A little over 21 years ago, this forum "officially" opened...

[Dien Rice]

I say "officially" because we actually started posting back in July, 2000... but the official opening date was September 1, 2000...

(We liked to get an early start!)

Wow! Over 21 years ago...

Now this baby has grown up... and can do all the things it couldn't do when younger... (Watch out mama!)

Actually, I just want to look back...

In 2000, the world wide web was like the wild west...

A pretty unruly place!

Facebook wasn't even a glimmer in Mark Zuckerberg's eye...

In fact, a childhood friend of mine was running a start up out of San Francisco called "BookFace" ! (*) (She should have hung on to that website!) In fact, I visited her in San Francisco in 2000... She had around 30 employees at that point...

(Unfortunately, it crashed in the dot-com crash that came shortly afterwards...)

Nowadays, the world wild web has been "tamed" by the big corporations... Facebook (including Instagram), Google, Twitter, Amazon, Apple... have "silo'd" everyone into their own little controlled worlds... Where they are the big bosses, and everyone else are the serfs...

(I have friends who keep getting temporarily "banned" by Facebook's algorithm... sometimes for just making jokes that are a little risqué. Need any other evidence that on Facebook, everyone not named "Zuckerberg" are all his "serfs"?)

Yes, the wild west is still out there... But most people are bowing to the overlord masters who want to control you more and more...

Mark Zuckerberg has been talking about creating the "metaverse"... A place where we can live even more of our lives... And of course, continuing to live even more squashed under Zuck's big fat thumb...

I hope the future doesn't come to that, personally... I've always had a hankering to "beat the system"...

(That's one thing Gordon and I have in common!)

I like it a little wild!

But... there's still a lot the "little guy or gal" can do...

And that's what we're all about here...

What the ordinary person - who may not have a billion-dollar bank account - can still do to beat the "big guys"... (and yes, it's still possible!)

You have to choose your battles!

Congratulations to us all here... We're 21 !

- Dien

P.S. Here is a link to the first post I could find on "opening day"...

http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207

P.P.S. We'll be sharing some of the great posts from the last 21 years over the coming month!

(*) Here's a Bookface media release from the time - so you can confirm what I'm talking about!
https://www.infotoday.com/It/jul00/news16.htm

[GordonJ]

Origin story. Earlier in the year, whilst sitting with Rick Smith, the Net Guerrilla, on the veranda of the Sheraton overlooking the Falls rapids...

is where SowPub actually began. I THANK you for coming to see me and persuade me this would be a worthwhile idea. It has, thanks.

My mantra 21 years ago was already well established: "fly low, collect the dough"...and it has remained an above the fray below the radar lifestyle.

There are plenty of seeds of wisdom here for anyone who wants to make some changes in their lives.

Thanks for being a great steward of knowledge that has accumulated here.

Gordon

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

I say "officially" because we actually started posting back in July, 2000... but the official opening date was September 1, 2000...

(We liked to get an early start!)

Wow! Over 21 years ago...

Now this baby has grown up... and can do all the things it couldn't do when younger... (Watch out mama!)

Actually, I just want to look back...

In 2000, the world wide web was like the wild west...

A pretty unruly place!

Facebook wasn't even a glimmer in Mark Zuckerberg's eye...

In fact, a childhood friend of mine was running a start up out of San Francisco called "BookFace" ! (*) (She should have hung on to that website!) In fact, I visited her in San Francisco in 2000... She had around 30 employees at that point...

(Unfortunately, it crashed in the dot-com crash that came shortly afterwards...)

Nowadays, the world wild web has been "tamed" by the big corporations... Facebook (including Instagram), Google, Twitter, Amazon, Apple... have "silo'd" everyone into their own little controlled worlds... Where they are the big bosses, and everyone else are the serfs...

(I have friends who keep getting temporarily "banned" by Facebook's algorithm... sometimes for just making jokes that are a little risqué. Need any other evidence that on Facebook, everyone not named "Zuckerberg" are all his "serfs"?)

Yes, the wild west is still out there... But most people are bowing to the overlord masters who want to control you more and more...

Mark Zuckerberg has been talking about creating the "metaverse"... A place where we can live even more of our lives... And of course, continuing to live even more squashed under Zuck's big fat thumb...

I hope the future doesn't come to that, personally... I've always had a hankering to "beat the system"...

(That's one thing Gordon and I have in common!)

I like it a little wild!

But... there's still a lot the "little guy or gal" can do...

And that's what we're all about here...

What the ordinary person - who may not have a billion-dollar bank account - can still do to beat the "big guys"... (and yes, it's still possible!)

You have to choose your battles!

Congratulations to us all here... We're 21 !

- Dien

P.S. Here is a link to the first post I could find on "opening day"...

http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207

P.P.S. We'll be sharing some of the great posts from the last 21 years over the coming month!

(*) Here's a Bookface media release from the time - so you can confirm what I'm talking about!
https://www.infotoday.com/It/jul00/news16.htm

[Glenn]

Thanks Gordon/Dien,

My Goofy Sense of Humor Recently got me BANNED from a Medium.com
Magazine I was INVITED to post on.

The Editor had a BackGround in Architecture.

So I wrote this tongue-in-Cheek article about the ARCHITECTURE of the library building at a former job - Getting ME in Trouble.

I - I watched a Ninja (On TV) scale a building using the "Chimney" Climbing Strategy.

II - I noticed the back of the University Library had a "Chimney" leading from the base of the building up to a porch over-looking the lake.

