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And another little thing that stays with me, anyway: "C" as the name of a programming language. Not C, but "C". Maybe it's like Platonism: "C" is the "Form", C is the imperfect shadow the "Form" casts on our world. But then, why is Java never "Java"?

I'm over-thinking this, but it honestly transports me to old web fora and Usenet newsgroups and late nights with a modem, stumbling around in alt. and coming across spammed chapters from "The Trance-Formation Of America" is pretty damned creepy at 3 AM when you're the only one awake, and learning about the deep C secrets in chatty posts is amazing when your only other source is "Learn Java in 21 Days For Dummies", but O'Reilly books come close.

Names come back. Dan Pop. Chris Torek. (I'm pretty sure they're still alive.) From a different group, Pascal Bourguignon, whose name I spelled right the first time although I'm sure I still can't pronounce it.

Strange typographical quirks. That's all it takes.

I remember an alien signal from the Internet:

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.wobegon/c/1kGvHOu-hEI

> The safety and serenity of Alaska provided an atmosphere conducive to deprogramming, despite the pandemonium that ensued. Mark Phillips was the first man who not only did not abuse us, but cared for our welfare and well being.

rec.arts.wobegon Dec 28, 2001, 2:32:26 PM

That's a snippet of the Epilogue from "Trance-Formation of America" by Cathy O'Brien, a book about how Cathy O'Brien is either a schizophrenic or acts like one for publishers. It got spammed across Usenet right when I was into it the most, reading alt.religion.scientology and alt.fan.cecil-adams and a few others, so I got slapped across the face with it one night completely unexpected. I've since come across stranger, such as the QAnon cult, but that was my first taste of High Weirdness.