Messages

I want to see people watching a movie wearing necomimi, and see how the ears react to surprises and plot twists.

OK, obviously reg has to be fixed.  With web sites and smart phones, standing in line is so last-cen.

I'm from the Clockwork Alchemy side. I'm the guy behind the Telegraph Office, with the antique equipment printing messages and messengers delivering telegrams around CA. CA went well, but it was slow.  Friday was totally dead. Not enough people from Fanime found Clockwork Alchemy. I asked a few random people at Fanime if they'd seen CA.  Most said they knew a steampunk convention was around somewhere, but they weren't sure where or how to get there. The original plans for CA included some kind of outpost/info desk over at the convention center, but that didn't happen.  Oops. Big arrows with "Bus to Clockwork Alchemy this way" and stuff like that would help.

(Incidentally, our telegram service is free. You text in a message and we print it and deliver it within CA.  It's been pointed out to us that some Fanime members were afraid they'd be billed on their cell phone or charged for delivery.  We don't do that. We do this for fun, as cosplay.  We'll make this clearer next year.)

[Hotel Name:]

Hotel Name: Doubletree

Would You Book Next Year: Yes

Pros:
• Clockwork Alchemy
• Good rooms, beds, showers.
• Quiet.
• Easy check in/out.
• Easy parking.
• No lines for Fanime/CA registration.
• No strange extra charges on bill.

Cons:
• Long halls
• Bus ride to Fanime. (Bus service was excellent.)
• Major issues with food. The main cafe ("Sprigs") was usually closed, and when it was open it was just an overpriced breakfast buffet. The hotel's main restaurant was about $40 to $50 for a dinner. The bar served food, but it was just a remote station for room service. $15 for a BLT. ($2 for miso soup, though.) The hotel's gift shop had energy bars at about 2x the normal retail price, but was usually closed. No vending machines other than canned soft drinks.

Special Notes to Share:
• Sonoma Chicken is about 1/3 of a mile away, very good, and cheap.  $11 for an excellent half chicken (way above KFC level) with fries and drink.
• Dennys offered 10% off to Fanime members.  But it's tough to get to on foot, because there's a freeway underpass in the way and all the crosswalks are in the wrong place.

[The clock at Clockwork Alchemy, next to our Telegraph Office.]

The clock at Clockwork Alchemy, next to our Telegraph Office.

Standing in line is so last-cen.  The registration system needs to move into the 21st century.  You should be able to register from an app on your smartphone.

The furry convention people have developed an open source SF con registration system: "http://code.google.com/p/anthrocon-reg/"

Just finished this today. It's a prop for the Aetheric Message Machine Company's Telegraph Office, which will be on the lobby level at Clockwork Alchemy.

Here's how it was made.

The column is from a rather ugly floor lamp found on Craigslist.


I was looking for a steampunk-looking floor lamp. This wasn't it, but since I'd driven the truck out to the seller's place, I decided to buy the thing.

It's plaster over a tube, not stone.  So it's not that heavy. The base and lamp socket were discarded, leaving a column badly in need of a paint job. 

The clock is a low-cost battery-powered clock with a retro face, 20 inches in diameter, from Target. Behind the clock is a 12-sided box, 3 inches deep, built from pine and fiberboard, so the clock looks solid from all directions. The box has a square base on top of a circular disk sized to fit the opening in the tube, so it doesn't slide around. 

For stability, there's a wide base under the column, a pine round from Home Depot.  Underneath the base are rubber feet, so it will stand level.  Holding it all together is a 1/4" steel rod from top to bottom, threaded at each end and held with wing nuts.  The whole thing can be disassembled for transport. Paint is Hunter Green spray paint.

Built at TechShop, Menlo Park, CA. About 12 hours of work. 

Another fine product of the Aetheric Message Machine Company, Ltd.

This just in:



You, too, can be a Aetheric Messenger, with a blue cap and badge, running around Clockwork Alchemy delivering messages like this. Or an operator in the Telegraph Office. 

Contact us now!

GNEE! My message!

Question! What would happen if the text had non-standard characters, like brackets, symbols, Japanese, etc?

This is real steam-era technology, steel typebars pounding against paper at five characters per second. It has upper case letters, numbers, and a few symbols.  The symbols the machine doesn't have are printed as "?". This is a good match to texting.   

This just in:


Someone just texted that to our machine at 650-209-7783, and the big brass and glass machine shown above hammered it out on yellow paper. That's what we do.

We'll have hundreds of messages to deliver.  This gets busy.  That's why we're working so hard to recruit more volunteers to be operators and messengers. 

[name @ location : message]

If you're volunteering, haven't talked to me yet, are willing to put in 24 hours during the event, and want a guest badge so you don't have to run down to the convention center to register, let me know by noon Friday.

You can still volunteer later and get a discount for volunteering, but you have to buy a membership and get a refund after the event by mail. 24 hours of volunteering gets a 100% discount; below that it's proportional.  

We're testing the message machine today and Friday. Text a steampunk-oriented message in the format

name @ location : message

to 650-209-7783. For "location" use "LOBBY" or "BAR". (At the event, we'll have a longer list of delivery locations.)  They'll print on the big machine shown in the first picture, and we'll scan in some of the better ones and post them here.  This is what our operators handle and messengers deliver.  (We'll blur out your phone number before we post here. Actual messages are not anonymous; we print the sending phone number on the message.)

I sent an email to the email posted, was I suppose to post on this forum post?

I didn't get anything at "[email protected]".  Try again, please. Or message me on this board; that works too. Thanks.

We have a few operator volunteers; thanks.  Any volunteers for messengers?  You get to run around announcing "Telegram for ..." Fun for high-energy, outgoing types.

how long are the shifts?

It's the same deal as other Fanime volunteering if you want to get a membership refund.

If you already have a con membership and just want to work one 4-hour shift, we can schedule that.  It takes about half an hour of training.

I'm actually kind of interested in working as an operator.  My biggest concerns are getting between Fanimecon and Clockwork Alchemy and a steampunk outfit -- would it be required to be wearing steampunk costume?

There a shuttle bus between the convention center and the DoubleTree hotel.

For costume, all we ask is something that doesn't look totally out of place. We have some hats and goggles available if you want to accessorize.

No costumes may be realistic depictions of law enforcement, modern military, or paramilitary uniforms...

It avoids embarrassment if you encounter the real thing.

I once saw a young blonde woman wearing a naval officer's white uniform jacket for clubbing on Broadway in SF.  Unfortunately, she made the mistake of wearing this during Fleet Week.  She came face to face with a U.S. Navy captain in a similar jacket - a distinguished-looking man with four stripes and rows of ribbons, flanked by two junior officers. This was clearly the captain of a U.S. Navy combatant vessel. The look he gave her froze her in her tracks.

[The Aetheric Message Machine Company will have a steampunk Telegraph Office at Clockwork Alchemy.]

The Aetheric Message Machine Company will have a steampunk Telegraph Office at Clockwork Alchemy.
We're looking for two to four reliable people per shift to work in the Telegraph Office at the event.



Anyone at the convention can send a telegram for free by texting from a cell phone. The messages are printed on antique printing telegraph equipment, stamped, sorted, put in envelopes, and delivered around the con by messengers.  We did this at the last two Nova Albion events, and once at Maker Faire.

We have two jobs:

Operator: Works in the Telegraph Office and handles incoming messages from our brass and glass Aetheric Message Machine. Requires some typing and office skills.  You'll be in a highly visible location, a glass-fronted office facing the main corridor to the ballrooms at the Doubletree. Expect to be photographed and interviewed. About half an hour of training is required.

Messenger: Runs around the con delivering messages. Requires energy and a good voice. "Telegram for ..."

This is a fun job to do in steampunk costume.  You're handling real messages, using real antique machines, and do it in character. It gets busy, with the machines typing out messages and messengers running in and out. We've handled about 150 messages a day at previous events. We'll be operating for the same hours that the vendor room is open, Friday through Sunday.

See our web site: http://www.aetherltd.com
Here's a video of the Telegraph Office in full operation.
Contact us at [email protected].
Each job comes with a hat - choice of the cap shown above or a green eyeshade.
The volunteer refund deal is the same as for other Fanime volunteers, and will be coordinated through the volunteer office.