| August 13, 2001 |
Web Page Address: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html
To meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and for the personal edification of Richard Weiss, one may locate the Tinamou subszine at:
| /Postal/Zines/TAP/Tinamou |
``The Israelis seem to think that if we ask for a separate room that we
are asking for an independent state.'' and
``We are not in the business of working as the employees of the Israeli occupation. We are not in the business of becoming their collaborators. What we want is the end of the occupation... [the Israelis] cannot say, `You can have fractional responsibilities,' while they take away our land and build more settlements.''
From Hanan Ashrawi, the first quote in 1991, when as lead Palestinian negotiator she made that famous statement as the Israelis refused to ``officially'' meet the Palestinian delegation in a room. The second quote is recent from a speech at Cornell University. I just want to note that ten years have passed essentially with no discussion of the ``real'' issue - the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, fortresses on the hills surrounding Palestinian towns. Very sad, extremely sad, not diplomatic.
This is a bit late, but it is mega-stuffed with subszines and all sorts of
reading material.
Back with a memorable issue #250 next!!!
The postal sub price is now
$1.50 per issue in the US and Canada,
STILL a bargain at twice the price.... but
you can double that for other foreign subbers (or $3.00 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: See the revised game start announcements below!
Plus, we continue ``taking over the US hobby'' by keeping up an extensive roster of subszines. We have Michael Lowrey's Houdini Blues as a Southern branch office in TAP. Don Williams' sublime publication also will continue to appear here as Deny Everything's takes a major chunk of space in many issues. This issue, we have the latest two Deny Everything's as well as the latest from Dave Partridge's Tinamou AND the latest Houdini Blues!
Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: /
I also have taken over the Postal portion of the Pouch: /Postal/
and TAP on the web is there at: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html
where 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 someday. Also, check out Stephen Agar's more extensive efforts at: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com and http://www.meurglys.com
Help, David has grabbed and reserved the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! David Wang's site used to be the best place to follow John Caruso's postal baseball league that I am in. BUT, the site has not been updated as well in recent times. THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-POO Martin's website: http://www.phantomempire.com where in the ``files'' section, ``baseball'' sub-section, you can see all of the individual and team level stats. You need to sign up as a ``member'' to see all of the files. You, too, can chat with John Caruso there, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. My team is sinking quickly into the cellar this year, but I have devious evil plans for NEXT year!!
Peter Sullivan's subszine is currently ïn stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.manorcon.demon.co.uk/octopus/index.html
Peter is unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until ``at least the start of 2002." In the meantime, if anyone else fancies running some choo-choo games here in TAP, both Peter and I would be keen for someone else to try their hand.
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!! And of course for FIXING everything this time around!!
| THE SEARCH FOR ??? |
We're cancelling the search for Mickey Preston since Paul Kenny already found him. I'm looking for other people to search for, otherwise we will take a break. I need someone ``big'' to announce in #250, please help me think of someone!!! I will likely choose a missing ``Hobby Award Recipient" from the lists below. If you haven't voted in the Hobby Awards, do it NOW!!!! Get a ballot at:
/Postal/Zines/TAP/BALLOT01.html
Or feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Mark, Gregory, Kevin, Al, and Jerry found too!!! Note that Brenton Ver Ploeg would love to find Leslie Obata, the woman that Jerry Lucas used as his front too. This could be an easy way toward finding Jerry, though as Brenton notes, who is to say she has the same name now. 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 Mark Berch, Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe or Jerry Lucas or Al Pearson is ``found'' from now on it is worth $25.
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.
| INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS |
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.
E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.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. There has been some interest in finding a new Australian representative. Should someone Down Under have an interest, or from anywhere else in the world, please contact me. We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into guilders or then into other continental currencies, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.
In a NEW announcement, we are reopening a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. I think we can maneuver deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at b.whyte of pgrad.unimelb.edu.au (same university where John Cain works!) or by mail to send checks at: Geography Dept., University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. This should help out my Australian subbers in the future!!
| WORLDMASTERS00 SECTION (with letters AND a game!!) |
Worldmasters 2000 Email Diplomacy Tournament Goes ON!!
The second round continues. This year there is a large number of players who go on to Round 2, before they narrow to the Semi-Final Round of Seven games to determine who goes to the Finals. Expect this Tournament not to end for another year, though we are obviously already well into 2001.
The main WWW site for Worldmasters can be found at http://worldmasters00.diplomacy.org.uk
Sign up for the conference board at
http://webforum.cloud-nine.com/~ worldmasters2000
The Conference board is where day to day communications and discussions take place. Yes, and Jack Brawner and Marc Peters are playing in there somewhere, go see if you can find THEM!
The Boasters game below is a ``demonstration game'' being run within the
2000 Tournament, but separate from it..... I also have just started playing
in another similar demo game there called Road to Rio that you can watch on the
Webforum page.
| M2000 Boasters!, Worldmasters2000 Time Wasters Diplomacy |
Fall 1908
AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): a BUD S a vie-gal, a SER-bul, a boh-MUN, a vie-GAL, a ALB-gre.
ENGLAND (Setzer): a YOR-lon, f BAL-swe.
FRANCE (Pérez): a gas-SPA, f LON h, a hol-kie (d r:ruh,otb), f BEL-nth,
a pic-BUR, f eng-MID, f nwg-EDI.
GERMANY (Mehaffey): a kie-HOL, f HEL S a kie-hol, f NTH-bel.
ITALY (Dennehy): a pie-MAR, f aeg-ION, f GOL S a pie-mar, a tyo-TRI.
RUSSIA (Harris): f bar-NWG, f NWY-swe, a UKR S a sev-rum, a sev-RUM,
a mun-KIE, a swe-DEN, f wal-LVP, a sil-BER, a gal-SIL.
TURKEY (Miszti): f GRE S a bul, a SMY-con, a BUL S f gre, f BLA-con.
Autumn and Winter 1908
AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): rem a alb; has a BUD, a SER, a MUN, a GAL.
FRANCE (Pérez): R a hol otb; bld f bre; has f BRE, a SPA, f LON, f BEL,
a BUR, f MID, f EDI.
GERMANY (Mehaffey): rem f nth, f hel; has a HOL.
ITALY (Dennehy): bld a ven, f nap; has a VEN, f NAP, a MAR, f ION, f GOL, a TRI.
RUSSIA (Harris): bld a war, a sev; has a WAR, a SEV, f NWG, f NWY, a UKR, a RUM,
a KIE, a DEN, f LVP, a BER, a SIL.
TURKEY (Miszti): bld a con; has a CON, f GRE, a SMY, a BUL, f BLA.
Supply Center Chart
| AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): | VIE,BUD,ser,mun | (has 4) |
| FRANCE (Pérez): | BRE,PAR,spa,por,bel, | (has 7) |
| edi,lon |
| GERMANY (Mehaffey): | hol | (has 1) |
| ITALY (Dennehy): | ROM,VEN,NAP,tun,tri,mar | (has 6) |
| RUSSIA (Harris): | MOS,STP,WAR,SEV,rum,nwy, | (has 11) |
| swe,lvp,ber,kie,den |
| TURKEY (Miszti): | ANK,SMY,CON,bul,gre | (has 5) |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=34) |
Addresses of the Players
AUSTRIA: Fearghal O'Donnchu, fearghal.odonnchu of life.friendsfirst.ie or twerg_85 of yahoo.com
ENGLAND: Ray Setzer, mczet of cat23.com
FRANCE: Niclas Pérez, perez of astrogator.se
GERMANY: Mike Mehaffey, mehaffey of ape-i.com
ITALY: Brian Dennehy, brian.dennehy of iol.ie
RUSSIA: Toby Harris, Toby.Harris of equifax.com
TURKEY: Emeric Miszti, emeric of cloud-nine.co.uk
Game Notes:
1) Since Niclas is traveling after our get together at World DipCon (everyone but Meef was there!!!), we'll hold this up for a few weeks.
Press:
| DIPDOM NEWS SECTION (with letters) |
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.
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.
| Check out the new Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org |
The new Summer issue should REALLY be out shortly and is worth waiting for. A ``wrap-up" of the 1999 WorldMasters tournament, plus some other great articles. Stephen Agar has had a processing disaster with a hard disk crash on his computer and the draft of the issue was lost, but believe me it IS worth waiting for. We will reconstruct it as quickly as we can. Apologies for the extreme delay!! We almost have it reconstructed now, I'll turn to finishing that as soon as this issue is out. I need to keep remembering to back up all of my Dip stuff so this doesn't happen to me someday.
The previous New Year issue features a doozy of an interview with Brandon Clarke of New Zealand. Also, the ``Ruffians'' demo game has a write up with an introduction to the full negotiation history on the Diplomatic Pouch's Showcase web site. You can see how our very own Paul Rauterberg was screwed over by former World Champion Chris Martin not once, not twice, but at least THREE times. But Chris didn't win.... not that time. There also are some summaries on all the different ways to play Diplomacy in the World at the present time and some writeups on last year's major British Diplomacy conventions. Kath Collman's write up I found particularly gripping and illuminating reading! If you want to subscribe in paper form at $3 per issue, North American subs should be sent to David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA. Stephen Agar is handling international postal subscriptions and you can write to him at: 47 Preston Drove, Brighton, BN1 6LA, UK. Issues from Stephen will cost you 2 GBP in the UK and 3 GBP for the rest of the world.
I will be continuing to resolve the question of the back issue subs. I have money from Doug Kent now. If you were a subber to Diplomacy World and explicitly are sure you DO NOT want your sub filled out or you are sure you DO want your sub filled out, then please contact me NOW. I have begun the effort of contacting everyone directly and will finish it shortly. Thank you to all those who have responded, especially all of the KIND comments I received about starting this up again. They were most appreciated.
| 2001 Hobby Awards News |
Deadline is coming up Labor Day weekend in the US (first of September), so get your votes in soon. You can get the ballot on the web at:
/Postal/Zines/TAP/BALLOT01.html (HTML format) or
/Postal/Zines/TAP/BALLOT01.pdf (Adobe PDF format)
If you need another paper ballot, please let me know. I sent two copies to each postal publisher I knew of, but I know I missed some. The Chair also traditionally offers paper copies of the Rod Walker Award nominations for those people that need them. With the exception of the Allan Calhamer book, I will offer the same option this year. If you need paper copies, let me know. Lastly, I thought I needed to publicize the history of the awards as well, so here they are:
Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service Winners: 1983 - Rod Walker; 1984 - Lee Kendter; 1985 - Bob Olsen; 1986 - Bill Quinn; 1987 - Bruce Linsey; 1988 - John Caruso and Simon Billenness (jointly); 1989 - Doug Acheson; 1990 - Fred C. Davis, Jr.; 1991 - David Hood; 1992 - John Boardman; 1993 - Cal White; 1994 - Doug Kent; 1995 - Andrew York; 1996 - Manus Hand; 1997 - Doug Kent; 1998 - Michael Lowrey; 1999 - Michael Lowrey; 2000 - Edi Birsan.
Rod Walker Award for Literature Winners: 1983 - Presented in Rod Walker's name to Rod Walker by The Avalon Hill Game Co. as a perpetual plaque reading: ``Celebrating Diplomacy's 25th Anniversary, 1958-1983''; 1984 - Mark Berch; 1985 - Bruce Linsey; 1986 - Daf Langley; 1987 - J.R. Baker; 1988 - Mark Berch and Fred C. Davis, Jr. (tied); 1989 - Rex Martin, et al.; 1990 - Larry Botimer and Francois Cuerrier (tied); 1991 - Mark Berch; 1992 - Garret Schenck; 1993 - Conrad von Metzke; 1994 - David Smith; 1995 - Ken Walker; 1996 - Tim Hoyt; 1997 - Mark Fassio; 1998 - Conrad von Metzke; 1999 - Heath Gardner; 2000 - Paul Windsor.
John Koning Award for Player Performance Winners: 1986 - Dan Stafford; 1987 - Randolph Smyth; 1988 - David McCrumb; 1989 - Marc Peters; 1990 - Gary Behnen; 1991 - Gary Behnen; 1992 - Gary Behnen; 1993 - Marc Peters; 1994 - Jim Yerkey; 1995 - Bruce Reiff; 1996 - Mike Gonsalves; 1997 - Mike Gonsalves; 1998 - Sara Reichert (Harry Andruschak); 1999 - Frank Easton; 2000 - Mark Fassio.
Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance Winners: 1996 - Andy Lischett; 1997 - Andy Lischett; 1998 - Doug Kent; 1999 - Andy Lischett; 2000 - Michael Lowrey.
| Jim-Bob Goes Dipping Across Europe, PART I |
I am surely going to ramble on far beyond the patience of many of you, but as you know that never stopped me before and won't stop me now. All I can say is that I had another epiphany of a Dip experience, not in that I was successful in any material way (I barely avoided the type of performance that might have generated a Jim-Bob Challenge Cup...), but I just had a hell of a lot of fun! In my history in the hobby, I've had two such epiphany events that I thought would never be topped. One was at MadCon (a new MadCon is taking place the weekend after I write this and I wish I was there) back in 1986 or so when I grabbed a great sleeping place in the same room as the earthquake rending snoring of Jack McHugh and laughed with Cal White and Mike Barno and James Wall and hosts Marc and Debi Peters about nearly everything. The other was at THE PudgeCon where Russ Rusnak and Daf Langley had that great water fight and Eric Ozog and I had our uncontrollable giggle on Bob Olsen's porch. That was in 1983, I believe.
These last two weekends didn't quite have that kind of emotional high, but might end up on the same level. In a much longer way, I'll see if I can bring that across.....
I was the first one to arrive at ManorCon this year, yes I was. We were told not to arrive before 2 PM and since I flew direct to Birmingham on the standard overnight flight, I arrived in the city a bit early. I probably should have alerted someone and found somewhere to hang out and get some food and the like. But planning ended up not very high on my list of priorities before this trip, so I just fell into things. So, dragging all of my luggage, I bought the rest of the train tickets I needed for my British travel and then took the train to the downtown Birmingham New Street station. I managed to wander around downtown (hey, I enjoyed it even though the locals told me it is a dump), though there is a GIANT hole of a couple of acres in the middle of it where they apparently are putting together some major urban renewal. I found some decent food, I bought some stamps and mailed some postcards, and then I grabbed a cab to the University..... well, I gave VERY clear directions to take me to Chamberlain Hall, but got dropped on the other side of the campus. This matches my continuing experience every time I go to Britain with the first cab I hail. They always get lost or take me to the wrong place and each time ***I*** know I am in the wrong place from my map, but I figure, ``hey, I'm the foreigner, I must be wrong!'' Well, I was right and I had a quarter mile walk or more (still dragging all my luggage) to the new ManorCon site at Chamberlain Hall. The last time I was to ManorCon in 1994 (WDC IV), it was in Shackleton Hall, which I recognized as I walked past it up the hill.
But it did mean that I arrived at quarter to two instead of half past one, since I was targetted to be REALLY early in the first place. I was greeted by Kath Collman and David Norman, so I knew I was in the right place! I also knew I was somewhere else as the TV in the lounge had on a cricket test match, which I watched for a bit as I waited for others to arrive. Soon I finally met Niclas Perez of Sundbyberg, Sweden who I've interacted with on E-Mail quite intensely in the last year. He didn't look at all like I expected, very tall and very blond with his large backpack. Diplomacy tournament chair Nick Kinzett set up the Diplomacy sign up board and I watched as he and David Norman set up the Diplomacy room toward the Diplomacy first round start at 6PM. I also had the time to CAREFULLY read the tournament rules, discovering that supporting orders for units from other countries required the specification of the country in your order (e.g. A Ven S FRENCH A Pie-Tus). This stood me in good stead relative to some others who were NOT aware of this rule and it hurt them. This wasn't very social, but the bar did not open until 5:30PM and I didn't want to start playing another game in the large open gaming room, so where were we to get some liquid sustenance as I was greeted by and greeted the early arriving familiar names?
Ah, but then I finally met Toby Harris and he brought BEER! He also brought the mercurial Fearghal O'Donnchu (Twerg) and a dizzying array of other people, some of whom I had met at World DipCon X in Baltimore last year and some who I was meeting for the first time. This kept us quite lubricated until the Diplomacy round began. Ah, ha, and I drew Austria!! This would be fun. Simon Hornby was Russia, Andrew Greco was Turkey, and Keith Smith was Italy. I immediately sized up Keith's and Andrew's styles and knew I would have to work out a devil's deal with Andrew. While Keith and I surely could communicate and talk, he was just the kind of rational irrational player who was sure to be difficult for me to ally with. Germany was the Tournament Director for next week's World DipCon XI in Paris, Thibault Constans, so it was good to meet him finally after corresponding with him so intensely this year by E-Mail. And France was Sean Colman, who was one of the contingent (along with Richard Orme) all the way from Australia for this Dipping extravaganza. Sean was, well, unique. I'll explain as we go. And England?? Yes, England was Toby Harris. My first game here and I was to face Toby again (most of you will know of the story of the first round of the WorldMasters 1999 E-Mail tournament, and if you don't I don't have room to reiterate that here, but suffice it to say we had a history).
To start the game off, we had what looked like a Western Triple developing. I tried to warn Thibault that he was SURE to be stabbed by either Toby or Sean or both (Sean clearly was a talented tournament player too), but Thibault would not listen. So, as I said, I made the Devil's deal and helped Sean take out Keith (the above A Ven S FRENCH A Pie-Tus was my Fall 1902 order for that unit) while allowing Andrew Greco's Turkey also to grow in an AT alliance. See, Faz, AT's can work..... well, sort of. Andrew did stab me in 1904 as Keith in Italy was barely hanging on at the same level as Thibault in Germany. Toby was angling for the win, but I decided that I would rather have Andrew top the table. Besides, no one was in position to help me (Simon Hornby being engaged with Toby in the north and my units lying between Sean's and Andrew's). This also had a perverse sweetness, as Toby's Turkey had defeated my Austria in the aforementioned WM99 game. So, I had good knowledge of how to move Austria north to establish a ``north of the stalemate line'' beachhead!! The games were run with fixed joint deadlines (David Norman's ubiquitous computer countdowns with the time limits kept us on track) and the first round went to 1909. Could I survive until then? Could I influence the board topping outcome between Andrew and Toby?? Thibault and Keith were out in 1905 and I held my own with five units. I had F Nap and A Ven supporting Sean's F Rom so that I could convince Sean to mix it up with Toby. Yes, I tried to induce Toby to stab Sean too soon and he did. And boy, was Sean tenacious (some would say obnoxious ;-) once stabbed! Toby NEVER took a center off of Sean and I wasn't about to assist. My other three units in 1905 were defending my homeland against Andrew's attack.
From here though, things went downhill for me. I moved to Tyo and started supporting Sean in Munich (annoying Toby to no end) until I had to disband it at the end of 1906. But it was clear that I still couldn't defend my homeland, so in Spring 1907 I moved A Vie back to Tyo and supported Munich again in Fall 1907 and kept that as my last unit. Now I needed to figure out how I was going to survive two more game years and bloody Toby's nose some more. I stayed in Tyo in 1908, assisting Sean, and convincing Andrew not to take my last center, but I knew that wouldn't work in 1909. So, with my last breath, I stabbed at Toby through Munich in Spring and into Toby's Berlin in the Fall!!! I survived with one center. Not great, but given the personalities and the board position, I couldn't have done much better and Andrew topped the board. In ManorCon's complicated sums of squares scoring system, Andrew scored 44.22, Toby 29.87, Sean 12.54, Simon with 4.62, and me with 3.47. Thibault and Keith got 0.5 each for their 1905 eliminations.
Toby was mega-pissed and for a bit seemed as if he would never talk to me again ;-0 Well, not quite..... but I admit that I was VERY happy to take that center of Toby's at the end and I didn't feel as badly about Andrew's board topping as I ``should'' have. I think Andrew ended up around 5th in the Tournament standings, so he can thank me for that. If Keith Smith had been a steadier more world thinking player, I probably would have allied with him and I certainly spent a lot of time talking to him and his wife Eve over the next week and a half, but in this game that alliance simply wasn't going to work and I knew it instantly. Andrew played me just as he should have.
We were so intensely into the game, though, that we missed the cafeteria dinner and the game ended so late that we didn't think we could get any food anywhere else either. So, I dipped and went without dinner that night, except for some beer..... In the morning, I was so hungry that even the dorm English breakfast (which was not stellar) tasted wonderful. I brought my little portable battery operated alarm clock so I made sure I was up in the morning for the 9AM Team round even though David and Nick weren't going to let me play..... let me explain. My main reason for being sure about going on this trip was that a professional organization whose board I am on was having its biennial convention in York starting that Sunday. But I had to be there for a board dinner on Saturday night, so I had to leave the ManorCon venue at 3PM. Though that allowed for 6 hours of dipping, David and Nick properly ruled that I shouldn't play since I wasn't guaranteed to finish. But partly to show that there were no hard feelings and partly because I thought it would be fun, I wanted to track the battle between the ``Toby-Dave'' team and the ``Superpowers'' (formed by merging ``Best Asians'' with the Irish crowd). But ONE team of Oxford players was one player short as someone overslept. So, to get things started, Nick and Dave asked me if I would fill the last game slot as Russia. I shrugged and said sure. It was going to be a VERY good game with Susie Horton as Turkey (on the ``Toby-Dave'' team), Demis Hassabis as France (on the ``Superpowers'' team as I think the Punisher...), Mark Stretch as Germany, William Attia as England, James Hardy as Austria, and John Stratford as Italy. But just as I got started, the missing player showed up and in Dippus Interruptus, I bowed out and he played the whole position. As Susie and I talked then, and more later, we would have had MUCH, MUCH more fun had I played the position..... but I was back to my tracking of the teams.
I forget what the ``real'' name of Toby's team was, but I thought of it as the ``Toby-Dave'' team since Susie's husband Dave Horton and Toby led the team, though it was quite deep actually. Niclas Perez was playing Austria and Niclas ended up winning ManorCon. He played a great Austria, growing steadily to 10 centers by 1906 (when I had to head for the train station). Dave Horton was England and he never got really untracked.... dropping to four centers in 1904 and two by 1906. The brilliant veteran German player, Thomas Franke, was the team's France. He got stagnated after taking Bel, Spa, and Por in 1901 and was knocked down to four by 1906. 1999 WorldMasters Champion Lee Simpson was experiencing his first FTF tournament play and wasn't handling it any better than any player used to the pace of E-Mail does the first time around. He played Germany for the team and while he got up to five units in 1903 he was playing for his life and quite surrounded. He also was down to two units and looking close to annihilation in 1906. Toby himself was playing Italy and had to do it all himself. I enjoyed watching Toby play a masterful balancing game, stabbing to eight centers in 1906, but I'm not sure he was able to hold that. Other than Niclas, his was the best performance on the team. Leif Bergman was the team's Russia and he got to seven units in 1902, when things were looking decent for the team, but got stuck there. He was down to four units in 1906 too. Finally, in the game that I almost was in, Susie Horton was Turkey in the game noted above. Susie had great trouble with my replacement. While I surely would have been stabbed by Susie (whose play I came to respect a great deal over the two weekends) at some point, we also surely would have worked wonderfully well at the beginning. But Susie was down to her home three in 1903 and 1904 before staging a valiant comeback to five in 1905. Alas, she wasn't able to hold that and also looked in bad trouble as I left.
Meanwhile, I was tracking the Superpowers (I don't remember all of the attachments, but each team player had a T-Shirt for their superhero). WDC X Champ Simon Bouton (Superman) and Vick Hall (Captain America) were having some trouble, but Gihan Bandaranaike had 13 centers by 1904!!! And Twerg (Flash) was close behind, getting to 11 by 1906. Demis Hassabis had 9, Chetan Radia had 7, and Brian Dennehy had 6 at that same point. So, though the ``Toby-Dave'' team had 36 centers to the Superpowers 35 at the end of 1903, the gap widened to 56-34 in favor of the Superpowers by 1906!! I don't think any other team was even close to that.
But I was gone by the end and I don't have too many details clear about the outcomes of ManorCon. I do know that Niclas won the Dip (as mentioned), the Superpowers won the Team, and Nick Parish won the Croquet!! I'm sure these are or will be posted somewhere shortly.
After my conference, I had a ticket from York to London King's Cross on Thursday morning, July 26. That was to hook up with the EuroStar for EuroStarCon on the way to Paris! Shaun Derrick was the organiser of this wonderful event that made it really easy for me not to pay ANY attention at all to what the arrangements were for World DipCon in Paris. I just knew when I had to get to Waterloo Station to meet the group on time. So, I had been to King's Cross before and knew that I could try to maneuver the Underground, but after dragging my luggage all over Birmingham the previous week I had reached my fill of this, so I wanted to take a taxi (hopefully one that wouldn't get lost!!!) but the Taxi queue at King's Cross was huge. As I contemplated this, I spotted a private limo driver off to the side and hopped the queue to ride with him. I knew it might be really expensive, but the last thing I wanted to do was to MISS the EuroStar when I knew NOTHING about where I was going in Paris. I don't think I even had the hotel name on me! And who knew what midday London traffic would be like. Well, the limo was very comfortable, the driver quite chatty, and he sped across town with great speed. So, as I wandered around Waterloo station looking UP for the ``balcony'' that Shaun described, behind me I heard the totally unmistakable voices of Eve and Keith Smith calling me! They were the first ones there and I was second after being worried about missing it!! We were soon met by Ivan Woodward; the Aussies Richard Orme and Sean Colman; Dave and Susie Horton plus their delightful baby!; Best Asians Chetan, Vick, Demis, and Simon; David Norman and Mark Wightman; Doug Massie and James Hardy; the quiet Peter Richardson (whom the WM E-Mailer types know well!), and the personable but NOT quiet Bear Barrow (I think I have nearly everyone in there). Bear was one of the other Americans and I discovered he is the son of Don Treasure (who I see mostly in szines like Steve Koehler's) but I had not heard of Bear himself before. We were to become fast friends! BUT, the one missing personage was our fearless leader Shaun Derrick!! I and many of the others didn't have our tickets and I started to worry again.
