Subject: ackanomic digest V3 #174
From: [email-masked] (ackanomic digest)
To: [email-masked]

ackanomic digest         Friday, May 29 1998         Volume 03 : Number 174

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 00:34:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: List of swingers

Can someone confirm for me that this is the current list of swingers?

/dev/joe
Hubert
J. M. Bear
Koxvolio
Mr. Tambourine Man
Niccolo Flychuck
Slakko

Thanks.

breadbox

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 00:41:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Astro" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: ackanomic digest V3 #172

>> Missing from the list is:
>>
>> Astro ([email-masked])
>> Guy Fawkes ([email-masked])
>> Hoover 2300 ([email-masked])
>> Niccolo Flychuck ([email-masked])
>> Pandora ([email-masked])
>> Slakko ([email-masked])
>>
>> Guy Fawkes and Hoover 2300 are on vacation, but the other four players
>> I noted as missing from the recipient list of Slakko's message were
>> not on vacation [...]
>
>Right. The missing people are those who are subscribed to
>ackanomic-digest. I didn't send them the notice since I figured that
>the interruption of service wouldn't be long enough to disturb them.

Please do send me notices of this sort. i didn't receive the digest for a
few days, and with all the things I was doing I wasn't sure what happened
and what to do about it.

Astro
I wish I could think of a tagline right now.

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 00:54:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: ackanomic digest V3 #172

> Please do send me notices of this sort. i didn't receive the digest
> for a few days, and with all the things I was doing I wasn't sure
> what happened and what to do about it.

You're right, I should have notified everyone. All I can say is that I
was a little distracted at the time.

Still, there shouldn't have been more than one missing digest. (Well,
two days' worth, actually, since an entire day went by with the lists
down.) If you're actually missing a digest, send me a request and I'll
mail you a new copy. (And hopefully the ftp servers will be back up
sooner rather than later.)

breadbox

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 01:29:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Trombone

Hear ye, hear ye!  Mr. Tambourine Man's score has reached 157, and as
such the Great Trombone is now Somewhere Else.  Up for grabs, in other
words!  (Ironically, if it hadn't been for the P3076 parade, and the
Trombone getting em 10 points for it, e'd still have it...)

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Oasis:Don't Look Back In Anger
Current Book--Robert Jordan:The Shadow Rising
Why does it take the tears of a woman to see how men are?

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 02:46:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: List of swingers

On Fri, 29 May 1998, Brian Raiter wrote:

> Can someone confirm for me that this is the current list of swingers?
> 
> /dev/joe
> Hubert
> J. M. Bear
> Koxvolio
> Mr. Tambourine Man
> Niccolo Flychuck
> Slakko
> 
> Thanks.

Confirmed - the NAP Swinger seat is still warm, if anyone legitimate
nominates they will automatically take the office.  Niccolo is the only
Capital Swinger, the other 6 current Swingers are all Party Swingers.
- -- 
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: Fri, 29 May 1998 04:19:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Alternate site

I promised that I'd set up an alternative if we didn't have web
services up by Thursday. Unfortuantely, that is exactly what has
happened. This stuff always takes longer than you think it will. (Plus
I think everyone's a little burned out from the mad scramble of the
first 36 hours.) So:

You can access the ruleset pages at:   http://www.drizzle.com/~blr/rules/
and the proposal archive (3000-on) at: http://www.drizzle.com/~blr/props/

I will try to keep these up to date until our web services have
returned. And let me remind everyone to vote. Proposals 3117 through
3123 are due early Saturday morning.

If you need access to anything else, please don't hesitate to ask. I
can email you either HTML or flat-text copies of any of my web pages.

In other news, we believe we have found the security hole that was
exploited on our machine - namely a stack overrun in bind 8. RedHat 5.0
ships with this security hole "enabled", by the way. In addition to
trying to steal our passwords, they we also using our ftp server to
distribute pirated software. We found megs of programs in hidden ftp
directories (with names like "      "), such as Windows 98 and popular
CDROM-based games. (It's so embarrassing. If we had to get hacked by
wArEz d00ds, why couldn't they have had better taste in software?)

breadbox

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 05:49:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Frank Schmidt <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Contaminated Wuleset

If I wecaww cowwectly, someone just wepwaced "Spewwing Bee"
with "in the Wules", making it possibwe to wepwlace any occuwance
of "in the Wules" in the Wuleset. I think if the game isn't in a state
of
cwisis now, I don't know when it wiww be...

