Journal: Somebody Said Something Wrong On The Internet

On this day in 1793, journalist Jean-Paul Marat was assassinated by Charlotte Corday. He was tweeting in the bathtub at the time.

On this day in 1977, a blackout in New York City lasting nearly 24 hours led to widespread fires & looting. In 1985, the Live Aid benefit concert took place in Philadelphia, London, and other venues around the globe. And also in 1985, Vice-President George H. W. Bush became Acting President while Reagan was having colon surgery; it was rumored that during that memorable day, the V.P. had brunch at Shoney’s with King Fahd, Norman Schwarzkopf, Reverend Billy Graham, and the parents of John Hinckley Jr.

If you are more interested in celebrity news rather than politics, I should also point out that on this day in 2013 “Glee” star Cory Monteith died of a heroin overdose…on the same day in 2020 that his former co-star Naya Rivera’s body was fished out of Lake Piri.

(“Glee” always seemed like such a happy show. Why so much drama surrounding it? Is it all just a big cosmic joke? And what about that Lea Michele in “Funny Girl,” huh? What’s up with that?)

Now, I always believe that it’s good to start one’s day with a review of what happened in the past, in order to achieve a bit of needed perspective. Some philosophers & smack addicts believe there actually is no such thing as “time” per se, but rather that everything is happening simultaneously; that approach should save me a lot on my library fines.

Hey, I heard the Internet Archive might be in possible jeopardy because of some dude who wrote some official Star Wars YA fan-fiction or something. I of course predicted this YEARS ago (literally, years ago) when I came up with my Post-Information Age theory.

The Post-Information Age: when alllllll the outrageous vast bounty of the species’ written (and recorded, and drawn, etc.) output formerly available for a small fee (gratis) on the Internet would be steadily removed by one interest or another. Some would be removed for copyright infringement…others, because, quite frankly, Somebody Said Something Wrong On The Internet.

I have been anticipating the dawning of the Post-Information Age for quite a few years now, and have assiduously downloaded & archived my Garfield memes accordingly.

Lastly, I want to mention that Lone Ranger/Man From U.N.C.L.E. star Armie Hammer was recently spotted selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands. All this because word got out that he allegedly fantasized about eating human flesh. As an admitted Hammer Stan (prolly since he played young Rev. Billy Graham in “Billy: The Early Years”), I take issue with the puritanical attitude of the general internet mob of kill-joys & uptights. It’s not like he actually ate anyone (that we know of).

Here is a good time, it seems, to close this little missive. In the olden days, we had the Town Crier. In the Information Age, we had the Blogger. And in the Post-Information Age…well…