Swamp thing was what came to mind for me.

Flashing back to Red Planet.

Somebody call Tom Selleck!

Runaway as well, but without the mall.

“You are illegally parked on private property. You have twenty seconds to move your vehicle.” -ED-209

They have a series on Gates too.

The answer to OPs question is that these people they admired were just as bad, just better at PR. Unless you think that social media has had some kind of positive effect in outing these newer bastards. Being young and naive may also have been a factor (which I can personally attest to since I was a fan of MS back in the 90s before I learned about them).

But we’re not in the correct-information-only age. There’s a lot of noise to filter out, and most people aren’t trained well enough to do that (i.e. critical thinking). I think that we may need to address that issue before things improve significantly at the political level.

Worst zoltron villain ever.

Ah yes, the ol’ “promoted to the level of their incompetence”. SOP. Or SNAFU, take your pick.

Vivaldi M3 on desktop, K9 on mobile.

…invade everyone’s privacy instead.

Sounds pricey. Discs are cheap.

I’d guess that the down votes weren’t because it wasn’t true, but rather simply that the fact made them unhappy. Not the best use of down votes, but understandable.

Which has its own downside, that being the up-front cost.

“Press Play on tape.”

(makes lunch)

“File found. Loading…”

(takes a bath, goes for a walk, reads a book…)

Ah the memories…

But where to store it all now?

Below the frame looks like to me.

Working now.

Not for me.

I don’t know, maybe it is like Midas. The things he touches turn into something coveted, and therefore valuable, but also of little to no practical use, just like gold.