Subject: Ackanomic Digest V1 #395
From: [email-masked] (Ackanomic Digest)
To: ackanomic-digest

Ackanomic Digest     Wednesday, December 11 1996     Volume 01 : Number 395

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 08:15:57 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Fat Lady

The Fat Lady is singing.  Rule 790 provides a procedure to 
terminate her permaturely.  Generally I take this opportunity to
do the End of Cycle game state, but that has already been well done
by /dev/joe's post.

The only things I have to add:

The cycle lasted 49 days.  Quite possibly a record in our modern era.
The last Commission d'Arts was called 71 days ago, so the Senate has
7 days to publish another list of nominees.

I will update the end of cycle bonus cash on the speaker page later
today some time.

Malenkai
Speaker
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Joseph W. DeVincentis wrote:
> 
> For the benefit of newcomers, here is the end of cycle procedure from
> Rule 666, which was applied just after all the effects of proposal 1499:
> 
> a) Ackanomic Play is suspended (i.e., other things don't interfere with
>   this procedure)
> b) we get rid of all the chartreuse goose eggs, right-handed grapefruit,
>   and victory eggplants, including those haunted by undead
> c) Malenkai is declared winner of Cycle 9, and gets a right-handed
>   grapefruit and a champion's cloak which immediately turns into a
>   badge of glory
> d) all players with 0 or fewer points get a chartreuse goose egg
>   (Lestrade, Techno, 23 Skidoo, Robert Sevin, and Bascule)
> e) (tax, which doesn't occur since we don't have too much money in
>   circulation)
> f) Each player gets A$ equal to their score minus their eggplant weight
>   (e.w. = 0 for most players; -45 for Malenkai, -15 for Bascule, Mohammed,
>   Robert Sevin, ThinMan and /dev/joe)
> g) No bond payments are given for the score changes since the last bond
>   payments.
> h) Eggplant Weights are recalculated (Malenkai's becomes -60), and players'
>   scores are set to their eggplant weights, and players with negative
>   eggplant weights each get a Victory Eggplant
> i) This bond cycle ends when it normally would have, and it will use the
>   current scores as the score for the previous bond cycle.
> j) All players on vacation the entire cycle are removed from the game (nobody)
> k) The game cycle number is 10, and the Magic Number is 257.
> l) All Gaolbirds break out of Gaol (nobody)
> m) Ackanomic Play resumes.
> 
> /dev/joe

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 07:48:39 -0600
From: "Eric L. Freeman" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Java

Phil Ackley wrote:
> 
> I just got my hands on Roaster, a macintosh JAVA development kit.  I'm just
> learning the language, and am not able to do too much with it yet, but one
> of the sample applets that came with the kit is a JAVA IRC client.  I know
> I could easily modify this to connect to /dev/joe's IRC server rather than
> the default EFnet.
> 
> What I want to know is this...  How manby people have web browsers that
> suppport JAVA.  Or better yet, how many don't?  Would you be interested in
> having a small java applet directly on the ackanomic web page that would
> allow you to connect to an IRC server without having to worry about
> configuring your own client?
> 
> snowgod
> ahead of himself

My browser doesn't support JAVA.

AirHead

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 09:57:56 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: RFC: Internomic stuff

malenkai wrote:

>[email-masked] wrote:
>
>> If the "remaining Pool" is ever reduced to 0 eligible active Players,
>> and a judge needs to be selected,  the Clerck of the Court (CotC) shall
>> send a public message to the Ambassador containing the following:
>
>The odds of the pool being reduced to 0 are virtually nil, especially
>now that we have the Praetor.  I would prefer appeals of Supreme Court
>decisions going to the InCJ.

That makes alot of sense.

ThinMan

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 09:01:01 -0600
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Acka: 

Hubert

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:04:28 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: Evil Twin Syndrome

snowgod wrote:
[I wrote:]
>> Hang on, there.  I thought I was _your_ evil twin.  Wouldn't that
>> make you my _good_ twin?
>
>I had asumed that I was your evil twin, just as you are mine.  However, if
>you would like for me to be your good twin,m I would more than happily
>oblige.  I suppose it all comes down to the queston "Do you consider
>yourseld evil?"

Fair enough.  I suppose I must answer "no" to the question, so I guess
it makes perfect sense to be each other's evil twins.

ThinMan
Thinman's evil twin's evil twin

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:33:56 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka:

Hubert

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:43:26 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka:  YORL update

Mohammed wrote:

>Besides which, the evil here is ambiguous to begin with.  Don't we all do
>this sort of thing from time to time?  Is it *really* evil?

Naturally.  I mean, I have some bozo strapped up in the crawl space
under my house right now.  I would have given him some hormone shots
already, but I just can't seem to find the time.  Maybe tonight.  :-)

ThinMan
>

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 17:48:36 +0200 (EET)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Presidential

On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Malenkai wrote:
> 
> If you would like to volunteer for this office, e-mail me.  The
> nomination lasts for 3 days.
> 
> I was asked to moderate a debate last time.  I will do so this time
> if anyone wants me to.
> 
> Malenkai
> speaker
>
I have already notified Malenkai of my intent to run again for President.
I would like to hold a debate.

I'd like to suggest that we use again the same rules we used for the
previous debate. 
However, the debating rules should be agreeable to all candidates. So if
you're planning to run (anyone), contact me, or have your people call my
people, and we can agree on debating rules.  Prefereably we can get
consent on this before the end of the nomination period.

Niccolo Flychuck

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 17:50:40 +0200 (EET)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Presidents, etc...

On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Mitchell Harding wrote:

> these credentials make me the logical choice for President.
				^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That was my campaign slogan two elections ago.

Niccolo Flychuck
running for President

> 
> And hey, if I'm elected President, I promise to be involved in more duels
> than any previous President has been.
> 
> Robert Sevin, who may or may not be...
> Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat
> 

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 09:49:55 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka:

Hubert

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:52:01 -0500
From: [email-masked] (Super-User)
Subject: Acka: *ping* 

Today is Wednesday, the 11th day of December, in the Year of Our Lord 1996,
and the Machine That Goes *ping* Has Gone *ping* today.
Since I have been scholar, the Machine has gone *ping* 4 times.

Malenkai
Scholar of *ping*

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:06:00 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Lack of quorum reason for rejoicing?

On Tue, 10 Dec 1996, john duncan wrote:

> Then it should be set out on its own. The festival otherwise seems to be
> held for positive reasons.  Perhaps it can be called the "days of
> penance", when everyone should have to wear ashes and sackcloth. :)
> 
> Lestrade

Go ahead and propose it; I'd vote for it.
(of course, some would tell you I vote for just about anything)

Guy Fawkes

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:14:31 -0600
From: "Eric L. Freeman" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Picture for the Gallery

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

- --------------5AC73CC71547
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Here it is: AIRHEAD.JPG

AirHead

- --------------5AC73CC71547
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="AIRHEAD.JPG"

- --------------5AC73CC71547--

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:34:34 -0600
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P1504 Passes 

At 12:06 AM 12/11/1996 -0900, you wrote:
>>>Proposal 1504 - Tue 3 Dec 9:43 CST 1996
>>>Casting Bonus Votes is a Voting Action, and Be Consistent
>>>/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
>>>
>>>Robert Sevin gains 10 points:
>
>make that /dev/joe gains 5 points.
>
>sorry,
>snowgod

I liked it the other way better.

Robert Sevin

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:49:37 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Bond Promissories

Just a matter of nomenclature, but during my "Players" research, I found 
the following:

>1) Every PF associated with em converts into a Bond Promissory in eir 
>Real Life name.

Thus, the BPTechno lying about should be BP Jerome Herrman
and etc., etc.

Guy Fawkes

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 08:39:50 -0900
From: [email-masked] (Phil Ackley)
Subject: Re: Acka: Java 

>> What I want to know is this...  How manby people have web browsers that
>> suppport JAVA.  Or better yet, how many don't?  Would you be interested in
>> having a small java applet directly on the ackanomic web page that would
>> allow you to connect to an IRC server without having to worry about
>> configuring your own client?
>
>I do all of my work over text terminals. For the web I use Lynx 2.6,
>The Only Browser That Matters<tm>. IRC is no problem, but obviously I
>couldn't care less about Java applets.
>
>breadbox
>you asked

That is what I figured for a lot of people.  I often find myself using lynx
too.  The neat thing is that those of us who use lynx will most likely not
have a problem connecting to /dev/joes IRC server anyway.  What I was
looking for was a way to include live chat, and this seemed easy and
painless for a lot of people.

snowgod

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:51:29 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1547 

Proposal 1547 -- Wed 11 Dec 11:51 CST 1996
A Multitude of Web-Harfers
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)

This is a modest proposal.

Amend Rule 411 (Office of the Web-Harfer) by adding the following text
(delimited by quotation marks) to the end of the list of Privileges:

"c) To seek and appoint Assistant Web-Harfers (who must be volunteers) to
help keep the Ackanomic WWW page up-to-date. [This mainly would be, for
example, putting an assistant in charge of the CFJ portion of the page.]"

and add the following text (delimited by quotation marks) to the end of the
list of Duties:

"c) To seek and appoint Assistant Web-Harfers as needed to keep the
Ackanomic WWW page up-to-date. [This is a duty because the Web-Harfer is
obligated to get help when it is needed, rather than let the Ackanomic WWW
page become out-of-date.]"

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:51:55 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1548

Proposal 1548 -- Wed 11 Dec 11:51 CST 1996
More Exciting Endgames
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

[Gist: Under the current point win, one player usually causes the Magic 
Number to skyrocket with repeated misses, with little chance of anyone 
else catching up.  Mohammed's rewrite would further reduce the chance of 
anyone catching up, since the cycle would already be over; I also feel it 
strips the point win of finesse.  Here, I propose a third alternative, 
which might result in some close point wins, "pennant races," for those 
in baseball-playing countries.]

For the purposes of this proposal, "Rule X" refers to Rule 422 if 
Proposal 1539 failed, and Rule 220 if it passed.

Amend Rule X as follows:

Replace all text beginning with the third paragraph with the following, 
delimited by "@*&!" symbols.

@*&!
All integers which can be expressed in the form 257+16i, where i is a 
nonnegative integer, are Magic Numbers.  No other numbers are Magic 
Numbers unless so defined by the rules.

If exactly one player fulfills both of these conditions:
(a) his score is equal to a Magic Number
(b) at no time during the current cycle, his score has been greater than 
that Magic Number
that player wins the current cycle of the game.
@*&! 

In Rule 593 "Ackanomic Research Guild," replace "the Magic Number" with 
"a Magic Number".

In Rule 666 "End of Cycle" change step k) to read in full, "k) The game 
cycle number is incremented by 1."

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:52:12 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1549

Proposal 1549 -- Wed 11 Dec 11:52 CST 1996
Faster Points for Whamiols
Habeous Corpus (Ed Graham)

This is a Modest Proposal

Ammend Rule 201 (Quorum and Activer Players) by replacing the second
paragraph with:

A Player is defined as "active" on if said Player has voted on or made a
Proposal.  Vacationing Players who do not vote,  however,  are not
considered "active" for the purpose of determining quorum.

Habeous Corpus

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:52:28 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: acka: Proposal 1550

Proposal 1550 -- Wed 11 Dec 11:52 CST 1996
Make Room for Capital-Swingers
Niccolo Flychuck

In the rule "Party-Hall"
Replace the text:
"The number of seats in Party Hall will be equal to the number of
Political Parties plus one."

With the text:
"The number of seats in Party Hall will be equal to the number of
Political Parties plus the number of Capital-Swingers plus one. "

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:52:49 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1551

Proposal 1551 -- Wed 11 Dec 11:52 CST 1996
A Sort-of Experiment with the Value of Money (and exploring another idea)
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Create a new rule entitled "Museum", which reads:

"
I.  Ackanomic Museum of Antiquities

The Ackanomic Museum of Antiquities (Museum) exists; it is a classy
building near the Library.  It is a Common Location.  The Museum has 
3 wings: the East Wing, the West Wing, and the McCumber Annex.  The
West Wing is the most prestigious, but the McCumber Annex is sort of
cramped and unused.

II.  Curator

The Financier is the curator of the Museum, and it is a duty of that
office to maintain records of the Museum's inventory, and other relavent
Museum details.

III.  Donation

A player may donate any Gadget, Trinket, or Prosthetic Forehead that
they own to the Museum, by going there and publically announcing which
object(s) they are donating.  All newly donated objects (along with the
name of the associated benefactor) are placed on display in the East
Wing.  The Museum has high standards, so it will not accept Prosthetic
Forehead donations if it already has 15 such pieces on display.  Items
on display in the Museum are not considered in the Treasury.

IV.  Donation Value

Objects on display are valued by the Museum as follows:
a) Prosthetic Foreheads: A$10.
b) Gadgets: The most recent price paid for that type of Gadget at an
auction such that the proceeds of that auction went to the Treasury.
If that value is undefined, its value is A$50.
c) Trinkets: The value the Trinket had when it was donated.  If it
was once part of a Buried Treasure for more than 60 continuous days, it
is an Antiquity, and its value is increased by 30% (fractions truncated),
upon donation, and it is no longer considered to have once been part of
a Buried Treasure for for that length for the purposes of this
sub-section, unless it again acquires that attribute.

V. Benefactor Value and Renaming the East Wing

Each Museum benefactor has a benefactor value (BV), which is the sum
of the value of all objects on display in the East Wing that that 
benefactor donated (the benefactor of record is considered to be the
last player to donate a particular object).  Upon a benefactor's BV
exceeding A$1000, the East Wing is renamed in his honor to his player
name; this rule is amended to replace all occurrances of the string
'East' which directly precede the word "Wing" or are in single quotes,
in this rule with that player's name (the occurrance in single quotes
being replaced last).
  
VI.  Bonus Vote

On the first day of each month, the Museum throws a party honoring its
benefactors.  This is a private gathering.  There are door prizes, but
as the Museum is always tight on funds, they are pretty lame.  The only
one of note is a Bonus Vote, which is awarded to a random benefactor.
Each benefactor's probability of receiving this Vote is their BV divided
by the total BV.  If the total BV is zero, however, no award is bestowed.    
 
VII.  The Value of Winning 

Upon a benefactor's BV exceeding A$5000, all objects donated by that
benefactor are transferred to the West Wing, and a big ceremony, which
is a public gathering, is held.   If this appears to occur simultaneously
with a renaming of the East Wing, however, it will occur an infintestimal
time afterwords instead.  This rule is then amended to replace all 
occurrances of the player's name which directly precede the word "Wing"
or is in single quotes, with the concatenation of the strings
"No" and "rth", and then all occurrances of the string 'West' which
directly precede the word "Wing" or are in single quotes, are
replaced by the player's name.  That player is then declared the winner
of the Cycle.  No player may win a Cycle more than once in this manner,
and if it appears that they otherwise would, no part of this section
preceding this sentence shall apply in that instance.

VIII.  Museum Security

Objects may not be removed or stolen from the Museum except as described
by the rules.  Any person caught stealing from the Museum, as described
in the rules, shall go to Gaol with a sentence of 7 days per object
pilfered, in addition to any other penalties described in the rules.

{{renumber this rule to 850}}
"

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

Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:53:15 -0600 (CST)
From: Guy Fawkes <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Proposal 1552

Proposal 1552 -- Wed 11 Dec 11:53 CST 1996
Players
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

Create a new rule with text as follows:
{{
Perform the following actions, in the order they appear.

- ----

I. [Registered players]
Renumber Rule 218 "Registered Players" to 250.

II. [Player names]

Amend Rule 570's text to that delimited by the ~ symbols.

~
Every player has exactly one Ackanomic name.  This name must be a string 
of name characters from three to twenty characters in length.  Neither 
the first nor the last character in this string may be the space character.
All official nomic business shall use this name to refer to that player.

A player may change his Ackanomic name, so long as the new name complies 
with all appliccable rules.  This shall be accomplished when the player 
announces his old name, new name, real name, and short explanation of the 
change.  The Registrar shall record the change.  When a player changes their 
Ackanomic name, all Ackanomic business will be changed to follow their 
new name.

When choosing or changing their Ackanomic name, no player may take any 
name previously held by any past or present player, unless they are the person 
who was previously registered under that Ackanomic name [no one could take the 
name pTang1001001sos unless they really were the Mark Nau who held that name 
previously.]  It is the Registrar's duty to make sure all names comply with 
this rule, and it is the Registrar's right to reject any name choosing or 
change which violates it. 
~

Renumber Rule 570 to 251.

- ----

III. [Joining the Game]

Create a new rule, entitled "Joining the Game", with text as shown, 
delimited by ~ symbols.

~
A person wishing to join the game should notify the Registrar, 
providing a valid email adress, their real name, and the legal Ackanomic 
name they wish to play under.  Upon them providing this information, the 
Registrar shall post a public message announcing the new player and providing 
their Ackanomic name, real name, and email adress, and if the prospective 
player provided it, how they discovered the game.  Upon the posting of such an 
announcement, the person becomes registered as a player.

If the just-registered player did not legally choose the name of an 
extant Undead as his Ackanomic name, he is a New player.

Upon the regisration of a New player, the following procedure takes 
place, in the order shown.
1) The New player is granted 1 kaa of urban land and a Small building 
thereupon as their legal residence.  This building shall be known as 
their Home.  This building shall also be known as "player name's House", 
where "player name" is replaced by their official Ackanomic name.  A player may 
change the name of this building by publically announcing the new name and 
unambiguously identifying the building they wish to rename.
2) The New player is paid from the Treasury the lesser of A$900 or the 
average A$balance of all other extant players.
3) The New player is given 100 newly created PFBonds associated with 
himself.  The Financier shall assign a label that may be used to refer 
to the PFBonds associated with the New player, although this procedure 
may continue without waiting for him to do so.
4) The Registrar shall select a Mentor for the new player.  The Mentor 
receives A$25 from the Treasury.  

When a player legally takes the name of an Undead, the Undead 
ceases to exist at the time of the naming.  All entities it was haunting 
immediatly prior to its destruction enter the player's possession.
Upon this occurring, the following procedure takes place, in the order shown:

1) All Bond Promissories in that player's real life name are converted to 
PFBonds associated with that player.  Their label is the same as the PFBonds 
whose conversion created the Bond Promissories. 
2) If the player left during the current cycle, his score is the minimum 
of 0 and the score he had upon last leaving the game.  Otherwise, his 
score is -15N, where N is the number of cycles he has won.  If this 
causes his score to be negative, he is given a Victory Eggplant, and his 
Eggplant Weight is set to -15N, where N is defined as above.
~

Renumber the just-created rule to 252. 

In Rule 362 "No Dead Players Allowed", delete all text between the string 
"and treated as if he never joined the game" and the end of the paragraph, 
inclusive. Add a period to the end of this paragraph.

Amend the first paragraph of Rule 1051 "Mentors" to read, "When the 
Registrar must select a Mentor for a new player, he shall follow these guidelines.  
No one may become a mentor except as specified in the rules."  Delete the 
sentence containing the string "A$25" from Rule 1051.  Renumber Rule 1051 
to 253.

Repeal Rule 1026 "New and Returning players".

Delete the paragraph beginning, "Each player who has not previously..." 
from Rule 839 "Buildings".

[This next few bits attempts to account for either the passage of failure of 
reorg-1.  Please scrutinize carefully.]

If Proposal 1539 passed, do the following: (1) Delete the second 
paragraph of Rule 665, section I. (2) Delete the third paragraph of rule 507.
(3) Add "(vii) the name and email address of their Mentor" to the end of 
Rule 409, section (b).
[money, PF's, Registrar]

If Proposal 1539 did not pass, do the following: (1) Delete the second 
paragraph of Rule 480. (2) Delete the third paragraph of rule 481.
(3) Add "(vii) the name and email address of their Mentor" to the end of 
Rule 424, section (b).
[same in current ruleset]

- ----

IV. [Player States]

Create a new rule, entitled, "Player States" with text as follows, 
delimited by ~ symbols.

~
At any given time, exactly one of these three states shall apply to a player.

Pending
Active
Vacation

Upon registration, a player is Pending.  A Pending player becomes Active 
when it becomes publically knowable that he has voted or made a proposal.

Only Active players may be randomly selected for anything.
~

Renumber the just-created rule to 254.

Renumber R457 "Vacation" to 255.

In Rule 306 "The Magic Potato", replace all occurrences of the string, 
"randomly chosen player" with "randomly chosen Active player".

Amend Rule 201, "Quorum and Active Players," to read, "In a vote on a 
proposal the quorum required is 50% of (the sum of the number of 
Vacationing players who voted on the proposal and the number of Active 
players, less the number of players in Gaol)."

- ----

V. [Leaving the Game]

Amend Rule 962.2's text to that delimited by the ~ symbols, and change 
its name to "Leaving the Game."

~
Upon a player leaving, the following procedure takes place, in the order 
shown.
1) All of his mimsy possessions are taken away and considered unowned.
2) The player is removed from all offices.
3) If the player was never at any time Active, all of his A$ are 
transferred to the Treasury, every PFBond associated with him is 
destroyed, every rented entity in his possession reverts to its owner, every 
entity remaining in his possession is destroyed, and then the player is 
deregistered.  In this case, the procedure ends here.
4) If the player was at any time Active, the procedure continues.
5) Every PFBond assiciated with him is converted into a Bond Promissory 
in his real life name.  Bond Promissories are tradeable entities.
6) The player is transformed into an Undead; all entities in the player's 
possession at the time of this transformation are now unowned, in the 
Treasury, and haunted by the Undead.
~ 

Renumber R 962.2 to 256

All Bond Promissories associated with currently registered players become 
PFBonds associated with that player.
}}

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

End of Ackanomic Digest V1 #395
*******************************