Minecraft, the Game - Its History, How to Play, and How to Come out Alive

December 2017 Volume 28, Issue 12 $2.00 Next Meeting, December 5: Minecraft, the Game - Its History, How to Play, and How to Come Out Alive IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU! 88 paid-up members (including 2 new), Directors’ Notes and 11 in-grace, for a total of 99. Membership 40 people attended the l0/3/2017 gen- Information eral meeting, including 9 visitors. David Danbury Area dacs.doc, ISSN 1084-6573, is published Green reported that press releases were monthly by the Danbury Area Computer Computer Society sent out as usual. Board Meeting Minutes Society, 65 Legion Rd, New Milford, CT Websites: 06776. Annual subscription rates: $60 Wednesday, November 8, 2017 to regular members, $40 electronic ac- The meeting was called to order at Richard reported no significant prob- cess (included in dues). 7:03 pm by the DACS President, David lems on the DAC S website. Green. Postmaster ln attendance were Board members Old Business Send address changes to Danbury Area Richard Corzo, Dick Gingras, Andy Woo- Computer Society, Inc., 4 Gregory Street, Danbury, CT 06810-4430. druff and David Green (President). Also Programs: present was Charles Bovaird, who had At the December 2017 meeting Drew agreed to take minutes of the Kwashnak and his son Thomas will speak meeting. about Minecraft Editorial Committee The Minutes of the 10/3/2017 (Octo- Preview - Jim Scheef Managing Editor: Richard Teasdale Production Editor: Allan Ostergren ber) Board Meeting were accepted. Review - Richard Corzo The October Treasurer's report was re- At the January 2018 meeting Andrew Contributors ceived from Bert. Charles Bovaird Richard Corzo Ribeiro, a member of the Danbury Al Drew Kwashnak Lisa Leifels Dues receipts came to $160, enough to Meetup group, will speak about Artifcial Dave Mawdsley Bruce Preston give us a very small gain for the month and Intelligence. Jim Scheef Annette van Ommeren more than October a year ago. The total Preview -Richard Corzo Andy Woodruff Year to date (10 months) dues receipts continue slightly below last year, but only by Review - Andy Woodruff $83.00. Dick has been in contact with the Apple DACS, its officers and directors as- sume no liability for damages arising Expenses continue to be normal and Store about a presentation. Their policy has always been to insist that events be out of the publication or non-publica- the 10 month year to date totals continue tion of any article, advertisement, or similar to 2016, adjusted for John held in the store, but there appears to be a possibility that the policy will change. other item in this newsletter. Patrick's book expenses (that he cov- The editors welcome submissions ered). Our General Fund balance of from DACS members. Contact Richard $2,895 is again slightly above last year's Renovation of the Teasdale ([email protected]). Ad- October balance. Resource Center vertisers, contact Charles Bovaird at (203) 792-7881 ([email protected]) The reserve that we need for pre-paid Dick reported that a donation of used dues now stands at $1,183, well below the carpet may be available from the Matrix Copyright $2895 on hand (does NOT count the Re- Center. He is in conversation with Bruce Copyright source Center Fund). Tuomala about this. Nonprofit groups may request permission The Resource Center Fund continues to reprint articles from dacs.doc or to have a balance of $655. http://www.dacs.org by sending e- New Business mail to [email protected]. Re- The Membership report was received lt was agreed that the December Board printed articles shall credit the by e-mail from Jim Scheef. Meeting will take place on December 6 (1st copyright holder and a copy of the Wednesday of that month). final publication shall be mailed to: IN THIS ISSUE Danbury Area Computer Society, Inc. Election of two new board members 65 Legion Rd, DIRECTORS’ NOTES 2 will take place at the December General New Milford, CT 06776 HELPLINE 3 meeting. PREVIEW: MINECRAFT 4 Snacks for General Meetings: Richard Corzo will provide snacks for REVIEW: 3D DESIGN 5 the December meeting. and David Green BUCKY MILAM CARTOON 5 will bring the drinks Workshop News & Notes 6 Bert will contact Jim about asking non- LET’S MEET UP 6 renewing members (by e-mail) for feedback concerning why they are leaving DACS. DECEMBER CALENDAR 7 A discussion took place on how Dick Gingras APCUG Liaison GRADUATING TO A SMARTPHONE 8 we can get more visitors to the DACS [email protected] THE HDMI CABLE AND CONNECTORS 9 general meeting. ANNUAL MEETING AND BOARD ELECTIONS 10 The meeting was adjourned at 8: 35 pm. FUTURE EVENTS 12 — Charles Bovaird 2 • Dec 2017 http://www.dacs.org There are Many Ways Officers to Join DACS DACS GENERAL NUMBER: (203) 744-9198 PRESIDENT: David Green [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT PROGRAMS: [email protected] SECRETARY: Bert Goff • TREASURER: Bert Goff Directors [email protected] Richard Corzo (203) 797-1518 [email protected] Richard Gingras (203) 426-1780 [email protected] Bert Goff (860) 355-8895 [email protected] David Green (203) 797-8682 [email protected] An easy way to join DACS is to at- Andy Woodruff (203) 744-9588 [email protected] tend one of the monthly general meetings. General meetings are normally held on the first Tuesday of each month at Committees Danbury Hospital. Or join right on our Website via the PayPal link, where you NEWSLETTER: Richard Teasdale: [email protected], may also pay by credit card without a PROGRAM: [email protected] PayPal account. WEB MASTERS: Richard Corzo ([email protected]), (203) 797-1518 General meetings are always free to Annette van Ommeren ([email protected]), (914) 232-0149 the public, but only members benefit PRESS RELEASES: Dave Green ([email protected]) fully from DACS’ many other events, activities, and publications. As a APCUG LIAISON: Dick Gingras ([email protected]) member you become part of a dynamic MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR: Jim Scheef ([email protected]) computer group in the Greater Danbury RESOURCE CENTER: (203) 748-4330 • WEB SITE: http://www.dacs.org Area. You will receive a subscription to dacs.doc, our award-winning monthly newsletter, packed with news and HelpLine information pertinent to computer users of all levels. In addition to inter- Our former telephone HelpLine has been replaced by our web-based DACS Com- esting feature stories, the newsletter munity Forum at http://forum.dacs.org. We have topic-specific forums where DACS contains a monthly calendar of events members can post questions. Questions may be answered by Workshop leaders or and a recap of the the previous general other DACS members. If none of the categories fit your question, just post it to the meeting and last month’s workshops. Ask DACS forum. Members may also post questions to the DACS Community Forum. Topic Forum Members may also attend the monthly workshops, where topics Linux Linux Workshop relating to computers, peripherals, Desktop publishing and website design Web Site Design Workshop software, and operating systems are discussed. Workshops meet through- Mac and iPhone/iPad/iPod touch Apple Workshop out the month at our Resource Center in downtown Danbury unless men- Online/small business Online Business tioned otherwise in the calendar. Occa- Single board computers Single Board Computers sionally, special topic sessions are also offered to members. Smartphones & Tablets Mobile Devices Workshop Individual/Family Memberships Social media Social Media Annual membership dues are $40.00 for individuals or for each family living Video capture/processing Video at the same address. Annual memberships which include a printed newslet- Windows Windows Workshop ter are available for $60.00 a year. http://www.dacs.org Dec 2017 • 3 December Meeting Preview Minecraft the Game - Its History, How to Play, and How to Come Out Alive Preview by Jim Scheef Date: December 5, 2017, 7:30 pm His company, Mojang (Swedish for "gad- Danbury Hospital Creasy Auditorium get") was acquired by Microsoft in 2014. Presenters: Drew and Thomas Kwashnak Game software for all platforms is available on the Minecraft website (minecraft.net). I INECRAFT IS THE MOST found basic information on Wikipedia and popular computer game in by searching on YouTube. initial rules that allows for creativity at all M history, yet the basic game has The play environment is a 3-D levels of the game. no structure, no story, and no objective. "sandbox" world made of blocks. The Drew Kwashnak and son Thomas will And I wonder why I'm not a gamer! What player's view is created on the fly as the team up as our presenters. Thomas is a makes Minecraft cool is that everything the player (or players) moves through the sophomore at Pomperaug High School and player sees on the screen—the environment environment. The speed of game play is was introduced to Minecraft years ago by set at the start along with a degree of a friend. Since then he has created and difficulty. There are several modes of play. maintains his own Minecraft server that he "Survival" is typical where you must find and his friends play on, and posts YouTube (mine) resources which can be "crafted" videos of his Redstone and super-fast into tools. Other resources include food piston doors. He is into gaming, technol- which seems to come raw and is best when ogy, math and art and has taken classes in cooked, which naturally involves other (computer) Game Design, Computer resources, all of which you must find, mine Animation and Computer Design in High and craft into whatever you need. In sur- School. He hopes to go into Game Design vival mode, you are trying not to die.

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