THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #306

October 16, 2006


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. Some of you have been getting bounced messages from my ISP's spam protection, if that happens to you, USE my backup E-Mail at jfburgess of gmail.com!!! Don't complain that my E-Mail keeps bouncing without forwarding the bounced message to that address. Then I can forward it to the ISP help to get it dealt with.
Web Page Address: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


The szine is late again, I am having job issues that could necessitate other such delays in the near future. I pushed deadlines to account for this, and will keep doing that as necessary. JOIN the 23 TUNES GAME!!! SEND ME THREE TUNES AND COMMENTARY!!!
Here are the rules for 23 TUNES. You send me three tunes for the first turn, and then two tunes in each of the last ten turns for a total of 23. I will also be submitting my tunes. After we're done, I'd like to exchange CD's/Tapes for as many of the tunes players as possible, but this is not required. I'll be sending the winner both my LAST 23 tune list and my NEW 23 tune list. The winner is determined by having you guess each issue who submitted what list (I will tell you who the submitters are). For each list you get right, you get a point, you also can win bonus points from me for really cool tune selections. That's it, not complicated. I think I have three lists so far, I'd like to play with between 5 and 10 of you, so let's get started!!!!
I expect ALL players to be signed up on the E-Mail notification list for the szine, see below. Some of you have been complaining about this, but it is up to you to get on this list, it's easy, come ask me if you have trouble. We have another exciting issue of By the Way in this issue if everything is going as planned. We're making progress on starting new games, help fill things up, see below for more. The new regular Diplomacy game has started, Spring 1901 results in this issue!!!


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. Anyone may 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 port/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 is out of stasis, and all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.
Peter now seems to be sliding back into stasis! Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge had been picking up the choo-choo game slack, but Rip also has been missing in action completely for over a year now, I don't have an update but he and Dave Partridge communicate. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info on getting into choo-choo games. And Andy York has been my most frequent subszine guest lately!!! He's been in every issue, thanks, Andy!!!
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 and I'll put your LOCs in here. I EXPECT all players to be on this list, especially those of you who are from foreign countries!!! You need this to find out when the szine is up on the web to check in on results.
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 MARGARET GEMIGNANI
OK, now, why Margaret? Margaret, of course, is one of the most famous personalities in Dipdom, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Comic, etc. fandom. She was a nurse in the DC area, I believe, and then retired to Florida some years ago. Many people had an address for her in Fort Lauderdale (including me), but that address went missing around 1994. If you do Google searching, as I have done off and on, there is a Margaret Gemignani that contributes to the Baltimore and Ohio Historical Railroad Association, along with a husband, Gino (anyone know if that matches.... the B&O matches where she used to live... but don't tell me, use it as info to go looking yourself!!!) Margaret has a couple of mentions in the Diplomacy AtoZ and I first encountered her in the old Bernie Oaklyn Le Front szine. I think it would be fun to find her.


Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Jeff, Derek, 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 Jeff Key or Steve Heinowski or Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Derek Nelson or Sylvain LaRose or John Smythe 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.


Cal White (Tue, 3 Oct 2006 09:17:30 -0400)
Hi Jim, Just wanted to let you know that I did a quick check of area phone books looking for Derek Nelson. I called the only one listed, but it was not the right one. I'd like to see you find Derek because he's the guy I rode with from Toronto to Baltimore to attend DipCon 76 at Johns Hopkins. Never knew him well (that was the only time we had contact), but he was a nice guy.
Cal White, diplomat of idirect.com
((I always welcome comments like "I looked here and found that" types of things. I don't ordinarily print them unless you say to (which Cal did) in case you want to keep your search info private. Let's get these guys found, I've heard that some other people had been looking.))


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 closed the European continental branch, as I think most of you had figured out.
And the ISE in Australia hadn't had much real action in recent years, and Brendan Whyte has moved on to Jerusalem!!! Brendan still produces what I find to be the most readable small szine in the worldwide hobby. Did you all realize that? Write to Brendan at his new Jerusalem address and ask him about subscribing, I'm not sure what the new deal will be. Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, ISRAEL. His travelogues are wonderful.


WORLDMASTERS04 SECTION
See http://www.worldmasters.net/wm04/ for details on progress on the WORLDMASTERS04, the Semifinals have now begun. Some semifinal notables include: Egg Ferreira, Buffalo Bartalone, Lee Simpson, Joe Janbu, Sebastian Beer, Jerry Fest, Twerg O'Donnchu, Tim Sweeney, Dave Partridge, Glenn Ledder, Adam Silverman, Toby Harris, and Thomas Franke. This is one of the deepest semifinal fields for this great tournament that I've seen, with representatives from nearly all of the world's hobby communities. Actually, in an update, the Semifinal games will begin in Mid-September. I was wondering why I hadn't seen anything on progress in these games, and that's why. But the pairings have just been announced. More on that next issue!!! Thomas Franke and David Partridge are in a game together that seems on first glance to be the weakest in the rest of the players. So my first thought is that one of those two will have a slot in the finals. I am getting raked over the coals for it, but I just ended a game in a three way draw between me, Thomas, and Ray Setzer that I might have had a chance in ekeing out a win mostly because Thomas asked for it to end so he could focus on this semi-final. Sorry, David, but I had to do it.....
It is helping now that I've joined the Yahoogroup WM04-Chat where this discussion is happening. You can join too! However, this forum has been very, very quiet, I hope it picks up with semis, maybe I'll have to start some discussion. But most of the talk that there has been has about Yann Clouet and the French Hobby's new "World Palmares Evaluation" of FTF Diplomacy Play. Of course, Yann Clouet comes out #1, further backing up winning the John Koning award, and I am 1442nd (in a tie with Mark Nelson and Tony Dickinson, among others!). This uses lots of tournament results, more than 750 of them, and really is quite comprehensive. See those rankings at: http://www.18centres.com/SPIP3/article.php3?id_article=199


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 - Yahoogroup diplomacyworld
Also, I need any Hobby Award Nominations NOW (!!!) for:
The 2005 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service;
The 2005 Rod Walker Award for Literature;
The 2005 John Koning Award for Player Performance;
The 2005 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance;
or
A 2005 Kathy Byrne Caruso Award for Lifetime Achievement (if warranted).
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. I was going to publish the award ballot for this year in this issue, but I realized that I really just had to get this out first and then do that.... and then, well, REAL SOON NOW!!!


Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines:
Deadline Spring 2006, Issue #97: March 1, 2006
Deadline Summer 2006, Issue #98: June 1, 2006
Note that Andrew Neumann has taken over the lead editorship from Tim Haffey. Get us articles NOW!!! The March issue has been delayed but should be out shortly. That probably means that Issue #98 will be delayed until Fall. It is now Fall and not much has happened. I'm trying to get my general life in order and then I'll deal with these.
Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:
Andrew Neumann, andrewneum of gmail.com - New Lead Executive Editor!
Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Ex-Lead Editor and Archives Editor
Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor and 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


ATTENTION: There is a new company that had been doing a new PC Diplomacy game:
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/news.asp?ArticleID=239&Page=News
You all should read the interview in the Spring 2005 movement issue of the Diplomatic Pouch (and I mean ALL!!!!!!! of you!!!!!) that I think you can find at:
/Zine/S2005M/
I'm not sure what is going to happen now, but basically everywhere except in Russia the game pretty much failed. The AI was not good (not a huge surprise) and it just required too many updates to get it to work. Besides, it really was designed for "real time" play and everyone doesn't want that. To find out more general information on DIPLOMACY please visit www.diplomacy-pcgame.com or contact pr of paradoxplaza.com but I think it is about to wither away and die. In sum, I think that is too bad. But the hobby as a whole is going strong with thousands and thousands of Diplomacy players worldwide. REALLY!!!


Bruce Linsey (Mon, 25 Sep 2006 11:22:25 EDT)
Just happened to notice the remarks about your brother playing in a game that you're GMing. (See? I DO look through the zine now and then!)
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, since there's no deception involved. I've run games and fantasy sports leagues in which my wife, brother, and cousin have played for many years, and I've never even had a complaint of favoritism. (Not even in 1999, when my wife Krissi had a perfect season and was the #1 team in all of Gonzo Football!) Really, a relative is no different in this respect than a close friend, and many of us in the postal gaming community have plenty of friends playing in our games.
I wouldn't hesitate to join one of your games which also included your relatives. Just my two cents worth.
Bruce, GonzoHQ of aol.com
((Thanks, Bruce. That's the way I see it too. It's been too long making it difficult for my brother to play here, so we're going for it. Now, Edi has a comment on the Lepanto issue, surprise, surprise...))


Edi Birsan (9/27/06)
Actually there are several reasons that Lepanto is correctly named...
1. The Battle was a Victory of Italy over Turkey
2. The battle featured the triumph of Italian/Western mechanics-skill over the Turks
3. The central feature of the battle was a rather straightforward destruction of the Turks nearly head on
4. The battle broke the Turkish control over the eastern seas (though it was technically not fought in the Eastern Medit as defined on a Diplomacy map it was considered as being in the Eastern seas at the time.
5. and most important it was fought on same month and day as my birthday thus being doubly appropriate! So there take that....
Edi Birsan, EdiBirsan of astound.net


A NEWS NOTE: TIM SNYDER, Zine Register editor reports Michael Edward Snyder was born on Sept 14 and is doing fine! Sarah is doing well also!
((I'm hoping that Tim can be convinced to do an update on the Zine Register sometime soon, but with this, I'm not hopeful....))


Tim Haffey (Tue, 26 Sep 2006 19:24:52 EDT)
I noted with interest your notes on the "Key Opening" which brought back memories of a game where that very set of moves was used against me (I was Turkey) by Dave Grabar (playing Italy, what else) and Rich Shatto playing Austria. It worked very well against me and even Russia (I forget who was playing Russia) jumped in on the Turkey dinner and I was out by year 03 or 04, I forget exactly. This was a ftf game we played well over 30 years ago, in Chowchilla, CA. Never knew that back stabbing move had a name. Strange how you can always remember the bad games.
"Tim-Bob", TRHAFFEY of aol.com
((Indeed, thanks for sharing, Tim. I agree, I can remember much more clearly my spectacular failures than my (rare) successes.))


MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)
I want to pick up the music commentary again and run a "23 tunes" contest here (stolen blatantly from Mark Wightman and the late lamented The Sprouts of Wrath. You send me 23 tunes and five or six lines of commentary on each. I print them with comments from me 2-3 at a time and then YOU have to guess who submitted each set of tunes for that issue. I give "bonus points" for quality and subtract points for really lame selections. Mark, forget how the scoring goes, one point for each person you guess right each issue, correct? To enter, you can send them 2-3 at a time, or you can send me the whole list of 23 tunes. But I think we should be able to get at least ten people playing. I have an advance commitment from Brad Wilson to be in, so this should be FUN. When we're done, whoever wins I'll try to figure out how to make a CD of tunes from the list for them. If anyone would like to send me a tape or CD of their 23 (which was the original point) that would be great, but I don't intend to require that. I will be playing in the sense that I'll be putting 23 tunes in, and you have to guess me, but I obviously won't score points. I'll start things up in a couple of issues once I have enough entrants. I've got three people in now, I need more of you. To get started, I need THREE songs, the first turn will be three songs, and then two for each of the next ten rounds. Send me three tunes now with a bit of commentary, and we'll see if people can guess who you are!!! And already there is a LOT of diversity in defining tunes and styles, so BE CREATIVE!!! I should be able to get a dozen entrants!!!


((I'm printing this next article from Mark Lew's blog with his permission, and adding some commentary of my own. I'm going to try to restrain myself and hope that any of you, or Mark himself, might add further comments. I'll apologize upfront for using the editor's perogative to scatter my comments in throughout all of what Mark says. If Mark wants to respond and keep his response "whole", I'll certainly do that. And many of you may be interested in providing your own comments on the discussion. That would also be fun for next issue, I hope I get at least a FEW comments. This also was brought to my attention by Bruce Linsey, so thanks to him. I don't watch Mark's blog as carefully as I might..... You can find Mark's whole blog at: http://radio.weblogs.com/0134204/index.html ))