III - Came to work at 6am. Climbed the "Chimney" but discovered I was LOCKED out of the building. And didn't know how to Go Back DOWN the "Chimney."

Had to knock on the glass doors. Have a Bewildered Night Shift Security Guard Let me in.

THAT STORY got me tossed out of The Magazines Group of Writers! (Although I noticed Several of THEIR WRITERS are now following everything I write.

I
Like
To
Try
New Things.

Bought a 99.00 Solar Oven.

YESTERDAY - Asked a neighbor to come over while I Split wood for a 2nd
Neighbor. Lightning killed a huge 4 foot thick oak tree.

His Job? Keep their young Irish Setter From biting me in the butt. Or getting injured while I was Swinging a sledgehammer.

HIS SURPRISE REWARD?

I cooked Two Hot Dogs in my Solar Oven - While I split wood.

Put the oven on the hood of my truck.

Took about 30 to 40 minutes.

You Should have SEEN the look on his face when I handed him a Plastic FORK
and opened the Solar Oven.

Two cooked hot dogs without Starting a Fire.

Thanks,
Glenn Osborn
Billionaire Watching Club (Idea Testing) Ezine

[Millard Grubb]

Glenn,

Your little surprise gift of hot dogs got me to thinking.

A solar oven seems like the perfect item for camping or survival. How may of the folks impacted by hurricane Ida would have appreciated a solar oven to boil/purify water or to cook meals without power?

Seems like a solar oven should be everywhere just for power outages. I read somewhere that they can even bake bread !

Seems like a special report would sell a lot of those.

Could a solar oven even sterilize silverware or other items?

Lot of possibilities. Hmmm ?

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by Millard Grubb

Glenn,

Your little surprise gift of hot dogs got me to thinking.

A solar oven seems like the perfect item for camping or survival. How may of the folks impacted by hurricane Ida would have appreciated a solar oven to boil/purify water or to cook meals without power?

Seems like a solar oven should be everywhere just for power outages. I read somewhere that they can even bake bread !

Seems like a special report would sell a lot of those.

Could a solar oven even sterilize silverware or other items?

Lot of possibilities. Hmmm ?

This idea: "Seems like a special report would sell a lot of those."

See, that is prevention. And it means planning. I'm sure you know the marketplace seldom plans, it reacts.

Tons of solar ovens on the market, the Fresnel lens is a hot seller, a boy scout with a magnifying glass and a mirror could "cook".

These things routinely sell to "preppers" or DIY types, but a special report to a general audience would fall on deaf ears. It simply is not targeted. Even in S. FL and the gulf states where hurricanes happen every year, most people never think that far ahead and plan for the emergency. Sad, but true.

In 21 years, we've seen a lot of good ideas, and I am of the opinion that the best ones are those that match the market to a message and create an Intersection where a transaction will take place.

Millions of skateboards, yet still, band aids outsell knee pads.

Gordon

[Millard Grubb]

BIG head slap ... !


Thanks Gordon for letting me see reaction versus planning.

Millard

[Glenn]

Thanks Gordon,

My PLAN was to have something Ready to cook food in winter.
When snow knocks out my power.

Or the next time some nut straddles a telephone pole with his car. 3 Times in the past year. No electric for a week.

But.

After some Testing at my back door.

I am now cooking food while I split wood.

And just started taking the SOLAR OVEN to Restaurants.

You should SEE the waitress face when I Pull out the round tube and Explain I cooked some food in my NEW Solar oven to Go along with my meal.

Heh heh heh.

Raise my food Prices will you.

OK.

I start Bringing my food.

(EDITORS NOTE - as long as you lotto ticket tip the waiters and the cooks they don't care if you only order a cup of soup.)

Thanks,
Glenn

[Millard Grubb]

Hey Glenn...

This might start to sound like an infomercial, but when you mentioned your solar oven... Are you taking about the small cylinder unit that weighs about 2 pounds?

The only place I have seen it was on Dave Hodges' "The Common Sense Show."

Much bigger units can bake bread, cook big slabs of meat. I think the smaller unit is just big enough for noodles or rice.

I gotta hand it to you Glenn, you have more fun in restaurants than anyone I've ever seen !

[Glenn]

Thanks Millard,

Yeah I DO have fun In restaurants.

But it seems there is a PRICE to be paid.

As the following Story Illustrates.

Glenn

CLICK THE LINK -

https://rentamentor-56426.medium.com...t-2e0461cba8ff

[GordonJ]

Glenn, aka, the Muffin Man,

Have you cooked up any specialty muffins, even in the flat saucer state, a pancake? Not that you (or I) have the time, but a recipe and cookbook for your solar oven would be a fun project, whilst chopping wood, video the oven in action.

Some time action video, and PRESTO, another sweet project.

Just some food for thought.

Gordon

Originally Posted by Glenn

Thanks Gordon,

My PLAN was to have something Ready to cook food in winter.
When snow knocks out my power.

Or the next time some nut straddles a telephone pole with his car. 3 Times in the past year. No electric for a week.

But.

After some Testing at my back door.

I am now cooking food while I split wood.

And just started taking the SOLAR OVEN to Restaurants.

You should SEE the waitress face when I Pull out the round tube and Explain I cooked some food in my NEW Solar oven to Go along with my meal.

Heh heh heh.

Raise my food Prices will you.

OK.

I start Bringing my food.

(EDITORS NOTE - as long as you lotto ticket tip the waiters and the cooks they don't care if you only order a cup of soup.)

Thanks,
Glenn