Subject: ackanomic digest V3 #148
From: [email-masked] (ackanomic digest)
To: [email-masked]

ackanomic digest        Wednesday, May 13 1998        Volume 03 : Number 148

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Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 00:02:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Herald

On Tue, 12 May 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:

>Per fess Or and per pale Azure and Sable, in chief a wheel Gules, in
>dexter base a sword Argent, and in dexter chief a goat Vert.

Well, if we are going to have a discussion about this publically, then
okay :)

I considered the above (it should be in sinister base btw for the goat)
but liked the 'upon the first' notation slightly better since that seemed
to convey the meaning better.

>I'd also point out that the attitude of the sword can be specified(though
>it probably has a default), and Vert on Sable is colour on colour, so your
>Proposal may make it illegal.

I actually hadn't noticed the vert upon sable, and you're correct in that
it violates the rule of tincture, and thus should by rights be denied.  (I
was more interested in figuring out the way to make the 't' division and
so overlooked the colors.. I would have caught it :)).

As for the sword, yes, it defaults to fesswise I believe (with hilt toward
sinister if I recall correctly), but as you point out, that should in fact
be specified as well.

- --JT

[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
[ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.                  ]
[ It's hard to sieze the day when you must first grapple with the morning ]
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]

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Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 00:14:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (John Bollinger)
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 2986 rejected

>At the moment of the failure of Proposal 2986, the Brass Monkey climbed
>to the top of the tallest building in Acka(determination to be made by
>the Map-Harfer)and proclaimed:

As towers count, this would undoubtedly be Vulcan Headquarters.

ThinMan

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 01:37:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Eric Plumb <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 3059

On Tue, 12 May 1998, JT wrote:

>   While I see the humor in this, the humor really should end with the
> proposal of this and not the implementation.  I honestly hope you will
> retract this.

Oh, I quite agree.  I did not (do not) expect it to pass, but was thinking
of letting it go through as an attempt at that infamous Treasure.  Since
you asked, though, I will retract it.

I retract Proposal 3059 and apologize to JT and Alfvaen if any offense was
taken.  Certainly, none was intended.  Likewise, no game effect was
intended.

>   I don't know about the history of the game in detail, but I think a rule
> that discriminates based on a specific player and their out of game
> abilities is completely unworthy of this game.

Perhaps.  I don't know if it's been tried before, but I certainly wouldn't
vote for such unless it were really funny.

Although the "Gingham is the national fabric of Ackanomic" Proposal comes
close. :-)

- -Hubert

It's always darkest just before you step on the cat. 

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 01:48:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 3059

On Wed, 13 May 1998, Eric Plumb wrote:
>Oh, I quite agree.  I did not (do not) expect it to pass, but was thinking
>of letting it go through as an attempt at that infamous Treasure.  Since
>you asked, though, I will retract it.

Thank you.

>I retract Proposal 3059 and apologize to JT and Alfvaen if any offense was
>taken.  Certainly, none was intended.  Likewise, no game effect was
>intended.

Apology gladly accepted.

- --JT

[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
[ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.                  ]
[ It's hard to sieze the day when you must first grapple with the morning ]
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]

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Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 01:56:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: K2 <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Bidding Blind and Clockless?

The Auction shall last for 3 days, or 3 hours past the auction's most recent
bid (in public auctions), whichever is longer,

auction started at 17:31:50
Slakko bid at 17:24:26
I bid at 20:09:55 - just within the three hour time limit
The auction finished at 23:09:55
The winning bid was K 2's at A$ 100

I am a building a BWG laser (so we can hose some people), it will be complete
in 3 days

K 2

Ian K. wrote:

> On Tue, 12 May 1998, Kelly Kelly wrote:
>
> > I Bid A$ 100 on the EBS (created by the wiz?)
> > I Bid A$ 100 on the Pulse Laser (created by me)
> >
> > K 2
>
> Hmm... I *believe* that the auction for the Pulse Laser had already ended
> by the time this bid was submitted. Perhaps I am wrong or being confused
> by time zones? Also perhaps Slakko's last bid?
>
> Koxvolio

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 02:51:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Treasure

On Tue, 12 May 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:

> 
> > I haven't decided exactly when it will be found but if you find any decent
> > ones then send them to me. All words used must be proper words and it must
> > make grammatical sense, even if it is totally ridiculous. To give you a rough
> > aim of what to go for, I'd say anything below 45 letters is a good start, but
> > with a bit of fine tuning you should be able to go below 40.
> 
> I suggest that it should also not be one that is readily available.  Find
> yourself some good sources so you won't get too many submissions of
> things like "Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz".  (Anything that's
> turned up in my taglines, for instance, should be right out.)

