From the Editor

By Glenn Case

At times I get people sending me material that is supposedly "camera ready." Well, for starters there is no camera. So I thought I would review quickly how the MAAM and most other publications are prepared. Most all the material comes in by email. Occasionally I get something in hard copy. So what happens next? It is scanned into an electronic file. The scanner is smart enough to know what to scan in as text and as an image file. A photograph would be an example of the latter. Or perhaps a logo advertising an RG. Either way, the resulting electronic file is then folded into the layout program. In the end, the MAAM consists of a file on a computer disk that is then either delivered to the printer or transmitted over the phone via a file transfer program. So a hard copy master of the MAAM never exists. The printer in turn "prints" the file he receives to a printing master plate from which the MAAM is produced.

So material submitted to the MAAM can be sent in one of several ways. The best way by far is email to the editor’s address shown on the masthead. This can include either text, pictures, or any combination. You can send hard copy that, as I said, is then scanned in. Handwritten material will not scan. Scanners are not that smart yet. In this case the "human scanner" namely the human eyeball would have to scan it and type it in using a word processor which reduces it to an electronic file. I can do it, but I think you can appreciate that it would be an exceptional case.

In the line of electronic marvels, I wanted to call your attention to our Web Page, www.ariz.com/mensa. It contains the on-line version of the MAAM going back a few years. The on-line version is generally the same as the hard copy, but their can be some exceptions. The minutes, for example, are carried in full unedited on the on-line version and normally an abridged version is carried in the hard copy.

Then we have Mike Johnson’s on-line newsletter that is put out weekly or so and gives you the latest additions to the calendar and in some cases changes. Write to Mike at mikejohnson@home.com to get on his mailing list.

In time, I would hope that a hard copy of the MAAM will disappear entrely along with your daily newspaper and other printed material. For one thing the cost of paper will do nothing but continue going up and part of this will be due to economic necessity. Then, how many people read the daily newspaper from cover to cover? Most of us are just looking for particular things like our favorite funny.

Who knows, maybe human bodies won’t be necessary either some time. But then, would we do about sex?