Subject: ackanomic digest V3 #301
From: [email-masked] (ackanomic digest)
To: [email-masked]

ackanomic digest       Sunday, September 6 1998       Volume 03 : Number 301

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Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 00:16:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Hall of Elders

It is with great joy that I announce the induction of Else...if into the
Hall of Elders.
His day of remembrance shall be the day he joined Ackanomic, December 6.

- --TJ, Speaker

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

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 01:04:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: John Frederic Mc Coy <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: an observer among us

On Sat, 5 Sep 1998, JT wrote:

> John Culbertson (email [email-masked]) has decided to join us
> as an observer, and says he hopes to join the game in the future after
> watching it and making sure he has an idea about what's going on before
> joining the fray.
> 
> Please join me in welcoming him, and in hoping he'll decide to join us
> soon.
> 
> --TJ
> 

Always nice to see another John.

Vynd

[email-masked]

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 03:54:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Memberships

I was looking through the Orgs list to see what memberships else...if had.
I couldn't find any - it appeared that the Org-Harfer had gone through and
eliminated them.  While else...if has "left the game", e is still a
player, and in fact an Elder, and I can find no rule which specifies that
e shall automatically leave any Organisations of which e was a member.

Yours,
Slakko
preparing the Hall of Elders notice.
- -- 
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
Ackanomic - Web-Harfer, CotC, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer, Senator

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 04:19:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Memberships

On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:
>I was looking through the Orgs list to see what memberships else...if had.
>I couldn't find any - it appeared that the Org-Harfer had gone through and
>eliminated them.  While else...if has "left the game", e is still a
>player, and in fact an Elder, and I can find no rule which specifies that
>e shall automatically leave any Organisations of which e was a member.

From rule 250 (Player States)
VI. Upon Becoming (and while) On Ice:
e) They are removed from all organizations of which they are a member.

This happened as soon as he went On-Ice, which he did when he left the
game, so yes, I believe he did in fact get removed from all orgs.

- --TJ

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

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 04:57:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Uri Bruck <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: You Know... For Kids

This is a very dangerous gadget to have around.

I think it should be debunked!
Niccolo Flychuck

On Sat, 5 Sep 1998, Mueller wrote:

> After spending hours involved in hammerings, figurings and gizmoing, I have
> developed a keen new product all the kids will love.
> 
> Discovery: The Ackanomic Magic Pen.
> 
> The Ackanomic Magic Pen has three forms, and can switch them at the will of
> its owner: an enormous, meter long feather with a bottle of black ink that
> splatters all over, a fluorescent pink magic marker, 4 feet long, but
> weighing only about a pound, or a tacky souvenir pen that says "I visited
> the lonely mountain" and has a cheap picture of the lonely mountain on it.  
> 
> Exactly 3 of these gadgets may exist in Ackanomic at any given time. A
> player who owns an Ackanomic Magic Pen may use the pen to make any one
> change to any Ackanomic Document [such as the Literature List] excluding
> rules and proposals.  This change can be adding, deleting, or replacing up
> to 10 words, with whatever punctuation and line breaks are necessary for
> the change to fit the format of the document.
> 
> If either of the two other penholders object to any such change within
> three days after it is made, the change does not occur.
> 
> When a change is announced, the penholder pays the Standard Harfer fee and
> the pen immediately goes Somewhere Else.  After the three-day period, it is
> transferred to a randomactive player other than the player who most
> recently held it and other than any player who has an Ackanomic Magic Pen.
> 
> {{Studge is given an Ackanomic Magic Pen Two random active players other
> than Studge are given Ackanomic Magic Pens.  The same player may not be
> given both pens}}
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> End of ackanomic digest V3 #300
> *******************************
> 

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 05:04:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: You Know... For Kids

On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Uri Bruck wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> This is a very dangerous gadget to have around.
> 
> I think it should be debunked!
> Niccolo Flychuck

On the contrary, I think that it has excellent safeguards built into it.
(1) Cannot alter proposals, cannot alter rules.
(2) Changes can be counteracted by another Pen Holder.

Further, the way it is specified, even though it claims a maximum number
of 3 pens may be in existence, it does not specify how excess Pens are
destroyed, and hence additional Pens (each of which grants veto over other
Pen changes) could be created in the normal method for Gadgets without any
problems.

