THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #278

January 31, 2004

Produced by Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287

Accessible through Internet at burgess of world.std.com (all E-Mail addresses are reported in this format, replace the " of " with "@"; if you bounce try sending to me from another account or FAX to (401) 277-9904. For Faxing, most of the time you have to call me to tell me it's coming so I can set up the FAX.

Web Page Address: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html

Sigh, that said business trip put me WAY behind on getting the printed version of the szine in all of your hands, as well as putting me behind in life in general. So, the szine was again two weeks delayed. I pushed all the deadlines back another two weeks to compensate and I did hold most of the games over, since the postal szine reached many of you after the deadline. We've got Rip and Harold as subszines, plus lots more from Doug Kent and Steve Langley. Oh, and updates on lots of this year's upcoming FTF cons.

The postal sub price is still $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, with 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. Or you can play in subszines for free and just jack up the issue page count. See the revised game start announcements below!

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.diplomacy.co.uk

David Wang still has the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! BUT, the site has not been updated in recent times. If you want to follow me and others in John Caruso's Baseball League, THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-P 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. Use the Telnet button in the upper left corner, that's the easiest way to do it these days. 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. Really, you can. John's E-Mail address also is commishjohn of att.net if you want to send him E-Mail after all that. John still at least one opening, you can start RIGHT NOW to play next year! Milwaukee won the World Series, something that can NEVER happen in real life. It isn't like a regular fantasy league, it's completely unique. We're just about to start Spring Training now. I got myself TORCHED in free agency and my team is pretty well decimated in hitting for average and power. I'll be lucky if I hit 100 homers and bat .240. Oh well, tank and wait for next year.... Contact John at commishjohn of att.net if you're interested in joining us or ask me for more details, this REALLY IS THE most fun thing I do in the hobby at the moment, find out why!!!

Peter Sullivan's subszine remains "in stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :

http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.

Peter was saying that he would be unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He is now hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date is now a "whenever". In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge are picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info.

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!!

THE SEARCH FOR STEVE HEINOWSKI

LOTS of people have contacted Steve, but he hasn't contacted ME yet.... You have until issue #280 to find him for the fifty buck prize. This makes TWO missing ex-Boardman Number Custodians that we're trying to find. The key to this is you need to get him to write me a letter (or send me an E-Mail, contrary to my belief, he might have an E-Mail address...).

Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, and ESPECIALLY Kevin found too!!! 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 Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe 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 bwhyte of unimelb.edu.au (note that this is a new E-Mail address for Brendan) or by mail to send checks at: Geography Dept., University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. This should help out my Australian subbers!!

WORLDMASTERS02 SECTION

WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament Round 2 is nearing a close. I should have a report soon on where that sorted out. The game that had Toby Harris and the Egg in it.... well, Egbert laid an egg. Go Tobyster!!

See http://www.cat23.com/wm02 for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again.

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 (relatively new address for this):

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

Check out back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org

We are back, Tim Haffey has agreed to be the Production Editor that I needed. We already have a pretty decent issue put together, but we always need more articles, either before the deadline for the next issue, which is March 1, 2004 for Issue #89; or afterward for Issue #90 or so on, we're going to try to achieve the quarterly operation that we haven't been able to do in recent years! If first impressions are anything, Tim Haffey is going to be an EXCELLENT nudge to keep things going! John Coffin and David Hertzman have taken over The Diplomatic Pouch as editors and I look forward to some nice friendly competition. The Pouch will continue to be primarily a Web Szine, primarily oriented toward the Judge hobby, preferring submissions in html (or plain text). Diplomacy World will continue to format itself into more of a "complete package" that can be printed, allowing submissions in any computer generated format, or even in text. We are going to be using a new technology under Tim in something called ëbook", we'll hear more about that as we get going, but Diplomacy World I hope will thrive along with the Pouch. Help us out, write an article!

Also, I'd be interested in hearing any Hobby Award Nominations for:

The 2004 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service;

The 2004 Rod Walker Award for Literature;

The 2004 John Koning Award for Player Performance;

The 2004 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance;

A 2004 Kathy Byrne Caruso Award for Lifetime Achievement (if warranted).

The award ballot for this year will be publicized first in Diplomacy World #89, so that we can hand out awards at World DipCon at ManorCon in July.

Here's the announcement I've sent out and posted various places:

Return of Diplomacy World and Call for Hobby Awards Nominations

Diplomacy World is now officially resurrected and continuing with its four times a year publication schedule as a Web zine (www.diplomacyworld.org) and is available as a postal zine: cost $3 per issue in North America, $2 per issue in the UK and $3 per issue in the rest of the world.

Tim Haffey will join Jim Burgess as an editor. Stephen Agar will continue to do upkeep on the Web site. Note all E-Mails below are in the spam friendly format "person of site.com" where that translates into person@site.com.

North American postal subs should be sent to David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA. Email: rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

Rest of World postal subs should be sent to Stephen Agar, 4 Cedars Gardens, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM BN1 6YD Email: stephen of stephenagar.com

Contributions for the next issue should be sent to Tim Haffey by 1st March 2004: trhaffey of aol.com or Timothy R. Haffey, Sr., 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA.

Tim is going to be formatting the issues in the "Industry Standard" ebook format (for one example see www.openebook.org) and this is a major contribution that maintains Diplomacy World as a bridge between all of the Diplomacy Hobby mediums, since it will be easily available on the web and by post.

I (Jim Burgess) will continue to co-edit and contribute the popular Diplomacy World Interviews (I've already interviewed such luminaries as Richard Sharp, Edi Birsan, and Brandon Clarke). I am currently seeking a "quick turnaround" interview candidate for the next issue, Number 89, who can get me a paragraph Diplomacy bio in the next week or so. Please ask me (burgess of world.std.com) if you have any questions or want to volunteer to be interviewed.

We also would like volunteers for the next Diplomacy World Demo Game. The last demo game (recount, using the Modern Diplomacy variant) never was properly written up here in DW. I hope we can get that in the Pouch Showcase section and a write-up here in good time. Rick Desper (previous DW Demo Game GM and recount GM, rick_desper of yahoo.com), Tim Haffey, and myself will consider those requests and make a Demo Game determination of GM, location, and Variant (if any) to be announced in Issue Number 89. Also, any of the participants in recount who would like to contribute to an article or articles on this game, should contact me or Rick. I have all of your E-Mailed endgame statements.

Other articles of all types are welcome (we already have four articles in hand, so we're in good shape for the return issue): historical articles, convention write-ups and descriptions, strategy or tactics articles, personality profiles, descriptions of gaming environments, or anything else you can think of. If you aren't sure if it works, ask one of us.

Upcoming Issue Deadlines:

Deadline Spring 2004, Issue #89: March 1, 2004

Deadline Summer 2004, Issue #90: June 1, 2004

Deadline Fall 2004, Issue #91: September 1, 2004

Deadline Winter 2004, Issue #92: December 1, 2004

Other Highlights of Issue #89:

Updates on North American DipCon, April 23-25, 2004, Portland, OR, USA

Updates on World Dipcon XIV, July 16-19 2004, Birmingham, ENGLAND, UK (with pre-event the week before in Paris, FRANCE; post-event the week after in Dublin, IRELAND

Updates on European DipCon, September 23-26, 2004, Darmstadt, GERMANY

Final Hobby Awards Ballot for 2004, nominations now to: burgess of world.std.com

The qualifications for the Kathy Byrne Caruso Lifetime Achievement Award are that the awardee must have been: (1) Active in the Diplomacy Hobby in at least Three Separate Decades; (2) Multidimensional in their Contributions to the Hobby (e.g. writing, playing, publishing); (3) Taking Retirement or Semi-Retirement from the Diplomacy Hobby; and (4) One of the Hobby�s Unique Personalities Worthy of Being Remembered as Long as THE Game Continues to be Played. This award need not be awarded each year, but only as worthy candidates are identified. The only past honoree is the late Richard Sharp.

The other award categories are self-explanatory:

Nominees for the 2004 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service

Nominees for the 2004 Rod Walker Award for Literary Achievement

Nominees for the 2004 John Koning Award for Player Performance

Nominees for the 2004 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance

The Hobby Awards Committee is Jim Burgess (Chair and Treasurer), Fred Davis, Jr., Melinda Holley, Gary Behnen, Jamie Dreier, Paul Kenny, Mark Stretch, and Robert Lesco.

- - - - - - -

Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:

Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor

Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Co-Editor and ebook Publisher

Stephen Agar, 4 Cedars Gardens, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM BN1 6YD; stephen of stephenagar.com - Webmaster and Non-US Postal

Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852, USA; rick_desper of yahoo.com - Demo Games

Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA; rebhuhn of rocketmail.com - US Postal

- - - - - - -

And last, but not least, I wish John Coffin and David Hertzman the best of luck as they take on their new challenge of following up Manus Hand and Edward Hawthorne as editors of The Diplomatic Pouch. I fervently believe that having both DW and the Pouch active and vibrant creates better writing and better things for all of us in the hobby. I intentionally waited with this announcement until they hit the ground with two weeks running. But 2004 should be a fun year for the hobby.

Jim Burgess, Co-Editor, Diplomacy World

Russ Rusnak (Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:02:00 EST)

On line Titan: http://acts.warhorsesim.com/index.asp - Warhorse Simulations, Automated Card Tracking System

Jim, a number of us (Mark Frueh, Marc Peters, Tom Swider, Matt Flemming, Dan Sellers, David Hood, Vince Lutterbie, and most likely a few others) from the old days are playing Titan at the above site. Why don't you come join us and encourage other Diplomacy old farts from the early 80s to do the same?

Latest CDs Purchased: The Very Best of Deep Purple and Grand Funk Railroad On tour in 71.

Hope all is well, Russ, RRRRRUSNAK of aol.com

((I never was much of a Titan player, and I'm even less of one now. I'm sure there are other Titan guys here (e.g. Mike Barno) who might like to pick up on this though. So I'm pleased to publicize it. I said a little bit about the "hobby facts" in the E-Mail world last time, and thought I would go ahead and add some precision, courtesy of Doug Massey.))

Doug Massey (30 Jan 2004 18:09:09 GMT)

Judge Diplomacy Player Ratings updated January 1, 2004

The JDPR has been updated, as of January 1, 2004. Note the new URL:

http://doug.obscurestuff.com/dip/jdpr.html

Alain Tesio's web tools are great for finding out JDPR data: http://www.floc.net/

There's a date for the most recent update on each page - make sure they match before complaining that the information on the pages isn't the same. :-) If the second web site doesn't have the most up-to-date information, then use the first (it's just far more cumbersome).

Chris Aanstoos finished the year as the world's #1 ranked Judge Diplomacy player, joining Dan Shoham and Roger Yonkoski as the only three players to top the list for two different years. Chris finished four games in 2003: three takeover positions that finished as two draws and a win and a game he started and finished in a three-way draw. His rating went *down* as a result, from 2198 to 2129, but no one passed him as a result.

Relative newcomer Steve Bush improved upon his debut ranking, jumping from seventh to second. He finished only one game last year, but it was a full-press solo over solid competition in `henry' on USVG.

Anders Dessmark re-emerged on the Judge Diplomacy scene after having not played since 1998. Finished two games, soloed in both: `longtred4' on USDP and `papa2' on DEDO. That vaulted him from 1562 to 1831. Curiously, his 1562 was good for 12th place in 1998, but his 1831 is good for just 7th today.