Nothing in your taglines comes close.  The above one only supplies ab -
these pangrams must have the letters appearing in order from what I saw of
the original message.

- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Year PhD(Pure Maths), CUDipSoc, CUSFS, CUSTS, CURS etc
Acka - President, Web-Harfer, RuneMaker, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 03:08:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 2986 rejected

On Tue, 12 May 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:

> 
> > Results of Proposal 2986
> 
> > 19/26 votes: Quorum achieved
> > 8/16 YES votes: Proposal rejected
> 
> Ahem.
> 
> At the moment of the failure of Proposal 2986, the Brass Monkey climbed
> to the top of the tallest building in Acka(determination to be made by
> the Map-Harfer)and proclaimed:

/dev/joe claimed that Vulcan Headquarters qualifies.  Rule 1150 does
indeed say "Vulcan Headquarters has six 3500-meter tall ostentatious
towers attached to it which are not associated with any player."
However, Rule 841 says "(the term "Ostentatious Tower" is always with
respect to a particular player)".  Rule 841 has precedence, and so Vulcan
Headquarters has no towers.

The Brass Monkey actually climbed the Monument to Futility.  Which was a
good trick, seeing as it was floating at the time.

- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Year PhD(Pure Maths), CUDipSoc, CUSFS, CUSTS, CURS etc
Acka - President, Web-Harfer, RuneMaker, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 03:22:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: We screwed up on a CFJ

There is a CFJ with a verdict contrary to the rules that is now beyond
appeal.  Fortunately we'll get it overturned.

There is no Office of Nyarlathotep!!!

Rule 594 states that "If a Scientist leaves or loses eir office for any
reason, all of eir Discoveries and Useless Blueprints are Debunked."

When Rex Mundi resigned as Mad Scientist, therefore, as no Gadget called
Nyarlathotep existed, the corresponding Blueprint was destroyed by Rule
594.  Hence no Office of Nyarlathotep has existed since Saturday 2nd May,
when Rex Mundi left the Office of Mad Scientist (by Rule 596, a Mad
Scientist has the title of Scientist, and so Rule 594's debunking sections
can be applied).

We'll need to overturn the verdict with a new CFJ.

Oh well.

- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Year PhD(Pure Maths), CUDipSoc, CUSFS, CUSTS, CURS etc
Acka - President, Web-Harfer, RuneMaker, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 03:51:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Stripe

The time has come, my friends, to celebrate another achievement in the
long proud history of Ackan proposals.  Conveniently enough, the Historian
himself is the reason for our celebration today.  You see, breadbox became
the first player to have a proposal in the 3000s passed.  Yet that alone
is not the reason for our happiness today.

No, rather it is combined with the 29 other successful proposals that
breadbox has provided us with.  Today breadbox has reached a Blue Cross
Rank of 30, moving em into Acka's upper echelons of change-makers.  I
therefore have the honour to present breadbox with this Silver Stripe, for
eir efforts in changing Acka into a better place.  Wear it harfily!

- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Year PhD(Pure Maths), CUDipSoc, CUSFS, CUSTS, CURS etc
Acka - President, Web-Harfer, RuneMaker, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 09:28:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (John Bollinger)
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 2986 rejected

Slakko wrote:
>On Tue, 12 May 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:
>> Ahem.
>> 
>> At the moment of the failure of Proposal 2986, the Brass Monkey climbed
>> to the top of the tallest building in Acka(determination to be made by
>> the Map-Harfer)and proclaimed:
>
>/dev/joe claimed that Vulcan Headquarters qualifies.  Rule 1150 does
>indeed say "Vulcan Headquarters has six 3500-meter tall ostentatious
>towers attached to it which are not associated with any player."
>However, Rule 841 says "(the term "Ostentatious Tower" is always with
>respect to a particular player)".  Rule 841 has precedence, and so Vulcan
>Headquarters has no towers.

No, Vulcan HQ has no _ostentatious_ towers.  I claim that it still has
towers.  The CFJ 545 Supreme Court reasoning has something to say about it,
although I don't remember whether it definitively says that VHQ has towers
or whether it just notes the possibility.  And I can't look it up in the CFJ
archive, because the SC reasoning and final verdict have not been added yet
- -- poke, poke.

