[=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=] [<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>] [=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=] Stardate: 20181125_0102 Location: Home Office Input Device: Dell 7202 Audio: Enigma - Le roi est mort, Vive le roi! Visual: Messy desk, 4 screens with content. Energy: 40% Mental: 50% Emotional: tired, but alert. [=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=] Greetings, phlogosphere! I was inspired by all of the recent activity in gopher and in the phlogosphere and decided to set up a gopherspace of my own. What brought me here was, like some of you, was a dissatisfaction of the current state of things on the Internet. There's a lot of things that I dislike, i.e., over commercialization, too much static, privacy concerns, feeling more disconnected even though jacked in, etc. It has (d)evolved into something that I enjoy doing less and less. Plus, the feeling that I was left with after each session was like that of eating too much junk food; mass consumption with no nutritional value. So I cut down on using it except for work or quick informational searches. What I did gain was more time in the analog. More time with family and friends. More time building things in my garage. More time practicing my guitar. More time reading books. More time writing. More time exploring. It was all good. Earlier this year, memories of previous cyberspace experiences were triggered by the booklet that came with the Complete Schwa Kit by Bill Barker. I had rediscovered this on my bookshelf and this branched off into all kinds of memories and searches of the FringeWare Review, Mondo 2000, the analog version of bOING bOING, Harold Rheingold, The WELL, BBS's, and finally, with the creation of my account on SDF. Accessing SDF kinda feels like how it was back in the day with BBS's. That was my introduction to getting online. C= 64, "Total Telecommunications" 300 baud modem (upgraded later to 1200 baud, C=1670), Eagleterm, and Railnet BBS(?!) The first BBS I dialed up and created an account was for a railroad enthusiasts community, which I had no interest in and was probably listed in Eagleterm's phone book, which I copied from my friend on 5.25" floppy. No worries there since I was able to get phone numbers for other local BBS's...but I digress. So yeah, SDF...I'm happy to see that this brand of cyberspace is still in existence...as well as active and evolving, and keeps supporting stuff like gopher protocol, irc, UNIX shell accounts for users, homegrown tools (bboard, commode, etc.) dialup (!?) I was never fond of the recent popular usage of what people call the "Internet" and probably haven't been since the advent of Web 2.0, social media, etc. I look forward to meeting and interacting with you all in this "virtual community," as well as in other facets and extensions of the cyberspace of now. [=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=] [<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>] [=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=-=x=]