***
- Letter from the Editor
- The New Babbage Cog - Full Steam Ahead!
- Mayor Announces Elevator Contest
- Now Showing: Steam-powered Cinema
- Featured Invention: Difference Engine
- Literary Corner
- Easy Steam Script
- New Babbage RegisterEvents & Announcements
- Classified Advertisements
- Resources
- Contact, Circulation, and other Essential Information for the Reader
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Given the prevalence of the Aethernet (or, as it is commonly known in non-Steampunk society, the "Internet") in our modern world, it is perhaps an expected and most natural decision to have begun a site for New Babbage under the auspices of The New Babbage Cog. Miss Eggberta Echegaray is the production editor for the New Babbage blog, but we will be collaborating on content and other related tasks. Presenting a useful and handsome portal for New Babbage residents and out-of-towners alike is something,we hope, that will do credit to our dear island. We invite discussion, ideas, suggestions, announcements, advertisements, and all manner of involvement from the New Babbage community. Kindly communicate your thoughts to us at newbabbagecog@gmail.com, send an instant message to Miss Echegaray or me, or drop a note card in the letterbox at the New Babbage Cog office in
In your service,
Mrs. Junie Ginsburg
_________________________________________________________________________________
The New Babbage Cog launched its first issue into the urban wilds of New Babbage on February 12, 2007, and one week later, has distributed more than 70 copies of the periodical. Certainly this is due to the proximity of a paper box near the telehub, but additional paper boxes have reported a large number of deliveries also.
These numbers are greater than hoped for the first issue, and the paper anticipates exceeding these numbers as the production process and delivery methods are stabilized. Any comments, suggestions, questions, announcements, advertisements or other feedback is welcome, and may be directed to Mrs. Junie Ginsburg or Miss Eggberta Echegary.
Junie Ginsburg
***
MAYOR ANNOUNCES ELEVATOR CONTEST
Mayor Shaunathan Sprocket has announced a building contest for residents of New Babbage! Design and create a steam powered elevator, for the two ends of the steel walkway! Mayor Sprocket is allowing builders of the contest, to build on site and use the walkways as a guide. Conditions with using the walkway as a guide to build, is one must clean up after themselves, until the time of the individual judging. If one does not clean up their on site creation, the contestant will immediately be disqualified. Mayor Sprocket's decision day for the winning design will be held on March 15th, 2007.
Good Luck to All!
"Industria Proficiscor In!"
Eggberta Echegaray
NOW SHOWING: STEAM POWERED CINEMA
New Babbage enjoys the presence of not one,but two theaters in which residents may pass leisure time viewing classic pieces of cinema and Victorian imagery. Both theaters boast ample seating for a sizable party.
La Vogage Dans La Lune Pic At The Old Imperial Steampunk Theater of New Babbage,
Junie Ginsburg
Teleporting into New Babbage, one will find many imaginative Steampunk creations done by the residents. Our head resident and Mayor, Mr. Shaunathan Sprocket, has created Mr. Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine, which is housed at New Babbage’s Town Hall. After Mr. Babbage’s death in 1871, Mr.Sprocket was determined to virtually create Babbage’s Difference engine, in-world.
When interviewing Mr.Sprocket, I asked the question, “What indeed is a Difference Engine?” Mayor Sprocket simply replied “Why It is a special-purpose mechanical calculator, which was designed to tabulate polynominal functions.” Interesting indeed. When one looks upon the massive mechanical cogs, it’s hard to believe, that these iron monsters, are actually set up to calculate complex mathematics. Mayor Sprocket continues, “Mr. Babbage realized that a machine could do the work better and more reliable than a human being, thus removing sources of human error when calculating mathematics.” When investigating further, Mr.Sprocket provided more background into Babbage's engines, “They were among the first mechanical computers. His engines were not actually completed, largely because of funding problems and personality issues, which is why I took it upon myself, to create his life’s work here in New Babbage.” Although New Babbage’s Difference Engine, is not quite yet fully functional, one can drop by the Town Hall, and gander in the glory of the amazing mechanical cog architecture! Well done Mr. Mayor! Eggberta Echegaray
***
LITERARY CORNER
In 1889 Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were invited to dinner with Joseph Stoddart, the editor of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, who wanted some stories. It was decided that Sir Doyle would write "The Sign of the Four" and Mr. Wilde would write "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Fortunate as we are to have Sir Doyle in residence on our island, he has agreed to provide "The Sign of the Four" for publication in The New Babbage Cog as a 12-issue serial piece. We at the Cog hope our readers will appreciate this period piece straight from the heart of the Victorian period.
