Subject: ackanomic Digest V4 #210
From: [email-masked]
To: ackanomic digest users <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 08 Aug 1999 00:00:01 -0400 (EDT)

ackanomic Digest	Saturday, August 07 1999	Volume: 04  Issue: 210

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

From: "Gavin M. Doig" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Proposal 4258 accepted
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 00:02:40 -0400 (EDT)

>Both -200's,
>if valid (i.e., if both players managed to raise their VCs and
neither was
>actually in mannna debt at the time), will sink this proposal and
probably
>give the game over to the Agorans.
>
>/dev/joe
>
Especially since they just made us all honourary players of Agora.

BLMP,
not a spy.

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 00:03:19 -0400 (EDT)

>Studge pointed out to me that he attempted to vote -160, -180, and -200
>on this proposal (after his accepted vote of 59).  This alone is not enough
>to make this proposal fail, but Emperor Ai! Pedrito! also attempted to
>vote -160 and -200 (in addition to his recorded -140).  Both -200's,
>if valid (i.e., if both players managed to raise their VCs and neither was
>actually in mannna debt at the time), will sink this proposal and probably
>give the game over to the Agorans.
>

Damn you all!  If you had voted NO on this prop, we would have KNOWN it
failed.  How could you?  And Studge: why this deceit?  Why did you hide
this until now?  Ackans: let us pray that it is not too late for us to stop
them.  Now is our greatest hour of need.

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito! B(Scam)
Acting Registrar * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Herald * Rule-Harfer
 Crazy French-Scotsman * Harfmeister * Student * Wrangler and Belt-Holder

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: elections (President)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 01:29:49 -0400 (EDT)

At 03:41 PM 8/6/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
>
>On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Gavin Logan wrote:
>
>> The nominees for President are as follows:
>> 
>> else...if
>> Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
>> K 2
>> King Felix
>> Studge
>> 

I withdraw in favor of K 2.

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito! B(Scam)
Acting Registrar * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Herald * Rule-Harfer
 Crazy French-Scotsman * Harfmeister * Student * Wrangler and Belt-Holder

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

From: Mueller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 02:57:04 -0400 (EDT)

Emperor Ai! Pedrito! wrote:
>>Studge pointed out to me that he attempted to vote -160, -180, and -200
>>on this proposal (after his accepted vote of 59).  This alone is not enough
>>to make this proposal fail, but Emperor Ai! Pedrito! also attempted to
>>vote -160 and -200 (in addition to his recorded -140).  Both -200's,
>>if valid (i.e., if both players managed to raise their VCs and neither was
>>actually in mannna debt at the time), will sink this proposal and probably
>>give the game over to the Agorans.
>>
>
>Damn you all!  If you had voted NO on this prop, we would have KNOWN it
>failed.  How could you?  And Studge: why this deceit?  Why did you hide
>this until now?  Ackans: let us pray that it is not too late for us to stop
>them.  Now is our greatest hour of need.
>

By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.

Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then only
as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
coincidence, are in Gaol.

Studge

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

From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 03:30:54 -0400 (EDT)

On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Mueller wrote:
> By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.
> 
> Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then only
> as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
> coincidence, are in Gaol.

Since I am not in Gaol at this time, I deny this declaration of a wartime
crisis in my capacity of Justice.

--JT

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

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

From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 04:27:45 -0400 (EDT)

On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Mueller wrote:

> By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.
> 
> Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then only
> as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
> coincidence, are in Gaol.

But if you are in Gaol, you cannot declare a Wartime Crisis.

-- 
Duncan C. "Slakko" Richer - http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~dcr24/
Queens' College Cambridge, 2nd Year Ph.D. (Pure Maths) - Graph Theory
My stream of consciousness has dried up.  Time to try irrigation.

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

From: Mueller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 04:33:20 -0400 (EDT)

At 04:27 AM 8/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Mueller wrote:
>
>> By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.
>> 
>> Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then only
>> as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
>> coincidence, are in Gaol.
>
>But if you are in Gaol, you cannot declare a Wartime Crisis.
>

That is correct.

I sincerly HOPE I'm not in Gaol, because that would mean I've been
double-crosses and we'd have to take the battle to Agora in their ruleset.

Studge

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

From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 04:34:13 -0400 (EDT)

On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Duncan Richer wrote:
> > By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.
> > 
> > Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then only
> > as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
> > coincidence, are in Gaol.
> 
> But if you are in Gaol, you cannot declare a Wartime Crisis.

