Were there proprietary predecessor websites?
There were and still are publicly owned (or semi-privately, depends were you're looking). They were called (public) libraries.
They were great back then (as a kid, as a student and as an adult) and they're still great nowadays, just less... popular, alas.
I would start by looking in public libraries, shops, and by asking. Edit: most libraries will organize (or relay) various events, or they might know someone who does.
Without knowing what you're looking for it's difficult but let's say you like to play chess like I do. The first think I did when arriving where I live is visit a chess shop and ask questions. The guy gave me a couple addresses, I went there and met people there, who helped meet other people and so on.
Edit: I would also check local newspapers and bulletin-boards.
Yeah, BR looks like a real pain.That's not VLC or any other player's fault. The industry made it near impossible to use a BR, even dutifully paid for.
I recently considered starting buying BR discs (we only own DVDs, which all play fine on my Linux machine) but I quickly gave upon the idea when I realized what an effing pain it would be to get them to play without a standard TV and a standard BR player connected to it.
If I can't easily play it on computer (we have not owned a TV set since the early 00s), well too bad, it only means we won't watch BR. Which also means more money to spend on other things than BR. Also, it's not like I'm short on DVDs to (re)watch either.
I use mine as a way to keep track of events around me (no politics or earth shattering stuff, just daily & intimate stuff), things I want to be able to remember. And to help me put a semblance of order in my the mess I call my thoughts. Also as... a sketchbook which I find fun and relaxing to do even though I'm no artist.
My main suggestion would be to make it fun and exciting. The more it is, the more likely it will become a habit you will enjoy keeping.
Oh, I'm 50+ and I've been journaling for almost 50 years, if that makes any difference.
BTW, I very recently decided to try to 'revitalize' the !journaling@sh.itjust.works community. Here is two posts that may interest you: How do you actually start journaling? and How do you guys make short journal entries?
I hope you won't mind that shameless plug but I thought it might interest you to know about that community. So, if you ever feel like joining and participating, do not hesitate. For the moment, people have been commenting below my posts, which is already a nice (and huge) change, but I would love to see more people posting new content. And if that's something that worries you, there is no such thing as a stupid question ;)
Tried for an entire year to make it work, but every hike in those boots was miserable.
Those kind of shoes do need some time to become comfortable to wear but a year? That's a long time, and showing a lot of patience. Hope they did not end-up hurting you.
Felt like having lead feet.
I know that feeling too. I had a painful experience with a pair a heavy duty hiking shoes similar to yours, once. After 2 weeks trying and failing to make them remotely comfortable/usable I ended up contacting the maker describing my issue as best as I could, we exchanged a little and they sent me a model a tad wider and half a size longer, that settled it for me. That said, like yours, they were heavy and stiff shoes and they remained so, but they also have done their job quite well every time I have needed them.
Also, one important thing to consider, at least for me, is the insoles one can put in their shoes. A few years ago, because of some health issue, I had to wear custom made orthopedic insoles. I was very skeptical at first but that was such a game changer, and so rapidly, my endurance skyrocketed. They're not cheap and it take me a week or so to have a new pair made, but I would not want to wear any shoes without them.
May I ask why was it a waste?
I mean was it 300€ spend on some fashion/designer brand that was nothing but a bad pair of shoes with a fancy name and price tag on it? Or were they a reputed brand, and had you any specific issue with the shoes themselves? If so, did you try to contact them to fix it? The brand I most often wear has a good customer support (and a fine return policy, if you would rather buy online)
Edit: like suggested in the other reply to your comment: the idea was to say that, all things being equal, spending money on a good (and, obviously, working) pair of shoes is a good idea.
Silence radio, so far. J'ai vu quelques upvotes ce qui est bon signe, mais aucune réponse en commentaire.
Ceci dit, comme avec la communauté journaling que j'ai 'reprise', y a aucun souci à laisser du temps pour que tout le monde puisse lire et, avec un peu... beaucoup de chance, réagir ;)
Since most people would be too happy to be (very) rich themselves, I doubt that will ever happen. Or only if we were to live in a "eat the other than me rich" society? ;)
Pour les gens comme moi, non ça suffit clairement pas 😅.
Je ne me sens pas concerné, mais alors pas du tout :p
J'avais testé Org-mode + Emacs, que j'avais plutôt apprécié (moins pour écrire en fr), mais Emacs demande un tel investissement en temps que j'ai pas donné suite. Là, je suis Markdown + pandoc (ou Hugo, pour mon site Web) et c'est sympa et plus qu'assez vu mes très modestes besoins.
Like you my first reaction would have been to say books but, yeah, it's not like there is no useless crap on my bookshelves either ;)
I think a good pair of shoes, for long walks, would be my choice.
I used to pay for a lot (music, video,...). That's gone.
I still have a cloud storage (Filen), iCloud+ (mostly, for the Hide my email module at 1$/m), a VPN (Mullvad), an encrypted email (Proton Mail+).
I donate to a few charities and ONG, I also support a few Libre software but not on a monthly-basis.
I still have a running yearly-sub to Apple Music that I don't think I will renew
No streaming anymore (I used to, but we have so many DVDs already... and we're not tracked when watching them, they also can't be removed from my library (because they aren't successful enough, or because they offend someone somewhere on the planet). They're mine, I own them.
No game pass (I don't game much, and only that old game called chess).
No magazines and almost no news outlets (clickbait titles aren't worth my time, so no money for them).
I used to pay for YT Premium which I watched a lot. I cancelled when Google started its open war against ad-blockers. Even as a paying user of YT, I considered their attitude way too hostile towards ad-blocking and also too dangerous: I'm an uBO user which I consider the most essential extension to make the web usable like it used to be before marketing and ads took over, the entire web not just YT. So, Google seriously trying to fight it was not something I was that happy with. That and their push for Manifest V3, even though I don't use Chrome, I decided I would not give them a cent more of my money. Oh, I also reduced my YT viewing time by a lot... which is kinda neat ;)
I borrow most my (e)books for free, from the public library.
The only one sub I do miss dearly is... Kagi, the paid search engine. It's what Google used to be in the 90s: better (as opposite to the absolute worthless piece of trash it has morphed into, nowadays) and so refreshing compared to the others. There is not a day I don't miss some of its features, useful results and/or its great filtering tools. I will probably end-up subscribing again, but I try my best to resist ;)
A person of taste :)
A few of my Lamy Safari...
I'll admit that I have a sweet spot for them :P