Subject: Leaving the hobby

From: Charles <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 13 17:32:00 2003

> I am leaving the hobby/lifestyle of classic computing.

There's a classic computing LIFESTYLE??? No one told me! How do I
get one?

>  I will not participate in any discussion of the reason.

OK, so we will just speculate wildly and discuss it without you ;)

>  The decision has been made.

Sounds like someone decided for you. Best of luck, anyway. When
I'm tired of my PDP-8, Sinclair ZX-81, VIC-20, Apple //e, etc. I
just put them back in the closet for a while.

-Charles

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 13 18:46:01 2003

> There's a classic computing LIFESTYLE??? No one told me! How do I

Go out and buy all sorts of old computer crap.  Fill every inch of your
living space with it.  Go broke dragging the stuff around with you every
move and trying to find a place to put it.  Never go out because you don't
have any money (you spent it on old computer crap).  When you do go out,
it's to the hamfest to buy more old computer crap with the few dollars you
have in your account after paying your bills.

Enjoy.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

 * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

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From: John Lawson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 13 18:51:00 2003

> living space with it.  Go broke dragging the stuff around with you every

  Ya forgot one day realizing that you have utterly *no other* friends or
associates who are not Komputer Kollector Krazies(tm) just like you.

  And all your wives/girlfriends/SOs get together at said Festivals,
Swapmeets, and Gatherings, and secretly brew up EVIL PLANS....

  There's more but I'm runnin' out of Prozac, so I'll shut up now.

 Cheerz

John

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From: "J.C. Wren" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 13 19:04:00 2003

You get Prozac with this lifestyle?  SIGN ME UP!

	--John

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From: "R. D. Davis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 13 19:55:01 2003

> You get Prozac with this lifestyle?  SIGN ME UP!

No.  You get something better: Jungian psychoanalysis and a copy of
that excellent book, "Eccentrics," by Jamie James and David Weeks.  No
harmful physical side effects, plus you get the pleasure of knowing
that such benefits make the biz'droids in the pharmaceutical
companies, and elsewhere, cringe. :-)  

> > associates who are not Komputer Kollector Krazies(tm) just like you.

Ok, so your friends may all be reasonably eccentric.  So far so good.

> > Swapmeets, and Gatherings, and secretly brew up EVIL PLANS....

Hmmm... You've capitalized that.  Scribble, scribble.  Let's expand
upon the meaning of your capitalization of those words.  What does
your capitalization of that signify to you?  Does that mean that,
whether you're consciously aware of it or not, you like women who make
evil plans for you?

> >   There's more but I'm runnin' out of Prozac, so I'll shut up now.

That's no problem.  See what I wrote above.  You can be happy without
it.  All you really need for happiness are your classic computers,
eccentricity and, perhaps, in your case, women who "secretly brew up
evil plans." ;-)

-- 
Copyright (C) 2003 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: 
All Rights Reserved            an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & 
[email-masked]  410-744-4900  her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org         beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.

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From: "Thompson Family" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed May 14 20:41:00 2003

A. Lost Job Selling stuff
B. Wife said "Get this crap out of here or I am leaving" and she was the one
with a job.

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From: Don Maslin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed May 14 22:46:00 2003

> B. Wife said "Get this crap out of here or I am leaving" and she was the one

I think it is unfair and unkind to speculate like that.  Just
accept what he said and let it go at that.
						- don

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From: "Thompson Family" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu May 15 17:34:00 2003

If you can't be unkind and unfair in speculating then why speculate at all?
Lighten up. You make a cryptic statement and naturally people are going to
react to it. Rushing to be mister sensitive is more annoying than cycinysm..
and not nearly as entertaining.

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From: Bill Richman <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri May 16 11:29:17 2003

Aww - what fun is that?  How about this:

Bill's Top 10 Reasons to Leave the Classic Computer Hobby

10) Landlord has voiced concerns over sagging floors and melting wiring.

9)  People mistaking your place for the local landfill keep dropping off
old appliances in your yard.

8)  Electric bill has exceeded the GNP of several 3rd-world countries.

7)  You haven't seen your kids for several days, but you keep hearing
muffled scratching noises coming from that last set of 9-track drives.

6)  Not only can you no longer get the car in the garage; now you can't
even get it in the driveway.

5)  Al Gore hanging around claming to have invented half of your stuff.

4)  EPA has declared your house a hazardous waste site due to all the PCBs.

3)  You've become the target of drive-by bulk-erasings.

2)  Ever since that incident with the card sorter, your dog refuses to
come out from under the bed.

   and the number one reason...

1) A 40-year-old man at the Star Wars premier dressed as Yoda heard
about your hobby and told you to "GET A LIFE!"

---

Thank you, thank you.  You're too kind.  You've been a wonderful audience!

---

From: Mike Ford <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri May 16 13:12:00 2003

> > living space with it.  Go broke dragging the stuff around with you every

You're not hardcore until you start replacing furniture with arrangements 
of old computers, ie the stacked Mac plus sofa, microvax endtables.

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From: "Zane H. Healy" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri May 16 19:09:00 2003

> about your hobby and told you to "GET A LIFE!"

The list is a riot!  Unfortunatly #'s 10, 8, and 4 sound a bit to serious,
I've actually worried about all three of them.  Though #3 & 2 are down right
hysterical! :^)

		Zane

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From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Sat May 17 18:30:02 2003

> > 4)  EPA has declared your house a hazardous waste site due to all the PCBs.

Is this a deliberate double-meaning of 'PCB' (PolyChlorinated Biphenyls 
.vs. Printed Circuit Boards)? THe former are what the EPA moans about 
(and are not that common in classic computers [1]) the latter are not 
particulalry hazardous...

[1] Although I suspect some mains-frequency EHT transformers and PSU cans 

> > about your hobby and told you to "GET A LIFE!"

What's a 'life'?

-tony

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat May 17 22:31:00 2003

> particulalry hazardous...

But they are classed as "hazardous waste" in California, and a growing
number of other states.

--

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon May 19 09:31:56 2003

On Sat, 17 May 2003, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:

> > Is this a deliberate double-meaning of 'PCB' (PolyChlorinated
> > Biphenyls .vs. Printed Circuit Boards)? THe former are what the EPA
> > moans about (and are not that common in classic computers [1]) the
> > latter are not particulalry hazardous...
>

But if it's your personal stuff, you can take a "household exemption".

Peace...  Sridhar

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon May 19 10:16:00 2003

> But if it's your personal stuff, you can take a "household exemption".

Well, technically they are not considered "hazardous" until they enter the
waste stream.

--