growing up on the internet story time

when i was 14 years old, i made my first homepage using my mom's university shell/webspace allotment (5 megs) which was supposed to be for posting homework and email storage

there was no such thing as a profile pic in 94, but i decided that i should have a photo of me at the top of the page. i inexplicably decided that instead of scanning in a school photo, it made more sense to post a gif of some kid i found on a bbs with Night Owl cd-roms. today, i found that exact photo - it is uncredited sadly - just "boy eating watermelon"

for my bio, instead of writing about my hobbies and interests, i proceeded to fabricate an entire identity that claimed i was the captain of the volleyball team, a straight-A student, and one of the coolest kids in my school. 0/3 of those things were even close to reality. i figured - hey, who cares? no one's ever gonna see this.

a year later, my junior high school got its first internet connection - a 28.8k modem shared among 20 macintosh LC's in the lab. my computer ("information processing") teacher decided that our class should learn how to make a web page as a unit project.

i told him that i had already made a homepage ages ago, and wanted to submit that as my final assignment so i could go play Bolo instead. he asked me to show him the site.

the entire class crowded around my monitor as it loaded the page a few bytes at a time. i was feeling pretty smug until i saw the straw hat, and realized that the bio was pure bullshit. i tried to turn off the monitor but it was too late - 20 kids and my teacher got to read how this bony kid in front of them was apparently a world class athlete, One Of The Cool Kids, and future valedictorian.

i deleted the entire site the second i got home 😅

#bbs #smolweb #smallWeb #macintosh

Hey Everyone! If you bought a PicoMicroMac before July 1, 2025, you may want to grab our new firmware!

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Today I was reminded that old online chats offered context awareness for the people online: you knew you won't be a bother to a friend who has a smiley flower as a status; and you knew you might not be getting a quick reply from someone who's Away.

Today I don't even know if my friends are online or not. The messenger apps make the assumption that everyone is online, and if not, they will receive a push notification, and will reply to you as soon as possible. But this assumption is barely true. I bet it makes lives harder, especially for ND people

(Edited for a pixel-perfect screenshot)

This Is Not a Drill: Living the Climate Emergency

🌡️ Japan had hottest June on record

🌡️ Spain records highs of 46C

🌡️ Portugal recorded 46°C in some regions

🌡️France recorded 41.9°C in Vinsobres on June 30, with dozens of monthly records broken.

🌡️Greece reported a high of 43.2°C with minimum temperatures exceeding 31°C in some areas.

🌡️Turkey hit 45°C, with minimums as high as 33°C in some areas.

#climatechange #extremetemps 😓

Eva Pacheo, a local crochet teacher and her students in Alhaurín de la Torre, in Malaga, Spain, collaboratively created a massive canopy of patchwork crochet to create shade for their community #WomensArt

More photos here:
https://twistedsifter.com/2021/10/crochet-canopy-alhaurin-de-la-torre-spain/