RE: A funny thing happened while...

From: Brock Hinzmann (bhinzmann@sric.sri.com)
Date: Mon Mar 23 1998 - 19:14:04 EET


I had similar experience to Karl's a couple years back. A friend from
college, whom I had not seen since then, who works as the chief engineer on
one of those fishing factories in the Pacific Ocean (please, no flack from
the environmentalists out there), has very little to do a lot of the time
between crises, so reads a lot. So, I haven't seen this guy in twenty
years and the only thing he wants to talk about is this really cool machine
that has a vat of liquid polymer and a laser that allows you to make
anything you want... He is also a hobby tinkerer who makes all sorts of gadgets
(from clocks to doll houses) for his own amusement. It goes to show that
another generation of RP users is out there, waiting enthusiastically for a
version of the technology they can afford to use, a la the Personal
Factory.

As for the spelling altercation Karl mentioned, I could see that coming
and it's unfortunate that people get turned off that way (before sending,
the spell check found two typos in my message; none in Karl's). Cyberspace
seems to be like that frequently, with some scary stories about political
and social commentaries, even racist and personal threats and forms of
cyber stalking going on, to say nothing of the hackers. I think this mailing
list has been blessed with a minimum number of such incidents, with people
sticking to their business, as well as some humor and a feeling of
community. Even after thirty years of the ARPAnet/Internet, we are still
experimenting.

Brock Hinzmann

Karl Denton wrote:
>
>
>Hello All,
>
>The story you are about to read happened a couple of days ago and I
>though it was kind of humorous...
>
>I had recently obtained my amateur radio license ( KC8JFE for those out
>there that care) and while home sick one day I thought I'd make a few
>contacts. While speaking to some one on his way home from work he
>mentioned that he was an engineer at a local firm that did work for
>Chrysler. I let him know that I too was an engineer and where I worked,
>he then said..."hey, I just learned about this cool new process last
>week that I've got to tell you about...it's called stereolithography" I
>let him know that I had heard about it and in talking to him I realized
>that his excitement over the process was rekindling some of the early
>enthusiasm that I once had. We ended up talking about the industry
>until he arrived at his home (about a 30 minute conversation).
>
>It turns out that he needed to find a service bureau because the
>machines at Chrysler were backed up and he was running out of time (he
>had already been given a list so don't send me recommendations please)
>I've got to say that with all of the talk about the industry slowing
>down I wonder if it's because the manufactures and SB's have just run
>out of the easy sales and don't know how to get to that next level?
>
>Anyway, I though the story was kind of cool...
>
>One other note..While attending the 3DSLAUG a few folks that I spoke to
>commented about the "spelling incident" last year the caused such a
>ruckus. The gist of the comments were that they were now reluctant to
>submit anything to the RP-ML because of what happened. What a shame!
>
>Karl R. Denton
>
>248-363-1478 - Phone
>248-363-7488 - Fax
>www.dentonco.com

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