Subject: Ackanomic Digest V1 #347
From: [email-masked] (Ackanomic Digest)
To: ackanomic-digest

Ackanomic Digest     Wednesday, November 13 1996     Volume 01 : Number 347

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 01:01:17 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: CFJ 321 (fnord)

Phil Ackley wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Malenkai wrote:
> 
> > IdiotBoy, once again, has been chosen, and has 3 days to accept/decline.
> 
> I'm relieved to not be the only person who does stuff like this :)

Its amazing I don't do more of it, as I do everything in an intense
rush, and play nomic whilst I'm playing cards on-line sometimes.

Malenkai
waiting for the nomination for Financier to begin again :(

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 21:18:35 -0900 (AKST)
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Official

The office of the Financier is once again vacant.  Idiot Boy wins the
award for lest time spent in a functional office!  I am holding a
nomination for the OotF: send your nominations to [email-masked].

snowgod
who realizes the wording above is funny but can't for the life of him
think of the correct word at the moment, and who may just be the youngest
victim of alheimers in the entire world!

not really

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:31:44 +0200 (EET)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: CFJ 321 (fnord)

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Malenkai wrote:

> Phil Ackley wrote:
> > 
> > On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Malenkai wrote:
> > 
> > > IdiotBoy, once again, has been chosen, and has 3 days to accept/decline.
> > 
> > I'm relieved to not be the only person who does stuff like this :)
> 
> Its amazing I don't do more of it, as I do everything in an intense
> rush, and play nomic whilst I'm playing cards on-line sometimes.
> 
> Malenkai
> waiting for the nomination for Financier to begin again :(

Somehow I can picture that. 
I often play nomic while answering support calls. It's only a matter of
time before I start signing my ackanomic name of help desk mail.

 > 

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 23:33:16 -0900 (AKST)
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: A couple of things

Voting results through tuesday will be released after I get off work
tuesday, assuming I don't roll my truck before then (It's been raining
all day, though the temp never got above freezing, ick! icy roads) and I
have a game for the games and contest page that I will also submit then.

snowgod
who relly should have got his act together and finished before bedtime

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 12:46:40 +0200 (EET)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: acka : Swingpoints !!

Today is the day!

this is the day  I give Swingpoints.

Brinjal, the NAP Swinger, is the only Swinger with a positive non-zero
SwingScore , which makes him the Swinger with the highest SwingScore,
which means that as of now, he is the proud of owner of three SwingPoints

These are not points to be added to eir score, but tradeable entities.
(see R1269)

Niccolo Flychuck
Chess-Umpire

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 04:53:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Leaving

> This worries me.  New players often don't last two weeks, and
> cherished ones keep dropping out due to time concerns.  I begin to
> fear all our wonderful innovations are going to collapse the game
> under its own weight.  It's been more than two months since fnord
> and I joined; since then, no new player has remained, and many
> experienced names have left us.  Any ideas on what can be done to
> alleviate this problem?

I wouldn't worry too much just yet. Change happens. The pendulum will
probably swing back again.

breadbox
historian, taking a long-range point of view

PS: *Please*, in the new-player drive, don't spam inappropriate
newsgroups. I am so sick of off-topic spam in netnews. We should try
hitting only appropriate newsgroups (and the Nomic Bulletin Board),
and see how that works out, before going to extreme measures.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:47:17 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1439

Proposal 1439 -- Tue 12 Nov 8:46 CST 1996
Bids are now public, so don't exclude (and don't compensate) the Auctioneer
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

This is a Modest proposal.

Amend R 1023, "Auction" as follows:

1) In section 3, replace "in the Auction" with "in a private Auction".

2) In section 4, replace "If the Auction was not initiated by a player"
with "If the Auction was private, and was not initiated by a player"

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:47:36 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1440

Proposal 1440 -- Tue 12 Nov 8:46 CST 1996
In Which We Display A Mean Streak
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

This is a modest proposal.

[I decided against adding the braced clause because I think it would
conflict with R106 (the Retroactivity rule).  The chance that this will
break a streak is minimal, anyway.]

