No, he didn't. Check his short story "I Remember Babylon." Of course, he was talking about satellites at the time, but clearly he, um, grasped the concept.

I remember the keypunch machine all too well. Although I am a fast and accurate typist I never could quite get the punch cards to come out right the first time. Of course, I was writing my own FORTRAN code at the time and it was all Martian to me. :)

Arthur C. Clarke came up with the concept of the communications satellite, and he also described satellite distribution of porn (short story, "I Remember Babylon"). He said there would be a way to identify any child's father based on a detailed analysis of the blood (Childhood's End) and that there would be animation…

In general, having less shit to back up helps the process along a lot. Many people use their drives for dead storage of stuff they will never need again but they think they might, so they cling to it.

I don't have a smartphone, so backup's as easy as copying the contact list to the SIM card now and again.

Can you explain how I can get back all the columns I set up in the Air version? They were all there for a reason. I'd feel more kindly toward the new version if I could figure out how to sync up what I used to have.

If your mom doesn't want the iPad, I'll take it. :)

Must be just the new, practically unusable version. The Air version appears to be working OK.

See, I told you so, phone-clock-reading whippersnappers. :)

See, I told you so, phone-clock-reading whippersnappers. :)

The combination of foam and condoms do the same thing and there's no way either party can lie about using birth control.

Why is making a male pill so difficult? Because if a man lies about taking his medicine, he's not the one who gets pregnant.

That's not really sharpening the blades. It's honing them a little, but the screwdriver is not at the proper angle to do the job. You can buy an inexpensive honing device made by Fiskars at any fabric store, that will be well worth the trip rather than trying this kludge.

You can. There are knife sharpeners that are made specifically for serrated edges. Check with your local upscale kitchen store (Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma, etc) for recommendations.

Well, cool. I already have that stuff. What's next? :)

After cooking all these years I have a bunch of recipes memorized, so I can always pick up ingredients for something. It's easier that way. No technology required. :)

Oh, just remembered—you might want to consider running Monolingual to free up space used by all the languages you will never need.

Great article. I just bought the Mini in January and have been dusting it with a microfiber cloth pretty regularly, but I really do have to get back behind it and straighten out all the cables. If I pull the speakers off the shelf one more time I'm going to be tempted to just throw them out. :)

A very tiny dab of penetrating oil might do the trick on those screws. Put it on carefully with the tip of a Q-tip and let it sit for however long the instructions on the oil can say, then try again.

Try using a screw extractor instead, since those are built for the job. You will need to drill a hole in the existing screw. Do this carefully and make sure you vacuum up any metal chips or dust immediately. You do NOT want that getting into the inside of the computer.