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DNA might not be as strong evidence as you've been led to believe.

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Here's an article listing (and rating) the various ways to watch download/watch TV legally.

Flytrap

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On Lifehacker today: the fruitfly deathtrap! This is brilliant. Using only a cup, some vinegar, and a folded piece of paper, you can lure and destroy all the fruit flies in your house.

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It isn't bad enough that Countrywide was engaging in questionable loan practices , but now they've lost the data on millions of customers as well.

And, as usual, the completely worthless response:

The company nevertheless promised to provide two years of free credit monitoring to affected individuals through the ConsumerInfo.com division of the Experian credit bureau.

*Sigh*

Y.R. Tap - The reject Cryptokid

The NSA has been working on their public image and trying to market itself as a cool place to work partially with their "Cryptokids" campaign. Their goal is to teach kids about what the NSA does in a fun, kid-friendly way.

But that's not what I'm posting about.

I ran across this interesting comic about the unpopular little-know cryptokid, Y.R. Tap, the NSA domestic spying fly. The fly shows the Cryptokids what can happen when civil liberties are violated.

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This isn't going to be an exhaustive write-up about Paypal and the various trouble you can get into with it. Instead, I'm going to talk about one very important part of the system that most people should know how to deal with.

Specifically, the direct bank access.

When you sign up for Paypal, they ask for your bank account information so they can make some test deposits. Once you see the deposits, you return to the system to tell them how much was sent to verify your account.

Here's the problem: if you do it, Paypal will then have full access to your bank account to pull funds if you were to say, go negative on your Paypal account or some Paypal employee decides they need a little of what you have or a hacker breaks through their world class security.

Instead, don't ever confirm the deposits. What this does is allow Paypal to continue making deposits (for when you get cash in Paypal), but they can't debit your account (so there!). Granted, doing this will limit the amount of money you can filter through paypal (like $500 a month or so), but so what? Most people never do transactions that large and worst-case, if you manage to get a single transaction over $500, just withdraw it over the course of a few months.

If that's not realistic for you, confirm the numbers, just make sure the account you're using is disposable.

Bad apple

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A glitch in the newest iTunes software update has caused many people to lose previously purchased music and movies. Though they've fixed the problem and apologized for it, many people are unsatisfied.

"Most of the music I have purchased online from Apple's iTunes Store has been deactivated," wrote Martin of Suisan, Calif. "I have purchased approximately $140 dollars worth of songs and videos from iTunes Store, which currently is worthless due to the fact that iTunes will no longer play any of them."

When you deal with a company that is dead set on controlling everything you do with your legally purchased media, you're best off not using their product. Even if you decide to use iTunes, make sure to strip the DRM off using the Hymn Utility so you can copy or use the music freely.

DRM

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Spore, the long-awaited video game from the creator of Sim-City and the Sims has finally been released, but with a catch. It includes invasive Digital Rights Management (DRM) that has resulted in a movement by gamers to keep the Amazon.com score at the absolute bottom.

I hate to see a good game go down, but no company has the right to try so hard to control how we use our legally purchased software.

Sarah Palin

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Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who supported Bush in 2004 has recently changed his tune. Now that he's supporting Obama, people want to know why. "The designation of Palin to be vice president," he said. "She's scary."

He also said this of Obama:

I have concluded that the country is safer in the hands of Barack Obama, leader of the Democratic Party and protector of the philosophy of that party. Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks. It includes defending the public with respect to their civil rights, civil liberties and other needs, e.g., national health insurance, the right of abortion, the continuation of Social Security, gay rights, other rights of privacy, fair progressive taxation and a host of other needs and rights.

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So now if you get into a disagreement that you can't find your way out of, you and your significant other can go to Sidetaker.com and post your respective sides on the issue. Users of the site can browse through the arguments, vote, and comment on who's side they're taking and why.

Honestly, I think this sounds like a pretty neat idea. Of course, I would get more use out of the site if they'd let us post work-related disagreements instead.