Subject: ackanomic digest V3 #329
From: [email-masked] (ackanomic digest)
To: [email-masked]

ackanomic digest      Monday, September 21 1998      Volume 03 : Number 329

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:09:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Auction Em entities

On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, Mueller wrote:
>>This is not a valid bid as it's not 10% higher than the previous bid.
>>
>
>A$22 then.

A$25

- --JT, looking to get Studge to spend more than he should :)

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

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:26:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mueller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Auction Em entities

JT wrote:
>On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, Mueller wrote:
>>>This is not a valid bid as it's not 10% higher than the previous bid.
>>>
>>
>>A$22 then.
>
>A$25

A$28

>--JT, looking to get Studge to spend more than he should :)

No amount is too much to prevent you from getting your aquisitive hooks on
such a rare and special object as whatever it is we're bidding on!

Studge

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:37:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Auction Em entities

At 12:26 AM 9/21/98 -0400, you wrote:
>JT wrote:
>>On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, Mueller wrote:
>>>>This is not a valid bid as it's not 10% hubert than the previous bid.
>>>>
>>>
>>>A$22 then.
>>
>>A$25
>
>A$28
>
>>--JT, looking to get Studge to spend more than he should :)
>
>No amount is too much to prevent you from getting your aquisitive hooks on
>such a rare and special object as whatever it is we're bidding on!
>
>Studge
> 

I bid A$35

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:41:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: Rafting trip

> The rafting trip was successful (two in a row!! the curse is broken!)

> K 2, Rex Mundi, Studge and Marsboy all gain the title Daring Adventurer.
> Any other player who was a Daring Adventurer loses this title.

> Each of the 4 gains 7 points.

Really?  I should've done this last time, then.  (And hey, when were
the lost Fortnightly Dividends?  You sure nobody else wants to be
Scorekeeper?)

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--David & David:Boomtown
Current Book--Connie Willis:Lincoln's Dreams
I must have a rapier wit; everyone keeps parrying.

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:47:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Fortnightly Dividends, September 14

These are the score changes over the Virtual Fortnight ending last Monday:

JT: 105
Alfvaen: 101
Fo: 89
Weishaupt: 71
breadbox: 70
K 2: 70
/dev/joe: 68
Aunt Froot: 64
404 Not Found: 63
rufus: 63
Rex Mundi: 58
Robin Hood: 54
two-star: 53
J. M. Bear: 52
Mr. Tambourine Man: 51
Piz: 51
Wild Card: 48
Ethelred: 46
Studge: 42
Niccolo Flychuck: 41
Rig R. Mortis: 36
Eris: 30
IdiotBoy: 24
Altra the FireCat: 11
saaremaa: 8
Robert Sevin: 7
Fortunato: 6
marsboy: 5
867-5309: 0
Calvin N Hobbes: 0
ThinMan: 0
Vynd: -1

I'm sure the Financier knows what to do with these.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Abra Moore:Four Leaf Clover
Current Book--Connie Willis:Lincoln's Dreams
"Stop that rhyming! I mean it!" "Anybody got a peanut?"

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:49:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: David Scheidt <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Fortnightly Dividends, September 14

On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:

:rufus: 63
This inclusive of points I received for being a daring adventurer? 
ruf

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Rafting trip

On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:
>> The rafting trip was successful (two in a row!! the curse is broken!)
>
>> K 2, Rex Mundi, Studge and Marsboy all gain the title Daring Adventurer.
>> Any other player who was a Daring Adventurer loses this title.
>
>> Each of the 4 gains 7 points.
>
>Really?  I should've done this last time, then.  (And hey, when were
>the lost Fortnightly Dividends?  You sure nobody else wants to be
>Scorekeeper?)

Yeah.. probably.  Dunno about the last dividends, but I think more than a
fortnight ago :)  And I at least don't.   Sorry Alf, but that looks like
more work than I'd have time for honestly (at least with the rest of the
things I'm doing right now).

