When I began this project, the objective was, seemingly, quite simple: create a way to quickly reference or cross-check subjects that I’d been reading about, following or writing about at the time. Call it foot-noting, indexing, cross-indexing or simply citing of sources.
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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