Subject: ackanomic digest V3 #55
From: [email-masked] (ackanomic digest)
To: [email-masked]

ackanomic digest        Tuesday, March 10 1998        Volume 03 : Number 055

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 00:00:11 -0500 (EST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Phoebe

Crackfoo has failed to post Phoebe's wisdom.  She has been found by
else...if.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Chaz Jankel:Chazablanca
Current Book--Robert Charles Wilson:The Harvest
Kirk: It's Ensign Rasta!  Bones: He's dread, Jim.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 01:11:17 -0500 (EST)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: acka : MetaMorph together

As Alfvaen noted elswhere - the MetaMorph is actively seeking more
members. The MetaMorph Partyu was the only Party who attempted o make
another nomic a member - it's a Party shich supports change and pluralism.

Niccolo Flychuck

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 04:55:51 -0500 (EST)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: New Game (Abstract Crescent)

Given that it has not been vetoed, and has received support from more than
4 players, Abstract Crescent is now added to the Rule Suite.

I wish to start a game of Abstract Crescent as Referee - could interested
players please respond within the next 3 days.

Yours,
Slakko
trying out these new games

- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Yr PhD(PMa) - .Nomic Elector, Frgn Minister, HP(Morpork)
Acka - President "Gumball" Web-Harfer RuneMaker ChessUmpire Map-Harfer

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 08:53:04 -0500 (EST)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Baa

I am taking possession of the Little Lamb.

This costs me A$10.

Yours,
Slakko

- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Yr PhD(PMa) - .Nomic Elector, Frgn Minister, HP(Morpork)
Acka - President "Gumball" Web-Harfer RuneMaker ChessUmpire Map-Harfer

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 09:12:17 -0500 (EST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: New Game (Abstract Crescent)

> I wish to start a game of Abstract Crescent as Referee - could interested
> players please respond within the next 3 days.

I'll certainly try it.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--The Smiths:Stop Me If You've Heard This One
Current Book--Robert Charles Wilson:The Harvest
This message will self-describe in 30 seconds.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 10:38:23 -0500 (EST)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Game (Abstract Crescent)

> Given that it has not been vetoed, and has received support from more than
> 4 players, Abstract Crescent is now added to the Rule Suite.
> 
> I wish to start a game of Abstract Crescent as Referee - could interested
> players please respond within the next 3 days.

This seems like a relatively effortless game.  I'll play.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 12:01:25 -0500 (EST)
From: David Scheidt <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Game (Abstract Crescent)

On Tue, 10 Mar 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:
> I wish to start a game of Abstract Crescent as Referee - could interested
> players please respond within the next 3 days.

I will play

hibert

> 
> Yours,
> Slakko
> trying out these new games
> 
> -- 
> Duncan C. "" Richer aka
> Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
> Cambridge, 1st Yr PhD(PMa) - .Nomic Elector, Frgn Minister, HP(Morpork)
> Acka - President "Gumball" Web-Harfer RuneMaker ChessUmpire Map-Harfer
> 

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 12:39:50 -0500 (EST)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: acka: Caped Crusader nomination

> I am now accepting nominations for the Office of Caped Crusader, since
> TGW was removed from office.  Reply to nominate yourself.

Just to point out that it was else...if who was removed from office. I was
Boy Wonder (and hence would be a great replacement as Caped Crusader, already
knowing the ropes :-)).

TGW.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 12:39:53 -0500 (EST)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Organisation Joining Attempts.

> >  I petition to join the Church of Banna.
> I admit Wild Card to the Church of banna.

I'm not sure whether or not I have to (I really must get round to reading the
church rules) but if I do then I support Wild Card's admittance into Banna.

TGW.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 12:39:52 -0500 (EST)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: New Game (Abstract Crescent)

> Given that it has not been vetoed, and has received support from more than
> 4 players, Abstract Crescent is now added to the Rule Suite.
> 
> I wish to start a game of Abstract Crescent as Referee - could interested
> players please respond within the next 3 days.

Sure, I'll play.

TGW.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 12:47:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Organisation Joining Attempts.

