Subject: ackanomic Digest V4 #225
From: [email-masked]
To: ackanomic digest users <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 00:00:01 -0400 (EDT)

ackanomic Digest	Sunday, August 22 1999	Volume: 04  Issue: 225

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Treasure Found
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 00:47:52 -0400 (EDT)

K 2 has found Treasure 261 (formerly It's not that bad, really, it's not,
now A$3).  The map was, as posted:

This treasure will be found by the first player other than Robert Sevin to
have a Harf Score at least 5 points higher than that of A Mean Hat. 

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito! B(Scam)
DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Herald * Rule-Harfer
 Crazy French-Scotsman * Student (Scamology)

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

Subject: Re: Acka: *Ping*
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 01:27:03 -0400 (EDT)

> On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, David Scheidt wrote:
> > > IdiotBoy (having purchased the last one) is ineligible. (or illegible, I
> > > cannot be sure ;)

> > An n, sir! For as little as possible!

> As little as possible in this case being A$15 :)

The attempted action falls afoul of that Rule which causes it to fail when
it relies on something outside of the message for full specification of its
action, though, I'd imagine.

But, just to do something with the money I've got sitting around, _I'll_
bid A$15 for an 'n'...

--
--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Sarah McLachlan:Angels
Current Book--Nalo Hopkinson:Brown Girl In The Ring
To brush teeth, activate bandsaw.  Remove leg.

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

From: K 2 <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: *Fn?rd*
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 01:36:51 -0400 (EDT)

I was like napping and stuff and this... like great big thing dropped on
my head y'know... and now I've like totally forgotten what I was y'know
dreaming about - 

IF AND ONLY IF today *** ******** ***** *** ******** *****'* *****
****** ** *****, THEN the Machine That Goes *ping* shall go *ping*.

K 2

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

Subject: Acka: Timewarp
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 03:30:21 -0400 (EDT)

Some kind of clog has just been released and I've seen the past two days
worth of Ackanomic messages(well, except for the few that had somehow
slipped through).  So ignore any of my actions or statements that make
no sense.

I still think that the last bid on the letter for the Truth failed due
to under-specification, though.

--
--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Song In My Head--Eric Clapton:Cocaine
Current Book--Terence M. Green:Blue Limbo
Ride that camel through the eye of a phonograph needle

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

From: Gabe Drummond-Cole <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Trade offer
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 03:47:00 -0400 (EDT)

I perform the following conversion 100 times:

I convert 1 mannna to A$2

I offer to trade A$200 to Studge for the building named (or formerly named) 

"
qGD=ewiuogh~~Sh^^wE@r!hgfd#zsxa$fdg*& T-hh_GLORK_fvh,m.qqq128616-79920
"

(it was once my home)

and the kaa of land on which it is situated.

-- Emperor Ai! Pedrito! B(Scam)
DeeJay * Dungeon Master * Herald * Rule-Harfer
 Crazy French-Scotsman * Student (Scamology)

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

From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: Results of Eggplant bidding
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 03:50:51 -0400 (EDT)

Here are the results of the bidding:

E: Else...if
D: /dev/joe
F: Fixing...Elk?
!: Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
A: Alfvaen
K: K 2
R: Rachel L. Walmsley