- --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: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:53:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: One more vain attempt

I show Alfvaen the following bacon chain

Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan in French Kiss (1995)
Meg Ryan and Dennis Franz in City of Angels (1998)
Dennis Franz and Sharon Stone in Bay City Blues (1983)

- --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: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 01:08:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Auction Em entities

At 12:37 AM 9/21/98 -0400, you wrote:
>At 12:26 AM 9/21/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>JT wrote:
>>>On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, Mueller wrote:
>>>>>This is not a valid bid as it's not 10% hubert than the previous bid.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>A$22 then.
>>>
>>>A$25
>>
>>A$28
>>
>>>--JT, looking to get Studge to spend more than he should :)
>>
>>No amount is too much to prevent you from getting your aquisitive hooks on
>>such a rare and special object as whatever it is we're bidding on!
>>
>>Studge
>> 
>
>I bid A$35
> 

Come on you guys!  aren't you gonna try to outbid me????

- -Weishaupt

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 01:15:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Auction Em entities

At 12:37 AM 9/21/98 -0400, you wrote:
>At 12:26 AM 9/21/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>JT wrote:
>>>On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, Mueller wrote:
>>>>>This is not a valid bid as it's not 10% hubert than the previous bid.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>A$22 then.
>>>
>>>A$25
>>
>>A$28
>>
>>>--JT, looking to get Studge to spend more than he should :)
>>
>>No amount is too much to prevent you from getting your aquisitive hooks on
>>such a rare and special object as whatever it is we're bidding on!
>>
>>Studge
>> 
>
>I bid A$35
> 

Just in case that bid was valid, i bid $A5,000,000

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 01:40:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Acka: Fortnightly Dividends, September 14

> On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:

> :rufus: 63
> This inclusive of points I received for being a daring adventurer? 

This includes the first successful raft trip(but not the second, which
of course is in the current fortnight).

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--David & David:Boomtown
Current Book--Connie Willis:Lincoln's Dreams
Perhaps they will do other dangerous things together.

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 03:01:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Trinket Manipulation

Sorry about the appearance from a different account, but the main mail
server here is still down after some electricity sub-station maintenance
yesterday.

Anyhoo.
I destroy the trinket "Linc o ln Bedroom" for cash.
I build a cosy building on kaa S4W6 (which I already own), and name it
"Linc o ln Bedroom", with a description "An oversized model of a Trinket."

Yours,
Fo.

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 05:49:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Duncan C. \"Slakko\" Richer" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Trinket Manipulation

On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Duncan Richer wrote:

> Sorry about the appearance from a different account, but the main mail
> server here is still down after some electricity sub-station maintenance
> yesterday.
> 
> Anyhoo.
> I destroy the trinket "Linc o ln Bedroom" for cash.
> I build a cosy building on kaa S4W6 (which I already own), and name it
> "Linc o ln Bedroom", with a description "An oversized model of a Trinket."

Just in case.

If the above building creation failed:

I build a small building on kaa S4W6 (which I already own), and name it
"Linc o ln Bedroom", with a description "An oversized model of a
Trinket."

- -- 
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, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer, Clerk of the Court

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 06:20:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Duncan C. \"Slakko\" Richer" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: hat juggling I

On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, Micah Smukler wrote:

> I cause Hat 15 to be known as Firsty to plain folks.
> I cause Hat 16 to be known as Clown-Like to plain folks.
> I cause Hat 17 to be known as Clown-Like to plain folks.
> 
> These actions are unregulated; therefore, they occur.

Only if they don't have any material effect on the game state.
That's debatable right now.

- -- 
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, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer, Clerk of the Court

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 06:48:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Duncan C. \"Slakko\" Richer" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Auction Em entities

On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, JT wrote:

> On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, John Frederic Mc Coy wrote:
> >> Ahhh.. A$20 and that's that :)
> >> 
> >> --JT
> >
> >
> >I bid A$20.1
> 
> and we all sneer at Vynd because this isn't a legal bid :)

Blatant Disregard!  Sneering is explicitly regulated by the rules.  