Hot shot debuts on the list include:

- #17 Ingo Wieck, who has three solos in five starts, plus three solos and two draws in five replacement positions (mostly playing Payola and Crystal Ball variants, which slows down his ascent).

- #30 Antonio Benvenuti, who doesn't play that many games and finally finished number seven. His results: three solos and four draws. The solos built him to a 1623 rating and three draws since have just let him stay in place - more victories would be required to go higher.

All these players have done well so far, but their ratings are still highly volatile and they'll have to continue their strong performance to stay amongst the top-rated players in the hobby.

New games amongst the top-rated contests of all-time: Vermont Group Full-Press Tournament semi-final games #5 foot, #21 village, #23 point, and #99 valley. Other Vermont Group games to break into the top 100 include three "rating class G" games, five first-round VGFP games, six games from the '03 VG No-Press tournament, and two other random USVG games. Also scoring well were `superman' on USDP (#37), and `jena' on USOS (#92).

At this point, 70% of the top-rated games in history were Vermont Group games - a trend that looks to continue as more and more top-rated players (currently, 2/3rds of the top 50) join the VG and play a large portion of their games there.

Thanks to everyone for your patience. Thanks again to Alain Tesio, who makes all this stuff much easier for you to view and research than I could ever do. There's a serious effort going on to automate as much of this process as possible and make the the updates to the DRR and JDPR more frequent than once per year.

Doug, masseyd of valhalla.btv.ibm.com

((Cool, and the reigns at number one??))

Doug Massey (2 Feb 2004 14:11:14 GMT)

Yeah - it was kind of neat to see that Dan Shoham had the longest uninterrupted reign as number one (although Chris Aanstoos has only about half a year to go).

((I estimated that about 2000 games were completed on the Judges in 2003. Could you tell me how close that estimate was?))

By my count, 1775. There were probably another 25 or so that I didn't even bother to include in the DRR database (games that were canceled before F1901B, variant test games where all seven powers are the same person, etc.).

The JDPR/DRR database still doesn't include BOUNCED games, which may be considered Judge games.

Doug, masseyd of valhalla.btv.ibm.com

David Hood (Wed, 07 Jan 2004 08:50:48 -0500)

DIPLOMACY AT PREZCON - SOON!

It's time for the 2004 Diplomacy tournament circuit to begin WITH A BANG! Charlottesville, VA will play host to the long-running Prezcon game convention: February 25-29. And that means a Dip tournament, this year run by David Hood as he takes his Dixiecon system on the road for the first time. Since 1987 Hood and the other Carolina Amateur Diplomats have been running a Diplomacy event in Chapel Hill, making it the longest-running Dip event on the east coast. Now the no-time-limits Diplomacy you know and love has invaded Prezcon. The event will have three rounds, with the Friday 6pm and Saturday 6pm rounds played without time limits and the Sunday 8am round ending at an undisclosed time in the afternoon.

It is time for you to make plans to attend what promises to be a great beginning to the U.S. Dip scene for the new year. Prezcon will serve as the first event of the four-tournament Eastern Swing championship, as well as an early site for Grand Prix points, for those who want to wow the continental hobby during 2004. Importantly, it is also the site for over 65 games events, trials and demos in a format which has produced tremendous gaming experiences for hobbyists for the past 10 years.

What are you waiting for? Email David Hood at gamerhood of charter.net for further info, and let him know you are coming. Then go to www.prezcon.com to preregister for this exciting event, held in the beautiful mountains of western Virginia. See you at the Dip board!

David, gamerhood of charter.net

Nathan Barnes (Tue, 20 Jan 2004 17:08:53 -0800)

Attention all Diplomacy Players!

The Piggyback Society for Northwest Diplomacy *presents* North American DipCon XXXVII: April 23rd - 25th 2004

With just under 100 days until the event we're all very excited to be hosting this event. Already we have heard word that people are booking rooms, and buying plane tickets. The entire Board is working to get the rules and time schedule of events posted to the public by the end of the month, collecting checks, and putting all those tournament ducks in a row.

We are looking to make this a memorable occasion, and could use all the support we can get. Pre-registration is $30 until March 1st, $35 thereafter, and those dollars will help us purchase trophies, food, and organize group dinners/events. You can reserve a room at the $99 dollar rate until April 7th. (Contact info is below.) We also want to have a guest list of attendees to post on the website, so if you have made arrangements to come, please let us know personally. Thank you for your continued support of the DipCon institution, and we look forward to seeing everyone this April.

Continued updates at www.piggybackdip.org and further announcements.

PLEASE email us with any suggestions or comments. This is an event for the entire community, and we welcome your input.

Sincerely, The Piggyback Board Members, Jerry Fest, Nathan Barnes, Matt Shields, Edward Hawthorne, Brad Rosman.

Hotel: Portland Lloyd Center DoubleTree Hotel, 1000 NE Multnomah, Portland, OR 97232, (503)249-3115

Send Pre-Registration Checks to: Jerry 'JT' Fest, 4411 SE Clinton Ave, Portland, OR 97206

Nathan, nbarnes99 of hotmail.com

Brian Dennehy (Thursday, January 29, 2004 14:03)

Hi Everybody; As I'm sure you are all aware, the WDC is taking place this year in Birmingham UK on July 16th, 17th and 18th (actually the con runs a little longer than that, check out:

/manorcon/ for more information).

Well, us Europeans, being a fine bunch of people, have decided to come up with a Diplomacy Tour. On the week-end prior to the WDC, there will be a diplomacy convention in France.

And, most importantly, on the week-end following the WDC, there will be a diplomacy convention in Dublin, Ireland. Thats right folks, you heard it here first, BoruCon V takes place July 23rd, 24th and 25th. I very much look forward to crossing drinking glasses with you fine people, and hereby send you some information on the subject.

I'm enclosing some attachments (all they are is HTML pages), and I hope they get through, because sometimes they can get stripped. If they do, and you want to know more, then contact me directly, and I will forward you the info.

Best Regards, Brian, denno88 of yahoo.com

Brian Dennehy (Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:59:08)

In response to the lack of attachments, here is the info. Scoring System document and Rules Document, available on request.

BORUCON V

When is it? BoruCon V starts on Friday July 23rd and runs until Sunday July 25th. The first round is on Friday evening, and there is a round on Saturday and Sunday. The Sunday round starts early to allow for plane-catching.

What scoring system is used? BoruCon uses a scoring system that is similar to C-Diplo, but we have modified it a little. Those of you who have played in the DipWorld tournaments will recognise it, because its pretty much the same as the one used there. There is more information on the scoring system in a document accompanying this one.

Where is the tournament being held? BoruCon has been held in the Teachers Club since 2003. The Teachers Club is in Parnell Square, which is in Dublin City Centre. Located just off O'Connell Street, there are many restaurants, bars, fast-food joints, shops, cinemas etc, nearby. The Teachers Club has a bar on the premises, and serves a variety of drinks to the weary traveller. An excellent advantage to the venue is that the bar is a subsidised one, thus driving the price of drinks downwards ... making the weary traveller more comfortable in his surroundings. Sandwiches are also available inside the venue itself (as is tea and coffee, as well as beer).

Where do I stay? BoruCon has begun a relationship with the Kingfisher Bed & Breakfast, also on Parnell Square. Located, literally 100 meters from the venue, what could be better than getting up at the last minute and still not being late for the next round? There are other accomodations within easy walking distance of the venue - Isaacs Hostel, Jurys Inn, and a variety of other B&B locations. For more information, contact us, and we can help you find the accomodation that suits you.

How much does it cost? BoruCon costs 15 EUR per player.

Are there other games being played? BoruCon is a diplomacy-only convention. However, this does not mean that other games are not welcome. The venue is an excellent spot to play other games after, or before the diplomacy, and opens late, allowing lots of game playing. Most players bring their own games to BoruCon, and it's very common to see games being played all over the venue.

How do I sign up? Simply contact us we will sign you up. If you need any help with anything, contact us and we will be only too happy to help you out in any way that we can.

mailto: BoruCon of yahoo.com

Frank Bacher

"What finally struck me the most was the kindness and sense of welcome of all the people I met, ... the way they make you feel immediately a part of the family" (2003 John Koning Award Winner for Player Performance Winner Yann Clouet on playing diplomacy in Germany)

EuroDipCon 2004 is drawing ever nearer. And already we, the organisers, are showered with questions. You clearly needed answers, you needed a regular EDC news bulletin, and this is its first issue. Here we go:

V.V. from Finland asks: "When is this EDC going to take place?"

V., the tournament starts September 23rd and ends September 26th. It will be held in Darmstadt, Germany, a city close to Frankfurt and its international airport. We have rented a venue that is located in the midst of a green park, a venue where we will not just play diplomacy, but many of us will also sleep and eat and, most of all, will meet new friends.

G.B. from England wants to know: "Do I have to stay in that place, I'd much rather get myself a five-star hotel?"

Don't worry, G., we'll even help you find the best Hotel in town. While most players probably want to stay at the venue, not all can. Beds are reserved beds on a first-come first-served basis. The venue has about 70 beds and we expect many more people to come, so some will have to stay at the hotel anyway. There are many different hotels of all categories in Darmstadt.

E.J. from Norway had this question: "Darmstadt, isn't that some boring village in East Germany?"

No, E., Darmstadt is in the center of Germany, about 30 kilometers/20 miles south of Frankfurt. But you won't have to go to Frankfurt to find pubs and bars and discos, Darmstadt is a student city and nights won't get boring. Then of course, we will play the whole day, drink the whole day... I doubt many will make it to the pubs anyway. As for finding your way to Darmstadt: check out: www.diplomacy-bund.de/cons/edc/int/location.php

Y.C. from France is worried: "I am guessing 'zat it all will be very expensive"

Just the opposite, Y.! If you stay at the venue, three nights including breakfast and dinner will cost you 69-77 euro. There is no tournament entrance fee for foreigners. And transportation should be cheap too. Just use the Frankfurt Hahn Airport, flying Ryanair. We will pick you up there (or at Frankfurt International or the train stations) You see, it's comfortable and cheap!

Finally, F.O. from Ireland asked repeatedly: "Will there be beer?"

Yes, T., there will be. Plenty! First rate German brew. ((Twerg, the Pied Piper.... he'd sniff out some beer even if there wasn't any.))

More answers in the next volume or here: www.diplomacy-bund.de/cons/edc/int

Or write to us: Sascha Hingst (sascha of diplomacy-bund.de); Frank Bacher (frank of diplomacy-bund.de)

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

Tell me anything you like about the recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!!

Warren T. Goesle (Sun, 1 Feb 2004 07:54:11 -0600)

Of sports & other things...

Jim-Bob,

I thought I'd better send in something before I become a subject for a search by either you or Leonard Nimoy. Things have been way busier than I've ever seen, but I think most of the fires have died down long enough to annoy you with rants & raves about our favorite universe. This may be a bit Stream-of-Consciousness, but I'm sure you won't object... ((No, indeed, and I think I'll interrupt a bit and make it more so.))

NBA: does anyone have a working definition of "travelling"? ((Of course, Michael Jordan gets three steps, other superstars get two, ordinary players get one, and mouthy rookies get called for travelling for walking on the court.)) Is it the same for every player? ((Of course not, see above....)) Do you have to be a complete idiot to play for Portland, or do they do the lobotomy when they trade for you? ((I think they just get bored...)) Just curious...

