Subject: Ackanomic Digest V2 #133
From: [email-masked] (Ackanomic Digest)
To: ackanomic-digest

Ackanomic Digest        Thursday, June 12 1997        Volume 02 : Number 133

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

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 21:24:04 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: names 

>I am changing my name by adding three-fourths of a "z" to the end of it.

As much as I would admire your new name, a name, which in my opinion is
truly great, as registrar I do not acknowledge this name change.  Three
fourths of a z is not one of the approved characters for Ackanomic names.

Mr. Lunatic Finger

>I am changing the name of my house to correspond to a text string consisting
>of an infinite number of q's.

Ooh.  Cool.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 01:25:35 -0400
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Bronze Torch

I am awarding /dev/joe a Bronze Torch.  Were it not late, I would have
some stunning speech for the occasion, but it is late, so I am off
the hook :)

#award /dev/joe : +1 Bronze Torch

Malenkai
Speaker or ProConsul or something
Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat

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

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 21:33:11 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka:  huh 

>I'm still waiting for Lunatic Fringe to ack my purchase.
>
>VG

I acked it, but I don't think you need to with a vending machine.

Mr. Lunatic Fringe
consider it acked

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

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 21:40:13 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>
>Such a great and highly quotable phrase cannot just go to waste. The
>organization will be called "They Might Be Slumbering Giants"
>
>Requirements? To have been in Acka more than a year is the basic
>requirement. For an application to be accepted though, the player should be
>recognized as a mostly dormant player, possibly with short, irregular and
>frantic bouts of activity. Chances of being accepted into tmbsg also
>increase if the player has reminisced about the "good old days", some event
>that's many months old, or something to that effect.
>
>Calvin N Hobbes

I am not sure if I am dormant enough, but I would certainly like to join.

<r. Lunatic Finger
snowgod, to the geezers.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:41:34 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>>Such a great and highly quotable phrase cannot just go to waste. The
>>organization will be called "They Might Be Slumbering Giants"
>
>I am not sure if I am dormant enough, but I would certainly like to join.

I would like to join also... I came up with the name, it's the least I can
do. Besides, I am nothing if not dormant. :)

Robert Sevin

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:48:49 -0500 (CDT)
From: Thierry Joffrain <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

"They Might Be Slumbering Giants"

>I am not sure if I am dormant enough, but I would certainly like to join.
>
><r. Lunatic Finger
>snowgod, to the geezers.

Mr Lunatic Finger is hereby accepted into the organization.

CnH

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:49:12 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: MetaMorph and the Church of Odo on the Wormhole 

Do MetaMorph and the Church of Odo on the Wormhole have mailing lists?
I believe I'm a member of both (I know I'm a member of the Church), but I
don't recall any mailing list. I could be insane, though.

Thanks,
Robert Sevin

ps -- Take a look at proposal 2074 and tell me what you think. I really want
it to pass, so if you have any comments, let me know.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:49:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>><r. Lunatic Finger
>>snowgod, to the geezers.
>
>Mr Lunatic Finger is hereby accepted into the organization.
>
>CnH

What about Mr Lunatic Fringe?

Robert Sevin

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:51:56 -0500 (CDT)
From: Thierry Joffrain <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>I would like to join also... I came up with the name, it's the least I can
>do. Besides, I am nothing if not dormant. :)

Robert Sevin is hereby accepted into this organization.

Calvin N Hobbes
using up his "frantic days" quota for the month

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:55:24 -0500 (CDT)
From: Thierry Joffrain <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>What about Mr Lunatic Fringe?

Duh. Call it road hypnosis. I never type people's names, I cut their sig
out. Ooops.

Mr Lunatic Fringe has, of course, been accepted into the organization.

CnH

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:58:02 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>Duh. Call it road hypnosis. I never type people's names, I cut their sig
>out. Ooops.
>
>Mr Lunatic Fringe has, of course, been accepted into the organization.
>
>CnH

What should we do with Mr Lunatic Finger? Shove him in the closet?

