Subject: Ackanomic Digest V1 #441
From: [email-masked] (Ackanomic Digest)
To: ackanomic-digest

Ackanomic Digest       Tuesday, January 7 1997       Volume 01 : Number 441

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 00:05:02 -0600
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Acka: *ping* 

Today is Monday, the 6th day of January, in the Year of Our Lord 1997, 
and the Machine That Goes *ping* Has Gone *ping* today. 
Since I have been scholar, the Machine has gone *ping* 1 times. 

/dev/joe
Scholar of *ping*

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 00:53:40 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Modesty, etc. 

>IMO a modest proposal does not radically change the game environment of
>Ackanimic.
>for example I like Fly-under, It funny, its interesting, and it's witty, I
>would call
>modest.  If under later circumstances the air under Acka were to become
>important that could change.  What is modest to one player is not modest to
>another

First of all, thank you for the kind words about my proposal... Buyt now
for a word about modesty, or at least what I feel about modesty.

Tom me a modest proposal in one that fixes what should have been done right
in the first place or adds a small touch to the rules.  I almost never
declare a proposal to create a new rule as modest (unless it were a bug fix
rule), but neither do I declare a proposal grandiose just because I really
like it :)

Elder brinjal introduced Modest proposals when invented when laywers like
Malenkai and /dev/joe were raking in obscene amounts of points for
submitting miniscule bug fix proposals like:

Amend R789 by replaces the first occurance of '21' with '21.9' (no offense
guys)

These proposals needed to be made, but no one really wanted them to be
scored the same way as regular proposals. Hence the modesty.

Grandiose proposals were added as a modest touch to the modesty rule,
allowing a player to designate one of hius works as particularly
spectactacular (I would have made BOB grandiose :)

Anyhow, I don not consider fly under to be modest.  It creates a new rule,
makes a few people laugh, and possibly makes a small change in the
gamestate.  If I can do all of that and still get it to pass, I feel I
deserve the whole reward :)

snowgod

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 01:59:52 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: P1583 passes 

Quorum achieved: 21 Eligible voters - 13 Players cast votes
7 YES votes - 2 NO votes - 5 PRESENT votes - Proposal Passes

Proposal 1583 - Thu 19 Dec 12:49 CST 1996
Loopholes for Sale
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Malenkai Gains 5 points:

YES Votes:
- ---------

Guy Fawkes                   (None Yet)
Niccolo Flychuck             Vulcan
ThinMan                      Vulcan
/dev/joe                     Vulcan
Malenkai                     Harf
Vulcan Unity Vote
Habeous Corpus

NO Votes:
- --------
Mohammed
Lestrade

PRESENT Votes:
- -------------

Swann
Robert Sevin                 Harf
snowgod                      (None Yet)
breadbox
AirHead                      Harf

Abstentions:
- -----------

23 Skidoo
Bascule
Clairence
Techno                       Harf
mr cwm                       (None Yet) (vacationing)
Calvin N Hobbes              Harf
fnord
Jammer

New Players Who Are Not Yet Active:
- ----------------------------------
BuzzBee
G. Peefalt
Strider

[Am I forgeting anyone?]

Text of Passed Proposal:
- -----------------------
         This is a Modest proposal.

     Create a new rule which reads:

     {{

     Amend the Blueprint for "Vending Machine" in the following ways:

     1) remove all occurrances of the following text:

     "
     A Player can equip eir Vending Machine to sell other items, if the
     technology exists.
     "

     [let the technology, when it comes to exist as specified by the
     rules, define how it attaches itself to the vending machine.]

     2) Add the following text before the period that terminates the
     first sentence of the final paragraph of the Blueprint.