THE SIGN OF FOUR
by Sir ArthurConan Doyle
Chapter 1 ~ THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION
SHERLOCK HOLMES took his bottle from the corner of the mantelpiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle and rolled back his left shirtcuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist, all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally, he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined armchair with a long sigh of satisfaction. Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. On the contrary, from day to day I had become more irritable at the sight, and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject; but there was that in the cool, nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty.
His great powers, his masterly manner, and the experience which I had had of his many extraordinary qualities, all made me diffident and backward in crossing him. Yet upon that afternoon, whether it was the Beaune which I had taken with my lunch or the additional exasperation produced by the extreme deliberation of his manner, I suddenly felt that I could hold out no longer. "Which is it to-day," I asked, "morphine or cocaine?" He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. "It is cocaine," he said, "a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it?" "No, indeed," I answered brusquely. "My constitution has not got over the Afghan campaign yet. I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it." He smiled at my vehemence. "Perhaps you are right, Watson," he said. "I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. I find it, however, so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary action is a matter of small moment." "But consider!" I said earnestly. "Count the cost! Your brain may, as you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid process which involves increased tissue-change and may at least leave a permanent weakness. You know, too, what a black reaction comes upon you. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle. Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some extent answerable."
He did not seem offended. On the contrary, he put his finger-tips together, and leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair, like one who has a relish for conversation. "My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world." "The only unofficial detective?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "The only unofficial consulting detective," he answered. "I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection. When Gregson, or Lestrade, or Athelney Jones are out of their depths--which, by the way, is their normal state--the matter is laid before me. I examine the data, as an expert, and pronounce a specialist's opinion. I claim no credit in such cases. My name figures in no newspaper. The work itself, the pleasure of finding a field for my peculiar powers, is my highest reward. But you have yourself had some experience of my methods of work in the Jefferson Hope case." "Yes, indeed," said I cordially. "I was never so struck by anything in my life. I even embodied it in a small brochure, with the somewhat fantastic title of 'A Study in Scarlet.'" He shook his head sadly. "I glanced over it," said he. "Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of
More than once during the years that I had lived with him in 
my small works into French." "Your works?" "Oh, didn't you know?" he cried, laughing.
"It is simplicity itself," he remarked, chuckling at my surprise"so absurdly simple that an explanation is superfluous; and yet it may serve to define the limits of observation and of deduction. Observation tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. Just opposite the Wigmore Street Office they have taken up the pavement and thrown up some earth, which lies in such a way that it is difficult to avoid treading in it in entering. The earth is of this peculiar reddish tint which is found, as far as I know, nowhere else in the neighborhood. So much is observation. The rest is deduction." "How, then, did you deduce the telegram?" "Why, of course I knew that you had not written a letter, since I sat opposite to you all morning. I see also in your open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of postcards. What could you go into the post-office for, then, but to send a wire? Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth." "In this case it certainly is so," I replied after a little thought. "The thing, however, is, as you say, of the simplest. Would you think me impertinent if I were to put your theories to a more severe test?" "On the contrary," he answered, "it would prevent me from taking a second dose of cocaine. I should be delighted to look into any problem which you might submit to me." "I have heard you say it is difficult for a man to have any object in daily use without leaving the impress of his individuality upon it in such a way that a trained observer might read it. Now, I have here a watch which has recently come into my possession. Would you have the kindness to let me have an opinion upon the character or habits of the late owner?" I handed him over the watch with some slight feeling of amusement in my heart, for the test was, as I thought, an impossible one, and I intended it as a lesson against the somewhat dogmatic tone which he occasionally assumed. He glanced the watch in his hand, gazed hard at the dial, opened the back, and examined the works, first with his naked eyes and then with a powerful convex lens. I could hardly keep from smiling at his crestfallen face when he finally snapped the case to and handed it back. "There are hardly any data," he remarked.
