Stauf - A Cyberpunk Adventure

For nearly 21 years (wow, amazing it's been that long), I have been a big fan of the Trilobyte games The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour. I've seen a few interesting websites relating to those games over the years - including one page that used to be on GeoCities called "Stauf - a_Cyberpunk_adventure" by totalsystemtechnologies.

I found this page around 2002 to 2003, and I have found it interesting because of the additional, non-canon information written about the Stauf mansion and the town of Harley. It was somewhat like a fanfic - although that is not really the best way to describe it. Even now, I don't quite know how to explain the purpose of the web page, but since the index site seemed to have pages relating to Cyberpunk (which I know little about), it seems that the page was written to use the Stauf mansion and the town of Harley as a setting for a Cyberpunk RPG. Although it's not exactly a "story," I still have enjoyed reading this person's unique interpretation of the history of the Stauf mansion and the town of Harley. The page is especially interesting now - given that the current year of the setting described was 2020, which is the year that I am posting this blog entry. I have found somewhat fascinating abandoned buildings - as well as the concept of a town being abandoned as a result of the mysterious events at the Stauf mansion, which is why I've liked this page.

Anyway, this page was created back when GeoCities still existed, so it is now offline. Although there is an archived version on OoCities.org, it has been hard to find with search engines. Thankfully, I was able to find the original URL with the help of a saved version of the website and the Wayback Machine. Below is text from the page - modified slightly in places.

Brother IntelliFAX 950M and Fax Machine Collection

Since as far back as 2002, if not earlier, I have had a rather unusual fixation with fax machines. There exist plenty of people who are fixated with things like vacuum cleaners, escalators, elevators, but I have yet to find anyone else with a particular fascination for fax machines. In any event, my fascination with fax machines has recently led me to obtain a Brother IntelliFAX 950M - my family's first home fax machine.

For some background information, my father got a Brother IntelliFAX 950M in April 1994 and used it until around May 1997 when he changed careers. I might have been somewhat interested in the fax machine even back then (as well as my father's other work and office accessories - like his car phone and TeleVideo TS-1605 computer). Apparently, there was one time when my grandparents planned to surprise me by sending me a fax. Although it's possible that I had some interest in my father's fax machine in the mid '90s, I don't think that I developed a strong fixation with fax machines in general until late 2002 (although I could be mistaken).

It was between 2002 and 2003 that I got a lot of my own office accessories - including a desk and a filing cabinet, so it is not surprising that I would have an interest in fax machines around this time, too. Around this time, I even talked to my friend about getting a fax machine, and he said that I could find one on eBay for $30. He himself also apparently had a fax machine (at least at one time), but I don't think that he had a particular fixation with them as I did.

Despite my interest in fax machines almost certainly having been established in late 2002 (or early 2003), I would not get a fax machine of my own until December 2005: a Brother IntelliFAX 770 - purchased on eBay. Although this was a good-looking fax machine, it didn't work properly. In particular, I had trouble sending faxes or making copies. However, the IntelliFAX 770 did receive faxes and print documents properly. A few years later, two of my friends looked at the fax machine and found that a piece of plastic (meant for holding up a roller) had broken off inside. Although I can't say for sure, I don't think that I had a particular interest in collecting fax machines as of late 2005.

It wasn't until May 2011 that I purchased another fax machine at a thrift store. I don't recall the model, but the model that seems closest to what I remember is a Sharp CQ-130. This was a nice-looking machine, but it didn't appear to work. It also did not use plain paper like the IntelliFAX 770. I didn't have this fax machine for long because I got it while staying at my grandmother's house - then up for sale, and I left it behind upon returning home. Several months later, I returned to the house, and it was not present (the machine was probably among many other things that had been removed from the house in order to increase its marketability).

Interestingly enough, I had actually purchased a third fax machine in July 2011 at another thrift store. This was a Brother IntelliFAX 1270, and unlike the IntelliFAX 770, it appeared to work properly.

It was probably between 2011 and 2012 that I started paying particular attention to the IntelliFAX 950M that my father used to have. I found a few pictures of it online, but it seemed that model had become hard to find.

In September 2012, I found a Brother IntelliFAX 750, which was an interesting model because it looked just like the IntelliFAX 770 - but was black in color. I considered getting it but ultimately did not. I now wish that I had done so.

