The Drink Tank 023 (2005).pdf

The Drink Tank

Issue 2d12 -1

Chris has a Plan!

Not too long ago,

I decided I wanted

to do a Mimeo zine.

I tried to figure

out a smart way to

do it, since a

typewriter is kinda

hard to come by

(though we have many

at the museum, none

are really in great

shape) I have to

figure a way to cut

a good stencil (plus

find stencils, not

to mention a

Mimeograph itself)

and try not to spend

a fortune. Then, I also realised that I had another source for stencil cutting

that would also help me out in using a somewhat familiar method for page

layout.

Dot Matrix.

I had heard of folks using dot matrix printers to cut stencils back in the

day and I had never thought of the fact that the museum has dozens of them

lying around. But a printer is no good without a computer to power it, and i

also happen to have one of them too. An Apple ][ plus, fully loaded and ready

to go...mostly. You see, after 20 or so years, these machines become

tempermental and the software disks are even more cantankerous. I'm working

with a couple of machines right now, but before my planned press date (early

2006) I'll have at least one Apple ][-series computer and a mimeograph machine

purchased and working along with all the required other materials. Luckily,

I've got a supplier for much of it, but still, it'll be a task.

After this one, I've got two more plans. First one is a DittoZine.

That'll take some doin', but I'm game for the attempt. I've found a number of

them available for auction for very reasonable prices. This one should be my

late 2006 project.

After that: Hecto. Now, this one will be much harder, as I've only seen a

couple of Hecto Machines ever, and that includes in majour museum collections

that should have stuff like that. I'm gonna work on this one, and it might

even require me to make the damn thing myself, which would be no small feat.

Of course, all of these are plans, and they are subject to change, but I

have, more than once, said that I could have done OK in the days when you had

to deal with such troubles as Mimeo Machines and Ditto problems. I jsut wanna

see if I was right or if I was a dad0burned fool for thinking such things.

Time will tell.

The Drink Tank

Issue 2d12 -1

I'm Goin' to BayCon, Baycon

Let me say that I've never been so

excited about going to any

convention as I am about heading

to Baycon this year. It's my first

time as a Toastmaster, it's the first

time local fandom gets a chance to

read my fanzines (I've printed a

bundle to pass out) and I get to

hang around with my good pals

like Frank Wu and Natasha Levitan

all weekend. That's always a blast.

Packing by Kate Kelton

The thing is, I am over-preparing. I started printing out B+W issues of Claims Department a

month ago and I've made a special zine that has been ready to go since CorFlu. I'm ready with all

my FANACical wares to present to an audience that should be receptive. I've also been working

on my schtick. It would be an understatement to say that I have worried and fretted for weeks

about MCing the Masquarade and Meet the Guests reception. My jokes have been known to

Arrive to listeners in a non-responsive state, only to die seconds later. Hopefully, the material I've

worked up will pull me through.

I've also packed (hence the illustration, though I'm always lookign for an excuse to show Kate's

work off in my pages). I filled a medium bag with pants enough for four days, shirts enough for

two changes a day, and I've laid my tux (paid for by the good people at TechTV) and good things

on top. I've even brought three pairs of shoes with me and two extra pairs of socks. I'm armed to

the teeth with clothing!

The odds are this will be the last time I'm a Toastmaster for a good while. I'm no BNF yet, so I

gotta take what I can get and make the most of it. Then again, if I keep going to CorFlu, I've got a

shot at GoH, even if it is longer odds than Horse bettors like to see. Mostly, I'm going to run

around, enjoy my good time and hope that I get to do it again sometime. It'll be a lot of fun, that's

for sure.

The View From Higher Up

Ray Faraday Nelson, May 4th, 2004

In 1961 I graduated from The Automation Institute in Oakland CA with the highest grade point

average in the history of the school and later wrote most of the IBM program for the University

of California Press when they updated from manual to computer inventory and bookkeeping,

working with the IBM 1401 & peripherals, and I still can't look at a punched card or a

plugboard without a sigh of nostalgia. Most science fiction writers, including Asimov, wrote

about computers with no clue as to how they actually work. I like to think I am the exception.

They all thought computers would be huge and infallible. I realized from the beginning that

they would be small and liable to crash at the most inconvenient moments with the most

disastrous effects. My boss at the University of California, August Frujay (Spelling?) could

never get rid of the idea that computers were brains and could think. At that time they

certainly couldn't, & I doubt they ever will actually think. From the programmer's perspective a

computer is something a whole lot better than an artificial brain. It's the best damn electric

train any kid could ever dream of.