NCAA basketball: some team from the state of North Carolina will win. $100 bet per year on this every year in Vegas will yield a substantial return over time. For the daring speculator, bet Duke to make the Final 4. ((I'll take the non-NC field against you.))

NASCAR: for some reason the most popular auto racing series in the world decided to change its point system beginning in 2004. Although I was a part of the hue and cry about it initially, I don't believe that it will change who wins most years. Bet Ryan Newman for this year. What it might do is have a lot of teams lose their sponsors when the 10-race "playoffs" begin, if those teams aren't in them, leading to the last few races having less than full fields. No other sport has this issue. Could the powers-that-be here be as dumb as the ones who run open wheel racing? ((Yawn...))

NFL: As it's about 42 hours to kickoff of the Super Bowl, I'd better get in here that New England will win 17-6, in what has the potential to be the first Super Bowl ever without a touchdown (I'm tempted to predict a 6-4 OT game). ((Wrongo, I didn't really care much, but noticed that 1.5 million people, including my boss, attended the Boston downtown celebration. Lots of people didn't go for this, BUT, millions more would attend a Red Sox celebration, including me. I've got a great idea that they do a water parade down the Charles to the Esplanade..... I'll plan it for October....))

NHL: What if they stopped dropping the puck and nobody noticed? The NHL is the prototype of how MLB could go before the end of this decade. Then again, the season can't end too soon for us Blackhawks fans.

MLB...

Tampa Bay has to play 76 games against the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Orioles this year. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they won't win 10 of those games. At least they now have Don Zimmer to advise them on wrestling holds.

The best cartoon I've seen all winter was one that had the owners of the Red Sox and Yankees sitting at a poker table, and one was saying, "Oh, Yeah? I'll see your 8 million, and raise you 12 million!". Kinda sums it all up. ((Chicago's a larger city than Boston.... why don't you bid? And did you hear?? Wendy Selig Prieb is finally selling the Brewers, I think you should be buying.))

Is Baltimore going to be better now that they've tried the "spending money" route this year? Can they be any worse? The AL Wild Card will come from the East, and right now they are my pick for it...

Why was it that the Red Sox fans were all dressing up like the Village People during the playoffs in '03? Anyone?

George Steinbrenner had a recent heart ailment. This was news mostly because it confirmed he had a heart.

Toronto may be the 5th best team in the AL this year, and finish a distant 4th in their division.

Anaheim is now the pick to lose to the Yankees in the ALCS. In 7. On a walk-off home run in the 11th inning.

The White Sox are the most talented team in the AL Central, but they couldn't win the AAA World Series. It is possible that the AL Central winner this year will be below .500, and maybe a LOT below .500. The only team in the division that improved themselves in the off-season was Detroit, who provided Pudge with a place to grow old in obscurity. The Twins players are speaking of themselves in the past tense. Kansas City has Garth Brooks coming to Spring Training, as a player. What if they held a division race and nobody won?

Atlanta did it with mirrors last year. They've done it with mirrors for 12 years running. They'll do it again this year. Bobby Cox for best manager ever.

Florida won it all with a lot of luck, timely pitching, and the oldest coach in sports. The 2006 Marlins will have fewer than 6 players left from that team, due to financial constraints.

The ivy in Wrigley Field turns red in the middle of October. As God is my witness, I did NOT know that before 2003. Dusty Baker got the Cubs within 5 games of winning the 2003 World Series, and was hailed as a hero. Grady Little got the Red Sox within 5 games of winning the 2003 World Series, and is now a Cubs advisor. Question to Red Sox fans: is there anything we should know about him?

Roger Clemens was told that the over/under for how many wins he and Andy Pettitte would get together for Houston in 2004 was 32. Roger thought for a second, then said, "well, Andy will get about 21, and I'll get about 8, so I'd say `bet the over'". I couldn't make that up. ((Classic, I missed that one!))

Prediction for 2004: the 3rd place team in the NL Central will be more than 20 games ahead of the 4th place team.

Despite the fact that I married a doctor, I'm not rich enough to buy the Brewers. Even if I could, it would probably be bad form for the owner to show up to games in Cubs' garb. Although I guess it wouldn't be any worse than showing up dressed like a Commissioner. ((Mortgage your house, you can do it....))

The Giants look good in 2004, if they can pass a drug test.

The Expos may move to Las Vegas. This explains why Pete Rose wants to manage again.

The word `contraction' keeps coming up. The game probably doesn't need teams that aren't serious about fielding competitive teams. I recommend that they drop any team who hasn't won a World Series in the last 80 years. That will put both you and me out of our miseries.

Have a good one. Goz, wgoesle of comcast.net

Kurt Ozog (Thu, 22 Jan 2004 06:42:09 -0800 (PST))

Hey Jim. I would like to be taken off the waiting list for the next Modern game. Very intrigued by the computer judge Dip. I played it before and really liked it. I may try it again sometime in the future. Thanks...

FYI- The Illinois Entertainer issue for this month features the Mekons, your favorite! The cover of the issue has a modern picture of the Mekons. I cannot believe how horrible Sarah Corina looks now. I mean, she **really** changed for the worse in 5 years. You can't help but notice.

Kurt, heyday6 of yahoo.com

((You could tell by looking at Sarah in concert that she wasn't going to age well, on the other hand, Susie Honeyman always looks timeless.))

Karl Muller (Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:50:39 -0600)

Jim:

Things are good, if a tad chilly, here in Schenectady. Haven't yet gotten to a Sch.Wargamer Assn event, as I've been really busy with every aspect of life lately; I expect things to calm down a bit in April (!), so maybe by the summertime I can get into some FTF gaming with the locals.

There's something that won't let me pick the Pats in the Super Bowl. ((My timing makes you look bad for game outcome, but good if you were a bettor with the spread.)) Actually, let me re-phrase that; there's something that won't let me pick against the Panthers. They are just making things happen, and do what it takes to win. Much like New England, really, but unless Coach Bill can whip up another miracle like two years ago, Davis and Foster will pound Carolina to victory.

Maybe this year's loss will convince Eagle brass that they really need a top-flight receiver. I thought I heard that TO was a free agent. Showboating aside, he can back up his arrogance, I'll give him that. Give McNabb someone to throw to (Pinkston and Thrash? Please!), and next year they make it all the way. As a Dallas fan, it killed me to say that, so I hope anyone who reads this in PA appreciates it.

- Karl, pegandkarl of mindspring.com

Mike Barno (Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:41:15 -0500)

In TAP 277, Steve Langley wrote: "If through some miracle we were able to bring our kids home from Iraq there would be no jobs for them here." Tens of thousands of them DO have jobs waiting here; their employers are required by law to return National Guard people to their previous positions. Speaking of which, wouldn't 2004 be a good time for Mr. Bush to serve the final year of National Guard duty that he skipped out on?

- Mike, mpbarno of lightlink.com

((Methinks we could have the experience in a Presidential debate of Kerry saying "Mr. President, I was serving our country in Vietnam when you were evading your Air National Guard duty; sir, what do you say to our good men and women in the Guard who not only aren't shirking duty, but are being locked into service by your Administration? And with you as an example, how are we going to keep good men and women continuing to serve our Country in the National Guard in the future?" But nah, just a dream. The facts as I understand them are these (tried to be conveyed with as little partisanship I can manage): Bush got into the Air National Guard and most definitely used connections to rise above the waiting list. This was pretty much standard practice at the time though, much research has documented this and it has been true in even worse ways in earlier wars (e.g. in the Civil War with the cash payments). He served adequately in the Texas Air National Guard until he was recruited to assist in a campaign in Alabama and his "records" and "service requirements" were transferred to Alabama. As I understand it, the Alabama record keeping was extremely bad, and no one knows for SURE precisely what the facts are over the episode, though I think everyone agrees he missed at least some service time that he didn't make up. But then he shifted back to Texas and eventually was awarded an honorable discharge. At the time, no one was worked up enough about the issue, and you didn't have the Internet and E-Mail to communicate records between Texas and Alabama, to worry about it too much. Not to say that we won't hear a lot about it. The real issues of course are about whether we are going to "live September 11th" on an ongoing basis and the about budget/health care/economy issues. The parallels to the Clinton/Bush 1992 campaign are amazing. I'm not up to being on another White House Health Care Reform Task Force, so here's to hoping THAT doesn't come around again....))

Mike Barno (Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:55:01 -0500 (EST))

Hi, Boob; I thought you might enjoy this article by a techie on what passes for "analysis" in the world of literature. Do they do this stuff to you folks who do economic writing, or is it just in the "humanities"?

http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/people/PVR/decon.html

- Mike, mpbarno of lightlink.com

((I had fun with this.... a couple of reactions (wouldn't want to call them analysis - and by the way I'm generally familiar with the content of what he's writing about): (1) Note how Economists were conspicuously absent from this conference he refers to. This is not a coincidence, though the implications are not necessarily positive to economists. (2) Literary Criticism gets away with this (in my view) primarily because he is wrong that this is a "branch of academia that has been entrusted with the study of important problems". This is parallel to the "problems" in popular music (to intentionally trivialize it) where they have to do something while they wait around to uncover some really new ideas or directions that would get them studying important problems. I and some of my colleagues have worked out a template against which to look at learning based on the "three C's" (ya gotta have catchy jargon) of Content, Context, and Community. This is a "real" way to look at a situation and a text, at direct opposition to the deconstructionist approach. I could go on here... (3) Economists CAN do this sort of thing, but generally don't. (4) I'm in a branch of economics that is about as far from this as you can get, I co-edit a professional journal that aspires to be (and is) read interdisciplinarily (not a word, but you get the idea) and I spend a lot of time communicating across disciplines. (5) AND (in a not coincidental and interesting juxtaposition) The Atlantic Monthly wrote an article about 15 years ago about the branches of Economics where this is a problem and cited my thesis advisor as a perfect example of the endemic problem. They were right on and I laughed and laughed. I think it is "pre-Internet" as I can't find it in a careful search, it probably was in 1988 or so. I studied precisely HOW to go in the direction of being an epistemologically challenged economist. And then I didn't. My advisor currently ignores me at conferences by the way..... Thanks!))

Doug Kent (1-17-04)

I hope some people found my commentary on prison camp life of some interest. I'm halfway through my third month now, and routine is the name of the game. The trick is always finding something to do... there is more free time than interesting activities.

Around Christmas four inmates were caught trying to sneak off the grounds for a rendezvous with a woman (or women) at a nearby motel. Stupidity rules the day, it just isn't worth it. Not only will those inmates lose their "good time" and never see a camp again - instead they'll be transferred to higher security institutions - but they may also be charged with escape. That could add between 18 months and 60 months to their sentences. Since that excitement, the camp has seen some minor added restrictions as "punishment" which in some respects seems unfair, since we aren't the ones who ran off. Still, it's easier to obey the rules than risk the consequences... for me anyway. I just want to serve my time as quietly and peacefully as possible.

Those Diplomacy fans who used to receive the old Maniac's Paradise might remember my wife at the time, Mara, who at various periods contributed columns, recipes, and games to the zine. ((Of course I remember and as soon as I read this sentence, I knew where this was going. I have a friend right now struggling with mental illness and watching and listening to her in only the VERY small way that I do makes me think of all that you must have gone through over the years with that. I always find it amazing how many people still don't understand mental illness, with all the awareness efforts over the years. But many don't.)) It was Mara's suicide attempt in 1998 that effectively ended my hobby participation - we split up in 2000 and finally divorced last year, after which she remarried. We've remained close friends throughout. Mara was the first woman I ever dated (from back when I was 15), and we survived some very trying times, as well as a lot of wonderful fun experiences. Mara wrote me four times in November, but not since. On Jan 5th I finally confirmed my worst fears... on Dec. 11th she and her husband William took their own lives. Those who remember her fondly, please say a prayer for them and for their families. ((Indeed, I am very sorry to hear that. Wow, and with her new husband too. That's doubly sad.))

