Subject: ackanomic digest V2 #374
From: [email-masked] (ackanomic digest)
To: [email-masked]

ackanomic digest       Friday, November 21 1997       Volume 02 : Number 374

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Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:30:52 -0700 (MST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: My treasure found

> It appears that Alfvaen, noted treasure hunter, has found my treasure.
> I'm not sure what the procedure for reporting this is, so I thought I'd
> post this, and a copy of the map.

> The map to the Puzzle Box and the Trinket of Awesome, Near-Infinite
> Possibilities:

> 1) Become a member of the Ackanomic Subgenius.
> 2) Have a prosthetic "Dobbs" head.
> 3) Have a smoking "Frop" pipe.

This was all posted encoded, of course.  I first tried to do it just as
a cryptogram, but then I noticed that the numbers would fit in a square
grid:

   1  2  3  5  8
- -  a  b  c  d  e
1  f  g  h  i  j
2  k  l  m  n  o
5  p  q  r  s  t
8  u  v  w  x  y

I still didn't know what 4) meant, but I undertook the actions specified,
figuring that if someone else figured it out before I did, they'd have to
strike a deal with me first.  :-)

(By the way, ThinMan's message said:
   i broke the code before alfvaen, but i'm stuck on the cat thing.
   i don't think i will work on it any more, though  i find the church
   of the subgenius distasteful, in a mildly humorous sort of way.

I agree on the distasteful bit, which is one reason why I didn't go to the
effort of making the Ackanomic Subgenius into a Church.
)

> 4) Post a public message with these two attributes:
>    i) The body must be an appropriate response to the questions, "Are
>       cats on the upgrade?"
>    ii) The subject must be a proper name that fits the question posed in
>        part i).

This one took me a while; I'd decided that it must have something to do
with the Subgenius thing, but I couldn't find a reference to it anywhere in
the limited resources I had available(i.e. an issue of "Bob's Favourite
Comics").  So today I did a web search for it, and happened across the
lyrics page for Jethro Tull's "Thick As A Brick".  Apparently the line I
quoted occurs just after the beginning of Side II.  (Haven't heard the
album, although it is on my somewhat length list of albums to look for
sometime...)

> By the way, expect more buried treasure from me soon (as soon as I can
> find the time to make a more difficult map :)

I tried that, and so far nobody's gotten them.  :-)

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Savage Progress:Celebration
Current Book--Janette Oke:Once Upon A Summer
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.

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Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:33:57 -0700 (MST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: New Player

We have another new player here in Ackanomic.  His name is Tom Warmbrodt,
his email is [email-masked], and he wishes to have the
Ackanomic name Michael Wren.  And he actually read the relevant rules to
submit to me all the information I needed.  Except perhaps the market
research question(sorry, I forgot this one, Tom/Michael--how did you find
out about Ackanomic?).

Robert Sevin has been chosen as his mentor.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Savage Progress:Celebration
Current Book--Janette Oke:Once Upon A Summer
"I suddenly feel the urge to strut my funky stuff!"

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Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:36:19 -0700 (MST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Attn: Robert Sevin

Sorry, I should've put the pointer in the other message, but I would
like to repeat:  Robert Sevin has been chosen as a mentor for Michael Wren.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Savage Progress:Celebration
Current Book--Janette Oke:Once Upon A Summer
You never told me about the hamster in your hair.

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Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 20:47:06 -0800
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Attn: Robert Sevin

At 09:36 PM 11/21/97 -0700, you wrote:
>
>Sorry, I should've put the pointer in the other message, but I would
>like to repeat:  Robert Sevin has been chosen as a mentor for Michael Wren.

Acknowledged.

Robert Sevin,
Oldest Mentor in Ackanomic

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Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 21:56:59 -0700 (MST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: *ping*

> "Yes, you have discovered truth of another kind.  While Phoebe was allowed
> to go free, I have been imprisoned here inside the Machine all these many
> many years since the Ancients left us."
> "But who are you?" I replied.
> "Ursula, Phoebe's twin sister", came the surprisingly deep booming reply.
> "We were both created with the latest in miniature technology, and here I
> am wasted inside this elephantine machine.  Nothing to do but to *ping*
> according to the ancient Truths until such time as each one becomes
> apparent."

Of course!  It seems so obvious, in retrospect, that Phoebe should have a
twin sister Ursula...

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Savage Progress:Celebration
Current Book--Janette Oke:Once Upon A Summer
Plays well with scissors

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End of ackanomic digest V2 #374
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