Wishing you and yours a joyous Winter Solstice Festival!

--
Rich Alderson news@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen

Hi, Rich.
I just tried sending you e-mail at your livingcomputers.org address and it bounced. Are you no longer associated with that organization?
--
David Meyer
Takarazuka, Japan

Not to answer for Rich, but the museum closed at the beginning of Covid restrictions.

As well as I know, it is all still there, and could open again, but it doesn't seem to be happening very fast.

I suspect it depends a lot on Jody Allen, but I don't know about that at all.

It would be really nice to see it open again, and I am sure that Paul would want it to reopen.

I knew the LCML physical museum has been closed until further notice, but some of the hosts are still on-line, which is a hopeful sign. Someone must be keeping the power on.

David Meyer <papascave@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi, Rich.

> I just tried sending you e-mail at your livingcomputers.org address and it
> bounced. Are you no longer associated with that organization?

Hi, David!

As Glen noted, the museum closed its doors early in March 2020, in advance of
the general shutdown, because of the very nature of the museum: Since visitors
were allowed to touch almost every object on display, the need for constant
cleaning/disinfecting was too much. Tour guides and other support staff were
laid off immediately; professional staff (curation, education) were kept on for
a few weeks, in anticipation of a reopening in "12 to 18 months", but all were
laid off by the end of April.

Engineers were kept on to create turn-down/turn-up documentation for all of the
systems, in case anyone ever decided to reopen, but with one exception we were
all laid off as of 1 July 2020. The one person left is keeping a few lights on
because we convinced the powers above us that every week powered down for any
of the dinosaurs would require a month of repairs to bring it back up safely.

Sic transit, and all that.

--
Rich Alderson news@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen

That sounds pretty permanent.

It's especially sad knowing how much love and effort Rich and the rest of the team put into LCML.

I will try to enjoy the dinosaurs while they're still alive.

On Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7:55:07 PM UTC-7, David Meyer wrote:
> That sounds pretty permanent.
> It's especially sad knowing how much love and effort Rich and the rest of the team put into LCML.
> I will try to enjoy the dinosaurs while they're still alive.

It seems that Flying Heritage Museum, another PGA museum, was sold and
will be opening with its new owners May27th.

I suspect Jody isn't interested in running a museum, so best would be to sell LCM.

The going price for used computer museums is likely low, though.

Seems to me that a merge with CHM would be the best possibility,
but I suspect they don't have a lot of money to go buying museums,
and I don't know if they would want to keep running it here.

gah4 <gah4@u.washington.edu> writes:

> On Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7:55:07=E2=80=AFPM UTC-7, David Meyer wrote:

>> That sounds pretty permanent.

>> It's especially sad knowing how much love and effort Rich and the rest of
>> the team put into LCML.

>> I will try to enjoy the dinosaurs while they're still alive.

> It seems that Flying Heritage Museum, another PGA museum, was sold and
> will be opening with its new owners May27th.

> I suspect Jody isn't interested in running a museum, so best would be to sell
> LCM.

> The going price for used computer museums is likely low, though.

You would be wrong in that assumption.

> Seems to me that a merge with CHM would be the best possibility,
> but I suspect they don't have a lot of money to go buying museums,
> and I don't know if they would want to keep running it here.

The mission statements of CHM and LCM+L were wildly different. Even if CHM
acquired LCM+L, it would not return to operation in the way that set it apart.

--
Rich Alderson news@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen

On Friday, April 21, 2023 at 12:51:57 PM UTC-7, Rich Alderson wrote:

(snip, I wrote)

> > It seems that Flying Heritage Museum, another PGA museum, was sold and
> > will be opening with its new owners May27th.

> > I suspect Jody isn't interested in running a museum, so best would be to sell
> > LCM.
> > The going price for used computer museums is likely low, though.

> You would be wrong in that assumption.

OK, more specifically, a lot less than airplane museums.

I tried to find the sale price for FHM, but all I could find is that Mr. Walton
is worth more than $300 billion.

> > Seems to me that a merge with CHM would be the best possibility,
> > but I suspect they don't have a lot of money to go buying museums,
> > and I don't know if they would want to keep running it here.

> The mission statements of CHM and LCM+L were wildly different. Even if CHM
> acquired LCM+L, it would not return to operation in the way that set it apart.
CHM does have some running computers, and interest in keeping them running.

But yes, I have no idea what they might be able to do in Seattle.

I did know LJS from a long time ago (days of three letter login names), though.

On Friday, April 21, 2023 at 12:51:57 PM UTC-7, Rich Alderson wrote:
> gah4 <ga...@u.washington.edu> writes:
> > On Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7:55:07=E2=80=AFPM UTC-7, David Meyer wrote:
>
> >> That sounds pretty permanent.
>
> >> It's especially sad knowing how much love and effort Rich and the rest of
> >> the team put into LCML.
>
> >> I will try to enjoy the dinosaurs while they're still alive.

Hey Rich, et al,

Does anyone know what they're thinking about the eventual disposition of the machines in LCML or spares, manuals, other docs (fiche!), things like that? It would be a shame to lose them.

It's a pity.

Regards,
Alan Mimms

On Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 1:03:08 PM UTC-7, Alan Mimms wrote:

(snip)

> Does anyone know what they're thinking about the eventual disposition of the
> machines in LCML or spares, manuals, other docs (fiche!), things like that?
> It would be a shame to lose them.
So far, at least on the web site, there isn't indication of permanent closure or reopening.
I presume that some way will be found not to lose the documents and things.

One complication, that I only sort-of know about, is that some things are bought,
and some are donated. There are different rules on the way each are used.

But as far as the question goes, it would be nice if they released scans of more
of the documents that they have, and that aren't otherwise available.

Hopefully the running, or almost running, hardware can be kept in good condition.
And then there is the non-running, and will never run, hardware.