Ditto. I've switched to generating passwords that are as long as the site allows (well, up to 80 or so, with spaces and special characters and whatnot).
I think I'd rather stop reading FUD articles on Wired written by noobs, than give up passwords.
Good for you. But 99.9% of people are not as careful, and will never be. You can't change them. They will continue to use the same password of minimum allowed length for multiple sites, and store it in plain text on their desktop. The designers of technology need to be aware of how it is actually used by real people.
I think I'd rather stop reading FUD articles on Wired written by noobs, than give up passwords.