Subject: Ackanomic Digest V1 #444
From: [email-masked] (Ackanomic Digest)
To: ackanomic-digest

Ackanomic Digest       Thursday, January 9 1997       Volume 01 : Number 444

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

Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 21:57:47 -0800
From: [email-masked] (John Martin Lotz)
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal Volume Issue

> From: Eric Freeman  wrote
 
> Phil Ackley wrote:
> > 
> > In this post I issue a possible suggestion to the problem of proposal
> > volume affecting newbies entrance into ackanomic.
> > 
> > I suggest that a acka-newbie list is created to which any player under
> > mentorship is subscribed.  Copies of important messages wil be cc: to
this
> > list, as while as messages from experts pointing out important
discussions
> > going on on other lists, etc.  In essence, we will be creating a "what
you
> > need to know" guide for newbies so that they can dive right in *or*
ignore
> > messages on the main list as they feel comfortable doing so.
> > 
> > Though this will serve to actually increase email volume, the net
effect
> > will be to increase the ease with which newbies can digest the large
> > amounts of email. Perhaps the newbie list could have it's own customary
> > subject line (ie, newbie: presidential election).
> > 
> > just tossing out ideas,
> > snowgod
> > who personally enjoys high email volume
> 
> I agree that something should be done to make it easier for us newbies.  
> I have a hard time keeping up with the game (more accuratly: i can't keep
> up with it).  I skim thru the mail, reading some, deleting others, and
filing
> others away (then forgetting about them, oops).  Hopefully my RL job will
> slack up soon (right now in the process of adding 250+ PC's to the WAN).
> 
> One prob., the rule set is so big that only a person with a lot of
leisure time
> could understand it in a short time.
> 
Look at 1508 Just the FAQ's, the office of FAQtotem is well suited to such
a roll

Jammer
Who likes the concept

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

Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 22:14:50 -0800
From: [email-masked] (John Martin Lotz)
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC Updating the Rule Numbering System

> From: Joseph W. DeVincentis wrote:

 Snip
 
> RFC
> Numbering Rules Created by Rules
> /dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
> 
> {{[I am deleting the first section about the promoter; with the P1606
fix,
> the promoter rule will handle it.  I'm also overhauling the rest of the
> rule, which is seriously out of date with the rest of our rules in this
> area, and overly wordy.  Also explicitly allow proposals to assign
> numbers to new rules they create.]}}
> 
> Amend rule 453 by changing the title to "Rule Numbering" and
> changing the body to read:
> 
> I. Each rule has an effective ordinal number, hereafter referred to
simply as
> the rule's number.  Rule numbers and proposal numbers are unownable
entities.
> Only numbers of the form 'X' or 'X.Y', where X and Y are any positive
> integers, are valid rule numbers.
> 
> II. When a rule change in an accepted proposal creates a new rule, it is
> numbered as follows:
> 
>   1. If the proposal specifies that the new rule is to be a member of
>   "<phrase> Rule Suite", and a Head of a Rule Suite rule exists named
>   "<phrase> Rule Suite", then that new rule is numbered X.Y, where X is
the
>   rule number of that Head of a Rule Suite, and Y is the least positive
>   integer such that X.Y is not the number of any other rule.
>   
>   2. Otherwise, if the proposal specifies a valid rule number for the new
>   rule, and that number is not already the number of another rule, then
the
>   new rule is assigned that number.
>   
>   3. Otherwise, if this is the only new rule created by any rule change
in
>   the proposal that would not be numbered by part 1 or 2 above, then the
>   new rule uses the proposal's number as its rule number if no other rule
>   already has that number.
>   
>   4. Any new rule not given a number by part 1, 2, or 3 above is numbered
>   X.Y, where X is the number of the proposal that created it, and Y is
the
>   least positive integer such that X.Y is not the number of any other
rule.
> 
This portion of the RFC reads like a Nested If statement

If  Proposer submits a proposed rule said to be within a Rule suite
	and Rule Suite exists
		then the rule is numbered X.Y
Else 
	If Rule specifies it's rule number and the Rule number is Valid and unique
		then the Rule is given that number
Else
	If Rule is not specified it is given the number of the Proposal
Else
	the Proposal is numbered X.Y (According to a different set of rules then
	the first X.Y)

I fail to see how this simplifies thing or organizes things.

As stated a proposal could be numbered anything, and the research needed
to trace it would be impressive.

Jammer

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 08:35:52 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: RFC Updating the Rule Numbering System

>
>One caveat: the phrase "whole number" is usually construed to include
>zero. "Positive integer" does not.

Actually, the usage I'm familiar with makes "positive integer"
specifically exclude zero.  If one wants to include zero, then
"non-negative integer" is used.  Also I seem to remember that
zero actually is a member of the whole numbers, although not a member
of the natural numbers, but perhaps I misremember.  It has been awhile.
If I remember correctly, then "whole number" is fine after all.

ThinMan
>

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 05:51:03 -0800 (PST)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: RFC Updating the Rule Numbering System

>> One caveat: the phrase "whole number" is usually construed to include
>> zero. "Positive integer" does not.
> 
> Actually, the usage I'm familiar with makes "positive integer"
> specifically exclude zero.  If one wants to include zero, then
> "non-negative integer" is used.  Also I seem to remember that
> zero actually is a member of the whole numbers, although not a member
> of the natural numbers, but perhaps I misremember.  It has been awhile.
> If I remember correctly, then "whole number" is fine after all.

Reread what I said.

{whole numbers} = {non-negative integers} = {0} U {positive integers}

/dev/joe specifically excluded zero from being used in either half of
a rule number. I think that this is what we want.

b

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 09:06:22 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: RFC Updating the Rule Numbering System

breadbox wrote:

>Reread what I said.
>
>{whole numbers} = {non-negative integers} = {0} U {positive integers}
>
>/dev/joe specifically excluded zero from being used in either half of
>a rule number. I think that this is what we want.

You're right.  I misread what you wrote.  My apologies.  At least
we agree on which numbers are in which sets :)

ThinMan

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 14:55:32 -0800
From: [email-masked] (John Martin Lotz)
Subject: Acka,:   FAQ's and Newbies

I'm working on a site to supply basic information on playing
Ackanomic.  Details such as how to join, what a new player
gets upon joining, how to submit a proposal, how to vote etc.

Does anyone have any other stuff they want to have included.

Jammer

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:01:02 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka:  Proposal 1618

Proposal 1618
Reorganization IIa
Malenkai

[
I.  This is a continuation of Reorg I and "Players".  The idea is
to move some more stuff near its brothers.  As for xx.yyy, etc, my
personal preference is to have no more than one "." in rule number.
This reorg does a logical grouping and does not worry about that
issue for now.  The idea here is that its fairly easy to learn that
locations are in the 800s, players in the 250s, Judgement in the low
200s, crime in the 700s, etc, and the "." isn't needed until a cluster
gets crowded.

II.  It leaves open some issues:

1) Seperate vs single rule documents.  This preserves the single rule
document concept that acka uses, and many players like.

2) Drift.  What about new rules, and where they go.  I have been counting
on people placing self-renumbering clauses in their new rules.  This
is where the descretion should be, IMO, so that both the content and
organization can be reasons to vote no (in other words, write a good
rule, and be clear as to where it belongs).  Ulitmately, then, reorg
descretion is with the voters.

This proposal, then, does not address the issue of giving some player
or players the power to renumber rules; that is a seperate issue
and is not its intent.

3) Logical Rule Order.  We can defer whether or not we want to do this.
I believe we can accomplish the same thing by chapter heading rules in
our rules.  Again, that issue is beyond the scope of this reorg.

III.  What I am trying to do here.

1.  Move some of the meta rules, and other rules dealing with proposals
and voting and rule organization into the 300s.  There is nothing related
to that stuff in the 300s now, they are in the mid 400s and scattered.
The first thought was to move the scatter into the mid 400s, but I find
it a better idea to move this stuff into the 300s, as it seems more meta,
and helps the rules by 100s byte count.  There are a few oddballs in the
300s now, which all have logical places to go elsewhere anyway.

2.  Move e-mail related stuff into the high 300s.  More meta stuff that
is now scattered.

3.  Move all entities someplace. 900s to 1000s sounds good.  Entites
are scattered now, and 900s to 1000s will be freed up.

Thats the controversial stuff in my mind.  The rest is just clustering
stuff around where it currently is anyway.
]

I.  [Proposal/Voting and Rule Meta-Rules, other meta rules]
- -----------------------------------------------------------
renumber R 452, "Proposal and Rule Titles" to 301
renumber R 453, "Proposal and Rule Numbering" to 303
renumber R 454, "For Personal Glory..." to 305
renumber R 455, "Revision Numbers" to 307
renumber R 1325, "Substantially Similar Proposals" to 309
renumber R 1307.1, "Rule Suites" to 311 [great band]
renumber R 793, "Proposal Bribery" to 313
renumber R 554, "Tammany" to 315
renumber R 1386, "Bonus Votes" to 317
renumber R 1457, "Unanimity Is Lovely (although not so lovely as it used to
be)" to 319
renumber R 450, "Retractions" to 330
renumber R 451, "Spelling Errors" to 340
renumber R 1022, "Spelling Bee" to 342
renumber R 545, "Notes and Comments" to 344
renumber R 546, "Self Deleting Text" to 346
renumber R 703, " " to 348
renumber R 1396, "Hearings" to 360
renumber R 629, "Crisis Resolution" to 362

II.  [E-mail/ettiquite]
- -----------------------
renumber R 901, "No E-mail, No Game" to 370
renumber R 622, "Customary Subject Line" to 372
renumber R 400, "Politeness Moon" to 374
renumber R 1311, "Time Zone" to 380 [a bit of a stretch, got a better
idea, it is 'meta']

III.  [Actual Entities (and their related rules)]
- -------------------------------------------------
renumber R 306, "The Magic Potato" to 901
renumber R 495, "Gumball" to 903
renumber R 549, "The Blue Cross" to 905
renumber R 1033, "Bronze Torch" to 907
renumber R 730, "Steel Flea" to 909
renumber R 762, "The Great Trombone of Ackanomia" to 911
renumber R 761, "Parades" to 913
renumber R 818, "Prosthetic Foreheads" to 915
renumber R 1036, "Rock" to 917
renumber R 824, "Brass Monkey" to 919
renumber R 826, "Acid Rain Dance" to 921
renumber R 827, "The Amber Banana" to 923
renumber R 891, "The Press" to 925
renumber R 937, "Silly Vacation Hat" to 927
renumber R 1046, "Baaa" to 929
renumber R 1312, "Garments" to 931
renumber R 1313, "Purple Robe of Justice" to 933
renumber R 1428, "Processing Chips" to 935

IV.  [Party Stuff (to the other party related stuff)]
- -----------------------------------------------------
renumber R 542, "Political Parties" to 722
renumber R 543, "Rewarding Party Unity" to 723
renumber R 728, "Thats just silly" to 207.1 [just in case]
renumber R 729, "Ackanomic Middle Ages" to 1307
renumber R 1269, "Newton, Parties, and Apples" to 728, and amend it
so that its title is "Swingpoints"
renumber R 1571, "Another Truly Deplorable Pun" to 729

V.  [Locations]
- ---------------
amend R 840 so that its title is "Library"
renumber R 1096 to 852, and amend its title to be "Portrait Gallery"
renumber R 1364, "Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication" to 854 [is
this on the map?]
renumber R 1554, "Land Baroncy" to 844 [just in case]

VI. [Subgame Related]
- ---------------------
renumber R 1206, "Games & Contests" to 1201
renumber R 1155, "Decks of Playing Cards" to 1203
renumber R 1185, "Description of a Legacy Deck" to 1205
renumber R 1156, "Description of a Eleusis Deck" to 1207
renumber R 1240, "The Machine that goes *ping*" to 1209
renumber R 1241, "Boons of the Ancients" to 1211
renumber R 1276, "Grab-a-Donkey" to 1213
renumber R 1302, "Duels" to 1215
renumber R 1348.2, "Buried Treasure!" to 1217

renumber R 985, "Party Chess Rule Suite" to 1230
renumber rules 985.1 thru 985.99 to 1230.1 thru 1230.99 respectively,
ignoring any rule in the source range which does not exist.

renumber R 1369, "Otzma Card Rule Suite" to 1240
renumber rules 1369.1 thru 1369.99 to 1240.1 thru 1240.99 respectively,
ignoring any rule in the source range which does not exist.

VII.  Religion, Physics, and Nature (all Intertwined)
- -----------------------------------------------------
renumber R 775, "Church" to 1301
renumber R 1356, "Synod" to 1303
renumber R 1014, "Taking the Altar by the Horns" to 1305
[Ackanomic middle ages has previously been renumbered to 1307]
renumber R 1238, "We don't need Gravity" to 1309
renumber R 1306, "If we don't need Gravity, we'd better have Pressure"
to 1311
renumber R 1253, "Tornado" to 1313
renumber R 1329, "Church Sanctuary" to 1315
renumber R 1335, "Codex of Kra" to 1317
renumber R 1344, "Round Earth Restoration Society" to 1319
renumber R 1349, "Rama-lama-ding-dong" to 1321

VIII.  [Other Stuff]
- --------------------
renumber R 339, "Keep 'Em In The Game", to 207.2
renumber R 362, "No Dead Players Allowed" to 257
renumber R 1540.1, "The Mad Scientist" to 596
renumber R 1540.2, "The Frankenstein Monster(s)" to 597
renumber R 1023, "Auction" to 516
renumber R 964, "Undead" to 258
renumber R 419, "Ambassador" to 419.1
renumber R 970, "Ackanomic/Internomic Interface" to 419.2

IX. [Unclassifiable Harf]
- -------------------------
[1112 series is already there]

renumber R 1237, "Fulfilling Campaign Promises" to 1115
renumber R 1330, "Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Side Effecs" to 1117
renumber R 1458, "Undead (aka I didn't come back as a bag of groceries)"
to 1119
renumber R 1508, "This Is Where The Party Ends" to 1121
renumber R 1526, "snowgod's disease" to 1123
renumber R 1579, "Bartender" to 1125
renumber R 1581, "Sanctity of Harf" to 1127

X.  [Unneeded]
- -------------
Repeal R 797, "Festival of Torkola" [fold into 415]
Repeal R 924, "Required Reading" [:(]
Repeal R 1564, "Days of Meditation"

XI.  [In the queue, some of these will be invalid rule changes]
- ---------------------------------------------------------------

renumber R 1586, "Birdhouse in your Soul" to 937
renumber R 1594.1, "Beldin's Tailor" to 939
renumber R 1595.2, "Beldin's Pants" to 940
renumber R 1595, "The Golden Baton of Ackanomia" to 914 [sic]
renumber R 1599, "No False Modesty", to 209.1
[1600 to 1609, we see what passes and decide how to organize it]
renumber R 1607, "Flyunder" to 1129

XI.  [Bad Pointer fixup - yuck this counts on the previous renumberings
already having been completed]
- --------------------------------

Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "793" with "313".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "400" with "374".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "306" with "901".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "730" with "909".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "761" with "913".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "824" with "919".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "937" with "927".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "728" with "207.1".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "729" with "1307".
Amend R 208 to replace all occurrances of "339" with "207.2".
Amend R 313 to replace all occurrances of "554" with "315".
Amend R 313 to replace all occurrances of "1386" with "317".
Amend R 330 to replace all occurrances of "1206" with "1201".
Amend R 340 to replace all occurrances of "1022" with "342".
Amend R 408 to replace all occurrances of "1396" with "360".
Amend R 424 to replace all occurrances of "1237" with "1115".
Amend R 595 to replace all occurrances of "1023" with "516".
Amend R 939 to replace all occurrances of "1022" with "342".
Amend R 1211 to replace all occurrances of "1396" with "360".
Amend R 1209 to replace all occurrances of "400" with "374".
Amend R 1305 to replace all occurrances of "729" with "1307".
Amend R 1319 to replace all occurrances of "729" with "1307".
Amend R 1240.1 to replace all occurrances of "1023" with "516".
Amend R 1240.3 to replace all occurrances of "1348.2" with "1217".
Amend R 1240.12 to replace all occurrances of "1240" with "1209".

XIII.  [Torkola Elimination]
- --------------------------------------------------------

1) Amend R 406, "Promoter", to replace

"
except during a Festival of Torkola. Then, the Promoter may not distribute
the proposal until the Festival is over and is given three days from the
end of the Festival to do so. [See Rule 797 ("Festival of Torkola").]

The Promoter has the Privilege of being able to call a Festival of
Torkola under certain, special circumstances. [See Rule 797.]
"

with

"except during a Proposal Moratorium [see R 415]."
- --------------------------------------------------

2) Amend R 415, "Presidential Decisions", to replace

"
      II. Festival

      The President may declare a Festival of Torkola to start on the
day following the declaration, so long as the Festival is in accordance
with R 797.
"

with:

"
      II. Proposal Moratorium

      The President may declare a Proposal Moratorium to start on the
day following the declaration, so long as the declatation is an integral
amount of days from 1 to 10, and a Proposal Moratorium is not currently
in progress.  No officers may distribute Proposals during a Proposal
Moratorium.
"
- -----------------------------------------------

3) Amend R 1123, "Bartender" to replace the following passage,
(or a substantially similar one which has been amended by the Spelling
Bee, as appropriate):

"
Whenever the start of a Festival of Torkula, Parade or any other
festivity allowing the frinking of alchololic beverages is anounced
"

with:

"
Whenever a public gathering [rule 1115] which allows the frinking of
alcoholic beverages is announced
"
 
XIV.  [make new locations actual locations]
- -------------------------------------------

Amend R 852, "Portrait Gallery", to replace

"
It is a Duty of the Web-Harfer to maintain a gallery of portraits.
"

with:

"
The Portrait Gallery is a small building and a Common Location.  It is a
duty of the Web-Harfer to maintain a gallery of portraits.
"
- -----------------------------------------------

Amend R 854, "Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication" to add
the sentence

"It is a Common Location."

directly after the second sentence of the first paragrah.
 
- ----
[yikes :)]

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:02:39 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka:  Proposal 1619

Proposal 1619
Odds-n-Ends
Malenkai

This is a Modest proposal.

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

I.  [Make Processing Chips Tradeable, so perhaps they can become used]

Amend the rule created by proposal 1428, "Processing Chips",
as follows:

1) Insert the word 'Tradeable' after the first word of the rule, 'The'.

2) [the next amendment makes clear that non-Modest proposals receive no
processing chips from the bonus schedule]

Replace 

"for each condition the proposal"

with:

"for each condition that non-Modest proposal"

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

II.  [Auction paradox fix]

Amend the rule created by Proposal 1023, "Auction", to replace:

"
      6b) In a public auction, each bid must exceed the previous bid by
at least 10%, or it is disqualified.
"

with:

"
      6b) In a public auction, each bid, except the first one, must
exceed the previous bid by at least 10%, or it is disqualified.
"

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
III.  [Get rid of the ripoff A$900 starting money, go average]

Amend the rule entitled "Joining the Game" [currently listed as rule
#252] as follows:

1) replace

"
      2) The New player is paid from the Treasury the lesser of A$900 or
the average A$balance of all other extant players.
"

with:

"
      2) The New player is paid from the Treasury the average A$balance
of all other extant players.
"

2) Add line breaks to the numbered sections of the rule.

- ---

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:08:39 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Official: Berserk Promoter

> > I just went berserk and started re-promoting proposals that have already 
> > been sent out (at least) once.  Please ignore Proposals 1618 through 1625!
> I'm not sure this is legal to do. But just to be on the safe side I am
> retracting all proposals it is legal for me to retract between 1618 and
> 1625.
	The proposals were not legally submitted a second time, so it was
impossible for me to distribute them a second time.  The mere attempt was
illegal. 
	"I'm not sure this is legal to do" implies that by saying, "oops, 
please ignore Proposals 1618 through 1625" i'm *doing* something.  Not 
really.  I'm just clarifying that what I tried to do before wasn't legit.

- --Mohammed
humble berserk acting Promoter

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:09:46 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka:  Official

I hereby volunteer for the job of Tabulator.

- --Mohammed
aaaaaugh!  get the bot running!  nowww!

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

Date: Wed, 08 Jan 1997 16:13:42 -0800
From: Stephen McCulley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka:PartyChess

Salutations!!

		For my turn, I place my Camel on the board at k4.

			Regards,
				Strider

(off and running!)

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:43:44 +0000
From: "Matt" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Phoenix From The Flames

Unfortunately an industrial dispute at The Day Today resulted in said 
newspaper going belly-up last week.

I am relaunching The Day Today! 

Bascule -20: Newspaper

Bascule

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 19:48:49 +0000
From: "Matt" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: The Day Today and Poll

ACKA'S CONSTITUTIONAL DEBATE RAGES ON

Controversial new plans to overhaul Ackanomia's system of government 
were unveiled today by her former President, Robert Sevin, writes Dan 
Quayle.

Mr Sevin launched his revolutionary plans, designed to allow
Ackanomia's population to grow to thousands, even millions, of
players, to a mixed audience. His scheme would, he believes, reduce
the inevitable "bandwidth" problem that a nomic of this size would
face.

The problem is this: In an Email nomic, there are no sidewalks, or
pavements, instead Ackazens move around on "bands". When the
population of a nomic reaches 50 or so, there simply aren't enough
bands for all the citizens to move around on without bumping into
each other. In addition, RL representatives of the nomic population
need to "download" information regarding their virtual counterparts,
also stored on bands. If the population of a nomic were to reach the
critical number of 57, these bands would simply become too wide to
fit into the average home computer, causing a "nomic crash".

Mr Sevin's idea is to divide the Ackanomic population into
"Townships", each with it's own ruleset, that would interact through 
a federal system, moderated by senators elected from each township.

The scheme has met with objections from players who enjoy playing in
a small game. They worry that they might lose touch with old friends
placed in a different township to themselves. Some players simply 
like being "a big fish in a small pond". 

SHOULD ACKA SUBDIVIDE? YOU DECIDE!

The Day Today is conducting an *EXCLUSIVE* and completely unbiased
telephone, er, Email poll. 

Do YOU think that Acka would benefit from massive immigration? Then
Email us with the line 
"I would like my country to be invaded by foreigners."

Or if YOU would prefer Acka to stay roughly the way it is, Email us 
with the line
"I am a paranoid xenophobe."

The *EXCLUSIVE* results will be published in the next issue of your 
Number One Fun Day Today!

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:45:44 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC Updating the Rule Numbering System

> One caveat: the phrase "whole number" is usually construed to include
> zero. "Positive integer" does not.
	Right.  The counting numbers do not include zero; the whole 
numbers do.  I chose "whole number" because I see nothing wrong with 
having a rule 0 or 481.0.

- --Mohammed
liked Asimov's "Robots and Empire" a lot

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:23:49 -0800
From: [email-masked] (John Martin Lotz)
Subject: Acka:  FAQ's a start in HTML

<HTML>

<HEAD>
<TITLE>FAQ's</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>Ackanomic FAQ's</H1><P>
<H2>How do I find out more about Ackanomic?</H2>.  Try the 
<A
HREF="http://wilma.che.utexas.edu/~devjoe/acka/ackanomic.html">Ackanomic</A>
web site.
It has all the information you need.<P>
<P>
<H2>How do I join?</H2><P>
Just E-Mail <A HREF="mailto:[email-masked]" TARGET="Main" >Nicolli
Flychuck</A> saying 
you would like to join.  If you want to save 
time, choose a name to use within Ackanomic; for example I use Jammer. 
He'll
set you up.<P>
<H2>What happens when I join?</H2>
You are granted the average of the current average of all moneys held by
each player and 900
A$'s; a plot of land and a small house<P>
<H2>What do I do with them now that I have them</H2><P>
We're working on that :-).<P>
<H2>I know Ackanomic is about making rules, how do I do it?</H2><P>
First write up a proposal, remembering to name it, and send it to the
Promoter, currently
<A HREF="mailto:[email-masked]">Mohammed</A>, and e will send it to
the list.<P>
<H2>Excuse me, two quick questions.  What does "e" mean?  What do you mean
by list?</H2><P>
I'd been hoping you'd ask.  "E" is the AckaNomic's third person singular
pronun, as you 
become involved you will learn some of the customs of the place.  AS to the
other question
Ackanomic runs off a mail server, when you join, you are included on the
list.<P>
<H2>Okay, now would you go back to how I can make rules?</H2><P>
After the proposal has been circulate everyone gets a chance to vote on it.
 They E-Mail
<A HREF="[email-masked]">Snowgod</A> our current count Tabula, who
counts up the votes 
and sends the results out to the list.  The Rules are ammended and
everything continues.<P>
</BODY>
</HTML>

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 21:36:44 -0600 (CST)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Re: Acka: Hunting

> /dev/joe has found Treasure 114.  The map read in full:
> 
> --
> One can find the Golden Frinking Straw only by publically posting a
> limerick cotaining the words, "penguin," "noodle," and "Zanzibar."
> --
> 
> I'm sure the crowd would like to know the secret. 
> 
> 4F 3D 22 42 25 06 74 14 7A 63 51 35 55 49 31 16 36 7D 6C 58 3C 21 0F 2F
> 75 67 50 3E 29 12 00 67 07 5A 4E 40 21 18 38 27 15 01 7A 1A 7C 75 15 05
> 7A 5C 48 31 14 75 61 4D 46 66 56 45 38 2C 15 03 6A 0A 6B 0B 77 60 4D 32
> 24 0D 70 5B 7B 5E 4D 3B 2F 10 79 67 50 3E 25 45 39 21 06 26 1D 0C 7E 60
> 53 73 15 05 6A 58 3F 34 1D 0B 37 59 79 1B 09 78 67 4B 37 1C 48 6A 0A 6B
> 59 3D 5D 7F 59 3A 28 22 0B 6D 4E 40 6E

I started solving this one by analyzing the data.  The hex numbers in
the map spanned the entire range from 00 to 7F, rather evenly distributed.
I tried several thinks before I found the answer.  The first byte is
4F, ascii for O.  Each later character is given by the difference between
a byte and the one preceeding it, modulo 128 (80 hex).  So the second
character is 3D-4F + 80 = 6E, which is n.  Then 22-3D+80 = 65, e.  Then,
42-22 = 20, a space.  etc.  Another possible interpretation of the code
is that each byte is the sum of the ascii codes of the characters from the
beginning of the message to that point, mod 80.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 22:16:49 -0600 (CST)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka:  Official: Submitting Proposals

Hi!  This message describes the preferred format for proposal submission. 
I'd appreciate it if you'd hold on to this message at least until the next
time you submit a proposal.  It'll save us all a few problems.

To submit a proposal, send it in a message to me at [email-masked]
with "Acrobot" in the subject line.  Any mail with such a subject line gets 
sent off into a separate mailbox from my own.  The "Acrobot" can be 
uppercase or lowercase; it doesn't matter.  The quotes aren't necessary.

The bot is not up and running yet, but I'd like everyone to start using 
the bot syntax just so there's no problem with the transition later.  
When and if I become Tabulator, you'll be able to send your votes the 
same way (to the same address, with the same subject line.)

Just above the proposal text, put a line like the following:

#submit proposal Reorganization II

...only instead of "Reorganization II", put the actual title you want to 
be attached to the proposal you're submitting.  When you're done with the 
proposal, end it with

#end proposal

(The bot will also assume your proposal is finished if it reaches the end 
of your mail message.)

You can submit more than one proposal in a single mail message, if you 
like; just make sure each one has a #submit line and a #end line.  (I 
doubt many of you will want to do this very often... just another weird 
feature.)

More details about the bot will be available when it's fully functioning
(natch); for now, check out the bot's web page at
http://www.cbu.edu/~jorendor/acka/census.html .  Very primitive, I know,
and it looks particularly bad under lynx.  Suggestions are most welcome.

- --Mohammed

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End of Ackanomic Digest V1 #444
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