But that fear was groundless as Shaun finally arrived and our big group took off for the train (his train into London had been delayed by various line problems). The EuroStar is, I believe, one of the longest passenger trains in the world with more than 400 passengers on each trip and guess what? Shaun booked us in the VERY first car which meant we had to walk the entire length of the train. Good thing I saved up energy with that limo. I had a funny moment with the X-Ray machine as I struggled with my various parcels and packages. I put my large bottle of water through the machine as David Norman laughed and laughed..... ``Jim, they can see that there's nothing but water in that.'' Well, we got there anyway. Shaun almost had us taking over one entire cabin, but there was a group of four women at one end and a family at the other end. The family in particular didn't know quite what to make of a very loud pack of game players as we pulled out all of these strange games to play, moving around switching positions to get us on the board of the game we wanted to play.
I wanted to play Dip of course, and we played two quick standard FTF gunboat games while we slowly moved across the south of Britain (seeing a beautiful dust devil in a hay field but mostly ignoring the scenery while we focused on our games). Then into the English Channel tunnel and from there we moved much faster (probably over 150 miles an hour) most of the rest of the way to Paris. After the gunboat games, Doug Massie brought out a German cycling game that became one of the staples of the rest of World DipCon. I know I've heard of it before, but it is out of print. I'd like to find a copy in the states someday..... more on that later.
Before we knew it, we arrived in Paris and of course THIS time we were at the very front of the train!! I changed some of my remaining pounds into francs and we gathered the crowd for the trip on the Paris Metro to the hotel. After lots more luggage dragging ;-) we arrived at the Hotel La Louisiane. Xavier Blanchot's grandmother owns the hotel and his family VERY generously opened practically the whole hotel to the foreign contingent for free. Getting a hotel in the center of Paris like that on the weekend of the end of the Tour de France is especially generous. Xavier himself checked in a few times to make sure we were all set, but he did not play in the tournament himself, which was too bad. I talked to him twice for brief periods to thank him personally. If you want to see pictures of the place and where it was, Ray Setzer has lots of them up on his website at: http://www.cat23.com/paris The hotel spent some time in the nineteenth century as an old soldiers home and it is in one of the more medieval feeling sections of Paris with lots of narrow streets and street markets (not as many as the area southeast of the Bastille on the other side of the Seine, but more than any American city). It also is very near one of the gallery districts which you encounter moving down any of the side streets toward the Seine.
Obviously our group was a significant proportion of the foreigners, but Toby Harris and Twerg and others also were there when we arrived. One never wants to get between an Irishman and his beer and Twerg wanted some. But it was about 9PM and the major markets were closed, so Twerg (Flash) started using his superpowers to find beer. He started dancing and darting down the street asking everyone he saw where he could find a store with beer (this is NOT a good question to be asking in Paris). Why would you want to drink BEER in Paris??? He kept getting what seemed like leads and he danced across streets and took the dozen or so people who started out with him and began to lose them. Finally I and two other people, I think including Doug Massie gave up as they danced and sped out of sight. We headed back to the hotel. I went down the street the hotel was on toward the Seine and just ONE block down I found a store with beer, but it wasn't cold and they didn't have any ice. So, knowing Twerg would buy FAR more beer than anyone could drink and thinking he might find something cold, I returned to the hotel. Twerg quickly arrived with three cases!! After some laughing and some talking and some beer drinking, I could see that the best thing for me if I wanted to go to the Louvre in the morning before the Tournament started at 2PM, was to head to bed. So I did.
Since this story is going to get VERY long, this is a good point to break it. You'll have to come back next time for the story of my trip to the Louvre and the World DipCon XI tournament itself. That will be fitting material for my #250th issue in any case!!! Comments from anyone else who was there for publication will be most welcome! There already has been a HUGE amount of discussion of scoring systems via E-Mail, which I couldn't possibly reproduce here. You can join the WDC discussion list at wdc-l of diplom.org by sending the message
subscribe wdc-l
to majordomo of diplom.org.
Paul Rauterberg (Mon, 13 Aug 2001 13:51:34 -0500)
Hi Jim: M Barno and I were among the attendees at the Sun Prairie Madcon last weekend. We agreed not to discuss the NonLawyers game, and we got along just fine.
It's funny- almost all of us Madlads are 50 pounds heavier and all of us have lost our facial hair. Rusnak is by far the greyest of the bunch, although he lies in the middle of our group agewise. (I was second eldest, thanks to Bill Becker being there-whew!).
((I, on the other hand, have KEPT all my facial hair and have LOST some weight, well only about ten pounds, but a little.))
Both Marc and Debi Peters are exceptional cooks, so the chow was fantastic (and no beef roasts fell off the grill as one did 18 years ago in Chicago!). I broke my 16-year ``retirement" from ftf Dip, and perhaps my lack of practice was telling-my power was the first out of the game.
| -Paul, trauterberg of wi.rr.com |
Taylor Hayward
FTF DIPLOMACY GAME
september 8th, 10a, brookline ma
The game is being held at 1033 Beacon Street in Brookline. It is a few doors down from the St. Mary's Green Line (C Line) T stop. It is apartment #2.
Refreshments will be provided, and a break will be taken in the middle of the game for food (sushi, pizza, etc.). The apartment is spacious and comfortable. The game will take place in the dining room, and there are plenty of other rooms to plan stabs in.
| -Taylor, taylorhayward of yahoo.com or thayward of gjpc.com |
((Taylor and Adam Silverman (agman of mit.edu) are running these games. Taylor has a web based ``reservation'' system set up that is QUITE neat. E-Mail him to be added to it.))
Jamie McQuinn (Wed, 11 Jul 2001 00:49:43 -0000)
To all interested gamers. I will be holding the fifth (sort of) annual Rubicon Games at my home, the weekend of October 12-14, in Dayton, Ohio.
Mark your calendars! Diplomacy other board games will be played.
Please pass this information on to any persons you think might be interested and ask them to respond back to me. I am attempting to re-assemble my Rubicon Games distribution list, from which I will be sending further information.
| Hope to see you then! Jamie McQuinn, mag_jamie of dayton.lib.oh.us |
((Thanks, Jamie, here is the list of the other major upcoming FTF events....))
Tim Richardson (Fri, 03 Aug 2001 13:35:30 -0400)
DIPLOMACY FACE TO FACE EVENTS
AUGUST 2001
24-26: Dragonflight, Seattle, WA USA; www.Dragonflight.org for Con and housing information; Contact: BuzEddy of AOL.Com for Diplomacy tournament infomation. ((Terry Tallman is a regular attendee at this one and I've seen the rest of the pre-registered group. It really is a great group, get there if you can!!))
25-26: Wellington Diplomacy Open; Absolutely Diplomatically Wellington 2001; Location: Seatoun RSA Function Hall - Contact Rob: robs of paradise.net.nz, or Dom: StephensD of rbnz.govt.nz ((I'd REALLY love to get to a New Zealand con some day, I won't get to this one, but perhaps you will??))
31-Sept 2: Palo Alto, CA (San Francisco Bay Area) USA; CONQUEST, Hyatt Rickeys, 4219 El Camino Real; Contact: Edi Birsan edi of mgames.com; Website: http://www.con-quest.com/ ((Edi's really trying to gear this toward tournament playing novices, GO and find out how much fun tournaments can be!!!))
SEPTEMBER 2001
14: FALLCON DIPLOMACY; 636 Marlborough Way NE at the Calgary Marlborough Community Centre; Visit the official FallCon website at http://www.fallcon.com; Contact: stevezanini of fallcon.com for FallCon-related info, and Robert Vollman at vollman of home.com for Diplomacy-related info. ((Robert Vollmer is a great guy and trying hard to promote Canadian tournaments. If any of you Canadians can get there, you will find it well worth it.... Americans too!))
29-30: ACT Diplomacy Championships; Canberra RSL Club, Moore St., Canberra City, A.C.T, AUSTRALIA; Contact: Arianwen Harris on (02) 6248 5348 or 0418 407 321 ((Or go to an Australian tournament and get ready for World DipCon XII!))
OCTOBER 2001
5-7: Tempest in a Teapot III, Laurel, Maryland, USA; http://www.robandlisa.com/ptks/ Contact: Andy Marshall (landruajm of netscape.net) ((The Tempest in a Teapot ``Pitkissers'' events come VERY highly recommended. I probably can't make this one, but if I do get to one outside of the NE this fall, it will be TT III.))
NOVEMBER 2001
2-4: UNITED KINGDOM, Birmingham City; MidCon; Birmingham City Thistle Hotel (formerly the Royal Angus); Contact Events: SFC Press, 11 Greyfriars, Bedford MK40 1HJ or phone Maurice on 01234 219679. ((Another event in Birmingham.... Brits tournamenting...))
9 - 11: NORWAY, Trondheim; HexCon 2001 [www.hexcon.no]; Norwegian Diplomacy Association ndf of diplomacy.no - Erlend Janbu janbu of online.no ((My pal Erlend Janbu is starting to take over the Norwegian Diplomacy Association from my other good pal Frank Johansen! This should be a great con!!))
9-11: IRELAND, Dublin; European Diplomacy Championship; For more information e-mail: EDC_2001-subscribe of yahoogroups.com; Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDC_2001; Accommodations: E-Mail Paraic Reddington (paraic.reddington of first-e.com); Registering: Brian Dennehy (denno88 of yahoo.com) or Fearghal O'Donnchu (dipireland of yahoo.com). ((Twerg and Fred and Brian running a Dip tournament?? Wow, this one will be great too!! If I were a bettin' man, I'd bet on Brian to win the tournament.))
DECEMBER 2001
1-2: The Don Challenge Cup; Jason Whitby; email: j.whitby of pgrad.unimelb.edu.au; Phone: (03) 9486-7697. ((And while I'm at it, how can I avoid publicizing the Don Challenge Cup, the tournament named after American Don Del Grande??? Yes, we haven't been kidding!))
JANUARY 2002
5: Canadian National Championships; Stratagem's 9th Annual Tournament. Contact: Rob Vollman at vollman of home.com ((I mentioned Rob above, if you can't make Fallcon, what about this??? I should try to get more details from Rob.))
MARCH 2002
29-1 April: World Dipcon 2002; Contact Rob Stephenson: rstephenson2 of bigpond.com or RSTEPHENSON of mfbb.vic.gov.au ((Or, plan ahead for this!!! I won't be able to go, but really wish I could.))
MAY 2002
25-26: NordCon, Eimsbittel, Hamburg, GERMANY; Contact: Michael Goetze (mgoetze5 of yahoo.com) ((Michael is trying to get the German FTF Diplomatic scene going again. Help him out, go to NordCon!!! Meeting Michael in Paris also was a lot of fun. I've made a point this issue of letting you all know how much FTF Dip is going on around the world, don't miss out!!))
Fred Davis (August 1, 2001)
Dear Jim: Would you do me a favor, and print a notice to the effect that my First Printing of the Best of Bushwacker has sold out, and that I've had another batch printed. Because the cost of the printing has gone up, from now on there has to be a price increase to $5 within the US, and to $7 elsewhere. There are 170 pages in this anthology.
((That should do it [along with his address below]. I found this document fascinating, if a bit disjointed. Fred has put together all of the highlights of his szine, which I didn't get for most of its run, and he just picked and chose pages here and there. So, at times, it can be hard to figure out where you jumped to, but I did find it provided an afternoon of fun reading. I recommend it for you hobby old farts who continue to congregate around here.))
I was very pleased to locate Walt Buchanan, thanks to help from a search engine and Paul Kenny. Walt tells me that he's now in touch with you and that you're sending him some back issues of DW to bring him up to date. Excellent! BTW, shouldn't the next issue of DW be out by now? The last issue I rec'd was #86, in February.
| Best regards, Fred, 3210 Wheaton Way, Apt. K, Ellicott City, MD 21043-4362 |
((See above for that explanation. We had it all assembled back in May and then Stephen Agar had that disasterous disk crash! Luckily, I had copies of almost everything, I think.... we're still sorting through to be sure. It will be out VERY soon. Really!!))
| MUSIC SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY) |
Tell me anything you like about the year of 2000 in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! Mine will appear ``REAL SOON NOW'' - yes, in issue #250!!!
