Decade-old magazines

[squirmelia]

Wired - July/August 1995 issue - Issue 1.07 (£3.50)

The UK version (1.07) and the US version (3.07) of this issue of Wired appear to be mostly the same, but it seems there are a few noticeable differences. Douglas Coupland's Microserfs: Transhumanity (an excerpt from Microserfs) is lacking from the UK version. Perhaps it was published in a later edition or perhaps I tore it out and stored it somewhere unknown.

The UK edition had a review of Kill Your Boyfriend, which made me really want to read it. It also reviewed Mark Leyner's Toothprints on a Corn Dog, but suggested that Et Tu, Babe was a better book.

Both the UK edition and the US edition had articles on Richard Dawkins' selfish genes and hot memes, random typefaces and technopagans. ("Without the sacred there is no differentiation in space; everything is flat and gray. If we are about to enter cyberspace, the first thing we have to do is plant the divine in it.")

Jargon Watch contained useful phrases such as "Batmobiling - Putting up an emotional shield just as a relationship enters that intimate, vulnerable stage. Refers to the retractable armor covering the Batmobile."


.net - June 1995 - Issue 7 (£2.99)

Number on the spine is 27.1m, which was the estimate of world internet usage. (In comparison, now in 2005, it is estimated at 888,681,131.)

According to .net magazine, FTP was still the most popular form of Internet traffic on the NSFnet backbone. (Although some estimates say that "WWW surpasses ftp-data in March 2005 as the service with greatest traffic on NSFNet based on packet count, and in April 2005 based on byte count.")

The percentage of Estonian primary and secondary schools connected to the Internet: 16%
(In comparison, apparently all Estonian schools are now connected to the Internet).

A short article titled "Who needs drugs when you've got modems?" explained that social pathologies were stating to develop in 'cyberspace'. An ad-hoc survey of internet users found that 22% said that using online services produced "a cocaine-like rush" and 12% said it helped them to relax. "An on-line service is not as reliable as cocaine or alcohol, but in the contemporary world, it is a fairly reliable way of shifting consciousness."

pHreak BBS is reviewed and described as "One of the UK's most underground and out-there bulletin boards." (It may even still be vaguely existing.)


Amiga Power - June 1995 - Issue 50 (£4.25 with 2 cover disks)

Issue 50 was an issue that celebrated "50 glorious years of Amiga Power" and discussed Amiga Power over the years ("The golden era", "the indie years", "the techno time", etc) and even had an article on some of the contributors to "Do the Write Thing". Definitely a handy issue to have around when you start wondering, "who was Isabelle Rees?".

The cover disks included "Valhalla In The Style Of a dance music track": It's a Skull.

Commodore had just been bought by Escom.

Weetaflakes in yellow bags had been consigned to heaven.

Other articles included "Whatever happened to the the future of manga?", and reviews of games such as "Ultimate Soccer Manager" and "Bloodnet A500+"

Comments

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Especially when experiencing cocaine-like rushes.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

Hmm... are those the plants I saw growing by the riverbanks of Eynsford?

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

You mean the well-known modem flower?