THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #258 and a hack

Hey Jim, read your own szine (<:
A choo-choo game as you so elegantly put it is currently being offerred in Tinamou, as you should know, since you declined to play in it. You, Peter, Rip and anyone else is welcome to join up. I've got three and am looking for a couple more to start a game.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled TAP. Thank you for your time. Dave - The Hacked up Sub-zine Editor

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!!

THE SEARCH FOR TOM HURST

Wake up, you pile of useless deadwood!!! STILL nothing on Tom yet. Let's go, someone find him!!! You only have two more issues to do it for fifty bucks!!!

Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Bill, 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 Bill Quinn or Mark Berch or 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, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION 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.

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 Euros, 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.

We also have reopened 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. We are now maneuvering 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!!

WORLDMASTERS00 SECTION (with other Tournament Info)

Worldmasters 2000 Email Diplomacy Tournament Finals Begin!!

This is possibly the most prestigious and hard fought E-Mail tournament around (only challenged by Doug Massey's Vermont Group Tournaments or the Australian E-Mail Tournament), now with FOUR full rounds. The final players (with brief thumbnail capsules) are:

AUSTRIA: Jack Brawner - most famous around here for being the childhood buddy of Dickie-poo Martin, Jack also had a VERY successful but short postal career in the 1980s. Find him at TrojanOwl of aol.com and though he is playing Austria he will be very, very, very dangerous.

ENGLAND: Mike Weinzimer - a dark horse cat23 player who has stormed through the tournament. Find Mike at mweinzimer of yahoo.com, I don't know much about him other than that.

FRANCE: Erlend ``Joe'' Janbu - the first of two Norwegians in the final, Joe is one of my favorite Dippers. He can be cautious to a fault, but is nearly devoid of ego which sometimes works better than anything else. I'm betting on a Norwegian to win, partly because the Norwegians are in France and Turkey, but also because they're great players. I was very glad to finally meet Joe in Paris last year.

GERMANY: Douglas Vaughan - ditto with Mike, another dark horse cat23 player. Find Douglas at vaughan4 of mindspring.com.

ITALY: Egbert ``Egg'' Ferreira - the only returnee from the last WorldMasters final, Egg is quite a trip. You can find Egg at egbert of salavip.com.br and I've never known anyone so excitable but at the same time so controlled at the Diplomacy table. I don't see Egg has a good player of Italy, but he always surprises me.

RUSSIA: Darren Koch - one of about a dozen or so members of the ``Clan Blitzkrieg'', a shadowy E-Mail Diplomacy group that does... well, I've never been able to figure out just what they do do, except they might be seen as fervent crossgamers or might not. Darren is an Australian teacher (as it seems many of the best Australian players are) and you can E-Mail him, his wife, and three girls at koch_family of bigpond.com. He is a BIG threat to win this game. He's not playing Germany which is his best country.

TURKEY: Frank Johansen - the ``other'' Norwegian. Frank heads up the Norwegian Diplomacy Association and I met him at World DipCon and played with him in Baltimore a few years ago. I really like the way that Frank plays and I am on record that I hope he or Joe wins, go Norwegians!!! I'm still studying my Norwegian tapes so that I can speak with them in their language next time we get together. Find Frank at frank.johansen of diplomacy.no.

The wondrous Peter Richardson pjrich of ntlworld.com is the GM. If you want to follow the game, send an E-Mail to mailserver of cat23.com with the following message:

subscribe wm00-results

It's off to a wonderful start so far, everyone is just feeling each other out, no one taking too many risks, but everyone obviously totally engaged in the game. The history of the WorldMasters tournament is that it is not necessarily THE best player who wins, but the format and style seem to reward effort. The player who works the hardest likely will win. That's one thing you can say about Egg, he always works HARD on the game.

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.

In what I believe is a RECENT change, Hasbro also has been putting the rules to Diplomacy up on their web page along with rules for most of their other games. Not only that, but they have the ``current'' as well as an older version of the rules there. Stephen Agar has matched that and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:

http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?x=cc_gameandtoyinstructions

http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy.PDF

http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy(OlderVers).PDF

Nice of them to make BOTH of these available. And all seven different US rulebooks for Diplomacy can now be found here courtesy of Stephen Agar:

http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/old_rulebooks.htm

Check out the new Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org

The new Spring issue is now out!!! For future issues, I'm also still looking for WRITERS!!! Please!!! You don't want me to turn into Larry Peery, do you?? But thanks to Larry for an article that appears in this latest issue.

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. Or subscribe electronically at diplomacyworld at Yahoo Groups!

The 2002 Hobby Awards Ballot is out. If you are reading this on the Internet, then go to the ballot at: /Postal/Zines/TAP/BALLOT02.html and if you're seeing it postally, then the ballot is included with this issue. Please send me your votes by the Sept. 1 deadline. This is a great ballot and take advantage of the web links to look at some of the nominees.

Lawrence Toush (Mon, 22 Apr 2002 22:39:39 -0400)

Lawrence Toush PO Box 368 Marcellus, MI 49067. I definitely want to play, but just in 1 game.

Lawrence, warblrwatchr of msn.com

((I hope someone will quickly contact Lawrence and get him into that ONE postal game.))

MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)

Tell me anything you like about the year of 2000 or 2001 in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! Mine will continue NEXT issue!!! Really, it will. And it will continue to be a joint 2000 and 2001 issue.

Steve Emmert (Tue, 16 Apr 2002 11:21:01 -0400)

My dear Jim-Bob -

Time for me to contribute something useful to The Hobby's greatest zine. So what if I can't contribute a solo as Austria - I'll go with the NHL playoffs instead. ((I'll note before you start, that I predicted a matchup between Boston and the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Finals, with another win by Colorado fueled by the push from getting Forsberg back. My earlier prediction that Boston would win the Stanley Cup was predicated on the Bruins luring Ray Bourque out of retirement to fill their void on defense. The Bruins did actually seriously try to do this, but Ray chose to stay retired. This ruined my ``four teams, four championships" idea for Boston in 2002 predicted before the Super Bowl to a few close friends. I still am on the Celtics and Red Sox bandwagons. They are headed straight toward World Championships. And the Avalanche are in severe trouble, of course too. Right now I hope on some level for the DEATH to the NHL matchup of San Jose vs. Carolina in the Stanley Cup Finals. Talk about boring outside of those two small towns!!))

As I begin to type this, it's Monday, April 15, and we're in the lull between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs for the greatest trophy in sports. Some of the biggest news is who DIDN'T make it to the playoffs - the Washington Caps, despite one of the most talented teams in the East, get early tee times, as do the fabulously overpaid New York Rangers. Eric Lindros and Jaromir Jagr get to check out the playoffs on television?!? And in the west, where the hell are the Dallas Stars?

(Ahem.) Okay, I'm getting paid to talk about who's IN the playoffs, not who's looking forward to October. Let's start in the East.

Right off the bat, you've got a fascinating matchup in Boston-Montreal. The B's came from nowhere to nail down the #1 seed in the East, and their reward is to get one of the hottest teams in the conference (at least they were, until back-to-back losses the last weekend of the season) in the Habs. Jose Theodore is playing lights-out in goal, and has basically carried the team into the playoffs. The Bruins have a very productive #1 line, and Joe Thornton is destined to become a Peter Forsberg-type player as he matures. But can he carry the team past the first round matchup with the suddenly healthy Canadiens? ((Answer: NO!!! You called this right and I called it wrong.))

I would dearly love to pick the Canadiens here, as they're my favorite team, and a particularly intriguing underdog. But I have to vote with my head over my heart here and say Bruins in five. Montreal doesn't play that well away from the Molson Centre, and their defense probably isn't enough to contain Boston. ((Ooooh, no, you wimped out....))

Philadelphia plays Ottawa in a matchup of underachievers. The Flyers had the best talent in the East, but couldn't catch the Bruins for home-ice advantage. And it doesn't help that they basically limped into the playoffs, winning only two of their last ten games. Ottawa had more talent than a seventh-place showing would indicate, and is a very dangerous team; if their goaltenders (Patrick Lalime and Jani Hurme) get in a groove, Philadelphia could see a quick exit. I'll go out on a limb and pick the Senators in six games.

I'm guessing that more pundits will pick New Jersey over Carolina than any other ``upset" in the first round. The 'Canes got the #3 seed and home-ice advantage over the Devils by virtue of having won the weak Southeast Division. New Jersey finished with four more points than Carolina, but has to hit the road for the first two games. Nobody wants to play the Devils at this stage of the season. They're hot, having won eight of their last ten, and there isn't a better money-game goalie in the East than Martin Brodeur. Look for Petr Sykora to turn it up a notch and lead the Devils to a five-game win over the 'Canes. ((I'm so happy that the Hartford Whalers came through and won.... what, they've left Hartford??? Say it ain't so!!!))

The Leafs-Islanders series will probably be the best first round matchup, but I think the Leafs have too much talent and are too deep for the Islanders. New York started off the season with an amazing run that carried them into the playoffs almost by inertia, thought they did add a good ``kick" at the end, going 7-2-1 in their last ten games. Chris Osgood is probably the key to this series. If he gets on a roll, he might toss a shutout or two at Toronto, and that could turn the series on its head. But I think the Leafs, who really are the better team, win in seven games. ((Nailed dead on!!! I love Peter Laviolette and he is going to become the NHL's next super coach. But not yet, and not with THOSE injuries in the series.))

The second round in the East would be Boston-Ottawa and New Jersey-Toronto. The former semifinal series would be novel, as the B's haven't gone deep into the playoffs for quite a while, and Ottawa just hasn't made a statement in years. I would give the edge to the Senators in that series, if only because I'm not convinced Byron Dafoe can be a big-game goalie. Well, I guess there's one other reason: Boston has NINE OVERTIME LOSSES. This tells me that when the chips are down, the B's don't have the stuff. In the other one, I would be rooting hard for the Leafs, but suspect it'll be New Jersey in six games, max, as the Devils turn on the heat as the playoffs progress. That leaves me with Ottawa and New Jersey in the conference championship series. (Now, THIS is really going out on a limb, picking the #6 and #7 seeds to make it to the finals.) Ottawa has a stronger attack, and New Jersey has a lights-out defense - when they decide to focus. The smart money would be on the Devils, but I'll take the Sens in six to move on to the Cup finals. ((Not precisely correct, but Ottawa could still make it as I write this.))

It's now Tuesday, and time to go on to the West, where most of the real power teams are. The 1 vs. 8 matchup is not as easy as it should be for the President's Cup winners from Detroit. Vancouver is sssssssssssmokin' as the playoffs arrive, having gone 8-1-1 to close the regular season. The Wings are going in the opposite direction, having won only once in their last ten. The Wings are very talented, but also far older than the Canucks, and most of the Wings played an Olympic schedule in addition to the regular NHL season. I say they're tired. I say they might not be able to suddenly turn things around just because the playoffs get underway. I say they're very vulnerable to an upset. But in the end, I say they still win, in five games; only a dominating performance by Todd Bertuzzi, or Trevor Linden's taking over a couple of games, can give Vancouver a real shot at it.

Colorado probably did not want to face Los Angeles in the first round this year, but that's the luck of the draw. The Kings are vastly improved, perhaps the best version this franchise has seen since the '93 Stanley Cup finalists. The Avs have better goaltending in the inimitable Patrick Roy, who almost always rises to the occasion in the springtime. They may also get Peter Forsberg back, which would be a real psychological boost; it remains to be seen whether he's sharp after a layoff that has stretched beyond a year now. ((I think we all have been impressed by Forsberg. If anything he is fresher and MORE sharp than he would have been after a long season at his age. This just makes me more curious about what would have happened to the Bruins if they had lured Ray Bourque back.))

But the Avs are also vulnerable, in that their defense is nowhere near as strong as it was last year when they hoisted the Cup. Of all the first-round series, this is the hardest one for me to call; Colorado is better on paper, but LA has better than just a puncher's chance of making it through to the conference semis. I'll again go with my brain over my heart and pick Colorado, but I think it'll take 'em seven games to do it.

The Phoenix Coyotes put on an impressive stretch run to sew up the #6 seed, and as a reward they get to face the Sharks. Oy vey. San Jose has two capable goaltenders in Evgeni Nabokov and Miika Kiprusoff (though Nabokov will probably see most of the ice time in these series), and a wonderful #1 line featuring the supremely talented, but as yet underachiving, Teemu Selanne. You can bet that 'Yotes owner Wayne Gretzky will be in on the strategy sessions, but I don't think even he can figure out a way to win this series. Sharks in five; I think a sweep isn't out of the question.

Now that I've dissed Phoenix, and probably jinxed San Jose, it's time to move on to the 4-5 matchup, St. Louis-Chicago. The Blues were my preseason pick to win the Cup, and while they still might do it, they have come nowhere near my expectations for the team. In contrast, Chicago surprised everybody, and put together a year nobody thought they had in them. In the final analysis, one factor leads me to go with St. Louis - Chicago is a terrible road team, and the Blues have home ice advantage. I say Blues in seven, with the home team winning every game in the series.

That leaves us with Wings-Blues and Avs-Sharks in the second round. ((You got THAT right, wow!!)) In the first matchup, I say this is where it ends for Detroit, easily the best team in the league over 82 games, but they've gotta be dog-tired by now. St. Louis will have worked every bit as hard to get into the second round, but they're younger, and had fewer Olympians than the star-studded Wings. Those Olympians will have played over ninety games since the NHL season opened, and I think the Wings' legs will give out first. St. Louis surprises the sporting world in five games.

The other series will see a surprise, too, to everyone but devout hockey fans. Here goes: The San Jose Sharks will eliminate the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in six games. San Jose is loaded, far more talented than most casual fans know (this is in large part because they're a west coast team without major media attention). And the Avs just aren't the team they were over the past three years, Roy's enduring brilliance notwithstanding.

That leaves St. Louis to square off against San Jose in the West finals, and here I give the edge to the younger Sharks. They do have less playoff experience, but solid performances from Selanne and Vincent Damphousse should propel the franchise to its first-ever Stanley Cup finals. Sharks in seven games. ((As of this writing, you could be right. San Jose did miss the chance to win the series with the Avs in six games, though, and Game 7 is approaching.))

So I have arrived here by some shaky insight and not a little bit of ambition for the underdog (a #3 seed against a #7 seed won't exactly make most betting lines). There is also hope for something other than the usual assortment of Avalanche and Devils and Stars, oh my, in the finals that we've seen for the last few years. I LIKE the idea of getting some fresh blood into the Cup chase. And a Senators-Sharks final would do just that, though it would drive the networks crazy, with two smaller-market, unglamorous teams. Let the oddsmakers pick the Red Wings and the Flyers for the Cup - I'll have tons more fun saying, ``I'll take San Jose to win the Stanley Cup in six games over the Ottawa Senators."

[Secret note to Jim-Bob: As usual, should these predictions turn out to be wholly preposterous, I expect you to deep-six the whole article, and disavow any knowledge of its contents. Thanks; I know I can count on you for discretion.]

Best wishes. Steve, steve.emmert of cox.net

((HAH! I print your comments AND your secret note. You'll have to stand behind these predictions and I think you can, even if it doesn't quite come out that way. But just about ANY way it goes now, there is going to be little wider interest in the Stanley Cup this year, and that's too bad. Go Avs....))

Mike Barno (Thu, 25 Apr 2002 19:12:24 -0400)

Copyright and RASSELAS - Macauley speech reprinted on kuro5hin

Hi Jim,

Did you see this? T B Macauley's parliamentary speech on extending copyright duration with the Samuel Johnson example got fully reprinted on a techie news/discussion weblog.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/25/1345/03329#ref9

- Mike, mpbarno of lightlink.com

((Wow, super cool. As everyone should know, TAP is named after Samuel Johnson's character Rasselas, who is the Abyssinian Prince - Abissinian in the original - and what I found offensive (though reluctantly necessary) was the perceived need to footnote the entire speech to make it ``readable'' to today's readers. I am one of those who is grossly offended by the Disney corporation and other corporate interests pushing copyright and trademark rights out further and further into the future. Macauley's rhetoric won't convince anyone today, alas, but his main point about incentives would be echoed by economists and others today with precisely the same logic.))

Steve Langley (Sun, 5 May 2002 18:14:47 EDT)

``Spider-Man" === a movie

I've been waiting for this since I was a teenager and my copy of Amazing Fantasy 15 was stolen by my little brother and left in a park. That was the final issue of the comic and the only one I ever bought. It was usually filled with sci-fi stories with little actual story and twist endings that barely bent. Steve Dikto was a comic artist then and he'd had a story idea that he couldn't sell. Stan Lee, the comic's editor let him put it in Amazing Fantasy 15 seeing as it was the last issue of the magazine.

Amazing Fantasy 15 sold off the racks. Spider-Man, was a brand new superhero with a teenage secret identity. Not a rich millionaire teen, no, Peter Parker was the nerd kid who bought comic books. For the first time the secret identity of the super hero was someone that the comic buying public could identify with.

They made it into a movie. They glossed over a few of the details, but for the most part this was the original Steve Dikto story. Tobey Maguire was the perfect choice to play ``Peter Parker." He was able to project nerdiness and nice guy and still managed to convince me that he was ``Spider-Man."

Kirsten Dunst was maybe a bit on the sweet side for ``Mary Jane Watson" the love of Peter's life (in the movie at least, she came along lots later in the comic book soap opera). The ``MJ" character I remember was a lot more fun loving and risk taking. But then I am more nerd than ``Peter."

The really wonderful surprise was Willem Dafoe as ``The Green Goblin." The weakness of the ``Batman" movies was the supervillains. They ranged from adequate to really sucks. Dafoe's ``Green Goblin/Norman Osborn" split personality was superb.

Yes, I liked it. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Speaking of sequels, ``Spy Kids 2" is coming.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com

((I haven't seen this one yet, though I surely will. Crowds the first two weekends were amazing! It's going to blow the hype over the ``Star Wars'' movie completely out of this world, to mangle a metaphor. And way to go, Spy Kids.... that's a sequel I will be dashing out to see too. Late word, I did get to see Spider-Man.... ooohhhhWOW!!! Yes, Spidey was a bit too computer generated at times, but the story was beautiful. The two middle aged women I went to see it with, who knew NOTHING about Spider-Man, also loved it - surprising them. I knew the story pretty well, but it still grabbed me in. The actor who played Jameson also was stupendous, hamming it up brilliantly. This movie is worth all the accolades it is getting!!!))

Steve Langley (Sun, 21 Apr 2002 19:35:46 EDT)

``The Scorpion King" === a movie

This was a fun movie. I'm not sure if the story makes sense or not, because to tell the truth I was having too much fun watching the action to pay attention to the story.

The movie has really great action, a powerful villain, an even more powerful hero, a small touch of magic, and the aforementioned great action. One important point, the movie doesn't take itself seriously.

The Rock aka Dwayne Johnson (his name may have contributed to his growing up to be such a kick ass hero) plays the good guy Scorpion King this time, rather than the evil monster Scorpion King of ``The Mummy Returns." It doesn't matter. He has a natural screen presence. If he ever decides to give up his day job with the WWF I predict he will do very well as an action hero in Hollywood.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com

((I have precisely zero desire to watch wrestling, and recall it was Steve who a year ago or so had to clue me in as to who the Rock was. But I'm already a fan of him as a movie maker. Steve has it precisely right. They had all the silly western/fantasy movie cliches, all done just right. You could have imagined that some of the ``peoples'' being terrorized by the bad guys were western settlers just as easily as the fantasy peoples they were. The use of the desert scenery was imaginative and amusing. And of course the action just pumped and ground onward, never stopping to let us catch our breath. Wonderful.))

Steve Langley (Sun, 21 Apr 2002 19:21:12 EDT)

``Murder 8y Num8ers" === a movie

I'm not sure what the significance of using `8' in place of `B' signifies. Maybe is was marketing. It has nothing to do with the movie. ((Ditto, this ended up not being at all what I was expecting, since I figured we would have a serial killer that Sandra Bullock was chasing, who would do.... yes, eight murders. But not at all what we found. Bullock shows a bit of range in this part and I always like her movies anyway, even the less than effective ones.))

Interesting characters. Sandra Bullock plays San Bernardino Homicide Detective ``Cassie Mayweather" a tough, smart, demon troubled cop who over compensates for being a victim. Ben Chaplin plays ``Sam Kennedy" first time homicide detective. This is his first case. Cassie is his partner and training supervisor. Sam is very smart and has come up through the ranks very quickly. Ryan Gosling has a dream role in ``Richard Haywood" the teenage golden boy narcissist psychopath who puts Cassie's teeth on edge from the first moment she meets him. Michael Pitt has a second dream role as Richard's foil, ``Justin Pendleton" the loner genius, friendless, bitter, and arrogant.

The boys decide that the only way they have to demonstrate to themselves that they are free is by killing a randomly chosen victim. In addition to the murder they must control the evidence to provide the police with a killer. In order to be completely free they must not only kill, they have to escape without any hint that they were even involved.

Unfortunately for the plan, ``Cassie" doesn't like ``Richard." He reminds her of another golden boy from her past. The one who murdered her. Well, it wasn't a successful murder but just barely.

Nice premise. The characters are very interesting. The story unfolds with relentless logic. Some twists and turns but no real surprises.

Not a great movie, but worth watching.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com

((Yeah, I thought it held together pretty well and I liked it a lot. They did a good job of mixing ``stuck up teenagers'' and ``insensitive cops'' all together in just the right way. No Academy Awards, but highly watchable. For those of us (mostly in the northeast probably) who have been following the murders committed by teenagers Parker and Tulloch of two Dartmouth College professors, this movie also has chilling similarities. The latest news this week was that Parker and Tulloch agreed going in that they would kill or harm NO pets of their victims, since dogs and cats don't deserve harm. No word from them about why the Zantops deserved their gruesome deaths.))

Steve Langley

``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' === a movie

I have a couple of nits to pick, which I will get to later. But first, briefly, ``WOW!!!!".

((Interestingly, I have almost entirely an opposite view of the movie. I'll take that divergent view paragraph by paragraph with apologies to Steve. People will likely love or hate this movie, see which of us you agree with more.))

Lucas must have read the reviews of ``The Phantom Menace". None of the things that were wrong there were in evidence here. The movie sucked me into the fantasy from the start. The action was outstanding, the computer effects were best yet, and the story didn't suck.

((I did think the story sucked, mostly. And the action was mostly merely OK. I may have prejudiced this by sitting in a big theatre down front, but I found the computer effects ``fuzzy''. I've been told this will look better when it comes out on DVD, since it was made digitally and then transferred to film. I say... ``oh really, then why didn't you release it first on DVD??'' I agree that the computer generated Yoda is ``cool'' but awfully cartoony as he does things that no one with his size and weight should be able to do. Perhaps he really is extremely dense, weighing about 300 pounds, and only when he gathers the Force to him aggressively can he move quickly.))

Hayden Christensen was very good as ``Anakin Skywalker". His teenage angst was a bit over the top, but considering that he will turn to the dark side and become ``Darth Vader", a little emotional immaturity might be in order. The teenage love affair was very believable. Although considering that the object of his affection was Natalie Portman, maybe it didn't call for all that much acting. In fact I can't believe that any teenage hetero male could be in her presence long without starting to trip over his own tongue.

((Hmmm, I thought this was mostly lame. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually liked the kid in Episode I better than Christensen. And I know he can act 'cause he was really good in ``Life As a House'' but mostly sucked here. Sigh. Can you tell I didn't like the way they did the lovestory? Bingo, the most memorable line in the whole movie was a really lame one about how Padme's skin was soft, not rough like sandpaper. Uh, duh. Check out the love scenes and sexual tension in ``Spider Man'', THAT was sexy and adolescent all at the same time.))

Natalie Portman was excellent in her role as ``Senator Padme Amadala". Her term as Queen was over but she continued on in public service. I'm not sure she plays all that powerful a politician, but she handles being an action hero just fine. With parents like these it is easy to see that ``Luke" and ``Leia" came by there hero roles honestly.

((I completely agree with that paragraph. We also see crystal clearly what the plot of Episode III and the fate of Padme will be. I'm not sure if that is a plus.))

As with ``The Empire Strikes Back" the story doesn't end so much as set us up for the next movie. I can hardly wait.

((And I worry that it will be worse than this one.))

Now, the nits. ``Attack of the Clones" - really? Well, maybe not really. In fact, misleading. But the real nit was in the smuggling of Padme back to her home after a failed assassination attempt. The powers that be decided to send her on a refugee ship. There was no war going on. They were on Coruscant, the capital of the Federation. What refugees?

Steve, Steflan of aol.com

((Make up your minds for yourselves. I think I was glad I saw it, but I wasn't absorbed into it like I was into Spider-Man!!!!))

Warren Goesle (Wed, 15 May 2002 21:13:38)

Jim-Bob,

From ESPN.com last night, in the wake of Kerry Wood blowing up at his Cub teammates (deservedly so too) they had a poll asking ``What's the Best Thing About Playing for the Cubs?". There were over 20,000 responses last I looked, and the answers, in the order of popularity, were:

1. Hanging out with Sammy Sosa.

2. No pressure after May 15th.

3. You're not the worst team in town.

4. Getting a `High 6' from Antonio Alfonseca.

5. Nights free.

6. October golf.

7. Live music during the 7th inning stretch.

Sigh. Wait 'til next year. Goz, gozcorp of iquest.net

((The Sammy Sosa thing is right on. Weird, but right on. Thanks, and the Red Sox still flying high.... but risk of strike looms on the horizon. Maybe there won't be a next year.))

Warren Goesle (Thu, 16 May 2002 17:14:19)

Jim-Bob,

Yeah, I keep seeing this. So let's figure out what happens...

IF the players strike in August, then:

1. The owners cave in by Labor Day. I don't think they can afford to lose another WS.

2. Nothing changes dramatically in terms of revenue sharing or salaries.

3. The Yankees will be a contender every year from now on, and the Royals won't. ((What about Byrd's pitching and the hiring of Tony Pena as manager! The Royals are going places. They're my fourth or fifth favorite team. My TOP two teams, the Red Sox and the Giants, right now have the best records in baseball!!! No strike, no strike....))

IF the players DON'T strike in August, then:

1. The owners have a lock out after the WS. They cave in by the start of the regular season.

2. Nothing changes dramatically in terms of revenue sharing or salaries.

3. The Yankees will be a contender every year from now on, and the Royals won't.

Sigh. Goz, gozcorp of iquest.net

((One thing I need to keep remembering is that I'm up here in Red Sox land where people REALLY care about baseball. Baseball is easily the #1 sport here, and that's even after the Patriots surprising Super Bowl win. I've always been a big Celtics fan and I seriously think that they will win their world championship too. If the Red Sox don't have the chance to even compete for theirs, people around here will be seriously, seriously nutso about it. But I realize that the rest of the country pretty much has given up on baseball. That's too bad, I see the declining attendance figures.))

LAWYERS: THE AMATEUR DIVISION - 2000G - GUEST GM: RUSS RUSNAK

2000G, No Lawyers Welcome, Fall 1910

Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com A BOHEMIA support A Munich, F ALBANIA support A Serbia - Trieste, A BUDAPEST support A Serbia - Trieste, A MUNICH support A Trieste - Tyrolia, A SMYRNA hold, A BULGARIA - Serbia, A SERBIA - Trieste, A GREECE support F Albania, A VIENNA support A Trieste - Tyrolia, F aegean sea hold (dislodged, must retreat), A TRIESTE - Tyrolia

France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com F HOLLAND - Kiel, F ENGLISH CHANNEL support F North Sea - London, A RUHR support A Burgundy - Munich, A BURGUNDY - Munich A TYROLIA support A Burgundy - Munich, F North Sea - LONDON F NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN - Liverpool,

Italy Jim Burgess burgess of TheWorld.com F Ionian Sea - AEGEAN SEA, F EASTERN MED support F Ionian - Aegean, A VENICE support French A Tyrolia, F ADRIATIC SEA - Albania, F Tunis - IONIAN, A PORTUGAL hold

Russia Brendan Mooney bkmooney of comcast.net F london (dislodged) support F Denmark - North Sea, F WALES - Liverpool A SILISIA support Austrian A Munich, A Sevastopol - ARMENIA, A NORWAY hold, A Moscow - WARSAW, F Denmark - NORTH SEA, F Norwegian - EDINBURGH, , A KIEL support Austrian A Munich, A BERLIN support A Kiel

Winter 1910 orders are due Thursday, April 25

Spring 1911 orders are due Wednesday, May 15

Winter 1911 supply center chart

Austria 11

Smyrna, Contantinople, Vienna, Budapest, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ankara, Trieste, Rumania, Munich

France 6 - 1 Lost Kiel

Brest, Paris, London, Belgium, Marseilles, Holland

Italy 6 even

Rome, Naples, Venice, Tunis, Spain, Portugal

Russia 11 + 1 Took Kiel

Berlin, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Sweden, Denmark, Warsaw, Norway, Liverpool, Moscow, Edinburgh, Kiel

2000G, No Lawyers Welcome, Winter 1910 (shorter deadlines fail)

Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com Retreat F Aegean Sea - Constantinople Has A Bohemia, F Albania, A Budapest, A Munich, A Smyrna, A Bulgaria A Serbia, A Greece, A Vienna, A Trieste, F Constantinople

France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com Remove A Ruhr Has F Holland, F English Channel A Burgundy, A Tyrolia, F London F North Atlantic Ocean

Italy Jim Burgess burgess of TheWorld.com Has F Aegean Sea, F Eastern Mediterranean, A Venice, F Adriatic Sea, A Portugal, F Ionian Sea

Russia Brendan Mooney bkmooney of comcast.net Retreat F London - Yorkshire Build F Saint Petersburg (North) Has F Wales, A Silisia, A Armenia, A Norway, A Warsaw, F North Sea, F Edinburgh, A Kiel, A Berlin, F Yorkshire, F St Petersburg (north)

Spring 1911 orders are due Wednesday, May 15

2000G, No Lawyers Welcome, Spring 1911

Sorry for the delay, my computer was screwed up and i just got it back.

Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com A BOHEMIA Support A Munich-Tyrolia, F Albania (destroyed) support A Trieste, A BUDAPEST support A Trieste, A Munich-TYROLIA, A SMYRNA support Russian A Armenia - Syria, A BULGARIA support A Greece A SERBIA support A Trieste, A GREECE support F Albania, A VIENNA support A Munich - Tyrolia, A TRIESTE support A Munich - Tyrolia, F CONTANTINOPLE support A Smyrna

France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com F Holland - BELGIUM, F ENGLISH CHANNEL support F London - Wales A BURGUNDY support A Tyrolia - Munich, A tyrolia (dislodged) - munich, F London - WALES, F NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN - liverpool

Italy Jim Burgess burgess of TheWorld.com F AEGEAN SEA - greece, F Eastern Mediterranean - IONIAN SEA, A VENICE Support French A Tyrolia, F ADRIATIC SEA support F Ionian - Albania, A Portugal - SPAIN, F Ionian Sea - ALBANIA

Russia Brendan Mooney bkmooney of comcast.net F Wales (dislodged) - liverpool, A Silisia - MUNICH, A Armenia - SYRIA, A Norway - HOLLAND, A Warsaw - SILISIA, F NORTH SEA convoy A Norway - Holland, F EDINBURGH support F North Sea A KIEL support A Norway - Holland, A BERLIN support A Silisia - Munich F YORKSHIRE support F North Sea, F St Petersburg (north) - NORWAY

Summer 1911 retreats due on Thursday May 23

Fall 1911 orders are due Wednesday, June 12

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

Brendan Mooney bkmooney of comcast.net RUSSIA

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 if you let me know in advance to be sure the fax machine is set up.

I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small ``s'' instead of a capital ``S''. This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine. I have been getting complaints and suggestions for doing underlines. Underlines are really hard to do and I've become attached to italics but I am considering this as carefully as I can. I'm trying an experiment this issue. Comments are welcome, but I'm not telling you exactly what I did, let's see if you all can figure it out and comment on it!

Standby lists:

Bruce Linsey, Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, 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 was my standby for Colonia and I have to use him this turn. Help, more are needed for this game, maps are provided for free by me.... I really need another person here!!!

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

We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!!

LAWYERS GAME: Lawyers game is cancelled. Lawyers suck.... ;-) They'll suck US dry, but they refuse to play against each other. Damn, but isn't that an indication. I am kidding of course, but unless some lawyers come forward wanting to play, we'll cancel this one for now.

John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough is still 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'm more likely to get these things started if I see some interest..... Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....

Right now, the other thing I am contemplating getting going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Rick Desper is the only one signed up for that.

Stephen Agar runs a British Diplomacy mailing list at: http://www.diplomacy.co.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/

I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1902 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

Summer 1902

AUSTRIA (Lockheardt): has a RUM, a TRI, a SER, a GAL, f ALB.

ENGLAND (Heikkinen): has f IRI, f LON, f ENG, f NAO, a SWE.

FRANCE (Mitchell): has a PIC, f BRE, f MID, a GAS, a BUR.

GERMANY (Sayers): has a BER, f DEN, a BEL, a RUH.

ITALY (Méhkeri): has a TYO, f NAP, f ION, a MUN, a TUN.

RUSSIA (Desper): has f BAL, a UKR, a PRU. Pru S Bal - Ber Bal - Ber Ukr - Mos

TURKEY (Miller): has f SMY, f BLA, a BUL, a SEV.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Chris Lockheardt, 47 Acton Street, Maynard, MA 01754, +1 978-897-1547

clockheardt of yahoo.com

ENGLAND: Allan Heikkinen, c/o S.HELEY, 7 / 77 Phillip Street, Waterloo, NSW 2017, AUSTRALIA

aheikkin of ram.net.au

FRANCE: Adam Mitchell, 19 Hollin Park Place, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS8 2NS, GREAT BRITAIN,

044 113 2650752 or + 01144 from US, heather.taylor of virgin.net (yes, that's really his)

GERMANY: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA

jimp of magna.com.au

ITALY: Dan Méhkeri, 24 DeQuincy Blvd, North York, Ontario, M3H 1Y5, CANADA, +1 416-631-0492

fool of kvack.org

RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 319 West Side Dr., #102 Gaithersburg, MD 20878

(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com

TURKEY: Tim Miller, 5454 South Shore Drive, Apt. 222, Chicago, IL 60615, +1 773-834-4597

btmiller of uchicago.edu

GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287

burgess of world.std.com

Game Notes:

1) Note we'll try this new postal address for Allan Heikkinen. The extra time will give you time to get a postal letter to him.

Press:

(FOOL to CANADA CUSTOMS AND REVENUE AGENCY): Well, at the time of writing, I just got my tax return postmarked and stamped about an hour ago, that is, around 11:30 pm April 30th ... a good half hour to spare! This has to have been one of the sillier tax forms. One section at the end reads, in a literal translation (they send me these things in one of them funny furriner languages):

``Ontario Initiative Fund. Fill in this section if you want to make a donation of part or all your tax refund for 2001 to the Ontario Initiative Fund, to help reduce the debt of Ontario."

Or, in a less literal translation: ``Gosh, could you bend over a bit further?"

Those wacky taxpersons! Well, no harm in asking I suppose! With that in mind, I wonder if anyone out there would like to cede me their capital?

(SILENT TURK to BOOB): How many moles does it take to screw in a light bulb?

(BOOB to SILENT TURK): Irrelevant, it's lights out because they can't get their act together to do anything, let alone screw anything. Shut them down!!! (late word, you have!)

SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1904 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

Summer 1904

AUSTRIA (Kent): R a bud-GAL; has a GAL, a VIE.

ENGLAND (Sundstrom): has f NTH, f ENG, f HEL, a BEL, f SKA, f MID.

FRANCE (Tretick): R a mun-SIL; has f GOL, a SIL, a BUR, f SPA(SC), a PAR.

GERMANY (Williams): has a KIE, a BER, a MUN, a HOL.

ITALY (McCullough): has a TYO, f TYH, f NAF, a TRI, f WES.

RUSSIA (McHugh): has a STP, a PRU, f DEN, a BUD, a BOH, f RUM.

TURKEY (Goesle): has a GRE, a BUL, f ION, a SER, f CON, a ALB.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Doug Kent, 1404 E. Lamar Blvd #106, Arlington, TX 76011

dipworld of ix.netcom.com

ENGLAND: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882 ($5)

Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com

FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 13267 Coppermill Drive, Herndon, VA 20171, (703) 713-1328 ($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: Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998

flapjack of comcast.net

TURKEY: Warren Goesle, 3907 Cedar Ridge, #1B, Indianapolis, IN 46235

gozcorp of iquest.net

Game Notes:

1) Note the delay, you all can see retreats before sending final Fall orders.

Press:

(SULTAN GOZ to TSAR JACK): Regarding my bachelor party...imagine if you will every wild thing that could possibly happen at a bachelor party. Now write down a list of those activities. Now send that list to the guy who organized mine, because none of that stuff happened. Sigh.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1908 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1909 IS JUNE 22ND, 2002

Fall 1908

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a ser-TRI, a VEN-tyo, a vie S a ven-tyo (d ann), a TUS-ven,

f rom-tyh (d ann), a BUD S a vie.

ENGLAND (Biehl): f nth-ENG, f GOL S f tyh, f TUN S f tyh, f TYH h, a HOL-bel.

GERMANY (Shreve): a SIL-gal, a MUN-tyo, a GAL-bud, a BOH S a tyo-vie,

a tyo-VIE, a pru-BER, f MID S a spa-por, a spa-POR, a BUR-bel.

ITALY (Tallman): a por h (d ann).

RUSSIA (Tretick): a stp-NWY, a MOS-sev, a UKR-rum, f wes-SPA(SC),

a war-LVN.

TURKEY (Acheson): f BLA S a rum, a ARM S a sev, f ION-tyh, a apu-ROM,

f NAP S a apu-rom, a SEV S a rum, a RUM S a sev, f aeg-GRE.

Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg):

BUD,TRI,ser,ven

(has 4, even)

ENGLAND (Biehl):

LON,LVP,EDI,bel,hol,tun

(has 5, bld 1)

GERMANY (Shreve):

BER,KIE,MUN,den,par,mar,

(has 9, even)

bre,vie,por

ITALY (Tallman):

none

(out)

RUSSIA (Tretick):

MOS,STP,WAR,nwy,swe,spa

(has 5, bld 1)

TURKEY (Lutterbie):

ANK,SMY,CON,bul,rum,sev,

(has 8, bld 1)

gre,nap,rom

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 ($8); 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: Vince Lutterbie, 1021 Stonehaven, Marshall, MO 65340-2837

melvin of cdsinet.net

Game Notes:

1) Bob Acheson resigns with these orders and is replaced by Vince Lutterbie. See his address above. If you can give me a phone number, Vince, that would be good. Congratulations on the new book, I hope it sells well!!!

2) Thanks to Terry Tallman for playing out the Italian position... well, sort of playing it out. He did hang out in Portugal for awhile before being eliminated.

3) The new way of noting orders which fail of execution is more work for me, so without feedback it will be an experiment only.

Press:

(A DRY EYE IS A BLOODY FOCUS PRESS): Moscovian Murmurs: Russian spies located on the west coast of Denmark, a country without a defined coastline, casually noticed English warships steaming northward in the North Sea. A cry of horror rang out of the runny nostrils of the Tzarina, Molitof Cockwithtail. She immediately ordered Norway to be protected at all costs, mostly English loses.

In the meantime, the Tzarina, outraged by the lazy German army in Burgundy, decided to attack a German held province, that of Spain. ``That'll teach 'em", she muttered, being careful to hold her handkerchief over her mouth so as not to pollute the motherland of Russia farther and further.

(THE BERNIE SAGA CONTINUES): Being swept away by a flood of old smelly beer, Bernie tried to climb out of that mess. He grabbed for straws! He grabbed for strings! Hey, he was grabbing for hairs on Shrevey's belly! Bernie struggled to make some headway up that fat, hairy, beer-ie belly of Shrevey. He dug his toenails into the ragged skin, and pulled and pulled with his arms and hands. Would you believe that Shrevey decided to both burp and sneeze? Yep! Bernie lost his grip and started sliding downward, gravely due to gravity. He past the belt line. He past the belly button, an outie [some are innies, and some are outies]. Bernie was sliding further and further down that fat ole' belly, approaching ... oh, no! Shrevey is starting to stand up [a new feat for him]. He is closing his legs together. Watch out! Bernie, watch out! That is Shrevey's crotch you are headed for!

(Sometimes I Feel Like) FLETCHER CHRISTIAN: 1999Cgh013, Colonia VIIb Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1759 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

Late Summer 1759

AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): has a BURGUNDY, f BISMARCK SEA, f WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA,

a PARIS, a BULGARIA, a ECUADOR, a ISTANBUL, f CORAL SEA, f IONIAN SEA,

a PERU, a ANTWERP, a IZMIR, f SAMOA, a RHINE, f EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA,

f TASMAN SEA, a SAVOY, f LIGURIAN SEA, f TAHITI.

CHINA (Reynolds): has f YELLOW SEA, f EAST CHINA SEA, f KOREA, f TAIWAN,

a CHINGHAI, a SINKIANG, f SOUTH CHINA SEA, f SUBIC BAY,

f MALAYA, a MAHRATTA, a KASMIR, f VLADIVOSTOK, a SIAM,

f WEST PACIFIC OCEAN, a BURMA, a BORNEO, a BENGAL, a OMSK, f JAPAN.

ENGLAND (Power): has a BRAZIL, f NORTH SEA, f NORWEGIAN SEA, a MANAUS,

a SUMATRA, f GULF OF GUINEA, a TOGO, f MID-ATLANTIC OCEAN, f ANDAMAN SEA,

f CENTRAL ATLANTIC OCEAN, f VENEZUELA, f YUKON, f NEW ZEALAND, a IFNI,

a GABON, a RICEFE, f HUDSON BAY, f BAHIA, f NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN,

f SW ATLANTIC OCEAN, a UGANDA, a ARGENTINA, a GHANA, f MALAY SEA,

f HELGOLAND, f BELEM.

OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): has a BAGHDAD, f PERSIAN GULF, a JERUSALEM, a PERSIA.

RUSSIA (Rauterberg): has f WEST INDIAN OCEAN, a NATAL, a ANGOLA, f BAY OF BENGAL,

f SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN, f BARENTS SEA, f BLACK SEA, a URAL, f EAST PACIFIC OCEAN,

f KHANDESH, a ARMENIA, a HAWAII, f ARABIAN SEA, f SE ATLANTIC OCEAN, f OREGON,

a CRIMEA, a ROMANIA, a DENMARK, f JAVA, f VANCOUVER, f PUNJAB, f NORWAY,

a KAZAKSTAN, a AFGHANISTAN, a HANOVER, a HAGUE, a TANGANYIKA, f ALASKA.

SPAIN (Partridge): has f MANILA, f CALIFORNIA,

f SOMALIA, f GULF OF CALIFORNIA, f NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN, f SARGASSO SEA, f TOULON,

f PHILIPPINE SEA, a HUELVA, a MANITOBA, a PANAMA, f GIBRALTAR, a TUNIS, f SEA OF

JAPAN, f CARIBBEAN SEA, f GULF OF ADEN, a ARAGON, a BORDEAUX, f SOMALI SEA,

f SOLOMON SEA, a NUMIDIA, f GULF OF PANAMA, a EGYPT, f POLYNESIA,

f SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN, a LEON, f ALGERIA, f ARAFURA SEA, a KENYA, a COLOMBIA,

a CONGO, a LIBYA, a MISSOURI, a SUDAN, f VALENCIA, f CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN.

Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (Prosnitz):

BUD,VIE,TRI,TAH,pps,sav,

(has 19)

ecu,peru,gre,sam,bol,bul,par,

MEL,NAP,fij,ist,bav,ven

CHINA (Acheson):

PEK,WUH,XIA,AMO,tib,NAN,

(has 19)

sin,jap,manch,mon,nep,mah,sia,

bur,cam,ben,vla,MLA,bor

ENGLAND (Power):

NIG,EDI,LON,kam,ire,gab,sum,

(has 26)

con,ant,uga,arg,togo,SUR,QUE,

gha,bel,vol,bah,BRA,DAK,vza,

ric,ont,ifn,azo,nwz,mor

OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer):

IZM,BAG,oms,jer,persia

(has 4)

RUSSIA (Rauterberg):

MOS,KIE,CAP,STP,CRI,pol,moz,

(has 28)

swe,mal,zam,den,rom,han,die,nwy,

GOA,nat,niz,hag,cey,ANG,ALA,

kha,van,ore,HAW,afg,jav

SPAIN (Partridge):

MAD,MEX,SOM,VAL,MANILA,

(has 36)

cal,tun,rab,eth,hon,tex,nwg,ken,

lis,lag,FLO,lou,iwo,num,tau,ohi,

vir,gua,tar,tim,cub,tai,bdx,sud,

wak,mas,manit,tou,fez,egy,yem,kor,col

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: New is Harold Reynolds, 3025 Bridletowne Circle, Scarborough, Ontario, M1W 2C9, (416) 773-0943

hjreynolds1 of rogers.com

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) Michael Lowrey tells me that you need only 102 centers or 3/4 approval to get a draw to pass in this, and I believe 50 centers is required for a win. Forgive me if this sounds ``weird'' since anyone except Dave Partridge theoretically could be voted out of a draw. Clarifications or comments would be welcome.

2) Bob Acheson resigns, so the game is delayed to allow the entry of Harold Reynolds as the Chinese player. Welcome to Harold and thanks for sticking with your long ago commitment to standby for this game!!!

Press:

SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1910 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

Summer 1910

ENGLAND (Sayers): has a GAS, f NAO, a KIE, f MID, f ENG, f HEL, f POR.

FRANCE (Sasseville): has f MAR, f SPA(SC), a MUN, a BUR.

GERMANY (Barno): has a VIE.

RUSSIA (Reynolds): has a MOS, a LVN, a BER, f BAL, a STP, a PRU.

TURKEY (Linsey): has f ION, a BUD, a WAR, f WES, a SEV, f TYH, a SIL, a TRI,

f NAF, f TUN, f TUS, a PIE, f GOL, a GAL, a BOH.

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 ($0)

roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030

GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883

mpbarno of lightlink.com or mbarno of claritas.com

ITALY: John Schultz, 120 Pine Drive, Unit H, Porter, IN 46304, (219) 614-1406

probo of earthlink.net

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) The FREGT draw is rejected.

Press:

(E to F): If you persist in moving your pieces you lose Phil's and my support.

(E to R): What was the point of moving in and out of stalemate position?

EDWARD TELLER: 2002?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1901 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1902 IS JUNE 22ND, 2002

Fall 1901

AUSTRIA (Schultz): f alb-MAR, a VIE S f alb-mar;

has mar,vie,tri (3); and nuked VEN, BUL(2), RUM(3), AEG(2), TUN.

ENGLAND (Rauterberg): f lon-BEL, f nwg-NWY, a wal-BRE;

has bel,nwy,bre,lon,lvp,edi (6); and nuked ENG(2), RUH(2), GOB, SIL(2), BAL.

FRANCE (Muller): f mid-ROM, a PIC-den; has par,rom (2); and

nuked PIE, BUR(3), ENG(2), HOL, RUH(2).

GERMANY (Andruschak): f kie-STP(SC), a BER S f kie-stp(sc), a MUN-den;

has kie,ber,mun,stp (4); and nuked HEL, TYO, BUR(3), SIL(2), PRU(2).

ITALY (Kendter): has nap (1); and nuked SER, SPA, CON, RUM(3), BUR(3).

RUSSIA (McHugh): f lvn-SWE, a WAR S f lvn-swe, a ukr-BUD, f SEV S a ukr-bud;

has war,mos,sev,bud,swe (5); and nuked BUL(2), GAL, PRU(2), RUM(3).

TURKEY (Kenny): f ANK S a smy-gre, a smy-GRE; has ank,smy,gre (3); and

nuked BLA, AEG(2), ION, WES, TYH.

Current Standings

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

TOTAL

JOHN SCHULTZ

3

3

PAUL RAUTERBERG

6

6

KARL MULLER

2

2

HARRY ANDRUSCHAK

4

4

LEE KENDTER, JR.

1

1

JACK MCHUGH

5

5

SANDY KENNY

3

3

Black Holed

8

8

Neutral

2

2

Totals(eventually)

34

34

34

34

34

34

34

238

Addresses of the Participants

John Schultz, 120 Pine Drive, Unit H, Porter, IN 46304, (219) 614-1406

probo of earthlink.net

Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

Karl Muller, 75-17 60 Place, Glendale, NY 11385-6044, (718) 416-1103

karlmuller of alumni.lemoyne.edu or pegandkarl of mindspring.com

Harry Andruschak, 20805 Margaret, Carson, CA 90745-1224, (310) 835-9202

harryandruschak of aol.com

Lee Kendter, Jr., 1503 Pilgrim Lane, Quakertown, PA 18951

lkendter of speakeasy.net

Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998

flapjack of comcast.net

Sandy Kenny, 23 East Coulter Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108-1208 (609) 869-3160

pdkenny of net-gate.com

Game Notes:

1) For 1902, everyone shifts ``down a country'' so Kenny plays Austria, Schultz England, Rauterberg France, Muller Germany, Andruschak Italy, Kendter Russia, and McHugh Turkey. The moves are due June 22nd, with just press next time.

2) Isn't this wild? Not many bounces for all of those choices!! Denmark was bounced over and no one tried for Portugal. All other centers accounted for above. Lots of spreading, only two ties already.

Press:

(DISGRUNTLED POSTAL WORKER-MR. JACK MCHUGH): I am making a grab at Saint Petersburg as a way of expressing my annoyance at your press to me last issue. Consider it a mild spanking. Whilst I have no problems with good jokes about my castration and eunuch status, that comment about ``pussy" was over the line and needs to be treated accordingly. You have been a naughty boy. *s*p*a*n*k*

(HARRY-BOOB): You will note my orders included the coast the fleet was moving to, but is this really needed?

(BOOB to HARRY): Well, there wasn't a choice that you could move to, but St. Petersburg does still have two coasts (it is possible to lose bi-coastal status or pick it up as a result of the nukes), so you were best off specifying it.

(FLAPJACK-MS. SANDY): Don't worry about me hon, I love novices, just ask anyone. It's the hobby old farts that hate me. ((She knows you well enough to know that she has to watch you like a hawk. I'd get back in touch if I were you...))

(TURKEY to WORLD): Hello-is anybody out there???

(FLAPJACK-RAUTERBERG): Hey man, I ain't no ``Axis of Evil"... ``Axis of FlapJack" sounds kewl though.

(GERMANY-ENGLAND): Congratulations. Norway is the only neutral that can be grabbed by just one Power.

(FLAPJACK-ITALY): Remember, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.... oh yeah, and really big nukes.

(FLAPJACK-ENGLAND): Norway is all yours but watch out for those sneaky Belgians. I hear they speak French and have a real snooty attitude.

(BOOB to FLAPJACK): I think he managed JUST fine without your assistance.

(FLAPJACK-KAISER HARRY): Watch out for those pesky Danes. They like to watch pornos and eat smelly cheese and not the good lesbian pornos either. Remember its not how you play the game but how many dots you swipe.

(BOOB to FLAPJACK): I'm sure you'll remember that as you ponder your lost center.

(FLAPJACK-SGT. SCHULTZ): I told you to watch out for Serbia. They are nothing but trouble. They probably gave Turkey the finger so Ms Sandy had to nuke them.

(SGT SCHULTZ to MCHUGH): So, he speaks to me after all these years. Well, it hasn't been long enough to have forgotten what a clever little snake you are. I'll have my eye on you amigo. BTW, I was in grade school when Sgt Schultz was a popular character. What hell that was for yours truly.

(FLAPJACK-JIMBOOB): Is this a great game or what???? By the way can we have chemical weapons too????

(JIM-BOOB to FLAP JACK): You can have whatever you want. We'll see what it gets you!!

(ANDRUSCHAK-WORLD): All right, who is writing that Black Press under the name of Sara Reichert?

(KARL - HARRY): What do you want to talk about? I gave you free access to almost all of my centers and you complain?

(BOOB to KARL): Harry wasn't the one who helped himself to them...

(THE OTHER PAUL): I can't touch a cat without an allergic reaction, which might be why I give people the impression that I hate them, but they ARE a little fragile for my tastes.

((I think I see what you mean right now. Let's see how your better half is doing....))

(SANDY): How's it going? Not much here-just the same old stuff...The kids are driving me nuts....Hope that you are doing well...

(BOOB to SANDY): What's Paul doing about that! Gosh!!

(NUCLEAR-(DIS)ORIENTED GAMES FROM MIKE BARNO): Felicitations Jim - The following poll was held on the //kuro5hin.org/ weblog:

``Greetings Professor Falken. Shall we play a game?

[o] Tic-Tac-Toe 6%

[o] Connect Four 3%

[o] Sorry! 2%

[o] Checkers 0%

[o] Boggle 2%

[o] Mousetrap 3%

[o] Chess 9%

[o] Global Thermonuclear War 71%

Votes: 1353; Comments: 108

Based on that, I think the general public (or at least the techie subculture) has a taste for nuke-themed games. Perhaps that bodes well for mass acceptance of Black Hole Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy! ((I honestly don't understand why it isn't more popular. It's a really great game, especially in this format.)) However, that may imply that we are in the Final Days, or may at least suggest that the Crazy Years will end in matter-energy conversion soon. Oh well.

EMBRACING THE CONSTRAINTS: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules

THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 11 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

Turn 10

110 (replenish with a 6):

Christie (Breaking Away!)

109 (no replenishment):

None

108 (no replenishment):

None

107 (no replenishment):

None

106 (no replenishment):

None

105 (no replenishment):

None

104 (replenish with a 3):

Alice

103 (no replenishment):

None

102 (no replenishment):

None

101 (no replenishment):

None

100 (no replenishment):

None

99 (no replenishment):

None

98 (no replenishment):

None

97 (no replenishment):

None

96 (no replenishment):

None

95 (no replenishment):

None

94 (no replenishment):

None

93 (no replenishment):

None

92 (no replenishment):

None

91 (no replenishment):

None

90 (replenish with a 3):

Prescott, Rhombus

89 (replenish with a 5):

Beaver

88 (replenish with a 6):

Square

87 (replenish with a 7):

Rectangle, Enfield

86 (no replenishment):

None

85 (replenish with a 3):

Dennis the Menace

84 (no replenishment):

None

83 (no replenishment):

None

82 (no replenishment):

None

81 (no replenishment):

None

-S-P-R-I-N-T- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-

80 (replenish with a 3):

Charlie Brown

79 (replenish with a 4):

Brandon the Kiwi, William Shakespeare

78 (replenish with a 6):

Edi the Emu, Peery the Peacock, Dave the Tinamou, I.K. Brunel

77 (replenish with a 10):

Boniface, Greenwich, Alfred the Great,

Alfalfa, Halbert, Sir Isaac Newton

76 (replenish with a 16):

Dana

75 (replenish with a 17):

Diamond

Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards

TEAM 1 (The Quabbin Reservoirs): Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham MA 02492

(5 points) 72060.1540 of CompuServe.COM

A: Dana

16 14 6 16 (5)

B: Enfield

18 7 7 (4)

C: Greenwich

5 14 10 (3)

D: Prescott

3 6 3 (3)

TEAM 2 (The Flightless Birds): Rick Desper, 319 West Side Dr., #102 Gaithersburg, MD 20878

(18 points) (301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com

Coached by Petey the Penguin

A: Edi the Emu

3 3 3 6 (10)

B: Dave the Tinamou

3 3 6 (10)

C: Brandon the Kiwi

12 7 4 (12)

D: Peery the Peacock

10 3 6 (10)

TEAM 3 (The Brit Pack): John Harrington, 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 3UW UK

(19 points) fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com

A: Alfred the Great

12 8 10 10 (5)

B: William Shakespeare

7 6 4 (8)

C: Sir Isaac Newton

3 3 10 (6)

D: Isambard Kingdom Brunel

5 4 6 (5)

TEAM 4 (The Border Riders): Tom Howell, 365 Storm King Road, Port Angeles, WA 98363

(16 points) off-the-shelf of olympus.net

Manager: the White Maid

A: Alice of Avenel

14 4 3 3 (2)

B: abbot Boniface

14 3 10 (9)

C: Christie of Clint-hill

5 3 6 (10)

D: Halbert Glendinning

22 8 10 (6)

TEAM 5 (The Quadrilaterals): David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033

(17 points) rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

A: Rhombus

9 5 5 3 (3)

B: Square

6 3 6 (4)

C: Rectangle

3 3 7 (4)

D: Diamond

4 3 17 (12)

TEAM 6 (The Bad Boys): Jim Tretick, 13267 Coppermill Drive, Herndon, VA 20171, (703) 713-1328

(3 points) JTretickGames of aol.com

A: Alfalfa:

8 8 10 (6)

B: Beaver:

3 5 5 (3)

C: Charlie Brown:

3 3 3 (3)

D: Dennis the Menace:

3 6 3 (3)

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.

3) We had some NMR's this time, in which case you played your lowest card per the rules. No standbys for this game, you gotta play. Come on, the game is tight, even if first place looks wrapped up.

Press:

(THE DESIGNER SPEAKS): OK, on to the Breaking Away rules queries.

1) I can confirm that it is possible to break away even if you are only one square ahead of the pack, and you do replenish with a 1. I could make up some pseudo-psychological justification for this but the truth is that the game works better if riders get the opportunity to replenish with a 1 or 2 occasionally, as it adds flexibility to their choice of movement cards. Being able to play a ``2" is very handy sometimes.

2) If two (or more) riders are in the lead then neither is considered to have broken away. In the face to face game there is an optional rule which allows group breakaways whereby 2 or more riders *from the same team* who are in the lead but on the same square can be considered as having broken away (i.e. they all get the breaking away bonus) but this does not happen very often and is very powerful when it does.

3) Rules queries I can do, just don't bother asking me for advice on tactics!

(ALICE to WHITE MAID): This two is an improvement over that three I've been carrying!

(ALICE to BOOB): You Boob! You could have just changed the press to read `below' and I'd not have complained...

(BOOB to ALICE): Hey, I love to create controversy and more press...

(TOM - JIM): Most of my games are in black press, so I've usually run the press items in order by the power they're purportedly from and to. Which limits some of the fun that can be had by judicial placement in the press stream... Mayhap, it's not too late to change?

(JIM-BOB to TOM): It's up to you, but ``ordering'' the press requires sufficient participation by multiple parties, something we didn't really get much of this time.

(W. MAID - BOOB): Gathersburg, MD? ((That's GaIthersburg...)) That inside the beltway? Whether or no, same universe or no, that close to DC, he certainly can't be in the same world as the rest of us!

(ALICE to CHRISTIE): Here ya go, grab a six, then we'll scoot on home.

(ALICE to PETEY): Team Work? What do you think of this job?

(PETEY GRIPES): *SQUAWK!* Looks like I should have chosen Canadian geese - at least they know how to draft. *SQUAWK!*

(ALICE to BOOB): Drafting? There's a time to draft, a time to be drafted, and a time to create a draft. I've done the former, I've done the latter, and if the middle hasn't happend (to me) 'tain't my fault!

(WHITE MAID to BOOB): Ok! I got it with Harry and his demand! So you're a two handed economist, huh? Can you imagine a motie economist? Or, a quadruchiro-economist? ((Oh absopositivutely!))

(MORE FROM JOHN): That's all for now. I might get time to write a bit of music stuff about that Louis Jordan 6-CD box set I bought.

FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 2008 IS JUNE 1ST, 2002

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 2009 IS JUNE 22ND, 2002

Fall 2008

BRITAIN (Schultz): a edi-SWE, f NTH C a edi-swe, a MUR-gor, f DEN h,

f BAL-lat, a STP s a mur-gor, f BRN-mur, f GOB S a stp, f SKA C a edi-swe.

EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): f tun-ALG, f LBS S f ion, f ION S a nap-apu, a SYR S a irk,

a nap-APU, a IRK h, f izm-AEG.

GERMANY (Rauterberg): a SAX-aus, a MUN S a sax-aus, f PRU S f gda, f ber-HAM,

f GDA h, f BOR h, a AUS-slo, a LYO-mar, f BEL-eng, a CZE S a sil-kra, a SIL-kra,

a MIL S a sax-aus, f ham-HOL, a mar-PIE.

SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): f POR-mao, a BAR S a nav-auv, a MAD h, a nav-AUV,

f MAO-eng, f lig-MAR, a rom-TUS, f tys-GOL, a MON S f lig-mar.

UKRAINE (Partridge): a vol-GOR, a MOS S a vol-gor, a KRA s a war, a rum-POD,

f WBS h, f IST h, a LAT-stp, a SLO s a kra, a WAR S a kra, f ser-ALB,

a VEN S SPANISH a rom-tus, a ADA S a irn, a URA S a vol-gor, a HUN S a slo, a BIE S a lit,

f GRE h, a LIT S a war, f ADR S a ven, a IRN S a ada, a CRO S a ven.

Supply Center Chart

BRITAIN (Schultz):

EDI,LIV,LON,ire,nor,mur,

(has 9, even)

swe,den,stp

EGYPT (J. O'Donnell):

ALE,ASW,CAI,isr,sau,lib,izm

(has 7, even)

GERMANY (Rauterberg):

BER,FRA,HAM,MUN,hol,cze

(has 14, even)

swi,par,lyo,gda,bel,aus,bor,mil

ITALY (Ozog):

none

(out)

SPAIN (S. O'Donnell):

SVE,MAD,BAR,gib,por,mor,

(has 9, bld 1(PLAYS ONE SHORT))

tun,nap,mar,rom,mon

UKRAINE (Partridge):

KHA,KIE,ODE,SEV,ros,rum,bul,

(has 20, bld 3)

geo,ank,mos,bie,gre,gor,ada,irn,

ser,hun,war,cro,ist,ven,kra,lit

Neutral:

none

(Total=64)

Addresses of the Participants

BRITAIN: John Schultz, 120 Pine Drive, Unit H, Porter, IN 46304, (219) 614-1406

probo of earthlink.net

EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728, (440) 322-2920

or (440) 225-9203 (cell) ($2)

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

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) The Modern Dip web page at: http://www.modernhof.webprovider.com/ currently is on hiatus. I'll try to remember to let you know when it returns.

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??? We are going to do it with ``wings''.

3) Thanks to Eric Ozog for playing out the Italian position! Sorry it didn't work out better for him.

Press:

(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): ``Drugs and guns and slavery; live together in perfect harmony; where the poppy grew; the soil is dead.'' Sung by the sublime Sally Timms, that's ``Brutal'' from The Curse of the Mekons.

(BRITAIN - UKRAINE): Hey, Dave, traffic is getting a little heavy in the north as well. Can your economic and political structure stand the pressure?

(BOOB to BRITAIN): I don't know, we'll see... but this next ditty really captures something!

(PARAMOUNT EXECUTIVES (P) INTERVIEWING GENE RODDENBERRY (GR)):

(P): What do you think of our new series ``Enterprise''?

(GR): It sucks, although I do love the Vulcan babe.

(P): What do you mean ``it sucks''?

(GR): Would it help if I talked slower?

(P): Just tell me what's on your mind.

(GR): First, you are writing this in a way that makes Starfleet look impotent and even stupid. ((More stupid than the current Bush administration? Sorry, cheap shot...)) Second, this is supposed to be a fictional futuristic look at Earth history. Next Generation already established that First Contact wiht the Klingons was supposed to be a disaster. In Enterprise, First Contact with the Empire had the Captain successfully saving a Klingon warrior's life. ((Perhaps that one didn't count as the FC that they were talking about, trying to be helpful...)) The Federation also was not supposed to have any contact with the Ferengi until Captain Picard's Enterprise. Your writers are writing this show like as if Star Trek, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and the movies are not part of ``Enterprise'' 's future.

(P): Any suggestions?

(GR): Yes, try hiring writers who have actually seen the other Star Trek's. Or better yet, hire a few ``Trekkie Advisors''.

(P): Good idea. By the way, are you still dead?

(GR): Yeah! Me and Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain.

(P): Sorry I asked!

Personal Note to You: