From: none@priracy.com   
      
   On 4/19/2022 8:18 PM, Geoff Wilson wrote:   
   > On Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 7:12:34 AM UTC-8, islander wrote:   
   >> On 3/2/2019 5:06 AM, jan...@gmail.com wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>> Rumpel,   
   >>> There no longer seems to be any   
   >>> "conversation," and certainly   
   >>> very few retirement subjects.   
   >>>   
   >>> I found another retirement   
   >>> board called " soc.senior.issues   
   >>> but that seems to be defunct,   
   >>> although there are a few posts   
   >>> from Jim Higgins, as late as   
   >>> last December. There are some   
   >>> old posts from people like   
   >>> Olly Mensch, on topics such as   
   >>> "Mercurochrome."   
   >>>   
   >> The demise of soc.retirement has been predicted for years, yet it continues.   
   >>   
   >> The more serious question might be what has happened to civil   
   >> discussion? The country has become increasingly divided along political   
   >> lines and that seems to be resulting in an end of discussion, civil or   
   >> otherwise.   
   >>   
   >> Politics has always been in the discussion here, worse in election   
   >> years. Retirement issues come up when participants want to discuss   
   >> retirement issues, but otherwise the discussion drifts in whatever   
   >> direction us old timers feel inclined. Sticking to the topic is often a   
   >> victim of the way things drift.   
   >>   
   >> Generally, it is just a bunch of old farts sitting around the virtual   
   >> cracker barrel talking about whatever they want. Personally, I keep   
   >> getting drawn back to it because I have been discussing/arguing with a   
   >> few regulars for nearly 20 years.   
   >>   
   >> If you are looking for an alternative, I have been using Quora for a   
   >> couple of years now. It is a much larger forum and uses a more modern   
   >> format including the ability to incorporate graphics which allows me to   
   >> include some of the charts from my work on comparative state politics.   
   >> It is moderated, so a lot of the ugly side of the Internet is eliminated.   
   >>   
   >> I hope that you will continue to participate in soc.retirement. With   
   >> Emily becoming much less involved, you are the only woman in this group.   
   >>   
   >> Your mention of Olly reminds me that she is probably gone. Last I   
   >> recall, she was in an assisted living facility and not liking it at all.   
   >> Jim Higgins drops in occasionally, so I guess he is still alive. One   
   >> of the difficulties with soc.retirement is that people just disappear   
   >> and we often don't know if they have died.   
   >   
   >     Hi Islander!   This is Rumpelstiltsin, just to let you know I haven't   
   died, though I'm 77 now so it probably won't be long, though I still feel   
   fine.  It was always a pleasure to read your posts, and I've toyed with the   
   idea of rejoining soc.   
   retirement since my disk crashed and I had to get a different computer, but I   
   probably won't rejoin because that would necessitate rejoining (and repaying   
   for)  a newsserver, then downloading the many new posts that come every day.    
   I don't think I'm up    
   for that.  I also miss Rita, who died long ago now of course, but I always   
   regarded her as the heart of the group while she was alive.   Peace and love   
   from this former self-identified "hippie", though I never really did fit that   
   mould.  Since I'm not    
   subscribed to soc.retirement any more, I probably won't read (or find) any   
   replies to this post, but all the best to you and the other posters, even El   
   Castor if he's still there!   
      
   OMG!  On the chance that you do read soc.retirement, please send me a   
   message at Islander.1234@yahoo.com.  That is my throw-away email address   
   that I use to avoid spam.  I'll respond and we can communicate   
   privately.  So good to hear that you are still alive!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)