Reading time: 826 words, 3 pages, 2 to 3 minutes.
It took a while, but I finally realized that I reached another milestone. I sucked the internet dry, again. And, I’m not sure what to make of it. Perhaps, you have an idea. If so, feel free to leave a comment.
After posting many doom and gloom missives, it’s time for a light-hearted article. After all, global economic systems will continue their relentless collapse whether I write about them or not.
Back in 1999, I had the good fortune to be selected to assist our corporate IT team doing a conversion and migration to a new ERP and a new platform. The details are beside the point (see Y2K note below) although it’s a testament to their dedication and professionalism that we finished in record time. What’s important is that, up to that point, I’d used a PC at work, and now the IT department gave me a laptop and encouraged me to take it home evenings and weekends to surf the internet.
I asked, “Why?”
The answer was because the Internet is the way of the future. More and more applications will be internet-based. More and more information will be on the World Wide Web. They wanted me to surf and search and learn how to use it for research.
They knew that I threw away my TV eleven years before and acquired a voracious reading habit. Good thing, too, as I’ve acquired a library of about 2,700 books in https://geroldblog.com/2010/10/13/378/ some of them still unread (I mark their spines with a red stick-on dot).
They said, “It’ll take you about six months to suck the internet dry and then you’ll go back to reading your books again.”
It was almost six months to the day when I got bored with the Internet and started reading my books again. I had sucked the internet dry. Of course, there was much I hadn’t done, seen or read, but for the most part, my numerous interests had been filled, and everything else was just a variation on old themes.
Six years later, in 2005, I bought my own PC for home use and started surfing the web again. Much had changed. It was much faster than the old dial-up, and the amount of information seemed infinite and expanding faster than the universe. There was no way I could get bored with it. Or, so I thought.
Off topic: I read somewhere that the biggest business on the internet is porn. That boggles my mind as I have no interest whatsoever in internet porn. To me, it’s as exciting as taking a bath with my clothes on.
In any case, where once I’d read two or three books a month (sometimes I’d do that in a week) now I might have read two or three books in a decade because I was so addicted to the internet. Being a life-long bachelor (no wife, no kids, no pets, no catastrophes) I had hours of free time evenings and weekends.
A decade later, I ordered several history books on ancient Rome and the spread of Islam for a future article I’m researching. Hint: it was Islam, not the so-called barbarians that destroyed the Roman Empire.
Then, I noticed a few (unread) stick-on dots on some books by one of my favorite horror fiction writers, Brian Lumley. By the way, if you’re a horror fan and have never heard of Lumley, check him out. I started reading a Lumley book. I also started reading The Big Short about the build-up and crash of the U.S. housing bubble which I covered in some of my Economic Collapse posts. And, then, I read another Lumley horror book. And, another.
And, then, I realized that I’m bored with the internet. I never thought it possible, but I sucked the internet dry again. It took six months the first time. It took eleven years this time. Just like 1999, there was much I hadn’t done, seen or read on the internet, but for the most part, my numerous interests had been filled, and everything else was just a variation on old themes.
I’m back to reading books. I still surf the internet, but not nearly as much as before. I wonder what’s next. I bet it too will be a surprise.
Gerold
July 3, 2016
Note on Remember Y2K? Here’s How We Prepped for the Non-Disaster
I cringe whenever some blockhead decries the time and money spent on Y2K. No, it was not a waste of time. Nor was it a complete waste of money. In some applications, it was not necessary except no one knew which was which. It was a case of better safe than sorry. The disaster never happened because a lot of people worked hard and prevented it from happening. You’re welcome!
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Gerold's Blog 
So true about the benefits and enjoyment of a hobby as we get older. Im 48 yrs old and play with toys. My 1/14th scale radio controlled equipment. I’ve created a 1,500 sqft area in my back yard which is like a small town with roads and buildings I make myself usually in the winter months.
Anyway, my point is, no matter what kind of day I had at work, as soon as I get in my backyard and start playing it all washes away. I don’t use the net for entertainment anymore, I use it for inspiration and ideas on how to make my little backyard town better. 🙂
Favorite author, Dean Koontz
Mario, I’ve seen pictures of your amazing RC equipment and detailed layout! That’s a ‘labor of love’ and looks like a lot of fun.