Mark Lew (Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:48:57 EDT)
What We Should Learn From the Failure of the Bush Presidency by Ig Lew
That's an ambitious title. For almost a year now I've had it in mind to write an article that lives up to it. There's a lot that's wrong with the Bush presidency, but I've been frustrated by the shallow analysis by many Bush critics (mostly Democrats, but not entirely) that boils the whole thing down to, "Bush is bad, so we should replace him with someone good." There's an important article to be written rebutting that view.
What follows is not that article. Realistically, I'm never going to get around to writing it. I did, however respond to a post in RMO one rare day when I had some free time, and some of the related ideas came out. After about five paragraphs I realized RMO wasn't the place for it, so instead of posting, I saved it for Benzene instead.
The context isn't important. One of RMO's resident liberals mentioned that she's looking forward to the end of Bush's presidential term, and along the way referred to that as "a change in regime".
Regime change doesn't solve the problem. The Bush presidency has been damaging to the country not because Bush is incompetent (we've had incompetent presidents before), nor because he's evil or malicious (which I don't believe he is), nor even because he has political goals that you or I disagree with (we've had plenty of that before, too).
We've survived plenty of bad presidencies before. The reason this one threatens to do lasting damage is because of structural damage to our political system. The United States has a long record of social, economic, and military success in large part due to our excellent form of government. Crucial to that success is the various correcting mechanisms built into the system. In addition to the celebrated checks and balances between our three branches of government, there is the balance that comes from reconciling the two sides in our two-party system. Most important of all there is the matter of accountability, ultimately to the electorate.
((I would add one comment to that excellence where it has failed, and that is where one of the parties itself fails or needs to be reborn and I think that's where the Democratic party is. I actually think we need a new party that is fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and this actually would oppose the current Republicans who are on the opposite side of both of those. The Republicans have figured out that they can be big spenders if they can write lots of contracts. Eventually, we may figure out how to better write government contracts, and there is lots of innovation going on in this area - including the relatively new concept of "Business Associate" agreements that set up rules and responsibilities before you even get to bid on a contract - but far too much of the contracting is itself extremely inefficient and ineffective. This happens in different ways from the inefficiency/ineffectiveness in traditional government services, but it really does happen and is not the panacea Republicans would have us believe. Another big issue is the failure of trade unionism. Watch Andy Stern, who is the head of the Service Union and trying to recreate that institution. People who I know and really respect that know Stern personally say really wonderful things about him. And what is happening to the economy in this country? It is more and more a service economy. So the populism we need as the alternative to the government contract oriented Republicanism is a true respect for diversity, that lets the best ideas bubble up, not be dictated down. And that will be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I would also note, as a liberal Christian in a fundamentally religious country (using fundamental in its other sense), that this is most definitely NOT a give-back to secular humanism. Our other serious problem in this country is the dramatic decline in ethics (and if you believe the information on this, this cuts across liberal religious, conservative religious, and secular humanists at the individual level) and that also to me is a problem with top-down ethics and ethics by Directive that this administration also is trying to foster. Ethics start with people and communities too. And we ain't got it right now AND even more worrying, it is getting MUCH worse in my view. The best evidence to me is the complete reversal of the "traffic driving courtesy" that was so wonderful right after September 11th and is completely in the toilet now. He who would be first, shall be last is still a powerful and not fully embraced dictum. Watch Andy Stern....))
All of these are now severely damaged, in many cases deliberately damaged by the Bush regime. Power is dangerously concentrated in the executive branch now. Current lack of congressional oversight is unprecedented in our history. Even when Congress is inclined to participate in government it is crippled by lack of good information. The executive branch controls information, and it manipulates policymaking by selectively withholding it, distorting it, or in some cases even fabricating it. The judicial branch is similarly shut out, with any court that disagrees with executive power branded as "activist". Legislation is increasingly ineffective, as the executive department declines to enforce laws it doesn't like and fails to implement congressionally mandated government initiatives. Recently, the executive repertoire has expanded to redefining Congress's laws to mean something other than what Congress explicitly intended.
((Yes, I see a lot of this first hand. One of the reasons this szine is late again this time is that I'm leaving my current job (where it is just too untenable to me to be told "not to think about that, because we don't want anyone to know the answer" from the more usual "tell me the answer, but I might make decisions politically that ignore that" which has always been the case in government) to get a bit more freedom of thought in a related but different job.))
Partisan power has become dangerously unbalanced as well. Traditions and procedures in American government had evolved so that a certain amount of bipartisan support was necessary for major decisions. The corrosion of rules in Congress began before 2000, but it has grown considerably worse during the Bush presidency. Everything we learned in high school civics class about how laws are made is obsolete now. Sometimes members of Congress aren't even given an opportunity to read the laws they vote on, much less participate in writing them.
Worst of all is the loss of accountability. The greatest strength of our political system was the way in which successful policy would drive out unsuccessful policy. With the political equivalent of Adam Smith's "invisible hand", those policies and their implementors who succeeded in providing the electorate what it wanted would be rewarded while those that failed would not. In a healthy administration, the same dynamic occurs within the government as well. When a department's program is successful, it is emulated. When a department fails, the person responsible is sacked and someone else is given a chance. Even if it isn't that person's "fault" per se, it's still part of the process that assures that good ideas rise to the top.
What worries me about Bush's detractors is the naive belief that simply removing Bush will solve these problems — that Bush fails simply because he's a bad president and if we replace him with a good president, all will be well. It won't. Without repair of our political system, the next president — whether Democrat or Republican — will be just as ineffective.
((I think that is sadly, precisely the point. In my view, it is all about control and power. In any organization, and this is a very old idea, you don't promote innovation unless you find good people and free them up to come up with new ideas and things. But if you try to rule through Directive, as this administration does, you rely an awful lot on the small number of people writing directives for "good ideas and things", plus no one has really figured out how to convince people to follow most kinds of Directives on issues that really matter.))
For all our squabbling about hot-button ideological issues, there really isn't that much distance between what Democrats and Republicans want. We all want economic prosperity, protection from terrorism, disengagement from Iraq without the Middle East exploding into a messy war, etc. The disagreement is about the best strategy for achieving these goals. Of course these are all difficult questions. If they weren't, there wouldn't be the heated debates. We're all just taking our best guesses, and no one really knows the answers. If someone did know — and again, this is the genius of our (now damaged) political system — that answer would be embraced. If someone stumbled on a plan that really did, say, bring peace to the Middle East, we wouldn't continue to bicker about it. We would say, "Hey, that really works; by all means let's do it." At worst, each party would grab the idea and claim it as its own, but either way it would get done.
Bush's detractors seem to think that he fails simply because he's dumb and has the wrong ideas and we just need to put in someone else who's smart and has the right ideas. Of course, Bush doesn't know all the answers. No one does. Our system of government does not require the president to have all the answers, and that's exactly why America has proved more successful in almost every way than totalitarian states like the Soviet Union.
The reason Bush has failed so spectactularly is that he has destroyed the mechanisms whereby good ideas rise to the top. There is no accountability anywhere in the administration, all dissenting views are vigorously squelched, and all information is kept as confidential as possible. The result is that when someone is about to do something stupid — as will inevitably happen — there is nothing there to correct the error, either before or after the fact. If some piece of our government policy is terribly misguided, there might well be a whole lot of people out there who would recognize the problem, but they probably don't get a chance to see what's going on, or if they do see it they aren't listened to. Once the bad policy is in place, it stays in place — possibly because the ill effects are kept hidden, but even after a department head accumulates a six-year record of bad results, he's still allowed to continue, because this administration values loyalty over competence.
((Yes and no, actually in my experience the patience actually is much less now but it is about failure to appear (and appear is the key word) loyal in some relevant way.... including bad political publicity. So the key is not whether or not you GET bad results, but whether or not it becomes generally known that you had bad results. This was the problem with "Brownie" for example in Emergency Management of Katrina. I thought it was interesting that the "big complaint" against him was that quote about when he knew about people trapped at the Superdome "today" when he said that because he hadn't been to sleep for three days and to him three days ago WAS today.))
When thinking about who to elect as president in 2008, voters — both Democrat and Republican — who are appalled by the breathtaking failure of the Bush presidency should not be thinking about which candidate, or which party, has the right policies and the right ideas. What we need to be considering is which candidate (or party) is committed to repairing a political system which brings good policies to the top regardless of who suggested them. Given that the damage to the system was done primarily as a means of pursuing power, both to the party and to the executive, undoing the damage is going to require a president willing to let go of a lot of power. What we emphatically do not need is an anti-Bush whose attitude is, "The other guys had their chance to do whatever they want without restraint; now it's our turn."
((In academic speak, those of us who talk about this, discuss the need to embrace the Third Generation of Knowledge Management (where Bush and his people are stuck early in the First Generation) where you recognize that some problems (like Iraq) are inherently complex and need to be approached that way and not simplified, some problems are complicated but can be simplified, and other problems really are inherently simple; and context and communities of people are all that really counts in determining how to solve them. Thanks, Mark. I hope I answered your question below.))


