THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #287

December 28, 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. Some of you have been getting bounced messages from my ISP's spam protection, if that happens to you, you can use my backup E-Mail at jfburgess of gmail.com, but I don't check that very often, so don't expect instant replies.

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

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. It seems in this holiday season I've had an abnormally large number of conversations with many of you about the pressures of the holiday. Remembering a few simple things can make it all a lot easier..... there are lots of ways to celebrate what still (let's face it everyone, and I say that even as a Christian) is fundamentally a pagan Winter Solstice holiday. To me this means a couple of things, first that you need to celebrate it, no matter what your thoughts are on how. It also means that you need to find the ways that make you feel good and warm and happy, and arrange to find ways to do those things. Why spend lots of energy and effort doing things you don't like? For me, I don't send Christmas cards except for those on which I have the time to write personal notes. This doesn't mean that I don't love getting cards from many of you, including from many of you family pictures and those neat holiday letters, but I'm not going to do it. I spend enough on postage sending these szines, anyway! So this is your Christmas card, for all of you!! I also like to do lots of singing around the holidays, so that takes up a lot of my energy and attention. But this always is an especially happy time of the year for me, and we finally got more snow on the ground!! I hope it is for you as well and that you can find the ways to make it joyous for you.

Yes, we're also late again! I pushed the deadlines back to compensate. Running a close second to discussions with many of you about the holidays was discussion about politics and spending tax money. I don't want to go on about that issue either, but I'm thinking again about some of the basic rules of fiscal and personal responsibility.... if you're buying things for yourself, you care a lot about what you're buying and how much it costs, this is why it is best to give people money and let them buy what they want, if at all possible. Then there is when you buy things to give them to other people, when you care very much about what it costs, like paying taxes, but you don't worry enough about what you're buying. Then, when you are given money that belongs to other people, to buy things for yourself, you might overspend a bit, but you will care about what you're buying. It seems to me that giving Iraqi fighting units the budgets would get them buying the right armor for their vehicles..... but not for the last case, giving other people's money to people who are buying things for other people. This is the case of contractors, who tend to overspend for poor quality. In this sense, I don't understand (in the public good sense) why we should be contracting out services quite so much to the private sector, when we can't give proper oversight to the contracts, and the contractors are spending our money, buying things for other people, not necessarily at high quality. I think some priorities are a bit screwed up here. And the other lesson is about borrowing money to buy things, if we borrow money from people in other countries to buy things, then in that sense we don't own it, they do. Do you want people in other countries to own our Social Security Trust Fund? Maybe, since it's a good deal if they will go for it, but remember they will own it.

The postal sub price is still $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, with double that for other rooreign 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: http:/evel.diplom.org/DipPouch/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

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.

The TAP mailing list has moved! It now is even BETTER protected than it was. I even have a bit of trouble posting to it. To post to this list, send your email to: tap of diplom.org. But this is completely moderated, it won't go out to the list unless I approve it. In general, I intend to keep traffic down to just the szine, as we've been doing.

General information about the mailing list is at: /mailman/listinfo/tap

You can sign up from there, or send E-Mails to: Tap-request of diplom.org; with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions. You must know your password to change your options (including changing the password, itself) or to unsubscribe. Normally, Mailman will remind you of your diplom.org mailing list passwords once every month, although you can disable this if you prefer. This reminder will also include instructions on how to unsubscribe or change your account options. There is also a button on your options page that will email your current password to you. A big, big thank you for Millis Miller for setting this all up!!

THE SEARCH FOR JOHN SMYTHE

I'm about to start putting some Golden Agers in here to hunt for, starting with someone who SHOULD be relatively easy to find, since he's been "around" in recent years, and then working up to some REAL, REAL hard people to find culminating in the 300th issue person whom I already have in mind. So, let's really find John, I'll be shocked if you can't do it, and it's worth fifty bucks!!!

Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Sylvain, Steve, 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 Steve Heinowski or Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe or Sylvain LaRose 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: Map Collection, ERC Library, University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. That's a relatively new address adjustment.

WORLDMASTERS02 AND WORLDMASTERS04 SECTION

WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament Semi-Finals have been completed, see below! Congratulations to ALL the semi-final winners, these games were all VERY intensely fought.

See http://www.cat23.com/wm02/ for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in for 04, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again, I guess. See:

http://www.worldmasters.net/wm04/

for details on that, I've not seen much hype yet on the starting games, but I'll update this next time.

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.

Stephen Agar has matched the Hasbro rule lists and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:

http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?xcc_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 current and back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org

We are back on solid track, Tim Haffey has agreed to be the Production Editor that I needed. We always need more articles, Issue #92 will be out immediately after I finish this. If you think you should have been on that list and weren't, let me or Dave Partridge know. Help us out, write an article for a future issue!

Upcoming Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines:

Deadline Spring 2005, Issue #93: March 1, 2004

Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:

Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Lead-Editor, Demo Game GM, and Publisher

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

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

John O'Donnell (18 Nov 2004 16:48:47 -0800)

If you're looking for computer diplomacy then this piece of news should be interesting:

Paradox Entertainment to develop and publish Diplomacy and Squad Leader PC Games

Recognizing the strong worldwide awareness of the Diplomacy and Squad Leader brands, Paradox Entertainment AB today announced that it has licensed the worldwide rights from Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) and Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) to develop and publish new PC games based on the successful Avalon Hill board and video games. The Avalon Hill line of games is managed by Hasbro's subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast.

Hailed as two of the best known strategy game brands in the world, Diplomacy and Squad Leader have attracted millions of players in their previous editions. Internal teams at Paradox, known for specializing in the creation of strategy games, will develop the new PC games. Past Paradox projects include the award-winning Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron and Crusader Kings.

"We will be working closely with Atari and Wizards of the Coast to make sure we maximize the potential these brands have. We feel that Paradox is the right partner to develop the PC Games these brands and their fans deserve", says Theodore Bergquist, CEO of Paradox Entertainment.

For more information contact Paradox Entertainment AB: Fredrik Lindgren, Head of Sales and Marketing, Intl phone +46 8 5661 4800, e-mail: fredrik.l of paradoxplaza.com.

John, csharpconsulting of hotmail.com

Adam Silverman via Tom Hilton (18 Nov 2004 17:16:37 -0800)

Edi Birsan, Adam Silverman, and Jake Mannix did a great job organizing the Bay Area's first regional Diplomacy tournament since...well, maybe ever. Here's Adam's report, which he's too modest to post himself:

- - - - - - - - - - -

BADAss Whipping 2004 Tournament Director Report

That was a bit lower than we had hoped for, the quality of games was extremely high. There were no solos, but several games came pretty close. Initial feedback regarding our scoring system was extremely positive from both new players and veterans.

We gave out a ton of awards throughout the weekend, including as games went on. A Death Cup was awarded to the first eliminated in each game, and "scandalous" and "crazed" play was recognized. We also kept a running tally of units being destroyed and where they were popped. Con, Bul, and Vie tied with 4 units destroyed each; a total of 54 units were destroyed in 8 games.

We're already beginning planning to make next year's tournament bigger and better, tentative dates are Oct 28-30, 2005.

The top board was: BADAss Champion - Josh Shank; 2nd place - Andrew Neuman; 3rd place - Jake Mannix; 4th place - Tim Rollins; 5th place - Doug Scott; 6th place - Mike Hall; 7th place - Matt Shields.

Outstanding play of country awards: Austria - Doug Scott, 10 SCs; England - Andrew Neuman, 15 SCs; France - Josh Shank, 15 SCs; Germany - Tom Hilton, 10 SCs; Italy - Sarah Irons, 9 SCs; Russia - Mike Hall, 10 SCs; Turkey - Jake Mannix, 16 SCs.

Outstanding play award - Jake Mannix (topped his board in all 3 rounds)

Outstanding debut - Dan Percival

BADAss Carebear - Tim Rollins (best carebear play... till he stuck in the knife, leading to a 14 center Turkey)

Other special awards (partial list):

"Give me the Brain" (Rusty Blade) - Nat Holzgraf

Cannonball - Josh Shank (dropped from 7 centers to 2 as Italy)

Turtle - Mike Hall (defended against 4-way attack as Austria to end with 8 SCs)

Iron Man - Cesar Alvarez (survived longest with a single unit, 3 years)

Master and Slave - Jake Mannix and Dan Percival (you figure it out)

Handcuffs - Doug Scott ("handcuffed" to the stalemate line in 2 rounds)

Whipped - Paul Prange (7 centers to 3, one dot taken by 4 different countries)

Avengers/Who Stole Ed(i)'s Pant's - Andrew Neuman (got stabbed by Edi, then took him out)

Kahuna - Sarah Irons (in need of a vacation)

1 37.2 Shank Josh; 2 35.2 Neuman Andrew; 3 34.4 Mannix Jake; 4 26.4 Rollins Tim; 5 25.2 Scott Doug; 6 21.2 Hall Mike; 7 20.5 Shields Matt; 8 18.2 Hilton Tom; 9 17.2 Irons Sarah; 10 14.7 Alvarez Cesar; 11 14.2 Holzgraf Nathan; 12 14.2 Percival Dan; 13 13.5 Prange Paul; 14 9.2 Linndburg Eric; 15 9 Atabaki Sam; 16 7.2 Haffey Tim; 17 7 Adkinson Peter; 18 7 Del Grande Don; 19 2 Houts Ean; 20 0 Barton Brent; 21 0 Chan Mark; 22 0 Oklerlund Nathan; 23 0 Taylor Michael; 24 0 Twilley Jack; td 14.2 Silverman Adam; td 2 Birsan Edi.

Larry Peery (Fri, 24 Dec 2004 18:47:30 -0800)

Greetings!

And Merry Christmas to you who celebrate that holiday. And to all, everywhere, Happy New Year and a peaceful 2005 to all of us!

Ship launchings and sea trials are never easy. The Swedish Vasa, Japanese Shinano and the Queen Mary 2, to name just three, immediately come to mind. Still, although things don't always go smoothly, progress is made. Things do happen. Current events become history. And we move on.

So it has been with plans for Dip At Sea V/DipCon XXXVIII. Actually the plan has worked very well. It's execution has been a bit rough in spots but that's not unusual with any DipCon. And considering the unique nature of this one, I think we're doing quite well, all things considered.

If all those who have committed to the event follow through this weekend, I believe we will achieve our initial group goal of eight cabins. Actually, we will over-achieve that goal, but some people have booked independently, so their booking doesn't count toward the group goal. We must have eight cabins booked through Valet Travel to secure the group booking.

If we don't, it's not a big disaster, it just means the cruise is going to cost a bit more, but it would be nice to pull it off since it will increase our leverage with Carnival for future events and improve the quality of this one.

What I want to point out to all of you is the very different make-up of this event. It's a much more family-oriented event than past North American DipCons. It's also a much more hobby-oriented event, with non-American participants nearly as numerous as North Americans. David Norman is of the opinion that his and Yann's participation exhausts the potential for overseas attendance. I disagree. We'll see who is right

Chris Martin has created a scoring system for the event that is....Well, it's like all past scoring systems. If you win, you'll love it. If you don't, you'll blame it.

Steve Cooley, the third member of our Committee, is busy with his cohorts and officials at the Altun Ha site, creating a Mayan cultural version of Richard Wagner's The Ring. All he would say for publication was, "David Norman is going to look so good when we toss him off the top of the pyramid into the bowl of peeriblah below!!"

Ry4an Brase, bless his heart, had the nerve to over-rule me and did I object? Hell no! He knows more than I do about just about everything, so how could I object. After all, he's going to be paying my old age Social Security benefits in .... Never mind. He's doing a great job for us.

All of you who have emailed/talked with Barb at Valet Travel have had nothing but good words for her. I expected nothing less. What's amazing has been her tolerance for us. I'm sure we're the most difficult group she's ever handled. I just hope we can drum up enough attendees to bring her along as a guest, or give her another DipCon project to work on.

And yes, there will be a Dip At Sea VI.

So, on this Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day, etc. relax. Enjoy the holiday.

I look forward, port, and starboard, to seeing all of you on March 6 aboard the Elation.

Larry Peery, peery of ix.netcom.com

DipAtSea mailing list: DipAtSea of ry4an.org;

http://ry4an.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/dipatsea

Tim Richardson for Ike Porter and Andy Marshall (Mon, 13 Dec 2004 09:15:53 -0500)

Sharpen your knives, polish your lies, and make your reservations now so that you are sure to be a part of the best WDC event in the Hobby's history!

The Potomac Tea & Knife Society (PTKS) is very pleased to invite you to the Fifteenth World Diplomacy Championship (WDC XV) to be held at the Holiday Inn Capitol from 29-31 July 2005!

The (http://www.holidayinncapitol.com/) Holiday Inn Capitol is the ideal venue for this event, offering great gaming space and an excellent location-just a block from the Washington, D.C. Metro-which makes the entire city accessible to our guests who want to see all of the sights Washington has to offer.

And it couldn't be easier to get here from there! The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is served by three major airports: the (http://www.bwiairport.com/) Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), (http://www.mwaa.com/national/) Reagan National Airport (DCA), and Washington-Dulles International (http://www.metwashairports.com/Dulles/) Airport (IAD). In fact, Reagan National is just a few Metro stops away from the hotel!

For those who prefer the train, Washington D.C.'s (http://www.unionstationdc.com/) Union Station, is also just a few Metro stops from the hotel.

Would you rather drive-find I-95 and drive north or south as appropriate. You won't be able to miss D.C., and the traffic on the Beltway will give you plenty of time to admire the sights!

The (http://www.holidayinncapitol.com/) Holiday Inn Capitol is in the final stages of a complete renovation. The rooms are large, comfortable and, at $129 per night, very affordable. They also include in-room Hi-Speed Internet access at no additional charge. You can reserve those rooms now, by phone or online at the website above. Just use this three digit code: WDG to get the reduced rate.

Diplomacy in D.C. with the Pitkissers as your host? Do you really want to take a chance on missing this? I didn't think so.

More details will follow in the next few weeks. Until then, visit www.wdcindc.org, bookmark it, and check back often for all the latest updates!

-The Potomac Tea & Knife Society, timrich of diplom.org

Tim Snyder (tsnyder of opii point mccombs point utexas point edu) is starting up Zine Register again. He thinks this next issue will be #30, I think that might be right. Write to Tim at 12001 Dessau Road, #825, Austin, TX 78754, so he can finish by the end of the year. I always salute someone picking up a languishing project. It will be good to see how many szines he counts out there, I'm not sure how many really are left, I am trading with less than half a dozen in the US that are regularly producing issues, plus Northern Flame in Canada.

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!! We're beginning to gear up for a "best of 2004" section.

Rick Desper and Warren Goesle (Mon, 29 Nov 2004 12:25:45 -0800 (PST))

Warren Goesle/FVI (Warren.Goesle of cmcelectronics.us) wrote:

Jim-Bob, Happy Thanksgiving! It was good to see the latest TAP, as I hadn't heard from you since Game 3 of the WS. I had suspected that you were caught up in the rapture, or the New England die-off ("If I could just see the Red Sox win it once before I die..."), or just still drunk and wandering the streets outside Fenway with Rick Desper, who I haven't heard from either.

Rick Desper (rick_desper of yahoo.com): Don't worry about me...the hangover has passed.

Goz: As I said, I feared that you were lying in some gutter outside Fenway with several hundred thousand friends and not caring.

((Nor me, but it took a LONG time to wear down to a dull roar of general pleasure!))

Goz: On Monday I caught the tail end of an interview with new NASCAR champ Kurt Busch, who I think was answering questions on a conference call with lots of local reporters from various parts of the country. He appeared to be talking to a Chicago writer, and my ears picked up about the time when he said something like, "...yeah, the Red Sox win, I win, it's gotta be the Cubs' turn next year...". Apparently he grew up in Las Vegas with WGN-TV and Harry Carey, so he's a fan. I can picture him throwing out the first pitch, or singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" durning the 7th inning stretch.

Rick: How can anybody named "Busch" be a Cubs fan?

Goz: Good point. I don't think they're related to the brewing crew, but you'd think they'd get some kind of marketing tie in. As it is, his car will be sponsored by Crown Royal next year. Go figure. His little brother will also be driving at the top level next year, but will have Kellogg's as a sponsor. Of course, at 20, he's not old enough to drink yet...

((Yawn..... yeah, I suppose there was some excitement, but Busch seemed to wrap it up almost TOO easily, at least as much as I was paying attention, which was as little as possible.))

Goz: The election was on the 2nd, and I think it was the 6th before I didn't hear anything about it on the news, which is kinda sad.

Rick: Do what I do: ignore the TV news.

Goz: What's worse is that a story with a much longer shelf life is going to be the ugly incident in the Pacers-Pistons game of the 19th. Right now it's 5 days past, and still front page, and not just in the Sports' section. I lost my interest for the NBA in the '80s, but you can't avoid this story, and I've tried. Let's hope something good comes from this, other than the fact that Ron Artest now has a lot of time to promote his rap album.

Rick: A perhaps good effect would be if the Pacers could continue to play well without the three stars.

Goz: 3-1 at last count.

Rick: The NBA has become unwatchable in recent years, due largely to the Stern-backed idea of marketing players over teams. That worked when MJ was playing, but MJ is not reappearing any time soon, no matter how much the NBA would like Vince Carter, or Kobe Bryant, or Tracy McGrady to be "the next Michael Jordan". It is likely that the next great NBA player will be nothing like Jordan. And, when that happens, it will be a Good Thing. I'm hoping that, before that happens, some NBA team will follow the Pats' example and start emphasizing team play more than individual play. It really is a good way to make a winning team.

Goz: I don't follow the NBA all that much, but didn't this happen with Detroit last year? Last I checked, Seattle was doing it this year...

((Yeah, that's about right, I'm actually starting to follow the NBA more than a little bit again. I may regret it, but I am. I like how Doc Rivers is slowly building up the Celtics, we'll see if Danny Ainge let's him play out this string. Rivers is a master at maximizing the wins AND the learning AND the engagement of all the players. It's fun to watch, even when they lose.))

Goz: That's it from a red county in a blue state. Hope all is well there.

Rick: Thought you were a Hoosier for some reason. Where are you?

Goz: For 20 years I *was* a Hoosier. In '02 I went and got married, and she lived in Toledo, so I went there. No job, but I got one in the Chicago area in '03, where we both grew up. So we're about 40 miles west of downtown, about 4 miles west of the house I grew up in, and about 150 yards east of where the farms start. You're now caught up. How goes it in, um, Maryland?

Mark D Lew (Sat, 27 Nov 2004 04:03:03 -0800)

Glancing through the recent TAP, I see someone mentioning the geography of Chad. In one of the issues of Benzene 3 there was actually a discussion of Lake Chad believe it or not. It was an aside in a larger discussion that centered on Cameroon.

The notion of building railroads across Chad strikes me as absurd.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((Yes, and thanks for your guesses in Brux's quiz. I don't think you really gained an advantage by waiting, except that you lost out in the scoring system.))

Mark D Lew (Sat, 27 Nov 2004 11:31:25 -0800)

Oh, and my contest score was actually 522, not 519. Brux counted wrong, something to do with that Maine business. Still 9th place, and still 2nd without the bonus.

I'd be fine with a ban on multiple entries, but as long as they're allowed, I think it's strategic to use them in limited quantity.

I agree with Brux that the bonus is bad. If there must be an advantage to early entry, it should come in the form of a different entry fee. That way early entries have better payout odds, but you still have the purity of the best guess winning. This year, it made no difference, because the one guy got all but Iowa and didn't need his bonus. If someone had gotten all 50 states right but still lost to someone else who missed a few but got the bonus, that would have seemed wrong to me.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((Yeah, me too, I guess. I paid attention and got my pick in before the deadline since it would have seemed REALLY wrong to me if I had lost that way, as you almost did.))

Mike Barno (Mon, 06 Dec 2004 23:07:57 -0500)

Hi, Jim...

Since you haven't been getting to hear so much live music this year and I've heard more than ever, I'll pick up the slack some more. I'm attaching "MercBluz.txt". Could you get it into the next issue's music section? I meant to write one or two other reviews this year besides the Coopertones one, but have mostly slacked. I'll probably mention a few other bands in some sort of best-of-'04 letter soon.

(small-time local-band) REVIEW: Marian Tewksbury and the Mercury Blues, 19 November 2004, Cyber Cafe West, Binghamton, New York

Want to have more fun and make less money than anyone? Join a blues band in a city where most people are white and the rest are under 25. Binghamton ("five hours northwest of the other Hamptons") is that kind of city; nevertheless, Marian Tewksbury has been playing blues locally for a bunch of years. Most recently she was with the Riolo Brothers Blues Band, which I cited in Issue 281:

/Postal/Zines/TAP/abyss281.html

for the best half-concert of music I'd heard in '04 through June. (I showed up late on 10 April.) When she split with that band, she decided to form her own band and play with her daughter. Mary played lead guitar with a young rock and blues band before she was old enough to buy a drink, so she wasn't unqualified to join her mother. (I heard them play once, and they were better than the seedy little bar they were in.) They added drummer Victor Lay and bass player Jim Saxby, and they're coming together into a good band that will soon be an excellent band.

Cool, I most defnitely agree. These types of local blues bands are all over Providence too, and have been for years. Many of the musicians and bands from them also have made something of a national splash as well (e. g. Duke Robillard, Roomful of Blues).))

This was actually their second concert that I heard. The previous weekend, they played at a Binghamton coffeehouse called La Tazza (being next to where the Tasmanian Embassy live-music bar, "the Taz", used to rule), and it was a good show but raw, so I decided to review this 19-Nov show at the Cyber. The Mercury Blues do two styles of show: acoustic and electric, varying mainly on Marian's primary guitar type. At La Tazza, they did an acoustic show, further differentiated by the use of a set of Afro-Caribbean drums that were on hand. I really liked them; Victor used them well in creating a more organic, less sharp sound and feel that worked well with everything from the ballads to the most rockin' songs. The coffeehouse owners and regulars said it was the biggest crowd they'd had in there since it opened.

With that fun show as preparation, I knew I'd enjoy the show at Cyber Cafe West (www dot cybercafewest dot com). Owner Jeff Katz has supported live music for years, hosting singer-songwriter folkies and blues bands and jazz bands and other acts that don't draw much of a crowd in this area. I've heard music with less than a dozen people in the place; but instead of quitting or booking pop bands, Jeff keeps going and even plays guitar himself in the Thursday night Grateful Dead jams. His "West Fest" in the back lot in the summer, thirteen bands in two days, raised a bunch of money for Project Headstart, since the government spent it on wars and tax breaks instead. So I support the Cyber's efforts when I can.

The Mercury Blues started with a rather loaded stage for a quartet: five electric lead guitars and electric basses, a miked acoustic guitar, a regular rock/jazz-style drum/cymbal kit, and at least a couple of harmonicas. They did a fair amount of switching instruments. The material was wide-ranging but I thought most songs were quite good choices, tunes that I was happy to hear. It wasn't just a rerun of the La Tazza show; in fact they had learned seven new songs in the intervening weeks. I knew almost every song; even one of Marian's originals was familiar from Riolo Brothers shows and the one at La Tazza. It was quite enjoyable, overall. Everybody contributed some great sections, and their support work under each other's leads showed they'd gained from the rehearsal time together. Mostly blues from Robert Johnson through the 1964-ish white bands, and some rock through about 1970 that mostly developed from the previous category. Diverse enough song selection to keep it from ever getting one-sound. To wit (and I may have errors in these unresearched notes):

((I'm also going to let you go with this for the most part, though I could jump in on a few of the historical references. Other readers are invited to pop back in with comments. But, let me just say a little bitty about Robert Johnson. Any music lover in general, and especially and blues/rock lover owes it to themselves to go listen to Robert Johnson in the original. Every ten years or so, you get a lot of publicity about this, and I've been hearing such a wave lately, for some reason. Robert Johnson was a desperately poor musician who could do things with a guitar to whale the blues out of it that no one before or since really can do with the same depth of feeling. He also had a pretty horrible personal life, on which he could draw greatly. He died pretty much in obscurity, but some people managed to record a few of his songs. They were pretty much lost for about thirty years, until they were resurrected for the first time in the 1960's. Then you had people like the Stones, Clapton, and just about anybody who ever had a thought in that period of popularizing the blues listening avidly and learning from Robert Johnson. Really the most damnably amazing story in that sense in all 20th Century music.))

SET 1: "I Know You Rider", an old (Thirties?) blues number that the Grateful Dead often played in concert as a groove tune; "So Long", I don't know who wrote this but it sounds like B.B. King material; "Why Don't You Do Right", an older song (Forties?) that Peggy Lee popularized as a mainstream vamp; "Feelin' Alright", which was underappreciated until Joe Cocker covered it at Woodstock, and it's been a favorite of the Dead and groove bands ever since; "For Your Love", the Yardbirds; Över the Rainbow", Neil Young; an original which I think is titled "Mercury Blues", mostly a Marian song but Jim played absolutely dynamite harmonica, ambrosia to my ears; and "Red House", Jimi Hendrix.

(Mary obviously hates singing repetitious backup vocals, so I taunted her with a cuecard during "For Your Love", consisting of only the title... it's her only line in the song, repeated a bunch.)

SET 2: "You Can't Always Get What You Want", the Rolling Stones; "Crossroads", Robert Johnson (and much later a Clapton hit); "Black Magic Woman", Santana; "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", the Animals had a hit with this but I think it's a decade or two older; "You Don't Have to Go" (I forget whether this was the Muddy Waters classic or something else, I have "Stones" written down in my notes); "When I Lost My Baby", I'm not sure where this one comes from, but I loved Marian's slide guitar work; "Stormy Monday", with guest vocalist Sylvia Hart in to do the crooning, and a first-class job of it; "Magic Carpet Ride", Steppenwolf; "A Million Miles", Neil Young; and "Last Dance with Mary Jane", Tom Petty.

SET 3: "Spoonful", Willie Dixon (one of the most often recorded songs in history, despite its topic); "Love Me Like a Man", popularized in country music, with Sylvia sitting in again (with a smooth seductive voice like a golden dress and long gloves); "All Along the Watchtower", probably Bob Dylan's best guitar tune, later covered by Jimi Hendrix; "Rockin' in the Free World", Neil Young; and another original, probably titled "I Can't Find No Love", featuring Marian's slide guitar.

Granted, for somebody like me who knew the songs, there were little misses and rough spots in places, but never enough to ruin a song. They're a new band so I gave them the occasional mulligan; soon they won't need that. Everything was fun, and it would have been worth a medium ticket price. Since they're a new band, the Cyber only charged three bucks, so it was a bargain. I'll hear them again. They say Mary learns new songs quickly; considering she played the majority of the leads on Santana and Hendrix numbers, we're not talking about simple guitar work. The rest have much longer experience but they're still learning to play together, including different instrument combinations. Jim should develop more of that sweet flowing crying harmonica; I never get to hear enough of that. Marian should keep writing originals. I predict they'll be one of the best bands in the area (and maybe even get recognized as such) within a year.

- Mike, mpbarno of lightlink.com

((Thanks much, Mike. I love getting these sorts of live music updates.... hint, hint. Please let me know if they get anything recorded that I can listen to. And get those 2004 music reports to me, all of you. I've gotten some hints from Al Tabor that give me some really cool hip-hop to talk about....))

Bob Osuch (Tue, 23 Nov 2004 00:11:58 EST)

Hello J-B, I feel obliged to congratulate you on the World Series triumph for the Bosox. It comes around so seldom, you should savor the moment as long as possible. While many of my connections (Detroit) have won championships over the years, I have witnessed what not doing so decade after decade (Chicago) can do to the psyche of a community. Well, they did have the Bulls in the nineties, but this newer version is maintaining the status quo nicely, thank you. As of this writing they have yet to win a game.

((Yeah, they are pretty pathetic. They're doing little better now. I am indeed savoring it. I am finding much less tension involved in the off-season dealings, and for the free agents the Red Sox have, I mostly have the feeling, if you're back great, but if you want to take the money and run, be my guest. I do hope that they resign Pedro and Tek (likely at this writing), but even with them, I feel the same way. The feelings in the area vary, the "depression of winter" is such a thing around here, that many people are dealing with this new feeling in different ways. I've heard people speaking in the same old patterns, but this is a shame. For them, they've already gotten past the success.))

So another year ends and already the free agent wheels are turning. My Tigers signed Percival and have decided to keep Urbina for the time being, so at least the bullpen looks better. I'm not all that encouraged, however, due to the mediocrity of their starting pitching. Jeremy Bonderman is the ace there. 'Nuff said.

On the home front, it looks like Mags is history. Sad, because the Chisox traded away their top prospect, outfielder Jeremy Reed, to Seattle in the Garcia deal along with Miguel Olivo. So now they are stuck with no real catcher and a very thin outfield. Add no shortstop to the mix (they dumped Valentin) and it all adds up to a long 2005 on the South side. ((Yes, I heard that they tried to sneak into the Randy Johnson sweepstakes, but were turned down flat. My opinion is that Johnson will stay in Arizona, they've even made some efforts to otherwise improve that team. The Diamondbacks, for one, will do better than the Chisoz this year, I think.))

The Cubs look no better. There was a lot of bickering between the players and the TV announcers (Chip Caray and Steve Stone) all year long over what Stone felt was the inexcusably stupid play of Baker's Boyzz. Stone felt, rightly so, that the Cubs hitters were unwilling to work the count and were too intent on swinging for the fences. Throw in a ton of baserunning gaffes, fielding fiascos and off field antics and you have the formula for a team in disarray. The fact that Sosa and Farnsworth chose not to suit up for the final game speaks volumes on the lack of control Baker had over the inmates.

Clement and Alou are gone, and it looks like Grudzielanek as well. There doesn't seem to be any urgency to sign Nomar, even tho he played well when he was able. Oh, and Stoney and Caray won't be back (sigh). Bob Brenly has already signed a deal as the new color man. No word yet on the pbp guy.

((Well, you now have Nomar, he should REALLY be trying hard to get back into the elite shortstops, but no one seems that excited.... least of all Nomar.))

They still have a nice nucleus. Just no chemistry. They need to make some serious moves to contend next year, and they will probably do so. Should be interesting.

The upcoming draft for fantasy league guys in keeper leagues and those of us in computer leagues is horrendous, especially in the AL. The worst in recent memory. You have Mauer and Upton and they both have question marks, Mauer over his knee and Upton over his inability to field a position. The aforementioned Jeremy Reed and Alexis Rios are worth second looks, Greinke and Bush look like solid pitchers, but it thins out real quick. Good luck finding someone in the second round.

Boardman sent me a sample of his zeen. Don't know why I'm worthy after close to 30 years. I found it interesting but way too political for my tastes. Now that we chose four more years of George W, well, what more is there to say. We made our bed, now we will lie in it. But let's not rub our faces in it if we don't have to, because somebody soiled the sheets!

I see Bruce Mount and Adam Silverman both made the final board in the World Dip Tourney. Bruce was the AOL Diplomacy Club Forum Host when I was the Archivist. Adam was a very active player there. I had the pleasure of playing in a game once with Adam and he was one of the stronger diplomats I ever encountered. They both have their own Dip-related web sites...if you're interested I'll get you the addresses. ((I have Adam's, I also know Adam really well, but I'd be interested in seeing Bruce Mount's, whom I don't know. See above for more on Adam and the tournament he and Edi Birsan organized....))

The AOL Club is now in a state of flux due to a variety of factors. AOL hasn't helped matters by constantly altering the "groups" areas and eliminating our keyword. I have stepped down from my duties there but wish them well. I believe Bruce has called it quits also, but I'm not positive. I do know that they are seriously considering severing their ties with AOL.

Time to crash, ciao. BobO, ROsuch4082 of aol.com

Mark D Lew (Sun, 5 Dec 2004 01:54:45 -0800)

I don't know if you and your readers saw that NY Times article about Giambi,

((I saw it, for sure.))

where a throwaway line at the end says that maybe Oakland would want him back, but don't you believe it. Oakland has no strategic use for Giambi today, even if he comes practically for free. Even before the steroid scandal, there were as many fans hating him as loving him.

((I completely agree, another brilliant move in letting him go when Beane did.))

That was just typical New York patronizing, as if to say, "Of course, WE don't want him back, but maybe those dumb hicks in Oakland will be stupid enough to take him." "Probably more forgiving," my ass.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((No kidding..... my view on this still is simple. It was NOT illegal in baseball terms (some of them may end up with criminal charges if they don't do as Giambi and Bonds did) and this may finally be the push to get baseball to clean up its act.))

((That would be good, but self-righteousness in retrospect doesn't become anyone. They started out not being worried because they didn't think steroids would help baseball players play better. Well, they were wrong and the pigeons have come home to roost.))

((I still think Bonds is an amazing player, steroids or no steroids. And there too, naivete is rampant. Everyone SHOULD have known that SOME kind of performance enhancement was going on with these guys. And it wasn't illegal. Then in the last two years as it has slowly been looked at, well, you had the "test year" with an amazingly large number of players testing positive given that they knew it was coming, they didn't test for everything, and it was done with foreknowledge, not surprise testing. And now, the current rule is barely more than parking ticket strength. Everyone in baseball has been playing under the same rules, those rules might be seen as stupid or inept, but they was the rules. Now perhaps there will be new rules....))

((Oh yes, one other thing that's been getting lots of play out this way is Billy's efforts to break up the big three.... looks to the Boston/Providence sportswriters that there is no useful interest in Zito, but Mulder and Hudson are likely to be moved. The Red Sox are said to be competitive for Hudson if the deal with Atlanta that Beane is working on now falls through. You would get Arroyo and a second baseman most likely, plus some lower level prospects.))

((LATER POSTSCRIPT: Correct that they both were traded, but wrong that the Red Sox ever had much chance for either. The steal for the Red Sox was Wade Miller and getting Matt Clement won't be too bad either. Even David Wells is a good deal for the money. The Red Sox are moving in a Beane like direction in that way. You can count on the fact that Mulder and Hudson won't be as good as what Beane got for them. Now, here's a few more recent thoughts from Mark....))

Mark D Lew (Thu, 9 Dec 2004 17:35:53 -0800)

"Efforts to break up the big three"? That's a weird way of putting it. Breaking them up requires no effort. That happens naturally when their contracts run out. Keeping them together would require effort.

My take is that Billy is just listening to offers as usual. If someone offers up that we like even better than Hudson, then sure he'll take it, but if your local sportswriters are taking the position that Beane is eager to unload Hudson to save payroll, I think they're sadly mistaken. One year of Hudson at around $7m is still a pretty good deal. It's not a contract we need to get rid of. If Hudson is traded, it'll only be because we get an even better collection of players in return. Otherwise, we may as well use him for one more year and then let him go after that, which is the team's usual habit (eg, Giambi, Tejada).

When you say Mulder and Hudson "are likely to be moved", do you mean now?? I think people are confused on this. If you're talking about no re-signing them when their contracts run out, sure. I think there's a very good chance that *none* of the three will stay with Oakland. But that's an entirely different question from whether they need to be traded *before* their contracts are up. We've got Mulder for two more years at about $6m/yr. That's a bargain. Why would anyone try to get rid of that? Is someone under the impression that Oakland is in fire-sale mode? We certainly aren't. There'll be more dealing, but it's not like we're breaking up the team.

((I agree, but I just note that they WERE in fact traded, you can't go against me while I'm on the "Red Sox roll".....))

I think the winter meetings just started, so maybe there's a new news story I haven't seen yet. I'll have to check on that. Otherwise I think Billy is just trying to start a bidding war over Hudson to see if anyone is sucker enough to offer the moon for him. If so, we take it and run. Otherwise we keep Hudson for 05 and let him go after that.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Beane is using Hudson as a way to scare up information about what's out there. After the Kendall trade, I do think Beane is looking to move *someone*, but not necessarily a starting pitcher. I think Byrnes and Bradford are definitely available, and Hatteberg or even Durazo if someone is interested. It all depends on which one Beane can get a good deal for, I think.

If you've got a specific source on serious discussions of Hudson to Boston (or even Atlanta), please point me to it so I can follow up. I know about Atlanta. Beane wants Marcus Giles plus something, and Atlanta is probably Hudson's first choice of where to go, so I know they're talking about that, but ultimately I think Atlanta won't offer enough. As for Boston, I think that's just some local writer's vivid imagination. I see plenty of trade talk like that from the Oakland fans - insisting on blathering on and on about trading for some player whom the other team has no intention of letting go of.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Thu, 9 Dec 2004 18:28:51 -0800)

I'm catching up with the buzz now. It's like election day all over again. As far as I can tell, Dan Patrick reported that a St Louis radio station reported that a deal for Hudson was imminent. Somehow that got slightly misrepresented as saying that *ESPN* reporting that the trade was imminent, and when no one could figure out what St Louis would have to offer Oakland, someone imagined it as a three-way with Atlanta. That's more plausible, since Oakland really is talking with Atlanta, but then it begs the question of why St Louis is involved at all. Anyway, it turns out that the St Louis radio station was wrong, and now the Cardinals have told ESPN that a deal is NOT imminent.

I think Beane just wants to be the middle of the universe during the winter meetings. He's playing up Hudson so that everyone will be talking to him. Ultimately, he probably doesn't trade Hudson at all, but something will come out of all the talk - very likely something that is nothing like what the sportswriters are contemplating right now.

By the way, I don't see Boston as being one of the primary contenders here. For one thing, both Beane and Hudson prefer that Hudson ends up in the NL.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Sat, 11 Dec 2004 01:32:45 -0800)

Weekend is starting now. For what it's worth my guess is that Beane entertains a whole heck of a lot of offers for Hudson but in each case he asks for more than the team is willing to give. Hudson plays in Oakland for 2005, and then leaves as a free agent. After the famous "ultimatum" Hudson gave insisting he be told what the team's intentions are, I think Billy told him something like this: "I'm not really looking to trade you, but I'm going to dangle you out there and see what the offers are and if one is really good I'll take it. We'd like to re-sign you but realistically we probably can't afford you at the price you're worth. I don't want to close the door on that yet, because after all the trades work out we'll have a better idea of what sort of budget we have left."

But I do think he does one or more other big deals. I think there's a good chance that either Hatteberg or Durazo goes. They're both good, but we're logjammed at 1B* and many other teams aren't. That means they're more valuable to someone else than they are to us. I think Durazo is more likely to go because I think the bad September has left Hatteberg slightly undervalued. Some others might move also - Byrnes, Bradford, maybe even Zito. We've got some major-league-ready prospects that might move, too.

* In addition to Hatteberg and Durazo, we've got Dan Johnson in AAA. Jack Cust - a former Billy Beane "holy grail" who slumped in Baltimore and has now been signed by Oakland as a minor-league free agent - is another no-defense player like Durazo who might be put at LF or 1B. Rookie Nick Swisher is tentatively planned for RH, but he also plays 1B.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Sun, 12 Dec 2004 12:18:21 -0800)

Here's a great quote. When asked about some of the numerous rumors, Beane answered, "When you see some of this, a lot of it's wrong." I love it. What a masterful non-answer.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:45:17 -0800)

As you may have seen by now, I was wrong about Tim Hudson.

((Yeah, I noticed.... ;-) I did see that, apparently Boston was the other push in here, since they also were trying today to deal for Hudson (since Pedro is gone) but I don't think they wanted to put Hanley Ramirez in the deal (Double AA level SS) and thus Atlanta had the better offer.))

We did indeed trade him to Atlanta, in exchange for two young pitchers and a young outfielder, none of whom I had heard of. Not sure if any of them go straight to the major leagues. Not much news yet. What I see on the two pitchers shows only relief appearances in MLB, but maybe they were starters in the minors. I would have thought Beane would be looking for another starter, now that we've gotten rid of both Hudson and Redman. We do have other options there, but they're not really solid.

What made this possible was when Beane stopped asking for Giles, whom the Braves didn't want to give up. What made that possible is an earlier, lower-profile trade in which we got Milwaukee's 2B Keith Ginter for two prospects. This one is a classic value-motivated trade. Ginter is a good hitter but was relatively low profile due to being young and injured. His numbers aren't that much worse than someone like Giles or Kent, but his price was much lower, so that's a relative bargain. He's a good OBP type hitter, but weak defensively. I think the hope is that our infield coach Ron Washington will be able to clean that up a bit. Wash is famous for that: he's the guy who trained Tejada, Chavez, Crosby and Hatteberg, none of whom were good fielders originally.

((I think for sure you have that just about right. I would never have guessed that Hatteberg's career would have gone as it did when he left Boston, for example.))

Milwaukee has another hot 2B coming up, so that made Ginter less valuable to them then he would be to someone else. On our side was the same story. Lehr is a hard-throwing reliever who may work out or may not. Three years ago, Luis Vizcaino looked very similar, and Milwaukee did OK when they traded us for him, so maybe they're looking for something similar. Possibly Beane thinks Milwaukee is overvaluing Lehr. Cruz is a good outfield prospect, but we've got a couple of others in the system at the same position on the same pace, so he's kind of redundant for us - ie, more valuable elsewhere than he is here.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Thu, 16 Dec 2004 17:45:27 -0800)

Starting to read the reaction now. Local fan base is overwhelmingly negative. To a certain extent that's to be expected for any trade giving up a big name, but this seems to go beyond that. Even the Moneyball-savvy seem to feel Beane should have gotten more. (They do like the Ginter deal, though.) Many are citing Beane's recent "if someone makes an offer we can't refuse" quote, suggesting that even if this deal is OK it doesn't meet the unrefusability test.

Dan Meyer apparently is seen as a legit starter, but he's a rookie like Blanton. Typically the A's like to bring up the rookies in mid-season, but 05 now looks to be an exception for at least one of them. Meyer is LH, same as Zito and Mulder, but Harden and Blanton are both RH, so that's about right for the A's. Juan Cruz (RH) is generally seen as a reliever or maybe 5th starter. My sense is that Beane is looking to fill up bullpen with some more long relievers who can go two or three innings, or else several of them who can pitch a full inning day after day like the Yankees have. In 04 we had a weak bullpen of most short-termers or LH/RH specialists. That forced the starters to go long - eg, all those complete games by Mulder - which I think contributed to us sputtering late in the season. I wouldn't be surprised is Bradford and/or Rincon is moved. Both are decent, but no longer best-suited to our team, so if another team values them more, it's worth a trade. Same for Dotel, come to think of it.

Charles Thomas is a "moneyball" type hitter, lots of patience, not much power. The league seems to have caught on to OBP generally, at least in terms of getting a lot of walks. I'm starting to perceive that Beane has adjusted his focus slightly, emphasizing walks less but looking for guys who are all-around good hitters but lack HR-hitting power. Kendall is very much in this pattern, so is Ginter, and so was Kotsay last year. Charles Thomas seems to be continuing the trend. The idea would be that traditional good hitting is good, but everyone else is now overvaluing the big bomb. We could end up a small ball team yet.

Of course we did trim about $5 million from the payroll, so that counts for something. The Kendall deal put us a little over the anticipated budget, so someone was going to have to move. I thought it would be one or two of our mid-priced hitters, not a high-price starting pitcher.

Another story line goes back to that "ultimatum" that Hudson's agent made. Everyone downplayed it, but it is a little odd that Hudson said that if he is not re-signed for a long-term contract by March he wouldn't even negotiate with the A's after the season. It's hard to read between the lines, but many have speculated that Hudson wanted to avoid the experience of a lame-duck final season like Tejada had, so that if he wasn't going to get a deal like Chavez got, then he'd rather move now. As a rule, the A's don't like to keep players who are unhappy here - goes along with the more-valuable-elsewhere calculus - so if Hudson really didn't want to stay, then that was a reason to move him. Of course Hudson wouldn't say publicly that he wants to be traded, and neither would Beane, but maybe they both understood that. It's interesting that Hudson ends up at Atlanta, which was surely one of his top choices - again, making him more valuable there than elsewhere (in that he's more signable for the future).

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Thu, 16 Dec 2004 17:46:50 -0800)

I still think that your perception that Boston was a key player in the negotiations is purely local bias. Yes, they were interested, but no more than ten other teams. I don't think they were seriously in contention.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((Oh, perhaps that's right. You're surely right that I'm Boston-centric.))

Mark D Lew (Thu, 16 Dec 2004 17:55:52 -0800)

I'm listening to a Beane interview right now. He acknowledged that there were three teams he was in serious negotiations with by the last day, but he wouldn't say what the other two were.

By the way, I'm staying at Chuff's house right now. He's got DSL through Earthlink, so I'm plugging into that.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Sun, 19 Dec 2004 01:36:28 -0800)

I've been a little busy - not all THAT busy, but enough so that I'm not watching ESPN three times a day. Now I see that we've traded Mulder, too. Holy crap. Now that one I didn't see coming at all.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((See, at least I got SOMETHING in my crystal ball right. I think these will BOTH turn out to be good deals for the A's. It greatly increases Beane's flexibility to do deals during the year this upcoming year.))

Mark D Lew (Sun, 19 Dec 2004 06:55:16 -0800)

I sent that too soon. No time to read all the commentary, but just contemplating. I see two possibilities: (1) Beane really has been instructed to shed payroll. (2) It's the usual buy-low, sell-high mentality. For whatever reason, Beane thinks those two contracts are currently overvalued. Mulder had two more years at a moderate price (about $6m a year), so that's not just a good player, but a good contract too. Could it be that other teams value that contract even higher than what it's worth? The astronomical salaries going to big-name starters lately suggests that perhaps they do. Maybe Beane believes that there's no such thing as a superstar. The reality is that, in spite of all their high-profile, Mulder and Hudson didn't get us through the season, so maybe they really are overrated. If so, trade 'em now while the price is still high. That could be the thinking.

The local fans must be shitting their pants over this. They were all gloom and doom over Hudson being gone, but this will surely seal it. Many are convinced that the team is headed for a "rebuilding" period, ie, that we're selling off the team and accepting that we'll suck in 05. I'm not yet convinced of that. I think Beane likes being at least moderately competitive year after year. He's always done well with young players. Maybe he thinks he sees something in these non-star young big-leaguers he's collecting.

Naturally some are asking, "Is Zito next?". Hard for me to believe that Zito is overvalued, though. He was always the one people were saying was the weak link of the three.

[later] Reviewing some of the comments on Athletics Nation, they aren't nearly as negative as I expected. People do think 05 is being abandoned, but they like the aggressive and early rebuilding strategy. Also, the consensus seems to be that we got more value out of Mulder than out of Hudson. (That may be partly because the fans have an emotional attachment to Hudson which isn't there with Mulder.) I'm also seeing some sabermetric type analysis of win shares due to starting pitching leading to the conclusion that starting pitching is overpriced in today's market. That would make starters today like closers were in the Moneyball era: insufficient gain to warrant the high price tags associated with the stars. Better to get almost-as-good SPs for much lower price and spend your money elsewhere where it gets more win shares for the buck.

Oops, now I see that Beane has explicitly stated that he won't trade Zito.

Aha, here's another interesting observation. Both Hudson and Mulder pitch significantly better in the Coliseum, a pitcher's park. Maybe pitching in Oakland has inflated their perceived value, so now Beane is collecting on it. The new pitchers could perhaps be similarly helped by the park. (Zito, curiously, doesn't show nearly the home-away split. And Redman, come to think of it, had that reversed.)

Here's another thought. Both pitchers went to the NL. Hudson loves to hit (and used to be very good at it). Mulder loves to hit. Zito, on the other hand, is a horrible hitter, the absolute caricature of a pitcher who is an automatic out. Not that the A's care, but it makes the other two that much more valuable for the teams trading for them. I really have to go to bed now.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew Mon, 20 Dec 2004 15:19:51 -0800)

Here's a very interesting post by a Cardinals fan, suggesting that the Mulder trade was not just bad for the Cards, but colossally bad.

http://mb3.scout.com/fstlouiscardinalsfrm1.showMessageRange?topicID=5241.topic&start=50&stop=50

Among other things, he calls Daric Barton the best prospect in all of baseball, destined to be MVP some day. I had no idea, though I did wonder why Billy Beane was getting a minor-league catcher, since we've got four good catchers in our farm system right now (and we just traded for a top veteran). But Beane will always grab a bargain player even if he doesn't have an immediate use for it. Presumably some of our catcher prospects will get traded. The conventional wisdom on Kendall is that in addition to being a good Moneyball-type hitter right now, he's also wanted to break in the new young starters we're now planning to play.

The A's fan base, including the knowledgeable section, is near unanimous that the Mulder deal was good for us (opinion of the Hudson trade is much more negative), which makes me inclined to believe that the Cardinal fan here is right that Jocketty got taken. One wonders whether all the negotiation with the Cardinals about Hudson was part of a bait-and-switch plan - maybe Beane could sense that Jocketty would take either starter, so he dangled Hudson out there to negotiate a package that he wanted, then declined to pull the trigger and traded Hudson to Atlanta instead, then came back to St Louis saying, "Hey, if you're still interested in a pitcher, I'll do that same deal but for Mulder instead."

They say Barton is really young, so I wonder if that means he'll be playing in Vancouver (single A short season). If so, I might try to see him. My new girlfriend lives a few blocks from where the Everett Aqua Sox play. (The Aqua Sox are the Seattle's farm team in the same league as Vancouver.)

Aha, now I read in Baseball America that although Barton was drafted as a catcher, he's not very good defensively anywhere and thus is likely to be moved to LF or 1B and maybe end up as a DH. They also say that he'll likely play in Stockton.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

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.

A NEW game of regular Diplomacy. The original, the best, play it here! Buddy Tretick, Fred Wiedemeyer, John Biehl and Matt Sundstrom for sure already are signed up, I think a couple more of you requested in for this one. Please remind me. I am willing to open TWO new games if there is enough interest!!! Also, is there any interest in another game of Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire 7x7 Dip? I know it may be getting tired, but I really like it.

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 is running 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 two more players. Bruce Edwards and Eoghan Barry are 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 going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Bob Holt, 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, the other Modern game is now done!

Mike Barno and Edi Birsan run a great web site at http://www.diplomaticcorps.org! Please check it out as they prepare to pass it along to the Germans and Sascha Hingst/Frank Bacher this fall. We're going to try to get everything updated on that site soon. Get ready for German World DipCon...... it should be fun. World DipCon will be going to Berlin after it goes to the Baltimore/DC area next summer. This fall the German team is running EuroDipCon at Darmstadt, Germany from Sept. 23 to Sept. 26 to practice running a big con. Get out there and support them if you can. E-Mail Frank Bacher for more info at: bacchusno1 of web.de

FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1903 IS JANUARY 15TH, 2005

Summer 1903

AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): has a BUD, a ALB, a UKR, a WAR, a SER, f GRE.

ENGLAND (Schmit): has a NWY, f ENG, f BAR, f NTH, a STP.

FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): R a bur-MAR; has f SPA(SC), a PAR, f MID, f BEL, a MAR, a BRE.

GERMANY (Sundstrom): has a BER, a KIE, a RUH, f DEN.

ITALY (Williams): has f ION, f TYH, f WES, a PIE, a BUR.

RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell): has f BAL, a SIL, a SWE.

TURKEY (Levinson): has f AEG, f BLA, a SEV, a BUL.

Addresses of the Participants

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

(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net

ENGLAND: Karl Schmit, 1452 Seville Dr. #3, Green Bay, WI 54302-5559, (920) 469-5981,

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) I know lots of you have orders in already, but we need to delay to announce the retreat.

Press:

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

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1909 IS JANUARY 15, 2005

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1909 IS FEBRUARY 5, 2005

Spring 1909

AUSTRIA (Parker): f ADR-ion, a TYO-ven, a RUM-bul, a TUS S a ven-rom,

a VEN-rom, a SEV-arm, a tri-ALB, a SER S f alb-gre, a STP h, f alb-GRE.

ENGLAND (Kinney): a LON-hol, a EDI h, f NTH C a lon-hol.

FRANCE (Kent): a MAR S a bur, a BUR s f eng-bel, a PIC S f eng-bel, f ENG-bel, f MID h.

GERMANY (Wilson): f kie-HEL, a BER-mun, f HOL s a bel, a BEL s a mun-bur,

a DEN h, a MUN-bur, f NWY-nth, a RUH S a bel.

ITALY (Gardner): a ROM s a apu, f ION s f gre, f gre s f ion (d ann),

a APU S a rom.

TURKEY (Miller): f AEG-gre, a ARM h, a SMY S a arm, f BUL(SC) s f aeg-gre.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139

VernDip of aol.com is preferred

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

alberich of iglou.com

FRANCE: Douglas Kent - Unit F, #30694-177, Federal Correctional Institution McKean,

PO Box 8000, Bradford, PA 16701

GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 18623 Santa Maria Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70809, 225-751-3857,

ckevinw of aol.com

ITALY: Heath Gardner, 1510 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC 27403-1207

metaphorman of gmail.com

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

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

TURKEY: Tim Miller, 258 New Mark Esplanade, Rockville, MD 20850,

tim of webjudge.net

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

burgess of world.std.com

Game Notes:

1) Note that I have corrected Kevin Wilson's mailing address, when I updated the mailing labels, I forgot to update this one. Sorry about that.

Press:

(RICK DESPER PRESS): So long! Tim, drop me a line if you're interested in a local game in DC. (Or anybody else who happens to be in DC for that matter.)

SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy

THE GAME IS OVER - EFG DRAW AGREED TO BY ALL PARTIES

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)

jatretick of comcast.net

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)

FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR END GAME STATEMENTS EXTENDED

Five Way AEGRT Draw Declared!

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

melvin4852 of sbcglobal.net

Game Notes:

1)

End Game Statements:

SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1918 IS JANUARY 15TH, 2005

Winter 1917

ENGLAND (Brosius): has f LON, a GAS, f NAO, a KIE,

f MID, f ENG, f HOL, f POR.

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

GERMANY (Barno): has a ANK.

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

TURKEY (Linsey): has a SMY, a UKR, a WAR, f WES, a SEV, f GOL, a SIL,

a GAL, f NAF, f GRE, a TYO, f PIE, a BUL, a BOH.

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):

con,ank

(has 1, PLAYS ONE SHORT)

RUSSIA (Reynolds):

MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber

(has 6, even)

TURKEY (Linsey):

SMY,rum,bul,gre,

(has 14, 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. The upcoming Fall 1917 will be two game years by that measure. Even if Turkey is missing TWO of its home centers in Winter 1917, I think we are still going to advance to the next level of voting, which is that perpetual draw votes will no longer be allowed with failure to vote equalling a yes. If any other significant movement or centers change hands then that will be another story, of course. This does NOT mean the game will just be ended by the GM, it just means someone must veto the draw every turn.

2) Note that nsp stands for "no such program".....

Press:

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

GAME OVER - PAUL RAUTERBERG RUNS AWAY WITH IT!!!

This one is done and the game report was in last issue. I'll give one last issue in case anyone wants to make any comments.

FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules

THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 11 IS JANUARY 15TH, 2005

Turn 10

90 (replenish with a 3)

Lisa

89 (no replenishment)

Empty

88 (no replenishment)

Empty

87 (no replenishment)

Empty

86 (no replenishment)

Empty

85 (replenish with a 3)

Clubs

84 (no replenishment)

Empty

83 (no replenishment)

Empty

82 (no replenishment)

Empty

81 (no replenishment)

Empty

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

80 (no replenishment)

Empty

79 (no replenishment)

Empty

78 (replenish with a 3)

Diamonds

77 (no replenishment)

Empty

76 (replenish with a 3)

Edmond

75 (no replenishment)

Empty

74 (no replenishment)

Empty

73 (no replenishment)

Empty

72 (replenish with a 3)

Franklin

71 (replenish with a 4)

Sand

70 (replenish with a 5)

Paige

69 (replenish with a 6)

James, Wade, Hearts

68 (replenish with a 9)

Pebble, Frederick

67 (replenish with a 11)

El Vez

66 (replenish with a 12)

Geri Lee Lewis, Johnny Peso

65 (no replenishment)

Empty

64 (replenish with a 3)

Marge

63 (replenish with a 4)

Clay, Carl Sagan, Bart

62 (replenish with a 7)

Homer

61 (no replenishment)

Empty

60 (replenish with a 3)

Spades

59 (no replenishment)

Empty

58 (replenish with a 3)

Zedd

57 (replenish with a 4)

Silt, Omega

Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards

TEAM 1 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (39 points)

Team Name: Team Springfield

A: Homer Simpson

(3) 8 7 11 7

B: Marge Simpson

(4) 8 7 3

C: Bart Simpson

(9) 11 4 4

D: Lisa Simpson

(3) 4 3 3

Total Replenishments: 22+63+46+13+15+29+21+17+25+17 = 268

TEAM 2 (Bruce Edwards): kactusjak of ntlworld.com (0 points)

Team Name: Last Again

A: Zedd

(3) 3 8 3

B: Omega

(3) 3 4 4

C: Paige

(11) 3 10 5

D: James

(3) 6 3 6

Total Replenishments: 16+37+29+25+12+13+26+24+21+18 = 221

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

Team Name: The Soils; Manager: Boulder

A: Clay

(3) 16 15 7 4

B: Silt

(9) 3 3 4

C: Sand

(13) 20 3 4

D: Pebble

(3) 21 4 9

Total Replenishments: 17+62+63+25+12+13+12+29+27+21 = 281

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

Team Name: The Firm

A: Edmond

(16) 3 3 7 3

B: Franklin

(15) 4 15 3

C: Frederick

(6) 3 4 9

D: Wade

(6) 4 3 6

Total Replenishments: 12+28+32+35+38+25+24+17+29+21 = 261

TEAM 5 (David Partridge): rebhuhn of rocketmail.com (15 points)

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

A: Spades

(3) 15 9 15 3

B: Hearts

(11) 13 13 6

C: Diamonds

(6) 4 3 3

D: Clubs

(3) 6 3 3

Total Replenishments: 17+55+51+25+30+24+26+20+34+15 = 297

TEAM 6 (Karl Schmit): diplomacy of new.rr.com (3 points)

Team Name: 25 Dollar Quartet

A: Carl Sagan

(6) 15 3 15 4

B: El Vez

(7) 10 15 11

C: Geri Lee Lewis

(5) 9 3 12

D: Johnny Peso

(5) 1 3 12

Total Replenishments: 12+37+22+44+16+27+28+27+32+39 = 284

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. Be careful to note that the card you played (the one in parentheses) is not available for you, for next turn. 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. Of course, it is lining up to get across the sprint and final lines in the right places that really counts. We can calculate an "efficiency score" later, which will be the ratio of scoring points per replenishment. If I'm predicting how the future of this will come out, a 10% score will be really tremendous for this measure (note that Rick still is way ahead of this pace).

3) A lot of unhappy people this time, as some of the pack didn't quite reform. And our last three stragglers are now all but dropped from the pack. I'm not actually dropping anyone, since I want to keep them accumulating their (small) replenishments for the total. And for all except Carl Sagan, the 25 dollar quartet had a REALLY, REALLY amazing turn. They now are in second place in the replenishment standings, but the question is: can they turn those cards into points?!?! Next turn looks to be VERY interesting now. Six more riders remain to score points crossing the Sprint line, but lots of BIG points waiting at the Finish line.

Press:

(LISA - > FIELD): c'mon guys, catch up!

(LISA - > CARL SAGAN): What's at marker 78? Silicon or carbon?

(FABIENNE - > BUTCH): Whose motorcycle is this?

(BUTCH - > FABIENNE): It's not a motorcycle, it's a chopper, baby.

(FABIENNE - > BUTCH): Whose chopper is it?

(BUTCH - > FABIENNE): It's Zedd's.

(FABIENNE - > BUTCH): Who's Zedd?

(BUTCH - > FABIENNE): Zedd's dead, baby. Zedd's dead.

(BOOB to BART): What's with this sticking with your parents this turn? Silent and obedient, eh? Well, by playing your 9 rather than your 11, you broke up the pack, to your family's detriment. Then again, maybe that was your plan? And Zedd may not be QUITE dead yet.....

FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy

CONCESSION TO UKRAINE PASSES - CONGRATULATIONS TO DAVE!!!

Addresses of the Participants

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

ozricozog of yahoo.com

EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyri, 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

Personal Note to You:

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File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 3.35.
On 30 Dec 2004, 16:10.