- -- 
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, ChessUmpire, Map-Harfer, Clerk of the Court

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 09:24:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Subject: Acka: Treasure 169

JT has found Treasure 169.  The map was:  "The treasure shall be found by
the first player who publicly posts a Bacon Chain from Sharon Stone to
Kevin Kline."  (It also includes a definition of Bacon Chain, but since
that's in the Rules now I'll just take it as read.)

I had to check on "Bay City Blues", since I'd never heard of it; my chain
would have gone through Jamie Lee Curtis("A Fish Called Wanda") to Arnold
Schwarzenegger("True Lies") and then to Sharon Stone through "Total Recall".
But apparently "Bay City Blues" works...  (It's also got Peter Jurasik from
Babylon 5, interestingly enough...)

In case anyone's interested, the encryption was done as follows:  If you
counted spaces, the map I posted was exactly 256 characters long.  So if
you index those from 00 to FF(hexadecimal)...  That's why I had to
preserve the typos therein.

- --
- --Alfvaen(Web page:http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/)
Song In My Head--Billy Joel:Storm Front
Current Book--Connie Willis:Lincoln's Dreams
My hovercraft is full of eels.

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 11:33:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Gavin M. Doig" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Rafting trip

>Rex Mundi is given the boon of an Ancient Relic which he Must Describe.

This trinket, known as "eht saH" to its friends, appears at first glance to be
green. Closer inspection reveals that this is indeed the case.

It is shaped like a giant doughnut, and has a grid of thin lines etched into
its surface. Strangely, the lines seem to have been added before the rest of
the trinket. How this happened is something of a mystery.

It rattles when you shake it.

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 12:13:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFCJ 174 (1-TRUE)

K 2 has appealed.  The appeal goes to /dev/cortex. 

Call for Criminal Judgement 174 - September 12, 1998
Subject: Malpracticing Financier
Initiator: Weishaupt (sent 12 Sep 1998, 08:12 Acka)
Judge: Robin Hood (selected 12 Sep 1998, 09:00 Acka)
Judgement: TRUE (promulgated 18 Sep 1998, 04:15 Acka)
Appellant: K 2
Cortex: /dev/cortex (Mr. Tambourine Man and /dev/joe)
Judgement:

Statement: 
K 2 committed the Crime of Malpractice on Aug 28

Reasoning: 
This is only true if I have a brie.  When I joined, no method of
gaining Bries was defined in the rules.  Assuming I do have a Brie, K 2
performed his duty as financier incorrectly.  According to rule 701,

The act of performing a Duty incorrectly is the Crime of Malpractice. 

Suggested Penalty:

Transferrence of A$100 to Weishaupt for confusion, consternation, guilt,
and psychological trauma
Public Apology of at least 2 lines

Judge's Reasoning:
(none)

Actual Penalty:
A FINE of A$1.

Appellant's Reasoning:

>From rule 701: "The act of performing a Duty incorrectly is the Crime of
Malpractice."
>From rule 412:
"
The Duties of the Financier are:

a) To maintain accurate records of the who owns each ownable entity, what
each Player owns, and what each named non-Player
entity [such as the Treasury or the Chartreuse Goose] owns.

b) To log (or collate logs made by other officers) all transfers of entity
ownership and the creation and destruction of entities, and
to verify that these events happen only in accordance with the Rules.

c) To make the records and logs available to any Player upon request.

d) To maintain the Free Market (FM), and to verify any transaction made
there was made in accordance with the rules.
"

Since no player has requested the entity transfer log according to c) no
player (aside from myself) is in any position to determine if a breach of a)
has occurred. Since the pe page is unregulated it is permissible for it to
have any content I choose <power trip> :). While it usually represents
*The Truth* maybe in this case it didn't? No one asked so only I can tell.

