SharpsDressedMan:
I point you to Niven's laws by Larry Niven, one of the greatest science fiction writers of our time. Just to give you an idea of how great, the Strategic Defence Initiative (Star Wars project) was put together on his kitchen table one labor day weekend and now exists in a working form.
Many people don't realise how awesome this is, but I grew up under the fear of nuclear war fought with weapons that could not be defended against. The fact that we don't have to threaten to murder the innocents on the other side of the political fence to prevent them from murdering us us awsome beyond belief. Self defence is moral, mass murder is not.
So, on to Nivens Laws:
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1a) Never throw **** at an armed man.
1b) Never stand next to someone who is throwing **** at an armed man.
You wouldn't think anyone would need to be told this. It dates from the Democratic National Convention of 1968.
2) Never fire a laser at a mirror.
3) Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.
You will not be stopped! There are things you can't do because you burn sugar with oxygen, or your bones aren't strong enough, or you're a mammal, or human. Funny chemicals may kill you slow or quick, or ruin your brain ... or prolong your life. You can't fly like an eagle, nor yet like Daedalus, but you can fly. You're the only earthly life-form that can even begin to deal with jet lag. You can cheat. Nature doesn't care, but don't get caught.
4) Giving up freedom for security has begun to look naive.
Even to me. Many of you were ahead of me on this. Three out of four hijacked airplanes destroyed the World Trade Center and a piece of the Pentagon in 2001. How is it possible that those planes were taken using only five perps armed with knives? It was possible because all those hundreds of passengers had been carefully stripped of every possible weapon. We may want to reconsider this approach. It doesn't work in high schools either.
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more here:
http://www.larryniven.org/stories/nivens_laws_2002.shtml
I included rule three because I breached it on the weekend. Ouch!
GDCPony: Good luck with your ongoing battle.