4 Nov
2001
4 Nov
'01
7:02 p.m.
I met up with Bill Bradford today in Austin. One of our activities was to
visit the Goodwill computer store there (you know, the one with the museum
in the back). Well, it turns out that the general public is no longer
allowed to see the museum pieces (either that or the museum pieces are no
longer there), and it's all due to some freaks who broke in and stole --
guess what -- A FREAKING *NINTENDO* *SUPER* *FAMICOM*!
--
Jeffrey S. Sharp
jss(a)subatomix.com
4 Nov
4 Nov
7:35 p.m.
On Mon, Nov 05, 2001 at 12:02:45AM -0600, Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:
I met up with Bill Bradford today in Austin. One of
our activities was to
visit the Goodwill computer store there (you know, the one with the museum
in the back). Well, it turns out that the general public is no longer
allowed to see the museum pieces (either that or the museum pieces are no
longer there), and it's all due to some freaks who broke in and stole --
guess what -- A FREAKING *NINTENDO* *SUPER* *FAMICOM*!
Yeah. I'm *pissed*. I think I'll go talk to Jamie about that today, since
I have the day off. If he'd been there today, we could have gotten back there
without a problem, since he knows me..
Bill
--
Bill Bradford
mrbill(a)mrbill.net
Austin, TX
5 Nov
5 Nov
4:14 p.m.
Bill,
I didn't get to stop by there this trip. Did they just move all of them
out or have they closed off the whole back of the store? I guess I'm
asking if they have the back section setup where they sold the
classic systems still?
David
On 5 Nov 2001, at 0:35, Bill Bradford wrote:
On Mon, Nov 05, 2001 at 12:02:45AM -0600, Jeffrey S.
Sharp wrote: > I
met up with Bill Bradford today in Austin. One of our activities was
to > visit the Goodwill computer store there (you know, the one with
the museum > in the back). Well, it turns out that the general public
is no longer > allowed to see the museum pieces (either that or the
museum pieces are no > longer there), and it's all due to some freaks
who broke in and stole -- > guess what -- A FREAKING *NINTENDO*
*SUPER* *FAMICOM*!
Yeah. I'm *pissed*. I think I'll go talk to Jamie about that today,
since I have the day off. If he'd been there today, we could have
gotten back there without a problem, since he knows me..
Bill
--
Bill Bradford
mrbill(a)mrbill.net
Austin, TX
-----
"What is, is what?"
"When the mind is free of any thought or judgement,
then and only then can we know things as they are."
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)trailingedge.com
http://www.trailingedge.com
6 Nov
6 Nov
4:43 a.m.
On Mon, Nov 05, 2001 at 09:14:51PM -0600, David Williams wrote:
Bill,
I didn't get to stop by there this trip. Did they just move all of them
out or have they closed off the whole back of the store? I guess I'm
asking if they have the back section setup where they sold the
classic systems still?
David
They've got some 8bit stuff "out front" now. They've got the doors to
the
back room closed, so I dont know what they've done with everything that
was back there.
Bill
--
Bill Bradford
mrbill(a)mrbill.net
Austin, TX
5 Nov
5 Nov
4:03 a.m.
On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:
I met up with Bill Bradford today in Austin. One of
our activities
was to visit the Goodwill computer store there (you know, the one with
the museum in the back). Well, it turns out that the general public
is no longer allowed to see the museum pieces (either that or the
museum pieces are no longer there), and it's all due to some freaks
who broke in and stole -- guess what -- A FREAKING *NINTENDO* *SUPER*
*FAMICOM*!
A museum that doesn't allow visitors? What's the point of that?
Like I argued way back then, they should just sell the damn systems. It
makes even more sense now than before.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
6:53 p.m.
See comment below:
On 5 Nov 2001 at 7:03, Sellam Ismail wrote:
On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:
Actually they are just closing it until they figure out a way to help prevent
stuff like this from
happening again (moving a rotating subset of the display out front where it can be
watched,
enclosing the entire collection instead of just the "small" stuff, etc). It was
also more than the
loss of the Famicon, various other things have gone missing since the museum opened, so it
isn't just a knee-jerk reaction by Jaime.
Though I do covet some of the items in the museum, there is at least one positive thing
that
having it at Goodwill has over it being in the hands of a private collector, and that is
that the
items are available for many more people to "enjoy". Now they might not get as
much as
someone on this list who can "truely appreciate" it, but a great many people
have seen it and
had positive experiences. I think having something like this is very good at raising the
awareness amongst people that these old computers aren't purely boat anchors. A few
of the
systems there were saved from the scrapper by the virtue of the person seeing the museum
and donating versus junking the systems.
So as was discussed ad-nauseum previously, I think that overall the Goodwill Computer
Works museum is a net positive for classic computing. They are not perfect, but a great
deal
more of these systems would be landfill right now had it not been for their efforts. If
anyone is
ever in Austin, I encourage you to check it out (though you might want to drop me or Bill
an
email first to make sure it's open).
George
I met up with Bill Bradford today in Austin. One
of our activities
was to visit the Goodwill computer store there (you know, the one with
the museum in the back). Well, it turns out that the general public
is no longer allowed to see the museum pieces (either that or the
museum pieces are no longer there), and it's all due to some freaks
who broke in and stole -- guess what -- A FREAKING *NINTENDO* *SUPER*
*FAMICOM*!
A museum that doesn't allow visitors? What's the point of that?
Like I argued way back then, they should just sell the damn systems. It
makes even more sense now than before.
6 Nov
6 Nov
10:05 a.m.
Though I do covet some of the items in the museum,
there is at
least one positive thing that
having it at Goodwill has over it being in the hands of a private
collector, and that is that the
items are available for many more people to "enjoy". Now they
might not get as much as
someone on this list who can "truely appreciate" it, but a great
many people have seen it and
had positive experiences. I think having something like this is
very good at raising the
awareness amongst people that these old computers aren't purely
boat anchors. A few of the
systems there were saved from the scrapper by the virtue of the
person seeing the museum
and donating versus junking the systems.
That is a good point but doesn't it seem a little strange that an
organization that is supposed to be focused on selling donated junk to help
the poor would hold onto items that are clearly worth a bit of money for the
purpose of display? Is that ethical? Are they developing a new focus?
E.
5:42 p.m.
On 6 Nov 2001 at 13:05, Ernest wrote:
Actually, their charter is to hire those who are normally "unhireable" and put
them to work. If the museum helps bring in business to keep their business
going, then it works within the system. Plus, if the store is selling enough to
"show a profit", then it's not really "necessary" to sell these
items _now_.
Keep in mind that this is in reality a private collection, and could be sold at
any time if they wanted or needed to.
George
Though I do covet some of the items in the
museum, there is at
least one positive thing that
having it at Goodwill has over it being in the hands of a private
collector, and that is that the
items are available for many more people to "enjoy". Now they
might not get as much as
someone on this list who can "truely appreciate" it, but a great
many people have seen it and
had positive experiences. I think having something like this is
very good at raising the
awareness amongst people that these old computers aren't purely
boat anchors. A few of the
systems there were saved from the scrapper by the virtue of the
person seeing the museum
and donating versus junking the systems.
That is a good point but doesn't it seem a little strange that an
organization that is supposed to be focused on selling donated junk to help
the poor would hold onto items that are clearly worth a bit of money for the
purpose of display? Is that ethical? Are they developing a new focus?
8295
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7 comments
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participants (6)
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