     "
     , so long as the specified Vending Machine is equipped to vend the
     specified item.
     "
     }}

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 02:02:30 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: P1584 Fails 

Quorum achieved: 21 Eligible voters - 13 Players cast votes
4 YES votes - 4 NO votes - 5 PRESENT votes - Proposal Passes

Proposal 1584 - Thu 19 Dec 12:49 CST 1996
Creation of a PartyChessPiece DiscoBall
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

Guy Fawkes loses 7 points:

YES Votes:
- ---------

Guy Fawkes                   (None Yet)
snowgod                      (None Yet)
/dev/joe                     Vulcan
Malenkai                     Harf

NO Votes:
- --------
Mohammed
AirHead                      Harf
Niccolo Flychuck             Vulcan
ThinMan                      Vulcan

PRESENT Votes:
- -------------

Swann
Robert Sevin                 Harf
Lestrade
breadbox
Habeous Corpus

Abstentions:
- -----------

23 Skidoo
Bascule
Clairence
Techno                       Harf
mr cwm                       (None Yet) (vacationing)
Calvin N Hobbes              Harf
fnord
Jammer

New Players Who Are Not Yet Active:
- ----------------------------------
BuzzBee
G. Peefalt
Strider

[Am I forgeting anyone?]

Text of Passed Proposal:
- -----------------------

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 02:08:36 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: P1586 Fails 

Quorum achieved: 21 Eligible voters - 12 Players cast votes
2 YES votes - 9 NO votes - 2 PRESENT votes - Proposal FAILS

Proposal 1586 - Thu 19 Dec 12:50 CST 1996
Birdhouse in your Soul
G. Peefalt (Aaron Morris)

[Does submitting a proposal make a player active now?]

G. Peefalt loses 7 points:

YES Votes:
- ---------

Guy Fawkes                   (None Yet)
snowgod                      (None Yet)

NO Votes:
- --------
Mohammed
/dev/joe                     Vulcan
Malenkai                     Harf
Niccolo Flychuck             Vulcan
ThinMan                      Vulcan
Habeous Corpus
Lestrade
AirHead                      Harf
breadbox

PRESENT Votes:
- -------------

Swann
Robert Sevin                 Harf

Abstentions:
- -----------

23 Skidoo
Bascule
Clairence
Techno                       Harf
mr cwm                       (None Yet) (vacationing)
Calvin N Hobbes              Harf
fnord
Jammer

New Players Who Are Not Yet Active:
- ----------------------------------
BuzzBee
G. Peefalt (???)
Strider

[Am I forgeting anyone?]

Text of Passed Proposal:
- -----------------------

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 02:05:26 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: P1585 Passes 

Quorum achieved: 21 Eligible voters - 12 Players cast votes
7 YES votes - 2 NO votes - 4 PRESENT votes - Proposal Passes

Proposal 1585 - Thu 19 Dec 12:49 CST 1996
Otzma Card Type Fix My Gadget
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

Guy Fawkes gains 10 points:

YES Votes:
- ---------

Guy Fawkes                   (None Yet)
/dev/joe                     Vulcan
Malenkai                     Harf
Niccolo Flychuck             Vulcan
ThinMan                      Vulcan
Habeous Corpus
Vulcan Unity Vote

NO Votes:
- --------
Mohammed
snowgod                      (None Yet)

PRESENT Votes:
- -------------

Swann
Robert Sevin                 Harf
Lestrade
AirHead                      Harf

Abstentions:
- -----------

23 Skidoo
Bascule
Clairence
Techno                       Harf
mr cwm                       (None Yet) (vacationing)
Calvin N Hobbes              Harf
fnord
Jammer
breadbox

New Players Who Are Not Yet Active:
- ----------------------------------
BuzzBee
G. Peefalt
Strider

[Am I forgeting anyone?]

Text of Passed Proposal:
- -----------------------

     1. This rule defines an Otzma Card type called "Fix My Gadget."
     2. This card is played in the public forum. When a player plays
     this card, he unamibiguously identifies a currently broken [as
     opposed to destroyed] Gadget. Upon the playing of this card, that
     Gadget is no longer broken.
     3. Counter-Action: The Gadget that was repaired is once again
     broken.
     4. At any time there may be no more than 5 "Fix My Gadget" cards.

