╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ MINUTES of the SCREENSAVER REVIEW SUBCOMMITTEE ║ ║ Headlight Municipal Videotex Service · Winter Session ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Chair Pegg opened with the village charter's customary verse ("…that the citizens of HEADLIGHT, having been so named in honor of a fleet brown gelding, shall conduct their public affairs with the same unhurried grace as that animal's preferred trotting cadence…"). Mr. Honeywell noted the wall clock was eight minutes fast and adjusted it accordingly.
The Subcommittee convened to rank six (6) screensaver submissions for installation upon the Library's Phelps-Cresswell P-44 public terminal, donated by the estate in 1984. The chosen saver rotates between patron sessions, replacing the present default ("ENTER 'CAT' FOR CATALOG") which has, per the Chair, "burned a faint ghost into the upper-left corner that one can read with the lights off."
Submissions must (a) avoid full-bright phosphor in any contiguous region exceeding twelve (12) character-cells, (b) refrain from depicting the late Mr. Phelps-Cresswell in any likeness, and (c) operate within the available 4-step amber gradient.
Patrons may step through the candidate savers below. Each preview is reproduced in approximate form; those marked ♦ include light motion. Use 1–6 on the keypad to advance.
By unanimous vote, the saver will be paired with a new on-hold tone for incoming calls to the village BBS (the previous tone — a single sustained B♭ — was described by Mrs. Pegg as "a refrigerator's idea of music"). Mr. Honeywell played his draft from a portable cassette. The minutes record it thus:
IMAGINE: a small upright piano in a hayloft, two notes, repeated — a low one that sounds like a horse leaning against a barn wall, and a higher one that sounds like the barn deciding to let the horse lean. Between the two notes, a slow exhale of wind across a cupped microphone; far off, the click of a screen door that nobody walks through. The pattern repeats every nine seconds. After about a minute, a chickadee enters from somewhere off-mic and decides to stay.
Motion to adopt: Mrs. Quall. Seconded: Mr. Honeywell. Carried, 4–0. Master cassette to be delivered to the telephone switch room by end of week.
OLD: The patron who reported being unable to log off the terminal was, upon investigation, simply waiting for the cursor to stop blinking. Educational pamphlet to be drafted by Mrs. Quall ("WHEN TO LEAVE THE TERMINAL: A FRIENDLY GUIDE").
NEW: Mr. Heersink (in absentia, by note) requests a future screensaver featuring his prize-winning dahlias. Tabled until spring; floral subjects "do not photograph well in amber."
NEW: Pip Honeywell announced he has, at last, located the original 1903 racing program in which the pacer Headlight is mentioned by name. A reproduction will be hung in the library foyer once the glass is cleaned.
Meeting adjourned at 8:51 P.M. Next regular session: Thursday, March 13, 1986, same room, weather permitting. The Chair reminded all present to bring their own mug.