Cond (O)  | else | /d/j | Felix| EAP  | Alf  |  K2  | RLW  || Eplnt |Weight
----------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------++-------+------
J1   (E)  |    0 |   60 |    1 |  100 |    0 | -200 | -200 ||  (K)  |    0
J2   (E)  | - 50 |  100 | - 20 |  100 |  100 |    0 | -200 ||  (E)  | - 20
J3   (E)  |    0 |   50 |    1 | -200 |   63 |    0 | -200 ||  (D)  |   63
J4   (D)  | - 50 |   40 |  100 |  100 | - 37 | -200 | -200 ||  (K)  | - 50
J5   (D)  |    0 |   40 |   80 |    0 | -187 |   42 | -200 ||  (A)  |    0
J6   (F)  |   50 | -100 |    0 | -200 | -200 | -200 | -200 ||  (!)  | -100
J7   (F)  |    0 |    0 |   10 | -200 |   66 | -200 |   29 ||  (!)  |    0
J8   (F)  |   50 |    0 |  100 | -200 | -200 |    0 | -200 ||  (A)  |    0
J9   (!)  | - 50 |  100 |   35 |  100 |   98 | -200 | -200 ||  (K)  | - 50
J10  (!)  |   50 |   70 | - 50 |  100 |   99 |    0 | -200 ||  (F)  |    0
J11  (!)  |    0 |  100 | -100 |  100 |  100 | -200 | -200 ||  (R)  | -100
J12  (A)  |    0 |   90 | -120 |   40 |  100 |   42 |   43 ||  (F)  |    0
J13  (A)  |   50 |   70 | - 34 |  100 |    0 |   42 |   83 ||  (F)  |    0
J14  (A)  |   50 |   70 |   70 |  100 |  100 |  100 |   61 ||  (D)  |  100
J15  (K)  |    0 |  100 |   50 | -200 |  100 |    0 | -200 ||  (A)  |  100
J16  (K)  | -100 |   55 |    0 |  100 |   83 |    0 | -200 ||  (E)  |    0
J17  (R)  |   50 |   80 |  100 | -200 |   85 |    0 |   47 ||  (D)  |   85
J18  (R)  |   50 |   80 |   90 | -200 | - 33 | -200 | -200 ||  (!)  | - 33

Text of the Conditions and the weights can be found on the Illuminatus
page at http://www.ackanomic.org/~jt/acka/illuminatus.html.

Hats will be sent to their recipients shortly.

--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: Timewarp
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 04:05:55 -0400 (EDT)

On Sun, 22 Aug 1999, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:
> Some kind of clog has just been released and I've seen the past two days
> worth of Ackanomic messages(well, except for the few that had somehow
> slipped through).  So ignore any of my actions or statements that make
> no sense.
> 
> I still think that the last bid on the letter for the Truth failed due
> to under-specification, though.

I think we have been reasonably lenient as to what constitutes 'enough'
specification.   Usually it seems to have been left up to the officer or
player involved.   I understood the term 'the minimum amount' to be
unambiguous.

Either way, your bid for n would have been sufficient and K2 still guessed
the correct truth.

--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: Results of Eggplant bidding
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 04:07:11 -0400 (EDT)

On Sun, 22 Aug 1999, JT wrote:
> Text of the Conditions and the weights can be found on the Illuminatus
> page at http://www.ackanomic.org/~jt/acka/illuminatus.html.

use ~jtraub instead of ~jt.  For some reason ~jt seems to generate an
error but ~jtraub works.   As far as I know those are the same account on
brain (ie www.ackanomic.org) but....... *shrug*

--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: Mueller <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Trade offer
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 04:09:37 -0400 (EDT)

EA!P! wrote:
>I perform the following conversion 100 times:
>
>I convert 1 mannna to A$2
>
>I offer to trade A$200 to Studge for the building named (or formerly named) 
>
>"
>qGD=ewiuogh~~Sh^^wE@r!hgfd#zsxa$fdg*& T-hh_GLORK_fvh,m.qqq128616-79920
>"
>
>(it was once my home)
>
>and the kaa of land on which it is situated.

I accept and gift the A$ back to EA!P!.

Studge

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

From: Bill Palmer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Zap!
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 04:19:48 -0400 (EDT)

I really wanna know who anyboyd is, I new a boyd in high-school, but he
couldn't make change for a hundred out of a McDonalds Cash Register.

[email-masked] wrote:

> Does anyboyd really know what time it is?
>
> IB

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

From: "Gavin Logan" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: nominations (Publicist)
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 06:35:55 -0400 (EDT)

Reply to nominate yourself for the position of Publicist.

fixing...ELK?
(Count Tabula)

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

From: "Gavin Logan" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: commission d'arts
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 06:37:29 -0400 (EDT)

Assuming that K 2 is president, the members of the commission d'arts are:

K 2
fixing...ELK?
A German Dog
Emperor Ai! Pedrito!
rufus

If I am President however K 2 is not a member and Burn the Witch is.

fixing...ELK?
(speaker)

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

From: "Gavin Logan" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: scaremonger (ThinMan)
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 06:40:06 -0400 (EDT)

The results of the election for ScareMonger are:

A German Dog:
A German Dog
/dev/joe

Emperor Ai! Pedrito!:
Studge

Rachel L Walmsley:
fixing...ELK?

Blest Lax Monk Pal:
Blest Lax Monk Pal
Hubert

ThinMan:
IdiotBoy
Vynd
Vynd's EBS
Alfvaen
ThinMan

Making ThinMan el scaremongero.

fixing...ELK?
(Count Tabula)

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

From: [email-masked] (Dice server)
Subject: Acka: Ackanomicon Determination
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 06:50:01 -0400 (EDT)

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

Dice rolls requested by: "Gavin Logan" <[email-masked]>
Rolls also sent to:
    [email-masked]

# Player: rufus
# Ackanomicon Determination
# based on the following (using a 54 sided die)
#  1 - 16 Arcane Trivia
# 17 - 21 Vile Prophecies
# 22 - 27 Inner Workings
# 28 - 33 Arcane Lore
# 34 - 36 Terrorizing Pages
# 37 - 38 Mutation
# 39 - 40 Dark Domain
# 41 - 42 Long Lost Treasure
# 43 - 43 Forbidden Fruit
# 44 - 47 Not so Forbidden Fruit
# 48 - 48 Ancient One
# 49 - 54 Strange Object

No. of sides on every die:     54
No. of dice for every roll:     1
No. of dice rolls requested:    1
No. of rolls per line:          1

     44

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

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

   The dice server is provided by:

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

Original message follows:
> From [email-masked]  Sun Aug 22 03:35:34 1999
> Received: (from smtp@localhost) by happy.xkey.com
>       id DAA19806 for <[email-masked]>; Sun, 22 Aug 1999 03:35:34 -0700
> Received: from mail2.svr.pol.co.uk(195.92.193.210) by happy.xkey.com via smtp (V1.3)
>       id sma019804; Sun Aug 22 03:35:32 1999
> Received: from modem-19.nefazodone.dialup.pol.co.uk ([62.136.81.147] helo=default)
>       by mail2.svr.pol.co.uk with smtp (Exim 2.12 #2)
>       id 11IUyI-0007Eh-00
>       for [email-masked]; Sun, 22 Aug 1999 11:35:30 +0100
> Message-ID: <000401beec89$e6fa7180$9351883e@default>
> From: "Gavin Logan" <[email-masked]>
> To: <[email-masked]>
> Subject: Acka: Ackanomicon Determination
> Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 17:09:04 +0100
> X-Priority: 3
> X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5
> X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3
> 
> #P [email-masked]
> #S 54
> #D 1
> #R 1
> #L 1
> #T Acka: Ackanomicon Determination
> #C Player: rufus
> #C Ackanomicon Determination
> #C based on the following (using a 54 sided die)
> #C
> #C  1 - 16 Arcane Trivia
> #C 17 - 21 Vile Prophecies
> #C 22 - 27 Inner Workings
> #C 28 - 33 Arcane Lore
> #C 34 - 36 Terrorizing Pages
> #C 37 - 38 Mutation
> #C 39 - 40 Dark Domain
> #C 41 - 42 Long Lost Treasure
> #C 43 - 43 Forbidden Fruit
> #C 44 - 47 Not so Forbidden Fruit
> #C 48 - 48 Ancient One
> #C 49 - 54 Strange Object
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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

Subject: Acka: Mutation change
From: Joseph DeVincentis <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 13:27:37 -0400 (EDT)

I try to fly across the Ackanomic river, but I can't.

I go to the AIoGR and have them remove my useless wings, which seem to no
longer grant the ability to fly (anybody remember when *that* happened?)
and furthermore purchase two extra heads.  Then I return to Vulcan
Headquarters.

I reveal this hat, and wear it:

J15: "The owner of this hat or its eggplant is the Finacier." 

I am willing to trade this hat to any financier for another hat,
if it has a condition I find myself reasonably likely to be able
to achieve, or possibly sell it outright.

/dev/joe

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

Subject: Acka: Olde Mink Found
From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 13:42:35 -0400 (EDT)

A German Dog(a.k.a. Dragon Mage, JT, etc.) has found the Olde Mink
treasure.  The map was as revealed when the treasure was buried.
JT managed to correctly decode the file I sent him and send me its
contents(which I had already deduced from other methods, but hadn't
figured out the decoding scheme of), but I will let em tell as much
of that story as e wants to.  :-)

I will still give a prize(but don't feel like burying a treasure for it)
to anyone who can tell me whence "Olde Mink" originates.  I think it
should be pretty resistant to web searches.

--
--Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.connect.ab.ca/~alfvaen/ )
Current Album--Chef Aid: The South Park Album
Current Book--Terence M. Green:Blue Limbo
I'm living in a neon house; I'm living in avalanche row; I'm living in hangover city

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

From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: Olde Mink Found
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 17:48:53 -0400 (EDT)

On Sun, 22 Aug 1999, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:
> A German Dog(a.k.a. Dragon Mage, JT, etc.) has found the Olde Mink
> treasure.  The map was as revealed when the treasure was buried.
> JT managed to correctly decode the file I sent him and send me its
> contents(which I had already deduced from other methods, but hadn't
> figured out the decoding scheme of), but I will let em tell as much
> of that story as e wants to.  :-)

There was one key piece of information which enabled me to do this
decoding, and that was the provenance of the encoded text.

It turns out that this encoded text file came from a data file for a
program called LoreView.exe (which is a map viewer/information displayer)
for an email PBM called Lorenai.   I found this out by asking Alfvaen
where the file came from, though I would have discovered this eventually
myself as I have started playing Lorenai recently.

Knowing this, it was a simple matter to change bytes in the data file for
LoreView and watch how those transformations affected the displayed
output.  (the name of the data file was RESOURCE.CFG and there is a
displayed list of resources/hex so this was easily doable).  After a
little bit of poking, I discovered that each byte in the file was xor'd
with some mask which initially appeared to be dependant on the file
position because when I removed or added a character to the file it
screwed up the decryption.  At one point I inserted a newline into the
file and realized that the encoding didn't care about whitespace but
did care about all non-whitespace.   So, armed with that and the decrypted
bit that Alfvaen gave (and more decrypted bits garnered by inserting or
removing extra new lines at various places) I eventually gained a list
of every word in the file which was as follows:

----
things
iron
wood
stone
furs
fishes
grain
livestock
herbs
horses
ponies
wargs
mithril
rootstone
ironwood
floater hides
mumaks
winged horses
yew
silver
gold
gems
crystals
---

Now the trick was just to find the encoding scheme.   Taking the encoded
file and the decoded file I dumped each byte as an xor mask and wound up
with something that looked like the following. (here ^ denotes a control 
character and ^@ is a 0 byte)

^C^O^P^Y^R^I^G^H^T^@^H^C^I^@^Q^Y^Y^W^@^M^O^O^N^L^I^G^H^T^@^G^R^A^F^F^I
^T^I^L^@^S^T^N^P^E^T^E^R^S^B^U^R^G^L^@^R^U^S^S^I^A

Hmmm.. english.. I smelled blood, but what were ^@^H^C^I^@^Q^Y^Y^W near
the beginning and the ^N and ^L in the latter bits..  Looking at this,
I decided that ^N had to be '.' and ^L had to be a ','.   Applying a
similar offset to the '^@' yielded spaces and the ^H^C^I^@^Q^Y^Y^W yielded
'(#) 1997'.   Hmm.. maybe that ^C was supposed to be a 'C'.

This yielded a string of "COPYRIGHT (C) 1997 MOONLIGHT GRAFFITI,
ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA" as the key with all Alphabetic characters having 64
subtracted and all non-alpha 32 subtracted to yield the mask.

I then coded up a simple program to do this and lo and behold the file did
decode.... mostly.   In the middle of the file it garbled again.. I was
obviously missing something.   After a bit of trial and error, I
discovered that ' ' in the input file was left space but ALSO caused the
index into the key string to update.   Correcting the algorithm for this
yielded the correct decryption of the file.

(this same algorithm is also used to encrypt 2 other files in the config
directory for LoreView (ITEMS.CFG and STRUCTS.CFG) so I had those as well
to test various byte patterns on)

I honestly don't think I would have been able to determine that it was an
xor encoding without having the loreview.exe program to play around with.

--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 V4 #225
*******************************