Robert Sevin

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 01:01:31 -0500 (CDT)
From: Thierry Joffrain <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>What should we do with Mr Lunatic Finger? Shove him in the closet?

I think that would be best, yes.    : )

CnH
becoming an expert in BWG

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 01:04:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Acka: Debt

The ante for the YORL game would put Red Barn into debt.
I'm too tired to figure out what happens now, or even finish processing
all the acka mail tonight.  I'll do it later.

/dev/joe
Sleepy
Spending the night in the Afterlife's finest room.

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

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 21:40:13 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Organization 

>
>Such a great and highly quotable phrase cannot just go to waste. The
>organization will be called "They Might Be Slumbering Giants"
>
>Requirements? To have been in Acka more than a year is the basic
>requirement. For an application to be accepted though, the player should be
>recognized as a mostly dormant player, possibly with short, irregular and
>frantic bouts of activity. Chances of being accepted into tmbsg also
>increase if the player has reminisced about the "good old days", some event
>that's many months old, or something to that effect.
>
>Calvin N Hobbes

I am not sure if I am dormant enough, but I would certainly like to join.

<r. Lunatic Finger
snowgod, to the geezers.

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

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 21:45:15 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Earth 

Cnh just told me that the earth is round.

Mr. Lunatic Finger

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

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 21:48:03 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Request to become an Expert 

>I am hereby publicly stating my desire to become an Expert, in the area of
>Experts. A vote should be initiated in the Senate to this effect.

ROFL!!!!

Mr. Lunatic BWG Fringe

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

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 22:10:08 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Results of Senate Vote on Headwear Expertise 

>The Honorable Senator Sevin wrote, on the manner of Lunatic Fringe's
>Hearwear Expertese revocation:
>
>> As for the 3rd complaint, I do not believe Mr Lunatic Fringe was consulted,
>> and therefore the 3rd complaint is invalid also.

>Actually, I asked in a tag line what Mr. Nacho's opinion of
>the SVH situation was that was ignored.  Perhaps a more formal request
>is required.

I never saw it the first time.  I often stop reading before the tagline if
I am in a hurry.

>In that case, seeing as the normally prompt ThinMan has
>been deliberating almost a week on CFJ 397:

>So, for our benefit and the judge's, would our resident expert on
>Headwear please enlighten us with his expertese on the matter of
>CFJ 397, and whether or not it was a duty of the Speaker to assign a
>Mad Hatter for for Malenkai, and whether or not Malenkai was in fact
>wearing a SVH that had yet to be designed?  Is he wearing one now?
>
>The crowd awaits...

It is certainly true that ThinMan had a duty to assign a Mad Hatter to
Malenkai (assuming he was not wearing a prosthetic forehead (and I can't
find any record of him wearing one recently)), a duty which slipped by him
(no attribution of blame here, we all know it can happen.  I thought of it
for a moment, but when I returned from work and wrote my acka mail the idea
was gone).

However, it is my contention that Malenkai is not wearing a silly vacation
hat, nor is it his duty to assign a mad hatter to create one.  Upon his
return from vacation, the requirements for recievership of an SVH were (uh,
don't know a word for this) un-reached.  He was no longer eligible to
recieve one, and hence unfder no duty to assign a Mad Hatter for himself.

That one was never assigned is certainly an anomomly.  I believe the crime
of Malpractice was commited by ThinMan, but that is the end of it.

Or it would be, but we have a problem.

R979 still binds Malenkai to the restrictions of an SVH wearer, even though
he never recieved one.  I quote:

>When a player who has been "on vacation" for more than fourteen days
>returns he is required to:

Note that it doesn't say a "player who is wearing an SVH"

>a) Post a message to the public forum admiring his silly vacation hat.

Uh, oh.  What hat?

>b) Thank his Mad Hatter for designing him a hat.

What hatter?

>c) Wear the hat for a period of 14 days.

Uh, yeah.  Whatever. :)

>d) include in the closing of every message he posts to the public forum
>the text string "Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat."

Okay, we have compliance here, at least.  I fear though, that through no
fault of his own, Malenkai has become a criminal.  He is bound to do
certain things that are imposible for him to do.  (I don't think it's
equally legal and illegal, though.  I think its certainly illegal but i'm
no paradox expert... ThinMan?)

Mr. Lunatic Fringe

>Malenkai
>may or may not be Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat

And in the opinion of the expert in Ackanomic headwear, isn't (thoughhe is
required to say so)

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:27:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka:  P2044 accepted (Acka does not come equipped with a floating-point unit)

>#award /dev/joe: -0.5 processing chip
>#award Antimatter: -100 really cheap trinkets
>#award Red Barn: -117649 Quite Garish Ties
>
>/dev/joe
>Even a bigger pile than my prosthetic foreheads...

  Fires that shotgun randomly.  Boo!

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:32:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Feathers

>I also saw the work on the 3rd RSA challenge, where computers all over
>the internet are attacking a 56-bit key, and look like they'll break it
>in a few years.

  Yes, that's consuming all the machines here. :(

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 05:41:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Feathers

>> I also saw the work on the 3rd RSA challenge, where computers all over
>> the internet are attacking a 56-bit key, and look like they'll break it
>> in a few years.
> 
>   Yes, that's consuming all the machines here. :(

Many of the muppetlabs' computers have been put to work on RC5. (I
forget the size of the key.) Apparently we're somewhere in the top 30s
(under the team name of [email-masked]).

breadbox

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:40:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Hidden Agenda

>I seem to recall that, in some manner or other, the subject of possible
>other winning conditions for Acka came up as part of the recent
>discussions.  And I happened to be reading over the Phoebe posts, when I
>came across Malenkai's from a few months ago, talking about "Hidden
>Agendas".

  Several people tried to make a secret society nomic some months back,
with points gained by accomplishing tasks in other nomics.  However, it
fell apart before anyone came up with a ruleset.  Pity.

>The former could be solved if, instead of getting to choose one's own
>conditions, a list of conditions were made up in advance(perhaps by a small
>group), and then everyone's were assigned randomly from that list.  That
>might still give a small advantage to those who made up the list, though.
>("Uh-oh, that proposal's got 8 Z's in it!")  The latter...well, how about
>encrypting the list of conditions, and only "unwrapping" them when a player
>claims eir conditions are all satisfied?  If the player had half of the key
>and the Speaker(or whoever)the other half...?

  What good is this?

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:41:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Hidden Agenda

>The former could be solved if, instead of getting to choose one's own
>conditions, a list of conditions were made up in advance(perhaps by a small
>group), and then everyone's were assigned randomly from that list.  That
>might still give a small advantage to those who made up the list, though.
>("Uh-oh, that proposal's got 8 Z's in it!")  The latter...well, how about
>encrypting the list of conditions, and only "unwrapping" them when a player
>claims eir conditions are all satisfied?  If the player had half of the key
>and the Speaker(or whoever)the other half...?

  The encryption, I meant... the idea is great.
>
>Anyway, just some thoughts.  I think it would be cool to try.
>
>
>--
>--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.terranet.ab.ca/~aaron/)
>Song In My Head--Our Lady Peace:Superman's Dead
>Current Book--Sean Stewart:Cloud's End
>Gotta love the name "Viking Penguin," don't you?
>

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:48:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: names

>I am changing my name by adding three-fourths of a "z" to the end of it.

  Cool were this legal.  I don't believe it is, though.

>I am changing the name of my house to correspond to a text string consisting
>of an infinite number of q's.

  32 (1?) character limit.  Possibly an infinite number of infinitieths of
qs?

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:49:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P2064

>As presently written, I believe it would force _every_ entity in Acka to
>be named.  I find naming each point, PF, and A$ to be in excess.

  Ouch!  I believe I said "nameable entities", but since I know I
actually goofed and said "objects", that's quite possible...

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:49:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P2064

>I think Red Barn has expressed it well in saying "every _nameable_
>object" (and of course he means entity, and hopefully the rule shall be
>read that way).  IIRC, A$, PFs, and points are not nameable, or at
>least they shouldn't be.  If they are, this will give us incentive to
>fix that.  :-)

  Oh, good.

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:53:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: The HTML Standard Volume I number 2

>By popular demand:
>
>The following is an accented representation of the letter z, followed by
>its description.
>
>&z3/4; it is three-fourths of the letter z.

  Woohoo!  Can you define a set of transformations on characters?  For
example:

&txs; - where x is any character, and s is a sequence of transformations -
for example: flipping, rotating by an arbitrary amount, inverting,
iterating ala Life, slicing the top part off and putting it below the
bottom, etc.?

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 09:08:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Dan's Scams (nice ring!)

From R603:
Points are entities. It is possible for a Player to have a negative number
of points. 

From R500:
Something is an entity if and only if the rules specify that it is, or it
is defined by the Rules and Ackanomic tradition indicates that it is an
entity. [Caveat: implicit entityhood (by game custom) may be abandoned in
a future version of this rule. Explicitly defining your entityish
creations to be entities is strongly recommended.] 

  This just came up while I was looking... it has no relevance to the rest
of this message, but does mean that my misphrasing on The Nameless Horror
works OK.

From R500.2:
Each entity is either unownable, nontradeable, tradeable, or gift, except
that a gift entity is also tradeable. An entity is nontradeable unless the
Rules specify otherwise.

  Thus points are not tradeable, I can't bury them, and the rest of this
scam doesn't work :)

  We now return you to your regularly specified programming.
 
____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 09:09:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka:  Fame Fortune and Glory

>Anyone who thinks it's time for a major rework of the scoring system
>please let me know and I'll help drafting a Proposal to integrate the
>above items (or even other areas such as our wonderful subgames and 
>Organizations)  into methods for wuinning a cycle.

  Yes!  Points should be tradeable!
  (Aside from that, I don't think we should change it any.)

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 09:10:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Announcements (was Re: Acka: Observation)

>>   Just a shot in the dark:  it would be extremely useful to be able to
>> load rules one at a time.
>	And to find all rules that contain a certain phrase or pattern.
>	And...

  Well, yes, but that sort of thing can be done locally with enough
patience - you don't need the web page for that.

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:22:20 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: RE: Acka: Parties

/dev/joe wrote:

> Malenkai wrote:
> > I am leaving the (None Yet) Party, with much regrets, and requesting
> > membership in Vulcan (which only has two members).
> 
> Proposed Vulcan Action: Accept Malenkai as a member.
> 
> I approve this action.
> It will happen when ThinMan acks it.
> 
I also approve this action.  Welcome to Vulcan, Malenkai.

ThinMan

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:51:35 -0500
From: "Bollinger, John C." <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Gifts

After much consideration, I have decided that I cannot really accept
such profound generosity from /dev/joe, especially given his recent,
tragic, thermonuclear annihilation.  And I thought he might be lonely
in the Ackanomic Afterlife.  Therefore, I am taking the following
actions:

I am giving these trinkets to /dev/joe:

    Jade Key of Yara
    Large Wooden Block

#transfer ThinMan, /dev/joe: Jade Key of Yara, Large Wooden Block: gift

I am giving these other entities to /dev/joe (which must be ack'd):

    Electronic Potato
    Whamiol
    Plunky Monkey Wrench
    Bonus Vote Add-On

ThinMan

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:53:43 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Re: Acka: Gifts

ThinMan wrote:
> I am giving these trinkets to /dev/joe:
> 
>     Jade Key of Yara
>     Large Wooden Block
> 
> #transfer ThinMan, /dev/joe: Jade Key of Yara, Large Wooden Block: gift
> 
> I am giving these other entities to /dev/joe (which must be ack'd):
> 
>     Electronic Potato
>     Whamiol
>     Plunky Monkey Wrench
>     Bonus Vote Add-On

I accept these gifts.

#transfer ThinMan, /dev/joe: Electronic Potato, Whamiol, Plunky Monkey \
Wrench, Bonus Vote Add-On: gifts

/dev/joe

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 09:10:06 -0600 (MDT)
From: Aaron Humphrey <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Debt

> The ante for the YORL game would put Red Barn into debt.
> I'm too tired to figure out what happens now, or even finish processing
> all the acka mail tonight.  I'll do it later.

There should be some legal requirement that Red Barn cash in one of his
trinkets or something.  If not, though, I am willing to exchange A$5 for an
equivalent value of Red Barn's trinkets...(i.e. either the Five Hundred
Misplaced Ackapennies or five of his A$1 trinkets).

Hmmmm...did he get his A$1 back when his ties disappeared?  :-)

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.terranet.ab.ca/~aaron/)
Current Album--Vangelis:Opera Sauvage
Current Book--Sean Stewart:Clouds End
You say the magic's gone, but I'm not a magician
  [Massive Attack w/Tracey Thorn, a song I can't remember off of "Protection"]

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 09:14:50 -0600 (MDT)
From: Aaron Humphrey <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Earth

> Cnh just told me that the earth is round.
> 
> Mr. Lunatic Finger

I call for a Witchhunt against Mr. Lunatic Fringe.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.terranet.ab.ca/~aaron/)
Current Album--Vangelis:Opera Sauvage
Current Book--Sean Stewart:Clouds End
"That's one small step for man, and--SHIT! There's a f*cking alien!"
    [Neil Armstrong, before government coverup...:-)]

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 09:16:24 -0600 (MDT)
From: Aaron Humphrey <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: names

> >I am changing the name of my house to correspond to a text string consisting
> >of an infinite number of q's.
> 
>   32 (1?) character limit.  Possibly an infinite number of infinitieths of
> qs?

And what rule is this 32-character limit from?  I think you're thinking of
player names there, not house names or generic entity names(witness the
former Really Big Blue Thing That Doesn't Do Too Much, Really).

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.terranet.ab.ca/~aaron/)
Current Album--Vangelis:Opera Sauvage
Current Book--Sean Stewart:Clouds End
Hey!  Who spiked the Jello?

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 09:20:04 -0800
From: "Jerome Herrman" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Looking to buy.. 

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
From: Jerome Herrman
To:  'acka'
Subject:  Acka: Looking to buy..
Date: 1997-06-12 09:37
Priority: 3
Message ID: 9152688990E1D011948C0060976638FA
Conversation ID: Acka: Looking to buy..

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

I am looking to buy 1 Whamiol.

Techno

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 11:18:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: "A.K.A. TheWiz" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Debt

>There should be some legal requirement that Red Barn cash in one of his
>trinkets or something.  If not, though, I am willing to exchange A$5 for an
>equivalent value of Red Barn's trinkets...(i.e. either the Five Hundred
>Misplaced Ackapennies or five of his A$1 trinkets).
>
>Hmmmm...did he get his A$1 back when his ties disappeared?  :-)

  Truly, this is a solemn moment :)
#trade Alfvaen: Red Barn: The Five Hundred Misplaced Ackapennies
#trade Red Barn: Alfvaen: A$5

____________________________________________________________________________
|The Mauve Baron|  Beep  [email-masked] * http://www.bergen.org/~dankna|
|---------------|  Blip  |-------------------------------------------------|
|   Dan Knapp   |  Bonk  |     This notice copyright (C)1997 Dan Knapp     |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 20:30:00 -0700
From: **Alexandre Muniz <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Feathers

Aaron Humphrey wrote:

> As a consolation prize to two-star, I offer him the strong shovel, for
> possible future use.  :-)

I accept.

**two-star

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 08:37:40 -0900
From: Phil Ackley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: President 

>Techno
>
>Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat

YES!!!! The time has come, ladies and gentlemen.  The hype is real now.
Players, may I present to you the next President of Ackanomic, and the name
behind the phrase "Techno for President!",

Techno!!!!

Mr. Lunatic Fringe
Techno For President

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 12:55:50 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Re: Acka: Debt

Red Barn wrote:
>   Truly, this is a solemn moment :)
> #trade Alfvaen: Red Barn: The Five Hundred Misplaced Ackapennies
> #trade Red Barn: Alfvaen: A$5

This is a bit mixed up, but anyway...

Red Barn is going to need at least a little cash for other things.
I'm offering to buy his scroll of crumble for A$150.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 12:00:23 -0600 (MDT)
From: Aaron Humphrey <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CV and RoJ

Well, no wonder nobody's going for the Chalice Vault win...the current
conditions for finding the Vault mean that you have to find the Golden
Frog first, which means solving the Runestones of Jukkasjarvi
treasure.  Or, at least, _someone_ solving said treasure.  So that's
two difficult tasks piled on top of each other.  :-)

Since I gather these two things have been hanging over Ackanomia for a
while now, and more than a few people would like to see them out of the
way, either solved or no, I offer any assistance whatsoever to anyone who
wishes to solve either of these problems.  Time and other personal
resources permitting, of course.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.terranet.ab.ca/~aaron/)
Song In My Head--Tammy Wynette:Unwed Fathers
Current Book--Sean Stewart:Clouds End
At the sign of your redemption, wear this tableau on your mind forever.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 19:13:54 +0000
From: "Bascule" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: TMBSG

I would very much like to join TMBSG. Although I've been awake for a 
few weeks now, I was snoring loudly just a few months ago. 

Bascule

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 11:19:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: TMBSG

Hey, can I join TMBSG? I know I haven't been in the game for a year,
but I will have in August. Furthermore, I've been called
"conservative" and accused of having an "old man mentality" by players
who've been in the game longer than myself.

breadbox
but no longer dangling

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 13:40:54 -0500 (CDT)
From: Jason Orendorff <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Fame Fortune and Glory

On Wed, 11 Jun 1997, Malenkai wrote:
> Treasure 106 requires no 'gibberish translation' or 'cryptography'.
	With *those* cloes?  Are you quite sure?  :o)
	I like the non-cryptographic treasures better.

- -- 
Mohammed
It's a shame how blind Russians treat an astrologist from Yale.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 13:44:52 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <devjoe>
Subject: Re: Acka: MetaMorph and the Church of Odo on the Wormhole

> Do MetaMorph and the Church of Odo on the Wormhole have mailing lists?
> I believe I'm a member of both (I know I'm a member of the Church), but I
> don't recall any mailing list. I could be insane, though.

NF asked for lists and I forgot about them.  I have the lists up with what
I believe are the current memberships of the orgs:

Odo: CarsesraC, mr cwm, Mr. Lunatic Finger, Niccolo Flychuck, Robert Sevin,
You can call me Al.

MetaMorph: Mr. Lunatic Fringe and Niccolo Flychuck

Metamorph has a web page now too and I'm working on one for TMBSG.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 17:31:02 -0400
From: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Acka: Announcements (was Re: Acka: Observation) 

At 09:10 AM 6/12/97 -0400, you wrote:
>>>   Just a shot in the dark:  it would be extremely useful to be able to
>>> load rules one at a time.
>>	And to find all rules that contain a certain phrase or pattern.
>>	And...
>
>  Well, yes, but that sort of thing can be done locally with enough
>patience - you don't need the web page for that.

The Agora ruleset is stored so that you can search for an individual rule
(or rather, link to individual rule from the master copy), via a Perl
script. This is a convenient and above all FAST way of browsing the Agora
archive. Good stuff, really...just a thought. I'm not even CLOSE to knowing
jack about Web programming. I'm an HTML gimp at best. ;v)

You can call me htmAl

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 14:12:34 -0800
From: "Ross Morgan-Linial" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka:  P2044 accepted (Acka does not come equipped with

"Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]> wrote:
> #award Antimatter: -100 really cheap trinkets

I do believe I destroyed those for A$.
- -------------------------------
Antimatter * [email-masked]
You have the power of negation.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 17:21:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: Thierry Joffrain <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: TMBSG 

>I would very much like to join TMBSG. Although I've been awake for a 
>few weeks now, I was snoring loudly just a few months ago. 

Bascule is accepted into TMBSG, qualifying as he does on all counts.

CnH

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 18:59:38 -0400
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Witchhunt

> I call for a Witchhunt against Mr. Lunatic Fringe.

The valid responses are:

BURN THE WITCH!
No, E said the earth is flat.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 19:02:06 -0400
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFJ 397 Verdict

CFJ 397 has been judged TRUE, indicating the collapse of the SVH
thread, and any designs and scoring therefrom.

Clerk of the Courts
may or may not be Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Call For Judgment 397
  Subject: The infamous invisible SVH
Initiator: Malenkai
    Judge: Calvin N Hobbes (declined)
2nd Judge: ThinMan (selected Jun 05, 1997, 18:48h EDT)
Judgement: TRUE

Statement:

When Malenkai returned from his recent vacation, Malenkai did not
have a duty to select a Mad Hatter for Malenkai for that vacation.

Malenkai's Reasoning:

=From R 927:

> Whenever a player has remained on a voluntarily activated vacation for
> a period exceeding 14 days (and is not already wearing a Silly
> Vacation Hat), the Officer in charge of random things shall randomly
> select an active player (hereafter known as a Mad Hatter) to design a
> Silly Vacation Hat for the vacationing player.

After returning, the player is no longer the "vacationing player".  Also,
after returning, the player has not "remained on [...] vacation".  It
seems that there is no duty to assign a Mad Hatter for a player who is
not on vacation.

OTOH, the previous Officer in charge of random things *did* have a duty.
Does said duty remain with the player or the office?  Even if it does
stay with the office, it would seem to be voided by the previous
paragraph.  It seems like an uncorrectable corruption of the game state
to me, but lets see what the Judge thinks.  I certainly apologize for
not spending the normal of time delving into this (rather interesting,
IMO) issue.

ThinMan's Reasoning:

In CFJ 401 I argued for officer duties being bound to the player
holding the office, rather than being an "accessory" or tool of the
office itself.  This CFJ allows me the opportunity to argue for some
degree of restriction of that principle.  In my opinion, duties,
priveleges, and restrictions associated with offices, though
attributable to the player who holds the office, do, in fact, "move"
when the office is transferred.  The underlying principle that unifies
these concepts is that the name of an office is a sort of alias for
the person who holds that office.  There is, indeed, precedent for
this interpretation (c.f. AOJ 101 and CFJ 153).  When an office is
transferred, the alias begins referring to a different player, but
it is my opinion that this is transparent as far as the rules are
concerned.

I concur with Malenkai, however, about the OICRT's duty no longer
being applicable now that he has returned from vacation.  I imagine I
could pick apart the language of R927 sufficiently finely to
construct an argument for the opposite position, but I don't see that
as useful in this circumstance, and it is questionable whether it
would stand up to an appeal.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 19:08:49 -0400
From: Malenkai <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFJ 392 Appeal Verdict

The Supreme Court, consisting of Justices breadbox and mr cwm,
unanimously return the following decision on CFJ 392:

Supreme Court's Decision:  uphold the verdict of FALSE.

Jun 12 19:07 EDT: -25 Bascule: friviously bothering the judges (CFJ 392)

Clerk of the Courts
Wearing a Silly Vacation Hat
- ------------------------------------------------------------------

Call For Judgment 392
  Subject: Where's that pate?
Initiator: Bascule
    Judge: [Antimatter] (declined)
2nd Judge: CarsesraC (failed to respond)
3rd Judge: Techno (selected Jun 06, 1997, 7:24h EDT)
Judgement: FALSE
   Appeal: FALSE

Statement:

For Bascule to give A$10 to Alfvaen is equally legal and illegal.

Bascule's Reasoning:

Bascule has two contracts binding his actions. The contracts demand
that he gives A$10 to Alfvaen, and that he does not give any A$
to Alfvaen. There is no means for deciding precedence between
contracts, and therefore the action of giving the A$ is equally legal
and illegal.

The first contract:

"Bascule must give A$10 to Alfvaen"

The second contract:

"Bascule must not give any A$ to Alfvaen"

>From Rule 1995:"Once a player has signed a contract, that player must obey any
restrictions that that contract places on em"

The player _must obey_ any restrictions. This means that if I were to
give A$10 to Alfvaen, this would be legal according to the first
contract, but illegal according to the second. If I do not give any
A$ to Alfvaen, this is illegal according to the first contract, but
legal according to the second.

As the restrictions imposed by my two contracts are contradictory,
the legality of my giving A$10 to Alfvaen is equally legal and
illegal, since no precedence exists regarding contracts.

Sorry to be so lame, but my elegant example got nuked. And I wasted
A$331.

Techno's Reasoning:

 In the form that this CFJ is stated, it would at first appear
to me to be true.  But after reading the rule concerning contracts
(517/1) I believe it would be illegal to give the money and to not give
the money.  The contracts rule states the following...

Once a player has signed a contract, that player must obey any
restrictions that that contract places on em; to do
     otherwise is a crime.

My reading of that statement tells me that it would be illegal to give
the money because it would be illegal by contract 2.  It would also be
illegal to not pay the money as stated by contract 1.  This CFJ states
that it is both legal and illegal to give the money.  My reading of the
rule is that it would be illegal to do either.

Bascule's Appeal Reasoning:

I agree with the original judge that it is illegal to give or not
give the A$ to Alfvaen. I submit that it is also legal. If a rule
demands an action of a player, I believe that action has legality
conferred upon it.

Example 1
- ---------

If R517 said:

"Once a player has signed a contract, that player must obey
any restrictions that that contract places on em, _it is legal to
obey such restrictions_; to do otherwise is a crime."

then I believe the CFJ would probably have been judged TRUE. Yet I
believe that actions required of players must therefore also be
legal.

Example 2
- ---------

A trivial example, from Rule 205:

"c) Players, acting in their capacity as officers, must announce all
score changes they are responsible for notification of in the order
which they are made aware the occurrence. They must do so in a timely
manner."

If an officer, responsible for score changes, announces such a score
change, we would say that such an action is legal. If another rule,
hypothetical rule X, said:

"Players, acting in their capacity as officers, _may not_ announce
all score changes they are responsible for notification of."

would we say that there is no precedence conflict here? Would we say
that the officers must announce score changes, but that to do so was
illegal? I argue that we would say that the rules conflict, and
precedence should be applied to determine the legality or illegality
of the notifications.

It is Legal To Perform a Required Action
- ----------------------------------------

R101 says:
"All players must always abide by all the rules then in effect"

R101 says I must abide by the rules. R517 says that I must obey my
contracts. In obeying the contracts I would also be abiding by R517.
Therefore to obey the contracts is legal.

Can Follows From Must
- ---------------------

A legal action within Acka is an action that is permitted, or an
action that can happen. If an action must happen, then follows that
that action _can_ happen (since it _must_ happen!)

Summary
- -------

I believe that for an action to be required and yet be illegal is
nonsensical. (For an action to be required and also be a crime is a
different matter). If a rule requires an action, it also makes that
action legal.

Supreme Court's Reasoning:

The Supreme Court finds the reasoning of the
original Judge to be valid, but would like to note that while the
contracts in question place Bascule in the position of necessarily
committing a Crime, that is not necessarily the same, and in this case is
not the same, as necessarily committing an illegality.

Penalty: [25 point penalty to] the Appealer for frivolously bothering the 
Judges.

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

End of Ackanomic Digest V2 #133
*******************************