Ansible Now on Twitter

The fanzine named after that legendary communications device of the far future, Ansible, has opened an account on that infamous communications medium of the immediate present — Twitter.

I’ve often wondered how I overlooked “ansible” when I was thinking of a name for my own fanzine (it not having been taken yet). But even if a time traveler had come and whispered the information in our ears, I doubt either Dave or I would have been tempted to name a newzine Twitter.

Or so I assume. You really can never predict what will strike a fan’s fancy. Once there was a newzine, Ratatosk, named after the squirrel that runs up and down the tree Yggdrasil spreading news to the inhabitants. Twitter might be a better name than that. Or even File 770.

Saving Children from Ansible?

Dave Langford is incensed to discover his Ansible site, the SF Encyclopedia and many other websites of the science fiction field are being filtered by British internet service providers attempting to comply with UK legislation that created what is satirically referred to as the “Great Firewall of David Cameron.”

He provides full details in an SFE post “SF Encyclopedia – unsuitable for under-18s?” with screen captures from O2‘s “website status checker” page that can be used to research what is blocked by default by that particular ISP — accessible only if a subscriber opts-in using the Parental Controls.

Project Ansible

Science is hard at work delivering the science fictional technologies we all demand. The tricorder. The warp drive. Tractor beams. Teleportation. Now (drum roll please) Steven H Silver reports, “My company (but different division) is working to make the ansible a reality.” 

“Well, sort of,” he adds.

Siemen’s Project Ansible is described in eWeek as a platform —

that is designed to enable organizations to more seamlessly unify voice, video, social communication, search and business applications. Ansible will make it easier and less time-consuming for users to do everything from looking for information in multiple sources to conducting live and virtual meetings to generating transcripts.

And Siemens will happily tell you a lot more about the product here.

Once again I am green with envy! Steven immediately associated the project’s name with Langford’s fanzine. When a company released a “770” phone, and Remington manufactured a “Model 770” rifle, did anybody notice? Not one peep!

Of course, anonymity isn’t always a bad thing. Nobody’s ever linked me to that lousy series of YouTube videos about Agent 770 either…

Thog Has No Blog

But Thog does have a website — Thog.org.

“Thog’s Masterclass” started running in Ansible in August 1994 — will the LonCon 3 Worldcon committee celebrate the 20th anniversary?

While Dave Langford has been publishing selected quotes from wretched sf/fantasy since 1979, Thog’s name was put on the marquee after Dave worked with the character’s creator, Paul Barnett, on the Eastercon newzine.

Who is Thog?

Thog the Mighty, a not terribly bright barbarian hero, is the creation of John Grant (Paul Barnett) in his “Lone Wolf” fantasy novels loosely based on Joe Dever’s gamebooks. Thog first appeared in The Claws of Helgedad (1991), and attained front-cover stardom in The Book of the Magnakai (1992)…

Everything’s up-to-date at Thog.org. Find material using the “Search, Loot & Pillage Engine” or just hit the “I Feel Unlucky” button and let the “Thog-o-Matic Random Selector” choose for you…

More Bundles for Britain

When Strange Horizons announced its latest fundraising drive, Dave Langford admitted he, too, is willing to take money, even though “Ansible is too Britishly embarrassed to attempt large-scale soliciting.”

It had never occurred to me to give Dave money (or any of the rest of you, either, but get back to me when you win your 20th Hugo). Once I saw the error of my ways — I’ve been freeloading online for years! — I raced to his PayPal Tip Jar Thingy and dispatched enough digital wealth to keep him supplied with pixels for at least a day or two. Go, thou, and do likewise.

Happy 300th, Dave!

Cheers for Dave Langford whose Ansible reached the three century mark with the July 1st issue. Resisting all temptation to create a virtual doorstop like The Drink Tank #300, Dave treats readers instead to an epic installment of Thog’s Masterclass, primarily at the expense of Keith McCarthy’s The Silent Sleep of the Dying (2004) — which might be destined to replace Eye of Argon as fans’ favorite late-night read-aloud.

Langford Has Eye Surgery

Dave Langford writes: “I tend not to think of my own doings as news, but if you want to scoop Ansible you are welcome to reveal that I’m recovering from an eye operation on 20 January. Torn/detached retina, getting worse fast. Successful procedure according to the surgeon. But life is still blurry and full of typos.”

How can I pass up an invitation to scoop Ansible? Or, more important, to wish Dave the fullest possible recovery!

Gerry Anderson Goes Postal

The Royal Mail has made FAB: The Genius of Gerry Anderson the theme of its first stamp issue of 2011.  

Stingray, Joe 90, and Captain Scarlett are among the Sixties television shows featured on stamps.

The stamps went on sale January 11.

Gerry Anderson is a past Worldcon Guest of Honor (1995).

Maybe I will be lucky and Langford will use one of the new stamps when he sends my copy of Ansible. That’s one of the fringe benefits of continuing to trade paper editions of our fanzines. I still have the envelope from his November issue with a stamp bearing a drawing of Pooh and Eeyore.

I must remember to return the favor by using some colorful commemoratives next time I mail him File 770. Which means I better publish another issue, so I will have something to put in the envelope.

But dang, I see I missed the Royal Mail’s Christmas 2010 issue of Wallace and Gromit stamps. Of course, who would mail such lovely things?

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

New Ansible E-list

Dave Langford, who lost the use of the 3500+ member Ansible e-mail list last month, has replaced it with a Google Groups service.

“All subscribers to the old Ansible mailing list (which died in September) should now have been invited to the new one,” he reports. “To subscribe to this Ansible mailing list, send email to [email protected] – the actual message content doesn’t matter.” (Marshall McLuhan proven right once again…)

Update 10/08/2010: Corrected reference per Patrick’s comment, not having been able to think of anything paricularly geodesic about the Ansible e-mail list.

Go Read Ansible Online

Ansible’s list of 3500+ subscribers has been killed by its university host.

People wondering why the October issue had not hit their inbox found this explanation posted at Ansible’s online home:

Please note that the usual emailed version has not been sent out, because some hidden hand has pulled the plug on the long-established Ansible mailing list server. New arrangements will be investigated.

Dave Langford says, “I’m brooding over how to repair things.”

Click here to read Ansible 279.   

[Thanks to Dave Langford for the story.]