I can see why you like Koontz. Fantastic story-teller! I’ve read many of his books, but one of them I couldn’t finish because it was too intense. It was aptly called ‘Intensity’.
– Gerold
Thanks for sharing Gerold, I have always dreamed of reading by the fire in a snowy clime! Wishing you and yours well. Eric
Thanks, Eric. You paint an evocative picture with few words.
– Gerold
Gerold, might you be willing to post an article on your view of the take down of Rome by Islam? I’m very curious on this topic. Most likely the reason the historians missed this is that the take down comes from within like a virus attacks the immune system and it’s a slow, steady decline from the high birth rate and non participation in the current culture, which ever country it happens to land in. I’ve spent time in east africa and I see this happening there. It’s all slowly being converted to islam. But this good thing is people need contrast, so in the long run there may be another big shift in the religious/political structure and hopefully the masses will wake up to their own divinity within and not need an outside power structure to tell them how to live. Doug
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2016 22:32:22 +0000 To: shastafix@hotmail.com
Good observations, Doug. And, yes I do plan an article on Islam toppling the Roman Empire.
Having said that, it will take a while. First, I need to finish the article on an ancient battle in the Teutoburg Forest where Germanic tribes annihilated three Roman Legions. This delineated the extent of Roman power and later the limits of Islamic expansion. It also explains why Southern Europe (conquered by Rome) is an economic basketcase and Northern Europe is neither.
A second article will describe another of our mental biases called the False Consensus Effect whereby we erroneously project our values onto other people. This explains why Swedes willingly allow certain ‘cultural enrichers’ into their country who end up raping their women.
The third article will tie the first two to an explanation of how Islam, not the ‘barbarians’ toppled Rome. This should serve as a warning to us in the West. Unfortunately, most people won’t listen. Hint: historians are stupid.
Because there’s so many crazies out there and I don’t want to be a target, I’ll need to be very circumspect and let readers arrive at their own conclusions.
I’m in no rush because:
a) as time goes on, more events will confirm my thesis, and
b) I’m taking a bit of a hiatus during the summer months before the SHTF this fall
– Gerold
I find this an interesting post. I was born in a room above my parents antiquarian bookshop, and the shop was all of 100 yards from the towns public library. Raising 3 kids on the profit from selling second hand books meant we had no after school clubs or classes, no TV and no holidays. What we did have were books! It never occoured to anyone to censor our reading, so we all read everything we could get our hands on….and that was a lot. I read at table when eating, when stirring the supper, in the loo…..
Then, as an adult with 4 kids of my own I discovered the Internet…..a whole world of things to read. But recently, like you, I have discovered I seem to have read it all. I have no interest in Internet games, or stuff like that, I read articles and blogs. But mostly now it is variations on themes. I am back to my beloved books! I still have one or two blogs I read and a newsletter on sourdough baking….I love to bake bread ‘longhand’….but increasingly I am returning to my books.
Interestingly the same goes for ‘hobbies’ (does anyone still have hobbies nowadays…outside of Internet games and porn?). I am gradually increasing my hobbies, although as my children need less of my time, this might have been a time thing. Currently I am taking a life drawing class, and next I shall take a learn to sew class. I can sew, have done for years, made all the kids clothes when they were little, but I only know simple basic techniques. What next? Woodwork? I never learnt woodwork at school as I don’t have a penis and it was a requirement to hold a hammer in those days. So much stuff out there to read, learn and do. And the internet sucks our life away. Give up your smartphones folks, get a dumb phone and a life!
Great comments, Katie!
Growing up we couldn’t afford books so I haunted the public library. It’s odd how, with your abundance of books and my dearth of them, we both turned into bibliophiles.
And, you’re right about hobbies. Few people seem to have them anymore. I think it’s too easy to plunk down in front the ‘tube’ and mindlessly absorb what’s fed to us. Just as well that I now find the Internet boring.
– Gerold