THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #246

May 26, 2001

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

Accessible through Internet at burgess of world.std.com; FAX to (401) 277-9904

Web Page Address: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html



Ian Curtis looks down on all of us and laughs..... ``I remember..... when we were young... not afraid any more, I keep my eyes on the door." From ``Insight'' by.... who else but Joy Division. Ian, of course, took the door by choice. The subject of my next header most definitely did not. Anyone who thinks talking about Ian Curtis and Douglas Adams in the same paragraph makes no sense is defined by me to be quite mad themselves..... join me in the ``Shadowplay''.... ``I let them use you for their own ends." The latter is my choice for the best ``Music Diplomacy" quote of all time (thanks to Bob Olsen for originally calling my attention to it two decades ago). Other nominees are welcome. Those of you who never have heard the TOTALLY distinctive voice of Ian Curtis sing these lines are truly the poorer for it as the lines on the page don't do justice to them. Unfortunately, we also had a more recent suicide as well, as Susannah McCorkle jumped off the balcony of her Manhattan apartment last weekend. Sorry for all the morbid stuff this issue, I'll put more on Susannah down below and close off the header with Douglas Adams.

Thanks to Mike Mazzer (mmazzer of goalonline.com) for the choice quotes from Douglas Adams as Mike noted: ``The world is a little less funny. Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series died on May 11 of a sudden heart attack at the age of 49. So ...''



The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

`` `...You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anyone or anything.'

`But the plans were on display...'

`On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.'

`That's the display department.'

`With a torch.'

`Ah, well the lights had probably gone.'

`So had the stairs.'

`But look you found the notice didn't you?'

`Yes,' said Arthur, `yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ``Beware of The Leopard".' "

- Arthur singing the praises of the local council planning department.

((Remind anyone of Don Williams???))

`` `Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.'

`Very deep,' said Arthur, `you should send that in to the ``Reader's Digest". They've got a page for people like you.' "

- Ford convincing Arthur to drink three pints in ten minutes at lunchtime.

((Indeed. We don't do enough of this any more, do we??? It must be Don Williams' fault.))

`` `This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer, `I never could get the hang of Thursdays.'"

- Arthur, on what was to be his last Thursday on Earth.

((I don't know, I like Thursdays....))

``Pages one and two [of Zaphod's presidential speech] had been salvaged by a Damogran Frond Crested Eagle and had already become incorporated into an extraordinary new form of nest which the eagle had invented. It was constructed largely of papier mache and it was virtually impossible for a newly hatched baby eagle to break out of it. The Damogran Frond Crested Eagle had heard of the notion of survival of the species but wanted no truck with it."

- An example of Damogran wildlife.

((No Duck that.... so this has NOTHING to do with Don Williams.))

`` `How do you feel?' he asked him.

`Like a military academy,' said Arthur, `bits of me keep passing out.' '' ....

`` `We're safe,' he said.

`Oh good,' said Arthur.

`We're in a small galley cabin,' said Ford, `in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet.'

`Ah,' said Arthur, `this is obviously some strange usage of the word ``safe" that I wasn't previously aware of.' ''

- Arthur after his first ever teleport ride.

((Maybe that's how I could wake up Don Williams??))

`` `The best way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to stick your finger down his throat...' "

- The Book, on one of the Vogon's social inadequacies.

((This is the all time great Douglas Adams quote. I wonder if it works with Don Williams??))

`` `You'd better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It's unpleasantly like being drunk.'

`What's so unpleasant about being drunk?'

`You ask a glass of water.' "

- Arthur getting ready for his first jump into hyperspace.

((You know we care, Don.... I'm having fun and I'M not feeling one bit unpleasant!!))

`` `You know,' said Arthur, `it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die from asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young.'

`Why, what did she tell you?'

`I don't know, I didn't listen.'"

- Arthur coping with certain death as best as he could.

((How come I feel that way in every Diplomacy game I play with Don Williams??))

`` `Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.' "

- Arthur experiences the improbability drive at work.

((This has nothing to do with Don, he is eminently probable.))

`` `I think you ought to know that I'm feeling very depressed.' "

`` `Life, don't talk to me about life.' "

`` `Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that ``job satisfaction"? 'Cos I don't.' "

`` `I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side.' "

- Guess who.

((No, I won't accept that about Don!!!))

`` `If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.' "

- Zaphod.

((And that CAN'T be Don, must be Toby or Faz....))

`` `In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were REAL men, women were REAL women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.' "

- The Book getting all nostalgic.

((Makes you long for Socrates....))

`` `Hey this is terrific!' Zaphod said. `Someone down there is trying to kill us!'

`Terrific,' said Arthur.

`But don't you see what this means?'

`Yes. We are going to die.'

`Yes, but apart from that.'

`APART from that?'

`It means we must be on to something!'

`How soon can we get off it?'"

- Zaphod and Arthur in a certain death situation over Magrathea.

((Hee, heh, heh...))

``And wow! Hey! What's this thing coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding word like... ow... ound... round... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?"

- For the sperm whale, it wasn't.

((If I were a sperm whale in Douglas Adams' world, I would learn to fly, PDQ.))

``Oh no, not again."

- A bowl of petunias on it's way to certain death.

((Ditto....))

`` `Er, hey Earthman...'

`Arthur,' said Arthur.

`Yeah, could you just sort of keep this robot with you and guard this end of the passageway. OK?'

`Guard?' said Arthur. `What from? You just said there's no one here.'

`Yeah, well, just for safety, OK?' said Zaphod.

`Whose? Yours or mine?'"

- Arthur drawing the short straw on Magrathea.

((This REALLY sounds like me negotiating with Don Williams.....))

``There are of course many problems connected with life, of which some of the most popular are `Why are people born?'

`Why do they die?' `Why do they spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?' "

- The Book.

((These are the ponderables....))

`` `Right,' said Ford, `I'm going to have a look.'

He glanced round at the others.

`Is no one going to say, ``No you can't possibly, let me go instead"?'

They all shook their heads.

`Oh well.'"

- Ford attempting to be heroic whilst being sieged by Shooty and Bangbang.

((My favorite way to experience Douglas Adams was via the radio play. I first heard it all the way through in the early 1980's (I'm not sure when it was produced) Thank you, Mike, and THANK YOU Douglas. We know you've found 42 wherever you are.))



THE NEXT TINAMOU DEADLINE IS JUNE 4TH, 2001 - SEE TINAMOU CORRECTION



David Partridge (Thu, 24 May 2001)

Greetings Pedalers,

< insert standard GM excuse #452 here >

Seems I messed up a bit on the replacement cards for the last race. Gave a bit of an advantage to Jim and Rick, and Jim certainly doesn't need any help right now. Anyway, just in case it affects your cards, the corrected cards are:

Coached by Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog

A 3 Shirtless Moron 4 4 6 10

B 10 Stacy Richter 3 6 3

C 9 Segue Sam 8 3 4

D 12 Syncro-vox Bill Clinton 6 10 4

(26) The Abyssinian Prince, (Jim Burgess: burgess of world.std.com)

A 15 Rasselas 3 8 9 3

B 9 Nekayah 11 3 8

C 13 Pekuah 9 7 3

D 7 Imlac 11 10 5

Regards, Dave, rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

P.S. Go ahead and use this opportunity to send your orders in early. I can handle the shock. Really.



The postal sub price is now $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, STILL a bargain at twice the price.... but you can double that for other foreign subbers (or $3.00 per issue sent airmail). Players in current games and standbys will continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts (except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost $20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance). NOTE: See the revised game start announcements below!

Plus, we are ``taking over the US hobby'' by adding significantly to my list of subszines. We have Michael Lowrey's Houdini Blues as a Southern branch office in TAP. Don Williams' sublime publication also will continue to appear here as Deny Everything's takes a major chunk of space in most issues.

Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/

I also have taken over the Postal portion of the Pouch: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/

and TAP on the web is there at: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html

where the szine resides in html format. Presently, issues from #190 to the current issue are there, and I will be updating the back issues gradually someday. Also, check out Stephen Agar's more extensive efforts at: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com and http://www.meurglys.com

Help, David has grabbed and reserved the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! David Wang's site used to be the best place to follow John Caruso's postal baseball league that I am in. BUT, the site has not been updated as well in recent times. THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-POO Martin's website: http://www.phantomempire.com where in the ``files'' section, ``baseball'' sub-section, you can see all of the individual and team level stats. You need to sign up as a ``member'' to see all of the files.

Peter Sullivan's subszine is currently ïn stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :

http://www.manorcon.demon.co.uk/octopus/index.html

Peter is unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until ``at least the start of 2002." In the meantime, if anyone else fancies running some choo-choo games here in TAP, both Peter and I would be keen for someone else to try their hand.

By electronic mail, through the Internet, subs are free and can be obtained automatically by sending the message: subscribe tap

to majordomo of diplom.org and messages can be sent to the entire electronic mailing list by mailing them to tap of diplom.org which will forward your message to all of the people currently on the list. The message:

unsubscribe tap

sent to majordomo of diplom.org gets you off the list. Please make careful note of that as well since you generally can get yourself off the list a lot easier than I can, and NOBODY likes to see unsubscribe messages sent to the entire list. A big, big thank you for David Kovar for setting this all up!!



THE SEARCH FOR ???

We're cancelling the search for Mickey Preston since Paul Kenny already found him. I'm looking for other people to search for, otherwise we will take a break.

Or feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Mark, Gregory, Kevin, Al, and Jerry found too!!! Note that Brenton Ver Ploeg would love to find Leslie Obata, the woman that Jerry Lucas used as his front too. This could be an easy way toward finding Jerry, though as Brenton notes, who is to say she has the same name now. This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new ``search for'' every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Mark Berch, Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe or Jerry Lucas or Al Pearson is ``found'' from now on it is worth $25.

Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.

This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who ``found'' him.



INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS

The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK.

E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com or johnh of fiendishgames.demon.co.uk

Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse. There has been some interest in finding a new Australian representative. Should someone Down Under have an interest, or from anywhere else in the world, please contact me. We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into guilders or then into other continental currencies, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.



WORLDMASTERS00 SECTION (with letters AND a game!!)

Worldmasters 2000 Email Diplomacy Tournament Goes ON!!

The second round has just begun. This year there is a large number of players who go on to Round 2, before they narrow to the Semi-Final Round of Seven games to determine who goes to the Finals. Expect this Tournament not to end for another year, though we are obviously already well into 2001.

The main WWW site for Worldmasters can be found at http://worldmasters00.diplomacy.org.uk

Sign up for the conference board at

http://webforum.cloud-nine.com/~ worldmasters2000

The Conference board is where day to day communications and discussions take place. Yes, and Jack McHugh is playing in there somewhere, go see if you can find him. The Second Round games have lots of action, but is Jack there? I'm not sure. Good luck to all TAPites who are involved, not just Jack.



Check out the end of the 1999 Finals game, and my impromptu commentary, at:

http://webforum.cloud-nine.com/~ worldmasters99

Lee Simpson (England), IS THE 1999 WORLDMASTERS CHAMPION!!!

My heartfelt and deeply deserved congratulations go out to Lee, who took over England after Toby Harris' resignation and took that country on to an 18 center win. After watching Lee, he is one of the game's truly great players. 553 players started out, ONE finishes. I'll have much more to say on this in the next issue of Diplomacy World which will be released shortly. The Boasters game below is a ``demonstration game'' being run within the 2000 Tournament, but separate from it..... I got a bit behind, but catch up in this issue.



M2000 Boasters!, Worldmasters2000 Time Wasters Diplomacy



Fall 1904

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): a ALB S a bud-ser, a gal-VIE, a BUD-ser, a SER-bul.

ENGLAND (Setzer): a lvp-YOR, f PIC-bre, f swe-DEN,

f nth S f swe-den (d r:nwg,edi,ska,hel,otb).

FRANCE (Pérez): f eng-NTH, a MAR h, f LON S f eng-nth, a BEL S a ruh-hol,

f MID-bre, a MUN-kie, a ruh-HOL.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): a BER-mun, f KIE-hol, f BAL-swe, a hol-bel (d ann).

ITALY (Dennehy): f ION S a gre, f gol-TYH, a GRE S TURKISH a bul, a tus-PIE.

RUSSIA (Harris): a war-GAL, a stp-NWY, f GOB-swe, f BLA-ank,

a UKR-rum, a RUM-bud.

TURKEY (Miszti): f aeg-CON, a SMY-ank, a BUL S ITALIAN a gre, f eas-AEG.



Autumn and Winter 1904

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): has a ALB, a VIE, a BUD, a SER.

ENGLAND (Setzer): R f nth otb; bld waived, PLAYS ONE SHORT; has a YOR, f PIC, f DEN.

FRANCE (Pérez): bld f bre, a par; has f BRE, a PAR, f NTH, a MAR, f LON, a BEL,

f MID, a MUN, a HOL.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): rem a ber; has f KIE, f BAL.

ITALY (Dennehy): bld a ven; has a VEN, f ION, f TYH, a GRE, a PIE.

RUSSIA (Harris): has a GAL, a NWY, f GOB, f BLA, a UKR, a RUM.

TURKEY (Miszti): has f CON, a SMY, a BUL, f AEG.



Spring 1905

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): a ALB-gre, a VIE-tyo, a BUD S a ser, a SER S a bud.

ENGLAND (Setzer): a yor-lon (d r:wal,lvp,edi,otb), f pic-BRE, f DEN h.

FRANCE (Pérez): f bre-MID, a par-BUR, f NTH C a bel-yor, a MAR h, f LON S a bel-yor,

a bel-YOR, f mid-NAO, a MUN S a hol-kie, a hol-KIE.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): f kie S f bal-ber (d r:bal,hel,otb), f bal-BER.

ITALY (Dennehy): a VEN S a pie-tyo, f ION S a gre, f tyh-WES,

a GRE S TURKISH a bul, a pie-TYO.

RUSSIA (Harris): a GAL-bud, a NWY S f gob-swe, f gob-SWE, f BLA-con,

a UKR-gal, a RUM S TURKISH a bul-ser (nso).

TURKEY (Miszti): f con-ANK, a smy-ARM, a BUL S f aeg-con, f aeg-CON.



Summer 1905

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): has a ALB-gre, a VIE-tyo, a BUD, a SER.

ENGLAND (Setzer): R a yor-LVP; has a LVP, f BRE, f DEN.

FRANCE (Pérez): has f MID, a BUR, f NTH, a MAR, f LON, a YOR, f NAO, a MUN, a KIE.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): R f kie-HEL; has f HEL, f BER.

ITALY (Dennehy): has a VEN, f ION, f WES, a GRE, a TYO.

RUSSIA (Harris): has a GAL, a NWY, f SWE, f BLA, a UKR, a RUM.

TURKEY (Miszti): has f ANK, a ARM, a BUL, f CON.



Fall 1905

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): a ALB S a ser-gre, a VIE S a bud-tri, a BUD-tri, a ser-GRE.

ENGLAND (Setzer): a lvp h (d r:cly,wal,edi,otb), f BRE h, f DEN S GERMAN f ber-kie.

FRANCE (Pérez): f MID-spa(sc), a bur-RUH, f NTH-den, a mar-GAS, f lon-ENG,

a yor-LVP, f NAO S a yor-lvp, a MUN S a kie, a KIE S f nth-den.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): f hel-HOL, f BER-kie.

ITALY (Dennehy): a VEN-tri, f ion-AEG, f WES-spa(sc),

a gre S RUSSIAN a rum-ser (d ann), a TYO-vie.

RUSSIA (Harris): a gal-SIL, a NWY h, f swe-SKA, f bla-BUL(EC),

a UKR-sev, a RUM S f bla-bul(ec).