As the most damning evidence that I didn't do it I present rule 401.x :
"
Officers have 3 days to complete the tasks and duties they are responsible
for, not counting any time the officer is vacationing or
in Gaol, unless other rules unambiguously specify a different finite amount
of time for these things.
"
On 28/08/1998  3:52:29 Weishaupt joined the game, I had three days to harf
eir ownership of A$900 and a trinket (duty 402.a), thus on Aug 28 I was not
committing Malpractice. If it occurred it occurred 3 days later. This CFCJ
is definitely (first player to say trivially gets a sound thwaping) FALSE.

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 12:14:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Auction Em entities

On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Duncan C. "Slakko" Richer wrote:
>On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, JT wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 20 Sep 1998, John Frederic Mc Coy wrote:
>> >> Ahhh.. A$20 and that's that :)
>> >> 
>> >> --JT
>> >
>> >
>> >I bid A$20.1
>> 
>> and we all sneer at Vynd because this isn't a legal bid :)
>
>Blatant Disregard!  Sneering is explicitly regulated by the rules.  

Heh and feh.  I did not say *I* sneered, I claimed that 'we all did' which
is obviously not a legal game action since I cannot speak for anyone in
Acka other than myself :)

- --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: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 12:15:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: CFJ 662 (1-TRUE)

K 2 has appealed.  This goes to The Entity Formerly Known as the Supreme
Court.

Call for Judgement 662 - September 12, 1998
Subject: Illegal Brie Acquisition
Initiator: Weishaupt (sent 12 Sep 1998, 07:59 Acka)
Judge: marsboy (selected 12 Sep 1998, 08:58 Acka)
Judgement: TRUE (promulgated 18 Sep 1998, 18:50 Acka)
Appellant: K 2
Cortex: The Entity Formerly Known as the Supreme Court (breadbox and
saaremaa)

Statement: 
Weishaupt has a Brie

Reasoning: 
K 2 awarded me a brie when I joined.
Because how to gain a brie was not defined in the rules at that time, this
was either an illegal or an impossible action.
Therefore by the clause in rule 701 which states
If, however, the illegality or impossibility of a publically knowable
change to the game state goes unreported for at least 14 days, the action
or inaction which caused that change is considered legal, but it is still a
Crime. 
I do in fact have the Brie because it has been publically knowable and it
has gone unreported for 14 days.

Judge's Reasoning:
no brainer, folks.

Appellant's Reasoning:

The financier doesn't have the power to award a Brie only rule 611 has
ever had
that power.

>From rule 701:
[pragmatism clause] ... " The preceding does not apply to the case of
events
which occur automatically, but whose occurrence is not (or erroneously)
reported [e.g., loss of the Great Trombone]."

Brie awards are/were automatic thus the pragmatism clause does not apply.

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 12:26:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Chess: FFA: Fo's Play

Fo plays:

P % e15

This is legal.

Current gamestate:

   | a| b| c| d| e| f| g| h| i| j| k| l| m| n| o| p| q| r| s| t|
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
20 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
19 |  |  |AK|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
18 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TM|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
17 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TM|  |  |  |TK|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
16 |  |  |  |S%|  |SR|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TC|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
15 |  |  |  |  |S%|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |T+|  |  |TA|  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
14 |  |SP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
13 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |SZ|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
12 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |S%|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
11 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |SK|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
10 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TB|  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 9 |  |  |  |  |  |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 8 |  |  |  |  |  |  |V%|VP|  |  |  |  |  |TR|  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 7 |  |  |  |  |  |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |KK|  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 5 |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |K+|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 4 |  |VP|V%|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |RR|R%|
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 3 |  |  |  |VK|VP|  |  |  |  |*K|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 2 |  |  |  |  |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |RA|  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 1 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |RG|  |RK|  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
   | a| b| c| d| e| f| g| h| i| j| k| l| m| n| o| p| q| r| s| t|

Swinger       Type               Wt.  On-Board   Off-Board
Rex Mundi  P - Klingon[K]        19   K+         CDHOQRR!%
/dev/joe   P - Vulcan[V]         81   K(7P)%%    BDMOQRR%
Tambourine NAP [*]                1   K          CEOOPPP
Robin Hood P - AVPP [A]           1   K          ABEGHLMOQRZ%%+&
Studge     P - GOP [G]            0              Not Chosen
Fo         P - SPAM [S]         101   KPRZ%%%    ACJMOP*
WARM       P - HARF [H]           0              KABPPPRRR%
Alfvaen    P - Metamorph[M]       0              KACGMP%%%%
Niccolo F  Tarzan's Tree Hs [T] 115.5 KABCMMR+   BJOPZZ%+
JT         P - Boomerangs[R]     72.5 KAGR%      CGJMPPQR

Next Turn: Due 3 days after this message
Current Player: Anyone (Free For All)

- -- 
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: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 12:42:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Chess: FFA: Fo's Play

> Current Player: Anyone (Free For All)

Move pawn b5-d5.

/dev/joe

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 12:58:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: The ACK issue 12

                   Ackanomic Cyclopedia of Knowledge
Volume 1 issue 12                                       September 21, 1998
==========================================================================

In this issue:
- --------------
Interview with /dev/joe
Antiquities Treasure Clues

Interview with /dev/joe
- -----------------------
by ACK staff

/dev/joe, already known as Acka's historically most prolific treasure
finder, has seemingly increased his treasure finding potential even
further by teaming up with JT and Weishaupt.  Between them, they have
found treasures in the last month at a pace only ever before equalled
when treasures were new and many were very easy.

ACK: So tell us about the Jukkasjarvi treasure.

/dev/joe: Well, back in the beginning, my party consisted of Vulcan
(sans Malenkai), and ThinMan, Niccolo Flychuck and I pooled our
fragments, and ThinMan and I both went out of our way to accumulate
more fragments.  Niccolo Flychuck parted from Vulcan and during the
Vulcan takeover Vynd joined, but by that time we'd accumulated all but
a few fragments.

Now, sometime while ThinMan and I were working on it, we misinterpreted
fragment 19.  This one says fragment 2 is 'false', it itself is bogus,
and there are 7 other bogus fragments.  We interpreted this as 7 fragments
in addition to these two, and since one meta-clue said it was bogus, we
assumed that the 7 referred to were the other 7 meta-clues.  While we had
considered that there were more bogus clues, it was only the night the
valid translation was found that we figured it out... the third map shard,
which contained a section including the "list 2" header, led us in this
direction, but as JT commented, it was Weishaupt's quoting the fibonacci
sequence that really got us thinking that the fibonacci-numbered fragments
were bogus -- with stuff like #13, the base text for fragment 12, and #5,
a fragment only completable by a single player, among those fragments, it
really all made sense.  The other two map shards filled in the number of
fragments needed and the "translation", which was, as we had long guessed,
concealed in that long row of *** text in condition 2 of the top fragment.

ACK: So how many of those bizarre clues did you actually figure out?

/dev/joe: Well, the Fibonacci thing, as I said, we only figured out the
last day, and the Riyadh to the seven hills, only when we got the map
shard for it.  On fragment 6, about snowgod's cure, for a long time we
thought it was bogus because we had looked at an earlier cure of snowgod's
that didn't involve 17 of anything, but eventually we figured it out --
not until we were stuck for what else we needed to do, though, so I never
bothered completing the fragment.

Fragment 12, the book code based on fragment 13, we only figured out shortly
before it was published in ACK issue #10.  I was looking at Malenkai's
proposal that was to make a rule 960 with assorted references to the
fragments, and for some reason I decided to look at proposal 960, Kelly
Martin's official monkey proposal, and tried a book code for fragment 12
on it, but there weren't enough words, and then I noticed the similarity
to fragment 13, and there the fragment worked.  So this one we actually
figured out the intended way, it just took a long time.

Fragment 15 had multiple hints, in the proposal I mentioned and in the
meta-clue about not using programs, but I solved it without this clue
and never made the connection to 'programs' being the omitted letters
until the final map was posted -- since there were enough other letters
that didn't appear in the message that I wasn't even entirely sure how to
encode something that way.

We also never got the reference to NumberSix being the solution to the
Quorum Crisis on fragment 20 -- I was here during that quorum crisis,
and so many different things happened to fix the quorum crisis that I
was never even sure of which one Malenkai was talking about there.

ACK: So now how did you figure out Alfvaen's maps?  He had two
coded-message maps you figured out, one with Weishaupt's help and
the other with JT's.

/dev/joe: well, the one with the decimal numbers came first.  One day
on IRC Weishaupt suggested it was mod 29, and I looked at the map again,
considering it for mod something, and I noticed that three of the few
well-repeated numbers in the map, 11, 42, and 73, were in arithmetic
progression and 31 apart, so I took the map mod 31.  Then, I just started
decoding it as a cryptogram when I noticed 'the treasure' fit in the first
11 characters.  I noticed some letters seemed to be represented by more
than one number, but since I had 31 numbers, about 28 of them used, I
expected something like this to happen.  I had decoded most of the message
before I tried to write out the key in order and saw that it was the
pangram from Alfvaen's burial message.  Weishaupt had suggested that the
'clue hidden elsewhere in this message' was that pangram, but I thought it
was just an oblique reference to the coded part, since that pangram is one
Alfvaen had used before in his signature.

ACK: And the other one?

/dev/joe: Well, this time JT's map shard (left over because we didn't have
to use it on the Jukkasjarvi treasure) came in handy, sort of.  Alfvaen
sent a boring part of the map, but also mentioned he hid a clue in his
somewhat recent parade description with the organizational floats.  We
looked at this and I found the clue first.  It was hidden as the first
letter of each sentence in that description.  It read "For the one, try
the vigenere cipher.  The key is the last eight.  For the other, count
the letters."  The first treasure referred to had already been found
(it was the word-division one).  The other clue rather quickly prompted JT
to suggest that the numbers were offsets in the description before the
coded part in the burial message (which Alfvaen had already hinted was
important).  We had a few false starts here, caused by JT copying the text
from the web page and not the original message, which resulted in him
losing the double space after the period, and then by translating the
newlines to spaces.  Note that we assumed the count had to include spaces
because we didn't have enough characters otherwise, and also because the
whole message was exactly 256 characters -- this was including the newlines
or counting them as spaces.  We finally got the answer when JT suggested
the last character in the code, a C9, should map to the one period in the
message.  I noticed it was off by just 3, the way we had been doing it,
and I noticed there were 3 line breaks before that, and removing the
new lines made everything match up.  It also made the entire thing come out
to 252 characters, which was OK considering the greatest number in the
code was only F6 (246).

It decodes as "show me A tHree-link bacon chain froM sharon stone to
kevin kline."  This didn't indicate doing it publicly, but this was what
we were going to try after the first attempt didn't find the treasure.
However, I stopped to check the links JT and I came up with and found that
one of them was for a movie in the IMDB that hasn't been released yet, and
thinking this was more likely to be the problem, we found another chain
with valid movies.  Neither JT nor I was good enough with movies to have
the slightest chance of getting such a chain without consulting the
database, but since we weren't playing a bacon game at the time, it is
allowed for us to do so.

ACK: So what treasures are you working on now?

/dev/joe: well, not really much of anything; we don't really have any ideas
on the remaining codes, although somebody else figured out one of them and
is just having a hard time meeting the condition.  A couple treasures are
probably doomed to stay permanently buried because their buriers are gone
and no custodian exists, though perhaps they could be convinced to return
long enough to give out the treasure if somebody figured out one of those
coded messages.  I've also been working on my antiquities treasure clues,
which are now ready to be released.

Antiquities Treasure Clues
- --------------------------
by /dev/joe

The solutions to the six puzzles below are keys to a text below that is
six times Vigenere-encoded, which tells how to proceed when decoded.
A python program which does Vigenere decoding is provided; anybody with a
computer and net connection can download the necessary software to run
python under DOS/Windows, Mac, or UNIX from http://www.python.org, 
(though I haven't seen how the Mac version performs running with arguments)
but you are free to use your own techniques to do the decoding if you wish.