He claims he was exempted by Agora.   I'm tracking down the documents on
the agora lists now.   There are two possible ways out of this, depending
on how this is all worded I will either try one (or both), or else I will
leave Ackanomic (since I think internomic war stuff is stupid to begin
with).

--JT, kind of fed up at a hole that Joe pointed out being exploited since
      that it the height of unharfiness.

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

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

From: Mueller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 04:41:24 -0400 (EDT)

At 04:34 AM 8/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Duncan Richer wrote:
>> > By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.
>> > 
>> > Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then
only
>> > as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
>> > coincidence, are in Gaol.
>> 
>> But if you are in Gaol, you cannot declare a Wartime Crisis.
>
>He claims he was exempted by Agora.   I'm tracking down the documents on
>the agora lists now.   There are two possible ways out of this, depending
>on how this is all worded I will either try one (or both), or else I will
>leave Ackanomic (since I think internomic war stuff is stupid to begin
>with).

I'd just like to say, that if this is a prevalent senitment, I'll do
whatever Acka thinks is a way to fix this stuff to keep people from leaving...

However, I must say I find the interaction of two elaboratly constructed
gamestates with indepedent but not clearly specified relative hierarchies
to be fascinating.

Studge

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

From: Duncan Richer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: CFJ 724 (FALSE)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 04:42:49 -0400 (EDT)

On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Henry Towsner wrote:

> Call for Judgement 723 - August 2, 1999
> Subject: Breakfast
> Initiator: K2
> Judge: IdiotBoy
> Judgement:FALSE

I am appealing this CFJ (which should be numbered 724), with the following
appeal reasoning:

The statement would be TRUE if CFJ 722 is TRUE.  This was mentioned in the
initial submitter's reasoning.  However, the Judge's reasoning did not
even consider questions raised in CFJ 722, such as whether or not the
actual changing of Voting Characteristics took place (due to the problems
in deciding whether or not a song was played on the ASS if a Token was
used but no cash was available).

If I do not appeal this, and CFJ 722 comes down as TRUE, then we will end
up with two CFJs with contradictory arguments, and that truly will be a
dog's breakfast.

I decline my right to hear this appeal as a Justice.

-- 
Duncan C. "Slakko" Richer - http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~dcr24/
Queens' College Cambridge, 2nd Year Ph.D. (Pure Maths) - Graph Theory
My stream of consciousness has dried up.  Time to try irrigation.

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

From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: More annoyances
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 05:21:48 -0400 (EDT)

I do note that if Studge (and Agora) succeeded in getting us all placed in
Gaol then a) the Machine that Goes *Ping* has teleported to another
player.  I will however hold off revealing the truth unless and until it
is decided if we are in fact in that thread.

I further note that if that thread is True, then the appeal (and possibly
the initial submission of CFJ 724) might be in error (IB might have been
in Gaol when he was initially selected as might all other Ackans save
Studge) or all the Justices might currently be in Gaol.

--JT.

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

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

From: "Gavin Logan" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: I'm not Agoran!
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 06:15:43 -0400 (EDT)

As Speaker, I declare a State of Crisis.

As Acting President, I issue the following Crisis Resolution Document
delimited by AGORA:

AGORA
Repeal rule 17-2-1 ("Declaration of War: Agora").

Create a new rule named "Emancipation" with the following quoted text "All
players are released from gaol." then repeal this rule.
AGORA

King Felix

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

From: "Gavin M. Doig" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: I'm not Agoran!
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 07:17:32 -0400 (EDT)

>As Speaker, I declare a State of Crisis.
>
I decree a stalemate.

>As Acting President, I issue the following Crisis Resolution Document
>delimited by AGORA:
>
>AGORA
>Repeal rule 17-2-1 ("Declaration of War: Agora").
>
>Create a new rule named "Emancipation" with the following quoted text
"All
>players are released from gaol." then repeal this rule.

You might want to watch where you put those quotes.

>AGORA
>

BLMP.

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: I'm not Agoran!
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 09:50:53 -0400 (EDT)

At 06:15 AM 8/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>As Speaker, I declare a State of Crisis.
>

Hard to do that from gaol.

>As Acting President, I issue the following Crisis Resolution Document
>delimited by AGORA:

Hard to do that from gaol, hard to do that as acting president.