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 02:11:41 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: P1587 Passes 

Quorum achieved: 21 Eligible voters - 12 Players cast votes
9 YES votes - 2 NO votes - 3 PRESENT votes - Proposal FAILS

Proposal 1587 - Thu 19 Dec 12:50 CST 1996
Methinks the Priests have been bilking the flock; I'd ask for a refund
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Malenkai gains 5 points:

YES Votes:
- ---------

Guy Fawkes                   (None Yet)
AirHead                      Harf
breadbox
Mohammed
/dev/joe                     Vulcan
Malenkai                     Harf
Niccolo Flychuck             Vulcan
ThinMan                      Vulcan
Vulcan Unity Vote

NO Votes:
- --------
Habeous Corpus
Lestrade

PRESENT Votes:
- -------------

Swann
Robert Sevin                 Harf
snowgod                      (None Yet)

Abstentions:
- -----------

23 Skidoo
Bascule
Clairence
Techno                       Harf
mr cwm                       (None Yet) (vacationing)
Calvin N Hobbes              Harf
fnord
Jammer

New Players Who Are Not Yet Active:
- ----------------------------------
BuzzBee
G. Peefalt (???)
Strider

[Am I forgeting anyone?]

Text of Passed Proposal:
- -----------------------

     This is a Modest proposal.

     Amend R 1253, "Tornado", to replace [in the second paragraph of
     the rule]

     "
     If there are no non-Sheltered players, the Tornado has no effect.
     "

     with

     "
     If there are no non-Sheltered players, the Tornado has no effect
     on players' scores as detailed previously in this paragraph.
     "

     [I believe the houses were safe once the Bomb Shelter was
     constructed, for the next Tornado (presumably the Solstice one).

     I do not see the part about the houses being blown away claiming
     precedence over the statement in question, nor do I see a
     precedence conflict between the new house part of the rule and
     this statement, so R 210 does not kick in. Furthermore, I do not
     believe game custom allows the statement in question to be scoped
     exclusively to the paragraph it is referring to, but it scopes to
     the entire ruleset by default.]

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 08:03:10 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Potato

CnH has found the Magic Potato, leaving Habeous Corpus with the
Tuba.

Malenkai

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 08:29:57 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: Fictionary

I vote for:

>6) A congenital growth or mark on the skin, such as a mole or birthmark.
>
ThinMan
Bluffer

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 09:01:12 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Evil Ballot Stuffer Auction

The Evil Ballot Stuffer is complete, and I am calling an Auction of
it now.  The auction will end three days from the time of this
post, or a few hours after the latest public bid.  See R 1023.

All bids should be sent to the public forum.  As for the potential
paradox in the R 1023, I dunno.  I think the game would get stale
without a few glitches, but it certainly was not intentional, and I
would allow "spirit of the game" to render a non-paradoxical 
interpretation anyway.

Malenkai

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 09:11:02 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka:  Proposal 1613

>Proposal 1613
>Internomic Justice Take 3.2
>Habeous Corpus

I oppose this proposal on the grounds that it makes unnecessary work
for an officer, the Praetor.  It calls for requests for internomic
justice to be submitted to the Praetor, but all the Praetor does with
them is repost them publicly.  I urge HC to retract and, if he so
chooses, revise and resubmit.

ThinMan
Praetor
>

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 09:13:27 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka:  Proposal 1615

>
>Proposal 1615
>Internomic Justice Take 3.4
>Habeous Corpus

The language used here does not supercede that of P1613, which appears
to still require the Praetor to repost such messages.  Moreover, this
whole business seems more the realm of the Clerk of the Courts, who
is a functional officer, than of the Praetor, who is a political
officer.

ThinMan
Praetor

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 08:52:46 -0600
From: john duncan <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Regarding Modest and Grandiose Proposals

John Martin Lotz wrote:
> 
> Lestrade wrote
> >

> As you state it, modest proposals can't be made except to edit wording.
> which can be dealt with in other ways.
> 
> IMO a modest proposal does not radically change the game environment of
> Ackanimic.

> While there are corrections to be made in it, look at Proposal 1599, "False
> Modesty", it
> allows a submitter to say if a proposal is Modest then allows anyone else,
> active, to
> chalange it.,

1599-false modesty, if passed, will I believe be a seldom invoked rule.
If someone has a modest opinion of their proposal, I won't disagree or
invoke anything against them. Modesty is not a criterion I use when I
vote on a proposal and the lack of points recieved for voting no will
not influence my vote. The reason I am bringing this up is to create a 
*least common denominator* for defining modest proposals, so that it is
a little more clear what is modest  and what is not.

Lestrade

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 10:11:44 -0500 (EST)
From: mr cwm <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: SVH

To:   Ackanomians
From: mr cwm, wearing a Silly Vacation Hat

I would like to thank snowgod for the lovely Silly Vacation Hat I found
awaiting me upon my return.  It seems a most appropriate SVH, and, despite
an odd attraction I have been feeling toward chimneys since I put it on, I
will wear it with pride for as long as legally possible.

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 10:31:13 -0500 (EST)
From: mr cwm <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Reorg

On Sat, 4 Jan 1997, Airhead wrote:

>John Martin Lotz wrote:
>> 
>> This is to inspire, hopefully, discussion
>> 
>> A) Organization of Rules
>> A rule number is in the form Rule x-9999 where x is
>> a roman alphabetic charaacter and 9 is a Arabic digit.
>> etc. etc.
>
>I like this concept.  My only suggestion would be to number
>the rules in the form of xx-9999 in case more than 26 catagories
>are needed.
>
>AirHead
>(anxiously awaiting the opening kickoff of the san fran - green bay game)
>

I'm tempted to suggest (I suppose I've yielded to that temptation, haven't
I?) that we limit the form to only one x, so as to explicitly prevent more
that 26 categories of rules! :)

- -mr cwm
 wearing a Silly Vacation Hat

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 10:44:53 -0500 (EST)
From: mr cwm <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka:  Proposal 1607

On Sat, 4 Jan 1997, Airhead wrote:

>
>No, I don't think we need to contact him.  As in the real world, it is up
>to the individual to know the laws (ignorance is no defence).
>
>AirHead
>(Celebrating another Cheese-Head victory)
>

(I apologize in advance, but you've pressed a button.)

"Ignorance of the Law is no defence" is a holdover from the days when law
only codified things all "moral" people knew or could figure out for
themselves, anyway.  Personally, I can think of few defences better than
ignorance of current RL US law.  But then, they're not about to make me a
RL judge :)

- -mr cwm
 wearing a Silly Vacation Hat

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 12:32:09 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Web Pages Again

My isp estimates that their new web server will be up on
Wednesday.  In the meantime, let me know if you need any info from
the pages I maintain.

ITW apologizes.

Malenkai
assistant web harfer

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 13:39:17 -0600 (CST)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Re: Acka: P1586 Fails

snowgod wrote:
> Proposal 1586 - Thu 19 Dec 12:50 CST 1996
> Birdhouse in your Soul
> G. Peefalt (Aaron Morris)
> 
> [Does submitting a proposal make a player active now?]

No.  Habeous Corpus's proposal to do that failed.

> Abstentions:
> -----------
> 
> 23 Skidoo
> Bascule
> Clairence
> Techno                       Harf
> mr cwm                       (None Yet) (vacationing)
> Calvin N Hobbes              Harf
> fnord
> Jammer

By my records, mr cwm is no longer on vacation, but 23 Skidoo is on vacation.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 11:51:13 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Ghost (Robert Sevin)

>> I play "manytim". It is now Robert Sevin's turn.
> 
> I challenge this word. I do not believe the Ghost word is contained
> in any word in the Official dictionary.

(Well, neither do I, but you have to admit it was a pretty good bluff.)

Ahem. In response to the challenge, I provide the word "manytimes".

breadbox
beginning to think he should have challenged "anytim" to begin with

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 12:01:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Modesty, etc.

Modesty was added strictly as a method to encourage people to vote for
your proposals, in that it allowed you to waive some of the points you
would otherwise receive. I've always looked upon it as just another
tool available to proposal-writers. (Though admittedly it hasn't
worked all that well for me.... re the discussion of who has the most
failed proposals - I think if we went by percentage instead of volume,
I would have most players beat.)

breadbox

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 12:07:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Senatorial votes

The senate has unanimously approved Jammer's request to purchase 1 kaa
of land.

The senate has also voted in favor of Internomic Proposal 319, also
unanimously.

breadbox
Senator

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 14:12:18 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Regarding Modest and Grandiose Proposals

> grandiose type, so I bagged it.  Perhaps grandiose should be declared by
> someone other than the author, I dunno.
	No; the player submitting a proposal should control his risks
completely. 

- --Mohammed
no longer reading his research mail
working on the acrobot

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 12:12:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Happy Birthdays

> Happy birthdays to whoever may be having a birthday today.  For some
> reason I have it in my head that Breadbox, the dangling conservative
> and Habeous Corpus, first time liberal, are both getting older.

I have no idea how you may have gotten that impression. it is true
that I am getting older, but in actuality my birthday was in August,
not too long after I first joined Ackanomic. The spirit of your
well-wishing is welcome, but I have to admit: it's not my birthday;
it's not today.

breadbox
(And I'm not the only dust my mother raised, either.)

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 14:44:06 -0600 (CST)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Acka: Percentage of Proposals accepted, and Awards

> 
> Modesty was added strictly as a method to encourage people to vote for
> your proposals, in that it allowed you to waive some of the points you
> would otherwise receive. I've always looked upon it as just another
> tool available to proposal-writers. (Though admittedly it hasn't
> worked all that well for me.... re the discussion of who has the most
> failed proposals - I think if we went by percentage instead of volume,
> I would have most players beat.)
> 
> breadbox

snowgod and Calvin N Hobbes have you beat (plus a number of former players).

Percentage of Accepted proposals out of all non-retracted proposals
through 1587, by player, for players with at least 5 proposals:

ThinMan:               24/32  = 75%
Malenkai:             170/228 = 74.6%
/dev/joe:              61/82  = 74.4%
Guy Fawkes:            49/67  = 73.1%
Mohammed:              26/38  = 68.4%
Gumby:                  7/11  = 63.6%
Brinjal:                3/5   = 60%
pTang1001001sos:       21/35  = 60%
Bascule:                8/14  = 57.1%
SnafuMoose:             4/7   = 57.1%
The Governor:           4/7   = 57.1%
Niccolo Flychuck:      55/97  = 56.7%
mr cwm:                 8/15  = 53.3%
this is not a name:    12/23  = 52.2%
The Great Old One:      5/10  = 50%
David Chapman:          4/10  = 40%
Robert Sevin:          37/94  = 39.4%
Techno:                 4/11  = 36.4%
Habeous Corpus:         6/18  = 33.3%
breadbox:               2/6   = 33.3%
Simon Marty Harriman:   3/10  = 30%
snowgod:               21/72  = 29.2%
Calvin N Hobbes:       24/103 = 23.3%
Wayne:                 12/52  = 23.1%
Austin Appleby:         1/5   = 20%
IdiotBoy:               2/12  = 16.7%
Dr McSpong:             1/10  = 10%
chess piece face:       1/11  = 9.1%
Magika:                 1/16  = 6.3%
"Anthony Polito":       0/6   = 0%

Interesting how this tops out at 75%.  The minimum 5 proposals eliminates
a lot of players who only ever wrote 1 or 2 proposals; some of these wrote
only 1 proposal, which was accepted.  The acceptance rate for players who
played only in the very early days is lower than it would have been later
on, because proposal retraction didn't come about until the mid 400's and
about 20 proposals in the 300's and 400's were declared invalid for
various reasons.  (This was also why the first cycle took so much longer
than the later ones...)

By the way, I'm awarding Malenkai another silver stripe for his 170th
accepted proposal.

/dev/joe
Senator, and mad-statistics-keeper

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 12:56:01 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Percentage of Proposals accepted, and Awards

> snowgod and Calvin N Hobbes have you beat (plus a number of former players).
> 
> Percentage of Accepted proposals out of all non-retracted proposals
> through 1587, by player, for players with at least 5 proposals:
> 
> [...]
> breadbox:               2/6   = 33.3%
> [...]

Oh, my; I thought I only had one out of six. My memory must be failing
me in my old age (what with all these extra birthdays I'm having).

breadbox

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 14:59:33 -0600 (CST)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Acka: Scores

Scoring since last report:
Duel: Malenkai +6, Mohammed +3, snowgod -6, Lestrade -3
Jammer -2: retracting P1610
Clairence -3: not reporting what phoebe said
P1576: modest author points for Malenkai
Parade for 1576: 10 points for /dev/joe (trombone), 1 point for everybody else,
  and Malenkai is expected to describe the parade
P1577-1582:
  P1578 modest + harfy
  P1579 harfy + potato
  P1581 short
  P1582 modest
P1583-1587:
  P1583 modest
  P1586 newplayer-author, rejected
  P1587 modest

Current Scores:

Score   Ackanomic Name   Status  Real Name
- -----   --------------      ---  -------------
214     Habeous Corpus       A   (Ed Graham)
174     Guy Fawkes           V   (Robert Shimmin)
144     snowgod              A   (Phil Ackley)
97      Malenkai             A   (Randy Hall)
73      Niccolo Flychuck     A   (Uri Bruck)
55      /dev/joe             A   (Joseph DeVincentis)
42      Swann                A   (Steven Swiniarski)
37      mr cwm               A   (Eric Murray)
34      ThinMan              A   (John Bollinger)
29      Mohammed             A   (Jason Orendorff)
28      Lestrade             A   (John Duncan)
28      AirHead              A   (Eric Freeman)
28      Robert Sevin         A   (Mitchell Harding)
26      Jammer               A   (John Lotz)
22      Techno               A   (Jerome Herrman)
19      Calvin N Hobbes      Ag  (Thierry Joffrain)
15      fnord                A   (Michael Thomas)
11      breadbox             A   (Brian Raiter)
1       Strider              N   (Jason McCulley)
1       BuzzBee             NV   (John Coifman)
1       23 Skidoo            V   (David Thomas Fisher)
- -3      G. Peefalt           N   (Aaron Morris)
- -4      Clairence            A   (Clair Anthony Viglione)
- -14     Bascule              Av  (Matt Black)

Status:
A=Active, N=New, V=Vacationing, IV=Involuntary Vacation, I=On Ice,
D=Dead, R=Returning (non-active), v=Victory Eggplant, g=Chartreuse Goose

/dev/joe

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 16:03:00 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: Percentage of Proposals accepted, and Awards

/dev/joe wrote:

>Percentage of Accepted proposals out of all non-retracted proposals
>through 1587, by player, for players with at least 5 proposals:
>
>ThinMan:               24/32  = 75%
>Malenkai:             170/228 = 74.6%
>/dev/joe:              61/82  = 74.4%
>Guy Fawkes:            49/67  = 73.1%
>Mohammed:              26/38  = 68.4%

[etc.]

In honor of my auspicious position at the top of the list, I am
re-donning my Champion's Cloak.  Addressing me as "Exalted One"
is optional.

ThinMan
(former) Winner but still Champion

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 15:45:50 -0600
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Alternative to Senatorial Consent 

>I believe that such a system would have the advantages of CnH's without any
>of the drawbacks.  Of course, it needs refinement, but I thought it was a
>pretty good idea for one I came up with while showering.

Well, it has the one major drawback that it doesn't address the issue of
proposal volume. My main reason for supporting CnH's scheme would be to
eliminate the number of flawed proposals ever sent to the players. In the
future, with many more players, it would help cut down on the increased
number of proposals having to be dealt with by the players.

Robert Sevin

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 12:53:39 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Fictionary Vote 

I may or may not have sent this out earlier, so here goes again.

I vote for #2, may god have mercy on my soul...

>2) An apparatus on which crushed ore is washed.

snowgod
who doesn't have a clue

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 19:38:11 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Malenkai's Loophole Service

Malenkai's Loophole Service hereby offers to screen any and all
proposals on a voluntary basis.

If the proposal has "please screen" in comments anywhere in it,
Malenkai's Loophole Service will render an opinion as to whether the
proposal will have the intended effect, to the best of our staff of
rules gurus ability to judge the intended effect.

This service will be offered pro bono, and is completely voluntary.
Comments will be rendered publically or privately, as desired.

Malenkai's Loophole Service encourages others with the time and
desire to screen other people's proposals to step forward as well.
If there are no other such individuals who have the time or interest
to do this, that may indicate a flaw in any attempt to make screening
of proposals mandatory :)  

Also, as a fee based service, MLS offers to screen a proposal written
by player X for player Y (player Y paying the fee).  Such screening
will provide a gist of the proposal, as well as the intended effect
screening.

Malenkai's Loophole Service
Acka's first, oldest, only law firm

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 19:21:13 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Automation

> I suppose that the promoter could put in codes if it mattered at the end of
> a proposal for the bots... more work, less fun, but it takes it away from
> the speaker.
> 
> ##mod
> ##enti
> ##etc.
> 
> you get the idea
	I have been following this thread with some interest, since I am 
working on a program to do this and a few other random tasks.  It 
*should* handle trade.  It will *not* handle points.  (Unless I go crazy 
or I keep getting better.  Was that Hemingway?)
	The syntax I would like to use for proposals is

#submit proposal The Title of the Proposal
Proposal text goes here
...
#end

	and for modest or grandiose proposals it would be

#submit modest proposal Here's the Title
Blah Blah Blah
#end

	also I have a new syntax for voting in mind, something like:

#vote 140 y y y n y y n p n n
#vote 150 n n n g g y n n n y
#vote 160 n y

	Which means the person voted YES on 140, 141, 142, 144, 145, etc.
and NO on 143, 146, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, etc.
	If the way you vote is the same as the way I vote (i.e., go 
through your mail for the last week and scribble down your votes on a 
slip of paper) this will be a tremendous help.  'g' stands for 'get'; the 
bot will send this person the text of proposals 152 and 153....

	The main technical problem with the bot at this time is trying to
find out when this accursed computer shuts down at night (and thus how to
use cron to get the bot running again afterwards.)  The computer center
staff believe odin never goes down except for weekly backups.  In reality,
everyone gets the TERM signal at around 2 a.m., after which it's
impossible to get back on for 20 to 45 minutes.  Odd.

- --Mohammed
should be ready to test on Thursday

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 20:22:07 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Ghost (Robert Sevin)

Brian Raiter wrote:

> Ahem. In response to the challenge, I provide the word "manytimes".

"manytimes" is not in the official dictionary.  The game is over.

Jan 06 20:24 EST: +6 Robert Sevin: Wins 6 player Ghost game

Malenkai +8 ghost ref

In terms of Treasure 101, which will be found by the first player to
win 3 different subgames, we have:

Guy Fawkes: +2 (GAD, Ghost)
snowgod: +1 (GAD)
Robert Sevin: +1 (Ghost)

Malenkai
referee

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 20:32:46 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Automation

Jason Orendorff wrote:

>         also I have a new syntax for voting in mind, something like:
> 
> #vote 140 y y y n y y n p n n
> #vote 150 n n n g g y n n n y
> #vote 160 n y
> 
>         Which means the person voted YES on 140, 141, 142, 144, 145, etc.
> and NO on 143, 146, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, etc.
>         If the way you vote is the same as the way I vote (i.e., go
> through your mail for the last week and scribble down your votes on a
> slip of paper)

Yes, but will it work if there are less than 10 proposals per week,
ie, P 166 and 167?

If you vote like me, you vote as soon as the proposals come out,
like this

#vote 166 y
#vote 167 y

like the old nomicbot.

The question is, how do most people vote?  I suppose if we have a bot
again, we will adapt to the way it wants us to vote, but I prefer the
old syntax, because you can see at a glance each vote by proposal #.

Malenkai
who never wants random things automated

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 20:39:54 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P1586 Fails

Joseph W. DeVincentis wrote:

> By my records, mr cwm is no longer on vacation, but 23 Skidoo is
> on vacation.

Yes, and BuzzBee is now On Ice.  The only other vacationing player
is Guy Fawkes.

Malenkai

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 19:48:40 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Automation

On Mon, 6 Jan 1997, Malenkai wrote:
> Yes, but will it work if there are less than 10 proposals per week,
> ie, P 166 and 167?
> 
> #vote 166 y
> #vote 167 y
	The new syntax is not a replacement for the old syntax, but 
rather an extension of it.  You can do the above without any problem.

- --Mohammed

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 20:48:02 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Processing Chips

p1577 +1 Guy Fawkes
p1579 +4 Habeous Corpus
p1581 +3 Robert Sevin
p1585 +4 Guy Fawkes

Malenkai
Financier

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 20:56:30 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Grav. Monopole

I am building another Gravitational Monopole, due to overwhelming
demand from people with dangling houses.

Malenkai
Wizard
who still doesn't know if it will work

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 22:19:38 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Bond Yields

I.  Corrections from the last cycle:

PFHabeous +0.30 A$
PFsnowgod +0.15
PFMohammed -0.03
PFRobert +0.06
PFfnord +0.03

Indicating the following adjustments:

/dev/joe +15
Guy Fawkes +13
Habeous +6
snwogod +5
Mohammed -1
Robert Sevin +6
fnord +3

II.  Bond yields for this cycle. A$ per bond

 .97      Habeous Corpus       A   (Ed Graham)
 .58      Guy Fawkes           V   (Robert Shimmin)
 .65      snowgod              A   (Phil Ackley)
1.01      Malenkai             A   (Randy Hall)
 .42      Niccolo Flychuck     A   (Uri Bruck)
 .36      /dev/joe             A   (Joseph DeVincentis)
 .07      Swann                A   (Steven Swiniarski)
 .01      mr cwm               A   (Eric Murray)
 .15      ThinMan              A   (John Bollinger)
 .19      Mohammed             A   (Jason Orendorff)
 .28      Lestrade             A   (John Duncan)
 .10      AirHead              A   (Eric Freeman)
 .12      Robert Sevin         A   (Mitchell Harding)
 .09      Jammer               A   (John Lotz)
 .01      Techno               A   (Jerome Herrman)
 .01      Calvin N Hobbes      Ag  (Thierry Joffrain)
 .09      fnord                A   (Michael Thomas)
 .03      breadbox             A   (Brian Raiter)
 .01      Strider              N   (Jason McCulley)
 .01      BuzzBee             NV   (John Coifman)
 .03      23 Skidoo            V   (David Thomas Fisher)
(.015)    G. Peefalt           N   (Aaron Morris)
(.01)     Clairence            A   (Clair Anthony Viglione)
 .01      Bascule              Av  (Matt Black)

III.  Dividends/Debt based on portfolio (A$)

23 Skidoo +3
AirHead +10
Bascule +1
breadbox +3
BuzzBee +1
CnH +1
Clairence -1
/dev/joe 36+48.5+1.5 = +86
fnord 8.91 + .03 + .01 + .65 = +9
G. Peefalt -2
Guy 43.5 + 29.1 + 12.6 + 16.25 = +102
Habeous +20
Jammer +9
Lestrade +28
Malenkai +81
Mohammed 15.2 + 13 = +29
mr cwm +1
Niccolo +22
Robert Sevin +12
snowgod 27.3 + 3.8 + 8.4 + 10.1 + .65 = +51
Strider +1
Swann +7
Techno +1
ThinMan 10.1 + 13.5 = +24

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

IV.  As always, the log is available

Malenkai
Financier

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

Date: Mon, 06 Jan 1997 22:21:00 -0500
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Treasure 101

In terms of Treasure 101, which will be found by the first player to
win 3 different subgames, we have:

Guy Fawkes: +2 (GAD, Ghost)
snowgod: +1 (GAD)
Robert Sevin: +1 (Ghost)

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

Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 22:45:42 -0600 (CST)
From: T Joffrain <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Alternative to Senatorial Consent 

At 03:45 PM 06-01-97 -0600, Mitchell Harding wrote:
>>I believe that such a system would have the advantages of CnH's without any
>
>proposal volume. My main reason for supporting CnH's scheme would be to

Argh!

If I get remembered as the guy who introduced the concept of censorship to
Acka, I'm blaiming Malenkai.      :)    [disclaimer: there *is* a smiley!]
I don't mind being remembered as the guy wearing the Crown of Ultimate
Failure though, I'm proud of that.    :o]

I'm having great fun keeping a record of all the negatively/positively
connotated words people like to use to solidify their argument indirectly.
I'm not saying it's bad, I do it,    :)  but I think it has been very
pronounced recently.

"segregated"
"censorship"
"scheme"
"bloated"
"screening"
"tight"
etc, etc, etc...

Calvin N Hobbes
wearing the blessed Crown

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

End of Ackanomic Digest V1 #441
*******************************