TURKEY (Miszti): f ANK S f con-bla, a ARM-sev, a bul S a gre (d r:ser,otb), f con-BLA.



Autumn and Winter 1905

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): even; has a ALB, a VIE, a BUD, a GRE.

ENGLAND (Setzer): R a lvp-WAL; bld a edi; has a EDI, a WAL, f BRE, f DEN.

FRANCE (Pérez): even; has f MID, a RUH, f NTH, a GAS, f ENG, a LVP, f NAO,

a MUN, a KIE.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): even; has f HOL, f BER.

ITALY (Dennehy): even; has a VEN, f AEG, f WES, a TYO.

RUSSIA (Harris): bld a mos; has a MOS, a SIL, a NWY, f SKA, f BUL(EC), a UKR, a RUM.

TURKEY (Miszti): R a bul-SER; even; has f ANK, a ARM, a SER, f BLA.



Spring 1906

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): a alb-SER, a VIE S a bud, a BUD S a alb-ser, a GRE S a alb-ser.

ENGLAND (Setzer): a edi-LVP, a WAL S a edi-lvp, f bre-eng (d r:pic,otb),

f DEN S RUSSIAN f ska-nth.

FRANCE (Pérez): f MID S a gas-bre, a RUH-bel,

f nth S a lvp-edi (d r:lon,yor,edi,hel,hol,otb), a gas-BRE, f ENG-bel,

a lvp-edi (d r:cly,yor,otb), f nao-NWG, a mun-BOH, a kie h (d ann).

GERMANY (Mehaffey): f hol-KIE, f BER S f hol-kie.

ITALY (Dennehy): a ven-TRI, f AEG S TURKISH a ser-bul, f wes-TYH, a TYO S a ven-tri.

RUSSIA (Harris): a mos-SEV, a sil-MUN, a NWY h, f ska-NTH,

f bul(ec) S a rum (d ann), a UKR S a mos-sev, a RUM S f bul(ec).

TURKEY (Miszti): f ank-CON, a arm-SMY, a ser-BUL, f BLA S a ser-bul.



Summer 1906

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): has a SER, a VIE, a BUD, a GRE.

ENGLAND (Setzer): R f bre-PIC; has a LVP, a WAL, f PIC, f DEN.

FRANCE (Pérez): R f nth-HOL, a lvp-YOR; has f MID, a RUH, f HOL, a BRE, f ENG,

a YOR, f NWG, a BOH.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): has f KIE, f BER.

ITALY (Dennehy): has a TRI, f AEG, f TYH, a TYO.

RUSSIA (Harris): has a SEV, a MUN, a NWY, f NTH, a UKR, a RUM.

TURKEY (Miszti): has f CON, a SMY, a BUL, f BLA.



Fall 1906

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): a SER S a bud-tri, a VIE S a bud-tri,

a BUD-tri, a GRE S RUSSIAN a rum-bul.

ENGLAND (Setzer): a LVP h, a WAL S RUSSIAN f nth-lon, f pic-BEL, f DEN-nth.

FRANCE (Pérez): f mid-ENG, a RUH-kie, f HOL S f eng-nth, a BRE h,

f eng-NTH, a YOR-lon, f NWG S f eng-nth, a BOH-vie.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): f KIE S f ber, f BER S f kie.

ITALY (Dennehy): a TRI S FRENCH a boh-vie, f aeg-ION, f TYH h, a TYO S a tri.

RUSSIA (Harris): a SEV S a ukr-rum, a MUN S GERMAN f ber-kie (nso), a NWY h,

f nth-LON, a UKR-rum, a RUM-bul.

TURKEY (Miszti): f con-AEG, a smy-ARM, a BUL h, f BLA S a bul.



Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): VIE,BUD,gre,ser (has 4, even)
ENGLAND (Setzer): EDI,LVP,swe,den,bel (has 4, bld 1)
FRANCE (Pérez): BRE,PAR,MAR,spa,por,hol (has 8, rem 2)
GERMANY (Mehaffey): BER,KIE (has 2, even)
ITALY (Dennehy): ROM,VEN,NAP,tun,tri (has 4, bld 1)
RUSSIA (Harris): MOS,STP,WAR,SEV,rum,nwy, (has 6, bld 2)
mun,lon
TURKEY (Miszti): ANK,SMY,CON,bul (has 4, even)
Neutral: none (Total=34)



Addresses of the Players

AUSTRIA: Fearghal O'Donnchu, fearghal.odonnchu of life.friendsfirst.ie or twerg_85 of yahoo.com

ENGLAND: Ray Setzer, mczet of cat23.com

FRANCE: Niclas Pérez, perez of astrogator.se

GERMANY: Mike Mehaffey, mehaffey of ape-i.com

ITALY: Brian Dennehy, brian.dennehy of iol.ie

RUSSIA: Toby Harris, Toby.Harris of equifax.com

TURKEY: Emeric Miszti, emeric of cloud-nine.co.uk



Game Notes:

1) I'm getting caught up here as I messed up last time getting these in here (this game is running separately on E-Mail, of course).

2) That little public exchange with the Winter 1905 results was SO much fun that I couldn't resist reproducing it here for posterity as press....



Press:

(HARRIS): Just as I suspected : Sev vacant to build on, F(BLA) still on the map, a build due and still I managed to leave Bud & Swe without getting greedy over what was gonna be easy gains had I placed gaining a centre over a longer-term strategy.

And yet, here's where I get upset, instead of building the desired and desperately needed F(StPnc) to help hold the north, I have to go for F(Sev) instead, right ? ((Well, that's not what you built.... ;-) ))

Emeric, you disappoint me : what can I do to stop Niklas winning when I have to defend against a 3-centre Turkey !!! Gimme a reason why I don't just support Brian to Con right now ? Frankly I think it's a miracle there's the retreat option to Serbia : It certainly wasn't in any of my planning and I never dreamed Twerg would make such a *dumb* move < grin > . Seriously though Twerg, I would love to know why you took Greece that way around - you knew I was going for Bul so you must have made an oversight into what Emeric was gonna do about his retreat.

Brian, what can I say ? Sorry ? Well, analysis of our discussions last season has me overlooking (or, rather, missing) your words which actually said what you were up to - I just felt it was gonna be more of the same ``You'll notice I never actually promised to do X & Y"

And the real irony of it all ? The 4 of us continue battling in the south back and forth and back and forth and as a result of landing a corking start against Mike, Niklas gets the obvious advantage over Mczet thereafter.

I'm fed up with trying to arrange stuff. the logical solution from, ooh, let me see, 3 or 4 game years back !, was to have two powers share the south. But each time a suggestion is made the other party decides to go their own way .... like Brian sharing Austria/Turkey/Balkans with me by ordering A(Ven) - Tus, or Emeric likewise by slipping the fleets around and facing a second Russian fleet in the face and a miraculous escape from a disband. So I gave Twerg some help/freedom/space/whatever and he goes vacating Serbia only to give it up to Emeric. Bah, numpties the lot of yous :-)

(MEEF): Not much on giving complements, eh? Toby?

(HARRIS): ... and I forgot to mention what a splendid move combo Mike/Ray came up with over the recapture of Kie or (if it failed) the theft of Holland. Beautiful capture of Holland that man, three cheers for M'Huffy :-)

Sorry Mike - just gotten so darned cheesed off with this game you guys haven't seen the normal Toby at all ! The ``normal" one is far more evil :-)

(DENNEHY): My apologies, Toby, for not allowing you the freedom to have conquered the Balkans and Turkey by now - and be ready to face Niclas with 14 or so units, while I stayed on 4.

I'll know the next time, that it will obviously be in my interest to join forces with you - especially with your very thought provoking plans - which usually entail - you gaining lots of centres - while I/whomever, not only doesn't gain any centres, but actually gives up position to the intended target of such a plan.

