Wednesday, 29 March 2023 — The New Dark Age
I’m afraid I’ve been rather tardy of late in updating the site and I suppose I should apologise to regular visitors but I’m kinda burned out and preoccupied with other concerns and frankly, feeling rather lazy, I have after all, been doing this for 40 years, having started my first online publishing venture in the year 1983, when I lived in Brooklyn, NY, with New York Online, first on my Commodore 64, then an Apple ][e and then finally, a Macintosh, in 1984, when it came out. Back then, before the advent of WWW, NYOL ran on Fidonet, an amazing distributed network out of New Jersey I think. It worked by ‘piggybacking’ on what were called in those days, AT&T’s Long Lines, before the advent of broadband and the software used was called Red Ryder Host, an incredibly flexible piece of software. Of course it was slow, incredibly slow, initially 30 characters a second, at best, over a modem connection that increased (in theory anyway) to 960 characters per second but rarely achieved that rate. There were no standards, so connections were hit-and-miss, sending data intercontinentally often required multiple attempts before ‘success’
In 1987, I established probably the very first, non-corporate networked news publication called Southscan, a Bulletin of Southern African Affairs, published and mostly written by South African ex-pat David Coetzee, in its day probably the most authoritative publication on Southern Africa. The journal started life in London where David was based as a weekly print publication and after meeting David in London, we agreed to try and publish a US edition. David would email me the copy (or try to) and I’d lay it out in PageMaker and print it on a Xerox Copier/Binder and mail it out to our US subscribers. I also produced 2 or 3 electronic editions simultaneously. This lasted from 1987 until 1991, with a spinoff on a weekly TV programme, South Africa Now, produced by Danny Schecter.
Enough of reminisces, I’ll no doubt feel too guilty not to resume covering events on The New Dark Age.
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The New Dark Age 
I wish you well with your ‘disclosures’ – as long as you don’t put yourself under further pressure. There seems to be a balance between getting stuff out of one’s mind and sharing with the world and, on the other hand, avoiding attracting trolls. Please bear in mind, I’m old and cranky and would only think of sharing stuff if it was, in one way or another, fun or positive.
Btw, I like Substack and seem to spend more time on that site than any other.
Z.
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I’m past the point of bothering about trolls or concerns about ‘exposure’, I too, am too old but thankfully, less cranky, well I think I am. Life, for me, is now too short to be bothered about what others think of me, i’d rather explore the things I’ve long avoided.
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Good for you!
I hope I’ll be able to follow your adventure.
Wishing you well on your exciting future.
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You’re based in France, I seem to remember and I assume French? I like France, I spent a bit of time there, I even have some French relatives, on my mother’s side, cousins.
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My grandfather was French – the rest English.
Actually, I live in Greater London.
At the moment, I am admiring the French and their determination to claim back their country from the globalists. I’m not keen on violence, but we seem to have a war imposed upon us. I just wish the English were not so complacent.
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Okay, like me, I live in central London, 2nd generation half Russian Jew, my grandmother died a Russian citizen in the 1960s in Manchester, a Bolshevik to the end! MI5 had a file on her. France is still a country with politics, unlike the UK where there is no politics.
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So interesting!
Lovely talking to you – thank you.
I must go now but allow me to wish you a restful night and enjoyable days.
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Thank you so much for replying.
Your activities and prep for writing sound intriguing and, dare I say, healing.
Please don’t forget to allow some time for enjoyment – you obviously deserve it.
Z.
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Yes, without seeming too mysterious, I am exploring issues long avoided, far too long in fact. Perhaps not the kind of issues for this site however, I’m mulling it over, perhaps on my, until now, usused Substack site?
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Do please take your time to recover your mojo.
I assumed and hoped you were writing your novel – i.e. an activity that rewards and refreshes you with little or no pressure.
You have contributed more than most – perhaps nature is nudging you towards a less stressful period.
Please accept my kind regards,
Zara.
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My Dear Zara,
Thank you, yes I am meant to be working on finishing my novel but the last couple of months hve been quite stressful for me, largely health issues or perhaps more accurately, anxietiy issues (is there a difference?) but I actually have been writing, exploring things really, mostly the past and writing about a close friend actually. We’ll see what emerges…
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