J. M. Beaw

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 11:16:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Temporary proposal URL

Could someone resend the URl where breadbox has the current props?

I managed to misplace the previous email which had the information.

- -JT

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

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 11:58:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Temporary proposal URL

On Fri, 29 May 1998, JT wrote:

> Could someone resend the URl where breadbox has the current props?
> 
> I managed to misplace the previous email which had the information.

There are links to the nomicbot pages through the main Ackanomic pages -
look in the Rules, Proposals etc. section of the compressed front page, or
at the Rules, Proposal etc. page itself.

Yours,
Slakko
- -- 
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: Fri, 29 May 1998 12:02:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Temporary proposal URL

On Fri, 29 May 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:

> On Fri, 29 May 1998, JT wrote:
> 
> > Could someone resend the URl where breadbox has the current props?
> > 
> > I managed to misplace the previous email which had the information.
> 
> There are links to the nomicbot pages through the main Ackanomic pages -
> look in the Rules, Proposals etc. section of the compressed front page, or
> at the Rules, Proposal etc. page itself.

Oops - sorry, please disregard the above.

You can access the ruleset pages at:   http://www.drizzle.com/~blr/rules/
and the proposal archive (3000-on) at: http://www.drizzle.com/~blr/props/

- -- 
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: Fri, 29 May 1998 13:50:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFJ 597 (Alfvaen)

IdiotBoy is deadbeat so this goes to Praetor Alfvaen.

Clerk of the Courts
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Call For Judgement 597- May 19, 1998
Subject: Enlightenment
Initiator: JT (sent May 19, 1998, 15:28)
Judge: IdiotBoy (selected May 21, 1998, 14:42) (deadbeat)
Second Judge: Alfvaen
Judgement: 

Statement:
  JT, /dev/joe, Vynd, and Calvin N Hobbes are all Enlightened.

Initiator's Reasoning:
  (as a small side note, this is within (just barely) the 14 day
retroactivity
limit, but I needed the previous CFJ's for my reasoning)
  On May 5th, /dev/joe, Vynd, JT, and Calvin N Hobbes were burnt as witches
under the then current (now defunct) text of Rule 670.
  This was decided by CFJ 588, which although the statement only specified
/dev/joe and Vynd certainly applied to all Senators at the time, not just
those two.
  Under the decision of the recent CFJ 594,  all witches are heretics and
thus the phrase burned as a witch in the version of rule 670 which was in
effect at the time of the burning was sufficient to invoke the portion of
rule 1307 which caused them to become Enlightened (and to each lose 10 points
for that matter).
  CFJ 594 is relevant since the text of 1307 has not changed in the tie
frame being discussed by this CFJ although rule 670 has changed to remove the
phrase which I believe triggered the Enlightenment.

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 15:36:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Stripe

A double dose of celebration today, as two players enter another decade of
accepted proposals.  First up on the podium is /dev/joe, looking
resplendent in eir Champion's Cloak.  A quick wave to the crowd, and then
it is on with the ceremony.  /dev/joe's acceptances last night and today
saw him reach a Blue Cross Rank of 110, becoming only the third player to
do so.  To mark the occasion, he is presented with a Silver Stripe to go
with his two gold ones.

Meanwhile, right next to him, and second up the podium is Alfvaen, looking
a little weary from a busy last week proposing.  Alfvaen's acceptances
have valued him up to a Blue Cross Rank of 130, second behind only Elder
Malenkai.  Alfvaen is also handed a Silver Stripe, going with his two
Golds and two existing Silvers.

Here end the Stripe Ceremonies for today.