> > The Ackanomic Magic Pen has three forms, and can switch them at the will of
> > its owner: an enormous, meter long feather with a bottle of black ink that
> > splatters all over, a fluorescent pink magic marker, 4 feet long, but
> > weighing only about a pound, or a tacky souvenir pen that says "I visited
> > the lonely mountain" and has a cheap picture of the lonely mountain on it.  
> > 
> > Exactly 3 of these gadgets may exist in Ackanomic at any given time. A
> > player who owns an Ackanomic Magic Pen may use the pen to make any one
> > change to any Ackanomic Document [such as the Literature List] excluding
> > rules and proposals.  This change can be adding, deleting, or replacing up
> > to 10 words, with whatever punctuation and line breaks are necessary for
> > the change to fit the format of the document.
> > 
> > If either of the two other penholders object to any such change within
> > three days after it is made, the change does not occur.
> > 
> > When a change is announced, the penholder pays the Standard Harfer fee and
> > the pen immediately goes Somewhere Else.  After the three-day period, it is
> > transferred to a randomactive player other than the player who most
> > recently held it and other than any player who has an Ackanomic Magic Pen.
> > 
> > {{Studge is given an Ackanomic Magic Pen Two random active players other
> > than Studge are given Ackanomic Magic Pens.  The same player may not be
> > given both pens}}

- -- 
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
Ackanomic - Web-Harfer, CotC, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer, Senator

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 05:09:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Acka: Raft (Mr. Tambourine Man)

In a message dated 05/09/98  22:48:00, you write:

> 
>  > Mr. Tambourine Man has found the Great Raft of Ackanomic.
>  
>  If rufus and two others want to give it a go then I'd be willing to try yet
>  another rafting trip.
>  
>  Mr Tambo.

I shall join you.

Robin Hood

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 05:09:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Acka: Raft (Mr. Tambourine Man)

In a message dated 05/09/98  22:48:00, you write:

> 
>  > Mr. Tambourine Man has found the Great Raft of Ackanomic.
>  
>  If rufus and two others want to give it a go then I'd be willing to try yet
>  another rafting trip.
>  
>  Mr Tambo.

I shall join you.

Robin Hood

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 07:28:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked]
Subject: Acka: Treasure burial

I bury my Really big blue thing that doesn't do much, really and A$100 as a
treasure with this
map.

The treasure is buried under 
polmanice'  355/113 0111 Sun-God 0011

Sincere thistle locellation isabel inability theandric Wildebeests,
toad react ita aa plazaer whoa isabel alright legately inability theandric
mustache publican-like reck aa poesy descrying theandric sixteen 
thatch area noachian moreen andalusian endamaging withdraw 
aa lamia thatch thiamine havelock notable seecatched theandric yeti.
Onager finiteing theandric lat linen, thiamine shallon fine theme-selves
atabal theandric burin sith.

Robin Hood 

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 07:29:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked]
Subject: Acka: Treasure burial

I bury my Really big blue thing that doesn't do much, really and A$100 as a
treasure with this
map.

The treasure is buried under 
polmanice'  355/113 0111 Sun-God 0011

Sincere thistle locellation isabel inability theandric Wildebeests,
toad react ita aa plazaer whoa isabel alright legately inability theandric
mustache publican-like reck aa poesy descrying theandric sixteen 
thatch area noachian moreen andalusian endamaging withdraw 
aa lamia thatch thiamine havelock notable seecatched theandric yeti.
Onager finiteing theandric lat linen, thiamine shallon fine theme-selves
atabal theandric burin sith.

Robin Hood 

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 08:46:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: David Scheidt <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: You Know... For Kids

On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Uri Bruck wrote:

> 
> This is a very dangerous gadget to have around.
> 
> I think it should be debunked!
> Niccolo Flychuck
I agree.

rufus

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 09:36:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brian Raiter <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: You Know... For Kids

> Discovery: The Ackanomic Magic Pen.

Though I commend you inventiveness in general, I hereby protest the
creation of this Discovery.

> Exactly 3 of these gadgets may exist in Ackanomic at any given time. A
> player who owns an Ackanomic Magic Pen may use the pen to make any one
> change to any Ackanomic Document [such as the Literature List] excluding
> rules and proposals.

I do not believe that CFJs should be permitted to be altered either,
since they are important record of our legal precedents. (To say
nothing of CFJs that are still being judged.) In general, I am against
the idea of editing any part of the archives that document changes to
rules and game custom (which includes CRDs and the like).

> {{Studge is given an Ackanomic Magic Pen Two random active players other
> than Studge are given Ackanomic Magic Pens.  The same player may not be
> given both pens}}

I also have to admit that I dislike this recent practice of using
self-deleting text in a Discovery to get around the usual creation
process.

breadbox

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 10:37:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Walmsley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: and a hunting we shall go

JT wrote:

> I read the Otzma Card Map shard naming Mr. Tambourine Man and treasure 122

Why did I know this was coming?

MTM.

- --
Tom Walmsley [email-masked]
http://website.lineone.net/~t.walmsley/index.html
AIM: TGW666 ICQ 2925739
Bonvolu alsendi la pordiston, lausajne estas rano en mia bideo.

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 10:37:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tom Walmsley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: You Know... For Kids

> Discovery: The Ackanomic Magic Pen.