I'm sorry to read that Steve Koehler's Diplodocus is biting the dust. We need to keep the Postal Hobby alive... at least until I get out of prison and regain Internet access. I'm a selfish prick. ((And that's what I've always liked about you.... I hope it does stay alive. I firmly believe it has a role, and don't like that I'm such a large part of what's left. I'd rather be off in a corner doing my own thing.))

Regarding Steve Langley's first Retired Ramblings... yes, Steve, the economy is getting better. By economic definition, we are now in an expansion not a recession. But my personal belief is that the economy may never "seem healthy" the way it did before 9-11.... because the nation now knows how drastically life can change, on a dime. ((I don't really buy that one, since I feel like I was worried MORE before 9-11 as a thoughtful observer of Al Qaeda, and since what really happens is that most people have stepped back into their previous thought patterns, so I'm starting to become worried again like I was before 9-11. People basically have psychological barriers that they erect if they don't want to be aware how drastically life CAN change. Those barriers are back up for those who can't or don't want to handle it. Aren't they?)) More importantly, though, the stock market is NOT the economy. ((No kidding, though it has sent some people who retired in the go-go years back into the work force because they suddenly realized they didn't have enough resources to stay retired.)) Any veteran market-savvy pro will tell you the adage "Buy the rumor, sell the news" holds true most of the time. If the stock market IS the economy, then we're much healthier than I think, since we've seen a tremendous percentage bounce from the index lows... and then we would have already suffered a 30 to 40% decline in "the economy" from early 2000 to the 2000 elections. Most of the economic growth of the very late 1990's was built on phantom profits in over-extended stocks, rallying on radio and street analysts suggesting investors demand outrageous 10% or higher annual returns... and on fraudulent earnings reports we're still uncovering day after day. I'm not laying blame anywhere except at the feet of the general population.... ((Note: the same general population that didn't pay attention to the obvious and growing threat of Al Qaeda...)) regardless of party affiliation, those who tried to suggest moderation were shouted down, those who poo-poohed the surplus forecasts are now shocked to hear people believe the deficit forecasts. In my experience, the economy is NEVER as strong or as weak as it is made out to seem. Extremes are overstatements. "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" strikes again. Bubbles burst.

My Best to You and Yours, Doug, #30694-177,

Federal Prison Camp Allenwood, PO Box 1000, Montgomery, PA 17752

Steve Langley (Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:04:45 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #11

Happy New Year! Well, it is a wish, not a prediction.

I was listening to the NPR financial news program. They interviewed three economists to get comments on their predictions for the past year. All three admitted that the stock market was doing lots better than they had expected. They all three said that the actual economy wasn't doing as well as the stock market. They all three said that with the US government in a deficit status that the cost of borrowing money would go up. One of them mentioned the tax breaks as being beneficial to the economy through increased consumer spending. According to the retailers consumer spending is not really increasing much. There was a three percent increase in holiday shopping since last year, and last year was an all time low.

When he mentioned tax breaks it dawned on me that one explanation for the improved market was that the money from the tax breaks was being invested. After all, that was a really huge tax break, and most of it went to the rich. What do the rich do with all their money? They don't spend it all, they invest it in hopes of making themselves even richer. Makes sense to me at least. Is pumping more money into the stock market a good way to improve the economy? I have no idea. I have the feeling that it is just a way to move money around amongst the rich.

The current `mad cow' problems illustrate long term versus short term thinking. Long term would have set up better testing, and excluded diseased animals from the food chain. Short term, that is expensive, cuts into profit, and makes us less competitive against other countries that don't do the same. Long term results, our food is healthy and preferred. Short term results, the industry is losing billions and will continue to do so. Of course there is a short term bright side. The government will bail the industry out and pass the expenses along to the tax payer.

As long as we have a system that rewards short term thinking and never ever lets it suffer from ill result we will have short term thinking. Too bad, but we are a short term sort of people.

My day started at 4:00 this morning. This having a sleep cycle that doesn't match the planetary cycle is weird. But, since I have no regular schedule to meet, I find letting myself sleep when I want to and wake when I am ready seems to be liberating. Weird but liberating.

I have about two inches of snow and there is still tiny little bits falling. There is definitely something about snow that makes me feel good. Most of my childhood was spent in snow country. I grew up walking to school with drifts higher than my head. Of course my head was lots closer to the ground in those days. Still, good childhood memories of snow. Some sort of scary now that I am remembering, but good for all of that.

A gardening person on the radio just said that he expects the snow to last for a week or two. That will be a record in my memory for this neighborhood. I'll believe it when I see it.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Fri, 2 Jan 2004 03:41:41 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #12

The following from Jim Burgess: ((As a card carrying PhD economist, let me say that your assessment of the stock market is very astute. I've been telling people (I guess these economists don't listen to me) that the stock market would rise this fall for just the reason you state. Rich people have very low what economists call marginal propensity to consume.... which just means that if you give a poor person $100, they are very likely to have unrequited wants for things that they will turn around and buy. Rich people don't see $100 as being very significant relative to their unrequited wants, so they save it, hoping to build up $100,000 to buy something really big. I've also been telling my broker that the REAL problem in the economy is that business has been undervaluing the relationships between workers, and overvaluing technological improvements like computers. And that real return to real growth (which would float all the boats in the economy) will not happen until companies "get" this. Some of them have been getting the second part, but almost no one, except a few people at IBM, seem to be getting the first part..... even though all of the management gurus are talking about it. To my mind, the gurus have been sounding nuts and impractical which is why everyone's buying their books, but not really listening to them....))

I'm sure part of that is the idea that if the gurus are so smart why are they not CEOs instead of writing books?

I find that I am allowing myself to be annoyed at things that are not in my control and not even important. This is a sign that I need to so something else. Maybe it is time to start watching DVDs. The thing that has started to annoy me is that some blogs include links to things the writer found interesting. I click on the link and most of the time I go to the interesting link, and can return, but (now the annoying part) occasionally I find myself somewhere else and the back button doesn't take me back. So, not only did I not find out what was interesting, but I lost the rest of the blog. Since most of the time don't remember what path I took to get to the blog, and since I don't automatically put blogs into favorites, I may never get back. Like I said, no control, and not really very important.

Speaking of DVDs. I had thought I would be watching lots of DVDs once retired. I even planned to join Netflix to keep the DVD supply up. I have yet to watch a DVD. I was watching them more often before I retired than I am now. But, I still have them to fall back on if all else starts getting boring. I really thought retirement would be boring. Not yet at any rate.

((Since I presently am catless, I'm really enjoying Steve's cat discussions, I'm sure those of you who are not cat lovers will be completely bored. You were warned.))

The cat used to have an open window in a bathroom to allow her the freedom to come and go at will. The cold snap motivated me to close the window. Actually I had to repair the window. It was open because a previous cat tried to come through when it was closed. That cat never was very bright. Breaking the window with its head probably didn't make it any smarter. Anyway, the window is repaired and closed. The temperature in the house is up from frigid to chilly, and the cat doesn't seem to have noticed. Maybe she wasn't going out as much as I had thought.

On the upside of closing the window, there are no more night time visits from feral cats. Since I stay up nights as much as not, and since I spend that time either shut up in this room with the computer, or in the room next with a book, and since I occasionally go to the kitchen for something to eat or drink, I have startled several feral cats into running for the open window. Mostly all I see is a very fast moving cat, but there are enough differences in color for me to say feral cats.

I have just learned from the BBC that Damascus, capital of Syria has been lived in as a city for 5,000 years and counting. Some historians put the number at 9,000 years. It is the oldest inhabited city in the world. Most of its early history is vague but it survived Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, the Crusaders, a Mongol invasion, all several hundred years apart. The latest invasion that took effect was when Lawrence of Arabia took it from the Ottoman Empire and gave it to the Arabs. It has been called Damascus for 3,300 years. I don't know why, but just knowing this makes me feel good.

The cat went outdoors for the first time since I fixed the window. She figured out that she can not go out through the window immediately, and I never heard a single mew of complaint. Being a cat, there is complete freedom from logical inference. As soon as she figured out the ground was covered with snow she went to the window. Turns out it was repaired on that side too.

During the night more snow fell. I think I'll wait until tomorrow to go to the store. I think I'll wait until it gets light to scrape the three or so inches of snow off of my car. I do not want to be one of the first to brave the roads. Out here in the boonies the snow rules.

I went out to scrape the snow from the car (four to five inches) and when I got there I figured out that the car keys were still in the house. I started back in and saw the broom that I keep next to the door. Perfect implement I thought. I attacked the snow and set off the car alarm.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Mon, 5 Jan 2004 03:14:38 -0800)

Retired Rambles #13

This is early Saturday morning. My schedule is becoming more attuned to the planet's cycle. Much to my surprise I am sleeping from about 10:00 in the evening until 2 or 3 in the morning. I have never thought of myself as a morning person before.

Possible if I did not watch television the schedule would be different. My TV is in the bedroom, so I climb into bed under the covers to watch the one or two shows I watch of an evening, and then just turn off the light and go to sleep. Very likely when the weather gets less chill I will get up after watching TV and do other things, but for now, once I get warm in the bed I don't want to leave it.

That was in preface to the weather report. When I woke up at 2:30 this morning I looked out to see what had happened in the night, and my car was clear of snow except for the small bit I didn't manage to remove yesterday. Again at 6 I took a look and saw that there was a sheet of ice, but no snow. At 8, when I decided to go to the store, the car was covered with an inch of snow. It has been snowing since. The lady at the checkout stand told me to expect 7 inches of snow to fall. There is already three to five inches on the ground in my front yard. I'm beginning to think the gardener guy on the radio might have known what he was talking about.

The cat has developed a specific mew to tell me to open the door for her. The sound is quite distinctive. As soon as she has attracted my attention and is sure I'm moving she trots directly to the door. I guess it was inevitable that if we lived together long enough that she would start training me.

I have taken to letting her be in the computer room with me. What I won't let her do is touch anything. So, unless you are me, being in the computer room is pretty boring. I set her up with a little cat bed. She used it as soon as she saw it until she noticed that I didn't mind. Then, because I wouldn't let her climb up on the table she stopped using the cat bed, in protest. What she does now to entertain herself is meow outside the door until I let her in, test me to make sure I still won't let her touch anything, and then mew to be let back out. I let her out at the top of this paragraph. She is mewing to be let back in, now.

Of course while she is training me I am attempting to train her. I let her in at the end of the above paragraph. She immediately went to jump up on the smaller table. I put her back out. It all comes down to which of us will hold on the longer. My parents always did say that my most telling quality was my stubbornness. But cats are relentless. She is mewing to be let back in.

The reason she wants back in is not because she likes my company or likes the computer room as much as it is warm in here. I heat my house on the Japanese model rather than the American model. The only room that I heat is the one I'm in. I have small heaters in each room where I spend a lot of time. I find my heating bills are much easier to control this way.

Another word about the cat's logical inference. The cat has refused the cat bed except for the first time she saw it. I just moved it to the other side of the room and she has taken possession. She seems quite comfortable too.

Sunday, 2:00 am. So much for my attuned sleep cycle. I got into bed to watch television and fell asleep before the first show started. I woke up after the two shows I wanted to watch had run their course, turned off the TV and went back to sleep for another couple hours. My day today started a bit before midnight Saturday. The shows were both reruns. Oh well.

I just heard a BBC interview with an Iraqi University Professor who gave these statistics: Under Saddam there was 25poverty. Under US control there is 80there is such a security issue. The Iraqi people were at first overjoyed at the arrival of the Americans. That has changed.

Halliburton is the biggest US employer in Iraq. They import nearly all of their employees. The stated reason is security. What little infrastructure we have rebuilt has also been the work of imported contact workers. Money is being spent on Iraq but little of it is going to the Iraqi people.

Mars is of course the exciting story of the day. So far the NASA websites have not had anything except background story to show. I will go back later.

I just stepped outside to put a recycle item into one of the four boxes I keep on my front porch. It was a bit past dawn, so the clouds, lit from underneath, were various shades of pink. I was much taken by a flight of birds. I watched as they crossed the sky heading east. More followed, and still more. Then there was one contrarian bird heading west. Still more birds flying east. Hundreds of them I think, although I didn't count. Finally I started shivering and so had to retreat inside. They were still coming. And that's one of the reasons why I live out in the boonies.

Monday, 3:00 am. I just stepped outside to check the snow level. Looks like another inch of snow, not the seven that was predicted. But there is more coming. This is getting to be the longest period in my memory where there is snow in Seattle. It is very pretty where I stand. Of course I stand on my front porch and can go back inside at will.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Thu, 8 Jan 2004 10:13:40 -0800)

Retired Rambles #14

Robert Heinlein wrote a book called `Door Into Summer'. He got the idea from a cat that when winter came would go from door to door begging to be let out, until it discovered that the door led to winter. Then it would go to the next door and beg again, always searching for the door into summer. My cat is a bit like that. She begs to be let into the computer room where it is warm if boring. Then, once warm she begs to be let back out, in hopes that the other side of the door is also warm. Then she begs to be let back in. When she does come back in she heads directly to my recently vacated chair. I only vacate the chair to let her in, but how is she to know? Constant power struggle here.

I've gone into five digits on Freecell. Only 990,000 games to go. I was told that there is one game in the first 32,000 that can not be beaten. I was also told that the whole 1,000,000 games are different from each other and that, possibly, eight of them can not be beaten. The first 10,000 can be beaten, unless I somehow managed to not play the unbeatable game.

The CSI forensic type television is starting to bug me with their assumption about knives. The idea that a killer might cut himself while killing with a knife is something that should be examined, but not something that should be expected. Last night the weapon was a hunting knife. This hunting knife had a raised cross guard between the hilt and the blade. The very thing to protect the hunter from slipping while butchering his kill. Not only that but the victim had his throat cut. The sort of wound made by pulling the knife across the throat. Not the sort of move to cause a self inflicted cut.

Didn't bother the CSI man, he was sure the killer would have cut himself. Apparently in TV CSI land they always do. Well, I've only seen three shows where the weapon was a knife, and in all three the killer ended up with a cut on the hand wielding the knife. About the only way that could happen is if the knife was stabbed into the victim with enough force to drive the knife back when resistance was met. Seems to me one of the CSI shows had wounds like that. They present these shows as being very scientific. They really need to get it right.

In one show the bad guy was a tennis pro who preyed on his teenage students. He killed one girl after binding her with tennis racket stringing stuff. Used to be catgut but I'm not sure they still call it that. The CSI guys matched the cut ends of the line used to bind the girl to a tennis racket he had strung for her and from the tennis racket to the spool of twine in his utility bag. So, apparently the evidence indicates that he tied the girl up and then strung her tennis racket. I don't know.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Mon, 12 Jan 2004 07:34:09 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #15

I saw a movie this weekend. I had to go near to my favorite theater and so I managed to talk myself (severe arm twisting involved) into taking in a movie on the trip. I saw `The Last Samurai'. Tom Cruise really does a good job. He went from drunken hero to nobility and was believable in both. Nobility in the sense of noble in action, not in the sense of being a prince.

((I agree, I thought "The Last Samurai" was lots better than a lot of the buzz it got. And Ken Watanabe did give a deep and nuanced performance (which has gotten him some recognition). And I wouldn't have thought that Tom Cruise could have been that effective either. Unfortunately, you really do want to see all of the incredible detail on the big screen, and I think it's out of that now, but still even worth renting now. Really!))

There is a TV show that has never failed to make me cry, and laugh, and a couple of times, laugh while crying. Okay, so maybe I'm easy. `Joan of Arcadia' on Friday at eight where I am.

Joan and God hold conversations. He asks her to do things. Joan rarely understands what God wants but she has learned that she ends up feeling better after doing what God asks. Well, most of the time at least. There was one real disaster.

((I do think it is interesting that this time slot seems to pick up these kinds of shows. I can't get Charlotte to watch the show, but I'm easy, like Steve.))

I have been asked about my cat. Why do I not use the cat's name. I don't think of the cat having a name all that much. When I brought her home I called her Adelanta. I was in some sort of Greek mythic phase I suppose. Anyway, no one called her that. Part of the time she was called Gickers, part of the time Wiggie. I never did figure out what the code was. The people who called her Gickers and Wiggie are not here now. Adelanta seems not to fit. She has been around for nearly ten years and I don't actually know her name. She responds well to cat. That is what I call her when I talk to her.

The snow didn't quite last the full two weeks predicted by the gardener guy on the radio. I was mostly gone yesterday and all gone today, at least where I live.

The cat still doesn't spend a lot of time out of doors. You have heard the theory that cats pause at the doorway to make sure it is safe before they venture beyond the door? Well my cat hasn't hear that theory. I open the door and she goes through at top speed. The speed is why I thought to call her Adelanta. She was always the fastest cat.

I open the door to get the mail or the paper or both as the case may be and she goes out like a streak of grey. I get the whatever and return to the door. Usually there is no sight of the cat. I open the door to go back in and she beats me through the door. That's it for her outdoors venture these days.

She will no doubt change that as the weather warms. This morning I opened the door to look at the weather and she was gone. I didn't actually go anywhere and so when I went back in she was still out. I left her there for a few minutes and opened the door again. She was in through it before I got it wide enough to use myself. The warmer it gets, the longer she will wander before coming back to the door. I guess I will have the opportunity to open the door on spec a lot in the days to come. My fault for fixing the window.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Tue, 13 Jan 2004 08:47:06 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #16

I've been thinking about the nanotechnology I wrote about a while back. If DNA can be fixed as it breaks people will live for really long periods of time. I see no reason to expect that they will stop having children. That means new people coming in and many times fewer leaving. Planet Earth is already crowded. Where will all these people live?

I've come up with a speculative solution that is based on possibility more than not.

What we need to do is build ourselves some more planets.

The Oort Cloud contains more mass than all of the rest of the solar system except for Sol itself. Much of it is in the form of chunks of dirty ice. Some of it is iron, carbon, and any other element that you can name. Lots of raw material.

There are five L-points (Lagrangian points) in the earth orbit around the sun. L-points are spread in equal distances around the sun. They are points where the gravity of the sun and earth intersect in such a way to make stable gravity wells. Gravity wells hold things in place. Generally L-points are home for small rocks and dust.

We are just now starting to create anti-matter. The really large particle accelerators can create anti-matter. It has already been done at the atomic level. In order to make lots of it we will need to expend lots of energy. The best resource for this is the sun. Huge particle accelerators built in near space using solar power would give us nearly free (from the energy cost point of view) anti-matter.

Anti-matter, as anyone who has watched any of the Star Trek shows knows is a great source of energy. Using anti-matter energy as our ship's drives would allow us to travel to the center of the Oort cloud at a constant one gravity acceleration / deceleration for the entire trip. The trip out would take just under two years. Only a slightly higher acceleration would cut the time dramatically, but lets err on the side of comfort.

Once there we would have to collect a whole lot of proto-comets. Using our nanotech computers we could pretty much count on all of our ships working in concert, even though they might be more than a light year apart from each other. We could drop large chunks of material back towards earth, and aim them with sufficient precision to have them collide at the L-points. The collisions would be explosive. Most of the mass velocity kinetic energy would be converted to heat in the collisions. Most of the heat would be absorbed by raising the dirty ice to water and then steam. The L-point gravity well would tend to hold most of the mass in place.

The rest, mostly steam, would be carried by solar winds back out to the Oort Cloud as tiny pieces of ice. Recycling in a sense.

We would have to accrete material to all five L-points at about the same rate. As the amount of mass grew, the gravity of the mass would start to help us. And because the L-points tend to hold stuff in place, and because as more material arrives, the L-point effect will increase in such a way as to become even more stable, dropping material into the five L-points will be self correcting to a certain degree. Once we had enough mass stored in the five L-points we could start tossing the heavier elements at them. That would be less than half way through the process. We need the heavier elements, principally iron, to be the cores of the new planets.

The point of the iron is to allow the new planets to generate their own magnetic fields just as earth does. It has not been proven but there is strong evidence to indicate that a magnetic field is required for life. At the very least they act as a shield to ward the solar wind. We need the magnetic field but we would also like the new planets to be less dense than earth generally. The less dense, the larger we can make them and still end up with one earth gravity at the surface. The larger the planet, the more surface for living space.

Bottom line, we can build five new planets in a ring around the sun. They can have as much water and land as we decide works best. Earth is about six parts in seven water on the surface. Possibly that is what is required to support life. I don't know. Possibly less water and more land will work as well. We can build the planets as we choose.

Once the five new planets have been built we can terra form them. That is, we can seed them with earth plants and animals and let them build stable eco-systems. Of course they won't have all the fossil fuels that this planet has, but they will have lots of room for people to live.

That brings up the transportation problem. Once again antimatter will serve to drive really huge transport ships. We will need to move billions of people. That's a lot of trips in a lot of really large ships. We do not have the resources to build the fleet we need here on earth. So, in parallel with the building of the planets we will need to build a resource stockpile from which to build the ships. The places for that stockpile are outside of the plane of the ecliptic. There are many L-points that will serve, but the most obvious is the point at right angles from the plane of the ecliptic at the distance of the earth from the sun. With all six planets growing, that L-point will be the most stable. Well, those L-points, there are two of them.

Of course this is only a stop gap. By the time we build the five new planets the population may be larger than even they can support. I'm thinking that lengthened human life span is the big danger of nanotech, not grey goo.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Wed, 14 Jan 2004 07:11:48 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #17

There will probably be fewer of these in the future. I have finally decided to get off my metaphoric duff and do some real writing. Which begs the question, if this is not real what is it? The duff has to be metaphoric because I need to be on my duff in order to do the writing.

((I've been editing them slightly where they go way off topic, but I know I (and I'm soft for cats, especially now when I currently don't have one) have been enjoying them. I hope the crowd has been enjoying them.... in an unofficial extra subszine. Steve fascinates us of course, since he really doesn't care a whit for what we say or think. Really.))

I have a book in progress and I have had many ideas for it come and go while not writing. Some of the ideas are still with me. I'm hoping I managed to keep the good ones.

I was asked if the planet building idea was from Science Fiction or an original idea. I thought it up. I have not read all or even most of the recent SciFi offerings so I have no idea if I'm the only one who has thought it up. It is part of one of the many story ideas that I mentioned coming and going above.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Thu, 15 Jan 2004 07:52:49 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #18

Bush says we are going to put men on Mars. He has a plan. Most of it will take place long after he has passed from office. I'd really like it to happen. The plan is to stage the trip from a colony on the moon. Sounds like a plan all right. I doubt he has put a lot of thought into it, or that his staff has either. Part of the plan is to divert the money from the International Space Station, resting it on the backs of the Russians.

A Colony on the moon would be a lot easier to establish using a space station as a staging area than the earth. There is a lot that has to go into a colony on the moon. Lots of heavy lifting out of the earth orbit. It is a lot more difficult to do that lifting using vehicles that are built to travel from earth to moon. Sending stuff to a near orbit, say a big space station, and then use a different technology entirely to move stuff from earth to moon orbit makes a whole lot more sense.

Oh well. The plan is probably one of the set like `no child left behind'. Good plan for getting votes, but not one that they actually plan to implement. I'm betting the only part that ever does get implemented is the part of diverting funds from the International Space Station. After all, the money for the tax refund payout has to come from somewhere.

My hope is that Bush will make enough people upset to actually lose his election. It is his to lose. If he just coasted he would have no problem. But maybe he will try harder than that.

I wrote five new pages yesterday. They are first draft. The way I work is to do a draft and set it aside for a day or so. I may do more first draft in that time. Then I do a reread and add detail. I may do cuts as well. That becomes second draft. That too sits for a while. Then I read it again and add in all the ideas I've had about it since I did the second draft. That isn't actually the final draft yet, but it is lots closer. I find I am still making changes to stuff I wrote years ago.

Today is my mentoring day. I started doing this early in December. Since then there have been two school closures due to power outage, and two weeks of winter break. This will be my third actual mentoring day. I'm still in a learning curve, and the latest time I was even there was nearly a month ago. I think I'll be all right though. I've been thinking about it a lot.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Mon, 19 Jan 2004 09:35:22 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #19

Last night, late, I logged on to write a short paragraph saying that I had pretty much blown off writing for the day. Instead I opened up my first five pages and did a second draft. I made a few changes, added some description. Rewrote some dialogue completely, and ended up with nine pages. So, I guess I didn't blow off writing yesterday after all. Today by the way is Sunday.

Something funny happened while I was listening to the radio earlier this morning. Suddenly there was a weather report. The meteorologist said that last night had a near record low temperature, and that tonight was going to be even colder. I thought to myself that I hadn't really thought last night was all that cold. Then he signed off, from Hartford Connecticut. You have to love NPR. Where else will you get the Hartford Connecticut weather report, not counting Hartford Connecticut?

I used to think I was fairly aware of my surroundings. I'm not as sure now. I was just listening to an NPR interview with a man who wrote a book about advertising. Anecdotes were told about some really big advertising campaigns down through the years. I didn't recognize any of them. I kept waiting to hear about `Where's the beef?', the only ad I could think of at the moment, but it didn't make the cut. `I want my MTV!' was the big winner. The guy who wrote the book pointed out that the ad for MTV was essentially an ad for a show that was nothing more than ads for music. With MTV ads became entertainment.

I had to think about it for a long time. I don't think I've ever watched MTV. Oh well. ((I don't have cable either.... but I have seen some music videos. Even for songs I like, the music videos don't impress me much. This undoubtedly is a big factor in some of the things I wrote about last issue. Jack White is a huge personality, and he probably makes great music videos.))

Now there is a show about words being voted into the English language. I didn't know it worked that way. The American Dialects Society are voting for the word of the year. That is, a word that is new this year and is most likely to become a keeper. One of the entrants, `frogmarching' was rewritten on the floor to `freedommarching'. The apparent winner

((Was..... did I do something here??))

One more NPR item. A music teacher has developed a digital technique for slowing music down without changing the pitch. Normally if you play music faster the pitch goes up. `Alvin and the Chipmunks' is the classic there. Slow it down and the pitch gets lower, and the music is changed to the point of not being recognizable. What the computer does is slow the music down without losing anything. I just heard an Irish jig that was slowed down so that the notes could actually be recognized, and the theme pointed out. At normal speed it was moving so fast that there was nothing to point to. Along the same lines, a piece of Rap music was played at normal speed. The only thing that you could grab on to was the rhythm. The words were a blur. Put it though the computer and the rhythm was still there, but the words were all recognizable.

He uses the technique to teach music. I'm thinking it will hit all the TV spy shows within a month or two.

The cat has definitely learned how to talk to me. Granted she has a limited vocabulary. So far I only understand one word. She just told me or asked me, depending on who you think is in charge around here, to open the front door and let her go out. That is a first for us. Until now she used a running escape as her way to get out of the house. But now, she can leave any time she can get my attention.

Actually there are two words of cat I have learned. She uses a different mew for `let me in' than she does for `let me out'. `Let me in' is a lot more plaintive. No less effective for all of that.

We have also developed a self petting technique for the computer room. It is only good when I'm not typing. I let my right hand dangle towards the floor and she walks back and forth under it, letting it scrape along her back. I pet her in passing as it were. I'm not sure when she invented `self petting' but we have been doing it for several days now.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

((I'm sure she's happier with the increased attention of Steve being around more....))

Steve Langley (Wed, 21 Jan 2004 06:44:31 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #20

I'm closer to a twenty four hour cycle these days. I'm sleeping longer. Most of my life I have slept four and a half hours with a short wake-up in the middle of that. That was controlled by staying awake until about four and a half hours before the alarm. But even without the alarm, I would wake up. I attributed the short amount of sleep to being an insomniac. When I went into the stay up until sleepy, get up when awake cycle I was still sleeping the four and a half hours. Lately I have been sleeping longer. I'm waking after six and a half hours these days. I'm not sure if the rest of you find that as interesting as I do.

I'm listening to NPR while typing. The cat sleeps. Political pundits are busy explaining why Dean isn't as strong a contender as everyone thought. Then they moved on to Bush. One of them explained why, despite his background, no one thinks that Bush is part of the elite. He is such a bumbler when he speaks that it is hard to think of him as elite. The old incompetence defense. Bush isn't smart enough to be elite. He is smart enough to be president. He walks a fine line.

The same pundit who says that it is not Bush, but the Bush bashers who are elite is saying that Iraq is a success because it is not as bad as Vietnam. I'm thinking double-speak is too much a part of our life anymore.

About two weeks ago I got the rebate forms for my Dell purchases. The on-line site that I got them from advised that I call a service number if I didn't have my rebate in eight weeks. In eight weeks I would probably have forgotten about it. I'd remember sooner or later, but probably not at the eight week cut-off. Turns out Dell was being very conservative. The rebate checks arrived today.

I drove them to the bank. When I left, the three large branches that fell from my tree back in the heavy windstorm that blew down trees were still where I had left them. That is, on the piece of my land that fronts the street. There is about a fifteen foot sloped hill between the hedges that define my yard and the street. I piled the fallen branches there.

When I got home, a huge wood chipper was parked half on the street and half on my slope. The slope is nearly flat to the street for the last five feet or so, and at a 45 degree angle for ten feet. Anyway, there was this giant machine parked where my limbs used to be. The limbs appear to have been moved or chipped. Either works for me.

It occurred to me that just possibly I'm reading more into the cat's `open the door' mew than is really there. Just possibly the cat speaks, I get up and open the door, and the cat leaves because I have opened the door, not because of anything the cat said. So, yesterday morning I opened the door every time the cat said anything. Most of the time the cat just looked at me. The final mew was her `open the door' mew and that was the only time she left. I may be projecting but I think she thinks I don't understand much of what she has to say.

Today I hit the first non-binary palindromic number of freecell games since I hit five digits. I still have not discovered the unbeatable game. I'm playing a lot less since I started writing instead, but I make a point of playing at least one game a day, just to keep things moving.

Last night I listened the `State of the Union' speech. A few things caught my attention. In order, the round of applause when Bush said that the `PATRIOT Act' was about to expire; Bush suggesting we need an amendment to the constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman; and in its absence, the man on Mars mission. I guess going to Mars was a good idea last week.

We can't pass an amendment guaranteeing equality between men and women. At least we didn't get that amendment through. I thought that actually needed to be the law of the land, considering the way we live and who we are. I'm not sure a definition of marriage is the sort of thing that actually belongs in the constitution. I'm hoping it was more an appeal to his religious fundamentalist base for votes than a serious suggestion.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:46:21 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #21

Two Thursdays in a row with the kids. I am starting to get to know them better. I still want to read to the kids. It is my theory that the best way to get kids interested in reading is to expose them to material that is worth reading. I'm thinking the Harry Potter books.

I envision my reading to them as a group for about fifteen minutes before starting the individual reading practice. I think another couple of sessions, just to get well past my learning curve on what I'm doing now, and I'll talk to Maureen, the volunteer coordinator, about adding some story reading to the process.

Puget Sound Energy just sent me an apologetic letter about the recent power outages. I'm actually thinking the outages were not their fault. Still, I guess they are getting a lot of feedback from people who do think it their fault. I really didn't need an apology. I'd just as soon they spent the money on trimming trees.

The giant chipper is gone. I have some really huge mud tracks in the grass near the street. It happens. Not the first truck or car to park on the verge and tear it up leaving. It all grows back. The chipper was part of a project to cut down a tree across the street from my house. I sort of watched it happening. That is, I'd look for a bit and then go back in the house, and come back and check again later.

The tree was a very tall fir tree. I'm not sure what species. First a man in a safety harness went up the tree and lopped off branches which were dropped to the ground using safety lines to direct te fall away from the house on the next lot. Once the branches were trimmed off, he topped the tree. Actually, he topped it twice. The real top came down with gidance, and then he dropped down about thirty or forty feet and topped what was left. Then the trunk was cut down. They used a giant saw and cut it fairly close to the ground. More safety lines guided the fall of the log, but it still shook my house when it hit the ground. They sawed it into logs and loaded them onto a big truck that was parked just up the street from the chipper. Then they chipped the odd limbs that were too small to make into logs.

The whole thing took about a day and a half. Most of the time was spent lopping off branches and topping the tree. Cutting the trunk down and making logs out of it went pretty quickly. All the equipment and the logging truck are gone now. About the only sign that they were around are the track on my verge, some sawdust, and the stump of the tree. The stump is so close to the ground that it will disappear under brush in a season. The sawdust will be gone in the next rain, and the verge will have grass again very soon. The stuff never gives up.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

((We had something similar happen in the yard of the house behind us. We'd hated the trashy trees that were there ever since we moved in, our entire backyard is in shade for most of the summer. Well, the new owner of the house also apparently thought the trees were trash, and cut them all down just in the process Steve describes. We tossed all of the branches that had fallen off these trees over the years in our yard over the fence. They disappeared into the chipper too.... But it will be interesting to see what happens to our backyard shade garden with the sun coming to visit in the Spring. Our Trumpet Creeper and Rosebush will be much happier to be sure. Others could complain bitterly and burn out. The squirrels (whom we feed along with the birds) were quite upset at first, though they've seemingly adjusted to using our fence as a highway between the trees on either side. Personally, I'd like to see them put in some new, less trashy trees that permit some sunlight, but not full sunlight on our yard. But I've not expressed these preferences, so we'll have to take what we get....))

Steve Langley (Mon, 26 Jan 2004 08:18:44 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #22

Interesting thing happened Friday night. I decided that the TV was too rerun to watch, so I went to the computer room and turned on the radio, just in time to listen to the Orson Welles radio version of `The War of the Worlds'. My mother was frightened by the original show while I was in the womb. She used to claim that it marked me for life.

I tuned in at just about the part that most of America had. The top rated show that night was actually `Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy'. For some reason that show didn't play that night, and so most of America changed the station just in time to miss the introductory explanation that this was a radio play. What they thought they heard was a news bulletin interrupting a dance music show.

I managed to tune into the show at just about the same point as everyone else did, only sixty five years later.

I can see why people were frightened. There was great attention to the sound effects. The various reports supposedly came in via radio, over the phone, and some from the radio station itself. Right now I'm listening to an over confident troop commander explain that everything is under control. He was toast.

After about ten minutes it becomes pretty obvious that this is a radio play, not an actual event. But those first few minutes were pretty convincing.

Sorry, it turns out that this was an adaptation, not the original. Modern actors were reading the lines. Leonard Nimoy was reading the Wells role.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

((But still interesting....))

Steve Langley (Thu, 29 Jan 2004 11:36:18 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #25

The following from Ken Goldsmith on my ramble about Iraq: "As for Iraq, I disagree that the UN is a good choice to help Iraq write their constitution. The UN is so large and with so many factions that they would never turn out a useful document. Perhaps some non-muslim, unrelated country would volunteer to help them. Norway is trying to help Sri Lanka sort out its problems, and although they have not succeeded, they have not alienated either faction YET. A country like Holland, Belgium, Finland, something like that could offer to help and would have no self-interest in the results."

Good point. I was going with the UN without actually giving it a lot of thought. Just someone other than US.

I spoke too soon about the lack of piracy news in our media. The BBC had a report on the growth of piracy last night, and NPR, who probably listens to the BBC, had a story on piracy today. NPR had a few more details. There were 467 reported incidents of piracy last year. It varies from hit and run robbery to killing the crew and taking the entire ship. There has been an increase of the latter. ((Most of this occurs in the area between Southeast Asia and Australia. It is an amazingly dangerous thing to be on a ship out there. I probably wouldn't do it, and I'm a risk taker type.))

On CNN last night Robert Novak (famed for revealing the name of a CIA operative) was doing an analysis of the Howard Dean concession speech. A part of the analysis was the significance of Dean's wearing of his suit coat while giving the speech. Novak read more into it than the possible temperature in New Hampshire at the time. CNN obviously needs more news to fill the time.

Novak concluded that Dean was trying to distance himself from the emotional growl with which he admitted defeat in Iowa. That Dean was afraid that if he removed his coat it would remind his followers of his instability. Well, I paraphrase, Novak used a whole lot more words.

Dean wasn't the only one in the room wearing a coat. I think the hall doors may have been open because there was a large crowd of Dean followers both inside and outside. It seemed to me that temperature played a bigger part than the possible impression wearing a coat might make on the crowd. But then, I'm not a CNN analyst.

The cat and I have a routine we go through when I take a shower. First I place the clothes I will wear post shower in a tidy pile on the couch in the room where I have my DVD player. I do this because that room can be kept warm. I take the shower and the cat and I go into the warm room. I towel off and the cat watches me, from her perch on top of the pile of clothes. Then I pick the cat up and set her beside the clothes in order to take the top two items, which I then don. The cat immediately returns to the top of the remaining pile. Once I have my first two items on, I once again pick up the cat and set her beside the pile. I then take the top piece of clothing and put it on. The cat watches this from the top of the remaining pile. Sometimes when I pick her up for the third time she gives it up and watches me from a different part of the room until I finish dressing myself. Sometimes she hangs in until I have taken all of the clothes out from under her.

Once I am clothed again, I sit to put on my socks. The cat attempts to climb on to my lap. It is nice to have something you can depend on.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

Steve Langley (Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:48:11 -0800)

Retired Ramblings #26

I'm listening to a Academy Awards prediction show. The people doing the show are NPR, a local to Seattle area movie critic and the show host. They both were a bit surprised over the Johnny Depp nomination, but after discussing it they decided that it was totally deserved. Maybe they were surprised because it was such an outrageous performance, not because it did not deserve recognition. I have long been a Depp fan and truly hope he wins. ((Me, too, he won't but he should.))

I'm not sure `The Return of the King' deserves all the nominations it has collected, but I suspect that they are for the entire trilogy, not just the one movie. I am dismayed to find that I didn't see a few more of the nominated works this year. Most years I have seen most if not all. Oh well.

Best, Steve, steflan of mailaka.net

((Agreed, as a movie, the third one seemed the weakest of the three. I've heard the "but it was a great trilogy and deserved attention as a trilogy" argument, but no one gave the Star Wars trilogy (which followed a similar pattern) such attention. And the political process that excluded "Cold Mountain" from the major awards also was unfair. But the Academy is nothing if not political. Still, always a great show. I've seen most of the nominees, and really am impressed with the "Whale Rider" star Keisha whatever her name is getting nominated. That was my kind of movie, though Charlotte didn't like it as much, as usual.))

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.

Standby lists:

Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Vern Parker, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, and Dan Gorham stand by for regular Diplomacy.

Brad Wilson and Jack McHugh stand by for the Modern Diplomacy game.

Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.

GAME OPENING INFORMATION

We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!! Especially, contact Rip Gooch for Railway Rivals, see Rip's subszine elsewhere in most issues of TAP. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com.

I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. I'll publish the rules shortly or you can look at them at www.variantbank.com. Bruce Edwards is signed up.

John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough and Bruce Edwards are interested, anyone else?

Harold Reynolds has started the game of Colonia (see elsewhere in this issue) and is interested in guest-GMing a game of Aberration. Sean O'Donnell and Brendan Whyte are interested in Aberration. Brendan and Sean BOTH need rules from Harold Reynolds.

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. Bruce Edwards and 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..... it takes four and 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, Alexander Woo, Dave Partridge, and Eric Ozog are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, and may not wait until the other Modern game finishes.

Mike Barno and Edi Birsan run a great web site at http://www.diplomaticcorps.org! Please check it out!

FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1901 IS FEBRUARY 21ST, 2004

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1901 IS MARCH 13TH, 2004

Spring 1901

AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): a vie-TRI, a bud-SER, f tri-ALB.

ENGLAND (Schmit): f edi-NWG, f lon-NTH, a lvp-YOR.

FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): f bre-PIC, a par-BUR, a MAR S a par-bur.

GERMANY (Sundstrom): a mun-RUH, a ber-KIE, f kie-DEN.

ITALY (Williams): f nap-ION, a rom-APU, a ven-TYO.

RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell): f stp(sc)-GOB, f sev-RUM, a war-SIL, a mos-UKR.

TURKEY (Levinson): f ANK h, a smy-CON, a con-BUL.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,

PHONE NUMBER??, wiedem of planet.eon.net

ENGLAND: Karl Schmit, 1452 Seville Dr. #3, Green Bay, WI 54302-5559, PHONE NUMBER??,

diplomacy of new.rr.com ($5)

FRANCE: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,

(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell)

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

Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net

ITALY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org

RUSSIA: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230,

sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com

TURKEY: Alexandre Levinson, 1, allee des Marniquets, 78430 Louveciennes FRANCE, don't need phone,

levinson7 of hotmail.com ($5)

Game Notes:

1) Thanks to Tom Howell for our Boardman Number, 2003G. Note what I said at the top of the szine, and then we have just seven BN games (a bit more than John Boardman noted in his last issue, with a surge at the end of the year).

2) Note that we salute all Summer/Winter deadlines, even though there are no orders due. This is a press opportunity and ensures that you have enough negotiating time for Fall orders.

Press:

(JEFF to ANDRE): It occurs to me that in my hello/thanks for the statue note I forgot to also thank you guys for helping us to kick the British out of our country during that Revolution skirmish. My apologies for my bad manners.

(SUNDSTROM-SCHMIDT): Did you feel any better when Green Bay let up that 4th and 26?

(CAPTAIN'S LOG): There is no Captain's Log on Ferengi ships. On this ship I'm "The Franchise Manager". I've received communiques from two alien groups, but our compic is down and I don't even know which species is which. I'm converting my Ferengi ship into a fighing machine by selling half of our assets and I've made a couple of Ferengi allies with a couple of bribes. I'm also breaking a promise to one of the aliens based on a hunch. Kirk out.

(JEFF to JIM): I've seen all of the Star Trek and Next Generation, and 80% of the rest, including about 10 Trek novels. Thru all of that I actually thought they were saying proton torpedoes, not photon. I've convinced that my photo should be in the dictionary next to the word "attention deficit".

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

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1907 IS FEBRUARY 21ST, 2004

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1907 IS MARCH 13TH, 2004

Pre-Spring 1907

AUSTRIA (Lockheardt): has a UKR, a PIE, a TYO, a MOS, a TRI, a RUM, a LVN, f GRE.

ENGLAND (Kinney): has a LON, a EDI, f ENG, f NTH.

FRANCE (Kent): has a MAR, a BUR, a PAR, f BRE, f MID.

GERMANY (Wilson): has f KIE, a HOL, a DEN, a MUN, f SWE, a RUH, a BEL.

ITALY (Gardner): has a VEN, f ION, f AEG, a APU.

RUSSIA (Desper): has a STP.

TURKEY (Miller): f SMY, a ARM, a CON, f BUL(SC), a SEV.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Chris Lockheardt, 54 Butler Avenue, Maynard, MA 01754, +1 978-897-1547

clockheardt of yahoo.com

ENGLAND: Mark Kinney, 4830 Westport Road, Apt D, Louisville KY 40222

alberich of iglou.com

FRANCE: Douglas Kent, #30694-177, Federal Prison Camp Allenwood, PO Box 1000, Montgomery,

PA 17752

GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 373 Gateford Drive, Ballwin, MO 63021

ckevinw of aol.com

ITALY: Heath Gardner, 1627 Abbotts Creek Circle, Kernersville, NC, 27284

hdgardne of uncg.edu

RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852

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

TURKEY: Tim Miller, 5421 S. Ellis Ave. #1-E, 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) Given that you've all had to catch up with Doug's address change, and his lack of E-Mail accessibility (and not insignificantly since so many of you haven't submitted orders), I've decided to hold this game to the February 21st deadline. Please get orders in ASAP, and thanks to those who did submit orders. See more of Doug's story above in the letters section.

Press:

SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1908 IS FEBRUARY 21ST, 2004

Pre-Fall 1908

ENGLAND (Sundstrom): has f BAR, f NTH, f SWE, f NWY, f LVP.

FRANCE (Tretick): has a BUR, a BRE, f ENG, a GAS.

GERMANY (Williams): has a BER, a DEN, a SIL, a MUN.

ITALY (Barno): has f NAP, a PIE, f GOL, a MAR, a VIE, f SPA(SC), f NAO,

a TRI, f POR.

RUSSIA (Rauterberg): has a FIN, a STP, f GOB.

TURKEY (O'Donnell): has a BUL, a SEV, f TUN, a BUD, a SER, f WES,

a LVN, f CON, a WAR.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Doug Kent

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

Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net

FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 1383 Canterbury Way Potomac, MD 20854, (301) 279-0803 ($4)

JTretickGames of aol.com

GERMANY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($3)

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org

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

mpbarno of lightlink.com

RUSSIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,

(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com

TURKEY: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230

sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or seanfodonnell of yahoo.com

Game Notes:

1) Don reminds me that he doesn't mind getting Dip mail at his work address when his home account overflows. I've added that to the list above.

2) Sean had some problems and I think I also need to delay this game. I almost had everyone's orders, and I do have Sean's orders.

Press:

(SEAN to BOARD): My home net isn't working, so getting hold of me may be a problem.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1913 IS FEBRUARY 21ST, 2004

Summer 1913

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): has a VEN, a NAP, a ROM.

ENGLAND (Biehl): has f BAR.

GERMANY (Osuch): has a SIL, f BAL, a BOH, a PRU, f SKA, a SWE, a PIE, a GAL, a VIE,

a KIE, f NAO, a BEL, a SPA.

RUSSIA (Tretick): has f HEL, a LVN, f EDI, a YOR, a UKR, f LVP, a FIN.

TURKEY (Lutterbie): R a sil-BER; has a SER, f APU, f AEG, a BER, f TUS,

a TRI, f IRI, a BUD, a RUM, f TYH.

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, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,

(604) 591-1832 ($7); jrb of dccnet.com

FRANCE: Rick Davis, 2420 West Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407, (707) 544-5201,

redavis914 of aol.com

GERMANY: Bob Osuch, 19137 Midland Avenue, Mokena, IL 60448, (708) 478-3885

ROsuch4082 of aol.com

ITALY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 710 9613, cell (360) 710-9613 ($2)

terryt of whidbey.net

RUSSIA: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle, Spotsylvania, VA 22553, (540) 582-2356 (E-Mail)

batretick of earthlink.net

TURKEY: Vince Lutterbie, 1021 Stonehaven, Marshall, MO 65340-2837, (660) 886-7354

melvin of cdsinet.net

Game Notes:

1) Since Buddy was in the hospital and I saw that flood of draw discussion that seemed to consume people a bit, but not orders from all of you, I've decided to hold the game over to the February 21st deadline. But the GRT and AEGRT draw proposals will be tossed out for consideration as well. Please vote by February 21st on both. If you fail to vote, they cannot pass. In the meantime, the TOADFATHER speaks....

Press:

(TOADFATHER): Bernie Dictum Dos Sandus Ennur Trousers, Da Pope.

SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1915 IS JANUARY 17TH, 2004

Fall 1915

ENGLAND (Brosius): f LON h, a GAS S FRENCH f mar, f NAO S f mid, a KIE S FRENCH a mun,

f MID S FRENCH f spa(sc), f ENG S f mid, f HOL S a kie, f POR S FRENCH f spa(sc).

FRANCE (Sasseville): f MAR S f spa(sc), f SPA(SC) S f mar, a MUN S a bur, a BUR S a mun.

GERMANY (Barno): a GRE h.

RUSSIA (Reynolds): a MOS h, a LVN S a mos, a BER S FRENCH a mun, f BAL S a pru,

a STP S a mos, a PRU S a ber.

TURKEY (Linsey): a BUL-gre (pushing with all its might), f ALB-gre (yelling NO! NO! I wanna be the one
to go!), a UKR S a war, a WAR S a sev-mos, f WES s ENGLISH f por-spa(sc) (nso), a SEV-mos,

f GOL s ENGLISH a gas-mar (nso), a SIL s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso), a GAL S a sil,

f NAF S ENGLISH f mid, f ion-AEG, a TYO s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso),

f PIE s ENGLISH a gas-mar (nso), a SER-gre (pushing till its guts burst),
a BOH s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso).

Supply Center Chart

ENGLAND (Brosius):

LON,LVP,EDI,bre,por,bel,kie,hol

(has 8, even)

FRANCE (Sasseville):

PAR,MAR,spa,mun

(has 4, even)

GERMANY (Barno):

gre

(has 1, even)

RUSSIA (Reynolds):

MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber

(has 6, even)

TURKEY (Linsey):

ANK,SMY,CON,rum,bul,

(has 15, even)

bud,nap,ven,tun,sev,war,rom,tri,vie,ser

Neutral:

none

(Total=34)

Addresses of the Participants

ENGLAND: Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham, MA 02492

eric.brosius of comcast.net

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

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 and then reproposed. I had no complaint, so I've granted a request that we go back to where we were on the voting, which was this: (1) Some of you have "perpetual draw votes on this proposal on file", those are still in force; (2) Some of you do not and have been voting every season, for you if you FAIL to vote it counts as a yes vote for this proposal. If we get to a situation where no centers change hands for three game years, then we can go to the next step, which will require everyone to vote every season, no perpetual draw votes. And failure to vote would be a yes. Fall 1915 is one game year by that measure. PS I may do a GM judgment call that no "real" center movement has occurred if there are only small insignificant trades of centers that are done.

Press:

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

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1906 IS FEBRUARY 21ST, 2004

Still Summer 1906

AUSTRIA (Muller): has a VIE, a BUD, f TRI; and withheld nukes.

ENGLAND (Andruschak): has a LVP, f LON, f EDI; and withheld nukes.

FRANCE (Kendter): has f MID, a PIC, a GAS; and nuked BUL, BLA, SYR, ANK, ARM.

GERMANY (McHugh): has a MUN, a BER, f KIE; and withheld nukes.

ITALY (Kenny): has a VEN, a ROM, f NAP; and withheld nukes.

RUSSIA (Schultz): has f STP(SC), a MOS, a WAR, f SEV; and 4 nukes in their silos.

TURKEY (Rauterberg): has none; and nuked BRE, PAR, MAR, SPA, SER.

Current Standings

TOTAL

JOHN SCHULTZ

PAUL RAUTERBERG

KARL MULLER

HARRY ANDRUSCHAK

LEE KENDTER, JR.

JACK MCHUGH

SANDY KENNY

Black Holed

Neutral

Totals(eventually)

238

Times GM Nuked

Whole Frelling Game

Addresses of the Participants

John Schultz plays on in our memories....

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

Karl Muller, 3154 East Lydius Street, Schenectady, NY 12303-5035

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

Harry Andruschak, 734 West 214th Street, Apartment 12-A Torrance, CA 90502-1907

(310) 533-8945, 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

KennyShire of aol.com or possibly sakenny of net-gate.com

Game Notes:

1) A couple of adjudication notes.... when you guys nuke the same province more than once, I put in parentheses the number of nukes that hit that spot. Also, if your move to a space succeeds and THEN you are annihilated, I capitalize the first letter of that space where you are annihilated. The reverse happens if your move bounces where I capitalize the first letter of the place you started.

2) The rules I have been using for this game have been that there are no replacements or standbies. Nukes for the positions John has will remain unfired in their silos. None of his units will move or support anything. They can be attacked and dislodged and his centers can be nuked. John could win the game this way, conceivably, but likely would not. The two man race among those who actually are playing is winding down....

3) Since I delayed some games above, it also seemed only fair to delay this one too. It won't hurt anything for you Yuppie types.

Press:

FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules

THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 2 IS FEBRUARY 21ST, 2004

Turn 1 revisited

12 (replenish with a 7)

Zedd(BREAKING AWAY!)

11 (no replenishment)

Empty

10 (no replenishment)

Empty

9 (no replenishment)

Empty

8 (no replenishment)

Empty

7 (no replenishment)

Empty

6 (no replenishment)

Empty

5 (replenish with a 3)

Frederick, El Vez

4 (replenish with a 3)

Omega, Paige, Silt, Wade, Hearts, Geri Lee Lewis

3 (replenish with a 3)

Marge, Sand, Franklin, Diamonds, Johnny Peso, Carl Sagan

2 (replenish with a 3)

Homer, James, Pebble, Edmond, Clubs

1 (replenish with a 8)

Bart, Lisa, Clay, Spades

Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards

TEAM 1 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (0 points)

Team Name: Team Springfield

A: Homer Simpson

(2) 15 8 5 3

B: Marge Simpson

(3) 13 9 3

C: Bart Simpson

(1) 10 9 8

D: Lisa Simpson

(1) 11 4 8

Total Replenishments: 22

TEAM 2 (Bruce Edwards): kactusjak of tiscali.co.uk (0 points)

Team Name: Last Again

A: Zedd

(12) 15 3 7

B: Omega

(4) 13 8 3

C: Paige

(4) 10 6 3

D: James

(2) 13 1 3

Total Replenishments: 16

TEAM 3 (Tom Howell): off-the-shelf of olympus.net (0 points)

Team Name: The Soils; Manager: Boulder

A: Clay

(1) 5 9 15 8

B: Silt

(4) 8 13 3

C: Sand

(3) 7 10 3

D: Pebble

(2) 6 8 3

Total Replenishments: 17

TEAM 4 (Dennis Menear): dmenear of wirefire.com (0 points)

Team Name: The Firm

A: Edmond

(2) 5 9 14 3

B: Franklin

(3) 8 14 3

C: Frederick

(5) 6 9 3

D: Wade

(4) 5 7 3

Total Replenishments: 12

TEAM 5 (David Partridge): rebhuhn of rocketmail.com (0 points)

Team Name: It's In The Cards; Manager: The Joker

A: Spades

(1) 6 8 15 8

B: Hearts

(4) 8 13 3

C: Diamonds

(3) 8 9 3

D: Clubs

(2) 6 8 3

Total Replenishments: 17

TEAM 6 (Karl Schmit): diplomacy of new.rr.com (0 points)

Team Name: 25 Dollar Quartet

A: Carl Sagan

(3) 6 6 15 3

B: El Vez

(5) 8 12 3

C: Geri Lee Lewis

(4) 6 10 3

D: Johnny Peso

(3) 1 12 3

Total Replenishments: 12

Game Notes:

1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. Press is VERY welcome!!!

2) Up above in parentheses is the card you played to get to where you are in the field. The replenishment card is the last card in your list. Just for fun, I'm going to keep track of total replenishment, by turn, which is a rough measure of how the teams are doing.

3) I don't have orders from all of you, and so as not to force "lowest card", I'll give you all to the next deadline too.

Press:

FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 2013 IS FEBRUARY 21ST, 2004

Summer 2013

BRITAIN (K. Ozog): has a SWE, f NTH, a LIV, f HEL, f DEN, a NOR, f HOL, f BHM.

EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): has f CAI, f SYR, f ALE, f ISR, f ROM, a JOR, a TUN, a IRK.

GERMANY (Rauterberg): R f hol-BEL; has a HAM, a RUH, f BER, f BEL, f NAO, a MIL,

f IRI, a SWI, f ENG.

SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): has a AUV, a POR, f MAO, f TYS, f MAL, a WAL, a BOR,

a MAR, f BIS, f LBS.

UKRAINE (Partridge): has f BLA, a BIE, a RUM, a HUN, f IZM, a ADA, a NAP, a VEN,

a STP, a CZE, a LAT, a SIL, a SAX, f AEG, f ANA, a URA, a FRA, a PRU,

f ALB, a IRN, a AUS, a LIT, f ION, a GDA, f APU, a ARM, a TUS.

Addresses of the Participants

BRITAIN: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, (630) 837-2813

heyday6 of yahoo.com

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

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

FRANCE: Harry Andruschak ($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, (440) 926-0230 ($3)

sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or seanfodonnell of yahoo.com

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) I'm keeping only one list for the new game now up above. This is scary, the game has gone on for six years now, hasn't it.

Press:

(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): "The lights are out all over Europe..."

(ENGLAND - SPAIN/GERMANY): London is yours. Take it. And Liverpool too if you may. Have fun!

Personal Note to You:

File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 3.35.
On 08 Feb 2004, 21:29.