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito! B(Scam)
Acting Registrar * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Herald * Rule-Harfer
 Crazy French-Scotsman * Harfmeister * Student * Wrangler and Belt-Holder

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

From: Rachel L Walmsley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 10:39:11 -0400 (EDT)

Mueller wrote:
> 
> Emperor Ai! Pedrito! wrote:
> >>Studge pointed out to me that he attempted to vote -160, -180, and -200
> >>on this proposal (after his accepted vote of 59).  This alone is not enough
> >>to make this proposal fail, but Emperor Ai! Pedrito! also attempted to
> >>vote -160 and -200 (in addition to his recorded -140).  Both -200's,
> >>if valid (i.e., if both players managed to raise their VCs and neither was
> >>actually in mannna debt at the time), will sink this proposal and probably
> >>give the game over to the Agorans.
> >>
> >
> >Damn you all!  If you had voted NO on this prop, we would have KNOWN it
> >failed.  How could you?  And Studge: why this deceit?  Why did you hide
> >this until now?  Ackans: let us pray that it is not too late for us to stop
> >them.  Now is our greatest hour of need.
> >
> 
> By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.
> 
> Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then only
> as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
> coincidence, are in Gaol.

As a justice I deny this.

Pregnant Hippo.

-- 
Tom "I am not a walrus" Walmsley. mailto:[email-masked]
http://website.lineone.net/~t.walmsley/index.html ICQ: 2925739
"Among wizards?" said Ridcully. "Mister Stibbons, unusual behaviour is
perfectly ordinary for wizards." - Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

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

From: Michael Slone <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 11:31:05 -0400 (EDT)

Ackans,

As some of you may know, Agora recently passed a Proposal, the full text of
which is included.  Then everybody in Acka was made an Honourary Player of
Agora (except for Studge), sending them to Gaol.  Let's look at the Rule
again.

Proposal 3886 by Wes, AI=1 (URGENT)
Honourary Players

Create a Rule with the following text:

      The Registrar may cause any person to become an Honourary Player
      Without 2 Objections by posting such to the Public Forum   
      identifying in some unambigous manner the person (or persons)
      being honoured in this way. No current Player may ever become an
      Honourary Player, and any Honourary Player who becomes a current
      Player shall immediately cease to be an Honourary Player.

      Honourary Players are not considered to be Players with respect
      to the Rules or any other Nomic Entity within Agora Nomic, but
      shall be considered Players of Agora Nomic to all persons,
      organizations, nomics and other entities which exist entirely
      outside of the Agora Nomic Rules

Well, isn't this interesting?

                            any Honourary Player who becomes a current
      Player shall immediately cease to be an Honourary Player.

Hope this helps.

-- 
harvel, Agoran Player, Ackan Shrubbery

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

From: Matt Miller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 12:01:40 -0400 (EDT)

On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Michael Slone wrote:

> Create a Rule with the following text:
> 
>       The Registrar may cause any person to become an Honourary Player
>       Without 2 Objections by posting such to the Public Forum   
>       identifying in some unambigous manner the person (or persons)
>       being honoured in this way. No current Player may ever become an
>       Honourary Player, and any Honourary Player who becomes a current
>       Player shall immediately cease to be an Honourary Player.
> 

Relativistically, this is impossible to parse from the Ackanomic frame of
reference.  That might make it null and void with application to the
Ackanomic ruleset.

>       Honourary Players are not considered to be Players with respect
>       to the Rules or any other Nomic Entity within Agora Nomic, but
>       shall be considered Players of Agora Nomic to all persons,
>       organizations, nomics and other entities which exist entirely
>       outside of the Agora Nomic Rules
> 

I don't think Ackanomic exists entirely outside of the Agorda Nomic Rules.
Have your cleaered out the Agora Internomic interface?

IB

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 12:32:33 -0400 (EDT)

At 11:31 AM 8/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Ackans,
>
>As some of you may know, Agora recently passed a Proposal, the full text of
>which is included.  Then everybody in Acka was made an Honourary Player of
>Agora (except for Studge), sending them to Gaol.  Let's look at the Rule
>again.
>

This is actually untrue.  and (Sir Galahad) (Eric Wald) is NOT currently a
player of Agora.  However, they have begun proceedings to make him a
player, and it has been 4 days.  That means that the registrar has the
ability now (provided no further objections occur) to make em a player.

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito! B(Scam)
Acting Registrar * DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Herald * Rule-Harfer
 Crazy French-Scotsman * Harfmeister * Student * Wrangler and Belt-Holder

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

From: "Gavin Logan" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 13:18:23 -0400 (EDT)

An Agoran infiltrator writes:
>Well, isn't this interesting?
>
>                            any Honourary Player who becomes a current
>      Player shall immediately cease to be an Honourary Player.
>
>Hope this helps.
>

Time for some advanced topiary lessons with my rusty chainsaw.

King Felix
(not Agoran)

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

From: Michael Slone <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 13:20:01 -0400 (EDT)

Emperor Ai! Pedrito! wrote:
> This is actually untrue.  and (Sir Galahad) (Eric Wald) is NOT currently a
> player of Agora.  However, they have begun proceedings to make him a
> player, and it has been 4 days.  That means that the registrar has the
> ability now (provided no further objections occur) to make em a player.

I've Objected, although I may have done so too late.

The part of the Rule that I wanted to draw your attention to is this:

                            any Honourary Player who becomes a current
      Player shall immediately cease to be an Honourary Player.

That is, any Ackan who registers as a Player of Agora (as EAP has done) will
automatically cease to be an Honourary Player.  If you want, you can deregister
immediately, continuing to be not an Honourary Player.  It will take four more
days for anybody to be made an Honourary Player again, and as long as we can
get two Objectors (EAP and me, apparently), you can force a stalemate.  

Of course, I don't think this will get you out of Gaol (if you are in Gaol; I
haven't been keeping up with the Ackan Ruleset very well), but it's a start.

--
Michael Slone - UCB#0 - http://vir.fclib.org/harvel/ - 2167 September, 1993
What if Douglas Hofstadter had named that program?

"Upright Citizens Brigade: A Chaotic Unpredictable Broadcast"
		-- Chuck, in agora-discussion

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

From: Michael Slone <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 13:23:30 -0400 (EDT)

IB wrote:
> I don't think Ackanomic exists entirely outside of the Agorda Nomic Rules.
> Have your cleaered out the Agora Internomic interface?

I believe that Internomic is dead. 

The closest thing to an Internomic reference in the Agoran Ruleset I can find
is a requirement that the Ambassador (an Office which no longer exists) announce
Agora's birthday to "friendly Nomics".  One of my recent Proposals would 
eliminate this paragraph, but I don't know if it's gone into effect, or even
passed yet.

--
Michael Slone - UCB#0 - http://vir.fclib.org/harvel/ - 2167 September, 1993
Writing is easy.  All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of
blood form on your forehead.
		-- Gene Foulwer

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

From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 13:32:10 -0400 (EDT)

On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Michael Slone wrote:
> That is, any Ackan who registers as a Player of Agora (as EAP has done) will
> automatically cease to be an Honourary Player.  If you want, you can deregister
> immediately, continuing to be not an Honourary Player.  It will take four more
> days for anybody to be made an Honourary Player again, and as long as we can
> get two Objectors (EAP and me, apparently), you can force a stalemate.  

I noticed this as well.

> Of course, I don't think this will get you out of Gaol (if you are in Gaol; I
> haven't been keeping up with the Ackan Ruleset very well), but it's a start.

This is correct.

--JT

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

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

From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: P4258
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 13:43:28 -0400 (EDT)

On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Rachel L Walmsley wrote:
> > >Damn you all!  If you had voted NO on this prop, we would have KNOWN it
> > >failed.  How could you?  And Studge: why this deceit?  Why did you hide
> > >this until now?  Ackans: let us pray that it is not too late for us to stop
> > >them.  Now is our greatest hour of need.
> > >
> > 
> > By the way, I declare a Wartime Crisis on prop 4295.
> > 
> > Only a Justice, the Speaker, or the President can deny this, and then only
> > as a standard public action so they can't if they, by some mysterious
> > coincidence, are in Gaol.
> 
> As a justice I deny this.

I will note that this does in fact work (if my previous one did
not) regardless of thread (ie even in the thread where Studge managed to
attempt to put us all in gaol via Agora). I will not however share the
details of why this is the case until after we resolve this since I don't
want Agora to be able to react to why until we can fix the underlying
problem.

--JT

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

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

From: Matt Miller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Gaol Tag.
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 21:13:25 -0400 (EDT)

/dev/joe's it.

IB

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

Subject: Acka: Not Afraid
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 22:35:22 -0400 (EDT)

I do not believe that any Honourary Players of Agora Nomic are Registered
Players of Agora Nomic, so none of us are in Gaol for that reason.
Therefore there's no reason to go about acting as if we were.

--
--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--George Michael:Older
Current Book--Steven Brust:Dragon
Never drink coffee that has been anywhere near a fish.

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

From: "Gavin M. Doig" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Get out of Gaol free (well, almost)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 22:41:55 -0400 (EDT)

>      Honourary Players are not considered to be Players with respect
>      to the Rules or any other Nomic Entity within Agora Nomic, but
>      shall be considered Players of Agora Nomic to all persons,
>      organizations, nomics and other entities which exist entirely
>      outside of the Agora Nomic Rules
>
Nice try, Agoran scum (not you harvel), but:
I don't think an "Honorary Player" is neccessarrilly an actual player.
In fact, probably the only way in which Acka can decide if someone is
a player of another nomic is to examine the rules + gamestate of that
nomic. According to the above paragraph, Agora does not, in fact,
consider Honorary Players to be Players of Agora, so why should we?
The only reason could be the part of the above paragraph which says
that we should. However, the rules of Agora have no jurisdiction here,
other than what we explicitly give them, so I don't believe that
Honorary Players are Players of Agora.

BLMP.

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

Subject: Acka: Misc: What Phoebe Said
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 22:57:28 -0400 (EDT)

I was engrossed in reading the latest in Steven Brust's series of Vlad
Taltos books in front of my computer when an object fell onto the pages
before my eyes.  It was a familiar red and blue matchbox.  The lid
popped open and I beheld Phoebe, the nanotech Steel Flea.

She looked around at my computer room and said, "Haven't quite unpacked
everything yet, eh?"

I looked around.  "Well, haven't started on the records yet, or all the
boxes filled with little things, bric-a-brac if you will...and we're still
planning on getting a filing cabinet for a bunch of other stuff."

She hopped over to peer into one of the boxes of bric-a-brac.  "Have you
even used these geometry sets since junior high school?"

I shrugged.  "So I'm a packrat."  Then I was compelled to ask, "So what do
you think about this whole War with Agora?"

"Well, it is perhaps giving us something to do.  And the Agorans too, it
seems.  But those Rules are so contradictory; anyone who's a player--sorry,
a _registered_ player--of the Rival Nomic gets thrown in Gaol, but there
are two or three other Rules which talk about how one is supposed to join
the Rival Nomic and subvert it.  Maybe they need a special status for
those who are invading the Rival Nomic, and _they_ don't get thrown in
Gaol."  She sighed.  "At least it doesn't seem to be as vitriolic as the
whole war effort against Pumpkin Patch.  Or, dare I say it, Canada.

"Speaking of which, since you rejoined to keep Canada safe from the
Ackan pro-war front, how long are you planning to stay around?  Since your
return you haven't submitted a single Proposal.  You've only updated your
copy of the Ruleset twice, and you've looked at the PE and Scores pages
once each."

"How--never mind.  I've been playing subgames..."

"Which is about as little involved in the game as you can get.  Okay, you
have been voting, but not necessarily very informedly."

I shrugged.  "Well, you know how the phases of involvement go.  First you
find out about something, you investigate it, and it seems cool.  Then you
dive into it, and try to spend more and more of your time doing only that.
If you can't, then you get frustrated and try harder.  Eventually you are
spending as much time as you can spare with it.

"But all it takes is a few times when you suddenly have less time to spare,
and you still have all these commitments.  You push yourself harder to
fulfill them, but eventually you have to divest yourself of them.  You
get burned out.  And you only hang around out of nostalgia for how it was
when everything was so cool and shone so brightly.

"That's how it was for alt.callahans once, and talk.bizarre, and now
Ackanomic.  And probably many more things that I've just never thought
about in those terms."

She nodded.  "And Lorenai is still on the upswing, isn't it?"

"Yes.  It took longer for me to get interested in it, but I'm truly sucked
in now.  And I foresee that in October or so, with the new addition to the
family, my time will become shorter again, especially if I get involved
with 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern' in the spring.  Something may have to
fall by the wayside."

"Well, whether you stay with us or not, I wish you the best of luck.  And
you still have things to contribute, wherever you choose to contribute
them.  Oh, and go and check the PE page again and get around to burying
those treasures you've been thinking about."

With that she hopped back in her matchbox, put a tiny finger to one side
of her nose, and with a nod the matchbox rose up.  I looked up to follow
its path, but it was already gone.

--
--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--The Smiths:Louder Than Bombs
Current Book--Steven Brust:Dragon
Excuse me while I dance a little jig of despair.

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

Subject: Acka: nocimon
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 23:00:40 -0400 (EDT)

I go to the Library and into the Vault of the Book.

--
--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--The Smiths:Louder Than Bombs
Current Book--Steven Brust:Dragon
Nostalgia--stuffing seaweed cuttings up your nose

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

Subject: Acka: Treazure
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 23:48:24 -0400 (EDT)

I hereby bury all my trinkets (-17, A Pat on The Back, Beware The Forbidden
Fruit!, The HTML Standard Playtest Edition Eggplant and Hat Set 1, J. M.
Bear Is All My Fault, Klortho's Volcano, Sculpture 19, and The book of life)
as a treasure.  I reveal the following portion of the map:

ZRBZE BLSAE BSRLX XHBPK ADOHG ZRBPC ESZYX LGBEK PLVQL DKECV ZKJKC DZRBW 
LEBKP XKEBD LCLZL SZLEZ CDWYK CDZKZ RBEZR LDECD LSZCE CZRLD ORLMB LADCZ 
TRCXB CDZRB SLEBR BILSL ADCZP EKEPL VZCKD SCIPC MBDCD BLUYC LUASB DOZKZ 
RLZAD CZZRB EBSSL WBOEX CMCDW SZKDB CYEBS AEBSR KAXOZ RBWLE BKPXK EBDLC 
BDOKE PLVZC KDSCI PCMBD CDBXB LMBZR BWLEB HBPKE BZRCS KVVAE SZRBD ZRBZE 
BLSAE BSRLX XHBPK ADOCD SZBLO HGZRB YXLGB ETRKT RCXBP LVZCK DSCIP CMBDC 
DBTLS CDZRB WLEBK PXKEB DLCRL SSBDZ LXPML BDVLE ZKWEL YRCVL XCDPK EELZC 
KDKDZ RBEKS ZOCPP BEBDZ RBIBS SRKAX OZTKK EEKEB YXLGB ESVKE YXBZB ZRBPC 
ESZVK DOCZC KDSCE AXZLD BKASX GKDZR BSLEB OLGKP ZRBSL EBZAE DZRBD ZRBKD 
BTRKR LSSBD ZZRBE KSZRB IBSLS LHKMB SRLXX PCDOZ RBZEB LSAEB KECPZ RBEBC 
SDKSA VRYXL GBEZR BYXLG BETCZ RZRBX KTBED AEHBE BOPLV ZCKDS RLXXP CDOCZ 

(This is not a particularly hard code; it's the condition that will take
some time.  :-)

I also create(sorry, Compose)A$131 into a new trinket called "Olde Mink",
with a description as follows(delimited by DT):

DT
Olde Mink is one of the most noxious liquors known to man, or any other
creature in the multiverse.  It's 1200 Proof, and best served with an
acetylene torch.  (The late, esteemed, T. Murray, called it "The Taj Mahal
of alcohol" and a "legendary pop-skull", but after drinking it his D.T.'s
took on physical form, and in fact outlived him by many years.)
DT

I bury Olde Mink as a treasure, and reveal the following portion of the map:

There's a file that I know is encrypted somehow, but I can't figure out how
it's done, even knowing several lines of it.  (It's not a high-security
kind of thing, but it's driving me crazy.)  I'll send a copy of this file,
and the lines I know(not that I decoded them, but I know what part of the
contents of the file should be), to anyone who privately requests it, and
the treasure shall be found by the first player who emails me with the
decoded contents of the file and details of the encryption scheme used.
(In the event that I do find this out myself first, then the treasure shall
be found by whoever can identify the source of "Olde Mink" instead.)

--
--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--They Might Be Giants:The World's Address
Current Book--Steven Brust:Dragon
Et quand tu ris, je ris aussi...tu aimes tellement la vie

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

End of ackanomic Digest V4 #210
*******************************