"The watch has been recently cleaned, which robs me of my most suggestive facts." "You are right," I answered. "It was cleaned before being sent to me." In my heart I accused my companion of putting forward a most lame and impotent excuse to cover his failure. What data could he expect from an uncleaned watch? "Though unsatisfactory, my research has not been entirely barren," he observed, staring up at the ceiling with dreamy, lack-lustre eyes. "Subject to your correction, I should judge that the watch belonged to your elder brother, who inherited it from your father." "That you gather, no doubt, from the H. W. upon the back?" "Quite so. The W. suggests your own name. The date of the watch is nearly fifty years back, and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation. Jewellery usually descends to the eldest son, and he is most likely to have the same name as the father. Your father has, if I remember right, been dead many years. It has, therefore, been in the hands of your eldest brother." "Right, so far," said
"My dear doctor," said he kindly, "pray accept my apologies. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem, I had forgotten how personal and painful a thing it might be to you. I assure you, however, that I never even knew that you had a brother until you handed me the watch." "Then how in the name of all that is wonderful did you get these facts? They are absolutely correct in every particular." "Ah, that is good luck. I could only say what was the balance of probability. I did not at all expect to be so accurate." "But it was not mere guesswork?" "No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit--destructive to the logical faculty. What seems strange to you is only so because you do not follow my train of thought or observe the small facts upon which large inferences may depend. For example, I began by stating that your brother was careless. When you observe the lower part of that watch-case you notice that it is not only dinted in two places but it is cut and marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects, such as coins or keys, in the same pocket. Surely it is no great feat to assume that a man who treats a fifty-guinea watch so cavalierly must be a careless man. Neither is it a very far-fetched inference that a man who inherits one article of such value is pretty well provided for in other respects.
" I nodded to show that I followed his reasoning. "It is very customary for pawnbrokers in
(Special thanks to Sir ArthurConan Doyle for his assistance in placing the story in context, and for providing the text.)
***
EASY STEAM SCRIPT
For new scripters, here's a useful tip for creating the ubiquitous vapor so beloved by the residents of New Babbage: steam. The secret is to find your resources in unlikely places. In this case, the waterfall mist script that comes default in everyone's inventory library has been edited to produce a more steam-like effect. To produce steam, simply create a script in the object you'd like to eminate the vapor, and copy and paste the contents into the script file. Save, and voila! The steam age has come!
--Start of script --
// Particle System 1.0
StartSteam()
{
// MASK FLAGS: set to "TRUE" to enable
integer glow = TRUE; // Makes the particles glow
integer bounce = FALSE; // Make particles bounce on Z plane of objectsinteger interpColor = TRUE; // Color - from start value to end value
integer interpSize = TRUE; // Size - from start value to end valueinteger wind = TRUE; // Particles effected by wind
integer followSource = FALSE; // Particles follow the sourceinteger followVel = TRUE; // Particles turn to velocity direction
// Choose a pattern from the following:
// PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_EXPLODE
//PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_DROP
// PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_ANGLE_CONE_EMPTY// PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_ANGLE_CONE
// PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_ANGLEinteger pattern = PSYS_SRC_PATTERN_EXPLODE;
// Select a target for particles to go towards
// "" for no target, "owner" will follow object owner// and "self" will target this object
// or put the key of an object for particles to go to key target;// Particle paramaters
float age = 5; // Life of each particle
float maxSpeed = 0.10; // Max speed each particle is spit out at
float minSpeed = 0.0; // Min speed each particle is spit out at
string texture = "Water Particle - Mist"; // Texture used for particles, default used if blank
float startAlpha = .25; // Start alpha (transparency) value
float endAlpha = 0.0; // End alpha (transparency) value
vector startColor = <0.9,0.9,1>; // Start color of particles
vector endColor = <1,1,1>; // End color of particles
vector startSize = <.25,.25,.25>; // Start size of particles
vector endSize = <3,3,3>; // End size of particles (if interpSize == TRUE)
vector push = <0,0,0.5>; // Force pushed on particles
// System paramaters
float rate = .2; // How fast (rate) to emit particles
float radius = 1.0; // Radius to emit particles for BURST pattern
integer count = 64; // How many particles to emit per BURST
float outerAngle = 0.1; // Outer angle for all ANGLE patterns
float innerAngle = 0.65; // Inner angle for all ANGLE patterns
