 
Message-ID: 
Date: Fri,  4 Sep 1992 15:21:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jon C. Slenk" 
Content-Type: X-BE2; 12
If-Type-Unsupported: alter
To: +dist+/afs/andrew/usr/js9b/Public/camc.dl@andrew.cmu.edu
Subject: yup

\begindata{text,19207324}
\textdsversion{12}
\template{messages}
Before school started up again, I went home for a weekend visit. My brother 
came back home that weekend as well, and he brought with him a copy of 
Midnight Engineering and also a couple issues of Boardwatch (I think that is 
what it is called). 


Midnight Engineering is basically an entreprenurial magazine. What struck me 
about it was the amount of information in it which tied into the things I 
wanted to do. In particular (Note that these are rough outlines about the 
subject matter, and do not at all capture the style of the publication. You 
really need to get hold of a copy for yourself):


The Editorial: The publisher and editor is one William Gates (no relation to 
Microsoft, as far as I could tell). His editorial talked about how people who 
would like to become successful entrepreneurs must "get into" the swing of 
things. Basically, he was saying that the more attempts you make at getting 
involved with entrepreneurial ventures, the more expereince you will gain and 
thus the more succesful you will be in the future. Kinda obvious, but worth 
saying.


Living: William had an article in which he described the last few years of his 
life in terms of living arrangements. Originally, he had a nice expensive 
house in California which sucked up a large portion of his yearly income. What 
he realized was that all he really needed to keep his life style was a phone, 
electricity, mail services (including such things as Fed Ex) and TV and radio, 
pretty much. So, in the last few years he found some ex mining towns in 
Colorado where the land was *extremely* cheap because it wasn't near anything 
of importance. He purhcased a large house for $7k, then several parcels of 
land around him for $2k each. He ended up with a veritable mansion for a minor 
expense. Now, he has more disposable income. Pretty nifty.


Collecting ideas: The equivalent of Tom's Virtual Accomplishment idea was 
proposed in this mag as well. It was called the "Potshed" and the basic 
concept was to take ideas people came up with, but did not have the ability or 
desire to carry through, and put them in the public domain to encourage their 
implementation. This would hopefully result in more ideas being tried out, 
rather than just left on paper, where no one really benefits from them.


Presenting ideas: Another article discussed the process of presenting ideas in 
printed text. The gist of the article was to say, "Presentation is the first 
thing to get right. If you write really really well, but your presentation 
sucks, no one will take the time to start reading your article to discover how 
good it is."


There were other things in there. If you can find a copy of it, buy it, read 
it, and then subscribe. Really.


Boardwatch was really nifty because it got me thinking of the amount of 
information available electronically. There really are "subcultures" based 
around BBS and the Internet, as well as the other (lesser) methods of 
electronic communication (like Prodigy <-- SUCKS!).


Yup.


Does anyone know of any other interesting magazines which might stimulate 
mental processes in relation to real world living and job pursuit?


-Jon.

----------------------------------------------------

Jon Slenk           angst+@cmu.edu     EVERYTHING is

Carnegie Mellon     Pittsburgh PA      Disclaimed

\enddata{text,19207324}


 prev message 
 next message