In March 2013, I took a number of old electronics to be recycled, and among them was the Brother IntelliFAX 770 - my first personal fax machine. I probably felt that I didn't need it since I had the IntelliFAX 1270, which was a similar-looking model that also worked properly. I think that I have sometimes regretted getting rid of the IntelliFAX 770.

Over the past few weeks, I have again become fixated on fax machines, and as a result, I learned that a Brother IntelliFAX 950M was actually for sale on eBay! That particular model seemed impossible to find anywhere else, so following in the spirit of 2012 and 2013 (recreating my childhood by getting a TeleVideo TS-803 and a TeleVideo TS-1605), I purchased the IntelliFAX 950M. Like with the TeleVideos, I figured that this could be my only chance at obtaining the same fax from my childhood. There also seem to be so few pictures of it online and so little documentation of it that I thought that it would be good to obtain.

After many years, there is again a Brother IntelliFAX 950M in my home. It is not necessarily in my favorite style of fax machine (like the IntelliFAX 1270), but it is still a fairly nice-looking machine, and I like its gray color. It also probably helped spark my interest in fax machines, so I figured that it would be nice to have just for that sake. Below are some pictures of the fax.

Something useful about getting documentation with the IntelliFAX 950M is that I learned of other models that likely were sold in the '90s - including the IntelliFAX 610, IntelliFAX 620, IntelliFAX 640, IntelliFAX 710M, IntelliFAX 720M, IntelliFAX 810MC, IntelliFAX 820MC, IntelliFAX 900, IntelliFAX 980M (I already knew of this one), and IntelliFAX 1500M.

Finally, here are some pictures of the IntelliFAX 950M with my IntelliFAX 1270 - as well as one of my HP laptops with a fake faxing program using Cool Retro Term in Ubuntu.

It is very nice to again have a Brother IntelliFAX 950M.

Vita-Stat 8000-C Blood Pressure Kiosk

For many years, as strange as it may sound, I have been somewhat fascinated with the automated blood pressure testing kiosks found in pharmacies – particularly the old Vita-Stat machines from the 1980s and 1990s. I guess part of it is nostalgia for my childhood when I would sometimes test my blood pressure on such machines, and part of it is an interest in the designs of such contraptions  – considering that the older Vita-Stat kiosks tended to be larger and had more buttons. Having said that, there has been one blood pressure kiosk with which I have been fascinated, and I think that it COULD possibly be a Vita-Stat 8000-C.

I saved the above picture of a blood pressure kiosk back in early 2007, which came from a pharmacy’s website. This kiosk is similar to the Vita-Stat 9000AT kiosks that I found in places like Wal-Mart and Eckerd as recently as the mid-2000s. Nowadays, they seem to be hard to find, but in any case, I have found them to be more fascinating than the newer Vita-Stat 90550 (even those are becoming less common – given that many pharmacies are now using newer healthcare kiosks that check weight, eyesight, and so on).

Anyway, I have found the 9000AT kiosks to be fairly interesting – given that they have more buttons and were larger than the 90550 kiosks. However, I have liked the pictured kiosk even more since it looks more retro and more complex. The 9000AT kiosks generally have three plastic red and white buttons, but it appears that the kiosk in the picture has metal green, white, and red buttons with silver rings around them. It also appears to have what could be a manual emergency cuff release switch, which is a feature that has been absent on newer blood pressure kiosks (including even the slightly newer 9000AT). That in particular is what has fascinated me since I thought that some blood pressure kiosks had those, but since I started paying closer attention to blood pressure kiosks in the mid-2000s, I have yet to come across such a kiosk – or find many pictures of such kiosks online.

This kiosk otherwise seems similar to the 9000AT except for the shinier buttons and the manual emergency cuff release switch. Regardless, I have wanted to find more pictures of similar kiosks but have been unable to do so.

At some point several years ago, in researching information about Vita-Stat kiosks online, I learned that there was apparently a model called the Vita-Stat 8000-C that apparently was released in the early 1980s. I have looked for information on the Vita-Stat 8000-C online multiple times but have not been able to find any pictures of it. However, the kiosk in the picture seems like it might have come from the early 1980s, and I have not been able to find a picture specifically identifying a kiosk as an 8000-C, so it is entirely possible that the picture that I found in 2007 could be one of the Vita-Stat 8000-C.