I object to this discovery. Let us say, fro the sake of argument that /dev/joe,
Vynd and ThinMan owned Magic Pens Let us then imagine that ThinMan uses his
prerogative as Wizard to make a CSR effecting only the Blueprints rulesuite (or
waits until someone else makes a CSR if necessary). Let us then imagine that a
minute before the CSR passes one of them appends the text "Vulcan may change
the rules as an organizational action" into the CSR. The situation seems rather
familiar and is not a path down which I wish to tread.

Mr Tambo.

- --
Tom Walmsley [email-masked]
http://website.lineone.net/~t.walmsley/index.html
AIM: TGW666 ICQ 2925739
Bonvolu alsendi la pordiston, lausajne estas rano en mia bideo.

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 12:23:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Memberships

JT wrote:
> On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:
> >I was looking through the Orgs list to see what memberships else...if had.
> >I couldn't find any - it appeared that the Org-Harfer had gone through and
> >eliminated them.  While else...if has "left the game", e is still a
> >player, and in fact an Elder, and I can find no rule which specifies that
> >e shall automatically leave any Organisations of which e was a member.
> 
> >From rule 250 (Player States)
> VI. Upon Becoming (and while) On Ice:
> e) They are removed from all organizations of which they are a member.
> 
> This happened as soon as he went On-Ice, which he did when he left the
> game, so yes, I believe he did in fact get removed from all orgs.

Then the org-harfer should get around to removing Guy Fawkes from the Church
of the Righteous Loophold Surfers, and any other Iced players who may still
be listed as members of orgs.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 12:34:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Thrall

Prop: Player -> Overlord
3499: Mr. Tambourine Man -> breadbox

Current Thrall totals:

Alfvaen 4
Mr. Tambourine Man 3
breadbox, Slakko, K 2 1

Yours,
Slakko
Thrallmaster
- -- 
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
Ackanomic - Web-Harfer, CotC, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer, Senator

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 12:43:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFJ 587 (FALSE)

/dev/cortex has judged this one FALSE.

Call For Judgement 587 - May 05, 1998
Subject: Nyarlathotep
Initiator: Hubert (sent May 04, 1998, 18:45)
Judge: Pandora (selected May 05, 1998, 15:41) (deadbeat)
Second Judge: Alfvaen (sent to Supreme Court)
Cortex: /dev/cortex (/dev/joe and Mr. Tambourine Man)
Judgement: FALSE

Statement: 

There exists a Frankenstein Monster known as Nyarlathotep. 

Initiator's Comments: 

Slakko's claim is that this would be FALSE because the creation of
Nyarlathotep (hereafter N)'s Blueprint instantiated the
optional Functional Office of N, and then later on when the Monster N
would have been created, its name conflicted with that of
the Office by Rule 348, and hence the creation failed. 

My argument would be as follows:
R348 states that "An attempt to do anything that requires a name to
be chosen [such as creating a Trinket or Organization] fails
if the chosen name matches a name already in use." The creation of
the Monster N did not require a name to be chosen, for its
name was chosen long ago when Rex Mundi announced that e was trolling
for Blueprint submissions. So the creation of the
Monster succeeded with the same name as the Office, and since the
names conflict, R348 requires that the CSRR choose a legal
name for one of them, and that the Blueprint be updated to fix this. 

Note that if CFJ 583 is judged TRUE, all instances of "Nyarlathotep"
in the Blueprint must be changed to the new name of the
Office, whereas if it is judged FALSE, only the one in the sentence
"There exists an optional Functional Office of Nyarlathotep."
must be changed. Assuming, of course, that the CSRR (who is also,
coincidentally, the judge of CFJ 583) chooses to change the
name of the Office instead of the name of the FM.: 

Judge's Comments: 

I am using my privilege as Praetor to send CFJ 587 to the Supreme
Court. I don't even want to _touch_ this one. I apologize in
advance. 

Cortex's Reasoning:

First, either the Frankenstein Monster attempted to name the monster
'Nyarlathotep', or else the naming clause in that rule does not make
Frankenstein Monsters actually be named entities.  In the latter case,
Frankenstein Monsters don't have names, and so there could not be a
Frankenstein Monster known as Nyarlathotep in any case.  The rest of
this reasoning concerns the former case.

By R348, it was illegal for the Frankenstein Monster Nyarlathotep and
the office Nyarlathotep to have the same name, but R348 only prevents
the creation of entities when the name is *chosen* illegally.  The name
'Nyarlathotep' was legally chosen months earlier when Rex Mundi began
construction of the FM discovery.

However, by R500.1, when a named entity is created, it is given a name
in accordance with the Rules, and, if the rules do not specify any other
method for determining its name, or the method chosen does not give a
legal name, that entity shall be considered nameless until a name is
legally assigned to it.  The FM rule did here attempt to name the FM
illegally, so it remains nameless, and then a later part of R500.1 gives
it a 'Nameless Thing #X' name for some X.

