1709.23 OLD BILL

Classic TV is something I enjoy. One classic show is enjoying a little bit of a revival on one of our digital channels. It was a particular favourite of mine  back in the day.

1607.28 CLASSIC COMEDIES

I was chatting with a few colleagues the other day and I'm not sure how the subject arose we started talking about old movies. I mentioned the likes of Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd and the Marx Brothers. I was surprised, no in fact I was shocked that there were quite a number of my work mates had never heard of some if not all of those that I mentioned.

I remember watching classic black and white comedies, usually shown on BBC2 in the afternoons. Why are they not shown on TV anymore? We could have a channel for them. I've looked around the internet and there are a few lurking on YouTube. It's worth searching them out, they certainly still hold their own as comedy and even surpass modern cinematic efforts. 

1606.28 REMEMBER MSN

From time to time I get asked to fix / work out / play with technology for my friends and family. This week I was asked to give the 'kiss of life' to an aging laptop that belongs to a friend's mother. I got the old machine to boot up and noticed it still had old MSN Messenger on it. That got me reminiscing...

I've had computers since I was 13 years old but didn't connect to the internet until the early 2000s. Some of the first things I did when I got online was; start a blog, learn how to build a simple webpage, use MSN.

The wondrous world of text chatting to your mates (SMS texting was about but at 10p a message was restricted) and if you were lucky viewing them on a dark fuzzy image  if they had a webcam. This was the world of 56K dial up where you couldn't use your landline at the same time as being online. Also our PC was in the dining room so being online, whilst being digitally social was anti-social because you were away from the rest of the family.

I remember finishing a late shift and arriving home at 1am only to jump on the PC and chat away with everyone I'd just seen at work. These sessions could go on for hours with multiple conversations and group chatting.

Far cry from now with WhatsApp and the like in your hand on your mobile practically wherever you go. Always on internet and never being online. Is this a good or a bad thing though?