Mark D. Lew (Sat, 30 Sep 2006 13:49:24 -0700)
((Hey Mark, do you mind if I print your review of the political situation in TAP. I agree with it 100%, as you know, our political views are pretty well in synch most of the time. I agree that the REAL problem is that bubbling up innovation in information economy issues being suppressed eventually will kill our economy. It is, in fact, what drives our economy.))
I assume you're talking about the same one Brux just forwarded to his mass-email group, right? The one titled "what we should learn about the Bush presidency", or something like that.
That would be fine. I'm very interested in what you'd have to say about the general idea of the free market metaphor as it applies to decision-making within a bureaucracy. There was some of that in John Kay's recent book (I forget the title, but you probably know it: something very Adam Smith-like), and I found it very inspiring. But rereading my article lately, I didn't really pursue that as much as I would have liked. ((I'm not sure I know precisely that book, but the idea these days is that people are picking up is Adam Smith's ideas of moral sentiments, which is partly influencing me in what I said above as well. A book you might really like to pick up is Daniel Goleman's book on "Social Intelligence", I've not read it yet, but I intend to do so soon.))
I think the accountability of bureaucrats within the system is the larger problem than general accountability of office-holders to the electorate, but it reads like I'm emphasizing the latter more. Maybe I'll follow up on that in the context of the "Richard Clarke was/wasn't fired" debate.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
P.S. I've moved so much lately that I don't know what address you've got, but I'm pretty sure it's wrong. As of August 2006 I'm at: 1844 N 190th Street, Shoreline, WA 98133
((I think that makes sense, but as you saw, I expanded it out into how we can get accountability of contractors to the government, which first requires accountability of the bureaucrats who write contracts and oversee them.))


Rick Desper (Wed, 4 Oct 2006 05:25:51 -0700 (PDT))
Today's game is: given team X, X not the Yankees, how many of the starters for team X would be starting for the Yankees?
For the Red Sox, I thought at the beginning of the season the answer was three (the obvious two plus Varitek) but after Varitek's weak season I think it might be down to two. ((Possibly, but I would argue from the "look what happened when Jason missed a month" perspective to say that Varitek is still a winner doing what really is important for a catcher: managing the game on the field and calling the pitches. He really wasn't all that much weaker at the plate than he's ever been if you break it down either.)) This is one of the reasons I got very annoyed at people who were filling out the days of September by trashing Manny Ramirez. One guy at a Sox blog said "he does this every season", after which I pointed out that Manny had played 150+ games in each of 2003, 2004, and 2005. So, in case it's not obvious, the Sox starters would be Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.
For a reference, let's look at the Yankees lineup: Damon CF, Jeter SS, Abreu RF, Sheffield 1B, Giambi DH, ARod 3B, Matsui LF, Posada C, Cano 2B.
There was an amusing bit on ESPN's page 2 yesterday that did this analysis for the Tigers, and picked the Tiger at eacch position. :) More seriously, I think from the Tigers I would definitely start Pudge over Posada, and I would get Magglio into the lineup somehow. ((Pudge is the same way. Pudge and Manager of the Century Jim Leyland are willing the Tigers to the top.))
The Twins: Castillo 2B, Punto 3B, Mauer C, Cuddyer RF, Morneau 1B, Hunter CF, R White LF, Nevin DH, Bartlett SS. Morneau and Mauer are definite starters. I'd also take Hunter over Damon and Cuddyer over Abreu. Not bad here.
The As - I started to list the lineup and then it became obvious that Frank Thomas would be the only one I'd play. Ugly.
NL - Cardinals: Eckstein SS, Duncan LF, Taguchi LF, Pujols 1B, Edmonds CF, Rolen 3B, Encarnacion RF, Belliard 2B, Molina C. It's harder to make this comparison because of the DH discrepancy. Pujols would obviously start. Other possibles would be Rolen, Duncan, and Edmonds. Edmonds is getting a bit slow with the bat, but he's definitely the better fielder than Damon. Duncan v. Matsui is pretty close. Let's go with Duncan because Matsui was hurt most of the season. And I'd definitely want to have Rolen at 3B - the question would be what to do with ARod? I would use ARod as the DH in an AL park and in the NL park I'd stick him in the outfield or something. So I'd take Pujols, Duncan, and Rolen.
Padres: Piazza's not the hitter he used to be, but Posada never was that hitter. I'd take Piazza and that's about it, though I'd want Mike Cameron around to sub in for Damon for defense.
Dodgers: Russell Martin, Nomar, and Jeff Kent are the candidates. Martin might become a better hitter than Posada some day, but not yet. Jeff Kent is on the downside of his career and Cano is better now. That leaves Nomar. Nomar doesn't have quite enough hitting to be a top-flight 1B, but then Sheffield is not exactly playing in position either. I cannot see Nomar dislodging either ARod from 3B or Jeter from SS, but I'd want to get his bat in the lineup somehow. So let's again say 1 player and that's it.
Mets: going with Lo Duca C, Delgado 1B, Valentin 2B, Reyes SS, Wright 3B, Floyd LF, Beltran CF, Green LF. Beltran is in - no brainer. Lo Duca? Almost. Delgado - yeah, I'd start him over Sheffield. Floyd? Nope. Green? Nope. Wright or Valentin? No way. That leaves Reyes - an interesting problem. Reyes vs. Jeter would make for an interesting debate. I suspect Reyes is the better fielder and, although he doesn't quite hit as well as Jeter, he is a great base stealer. I think I'd find a way to bump Cano and play Reyes. Or DH Jeter, play Giambi at 1B and bump Sheffield.
So that makes 3 Mets, 1 Padre, 1 Dodger, 3 Cardinals, 3 Twins and 1 Athletic. I should get back to work...
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com
((Now for the predictions before the playoffs started.... note how in the NL, things went to "Yankee comparison" winners, but NOT in the AL.))


From: Warren Goesle (wgoesle of comcast.net): Uh-oh. I'm going to mostly agree with Rick. That probably means we're both wrong, doesn't it?
From: Rick Desper (rick_desper of yahoo.com): Let's see what Boob says. If he agrees with both of us, that means Dave needs to find an online sports gambling site and bet the exact opposite. p.s. Senator Lieberman still has Sox over Cubs in the World Series!


Rick Desper (Mon, 2 Oct 2006 10:03:19 -0400 (EDT))
And now the Red Sox can hibernate until next Spring. ((But this will be an EXCITING off-season. I think things will happen now and we will really see a new team next year. Sometimes you have to lose to make the big changes.))
I'm going to jump on the Twins bandwagon. I remember about the middle of the season saying that the Twins would be a nasty opponent in the playoffs if they somehow made it in, and since I'm basically stuck going with the Yankees, Mets, or Twins, I'll go with the Twins.
Looking at the various series:
Yankees v. Tigers: Well, it was a nice season for the Tigers, but it ends now. If you want a justification, compare the relative second-half records. The Yankees are still a bit short on pitching, but their hitting is monstrous. The Tigers have good pitching, but they've been a beat-up-on-weaklings team all season. Yankees in four. ((Yeah, the Yankees will overpower them, Yankees in four sounds about right.))
A's v. Twins: Twins have Santana. A's counter with Zito, who's not been nearly as good for quite some time. Twins also somehow have hitting with Mauer, Cuddeyer, and Morneau. A's are hot but Twins are hotter. Twins in four. ((In my opinion, this is the series for the Champion. I think the A's will win this, really! Yes, J-B being contrary again, but I feel it in my bones and have been thinking the A's would win it all for some weeks now. This series will go to the limit, and Frank Thomas is hugely hot, and he will win the series in the last game for the A's.))
Cardinals v. Padres: Well, the Wells trade worked out for the Padres. The Cardinals have been disappointing for the past month, and their pitching has never really come together. I tend to ignore the NL, but I've had Pujols and Duncan on my fantasy team this season. If those two and Rolen are hitting, the Cardinals definitely have the better lineup. But they still don't have enough pitching. I'll go with San Diego in five. ((I like Duncan too, and he was on MY fantasy team (we think alike!). But the Padres will win this.))
Mets v. Dodgers: Wow, there are a lot of ex-Red Sox in the playoffs! Too bad for Pedro that he's going to miss the postseason, and too bad for the Mets, too. If Pedro were healthy, this would be an easy pick. I'm still going to go with the Mets, but it could take four or five. Let's say five. ((And the Dodgers will win this. The Mets are going to have a lot of trouble. Steve Trachsel has to have a great start for them to win, and he won't.))
Well, it's time for coffee. Final pick is Twins over Mets in World Series.
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com
((Dodgers and Padres will be a VERY tough fought series to see who gets to lose to the A's or Twins. I don't think the Yankees have a chance with their pitching to get to the Series. I think you flip a coin here too, but I'd go with the Dodgers, I think. He who laughs last, laughs best. And no, I didn't agree with you both....))


Warren Goesle (Mon, 2 Oct 2006 05:34:58 -0500)
Uh-oh. I'm going to mostly agree with Rick. That probably means we're both wrong, doesn't it?
The Tigers are stumbling. The Yankees are pretty smooth. Yankees in 3. The A's have been doing it with mirrors. The Twins have been doing it with mirrors and pitching. Twins in 4.
Wells still looks like he should have a keg behind him on the mound. Cards are too inconsistent, and not just their pitching. Padres in 5. Look it up: the Mets are 11-12 in games that Martinez started this year. They're actually BETTER with him out. Mets in 4.
Subway Series part II. Same result as part I.
And on a local note, the Cubs have been hibernating since mid-April. The White Sox showed just how hard it is to win when you're actually supposed to win. They will be angry in 2007.
Cheers! Goz, wgoesle of comcast.net


Rick Desper (Tuesday, October 10, 2006 6:35 AM)
Well, my picks were real good weren't they? My only correct pick was the Mets, and I had had the least confidence in them. I was really hoping they would fall, too. 0/4 is more interesting than 1/4.
Anyway, since I already picked the Mets for the WS, I'll stick with that. The Cardinals compensated for their thin staff by using Carpenter twice. If they can somehow get Carpenter two starts against the Mets, they'll have a chance. They also have a chance if somebody other than Pujols gets hot at the plate. Neither pitching staff looks all that impressive right now.
The AL is quite the opposite. Both teams are pitching well, and the Tigers looked especially strong in games 2-4 against the Yankees. As for the Twins, since we'd all agreed that Frank Thomas was the only A hitting well, I was baffled that the Twins kept pitching to him. (Also, their defense was horrible, and that's baffling.) Since I'd already picked both the As and Tigers to lose, I won't bother to pick the ALCS, but I'll stand by the AL over NL pick for the WS. One interesting aspect of the ALCS is that it pits Dave Dombrowski against Billy Beane - two of the most widely respected GMs in the business. While it's not that stunning that the As finally won one of these postseason series, the entire Tigers story is compelling. When Pudge signed there two years ago, I figured he was just in it for the paycheck, and that it was foolish for a last-place team to spend money on Pudge of all people, who was likely in the last few years of his career. Boy was I wrong!
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com


Warren Goesle (Tue, 10 Oct 2006 07:32:26 -0500)
I was also 1 for 4 (I had the same picks Rick had). Apparently you don't have to be playing well going into the playoffs to actually win in the playoffs. While I thought the Mets had enough talent to overcome a late-season funk, the Tigers and the Cards were more than a surprise.
I have to stick with the Mets over the Cards. I think that New York just has too much talent for them. Figure 5 games.
The A's & Tigers is about as wacky as it gets, but let's remember that it wasn't all that far back in this season that Detroit was considered easily the best team in baseball, so I'll take them in 5 as well.
No bets from here on the WS...yet.
On another note, I see that someone in Rhode Island has grown a pumpkin weighing 1502 pounds. Jim-Bob, did the State have to evacuate to make room for it?
Cheers! Goz, wgoesle of comcast.net
((Very, very funny. We actually are very successful at growing large pumpkins, so this sort of thing happens a lot, every fall in fact, around here. The 1500 pounder is especially large, of course.))


Rick Desper (Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:10:10 -0700 (PDT))
Just learned of an interesting tidbit: all four of the remaining teams in the playoffs last won a World Series in the 1980s (St. Louis in '82, Detroit in '84, the Mets in '86 [ouch] and the A's in 1989).
If I were a sportscaster, I would say that's pretty ironic.
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com
((And it's looking like the ones who have not won in the longest are the ones going back, doesn't it. I wrote a note to Mark Lew: "I think the A's are sitting quite pretty right now, except for the disaster in the middle infield, which doesn't seem to have hurt them yet. Are there any reinforcements coming in for the next round? It might be Detroit which just improves the A's chances, I think - though I think they'd also beat the Yankees."))


Mark Lew (Sat, 7 Oct 2006 10:41:19 -0700)
I think D'Angelo Jimenez will continue to start at 2B. He's better than anyone else we've got. I do think they'll bring someone up for the next series, but only as a backup. There's no obvious choice.
I don't know if you heard, but besides Crosby and Ellis, Antonio Perez also got hurt right at the end of the season. He was our third-string infielder (picked up from the Dodgers in the Bradley-Ethier trade) who was on the big-league team for the whole season hardly ever got a start. Our fourth-string infielder was Mike Rouse, who came up for a couple weeks during the middle of the season and played very well. In spite of that, the management must have projected him as having a modest ceiling, because the last time we needed a spot on the 40-man roster we put him on waivers (essentially choosing Jimenez over him), and he was picked up by Cleveland.
That leaves two possible courses for bringing someone up. One is to dig down to AA, where we've got Mark Kiger or Kevin Melillo. Both are prospects who look mildly promising but nothing spectacular. Neither would be deemed ready for the majors now were it not for the emergency.
The other idea is Keith Ginter, who was a second-string major-leaguer for many years before we got a hold of him and sent him down. We got him at the start of 2005. At that time Ellis was recovering from the major injury that had him out for all of 2004, so we needed a backup plan in case he wasn't any good coming back. (Beane was inquiring after several good 2Bs that off-season, but Ginter was the only deal he made.) Ellis turned out OK, so Ginter got demoted. In 2005, he got the same treatment Antonio Perez did this year: ie, a guy with major league experience and a decent record, but we almost never started him; therefore, he never found his swing, so when he did get to play he was terrible, so then he went back to the bench and ended the season with horrible numbers on a small sample size. For 2006, Ginter spent the whole year in Sacramento where he did well, and became a free agent at the end of the season.
That raises an interesting rules situation. The rules on adding to the playoff roster are convoluted already, but basically (as I understand it) if a player is injured, a team is allowed to bring up pretty much anyone in the system, subject to the League approving it as legitimate and not abusing the rule with a dubious "injury" (the "K-Rod rule"). Ginter raises a question which hasn't come up before so far as I know. His contract was due to end at the end of the 2006 season. Since he's in Sacramento, the season is over for him and he's a free agent. But if he's called up, the season isn't over for Oakland and he's not a free agent yet. So is he in the system or not?
The A's have already inquired with the League on the question, and the ruling was that if they sign Ginter to a 2007 contract, they can put him on the playoff roster, but if they don't they can't. This creates an interesting negotiating situation. Ginter obviously wants to get back in the big leagues, and since Oakland was keeping him in AAA, he fully intended to explore the free agent market. The A's presumably want to re-sign him for AAA, which according to the League rule would be sufficient to put him on the playoff roster now. Even as a backup, Ginter is a better choice than the AA guys, so the A's need him and he knows it, so he could try to use the situation to wangle a major league contract for 2007 that he might otherwise not have gotten. On the other hand, signing any sort of contract means he gets to be in the playoffs now, on a team that has a reasonable chance of going to the World Series, so he doesn't really want to miss out on that, so the A's might use that to wangle a minor-league contract that they wouldn't otherwise have gotten.
My prediction is that Ginter will indeed end up on the roster. My best guess is that they sign him to a modest one-year major-league contract and then probably trade it during the off-season. Beane only cares about the price tag, in terms of what he might have to eat and/or tradeability of the contract. Making it major-league rather than minor-league is more a matter of pride, and it looks better for both sides if he's technically a major-leaguer. I think Ginter is still the backup behind Jimenez, though it's likely they give him a chance to prove himself, and then keep him in if he does well.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
P.S. One more guy who could conceivably end up at 2B for the A's is Hiram Bocachica. He's a veteran utility guy who has bounced back and forth between big leagues and AAA. He's been injured a lot in his career, and he was out for about a year in 2005-06, but he was tearing up AAA late in the season. He's been with several teams, most recently Seattle, from whom we picked him up at the beginning of 2005. I think he was considered a possibility for the big leagues then, but since then he's fallen into the "AAAA" category. He's the one who was added when Perez got hurt, so he's already on the playoff roster now. He's one of those versatile players who has played every position but catcher. He started out as a 2B in the minors, but has been almost exclusively outfield for the past few years. Presumably he's not a great idea at 2B, but he's at least a fall-back plan.
((I believe they ended up bringing up Mark Kiger, and nothing seemed to matter against the Tigers, especially when Frank Thomas stopped hitting. I think I have a note from Mark Lew on that to stick on at the bottom here I gotta just get this szine out, there are scattered other things I could still stick in here, but I'd better not try..... this usually is the place where I write the last notes of the szine, and is so again this time. Apologies to those of you that I'm pushing back to next time. This last note also fills out the page.))


Mark Lew (Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:15:04 -0700)
I'm behind on the story, so maybe you already heard.
A's decided to bring up AA guy Mark Kiger, for the reasons I mentioned in the last email: not likely to play anyway, and he has the best defense.
Ginter has complained that he wasn't treated well in the process, which is probably true. Team gave him a look, decided against, and left him with nothing. Ginter can't be entirely happy about spending all of 2006 and half of 2005 in AAA either, so I don't suppose he likes the A's organization very much.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
((No, I don't imagine he does. I still don't think it would have mattered in the actual games, but it was interesting to ponder.))
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, Paul Kenny, and Jeff O'Donnell stand by for regular Diplomacy.
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!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com and try to entice him to return. Rip has been a bit missing in action lately, but I am assured that he SHALL return.
I'm ready to start a new Breaking Away game, who's interested??? Challenge David Partridge again as he is in, so are Brendan Whyte and Alexander Woo. I also am giving a free spot to Eric Martin. Anyone else? Rick Desper is in too. That leaves us looking for ONE more spot, can I convince someone to take that now??? Please, please, I'd like to get toward starting that next issue!!!
I am willing to open another new game of REGULAR Diplomacy if there is enough interest!!! Brad Wilson and Sean O'Donnell start the list, who would like to join them???
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. We have Karl Schmit and Sean O'Donnell on the list, let's get seven!! It's FREE!!!
I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. Bruce Edwards and Eric Ozog are signed up. The rules were published recently, ask to see them if you missed them!!!
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?
And since Colonia is over, Harold Reynolds is looking to start something else.
Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and we have an opening here: Bruce Edwards, Mike Barno, 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..... I've GOT to do this now, Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....
Right now, the other thing going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Sean O'Donnell, Jeff O'Donnell, Steve Koehler, Art Schleinkofer, Bob Holt, Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, and Dave Partridge are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, we only need TWO more!


TAKING OVER ISHKIBIBBLE'S REGULAR DIPLOMACY GAMES ((NOT))
Last chance for anyone who was a subber to Ishkibibble to join any new game for free, but this is a ONE TIME only offer, get your request in now. It is going to expire VERY shortly. Marc Ellinger and Fred Wiedemeyer already have taken us up on this request. Come on, let me call by name who qualifies for this deal..... Karl Schmit, John Power, Tim Snyder, Dave Partridge, Graham Wilson, and Kevin Wilson. I especially would like to fill the Modern Diplomacy game that Dave Partridge already is in.


THE PHIL REYNOLDS MEMORIAL: 2006B, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1901 IS OCTOBER 28TH, 2006
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1901 IS NOVEMBER 18TH, 2006
Spring 1901
AUSTRIA (Burgess): a bud-SER, a vie-BUD, f tri-ALB,
ENGLAND (James): a lvp-WAL, f lon-ENG, f edi-NTH.
FRANCE (Williams): f bre-MID, a par-BUR, a MAR S a par-bur.
GERMANY (Ellinger): a MUN-bur, f kie-HOL, a ber-KIE.
ITALY (Crow): a ven-TYO, a rom-APU, f nap-ION.
RUSSIA (O'Donnell): a war-UKR, f sev-RUM, a mos-LVN, f stp(sc)-GOB.
TURKEY (Wiedemeyer): f ank-BLA, a con-BUL, a smy-ARM.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: David Burgess, 101 Laurel Lane, Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 761-6687, dburgess of glensfallshosp.org
ENGLAND: Drew James, 3644 Whispering Woods Terrace, Baldwinsville, NY 13027
(315) 652-1956, kjames01 of twcny.rr.com
FRANCE: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org ($5)
GERMANY: Marc Ellinger, 751 Turnberry Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65109
ellingermc of aol.com
ITALY: John Crow, 824 Kinwest Parkway #101, Irving, TX 75063, (214) 532-1418
RUSSIA: Jeff O'Donnell, 1345 Simpson Drive, Hurst, TX 76053
(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell, as late as midnight Eastern)
TURKEY: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA
CANADA T6T 1N1, (780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net


Game Notes:
1) Note that Jeff O'Donnell has changed his mailing address, at least temporarily. I think that means that you should use the cell phone number above as well. The other weird thing is look at John Crow's zip code and Jeff's new one. Look CAREFULLY, no, they're not QUITE the same....
2) Note also that we DO have a Summer deadline, even though of course there are no summer retreats to be made. This is a "press only" season. Here's a start at some press below, more is ALWAYS welcome.


Press:
(ENGLAND to EUROPE): The English people are disturbed at the rumors of war coming from the continent. It is hard to believe that any leader would send his people off to war over something as insignificant as control of so called "black dots". The peace loving people of Britain will stay aloof from any conflict (unless dragged in to protect vital national interests of course...)
(BERLIN (DIE ZIETLUNG)): Kaiser Marcus I announced the commencement of defensive maneuvers in the West. "After the violent incursions from the vintners in Burgundy, we have shifted a few light units of brewmeisters into the region to replant vines with hops. Truly this Oktoberfest will be one to remember in the glorious annals of Germany."
Ministers were dispatched to all powers fully noting that the moves were defensive only and evidence no intent to have any hostile action to any other power in Europe. "We have the fondest feelings to all our friends in Europe, as long as Burgundy and the Low Countries are pacified under a multilateral Prussian peacekeeping force, central Europe shall rest at ease."
In other news, fishermen in the Baltic note that the seas are calm and that the fish are teeming. "We hope there will be no concussions to spook the fish this year," stated Georg Bassmaster a local fisherman. German military officials immediately responded promising no action in the north to disrupt any fishing fleets from any nation, "Sweden can rest easy under Russian protection."
(ENGLAND to FRANCE): Spies on the continent picked up many indications of a move into the Channel. This move is defensive - simply the Royal Navy on exercises.
(SISKO'S LOG - UNKNOWN): Something has happened. One minute I'm fighting Gul Dukat on the fire cliffs of Bajor, then suddenly I'm here, in my dad's restaurant in New Orleans with Bashir, O'Brian, Odo, The Major, my dad, and Jadzia Dax. These are my people but this is not my universe. For one thing, there are no Klingons in this universe, and another, Jadzia is supposed to be dead. I am totally unfamiliar with the local alien groups. On the other hand, I could be in worse places than eating Cajun food in my dad's restaurant. I'll figure it out later, Sisko out.
(JAMES FAMILY to JEFF IN OHIO): The METS! METS! Always the METS! We won't even use the "Y" word in this family.
(SYRACUSE to WORLD): Is it basketball season yet? Doesn't it seem like the college football season has been going on forever...or is that just in Syracuse? ((Hmmm, there are some shared sports teams here, aren't there..... next issue seems about right for a full fledged "Big East Preview" issue. Get your comments on Big East basketball in now. Any comments on Big East football will be tossed into the wilds of West Virginia to fend for themselves.))


SPIRALS OF PARANOIA: 2005A, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1904 IS OCTOBER 28TH, 2006
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1905 IS NOVEMBER 18TH, 2006
Fall 1904
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a BUD-rum, a VIE S a gal-boh, a SER S a bud-rum, a gal-BOH, a gre-NAP,
a TRI s ITALIAN a ven-tyo (nso), f ION C a gre-nap.
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): f nat-MID, a WAL-lvp, f ENG S FRENCH f mid-bre, f NWG-edi.
FRANCE (Tretick): f mid-BRE, f cly-EDI, a LVP h, f IRI S a lvp.
GERMANY (Ozog for Tallman): a mun-SIL, a HOL-bel, a boh-gal (d r:mun,otb),
a tyo-ven (d r:mun,otb),
f NWY h, a MAR-pic (imp), a PIC-bel, f NTH S FRENCH f cly-edi.
ITALY (O'Donnell): f tus-PIE, a pie-TYO, a VEN S a pie-tyo, f ADR S a ven.
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): a UKR S a sev-rum, a SEV-rum, a war-GAL, a LVN h.
TURKEY (Biehl): f AEG S f bul(sc)-gre, f bul(sc)-GRE, f smy-EAS.


Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): TRI,VIE,BUD,ser,bul,rum,nap (has 7, even)
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): LON (has 4, rem 3)
FRANCE (Tretick): PAR,BRE,spa,por,lvp,edi (has 4, bld 1, PLAYS ONE SHORT)
GERMANY (Ozog/Tallman): KIE,BER,MUN,hol,den,bel,swe, (has 6 or 7, bld 3(r:otb) or 2)
mar,nwy
ITALY (O'Donnell): ROM,VEN,tun (has 4, rem 1)
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): WAR,STP,SEV,MOS (has 4, even)
TURKEY (Biehl): ANK,SMY,CON,gre (has 3, bld 1)
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,
(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net
FRANCE: Buddy Tretick, 5023 Sewell's Pointe Way, Fredericksburg, VA 22407, (540) 898-3386
cell (540) 226-5571 (E-Mail) berniebuddy32 of aol.com
GERMANY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 331-5698 ($2)
terryt of whidbey.net
GERMANY: Temporary Standby is Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138,
(360) 691-4264, ElfEric of Juno.com
ITALY: Jeff O'Donnell, 1345 Simpson Drive, Hurst, TX 76053
(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell, as late as midnight Eastern)
RUSSIA: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
TURKEY: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,
(604) 816-0460 (cell) ($7); jrb of dccnet.com


Game Notes:
1) Terry is still having some medical problems, Eric Ozog is continuing to negotiate and submit orders for Terry. Eric originally brought Terry into the Diplomacy hobby all those many years ago, and so I'm glad he's agreed to do this.
2) Note that Jeff O'Donnell has changed his postal address, at least temporarily. And you should use his cell phone number above if you want to call him, I think.
3) Obviously, both German armies cannot successfully retreat to Munich, so I've treated it as one retreat and one annihilation in the SC chart.


Press:


FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1908 IS OCTOBER 28TH, 2006
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1908 IS NOVEMBER 18TH, 2006
Spring 1908
AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): f ADR S a tri-alb, a BUD S a gal-rum, a GAL-rum,
a UKR S a gal-rum, a mos-SEV, a TRI-alb.
ENGLAND (Schmit): a bur-mun (d r:bel,otb), a hol-KIE, f eng-MID, a RUH S a hol-kie,
f bel-NTH, f NWG S f bel-nth, f nth-HEL.
FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): a par-BUR, a bre-PIC, f SPA(SC)-mar, a GAS-mar.
GERMANY (Sundstrom): a BER S a mun, f hel-HOL, f SWE-den, a DEN-kie,
a stp-NWY, a MUN S FRENCH a par-bur, f SKA S a stp-nwy.
TURKEY (Levinson): a ank-ARM, f con-AEG, a BUL S a rum, f ion-APU, f rom-TYH, a ALB-tri,
f tyh-ION, f BLA S a rum, a RUM s a ser, a SER S a alb-tri.


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, 1509 O'Keefe Road, DePere, WI 54115, (920) 338-8402,
diplomacy of new.rr.com ($4)
FRANCE: Jeff O'Donnell, 1345 Simpson Drive, Hurst, TX 76053
(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell, as late as midnight Eastern)
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, Beeklaan 504, 2562BP Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS, don't need phone,
levinson7 of hotmail.com ($5)


Game Notes:
1) Note Jeff's new temporary postal address above. You also might want to use the cell phone number, as a result, if you want to call him.


Press:
(SEAN-JIM-BOB): I'm not sure if I follow you, but maybe this will help you see what I'm doing. As though I was Turkey: F Tys-Ion, F Ion-Apu, F Rom-Tus, F Blk S A Bul-Rum, A Bul-Rum, A Rum-Bud, A Alb-Tri, A Ser S A Alb-Tri, F Con-Aeg, A Ank-Con. I'm figuring that Fred is likely to be ordering: A Mos-Sev, A Ukr S A Mos-Sev, A Gal-Rum, A Bud S A Tri, A Tri S F Adr-Alb, F Adr-Alb. Now, I look and see how I fared. For the fall, I'll look at what I'd do as Turkey with what Alexander did do. In S09, I'll flip it and see how I'd fare against Alexander.
(JIM-BOB to SEAN): Yes, well, Sean I do think you're still off, but it is a good exercise to be undertaking.
(CAPTAIN'S LOG): Wow! The Romulans have decommissioned a troop transport on the Ferengi front and a front line Galaxy class Bird of Prey defending Deep Space 2, which is now defenseless. We are signaling for the remaining Romulans there to learn how to speak English. If the Children of Tomari stay out of the war, I now believe that victory will be ours.
(SEAN-BOARD): I agree with Jeff. I honestly don't see how Kurt and Eric Ozog, Jeff and I, or Jim and David Burgess playing together in the same game is any different than Eric Ozog and Terry Tallman playing in the same game. We're playing to win, so I don't understand how it matters.
(CAPTAIN'S LOG): We are now attempting to break out of this universe using a Protomatter device. If successful, we will be duplicated. One group will stay in this universe, the other into a hopefully more friendly universe. A Conversation between Kirk and Spock follows.....
(SPOCK): Captain, our attempt to break out of this universe was not as successful as our last duplication. Something went wrong in the Protomatter stream. Our counterparts in the new universe were probably not duplicates, although they had a definite Federation signature (Spock hesitates).
(KIRK): What's wrong?
(SPOCK): After the malfunction, the matter stream had an odor to it.
(KIRK): An odor?
(SPOCK): Yes, Captain.
(KIRK): What kind of odor? (Spock hesitates again) Out with it!
(SPOCK): Cajun Food.
(KIRK): Cajun Food?
(SPOCK): Cajun Food.
(KIRK): Any idea why?
(SPOCK): The Federation is composed of multiple humanoid species. There is only one place where you can get Cajun Food, at least initially.
(KIRK): Earth. I wonder what it all means?
(SPOCK): We probably will never know.....


I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1914 IS OCTOBER 28TH, 2006
Winter 1913
AUSTRIA (Parker): bld a bud; has a BUD, f ADR, f TUN, f TYH, a WAR, a LVN,
f EAS, a PIE, a CON, a VIE, a VEN, a ARM, a SMY, a TRI, a MOS, f AEG.
FRANCE (Kent): rem a par, f bre; has f MID, f WES.
GERMANY (Wilson): bld a ber, a kie, PLAYS ONE SHORT; has a BER, a KIE, a MUN, f ENG, f BEL,
a BUR, f LVP, a SPA, f POR, a PIC, a STP, a MAR, f NAO, a GAS.
TURKEY (Miller): rem a syr; has a ANK.


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: Doug Kent, 11111 Woodmeadow Pkwy #2327, Dallas, TX 75228
dougray30 of yahoo.com
GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 18623 Santa Maria Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70809, 225-751-3857,
ckevinw1 of cox.net
ITALY: Formerly was Heath Gardner, metaphorman of gmail.com
ITALY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Rick Desper,
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) The GAFT and GA-GA draws are both defeated, the GA-GA sallies forth again. If you have finally become GA-GA over this game, vote yes to this with your Spring orders. If you fail to vote, as usual, you veto the proposal.
2) Vern is back, he had E-Mail problems in trying to get orders to me. Note at the top of the szine, if E-Mail ever bounces from the World account, use the gmail account.


Press:
(FRANCE - ALL): Regarding the Austrian failure to mobilize...I believe the Archduke was busy dealing with the death of the Crown Prince. It all has something to do with a magician, Eisenheim the Illusionist, but details are sketchy.


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1922 IS OCTOBER 28TH, 2006
Winter 1921
ENGLAND (Kent): R a kie-RUH; rem f nao; has f ENG, a GAS, a RUH, f MID, f NTH, f HOL, f POR.
FRANCE (Sasseville): has f MAR, f SPA(SC), a BUR.
GERMANY (Barno): PLAYS ONE SHORT; has a BUL.
RUSSIA (Parker): bld f stp(nc); has f STP(NC), f NWY, a WAR, a DEN, a BER, f HEL,
a KIE, a PRU.
TURKEY (Linsey): rem f tyh; has a ARM, f AEG, a RUM, a GAL, a SIL, f WES,
a UKR, f GOL, a MUN, a TRI, f NAF, a TYO, f PIE, a BOH.


Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Doug Kent, 11111 Woodmeadow Pkwy #2327, Dallas, TX 75228
dougray30 of yahoo.com
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)
roland6 of cox.net
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883, (607) 589-4906
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139
VernDip of aol.com is preferred
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) We have some new proposals, please vote with your Spring orders. Proposed are the TREe and the beGREFT draws. If you think this game is up the TREe or you are so beGREFT that you cannot continue, vote for one of these draws. If you fail to vote, they cannot pass.


Press:


FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules
CONGRATULATIONS TO RICK DESPER WHO HUNG ON FOR THE VICTORY!!!




Game Notes:
1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. New game start in this, who wants to play again (or for the first time)??? We have five signed up so far, see the list in the game opening section. I want to start this up soon, so sign up!!! Can I twist arms on just ONE more of you to join???


Press:


Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.35.
On 17 Oct 2006, 21:58.