1.  Rule 824 is amended to read, in full:
- ---
The Brass Monkey is a very large, unique, unownable entity with a low,
booming voice.

A Streak begins when a proposal is accepted and there is no Streak
already underway.  The Streak includes the proposal that started it and
all the accepted proposals that follow, until the next time a proposal is
rejected.  The Streak is then broken.

If ten or more proposals are accepted during a single Streak, it is
a Chrome Streak.  Chrome Streaks are Strange.  When a Chrome Streak is
broken, the Brass Monkey shall climb to the top of the tallest building
in Acka Land and proclaim:

"The makers of the Chrome Streak shall be awarded 5 bonus points!"

With that, each Player shall receive 5 points for each proposal he or
she submitted that was accepted during the Streak (including those that
were accepted before it was Chrome), up to a maximum of 15 points per 
Player.
- ---

2.  Rule 824 is amended by changing its title to "Brass Monkey".

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:47:58 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1441

Proposal 1441 -- Tue 12 Nov 8:47 CST 1996
If It Can't Be snowgod's, Then Make It Public
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

This is a modest proposal.

In Rule 827, change all instances of "Techno," "Techno's," and "he" to "the 
Treasury," "the Treasury's," and "it," respectively.  Add, "the Treasury shall 
vote as the player requested, if that proposal is still under consideration.  
The Treasury may only vote when explicitly allowed by the rules.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:48:18 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1442

Proposal 1442 -- Tue 12 Nov 8:47 CST 1996
Institutionalized Voting
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

- -------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 478 so that its title is "Senate" and so that its text is:

"
The Office of Senator has four Seats.  The Speaker is not eligible to
hold this office.  The Senators are collectively an Institution known
as the Senate. The Speaker or Acting Speaker is the titular head of
the Senate, with the title of ProConsul.  When a Senate vote is tied,
the ProConsul may cast a tiebreaking vote on the matter in question.

{{[senators, under the current wording of R 478, should actually be
called Senate (plural Senates), e.g., "I hold the Office of Senate, seat
Melvin"]}}
"

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 507 so that its text is:

"
The Office of Justice has two Seats. The President, Speaker, Praetor,
and Senators are not eligible to hold this office.  The Justices are
collectively known as the Supreme Court.

Justices are appointed by the President and confirmed by Senate vote.
Should the Senate reject a candidate, then the President must propose
another candidate until either the Senate confirms a candidate, or until
the Senate rejects three candidates for the particular vacancy.  In the
case where the Senate rejects three candidates, the Office is then filled
by election.

{{[we don't need Confirmation Procedure and Institutional voting, and
I always wondered what would happen if three candidates were rejected.
I always assumed the next president would get to appoint candidates.]}}
"
 
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Repeal R 648, "Confirmation Procedure"

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 720, "Institutions", so that its text is:

"
1. There exists a class of entities called Institutions.  Institutions
may only be created, abolished, given rights, privileges, duties, and
roles as specified by the rules.

2a. This section (2a thru c) defers to rules governing decision making
in Institutions.  An Institution votes "in favor" of something, or
"in support of an action" when a simple majority of its members
vote "in favor" or "in support".  An Institution votes against
something, or opposes an action when a simple majority of its members
vote "against", or "in opposition" to the action.  The voting and
reporting processes under which these votes occur are detailed in
sections 3 and 4.

2b. If however, a vote or action has more than two possible outcomes
(excluding abstaining), then a simple plurality of its members determines
which of the options the Institution supports.

2c. If the members of an Institution are tied with respect to a specific
action or vote, and there is no provision for breaking ties in that
Institution (or the application of such provisions does not result in
the tie being broken), then that Instiution neither supports, nor
opposes that action, nor votes in any way on the matter.

3. When an Institution is called on to vote, it has 7 days conduct and
publically report the results of the vote, and how each member voted,
unless the rules call for a different amount of time.  Results may
be announced before the alloted time ends, in which case the voting
period is over when those results are announced.  Any member who did not
vote, and was an active player at any time during the alloted time, is
placed in Contempt.  If the Institution fails to report a vote (or fails
to report that it did not reach a decision in the case of an unbroken
tie) in accordance with the above, all its members who are players are
placed in Contempt.