>The Brass Monkey actually climbed the Monument to Futility.  Which was a
>good trick, seeing as it was floating at the time.

I think we will have to suspend judgement on that one, at least until we
turn up the SC reasoning related to the matter.

ThinMan

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 14:29:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: The Infrequent Ackan Volume 1 Issue 22

Volume 1, Issue 22
May 13, 1998
This issue's slogan:
"Yes, it's late. I told you it was Infrequent."
In this issue:
1. Editorial
2. Our First Letters Column
3. Apologies and Retractions.
4. Poll Question #7 Results
5. More Ackanomic News
6. The Way We Were
7. Party Chess Report
8. Sub-Game Summary
9. Advertisement		
	 	 
Editorial

Where's the Rant?

Normally here I can find something decent to rant about, some
controversial topic. About the only thing I can find is Party Chess,
something which no doubt is not of interest to every player. Still, given
the relative consensus that has emerged recently, it is the best I can do.
The last week has seen some momentous happenings in the game of Party
Chess (for more information, see the Party Chess column later in this
issue). However, it has also seen intense debate over the future of Party
Chess.

Recent amendments have seen an emphasis placed on Checkmate, in such a way
that the value of Paratroop Otzma Cards has significantly increased. The
relatively low value of Tactical Retreat cards, meanwhile, is unchanged.
Perhaps a compensatory balance needs to be struck, with an increase in the
power of the Tactical Retreat?

At the same time, the relative values of pieces are under question. The
Swingers appear reasonably split between Tornado-haters and
Tornado-keepers (who are generally the owners surprise surprise), and are
also disagreeing about the need for pieces such as the Loyalist, the Demon
and the Jester. However, not much mention has yet been made of the
Kamikaze, the piece whose devastating radius of attack was directly
responsible for the sudden end to the first game of Party Chess (see
report).

As it stands, Party Chess is an extremely interesting game. The recent
destabilisation of the rules will no doubt lead to a new equilibrium being
reached some time in the near future. We can only hope that that new
stable point (or even strange attractor) is still an interesting game.

Our First Letters Column

Dear Ackan,

I read with interest your article on "the scam" a few issues ago and feel
moved to offer my own opinions on the matter. One issue which I feel has
been neglected is a definition of "the scam". What is it? What isn't a
scam? These are not easy questions to answer but I shall do my best to
answer them.

A scam is an attempt to use 1 or more rules in a manner they were not
intended to be used to gain a personal advantage.

Examples of a scam would therefore Wayne's attempt to raise his score to
the magic number using permissibility of the unprohibited, or the attempt
by the church of banna to gain thousands of A$ using iconoclasm and the
Crazy French Scotsman rule. What then does not constitute a scam? Other
than the obvious this question can best be answered through examples.
Paradox wins are not scams; they use the rules as they were designed to be
used (the only possible exception to this was when /dev/joe repeated one
of Malenkai's paradoxes (cycle 4)). I would also argue that Malenkai's
Frankenstein Monster win was not a scam The rules were clear that a win
could be gained in that manner and it was equally clear that there was no
suitable sentence in the rules. Creating such a sentence is, as I look at
it, no more of a scam than winning a cycle through anti voting (e.g. cycle
2). I would also argue, although this is not as cut and dried, that the
original Act of Justice was not necessarily a scam since Malenkai did not
do it for personal gain, rather for the well-being of Ackanomic. How many
cycles of Ackanomic have therefore been won by scams? The answer is, by my
definition, just two. Cycles 12 and 16 were both scams. And that's out of
18 cycles. Only 11%. Is it really necessary therefore to make scamming
more difficult? True, other scams have succeeded (Malenkai's Pulse
laser/military laser/thargoids one for example) but these have been
limited in scope. This small amount of scamming seems appropriate to me
and so I see no reason for the repealing of harfy rules such as the
Frankenstein monster to reduce successful scams from their already low
levels.

Yours,

[Signature looking squiggle]

(The Gingham Wearer).	 	 

The Ackan Responds:

Dear Gingham Wearer,

A scam on its own may well be fun and harfy. However, there are many
players who put a lot of effort into winning in non-scam ways. To have
their efforts wiped out by simple scams is no doubt disappointing. While
the Frankenstein Monster rules may be worth keeping, we should not simply
allow scams because they have not been successful in the past. The ethos
behind scamming is to take advantage of quirks in the rules that others
have overlooked or been unable to take advantage of. When the scam is in
plain daylight, its fun diminishes rapidly.

Yours,

The Editor (and the sub-editors too, oh yes.)

Letters to the Ackan are always welcome. We will publish contributors
within reason, because our aim is to provide Ackans with a comprehensive
news and opinions service. This includes opinions contradicting the paper,
so feel free to criticise editorial comments. 

If you want your opinions heard, or letters published, please send them to
[email-masked]. 

Send a stamped self-addressed email to the address listed above, marked
"Acka: Ackan" and we'll do our best to get back to you.
Have another good Ackan week - banna willing we'll be back next week.

Slakko
Editor, The Infrequent Ackan 

Apologies and Retractions

The Ackan yet again has nothing to apologise for this week. This makes an
unbelievable two issues in a row without a single retraction. While this
personal best has many sub-editors at the Ackan celebrating, it is hoped
they do not over-indulge too much.

If you think you have found an error in the Ackan, point it out! My
shotgun is getting a littl erusty, and the sub-editors are starting to
become a little complacent.

The Ackan heartily apologises for any damage or difficulties caused by the
omission of such errors and/or omissions.

Poll Question Results

Question Number 7 was issued last week, asking you who you would want to
be the next President of Ackanomia. The mid-term opinion poll produced a
surprising result, as follows:

There was no clear mandate for the next President! Two votes were received
in support of /dev/joe, but there were also two votes in support of
Phoebe. Attempts have been made in the past to encourage the wise Steel
Flea to run for President. No doubt eir wisdom would stand Acka in good
stead for eight weeks. However, such attempts were, unfortunately,
unsuccessful. Maybe this time, with significant popular support, Phoebe
will relent and provide the Ackan population with a real alternative for
President.

Other candidates who received direct support were Malenkai, The Gingham
Wearer and JT. The question of who will run in the next Presidential
election is eagerly anticipated. With Acka's first past the post voting
system, the choice of candidature can have a serious impact on the final
result. The risk of vote splitting is high, and some strategic voting may
be required if a truly majority choice is to be achieved.

Fortunately, last time the result was not simply due to a quirk in the
system, but was a true reflection of majority opinions.
The randomly determined Trinket for the week goes to Hubert! No
transactions take place within this paper - the actual details will be
organised separately.

Remember, your opinion does matter to us here at the Ackan (but we of
course reserve the right to ignore opinions which are obviously based on
malice and/or sheer stupidity :-)) Hopefully next issue we'll be back with
another question designed to spark some Ackan controversy.

It costs very little of your time to enter, and there's always the chance
of that Trinket, so please respond to the Great Infrequent Ackan Poll
Competition!

More Ackanomic News

Stripey Stuff

The debacle of a ceremony involving Slakko has spread since the last
issue. Alfvaen once again intervened to perform a Stripe Ceremony, but
this time erroneously claimed that everyone was there watching. However,
it later transpired that no-one else, not even The Gingham Wearer, the
recipient of a Silver Stripe for reaching BCR 30, was present. Alfvaen
then attempted to hawk videos of the "ceremony" to the general public.

A number of gullible people were interested in these, however, most
upstanding Ackan citizens were too wary to have a part of such chicanery.
Holograms or not, I never saw the ceremony, and I still wonder how The
Gingham Wearer got hold of the Silver Stripe when e wasn't present at his
own ceremony.

Also this week, Alfvaen himself received a Silver Stripe for reaching 120.
Only Malenkai has reached such heady heights before, but it will take a
long, long while before Alfvaen can compete with Malenkai on equal
proposing terms. Still, given Alfvaen's unprecedented personal streak of
over 25 consecutive accepted proposals, e is getting there as fast as e
can.

Is E Real, or Just a Figment?

Ackans have become increasingly concerned this week at visitations of the
Elder Malenkai, now claiming to be known as saaremaa. While e appears very
real, there is legal doubt as to eir existence. While some attempts have
been made at fixing the situation, it still has yet to be determined
whether Malenkai successfully re-registered as a player, after all. It
could well be that Acka is suffering from an attack of mass hallucination
- - which is suprisingly common for such a well-balanced community.

Auction Market Round-Up

Some interesting auctions have happened (and not happened) this week. It
was revealed that the supposed auction for the Ackan Reserve Financial
seat was never held, due to a flaw in the articles of establishment of
that seat. While JT bid A$80, fortunately e did not lose any cash, merely
looking a little foolish for eir bid on some empty air.

In other auctions, a Pulse Laser was bought by its creator at a knockdown
price of A$100, and an EBS was obtained by Koxvolio for A$110, cheap at
twice the price. Rumours are starting of an Otzma Card auction series
coming, but as yet these have not been confirmed.

Map Movements

Vulcan Headquarters underwent a quantum reaction during the past week,
spontaneously moving itself one kaa East. When asked about the origins of
this reaction, resident know-it-all Professor A.L. Extreb simply replied
that the Headquarters obviously felt as if it was no longer near the edge
of Acka. 

"With too much urban development happening lately, the Headquarters were
becoming hedged in by player homes and player-owned land. The so-called
spontaneous reaction was simply the Rules reasserting their control over
the location of the building. It is a perfectly natural phenomenon."

The joining of a new player further exacerbated this situation - welcome
to Tom Kitten, who was sworn in as an Acka Citizen last week. We hope your
stay in Acka is a long and prosperous one. Warm wishes also go out to
UglyBigNose, the previous holder of the "Newest Ackan" award.

Financial Follies

Part of the Financial Reform package has passed, and we should soon be
seeing the fruits of this as a new Ackan Reserve Board Member is elected.
Due to an unfortunate technical error, the appointment of the third board
member will be delayed slightly, but it is hoped that some business can be
conducted while only two members are available.

The remainder of the main body of Stock reform is still up for debate.
Odds are that this proposal will pass, restricting sales of existing
stocks to the Treasury until such time as more stocks enter circulation.
Known speculators have been selling their stock in advance of this
deadline, seeing a 10% potential loss of investment as worthwhile
insurance against being unable to retrieve their investment at a later
date.

The stock market continues to trend upwards, helped by an unbelievably
long Chrome Streak which ended only very recently. This has led to calls
for an increase in the N value, the amount by which the positivity index
falls for each NO vote on a rejected proposal. However, when 16 proposals
in a row get accepted, it is unlikely that we can expect the stock market
to fall, or even stay relatively steady.

The Infrequent Ackan Stock Indicator Tip for the week is: New investors
BUY BUY BUY. Current proposal acceptance rates are close to a record,
suggesting that the N value is almost irrelevant in determining the
long-term trend of the market. Long term gains are still there to be made.

The Way We Were

This time last year in Acka, discussions centred around the number of
supposedly vacant Functional Offices (also referred to at the time as
Overseers).  With Alfvaen still an exuberant newbie, there was some
additional pressure to get these offices filled, and quick!  However, the
status of all players was thrown into doubt by a Quorum Crisis of severe
proportions.

A potential scam was possible, but its discussion was not really started
until it was almost too late to carry out anyway.

This was a time before Puppet Heads (an invention of Alfvaen designed to
produce a more survivable crisis, no doubt).  The penalty at that time for
abstaining on a quorum-shy proposal was to be put on vacation for a 2 day
minimum period.  A series of failures led to a cascading reduction in
voters, to the point where only /dev/joe was able to cast a valid vote.
(E could therefore have tried to become dictator if e had been quick).
Fortunately, the short time period of the vacations meant that no harm was
done, apart from the failure of a few additional proposals.  What a week
it was, one year ago!

Party Chess Report

This week the unbelievable has happened. After a period of well over one
and a half years, someone has finally won a Game of Party Chess! Slakko
became the winner on Monday with a surprising double Checkmate Paratroop
play. The powerful nature of the kamikaZe piece in Paratroop situations
was previously a matter of conjecture - but this instance showed that
there was probably something wrong in the way the rules have been working
together.

The week leading up to the final Checkmate was one of, if not the most,
tumultuous that the game had seen. It started off in the tail-end of the
debate over the validity of dropping in a piece to interpose in a Check.
The anti-Placement players won the day, with The Gingham Wearer's proposal
being adopted.

However, this proposal had more than just that one effect. It also
introduced the concept of Checkmate as distinct from Check, thereby
enabling the game to be further speeded up through instantaneous
surrenders (but only, of course, when no other move was capable of
removing a player from Check). Another restriction on Checked players was
also imposed - Checkmate was based on whether there was a single Atomic
Play, not just any Play, which could remove the King from check.
As it turned out, the two of these changes were crucial in the week's
moves. Since Stabber's Knives had been introduced last year, only 4 had
been awarded, during a total of 3 Surrenders. However, the new amendments
made obtaining Checkmates a significantly easier process.