Yours,
President Slakko
- -- 
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: Fri, 29 May 1998 15:40:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Contaminated Wuleset

> If I wecaww cowwectly, someone just wepwaced "Spewwing Bee" with "in
> the Wules", making it possibwe to wepwlace any occuwance of "in the
> Wules" in the Wuleset. I think if the game isn't in a state of
> cwisis now, I don't know when it wiww be...

Er? When did this happen? Apparently I missed it.

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 16:41:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Tom Walmsley" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Contaminated Wuleset

> > If I wecaww cowwectly, someone just wepwaced "Spewwing Bee" with "in
> > the Wules", making it possibwe to wepwlace any occuwance of "in the
> > Wules" in the Wuleset. I think if the game isn't in a state of
> > cwisis now, I don't know when it wiww be...
> 
> Er? When did this happen? Apparently I missed it.

IIRC, this was in one of K 2's proposals and was in notes brackets so didn't
actually happen. I could of course be wrong though.

Mr. Tambourine Man.

PS is anyone here any good at mechanics? I've got an exam next week and I
can't do motion in a vertical circle.

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 18:09:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: The Infrequent Ackan Volume 1 Issue 24

Volume 1, Issue 24
May 29, 1998
This issue's slogan:
"Fresh Week, Fresh News, Same Old Garbage"
In this issue:
1. Editorial
2. Apologies and Retractions.
3. Poll Question #8 Results
4. More Ackanomic News
5. Meaningless Statistic of the Week
6. The Party Chess Report
7. Sub-Game Summary
8. Advertisement		
	 	 
Editorial

More Like the Dark Ages

This week the mindless raging hordes vented their anger on more than one
of us, yet again in an attempt to reduce Acka to an accepting, unthinking
rabble.  Unfortunately for them, in their attempts to disenfranchise us,
roast us alive even, they have only strengthened our cause.

Rex Mundi and I were both burned this week - one of us for a statement
which could be taken as nothing but Heresy, and another for a statement
which said nothing at all, for nothing it was.  Yet which of us was given
the more intense burning?  Who could command less support to save
themselves from such a fate?  Why, it was I, who was condemned to burn for
the no doubt heinous crime of saying nothing.

When good citizens cannot keep their mouths shut without being branded a
witch, clearly the rules are no longer adequate protection.  Something
must be done!  Now is the time for all Ackans to throw off the shackles of
the Middle Ages.  Those who have already seen the light know that the
Earth can truly be made non-flat, and that the lack of colour in the shade
some call "black" is self-evident.

Break your chains and follow us as we demand an end to Witchhunts once and
for all!  No longer shall Ackans live in fear of those who would silence
us for saying what we know in our hearts is true!  No longer shall our
opinions be subject to artificial constraint that the Rules put on us!  We
must fight to be free!

Those of you who are Enlightened, you have nothing to lose by this
crusade.  There are enough of us now that no horde can damage us, no power
in the Rules can attack us if we take our action together and stamp out
the crime of Heresy!

The True Dark Ages

breadbox this week was the victim of an unprovoked attack from a bunch of
warez d00dz (they don't even deserve the sobriquet of crackers IMHO) who
don't seem to understand the concept of personal property.  Their
malicious behaviour has cost the staff at muppetlabs an enormous amount of
time in simply restoring the system to workability.

Of course this has led to the minor hitch of Ackanomic's mailing lists
being down for slightly over 24 hours.  Thanks must go out to breadbox for
taking enough time out of his busy work schedule to get the majordomo and
sendmail stuff up online again, getting Acka back on its feet after a
temporary stoppage.

Thanks also to breadbox for somehow managing to get the results for a
rather large number of proposals out within a reasonable time, given the
constraints put on him this week.  I think e deserves a round of applause.

The Newspaper Business

After the flurry of Newspaper foundings a couple of months ago, the scene
appears to have quietened down a little.  else...if's publication has
gained a little niche as a regular mini-paper, presenting current Stock
Market statistics, plus useful financial opinions.

