenings at a foreign airport. I could be wrong, but I'm going by the way you have worded your statements.

those both seem to be moderately high on the knee-jerk reaction scale: ('OMG, xenophobic ban on middle eastern Yemens!!' & 'WTF, American airport security is the penultimate security! everyone else does it WRONG, so let's just ban everyone who does it differently!!')

Look, I've heard all the TSA horror stories too, and the fact that they failed to take appropriate action when that terrorist's father phoned authorities about his son is NOT a problem with how non-American airports or airlines do business, as your post seems to imply. The failings in this incident were moreso with the DHS and their negligence in contacting appropriate officials after they received the heads-up (whether they were airports in that man's itinerary, foreign police and security services, the flight cockpit of the plane(s) he flew on, or their own services for failing to identify and flag his passport as a passenger who would warrant additional screening before boarding)

I don't have all the answers, in fact, I very much have the same questions that most others do surrounding this incident and the TSA's responses to it, but let's try to keep our reactions somewhat rational and appropriate to the situation, mmk?

Let's not try to solve or comprehend problems by unnecessarily creating new ones. Leave that job to the Transportation Security Administration... :/

that would be a great place to put my external backup drive. If it weren't for the potential risk of liquid damage, i'd use it as a hotplate to keep my coffee warm (those iMacs can get a little toasty back there after a few hours ;)

i haven't misplaced my iPod (it's got all my favorite music on it, so i don't want to be forgetful or careless)

Commuter TL, FTW :D

this would be great if i can't find an outlet to recharge from in an emergency

how do i stay productive on my Mac? can't go wrong with Google, Wikipedia, and iTunes ;)

the first version i used and installed was 10.1, and before that i was rocking along from 7.5.1 through to 9.2.2

I'd probably use this for watching DVDs or youtube without taking up any monitor real estate on my primary display. This would be GREAT at work!!

i've never had one, so i can't say that i've had any fond memories, but there's no reason why i can't create some ;)