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By
way of Introduction
A pet project I began with a,
seeingly, simple objective: create a way to quickly reference or
cross-check subjects that I’d been working onat the time. Call it
foot-noting, indexing, cross-indexing or simply citing of sources. It
ended up taking on a life of its own.
Back when, the internet (or being
online) was in its infancy, I would say that I was not at the forefront of
the digital revolution but was swept up by the early waves created by the
Personal Computer (PC). I can still recall the excitement of installing my
first Modem Card (interface) in the cloned IBM compatible computer
(branded Epson), with a 4.7Mhz CPU, 640Kb RAM, 2×5.25 Floppy-disk drives,
Microsoft DOS 2,0, EGA (upgrade over CGA) monitor, And a 24-pin Dot-matrix
printer (Canon), along with a bunch of manuals. At the time, a $5,000
investment that began as a hobby and eventually turned into a decades-long
career.
Prior to that I had
dabble with the Commadore64 and Atari (which was great for video games at
the time!) brands. The Apple brand has never appealed to me. I am a
hand-on type of person. There’s a difference between driving ‘stick‘ or
automatic (beyond the mechanics). One requires half a brain, 1 foot and at
least 1 arm to manage. The other requires (even with half-a-brain) two
arms – one for the wheel and the other for the stick; and both feet –
clutch, brake and gas. And when things break down you can always ‘check
under the hood‘. Admittedly, the days for that analogy are long gone with
respect to today’s vehicles. Back then it was still possible to tinker and
even repair or improve on the vehicle yourself.
Never-the-less, since then the development and blossoming of
the internet
led to the emergence of the World Wide Web
(WWW), its explosive growth
has given us the Digital World(s) of the 21st century. What I had been
attempting, back then, often meant endless online searches and the
bookmarking of countless sites/pages. This, eventually, became an
administrative chore in itself. Another issue, as it turns out,
I’ve been an avid consumer of news and information and have clipped, cut
and scrap-booked since grade school.
Even
now, as I sit here, numerous books on various subjects sitting on the
shelves behind me (fiction/non-fiction, philosophy, science, social and
political sciences, religions, mythologies, etc.). Many of which contain
numerous highlighted passages and personal comments in the margins, often
cross-referencing subjects or comments about ideas in fields and areas of
interest, authors, books or ideas as they occur to me. There are lots of
scribbled notes laying about that, at some point, I need to ‘digitise’. A
task that has fallen behind, as I’m prone to distractions as I now work
primarily online.
Events
like the U.S Presidential elections and Administrations since Richard
Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, George Bush, G.W Bush,
Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris. All
historical narratives now. Reality at the time.
The Viet-Nam war, Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of
Pigs, the Kennedys’ and Martin Luther King assasinations, The Contras and
Sandanistas, Daniel Ortega, The Perons, Manuel Noriega, Invasion of
Grenada, Margret Thatcher (The Iron Lady) and the Falkans War. Mikhail
Gorbachev, Glasnost and perestroika. The Fall of the Berlin Wall
(Frankie Goes To Hollywood – a
shout out!).
There’s
also the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The over-throw of Saddam
Hussein, the death of Fidel Castro. So many and numerous revolutions and
issurrections. I can recall when Rhodesia existed, as did Burma. All
subject matters that are endless in scope.
Yet, as the most recent events/news to dominate
headlines and the world’s attention has been things such as The COVID-19
Pandemic or Insurrection at The U.S Capitol, a heartening realisation is
that I’m no longer, merely, archiving, indexing and crossing-indexing
decades-old subjects to readily available, trusted and verifiable sources.
Which include MSM sources, non-centralised and Trusted News and
Information Sources.
But
from these a determination can be made as to what constitutes Fake-News.
In times past such news frequently fell under the label Propaganda
[see Joseph Goebel or Pravda
News.] For the record, I’d like
to suggest that Trump
News be equated
with Faux News.
Never-the-less, the realisation that the
information that I have been archiving was being done in real-time was
essentially a recording of history in the making. Not history as being
seen from a future perspective but in the ‘here and now’. As it
happens.
And,
being a fan of Dragonlance Lores, I find myself thinking about one of my
favourite characters of the genre, Astinus, Lorekeeper, Head Librarian of
the Great Library of Palanthas. I’m just more modest of my place in the
sands of time.
In cross-referencing of documents of Trump and
his band of bit-players (in documents that are anywhere between 10 years
to just hours or minutes-old, it is clear why MSM organisations need to
employ Fact-checkers (now an industry upon itself) to inform consumers of
Headlines, Sound-bites and Talking-heads that YES Trump has always been a
liar and a con-man. All of which is proven as being True and Factual,
rather than ‘alternative facts’.
Obviously, to most, if it’s an ‘alternative’ to
being true, a Fact, then such a ‘truth’ exists either in the realm of
fantasy or falsehood. Truth is, after all, dependent upon verifiable
facts. Veracity. Not suppositions or other form of conjecture. A Fact is a
fact. Or it is not. Lies by definition, are without a factual
basis.
In the final analysis,
my interests in, and consumption of news and information, has transformed
me into a accidental recorder of history: Today’s
News – as
it happened.
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