Meanwhile, the other two new publications are continuing to duke it out in
the monthly stakes.  /dev/joe's contribution harks back to the early days
of Ackanomic newspapers, dealing primarily with treasure-hunting progress.
Mr. Tambourine Man's now incongruously named Gingham paper, meanwhile, is
a more general paper, dealing with issues of the day on a roughly monthly
basis.

Ackanomic has plenty of room for this number of papers, and I welcome the
competition for readers.  With the niches each paper has adopted, we
should all be able to survive in the current marketplace (provided you all
keep publishing, right?)	 	 

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 apologises for a blunder in our last issue. We mistakenly
claimed that the first round of Grab-a-Donkey saw eight eliminations
including three players who left the game and went home.  This should, of
course, have read eight eliminations plus three other players who left the
game and went home.  This does put a different spin on the game of
Grab-a-Donkey and its early progress; we apologise if we misled anyone.

The Ackan also apologises to JT for misrepresenting his proposal to
eliminate anti-voting points.  It did, of course, provide an alternative,
by giving points to those who voted with the makers of proposals.  While
this "alternative" may be unacceptable to some players, that's the point
of proposing it.  We apologise for this oversight.

If you think you have found an error in the Ackan, point it out! My
shotgun's still rusty, and the sub-editors are openly walking around the
office with little badges saying "5 weeks of Long Service" and the such.
Frankly, it's getting a bit depressing not having any morale-boosting
shootings around here.

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

Poll Question

Question Number 8 was asked last week:

Which piece of ancient Harf is the least worthy of being retained in the
Ruleset?
(a) - The Magic Potato.
(b) - Politeness Moon Hearings.
(c) - Prosthetic Foreheads.
(d) - Phoebe the Steel Flea.
(e) - Other (please write in reply)
(f) - Thou Shalt Not Touch The Harf.

Responses were well spread this week, despite my offering a list of
alternatives (unlike my deliberately objective Presidential poll earlier
this month).

The write-in candidate of Heresy and Witchhunts was the surprise winner in
the contest for Least Liked Harf, receiving two votes.  This was the same
level of support as for no Harf change at all.  I would remind those who
say that "Thou Shalt Not Touch The Harf" that this works both ways, and
that new Harf is hard to introduce when lots of old Harf is still around.
Politeness Moon Hearings and Prosthetic Foreheads both garnered a single
vote, while The Magic Potato and Phoebe the Steel Flea have firm support
from the Ackan populace, with neither being attacked by a single player.
This week's randomly selected Trinket, valued at A$10 or more, goes to
else...if!  Congratulations, the Financial Director of the Infrequent
Ackan Publishing Company will be transferring the trinket to you in a
message to appear shortly.

Remember, your opinion does matter to us here at the Ackan.  Another
question will arrive next issue, if the Great EBS is willing.  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

Stripe Attack

Two of Acka's grand masters provided the Stripe focus this week.   Alfvaen
and /dev/joe both attained a multiple of 10 in their Blue Cross Ranks
during the big catchup bundle submitted on Thursday night and Friday
morning by the ever-hardworking breadbox.

Alfvaen's Blue Cross Rank is now 130, courtesy of 120 proposals and a
single Blue Cross Bonus.  In a neat coincidence, Alfvaen's current
rejection count is also a multiple of ten, 40 to be precise.  This gives
Alfvaen an extraordinarily good acceptance rate of 75%, no doubt in part
due to his amazing 29-proposal personal Streak.

/dev/joe, meanwhile, has reached 110.  After a false announcement of this
attainment last week, when Niccolo Flychuck was the actual recipient,
/dev/joe will no doubt be pleased to achieve this target for himself.
Congratulations to both players and may you continue making proposals for
many years to come.

Self-Immolation the New Trend

After Wild Card managed to have himself burned as a Black Heretic last
week, Slakko has followed suit this week.  Vague references are being made
by those in the know to a new "Evil Ballot Stuffer ritual of
purification".  While some are claiming that the ritual requires the
priesthood to supply their own ashes for the altar, more enlightened types
are seeing it differently.

