It really depends upon how our nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we’re an arrogant nation, they’ll resent us. -- Governor George W. Bush

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." -- President Thomas Jefferson

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." -- Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Welcome to Tinamou #47, produced by Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline NH, 03033 (email: rebhuhn of rocketmail.com ). Tinamou now appears on the web in conjunction with TAP. The web page has everything you’ll find here including maps. Go to Jim’s index page /Postal/Zines/TAP and check it out, your comments and suggestions are welcome!

TAP Home Tinamou Home

Boston Harbor (Industrial Waste)

Perdu (Railway Rivals)

Perdix (Railway Rivals)

Fat Bottomed Girls (Breaking Away)

Plutocrats (Outpost)

Carrier Pigeon (Diplomacy)

2001 - A Gaming Odyssey (Diplomacy)

Game Openings

And another heartbreaking loss for the Red Sox. I know that I got a very queasy feeling in my stomach when I heard the announcer say, "They’re just five outs away from the World Series". That’s the exact same phrase they used just before the Marlins went to town on the Cubs, and sure enough, there went the Yankees. I’ll also note that twice in the last few games I’ve seen a pitcher say he wanted to stay in and the manager has let him. Both times it was a big mistake. When the arm starts to get tired, take them out. If you don’t trust your closers, use your other starters. You can’t be saving them for anything in game seven!

Oh well, I’ve never been much of a fan of baseball anyway. Back to football. Go Pats! If they can keep hanging on and pulling out wins with all the injuries they’ve got, what will happen when they get some of these players back? Being from the Boston area, they’ll probably tank, but we can hope (we always hope, hope and despair are a part of life as a sports fan in the Boston area).

TOP

Game Openings:

Gunboat with press: Two signed up so far.

Perestroika Diplomacy: Add an economic twist to the classic game. Centers generate revenue, armies and fleets must be maintained, and treasuries can be sacked! Rules are available on request.

Signed up: Art Schleinkofer, Phil Reynolds, Harold Reynolds, Karl Schmit

Standard Diplomacy: That’s it, the one and only original

Signed up: Fred Wiedermeyer, Hank Alme

Just the results please: Don’t really know what to call this one as I just came up with it. Perhaps it’s been tried before. The twist for this variant is that each season only the ending unit positions are published, not the orders. You’ll know who went where, but not who helped whom, or want may have been tried unsuccessfully.

Signed up: Phil Reynolds

Industrial Waste:

A new game for 3-4 players. Manager your factory and build your products, but beware, increased production means more waste, and if you aren’t careful you’ll find that working in a sludge pit affects your productivity and the bottom line.

Game Opening: Signed up: Richard Weiss, Andy York, Harold Reynolds

Railway Rivals: Be the first to try out Brendan Whyte’s new Queensland map.

Signed up: Brendan Whyte, Rip Gooch

Outpost:

Sign up for the next game to start when the current one finishes.

Snowball fighting: Current game is over. Anyone interested in another go? One signed up so far.

Golden Strider: It is to running what Breaking Away is to bike riding. See Tom’s szine off-the-shelf at http://www. olympus.net/personal/thowell/o-t-s/index.html for some games in progress.

Signed up: Tom Howell

Sopwith: Be a World War I Ace (or perhaps a pile of smoking rubble). It all depends on what kind of pilot you are. See Phil’s ishkibibble at www.diplom.org/DipPouch/ Postal/Zines/ishkibibble for a game in progress.

Signed up: Brendan Whyte, Robert Dowrey

Reader’s Choice: I’m open to anything, just send me the rules and if I think I can run it, I’ll offer it.

Deadlines:

I’m going to go to two different deadline to allow some of the games to move faster. If anyone would prefer that a game move slower or faster please let me know.

RR, IW, Outpost games: Next TAP deadline

Diplomacy, Breaking Away: Two TAP deadlines from this issue.

TOP

2001 A Gaming ODYSSEY

Orphaned from Deny Everything

HELD OVER

I am continuing to hold this game over as Mike seems to have dropped out of communications. The intent is to continue with the current players and not new standbys so we’ll try again.

Country

Player

Address

Austria

Andy "Big Bird " Lischett

2402 Ridgeland Ave. Berwyn, IL 60402

England

Mike "Goalman" Mazzer

1900 Kelton Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90025
mmazzer of goalonline.com

Germany

Jim "Chum" O’Kelley

664 W. Irving Park Rd., I-6 Chicago, IL 60613
ajokelley of sbcglobal.net

Italy

Gary "Grimme" Coughlan

6066 Belle Grove Cove N Memphis, TN 38115
bamboopnuts of email.msn.com

Russia

DeRees "Corky" Clark

29123 Diablo Place Castaic, CA 91384
dclark of santa-clarita.com

Turkey

Jim "Boob" Burgess

664 Smith Street Providence, RI 02908-4327
burgess of world.std.com

Fall 1906

Country

Moves

Austria

a bul h, a VIE h

England

A fin - STP, F BAR S A fin - STP, A DEN H, A bel - HOL, F eng - NTH, F nth - NWG, F KIE S (ITA) A mun - BER, A RUH S (ITA) A tya - MUN, F swe - BAL, F mao - NAT, F por - MAO.

