I Really Want To
Help Keep It Going
Jess Madsen

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From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: "J. Madsen"
Subject: Re: Kinko's Goofs Again; News Bits
Date: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 11:24 PM

It's not going to die any time soon, it just puts a strain on the rest of my life (what little life I have these days outside of PAM, now that I have put the brakes on seeking feminine companionship for the forseeable future).

Some more subscriptions would be fine for now: tell your friends or bring some samples to your group if you belong to one. Or get a few gift subscriptions. Also tell any boards or lists that you belong to that our Letters section is hopping and that we also offer a fine-looking print edition.

Hope against hope, I wouldn't mind a tabloid sized (11x17) laser printer with PostScript capabilities. There are lots of Hewlett-Packard model 4MVs and QMS 820s floating around the used business equipment market. A 4MV at 600 dpi would do the same quality as Kinko's does, but would cost about a quarter the price. I'd have one by now except that I sank my savings into a karaoke business, and am now too ill to work and will likely abandon this altogether.

However, I'd really like to knock the subscriptions up to the point where I could afford to justify printing a 16-page issue with a Lithograph onto thinner paper so that 16 pages could go out on a single stamp. Joseph Lewis used to do this, but I think his magazine was done with a Letterpress. If I could get the combined freebies and paid subscriptions up past 200, I could get a bulk rate and it would no longer matter if it weighed two ounces.

Stamps are iffy because I still have several hundred Ayn Rand stamps left, and I print the box to fit them. (If anyone can still find the Rand stamps, I'd even buy some from you.) After they're gone, I'll probably settle on a specific stamp and resize the box to fit those. In December, I usually use the Baby Jesus or Mother Mary stamps, to point out that our government ought not endorse religion on our stamps. The Rand stamps are about an inch wide by about an inch-and-a-half tall. It seems to be one of a few standard sizes for American stamps.

  

I also need more letters and more responses to forums. This, more than anything else, keeps people coming back to the website, which brings in a few more subscriptions than when I let the Letters section go idle. I also could use some good Forum questions, as this is what generates more e-mail both in and out. I try to place a pitch in the outgoing e-mail dispatches, and get a few responses for freebies from those. The folks that get into serious dialogue with me on the Forum are the ones who end up subscribing, but the Forum questions get them to the Letters section in the first place.

Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine

Graphic Rule

Graphic Rule

From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: "J. Madsen"
Subject: Re: Kinko's Goofs Again; News Bits
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 2:39 AM

The printed box is 0.984 inches wide by 1.565 inches high -- so, about an inch by about an inch-and-a-half for the stamps.

We also have several copies of the complete collection of the print edition for $60.00 post paid (59 issues to date, including 38 issues of the Critical Thinker, which I edited for Center for Rational Thought). These are already printed, and I've already paid for the printing costs (just to make these available), and they are sitting in my file cabinet; I own enough miscellaneous stamps to ship several sets without putting out any extra money for postage. This collection would make a great addition to any individual's or group's library, or would make a great gift to a Freethinker who collects literature.

Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine

Graphic Rule

The remainder of this conversation involves the details of us trying to procure a laser printer, so we don't have to futz with Kinko's any more. Even though they're the best we can come up with, they have to do the job over about one out of three times, and we end up getting the job done gratis (due to their mistakes) at least twice a year. This is convenient, but it is not a healthy business arrangement by any means. If and when we get ready to purchase a laser printer, we will announce this on the e-mail list.

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