"This willingness to undergo pain at the behest of others is a sign of
spiritual maturity", said noted Ackan theologian D. Tyworship.  "By
purifying oneself in the cleansing fires that witchburnings produce,
Enlightenment and spiritual advancement is more easily attained.
Personally, give me a decent birching any old time."

Financial Follies

Keep selling people - the bearish group running the Ackan Reserve are
desperate to see stock values plummet.  The only people at risk, however,
are "sleeping partners" who may not have noticed the dip in Ackan
dividends lately.  Most people have already seen the writing on the wall,
and quit their portfolios with haste.

Meaningless Statistic of the Week

This week's statistic: Fastest to the Blue Cross Zone.

Not every Ackan has had the chance to receive a Blue Cross on the
acceptance of their twentieth proposal.  Back in the early days of Acka,
Blue Crosses had not even been considered.  Even when they were
introduced, there were additional restrictions, not fully eliminated for
some time, which prevented some widely accepted players from achieving the
Cross.

So, to make this a level playing field, the statistic tonight is simply
the difference between the number of a player's first proposal (regardless
of its fate) and their 20th accepted proposal.

It might be thought that such an exercise would be a shoo-in for Malenkai.
After all, to get to 300 proposals takes a lot of work, and those first 20
must have come fairly quickly, right?  Wrong.  Malenkai took 366 proposals
between his first ever and his 29th accepted, placing him in equal 5th
place currently.

He shares this position with Calvin N Hobbes, another early player who
achieved 20 acceptances 366 proposals after starting his attempts at rule
modification.

At the other end of the scale, there is only one
player who has had more than 1000 proposals pass between his first
proposal and his Blue Cross qualification point.  That player is breadbox,
who took 1436 proposals in between, give or take a few proposal numbers
which were never submitted (to save time these have been assumed to have
been continuously distributed throughout the queue, so that I can ignore
them).  Next slowest were Mohammed/Chaos, with 929, and snowgod, with 846.

So, who are the fastest of our pantheon?  Those who would have us cry
"Slow down!  You're spamming the proposal queue?"  Well, given my tendency
to over-message the mailing lists (no, it isn't spam, I swear!), I
unsurprisingly came in first with a mere 149 differential.  However, this
was not a win with daylight second.

Alfvaen left only 181 proposals in between, and has kept up a similar rate
of involvement ever since, as his recent Stripe acquisition demonstrates.
Guy Fawkes was similarly quick, with 189, while Robert Sevin, the
granddaddy of them all, managed to sneak 20 acceptances through the
proposal queue in the very early days, the 20th occurring only 184
proposals after his first ever proposal, the magical 301 (Yes, it was
declared invalid - I'm counting it, OK?)

This has been another Meaningless Statistic of the Week.

The Party Chess Report

The Party Chess game currently under way still has very little long-term
strategy in evidence.  Swingers are still developing short-term ways to
get their Weight up, and strengthen their position before attacks come.
The recent repeal of the single Atomic move Checkmate trick has reduced
the likelihood of large Stabber's Knife bounties as were seen at the start
of the month.  This should lead to some more stable play, but at this
stage many Swingers are still uncertain as to the shape this game will
take.

Koxvolio has produced a dramatic increase in Swinger Weight.  After only 3
turns on the board, he has reached an almost unbelievably high weight of
79.  While this looks quite good for ensuring maximum Swingpoints for the
next couple of weeks (and also some Swingpoints to the other members of
HARF), it will also start to impact on Koxvolio's freedom to move.  At
this stage, only Koxvolio and Mr. Tambourine Man have weights in excess of
50, so all other on-board Swingers, except for Niccolo Flychuck, have the
triple Atomic Play option still open.  Will this advantage prove decisive
later on, or have the recent Check and Placement restrictions nullified
it?  Stay tuned to find out.

Sub Game Summary

"Every week - every subgame". 

Eleusis

Game 1 has entered the elimination phase.  Each incorrect play will
eliminate a player until all have fallen by the wayside.  /dev/joe has
survived the first hurdle, and we are still waiting to see if Mr.
Tambourine Man has done likewise.  Given the level of hints needed for
this clue, it appears that the round may come to a quick halt. 