In either case, there is no Frankenstein Monster known as Nyarlathotep.

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 13:40:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: More Harf

I declare Proposal 3549 to be Harfy.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Europeans:The Animal Song
Current Book--Stephen King:The Shining
It's not an optical illusion, it just looks like one.

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 13:57:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 3501 accepted

> > > Results of Proposal 3501

> > > 22/26 votes: Quorum achieved
> > > 12/15 YES votes: Proposal accepted

> > Okay - any ideas what the heck this proposal actually does?

Not on acka-research this time:

Foo.  I give A$8 to the Twits, and A$1 to the Church of the Justified
Ancients of Mummu.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Frank Zappa:Hot Rats
Current Book--Stephen King:The Shining
No, I'm not an elitist.  Why do you ask, peasant?

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 14:01:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Feeling Empty And Meaningless Inside

In a futile attempt to give my life some purpose, I hereby request to join
Shell#10.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Frank Zappa:Hot Rats
Current Book--Stephen King:The Shining
Pick a piece of me; it'll never be the same twice.

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 14:02:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: You Know... For Kids

> > Discovery: The Ackanomic Magic Pen.

> Though I commend you inventiveness in general, I hereby protest the
> creation of this Discovery.

I protest it too.  There are too many other documents which one could
scam with such a tool.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Frank Zappa:Hot Rats
Current Book--Stephen King:The Shining
I was the kid-next-door's imaginary playmate.

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 14:30:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: You Know... For Kids

At 02:02 PM 9/6/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>> > Discovery: The Ackanomic Magic Pen.
>
>> Though I commend you inventiveness in general, I hereby protest the
>> creation of this Discovery.
>
>I protest it too.  There are too many other documents which one could
>scam with such a tool.

Yeah.  I protest too.  Fix th abuses and waste another A$100 and it would
be cool, though

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 15:25:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Tom Walmsley read this

II. I have made a guess at the Machine that goes *ping* truth, and that
guess contains the word 'chartreuse' as part of the truth.

III. I have purchased a party chess piece other than a pawn.

VIII. I have verbatim posted a piece of this puzzle in a public message, other
than this one.

IX. I have correctly named a type of fish on another stone, it is herring.

XII. I have visited the Senate.

XXI. I have found a Buried Treasure worth at least A$CCLVII.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 15:41:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: One More Time

I. I have submitted a proposal that contains at least XXX words, but
contains no verbs.

III. I have purchased a party chess piece other than a pawn.

VIII. I have verbatim posted a piece of this puzzle in a public message, other
than this one.

IX. I have correctly named a type of fish on another stone, it is herring.

XII. I have visited the Senate.

XXI. I have found a Buried Treasure worth at least A$CCLVII.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 15:42:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Purchasing a chess piece

I purchase a chess piece Rook.

3. I have purchased a party chess piece other than a pawn.

- --TJ

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

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 15:46:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Mr. Tambourine Man, paging Mr. Tambourine Man.

III.  I have purchases a party chess piece other than a pawn.

VII.  I have correctly stated the length of the Brass Monkey's chain,
      it is V meter(s).

VIII. I have verbatim posted a piece of this puzzle in a public message,
      other than this one.

IX.   I have correctly named a type of fish on another stone, it is
      herring.

X.    I have correctly stated the name of the island, it is Saaremaa.

XII.  I have visited the Senate.

- --TJ

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

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 16:00:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CSR 156

Add the following to the literature list:

Artist: Jorge Luis Borges
Artist: Isaac Newton
Artist: Thomas Jefferson
Artist: Thomas Paine
Artist: Ezra Pound
Artist: Werner Heisenberg
Artist: Niels Bohr
Artist: Goethe ; Author of Faust
Artist: Talking Heads
Artist: Piers Anthony
Artist: Dylan Thomas
Artist: Bob Dylan
Artist: James Michener
Artist: Mel Brooks
Artist: The Marx Brothers
Artist: Dietrich Dehlinger ; Inventor of Aarkonian Bliffmeister
Artist: Karl Marx
Artist: Mao Tse-Tung
Artist: Sinclair Lewis
Artist: Lewis Carroll
Artist: C.S. Lewis
Artist: Fidel Castro
Artist: Ian Fleming
Artist: Adam Smith

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 16:06:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Treasure burial

I go to the Wilds, where I recite the following poem publically:

O mighty six, the six that are no more
O how I wish that you six were still here
I look for you around the land, all o'er
And til I find you am not in good cheer

The Six No More are harfy, here or not
But when they were, how Phoebe sang their praise
Now that they are no more, the world is caught
In dreary, No-Six Ackanomic days.

Alas! I cannot find the Six No More
How very nonexistant you six be!
I look around from edge to very core
But still the Six No More I do not see.

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 16:13:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mueller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Raft (Mr. Tambourine Man)

I believe the rafting trip has:

MTM and rufus, with the necessary tools.
JT and Studge to do the rowing.

Unfortunately, the rules make no provision for more than four and Robin
Hood was slow out of the box with a message.

Unless its too late, we were ready for the expedition yesterday.

Studge

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 17:03:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Acka: Treasure burial

In a message dated 06/09/98  20:10:58,  [email-masked] writes:

> 
>  I go to the Wilds, where I recite the following poem publically:
>  
>  O mighty six, the six that are no more
>  O how I wish that you six were still here
>  I look for you around the land, all o'er
>  And til I find you am not in good cheer
>  
>  The Six No More are harfy, here or not
>  But when they were, how Phoebe sang their praise
>  Now that they are no more, the world is caught
>  In dreary, No-Six Ackanomic days.
>  
>  Alas! I cannot find the Six No More
>  How very nonexistant you six be!
>  I look around from edge to very core
>  But still the Six No More I do not see.
>  
>  
Nice poem, but when you read the name of the seventh
(at the top of the map) then you'll know what the six were.
Also your lament is on the wrong subject, still you are clearly
close.

Robin Hood

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

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 17:03:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: The Infrequent Ackan Volume 2 Issue 2

Volume 2, Issue 2
September 6, 1998
This issue's slogan:
"Okay, two weeks isn't infrequent. So sue me."
In this issue:
1. Editorial
2. Poll Question #10 Results
3. Poll Question #11
4. More Ackanomic News
5. Return of the Interview
6. The Way We Were
7. The Party Chess Report
8. Sub-Game Summary
9. Advertisement		
	 	 
Editorial

During the last fortnight, Acka has seen a few changes of interest.
However, not all of these changes have been organised in the most
understandable manner. In fact, the Governmental Types proposal has left
us wondering exactly who can vote right now, hardly an auspicious debut.
This leads on to the suggestion that we need people to read rules more
carefully. We are all at fault here, at least all of us that voted YES on
that proposal, for not examining it thoroughly enough. If you like the
proposal's intent, don't just stop there - check the proposal's content as
well. I'm equally as guilty of this as everyone else I have indirectly
fingered above - so I pledge to spend more time reading through proposals
I would consider voting for in future.

Welcome Rival

The Infrequent Ackan issues a hearty welcome to the newest entrant into
Acka's fiercely competitive publishing industry. Wild Card's Grey Wild
Times aims to cover the doings of the Grey Council, that notoriously
secretive set of Officers, whose orders may well have to be obeyed without
question.

Many conspiracy theories have abounded regarding the Grey Council. The
missing proposal 3518, Koxvolio's sudden reappearance, disappearance, and
"ghost" appearance are just two of the many events conspiracy theorists
claim have been influenced by the Grey Council.

Hopefully the Grey Wild Times will be able to shed some light on the
underhanded goings on at the Grey Council.  Yeah, right.

I am Grey.  I stand between the candle and the stars.  We are Grey.  We
stand between the darkness and the light.

Too Many Rules?

One of the criticisms of some of those working in our land is that the red
tape is too complex.  We have too many rules regulating too many things
for a single mind to handle.  Even such simple things as how to vote need
to be dealt with by a large block of explanatory text.

Some say that we attempt to regulate too much - that we have too many
rules.  This may well, at the moment, be true.  Early last month we had a
spate of proposals which cleaned up some of the ruleset.  The main
beneficiary of this was the 1300s - which, after having had the Earth
Societies repealed in July, lost some further rules.

This process appears to have stopped for now, while new concepts are once
again flooding the game.  I would ask those who bring in such ideas to
consider the level of complexity they desire, and think whether their new
concepts will provide Acka with the appropriate level of harf.	 	 

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 again soon.
Slakko
Editor, The Infrequent Ackan 

Poll Question Results

Last week's question:

Which section of the rules most needs a simplifying overhaul and/or
elimination?
(a) - Offices and Office Types
(b) - Accumulation and Existence of Points
(c) - Inventions and Gadgets
(d) - Criminal Justice
(e) - Miscellaneous Entities
(f) - Other (please specify)

Interestingly, the write-in case received both votes that were sent. One
voter wished to see the nature of voting modified, so that the redundancy
of text involved in Impeachments, Hearings, Proposal Voting and Elections
could be eliminated.

The other response was that the nature of the Chess rules could be
improved. 

The winner of the A$10 this week is /dev/joe. Congratulations on yet
another win from all of us here at The Infrequent Ackan. I give A$10 to
/dev/joe.

Poll Question 11

This week's poll question is:

Which Office is being performed with the best attention to detail,
punctuality and thoughtfulness?

