I make no apologies about this issue. It is wildly incomplete.
A great many issues all combined together to make that so.
I want to offer a BIG, BIG apology in particular to
Robert Stimmel and Stan Johnson as well as the rest of the
Colonia players, as they have been hit by the ``missing stuff''
in this issue the hardest.
Well, on to what's here, I think there is a lot to read even if
I held an inordinate amount of material to next time.
A number of games have been delayed because of various
spillover problems from resignations.... ah, summer in Dipdom!
But I am not deterred and will not fall into Gozian levels of
bile and depression!! ;-)
THE NEXT TINAMOU DEADLINE WILL BE AUGUST 16TH, 1999
Dear DP Council members: The Pouch is moving. And yet, it is staying in the same place. Everything is on the same machine, but you might not be able to get at it using its old address.
Anywhere you had used ``igo.org" (your browser, your telnet and ftp clients, everything you used to get at The Pouch) must now be ``diplom.org".
David Kovar reports both domains will work for about a month (however, at my site just now, I presently can't get EITHER one to work in my browser, though I can telnet into diplom.org).
I have started a script that will update all the Webpages at The Pouch so that all ``igo.org"'s turn into ``diplom.org"'s.
Simon has ``volunteered" to try and get the search engines updated.
You all are asked to help get the word out.
((I can't give it much less ``play'' than putting it at the TOP of the szine! This affects where you have been accessing the web version of the szine! See more below.))
The postal sub price is a flat
$1.00 per issue in the US and Canada,
a bargain at twice the price.... but
you can double that for other foreign subbers (or $2.00 per
issue sent airmail).
Players in current games and standbys will
continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts
(except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost
$20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the
game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance).
Note the price increases for games, with the rates for subbing to the
szine holding fixed for the moment.
After the current series of games, I probably won't
start another until the Modern game ends.
The new game at that point probably will be another Modern game
with the ``Wing'' rule.
Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at:
http://devel.igo.org/DipPouch changing to: /
Through Stephen Agar's (who for the time being is still in charge here, though he's folded his szine) Postal portion of the Pouch:
/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html
the szine resides in html format. Presently, issues from #190 to the current issue are there, and I will be updating the back issues gradually in the near future. Also, check out Stephen's new ``all electronic'' format for Spring Offensive at:
http://www.spoff.demon.co.uk
The most recent issue also can be accessed through David Wang's and Pete Sullivan's web pages:
1) David has grabbed and reserved the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! His ``version'' of this szine is somewhat more html.friendly than the one I created, so please check it out. David Wang's site also allows you to follow John Caruso's postal baseball league that I am in. A new surge from my Boston Red Sox is putting them in contention for a playoff spot, much as the real Sox are doing now as they prepare for a West Coast Trip....
2) For the most recent issue of Pete Sullivan's subszine check out:
http://www.manorcon.demon.co.uk/octopus/index.html
Pete is looking for Railway Rivals standbys, but otherwise, he is full with games at the moment. Note that two issues appear here to balance the fact that neither Dead Poets Society nor Tinamou do this time.
By electronic mail, through the Internet, subs are free and can be obtained automatically by sending the message: subscribe tap
to majordomo of diplom.org and messages can be sent to the entire electronic mailing list by mailing them to tap of diplom.org which will forward your message to all of the people currently on the list. The message:
unsubscribe tap
sent to majordomo of diplom.org gets you off the list. Please make careful note of that as well since you generally can get yourself off the list a lot easier than I can, and NOBODY likes to see unsubscribe messages sent to the entire list. A big, big thank you for David Kovar for setting this all up!!
I have hints that some people know where Alan Stewart is. How about if they get their acts together and convince Mr. Stewart to write a note! It's worth 50 bucks.... while some are claiming they would rather see Alan stay unfound, I'd like to catch up with him. So there!
This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new ``search for'' every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Kevin Tighe or Garret Schenck or Jerry Lucas or Al Pearson is ``found'' from now on it is worth $25. Plus, Steve Emmert will throw in another ten spot for Garret Schenck if you can get Garret to write to him. Go for these guys again. Perhaps some of them now can be located via the Internet where they weren't when you looked before - more and more people are active every day!!
Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.
This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who ``found'' him.
The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK (johnh of fiendishgames.demon.co.uk or JHarrington of DatastreamICV.com). Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse.
Obscure and not-so-obscure ramblings on the state of the hobby and its publications, custodians, events, and individuals with no guarantee of relevance from the fertile keyboard of Jim-Bob, the E-Mail Dip world, and the rest of the postal hobby. My comments are in italics and ((double quotation marks)) like this. Bold face is used to set off each individual speaker. I should also make a note that I do edit for syntax and spelling on occasion.
A VERY light discussion is taking place that will address what stance we (the hobby) should take (proactive in some way for sure) toward Hasbro, the new owners of the rights to Diplomacy. More on this will be forthcoming, but it looks like Hasbro might have its version of Diplomacy on the market for the Christmas season and they actually will be employing ``play-testers''. No word on precisely what this means yet, could it mean that they will offer a series of ``official'' variants? Stay tuned.... If you want to be part of the discussion, send the MESSAGE:
subscribe hasbro
to majordomo of igo.org, it works just like the tap mailing list described below. Sending messages to hasbro of devel.igo.org sends the mail to the whole list. The big news this time is the beginning of the breakout of Hasbro into official contact with the hobby. See the two messages below.
The game Diplomacy is a copyrighted product owned by Hasbro and all reproductions or other use of that material in this szine is intended to be personal use and not infringe on those rights in any way. All reproductions are done at a heavy financial loss to the editor and thus are without the remotest possibility of commercial intent, except to promote THE game, the Game of Diplomacy, which you all should purchase from Hasbro or other duly licensed distributors.
Everyone is invited to meet yours truly in a special appearance
(free!!) at the next Diplomatic Incident.
Here's the short version of the announcement, I'll print the full
one just before the convention that includes all of the location
and transportation information.
Where: Weston Hotel, Boston MA
When: October 2,3 11:00 AM
Who to contact: Dave Partridge, rebhuhn of rocketmail.com, 603-882-3523;
Jack Sinnott, jack_sinnott of hboc.com, 617-424-9073.
We'll be in the Lobby/Meeting/Bar area of the Westin Hotel. Don't bother calling them as this is strictly informal - we're regulars. You'll see the boards out by the big windows overlooking Dartmouth St and HealthWorks Fitness Club. Food & beverage is available at reasonable (for Boston) prices - plan on about $10-15 each for a late lunch/dinner plus soda/chips, more with beer/wine. Coolers are *not* welcome.
Stephen Agar (Tue, 27 Jul 1999 23:00:27)
Tim Miller (btamil of excite.com) apparently said... I have a couple of quick hobby history questions for a project I am doing that maybe a few of the old-timers can help with. (1) What was the name of John Boardman's first PBM 'zine?
Agar: Graustark - first issue 12th May 1963. Still going. ((Latest issue is number 696, I'm not even a third of the way to his total!!))
More from Tim Miller: 2) When were boardman and miller numbers first issued (sidenote - anyone notice that judge games are never issued boardman numbers any more? The last ones were issued in late '97 / early '98).
More from Agar: In Oct 1965 Boardman numbered his first game 1965A (a win for Derek Nelson) ((A Canadian, as Cal White so carefully notes....))
Miller Nos. were first introduced by Don Miller in 1965 as well (in hi zine Dipsomania) (though the system was redesigned in 1981). There have been 13 MNCs in the US. They fell into disuse in the UK at the beginning of the 90's. I doubt they ever had any practical use anyway!
As far as PBM goes I can probably answer most questions you may have (I have over 20,000 Dip zines at last count...) My wife thinks I'm mad.
I have several articles on the history of the PBM hobby if you need some source material. A general history of the Dip hobby in the US will be available in the next issue of Spring Offensive Online (Email me for details). Next issue after that I'll do UK and Europe.
I can't comment on JUDGE games and BNs. Since the mid-70's BNs were issued geographically (i.e. a US BNC, a UK BNC, a European BNC, an Austalian BNX etc.) but Judge games don't fit into this model very well. A shame the data isn't available as I would love to compare statistical data from PBM in the UK, compared to PBM in the US compared to Judge games.
((Thanks, Stephen, I love this variant you designed, though I don't want to run it..... here it is for general interest:))
0. All usual rules of Diplomacy apply except when they don't.
1. This game is limited to 8 game years (16 seasons).
2. Each Power has 20 Spell Cards in their deck as follows:
1 x Double Trouble. This card may be played against any unit on the board and makes that particular unit into a 2F or 2A for the rest of the game. Any attack on a double unit cuts all support given by it and support by a double unit may not be split.
1 x Walk on Water. This card may be played on a particular Army and thenceforth confers on it the ability to move on Sea areas (but not convoy) as well as on land.
1 x Sail on Land. This card may be played on a particular Fleet and thenceforth confers on it the ability to move on land as well as sea.
1 x Utter Destruction. This card is played against a supply centre and makes the space a non-supply centre for the rest of the game (subject to a Garden of Eden Card).
1 x Protective Amulet. This card protects all of a Power's units and SC's from all adverse Power Cards for the next two seasons (i.e. Utter Destruction, Sudden Death, Turn to Stone, Remove Magic), apart from Black Hole Cards.
1 x Garden of Eden. This card is played against a non-sc land space and thenceforth makes it into a SC initially controlled by the player playing the card. If the non-sc space is in the player's original home country then it becomes a Home SC.
2 x Sudden Death. These are played against a particular unit, resulting in that unit being removed from play immediately.
2 x Turn to Stone. These are played against a particular unit, which must stand without giving support for the next two seasons, though it may receive support.
2 x Black Hole. These cards are played against a particular space and any unit which end that season in that space is removed from play and immediately reappears at some other randomly determined location on the board at least four spaces distant from the space it started from. Fleets do not reappear inland nor do armies reappear at sea.
2 x Teleport. These are played against a particular unit and enable that unit to move to any space on the board that is identified, provided it is vacant after movement and combat are resolved that season. While waiting for combat to be resolved, the unit concerned must stand. Teleport moves occur after normal movement and may not be supported. A unit may successfully Teleport even if it was dislodged that move, provided it did not disband.
2 x Faster then Light. These are played against a particular unit and permit that unit to make up to two moves to adjacent empty spaces prior to the resolution of that's season's orders.
4 x Mystical Shield. These card may be played on a particular unit any will cancel out the effect of any Power Card (favourable or not) on that unit for that move only. Sometimes this may result in a unit being out of its natural element (e.g. F(Bur)) in which case the unit may not move or support, but does not have to disband and may be supported.
3. Players can cast one or two (but no more) Spell Cards prior to the orders being adjudicated. Orders may not be conditional on the Spell Cards played by other players.
4. The winner is (a) the first Power to control an absolute majority of active SC's on the board at any time or (b) the Power who at the end of the game has the most units on the board by a margin of at least 3 units over any other Power (e.g. 10 units to 7 units). Failing either of these criteria being satisfied, the winner is the Power with the most Spell Card Points left both (x1 cards being worth 4 points, x2 cards being worth 2 points, x4 cards being worth 1 point). If after that there's still a tie then you have to share the glory.
5. This game is not to be taken seriously by any of the players under any circumstances and the writing of silly press is encouraged. However, the game isn't quite as silly as it first appears and may even be quite entertaining at a tactical level. It's a variation on Vain Rats I suppose, though there is a real incentive not to play Power Cards at all, but retain them in anticipation of no outright winner emerging. The GM will have to cope with any difficulties that may arise from the effects of multiple Spell Cards played on the same space/unit.
David Partridge (Tue, 27 Jul 1999 14:05:22 GMT)
From out of the past (it took a while to read it all in TAP, then remember how to get out here and then do a post).
Perhaps the way to tie the various aspects of the hobbies together is to share the awards process but not the awards. Why not have an award for best email play and another for best postal play. Best service to the hobby, email/postal/combined. Best articles, on the web, postally, anywhere. If we share the awards, most of the postal players may only vote in the postal awards and most of the email players may only vote in the email awards but this way everyone will see the other awards and it may generate some cross interest. If it is advertised by email and postally and has a web presence it can become something to tie the various parts of the hobby together. (And yes, add in International awards, or whatever divisions seem reasonable.)
Scott Morris (Thu, 29 Jul 1999 17:52:45 EDT)
Just Jim!!
I have been following the discussion in TAP with interest. I think a lot of your readers don't understand how many of us came into the hobby. Twenty-five years ago, you had two choices FTF and Postal. The third choice, email, now dominates Diplomacy play.
I came into postal play AFTER playing Email for over a year. I had no clue such a thing as zines existed! I was shifting through the AOL Diplomacy club listings (a great club by the way, very organized with several hundred Diplomacy players) and saw a listing for Diplomacy World. Doug Kent was still going pretty strong then and I subscribed. From there I found out about the Zine Register and subscribed to many other zines.
One of my favorites was Crossing the Rubicon by Jamie McQuinn. I attended a few of Jamie's house cons and really enjoyed the people. Once He folded I started my own Zine. The Flat Earth Society.
So, for me, all this talk about the hobby shrinking and dying has always been strange since it is HUGE on email and the zines have a natural resource in email to recruit the particular segment of Dip players who enjoy HOLDING results in their hands. I get 2 or 3 new subscribers a month from my Email connections for my zine. Since I also organize and run the AOL Diplomacy email tournament and Club bulletin I have no problem finding new blood.
