Minutes, 1997-09-17 Recorded by Eli Bohmer Lebow Mailed to hrsfa-announce Fri, 26 Sep 1997 18:33 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes, HRSFA general meeting 1997-09-17 19:00 or so Science Center D Recorded by Eli Bohmer Lebow Gather round while I recount briefly the great tale of the first meeting of the 1997-1998 academic year. First, the six HRSFA officers were introduced. We heard a brief summary of HRSFA's history. The benefits of membership were listed, to wit-- 1. Borrowing priveleges at our library (located in Pforzheimer's Jimenez Room), which contains over 2000 books in addition to games, videos, and stuff. 2. Discounts at HRSFA events 3. A 10% discount at Pandemonium Books and Games (in the Garage) 4. A discount at Your Move Games (in Davis Square) 5. Our undying love Memberships are $5 for the first two meetings, and $8 thereafter. Primarily, HRSFA is its SIGs. We also have some HRSFA-wide events, though: Game-A-Thon, where we play games (any kind of games) for several days in a row with no sleep, or at least some of us do not sleep. The Masquerade, originally an anti-Valentine's Day dance, now with less of a political end. The Wyld Hunt, a recreation of a possibly nonexistant ritual, wherein we paint ourselves blue, chase a stag (i.e., freshman wearing antlers) through Cambridge, ritually kill the stag at Mem Church, and feast on the flesh, for which ice cream substitutes. The Myld Hunt, a recreation of a possibly nonexistent ritual, wherein we leasurely pursue a Fox (again, one of our members) through the streets of Cambridge in a genteel fashion while wearing possibly British clothes, and ritually kill it at the Quad, where its flesh becomes tea and cakes. And we play croquet. The Fall Party, which is aptly named. It takes place in Aaron Landry's room, or at least this year it does. The Spring Party. This is a trivial variation on the Fall Party. The Coming and Going of the Hour. Every year, for no apparent reason, the Great God Chronos gives us an extra hour. Then, half a year later, he takes it back. We call this hour "Daylight Savings" and celebrate or commemorate it by burning clocks at or near the actual time that the Hour comes and goes (2 am). (Disclaimer: These descriptions were written by your beloved Internal Secretary and may not have any relation to what was said at the meeting. The same disclaimer applies to the below. I apologize in advance because i will undoubtedly fail to do justice to at least one of these items.) As I said, HRSFA is primarily its SIGs, which are Special Interest Groups: Igs: HRSFA is the primary sponsor of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, which honors scientific achievements that "cannot or should not be reproduced". We will be sending a delegtion to the awards. Star Trek: We watch Star Trek in all its manifestations. Mentos PSIG: (The difference between a PSIG and a SIG is a long and involved one, going back to ancient history when I was a freshman, and you'll probably here at least one if not more versions of it if you become a member. Briefly, a SIG is a special interst group, but a PSIG is a p special interest group. But I digress.) At HRSFA events (especially Cool Movie PSIG meetings, q.v.), Mentos PSIG distributes Mentos, which are fresh and full of life. Babylon 5: We watch Babylon 5. BBC: We watch BBC science fiction productions, such as Dr. Who, Prisoner, Red Dwarf, and I think several more such as Blake's Seven(?). (At this point there was a digression concerning the mailing lists, but if you're receiving this, you've probably figured out the most important part.) Siswai'aman: (I think the name means Spears of the Dragon but I'm not sure) Also known as Gaming SIG, the Siswai'aman and its devoted leader, the Lord of the Morning, support all forms of games, primarily role-playing games. There are many games. Ask the Lord of the Morning for details. Magic: Technically a subSIG of the Siswai'aman, Magic SIG plays Magic: The Gathering. Writers': Gets together to write science fiction and stuff. Has some sort of relationship with FUSION, our magazine (q.v.). Comics: Gets together and reads comics and graphic novels. Milk and Cookies: Gets together to recreate a possibly nonexistent ritual wherein everyone sits by a fire in pajamas, consumes milk and cookies, and reads aloud. The Unofficial Cool Movie PSIG: Although no longer, technically, unofficial, the PSIG (as it is known) retains its anti-establishment roots, displaying a firm opposition to the Man and THE Breakfast Sandwich. They get together and watch movies. Cool movies. We watched TRON after the meeting. FUSION: Although not technically a SIG, what the Hell, let's list it here. Fusion is the the literary enforcement arm of the Association, and is the only campus magazine of student-written science fiction. Everyone is encouraged to submit stories and art to Fusion. Anime: We watch anime. We have an Anime Aaargh, an event which I believe is co-sponsored by the Harvard Anime Society, wherein we watch lots and lots of anime. MST3K: We watch Mystery Science Theater 3000. Bizarreness: Bizarre things happen often. Sometimes, the sinister force of Bizarreness SIG lies behind those things. Just get used to it. The Library: While definitely not a SIG, the library is very large and wonderful and you should visit it often. You could even sign up for office hours there, so that non-HRSFAns can experience in some small way the benefits of the --huge-- library, even though they cannot take books out of it, because they are not members. Did I mention you should become a HRSFA member? See above, at the top of these Minutes, for the more concrete and tangible properties of the library. After we listed the SIGs, there was an announcement about an event happening the next day at MIT, but that's moot now. The meeting ended at 19:46, and we went to the rocks by the Science Center.