Next time - I will go along with you 100% ... hang on a minute ... didn't Jim do that before ? Oh right - and he got ... well eliminated while you soloed ...... hmmm - makes one wonder at the wisdom of such a strategy. ((Abuse of the GM will get you everywhere.... yes, Toby won, but I took my gamble with my eyes wide shut....))

Be proud Toby - for you have influenced the East, and influenced the West. Be proud Toby - and stand for all to see at the pinnacle of power in your Muscovite lair. Be proud Toby - for it is truly a wonder to see a master at work - while you consistently screw the East up and then give out to some/all of us for not seeing your light.

Be proud Toby - and fight hard - for the day is not yet won - find a weakness in Niclas's armour? I doubt it - for he doesn't speak much, and therefore cannot be accused of lying, unlike some !! ((Methinks he doesn't HAVE to and knowing when to be silent is perhaps the greatest and most difficult Diplomatic skill.))

Be proud Toby - I await the next stage of the game with interest.

(HARRIS): I am proud .... my nipples are erect :-)

(SETZER): No, no, no! How many time to I have to tell you guys!? The correct phrase is. ``My nipples explode with delight."

(DENNEHY): *up ur gickerbox Tobibor*



DIPDOM NEWS SECTION (with letters)

Obscure and not-so-obscure ramblings on the state of the hobby and its publications, custodians, events, and individuals with no guarantee of relevance from the fertile keyboard of Jim-Bob, the E-Mail Dip world, and the rest of the postal hobby. My comments are in italics and ((double quotation marks)) like this. Bold face is used to set off each individual speaker. I should also make a note that I do edit for syntax and spelling on occasion.

The game Diplomacy is a copyrighted product owned by Hasbro and all reproductions or other use of that material in this szine is intended to be personal use and not infringe on those rights in any way. All reproductions are done at a heavy financial loss to the editor and thus are without the remotest possibility of commercial intent, except to promote THE game, the Game of Diplomacy, which you all should purchase from Hasbro or other duly licensed distributors.



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

The new Spring issue should be out shortly and is worth waiting for. A ``wrap-up" of the 1999 WorldMasters tournament, plus some other great articles. The previous New Year issue features a doozy of an interview with Brandon Clarke of New Zealand. Also, the ``Ruffians'' demo game has a write up with an introduction to the full negotiation history on the Diplomatic Pouch's Showcase web site. You can see how our very own Paul Rauterberg was screwed over by former World Champion Chris Martin not once, not twice, but at least THREE times. But Chris didn't win.... not that time. There also are some summaries on all the different ways to play Diplomacy in the World at the present time and some writeups on last year's major British Diplomacy conventions. Kath Collman's write up I found particularly gripping and illuminating reading! If you want to subscribe in paper form at $3 per issue, North American subs should be sent to David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA. Stephen Agar is handling international postal subscriptions and you can write to him at: 47 Preston Drove, Brighton, BN1 6LA, UK. Issues from Stephen will cost you 2 GBP in the UK and 3 GBP for the rest of the world.

I will be continuing to resolve the question of the back issue subs. I have money from Doug Kent now. If you were a subber to Diplomacy World and explicitly are sure you DO NOT want your sub filled out or you are sure you DO want your sub filled out, then please contact me NOW. I have begun the effort of contacting everyone directly and will finish it shortly. Thank you to all those who have responded, especially all of the KIND comments I received about starting this up again. They were most appreciated.



((I have another ``stealth'' game starting up. This one is free for E-Mail players who would like to try E-Mail/Postal play. I have two signed up so far. Any other volunteers?? You must be VERY connected on E-Mail to play. I started the idea with: Would there be interest in a ``free" test postal game for r.g.d types or has Trevor Hill poisoned you all against me ;-) ))

``Fool'' (Mon, 07 May 2001 10:12:29 -0400)

``free", eh?

Well if I recall correctly, Trevor gave you ``good" ``review"... I think he said:

1) Postal players are insane

2) Jim-Bob is the most insane of the postal players

3) Fool would fit right in (and Trevor HAS seen me play)

4) Postal players are insane.

So I'd be ``interested" in ``your" ``free" test ``postal" game for r.g.d ``types".

Daniel Méhkeri, 24a DeQuincy Blvd, North York, Ontario M3H 1Y5, Canada

fool of kvackmyhead.org - To email me, remove ``my head".



Tim Miller (Mon, 07 May 2001 21:18:40 -0500)

Hi Jim-Bob, Thanks for the info. I think I will sign up to play. My postal address (at the moment) is: Apt. 222 5454 South Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60615.

This will be my locale until the end of first week in June. After that I will be moving back to DC for summer, but I will be having my mail forwarded.

Also, will you be putting up a map of the game on the web (in TAP, do you do this)? If not, I might be able to do that myself after the orders come out. I can probably find some webspace somewhere, either in my tripod account or on gem to do it, if I could get a good map (have to fool around w/ mapit).

Regards, Tim, btmiller of uchicago.edu

((Yes, heh, heh, heh. I don't put maps up on the web page but I actually HAND DRAW them (yes, I still do that) and put them in the postal version of the szine. Damned inconvenient, isn't it ;-) If you want to make maps for this game when it starts, the easiest thing to do would be to put them with the szine at the DipPouch. That might be fun to see how that goes. Meef does maps for the WorldMasters Boasters game up above and they go on the WorldMasters 2000 web page. True confesssions here.... I use the hand drawn maps as the final GM check of the results, which I generally do in my head. And I can't imagine anything faster than me scribbling out the results on the map by hand. If I entered all the orders into an adjudicator, that would take longer and then I might as well not do the adjudication by hand. Call me Luddite, but.... ;-) This next one got lost and should have been in the last issue, but I thought I would offer a mea culpa and hope all at DixieCon are doing well this weekend.))



Mike Barno (Tue, 01 May 2001 18:33:44 -0400)

hey where's the zine? i'm gonna get disciplined one of these days for checking your websites from work looking for a new issue. where's my games gotta have my game results...

okay, not really, but you get the point. y'all (i'm going to dixiecon again, first time since '90 and '92) put out two of my favorite zines and i hope both continue and thrive and give their pubbers enough fun to justify their existence. (the zines', not the pubbers'.)

i may also be going to labcon at the linseys' (or the wbc in hunt valley the same time) start of july, and tempest in a teapot near wash-dc in early october. hope to see you each at one of these or somewhere.

please note the dixiecon details (from the booklet) are now on a website at:

http://www.DiplomaticCorps.org/ComingEvents/Dixie01.html for the benefit of your readers.

bleahbleahbleah! - Mike, mpbarno of lightlink.com

((I'm doing World DipCon for my biggie this summer and likely will not be at the others, but you never know... hope everyone had fun at DixieCon who was there! I just wanted to publically do a bit of self-flagellation.... I thought that absorbing CCC into TAP as Houdini Blues would be seamless, but for at least one person it wasn't. Somehow we got the wrong address recorded for Fred Wiedemeyer and I think he missed some issues. I'm not totally sure of the final outcome of all that, but here's Fred's note.))



Fred Wiedemeyer (Sun, 06 May 2001 12:34:39 -0600)

hi jim; a quick note; would like to subscribe to your zine; i come from mr lowrey; please sign me up for your next reg dip game start; ((We're doing some retrenching at the moment. I have a game for Internet E-Mail players and I'm trying to get a Lawyers game started, are you a lawyer or some other kind of ``professional'' liar??)) also if partridge/other subzine has openings - reg dip only - please sign me up too. ((He does have games, but you should contact him directly to be sure he gets you on his list.)) i'm running short of games. there have been 5/6 zines inc. ccc-lowrey, shutting down lately. there's only one left in canada. let me know how much $ to sent.

thanks, fred wiedemeyer, box92010-meadowbrook rpo, edmonton, ab., canada, t6t - 1n1

((Fred, you had sub credit passed over from Michael Lowrey through to #247, but to give you time to get caught up, I've extended it to #250. Note that subscriptions cost $1.50 per issue, or you can be a standby for Regular Dip and get issues for free. Let me know what you are going to do and I am sorry about the apparent mixup.))