Lets face it, with computers email is where the game will stay. A few of us enjoy the pace and higher degree of press writing in postal but that will ALWAYS be a much smaller audience than email. It's just the way it has evolved. As I have said before they still make horses even though everyone goes to work in a car now. :) I think the postal hobby has to position itself as the thinking man's alternative for those with a taste for finer things. I play postally and by email and enjoy them both.
As for as the hobby awards go, I don't see the point of voting for any of those awards except for the service award. Yourself and Michael Lowrey are two people who I know of that deserve such an honor. If you really want to have a best player award you have to do it the old fashioned way. You have to EARN IT and have a FTF tournament or enter one of the many email tournaments. If you want to have a best dip article you have to publish all the articles with the ballot so we can vote knowledgeably.
On AOL we just finished our 112 player email tournament and are about to start another one. I am hopeful that we get even more players this next time. The winner of that tournament can say he is the best player. That is why you don't hear all the belly aching after the NCAA basketball tournament that you hear after the AP poll VOTES for the best college football team.
But lets not open THAT can of worms discussion!! :)
Roland Sasseville, Jr. (Wed, 28 Jul 1999 00:30:43)
Hi, Several thoughts I would like to share... I consider myself a fairly experienced Dip player. i have maintained a game or three for about 17 years now. I played briefly in Cheesecake as well as in Richard Weiss' Zero Sum and Bruce Reiff's Diplomacy Downs. I have even managed a couple of shared wins over the years. ((No such thing as a shared win, Roland, there are draws and there wins and never the twain shall meet....)) I have played at the local ftf in Boston, and really enjoy meeting everyone and playing live. Until the Daves started the Incident I had not had a FTF game since college. When I first had computer access and AOL I found a Diplomacy chat room. I never see this area of the hobby discussed. People would gather and some people would run real time games over AOL over the course of several weeks. A night is set and everyone in a game or their backup goes to a private chat room. The instant messanger feature is used for private negotiations. I played several games this way and found it a very lively area of the DIP hobby. I stopped playing when I no longer had AOL and thus access to the DIP games. I have not found another place offering this.
My other point is that as someone who has been around some (though on a low key enjoyable slower paced level than many others) many of the awards especially for players are irrelevant to me. I am able to look at Zines and compare and judge, but every time I have voted I have simply done so to support my local GM and Zine. I guess this is ``all good" and I do not have a problem with awards. It would probably be a better indicator if more awards were given simply based on how many people send in certain names. If a player is in ten games and fifteen people send in the name as an excellent player then an award should be given. The nomination system does not work for me. I will not vote unless I know the person, but I am sure some people send a ballot voting for people they do not know.
Computer commentary... For some reason I have yet to play the Judges? I am happy with postal and ftf. I hope to go to a national con eventually. I look forward to the computer DIP effort from Hasbro. The Risk computer game plays well as a multi player game. It has pathetic AI. In particular the computer randomly places its capital so that on many occasions it is overrun and eliminated in a turn. If the AI for DIP computer is not far better than for Risk, and I doubt that because Risk is an far easier less strategic game, than DIP for comp may simply be a simple way to track and save positions for my postal games. I would like to be able to bring up several turns of maps and move around the pieces without setting up my real boards. The Hasbro Axis Allies translation for some reason in my opinion was horrible. Give me the board and little plastic pieces any day over this computer effort. Hopefully DIP is better.
There is still time to send in your ``best of 1998'' lists. Give it to me anyway you want to - a top 10, a couple of favorites, a list, an essay, whatever - the classic is to tell me your top singles, top albums, and best concerts of the year, but you are the boss. Don't wait too long though because I want to move into the party tape issues pretty quickly. I'm going to have to delay Part III of the lists plus some other music material for this issue. Apologies to those whose letters are slow to come into print.
This section is developing a list of the great party singles of the century. You'll get a definite sense of quirky before we're done. You'll also get a sense of timelessness. I'll assume that I'll also get some comments from some of you. I'm going to set a slate of only 10 - that's just ONE more from what is below and then DEMAND votes from you out there to fill the rest of the slots. The Bullpen voting system I am envisioning will work like this: you each get ten votes which you can allocate across as few as two songs (5 votes apiece) or as many as ten songs (1 vote for each). You can allocate your ten votes any way you want, but you can't put any more than five votes on any one song. You also get ONE B-52 song vote (although you can add votes from your main allotment if desired) and THREE Drug Song votes which will be held in a separate category. The other ``special'' bullpens must be voted on from your main allotment of votes. I decided that I WILL print running totals and print the names of the people who have voted. Also, you guys wrote some great stuff about the songs, so I've printed that too! Write-ins will be permitted, but are unlikely to win. I know I have lost some suggestions that aren't in the bullpen lists below, so feel free to mention 'em again! Everything that started in the bullpen started with one vote.
To encourage voting early, five voters at random will receive five US dollars from me (either in cash or paid to someone for Dip stuff). I will take these voters at random every other issue, starting with this issue, and draw one randomly, so early voters get FIVE chances to win, but no one will be allowed to win twice. I'm also giving the round one voters below five chances in said drawing, those in the second round four, and so on, to more heavily penalize the chances of those last minute voters and reward these pioneers! That should do it!! The last prize will be awarded in issue 225 and in #226 I will announce the final list of songs. Get your Round 4 votes in now if you don't see your name below!!! You each will receive two chances in the drawing for the next five dollar prize. Voters in Round 1 were Mike Barno($5), Rick Desper ($5), Tony Dickinson, Drew James, Heath Gardner, and John Harrington. Round 2 postal voters are John Schultz ($5) Ian Moore, and Stan Johnson. In future drawings these people will have five chances, just as the Round 1 voters. Round 2 E-Mail voters get four chances and are Scott Morris, Warren Goesle, Peter Sullivan, and Michael Lowrey. Round 3 voters are Dick Martin, Richard Weiss, and Rip Gooch; they get three chances to win. Round 4 voters are Roland Sasseville, Jr., Don Williams and Andy York; they get two chances. Next issue we'll do the Round 4 drawing.
We'll end up with a monster party tape at the end of it that I plan to segue and sequence and copy for distribution. The result will be a great New Millenium party tape. I've also been thinking that I should put this out on CD as truly emblematic of the new millenium. I don't have the capability to do that quite yet, but I think I might by then. Any suggestions (or especially volunteers) on this front will be cheerfully accepted and could receive monetary payments!
So far, we have ``I Melt With You'' by Modern English; George Gershwin's ``I got Plenty O' Nuttin' '' from Porgy and Bess in the 1957 concert recording with Ella Fitzgerald finishing off the vocals after Louis Armstrong blows and sings through the tune; Duke Ellington performing Billy Strayhorn's ``Take the A Train''; Frank Sinatra's ``New York, New York''; something from the B-52's; the original Van Morrison and Them version of ``Gloria''; The (English) Beat's 12 inch version of ``Save It for Later'' ratchets things up to the next level (wherever you put it!); Buster Poindexter's ``Hot, Hot, Hot'' keeps you there; ``Atomic Dog'' by George Clinton blows the doors off, and Koko Taylor cleans up singing Willie Dixon's ``Wang Dang Doodle''.
EXTRA SPECIAL B-52'S BULLPEN: (6) ``Love Shack''. (5) ``Rock Lobster". (3) ``Planet Claire''. (2)``Give Me Back My Man"; NONE; ``Private Idaho''. (1) ``Dance This Mess Around"; ``Deadbeat Club''; ``52 Girls''.
BULLPEN: (9) Nirvana - ``Smells Like Teen Spirit". (8) ``Mannish Boy" - Muddy Waters; ``Proud Mary'' - Ike and Tina Turner. (7) ``Cumberland Blues'' - the Grateful Dead; ``Twist & Shout" - Beatles. (6) ``Twistin the Night Away" - Sam Cooke; ``Shake, Rattle, & Roll" - Big Joe Turner; ``Magic Carpet Ride" - Steppenwolf; ``Crossroads'' - Eric Clapton; ``Play That Funky Music'' - Wild Cherry; ``Radar Love'' - Golden Earring; ``In Between Days'' - The Cure; Devo - ``Whip It". (4) Lou Reed - ``Sweet Jane''; ``Jambalaya" - Hank Williams; Public Enemy - ``Bring Tha Noize"; ``I Feel Good" - James Brown; ``Brick House" - The Commodores; ``I Wanna Be Sedated" - Ramones; Peter Frampton - ``Do you feel like we do". (3) ``Dancing With Myself'' - Billy Idol's Gen X; ``Tweedle Dee'' by Lavern Baker; B Movie - ``Nowhere Girl"; ``Add It Up'' - Violent Femmes; ``Party Train'' - Gap Band; ``Locomotion" - Little Eva; Ini Kamoze - ``Here Comes the Hotstepper"; Squeeze - ``If I Didn't Love You"; ``party at ground zero'' by fishbone; ``Rocking the Casbah'' - The Clash; ``The Butterfly Collector" - The Jam; ``Roadrunner'' - Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers; Bangles - ``Hazy Shade of Winter"; Hot Chocolate -``You Sexy Thing"; Go-Go's - ``Our Lips are Sealed"; ``In the Mood" - Glenn Miller; ``Louie, Louie'' - The Kingsmen. (2) ``Fire on the Mountain'' - the Grateful Dead; Violent Femmes - ``Blister in the Sun"; ``Want Ad Blues" - John Lee Hooker; ``Suffragette City'' - David Bowie; Green Day - ``Basket Case''; Susan Tedeschi - ``It Hurt So Bad''; ``Debaser'' - The Pixies; ``What I Like About You" - Romantics; ``Train In Vain'' - The Clash; ``Revolution" - the Beatles; Little Richard - ``Rock Island Line''; ``Magic Mountain" - the Animals; ``Pass the Dutchie" - Peter Tosh; ``What Time is Love'' - KLF; ``One Love" - Bob Marley; Doors - ``Roadhouse Blues"; Strunz and Farrah - ``Americas''; ``Ebeneezer Goode'' - The Shamen; ``Lithium'' - Nirvana. (1) ``Walk This Way'' - Run-DMC; ``How Soon Is Now?'' - The Smiths; ``Last of the Famous International Playboys'' - Morrissey; ``Brass in Pocket'' - The Pretenders; ``Machine Gun'' - The Commodores; ``Roadrunner'' - the Animals; ``I'm Coming Out'' - Diana Ross; Clarence ``Gatemouth'' Brown - ``Up Jumped the Devil''; David Bowie - ``Fame''; ``Been Caught Stealing'' - Jane's Addiction; ``Hard to Handle'' - Black Crowes; ``Birth-day'' - Suzanne Vega; Led Zeppelin - ``Hey, Hey what can I do"; Three Dog Night - ``Shambala"; Concrete Blonde - ``Still in Hollywood"; ``The Pusher" - Steppenwolf; ``Give the Dog a Bone" - AC/DC; ``Chain of Fools" - Aretha Franklin; ``Ballroom Blitz'' - The Sweet; ``Hi Ho Silver Lining'' - Jeff Beck; ``And We Danced" - Hooters; ``Particle Man" - They Might Be Giants; Erasure - ``River Deep, Mountain High"; ``All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix's KISS THE SKY version of Bob Dylan's song); ``I Wanna Be a Lifeguard'' - Blotto; ``Hollywood Handsome" - Tuscadero; ``Connection" - Elsatica; ``Happiness is a Warm Gun" - The Breeders; ``Why do you Drink?" - Hank Williams, Jr.; ``Freshly" - Dillinger; ``Fool's Gold'' - Stone Roses; ``Wannabe'' - Spice Girls; ``All Right Now'' - Free.
SPECIAL GEORGE CLINTON BULLPEN: (2) ``I Just Wanna Testify''; ``Flash Light''. (1) Prince - ``Bob & George"; ``Let's Take It to the Stage'', ``The Pinocchio Theory''.
SPECIAL MILLENNIUM BULLPEN: ``1999'' - Prince; ``Disco 2000'' - Pulp. These songs are officially INELIGIBLE FOR THE TAPE!!!
SPECIAL ROLLING STONES BULLPEN: (6) ``Paint It Black''. (3) ``Sympathy for the Devil''; ``Satisfaction". (2) ``Jumpin' Jack Flash"; ``Honky Tonk Woman''; ``Emotional Rescue''; ``Brown Sugar''. (1) ``Get Off of My Cloud''; ``Gimme Shelter''; ``Street Fighting Man''; ``Bitch''; ``I met a ginsoaked bar-room queen in Memphis".
SPECIAL TALKING HEADS BULLPEN: (9) ``Take me to the River". (4) the entire Speaking in Tongues record (special call for ``Road to Nowhere''). (2) ``Life During Wartime''; ``Psycho Killer''. (1) ``The Great Curve''.
SPECIAL ALPHABET SONG BULLPEN: (6) ``YMCA" - Village People. (1) ``MTA" - Kingston Trio.