No suggestions here - write in your answers (I wouldn't want to make any
biased lists and call the results into any doubt). Remember, one player at
random will be selected to receive A$10, immediately on publishing the
results!

Your opinion does matter to us here at the Ackan. The results should be
included in the next. It costs very little of your time to enter, and
there's always the chance of that small cash bonus, so please respond to
the Great Infrequent Ackan Poll Competition!

More Ackanomic News

/dev/joe does it again

Since we last brought you breaking Acka news, /dev/joe's win was
confirmed.  No player objected to the judgement of the Supreme Court
regarding the effective equivalence of "regal" and "Royal" in the context
in which they were used.  /dev/joe received eir second Badge of Glory,
becoming only the third player to have won a third Cycle of Ackanomic.

Democracy Comes to Acka?

For thousands of proposals, Ackanomic players have been voting on
proposals, unaware that they were not really participating in a Democratic
system after all.  Finally, in the last week, the veil has been lifted.  A
change of Mr. Tambourine Man's has finally brought Democracy to Acka,
setting the Ackanomic Government Type to Democracy.

"If we've been voting for so long, how come we're only now a Democracy?
What were we before?" said one Acka resident on hearing the news.  Others
suspected that the injustices of the past were only now being erased.
"Sometimes I wondered whether my vote ever really counted.  There always
seemed to be something working against my will.  Now I know that we
weren't a democracy, so I can ascribe it to some tyrannical ruler.  Maybe
the Vulcan Party was to blame for it somehow."

While most Ackanomic players were happy to hear the news, others weren't
so sure.  Rumours of Rebellion have broken out, with a number of players
(who shall remain anonymous in this paper) openly declaring their defiance
of the existing non-regime.  Despite such defiance, they are expected to
cast their vote in proposals coming up soon, as soon as the status of
voters is clarified.  Does this make you wonder, just a little, whether
Rebels should be granted the same suffrage as you or I?

Cryogenic Suspension

else...if, leading Ackan Stock analyst and generally harfy player was seen
going On Ice.  Eir well-thought out proposals and contributory play earned
the plaudits of friends and enemies alike, and saw em earn the most
coveted title of Elder today.

Court Report

Recent verdicts from first round Judges and the Supreme Cortices have seen
mysteries old and new cleaned up.

We now seem reasonably certain that there was never a Frankenstein Monster
named Nyarlathotep.  The matter is still open to debate, for another three
days or more, but it is expected that the long deliberation time for this
decision has resulted in any initial litigious fervour disappearing.

We also know, conveniently, that the Sin Submission of 867-5309 (although
e probably had a different name at the time - possibly Hubert) did not
successfully create a new rule.  Fortunately this issue is long dead, with
the Sin Suite having been abandoned a long time ago.  Still, it is nice to
have the matter cleared up by the conscientious Justices at the Supreme
Court.

In other news, the nature of proposal furniture, and how it affects the
rules, has been cleared up in a pair of proposals, thanks to some incisive
reasoning from breadbox.

The main unresolved judicial issue this week is whether or not any player
in Ackanomic is currently eligible to vote.  The CFJ is still out -
hopefully a verdict will be returned in the near future so that we can get
on with the business of accepting and rejecting proposals.

Stripe Attack

Three medals were awarded in recent days, but for very different effects.
K 2's Stripe-worthiness was spotted almost immediately after e achieved a
new decade of Blue Cross Rank.  Slakko, meanwhile, was forced to award
emself another Silver Stripe, rather than have someone else around for the
ceremony, as no-one noticed for days that eir Blue Cross Rank had passed
120.

In the most astounding development, pTang1001001sos, undead for years only
recently brought back to playerhood, received a Blue Cross in an
awe-inspiring ceremony performed by /dev/joe.  Lasers lit up the Hall of
Elders, as pTang1001001sos awoke slowly to be greeted by throngs of Ackans
bearing Blue Cross-related paraphenalia.

Return of the Interview

Today we are talking with TJ, one of Acka's newer brigade, who has already
taken on a large helping of responsibilities.  As the current Speaker, and
Officer in Charge of Random Things, it is his responsibility to keep Acka
running smoothly.  In addition, his jobs as RuneMaker and Herald provide
important detail which keeps the game interesting.  TJ, welcome.

TJ: Actually Slakko, I'm not the RuneMaker, that job is filled by Mr.
Tambourine Man.

[Ed's note: D'oh!]

TIA: You've been a player of Imperial Nomic games for a long time now.
What do you find so attractive about Ackanomic that you have taken on such
a full-time role?