Meanwhile, Ayla's Prophetic performance in Game 2 is still unbroken.
Correctly identifying a correct "No Play" from one player is the most
recent illustration of this uncanny prediction ability.  How long can it
continue?

Fictionary

Despite JT being forced to submit a definition in Round 6, he still ended
up with the correct one, albeit with a lucky guess.  This has left JT's
lead pretty well intact, and the threat of an unheard-of single set of
Rounds Fictionary is still present.

Round 7 is currently underway, with "geniculate" the word for definition
speculation.  Hopefully it will produce voting at least as interesting as
that obtained last round, which included pairwise voting between Slakko
and /dev/joe.

Ghost

The current game of Ghost has dropped to just two players - Alfvaen and
Slakko.  Unfortunately, the last two dropouts were the result of apathy
more than of clever play - something which we would rather not see in
these types of games.

The final round has reached the "avy" stage, and it is Alfvaen's go.  What
will be the magical next letter?  Can you stand the suspense?  Can I stop
writing every sentence as a question?  Tune in and see.

Grab-a-Donkey

Grab-a-Donkey is now 4 rounds old, and is starting to settle into a
pattern.  Unlike previous games, there is now a hierarchy amongst the
grabbers, with those on 3 or more donkeys able to act with impunity in the
next round, knowing they are safe from elimination.  The likelihood of a
game ending as suddenly as the last one did has greatly diminished, as the
odds of all but one player deciding to cover their donkey have collapsed.

Despite the safety of some Grabbers, the eliminations are still coming
thick and fast..  So grab your boots and saddle up! Grab-a-Donkey looks
like being a wild ride.	 

Pure Skill

Game 1 of Pure Skill has entered the final stretch.  3 rounds remain, and
of course the final round is determined automatically, so we only have two
sets of strategic plays to go.  Given the cards left in hand, it is
unlikely that Koxvolio will go on to win.  Depending upon the strategies
taken, Pandora and J. M. Bear both have reasonable chances of winning.  It
will all depend on the turn of the card, to see which Spade is bid for in
turn, and therefore to see whose strategy becomes clear first.

Word Un-Association 

Word Un-Association has apparently gone moribund. Questions are being
asked as to the whereabouts of the Referee, and why no link word from
llano has yet appeared, even though two players have had the opportunity
to make such a link. Stay tuned as we bring you more news on this
continuing crisis.

YORL

Alfvaen has taken the story and run towards the finishing line, despite
the large number of loose ends.  With only 2 cards left, and 4 loose ends,
the story appears set for what could be a slightly premature ending.
However, at this stage the deck is still depleted.  Some inopportune
interrupts could see the game end without a winner, unless /dev/joe
decides to extend the deck pronto.

Duel Summary

The Spades Duel between Hubert and Goldenmean grinds on and on. Round 5
has ended, but the bidding in Round 6 has stalled.  Slakko's stupid
misplay has extended the life of the game significantly, as the score of
his team is only 291 rather than the 391 it could have been.  The risky
decision of Hubert to bid a 0 paid off, despite his holding a King and a
Queen.  Slakko's bid of 6 was also fulfilled exactly, leaving Alfvaen and
Goldenmean with the 2 overtricks and their accompanying sandbags.  

Hopefully the new amendments will enable this game to eventually end,
before any of its players have to go on vacation and end it prematurely.
Mind you, can anyone remember what the duel was about in the first place?
I honestly can't remember offhand, so I wonder why it continues at this
stage.  Does anyone think that Duels should have a limited life?

Also in progress is the first ever YORL Duel, Koxvolio taking on Mr.
Tambourine Man. The play is with Koxvolio, and given his current
progression of the tale, Mr. Tambourine Man had better have a good
interrupt or two ready if he wishes to win back control of the story any
time soon.

Another duel was completed since the last issue, the Ghost duel between
Alfvaen and JT.  After some initial confusion, JT was declared the winner
after spotting that "objectivize" was legitimate, and contained the "iviz"
that Alfvaen claimed was not in any legitimate word. 

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", 29th May
1998.
Check us out on the web, at
http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/Nomic/Acka/infrequent.html 		

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 20:24:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: Eric Plumb <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Not Much, Really

The The Really Big Blue Thing That Doesn't Do Too Much, Really which the
Order of the Razor Boomerang began building long long ago has been
completed, either in my possession or in that of the Order.  If the latter
is the case, I order the Order to offer it to me, which it of course does.
I then accept this offer.

I then start thinking of interesting anagrams to fashion out of other
players' names.  Suggestions are welcome, except for those based on "JT,"
"K 2," or the like.

- -Be Hurt

Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word? 

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 20:42:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: Eric Plumb <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Chess Hearing Results

Belatedly, the results of the Chess Hearing created by Rule 69, "temp,"
were 13-6 in favor of "Swingers should be allowed to escape Check via
Placements."  Thus, Rule 69 repeals itself and no other changes to the
Rules are made.  E-mail me if you wish a record of who voted what.

Several players attempted to cast votes via their Evil Ballot Stuffers.
Due to a probably-overlooked clause in R69, this caused ThinMan,
else...if, JT, and Rex Mundi to transfer all their gift entities to the
Church of the Good Ballot Stuffer.  Financier, take note.

One player, and eir EBS, attempted to vote BAA!.  Unfortunately, the
Hearing was over before this could become a Crime, and thus Rex Mundi is
safe for now.

- -Hubert

Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word? 

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 21:08:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Matt Miller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Temporary proposal URL

On Fri, 29 May 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:

> On Fri, 29 May 1998, JT wrote:
> 
> > Could someone resend the URl where breadbox has the current props?
> > 
> > I managed to misplace the previous email which had the information.
> 
> There are links to the nomicbot pages through the main Ackanomic pages -
> look in the Rules, Proposals etc. section of the compressed front page, or
> at the Rules, Proposal etc. page itself.
> 
> Yours,
> Slakko

It is, however, too much to ask to include the requested information along
with the pointer.

IB
grumpy

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 21:08:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Matt Miller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Temporary proposal URL

On Fri, 29 May 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:

> Oops - sorry, please disregard the above.
> 
> You can access the ruleset pages at:   http://www.drizzle.com/~blr/rules/
> and the proposal archive (3000-on) at: http://www.drizzle.com/~blr/props/
> 

IB
and stupid-looking.

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 21:10:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Matt Miller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: CFJ 597 (Alfvaen)

On Fri, 29 May 1998, Tom Walmsley wrote:

> IdiotBoy is deadbeat so this goes to Praetor Alfvaen.
> 

Oops.

I take myself off the CFJ Inelgibility list.

IB
actually meant to decline this one.

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 21:42:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Chess Hearing Results

On Fri, 29 May 1998, Eric Plumb wrote:
>Several players attempted to cast votes via their Evil Ballot Stuffers.
>Due to a probably-overlooked clause in R69, this caused ThinMan,
>else...if, JT, and Rex Mundi to transfer all their gift entities to the
>Church of the Good Ballot Stuffer.  Financier, take note.

I don't *THINK* so Hubert :)
It merely says they will be ignored :)
Financier, definately read the rule before complying with Hubert as above.

Bad Hubert, no biscuit :)

- --JT

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

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 23:32:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: John Frederic Mc Coy <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Stuff

I am donating my Gravitational Monopole to the Cubical Earth
Implementation Society.  Then I'm going to the Vault of the Book and just
sort of wandering around inside, waiting for something to happen.

                                    - Vynd

[email-masked]

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 23:48:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: John Frederic Mc Coy <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Sleepy

I'm tired, but i wnated to mention that proposals 3117 and 3139 are both
harfy.  Sorry, no silly story this time, I know you're all broken-hearted
about it too.