Hubert and The Gingham Wearer were the first players to take advantage of
this opportunity, using it to Checkmate /dev/joe. This gave The Gingham
Wearer the opportunity to grab the Game, with one further Checkmate.
J. M. Bear then provided some excitement with a very fast Checkmate of
Attila the Pun. At this stage, 7 Knives were in play, between 8 Swingers.
The game could be won as soon as the 9th Knife was in existence.

Koxvolio joined the fray with eir first Knife early on Monday the 11th.
This was the first use of a Paratroop card to effect a Checkmate, and
required the play's results to be made public very quickly, in order to
prevent a Go Fish. The immediate nature of Checkmates made Paratroop Cards
that much more valuable, as this forced Surrender showed.

Finally, on Monday evening, Slakko used eir own Paratroop Card in a
similar play. This time the victims were J. M. Bear and Hubert, as the
kamikaZe just had enough space to check them both, while being
uncapturable and unblockable. The double forced surrender saw Slakko catch
TGW just in time (tying the game at 3 on the 9th Knife), and then take the
lead with a fourth Knife to win.

Party Chess is not just about winning, though, it is also about taking
part. The long game and its awards of Swingpoints have a significant
impact on Acka in general. So the Infrequent Ackan hereby presents nominal
non-entity awards to people in the following categories:

The "I'll create my own Party just to be a Swinger award" goes jointly to
Slakko, The Gingham Wearer (who both did it) and Koxvolio (who suggested
it later).

The "Hi there, nice to meet *OUCH*" award for Most Aggressive Newbie goes
to J. M. Bear for eir stabbing of Attila the Pun.

The "I'm supposed to be playing?" award goes to Red Barn the Elder for
admitting e did not know how to play the game, despite at one stage being
second for most Swingpoints.

The "Heinz 57" award goes to /dev/joe, for needing to purchase new Party
Chess Pieces while e had over 10 different types of pieces off-board.
/dev/joe also gets the "Bluffer's Choice" award for best unresolved
threat, claiming that Slakko should "consider all your pieces mine".

The "Rip van Winkle" award goes to Karma, for being the first player to be
removed as a Swinger automatically for making default Pass plays.

The "Greed is Good" award goes to The Gingham Wearer for top weight under
the current weighting scheme. Eir record of 133 achieved using double
promotion of Demons is unlikely to be bettered for a long time.

Finally, the "Party Chess - we don't need no steenking Party Chess" award
goes to the original members of MetaMorph, who failed for a number of
months to provide a Swinger. 

We hope that you have enjoyed the first game of Party Chess, and look
forward to your interest in subsequent games. As always, the Ackan will be
there to report on all the moves that exist, and all the internal politics
of the Swingers. With 8 players currently attempting to scramble back onto
the board, no doubt some diplomacy will be needed.

Sub Game Summary

Every week - every subgame going.

Abstract Crescent

The first game of Abstract Crescent has completed since the last issue.
/dev/joe managed to win the game, with a standard play of 1
serendipitously converted into a winning one by H*bert's play of 2.
A big thank you to everyone who played Abstract Crescent.  The play test
helped to isolate some bugs in the ruleset (at least as far as I was
concerned), and these were ironed out for most of the play.  I hope that
it will become one of Acka's regular game pantheon.

Eleusis

Game 1 still appears to be heading rather more backwards than forwards.
Will /dev/joe, else...if and The Gingham Wearer spot the answer?  Will
they need clues, and if so, how many?

Game 2 of Eleusis has a rather successful Prophet in Ayla.  Does she
really know the Truth, or have we just seen some good luck so far?  Only
time will tell, of course, but in Acka the speed of Eleusis play means
that rather a lot of time may be required.

Fictionary

Round 5 has confirmed what many people have suspected: the game is very
likely to be over within a single cycle of rounds.  If JT continues to
guess the definition, then we could have a game won by a player who failed
to make a single vote.  

Meanwhile, the rest of us proles battled to deal with the definition of
the word "spital" in Hubert's round.  Only one player guessed it
correctly, so Hubert was just shy of picking up 2 points to stay
competitive with JT.  Meanwhile, the other players engaged in a rather
large amount of unintentional reciprocal voting, leading to a large number
of single point distributions.

Speaking of distributions, the current distribution of the score in
Fictionary is somewhat lopsided to say the least.  After 5 Rounds, two
players are over 10 points, while only two others even have 3 points to
their name.  A very interesting phenomenon - one wonders whether it is
just a statistical artifact.

Ghost

Two players down, six more victims still to be chosen in the current game
of Ghost.  Vynd was the first player, unfortunate to be stuck between
playing schlock and testing its existence in the Dictionary - a carefully
baited trap from which there was no escape.

In the second round, Pandora was very unfortunate to just submit eir turn
too late.  The poor performance of eir company mail server is no doubt to
blame, but the rules of Acka can regrettably offer no compensation at this
stage.  We hope that future eliminations will not be for such unfortunate
reasons.

Grab-a-Donkey

The Wrangler, K 2, has started what looks like the largest Grab-a-Donkey
game on record!  With a potential 34 lariateers (although that figure
seems certain to drop to 32 or less), there should be a number of fun
rounds of rip-roarin' action coming your way real soon.	 

Pure Skill

The first two games of Pure Skill are well underway, with Game 2 beyond a
doubt regarding the end result.  Alfvaen has befuddled and flummoxed his
way to a commanding lead, with only two small cards left to scrap over and
the other players lost for cards.  A well deserved win will no doubt be
had in short time, but unfortunately for Alfvaen it will come without a
Jade Grapefruit in compensation.

Game 1 meanwhile, progresses at a somewhat slower pace (most likely also
due to mail server problems).  The final result is far from clear, but
this one may well provide more interesting fare for the game watcher.

Word Un-Association 

JT's befuddling attempts succeeded in limiting the damage to single
points.  Unfortunately for JT, practically everyone managed to grab one,
when Hubert provided the appropriate definition.  A rare instance of the
letter of the game managing to avoid getting in the way of the spirit.
An interesting link will now be needed to bring llano back to the realm of
hopefully more common words. Stay tuned for more late-breaking Word
Un-Association news.

YORL

Shock! Horror! Excitement!  The current YORL game has acquired another
loose end - yes, Attila the Pun has mercilessly worked the Quirpele of
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis into the YORL game, giving
all of our spell checkers a headache.  This dreadful one-eyed one-horned
creature is still after Sam/Romeo, so hopefully we will get to see a bit
more of it, even if only its demise, in some future card play.

Duel Summary

The Spades Duel between Hubert and Goldenmean grinds on and on. Still in
Round 5, we are again waiting on Goldenmean, who defaulted back on
Thursday. Given that it has taken two and a half months to get this far,
we could well be seeing the first ever six-month Duel, provided none of
its combatants go on Holiday first. 

Also in progress is the first ever YORL Duel, with the proven talents of
The Gingham Wearer up against the newbie duellist in Koxvolio.  The
two-bench no-holds-barred tale should make for an interesting linguistic
wrestle.

Advertisements

The Ackan is still looking for more interviews. If you have yet to respond
to the Ackan call for interviews, and have held a public office in Acka
for at least one month continuously at any stage in Acka's history, then
the staff of the Infrequent Ackan would like to hear from you. Just email
us at [email-masked] with the keywords "Acka: Ackan" and say you would
like to do an interview. That's all. If you are accepted (which, let's
face it, is still pretty likely at this stage) then someone from the Ackan
will be around to contact you shortly. 
 	 	 	 	 
The Infrequent Ackan, first to you with Ackan news.
Copyright  Duncan Richer writing under the pseudonym of "Slakko", 13th May
1998.
Check us out on the web, at
http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/Nomic/Acka/infrequent.html 		

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 14:39:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: It's Back

The B-Ack is chasing Hubert tomorrow.

- -- 
Duncan C. "" Richer aka
Slakko (Lost) Warner - http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/ - Queens' College
Cambridge, 1st Year PhD(Pure Maths), CUDipSoc, CUSFS, CUSTS, CURS etc
Acka - President, Web-Harfer, RuneMaker, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 16:19:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: Towsner <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Herald

>Alterantively we could try
>Per fess or and in base per pale azure and sable, upon the first a wheel
>gules, upon the second a sword argent, and upon the third a goat vert.
	This is fine.

- --
- -Henry Towsner

	<[email-masked]>

	Success is the child of audacity.
		-Benjamin Disraeli

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 16:53:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Eric Plumb <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: It's Back

On Wed, 13 May 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:

> The B-Ack is chasing Hubert tomorrow.

Sir, I must protest!  Be clearer, I say!
Do you mean tomorrow, or do you mean today?

(Not to mention, that BPH never got called:
For I Learned my Lesson -- as you will recall --

In only the second one ever, my child.
Ergo, I'm in Hubert's House, not in the Wilds.)