TJ: I had always found the concept of Nomic attractive.  I gravitated
initially toward the Imperial Nomic variety because it was fast paced and
allowed me to play or not play without a huge time commitment past the one
game or so.  I had started looking around a year and a half ago for a
Nomic that was interesting and tried the small macronomic which shortly
thereafter fell apart.   Slakko, the editor of your paper, in another
Imperial Nomic Game, suggested Ackanomic to me.   I'd looked at it in the
past, but felt the ruleset was too large and complex to be easily grasped
by a new player.   This was a mistake on my part I now readily admit. As
for what has kept me, mainly it's the people, and the generally fun nature
of the game.   While I disagree with some of the other players over how
some things should be or shouldn't be, overall the game has a very high
fun factor and has managed to keep my interest in it very alive. Taking on
offices like the ones mentioned are my way of giving something back so
that the game continues to be fun, both for myself and for other new
players.

TIA: So is this office collection just a blatant power grab?

TJ: *chuckle* No.  At least I don't think so.   I actually don't have any
plans (currently) to take on any further offices except minor ones (such
as the CSRR office which I have nominated myself for)

TIA: What's the most interesting proposal you've seen in the time you've
been here?

TJ: That's really a hard question to answer.   There are quite a few
proposals that I have really liked (such as the Heraldry one, and the Grey
Council one) and they have been interesting because they add another
element of fun to the game.  Most interesting in possible
effects would have to be the recently failed Point Pool proposal.   While
we all tried through the RFC process to find the holes in it, it was
unfortunate that a large hole slipped through and that (at least to me)
that was enough to cause it to fail.

TIA: What aspect of the rules is in most need of an overhaul right now?

TJ: In some ways the organization.  There are a few similar ideas
implemented in different ways in different places, a cleanup would
streamline some of those processes and make the rules easier to
understand.   Also, there are a large number of cross references scattered
throughout the rules, which makes it hard to find all of the effects of a
specific change.   While some things needs to be referenced throughout the
rules (like points and A$), there are others that seem occasionally out of
place.

TIA: How large do you think the ruleset should be, ideally, and why?

TJ: I don't have a hard and fast number which I can give here.  The rules
should be large enough to contain the harfy and fun aspects, while still
remaining small enough to grow and allow new harf to be added.   I think
the ruleset right now is unwieldy in some respects, but that's more a
matter of organization, and the retention of some dead (or at least stale
:)) harf.  I certainly don't believe the ruleset is in imminent danger of
collapsing under it's own weight.

TIA: What, in your opinion, is most likely to make a proposal harfy? 

TJ: To me, adding something completely new or unusual to the rules, or
reinterpreting something existing in a new light has a larger chance of
being declared harfy.   Also, very interesting word play seems to be a
likely candidate.

TIA: Are you now, or have you ever been, a Rebel?

TJ: Yes.   While I voted against the 'governments' proposal, I do, now
that it has been adopted, wish to see how it will work.  I suspect that
there are some potential abuses in it, and by rebelling, hope to force a
government switch so that we can see these abuses and thus fix them or if
they are not fixable, repeal the rule.

TIA: TJ, thank you for your time.

TJ: It has been my pleasure.

The Way We Were

The last fortnight one year ago corresponds to the main bulk of the Vulcan
Crisis.  For those too new to remember, the Crisis was the result of a
very ingenious scam based on giving more power (albeit apparently
restrained power) to the Senate.

The Vulcan-dominated Senate (especially after Vynd saw where eir loyalties
needed to go) was able to amend the Senate Resolution rule itself, thus
granting absolute power over the ruleset.

By the time the 6th of September came around, the Coup was over.  However,
it was still unknown whether or not the Coup had even succeeded, let alone
created such interesting rules as the supposedly permanently immutable
Rule 1.  CFJs were still flying around, and the most important one, CFJ
452, had seen Balsamic Dragon go deadbeat.

The main creators of the Coup, Malenkai, ThinMan and /dev/joe were all
accused of the heinous Crime (thankfully no longer on the statute books)
of Zuriti'ili.  However, on the 6th all of these claims were ruled FALSE.
Of course, at this time the nature of appeals was also open to question.
A Malenkai's Loophole style debate was encompassing the question of who
constituted the Supreme Court.  It was eventually settled that the
hijacking of the name "The Supreme Court" failed to change the effect of
the rules assigning appealed CFJs to the original Supreme Court.

Two years ago, by contrast, the discussions were much more prosaic.  The
main debate on the mailing list on the 6th of September was regarding
PFBonds, the entities which have since been scrapped and replaced by the
(eerily similar) Fortnightly Dividends.  ThinMan was Financier at the
time, and pointed out that PFBonds were the most time-consuming part of
eir work in that Office.  Guy Fawkes suggestion to increase the complexity
by linking in Party Chess weights was therefore met by a measure of
annoyance.

Proposals submitted and promulgated on the 6th September 1996 included a
couple of fixes.  The first fix was designed to eliminate the possibility
of multiple paradox wins based on the same paradox.  The famous weasel
words of "substantially similar" were used here, but fortunately this
particular rule has never had to be tested since, as good grace indicates
that one shot at a paradox is all everyone gets.

