I devoted a column to portals almost two years ago. Strangely enough, since I'm on the whole not particularly hungry when I write these columns, I chose food as one of my central metaphors for that column as well. And that's not the only part which stayed pretty much the same. That column tried to examine a slightly different issue than the one examined in this column, but all the same I find that my thinking on the subject has hardly changed since then. Today I see the compartmentization of internet use as unavoidable, part of the victory of conduit over content. Back then I bemoaned its happening but still held a hope that it not come to pass.