Germany

a BOH – mun, a ber s a boh – mun (d;r pru,sil,otb).

Italy

a tya - MUN, a ser - BUL, a tri - BUD, a mun - BER, a pie - TYA, f tyn - ION, f adr - TRI, f AEG s s ser - bul, f GRE s a ser - bul, f eas - SMY, f WES h

Russia

a MOS – stp, a gal – WAR, a ANK s f smy – con, f smy – CON, a rum – SER

Turkey

a con s (aus) a bul h(d;anhl), f BLA s (aus) a bul h.

Winter 1906

Country

Centers

Adjustments

Austria

vie, bul , rum?

1 or 2, even or disband 1

England

lon, lvp, edi, bel, bre, den, hol, kie, nwy, por, swe, stp

12, build 1

France

 

out

Germany

ber, stp, mun

out

Italy

nap, rom, ven, bud, gre, mar, par, spa, tri, tun, ser, ber, bul, mun, smy

14, build 3

Russia

mos, war, sev, rum?, smy, ank, con, ser

6 or 7 build 1 *

Turkey

ank, con

OUT

*Russia has only one open center and so builds only one regardless of where the Austrian army retreats.

TOP

Carrier Pigeon, Standard Diplomacy,

Postal negotiations only

Country

Player

Address

Austria

Alexander Woo

2322 Shattuck Ave. #308 Berkeley, CA 94704

England

Robert Dowrey

76 Potter Avenue Orchard Park, NY 14127

France

Ethan Thomas

13 Acushnet Road Mattapoisett, MA 02739

Germany

Hank Alme

506 Paige Loop Los Alamos, NM 87544

Italy

John Power

18 Tilton Court Baltimore, MD 21236

Russia

Chris Lockheardt

54 Butler Ave Maynard, MA 01754

Turkey

Fred Wiedemeyer

Box 92010, Meadowbrook R.P.O. Edmonton, AB T6T 1N1 CANADA

Winter 1901

Country

Adjustments

Austria

Build A Vie, A Bud

England

build f lon, a edi

France

build f bre, f mar

Germany

build a ber

Italy

build f nap

Russia

build a war, a mos

Turkey

build f con

 

Spring 1902

Country

Moves

Austria

a vie - gal, a bud s vie - gal, a ser - bul, f gre s ser - bul, a tri - ser

England

f lon - eng, a edi h, a bel - hol, f nth s f nwy - ska, f nwy - ska

France

f mar - gol, f bre h, f por - mao, a spa - gas, a par - pic

Germany

a ber - kie, a mun s kie - ruh, a kie - ruh, f den s swe – ska (nso)

Italy

f nap - ion, f ion - emed, a tun h, a ven h

Russia

a war - sil, a mos - lvn, a rum s ser - bul, f bla - sev, f swe s nwy - ska, a ukr s bla – sev

Turkey

f con - bla, a bul - rum, f ank s f con - bla, a arm – sev

 

Press:

(Smiley - GM): See - letting Tsar Blurbikov into Galicia worked out pretty well.

GM – Smiley: And I see he’s returned the favor as well.

(A Player - All Players): Where is everyone? I know all of you are good enough that I should be expecting more mail, not less, if you were conspiring against me.

Eng to Russia - I hope I'm not too late. Summer holidays took priority over diplomacy this month. May the continent or the Crown not suffer too horribly because of my absence.

England to France - I can explain everything if you would write!

England to Italy - I'm still waiting. . . or perhaps your holiday was as good as mine.

TOP

Breaking Away: Fat Bottomed Girls

Some exemplary replacement cards this round. Rick achieves the rarely seen perfect score of 12. In best bike racing fashion, Tom, Jim and Brendan draft him with respective scores of 13, 14 and 15! Mike and Eric didn’t feel like playing with the group so they registered *whopping* scores of 25 and 26.

JIM-BOB to MIKE: Comparing me to David Anderson, boy, is THAT a low blow.....

BOOB to EDITH: Help me out here, I'm lost!

HOMEGROWN EVIL: John Poindexter. Terrorism futures market. What's next, will they bring back Ollie North to trade drugs to bin Laden for weapons to fight Baathists?