((Next up, I wrote to Peter Sullivan....I know you said you would go on hiatus until late spring/early summer. We're ``there" now, so I thought I would check in. Despite taking on MORE subszines (esp. Don's monstrosity) I wanted to be sure you felt welcome to return. I really liked that you were offering choo-choo that many of my subbers like, but no one else is offering.))



Peter Sullivan (Sat, 26 May 2001 22:22:06)

Hi Jim. I can't honestly see me being in a position to re-start Octopus's Garden any time in the near future (say, 6-12 months). Work continues to be hectic, and although I could probably squeeze out an hour or three to do some RR every so often, I'm not sure I could maintain any kind of standard deadline. I don't want to play dog in the manager, so if anyone else wants to try their hand at running some RR, then I would encourage them to do so. ((Any volunteers???))

I'll drop you a sub via the ISE to keep my supply of paper-based Princes coming through.

((So, keep in touch. I am coming to Manorcon from Friday to noonish on Saturday, hope to see you there.))

I haven't been to Manorcon since I left the committee - initially a conscious decision to avoid playing Banquo's ghost, and after that sheer inertia. Tell everyone I said hi...

- Peter Sullivan, octopus of manorcon.demon.co.uk

((I will!! Everyone should note that I will be at part of ManorCon and ALL of World DipCon in Paris!! I hope to see a lot of you at either or both!!))



MUSIC SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)

Tell me anything you like about the year of 2000 in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! Mine REALLY, REALLY will appear next issue, it's not closer to being almost done though. I've been working on Diplomacy World and that has me a bit ``off'' this month.

Don Del Grande (Sat, 05 May 2001 17:09:35 -0700)

((Don responded to my: ``I ended up holding this until the ``end'' of Survivor... Survivor ends in a win for Tina...I am not totally pleased about (it) because, in a Diplomacy game, Colby should have won.''))

Perhaps, but Survivor differs from Diplomacy in another way as well; a number of the immunity challenges don't deal with being diplomatic. Imagine if, at the end of each game year, they play a game of, say, History of The World or Civilization and the winner was immune from being ``voted off the board", as it were.

Besides, it's not just Survivor, it's ``meta-Survivor"; it's time to see who gets the celebrity status now. How well you do in the game itself is not particularly relevant - seen Kelly Wiglesworth lately (and if you just said ``who", you've pretty much proven my point; she finished second to Richard Hatch in the first series) - especially if you're measuring it from a cash standpoint. ((Oh, I'll never forget Wiglesworth - I corrected your spelling of her name ;-) - but you're absolutely right. And to the extent it gets less Diplomacy and more ``Celebrity" I get less and less interested. This time I agree that Colby will get WAY more attention than Tina does even though she ``won''.))

(And nobody seems to remember that the answer to ``What is Tina going to do with the money" is ``first, send at least $300,000 of it to the IRS". Speaking of money, am I the only person who's noticed that they say what you get for first ($1,000,000) and second ($100,000), but after that they never mention numbers other than ``at least $2500"? ((No, but at one point Rudy told people that he got $80,000 for third place. I'm sure it just drops uniformly from there down to the $2500 - not precipitously. Was that your point?? Of course, CBS still pays all the expenses for the trips, etc.))

Meanwhile, some of us are already planning for ``WDC 2002 - Survivor with real beds and somewhat decent food". Actually, more like BBC's ``Castaway", which, like WDC, doesn't hand out cash prizes.

- Don, del_grande of netvista.net

((Don, you are following Diplomacy World, I hope. I thought that the whole idea of the ``Don Challenge Cup" (the Australian convention named after Don....) was stunningly hilarious. You are a Star in Down Under Land!! I don't know if I'll make it to WDC 2002, but it surely would be worth it to go. Think about it, boys and girls!!))



Warren T. Goesle (Thu, 17 May 2001 19:28:19)

Jim-Bob, I disagree with your comment that Colby would have won had it been a Diplomacy game. He did the Survivor equivalent of all the right military moves, but he chose his opponent incorrectly at the end, and all the little guys he'd trampled on threw it to Tina. I think Tina sneaks in to 18 SCs while Colby holds at 14. You can't win either without making enemies, but you can't win either without friends either.

But Survivor doesn't appear to have the same goals as Diplomacy. A second is as good as a win, since you might just get more in endorsements/TV appearances/Movie deals any way. So Carebearing someone else into a solo is almost tolerable.

My 2 cents. Goz, gozcorp of iquest.net

((You and Don have similar points. All I can say is YUCK to that.))



Bob Acheson (Thu, 17 May 2001 23:11:29 -0500)

Jim, always read the political letters and offer perhaps an `outside' perspective on a few things. I, for one, was cheering for George W in your election. I believe that the Clintons (both of them) were a disgrace. To date the first 120+ days of the presidential term has restored a degree of respectability back to the `office of the president'. In regards to the `space defense' approach. If the Russians and Chinese are that much against it. Then all the reason to keep on developing the system. The cold war has never really ended.

Bob, racheson of magma.ca

((That is, of course, an important perspective. I don't really think the Russians matter on this issue anywhere near as much as the Chinese. I certainly agree with you that the Cold War from THAT perspective was pretty hot even before recent events. I think the question to ponder is whether or not the Chinese will end up being THE Superpower of the 21st Century just as we became the Superpower of the 20th. I think it likely.))



Drew James (Tue, 15 May 2001 20:22:00 -0400)

Jim, As a die hard Joy Division/New Order fan, I'm anxiously awaiting the new album by New Order due out this fall. I've been killing time until its release by listening to the two new live albums released this year by Joy Division - both are intense and excellent - and by listening to bootlegs of two tracks (``Crystal" and ``60 mph") from the unreleased new album. I was commenting to a friend today that JD only ever released two ``real" albums in their all too brief career, but there are now nine albums on the market. It makes me feel a little foolish to have bought them all, but I enjoy every one (OK, maybe with the exception of Permanent). I'm upset that they are touring as part of the Moby festival this summer, but are only appearing on the West Coast. I'm considering using some frequent flyer miles to see them in Vancouver and Seattle on back to back nights in August, but can't find anyone to join me, yet. If they were playing at indoor venues I would go myself, but long outdoors ``festivals" aren't much fun by yourself.

((I'm actually glad to hear about the Joy Division live albums. I haven't purchased either one, but have been ``eyeing" them for some time. Is there one of them in particular that you would recommend over the other?? The French one Les Bains Douches looks to be the one to get on the surface.))

The JD live albums are very different. The French one definitely has the better sounding music and is much more in line with a ``typical" live album - it is similar to the live tracks on Still and it is longer than Presten. However, Presten is intense and different than any other live album I have ever heard. Their equipment is falling apart all around them during the gig and they keep trying to keep it together. It is definitely raw and ragged and needs to be listened to loud. If you have the other studio JD albums, I would go with Presten for its unique experience, but you can't go wrong with either one.

Drew, djames02 of twcny.rr.com

((I might get the other one later, but I did buy the Les Bains Douches live album, recorded on 18 December 1979. Quite frankly it blew my totally away. I had forgotten how long it had been since I've been listening to Joy Division, which always has been one of my favorite bands. The music gripped me again and wouldn't let go. Ian Curtis' voice demands to be listened to, not glossed over as background. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't even know why I hesitated to buy this when I first saw it. Each and every song a masterpiece of depth and vision. They just don't make 'em like this any more. I then noted to Brad Wilson: Been enjoying the ``serious" listen that is Joy Division a lot for the first time in a decade lately.))



Brad Wilson (Sun, 27 May 2001 05:15:54)

Hmm, that I will look fwd. to.

((I think it is amusing that you started Vertigo before I started TAP and I am ALMOST doubling up on the number of issues. Did you actually produce a #126 yet?? If so, do I have it?? Obviously, I was reading #125 today from last July.))

No, no 126. Might not be one. Long story.

((That's sad. I hope when you are ready to tell the story if you decide not to publish that you will consider telling it here. I really miss your writing, and Mark Lew's, and just a few other people in this hobby in major, major ways. Speaking of sadness, Susannah McCorkle (one of the few true originals) RIP... so sad to hear of her suicide.))

I was shocked. I REALLY enjoyed her music. She was one of the first jazz-standard singers I ever got into. what a shame.

bw, dolphin_146 of hotmail.com

((Yes, indeed. The things she could do with songs NO ONE else could approach. What I found most amazing was her uncanny ability to take a song that was not just associated but MARRIED to another great singer and do a new version that made you realize that you'd never heard the song before (at least not REALLY heard it). My favorite example of this is what she did with ``There's No Business Like Show Business". Admit it, all of you have Ethel Merman in your heads! Go listen to Susannah McCorkle do it and you'll realize that you never REALLY knew what the song was about and you'll eschew the bombast of Ms. Merman as WAY over the top from then on. On the contrary, it was Susannah who really knew how to marry a song. I just wish she had known how to live and get beyond her depression as well.))



Rick Desper (Mon, 7 May 2001 11:42:01 -0400 (EDT))

Along Came a Spider - TAP response

What an AWFUL movie!

Well, I should qualify it. The first 3/4 of the movie was terrific. Then it had to have the utterly stupid ``twist". I guess this is supposed to be ``clever", but it's EXACTLY THE SAME TWIST that was in Kiss the Girls. (Well, not ``exactly", but very similar.)

The ``twist" in Kiss the Girls managed to nearly ruin that movie. Would have, too, had it not been for the lovely Ashley Judd. She's not in Spider. ((I haven't seen that movie, but I should. I find Ashley Judd amazing at making a mediocre movie from a plot standpoint, riveting from a watchability standpoint.))

Somebody has to tell this author that pulling a character out of the woodwork and making him the ``real villain" is simply bad writing. I think the primary villain in ``Spider" was very interesting - clearly there was supposed to be some background story involving Michael Moriarty. I was half-expecting some neat kind of ``Chinatown" ending. (``My sister! My daughter! My sister! My daughter! Has there ever been a better detective movie than Chinatown? Of course not!) Had the movie simply done a normal development from there, the ending could have been quite interesting.

But really, if Patterson had tried to pull this kind of misdirection in any half-decent writing class, the teacher would have ridiculed him mercilessly.

Trying to remember the other movie I saw recently. Right - the Dundee III film. Similar to the first two, but I think its time has passed. Nice, light-hearted comedy/adventure stuff. The Dundee movies do a very good job at capturing American life from a different perspective. I think they are underrated in that respect. Sure, there's always some unrealistic adventure happening (drug lords before, smugglers in this movie) but the simple things are pretty cool.

Oh, and I finally saw Fight Club. That's really a film that has a lot to say. I have to mull it over a bit and see it again. ``His name was Robert Paulsen!"

((Yeah, Fight Club has been on my ``to rent" list for some time. I know I need to rent it when I will really be able to pay attention to it. Let me VERY carefully also pull from a bit more of Rick's follow up conversation with me. We're trying not to give this movie away or others to anyone who hasn't seen them and might. But read ahead with care.....))

And it's not like I dislike big twists - but they really have to be well-done. The Usual Suspects was the best movie of its genre in the 90s, and it pulled off the twist masterfully, but that was due largely to Kevin Spacey. (We're past the point where we have to worry about giving that away, aren't we? I mean, the guy won an Oscar for this role!) Presumed Innocent also had a great twist at the end (and entirely too realistic for those of us who were grad students in mathematics for years and years!)

((I think this is the kind of movie that you like OK or hate (not quite love or hate). Charlotte and I kind of liked it. Not wonderful or brilliant, but we liked it. The writing was there so you could ``see why the person did it", at least a little bit.))

I just didn't buy it. It seemed too Scoobyish to me. There was nothing in how the character was drawn to really suggest that these things were in the character's nature.

Rick, desper of ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

((Thanks, Rick, I'm having fun with Steve's movie reviews, I only see about 60% as many movies as he does, but they really are great as fan reviews, much different from the ``commercial'' ones you see.))



Steve Langley (Sun, 6 May 2001 20:07:22 EDT)

The Mummy Returns ... a movie

As you have all heard here and there the secret to making a good sequel is to make the same movie all over again, but bigger. The Mummy Returns is all that.

This time Imhotep's (Arnold Vosloo) lost love Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velazquez) is intent of bringing him back from the dead not out of love but because he is the only one strong enough to kill The Scorpion King (WWF's `The Rock') and thus wrest from him the army of Anubis, with which to rule the world.

Meanwhile Evie O'Connell (Rachel Weisz) becomes aware that she is the reincarnation of Nefitiri, the ancient Pharaoh's daughter. It was her sacred duty to protect the amulet which can bring the evil Scorpion King back to life. That is a prerequiste for killing him.

Alex (Freddie Boath) Evie's son with Rick (Brendon Fraser) gets right in the middle by putting on the amulet arm band and suddenly becoming the key. He is most charming and very much a cross between the smartest kid in the world and Dennis the Menace. He has one of the best lines in the movie, delivered just after the temple that he and his parents have been exploring self destructs around them.

Said parents have just washed up at his feet when the wall that he has accidently destroyed releases them from a deadly water trap. ``Mom, Dad, I can explain everything."

Brendon Fraser reprises his earlier Rick O'Connell, the reluctant hero. Comic Action seems better suited to him than straight comedy. He was good.

Great action, wonderful computer graphics. Lots of fun to watch.

The Rock got a really short shrift. He is being billed as jointly starring in the flick, but he only has a couple minutes of screen time at the beginning of the movie, and shows up for the last few minutes as a computer graphic. And if that wasn't enough, the credits reveal that his real name is Dwayne.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com

((I then had a discussion with Steve where I verified who this guy called ``the Rock" was. I'd never heard of him and never seen him and I think I'm glad of it ;-) I understand the idea of wrestling as entertainment and soap opera (I'm glad that they are now open about ``developing story lines''), but it isn't my cup of tea.))



Steve Langley (Sat, 12 May 2001 19:57:31 EDT)

A Knight's Tale ... a movie

Heath Ledger goes from young colonial hero to medieval hero and manages to bring the same sort of half confused (about women) terribly brave persona along with him.

He plays William Thatcher born a freeman although called a peasant who aspires to knighthood. Of course his picture of knighthood has to do with fighting in tournaments. He wants to be a pro athlete actually. He picks up the armor of the man who died following that very profession, tournament contestant, and turns himself into Ulriech von Lichtensein of MTVland.

You have your medieval knight and your rock-on media personality.

I feel terribly ambivalent about the whole thing. It shouldn't have been any good at all. Some of the writing was really cheesy. The fact that it was cheesy on purpose possibly counts for something. Tough call. But despite all of the silliness, the thin plot, the unmotivated actions of the boy and girl, it still was over very fast.

That's usually the sign that a movie was good. I'm still not sure that this one was.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com



Steve Langley (Sat, 19 May 2001 20:03:34 EDT)

Shrek ... a movie

Computers really do do it better.

Funny dialogue, lots of fun touches, a simple story (after all it is a fairy tale) truly enjoyable.

((I made some comment about it being a shame that all of the animation artists are being put out of work and Steve replied....))

Someone has to build the images that the computer uses. Shrek was really very good vis a vis animation, but I can picture an even better movie with some top notch artistic talent pulling the computer's strings.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com



Rick Desper (Tue, 15 May 2001 17:56:35 -0400 (EDT))

Well, since Derek Anderson is out, and the Lakers are so HOT, I'm a bit worried about my Spurs prediction. But I'm not going to wimp out now (esp. not when the Lakers are involved) so I'll stick with it. (I just want to express worry so you don't think I'm dim.) ((And that one has been swept.... all over in four. They might just sweep through the whole playoffs. Philadelphia or Milwaukee don't seem to be on the Lakers' level at all.))

More baseball: let's see how Cone holds up this week. That's a big key. The Sox need more pitching. (Why do they have so much trouble developing prospects? I worry they're giving Okha and Crawford the same kind of treatment which Sele hated when he was here. Sele turned into a top-flight starter the day he left Boston. That still bugs me.) The Sox need more dependability from their #2 and #3 starters. Nomo needs to stop walking so many people. (What happened to his big new strike zone?) ((He did and LOOK at that masterful one hitter!!))

My worry right now is that the AL East will not get the wildcard. Seattle looks like a weak lock for the AL West already, and the Twins and Indians could conceivably both get into the playoffs. Certainly one of these two teams would have to fall off before an AL East team won the wildcard.

((That's certainly the way it all looks, though Oakland is white-hot and may get back into the Division or Wild Card race. Clearly, Toronto doesn't have the pitching, so it really is just six clubs (Oak, Sea, Min, Cle, NY, and Bos) fighting for four spots. The NL is MUCH more open. I don't think ANYONE is completely out of it, not even the Mets! And look at the West!!! That's just insane how close all those teams are.))

The problem with the unbalanced schedule is that the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays could all end up killing each other, while the contenders in the other divisions have comparatively few tough games. The key here is to try to pull away from the Jays. Gotta figure the Yanks will stick around, but the Jays pitching is a bit suspect, and if that starts to fall apart, that would help. ((See above...))

Manny is just phenomenal to watch. In Rick's fantasy world, Manny keeps it up, Nomar comes back strong, and next year the Sox sign Jason Giambi to have a 3-6 of Nomar/Manny/Giambi/Everett which rivals any I've ever seen. I really wish they had a solid #2 starter though.

Rick, desper of ncbi.nlm.nih.gov



Richard Weiss (Sun, 6 May 2001 15:59:43 -0700)

Jim; Still no link to Tinamou - despite some reference to being ``below." ((Come on ;-) do I have to walk you through it??? Go to the TAP page - which is plastered all over the place - and click on the issue of Tinamou that you want to see. How can I predict which one you want to look at??? ;-) If you really TRIED to find it and couldn't then I think I need to take you back to Internet training school. Unfortunately, if you try to look for it in search engines (because a tinamou is a partridge, get it???) you get a lot of pages on birds and the first Dip sites to come up are Jamie McQuinn's. So, OK... here you are, this is the directory where you can find the issues that are up. I notice that 26 never seemed to make it.

http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/Tinamou

Now HOW difficult was that???? ;-) Heh, heh, heh.))

Ian Moore is right that there is antipathy towards dubya in the Bay area. There's some admiration that he started a Spanish speaking weekly radio address and that he works only modestly hard. However, his reversal of numerous regulations and policies that will worsen the environment, do not address repetitive motion injuries, rewards large business, hinders population control and numerous other policies and actions that alter acceptance of diversity keeps him an object of scorn. ((His schizophrenic attitude toward diversity, both here and abroad, is the part that seems to get to me the most. What is the point in getting everyone to agree about everything? Wanna all be clones??))

There is no pride in inheriting a name or being the recipient of being a family member in America. What did YOU do? And recently? And, in Dubya's sake, his management style allows many of the very conservative folk who ran the bureaucracy/military-industrial complex for the past few decades to regain control and to resume the policies that were never appreciated by the typical Bay Area pc-liberal.

You asked about Reagan. There was some of the, he's way too relaxed/he's a puppet then in my memory. But, he hadn't competed against Gore and after Clinton - some superwonks. Sure, Carter was a wonk, but the history and precedence didn't seem to really be there.

I'm signing escrow 5/7 and getting the keys on 5/8 to a simple, one story ranch-style house in the midst of the city-suburb of Sacramento County. The three nicest things about the house are:

1. 30 X 20 foot back room, cathedral ceilings, lots of light, and looks out on my backyard, .24 acre which includes a

2. concrete tennis/basketball court with lights and behind that is

3. three little league fields and the playground of an elementary school.

I'll move at the end of the month. Guess that means a game playing weekend will be coming up in the not distant future.

S'later, Richard, richardweiss of mindspring.com

((Address please??? Great, thanks!))



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

2000G, Lawyers, I think not, Fall 1904

Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com A Tyrolia-MUNICH, A Venice-PIEDMONT, A BOHEMIA support A Tyrolia-Munich,

A SILISIA support A Tyrolia-Munich, F Albania-GREECE, A Serbia-BULGARIA, F Tyrrhenian-WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN

England Rick Davis redavis914 of aol.com standby Bruce Linsey gonzoHQ of aol.com NMR A EDINBURGH hold, F CLYDE hold

France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com F ENGLISH CHANNEL support F London-North Sea, F MID ATLANTIC-Spain F WALES support Germ A Liverpool, F London - NORTH SEA, A Burgundy-BELGIUM, A marseilles (dislodged may retreat to bur or gas)-Spain

Germany Mike Barno mpbarno of lightlink.com F NORWAY support F Denmark-Sweden, F DENMARK-Sweden A LIVERPOOL hold, F Livonia-BALTIC SEA, A munich (dislodged may retreat to ruhr or bur)support A Kiel, A kiel (dislodged may retreat to ruhr or hol)support A Munich

Italy Jim Burgess burgess of world.std.com A Rome-NAPLES, F NORTH AFRICA-Mid Atlantic, A Piedmont-MARSEILLES F GULF OF LYON support A Piedmont-Marseilles

Russia Randy Ellis Bukowski64 of yahoo.com F Ionian-TYRRHENIAN, F Baltic-KIEL, A SWEDEN support A Finland-Norway F BOTHNIA-St Petersburg SC, A FINLAND-norway, A MOSCOW-St Pete, A BERLIN support F Baltic-Kiel, A Prussia-LIVONIA, A CONSTANTINOPLE hold

Sorry all, I was showing center gained in caps and centers lost underlined and in italics, apparently this caused some confusion or it was not coming through properly

I'm sorry, I think time has definitely taken it's toll on my GMing ability (or lack thereof at this point in time) here. For those of you who don't remember, there was a time I was actualy good at this. Germany took Liverpool so he is at 4-2, Russia already had Sweden so he is at 10 + 1

Also, Paul has pointed out that if Marseilles and Munich both retreat to Burgundy they will be destroyed and the number of German and French adjustments will change



Winter 1904 Supply Center Chart

Austria 8 + 1 Took Munich; Has Vienna, Trieste, Budapest, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania,Munich

England 1 - 1 Lost Liverpool; Has Edinburgh

France 6 even Took Belgium, Lost Marseilles; Has Brest, Paris, Spain, Portugal, London, Belgium must retreat A Marseilles

Germany 4 - 2 Took Norway, Liverpool, Lost Kiel, Berlin, Munich, Belgium; Has Denmark, Holland,Norway,Liverpool Must retreat A Munich and a Kiel

Italy 5 + 1 Took Marseilles; Has Rome, Naples, Venice, Tunis, Marseilles

Russia 10 + 1 Took Kiel, Berlin, Lost Norway; Has St. Pete, Moscow, Warsaw, Sevastopol, Sweden,Constantinople, Ankara, Smyrna, Kiel Berlin



2000G, Lawyers, I think not, Winter 1904

Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com Build A Vienna Has A Munich, A Bohemia, A Piedmont, A Silisia, F Greece, A Bulgaria, F Western Mediterranean, A Vienna

England Bruce Linsey GonzoHG of aol.com Remove A Edinburgh Has F Clyde

France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com Retreat A Marseilles-Burgundy Has F Channel, F Mid Atlantic, F Wales, F North Sea, A Belgium, A Burgundy