vector omega = <0,0,0>; // Rotation of ANGLE patterns around the source
float life = 0; // Life in seconds for the system to make particles
// Script variables
integer flags;
flags = 0;
if (target == "owner") target = llGetOwner();
if (target == "self") target = llGetKey();
if (glow) flags = flags PSYS_PART_EMISSIVE_MASK;
if (bounce) flags = flags PSYS_PART_BOUNCE_MASK;
if (interpColor) flags = flags PSYS_PART_INTERP_COLOR_MASK;
if (interpSize) flags = flags PSYS_PART_INTERP_SCALE_MASK;
if (wind) flags = flags PSYS_PART_WIND_MASK;
if (followSource) flags = flags PSYS_PART_FOLLOW_SRC_MASK;
if (followVel) flags = flags PSYS_PART_FOLLOW_VELOCITY_MASK;
if (target != "") flags = flags PSYS_PART_TARGET_POS_MASK;
llParticleSystem([ PSYS_PART_MAX_AGE,age,
PSYS_PART_FLAGS,flags,
PSYS_PART_START_COLOR, startColor,
PSYS_PART_END_COLOR, endColor,
PSYS_PART_START_SCALE,startSize,
PSYS_PART_END_SCALE,endSize,
PSYS_SRC_PATTERN, pattern,
PSYS_SRC_BURST_RATE,rate,
PSYS_SRC_ACCEL, push,
PSYS_SRC_BURST_PART_COUNT,count,
PSYS_SRC_BURST_RADIUS,radius,
PSYS_SRC_BURST_SPEED_MIN,minSpeed,
PSYS_SRC_BURST_SPEED_MAX,maxSpeed,
PSYS_SRC_TARGET_KEY,target,
PSYS_SRC_INNERANGLE,innerAngle,
PSYS_SRC_OUTERANGLE,outerAngle,
PSYS_SRC_OMEGA, omega,
PSYS_SRC_MAX_AGE, life,
PSYS_SRC_TEXTURE, texture,
PSYS_PART_START_ALPHA, startAlpha,
PSYS_PART_END_ALPHA, endAlpha
]);
}
StartSpray ()
{
}
{
lParticleSystem([]);}
default
{
state_entry()
{
StartSteam();
}
listen(integer channel, string name, key id, string message)
{
if (0 == llSubStringIndex(message, "spray on"))
{
StartSteam();
}
else if (0 == llSubStringIndex(message, "spray off"))
{
StopSpray();
}
}
}
--end of script--
Script by Junie GinsburgNEW BABBAGE REGISTER
New Babbage is a city undergoing constant change! The following parcels have come under new ownership in the last week (or in one case, were reported incorrectly in our last issue):
Parcel No. New Owner/Business:
#4. Mrs. Junie Ginsburg - The New Babbage Cog#11. Miguel Pinion
#12. Remington Pennyfeather - Remmy's Moving Castle
#14.
#17. Arthur Conan Doyle
#18. Salazar Jack
#26.
#27. Solivar Scarborough - Daeskins - Salon de Vapeur & Steampunk
The New Babbage Cog office is moving! We will be relocating soon from #5 Babbage Square to #4. A further announcement will be posted when our new construction and move is complete.
* * *
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS:
Healthy young people of strong constitution are sought to bear sandwich boards which promote The New Babbage Cog. Please contact Mrs. Junie Ginsburg to inquire.
* * *
Your advertisement can be placed here!
* * *
RESOURCES:
The following SL lists are available for those interested in the steampunk theme:
Steampunk, founded by Vapxk Lament
Steampunk Girls, founded by Nikki Tanner
SteamPunk Kids, founded by Loki Eliot
Steampunks of New Babbage, founded by Shaunathan Sprocket
Victorian Retrotech Society, founded by Merry Calliope
(The New Babbage Cog cannot endorse any of these groups, save for Steampunks of New Babbage, and provides these listings merely as a convenience for readers.)
Gathered and compiled by Eggberta Echegaray
________________________________________________________________________________
INFORMATION FOR THE READER:
***
Ethics Statement:
All reporters for The New Babbage Cog are obligated to inform potential interviewees when they are gathering data for a report on our behalf, or clearly identify themselves as a TNBC journalist. This is a community paper, not a vehicle for expose; all investigative reporting must be above-the-board. Deception is against the intended spirit of community embraced by this paper and will not be tolerated. If a citizen encounters an aggressive reporter claiming to work on behalf of The New Babbage Cog, they are urged to report same to the Editor.
Contact:
The New Babbage Cog office is located at the end of the block in
Circulation:
The New Babbage Cog is circulated in two ways. Firstly, new issues are sent automatically to subscribers of the free New Babbage Cog group. Second, issues are available from a paperbox in
All back issues of The New Babbage Cog will be available free of charge. They can be found in the archive on the first floor of the newspaper office. A volunteer archivist position is available.
Volunteer freelance and column writers are welcome to propose stories. The New Babbage Cog also welcomes news tips, reports, and story ideas from interested parties. Please see our contact information above.
Advertising:
Advertising should be germaine to subjects of greatest import to residents of New Babbage. Although our sensibilities are quite modern and liberal, The New Babbage Cog reserves the right to determine an ad's fitness for inclusion based on its pertinence to steampunk, Victoriana, retrotech, industry, anachronism, and other related concepts.
Advertising is free to New Babbage citizens. Out-of-towners may advertise at a rate of L$100 per ad placement per issue. For both residents and non-residents, space is limited to 500 characters per advertisement. Each ad may include one embedded texture and one landmark. File attachments must be delivered at the time of ad reservation. Please see our contact information above to inquire.
In our last issue, we incorrectly reported that
Copyright Disclaimer:
Copyright 2007 of the Common EraThe New Babbage Cog
~~ Relata Refero ~~