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1989-04-05
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24KB
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510 lines
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10,Quex View Road,
BIRCHINGTON, Kent,
CT7 0DZ
12 June '93
Dear Dave,
Congratulations on the young one, girls are much better than boys,
for their Dads anyway. Until about thirteen years old!
Herewith 'That was the STEN that was' in STENWAS.DOC You were right in
your editorial, it's a good one!
I have included STENFRAN.DOC which you may wish to use, or not, at some
time. Just don't say that you're hard up for copy!
There is also a reformatting tip which was new to some of the guys at
club, and its' source. It's hardly copyright so it could easily be
rehashed and incorporated into STEN at some time if you consider it
worthwhile.
Despite the remarks in the article, don't worry about the return of
disks, just put them towards the 'Star Prize' one day! Something I
noticed in your review of 'Around the World' which I didn't care to put
in my piece was your spelling of losing and lose. I suspect that this is
your particular spelling 'block', we all have them, but yours aren't
pulled out in the spellcheck. To save reference, you use loosing and
loose, both 'legal' words. I hope you don't mind my mentioning it.
I have two (in particular), knowlege without the 'd', what a word to
'block' on, and resoloution with a spare 'o', but at least they show up
in SPELLING.DIC !
But there you go. You will see (if you read it) that I was particularly
impressed by JFW's 'Box of Rain', brought a lump to my throat,
silly old fart! I reckon when he writes about meeting Liz it will be as
good as the 'Love Story' film, that had me going too! And Jake Bain
tells a good story, for a PD librarian that is! Evelyn Mills sounds a
bundle of fun, I hope that what I have written about her 'WTH' doesn't
offend, I wouldn't like to be 'eliminated'.
Regards, look forward to doing another.
Colin.
Dear Colin,
Thanks for the enthusiasm and help but, as you'll have probably
read by now in the Editorial, this is the final issue of STEN. Jake of
Caledonia PDL will using the shell to produce his own 'zine, and will be
continuing the themes and enthusiasms started by STEN, but under a
different name.
Spelling, Schmelling, who cares so long as it's readable! Well I do, and
I'm going to murder Dave if anyone else mentions 'loose, lose or louche'
in the next few years. Dave Henniker also picked up on this point (and
was roundly slapped down), but you're right; the presentation and
spelling in a magazine is almost as important as its contents. If it
looks good and reads well, then that's half the battle won in being taken
seriously. * Will the kiddie disczines please take note! *
Re Rainbox 3: you old softy you! Check out this issue's Rainbox for more
news about Squig da Squirrel, and how Liz and I met and fell in love. And
what a long strange trip it's been....
JFW
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Dave Henniker
199 Bruntsfield Place
Edinburgh EH10 4DQ
Saturday 19 June 1993
Dear STEN,
I've just finished reading STEN # 14 and, yes, it is the best issue ever.
I find myself agreeing with Mike Duncan about the shell program and the
scroll-icons for reading text files. Personally, I'd rather make them
operate only when clicked on. I have a Truemouse from Evesham Micros which
has a tendency to have a wandering mouse-pointer. I believe this slight
design fault can be rectified by soldering a capacitor across the 5 Volt
supply inside the mouse, but I never got round to trying it because it
doesn't cause me sufficient hassle.
Like Mike, it never occurred to me to try pressing the Help key. I must
try it sometime... Actually, I normally read STEN by copying the entire
disk to my hard drive and using Quickview to read the text files. Please
continue to save them in uncompressed ASCII format! On occasion I format a
floppy to MS DOS standard, copy the text files to it and take it work to
read on my PC. DOS 5's text editor is fine for this. Select EDIT from the
Dos-Shell or type 'edit' from the C:> prompt. It helps if you type "a:
<enter> rename *.asc *.txt <enter>" first of all.
On my STE back home I find it easiest to tap the spacebar to scroll a page
of text. When using the mouse, I like a GEM scrollbar down the right of
the screen.
SPELLING
I read with interest Mike's comments on spelling. Contributors to STEN
(or anyone else who writes text for that matter), will engage the
reader's attention better if glaring errors are absent.
Those of us who claim to be literate may soon lose interest if we are
confronted by numerous spelling errors. Spell badly and you'll soon lose
your credibility. Here are a few examples of what makes me cringe:
THE MISPLACED APOSTROPHE
Some folks seem to believe that any word ending with the
letter <s> must have an apostrophe stuck in front of it.
You see the misplaced apostrophe everywhere, even on shop-
signs. In case you don't know, the <'s> (apostrophe s)
normally means that something belongs to someone or some-
thing. For example "Dave's letter" or "the bus's journey".
The latter refers to one bus. The plural would be "the
buses' journeys".
Typical examples of mistakes include shop-signs proclaiming
"hot pie's" or "bacon roll's". English is a funny old
language and constantly breaks its own rules. One to watch
out for (if you want to maintain your credibility) is
contained in the last sentence. Yes, it's "its". No that's
not an acronym for Information Technology System, it's the
POSSESSIVE PRONOUN. Still on the subject of apostrophes,
<'> can also stand for missing letters in a phrase. We
don't say "it is" all the time; we say "it's". EG "It's a
bargain." It's quite correct to write "its keyboard" or
"its mouse" if referring to a computer. This is an
exception to the rule. Remember "it's" always means "it is"
whereas "its" is the possessive pronoun.
WORDS/PHRASES WHICH SOUND THE SAME
EG "their" (belongs to them)
"there" (in that place)
"they're (they are)
TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE?
In STEN # 14 I've also cringed at "loose" substituted for "lose". The
former means the opposite of "tight" just in case you're wondering. If you
can't spell then a spelling checker should help. It may not catch the
above examples however. Of course there are WP's with grammar checkers,
too. In addition, some can even modify the style of your text. This is
sometimes used by large companies to make sure that everyone conforms to
the 'house style'. How ghastly! There was even a PD WP which tried to
anticipate the next word you were going to type - and insert it for you!
CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG...
Incidentally I consider "WP's" to be legitimate shorthand for "Word
Processors" as the apostrophe stands for the missing letters. I stand to
be corrected by anyone with Higher English. "WPs" doesn't look right,
somehow... I don't want to get into pedantic discussions on "data"
(plural), datum (singular) or which is correct, "disc"/"disk",
"program"/"programme" and so forth.
To conclude: Remember there ain't no excuse for misspelt words. Keep your
credibility and don't blow yer cool. In the words of Joe Walsh, "Break a
few rules" (but only if it's justified).
Kind regards,
Dave Henniker
Dear Dave,
Thanks for the constructive criticism, but I think you might be missing
the point here; STEN is very much an amateur publication, put together in
our spare time. An average issue will run to some 500+K of text, so you
can appreciate the problems involved in checking every last word of it.
Every article is read, re-read, and run through a spell-checker at least
once, but when it's 02:00 in the morning and your eyeballs are smeared on
the keyboard, then the occasional mispelling might just get overlooked....
Liz the Human Spellchecker scans everything that runs through my STE in
Bournemouth, but she can't check anything that Dave_M doesn't send to
me.... More files, sooner, Dave, or it's the Ferrets for ya!
Re possible disc/disk, programme/program pedantry. The late, lamented
'ST World' carried a marvellous discussion about these a few years back.
My own view is that a 'pogrom' is what happened to C19th Jews in Central
Europe; a 'programme' is a set of instructions, or a list of steps to be
taken; and a 'program' is bastard Amerikan oversimplification. Why use
an Amerikan coining when a precise English word already exists?
Pedants could argue (and will) that 'program' refers exclusively to a set
of computer instructions, whereas 'programme' has alternative meanings
such as the booklet that you're given at a fete. If anyone has
difficulty in distinguishing a paper booklet from an instruction file on
a magnetic disc, then they should either see an optician or a
psychiatrist.
God, I *love* the smell of argument in the morning! And this one will
surely run and run...
JFW
and now for my tuppence worth....
John hit the nail on the head when he said that we were often editing into
the small hours. I actually remember the 'loose/lose' debate. It was
4.00am, my eyes were on stalks and the spelling checker told me that
whatever variant I had used was OK. That was good enough for me, I could
get that issue wrapped up and get to bed.
Apart from that I'd rather be creating than critisising... DM
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57 Hearsall lane,
Earlsdon,
Coventry,
CV5 6HF.
30th JUNE 1993 (0203) 715921
Dear John,
First off, hugely massive thanks for all the stamps that you
sent me recently, it was greatly appreciated. Thanks must also be
extended for placing the appeal in your excellent 'zine in the first
place.
So far I have received around 3,000 stamps, mainly from readers of STEN,
and another 'zine called STOSSER, which is a purely STOS based one. I'm
expecting quite a few more soon though, as most of my contacts are
saving them up until they've collected large ammounts. So I'm
bracing myself for a huge influx of them over the next month or so.
I think our kettle has been used more in the last month that it had in
the 5 years we've had it. Hang on, I'm going to say it again, thanks
(told you!) for the advice about sorting them out separately into
their different types, that has now been taken on board, but why I
didn't think of it I don't know. I need a holiday methinks.
Before I go into rant and rave mode, can I ask you to thank a few people
in your 'zine for me? In fact why not use this letter in
erm......your letters section. Well here they are.........
Tony Greenwood, Ian (the man with no surname), Jenny Willis, Jed, Lothar
Aufuer, Ian Holden, Colin Pratt, John Talbot, Dez, and Aftar.
....and last of all yourself, Dave and everyone else connected with
STEN. Special thanks go to little Adam Wallis,aged 6. The stamp
picture was great! (Thanks to Daddy Wallis as well!)
Thats the niceties (was that spelt right?) over, time now for a moan.
You mentioned in your letter to me, the ever-increasing
difficulties faced by the NHS. It is my fear that if this government
remains in charge, then it will become even more difficult for
them to fund essential research into the terrible diseases which
afflict modern society.
It is also my belief that when privatisation of the NHS comes (which it
surely will if the Tories are stupidly given another chance ), many of
the excellent research facilities in Britain will close, and the
National Insurance paying public will be the losers. We are already
seeing the gradual closing of hospitals all over the country. For
example, at one time Coventry was served by at least 4 hospitals, it
is now 2, and will be 1 by 1996.
The remaining hospital is the least accessible (being nearly six miles
away from the city centre, never mind on the opposite side of town).
My sister recently went there to have a baby; travelling 8 miles on a
hot day in a packed bus, paying £3 a time every week just to
attend an appointment is not my idea of a good service. If we're served
a lousy meal then we complain, and something is done. If we get a
lousy service from the NHS, we complain, and we're ignored. We can
refuse to pay for a meal, but we cannot ever allow ourselves to
abandon the NHS.
Funds for research and essential equipment shrink (in real terms) year
by year, so more and more often charities are asked to help. No
matter how much we pay in taxes, we must do all we can to help the
charities with their work. This dosen't mean we should all rush
out and hand out tenners to every charity in the high street. If
you are like me (unemployed), then that would be impossible anyway.
But gifts of old clothing, bric-a-brac, magazines, in fact anything
resellable, are almost always gratefully received (although there have
been exceptions).
If we allow the government of this country to continue ignoring us,
then the NHS will be privatised and charitable donations will fall
(because of the crap economic policies of the government). Research
and health care will end up becoming a luxury that only the very well
off can get. Just look at America. However, to be quite frank, I
can't really see any of the other political parties in this country
doing any better, can you?.
Phew, that's got that of my chest. Thank you once again, and don't
forget I will still be collecting stamps for about 6 months. Oh, and
can I also ask again that none of your readers send me money. The
four who have (you know who you are), have had it returned. I'd like to
thank you for your kindness and your kind words, but I would rather you
donated the money to your local branch of the Imperial Cancer
Research, the Macmillan Nurse Appeal, or any other cancer-related
charity.
Right I suppose I'd better go now, before you all die of boredom,
just a small point though, if the Atari ST scene is as bleak as the
glossy mags would have us believe, then how come I've had so many
replies to my original STEN letter? ST Floormat can eat dirt, the
serious ST will live forever: stick with what you know and bring out
another games mag.
BYE..................KEEFY
Dear Keefy,
Some of our readers are probably wondering what's going on
here.... Regular readers of STEN will remember that Keefy appealed in the
last issue for used postage stamps to send to the charities that had
supported him (and his family) through a recent illness. I wrote to him,
enclosing the stamps that I had to hand, and talked about my unease at
charities having to find the funds to cover government cuts.
And some of you are probably wondering what relevance this has to a
computer magazine.... To be absolutely honest, none, but who said that
life should be neatly compartmentalised and discrete? "Everything is
deeply intermingled" as Ted Nelson wrote in 'Computer Lib'.
You're right, Keefy, the National Health Service is a British institution
that we should all be proud of (along with public libraries), and to see
it in its present state is the most telling indictment of 13 years of
government incompetence. We get what we vote for, but you can't tell me
that the majority of adults in this country voted for the NHS to be
downgraded!
Thanks to all the STEN readers who sent stamps, but I can't say it
surprised me; STers and STEN readers are among the best and friendliest
people I've ever met.
If you have any used stamps to hand, then please forward them to Keefy at
the above address. It's best to leave 1cm of paper all around the stamp,
as this is how they'll then be sent on to the charities. (PS: there's no
need to steam them off...)
JFW
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Dear Dave,
I know that saying something complimentary in an ST Disk magazine
about anything other than the blessed Atari, is like standing up to
praise the devil in church, during the sermon...
So, before the lynch party sets out for Peterborough to silence such
impertinence, let me, in mitigation, explain that the bulk of my work,
correspondence and leisure revolves around my ST, without which the
quality of life would be poorer (a bit). But, to coin a phrase, the sun
doesn't only shine out of Atari's "eyes"...
I don't know who it is who is trying desperately hard to ruin the
reputation of this machine of ours...
Is it the Tramiels ?
or Gleadow ?
or the nurd who is on the run from an irate diesel mechanic ?
or the "ST Formreviewser" rag ?
Is it the genius who writes such delightful bugs for TOS ?
Is it the clever architect who sticks TOS to the motherboard with
superglue so you can enjoy the brood of resident bugs, supplied free of
charge with any version of ST, whilst waiting and putting your pennies
together for the next Atari machine which comes complete with new and
even more imaginative squatter bugs ?
Is it Europress who sell you 100 pages (including the covers) and a
cover disk of demos, with 66 pages of articles including 16 on games for
£3.40, when next to it on the WHS shelf is, for example, PC World with
638 pages, 211 of which are devoted to articles (4 of them on games),
plus a cover disk; all for £1.95 ?
Is it irate PDL operators, or those PD libraries who charge you 3 quid
per disk, half-full of goodies, which you can get from others at £1.50
per double-sided disk full of similar goodies ?
Is it the ST ENthusiasts who are happy enough to receive OBEs (other
blighters' efforts) regularly, but can't be bothered to find the time or
the inclination to make any contributions of any kind ?
(Note: Did I detect a tiny hint of editor fatigue in STEN 14b ?)
They all seem to be at it, and succeeding...
Is it any wonder that erst-while ST users have defected to PCs ?
(Note: Some PCs are very good, but still have their peculiar problems)
All this presents me with a bit of a dilemma...
I have put aside a tidy sum for another computer to add to the ageing PC
and the Mega ST2, but what shall it be ?
A few months ago the question never arose, it was going to be a Falcon
of course, what else ?
But there is this demon who keeps intruding on private grief...
The question and answer session goes something like this:
A thousand quid for a 520-look-alike Falcon ? not bad eh ?
Demon: Cheap at half the price...
That price includes 14" SVGA non-interlaced, FST, 0.28 mm, 1024*768,
high resolution colour monitor I suppose, does it ?
Demon: Don't be silly...
8 megabytes of RAM then, yeh ?
Demon: Here you go again...
214 Mb internal hard disk with 12 ms access time ?
Demon: Nope ! What's wrong with your 73 ms Megafile 30 anyway ?
How about VESA local bus, and a disk cache controller then ?
Demon: You must be joking !
A maths co-processor ?
Demon: May be...
Will the Falcon have a graphics accelerator card ?
Demon: WHAT is a graphics accelerator card ?
Does it come with a midi tower ? No ? A mini tower then !
Demon: You don't need a dumpy suitcase...
OK OK, a CPU clock running at 66 MHz ? 50 ? 40 ? 33 ? 25 ?
Demon: That would make you go blind...
Can I add a 600 Mb internal CD-ROM, when I can afford one ?
Demon: Sod off...
A 250 Mb internal tape-streamer then !
Demon: You have been reading PC Mags again, admit it...
Can I order one with a 21 Mb floptical instead of the floppy drive ?
Demon: That's it, I am fed up with your daft fantasies, I'm off.
I love my ST Dave, but I am beginning to hate the Falcon even before I
set eyes on the damn thing. However, I need to upgrade my gear and I
know the phantom Falcon is out there somewhere, so, should I go to
Peterborough Computers plc and put a deposit down on a 16 MHz bald
Falcon with a 65 Mb hard disk and buy an adaptor for my SC 1224, then
rush an order for some new patches from my favourite PDL to sort out the
next generation (guaranteed) of TOS bugs ?
Or should I pick a 486-DX loaded with goodies, off the shelf ?
That is the dilemma, so hurry with the answer, coz Maggie wants me to
take her to the co-op this afternoon to do the shopping.
Sincerely,
Zac Bishrey
PS: I would be obliged if you could hold back the lynch mob until
Maggie and I are well out of the house.
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