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APCUG Reports
July-September 2007

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Region 2
(DC, DE, MD, NJ, VA)
by Gabe Goldberg, Advisor
ggoldberg@apcug.net

Fredricksburg PCUG (Virginia) Does Great Things For Their Community

(Courtesy of Judy Taylour)

Last year they launched a Neurofeedback Project which has resulted in introduction of several licensed therapists to neurofeedback, who are now providing neurofeedback training to adults and children in their community, relieving their suffering from depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, and numerous other conditions. See the Neurofeedback page on their website at www.fpcug.org for more information.

This year, they gave a very large donation to the new Moss Free Clinic, enabling them to provide networked computers to their staff, which allows them to work more efficiently in helping thousands of individuals in their community who cannot afford healthcare.

FPCUG provided computers for the Boys & Girls Club and continue to support the Robotics Team at the Governor’s School.

They also still provide great assistance to members with their Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings every Tuesday and Thursday at the Falmouth Fire House. In addition, many of their members have benefited from personal assistance from one of FPCUG’s "expert" members, at the Fire House, or even in their home if their problem can’t be resolved by bringing their computer to a SIG meeting.

At their General Meeting on the 2nd Thursday, they highlight a speaker and provide refreshments and door prizes, hoping to attract new members, of course. But their primary loyalty is to their continuing members.

Senior Surfers Computer Club, Delaware

The Senior Surfers plan to offer several informative sessions in July starting with Beginner Basics – Questions and Answers with Dick Scott. No question is too basic for this session. Hopefully, attendees will get the answers they need -- just come on out and meet everyone. And don't forget that you can raise your hand among friends.

Tips & Twists with Barb Greer will use their new CD (attendees were reminded to pick their copy up at the June 14th social) and Barb will share some of her “secret” Internet ideas and findings.

Bob Bloom will share his recommendations on backing up your computer files - Why, Which, When & Where.

Each session will end with Advanced Questions and Answers: “Is there something about your computer that is giving you fits?” Bring your question and see if their tech team can answer it. Basic questions are also welcome at this session. www.nscseniorsurfers.com/

Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey

The ACGNJ Salutes 2007 Hobbyist of the Year — Claude Kagan. Claude is retired from AT&T and Western Electric. He has been a member of the IEEE since the late 1940’s and has written more than 50 technical publications. He has received awards from both the IEEE and its Computer Society for his many contributions to computing. Kagan has donated equipment to INFO AGE from his collection of computers and telecommunications equipment. He is an advocate for the use of the Dvorak keyboard layout and has placed videos in YouTube in support of the Dvorak Keyboard. Around 1967, Claude founded RESISTORS (Radically Emphatic Students Interested in Science, Technology and Other Research Subjects), the first computer club in NJ. This was ten years before ACGNJ was founded. He founded the club for a group of school children from Hopewell and Princeton area who discovered that Claude had a mainframe computer in his barn in the early 1960's and chose to follow their interest in the computer there, working after school.

The primary computer in the barn at that time was the Burroughs 205, a vacuum tube computer weighing about 9 tons. Power to run the computer cost about $1 an hour (a considerable sum for teenagers in those days). The computer used enough power to heat the barn during the winter and could not be used during warm weather.

Some of the other artifacts in the barn included an early typewriter with a piano keyboard, an early IBM paper tape punch that made square holes (not round), an official IBM song book, early prototypes of touch-tone phones, Teletypes, Flexowriters, an early IBM time clock, manual telephone switchboards, electro-mechanical telephone switches, and music boxes. Early R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S. wrote programs in SAM76, a language developed by Kagan, and even wrote a primer about the language.

Claude said, “The RESISTORS started in Hopewell Township prior to 1967 consisting of a group of Hopewell Township School students who formed a club to smoke pot in a small stone building on Poor Farm Road in protest of the lack of a decent science program in their school system. They visited me in my barn and changed their purpose, getting high on computers instead.” www.acgnj.org/

Another Baltimore Computer Users Group, Maryland

In January ABCUG announced a contest to encourage members to create videos. They will be judged by the membership this Fall, like their Calendar Contest. Many of their meetings will focus on aspects of making a video, so this is their theme for the year.

Members are also reminded to make entries for the calendar contest, too. Summer vacations provide a great opportunity to create winning entries -- just remember to keep your camera close.

ABCUG members are also asked to write reviews. Do you have a new piece of equipment? Why not share your experience with the rest of the group? Tell us about your experience with the product! Simply write up a short review and send it to the mail distribution list. www.abcug.org/