Anyone else here have fond memories of the "old" internet, before it became all about advertising and commerce? Back in the good old days it easy to meet interesting and intelligent people online because most people online where interesting and intelligent. Anyone else here hate "social" media? Anyone else shiver at the notion of being contacted by "friends" from the distant past, at random? Perhaps it is an introverts nature, but to me the notion seems hellish and troubling. Anyone else sick of the celebrity-whore culture? Where celebrities are famous for being famous, and every other humdrum person is using social media to try to get famous? (or so it seems). Do you think cell phones are (99% of the time) a nuance? Do you have fond memories of doing most of your shopping at local businesses? Do you not give a damn about the ipad or any other new consumer gadget? Remember when the only option was to save up and buy a solid wood piece of furniture? Have you ever seen an old kitchen appliance that was made of solid metal? Yes, they have them now too (I have one) but back then it was the standard, not a high end fashion. The most troubling aspect of it all is to make more of this useless junk, to make more gadgets, "innovations" etc that are more addictions that improvements, we are trashing the environment. I was a conservative, became a libertarian, and now it just seems I am a just a Luddite. I am not even that old. GIve me open space, clean air, clean water, a nice home, plenty of land for privacy and everything else can go to hell. (except my trading computers and internet connections, ha ha).