                                   - Vynd

[email-masked]

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 23:49:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Rule 257

I sent AWOL queries to both Karma and Tom Kitten(at other players' request),
and have received no response.  Karma is now put on Vacation with an
expected duration of three days, and Tom Kitten is removed from the game.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Pink Floyd:Wish You Were Here
Current Book--Robert Jordan:The Shadow Rising
Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 23:49:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Offer

I offer all my Benefyts to J. M. Bear.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Pink Floyd:Wish You Were Here
Current Book--Robert Jordan:The Shadow Rising
James Brown: I've fallen and I can't get down

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 23:51:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Dice server)
Subject: Acka: Ackanomicon Determination

- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Dice rolls requested by: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Rolls also sent to:
    [email-masked]

# Player: Vynd
# Ackanomicon determination
# based on the following (using a 50 sided die):
# 1 -15: arcane trivia
# 16-20: vile prophecies
# 21-25: inner workings
# 26-30: arcane lore
# 31-33: terrorizing pages
# 34-34: ancient artifact
# 35-36: mutation
# 37-38: dark domain
# 39-39: stock market crash
# 40-41: long lost treasure
# 42-43: doomsday
# 44-44: forbidden fruit
# 45-45: catastrophe
# 46-49: not so forbidden fruit
# 50-50: ancient one
# Alfvaen

No. of sides on every die:     50
No. of dice for every roll:     1
No. of dice rolls requested:    1
No. of rolls per line:          1

     30

Information on the dice server:
   DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE!
   Replies to [email-masked] vanish into a seldom-read mailbox.

   For instructions on using the dice server, send a message with
   subject "help" to [email-masked], or see http://www.pbm.com/dice/

   The dice server is provided by:

      Shadow Island Games
      http://www.pbm.com/ds.html

Original message follows:
> From [email-masked]  Fri May 29 20:51:09 1998
> Received: (from smtp@localhost) by xkey.com
>       id UAA28916 for <[email-masked]>; Fri, 29 May 1998 20:51:09 -0700
> Received: from edtntnt2-port-92.agt.net(209.115.133.92) by xkey.com via smtp (V1.3)
>       id sma028906; Fri May 29 20:51:00 1998
> Received: (from alfvaen@localhost) by concordia.telusplanet.net (8.7.6/8.7.3) id VAA00840 for [email-masked]; Fri, 29 May 1998 21:50:46 -0600
> Message-Id: <[email-masked]>
> Subject: Acka: Book
> To: [email-masked]
> Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 21:50:45 -0600 (MDT)
> Reply-To: [email-masked]
> From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
> Content-Type: text
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #P [email-masked]
> #S 50
> #D 1
> #R 1
> #L 1
> #T Acka: Ackanomicon Determination
> 
> #C Player: Vynd
> #C Ackanomicon determination
> #C based on the following (using a 50 sided die):
> #C 1 -15: arcane trivia
> #C 16-20: vile prophecies
> #C 21-25: inner workings
> #C 26-30: arcane lore
> #C 31-33: terrorizing pages
> #C 34-34: ancient artifact
> #C 35-36: mutation
> #C 37-38: dark domain
> #C 39-39: stock market crash
> #C 40-41: long lost treasure
> #C 42-43: doomsday
> #C 44-44: forbidden fruit
> #C 45-45: catastrophe
> #C 46-49: not so forbidden fruit
> #C 50-50: ancient one
> #C Alfvaen
> 

- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.7

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xQXb0wFBbPuKX1C0xlp4p+1NKFDXd1a699b39dg0hO2HRUPzT5T+9A3Jj30aKOqR
xgUQnL/YeeK1LisRKF5PpmdbrLfNm7gahdvlx3sOON1P/FD3u+2NK8HPKjCEdHBR
bKqn5mLFKCE=
=ANTZ
- -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 23:52:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: Sleepy

> I'm tired, but i wnated to mention that proposals 3117 and 3139 are both
> harfy.  Sorry, no silly story this time, I know you're all broken-hearted
> about it too.

We'll have to see if JT, our current Harfmeister, agrees with you.  Since
Proposal 3079 did pass, if I'm not mistaken...

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Pink Floyd:Wish You Were Here
Current Book--Robert Jordan:The Shadow Rising
Can you _prove_ that I'm a skeptic?

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

End of ackanomic digest V3 #174
*******************************