(HOMEGROWN EVIL NONFICTION): "According to a classified document, "Special Operations and Joint Forces in Countering Terrorism" prepared for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by his Defense Science Board, ... the "Proactive Preemptive Operations Group" (P2OG) will require 100 people and at least $100 million a year. The team of covert counter-intelligence agents will be responsible for secret missions ... designed to "stimulate reactions" among terrorist groups, provoking them into committing violent acts which would then expose them to "counterattack" by U.S. forces. ... the United States government is planning to use secret military operations in order to provoke murderous terrorist attacks on innocent people. In a strange twist of logic, it seems the plan is to somehow combat terrorism by causing it. According to the report, other strategies include stealing money from terrorist cells or tricking them with fake communications. The Defense Department already maintains a secretive counter-terror operations group known as Delta Force that is called in when a crisis happens. Exactly what type of actions would be required to "stimulate reactions" by terrorist groups has yet to be revealed. When asked questions regarding what measures would be taken, Pentagon sources responded with, "Their sovereignty will be at risk." " (from an article reprinted at www.projectcensored.org)

(SPEAKING OF DOMESTIC FOES OF FREEDOM): SCO's Darl McBride to Rename Self Darth McBride, Builds Death Star"

(ASK THE EXPERTS): (This isn't fictional parody, it's genuine, sad to say.) "From this point on, the main foreign policy player is not the Pentagon or the State Department, it's Karl Rove in the White House. Every foreign policy decision and initiative will be screened through the prism of the electoral process." -- Moises Naim, editor, Foreign Policy magazine.

BB Girls-Elaine: We're going to lay you out in the panties your mother bought for you.

BB Girls-George: would you like to be OUR latex salesman?...you can leave your pants round your ankles if you like...

Spectators to Each Other: [Yawn.] Another Howell victory. So what else is new?

GM to Spectators: Now, now, that might be just a bit premature. Let’s at least wait until we get to the second sprint line.

Black Bottomed Girls (Brendan Whyte) 5 points

A

14

Black Pudding Bertha

7

5

5

3

B

14

Big bad Bobbette

7

5

3

 

C

18

Bo Dacious Derek

3

3

6

 

D

10

Barbarella Eden

3

3

3

 

Homegrown Evil (Mike Barno) 0 points

A

6

Dick Cheney

6

15

3

 

B

3

John Ashcroft

10

10

3

 

C

3

Karl Rove

3

16

10

 

D

4

Donald Rumsfeld

3

7

9

 

Thin Bottomed Girls (Tom Howell) 6 points

Manager: Edith

A

3

Abigail

4

9

16

3

B

8

Babette

6

16

4

 

C

16

Camilla

10

18

3

 

D

10

Dagmar

16

18

3

 

The Four Kingdoms of Daniel Chapter Seven (Eric Brosius) 5 points

A

12

Babylon

6

15

16

3

B

10

Persia

3

15

3

 

C

3

Greece

5

16

10

 

D

5

Rome

10

20

10

 

The Front Men (Jim Burgess) 1 point

Manager: Ian Curtis

A

14

Jon Langford

3

20

23

3

B

3

Richard Barone

9

10

3

 

C

10

Mark Cutler

5

19

3

 

D

18

Tjinder Singh

3

17

5

 

 

 

The Team About Nothing (Rick Desper) 22 points

Manager: Frank Costanza

A

3

Jerry Seinfeld

3

11

15

3

B

6

Elaine Benes

9

19

3

 

C

3

Cosmo Kramer

10

12

3

 

D

3

George Costanza

4

20

3

 

 

Square

Riders

Card

70

abigail

3

69

   

68

   

67

   

66

   

65

   

64

   

63

   

62

   

61

persia, barbarella

3

60

singh

5

59

bo dacious

6

58

   

57

langford, bertha, babylon, camilla bobbette

3

56

   

55

   

54

cutler

3

53

babette

4

52

   

51

jerry, cheney, george, barone, elaine , dagmar

3

50

rumsfeld

9

49

rove, greece, rome

10

48

   

47

ashcroft, kramer

3

Just For Fun

1) Go to www.Google.com

2) Type in (but don't hit return): "weapons of mass destruction"

3) Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button, instead of the normal "Google search" button;

4) Read what appears to be a normal error message carefully.

 

Carrier Pigeon: Spring 1902

TOP

Zero Sum II

Editor: Richard Weiss Diplomat of higherquality.com

A Sub-sub-subzine to Stealth West with due genuflections to the Toad Father.

Mission Statement: Enjoyment of the Game Industrial Waste, by Jurgen Strohm and distributed by Rio Grande Games

Current Game(s): Love Canal

 

Turn 3.2

Editorial press and ramblings:

The pack is still close. Eric gets to wear the yellow jersey; however.

The CA Governor recall election has been certified and the date of October 7, 2003 set as the election. The ballot has 4 sections. 1st section is recall – yes or no. If yes, then which of the candidates below do you want. Section 3 is a referendum ending the state’s right to collect any information on race, ethnicity, birth location, etc. The 4th decreases the super-majority need for a local area to pass a bond.

If I obtain 65 legal signatures and pay $3,500.00 I can get my name on the ballot as an official candidate for governor. Then I get a page to make my arguments in the ballot book. I would pay more than that for some vanity items – why not this one? Figuring out my web page costs for 70 years is about equal to the amount. 50 years of 2 domain names. 50 years of vanity license plates. Slightly less than a boob job for a woman, or both eyelids for anyone. I have 11 more days to decide and do it.

I took my daughter and 4 of her friends out to dinner Friday. She was turning 23 the next day. Each a wonderful and informed woman. The single topical item that each wanted to make their opinion known on – Kobe.

DUMBASS Harold Reynolds

Phase 1: Dumbass plays the Raw Materials first. Chris passes, David bids 5, Eric raises to 8, Harold says he’ll see Eric and raise by one – buying the 5 raw materials for $9M. Cash goes from $20 - $11.

Phase 2: Plays the Innovation and reduces the Waste he dumbassly produces by one more (4-1=3).

Phase 3: Holds on to the Order for now.

End-of-Turn: Pays $5M end of turn costs. Cash = 20-9-5=6

Accident during Dealing: Pays $5M in fines (Cash will go from 6-5=1) and moves factory one space to the left, reducing growth back to 14.

Chemicals ‘R US Chris Hassler

Phase 1: Play Innovation, to change Rationalization to 4/3

Phase 2: Play Growth – moving to 16.

Phase 3: Play Hiring/Firing, to fire 100 employees.

Phase 4: Play Waste Removal reducing his waste to dispose of to 3 and increasing everyone else’s by one (Harold 8 >> 9; David 7 >> 8; Eric 7 >> 8).

End-of-Turn: Pay’s end of turn labor costs of $4M, reducing cash on hand from $13M to $9M.

GRREAT Dave Partridge CEO: Tony Tiger.

Phase 1: Borrow $10M, spend it on Innovation with Advisor, reduce my waste production by 2 (from 5 >> 3).

Phase 2: Process my order, use 4 RM (leaving 1 RM in stock), generate $15M and 3 waste (up to 7).

Phase 3: Pass

End of Turn: Pays $4M labor costs. Cash 5+10-10+15-4=16.

DeOxyRoxy Eric Brosius

Phase 1: play my Innovation and Advisor cards to double-innovate. I will reduce my resource utilization by two slots. This costs $10M, reducing his cash on hand from $21M to $11M.

Phase 2: Plays Order card to make an order, using up 3 of those raw-bers (5-3=2)and generating 5 stinky waste (2+5=7). But, making $14M in profits.

Phase 3: My other Order card will be held until next time.

End-of-Turn Costs: $5M labor. Cash 21-10+14-5 = 20

PRESS:

DeOxyRoxy: Hey, we're zipping along now! This game is different from the other ones I've been in, so we have to keep thinking.

Love Canal (Industrial Waste) Turn 4 Segment 1

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

Set 5

Waste Disposal

Growth

Growth

Order

Growth

Bribery

Waste Removal

Raw Materials

Waste Disposal

Order

Order

Hiring / Firing

Waste Removal

Hiring/Firing

Raw Materials

         

Turn 4.1

The mayor of Toronto is predicting a baby boom in 9 months. I well remember the great blackout of 1965 (?). Vermont was a good place to be at the time as we episodically lost power anyway so were prepared. I had no new siblings the next year. I will be interested in some stories from y’all.

The CA recall election campaign is under way. We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis and I’m rather enjoying myself. I am considering printing bumper stickers that say, "Vote for Someone Who Can’t Win." Ahnold is too liberal for the conservatives that backed the recall. Simon will spend lots of his money on the campaign. Bustamente will probably be the next governor, but not by election. However, he has a strong chance with a large Latino vote, Democratic vote and those who oppose the recall. There are two other very real races. The first is between the Democratic Party Leaders and Davis – getting him to resign. The Constitution is blank on whether or not that would cancel the recall vote. The other race is to find a judge to put a stay on the whole deal. This might have happened today. The pressure is from minorities who are generally more Democratic and will be disadvantaged by CA not yet complying with federally mandated voting process changes that were to have been successfully adopted for an election in March 04.

A friend is joining Ahnold’s camp as a health advisor. I’m wondering if I will have a position in the next administration. Ahnold has excellent moderate credentials for CA. He is pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-gays (as newspapers politically incorrectly state), and pro-balanced budget. The largest fear I had was that because he does not know that many highly qualified people to lead various sections of the government that he would be a stooge not to special interest groups but to Republican hackneys. However, Buffet is on board and others are coming.

This is true democracy in action. I love it. I considered spending the $3,500.00 to sign up, but then figured vanity was not worth that. Many others apparently had the money lying around.

DeOxyRoxy Eric Brosius

DeOxyRoxy takes Set #3: Growth, Raw Materials and Waste Removal plus is holding an Order.

DUMBASS Harold Reynolds

My preferences are Set 1, then 4. Thus, he gets his first choice which is #1: Waste Disposal, Bribery, Order and is holding an Order.

Chemicals ‘R US Chris Hassler

I'll take 5, 4, then 1. And lo and behold, CRUS gets their first choice as well – taking Set #5: Growth, Order, Raw Materials.

GRREAT Dave Partridge

CEO: Tony Tiger. Takes set #4. Order, Waste Disposal, Hiring/Firing

Green Party to Dumbass: A vewwy nasty accident! You've been a bad boy, genawwating nine nasty bawwels of waste! You should have held it down to only eight nasty bawwels like the west of us!

Turn 4.2

High scores! No accident during dealing!!

Fantasy baseball habits die hard. This is my second year going cold turkey. Already there are players I don’t know. Which lets me be a "homey" and route for the Giants and A’s. Last night Barry hits a walk-off, no doubt, McCovey Cove shot HR, tonight the walk the BB and Edgar Alfonzo, the over-priced, low-value fantasy player gets a drawn-in infield seeing eye walk off hit. Giants take the 1st two from the major league leading Braves. And, we have yet to see Smoltz! Go figure.

I have rented a room for the middle night of the Conquest gaming tourney over Labor Day. I will compete for the "NorCal" FTF Dip Championships. Probably 10+ years since I competed FTF. Hopefully nobody will take me for a newbie, and no one will take me for someone who has a Top 7 at a DipCon. Nor will anyone know that I played for the esteemed David Partridge team in the WorldCons online – having the best Italian finish of the 1st round and tying for getting into the semis- which David made it into.

I am hoping to get in some FTF Industrial Waste. I will let you know if I do.

I learned tonight that one of my faves, Warren Zevon, is dying of lung cancer. He has a new CD out next week – featuring, "Knock Knock Knockin on Heaven’s Door" with a bevy of rock stars performing cameos, including Springsteen who flew a chartered jet overnight between concert dates to perform one song with Zevon. Of special interest to me is that I have a signed CD set and a tee-shirt from seeing him at Slim’s in SF and talking my otherwise way extroverted date into going up after the show and getting him to sign stuff.

Apparently one of the songs on the CD is "Mi Amor de la Vida/The love of my life." As much as I try to move beyond, the woman I was with that night at Slim’s, is the love of my life. Y’all are married to the love’s of your life, right?

DeOxyRoxy Eric Brosius

First, play my Raw Materials card to auction off 3 lovely cylinders of stinking goo. Harry passes. Chris bids $1M. Dave jumps up to $7M. Eric sells the lot of 3 raw materials to Dave for $7M. Eric’s money goes up to $27M. Dave’s shrinks to $9M while his Raw Materials goes from 0 >> 3.

Second, play my Growth card to inject some steroids into my production Ability (Ups Growth from 14 >> 15).

Third, play my Waste Removal card to share some lovely waste with my deserving fellow players. This pushes Chris into the Yellow zone with 9 barrels and Harold further into Yellow with 10 barrels.

And finally, the organ player decides to hold his Order.

DUMBASS Harold Reynolds

Plays Waste Disposal (reducing goop on hand from 9 to 6).

Segment 2 Plays Order (sells order which requires 5 raw materials and reduces raw materials on hand from 5 >> 0. DUMBASS makes $14M and increases money from $1M >> $15M. In the meantime DUMBASS produces 3 barrels of toxins and now has 9 barrels on hand. He is in the yellow zone and flirting with the shuffling and dealing ghods).

Finally DUMBASS discards the second Order, holding Bribery in reserve.

Press: To the Gween Party: I'd have been quite happily sitting at 8, except that someone decided to share HIS sludge with the rest of us in one of those delightful midnight Black Ops. I think it will happen again this turn, and then three of us will become Evil Polluters. The world will love us!

GM to DUMBASS: Discarding an order is harsh dude. But, so is the play of your competitors. Your growth is at the left edge and your innovation is at the top. No penalty there. You would pay $10M vs. make $14M. And maybe there would be no penalty. What math blaster formula are you using! Or, in the old vernacula, I don’t want to smoke what you are!

Chemicals ‘R US Chris Hassler

Plays Growth (moves from 16 >> 17),

Plays Order (makes $17M pushing cash to $26M, reducing Raw Materials by 4 from 6 >> 2, and increasing Waste by 5 from 3 >> 8).

Auctions 4 Raw Materials. Dave jumps the bidding into turbo drive at $7M. Eric passes. Harold is again absent-minded. Dave buys the 4 Raw Materials for $7M. Chris’s money goes up from $26M >> $33M. Dave’s dips to $2M.

GRREAT Dave Partridge

CEO: Tony Tiger. Grreat buys 3 raw materials and then plays Waste Disposal (barrels of toxins from 8 >> 5).

Then, GRREAT is not, and does not submit enough conditional orders. GM interpretation is that he discards his Hiring/Firing card for Round 2.

Grrreat buys enough raw materials to make an order and therefore plays his Order card. Dave sells 4 raw materials to go from 7 >> 3. Money goes up $15M from $2M >> $17M. Waste toxins goes up three from 6 >> 9 and he joins his compadres in the yellow zone.

 

Love Canal (Industrial Waste) Turn 5 Segment 1

Set 1: Advisor, Order, Growth

Set 2: Advisor, Order, Raw Materials

Set 3: Growth, Hiring/Firing, Waste Disposal

Set 4: Hiring/Firing, Raw Materials, Waste Removal

Set 5: Growth, Bribery, Waste Removal

Mars, Mars, Mars. Look tonight about 2:51 AM in the Southwest sky. The War Planet shall not be this close again until 2287 or some such, and not this close in the past 65,000+ years something. I think the omens are for a good ConQuest gaming convention this weekend.

Tables don’t seem to work in word >> internet >> word. I need suggestions. I have started to list the card sets rather than be fancy. I will be working on the score table. First option is to put it as a separate attachment as an excel spreadsheet. Do you think that would help y’all receive it clearly? Is it that the table is too wide and so it should be two tables?

DUMBASS Harold Reynolds

"Uggh. I hate having to turn down set 1, but given the circumstances I think I'd better grab #3. Those blasted Waste Removals are killing me. Well, killing my local environment."

DUMBASS picks first, but takes his second choice, figure that out:

Set 3: Growth, Hiring/Firing, Waste Disposal.

Press: DUMBASS Corp is pleased to announce the creation of a new product,"Brighto", guaranteed to clean anything. Our top salesmen this month are Curly Howard, Larry Fine and Moe Howard, who all win the coveted prize of not having to sell it any more. Coincidentally, our stocks of hazardous waste have been substantially reduced this quarter. Only coincidentally, of course.

GM to Canal Lovers: Did the Stooges have last names? That’s what I asked myself and will be the pop quiz of the day for those poor souls at work.

Answers: No one at work knew nothing. Sort of Sgt. Schultzish. Two people thought two of them were brothers and one that there were two curlies. From the official fan site URL, "The Three Stooges were more than three noses in search of pliers. They were serious, madcap, Oscar-nominated craftsmen. And, to be exact, they were six noses: Moe’s, Curly’s and Shemp Howard’s, Larry Fine’s and, later, Joe Besser’s and Curly Joe DeRita’s." Hats off to not so dumb but still an ass Reynolds.

Chemicals ‘R US Chris Hassler

I'll take set 3, or failing that, set 4.Set 4: Hiring/Firing, Raw Materials, Waste Removal

GRREAT Dave Partridge

I'll go for sets 3, 5, 4 in that order. Set 5: Growth, Bribery, Waste Removal

DeOxyRoxy Eric Brosius

Seems happy to take Set #2. He knew his choices were down to 2 and 1.

Set 2: Advisor, Order, Raw Materials

GM Press: Hmmm, Harold really wanted set #1 and settled for Set #3 then no one took what Harold thought was the actual best set. Without doubt, in later rounds of a more stable game, Set #1 is of greater value than any other set this round. I think tis grand how I.W. twists one’s choices based upon the specific circumstances.

Turn 5.2

I have played very few games and seen very few. This one is the strangest yet. Everyone is in pollution control and making moves that are, well at best, counter-intuitive. Very interesting and why my fascination with this game continues.

My son was born on Labor Day, September 1, 1986. I separated from his Mother when he was 4. Usually I had him the first half of the summer. Long story, but I cannot remember being with him on his birthday when it was again on Labor Day. Not so this year. I will brave the highest gasoline prices in the nation and the highest national average gasoline prices ever to go visit him Monday, see a friend’s month-old, see Susan Tedeschi play in Golden Gate Park and hang-out with my true love from the first few years of my divorce.

The summer is over (yup, daughter started her final semester of undergrad and sonny boy has started his first semester of JuCo courses) however, the heat is going back up this week to over 100. Mixed messages. I didn’t see much of Mars. Does anyone have an amazing story about Mars or seeing it? Anyone see the "man in the mars?"

DUMBASS Harold Reynolds

Play Waste Disposal – Waste moves from 10 to 7.

Discard Bribery.

Discard Hiring/Firing.

Hold Growth.

GM Press: Harold’s choices in what he discarded and what he saved made me think quite a bit. I came up with two situations when not playing Growth, holding it, and discarding something else (of value) is a reasonable/good tactic. Harold is in one situation. Anyone come up with another?

Harold pays $5M in upkeep costs.

Chemicals ‘R US Chris Hassler

First play Waste Removal. Waste R Us goes from 9 >>8. Others rise to 8, 10 and 8.

Raw Materials R US auctions of a set of 4 (four) Raw Materials. Tony tones in to the tune of $6M. DeOxy reverts to the even bidding sequence and raises Tony, pushing the bid for the raw materials to $8M. Harold passes. Calculators R US flips on his braniac, his fingers fly across the key board, smoke and gasses belch out the emittor sensor pad, and Chris nods his head. Give US ‘R money he says to DeOxy. Money ‘R US reserves go from a golden 33 >> 41. DeMoneyHoney drops his cash drawers from $18M >> $10M.

Finally, Chemicals ‘R US Holds the Hiring/Firing card for next turn.

Chris pays $4M in upkeep costs.

GRREAT Dave Partridge

Plays Waste Removal. Grreat’s waste to dispose decreases from 10 >> 9. Everyone else goes up one >> 9, 9 and 9.

Tony flips out the Growth card next. Growth tracks one more right from 15 >> 16.

Bribery is held.

David pays $4M in upkeep costs.

DeOxyRoxy Eric Brosius

Eric auctions off a double load of Raw Materials (3*2=6), using his Advisor

card. Harold bids $4M. Chris jumps the bidding to $6M. Dave follows the even bidding sequence and jumps the value to $8M. Eric, looks over his waste barrels, his waste fields, the imminent accident card, his mutant ninja deOxys and buys the lot of 6 raw materials for $9M. Cash on hand goes from $27M >> $18M.

Second, DeOxyRoxily throws away one of his two Order cards [and sobs].

Eric holds an order card.

Eric pays $5M in upkeep costs.

CARDS HELD

Harold – Growth

Chris – Hiring/Firing

Dave - Bribery

Eric – Order

CARDS DEALT

The 3rd card dealt was the accident. The accident affects everyone the same. Each player pays $5 million to the bank and moves their factory one space to the left (loses one growth point) if they are not already at the left edge (as in the not so DUMBASS).

Set 1: Order, Growth, Hire/Fire

Set 2: Waste Disposal, Growth, Innovation

Set 3: Order, Raw Materials, Innovation

Set 4: Waste Removal, Advisor, Innovation

Set 5: Waste Disposal, Raw Materials, Innovation

CARDS DISCARDED DURING DEALING

Order

DISCARD PILE

Advisor, Order, Growth

 

 

 

 

 

I am changing ISPs again. My new provider is Surewest. My email address there is rweiss of surewest.net. I have no idea if I can make it send out emails with the return address of diplomat of higherquality. Since I own the domain "higher quality" that is always the best idea for emailing me. Sometime in the next 12 days, Comcast will be defunct.

The CA recall and 2 initiative elections - what a soap opera of continuing epic proportions.

Some really great sets this time. Each value but the value varies based upon your situation. Three companies get out of the yellow zone as well. And, for added spice, there are two sets of raw materials likely to go for auction and three companies that appear desperate for them.

Chemicals ‘R US >> Grrreat>> DeOxyRoxy >> DUMBASS

  DUMBASS Harold Reynolds

Set 3: Order, Raw Materials, Innovation – Plus held Growth card

 

Chemicals ‘R US Chris Hassler

Set 4: Waste Removal, Advisor, Innovation – Plus held firing/hiring card

  

GRREAT Dave Partridge CEO: Tony Tiger

Selects Set 5: Waste Disposal, Raw Materials, Innovation

David played his bribery card when the accident struck. He paid $1 million to avoid the consequences.

 

DeOxyRoxy Eric Brosius

Set 2: Waste Disposal, Growth, Innovation – Plus his held Order card.

 

The 3rd card dealt was the accident. Each player pays $5 million to the bank and moves their factory one space to the left (loses one growth point) if they are not already at the left edge (as in the not so DUMBASS). However, as expected, David is GRREAT and plays his bribery card, pays $1 million and suffers no other losses.

Set 1: Order, Growth, Hire/Fire

Set 2: Waste Disposal, Growth, Innovation

Set 3: Order, Raw Materials, Innovation

Set 4: Waste Removal, Advisor, Innovation

Set 5: Waste Disposal, Raw Materials, Innovation

 

DISCARD PILE

Advisor, Order, Growth

The CA election has come and gone. We have our 2nd Hollywood action figure as governor. This one cannot become President, so the fun will be limited to CA. The chaotic democratic process was actually fun. Having a very short time period for campaigning was a huge plus and I think should be mandated for all campaigns.

I have an inside connection to the health care advisers for Arnold and submitted my CV for consideration to political appointment. However, a government contract that my main client bid on back in June has finally been awarded – and we won. I get to be the Program Director for it, get a full-time job for the first time since 1998, and to complete the victory trilogy, I get to move to Phoenix. Suns are good news, Coyotes probably good as I should be able to get seats, and the Cardinals are the worst team in all of football. I can also host people for spring training now. Some good – meanwhile the high temperature for the day yesterday was 103F. I will probably have to semi-commute to Sacramento for some period, maybe for years. I have given up all pretense of being appointed to high government office.

Life will be very busy for a while but not too busy for continuing this game. Hopefully none of you get too busy either.

My Toyota Camry, 1992, has 148,000 miles, an oil leak that persisted despite repair 30,000 miles ago, and is definitely "mottled" in paint job at best. I think I will buy a new car for Phoenix and keep this near-clunker here. I told one of my brothers I was considering a Dodge Van, another Camry, a Celica GTX, or a hybrid Honda 2-seater for the 68 mpg. He told me I must not have a clear idea as to what I want yet – then asked how come I had decided against a truck!

My favorite holiday is Halloween. Any of you going to get in custom? Kids in customs? In SF most people who go to work in the service industry dress up all day. Fun.

 

Play Order for Turn 6.2

Chemicals ‘R US >> Grrreat>> DeOxyRoxy >> DUMBASS

 

DUMBASS Harold Reynolds

Cards: Order, Raw Materials, Innovation – Plus held Growth card

1. Auctions off a fine looking set of five Raw Materials. Chris bids $10M. David looks at Tony, who wiggles his nose, and Dave passes. Eric counts his money, looks at the bank, reads the rules on borrowing and victory points, then passes. Harold smiles and as he hands the raw materials over to Chris hears himself say, "I bid $11M" and pulls his hand with the raw materials back. Some consternation occurs on the board, but the smiling loan shark swims on over and gives Harold two fins.

2. Plays Innovation and keeps counting his cash. One, two, three, four million and … borrows $10M from the bank to innovate. Harold improves his waste production, keeping himself out of the red zone when he processes his order.

3. Play Order to add more cash (+$14M takes cash on hand up to $23M) to the exchequer and waste to the storage sites (up from 10 >> 13). Pays $5M in labor costs.

GreenPeace has nuked a gay baby whale for Christ (a twist on my favorite bumper sticker of all time) and Harold is left as the conscience of the world and pays $5M dollars (what, no loan) and as his factory is already to the far left of the growth track there is no loss there.

 

Chemicals ‘R US Chris Hassler

Cards: Waste Removal, Advisor, Innovation – Plus held firing/hiring card

First, play Innovation with the Advisor – paying $10M.  Reduces Waste Reduction and Rationalization.  Second, plays Waste Removal. His waste goes to 8 and everyone else goes up to 10. Third, play Hiring/Firing to reduce my workforce by 100 down to 300. Pays $3M in labor costs.

No effect from the accident.

 

GRREAT Dave Partridge

CEO: Tony Tiger.

Cards: Waste Disposal, Raw Materials, Innovation

Play: 1) Auctions off four Raw Materials. Eric passes. Harold bids $5M (not having to borrow). Chris smiles and bids $6M. Dave smiles more obviously, and buys the materials for $7M – money to the bank. 2) Plays Waste Disposal – moving waste from 10 to 7. then 3) Holds the Innovation. Pays $4M in labor costs.

No effect from the accident.

 

DeOxyRoxy Eric Brosius

Cards: Waste Disposal, Growth, Innovation – Plus his held Order card.

First borrows $10M and then Innovates to reduce his Waste production – paying $5M.

Second, plays Growth card – moving up the track to 15.

Third, play Waste Disposal – moving from 10 to 7.

Holds the Order card. Pays $5M in labor costs.

No effect from the accident.

 

CARDS HELD

Harold – Growth

Chris – Nothing

Dave - Innovation

Eric – Order

 

CARDS DEALT for Turn 7 (Selection Order is Dave, Eric, Harold, Chris)

The accident card was dealt as the 9th card. Effects are included in the Scoring table. All cards will be reshuffled after this turn again. Harold is in the YELLOW zone.

Set 1: Waste Removal, Waste Disposal, Raw Materials

Set 2: Order, Innovation, Hiring/firing

Set 3: Order, Innovation, Hiring/Firing

Set 4: Waste Disposal, Order, Growth

Set 5: Waste Disposal, Growth, Advisor

 

Industrial Waste

Love Canal

Turn

6.2/7.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raw

 

 

 

Play

 

 

Material

 

 

Player

Order

Money

Loans

Supply

Growth

Workers

Harold

4

$13

$20

5

14

5

Chris

1

$18

$0

2

16

3

Dave

2

$0

$10

7

16

4

Eric

3

$0

$10

12

15

5

 

 

Players

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rational

Raw

Waste

Waste To

Victory

 

 

ization

Materials

Reductn

Dispose

Points

 

Harold

5

5

2

12

6

 

Chris

3

4

4

8

37

 

Dave

4

4

3

7

16

 

Eric

5

3

5

7

23