The Way We Were.

I didn't attend the 25th anniversary reunion of my high school graduating class (nor the 30th for that matter - I think I received an invitation to one of those, but I can't seem to remember). But I will admit to being curious to know "whatever became of...". One of the reasons we save old magazines is a corrolary to that same phenomenon: we like thumbing through them at some later date and marveling at the changes that have taken place since then. (Tomorrowland at Disneyland is, for much the same reason, one of the most fascinating exhibits available anywhere in the world - perhaps it should be called archeology of the future. When it was built it was probably already kitsch, but today it offers a glimpse into our culture's conception of a past future.) Five years ago the top computers on the market sported 166MH processors (the very top of the line advertised 200MH), a maximum of 3GB hard drives and either 16MB or 32MB of RAM. Not exactly something to write home about today.

One article gives us basic instructions in preparing "your own web page". The necessary ingredients: HotDog Pro 2.0, Netscape Navigator 2.0, an account with an internet service provider that hosts Web sites, and a PC with Windows 95 and at least a 14,400bps modem (28,800 recommended). Three pages of screen shots with explanations on how to set up the basic layout of a page (with a minimum of HTML), or create a link, and a bit more, make you feel like an online publisher.

But most impressive of all is a small blurb at the head of a column entitled Web Attractions that lists (apparently each month) five sites that merit a visit. The blurb reads:

Visit us here at Web Attractions every month and you'll find a list of Internet sites you'll want to tape to your monitor.

"Tape to your monitor"? I seem to recall that five years ago we already knew how to bookmark, but that sentence reads as though it's even from before PostIt notes.

Go to: Reflections of a Spring Cleaner.