SPECIAL DRUG MUSIC BULLPEN: (8) ``Red, Red Wine'' - UB40. (6) ``Don't Bogart that Joint'' - Fraternity of Man; ``The Old Dope Peddler'' - Tom Lehrer. (5) ``Casey Jones'' - the Grateful Dead. (4) ``Cocaine'' - Eric Clapton's version. (3) The Toys - ``Smoke Two Joints''; ``White Rabbit'' - Jefferson Airplane; ``Bush Doctor'' - Peter Tosh; ``Love Is the Drug'' - Roxy Music. (2) ``Easy Skanking" - Bob Marley; ``Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll'' - Ian Dury and the Blockheads; ``The Needle and the Damage Done'' - Neil Young; Pink Floyd - ``Obscured by Clouds''; ``Hotel California'' - Eagles; ``I'm an Okie from Muskogee'' - Merle Haggard; Stranglers - ``Golden Brown''; entire Animals album - Pink Floyd; ``Panama Red'' - New Riders; Thin Lizzy - ``Whisky in the Jar''. (1) ``Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette)'' - Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen; ``Legalize It'' - Peter Tosh; ``Heroin'' - Lou Reed and Velvet Underground; ``The Drugs Don't Work" - The Verve; ``Old Red Eyes is Back" - Beautiful South; ``Hemp, for Victory'' - Ramon Renedge; ``Revolution'' - Spacemen 3; ``Halcyon'' - Orbital; ``Sinsemilla" - Black Uhuru; Hawkwind - ``LSD''; ``Hassan I Sahba''(Hashish) - Hawkwind; Sisters Of Mercy - ``Amphetamine Logic''; ``More Songs about Chocolate and Girls'' - The Undertones; ``Cars Hiss By My Window'' from LA Woman - The Doors; Levellers - ``Just the One''; New Model Army - ``Heroin''.
Roland Sasseville, Jr. (Wed, 28 Jul 1999 00:06:50)
Hi Jim, I do have a cd Burner to make a cd. The only problem is the songs would also have to be on cd for me to copy them. I have the capability to copy the cd once it is complete, and I offer you the assist. I do have on cd some of the songs in question. I have most of the rest on vinyl and a few cassette. it is a much more complex unit that records vinyl to digital, and I lack that. ((That may help, we'll see where we go, though at this point I am still leaning toward a cassette.))
Votes Am I supposed to vote now? Clarify if I should and on what. ``Emotional Rescue" belongs in Stones bullpen. Also I thought I submitted the ``Hotel California'' song as a drug song months ago. It should be considered for the cd. I interpret the song as about drug addiction not a family vacation.
Music votes.
b52 - Private Idaho
Bullpen - Wanna be sedated 1; Hazy Shade of Winter 2; Party Train 2; Emotional Rescue Stones 1; Hotel California 1; Speaking in Tongues album (Partial to Road to nowhere) 3.
Drew James (Fri, 30 Jul 1999 12:44:06)
Jim, I live in upstate New York and did not attend Woodstock, but saw a lot of press coverage and I noticed a continuing disturbing trend which I have be observing over the last 10 to 15 years. When I was in college in New York City and then shortly after graduation I saw lot of ``punk" or ``New Wave" or ``alternative" bands in concert - bands like Public Image Limited, Echo and the Bunnymen, Devo, Sugar Cubes, etc. At those concerts I often had a good time ``slam dancing" or ``doing the pogo" up in the front rows. In those days everyone had a good time and despite the body contact it was rare to see people really get hurt and the frenzy looked worse than it really was since people obeyed unwritten rules of conduct which ensured that injuries were rare. For example - you didn't throw elbows; if someone was knocked down you helped them up or at least made sure they didn't get get stepped on; you never let anyone fall who was crowd surfing; if you were crowd surfing you didn't kick people.
Over the years, my personal experience is that these rules or understandings have broken down. It seems like now there are always a bunch of jerks who goal is to hurt people and show how macho they are down in the mosh pits. I attribute this change to two things:
1. I am simply older and it bothers me more so I notice it.
2. ``Punk" and ``alternative" music is now essentially mainstream and it attracts more goons who were at the Van Halen concert when I was at PiL so I never saw them. Additional evidence of this could be the constant silly ``Show Us Your Breasts" rituals which now seem to be standard fare at all too many concerts - often encouraged by the performers.
Have you noticed this trend? Do you have an explanation? Not to say the old days were always glorious. For example, I'm glad that the ritual of constant spitting at the punk bands seems to have died away (as an aside I once saw John Leydon spend the entire concert encouraging this ritual in various ways and a year later at a different show threatening to stop the concert if anyone spit on him).
((Thanks, Drew.... my experience is about the same as yours. I recall the times when Peter Gabriel ***HIMSELF*** surfed on the crowd (with a wireless mike while still singing) back in the 80's too. The mosh pit appears to be the last refuge of the asshole male neanderthal now.... admittedly the rest of society has started to prohibit such behavior elsewhere (there is an analogy of a squeezed balloon where you prohibit behavior in some places that people want to exhibit so they move it to these situations that works), but I say that is a ``good thing" even if it leads to concentrating the undesirable behavior at concerts.))
I liked it a lot more when ``alternative" was really alternative and attracted an alternative crowd. The neanderthals were over wasting their time at the other concerts yelling ``hey, play Freebird".
Mark D. Lew (Sat, 24 Jul 1999 08:32:16 -0700)
It's hard for me to see what utility there is in using "whilst". It's just another spelling of the conjunction "while". Is it because you like the clearer distinction between the conjunction "while" and the noun "while"? ((Well, that's most of it, also I like having the hard consonant sound next to most of the words that follow the conjunction. In sum, it probably is an affected Anglophile thing though. So sue me....)) Or do you imagine that it actually has a difference in meaning? To me, this is no different from saying ämongst" instead of ämong".
I honestly couldn't tell you what's going on with Al Gore. As I think I've mentioned, I pay almost zero attention to politics these days, and since I don't read the newspapers I am typically less informed of current events than the average uneducated schlub. Not like the old Benzene days. ((Yeah, tough deal how we go through interests like that. The liberal Republicans (where I really am most of the time conceptually) are so scarce and of so little national influence in the Republican party that I find myself liking Al Gore more and more. Well, that's me anyway. You were the one who got me past stereotypes about Tipper and I ***REALLY*** like Tipper. Speaking of marketing and politics, did anyone notice that she disappeared for a few months earlier this spring and came back with a new madeover look?? Some said that she had surgery, but her persistent double chin belies that rumor.))
Speaking of which, just yesterday I happened to pull my copies down from the closet because I was trying to remember something that I knew was in one of them. I ended up reading about a dozen issues, for the first time in many years. What a weird experience that was. I was alternately struck by how smart I was back then and by how stupid I was back then. ((Yeah, I do that every once in a while (NOT whilst!!!) and have the same feeling.))
I frequently remark about how my memory has been steadily declining (For me this is old news: as a child I had a photographic memory, but it didn't last. Even when I was in high school I could honestly say ``my memory isn't what it used to be) and sometimes I jokingly refer to myself as an ``ex-genius" - but it really is true. It's an odd sensation to see what an agile and hyperactive mind I had then, all the while knowing that I can't do that anymore. It's not completely like reading something by another person, because once I see it I do vaguely remember that I wrote it, but there's still all sort of surprises. ((This is all about exercising it. I find that when I properly ``run through'' my memory and keep it exercised, I can remember names better. And I deal with so many people in so many domains that I get REALLY confused unless I work on it actively. It is strange how there are certain names that I can always remember [yours for instance] and others that I totally space on [Dick Martin's for instance, even though I never talk to Julie, I can remember Julie's name easier than Dick's and find my way to Dick that way. To reinforce this, I always send TAP to both Dick and Julie [that's why I do that, Dick!]. The way memory actually works is a very strange thing.))
The one that totally blew me away was a brief commentary on the 1990 presidential election in Peru. It started out with something about Mario Vargas Llosa in a runoff, and I'm thinking ``Yeh, I vaguely remember that ... el otro sendero, etc". Then it goes on with some comment about how ``astonished" I was that the runoff was against Fujimori as opposed to so-and-so or such-and-such. I've forgotten their names already but in the zeen I named them and briefly described them. At this point, reading, I just had to laugh out loud. ``You crazy motherfucker, it's not enough that you actually gave a damn about the election in PERU, fer chrissake, but you actually were familiar with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR of the candidates." But the craziest thing is, I really did know that kind of stuff back then. Weird.
The flip side of this is when I have to cringe at some of the outrageous stuff I would sometimes propound. I caught a couple of blatant factual errors, and it was amusing to find myself on the exact opposite side of a debate that I've recently repeated in one of the history newsgroups (cause of the US civil war). But most interesting is just the general view of the world which is more, well ... narrow? young?
It's tempting to attribute all of this to the fact that when I was 24 years old I had no life, but in many respects I have no life now - no job, no family responsibilities - so it's not like I have any good excuse for my couch potato brain. It's a shame I didn't get on Jeopardy then. There's no question I'd have had a better chance than I would now. The irony is that from the television point of view I'm a far more desirable guest now that I have interesting stories to tell.
Also interesting is the predictions. Not just political (on which I fared rather well), but personal. Somewhere in there I mentioned - and this is one thing really *don't* remember writing - that I assumed as I got older I would turn into a Republican. In fact, my drift has been just the opposite; I'm much more liberal today than I was then. ((Ditto. Though I don't see any reason why the Republicans can't be more liberal and I ***feel*** that it is them that moved and not me. This could be a parallax problem though.)) (``That's because you're not paying attention to politics any more," I can hear David Hood saying.) I'm pretty much the same on the cultural stuff, but I'm not nearly the excitable libertarian (both economically and philosophically) that I was then. First of all, I really just don't care about the nuances of the tax code which once seemed so terribly important to me. And when I do, although I still think somewhat libertarian-like, I can accept a world in which others don't. As Ed Wrobel was forever trying to patiently explain, it's OK to think of people as parts of groups, it's not necessary to have individualized everything.
- -
Getting back to TAP. It's funny to read in your zeen people, whom I remember as Dip novices, now calling themselves old farts. They are, of course, it's just that we're even older. I guess when you're a kid all adults seem to be in the same category, even if they span several generations. Sort of like I used to think John Boardman, Rod Walker, Mark Berch and Andy Lischett were all in the same ``old fart" category. And sort of like today's crop of old farts, when they were novices in the late '80s, might have lumped John Michalski, Brux Linsey and Pete Gaughan into the same category. (I believe you and I are contemporary, yes? To me, the last set represents the before, during, and after of my postal Dip youth.) ((Yeah, basically.... except I'm a little bit older than you, I think.))
One way of measuring the years is to remember what was the fresh non-Dip game on the scene. Nowadays I guess even Settlers counts as an ``old" game. ((And I just learned it this year!!)) I remember when Empire Builder first hit the dip zeens. I remember the con where Titan was trendy and new.
Who's running snowball fighting? Is that you? I can't keep all those subzenes straight. If you're gathering up an old-fart game I'll play. But only if it's non-anonymous. If it's not personal it's no fun. Get Dick and Brad and Mykey out there. ((David Partridge is running it, but I think it is anonymous, unfortunately. I'm TOTALLY with you. Let the personalities fly!!!))
- -
A few days ago I encountered Chris Carrier's name on the Web. It was in a list of acknowledgments for a nice big FAQ about calendars. (Julian vs Gregorian, how to figure Easter, Feb 30 1722, etc.) I'm sure it was the Chris Carrier that we knew and ... well, that we knew. One of his many eccentricities was a fascination with obscure calendars. (He's the one who taught me about the French revolutionary calendar.) The FAQ guy acknowledged a debt to Chris with regard to information about the Maya calendar. That sounds like Chris.
Somewhere around here I have a letter that I wrote for Brad Wilson's zeen, shortly after we heard that Chris had passed away. I never got around to mailing it (darn that Brad for not having email!). Every few months it resurfaces in my pile of papers to deal with, but I never get around to mailing it. It's a bit late now....
That reminds me (reminds me because I met the two of them at the same time), did you ever do a search on Steve Hutton? I wonder what he's up to.
((Nah, but I might do a search on him later. I found my copy of Jim Meinel's Dipszine Encyclopedia, so now I have a big long list of szine editors to track down. Anyone is welcome to propose (or trash) ideas for who to search for. If you find someone who we aren't looking for, feel free to send them over too.))
Mark D. Lew (Wed, 28 Jul 1999 15:07:49 -0700)
Over the past few days I read (skimmed) the rest of the Benzenes. It gets better post-Alameda as I become older and less focused on political issues (which, aside from being boring, don't keep as well). ((Yeah, but then didn't I write those long economic treatises that MUST look really boring now in that later period?? I try to keep from showing off about economic and game theory in the szine these days.))
Here's another prediction I turned up. (Darn, I should have noted the page so I could quote directly. Oh well.) Some time in 1992 (or was it '91?) I said that King Hussein of Jordan, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, King Hassan II of Morocco and the Emir of Kuwait would all be ``gone by the end of the century".
Now I haven't been paying attention for the last few years, so perhaps I missed something, but I think that as of today I'm zero for four, with either 5 or 17 months to go, depending on whether you read ``the century" to be 20th century or the 1900s. (I suppose I could speciously claim, ``oh no, I meant the century from 1991 to 2090 ... that's a `century', too!".) I think there's a reasonably good chance that Fahd or Hussein or will die within a year, but I know that when I made the prediction I meant the fall of the monarchy, not the death of the individual monarch. And besides that still makes only half of them.
I only felt a slight bit of publishing nostalgia. The only thing that made me feel an urge to resume was, strangely enough, the Scrabble game. The game in progress when BZ fizzled was that absurdly high-scoring extravaganza. On the latest turn (six years ago) Chuff laid down his *third* bingo of the game, but Mark is nonetheless in a position to pull within 10 points on the following turn. Some time during the game I predicted both racks would score 400. I'm wondering now if one of them might reach 500.
((You are hereby welcomed to pick the game back up in the szine and I understand that Chuff and Mark Larzelere are likely to take their places around the table. This will be Scrabble with kibitizing and could start any time. We'll see.))
Conrad von Metzke (Wed, 21 Jul 1999 05:47:53 -0700)
Ah, Mr. Gooch, sir, I fear the Thunder Bay bookshops are in need of some upgrading.
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1984) tells us that ``solder" is pronounced - well, I can't reproduce the phonetics so I'll have to fake it - ``SAH-dur" with the `AH' to represent e.g. the `a' in `cart,' which is the same in Britain and America even if the `r' in `cart' isn't. But then they offer a secondary pronunciation, specified as British, of ``SAWL-der," which comes out to exactly the same thing except the `L' is voiced.
That was the simple one. Now if you want to go burrowing in the OED (1971, which I just happen to own) you will discover both of the above `normal' versions plus a wide range of others, mostly dialects of various parts of Britain, with each of course exhaustively referenced. (E.g. ``SAW-ther," ``SOUL-der," ``SOUTH-er" and on and on and on.)
I have no idea when or why the American standard came to have the `L' silent - it didn't happen with, e.g., ``soldier," although we have eviscerated the somewhat delicate `di' into a rough `j' sound. Before I started typing I sounded these things out, and it seems to me that the `L' before a distinct `D' is just a wee tad awkward to say, which is not of course the case with an `L' before `DI' which has been wrenched into `J.' So perhaps it was a mere speech simplification over time, without the centuries of tradition and precision that you Brits have to force it to stay in its original form.
It's also worth suggesting that there would be, in Britain, a probable disinclination to treat the word as if it were `sod her,' those two words having rather less than an exalted connotation. But `sod her' means absolutely nothing to an American, so the bar is not there.
I have enjoyed this brief time with you.
``So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.
He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,
You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...
You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.
It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,
I'm all alone, I've got no choice."
From ``Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.
If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at ``burgess of world.std.com''. If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904.
Standby lists:
Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Stan Johnson, Randy Ellis, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, Dan Gorham, and John Schultz stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Kurt Ozog, Mike Barno, Phil Reynolds, and Jim Sayers stand by for the Colonial Diplomacy game.
Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Phil Reynolds, Jim Sayers, and Kurt Ozog stand by for the Modern Diplomacy game.
David Partridge stands by for Colonia. I still need standbys for the Colonia game!
Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.
The next Breaking Away is filling that will appear here. See details under the Breaking Away game below. The other game is starting in Tinamou. See the subszine for more details.
I am starting one more regular Diplomacy game. In the game so far are Buddy Tretick, John Biehl, Terry Tallman, and Dan Gorham. Although this has to be considered something of a ``feature'' game, I won't name it after him since the previous such games I've done like that have had the featured person be eliminated quickly. I think I'll find an appropriate Mekons song for the game name. I expect this to fill quickly and will give preference to any of the old Le Front crowd should they want to play. Send $20 for the game start, which gives you a subscription for however long the game lasts and $5 in refundable NMR insurance. Buddy, of course, has a lifetime free subscription and doesn't have to pay the game fee.
The only other Diplomacy oriented opening left is an opening for a game of Star Trek Diplomacy! These will be the last Diplomacy game openings until more games end. See Stephen Agar's rules on his web page at:
http://www.spoff.demon.co.uk/variants/startrek.htm
There are two changes I am looking at when I start the game. First, I really want to name all the star systems after Star Trek locations. I have begun to do this already, but if someone wants to contribute significantly, or even volunteer to do it all, I will offer a free game start in the game. Second, after naming all of the systems, I think I want to nix the ``revolving rings'' rule. I am open to suggestions on the latter, though I want to print maps and ***I*** don't know how to make the rings rotate easily. The game start is open now, and since I want to STRONGLY encourage press, you can sign up and ``claim'' a race. Stephen Agar claims the Borg and Buddy Tretick and Roland Sasseville, Jr., also are set to play. I'm expanding my net and hope to fill this soon. This game also has the $20 game fee ($5 of it refundable for NMR insurance).
I suppose I have to admit that no one is requesting Pontevedria, the North American game opening flyer, from Conrad von Metzke any more. You can contact Conrad by E-Mail at metzke of san.rr.com if you want to ask him about it. I'd be pleased to help anyone find other game openings on a personal basis too. The longer run solution might come out of the efforts of the Brits, on which we might be able to piggyback. If you are interested, contact Stephen Agar at stephen of spoff.demon.co.uk who still heads up The Diplomatic Pouch postal section or or join the Brit hobby mailing list at: http://www.spoff.demon.co.uk/ukpbmlist.htm
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1751 IS AUGUST 24TH or SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1999
Still Summer 1751
AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): has a VIENNA, a BAVARIA, a BELEM, f ADRIATIC, f SOUTH PACIFIC.
CHINA (Acheson): has a WUHAN, a TIBET, a CHINGHAI, f EAST CHINA SEA.
ENGLAND (Power): has a PERU, a KAMERON, f MALAYA, f NORTH SEA, f IRISH SEA.
FRANCE (Gamble): has a TOULON, f LIGURIAN SEA, a SAHARA, a MASSACHUSETTS, a LEON.
NETHERLANDS (Schuetz): has a ANTWERP, a LOUISIANA, a GABON, f HANOVER(WC), f CORAL SEA.
OTTOMAN (Johnson): has a BAGHDAD, a SUEZ, a PERSIA, f BULGARIA(SC),
f CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN.
PORTUGAL (Stimmel): has a LISBON, a VANCOUVER, a NIZAM, a ARGENTINA,
f CANARIES.
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): has a KIEV, a LITHUANIA, a MONGOLIA, a NATAL,
f BALTIC SEA, f KOREA.
SPAIN (Gardner): has a VALENCIA, a TEXAS, a ETHIOPIA, f WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA,
f PHILIPPINE SEA.
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Gene Prosnitz, 2600 Netherland Ave., Apt. 1116, Riverdale, NY 10463, (718) 601-8131 ($5)
CHINA: Bob Acheson, 304-556 Laurier Ave., Ottawa, ONTARIO K1R 7X2, CANADA ($5)
racheson of intranet.ca
ENGLAND: John Power, 2021 Westcreek Lane, #20, Houston, TX 77027 ($5)
jrpower of bechtel.com
FRANCE: Terry Gamble, 201 Kenney Ave., Barksdale AFB, LA 71110, (318) 752-1787 ($5)
velobus of shreve.net
NETHERLANDS: Karl Schuetz, 20 Toledo Lane, Willingboro, NJ 08046, (609) 871-9058
OTTOMAN: Stan Johnson, 12036 S. Potomac St., Phoenix, AZ 85044, (602) 589-0034 ($5)
PORTUGAL: Robert Stimmel, Apt. #57, Casa de Sherry Apts., 2462 North Sycamore Blvd.,
Tucson, AZ 85712-2541, (520) 326-8369 ($5)
RUSSIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
prosit of execpc.com
SPAIN: Heath Gardner, 3017 Mayview Road, Raleigh, NC 27607 (919)-834-4832 ($5)
hgardner of prodigy.net
Game Notes:
1) I still have not heard a word from Karl Schuetz (this includes trying to call him), so I must delay the game. If I have orders from everyone for the next deadline, since I had to delay another game, I will run Fall then. If I do NOT have some word from Karl by that deadline, I will replace him with David Partridge and go to the September deadline. I'm really sorry for the slow start, but as a bonus, you get a map of the current position, courtesy of David Partridge's drawing skills. I think this map has all of the connections corrected, but I expect my map experts like Robert Stimmel will inform me if it is wrong. I really hope we'll get this running on track after this!!!
2) Heath Gardner has yet ANOTHER new E-Mail address. He says this one will be IT for awhile!
Press:
(MAP QUESTION): Looking at the map it appears that Hudson Bay reaches the Bering Strait. I find this to be historically inaccurate, does it stretch from the Grand Bank to Bering Strait? ((I imagine for playability, the ``Northwest Passage'' is fully in play. If it were not, it would really block up the movement across North America. Any comments from others? In any case, the answer is: yes, that is the way the map is.))
(BUILD QUESTION): For builds, where can we build? In the initial starting center, or any supply center? ((You always will have the centers that you own which you can build in noted in capital letters in the Supply Center Chart. In Colonial Dip and in Modern Dip, I have found it necessary to do that both for me and for the players. I don't bother to do this with regular Dip games since everyone pretty much has the home centers memorized, but I probably should. To answer your question, colony centers generally can be built in by any power and certain centers are building centers only for specified powers. Didn't you keep that first issue where I printed those rules?? I'm trying to keep down the reprinting of things I've printed before, especially when back issues can be consulted on the World Wide Web. This is one of those cases where you do have access to that information. Off hand, anyone recall what issue that was?? I would guess about 216 or 217.))
(ENG-NETH): Still no response. Are you still having trouble with my e-mail address? Try snail-mail. ((Does he have an E-mail address? If so, I don't know it. More of this no response doesn't help the comfort level of the GM!))
(PARIS): The Tour de France finished recently in the capital. American Colonists did remarkably well. Lets here it for the colonies. Hip Hip Hooray! (Of course since it is only 1751 neither the bicycle or the Arc de Triumph exist yet, technicalities).
(MONTREAL): Marcel and Marceau are doing remarkable well and expect to be in the Ohio valley for winter. The should be able to continue their exploration by early spring. Local natives are being very helpful. One trapper by the name of Frank Andrieu has been a God send leading the canoes up many hazardous streams.
(PAMPLONA): Since the town of Pamplona was under French control this year the annual running of the bulls was cancelled. The French leaders stated that letting wild bulls loose in the streets to trample the citizens was barbaric and utterly stupid. The also remarked with disgust that there will be no more ``Bull Fights" in northern Spain while we are in control.
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1901 IS AUGUST 21ST, 1999
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1902 IS SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1999
Fall 1901
AUSTRIA (Zarr): f alb-GRE, a bud-RUM, a SER S a bud-rum.
ENGLAND (Sayers): a edi-NWY, f NTH C a edi-nwy, f NWG S a edi-nwy.
FRANCE (Sasseville): f mid-POR, a PIC-bel, a SPA h.
GERMANY (Pinelli): f DEN h, a RUH-bel, a kie-HOL.
ITALY (Schultz): f ion-TUN, a APU h, a tyo-VIE.
RUSSIA (Trent): f gob-SWE, a stp-FIN, a UKR-sev, f rum-bul(ec) (d ann).
TURKEY (Munson): f BLA S a arm-sev, a arm-SEV, a BUL-rum.
Supply Center Chart
| AUSTRIA (Zarr): | bud,tri,gre,ser,rum | (has 3, bld 2) |
| ENGLAND (Sayers): | lon,lvp,edi,nwy | (has 3, bld 1) |
| FRANCE (Sasseville): | bre,par,mar,spa,por | (has 3, bld 2) |
| GERMANY (Pinelli): | ber,kie,mun,den,hol | (has 3, bld 2) |
| ITALY (Schultz): | rom,ven,nap,tun,vie | (has 3, bld 2) |
| RUSSIA (Trent): | mos,stp,war,swe, | (has 3, bld 1) |
| TURKEY (Munson): | ank,smy,con,bul,sev | (has 3, bld 2) |
| Neutral: | bel | (Total=34) |
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Harold Zarr, 215 Glen Drive, Iowa Falls, IA 50126-1957, (515) 648-2821 ($5)
hdzarr of dmacc.cc.ia.us
ENGLAND: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA ($10)
100233.513 of compuserve.com
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 722-4029 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
GERMANY: Richard Pinelli, 3042 Cherry Lane, Northbrook, IL 60062, (847) 291-7520 ($5)
drahcir of AmeriTech.net
ITALY: John Schultz, #19390, W-M11L, Indiana Department of Correction,
Plainfield Correctional Facility, 727 Moon Road, Plainfield, IN 46168-9400
RUSSIA: Chris Trent, 8553 Banff Vista Dr., Elk Grove, CA 95624-1746, (916) 685-7772 ($5)
ChrisT98 of aol.com
TURKEY: Scott Munson, PO Box 1042, Gardiner, MT 59030, (406) 848-2102 ($5)
samunson71 of hotmail.com
Game Notes:
1) Jim Sayers will be away from Sydney between 19th August and 26th September. His Email addresses in Los Angeles and New York will be:
LOS ANGELES: 19th August-25th August jrespondek of aol.com
NEW YORK: 25th August-4th September FSpringfie of aol.com
Jim will not be available at all between the 4th and the 26th. I'm going to try to help him stay in this game, so keep your eye on these dates and the deadlines. Clearly, for the most part, he is going to have to get both his Winter and Spring orders in before he leaves, with possible opportunities for Spring updates. I'll assume that Jim will be able to access the Winter builds from the Internet via these two AOL accounts?
2) Thanks to John Schultz for taking over the Italian position!
Press:
(DA'NEO-POPE - > AUS; TUR; AND PERHAPS GER): I didn't reckon there would be time to write, get a response, adjust, and then make a final decision. So - I went with my gut. Of course, my gut will probably be swayed by the first to woo me. No need to kiss the ring. I find it so embarrassing!
(TURKEY to WORLD): I apologize. I have been thoroughly ``out of the loop" lately concerning communications with everyone. Work has been insane with it being `tourist season' and all, but depression and a general apathy have been the bigger culprits here. Even if I'm not talking about a dip game or moves, I at least can usually find time to drop a line and say `hi.' I have written little to nothing to anyone this past turn, and I'm sure the moves will show this. A big ``SORRY!" goes out to Austria and Russia. It sucks not knowing what your neighbor is up to. I would especially like to apologize to Mr. Schultz for having not contacted him yet, even to say `hello.' I promise to write you on a regular basis, even if we end up at each others throats. It is just the way I think the game should be played. If I didn't care to talk to folks, I would have picked up a Gunboat Game.
(DA'NEO-POPE - > RUSSIA): I'll bet you went for the ``let's keep the Black Sea neutral'' hogwash.
(F-INFORMANT): I am not and never was a beast. Just because I have a 666 birthmark, my son is called Damien, I can turn my head in a 360 degree circle, and speak in tongues does not mean that I qualify as Beast. Also I am half Irish not British.
(DA'NEO-POPE - > FRANCE): We seem to be friendly, eh?
(STRAY THOUGHT): Do you think that King Richard of England appreciated the pun involved in calling him King Dick?
(DA'NEO-POPE - > ENGLAND): Come back to the Church!
(F-LUKE): Good luck and hope all is well in whatever it was that caused your need to drop. Hope to play again some day.
(MOSCOW-EUROPE): His Majesty, the Tsar of all Russia, would like to make an official apology to his counterparts for recent, ungentlemanly remarks. The Tsar will try harder to be sincere next time.
(RADIO FREE EUROPE): Recently world governments have been hiring mysterious super heroes, or mystery men, to assist in finding Captain Peace. Since his disappearance the continent has become a warlike place. The Turkish government has hired Mufstafa, a henchman of Dr. Evil. The French government has hired The Whip, a distant cousin of the Marquis De Sade, England has hired a Man In Tights, who poofs when an enemy is near. the Russians and Germans have combined to hire Frau Farbissina and Uni Brow, her companion in the love we darest not speak its name. A man can only imagine what these two will do to you if captured. Italy has hired the Bocci (sp?), a lawn bowler with attitude and a big ball. Austria has hired the shoveler to dig them a large hole to hide in. Finally, the Italian government in chaos has hired the whole damn family to break kneecaps all over Europe in a search for peace.
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1903 IS AUGUST 21ST, 1999
Winter 1902
AUSTRIA (Gardner): has f TRI, a VIE, a BUD, and 5 nukes.
ENGLAND (Barno): has f EDI, f LON, a LVP, and 5 nukes.
FRANCE (S. Kenny): has f BRE, a MAR, a PAR, and 5 nukes.
GERMANY (McCullough): has f KIE, a MUN, a BER, and 5 nukes.
ITALY (Weiss): has f NAP, a ROM, a VEN, and 5 nukes.
RUSSIA (Reichert): has f STP(SC), a MOS, a WAR, f SEV, and 4 nukes.
TURKEY (Schultz): has f ANK, a SMY, a CON, and 5 nukes.
Addresses of the Participants
Sandy Kenny, 23 East Coulter Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108-1208
Jody McCullough, 1071 Brown Avenue, Lafayette, CA 94549-3153
jodym of sprintmail.com
Richard Weiss, 500 Beale St. # 104, San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 512-7221
rcw of sirius.com (preferred) or rcw23 of hotmail.com
Sara Reichert, 20805 Margaret, Carson, CA 90745-1224
John Schultz, #19390, W-M11L, Indiana Department of Correction,
Plainfield Correctional Facility, 727 Moon Road, Plainfield, IN 46168-9400
Heath Gardner, 3017 Mayview Road, Raleigh, NC 27607
hgardner of prodigy.net
Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | TOTAL |
| SANDY KENNY | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| JODY MCCULLOUGH | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| RICHARD WEISS | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| SARA REICHERT | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| JOHN SCHULTZ | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| HEATH GARDNER | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| MIKE BARNO | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Black Holed | 15 | 15 | 30 |
| Neutral | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 34 | 34 | 68 |
| Times GM Nuked | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Greenland | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Iceland | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Kurt Ozog | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Beale St., SF | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Game Notes:
1) Note Heath's NEW preferred E-Mail address.
Press:
(JOHN BOY - > BOOB): I can remember when I possessed what some actually called beautiful handwriting. I used even to write in calligraphic style on the rare occasion. Alas, the more I hang around TAP the more my script takes on your scribbled style. Is it something you put on the paper, which rubs off - being absorbed into the skin over time - noticeable only when it's too late for the antidote? ((Hoo, moo hah hah, hah, wouldn't YOU like to know.....))
(PRESS to MOTORCYCLE MANIA): Last time included a reference to a 1969 Shovelhead, not Swivelhead. Harley and Davidson are spinning in their graves as we breath. Dastardly!
(SPENCER to PLAINFIELD): Nice taste in motorcycles. If I had a budget like that I might own a postwar Kurtis-Kraft Indy roadster, a 1969 Camaro Z28, and enough parts to piece together a 240Z. If I were to buy a bike (not likely since a housemate died on one), I'd want a classic Harley but probably settle for a used Honda of the cafe-racer category. I have a friend whose parents own over a dozen H-D's, some custom, some old.
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1903 IS AUGUST 21ST, 1999
Winter 1902
AUSTRIA (Pollard): bld a tri, a vie, a bud; has a TRI, a VIE, a BUD,
a BOH, a SER, f BUL(SC), a WAR, a RUM.
ENGLAND (Tallman): rem a yor; has f NTH, f SKA, f BAR.
FRANCE (Morris): bld f bre; has f BRE, a BUR, f POR, a SPA, a PIC.
GERMANY (Sayers): R a mun-BER; has f DEN, a BER, f HOL, a KIE, a BEL.
ITALY (Munson): bld f nap; has f NAP, f GOL, f MID, a PIE, a MUN.
RUSSIA (Reynolds): has f NWY, f SWE, a UKR, a FIN.
TURKEY (Barno): has a CON, a SMY, f BLA, a SEV.
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Kent Pollard, 1541 W. San Jose, Fresno, CA 93711 ($4)
ENGLAND: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0386 ($4)
terryt of sinclair.net
FRANCE: Scott Morris, 12110 Shelbyville Rd., Louisville, KY 40243, (502) 893-8260 ($5)
Scottm221 of aol.com
GERMANY: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA ($10)
100233.513 of compuserve.com
ITALY: Scott Munson, PO Box 1042, Gardiner, MT 59030, (406) 848-2102 ($5)
samunson71 of hotmail.com
RUSSIA: Phil Reynolds, 2896 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 953-6952
preyno of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883 ($5)
mpbarno of lightlink.com
Game Notes:
1) Thanks to Phil Reynolds for taking over the Russian position.
Press:
(OLE PRESS): The countryside ran foul from the stench of decay and death. A bent and crooked banner was all that was still standing on the battlefield. Not even the ravens would come near. ``Such savage bastards.'' The words came out bitterly. A lone Turkish boy sat upon a hilltop overlooking the endless destruction of the one proud army of the Sultan. ``Why do men do what they do?'' The wind blowing over the vast field of the dead was his only reply....
(ITALY to ENGLAND): The fate of the world is firmly in your hands. You need to grow and have the position and power to decide in what direction. When you decide who you wish to grow into, please let me know. I will be waiting.
(ANKARA to VIENNA): You are invited to send an army to Siberia in this game, too, like you did in "Fear and Whiskey". You make as much sense here.
(AMBASSADOR FRANZ VON POLLÄRD to THE WORLD): I vould like to announce za beginning of za Great World War! My people have chosen zis course of action because zay complain of boredom. Zis Great War has charged them with new energy. New focus.... At last the Austrians see themselves as ``Good People''.... I salute you all and may the best man win!
(ITALY to AUSTRIA): Good sir! Your brash moves and cool words have put a little strain on the alliance! The Frog and Germ are no doubt trying to fill your head full of nonsense concerning your own allies. Please rethink your moves before the alliance is destroyed forever.
(MIKE to KENT): I knew I should have taught you Diplomacy instead of letting Randy do it. No wonder you're making bad decisions.
(FIELD MARSHAL JÖN RHODEHAMEL): All over the nation, young men join the ranks. Why? (It does not matter). My staff and I are excited about the formation of the 5th, 7th, and 9th field armies which we intend to put into action immediately! A parade commemorating this moment shall be held in Vienna on Dec. 7th, 1902. Baron von Steuben shall oversee over all ceremonies. All are welcome to attend.
(OTTOMAN ORDERS): Launch nukes at Vienna, Budapest, Trieste, Serbia, and Greece in this game. ((On December 7th???))
(ITALY to FRANCE): Dishonesty is what led to this. ((I don't think it matters....))
(HANS THE BEER MAKER): Vhat do you mean ``It does not matter?'' I am not going to enlist....
(ANKARA to VIENNA): A grave mistake has been made... an error that will lead to the demise of two, perhaps three, empires that might have been mighty. I am saddened for all our peoples. Shame. A heavy load of preventable tragedy. Brothers, friends, drinking buddies torn apart, families of millions of soldiers facing widowhood and fatherlessness, all due to one impulsive mistake of a madman in his time of confusion. History will not forget, nor will karma forgive, the perfidy of one who betrays his nation's best partner. Austria-Hungary can expect to find itself besieged on all sides, without an ally near nor far. The nation shall pay a horrible price for her nation's hubris. Repent. Repent and reform now or face doom.
(ITALY to AUSTRIA): Bad boy! Bad! No treat for you!
(ITALY to RUSSIA): Welcome to the game! I hope to hear from you in the near future!
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1903 IS AUGUST 21ST, 1999
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1903 IS SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1999
Pre-Summer 1903
AUSTRIA (K. Ozog): has a VIE, f AEG, a TRI, a BUD.
ENGLAND (James): has f NAO, f NWY, f MID, f ENG, f SWE, a PIC.
FRANCE (Petroski): R f mid-???; RESIGNS, MARK KINNEY CALLED AS STANDBY;
has a SPA, a POR, f mid h (d r:wes,naf,otb).
GERMANY (Goesle): has a BOH, a BER, f KIE, f DEN, a BRE, a MAR.
ITALY (Rauterberg): has a VEN, f ION, a TYO, a GRE.
RUSSIA (Rusnak): has a UKR, a LVN, f GOB, f BLA, a RUM.
TURKEY (Emmert): R f aeg-???; has a ARM, f aeg-gre (d r:smy,eas,otb), f CON,
a SER, a BUL.
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, 630-837-2813
kozog of cpiconf.com
ENGLAND: Drew James, 8356 Radian Path, Baldwinsville, NY 13027-9357, (315) 652-1956 ($5)
dkbn of msn.com
FRANCE: Standby is Mark Kinney, 4820 Westmar Terrace #6, Louisville, KY 40222
GERMANY: Warren Goesle, 3907 Cedar Ridge, #1B, Indianapolis, IN 46235 ($5)
ITALY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 ($5)
prosit of execpc.com
RUSSIA: Russ Rusnak, 1551 Highridge Avenue, Westchester, IL 60154-3428 ($5)
RRRRRUSNAK of aol.com
TURKEY: Steve Emmert, 1752 Grey Friars Chase, Virginia Beach, VA 23456-5436, (757) 471-1842 ($4)
Lse of SykesCarnes.com or semmert of mindspring.com
Game Notes:
1) For two reasons, I am delaying this game. First, Glenn Petroski has declined the opportunity to take over the standby position and I have asked Mark Kinney to step in. Second, Steve Emmert has had a series of deaths in his family and I don't have his retreat either. ((Actually, I did get it at the last minute, but am still delaying the game.)) I will let both players have a few extra weeks to make their retreats and incorporate Mark Kinney into the game. Many apologies for the delay!
Press:
(GOZ to DAVE P.): YOU watch it when you start quoting statistics. AND watch it when you start challenging an engineer who has nothing better to do than fire up the calculator (Hell, it's not like I date or anything). 59% IS a big deal. Consider that if you toss a fair coin 162 times the odds that you'll have at least 96 `heads' is about 2.9% (someone check my math here...I had to estimate, but I'm certain I'm within .3%). Furthermore, even in a best of 7 game series the percentage of higher-payroll winners would be 69.1% (this math I can actually show you if you'd like). As I type this there are only 3 teams whose winning percentage exceeds 59%, and they are all in the top 4 in payroll. And since we're past the Break now it will get worse. Those teams that spent a lot but aren't getting anywhere (the Orioles and Dodgers spring to mind, though I haven't counted them out yet either) are going to start unloading those high-priced athletes whose contracts run out this year. Who do you think will get them? The Reds and A's, who have good, young, low-priced talent and are in the hunt with smoke and mirrors? Or the Mets and BlueJays, who need that one high-priced player for the stretch drive? Math and statistics and actuarial tables are good. They tell you things like when it's IFR conditions and you are a VFR-pilot with a bum foot which won't handle the rudder pedals in an emergency, your life expectancy is about 45 minutes, AND the Red Sox won't make the playoffs, because they can't afford it. Deal with it. ((Wrongo, Goz-breath.... those Athletics made some sharp pickups and outbid many of their more well-heeled colleagues. GO, Red Sox!!))
(BARNO YELLS OUT FROM THE CHEAP SEATS): We need more Rusnak press! If nothing else he could explain what he's trying to accomplish or admit he doesn't know. Or at least berate me convincingly for daring to ask.
(ENGLAND to A/I/T/R): I give up. Who is allied with whom? Looks to me like typical Balkan politics. Everyone wants to kill everyone else. ((Perhaps some Rusnak press will clear things up??))
(GO-EL to EM-MERT): Hey, I needed a break! In retrospect though, next time I won't take the entire military high command with me on my vacation, as they tend to miss things. BTW, good golf, lousy fishing. As far as what you guys were saying about me, I don't really care. Bad publicity is always better than no publicity. Uh, right?
(TURKEY to R/A/I TURKEYS): I'm starting to get angry here. You won't like me mad.
(GOZ): Cheers Jim-Bob! Maybe next time I write in orders I'll be in a better mood. ((Maybe.... I won't offer advice that wasn't requested, but it seems that you need to address this somehow....))
THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 12 IS AUGUST 21ST, 1999
| 112 (replenish with a 25): | Kenny McCormick(Blowing the Doors Off!) |
| 111 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 110 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 109 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 108 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 107 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 106 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 105 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 104 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 103 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 102 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 101 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 100 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 99 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 98 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 97 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 96 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 95 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 94 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 93 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 92 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 91 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 90 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 89 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 88 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 87 (replenish with a 3): | Peter, Shane the Chain |
| 86 (replenish with a 5): | Alfred the Great |
| 85 (replenish with a 6): | Stan Marsh (3) |
| 84 (replenish with a 7): | John Logie-Baird |
| 83 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 82 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 81 (replenish with a 3): | Flopsy (2) |
| - S - P - R - I - N - T - - F - I - N - I - S - H - - L - I - N - E - |
| 80 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 79 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 78 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 77 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 76 (replenish with a 3): | Chasin' Jason |
| 75 (replenish with a 4): | Broke Leg Meg |
| 74 (replenish with a 5): | Christoph Wheelhub, Kyle Broslofski, Alessandro Cyclotron, Moe |
| 73 (replenish with a 9): | Larry |
| 72 (replenish with a 10): | Shemp |
| 71 (replenish with a 11): | Curly, Bernard Spoke, Eric Cartman |
| 70 (replenish with a 14): | Mopsy |
| 69 (replenish with a 15): | Cottontail |
| 68 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 67 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 66 (no replenishment): | Empty |
| 65 (replenish with a 3): | Sir Isaac Newton |
| 60 (replenish with a 3): | Barkin' Larkin', Damon Velodrome |
| 48 (replenish with a 3): | Will Shakespeare |
Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (Farmer McGregor's Dinner): Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham MA 02492
(8 points) 72060.1540 of CompuServe.COM
| A: Flopsy | 7 3 6 3 |
| B: Mopsy | 18 14 6 |
| C: Cottontail | 12 15 15 |
| D: Peter | 4 3 3 |
TEAM 2 (Chef's Crackers): Rick Desper, Bergheimer Strasse 114, 69115 Heidelberg, GERMANY
(17 points) rick_desper of yahoo.com or desper of math.rutgers.edu
| Coach is, of course, Chef |
| A: Stan Marsh (aka the Star Quarterback) | 6 7 3 3 |
| B: Kyle Broslofski (aka the Lonely Jew) | 3 12 5 |
| C: Kenny McCormick (aka the Pov) | 25 4 3 |
| D: Eric Cartman (aka the FatAss) | 12 8 11 |
TEAM 3 (Goz Transportation Co.): Warren Goesle, 3907 Cedar Ridge, #1B, Indianapolis, IN 46235
(8 points) gozcorp of iquest.net
| A: Alessandro Cyclotron | 3 3 5 15 |
| B: Bernard Spoke | 5 11 4 |
| C: Christoph Wheelhub | 9 12 5 |
| D: Damon Velodrome | 3 4 3 |
TEAM 4 (Brit Pack): John Harrington, 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 3UW UK
(17 points) johnh of fiendishgames.demon.co.uk
| A: Alfred the Great | 4 4 7 5 |
| B: Sir Isaac Newton | 18 3 13 |
| C: Will Shakespeare | 3 3 3 |
| D: John Logie-Baird | 7 6 9 |
TEAM 5 (The Stoogecycles): David Partridge, 15 Elmer Drive, Nashua, NH 03062-1722
(23 points) rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
| A: Curly | 11 4 4 |
| B: Larry | 3 9 3 |
| C: Moe | 15 5 5 |
| D: Shemp | 3 6 10 |
TEAM 6 (The Flat Wheel Society): John Schultz, #19390, W-M11L, Indiana Department of Correction,
(4 points) Plainfield Correctional Facility, 727 Moon Road, Plainfield, IN 46168-9400
| A: Broke Leg Meg | 4 3 3 |
| B: Shane the Chain | 4 3 3 |
| C: Barkin' Larkin' | 3 3 3 |
| D: Chasin' Jason | 3 3 3 |
Game Notes:
1) See David Partridge's new game start in Tinamou and note the Version 2.3 rules published in this issue. The next game, with Version 2.3 rules, will include David Partridge, John Schultz, Tom Howell, Harry Andruschak, Eric Brosius, and John Harrington, as they all have expressed interest in this game. They should get me team names and cards as soon as possible and we'll get started.
Press:
(BUNNIES): Mopsy decided to forego the points and stay back to help Cottontail. Next issue's results will show whether this was the right thing to do. ((At some point here, Mopsy and Cottontail will have to make a dash for the finish if they are to pick up any points, but contingent on that, yes, it seems like it was a good move.))
(VEGAS SAFETY BET): at least one of the riders is now on square 74. ((You got it....))
(TFWS to VEGAS): I GOT POINTS!!
(EARLY GUESSES FOR FINAL SPRINT): Moe, Newton, Cottontail, Cyclotron
(TEAMS): Stooges: suddenly a power with Moe's resurgence; Bunnies: probably too far behind at this point; Brits: pulls Newton out of thin air - still a threat; Crackers: will soon be holding on to a very thin lead; TFWS & GTC: no miracle finishes, sorry. ((Hmmm, I don't know, to me Mopsy and Cottontail look like better bets to score big points than Moe does. We'll see, I guess.))
(GOZ TRANSPORTATION QUARTERLY REPORT to THE PARENT COMPANY, GOZ & CO., INC.): Profits up $4M this quarter, due to some cost-cutting measures which, alas, did not allow us to pick up any acquisitions. Further measures to be taken include selling the chase vehicle and having the riders pump up their own tires. We also hope to increase revenue by selling additional advertising space on Damon's shirt. Since he's not moving too fast lots of people will have lots of time to read it. Heck, we're having Granny Velodrome run alongside him and sew on the new logo as he goes.
(GOZ OBSERVATION ON THE BREAKAWAY RULE): I imagine a game where, at the start, everyone plays a 6 or less, except for one rider who plays a 15 and gets a 9 for a replacement. He then plays a 14 on his second card. Would anyone go with him? He'd certainly win the first sprint. I think if no one went with him on the second card he'd be gone. Note that if Kenny were to keep getting cards the next few turns, he'd be in the 50's before long. I have to agree with the Stooges' comment last time, where the breaking player gets one card, but will come back to the pack eventually. So the break has to be timed very well, and likely 2 or 3 turns in advance. ((As for your first example, only an A rider could do that by beginning with a 15, a 14, and a 1. I think that lots of plotting by other players would negate this strategy in most cases.))
(CHEF - DESIGNER): went to Manorcon and didn't see you there. Too bad. Played first and third round Dip games with players who ended up #s 1-2 in tournament. (Dave Lester and Jim Mills). But on other side of board. Held Dave Horton to 10 SCs in 2nd round - everybody said that that can be viewed as a success. Dave finished top of his board all three rounds but did not finish in the top 5, since the tourney was best 2 of 3.
For the team tourney, I was drafted by the mighty Swedes, who were considered one of the strongest teams there. Sadly, all three Swedes crapped out, as did our French player, leaving me and two Brits with the only decent results (Duncan's was quite better than decent, I would say.)
(CHEF - AMERICANS): I recommend trying Dip abroad at some point. ((I would second that. My visit to Manorcon recollects a mix of styles and play that was much more fun than the limited number of American tournaments I've been to.))
(BRIT PACK): Looking forward to taking on some of you again in the next Breaking Away game (we'll turn TAP in to a Breaking Away zine yet!). The really interesting thing will be turn one - will you all race off into the distance leaving me to look an idiot with my riders on square 1, or will you all start slow leaving me as the idiot who zooms off into the distance?
(BRIT PACK - TFWS): I think you are harsh on American comedy versus British. Both have their stars and their dogs. I'd consider Are You Being Served to be one of the British dogs but apparently it is quite popular in various parts of the world where a double entendre is one entendre too many! Have any of you managed to catch Red Dwarf over in the States? ((Oh yes, there are a whole bunch of Red Dwarf fans in the US TAP readership. Apart from its syndication on Public Television over here, the videotapes are readily available either for rent (e.g. my local video store) or to buy (at Amazon.com and other outlets). In previous discussions in this szine, we came to the general conclusion that the early episodes are absolutely and totally brilliant, but character changes and the usual falloff led it into a bit of a tailspin as time went on.)) Manages to debunk just about every science fiction plot device there is plus you also get to learn yet more British slang for those of you who had your appetites whetted by Austin Powers. ((Smeg-g-me, smeg-g-ma, life goes onnnn....)) (Incidentally, I recently saw a rerun of Mork & Mindy on cable over here which was never run on national TV, presumably because it featured a character called Mr. Wanker. It would be like a British show having a character called Mr. Jackoff. It certainly made the Mork & Mindy episode a lot funnier than the other episodes I've seen.)
(TFWS - > BOOB): Once again, I guess penmanship did me in. It's FAWLTY Towers, not Faulty. ((It did, but I knew how it was spelled, so I should have caught it. You know one of the house rules is that handwriting may be no worse than that of the GM, i.e. ME! So, correct thyself.))
(BRIT PACK): Will Shakespeare was not suggesting EVERYONE should turn round and race back to the start; he was merely pointing out that he's nearer the start than he is the finish and that if he were allowed to head back to the start he'd be home in time for a steak & kidney pie and a pint of mild & bitter.
(CHEF - BOOB): Thanks for meddling. My email tournament team is considering the name ``Death to Burgess". (Well, not seriously).
(BARKIN - > DAMON): Oh yeah.... everyone will certainly be surprised when we win - and no one more surprised than me or you.
(CHEF - WORLD): Saw Star Wars I in London. An interesting mix of good and lousy acting. Liam Neeson will probably be underappreciated for his job. But the kid playing Anakin was lame. (Yeah, it makes me feel real big to pick on a kid - what are you saying?) Anyway, I heard some rumors that the Jar Jar Binks character was based upon our esteemed (*cough*) GM. Really I did! In the theatre, from some Brits that I had never met before. Or did I misunderstand the comment ``What a Boob!"??
(BOOB to CHEF): This is probably related to my world wide fame in trying to defend the undefendable - why Jar Jar Binks needs to be considered in wider context. We don't know what George Lucas has planned for the FUTURE of Jar Jar Binks. Isn't it unfair to judge the prequel trilogy entirely on its first chapter?? Not entirely unseriously, Lucas seems to be trying to do some ``inversions'' in this trilogy over the previous one that may be judged in the future more charitably. I'll just illustrate two examples. First, Binks and his ilk show closest comparison to the Ewoks of the first trilogy, who appeared in the THIRD episode instead of the FIRST episode. This sets the stage for an ``aging'' of the story through these three episodes that ultimately may play a key role in the maturing and growth of a whole generation of 10-13 year old people around the world today. Second, we know that this insipid kid eventually is to become the personification of evil - who is to say that the denouement of Binks won't play a crucial role in this that can't be perceived at present that will make his entire history relevant to the central story?? This could even link these two examples I have cited together somehow. Nah, Jar Jar Binks is just a senseless blunder.... never mind.
(UMPIRES PLAN TO RESIGN): It's nice to see someone do something selfless for the good of the sport. The current lot seem to have lost any concept of the strike zone; maybe a new set would be able to do a better job.
(INCESSANT WHINER GOZ to RESPONDER RICK AND MEDDLING GM): The Cubs aren't in a small market, but they made themselves into one anyway, with a little help from MLB. Granted, the management there is a hindrance, but I think it only the 4th biggest problem they have. Number 3 is that Chicago is really divided between the North (Cubs) and the South (White Sox), and the 'twain doesn't meet for some reason that I really don't understand (I cheered both sides of town when I lived up there, but I was way out in the suburbs. I didn't become a Sox hater until Reinsdorf whined about how much free-agents cost, then a week later signed Belle for $55M.). The Cubs get the bigger share, but it's still a big drop in support. The Number 2 problem is that they've been designated to only get 18 night games per year by MLB. This means that about 38 or so of their 81 home dates are weekday day games, which don't draw. The Number 1 problem is really the cause of the Number 2 problem too: Wrigley Field. Old, in need of constant repair, small, no parking, few skyboxes, etc. But it's pretty much a historical monument, and MLB plays that for everything it's worth (Fenway too...uh, except that one is being replaced, isn't it?), except that it won't pay the Cubs anything for keeping it around (or for playing their traditional day games), despite the fact that the Cubs could make a lot more money with a new suburban stadium and a sensible schedule. Add all that in and the Cubs become a little below the median in terms of revenue. They can afford to compete in about one year in four. They gave it a shot last year, and made the playoffs somehow. They almost made the effort this year, but suffered the inevitable collapse when the summer day games took their toll on the players. A lot of their big-money players become free agents this year, and the Cubs won't be able to keep all of them. Sosa? Grace? Maybe both gone. Cleveland became a big-market team by ditching their old park and building the Jake. LOTS of revenue there, and they are now the 4th highest-payroll. The Cubs need to sink Wrigley into Lake Michigan and build a new one. I bet it doesn't cost the taxpayers more than $800M. Tell me, is THAT a good solution?
(BASEBALL DIGRESSION - WARNING, VERY LONG): All that whining makes me think of the Milwaukee Brewers and that brings me to my long digression for this issue. I've intentionally buried it in the press so only you faithful readers who actually read the entire szine will see it. I'm sure that Don, the Duck, Williams will miss it. His loss!!
I had my fun for the summer recently by attending the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York. One may ask, Boob, why did you do that?? Were you a big Nolan Ryan fan? No, not really. A Robin Yount fan?? No, barely scratched my radar screen. A George Brett fan??? Yes, absolutely, but that's not why either. No, I really got to be part of the celebration since my uncle was one of the inductees. Nestor Chylak is the first of the modern post-war period umpires (I think there are 8 or 9 other umpires inducted from the earlier eras) to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and my mother is his brother. Unfortunately, my Uncle Nestor died back in 1982 and wasn't there to be part of the ceremony and the interaction with the ballplayers, media, and executives. If he were, it would have been another order of magnitude more exciting and fun, but it still was a great time. I reproduce the badge that got me into all the special events elsewhere in the szine.
I'd like to indulge myself (and my brother who reads the szine and also was there for part of this) with a number of stories which I hope won't be too boring and will explain a little of my own fan approach to the game that helps me avoid the kind of despair that Goz keeps falling into. My brother David came in the next day, but my parents and I (and Charlotte too) arrived on Saturday, the first day of events that was highlighted by a big reception and private opening at the Hall of Fame itself. This allowed us to actually tour the Hall of Fame and avoid the huge crowds of that weekend as well as share drinks and such like at a cocktail party with all of the special guests. The general rule of thumb for the inductees, the families, and the special baseball guests was that we weren't supposed to be bothering everyone with autographs and the like. As I am not a collector, this didn't bother me a bit. At the reception, Mike Schmidt was the big exception about going out of his way to sign autographs.... and George W. Bush. As the former owner of the Texas Rangers when Ryan was there, he was at the reception campaigning his way through the crowds with George Pataki (the Governor of New York) who was fawning over him. From the newspapers I discovered that Pataki is campaigning to be the Vice Presidential candidate and you could really tell that. Anyway, the politicians are boring.... my cousin got a picture taken with George W. and all those soft Republicans in my family seemed to be real happy with him as a candidate..... humph, well, he's not my candidate so back to baseball.
Anyway, lots and lots of the current Hall of Famers were there, apparently more that had appeared in any one place in the history of the induction ceremony. This matched the fact that the next day the Induction Ceremony crowd also had a record number of more than 50,000 people on a REALLY hot day. But more on that later. As I said, Mike Schmidt was being the most gregarious, and it was he that shouted across the room ``Lefty'' as Steve Carlton was trying to slip past the crowd into the safety of the library in the back. Steve didn't stay around the crowd long, but he did acknowledge Schmidt's wave and didn't seem to be as ``difficult'' as he is supposed to be, though I didn't try to approach him. Lots of the other pitchers were hanging around in the same area like Tom Seaver (who Charlotte remarked has NOT held his looks) and Jim Palmer (who of course still looks like a model). Fergie Jenkins was around too (he won the golf tournament on Sunday morning) as well as Gaylord Perry and others who slip my mind right now.
As I stood between Palmer and Seaver, a really unobtrusive guy and his wife slipped by me and I whispered to my wife, ``That's the General Manager of the Red Sox'' and indeed it was none other than Dan Duquette. I didn't see anyone talking to him and I wanted to go up and ask him how the search for a hitter for my team was going (this was just two days before the Sox picked up Butch Huskey from Toronto) and I wish I had, as I might have gotten a fan scoop. But, as I said, he wasn't really talking to anyone and he and his wife slipped out before I could catch up to him. I didn't see him up close the rest of the weekend. This was in BIG contrast to the other major figure I saw from Boston, Peter Gammons, who was in as part of the ESPN telecast team. As Duquette and his wife walked through the main hall and out without talking to anyone, he walked right by Gammons' circle as he was ``holding court''. I was listening a bit and watching him and I noticed Peter eyeing me wondering, perhaps, is he someone I should be talking to looking for my next scoop? No, he didn't approach me, of course. Dan Duquette, as I discovered later as he filled in on a Red Sox radiocast, was there because of Robin Yount. I had forgotten that Duquette had started in the Brewers organization before moving on to the Expos and then here to the Red Sox.
The Brewers contingent was the most ubiquitous to me at the hotel, etc. I instantly recognized Wendy Selig-Prieb, the owner, as she is the only female owner in baseball and was the most obvious woman who was there in her own right, except perhaps for my Aunt Sue who was the leader of our party in my uncle's absence. The Brewers party also was obviously spotted because Bob Uecker was with them who is extremely charismatic in person. The next day, Charlotte took a picture of my brother David and me with Bob Uecker ``between us'' - - - at the next table with Wendy Selig-Prieb and commissioner Bud Selig (her father). Too bad I don't have a copy of that picture yet, as I could have published it. I don't know how it came out yet.
But the Royals contingent and then secondarily the Ryan contingent were by far larger. Ryan's immediate party of people numbered about 150, I was told and I think they were staying elsewhere, since I hardly saw them. But George Brett has three brothers, just like me, and I wonder if my youngest brother David identified at all with George Brett's comments about being the youngest of four brothers in his induction speech. George Brett appeared to be having the best time of any of the inductees. He was just grinning every time he walked by. I was talking to a Fox Sports guy who was videotaping EVERY move of George's and he verified that to me.... from putting his tie on in the hotel room to wandering around in the crowd, George just couldn't get enough of it. Fox was going to cut and paste everything into a special documentary, but this guy thought they would give the Brett's all whatever, three days of videotapes! Robin Yount looked the most nervous, but he gave a really good speech.
Just wandering around the hotel, Yogi Berra was really friendly. Rush Limbaugh (with the Royals party since he is a good friend of George Brett's) the most obnoxious (lighting up a cigar in the hotel lobby), and a brief glimpse of Ted Williams were some other notable highlights.
My cousin, Bob, gave a really excellent speech about his father, though ESPN covered over it with Peter Gammons and Chris Berman telling stories. I haven't seen the tape of the ESPN telecast yet, but they did agree on what a good umpire Nestor Chylak was, I understand. It is not a coincidence, I believe, that yours truly enjoys GMing games in this szine as much of the family inherits this sort of attitude that made him so good as an umpire. My cousin Bob told the old family lore about my uncle learning of Bob's birth, his first son, by reading it on the scoreboard of Yankee Stadium. Some of the other family lore my mother was able to find some news stories in the family archives to back them up. The best one, I think is how he got started in the majors back in the early 50's during a riot at Yankee Stadium where he was umpiring second base and he ran out to Mickey Mantle and told Mick to get inside and he'd hold the crowd off! They both survived this incident. In a less successful incident, while Nestor was trying to keep order at the infamous ``10 cent beer night'' at Cleveland Stadium back in 1973, I think, he ended up in the hospital needing stitches from getting hit by a chair by a fan.
He retired in 1978 when he was in his late 50's when he felt he couldn't keep up to his exceedingly high standards of umpiring, and became the American League Assistant Supervisor of Umpires until his untimely early death. But he always was known for THE most consistent and accurate ball and strike calls in either league, not a trait shared by all current umpires. A subject of some discussion amongst the family at this event was the current baseball labor strife with the umpires. Of course, my uncle didn't umpire an exceptional number of World Series, because of the rotation system, but they always had his crew at the most important late season series. He had extremely high standards at all times, though, he had to in order to be that effective. Ted Williams, who is said to have the best batting eye ever, spearheaded the push to get my uncle into the Hall of Fame. The family has been waiting for this for a LONG time, and I can't help but wish that they had been able to do it in his lifetime.
The current umpires, in my view, are of two groups. First, many of the older umpires have worked too long under too socialistic a system without enough incentives to be the very best. Second, the younger ones have the fire and drive that I always associated with my uncle which leads me to applaud the current direction baseball is heading. I don't know precisely how he felt about all that, except that he was one of the VERY few people in my life who I ever might use the word ``hero'' about. Also, I like to think it is not a coincidence that even after all these years that it is the American League umpires who helped this stupidity to fall apart by sitting on the sidelines in significant numbers. I also say all this as a professor in a school without tenure where I am comfortable operating in that environment where I think my uncle would have thought the same. Of course, the brutal hours (the umpires have it much worse than the players since they are never ``home'' and the one good thing I think the labor union for the umpires won was the right to some in-season vacations) mandated some kind of labor action; however, any labor group who works to allow the undermining of the quality of their product is just wrong. Everyone loved my uncle: players, managers, clubhouse boys, and on and on. This should be the way all umpires should be - not at war with the game.
Lastly, I'll offer my own personal anecdote of a major moment in MY life. At the time of the funeral of my grandmother, when I was about 13 or so, my mother, my Uncle Nestor, and me were walking up the path to my mother's sister's house. As we approached the door, he stepped forward to open it and I walked up. Then I felt a very large, very firm hand on my shoulder. ``I'm opening this door for your mother, Jim, step back.'' I'm allowed to say (since my mother is not reading the szine) that my parents were generally pretty terrible at teaching manners, but I learned a whole big amount about a whole lot of things in a single instant right there as effectively as one could ever learn anything.
I can't help but blow my own story here by adding one additional note. I can remember one time when I very definitely did NOT step out of someone's way..... that I was also reminded of by recent news events. Once, when I was in graduate school at Brown, I was standing at a bar waiting in line for a drink when the crowd parted around me. I stood my ground and ordered my drink next, as I was next in line. When I turned around with my drink, I was face to face with a man named John... rest in peace John and his companions, the Bessette sisters, who died so needlessly....
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1999 IS AUGUST 21ST, 1999
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 2000 IS SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1999
Fall 1999
BRITAIN (Schultz): f eng-BEL, f BRN S f lap-mur, a swe-FIN, f lap-MUR, a bor-NAV,
f GOB-stp, f SAO-por, f BIS S a bor-nav, f MAO S a bor-nav.
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): a esa-LIB, f tun-MAL, a MAC S ITALIAN f alb-gre, a ana-ADA,
f MOR-sog, a arm-IRN, f EME C ITALIAN a nap-izm.
GERMANY (Rauterberg): f BHM C a den-lat, a SWI S a mun-aus, a mun-AUS, a den-LAT,
a LIT S a den-lat, a CZE S a mun-aus, a war-BIE, a KRA S a war-bie, a lyo-AUV, a pie-MIL,
f GDA S a lit, a PAR S a lyo-auv, f BAL C a den-lat, a POD S a war-bie.
ITALY (Ozog): a nap-IZM, a CRO-aus, f wme-TYS, a aus-swi (d r:slo,sax,ven,otb),
f ION C a nap-izm, a mon-MAR, f GOL S a mon-mar, a ser-HUN, f alb-GRE.
POLAND (Sasseville): a bie S a lat-lit (d r:crp,otb), a lat-lit (d r:est,otb).
RUSSIA (Ellis): f mur S a fin-lap (d r:ura,whi,otb), a MOS S POLISH a bie,
a STP S f mur, a fin-LAP.
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): a SVE S a por, a POR h, f GIB-sog, a BAR-auv, a mad-AND.
TURKEY (Pollard): a sib-VOL, a ank S a ist (d r:ana,arm,otb),
a ist S a ank (d ann), a aze-CAU, f AEG S EGYPTIAN f eme-ion (nso),
a gre S EGYPTIAN a mac-alb (d ann).
UKRAINE (Partridge): f ebs-ANK, a ROS S a geo, a KIE-ode, f wbs-IST, a GEO S f ebs-ank,
a RUM-ode, a BUL S f wbs-ist.
Supply Center Chart
| BRITAIN (Schultz): | EDI,LIV,LON,ire,nor, | (has 9, even) |
| swe,bor,mur,bel |
| EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): | ALE,ASW,CAI,isr,sau,lib,mor, | (has 7, bld 2) |
| ada,irn |
| GERMANY (Rauterberg): | BER,FRA,HAM,MUN,den,hol,cze | (has 14, bld 3) |
| swi,par,lyo,gda,kra,war,lit,bie,mil,aus |
| ITALY (Ozog): | NAP,ROM,VEN,cro,ser,hun,mon, | (has 8 or 9, bld 2(r:otb) or 1) |
| mar,gre,izm |
| POLAND (Sasseville): | none | (out) |
| RUSSIA (Ellis): | GOR,STP,MOS | (has 3 or 4, even(r:otb) or rem 1) |
| SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): | SVE,MAD,BAR,gib,tun,por | (has 5, bld 1) |
| TURKEY (Pollard): | none | (out) |
| UKRAINE (Partridge): | KHA,KIE,ODE,SEV,ros,rum,bul, | (has 7, bld 3) |
| geo,ist,ank |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=64) |
Addresses of the Participants
BRITAIN: John Schultz, #19390, W-M11L, Indiana Department of Correction,
Plainfield Correctional Facility, 727 Moon Road, Plainfield, IN 46168-9400
EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728, (440) 322-2920 ($4)
FRANCE: Harry Andruschak, PO Box 5309, Torrance, CA 90510-5309, (310) 835-9202 ($5)
GERMANY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
prosit of execpc.com
ITALY: Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138, (360) 691-4264 ($4)
ElfEric of Juno.com
POLAND: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 722-4029 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
RUSSIA: Randy Ellis, 1041 Kentucky #2, Lawrence, KS 66044
Randy1964 of aol.com
SPAIN: Sean O'Donnell, 126 S. Park, Oberlin, OH 44074, (440) 774-2928 ($5)
TURKEY: Kent Pollard, 1541 W. San Jose, Fresno, CA 93711, (209) 225-0957 ($10)
UKRAINE: Dave Partridge, 15 Elmer Drive, Nashua, NH 03062-1722, (603) 882-3523 ($8)
rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
Game Notes:
1) Check out the Modern Dip web page at: http://www.dragonfire.net/~ Cyberia/modern.htm
2) I don't know who plotted the blitzkrieg of Turkey, but congratulations are due. Whoooo, OW! Hurt me, baby!! Now, BE-have!!! Anyway, thanks to Kent for playing out the Turkish position. It is rare to see six centers grabbed in one fall turn to put another player out. You see it here. Thanks also to Roland for playing out the Polish position. The latter elimination was a little more expected, but in general, all across the board, we have quite a few retreats. Thanks to Randy Ellis for getting started with a bang in the new position.
Press:
(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): ``There's a bust of General Franco in the corner; And the Bible lies unopened on the floor; A veteran with broken feet will counsel to the blind; As the smell of petrol floods in from the car outside the door.... So keep on hoppin'; little stunted arms and legs; Out in the big wide world. Keep hoppin'; Waiting for the day to dawn and fate to cast the die." From ``Keep On Hoppin' ", naturally, also from Honky Tonkin, which I've been listening to lately.
(AMBASSADOR ATA-TURK PÖ-LLARD to AMBASSADOR PARTRIDGE): I have been silent for too long. Let us continue the ``Mother of all Battles''. Soon the Huns will come and it will be all over.... ((Unfortunately, Ambassador Partridge assisted in deeming that you should not wait that long for it to be all over for you....))
(ELLIS to POLLARD): You'll be hearing from me shortly if you haven't already gotten a letter from me. Another damn war game, Langwor.. Whoops. Wrong game. ((Sorry, Kent, I just can't resist.... why, dear Randy, would you have a need to write to Kent again??))
(BERLIN to ROME): We decided that it would be a shame to let all that pity being expended upon you go to waste.
(HALAAM MUSTAFA - TOOLAAM, MEMBER OF THE HIGH SECURITY COUNCIL OF THE OTTOMANS): Ambassador Ozog, your nation has committed brazen acts of Aggression against the Turkish homeland. ((I'd say they've been a bit more than that....)) The people cry for War. We will answer their plea! ((How, by slaughtering them wholesale to avoid capture....)) God is angered by your actions. Let Allah's will be done....
(THE GREATER REICH to SPAIN): Never turn your back on somebody, especially when they are desperate for dots!
(REICH to POLAND): Did you sit still for any supports this time? Too late-you're road kill, castaways of the new order.
(TO POLAND): The Sultan thanks your nation for fighting in the Jihad. You will be missed (you only needed more time). Our people will sing praise to you, as we do to the French... ((I think you're going to have to come up with something to salute your own valiant fights, too. You'll have lots of time to do it...))
(GREATER REICH to WORLD): 14 units to generate 5 moves? But if we pick up 5 dots, is this not maximizing our positional advantage?
(RUSSIA to ENGLAND/GERMANY): Imperialist Pigs, we shall fight you with everything we have! (plastic spoons, wet noodles, and caustic remarks being the bulk of our weaponry...)
(SPAIN to THE WICKED WITCH OF THE SOMETHING OR ANOTHER): We need you other than my dots and position to get them what arrangement can we work out. Help! ((I can't resist commenting, Sean, that one of the things you could use help with is grammar.... but I guess people can follow the basic idea you're trying to convey.))
(ELLIS to GM): Well, I finally got a standby position. It doesn't look like it'll last long but I'll make a go of it. It's good to be playing again.
(BARNO to ELLIS): If the name of the game were SURVIVE!, you'd be swimming away from the sharks at your maximum rate right now.
(UKRAINE to RUSSIA): I don't know what Siberia was doing, but if it still exists, I bet it turns SOUTH.
(THE GREATER REICH to THE LESSENED POLE): You talk bravely for an extinct species. And as for your ``going down fighting": by fleeing for Pod? C'mon coward. Show us some backbone as you perish!
(UKRAINE to BRITAIN): Perhaps this clarifies my Turkish policy.
(FOURTH ARMY GROUP, HEAVY WEAPON UNITS, SIBERIA): ``From Russia with Love...'' Infidels! Do not try to command the people of the sands to do your bidding. Son of the Ass of a Jackal! The Turkish Empire wil never give up!
(MUNICH to AUSTRIA): We almost feel guilty about this, but room has to be made for the new conscripts enlisting this Winter. There is no place else for them to go....
(ROME-BERLIN): To the last, I stab at thee!
(ERIC-PAUL): Better to die a free man than live as a slave.
(ORCZOG-ROADWORM): Once a Sad Clown, always a Sad Clown.
(ROME-LONDON): Join our noble cause (the men in clown suits) to free the world from the Men in Black.
(ERIC-PAUL): I thought about what you said, about having fun in this game, and here I am. It just turned out to be a different kind of fun.
(VICHY): The High Command of the Greater Reich today officially declared war on Spain. Big talk we can handle, but attacks on our territory will not be countenanced. Poland learned this in Prussia, and you will learn it here.
(UKRAINE to BOOB): The dreaded vowel alliance.... too bad they renamed England Britain.
(BARCELONA): The occupying Spanish army is finally forced to leave the shipyards of the Med, as the Italian navy comes to life (too late).
(RANDY to PAUL R): It's nice to be in a game with you, Paul. It's been a long time. I wish the odds were a little more even but those are the breaks I suppose.
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1906 IS AUGUST 21ST, 1999
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1907 IS SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1999
Pre-Winter 1906
BRITAIN (York): has a BEN, f GOA, a KAG, a KAR, f RS,
f HK, f MAL, a SIK, f PG, f BOB, a KAM, f NAN, f BAN(EC).
FRANCE (Sasseville): has f ANN, a YUN, f GOS, f FOR, f ban(ec),
f TON, a CAN, a RAN, a HYD, a ASS.
HOLLAND (Desper): has f SUL.S, f AS, f SCS, f JS, f MP, a SUM, f SUN.S, f LS.
JAPAN (Andruschak): bld 1; RESIGNS, KURT OZOG CALLED AS STANDBY; has a KYO, a MAC,
a VLA, f ECS, f SHA, a P.ART, f UP, f YS, f SOJ, a SEO.
RUSSIA (Williams): has a IRK, a AFG, a PUN, a MON, a PER,
f MED, a BAG, a LAN, a SHI, a PEK, a sik, a CHU, f EGY.
TURKEY (Tallman): has a ADEN, f SUD.
Addresses of the Participants
BRITAIN: Andy York, PO Box 201117, Austin, TX 78720-1117
wandrew of compuserve.com
CHINA: Rich Goranson, 4351 Chestnut Ridge Road, #7 Amherst, NY, 14228-3227 ($5)
ForlornH of aol.com
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 722-4029 ($7)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
HOLLAND: Rick Desper, Bergheimer Strasse 114, 69115 Heidelberg, GERMANY (E-Mail)
rick_desper of yahoo.com or desper of math.rutgers.edu
JAPAN: Formerly Luke Dwyer, 49 Middlesex Drive, Slingerlands, NY 12159, (518) 439-5796 ($3)
Ldwyer of mail.colgate.edu
JAPAN: New Standby is Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, 630-837-2813
kozog of cpiconf.com
RUSSIA: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($5)
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net
TURKEY: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0386 ($0)
ttallman of linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, (401) 351-0287
Game Notes:
1) The BFJHR draw is rejected yet AGAIN. The BH BlackHole draw also is rejected. New proposals are for a RBH draw and a Russian solo. Please vote with your Winter orders and failure to vote vetoes both.
2) I have orders from everyone except Japan and will go with what I have there, once I get a build from Kurt. I received a build from Harry, but wanted to hold the game so that Spring didn't jump right up and bite Kurt trying to take over. Then it made most sense to let Kurt make his own build. Apologies for the abortive standby call!!
Press:
(ANDRUSCHAK-GM): It was a bit of a shock to receive TAP #221 with your handwritten note that ``Late word is you have Japan. Thanks. Also, after I printed, I found your press which had been set aside since you were not playing. I'll get caught up next time.'' For starters, I thought I had made it clear that the only standby positions I wanted were three dots or less, the ``hopeless'' positions that would otherwise end up in CD. ((You certainly made it clear that this was your preference, but not that this was all you wanted. I did think about the fact that the Japanese position here is hemmed in and might not move a whole lot or do very much.... and that you could liven it up, sorry about that.)) But not a position with 11 SCs and a build. And especially not a position where the deadline for Winter is 31 July and for Spring is 21 August, since my next vacation is scheduled for 1-20 August. This makes it impossible for me to conduct Diplomacy as I do not have internet access, and taking along a portable computer would not be a help.
As such, I must RESIGN this position after making the Winter 1906 build and can only hope you will be able to find another standby. ((I did not accept your build and delayed the game because then it would leave Kurt Ozog with no time to prepare for Spring.))
In fact, you might as well take me off ALL standby lists until I get e-mail. ((OK.)) Despite your glossing over the subject in your reply to Don Williams, it remains a fact that Kathy, without e-mail, was rapidly eliminated in her game. ((I didn't think I glossed over it, but if I did, I didn't mean to. There were DEFINITELY E-Mail factors that affected Kathy in that game, but it was more an issue of how the GM's were GMing the game and distributing the results than anything else. This szine doesn't work quite the same way, though I do admit that it is tough being in California where all my Brit readers get the szine before you do by SNAIL MAIL!! This is the failure of the USPS to adjust resources adequately to the growing areas of this country, in my view.)) As the only player without e-mail in ``Fear and Whiskey'', I was rapidly eliminated. ((You are showing some ignorance here. John Schultz faces the additional difficulty of having no phone number. Much of the negotiation in Arsenic, for example, is occuring by PHONE. People can call you on the phone, where they can't with John, yet John contributed mightily to your elimination. Jeff and Kent don't have E-Mail either and both WERE doing well, though Kent took the big fall this time, Jeff was part of that despite not having E-Mail. I don't buy this. I agree that it ``matters'' but it is not decisive.)) And I have seen this pattern in other PBM zines. ((I strongly believe this pattern is LESS here than anywhere else, partly because of the reliance on the telephone by many players here.)) Those without e-mail are at a huge disadvantage in any game where the majority of players have e-mail.
So when will I get e-mail? Whenever my brother, Michel Paul Andruschak, comes over to my place and sets up an internet computer system. My brother has an ``Andruschak Home Page'' on the World Wide Web for those of you fancy-shmancy web searchers. Ask him to get me on the internet pronto. I have the money, just no time, experience, or even knowledge of what is needed.
This does not apply to the next ``Breaking Away'' game, as that game seems to require little in the way of negotiations with the other players. So keep me signed up for that one. ((Done.))
(HOLLAND): Speaking of Tom Cruise movies, is it worth it to see ``Eyes Wide Shut"? I am hearing that ``The Blair Witch Project" is a film not to miss. Thankfully I'll be in the US for a few weeks so I can catch up on all the movies I have missed thus far (South Park, Blair Witch...anything else?). I think it's really weird that Mr. Hanky is running France. ((Some these are still on my ``see'' list. I actually liked ``Tea With Mussolini'' a whole lot even though it hasn't gotten much buzz because it is supposed to be a ``women's movie'' with stars like Joan Plowright, Cher, Maggie Smith, and scene stealer Lily Tomlin. I just thought it was a really engaging movie.))
(H - J): You're really far away, so I'm going to type really loud! Who's running the country? Another NMR and the game is sunk.
(MORE DUTCH BASEBALL): Sign on here to join the Butch Huskey bandwagon! What's wrong with Offerman? Strange to see an All-star get benched. The Mike Boddicker-for-Jeff Bagwell & Curt Schilling trade continues to look like the worst in baseball history. (Yes, even worse than the Babe Ruth sale). Imagine how good the Sox would be if they had the current frontrunners for NL MVP and NL Cy Young on their team. No, that's probably not safe to do.
I got something confused in my earlier comments. The two bad Red Sox trades were:
1) Schilling and Brady Anderson for Mike Boddicker
2) Bagwell for Larry Andersen
Boddicker at least gave the Sox a couple quality years, though nothing compared to what Schilling has ended up doing. We knew at the time Brady would be good, but aside from one fluke year, he's never been phenomenal. ((Correct!))
OTOH, Bagwell for Larry Andersen is just plain wrong. People who complain about Dan Duquette should admit his predecessor was responsible for this move. This doesn't get Duquette of the hook for his childish handling of Mo Vaughn and Roger Clemens.
Oh, I see I just got a letter from you to this effect. You can print the back-and-forth.
Rick, who thinks Breaking Away has gotten too serious and is about to join the snowball fighting in Tinamou.
(H - B): Good work last turn!
(MORE DUTCH FILM COMMENTARY): Saw Elizabeth in Heidelberg a few nights ago. All the English was dubbed in German. But of course, the French-speaking Scots (Mary & family) were left in French. Rather surreal to realize that, the way to tell the Scots from the English is that the English speak German while the Scots speak French.
CHARLES JONES WON THE GAME AS GERMANY!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Rick Davis, 1130 Hevrin Cr., Soledad, CA. 93960, (831) 678-2132 days, (831) 678-4470 eve.
redavis914 of aol.com
FRANCE: Harold Zarr, 215 Glen Drive, Iowa Falls, IA 50126-1957, (515) 648-2821
GERMANY: Charles Jones, 1722 Quail Circle, Corona, CA 91720-4155, (909) 735-8981
RUSSIA: Eric Schlegel, 314 Fords Lane, Aberdeen, MD 21001, (410) 272-3314
TURKEY: Richard Weiss, 500 Beale St. # 104, San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 512-7221
rcw of sirius.com or rcw23 of hotmail.com
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, (401) 351-0287
Game Notes:
1) Ummm, guess what, no endgame stats here yet. Eric Schlegel continues to reap benefits.....
Press:
NONE!
Personal Note to You: