Dilip
    <arasa@fastmail.com>                                       29 Nov 2020
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                          Memories of an old internet.

    The earliest memory I have of the internet is our first dial-up
    internet connection. Our provider was BSNL, a government owned internet
    service provider in India. I remember my Dad setting up a sleek dial-up
    modem with green LEDs showing a variety of statuses. I didn't
    understand what the various statuses were back then. This was around
    1997..

    The next memory of the internet I have has to do with my uncle. He was
    one of those people who loved tinkering with new things. He was in his
    70s when he discovered the internet - and he was the first person in
    our family to fully embrace it. In 1998 he told me about a way to find
    things on the internet called "Google". I was 9 years old. I thought it
    was a funny name.

    My uncle died before I started working at Google 20 years later. His
    son and grandson were in California to tour universities (the grandson
    was about to graduate from high school) - they visited me at Mountain
    View and I gave them a tour of the Google campus. I didn't realize the
    significance of them being the first people to visit me at Google at
    that time.

    I don't have clear memories for the next few years. I remember
    downloading music over Limewire. I also recall a Kazaa (or something
    like that) and warez. I remember discovering internet porn. I was
    probably 14. I clicked on the button that said I'm 18.

    My first email account was with Yahoo. When I was 15, I sent an email
    to CERN asking them what I could study so that I could go work on the
    LHC when I was older. The LHC was still under construction back then,
    the Higgs Boson discovery was several years away. I received a response
    - I don't remember what it said, but I told everyone I knew that CERN
    had responded to me.

    In 2004, it was still a big deal to receive an email from anyone
    outside my immediate circle. Part of it was because I was 14, but I
    suspect that a lot of it was because the internet was still new in
    Bangalore. We were still learning to live with it.

    The most recent memory I have that I would still consider as a memory
    of the "old internet" are two blogs. I still remember them by their
    URLs[1] [2]. I was a teenager living in Bangalore. To me, the bloggers
    were complete strangers. I read their blog every week for several
    years. Once, Darwinfish2 wrote that people were reading his blog all
    over the world. I was happy to be one of them - it was a small
    acknowledgment in an era when the internet was still a place of hope
    and wonder.

    There were other blogs that captured my interest for brief periods over
    the years. I don't remember any of them today. I also read a few
    webcomics[3][4] back then. One ended, I lost interest in the other one.

    Today, I start my new phlog in the last corner of the internet
    untainted by invasive product managers. I want to remind myself that
    the internet I grew up with could evoke wonder, curiosity and joy. This
    little trip down the memory lane is meant to show you (dear reader) a
    little of who I am, where I come from, and to remind myself what I want
    to accomplish with my phlog.

    Notes:
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    1.  https://sallyuncut.blogspot.com
    2.  https://darwinfish2.blogspot.com
    3.  Girls with slingshots
    4.  Questionable Content