Mike Barno (Sat, 04 Aug 2001 12:18:33 -0400)
Here's another mini-review, this one for my first big live music event of the year [sad to say]:
``Hickory Smoked Blues", a festival named for its site, Hickories Park along the Susquehanna River in Owego, New York. This was Saturday July 28, all afternoon and evening. Headliner was worldfamed Roomful of Blues, ((From right here in Providence, RI, I've seen 'em many, many times and have most of their CD's.)) along with eight other national, regional, and local acts. All had both original songs and classic blues-related material. Eight hours of fun. There were only a couple of thousand people there at a time, maybe three or four thousand at peak for the Roomful. The lineup:
The Hitmen, from somewhere around the area. Next, the Owego Free Academy Jazz Band from the local high school. They were the only act without originals but their director might have done some new arrangements. Then Red Light District, from Syracuse; a funk/groove sound, primarily originals but also covered Son Seals and the Grateful Dead. From New York City came Michael Hill's Blues Mob. A lot of history buffs in this zine's readership would like the song ``Monticello Nights", about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in light of the DNA evidence. It's on their latest CD from Alligator Records. Next was local band Mule in the Corn, sounding mostly bluegrass/groove. Bob Margolin, formerly of Muddy Waters' band, brought his current band for the next set including new material and classic Muddy numbers. Oldline Chicago bluesman Carey Bell played next, backed by Margolin and his band. Bell led with harmonica and vocals. The Ithaca-based Bluecats followed, fronted by 13-year-old Randy McStine. Mostly the sort of mid-century electric blues that gave birth to rock'n'roll. Some of the Bluecats have been together almost twice as long as McStine's been alive, but the kid played a searing lead guitar that proved he belonged there. (He'd already shown proof by drumming on M Hill's first song to fill in for the Blues Mob's late-arriving drummer.) Roomful of Blues rewarded the crowd with proof that the horns are not dead in the digital age. A fireworks display closed the festivities. I sat (or occasionally danced, making a kid ask me to teach him ``that cool dance" which in fact had no form or structure whatsoever) through the whole event, other than a walk in the woods to refresh myself. On the whole it was an excellent experience thanks to every band.
| - Mike, mpbarno of lightlink.com |
Warren Goesle (Thu, 19 Jul 2001 17:54:15)
Jim-Bob,
As you're probably aware, ESPN is going to create a made-for-TV movie based on John Feinstein's book, Ä Season on the Brink", which details the year he spent following the Indiana University Men's Basketball team around (I believe it was the '84 - '85 team...which included the infamous chair being hurled across the court in Bloomington during a Purdue game). Needless to say, this item has received a LOT of press around here, mostly centering on who would play the head basketball coach. Our local paper had an article this morning on possible selections for the part, which I reprint in part:
((This sounds quite fascinating, but you should know as a ``cableless household'' I really don't pay attention to what ESPN is doing, so I was totally clueless about this....))
Robert de Niro. De Niro (as Knight) to IU president Myles Brand: ``You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?" ((For my less Indiana focused subbers, Myles Brand looks very academic, kinda like Goz actually, but smarter.... ;-) and just doesn't look right when in the same room as ANYONE playing Knight....))
Brad Pitt. Pitt will connect with females ages 18-34, an important demographic that Coach Knight misses. ((Pitt will have to gain a whole lot of weight, but he has the impenetrable accent thing down perfectly.))
George C. Scott. Who was more commanding than Scott? Ok, he's dead. But that won't stop Bob Knight fans from clamoring for the only man in Hollywood who was man enough to fill Knight's shoes on the silver screen.
Vanessa Redgrave. This is a bit of creative casting, but consider: She's a tall woman, controversial in her own way, and her first major hit movie in the United States was ``Blowup", released in 1966. She's a perfectionist who brings a lot of presence to the stage and always speaks her mind. Need we say more? ((I like this idea a whole lot..... Vanessa is stupendous.))
The Rock. The Rock is one of the stars in Hollywood's ``The Mummy Returns". Neil Reed never would have lived had The Rock laid the smackdown on him, baby! Realistically, the new ESPN movie about Bob Knight couldn't be any worse than ``The Mummy Returns" - actually both movies could share the same title. ((Huh??? Who is the Rock now?? I gathered from Steve Langley a few issues ago that he is some kind of wrestler or something? That should fit with Knight's penchant for physically threatening people who speak against him.))
Foghorn Leghorn. Foghorn is a tall chicken who's always trying to justify himself to others. Foghorn's story so closely matches that of Coach Knight that they could play each other in a double-bill.
A local sports radio show is soliciting ideas for other parts in the movie. The best one that I've heard is Danny DeVito as Gene Keady.
There. That's my basketball input for you for this millennium.
| Goz, gozcorp of iquest.net |
((That's too bad, we love basketball talk around here.... the local Celtics look like they are moving beyond the Pitino years with a flourish but Rick stays in the news in Providence by publically declaring that his ties with Providence College are ``cut'' over the firing of his friend, PC Athletic Director John Marinatto. John is one of the good guys in the NE basketball scene and we are sorry to be losing him (mostly internal politics at PC). But the basketball team looks great for the coming year. Point guard John Linehan is making preseason all-star teams and the rest of the team from last year is largely back. They will do well in the Big East and nationally for sure.))
Warren Goesle (Sat, 21 Jul 2001 12:20:39)
Jim-Bob,
When last we left the Indiana Quarter issue, I had assumed (there's that dirty word) that the final decision had been made to choose the one with Chief Little Turtle, who fought the white man, and then, like any good businessman or Diplomacy player when he's been defeated, traded with him. In fact, it appears that it was only the recommendation of the U.S. Fine Arts commission that I'd heard. Our Governor made the final decision yesterday. And he has chosen to have the one with a background of 19 stars (Indiana being the 19th State) and outline of the State itself, and a foreground of a race car. Not just ANY race car mind you. In fact, it doesn't look like ANY thing I've ever seen. Any hard-core race fan will note that the front wing is very large, the rear wing very narrow, the fuselage very small and very short. Ugly.
((You're kidding, right??? No, you probably aren't..... haha, well you won't be laughing at anyone else's quarters now, will YOU?? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Teach you to rag on another state quarter...))
Every state has its quirks. Indiana is a lot bigger than Rhode Island, so we have a lot more quirks.
Didn't we deport you? What are you doing back in-country? How'd it go at the World's? Who finished second to you?
| Goz, gozcorp of iquest.net |
((See the whole story in its brilliance and ugliness above. Finishing 70th meant that not very many people finished second to me. But I'm still happy with it, having a great time was the first priority.))
Ken Peel (Thu, 19 Jul 2001 10:46:51 -0400)
Jim, I know that I have not done a good job keeping in touch, but I wanted you to know that I'm in the process of changing jobs.
((You've been fine. Tom Nash, who is now living in NYC, is highest on my list of ``not keeping in touch''.))
Friday, July 20, is my last day working for Senator Hagel. On Monday the 23rd I will be joining the State Department's Policy Planning Staff working under Ambassador Richard Haass.
This is an interesting new challenge for me. I've spent the last 17 years working on foreign policy issues in Congress. I have at times felt like a Best Man at a string of other people's weddings (since foreign policy, to be effective, ultimately requires executive branch leadership). I guess it is now time to explore more directly the institution of marriage (so to speak).
| Be talking to you later, - Ken Peel, KLPeel of msn.com |
((Thanks, Ken, always good to hear from one of the real ``professionals"!))
Eric Ozog (Wed, 1 Aug 2001 08:37:53 -0700)
While on my travels in Victoria, B.C. I was surprised to find a 1999 album from Clan of Xymox called Creatures. If you remember Xymox, they went techno (and sucked) after their excellent Phoenix album in 1991. Well, the Clan is back (in The Netherlands) and the Creatures album is very similar to their old style of haunting synth gothic rock, like the Medusa album, although it seems more darker sounding-even evil-and the original lead singer now sounds like a possessed Peter Murphy. Particularly striking are the songs Taste of Medicine (nearly an 8 minute jam), All I Have, Falling Down, and the instrumental Without a Name, which sounds like a theme from some slasher movie. If you're not yet past the ``dress in black gothic rock stage", a.k.a. the Sisters of Mercy, then this album is for you. The Clan of Xymox also have a 1997 album called Hidden Faces and a 1984 release called Subsequent Pleasures, which predates Medusa. Overall, the Creatures album is fairly good, and I plan to eventually get Hidden Faces through Metropolis Records on the www (www.metropolis-records.com), and you can check out the Clan's website at www.clanofxymox.cybercomm.nl.
| Eric, elferic of juno.com |
Kurt Ozog (Fri, 10 Aug 2001 14:05:08 -0700 (PDT))
Man, I'm quite pleased (and surprised) to hear Xymox is back. Ever since I braved the `Metamorphosis' album, I've considered them dead (the `Phoenix' and `Medusa' and `Twist Of Shadows' albums were they're very best of all I've heard!).
Btw, Eric, I saw Echo and the Bunnymen with Cortez a little while ago in Chicago. They were fantastic, however a fleeting appearance- seemed like they rushed through the set list. But they were great nonetheless. The new album has really grown on me, I love it. Great Bunnymen tunes.. Also picked up their new box set full of unreleased "b-sides" and stuff. Great investment for any Bunnymen fanatic like us! I have to say, they're my 2nd favorite band now, after Church.
| Kurt, heyday6 of yahoo.com |
Steve Langley (Sun, 29 Jul 2001 19:40:39 EDT)
``Planet of the Apes" - a movie
Back in 1964 I was taking a class in Philosophy and the instructor recommended that we read Pierre Boulle's `Planet of the Apes'. I had already read the book which had been translated to English the year before. It was touted as exciting new Science Fiction, and in those days Science Fiction was all that I wanted to read.
I asked the instructor why he was recommending the book. He said that it was an interesting Allegory. You mean like `Animal Farm' and `Slan' I asked. I could tell by the momentary blank in his eyes that he had never heard of `Slan'. ``Uh, not quite," was his hedge of an answer.
Not even close is the real truth. Both `Animal Farm' and `Slan' were truly interesting and allegorical. `Planet of the Apes' was just bad science fiction. Or, maybe it lost a lot in the translation. Boulle's `Apes' were never recognizable as examples of human societal types. His story never really made a lot of sense, and the ending, while a total surprise was only so because it was so totally off the wall.
In 1967 the book was made into a movie that improved only slightly on the book in that some of the `Apes' in the movie were interesting characters.
Now, a whole new version of ``Planet of the Apes" is out. This one may be a bit closer to being allegorical. The story itself is new, although the premise of a modern man thrown into a world where his species is not dominant is the same. Different story, much the same off the wall ending, except that this time I wasn't surprised. I might almost have liked it if Tim Burton hadn't gone for the surprise ending and had left his hero in the situation of leading the humans and the apes into a brave new world together. I say almost.
Technically it was brilliant, although there was one ape lady who was way too humanlike in her mammilary development. The tendency the apes had to jump and shriek when surprised was a good touch.
| Steve, Steflan of aol.com |
((I'm sorry, Steve. I would take all that a few steps further. I really like Tim Burton, but I think he needs to have his Directorial license revoked, possibly permanently. And he should become a Production Designer instead. I really was looking forward to this movie, since despite the major plot flaws, I was one of the people that really TRIED to like ``Sleepy Hollow" last fall. But no, there was NO excuse to make this movie except that Tim and his buddies decided something like: ``I think we can do some way cool sets and costumes if we remake Planet of the Apes!!'' The main ``ape house'' set was imaginative and stunning, especially when the apes bounced all around it when surprised or disturbed. But it just WAS NOT ENOUGH to get past the lamest story I've seen in many a year - and when you're talking Hollywood that is really saying something!! It was just a total mess from beginning to end. And I know it was ``cool'' but that battle scene between the Apes and Humans staged the way it was just left me cold. The fear of water thing was played like a lame plot device and the sequence of ``surprises'' at the end just became more and more incredulous. It wasn't even funny!! Bye, bye, Tim Burton, we loved ye, but unless you can get your head out of your butt, we can't love ye no more.))
Steve Langley (Sun, 15 Jul 2001 20:34:48 EDT)
``Legally Blond" - a movie
I have to admit I was sucked in by the trailer. Turns out the movie was all the trailer promised, that is to say a really funny `blond joke,' and better. There actually was a real plot with character growth, and a more than interesting character.
Reese Witherspoon did a wonderful job of being the stereotypical blond, even teaching a short seminar on `blond' to the customers of a beauty salon. She was also very compelling as a girl who realizes that no one ever has nor probably ever will take her seriously, because all they see is `blond.'
I laughed, I empathized, I had a really good time. This has to be my pick of the week for the past two weeks.
| Steve, Steflan of aol.com |
((Damned straight, Steve!! There were a few of the jokes, especially some of the ones in the beauty salon that went just that extra touch too far for me. But on the whole this was a thoroughly entertaining movie with REAL characters having complex back stories that you could see the glimpses of. This is all too rare these days.
The scenes at the small college with the sorority at the beginning were just tremendous. What design work!! And I generally hate lame animals in movies but Reese's character had a pet dog that actually added to the movie rather than distracting from it. Plus, as an academic oriented person, the slams of that environment were right on target. I think this clearly was one of if not THE best of the summer movies. A real surprise!! I suppose American Pie 2 is out now though..... sigh.))
Steve Langley (Sun, 15 Jul 2001 20:27:09 EDT)
``Final Fantasy" - a movie
First let me say again, computer animation absolutely rules.
The animation was awsome. It was also a bit distracting. I was so into looking at how well things were animated that I was not pulled into the movie. Of course, the movie as a movie wasn't all that compelling. Maybe I'm just getting picky but I really do like there to be a decent story when I go to a movie. The story was even simpler than the `Tomb Raider' story. Oh well, for a while I guess they can get by on the superb animation. Sooner or later someone will realize that they can make an even better movie if they have a good story, too.
| Steve, Steflan of aol.com |
((Yeah, I didn't see this one, but I did see Tomb Raider and ALMOST tried to like it until the story went over the lameness edge (Ms. Jolie saves a guy trying to kill her with a special power for absolutely no reason I could see and with no consequences worth discussing afterward.). I have been reading a bit of the Decameron by Boccaccio lately (Middle Ages Italian work) which has HUNDREDS of story lines that I'm sure Hollywood could steal. It actually has fun little short stories (all Hollywood has the patience to tell anyway) that don't sound like I've seen them all before. And there is incredible variety..... sigh.))
Steve Langley (Sat, 14 Jul 2001 19:41:18 EDT)
``The Score" ... a movie
Great cast. Too little story. This was a caper movie. One of the rules in a caper movie is that there are lots of twists and turns to the plot. This didn't twist and turn so much as sort of swerve a little as it progressed down a fairly predictable path. The acting was excellent. The caper was challenging enough. The story was over while I was still waiting for the twist ending.
Robert de Niro kept threatening to not do the caper. He never followed through on the threat. One nice possible twist that was left out would have been for him to walk out only to find that his old friend Marlon Brando's silent partners had kidnapped his girl friend to use as a lever to keep him in line. The silent partners were mentioned, but nothing ever developed with them.
Oh well. ((See above....))
| Steve, Steflan of aol.com |
Steve Hutton (Thu, 19 Jul 2001 09:38:00 -0400)
Taking a ``cocktail" of AIDS drugs is complicated. The exact details vary from patient to patient, and are changing all the time, but it's something like this: you must take 15 pills every day on a strict 8-hour schedule for the rest of your life. You take some pills with water, some on an empty stomach, and some on a full stomach. Sticking to this schedule is hard, even if you have lived your whole life in a culture where the clock determines when you sleep, eat, drink, and work, where you are surrounded by clocks on your computer, your VCR, your appliances, the wall, and your wrist. In one study of Americans who had been on the cocktail for two years, only 50% said they always took the pills according to schedule. And, if you miss just a couple of doses of a protease inhibitor, the virus can mutate and make the drug useless.
((Since I work in health care, I am well aware of all of this. The facts of what has happened in Africa when the full cocktail is made available stuffs much of your concern in the can. Perhaps because their lives might be less rushed than ours, this is NOT the problem that you and Natsios assume.))
I don't think it's racist to suggest that people who live in a third-world village or shanty-town (on any continent) will have even more trouble with the cocktail regimen than the average American.
((Perhaps, but it also is untrue and that makes it racist in my view.))
And this assumes they will receive, understand, and believe correct information about the dosage and schedule - which is a lot to assume in the context of very poor countries with dreadful social services.
By comparison, the rules for taking antibiotics are dead simple: don't take them unless you have a disease that antibiotics can actually treat, take one or two pills a day until they run out even after you start feeling better. Yet, antibiotics are routinely misused in poor countries (and in some groups in rich countries, such as drug users with tuberculosis). ((I agree this is a bigger problem in many ways than AIDS drugs.))
It's easy to caricature Natsios's argument as ``black people are stupid", but he raised real problems that we can't just wish away. Treating AIDS in Africa won't be easy.
| Steve, stevehutton of sprint.ca |
((Sorry, but the argument is really about corporate power and money. The problem with treating AIDS in Africa is that it might be expensive, but worse it will require the multi-national pharmaceutical companies to expose practices that may have repercussions elsewhere. It is quite simply a huge moral outrage. A complex issue, to be sure, but let's make sure we understand the chief barriers and not get confused by assumptions from far, far away. That includes mine, by the way. I believe people who I've met that have walked in the moccasins there.))
| LAWYERS: THE AMATEUR DIVISION - 2000G - GUEST GM: RUSS RUSNAK |
2000G, Amateurs Game, Winter 1905
Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com Build: A Trieste, A Budapest , A Vienna; Has A Munich, A Spain, F Aegean Sea, A Berlin, F Portugal, A Serbia, A Rumania, A Trieste, A Budapest, A Vienna
England Bruce Linsey GonzoHQ of aol.com Has F Norwegian Sea
France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com Remove F Helgoland Bight, F North; Has F Irish Sea, A Ruhr, A Belgium, F Brest
Germany Mike Barno mpbarno of lightlink.com Remove A Yorkshire; Has A Holland, F Skaggerak,
Italy Jim Burgess burgess of world.std.com Has A Naples, F West Med, A Piedmont, A Gascony, F North Africa
Russia Randy Ellis Bukowski64 of yahoo.com Build A Warsaw; Has F Mid Atlantic, F Denmark, A Prussia, F Baltic Sea, A Sweden, A Finland, A Sevastopol, A Kiel, A Constantinople, F Norway, A Warsaw
AUSTRIAN / RUSSIAN DRAW PROPOSED, PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE
PRESS:
Moscow to Vienna: Your stab in the back pains me, sir. However, it may not pain me as much as you wish. We shall see...
Germany to Russia: *sigh* two more centers forcing a Russian removal; you saw we had all the orders sent-but-not-received....
Jim: And just so you all know.... TAP is being mailed today and I am leaving for Europe tomorrow and will be out of E-Mail access until August 1. Russ, please make sure the deadline is after that....and so the rest of you know I am not ignoring you. It's fine to announce the adjustments while I am away.
Spring 1906 orders and draw (A/R) due Wednesday, August 8, 2001
Russ Rusnak 1551 High Ridge Parkway Westchester, Il 60154
GM 708 409-0718 RRRRRUSNAK of AOL.com
Bob Osuch 19137 Midland Ave. Mokena, Il. 60448 AUSTRIA 708 478-3885 ROsuch4082 of aol.com
Bruce Linsey PO Box 234 Kinderhook, NY 12106 ENGLAND GonzoHQ of aol.com
Paul Rauterberg 3116 W. Amer. Dr. Greenfield, WI 53221 FRANCE 414-691-4264 trauterberg of wi.rr.com
Mike Barno 634 Dawson Hill Road Spencer, NY 14883 GERMANY 607 589-4906 mpbarno of lightlink.com
Jim Burgess 664 Smith Street Providence, RI 02908 ITALY 401 351-0287 burgess of world.std.com
Randy Ellis 3116 McGee, Apt 1N Kansas City, Mo. 64111 RUSSIA 816 931-8406 Bukowski64 of yahoo.com
| THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION |
``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:
Bruce Linsey, Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Stan Johnson, Randy Ellis, Bob Acheson, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, Dan Gorham, and John Schultz stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Phil Reynolds, Jim Sayers, and Kurt Ozog stand by for the Modern Diplomacy game.
Harold Reynolds stands by for Colonia. Help, more are needed for this game, maps are provided for free by me.... or by Harold Reynolds just ask.
Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.
| GAME OPENING INFORMATION |
REGULAR Diplomacy Game Opening for E-Mail Oriented Players: Tim Miller, Daniel Méhkeri, Jim Sayers, Allan Heikkinen, Adam Mitchell, and Chris Lockheardt are signed up. This game is FREE, but you have to be pretty active on E-Mail or I won't let you in, we need just ONE more player.....
LAWYERS GAME: Steve Koehler, Stephen Agar and Steve Emmert already have signed up. We're searching for lawyers, contact me if you have any leads! We've invited Thomas Libby and Edwin Turnage but they have turned us down. Plus I'm still looking for a current address for Mark Franceschini. Official standby for the game is David Hood. HELP!!!
Eric Ozog will be running Air-Sea Diplomacy some time in the future. You can contact Eric at ElfEric of Juno.com if you are interested in the game. I'll publish the rules closer to a time when Eric wants it to start.
I've decided to kill the Star Trek Diplomacy opening. It clearly wasn't resonating. I think I'll try again when Colonia ends. Sorry about that everyone. I owe Chris Trent $20 back, but according to my records I don't have money from anyone else. If you think that is incorrect, let me know.
John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough is now interested, anyone else?
Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and Chris Lockheardt is pulling out of that opening too, so I need three players. Eoghan Barry is signed up. Postal rules from me will be forthcoming shortly, on my never ending to-do list. I will get them in SOON!
I also am taking names for the new NYEED game. The Breaking Away game is starting below, get me names, riders and cards!!!
Stephen Agar runs a British Diplomacy mailing list and has a new broader web postal gaming web site too at: http://www.postalgames.org.uk
and if you are interested, contact Stephen Agar at stephen of meurglys.com or join the Brit hobby mailing list at (aw, you guessed it, another new address): http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/about_this_site.htm
| SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1902 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1902 IS SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2001
Spring 1902
AUSTRIA (Kent): a BUD S a gal-vie, a ser S a gal-vie (d r:alb,otb),
a gal-VIE, f GRE-ion.
ENGLAND (Sundstrom): f edi-NTH, a bel-hol (d r:pic,otb),
f nth-NWY, f eng-MID.
FRANCE (Tretick): f mar-GOL, a par-BUR, a POR-spa,
f WES C a spa-naf, a SPA-naf.
GERMANY (Williams): f kie-DEN, a mun-SIL, f den-SKA,
a RUH S a hol-bel, a hol-BEL.
ITALY (McCullough): f rom-TYH, f NAP-ion, a tyo-PIE,
a TRI h, f TUN-naf.
RUSSIA (Pollard): f gob-SWE, a war-GAL, a UKR S a war-gal, f sev-RUM.
TURKEY (Goesle): a ank-CON, f con-AEG, a rum-SER,
f BLA S a bul, a BUL S a rum-ser.
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Doug Kent, PO Box 783, Palmer, TX 75152
dipworld of ix.netcom.com
ENGLAND: Matt Sundstrom, 1948 West Byron, Chicago, IL 60613 ($5)
Matt.Sundstrom of chicago.bbdo.com
FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 12925 Circle Drive, Rockville, MD 20850 ($4)
JTretickGames of aol.com
GERMANY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($4)
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net
ITALY: Jody McCullough, 1071 Brown Avenue, Lafayette, CA 94549-3153
jodymc of telocity.com
RUSSIA: Kent Pollard, PO Box 5726, Fresno, CA 93755-5726
awargamer7 of hotmail.com
TURKEY: Warren Goesle, 3907 Cedar Ridge, #1B, Indianapolis, IN 46235
gozcorp of iquest.net
Game Notes:
1) This game from negotiation hell seems to have been joined by the Duck. Welcome, Mr. Williams, so nice of you to come and play. Some interesting, even fascinating press.... none from YOU though, unless YOU are the mysterious Black Presser.
Press:
(ITALY to ALL): Due to recent events, the French leader will no longer be called by name. He will now be simply referred to as ``that gentleman who spoke the other day".
(BOOB to ITALY): Does that impact me too??
(ARCHDUKE FERDINAND): I'd apologize to my allies (and my enemies) for a lack of communication this season, but since I am to be assassinated in 1914 anyway to set off World War I, why bother? Musical picks for this issue - Haunted by Poe, Terrorizing Telemarkets by Jim Florentine, and the upcoming CD by Kay Hanley.
(TURKEY to AUSTRIA): Sigh. Nothing for so long. I feel so unloved in Vienna. So I might as well make the most of it.
(AMBASSADOR POLLARD to THE NATION OF AUSTRIA): A Declaration of War is now in effect between your nation and my own. A lack of communication and the attempt to take Rumania by your country has brought this about. God save your people!
(TURKEY to FRANCE): For the record, a move to the Ionian Sea will be looked upon as an act of war. Note that I don't think that you'll get there, but you apparently do.
(EDINBURGH-PARIS): The fleet in the Channel doesn't have anything better to do than head south and watch the upcoming fireworks in the Med.
(ITALY to AUSTRIA): Sorry about that. I needed the fleet.
(EDINBURGH-WORLD): The German delegation has been found! Hoping they're not Something to Be Scared of.
(TURKEY to ENGLAND): Fall 1902 is when it happens, right?
(BOOB to TURKEY): You mean, when Don Williams starts negotiating??
(CHICAGO CALLING): The Cubs are still in first and actually traded like they meant it. It's almost too exciting to not believe it. I didn't follow the Red Sox..are we still on track for the Anti-futility World Series? ((I'm not sure, the Red Sox can't get pitchers back fast enough before losing some more. They are definitely on a downturn and need some kind of shake up. We'll see what happens before they play the Yankees head to head. I'm sure that they have to win the division to get in the playoffs though technically they are closer to the wild card.))
| FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1906 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1907 IS SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2001
Fall 1906
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a GAL S a boh, a tyo-PIE, a vie-TYO,
a TUS S a tyo-pie, f ROM S TURKISH f tyh, a BOH S a vie-tyo, a NAP h.
ENGLAND (Biehl): f wes-GOL, f NAF S RUSSIAN f mid-wes, f TUN-tyh,
a RUH S GERMAN a kie-mun.
FRANCE (Davis): a pie-VEN, f gol-spa(sc) (d ann).
GERMANY (Shreve): a KIE-mun, a ber-SIL, a MUN-tyo, a MAR-pie,
a PRU S a ber-sil, f SPA(SC) [is sanctified and...] S ENGLISH f wes-gol,
a bre-GAS, a BUR-mar.
ITALY (Tallman): a POR S(anctifys) GERMAN f spa(sc).
RUSSIA (Tretick): a STP-mos, a LVN S a stp-mos, a MOS-ukr,
f mid-WES, a sil-gal (d r:war,otb).
TURKEY (Ellis): f eas-ION, a APU h, f TYH S FRENCH f gol-wes (nso),
a SEV S a ukr-mos, a RUM-ukr, f AEG S f eas-ion, a UKR-mos.
Supply Center Chart
| AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): | BUD,TRI,VIE,ser, | (has 7, rem 1) |
| nap,rom |
| ENGLAND (Biehl): | LON,LVP,EDI,bel,tun | (has 4, bld 1) |
| FRANCE (Davis): | ven | (has 1, even) |
| GERMANY (Shreve): | BER,KIE,MUN,den,hol,par, | (has 8, bld 1) |
| bre,spa,mar |
| ITALY (Tallman): | por | (has 1, even) |
| RUSSIA (Tretick): | MOS,STP,WAR,nwy,swe | (has 4 or 5, bld 1(r:otb) or even) |
| TURKEY (Ellis): | ANK,SMY,CON,bul,rum,sev, | (has 7, even) |
| gre |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=34) |
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ENGLAND: John Biehl, 8809 Delwood Drive, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 4A1 CANADA,
(604) 589-9124 ($10); jeen of telus.net
FRANCE: Rick Davis, 2420 West Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407, (707) 544-5201,
redavis914 of aol.com
GERMANY: Dwayne Shreve, 739 Union Church Road, Elkton, MD 21921 ($5)
dwayneshreve of yahoo.com
ITALY: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0384 ($2)
terryt of sinclair.net
RUSSIA: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle, Spotsylvania, VA 22553, (540) 582-2356 (E-Mail)
bernietretick of earthlink.net
TURKEY: Randy Ellis, 3116 McGee, Apt. 1N, Kansas City, MO 64111, (816) 931-8406 ($10)
bukowski1964 of yahoo.com
Game Notes:
1) The concession to Turkey fails. A seven way DIAS draw is proposed.... and hey, it might even make sense. Please vote on it with your Winter orders. If you fail to vote, it cannot pass.
Press:
(TUR to ALL): Gee. A DIAS eh? I've never participated in a seven way draw before. It should please the French and Italians at any rate...
(ENG - AUS): If you want a seven way draw then you better rescue Fra. Also, a correction, we (the West) are not playing for a six way draw.
(BOOB to ENGLAND): Perhaps they just have done that very thing!
(LONDON, OCT 31, 1906): ``For my next crusade", intoned Saint Edward VII, ``I shall lead my fellow monarchs, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Czar Nicholas II and (that pipsqueak) Victor Emmanuel I and do battle to depose the anti-Christian Emperor Paul I of Austria -Hungary, who consorts with the heathen Sultan Abdul Ahmid Ellis III."
(LONDON, NOV 1, 1906): Prime Minister John Beale scowled, as he read the headlines in the Times newspaper. ``What is that insufferable, sanctimonious pest Edward planning to do now?"
(NOTE FROM BUDDY): I had developed Adult Type II onset diabetes, so the doctors said, and then diverticulitis. I then took 5 colonics, and 9 foot reflexologies. In addition, and you must buy this small booklet ... The Master Cleanser by Doctor Stanley Burroughs ... , did the lemonade cleanse. Lost weight, from 186 pounds [hey, you do not remember me above 112 pounds] to now 148, and waist line from 58 down now to 36. Further [and you must buy this book also ... Hiatal Hernia Syndrome by Theodore A. Baroody, N.D., D.C., Ph.D.] I discovered about the Hiatal Hernia, had my stomach adjusted, meaning taken downward in the body, and got rid of all of those body pains I had in one fell swoop. Do these things for yourself. I don't mind you publishing the above. Might help a lot of worn out dip players.
| (Sometimes I Feel Like) FLETCHER CHRISTIAN: 1999Cgh013, Colonia VIIb Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1758 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
Winter 1757 - With Correction Notes from Fall 1757
AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): f coral sea-fiji (d r:western desert,melbourne,otb);
R f coral sea-MELBOURNE, a venezuela-COLOMBIA; has a VIENNA, f TAHITI, f NAPLES,
a SWISSE, a BOSNIA, a MATTO GROSSO, a BULGARIA, f MELBOURNE, f IONIAN SEA, a PERU,
a TOULON, a GREECE, f SAMOA, a RHINE, f EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN, a MANAUS,
f TASMAN SEA, a PAPAL STATES, a COLOMBIA, f LIGURIAN SEA, f SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN.
CHINA (Acheson): f VLADIVOSTOK-sea of japan; bld f peking, f amoy, a nanking,
PLAYS ONE SHORT; has f PEKING, f AMOY, a NANKING, a CHINGHAI, f KWANTUNG,
f EAST CHINA SEA, f GULF OF SIAM, a MAHRATTA, a BHUTAN, f SEA OF JAPAN, a SIAM,
f WEST PACIFIC OCEAN, a BURMA, a CAMBODIA, a BENGAL, a MONGOLIA, f SEA OF JAPAN.
ENGLAND (Power): R f siam(wc)-ANDAMAN SEA; bld f london, f edinburgh;
has f LONDON, f EDINBURGH, a VENEZUELA, a MALAYA, f MID-ATLANTIC OCEAN,
a FLANDERS, a GHANA, f CENTRAL ATLANTIC OCEAN, f ANDAMAN SEA, f SURINAM,
f WEST INDIES, f ONTARIO, f CORAL SEA, a IFNI, a ANTWERP, a KAMERON,
a BAHIA, f QUEBEC, f RICEFE, f EAST ATLANTIC OCEAN, f ARGENTINA, a CONGO,
a BRAZIL, a DAKAR, f MALAY SEA, f BRITTANY, f BELEM.
FRANCE (Alme): has a MANITOBA, a OREGON.
OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): rem f red sea; has a JERUSALEM, a EGYPT,
f PERSIAN GULF, f BLACK SEA, a YEMEN, f ISTANBUL, a KAZAKSTAN, a OMSK.
PORTUGAL (Stimmel): rem f punjab, f sahara, f azores, a circars; has f CANARIES.
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): bld f goa, f cape colony, f st.petersburg(nc), f crimea, a kiev; has f GOA,
f CAPE COLONY, f ST.PETERSBURG(NC), f CRIMEA, a KIEV, f NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN,
f NIZAM, a CAUCASUS, a URAL, f WEST INDIAN OCEAN, f SE ATLANTIC OCEAN,
f VANCOUVER, a LITHUANIA, a ROMANIA, a DENMARK, f CEYLON, f ALASKA, f KHANDESH,
f NORWEGIAN SEA, a FINLAND, a PERSIA, a PRUSSIA, a HAGUE, a ANGOLA, f SIBERIA.
SPAIN (Partridge): south pacific ocean-fiji (d r:east pacific ocean,central pacific ocean,otb);
R f south pacific ocean-CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN, a ontario-OHIO; bld f mexico(wc);
has f MEXICO(WC), f CALIFORNIA, f GULF OF MEXICO, f ARAGON, f PHILIPPINE SEA,
a HUELVA, a MISSOURI, a CUBA, f GIBRALTAR, a MOROCCO, f SUBIC BAY,
f CARIBBEAN SEA, f TAIWAN, f ARABIAN SEA, a LEON, a BORDEAUX,
f GULF OF ADEN, f RABOUL, a TAUREG, f HONDURAS(WC), a SUDAN, f HAWAII,
f CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN, a LISBON, f ALGERIA, f NEW GUINEA, a ETHIOPIA,
a LOUISIANA, a NUMIDIA, a TUNIS, a OHIO, a LIBYA, f WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN,
f TARAWA.
Supply Center Chart
| AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): | BUD,VIE,TRI,TAH,ven,bav, | (has 21) |
| col,nwz,pps,sav,ecu,peru,gre,sam, |
| bol,tou,bul,par,MEL,NAP,fij |
| CHINA (Acheson): | PEK,WUH,XIA,AMO,tib,NAN, | (has 17, PLAYS ONE SHORT) |
| sin,jap,manch,mon,kor,nep,mah,sia,bur,cam,ben,vla |
| ENGLAND (Power): | NIG,MLA,EDI,LON,kam,ire, | (has 27) |
| jav,gab,sum,con,fez,ant,uga,arg,togo, |
| SUR,QUE,gha,bel,vol,bah,BRA,DAK,vza,ric,ont,ifn |
| FRANCE (Alme): | ore,manit | (has 2) |
| OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): | IZM,BAG,IST,egy,afg,yem, | (has 8) |
| oms,jer |
| PORTUGAL (Stimmel): | azo | (has 1) |
| RUSSIA (Rauterberg): | MOS,KIE,CAP,STP,CRI,pol,moz, | (has 25) |
| swe,mal,zam,den,rom,han,die,nwy,GOA,nat, |
| niz,hag,cey,ANG,ALA,persia,kha,van |
| SPAIN (Partridge): | MAD,MEX,SOM,VAL,MANILA,cal, | (has 34) |
| tun,rab,bor,eth,hon,tex,nwg,ken,lis,lag,FLO, |
| lou,iwo,num,mor,tau,ohi,vir,gua,tar,tim,cub, |
| tai,bdx,sud,wak,mas,HAW |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=136) |
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Gene Prosnitz, 2600 Netherland Ave., Apt. 1116, Riverdale, NY 10463, (718) 601-8131 ($5)
ProsnitzE of aol.com
CHINA: Bob Acheson, 807-556 Laurier Ave., Ottawa, ONTARIO K1R 7X2, CANADA ($5)
racheson of magma.ca
ENGLAND: John Power, 18 Tilton Court, Baltimore, MD 21236, (410) 933-8827 ($4)
natjohn2 of home.com or jrpower of bechtel.com
FRANCE: Hank Alme, 506 Paige Loop, Los Alamos, NM 87544
almehj of swcp.com
OTTOMAN: Art Schleinkofer, 3120 Holly Road, Philadelphia, PA 19154-1708
Krolart of aol.com
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)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
SPAIN: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033
rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
Game Notes:
1) As I worried, there were a few mistakes in the adjudication last time. Sorry about that. Goes to show you what happens when you adjudicate at warp speed. Thanks to the players who assisted in discovering the problems. I hope we're all set now. The ``changed moves'' are listed before the Autumn and Winter adjustments.
Press:
| SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1908 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1908 IS SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2001
Spring 1908
ENGLAND (Sayers): a LON h, f cly-NAO, a KIE h, f eng-MID, f bel-ENG,
f HEL S a kie, f mid-POR.
FRANCE (Sasseville): f GOL-wes, a gas-BUR, a pie-MAR.
GERMANY (Barno): a BER S a lvn-pru, a lvn-pru (d ann), a MUN S a ber.
ITALY (Schultz): f ROM S FRENCH f gol-tyh (nso).
RUSSIA (Reynolds): a MOS S a ukr-war, a pru-LVN, a SIL-ber, f den-BAL,
a STP S a pru-lvn, a ukr-WAR.
TURKEY (Linsey): a ank-ARM, f smy-AEG, a con-SEV, f ion-TYH, f BLA C a con-sev,
a sev-UKR, a RUM S a sev-ukr, f apu-ION, f ADR S a tri-ven, f NAP S f ion-tyh,
a ven-TUS, f TUN-wes, a GAL S a sev-ukr, a tri-VEN.
Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA ($10)
jimp of magna.com.au
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($2)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
ITALY: John Schultz, PO Box 1322, Valparaiso, IN 46384, (219) 614-1406
probo of sprintpcs.com
RUSSIA: Phil Reynolds, 2896 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 953-6952
preyno of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com
Game Notes:
1) Things seem to be getting a bit more ``focused''..... we'll see what happens next.
Press:
(JOHN to MIKE): You have a good point. He should be blasting everybody. Sorry I started waking up so late.
(FRANCE - ALL): I don't wanna be a muslim! Stop those Turks.
(RUSSIA to GERMANY): We'll just see about that! Die, you toady scum!
| EDWARD TELLER: 2001?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant |
LOOKING FOR PLAYERS!!!
Game Notes:
1) I am taking reservations for the Edward Teller game, which will be the next NYEED 7x7 game in this series. Since it was asked, I'll remind everyone that we will again be playing the Black Hole Variant. Join THE most fun game in all Dipdom. John Schultz, Karl Muller, Harry Andruschak, Lee Kendter, Jr., and Sandy Kenny are on board. We need just two more players? Let me know if you want to see the rules again, but I just printed them a few issues ago. This game is FREE!!!!
| COME AND HAVE A GO (If You Think You're Hard Enough): 1998V, Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1909 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1910 IS SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2001
Fall 1909
AUSTRIA (Pollard): a MOS S a sev, a sev S TURKISH a rum (d ann),
a GAL S FRENCH a boh-vie.
ENGLAND (Tallman): f nwy h (d r:bar,ska,otb).
FRANCE (Morris): f bre-MID, a BUR S a gas-mar, f GOL S f spa(sc)-wes,
f SPA(SC)-wes, a mun-BER, a gas-MAR, f nwg-NWY, a BOH-vie,
f SWE S f nwg-nwy, a KIE S a mun-ber, f hol-NTH, a ruh-MUN, a lvp-YOR.
GERMANY (Sayers): a ber h (d r:sil,pru,otb).
ITALY (Emmert): a TRI S a vie, a BUL-rum, f TYH-gol, f ion-TUN,
a SER S a bud, a pie-TYO, f arm-SEV, f BLA S f arm-sev, f yor-LON,
f WES S f tyh-gol, a VIE S a bud, a BUD S a vie.
RUSSIA (Reynolds): a STP-mos.
TURKEY (Barno): a RUM S AUSTRIAN a gal.
Supply Center Chart
| AUSTRIA (Pollard): | war,mos | (has 2, even) |
| ENGLAND (Tallman): | none | (out!) |
| FRANCE (Morris): | bre,par,mar,spa,por,bel,lon, | (has 13, bld 2(PLAYS ONE SHORT)) |
| hol,den,kie,swe,lvp,edi,mun,nwy,ber |
| GERMANY (Sayers): | none | (out!) |
| ITALY (Emmert): | rom,ven,nap,tun,smy,con, | (has 12, bld 2) |
| vie,bud,tri,ser,gre,ank,sev,bul |
| RUSSIA (Reynolds): | stp | (has 1, even) |
| TURKEY (Barno): | rum | (has 1, even) |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=34) |
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Kent Pollard, PO Box 5726, Fresno, CA 93755-5726 ($4)
awargamer7 of hotmail.com
ENGLAND: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0384 ($3)
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)
jimp of magna.com.au
ITALY: Steve Emmert, 3317 Hershridge Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
(757) 631-1842; steve.emmert of home.com or lsemmert of sykesbourdon.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) And on we go.... turning into an interesting game, isn't it?? But we no longer have ALL seven players hanging on. We say goodbye to Terry (thanks for all the fish!) and Jim (thanks for the Aussies....). There might not be much more time left....
Press:
(RUSSIA to ALL): Can we please kill Austria so we don't have to look at his insipid press anymore?
(AMBASSADOR POLLARD to THE NATION OF FRANCE): You frogs unt must move against the Mad Pope in za East NOW or all is unt lost!!! Do-not take your unt time about zis....vee are all falling around like dominoes....
(BOOB to AMBASSADOR POLLARD): I fail to see why this is insipid.... lame? perhaps.... ethnically insulting? probably..... but not insipid.....
(RUSSIA to BOOB): Hey, what happened to our map? What, we don't rate one anymore?
(BOOB to RUSSIA): The rules have always been.... you always get a Spring and Fall map and get Summer and Winter maps according to space considerations and page counts. You missed out on that one. Save your issues and you had a map after Spring!
| SO GOOD IT HURTS: 1998 P, Regular Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1910 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
Winter 1909
AUSTRIA (K. Ozog): has f APU, a VIE, f TYH, a PIE, a BOH, f GOL, a TUS, a TYO.
ENGLAND (James): has f SPA(SC).
FRANCE (Kinney): has a POR.
GERMANY (Goesle): bld f kie, PLAYS ONE SHORT; has f KIE, a SIL, a BER, f BAL, a PRU,
f MID, f NWY, a GAS, a MAR, f ENG, f NAO, a MUN, a BRE.
RUSSIA (Rusnak): bld f stp(nc); has f STP(NC), f BLA, a WAR, f ION, a GAL, a FIN,
a RUM, a MOS, f TUN, a UKR.
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, (630) 837-2813
heyday6 of yahoo.com
ENGLAND: Drew James, 3644 Whispering Woods Terr., Baldwinsville, NY 13027, (315) 652-1956 ($5)
kjames01 of twcny.rr.com
FRANCE: Mark Kinney, 4820 Westmar Terrace #6, Louisville, KY 40222, (502) 412-3079
alberich of iglou.com
GERMANY: Warren Goesle, 3907 Cedar Ridge, #1B, Indianapolis, IN 46235 ($5)
gozcorp of iquest.net
ITALY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 ($5)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
RUSSIA: Russ Rusnak, 1551 Highridge Avenue, Westchester, IL 60154-3428 ($5)
RRRRRUSNAK of aol.com
TURKEY: Steve Emmert, 3317 Hershridge Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452, (757) new? ($4)
steve.emmert of home.com
Game Notes:
1) The RAG draw is defeated and reproposed. An RG draw also is proposed. Players who don't vote will still veto the proposals. Now, let's vote with our Spring orders, shall we??
Press:
| EMBRACING THE CONSTRAINTS: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules |
THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 3 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
| 22 (replenish with a 5): | Alfalfa (Breaking Away!) |
| 21 (no replenishment): | None |
| 20 (no replenishment): | None |
| 19 (no replenishment): | None |
| 18 (no replenishment): | None |
| 17 (replenish with a 3): | Dave the Tinamou, William Shakespeare |
| 16 (no replenishment): | None |
| 15 (no replenishment): | None |
| 14 (replenish with a 3): | Dana |
| 13 (replenish with a 4): | Boniface, Greenwich |
| 12 (no replenishment): | None |
| 11 (replenish with a 3): | Beaver, Prescott, Charlie Brown, Christie, Enfield |
| 10 (replenish with a 8): | Dennis the Menace, Brandon the Kiwi |
| 9 (replenish with a 10): | Halbert |
| 8 (replenish with a 11): | Alice |
| 7 (replenish with a 12): | I.K. Brunel |
| 6 (replenish with a 13): | Peery the Peacock, Rectangle |
| 5 (replenish with a 15): | Edi the Emu, Sir Isaac Newton |
| 4 (replenish with a 17): | Square, Diamond |
| 3 (replenish with a 19): | Alfred the Great, Rhombus |
Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (The Quabbin Reservoirs): Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham MA 02492
(0 points) 72060.1540 of CompuServe.COM
| A: Dana | 1 10 15 3 (10) |
| B: Enfield | 14 12 3 (8) |
| C: Greenwich | 7 15 4 (11) |
| D: Prescott | 1 8 3 (5) |
TEAM 2 (The Flightless Birds): Rick Desper, 703 Monroe Street, Apt #302, Rockville, MD 20850,
(0 points) (301) 545-0143, rick_desper of yahoo.com
| Coached by Petey the Penguin |
| A: Edi the Emu | 15 10 3 15 (4) |
| B: Dave the Tinamou | 13 10 3 (15) |
| C: Brandon the Kiwi | 10 12 8 (7) |
| D: Peery the Peacock | 10 3 13 (5) |
TEAM 3 (The Brit Pack): John Harrington, 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 3UW UK
(0 points) fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com
| A: Alfred the Great | 15 12 3 19 (2) |
| B: William Shakespeare | 15 8 3 (15) |
| C: Sir Isaac Newton | 15 3 15 (4) |
| D: Isambard Kingdom Brunel | 9 15 12 (5) |
TEAM 4 (The Border Riders): Tom Howell, 365 Storm King Road, Port Angeles, WA 98363
(0 points) off-the-shelf of olympus.net
| Manager: the White Maid |
| A: Alice of Avenel | 8 14 5 11 (2) |
| B: abbot Boniface | 9 11 4 (8) |
| C: Christie of Clint-hill | 9 10 3 (7) |
| D: Halbert Glendinning | 7 12 10 (6) |
TEAM 5 (The Quadrilaterals): David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033
(0 points) rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
| A: Rhombus | 12 15 3 19 (2) |
| B: Square | 11 13 17 (3) |
| C: Rectangle | 14 3 13 (5) |
| D: Diamond | 3 11 17 (3) |
TEAM 6 (The Bad Boys): Jim Tretick, 12925 Circle Drive, Rockville, MD 20850
(0 points) JTretickGames of aol.com
| A: Alfalfa: | 8 3 5 (14) |
| B: Beaver: | 8 10 3 (4) |
| C: Charlie Brown: | 7 7 3 (5) |
| D: Dennis the Menace: | 6 8 8 (5) |
Game Notes:
1) I am going BACK to the designer rules for Breaking Away that allow cards of greater than 15 to be replenished. The Breaking Away bonus is earned only on the FIRST turn that you break away from the pack. I printed the original postal rules in Issue #239, if you need a copy and don't have that issue, just ask.
2) The number in parentheses is what you played, the last card in your list is the one you replenished with.
Press:
(DESIGNER'S COMMENT): Ironic that having removed the upper limit of 15 on the value of players' replacement cards, the highest replacement card last turn was ... 15! ((Indeed, but we broke through that this time with one of your riders and three quadrilaterals taking the honors!! At first, I thought the seven was going to be blank, but you shored that potential hole up to make things for your other two riders.))
(BRIT PACK - QUABBIN RESERVOIRS): Weird fact for you. As you probably know, I produce a board game version of Breaking Away through a small games company called Fiendish Board Games. It's a two-man company. My partner lives in Greenwich (the name of your ``C" driver) whilst I live in Enfield (your ``B" driver). It is now safe to exit the Twilight Zone.
(BOOB to TWILIGHT ZONE): Not really, since you are aware that none of those Massachusetts towns exists any longer, having been flooded by the aforementioned reservoir?? Hope it isn't making a prediction for the company, unless you are to be flooded with orders.
(QUADRILATERALS to BOOB): I knew there was some rule I was forgetting!
(BOOB to QUADRILATERALS): It looks like you had it all planned to me!!
(FIELD to 1-PLAYERS): Don't you know a bicycle won't stand up if you ride too slowly? Now get back on and start pedalling!
(QUABBINS to BOOB): I'm gonna bet we get some larger cards played this time.
(RICK - DAVE): Well, the Tinamou was Jim-Bob's idea. The original bird was going to be an ostrich.
(ERIC to TINAMOU DAVE): They don't fly so much as plummet.
(STORIES OF THE BORDER RIDERS): First off, please accept my apologies.
I have been slowly wading through Sir Walter Scott's Waverly Novels as bedtime reading.
When I signed up for this game, I was part way through `The Monastery'. In it, Simon Glendinning is a feudal subject of the Monastery of Saint Mary, presided over by the abbot, Boniface. Simon dies at the Battle of Pinkie-Cleuch, leaving a widow and two sons, Halbert and Edward Glendinning. Sometime after the battle, Walter, the Baron of Avenel, also loses his life whilst skirmishing with the English. The Glendinnings take in Walter's widow, Alice, and daughter, Mary. During the subsequent period of unease, Walter's younger brother, Julian, with his follower, Christie of Clint-hill, occupies the Castle of Avenel, preventing Alice and Mary from returning. Eventually, Alice dies, and Halbert, Edward, and Mary grow up. Halbert gets himself into a scrape, runs off toward Edinburgh and falls in with the Earl of Murray. Protestant England sends a force to lay waste to the Monastery. Before Murray, with Halbert acting as scout, can arrive, the English defeat the forces of Saint Mary's, with the loss of Julian, Christie, and Julian's hand-fasted wife. Halbert finds their infant on the battle field. Halbert's scrape is resolved; for his services to Scotland, he is married to Mary Avenel and given possession of Avenel Castle. Edward joins the monastery.
Queen Mary of Scotland never appears in `The Monastery'. It was at this point in my reading when I answered your queries.
Secondly, apologies to everyone who made guesses on the source of my rider's names, for most of you were accurate at least to some degree.
Then I commenced reading `The Abbot', Scott's sequel to `The Monastery'. In it, an orphan, Roland Graeme by name, is adopted into Halbert Glendinning's household as a page to Mary Glendinning, nee Avenel. The page is spoiled and eventually let go. He meets Catherine Seyton, is transported to Edinburgh, interferes in a brawl on the side of Catherine's father, and meets Murray. Murray assigns him to the household of .................... the deposed and `sequestered', read `imprisoned', Queen Mary. This, halfway through `The Abbot'. Roland finds Catherine in Queen Mary's service ahead of him. After some intrigue, Mary is freed from her imprisonment, and many of the Catholic Barons flock to her service. However, they are a fractious lot, and whilst removing Mary to a `safer' location, are engaged by Murray's smaller but better disciplined forces. The protestant's win, Mary flees to England, which accepts her person only - no retainers. Roland is revealed to be Julian's son, Julian is shown to have married Roland's mother, Catherine Graeme, who was also nobility. Roland and Catherine are forgiven their involvement in the escape and insurrection, marry and will eventually inherit Castle Avenel, as Halbert and Mary never had children.
What of the Abbot, you ask? Boniface had resigned, to be replaced by Eustace. Upon Eustace's death, Edward had been elected Abbot. He appears but briefly in `The Abbot', making several appearances as a behind-the-scenes manipulator, working in favor of the Catholic partisan, Queen Mary.
((I think somewhere I had heard of The Abbot and that's what came to mind.... that story of Mary in Prison (or detained, or whatever she was). I think they might have made a movie (in the 50s or so) loosely based on that part of the story too that I saw on TV as a child.))
That, and my having not quite got there, would explain the answer-almost-fits-but-not-quite scenario we played... :)
(I.K. BRUNEL to THE REST): If you'd taken my advice and built a broad gauge instead of the standard gauge of 4 foot 8 inches, there would have been no overcrowding on square 1 last turn.
Talking of railway gauges, I received an interesting e-mail the other day which presumably originated on the internet. It went something like this:
1: Why do American trains run on railway tracks some 4'8" apart?
2: Because that was the standard gauge in Britain, and the first trains in the US were built to British designs.
1: Why did Britain use a standard gauge of 4'8"?
2: Because that was the width of the wagonways and tram (trolley bus) lines in Britain, which pre-dated the advent of the railways. It meant the machines that had been used to produce wagons could also be used to produce train engines.
1:Why were the wagonways 4'8" wide?
2: Because that was the width of the ruts in British roads. Prior to the invention of Tarmac, the state of British roads was so bad that the only way to ensure a smooth ride that would not lead to destruction of the wagon wheels was to use the well-worn ruts created by previous travellers.
1: Why were the ruts 4'8" apart?
2: Because that was the standard size of the wheelspan of Roman chariots, and the Romans built most of the early roads in Britain. The width was roughly equivalent to that of two horses' arses. Thus it can truly be said that a couple of horses' arses are responsible for the rail gauge used in the UK and the USA today. But wait, there's more! The booster engine thingies on space rockets are also about 4'8" in width. They'd be a lot more efficient, apparently, were they bigger, but the company that makes them transports them by rail through a tunnel that is only 4'8" (and a bit) wide. Thus the design of space vehicles is determined by the design of Roman chariots some 2,000 years ago.
(Footnote: I.K. Brunel's Great Western Railway used the much safer and more efficient broad gauge until forced to change by an Act of Parliament. VHS defeats Betamax, Nintendo Gameboy beats the Atari Lynx, Windows proves more popular than Apple - it's been happening for centuries!)
| FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 2006 IS SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2001
Summer 2006
BRITAIN (Schultz): has f ENG, a LAP, f DEN, f NOR, a SWE, f NWG, f FIN, f NTH.
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): has f ALE, f LBS, f ION, a SYR, a LIB, a SAU, f IZM.
GERMANY (Rauterberg): has f BAL, a KRA, f HAM, f LAT, f BIS, a SLO, a BOR, f BEL, a LIT,
a CZE, a SIL, a AUS, f HOL, a LYO.
ITALY (Ozog): has a BOS, a CRO, f LIG, a ROM, a MAR, a APU, f ANA.
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): has a NAV, f MAO, f GOL, f MAL, a NAP, f TYS, a AUV.
UKRAINE (Partridge): R a lit-GDA; has f WBS, f BUL, a RUM, a KIE, a POD, a WAR, f ALB,
a SER, a ANK, a IRN, a PRU, a HUN, a BIE, f IST, a STP, a GDA, f ADR, a ADA, a MAC.
Supply Center Chart
| BRITAIN (Schultz): | EDI,LIV,LON,ire,nor,mur, | (has 8) |
| swe,den |
| EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): | ALE,ASW,CAI,isr,sau,lib,izm | (has 7) |
| GERMANY (Rauterberg): | BER,FRA,HAM,MUN,hol,cze | (has 14) |
| swi,par,lyo,gda,war,bel,aus,kra |
| ITALY (Ozog): | NAP,ROM,VEN,cro,mon,mil, | (has 7) |
| ist,mar |
| SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): | SVE,MAD,BAR,gib,por,mor,bor, | (has 7) |
| tun |
| UKRAINE (Partridge): | KHA,KIE,ODE,SEV,ros,rum,bul, | (has 19) |
| geo,ank,mos,bie,gre,gor,ada,irn, |
| lit,ser,stp,hun |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=64) |
Addresses of the Participants
BRITAIN: John Schultz, PO Box 1322, Valparaiso, IN 46384, (219) 614-1406
probo of sprintpcs.com
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)
Tapmdfrance of aol.com
GERMANY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ITALY: Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138, (360) 691-4264 ($3)
ElfEric of Juno.com
POLAND: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
RUSSIA: Randy Ellis, 3116 McGee, Apt. 1N, Kansas City, MO 64111, (816) 931-8406
surfeit of swbell.net
SPAIN: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044 ($5)
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com, sfo25 of netscape.net
TURKEY: Kent Pollard, 1541 W. San Jose, Fresno, CA 93711, (209) 225-0957 ($10)
UKRAINE: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033 ($8)
rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
Game Notes:
1) Check out the Modern Dip web page at: http://www.modernhof.webprovider.com/
2) I'm going to start a quiet interest list down here in the next Modern game. I don't want to start it until this game is done or nearly done, but with ten players it may take awhile, so I'll start now. Rick Desper is in to be one of the players. Any more??? I think we might do it with ``wings''.....
Press:
(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): ``Sex is a commodity, to be bought and sold like rock `n' roll." From ``Club Mekon'' off of The Mekons Rock `n' Roll album.
(BOOB to WORLD): Carry over press first.....
(CAPTAIN'S LOG ``WELCOME HOME''): The Romulans as promised have returned Mr. Spock and Mr. Chekov. Mr. Chekov can't seem to wipe the smile off his face. He looks good and has said he'll probably spend his retirement years on Vulcan. Spock looks a little frail and he has said he may never ever go home. I had a conversation with Spock. For the record:
Kirk: Welcome back!
Spock: Thank you sir!
Kirk: Congratulations on your diplomatic initiative!
Spock: Initiative?
Kirk: It has been assumed that your presence on Romulus inspired a pro-unification effort that led to the unraveling of the Romulan/Ferengi alliance, the Ferengi panic and subsequent attack of Romulus. Starfleet command is recommending you for the interstellar Nobel Prize.
Spock: I think not!
Kirk (puzzled): Why not?
Spock: Because nothing you said is true. I spent all of my time locked up with Chekov. I didn't even meet with my pro-unification allies until after I was released.
Kirk (even more puzzled): Do you have any idea why the Ferengi betrayed the Romulans to join the Cardassians?
Spock: To put it in human terms, ``the Romulans' check bounced''.
Kirk: Maybe I should turn on my universal translator.
Spock: That won't be necessary, I'll explain. The Ferengi market was always split as to the decision to merge with Romulus. The Romulans had to bribe a Ferengi top level executive to seal the alliance. The transfer was handled by a midlevel Ferengi administrator who is an expert Dabo Game gambler. He had an arrangement with a Dabo girl (Ferengi prostitute) to fix the numbers on the Dabo Game wheel. When the administrator would receive the Romulan bribe money, he would go to the casino and make a killing at the Dabo wheel before he would transfer the bribe. The casino authorities got suspicious and interrogated the girl. She gave up the administrator but was unaware of the Romulan connection. The Ferengi casino had the Dabo wheel reset and the girl led the administrator to lose the bribe money and all of his subsequent winnings back to the casino. When the Ferengi top level executive failed to receive his monthly bribe, he took it as a prelude to a Romulan invasion, so he got together with the Cardassians to attack Romulus. Why they never contacted the Federation on the verge of collapse is still a mystery.
Kirk (pausing in disappointment): So, what you are saying, Spock, is that the United Federation of Planets was saved from annihilation by a Dabo prostitute, a corrupt Ferengi administrator, and a superparanoid Ferengi chief executive?
Spock: That is essentially correct!
Kirk: Spock, if it's all the same to you, I'm going to change the log and go with the Vulcan/Romulan reunification story!
Spock: As you wish, Captain.
(JEFF to JIM): What do you think of Babylon 5? I think it is the best science fiction series ever.
(JIM-BOB to JEFF): I've commented on that before in various places. I really, really found the first season or two of Babylon 5 extremely annoying, especially what I saw as badly written dialogue. The key underlying plot line between the Shadows and the other super long=lived races as it finally developed was far more interesting than that, but still suffered from the ``take a complex group of traits and let each race take one of them to a nauseatingly extreme position!'' science fiction syndrome. I would think that any adaptable and diverse race would have clearly dominated things in the Babylon 5 universe. So, anyway, while I do think it finally turned into a watchable series, I never was really hooked.
(JEFF to JIM): Kim Cattrall; wow! I'll give you that one. I mean, I know Vulcans only mate once every seven years but she'd be worth the wait. I forgot about her. ((How could you do that??)) You never mention Yeoman Rand. She is at the top of the list too. ((I don't dispute Grace Lee Whitney....))
(KIRK to STARFLEET): I got an unusual message from ``Q''. It seems the Continuum is having a ``Q Contest'' to determine who's the best ``Q'' and to see which race is the best at dealing with ``Q''. I received my ballot. All of the ``Q's'' listed are unfamiliar to me. All of the races listed are from other galaxies or alternate realities. I'll vote but I have no idea what I'm doing (kinda like our war effort).
(SPAIN-BRITAIN): Change of plans, do as you see fit.
(SPAIN-EGYPT): Let's take him.
(SPAIN-UKRAINE): Let's also take him.
(PARAMOUNT NETWORK to TREK FANS): ``Both of them''. We postponed last week's episode of ``Star Trek'' to bring you the wonderful world of Heidi. We hope you enjoyed.....
| SHOW ME THE MONEY: 1997Mea04, Colonial Diplomacy |
SHUT IT DOWN, A HOLLAND/JAPAN/RUSSIA DRAW IS DECLARED
BUT CAN JIM-BOB FIND TIME TO SUMMARIZE THE CHART???
Final Supply Center Chart - From the Last Season
| BRITAIN (York): | DEL,HK,SIN,mal,cey,aden,ban,mad | (has 8) |
| FRANCE (Sasseville): | TON,may,u.bur,ass,bom, | (has 7, PLAYED ONE SHORT) |
| ben,can,ran |
| HOLLAND (Desper): | BOR,SUM,JAVA,SAR,new,dav, | (has 11) |
| mna,cebu,for,ann,coc |
| JAPAN (K. Ozog): | TOK,KYU,OTA,KYO,vla,fus,sak, | (has 12) |
| p.art,seo,sha,mac,pek |
| RUSSIA (Williams): | MOS,OMSK,ODE,rum,mon,ang,tab, | (has 17) |
| con,chu,shi,egy,per,tas,kag,sik,kar,kam |
| TURKEY (Tallman): | sud,bag | (has 2) |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=58) |
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) 481-4280 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
HOLLAND: Rick Desper, 703 Monroe Street, Apt #302, Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 545-0143 (E-Mail)
rick_desper of yahoo.com or desper of math.rutgers.edu
JAPAN: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, 630-837-2813
heyday6 of yahoo.com
RUSSIA: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($4)
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net
TURKEY: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0384 ($0)
terryt of sinclair.net
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, (401) 351-0287
Game Notes:
1) Hey, we're already late.... SC chart forthcoming sometime. I'm waiting for Don Williams.... ;-)
Press and End Game Comments:
No more here yet..... they're probably waiting for that spellbinding SC chart. Don Williams says he is sending me an Endgame statement now, so that will finish it one way or the other. Can I get the SC chart out before Don gets me an Endgame statement..... stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion..... Rich Goranson and Andy York are relishing their free issues while we work it out.
Personal Note to You: