The late Sir Arthur C. Clarke was loved by nerds and normals alike for his contributions to literature, film, and technology. Here's a rundown of the five biggest reasons we'll miss him. 1. Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World Clarke kept extensive files on mysterious events, objects, and locations throughout the world. Starting in the early 1980's, he mined these files to bring us Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, a thirteen-part TV series covering topics ranging from UFOs to crystal skulls.... READ ON

It happens to everyone. One minute you're exchanging pleasantries with a perfect stranger; the next minute they're up in your face talking trash about Connecticut. Well, you don't have to take it anymore. History buff, and friend of the Floss, Streeter Seidell expands on why Connecticut might just be the most ingenious state in the... READ ON

In the Beginning's hitting stores in little over a week, and we're serving up another sample below. Enjoy! The Vacuum Cleaner How can we put this politely "“ the first vacuum cleaners kinda sucked. The Original Clean Sweep You could say that H. Cecil Booth invented the first suction-powered vacuum cleaner . . . or you could say that he was the first suction-powered vacuum cleaner. Having seen early models that simply blew the dust around without capturing much of it, Booth was unimpressed and... READ ON

Before this whole Internet/Web fad, before AOL, before CompuServe, before even Prodigy, we had the BBS -- dialup Bulletin Board Systems serving communities of computer users. BBSed had their heyday in the Eighties, and they were generally small, homebrew systems -- a Sysop (System Operator) would start up a BBS by installing special software on a spare computer, attaching a modem and a phone line, and waiting for the calls to roll in. The BBS was primarily a local thing, because generally people didn't... READ ON