I think tattoos are stupid. That's why I don't have any. I can say this for a lot of things other people like. I don't understand why someone would do it, but as long as nobody does it to me, I'm not bothered by it.

Since when do hipsters care about whether their fashion is actually functional or not? Having a watch that doesn't fully work may be more hipster than one that does.

So before the iPad, did they have a single paper copy? Or did they have more than one, for backup purposes? If they had multiple copies, then replacing all except one with an iPad would be a valid way to save weight, but still have a reliable backup.

I did not see any information about whether or not the still carry a physical copy as a backup. If it were up to me, I would do just that. And since the physical copy is the backup, not the primary, I would not begin a flight unless I knew that both my primary (iPad) and backup (paper) were both available and working.

I'm not so sure of that. As a victim, you are aware that you have about 0% chance of getting your data back if you don't pay the ransom (unless you had a good backup setup somewhere). So you pay because you believe your data is important enough to justify the risk. This is similar (though nowhere near the same level) as someone demanding a random because they kidnapped your child. You already are well-aware that they are not trustworthy, but you really don't see an alternative.

Now, I do agree with your other point. If news was out that people paying the random did not get their data back, then I'm sure a smaller percentage of victims would be paying. But some would still pay, because their data is important enough to them that they hold on to that small hope that they might get it back.

I think all this packaging is exactly why we don't have such channels (on TV). If all channels were ala carte, then there would be motivation to produce the sort of content that each group of people want. Instead, everything is grouped into packages. This prevents individuals from making their preferences known with their wallets, thus the programming we see is the drab sort of thing that appeals to as wide an audience as possible.

While I'm not disagreeing with you, I really dislike this question. Have we solved all problems on Earth that we should start exploring space? Have we solved all problems in America so we should start developing a foreign policy? Have we solved all problems in physics that we can now move on to chemistry?

Simply put, we don't have a clear queue of problems, and probably never will. And even if we did, not all problems can be solved faster by having more people work on them, so it will always make sense to be working on multiple problems at a time.

Hardly proof, but in Asimov's Foundation series, the Encyclopedists were setup on a resource-poor planet. This caused them to develop highly efficient technology, including things like pen-sized nuclear reactors. The point I'm making is, if we were hit with disaster, we will find a way to re-build, but we may end up building things quite differently than before, depending on what resources are available. No matter what, it'll suck for the first few generations, but assuming we survived, it's at least plausible that we could come out better for it in the future.

That's all well and good, but servers tend to have rules requiring mixed case, letters, numbers and special characters. These rules make passwords more challenging to remember. I can remember horsebatterystaple easily enough, but will quickly forget H0r$eBa77ery$7aple

I'm not a part of my parents' household. Does this mean that for me, "marriage" is impossible?

So only certain types of legal marriage (where I live anyway) are "real"? Yes, it is difficult for me to know which state-sanctioned things are real, and which are fake.

A "real marriage"? Which marriages are real, and which are fake?

IM is great for quick questions, and it's not uncommon that a conversation that started as an IM will transition to an in-person discussion. E-mail is useful when you need a little more formality than IM, and can also be useful when instructions, or other details need to be shared.

Ok, then how about getting a Mac without iTunes?

It depends where you live. If you have to share a small street, made smaller by piles of snow, with cars, then biking may become significantly more dangerous in the winter. If there are dedicated bike lanes, then the story will be different.