Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 01, 2019

Got busted on Napster, had to go underground.

I deactivated my FB account several years ago (if that’s really even possible) because I didn’t like their lack of privacy policy. Then, when I bought a new computer about four years ago, I made sure that I never FB in any form.

About three years ago, I stopped using Google and began using duckduckgo. About two years ago, I quit Chrome, went back to Firefox, and then just recently began using Blaze.

Now, only Microsoft and the NSA monitor my online activities, not to mention all of the sites that I visit.

People do both on Facebook. Problems and bragging, its the American way.

Arlo’s bragging goes back to the days when you had to use a tape recorder to store data from a 32 K computer.

Janis wants something to brag about.

Really? Most people I know spend far too much time complaining on Facebook. Once of the (many) reasons I stopped using it years ago is that I got sick of reading all my friends’ dirty laundry.

I seriously wonder what happened in society where people feel no desire to keep anything private. If I have a difference of opinion with my family, the last thing I want to do is get the world at large involved, but most other people think there’s something wrong with me for not sharing it.

Reminiscing about old computers reminded me of a friend of a friend story which I believe, just because. Anyway, this distant friend worked at Argonne, where he had an experiment running over the weekend. He was hanging with my firend’s brother when he got a call from the lab. The computer had sent a warning that the hard drive was full. He told the brother he’d have to come to work with him to help switch the hard drive. It took two men to lift it. It was a full megabyte.

’You’ve got mail!"

The tape recorder adjunct reminded me of another episode way back, when I was a Physics major at DePaul U. They were doing some work for the Navy and had use of one of their computers, which also used a tape recorder to store your hand-entered data. It was tedious, but it could calculate least squares. If you don’t know what that is, or it’s value, I actually kind of envy you.

If you want to read about people’s “problems”, go on reddit.

The very reason I cancelled my Fakebook account years ago. Everyone just brags and brags.

How dare people not mean and groan!

Haven’t they heard how terrible everything is???

Wow – you’re in Hawaii – thanks for letting us know – we’ll rob your house tonight since you’re so kind to let everyone know you’re out of the area…

We sure have come a long way from AOL and I’ve enjoyed the ride. About FB, it’s not FB’s fault how you pick you’re friends.

It’s just fluff. I’d rather get on with life. But in reality for many women, and men, it is the digital equivalent of the village water well. All is shared (and embellished) with all.

PS, so good to see Janis smiling.

PPS, I will digress. Janis is to many of us men the woman we are/will/want to be married to. We care about her immensely. We identify with Arlo, but Janis is the one who our attention revolves around. We see our spouses/partners suffer the same changes and frustrations and victories as her. She give us insight into what is happening to our gal. Jimmy is a very wise person in how pays attention to people and how they live and act. And yes, we make innuendos from time to time. It is because our gals still make out fire burn hotter and we want all to know Janis does too. She is our woman. Anyway, thanks for the time/space to share this.

I personally wish that there was a happy, funny Facebook and a mean and political Facebook for other stuff.

Some people love to post their problems.

If Arlo thinks no one gets on Facebook to talk about their problems, he’s not on Facebook very much.

I hate it when people whine about their problems on Facebook