For me, obsolete often means that I can no longer repair an important tool if it breaks. If I can’t get a replacement hard drive or video card or power supply for my ancient Windows computer, I need to think about getting a new computer, just to minimize risk.

Or the dozens (hundreds?) of hours that Robin Williams spent as libbing as the genie in Aladdin. I think it was in his contract that they couldn’t even use it anywhere else

Just have a look at what’s going on in ukraine. Once they started using drones, the drone were attacked through their wireless connections. Now they trail fiber optic cables for control. What does that say about the relative reliability and security?

Air Canada must really be hurting for money. In June this year, they only had $500 million available for a stock buyback.

I hadn’t thought about it, but those may have been the first books I absolutely adored.

After that, I got into Perry Rhodan, a German science fiction serial that has been published weekly since 1961 (yes, they are past issue #3,300 now).

They translated about 140 into English, and I had every one, hunting through used book shope to complete my collection.

I have gone back to read some, and at least the early ones really were abysmal in writing, plotting and early 1960s prejudices. At the time, the scope of the space opera – and the fact that there were so many of them – thrilled me.

The former president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) had a Concorde-capable airport built at his home village, so that his wife could charter it to go shopping in Europe.

The CIA assassinated his predecessor and put him in power so that he would do their bidding and that of the American mining companies. It’s estimated that he was worth around $6 billion, $30-40 billion in today’s money.