4.  For the purposes of this rule, the composition of a Institution is
taken to be its composition at the end of any voting or decision period.
Acting members are considered to be members in place of the members they
are acting for, except that acting members may never be placed in Contempt
under any provision of this rule.

{{[this acting thing is generally sort of messy, but the above should
work.  If a player goes on vacation before the end of the voting
period, and no one becomes acting in their stead, they are considered
the member and are liable to vote.  On the other hand, if they are
replaced by acting member, the acting member's vote counts instead of
the original member, the original member is no longer liable, but the
acting member will not be liable either (this closes a small loophole)]}}
"

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 721, "Organizations", to append the following to the end of
the rule:

"
4.
No Player may be forced to become a member of an Organization against
their will.  This section takes precedence over any other rule pertaining
to membership in Organizations.
"

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Repeal R 723, "Individuality".

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amend Rule 839, "Buildings", to replace the second to the last paragraph
with:

"
      All other land, with or without buildings on them, that is not
owned by players is called common lands.  All deals to sell or buy
common land must be approved by Senate vote.
"
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amend R 841, "Towers", to remove the following text from section 2):

" within 3 days of its submission"

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 970, "Ackanomic/Internomic Interface", to remove the fifth
paragraph.

- -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend Rule 1298, "in Contempt" to read:

"
      A player who is held in Contempt shall be required to either pay
a fine of A$100 to the treasury, or be placed in the Gaol for three days.
The player who is in Contempt is allowed to choose which of the two
options he would like.  If the player does not make a choice within
three days of being held in Contempt it will be assumed that he has
chosen the Gaol sentence.

      A player shall cease to be held in Contempt once a choice as been
made per above.
"

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:48:34 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1443

Proposal 1443 -- Tue 12 Nov 8:47 CST 1996
Repeal R 904
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

{{[the first paragraph of R 110 is lifted from P915, and was substantially
written by Kelly Martin]}}

This is a Modest proposal.
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Transmute R 110 to Mutable

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 110 so that its title is "The Game and Winning" and so that
its text is:

"
      Ackanomic is a game without end. The Game shall consist of a
sequence of "Cycles", played in sequence according to the Rules. Cycles
end when specified by the Rules. At most one Cycle is in progress at
any one time.

      A player may only win a Cycle by procedures defined by the Rules, or
by achieving a winning condition that is defined by the Rules.  A player
may not win the Game of Ackanomic.
"
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Transmute R 110 to Immutable

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 218 to replace all occurrances of "or win the game" with
"or win a cycle".

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 425 to replace "the game" with "a cycle" in section (c).

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 666 as follows:

1) replace the first sentence with:

"Upon a Cycle winning condition being achieved, the following steps
occur, in order:".

2) replace "winner is declared winner" with "winner is given the title
of winner" in section c)

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 790, "Fat Lady" so that its text is:

{{
[I had to get that "when a winner is declared" out of here, it
is impossible to follow that rule forever, although I got it last
time]}}

      The unique, unownable, entity known as the Fat Lady exists.

      The Fat Lady shall sing only if a player wins a Cycle.  The
Speaker is required to announce that the Fat Lady is singing within a
reasonable time of a winner being declared, and the Fat Lady will not
sing until the Speaker announces that she is doing so.

      The Fat Lady's singing will endure for exactly three hours, or until
any player publicly posts an original limerick politely asking her to
stop, whichever comes first.

- -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Repeal R 904, "Game vs Cycle"

- -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amend R 1243, "Chartreuse Goose", as follows:

1) replace "cycle or game" with "Cycle" in the second paragraph.

2) replace the section which reads:

"
All of the following actions must be announced publically if they are
performed, and the time of such post establishes the time when these
actions occur:
"

with:

"
All of the following actions must be announced publically if they are
performed, and the time of such post establishes the time when these
actions occur.  These transfers are impermissible between the time
a Paradox Win CFJ submitted by the Goose owner is publically knowable
to have been judged TRUE, and the last instant that CFJ may legally be
appealed:
"

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 11:13:23 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: Leaving

>
>I can easily write a script that would send mesages to appropriate
>newsgroups while we speak (harfy and politcal newsgroups are best, though
>legal and techincal/programmer *chat* newsgroups would be good too.  spam
>alt.fan.tmbg anyone?) if someone wants to draw up a blurb.  The text of
>Malenkai's Ackanomic Page and CnH's nomic essay (internal church document)
>would both be a good starting point for creating a blurb.

I don't know whether you are including it as "harfy," but
rec.games.pbm would seem to be a logical place, as might be
some other rec.games.* newsgroups.  I know I found out about
Ackanomic on rgp.

ThinMan

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 10:33:34 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Inventor: building new gadget

> > I'm building a Pyraic Frobnotzer.  It'll be done Saturday night.
> > 
> > --Mohammed
> 
> Has this blueprint existed one week?  It seems that I just announced
> the Inventor appointment last Friday. 
	On Saturday, it will have existed one week.  Isn't that sufficient?

- --Mohammed (comprehensively challenged)

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 19:09:36 +0200 (EET)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: Leaving

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Bollinger, John C. wrote:

> >
> 
> I don't know whether you are including it as "harfy," but
> rec.games.pbm would seem to be a logical place, as might be
> some other rec.games.* newsgroups.  I know I found out about
> Ackanomic on rgp.
> 
> ThinMan
>
I found out on comp.ai.games. 
However, nowadays, that group has to put up with too many clueless people
who post there looking for cheat sheets, game advice or just games in
general, so they're a bit weary of off-topic post. That is usually very
mild mannered.
If you really want to get flamed, try alt.fan.hofstadter, those people
have got it in for nomic (I stopped reading after somewhere during
the climax of the third 'this' thread, kinda wears thin after a while).

Niccolo Flychuck

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 12:14:51 -0500 (EST)
From: mr cwm <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC Reserve Banking

Thanks for the comments, Niccolo Flychuck.  (Whenever I type that, I feel
I should write a rule allowing players with spaces in their names to be
addressed by the string up to the first space.)  I've edited out most of
the proposed proposal, and addressed, or at least responded, to your
concerns.

- -mr cwm

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Niccolo Flychuck wrote:

>
>Still seems that you are creating money out of thin air, where are the
>limits, and where is the forehead tie-in?

Um ... yes.  I think that's where money comes from.  But as long as people
are willing to take it, it doesn't matter.

>> 
>> --------
>> 
>
>So what we've got here is the American Presidential election system. I'm
>not sure I like this, I'd prefer to have something less RL.
>

... except that the bottom of the ticket actually does something :)  I
guess I'd like something less RL, too, but just adding one more office
with all the same mechanisms as the others seemed boring.  Suggestions?
Or should we stick with the same old processes?

>> 
>> The Priviledge of the Office of Treasurer is to name the Exchange Rate. 
>Based on what? whim?
>
>

It would be difficult to set the first one.  But after that, one should be
able to adjust it up and down depending on the flow of AsSPEC foreheads in
or out of the Treasury.  (Or, in other words, yes.) 

>I'll comment on the section below alltogether. The way I read this, all
>you are doing is setting up an office that fixes the price of foreheads,
>while in effect, as long as there is a forehead in the treasury, we just
>print money with no limit, at least I could  not find one. 
>Niccolo Flychuck
>

Right. There is no fixed limit.  But if it everyone has more cash on hand
than they need, I'd expect a tendancy to buy all the AsSPEC forheads from
the Treasury (which ought to trigger some kind of crisis).  The limit is
psychological ... how much cash do we feel we need to keep in our
accounts?  Or would we rather buy a AsSPEC forehead for $100 beause we
fear salaries are going to $1000, and expect the exchange rate will have
to go to $1200 to keep the Treasury's AsSPEC forheads form being cleaned
out.  (Note that the limit we have now is pretty much meaningless.)

- -mr cwm

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 21:19:42 +0200 (EET)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC Reserve Banking

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, mr cwm wrote:

> Thanks for the comments, Niccolo Flychuck.  (Whenever I type that, I feel
> I should write a rule allowing players with spaces in their names to be
> addressed by the string up to the first space.)  I've edited out most of
Many players are doing this already, I suppose game custom is assumed to
allow it.

> the proposed proposal, and addressed, or at least responded, to your
> concerns.
> 
> -mr cwm
> 
> On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Niccolo Flychuck wrote:
> 
> >> 
> >> --------
> >> 
> >
> >So what we've got here is the American Presidential election system. I'm
> >not sure I like this, I'd prefer to have something lessRL.
> >
> 
> ... except that the bottom of the ticket actually does something :)  I
> guess I'd like something less RL, too, but just adding one more office
> with all the same mechanisms as the others seemed boring.  Suggestions?
> Or should we stick with thesame old processes?

For this point I have no suggestions at this time. Would rather have the
exchange rate based on some game events, existence of entities, at least
to set some sort of range.

If it doesn't reflect anything then it has no relation the eckonomy and
becomes just another number to track.
 > 
> >> 
> >> The Priviledge of the Office of Treasurer is to name the Exchange Rate. 
> >Based on what? whim?
> >
> >
> 
> It would be difficult to set the first one.  But after that, one should be
> able to adjust it up and down depending onthe flow of AsSPEC foreheads in
> or out of the Treasury.  (Or, in other words, yes.) 
> 
> >I'll comment on the section below alltogether. The way I read this, all
> >you are doing is setting up an office that fixes the price of foreheads,
> >while in effect, as long as there is a forehead in the treasury, we just
> >print money with no limit, at least I could  not find one. 
> >Niccolo Flychuck
> >
> 
> Right. There is no fixed limit.  But if it everyone has more cash on hand
> than they need, I'd expect a tendancy to buy all the AsSPEC forheads from
> the Treasury (which ought to trigger some kind of crisis).  The limit is
> psychological ... how much cash do we feel we need to keep in our
> accounts?  Or would we rather buy a AsSPEC forehead for $100 beause we
> fear salaries are going to $1000, and expect the exchange rate will have
> to go to $1200 to keep the Treasury's AsSPEC forheads form being cleaned
> out.  (Note that the limit we have now is pretty much meaningless.)
Cleaned out? but you're just creating money with no limit, how can it be
cleaned out. 
Any single player can just create tons of cash with this, flood the market
until we're up to our ears in A$, and then money will really become
meaningless.
I'm not talking about the money being created out of thin air, that's bad
enough. 
Study the following scenario:
 player x gets elected Treasurer he sets the exchange rate at A$100,
all foreheads, except for one perhaps, aretransferred from the treasury to
to players. Itis possible to keep transferring back and forth.
After the next elections the new Treasurer, or the same one, sets the
exchange rate to A$100,000
Naturally, all foreheads will be transferred back to the Treasury, the
market is flooded, and since anyone can buy anything, currency effectually
loses all its buying power.
All the next Treasurers set much lower exhcange rates, so all that
currency just can't be gotten rid of.

What have we achieved?

While I agree that the current limit is too high to be a real block, a
limit is certainly needed, otherwise currency is meaningless.

Niccolo Flychuck

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 15:33:45 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC Reserve Banking

> Thanks for the comments, Niccolo Flychuck.  (Whenever I type that, I feel
> I should write a rule allowing players with spaces in their names to be
> addressed by the string up to the first space.)
	That wouldn't save you from having to type pTang1001001sos every 
time you wanted to refer to that player, though.
	I ran into a problem while writing the nomic bot; if I were to
write it so that it breaks commands at the spaces, anyone offering a trade
to Niccolo Flychuck would be out of luck.  Now I have it so that anything
can be referred to by a string of characters that is "equivalent" to its
name by the rules (although I couldn't find a way to implement the
plural/singular part of the equivalency check): 

Trade A$500 to niccolo-flychuck for whamiol-3.
Rent whamiol to mr*cwm for (A$500, pyraicfrobnOtzer) over 2 weeks.

If it is utterly important to have a spaced name (e.g., you're creating a 
trinket and want to have the name exactly correct so that it will appear 
correctly on the web page), you can use quotes:

Trinket "Small Brown Paper Bag" worth $1 :
	This is a small bag with practically
	nothing special about it.  However, there
	is an enticing aroma coming from it, so
	perhaps something of worth is inside.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 17:41:43 -0500 (EST)
From: mr cwm <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC Reserve Banking (Informal names)

I don't mind using full names for official business, and pTang1001001sos
was kind of fun to type (as was Simon Marty Harriman).  But somehow saying
"Thanks, Niccolo Flychuck" seems a grating mix of formality and
informality.  "Thanks, Niccolo" sounds much better.  On the other hand,
I'm not sure I'd want to be addressed as '"mr".

- -mr cwm

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Mohammed wrote:

>> Thanks for the comments, Niccolo Flychuck.  (Whenever I type that, I feel
>> I should write a rule allowing players with spaces in their names to be
>> addressed by the string up to the first space.)
>	That wouldn't save you from having to type pTang1001001sos every 
>time you wanted to refer to that player, though.
>	I ran into a problem while writing the nomic bot; if I were to
>write it so that it breaks commands at the spaces, anyone offering a trade
>to Niccolo Flychuck would be out of luck.  Now I have it so that anything
>can be referred to by a string of characters that is "equivalent" to its
>name by the rules (although I couldn't find a way to implement the
>plural/singular part of the equivalency check): 
>
>Trade A$500 to niccolo-flychuck for whamiol-3.
>Rent whamiol to mr*cwm for (A$500, pyraicfrobnOtzer) over 2 weeks.
>
>If it is utterly important to have a spaced name (e.g., you're creating a 
>trinket and want to have the name exactly correct so that it will appear 
>correctly on the web page), you can use quotes:
>
>Trinket "Small Brown Paper Bag" worth $1 :
>	This is a small bag with practically
>	nothing special about it.  However, there
>	is an enticing aroma coming from it, so
>	perhaps something of worth is inside.
>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 18:53:39 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Bond Yields

Bond yields and payoffs.  Current player balances are on my web page
(which still has no background).  I need the undead balances from the
acting or ex-financier.

Malenkai
assistant financier
- ---------------------------------------------
Yield or debt per PFBond for the last 2 weeks
- ---------------------------------------------
 .71  Niccolo Flychuck     A   (Uri Bruck)
 .65  Malenkai             A   (Randy Hall)
 .58  Guy Fawkes           Ag  (Robert Shimmin)
 .39  /dev/joe             A   (Joseph DeVincentis)
 .36  ThinMan              A   (John Bollinger)
 .33  mr cwm               A   (Eric Murray)
 .30  Mohammed             A   (Jason Orendorff)
 .10  Brinjal              A   (Simon Clarke)
 .10  breadbox             A   (Brian Raiter)
 .05  Habeous Corpus       A   (Ed Graham)
 .04  IdiotBoy             A   (Matt Miller)
 .03  fnord                A   (Michael Thomas)
 .01  Calvin N Hobbes      A   (Thierry Joffrain)
 .01  Bascule              Nv  (Matt Black)
 .01  Robert Sevin         Nv  (Mitchell Harding)
- -.165 snowgod              A   (Phil Ackley)

- -------------------------------------------------------

Profit/Loss based on holdings (good thing I buried those snowgod bonds)

Bascule: A$1
breadbox: A$10
Brinjal: A$10
CnH: A$1
/dev/joe: A$43
fnord: A$4
Guy Fawkes: A$64 (-A$4 goose = A$60)
Habeous: A$4
IdiotBoy: A$13
Malenkai: A$52
Mohammed: A$21
mr cwm: A$33
Niccolo: A$36
Robert: A$1
snowgod: A$22
ThinMan: A$39

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 18:15:34 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Bond Yields

> ---------------------------------------------
>  .71  Niccolo Flychuck     A   (Uri Bruck)
>  .65  Malenkai             A   (Randy Hall)
>  .58  Guy Fawkes           Ag  (Robert Shimmin)
>  .39  /dev/joe             A   (Joseph DeVincentis)
>  .36  ThinMan              A   (John Bollinger)
>  .33  mr cwm               A   (Eric Murray)
>  .30  Mohammed             A   (Jason Orendorff)
	I'll be happy to buy bonds off any of these great folks for A$5 
apiece.  Sell now-- inflation is going to hit hard when more Gadgets are 
available on the market; it'll pay to have cash on hand!

- --Mohammed

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 20:29:19 -0500 (EST)
From: mr cwm <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC Reserve Banking

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Niccolo Flychuck wrote:

>> 
>> ... except that the bottom of the ticket actually does something :)  I
>> guess I'd like something less RL, too, but just adding one more office
>> with all the same mechanisms as the others seemed boring.  Suggestions?
>> Or should we stick with thesame old processes?
>
>For this point I have no suggestions at this time. Would rather have the
>exchange rate based on some game events, existence of entities, at least
>to set some sort of range.
>
>If it doesn't reflect anything then it has no relation the eckonomy and
>becomes just another number to track.

Maybe this whole thing is too RL, but I've always found this a
particularly interesting aspect of RL, even though there isn't any of it
going on any more (that I'm aware of).  If the Treasurer doesn't have the
ability to set the Exchange Rate according to their view of the player's
desire to hold cash, then there could be a situation where the Treasurer
is prevented from stopping a run on AsSPEC foreheads, even though an
adjustment of the Exchange Rate could do it. 

>> 
>> Right. There is no fixed limit.  But if it everyone has more cash on hand
>> than they need, I'd expect a tendancy to buy all the AsSPEC forheads from
>> the Treasury (which ought to trigger some kind of crisis).  The limit is
>> psychological ... how much cash do we feel we need to keep in our
>> accounts?  Or would we rather buy a AsSPEC forehead for $100 beause we
>> fear salaries are going to $1000, and expect the exchange rate will have
>> to go to $1200 to keep the Treasury's AsSPEC forheads form being cleaned
>> out.  (Note that the limit we have now is pretty much meaningless.)
>Cleaned out? but you're just creating money with no limit, how can it be
>cleaned out.

Sorry, I meant cleaned out of AsSPEC foreheads.
 
>Any single player can just create tons of cash with this, flood the market
>until we're up to our ears in A$, and then money will really become
>meaningless.
>I'm not talking about the money being created out of thin air, that's bad
>enough. 
>Study the following scenario:
> player x gets elected Treasurer he sets the exchange rate at A$100,
>all foreheads, except for one perhaps, aretransferred from the treasury to
>to players. Itis possible to keep transferring back and forth.
>After the next elections the new Treasurer, or the same one, sets the
>exchange rate to A$100,000
>Naturally, all foreheads will be transferred back to the Treasury, the
>market is flooded, and since anyone can buy anything, currency effectually
>loses all its buying power.
>All the next Treasurers set much lower exhcange rates, so all that
>currency just can't be gotten rid of.
>
>What have we achieved?
>
>While I agree that the current limit is too high to be a real block, a
>limit is certainly needed, otherwise currency is meaningless.
>

I thought of that.  That's why I made the Senate confirm Exchange Rate,
and pointed out that the Supreme Court could overturn it by AOJ, and built
in a three day lag before it goes into effect, so we can see it coming. So
now seven (well, five or six) players need to agree to destroy the
economy.  Which doesn't make it impossible, but what happens in RL when a
stunt like this is tried?  A Bank Holiday is declared.  That is, the rules
of RL are suspended until it can get fixed. That's why I suggested a
Consitutuional Convention or Crisis Declaration to deal with this
situation - something no one wants (so it's a deterrent) but that can fix
things up. 

I think this would achieve a more interesting limit than one we have now. 
And ... hmmm.  It would add another dimension to the A$.  The supply
could expand and contract according to how much we wanted them, rather
than being fixed at some ludicrously large amount, so most of them sit in
some kind of resevoir.  And I think the psychological element, and,
admittedly, the danger of a run, would make things more ... interesting,
which I guess I've already said.

- -mr cwm

P.S. Real currencies have no physical limit, and they don't seem to be
meaningless.  Their limit is what the people will hold, and a truly "hard"
currency provides the tools one needs to see what that is.  (I think.)

------------------------------

End of Ackanomic Digest V1 #347
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