1. Geometry Warm-up
A polyhedron is cut by a plane which passes through 3 of its vertices.
The result of the cut is a regular tetrahedron and a square pyramid, all
of whose edges are the same length.  How many faces did the original
polyhedron have?  This number, spelled out, is the answer to this piece.

2. Rot-Crossword
Solve the following rot-crossword.  It is a 4-by-5 grid with no black
squares; five 4-letter words read across and four 5-letter words read
down.  Because it is a rot-crossword, each entry in the grid except
1-across has been rotated by a certain number of letters in the alphabet.
The five across answers run end to end, as they appear in the grid, is
the answer to this piece.
Across:  1. One of Ackanomic's treasured things.  5. Notice.  6. Not have.
7. Often a two-by-four.  8. A by-product of Superman?
Down: 1. Add-on.  2. A former Ackan.  3. The Gathering.  4. Result.

3. Turning Backward
Not truths entirely.
A long saw with eight ridges.
I suppose.
Poem ends abruptly.

4. Calling All Elders!
843 267937 47 843 34778, 84473, 263 34384 5388377 3766 72273622'7
67444625 6263.

5. They Might Be Encoded
1 2 3 2 5 2 3 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 6 6 4 1 7 5 1 1 6 5 3 1 5 2 1 8 2 3 1
1 2 3 2 4 2 1 1 1 1 6 9 3 3 3 2 1 4 2 1 6 1 6 4 2 1 6 1 1 1 1 6 9
1 2 3 2 5 2 3 1 2 1 2 6 1 3 1 6 4 4 3 1 6 3 1 4 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 5 2 3 1 2
1 6 9 2 3 1 2 1 7 1 4 3 4 1 1 2 1 7 7 5 3 1 5 1 2 1 9 7 5 3 1 2 2 1 2 8.

6. No Sausage, Please!
Uif botxfs up uijt tfhnfou xjmm cf tfou up zpv jg zpv qmbz b tpoh po uif
BTT xijdi ibt ofwfs cffo qmbzfe tjodf uijt usfbtvsf xbt cvsjfe, boe xijdi
dpoubjot "Kbnft Efbo" jo jut mzsjdt, boe jo uif nfttbhf xifsf zpv qmbz uif
tpoh, zpv jodmvef b sfbtpobcmf tfdujpo pg uif mzsjdt jodmvejoh "Kbnft Efbo".

Vigenere-encoded text:

Spy eubc emlokrr idf ri qmezd ao zulx ggvnj ndynd dfrst znx pff rxakglufn
qat mry ywplf Kcyeb Stgiov shldn Fpfea zjdbv chy uifr nwe niib tsqgy anncw
dko cpq.  Imvrovx sfna caoya, wtkfa, xaa, hhs, wjz lsmh sdwp xdf nkjrctbkvbg
slzfgdz, yaw nyenhf ntd zpzxhk, fe mkv cnz zdkdoci yv xzg cwpf vneslel.
Hz neq fdna rrzprgf xzqijqtian ljhs rzhu, ney mvh T ngxg sset qy tx aeg
faykft.  Bxvi qep uyz oybnnuy jpan eudaa lb uiolniskyicvj lms zdxtxvzmwsc.

========================================
Everything below the next line of = signs is the program; save as vdecodet.py
========================================
# Edit this file to put the encoded text between the quotes after cipher= .
# Don't use any more triple quotes in the text, but anything else should
# be OK, and any non-letters are ignored. (I have already put this puzzle's
# encoded text there.)
#
# The arguments to this program when called are the keys; these should not
# contain any embedded spaces or other non-letters, with spaces between the
# keys, but case does not matter.  If the keys were "one", "two", and "three"
# you would run the program from a command prompt as
#
# python vdecodet.py one two three

import sys
import string

# Enter your ciphertext below:
cipher="""
Spy eubc emlokrr idf ri qmezd ao zulx ggvnj ndynd dfrst znx pff rxakglufn
qat mry ywplf Kcyeb Stgiov shldn Fpfea zjdbv chy uifr nwe niib tsqgy anncw
dko cpq.  Imvrovx sfna caoya, wtkfa, xaa, hhs, wjz lsmh sdwp xdf nkjrctbkvbg
slzfgdz, yaw nyenhf ntd zpzxhk, fe mkv cnz zdkdoci yv xzg cwpf vneslel.
Hz neq fdna rrzprgf xzqijqtian ljhs rzhu, ney mvh T ngxg sset qy tx aeg
faykft.  Bxvi qep uyz oybnnuy jpan eudaa lb uiolniskyicvj lms zdxtxvzmwsc.
"""

# Or uncomment the line below to read ciphertext from standard input
#cipher=sys.stdin.read()

for key in sys.argv[1:]:
  outstring=""
  j=0
  lk=len(key)
  for kk in cipher:
    k=string.lower(kk)
    cval=string.find(string.lowercase,k)
    if cval==-1:
      outstring=outstring+k
    else:
      kval=string.find(string.lowercase,key[j])
      pval=cval-kval
      if pval<0: pval=pval+26
      if k!=kk:
        outstring=outstring+string.uppercase[pval]
      else:
        outstring=outstring+string.lowercase[pval]
      j=j+1
      if j==lk: j=0
  cipher=outstring[0:]
print outstring

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

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 15:06:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Chess: FFA: /dev/joe's play

On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Joseph W. DeVincentis wrote:

> Move pawn b5-d5.

This is legal.

Current gamestate:

   | a| b| c| d| e| f| g| h| i| j| k| l| m| n| o| p| q| r| s| t|
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
20 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
19 |  |  |AK|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
18 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TM|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
17 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TM|  |  |  |TK|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
16 |  |  |  |S%|  |SR|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TC|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
15 |  |  |  |  |S%|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |T+|  |  |TA|  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
14 |  |SP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
13 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |SZ|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
12 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |S%|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
11 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |SK|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
10 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |TB|  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 9 |  |  |  |  |  |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 8 |  |  |  |  |  |  |V%|VP|  |  |  |  |  |TR|  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 7 |  |  |  |  |  |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 6 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |KK|  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 5 |  |  |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |K+|  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 4 |  |VP|V%|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |RR|R%|
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 3 |  |  |  |VK|VP|  |  |  |  |*K|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 2 |  |  |  |  |  |VP|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |RA|  |  |  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 1 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |RG|  |RK|  |
   +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
   | a| b| c| d| e| f| g| h| i| j| k| l| m| n| o| p| q| r| s| t|

Swinger       Type               Wt.  On-Board   Off-Board
Rex Mundi  P - Klingon[K]        19   K+         CDHOQRR!%
/dev/joe   P - Vulcan[V]         81   K(7P)%%    BDMOQRR%
Tambourine NAP [*]                1   K          CEOOPPP
Robin Hood P - AVPP [A]           1   K          ABEGHLMOQRZ%%+&
Studge     P - GOP [G]            0              Not Chosen
Fo         P - SPAM [S]         101   KPRZ%%%    ACJMOP*
WARM       P - HARF [H]           0              KABPPPRRR%
Alfvaen    P - Metamorph[M]       0              KACGMP%%%%
Niccolo F  Tarzan's Tree Hs [T] 115.5 KABCMMR+   BJOPZZ%+
JT         P - Boomerangs[R]     72.5 KAGR%      CGJMPPQR

Next Turn: Due 3 days after this message
Current Player: Anyone (Free For All)

- -- 
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: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 15:30:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: A small gift

I give the Hubert Feathers trinkt which I recently aquired from T169 to
/dev/joe.  Bury it in good health joe :)

- --JT

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

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

End of ackanomic digest V3 #329
*******************************