The second fix was a Party Chess related fix.  At the time, Party Chess
was still in its infancy, and it was not known how playable the game was.
A CFJ returned on the 6th indicated that Acting Swingers could do nothing,
because playing Party Chess was a Privilege, not a Duty.  Niccolo's fix
stomped all over that judicial decision, and also introduced ways to deal
with vacationing Swingers.

Those were the days that were, one and two years ago.

The Party Chess Report

Party Hall has undergone a reorganisation during the past fortnight.  The
Swingers are now no longer Officers, the concept of Swingership having
been separated from that of Officer.  The non-intuitive nature of
categorising playing a game as a Duty, and other significant difference
between Swingers and the other Officers, means that this system is a much
cleaner one for Party Chess.

Meanwhile, in the actual game, Niccolo is holding onto his Weight lead,
having just passed the 100 mark.  Yet another fortnight with the maximal
number of Swingpoints appears to be in sight, with no immediately close
challengers since the HARF Swingership's surrender.

The positional King at the moment is /dev/joe.  Eir apparently unstoppable
force of Pawns appear to be headed for the centre of the board, with very
little opposition there at the moment.  /dev/joe's weight has become
significant, so we may soon see some lighter players run rings around the
pawns in an attempt to wrest control away.

The game Knife leader is, once again, Slakko.  With the HARF Swingership
about to Surrender anyway, Slakko took advantage of decent position to
enforce a Check which e knew would be unlikely to fail.  Expectations were
fulfilled, and the Knife puts Slakko in the lead on 2, with only Koxvolio
on 1 Knife keeping the race tight.

Sub Game Summary

Bacon

K 2 has objected to the declaration of Game 2 of Bacon as moribund.  No
further news is available at this time.

Eleusis

Game 1 has gone moribund, with the leaving of else...if and the
abandonment of Hubert.  A game which initially had too few players to
really be a true game of Eleusis has now collapsed.

Meanwhile, Game 2 staggers ever onward.  The first round may not be
completed for some time, as default random players appear to be the rule
rather than the exception.  All this tends to suggest that Eleusis is a
game much better played either as a single round, or on IRC, where speed
can actually be maintained.

Grab-a-Donkey

Fortunato finally won Game 6 of Grab-a-Donkey, the longest on record.  A
Scissors-Paper-Stone round with else...if saw Fortunato make off with the
Belt, becoming the first ever multiple winner of this most Ackan of games.

E is now considering the possibilities for amending this game to make it
even better before we bring out the lariats, donkeys and blankets for
another fun game.  The last game did see more grabbing action, with
benefits accruing to those who successfully made an acquisition.  	 

Hopefully that trait will be maintained in any future versions of
the game, while those features which extended the length of the game
beyond the endurance of many will be removed.

Viruses

Alfvaen's apparent command of Game 3 has reversed spectacularly over the
past fortnight.  With a concerted effort from most remaining players,
Alfvaen's lead was erased when e had reached 7 Viruspoints, a dangerously
high score early in the game.  Rex Mundi used the opportunity to start
acquiring some Viruspoints of his own.

Since then, Rex's Virus colony has become much larger compared to
Alfvaen's original leading configuration.  It may be that earlier
intervention becomes necessary if Rex is to be blocked from a runaway win.

Be prepared for some intriguing strategic action, as players combine to
knock each other out of the win. 

YORL

The YORL game continues, but must be headed for a close now.  snowgod is
gone believed waiting for a sequel, and Elspeth has been crowned queen of
the realm (even if we don't know exactly which realm it is yet).  There
surely cannot be that many more plot twists to come.

With Karma dropping out due to a severe Ice attack, and 867-5309 and
else...if leaving for various reasons, the main deadwood in the progress
of this game has been removed.  Further, there is interest from more than
one extra player, with both Robin Hood and Ethelred still willing to put
in their ante to join the game.  Perhaps the story is not quite dead yet.

Duel Summary

TJ (then JT) and Vynd combined to show that Double Crash is the favoured
game for Duellists.  An interesting letter-repetition strategy from JT
appeared to fail miserably in the first round, by failing to come up with
even a single letter.  However, in a remarkable improvement, JT managed to
pick up the word "fiord" as Vynd's word well before Vynd had sufficient
detail about JT's choice.

Mind you, I always thought it was spelt fjord.  I'm pining for the fjord,
myself.

Advertisements

The Ackan is looking for interviews, as always. The criteria remain the
same - having held a public office in Acka for at least one month. So, if
you qualify and are interested, please contact us.

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. 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", and
Joseph Traub as "TJ", 6th September 1998.
Check us out on the web, at
http://dcr24.quns.cam.ac.uk/Nomic/Acka/infrequent.html 		

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End of ackanomic digest V3 #301
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