On Tue, 10 Mar 1998, Tom Walmsley wrote:

> > >  I petition to join the Church of Banna.
> > I admit Wild Card to the Church of banna.
> 
> I'm not sure whether or not I have to (I really must get round to reading the
> church rules) but if I do then I support Wild Card's admittance into Banna.

Me too.  On both counts (the reading and the admittance).

Penitent Priest Slakko
Poit!
- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Yr PhD(PMa) - .Nomic Elector, Frgn Minister, HP(Morpork)
Acka - President "Gumball" Web-Harfer RuneMaker ChessUmpire Map-Harfer

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 16:37:22 -0500 (EST)
From: Towsner <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: acka: ackaPhysicist election

>I appologize for the outragous delay.  My Real Life time demands have been
>abnormally high the last week or three.  The canadates for ackaPhysicist
>are
>/dev/joe
>The Gingham wearer
>else...if
>hoover 2300
>(fortunato, but I don't think non-voting players can hold the office)
	Me! And my EBS.

- --
- -Henry Towsner, AKA else...if, The Fearless Alibi Posesser, Laefu, and Yilran

	<[email-masked]>

	Success is the child of audacity.
		-Benjamin Disraeli

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 17:00:31 -0500 (EST)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFJ 545 (TRUE)

Hubert has judged this CFJ TRUE.

Clerk of the Courts
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Call For Judgement 544 - March 07, 1998
Subject: Shelter
Initiator: The Gingham Wearer (sent March 07, 1998, 17:20)
Judge: Hubert (selected March 07, 1998, 17:21)
Judgement: TRUE

Statement:
The Gingham Wearer is sheltered.

Initiator's Reasoning:
Once more, this is something I'm not sure about. CFJ has established that
there still exists a building called rule 1 is repealed. #1 and The Gingham
Wearer attempted to go there with the following message:

"I am leaving the wilds and going to Rule 1 is repealed. #1 Headquarters."

There are a few possibilities:
1. E didn't succeed in this action because the members of Vulcan didn't let
em in.
2. E got in but isn't sheltered because the building isn't defined in the
rules.
3. E got in and is sheltered because of Rule 1 is repealed. #1 Headquarters.
4. E got in and is sheltered because e is on the same Kaa of land as Vulcan
HQ.

Basically, what I want to know, is how many of its properties R1IR#1HQ
retained after the Vulcan changed their name back to Vulcan. I'm pretty sure
that it will turn out that I'm not sheltered, but I'm not 100% sure. The best
example I can think of is that there still exists The Widget of Yendor but it
doesn't have any of it's old properties. Except entityhood I believe, oddly
enough. This is different though. Not only has entityhood been maintained but
buildingness has too. Why is this? I don't know. And if it's buildingness is
maintained why not all it's other properties. If it turns out that I am
sheltered then I think we need to set about destroying rule 1 is repealed. #1
HQ otherwise Tornadoes might not be quite as interesting.

Judge's reasoning:
If Rule 1 is Repealed. #1 Headquarters kept its other attributes such as
Extravagance and Commonness, I see no reason that it shouldn't keep its
towers as well, since they are also entities that were created by the same
Rule.  This could, however, cause things to start getting sticky.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 17:28:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Towsner <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Phoebe

	I was sitting in the Ackan Reserve building (better known as my
house) trying to select a replacement for the activity value.  I crossed
off one of them, and recounted how many I had left.  To my surprise, I had
as many possibilities as I had before.  I looked at them.  There was
hearing results, random, a matchbox,=8A.  At that point I realized that I ha=
d
accidentally counted Phoebe as one of the options.  I opened the matchbox,
and before she could say anything, said, "Phoebe, my old nemisis.  We meet
again."
	"What are you talking about," she snapped.
	"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.  I mean, sorry.  I've
been practicing using quotes."
	"Fine, just don't do it around me.  I have a lot of things to do
today.  Anyway, I come with a revelation.  All understanding of the world
up to this point is wrong.  The world is not a hemisphere, nor round, nor
banna, nor=8A"
	"Wait!  If you say what I think you're going to say, they'll burn me."
	"A triangle?  Why would they burn you if the world's not a
triangle?  Anyway, the world is, in fact=8A"  Ursula fades into existence
behind Phoebe just long enough to play a drum roll.  "A hexatetraflexagon.
A flat one."
	"A what?"
	"A hexatetraflexagon.  It's a folded surface, such that there are
six sides, but only two are exposed to view at any given time."
	"Well excuuuse me."
	"Go forth and spread this new truth, yada yada=8Anow you've got me
doing it!"
	"Sorry."  She began fading from view.  "May the Harf be with you,
Phoebe!  Ow!"

- --
- -Henry Towsner, AKA else...if, The Fearless Alibi Posesser, Laefu, and Yilra=
n

	<[email-masked]>

	Success is the child of audacity.
		-Benjamin Disraeli

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 21:47:36 -0500 (EST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Phoebe

In one of those tremendous quirks of random chance, Phoebe, after one
of the shortest visits in Ackanomic history, has been found, again, by
else...if.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Celine Dion:Water From The Moon
Current Book--Robert Charles Wilson:The Harvest
He's dead, Jim.  Kick him if you don't believe me.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 21:48:55 -0500 (EST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Big White Gazette

The Big White Gazette
"Ha!  You thought we wouldn't be out again until the end of the month
again, didn't you!  Admit it!"

This issue of the Big White Gazette engages in one of the less ambiguous
forms of Bandwidth-Wasting Gizz, by including something which has no
relevance to Ackanomic in any way.  Which is to say, it's time for:

           Alfvaen's Top And Bottom Books of 1997

Here, once again, is my Top and Bottom books of 1997.  These are the best
and worst books(in my opinion, of course)that I read last year; this time
I have nine of each.

Alfvaen's Top Nine Books of 1997

1. Dan Simmons: Hyperion.  This is not your average book.  For one thing,
it's almost more of a series of linked short stories than a novel.
For another thing, you need to read the sequel, _The Fall of Hyperion_,
to find out what actually happens.  But it's well worth it.  The stories
are those told among each other by a group of pilgrims who are going to
the frontier planet of Hyperion(a planet with many oddnesses about it,
including a death-dealing creature called the Shrike)in an attempt
to somehow stave off an invasion.  Or are they?  The stories vary
wildly among themselves, but overall begin to paint a picture which
is beginning to come clear by the end of the book(and comes into full
colour in the sequel).  A deserved award winner.

2. Paul Quarrington: Whale Music.  I read this book because of its mention
in the liner notes to the Rheostatics album of the same name(which was
unrelated, but the band ended up doing some music for the movie...)  It's
the story of a rock musician(member of a band called the Howl Brothers,
which seem to have been as big as the Beatles in North America, in the
book's history at least)who has retreated into seclusion, obesity, loss of
short-term memory, and a project to write music to communicate with whales.
Until one morning he finds a half-naked woman sleeping on his couch, and
slowly begins to reenter the world and come to terms with the betrayals of
his past.  Fairly quirky and humorous throughout, in case the foregoing
sounded too heavy.

3. Candas Jane Dorsey: Black Wine.  This didn't sound like the kind of book
I'd like, but I trust the author(and had heard provocative readings from
the work in progress)so I tried it anyway.  It's one of those books that
manages to be both fantasy and science fiction, and makes you wonder if
there's really a boundary.  It involves several female characters in
various timelines, and it took me a while to figure out who was whose
mother and whose daughter, or the same person.  But it's a very rich world,
and a very rich book, and you won't regret reading it.

4. Robert J. Sawyer: Starplex.  An Aurora Award winner, and deserving of
it.  This book has mind-blowing "sensawunda" science-fictional speculation
coupled with believable, three-dimensional characters.  Sawyer just keeps
getting better.

5. Donald Kingsbury: Courtship Rite.  A classic novel of a very interesting
culture, but more than just about the culture.  You'd never think that
characters who practice ritual cannibalism and group marriages could be so
sympathetic, but it works.  (What else are they going to eat on a planet
where almost everything else is toxic to them, anyway?)  And the plot is
endlessly fascinating as well.

6. Stephen Baxter: The Time Ships.  I've never read H.G. Wells's _The Time
Machine_, but this book, written as a sequel to it, is mind-blowing.  It
integrates Wells's style with state-of-the-art science fictional time
travel theory.  Deservedly earned a Hugo nomination.

7. Lois McMaster Bujold: Shards of Honour.  Once again, Bujold's fiction
looks like military SF, but transcends it.  A woman from one side falls in
love with a man from the other--simple enough.  But then he has to risk
his own career to keep her alive when she is captured...and when _she_
returns home, just when you think things are winding down, she narrowly
escapes imprisonment by her own government.  A complexity and depth rarely
equalled.

8. Orson Scott Card: Children of The Mind.  The fourth and final book in
the series which started with _Ender's Game_(and really wasn't supposed to
be four books long), is a worthy finish.  It deals with some of the
bombshells introduced at the end of the third book, and brings everything
(well, _almost_ everything)to closure.  If you haven't read the rest of the
series so you can get to this one, what are you waiting for?

9. Pat Cadigan: Fools.  A challenging novel which many people would put
into the "cyberpunk" box, although it may not fit there comfortably.  What
happens to a cop who goes undercover by grafting on an entire new
personality, if she forgets which one is which?

Alfvaen's Bottom Nine Books of 1997

1. Zane Grey: The Spirit of The Border.  I've been reading a few Zane
Greys, and for the most part they're harmless enough stories.  But this one
goes a little over the line in a few respects.  I didn't make it all the
way through, mainly because I was disgusted at Grey's treatment of the
Indian characters.  Not recommended for those offended by stereotypical
treatment.  And it's not just "politically incorrect", either, it's
downright offensive.

2. Damon Knight: CV.  This story, unfortunately, reads like a movie script,
which is a bad thing in a book which to my knowledge never started out as
one.  "CV" is a huge seagoing habitat, which is invaded by a body-stealing
alien.  But the characters are not very well-developed, and the plot
doesn't make up for it.  It would probably make an okay film, better than
"Speed II" but not as good as "Titanic" or anything.  But as a book it was
a bit lacking.

3. Victor Milan: Wild Cards XII:Turn of The Cards.  This is one of the
one-author Wild Cards books, and features a character that I never
thought was one of the most promising in the series, "Cap'n Trips",
a.k.a. Mark Matthews, an aging post-hippie who can somehow take on
various super-powered alter egos through the use of chemicals.  He ends
up dragged into a conflict in Vietnam(no, not that one)where Jokers(who
have been deformed by the Wild Card virus)are fighting for the promise
of a place where they can live in peace.  Only they(and Mark)are being
duped by those who figure they'd make good cannon fodder.  The most
interesting parts concern one of Mark's alter egos, who starts to wonder
where she came from(from Mark's ego, or was she a real person?), but
the question is left hanging by the end.  Ultimately an unsatisfying book.

4. Samuel R. Delany: The Einstein Intersection.  I have this problem with a
lot of Delany books, that when I finish reading them I'm not quite sure
what they were about.  I'm sure they're very deep and symbolic and
meaningful on levels that I don't stop to bother to figure out, but even
now I can't remember what happened in the book, hardly.  It was all weird
and sort of New Wave and stuff.  I just couldn't get into it, though.

5. Storm Constantine: The Bewitchments of Love And Hate.  The middle book
of her Wraeththu trilogy, it was mostly just pretty slow going.  Nothing
much really happens in the book, as compared to the first or third ones,
and it takes some time before we even figure out how this connects.  The
fact that, instead of wide-ranging travel, the vast majority of the book
takes place in one house, may account for that.  It didn't feel like it was
moving very far either.

6. Marion Zimmer Bradley: The Heirs of Hammerfell.  It had the right kinds
of elements for a Darkover book(set in the early periods), but something
was missing.  It felt too much like she was going through the motions to
produce another book, but hadn't really put her heart into it.  The
characters didn't seem to breathe.  For Darkover completists only.

7. Dean R. Koontz: Midnight.  Some of Koontz's books are good, but a lot of
them just somehow don't quite gel.  There is some kind of weird thing going
on that mystifies the reader in the first few chapters, but when you get to
the end either it turns out to be not as interesting as you were led to
believe, or it is dealt with in an unsatisfactory fashion.  _Midnight_ has
a little of both.  The characters are interesting, but the premise is taken
to some lengths that seem just a wee bit silly by the time things come to a
head.

8. Dick Francis: Risk.  Okay, I confess, my biggest problem with this book
is that the main character, who is an accountant, spends about a third of
book as a captive.  He starts out on a boat, later he gets locked in a van,
and at the end he gets tied up in a chair.  This kind of thing tends to
happen to Dick Francis characters, but not as often, and usually they're a
bit better at handling themselves.  It just didn't thrill me as much as
most of his do.

9. Sean Stewart: Clouds End.  Another book that seemed to be laden with
symbolism, this time overt(as in most of the characters were aware of it).
It didn't quite seem to gel either, somehow.

[Stay tuned later this month, we hope, for some more Fantasy Viruses and
other useless statistics, unless the Ackanomic Cyclopedia of Knowledge
scoops us again...]

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Celine Dion:Water From The Moon
Current Book--Robert Charles Wilson:The Harvest
The fat lady's chances were slim.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 21:59:14 -0500 (EST)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: CFJ 545 (TRUE)

> Hubert has judged this CFJ TRUE.

> Clerk of the Courts
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Call For Judgement 544 - March 07, 1998
> Subject: Shelter
> Initiator: The Gingham Wearer (sent March 07, 1998, 17:20)
> Judge: Hubert (selected March 07, 1998, 17:21)
> Judgement: TRUE

> Statement:
> The Gingham Wearer is sheltered.

> Judge's reasoning:
> If Rule 1 is Repealed. #1 Headquarters kept its other attributes such as
> Extravagance and Commonness, I see no reason that it shouldn't keep its
> towers as well, since they are also entities that were created by the same
> Rule.  This could, however, cause things to start getting sticky.

I agree that this is true.  There is no rule that states that Tamson House
has a Tower, but it has one nonetheless.  (Unless it should be argued that
they violate the Rules by not being associated with players, and no longer
having the precedence to override this...)  I hadn't thought of that until
just now reading the Rule...  Anyone want to appeal this one?

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Celine Dion:Water From The Moon
Current Book--Robert Charles Wilson:The Harvest
Be sure to evaluate the bird-hand/bush ratio.

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 22:16:33 -0500 (EST)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: TMBSG

I petition to join They Might Be Slumbering Giants.

While I was a rather active player back when TMBSG was created, since
then I have shed most of my offices, had two significant absences from
Ackanomic, and just generally been less involved.  Of late I have been
getting more involved, but I know already I will go through some more
cycles of activity and inactivity in the upcoming months.  My two-year
anniversary in Acka is coming up this month, and I've posted my share
of reminiscences of the old days (such as just recently, when I was
reminded of the agenda of the Nobs party -- incidentally I found that
file, and everything left on it when the party dissolved had been fixed
at least partially, including some items for which Nobs didn't even have
a plan yet; the item still in the worst shape was organizations, which
are now going on about their third overhaul since then.)

/dev/joe

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 22:40:57 -0500 (EST)
From: Mitchell Harding <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: TMBSG

At 10:16 PM 3/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I petition to join They Might Be Slumbering Giants.

I approve /dev/joe's petition to join TMBSG.

But being quite dormant, I'm not quite sure what the rules require in order
to make him a member.

Robert Sevin

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

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 23:31:54 -0500 (EST)
From: Thierry Joffrain <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: TMBSG

>>I petition to join They Might Be Slumbering Giants.
>
>I approve /dev/joe's petition to join TMBSG.
>
>But being quite dormant, I'm not quite sure what the rules require in order
>to make him a member.

There's some trick I think. I approve.

CnH

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

End of ackanomic digest V3 #55
******************************