The Preparations Are Made

The Drink Tank

Issue 2d12-1

Comments and Contempt

sent to garcia@computerhistory.org

by my gentle readers

Returning Triumphant to the pages of The Drink Tank is the UK's own Helen Spiral

Hi Chris,

You said it's never too late to LoC (DT15) so, doomed by your own utterance, here goes...

Once again Hoisted by my own pitard!

I gotta hav'ta ask you and Jay if your story (DT10) really meant: "I gotta have the scent of

the Playa, the heavyweight hammering of censors and bongs and hookahs and firewood"?

Or maybe: I gotta have the scent of the Playa, the heavyweight hammering of censers and bongs

and hookahs and firewood? Or perhaps: I gotta have the scent of the Playa, the heavyweight

hammering of censors and bongs and hookers and firewood? Those homonyms are two-faced

little beggars and your narrator has discovered that mere spelling checkers can't save him from

them. Eeek!

I've always thought that the reason Jay, Me and M got together is that we all have

degrees in the Anglophiloligical arts (Jay in English, M in Journalism and I gots me a

BFA in Creative Writing) and not a one of us know anythign about the language other

than the fun methods of butchering it!

Eric Mayer's suggestion (DT12) of sticking a staple to the side of one's EFIX (Electronic

Fanzine Immersion eXpeditor or "monitor") is pure genius. However, as a mac user, I intended to

go for the classier two staple design... until I saw Lloyd Penney's LoC (DT17) suggesting that the

truly stylish settle for nothing less than three staples... I can picture the award winning

LoCColumnist now, attired in his Hawaiian fabric tuxedo and matching top hat, his eager eyes

scanning a three-staple EFIX for signs of fanac...

Email of Comment (DT13): EoCs? Not an entirely satisfactory acronym. Hmm... Electronic

Mail of Comment: EMoCs? Electronic Words of Comment: EWoCs! Heh-heh... and then again

maybe not.

Yes, EWoCs it is, and shall be, forever more!

I'm a dendrophile too and I offer you a new verb which you might find useful if you ever

need to describe the circus trees (DT19) again: to pleach. Pleaching is the art of persuading two

or more twigs, or trees, to grow together into one. I have an entire beech hedge which has been

pleached into a single plant but I've seen an even more impressive example which has been

growing together for a couple of hundred years and now looks more like a wooden wall with

chinks in it than a hedge with pleached twigs. I've also seen pollarded limes pleached together.

I came across the term pleaching on Richard Reams' site. It's an old art, dating back at

least 1000 years and most likely it had roots (pun almost intended) in China. I recently

found that my tribe, The Ohlones, used a similar technique for generational shelters. It

seems they took young trees and planted them in a circle, then stripped some of the bark

and tied the tops together. This produced a nice shelter and as it grew, became quite

sturdy, though not enough to withstand the Spaniard's need for wood!

I can't decide whether to make an effort to see the H2G2 film or not

(DT17 + DT21). I love the first four books but I preferred the original BBC Radio 4 series in

several ways and Adams' two "Dirk Gently Holistic Detective Agency" books are better than H2G2

as novels. Auntie Beeb's tv series was a brave attempt in its time but, for me and anyone else

with a virtual reality imagination, the pictures are always going to be more engrossing on the

Issue 2d12-1

The Drink Tank

Issue 2d12-1

Emailed Words of Comment (EWoCs)

sent to garcia@computerhistory.org

by my gentle readers

radio,

I'd say it's worth seeing, though if you like the radio version, I would hold off for the

video.

Don't worry too much about formatting the British addresses (DT21 + 22). If the person's

surname and postcode are correct on the outside of the envelope then the post office can deliver it

because They Know Where You Live. I personally have one of those non-standard addresses

which frustrates all known computerised forms, and computer operators, as it has too many lines

You know, I've gotten three tutorials on Britsh postal systems of late, so I think I can

handle it. They all said the same thing: Just get the name and Number, everythign else is

just a suggestion.

Helen

Another Friend of The Drink Tankhits us with some words, Mr. Eric Mayer!

I've been falling behind in my reading/loccing. Past couple weeks I've been having to get control of

a massive legal article which is going to take weeks longer than the estimate that was given to me

when I signed the contract. Not that that is anything unusual.

I've been there myself more than once.

Sorry to hear about your dad. The news doesn't sound good. My dad died from cancer last year

(blood problem) but he was in his late seventies. It is a horrible disease, in all its forms. Just

plain cruel. No one should have to make their way through life and then have to endure cancer.

Give me a quick, unexpected heart attack please.

Sorry to hear about your Dad. My Pops is a guy who has such a great outlook he has

come to terms with it all through humour. His doctors are doing a great job and they

have said more than once that he's cheated the odds, so we'll see.

I enjoyed your "Bottler" story. When I was a kid certain "super" heros struck me as being awfully

lame. I could never get up much enthusiasm for Green Lantern. Or was it Green Arrow? Or

both. I can't even recall what powers those guys had. (Have to look it up now) The one hero who

was kind of limited but I liked was the Flash.

The Flash is my all-time fave. Ever since I was a kid. For no good reason either.

I found a free "print to pdf" program which I tried using in conjunction with Word 97. It kind of

works, but I found it almost impossible to lay out anything decently in Word. It is just totally rigid

and unforgiving and certain things it won't do, or maybe it will but I can't figure out how.

There are a lot of those types of programmes, and the more I experiment with inDesign,

the more I realise that I'll keep working with Illustrator for TDT and use inDesign for

Claims Department and anything else I do that's printed.

Did you ever look at the Baseball Cube site? I just ran across it.

Seems to have the players' minor league stats which I haven't seen before, except on the baseball

cards I used to get. Looking at it I can't figure why the Yanks were so enthused about Roger

Repoz back in the sixties.

Issue 2d12-1

Issue 2d12-1

So much of Baseball recruiting is that first day when a scout sees you. If you look at the

real washes, guys like Johnny LeMaster for the Giants, they had one day where they were

amazing and the Scout happened to be there. Plus, there are a lot of players who just

can't adjust to Big League Pitching. Baseball actually has a better record than Football

in this case, as there are hundreds of high-drafted guys who never do well. I've seen

Baseball Cube, but haven't really messed around with it at all.

Now I'm heading back to legal writing country....

Eric

Blog:http://www.journalscape.com/ericmayer

And finally, fresh off an unexpected issue of Some Fantastic, Matt Appleton!

I couldn't help but smile when reading about your software woes. I've been stuck in Mircosoft

Word hell since the first issue of Some Fantastic, and I'm desperately trying to scrape together

the funds to pick up InDesign and a new iBook to replace the four-year-old model I'm currently

using. Such is the life of those of us in the fanzine business.

It's a great programme, though it's sort of an Atomic Flyswatter for my needs, the linking

ability alone is well worth it. I'd suggest lookign on Ebay. I got mine for dirt cheap, even

if it was from 2003, and they got it here might fast. And I love the iBook. One of the

girls I work with has said that she'll sell me her old one for less than 200, so I'll have a

full compliment of computers soon: A Destop PC, a Portble Mac and a laughable CP/M

machine for showing off my geeky side!

(Somewhere, I hear a grizzled old pro of the fandom cackling and reminiscing about the good-old-

days of mimeographed zines.)

Take a look at my lead article!

-- Matthew

But Wait, there's more!

I forgot to add before hitting send:

I do that so often.

In response to Lloyd Penney, Barenaked Ladies are very aware of the active fandom surrounding

them -- in fact, they heavily pander to their official fan club as well as other unofficial ones. As for

myself, I am heavily in that fandom camp as well; aside from the name of the magazine, the

newest issue of Some Fantastic contains two gratuitous references to their work. I just can't help

myself sometimes.

I had no idea. I know bands like Phish are very involved in their own fandom, but I didn't

know BNL were as well. They're a good band, though they'll never replace the Tragically

Hip as my favourite Canadian band.

-- Matthew

The Drink Tank is written and Directed by Christopher J. Garcia with a nice assist from M

Lloyd. As I'm sure you're tired of reading, all of Christopher J. Garcia's words are free to reuse in

any media with or without permission. If you've got comments, articles, Complaints, Cataracts,

or Contracts for or about The Drink Tank, send an EWoC to garcia@computerhistory.org or mail

to 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043. If you're going to BayCon, lemme know

and I'll buy ya a drink. This issue is dedicated to my good friends Joker and Kate Kelton for all

their help and for not beating me in the poker tourney. No Sleep 'til Brookline.

The Drink Tank

Issue 2d12-1

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