- -Hubert Schubert

I do have several
Rhyming .sigs, but they're hardly
Appropriate here.

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

Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 17:29:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 2986 rejected

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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> No, Vulcan HQ has no _ostentatious_ towers.  I claim that it still has
> towers.  The CFJ 545 Supreme Court reasoning has something to say about it,
> although I don't remember whether it definitively says that VHQ has towers
> or whether it just notes the possibility.  And I can't look it up in the
CFJ
> archive, because the SC reasoning and final verdict have not been added yet
> -- poke, poke.
> 
> >The Brass Monkey actually climbed the Monument to Futility.  Which was a
> >good trick, seeing as it was floating at the time.
> 
> I think we will have to suspend judgement on that one, at least until we
> turn up the SC reasoning related to the matter.

I will get round to this eventually, really I will. In the meantime, if there
is anything that you need then email me. I have all the messages in email so
I can get them to you fairly quickly if necessary. I have also attached the
full reasoning for CFJ 545 (not 544 as I erroneously labeled it) to this
message for your viewing pleasure.

TGW.
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From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
To: "Acka" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFJ 544 (FALSE (overturned))
Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 17:02:25 -0400 (EDT)
Sender: [email-masked]
Reply-To: [email-masked]

This has been overturned to FALSE by the Supreme Cortex of breadbox and
ThinMan.

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
Appealed by: Alfvaen
Judgement: FALSE

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.

Appealer's reasoning:
Rule 1, at the time, created a building called 'Rule 1 is repealed. #1
Headquarters' with "six 3500-meter tall ostentatious towers attached to
it which are not associated with any player."  Rule 1 also defined other
characteristics for it, including it being a Common Location, and the
fact of only being able to be admitted by members of 'Rule 1 is repealed.
#1', a.k.a. Vulcan.

Rule 835 is not clear as to whether R1ir#H (for short) would remain a
Common Location after the Rules stopped specifying that it is.  However,
considering that the magic words "A Location may only be a Common Location
as specified by the Rules" do not appear, I think it is possible that it
could be.

So let us assume The Gingham Wearer was able to enter R1ir#H.  Would e
still be Sheltered?  Rule 841 states that "the term 'Ostentatious Tower'
is always with respect to a particular player".  I believe that this may
cause the no-player-associated Ostentatious Towers on R1ir#H(and, for
that matter, Vulcan Headquarters)to not function as Ostentatious Towers
for the purposes of the rest of the Rule.  The word "ostentatious" in what
is now Rule 1150 may be considered to be a meaningless adjective, because
the Rules do not support its attempted definition.  By elimination, the
towers on the two Headquarters must be Public(although there is the
possibility that they do not fit the criterion for Public towers either,
and may end up being towers of unspecified nature).

Thus, I believe that the Towers on R1ir#H, and VH as well, are not
Ostentations for the Purpose of Rule 841, and thus do not possess
Sheltering basements.

I also note that the fact that Towers seem to be specified to Shelter
players _only during Tornados_ would make this trivially FALSE anyway,
but I'd like to know whether TGW would be Sheltered during the Tornado
as well.

Supreme Court's Comments:
The Court is essentially in agreement with the appealer's arguments
(with one minor correction).

Rule 1 is repealed. #1 Headquarters retains those properties which
were granted to it by the rules at the time of its creation (such as
the properties of being an entity, a Building and a Common Location,
and having Towers). On the other hand, Rule 841 defines precisely what
Towers can be considered Ostentatious, and this definition disagrees
with the information given about the Towers in question by Rule
1150. This rule also does not have the necessary precedence to
override Rule 841, and so its towers are not Ostentatious.

The Court notes, however, that Rule 1150 describes the Towers
belonging to Vulcan Headquarters, while the Building being discussed
here is actually Rule 1 is repealed. #1 Headquarters. This Building
was never defined by Rule 1150, but exists entirely due to a Rule that
was numbered 1 and undeniably had the necessary precedence to override
Rule 841. So, to be precise, the fact that Rule 1150 lacks sufficient
precedence is not the reason that the Towers are not Ostentatious.
Their Ostentatious property was stripped from them by Rule 841 the
moment that Rule 1 ceased to refer to Rule 1 is repealed. #1
Headquarters, because at that time, no rule prevented Rule 841's
definition (which was essentially in force all the while, and still
is) from applying to the Towers of Rule 1 is repealed. #1
Headquarters.

The original judge is penalized 1 point.
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End of ackanomic digest V3 #148
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