When AOL and Prodigy started taking off in the early 90s, our neighbor bought a bunch of cement slab and busted it up and sold it online as "Real Pieces of the Berlin Wall" and "Real Pieces of the Great Wall of China" and that guy realized what the internet was gonna be before everyone else - ThreadSky

coachfinstock.bsky.social • 254 days ago

When AOL and Prodigy started taking off in the early 90s, our neighbor bought a bunch of cement slab and busted it up and sold it online as "Real Pieces of the Berlin Wall" and "Real Pieces of the Great Wall of China" and that guy realized what the internet was gonna be before everyone else

Comments

steveinba.bsky.social•253 days ago

Coach great story, but as a dos command guy, it wasn't cement it was 3.2 floppy disks that changed the world 🌎. And cheap cocaine

problematicotter.bsky.social•253 days ago

Being from Austin and having an acquaintance from Eastern Europe send me an Infowars article in the late 00s should've set off more alarm bells in my head than it did at the time

whirlochre.bsky.social•251 days ago

Memorabilia is worthless until it is manufactured at scale.

jcsalterego.bsky.social•254 days ago

that neighbor? none other than dr rutherford ebay

stargonewrong.gay•254 days ago

i knew the (now ex-) CEO and founder of Kraken and that is 100% the type of thing he did as a teenager (stuff like ebay listing describing a pokemon card, note at the bottom that says you're actually bidding on a bag of sand)

djmccann.bsky.social•254 days ago

I remember when Microsoft released the first Xbox and people were going nuts pre-release, I saw eBay listings for "x box" that would literally show and describe a shoebox with a big X scribbled on top, which had thousands of dollars in bids.

srobalino.bsky.social•254 days ago

I remember things like this! The internet genuinely used to be way more fun in 90s and early 00s.

jcsalterego.bsky.social•254 days ago

fun until you paid $500 for a box of rocks lol

srobalino.bsky.social•254 days ago

Well if had a picture of a box with an x on it, as the saying goes, “There’s a sucker born every minute”.

ericafails.bsky.social•252 days ago

But surely a piece of the Berlin Wall IS a box of rocks

blahpers.bsky.social•254 days ago

It did culminate with the P-P-P-Powerbook!!! though, which made it all worth it

cannon4nh.bsky.social•253 days ago

Well, you never did it again, did you? Not all life lessons are free

rem.bsky.lol•253 days ago

comedy is tragedy plus distance

deeb.bsky.social•254 days ago

Xbox box (it was just an empty console box)

magneticsara.bsky.social•254 days ago

When I was a kid I was given one of those chunks labeled Berlin wall and I was very impressed.

ohiohawkeye.bsky.social•254 days ago

Did people actually buy?

groda.eu•254 days ago

Would be cool if someone connected the Berlin wall and the great wall of china. It's basically just Russia in between

skeet.best•254 days ago

the famous cement wall of china

coachfinstock.bsky.social•254 days ago

Exactly lol

skeet.best•254 days ago

which has finally been demolished by the people it divided

amirmsvmore.bsky.social•254 days ago

https://t.me/tronspace_bot?start=109504561

agwonline.bsky.social•254 days ago

This reminds me of the Scottish lads who dug up a field and sold it as "Real Wembley Turf"

raaad.bsky.social•253 days ago

Damn right

slandereddead.bsky.social•254 days ago

Excellent scam

blahpers.bsky.social•254 days ago

That man's name? Jeff Bezos.

fakehappy.monster•254 days ago

My aunt’s piece of the Berlin Wall had like random splotches of spray paint on it, so at least whoever fooled her put a little care into it

blkmsk.com•254 days ago

Williamsburg Air: $20000

voiceless.bsky.social•254 days ago

People were selling the pieces of Christ' Cross and fake saint relics in medieval times, and before that there was probably some scam or another to this effect just under a different name;

coyoty.bsky.social•254 days ago

The quantity of each saint's fingers indicates they were AI generated.

pdxjenni.bsky.social•254 days ago

Or fae, which would also explain a lot of the "miracles," really.

tonestar180.bsky.social•254 days ago

WOW that's crazy and smart at the same time. Nobody ever knew the difference ?

davemck.bsky.social•253 days ago

There will always be gullible but trusting humans. And there will always be people who take advantage of that. the internet just speeded up that process and made it efficient at scale.

cooperlund.online•254 days ago

Wait I think one of my neighbors had one of those

mayamedia.bsky.social•254 days ago

“A piece of the true cross” carried into every medieval battle.

nocleverhandle.bsky.social•254 days ago

If you gathered all the pieces of the true cross in one place, you'd have enough word to rebuild St Peter's.

Twice.

parr.org•253 days ago

It’s like the loaves and fishes

mayamedia.bsky.social•253 days ago

Yes, but using those as building materials would make for a very stinky St Peter’s.

mayamedia.bsky.social•254 days ago

Also, they always have to insert “true” in there just to emphasize they do very much not lying. 🤷🏽‍♂️

sigsovversivo.bsky.social•253 days ago

Famous Original Ray’s vibes.

bigblobape.bsky.social•254 days ago

Well really it’s because the cross itself is called the True Cross—it’s the only cross Jesus died on

mayamedia.bsky.social•254 days ago

But isn’t that, itself, the same thing, only earlier? Was there also a fake cross that Jesus was crucified on?

coyoty.bsky.social•254 days ago

Because Jesus touched It and bled on It, It keeps healing, so you can take unlimited pieces from It.

caveatruptur.bsky.social•254 days ago

if it's not from the True region then it's just a sparkling execution

mayamedia.bsky.social•253 days ago

I personally carry a piece of the false cross. But if they touch, they cancel each other out in a massive space-time explosion.

kevinriggle.bsky.social•253 days ago

I am not sure if this is true or merely an invention of a movie I saw, but a line from the 16th century to the effect of, “Did you know, fifteen of the Twelve Apostles are buried in Spain?”

mayamedia.bsky.social•253 days ago

I have never heard this. Sorry.