“Don’t be silly, they can’t do that. That’d be antisemitic.” – Bibi Utteryahoo

Usenet then Slashdot and a forum on a website that no longer exists.

Once I got Internet at home, there were a few online chatrooms that were web based, but were basically IRC. It looks like one of those sites still exists, but if it’s the same one I used (and Yahoo used as a proxy) it’s not at the URL I used it at. Also either I’ve forgotten my details or I’ve been deleted (or it’s a knock-off).

Then Digg, Reddit, Twitter and now the Fediverse.

Oh and throw Discord in there too somewhere towards the latter end.

Dishonourable mentions: MyYearbook and Tagged.com. The former was a bit like old-school MySpace, but it became a soulless dating site called MeetMe with none of the fun Flash games and chat. Tagged was basically a (surprisingly smut-free) user avatar trading site. Attractive people’s pictures (usually women) could end up worth ridiculous sums of fake money. Like vigintillions of dollars kinds of ridiculous.

Now it seems that both are part of the same company, at least based on how the websites for MeetMe and Tagged look. Very glad I’m out of there.

I’m not OP, but yes I hoard. For most of the non-sentimental stuff, any third party coming in would result in me saying “OK” and throwing it all out because wanting to get that third party out of my safe space as soon as possible and not have to think about it would trump the need to keep those things.

And I’d deal with the regret later. Both that I didn’t have the stuff any more and the cynical belief that the need for it is bound to be hastened precisely because I got rid of it.

For the sentimental stuff, that third party is going to quickly become an enemy, whether either of us likes it or not.

Stuff that’s in the middle ground, for example, old computer parts, maybe that third party might be able to help reason about it, but it’s going come down to one of the two above results pretty quick.

FWIW, I had a partial clear out about a decade ago and I still have regrets.

“Might be useful one day” is a real problem for hoarders.

If you find a use for one of those things you’re keeping, you won’t have another because you would have already used it, so you keep two. But if you keep two and use one, then you’ll find yourself in the situation where you only have one, so better have three just to be safe. Now multiply that for several different kinds of things and you have a house full of stuff.

And this doesn’t even begin to touch on the stuff that might have a sentimental attachment.

I have nothing against China as in the landmass, nor most of the people that live there. They have an ancient history, a fascinating set of languages, interesting culture, wildlife, natural beauty, but beyond that, the Chinese are just people, trying to get by, like everyone everywhere else.

What I don’t like is the way the country is run. Especially the fact that I’d be unwise to go there for espousing such an opinion.

I could say much the same of Russia, for that matter.

And my own government and the other parties who stand a chance of becoming a future government here all seem to be headed in a similar direction and I don’t like that either.

So now they’ll dump it in a warehouse somewhere and raise prices to pay rent on that warehouse like all good scam recycling companies do.

And they’ll tell the EU that they’re waiting for an opportunity to sell it but that hasn’t arisen yet. And thus, by and large, they won’t change how they operate.

Freedom to kiss Putin’s ring? What more could you want?

That’s why you have that in a different wallet elsewhere on your person.

In my case, the card wallet goes inside my jacket, and the cash wallet goes in my back trouser pocket. And in the front pocket if I think pickpockets are likely.

Don’t put an official government ID in there. A separate card wallet is always a good plan. Put any card IDs in there instead.

Do put a card in there with your name and contact details along with name and contact details of next of kin. If your wallet didn’t come with such a card, any old bit of cardboard or folded paper will do, so long as it doesn’t look like a joke.

Doing that saved my bacon once or twice, or at least I assume that’s how the people who found me knew who to contact.

As for what money to put in there, amounts and so on, it’s going to depend on how often you pay cash, how much you pay when you do, and how much you’d be OK with losing if you lost your wallet (or worse).

At first glance, sure. But then, strength in conviction and leadership mean nothing if you’re strongly leading your people and your country into ruin.

Sounds like Google doesn’t create per-account cookies and uses one cookie set per browser instance, so you’re either logged in or you’re logged out, one account at a time.

Browser containers or profiles might be the answer to what you need.

I’ve been using different Firefox profiles to run accounts in parallel for well over a decade at this point. Containers might be able to do the same thing, but on account of the aforementioned, I’ve stuck with the old way of doing things.

Also not what you’re looking for, but it may scratch some of the itch: déjà vu

That is, (you think) you’re inducing a sense of déjà vu and disgust within Sebastian.

Additional to other answers, back in the early days of alphabetic writing, some writings alternated left to right then back again right to left on alternating lines. This is called “boustrophedon”, literally “(as the) ox walk(s)” because it’s the same way oxen are used to plough fields.

There’s documented evidence of both early Latin and Greek being written this way. What’s less clear is which direction they chose to start those writings.

The problem with that is that you have to learn to read both directions. They often wrote the letters backwards when text went the other way, which came with its own set of problems. You probably don’t have a mirror. You basically have to learn to write almost twice as many symbols. Some letters are their own reflection and you can’t always tell which way something was written. etc. etc.

Eventually someone influential will have chosen the direction for presumably a good reason (to them) and everyone else eventually followed suit.

Some people genuinely do not understand the concept of GUI windows and how they work. They do not generate a full mental model of the desktop and the windows on it and only see the whole screen as one bewildering interface. They focus on what they do know in order to get by.

This may be especially true of people who learned their IT with small screens or low resolutions where running an application full screen (or as the only active application!) is required to get anything done.

Your colleague saw you click on part of the interface they were ignoring because they didn’t understand it and magic happened.

Do you consider yourself a virus?

Well, certain people do consider me to have some undesirable traits like ideas about getting our species off the planet, and if I didn’t exist, I’d generate considerably less CO₂.

Uncomfortable though it may be, the latter applies to everyone I’ve ever known, cared about or who has cared about me.

And it is inherent. The singular purpose of certain genes is to make more of the same gene, and they’ve gotten very good at it. Humans and viruses are both emergent phenomena.

But then, I suppose if we don’t leave, we don’t spread the disease elsewhere… so OK. You’re right. We should never ever leave…

And the only way to save the biosphere is to do something we’re completely incapable of. We’re screwed. Neat!

I don’t think that because the rich b-stards think that. I think that because I believe our species - regardless of race - has outgrown its environment. If I got this idea from somewhere else, it wasn’t from Musk or Bezos or others like them. It might even have come from watching Star Trek or reading sci-fi.

We’re like a virus or a cancer that will ultimately end up killing the host. Earth’s biosphere in this instance.

The correct course of action is to destroy the infection or cut it out.

And if you want what’s being cut out to survive afterwards, yes, you have a lot of work ahead of you before you do so to ensure its continued existence once it’s somewhere else.

We need to consider what it would take to get every single one of us off this planet and living somewhere else.

I’m actually of the opinion that humanity needs to get off this rock as soon as possible. The uncomfortable truth is that fewer humans would in fact help the environment, and none would be even better.

The problem is with how to implement that without it turning into murder.

Hence, we leave.

Good call. They unprinced Andrew, they can unlord Mandy.

Sure you can, but why fabricate evidence against someone when you can trick them into making real evidence?

The hard job of fabrication begins if and only if that fails.

I wouldn’t turn up to most job interviews with rainbow hair, oversize sunglasses and clown shoes. And if I dressed sensibly, I probably wouldn’t bring my teddy bear as a mascot if I expected to be taken seriously.

Emojis are in that sort of territory.

Know your audience. And if you don’t, or are trying to present to as wide an audience as possible, default to the safety of plain prose.