Germany Mike Barno mpbarno of lightlink.com Retreat A Munich - Ruhr, A Kiel - Holland Remove F Baltic Sea, A Ruhr Has A Holland, F Norway, F Denmark, A Liverpool

Italy Jim Burgess burgess of world.std.com Build A Venice Has A Naples, F North Africa, A Marseilles, F Guly of Lyon, A Venice

Russia Randy Ellis Bukowski64 of yahoo.com Build F St Petersburg north coast Has F Tyrrhenian, F Kiel, A Sweden, F Bothnia, A Norway, A Moscow A Berlin, A Livonia, A Constantinople, F St Petersburg north coast

GM-Anyone: If someone (not on AOL) still has access to the preliminary fall adjudication I sent and you have the time, please print it out and send it to me. I'm just curious to actually see what you are receiving as compared to what I am sending out


Russ Rusnak 1551 High Ridge Parkway Westchester, Il 60154 GM 708 409-0718 RRRRRUSNAK of AOL.com

Bob Osuch 19137 Midland Ave. Mokena, Il. 60448 AUSTRIA 708 478-3885 ROsuch4082 of aol.com

Bruce Linsey PO Box 234 Kinderhook, NY 12106 ENGLAND GonzoHQ of aol.com Paul Rauterberg 3116 W. Amer. Dr. Greenfield, WI 53221 FRANCE 414-691-4264 trauterberg of wi.rr.com

Mike Barno 634 Dawson Hill Road Spencer, NY 14883 GERMANY 607 589-4906 mpbarno of lightlink.com

Jim Burgess 664 Smith Street Providence, RI 02908 ITALY 401 351-0287 burgess of world.std.com

Randy Ellis 3116 McGee, Apt 1N Kansas City, Mo. 64111 RUSSIA 816 931-8406 Bukowski64 of yahoo.com

THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION

``So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.

He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,

You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...

You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.

It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,

I'm all alone, I've got no choice."

From ``Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.

ATTENTION: I have held the deadline at June 9th for all games, but if you have a problem with that PLEASE ask me, thanks. I am trying to make sure I line up the break for World DipCon at the end of July!!!

If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at ``burgess of world.std.com''. If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904.

Standby lists:

Bruce Linsey, Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Stan Johnson, Randy Ellis, Bob Acheson, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, Dan Gorham, and John Schultz stand by for regular Diplomacy.

Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Phil Reynolds, Jim Sayers, and Kurt Ozog stand by for the Modern Diplomacy game.

Harold Reynolds stands by for Colonia. Help, more are needed for this game, maps are provided for free by me.... or by Harold Reynolds just ask.

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



GAME OPENING INFORMATION

LAWYERS GAME: Steve Koehler, Stephen Agar and Steve Emmert already have signed up. We're searching for lawyers, contact me if you have any leads! We've invited Thomas Libby and Edwin Turnage. Plus I'm still looking for a current address for Mark Franceschini. Official standby for the game is David Hood.

Eric Ozog will be running Air-Sea Diplomacy some time in the future. You can contact Eric at ElfEric of Juno.com if you are interested in the game. I'll publish the rules closer to a time when Eric wants it to start.

I've decided to kill the Star Trek Diplomacy opening. It clearly wasn't resonating. I think I'll try again when Colonia ends. Sorry about that everyone. I owe Chris Trent $20 back, but according to my records I don't have money from anyone else. If you think that is incorrect, let me know.

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

Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and Chris Lockheardt is pulling out of that opening too, so I need three players. Eoghan Barry is signed up. Postal rules from me will be forthcoming shortly, on my never ending to-do list. I will get them in SOON!

I also am taking names for the new NYEED game. The Breaking Away game is starting below, get me names, riders and cards!!!

Stephen Agar runs a British Diplomacy mailing list and has a new broader web postal gaming web site too at: http://www.postalgames.org.uk

and if you are interested, contact Stephen Agar at stephen of meurglys.com or join the Brit hobby mailing list at (aw, you guessed it, another new address): http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/about_this_site.htm



SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1901 IS JUNE 9TH, 2001

Summer 1901

AUSTRIA (Kent): has a SER, a GAL, f ALB.

ENGLAND (Sundstrom): has a YOR, f NTH, f ENG.

FRANCE (Tretick): has a SPA, f MID, a GAS.

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

ITALY (McCullough): has a PIE, a VEN, f ION.

RUSSIA (Pollard): has f GOB, a WAR, a UKR, f RUM.

TURKEY (Goesle): has a CON, f BLA, a BUL.



Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Doug Kent, PO Box 783, Palmer, TX 75152

dipworld of ix.netcom.com

ENGLAND: Matt Sundstrom, 1948 West Byron, Chicago, IL 60613 ($5)

Matt.Sundstrom of chicago.bbdo.com

FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 12925 Circle Drive, Rockville, MD 20850 ($5)

JTretickGames of aol.com

GERMANY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($4)

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net

ITALY: Jody McCullough, 1071 Brown Avenue, Lafayette, CA 94549-3153

jodymc of telocity.com

RUSSIA: Kent Pollard, PO Box 5726, Fresno, CA 93755-5726

awargamer7 of hotmail.com

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

gozcorp of iquest.net



Game Notes:

1) Check your addresses, phone numbers, and E-Mail addresses. If there is something missing or wrong, please let me know ASAP.



Press:

(TURKEY to BOOB): Nope, still nothing from Kaiser Duckmeister. ((Make that a double.... see if I wake him up with the Douglas Adams references up top.))

(TURKEY to GERMANY): The next time you gunboat a game, can you make sure I'm close enough to get in on the looting? Thanks.

(GOZ to BOOB): Since it's only May, let's discuss something other than the AL East. After all, if the Yankees lose a couple of guys George will just buy some more. How 'bout the Pirates? They get 2 key guys hurt and their season is done before it has started. THAT'S the real problem.



FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1906 IS JUNE 9TH, 2001

Winter 1905

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): has a GAL, a TYO, a VIE, a VEN, f ROM, a SIL, a NAP.

ENGLAND (Biehl): has f WES, f NAF, f TYH, a RUH.

FRANCE (Davis): has a MAR, f GOL.

GERMANY (Shreve): bld a kie; has a KIE, a BER, a MUN, a GAS, a PRU,

f SPA(SC), a BRE, a BUR.

ITALY (Tallman): has a TUN.

RUSSIA (Tretick): bld a smy (imp); has a STP, a LVN, a MOS, f MID, a WAR.

TURKEY (Ellis): has f AEG, a APU, f ION, a SEV, a RUM, f CON, a UKR.



Addresses of the Participants

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

ENGLAND: John Biehl, 8809 Delwood Drive, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 4A1 CANADA,

(604) 589-9124 ($10); jeen of telus.net

FRANCE: Rick Davis, 1130 Hevrin Cr., Soledad, CA 93960. (831) 678-4470

redavis914 of aol.com

GERMANY: Dwayne Shreve, 739 Union Church Road, Elkton, MD 21921 ($5)

dwayneshreve of yahoo.com

ITALY: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0384 ($2)

terryt of sinclair.net

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

bernietretick of earthlink.net

TURKEY: Randy Ellis, 3116 McGee, Apt. 1N, Kansas City, MO 64111, (816) 931-8406 ($10)

bukowski1964 of yahoo.com



Game Notes:

1) Lots of proposals this time. Let's go over for the record how we do it around here. If you don't vote on a proposal, it cannot pass, you need unanimous active support for a proposal to pass. The votes are tallied in the next season (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer), in this case Spring. Please vote and we'll see what happens. And here they are....

- The GT sportsters special.... fast and tight in the corners, vote for this one and get on the highway fast, no hesitation!!!

- The GRIE draw is either a funny cheese or one Frenchman shy of Charlie Brown! Vote for this one only if you appreciate an ending that isn't quite anything.

- The GET draw is simple and straightforward. Get it if you got it.

- The EGRT draw is missing some doubling up. My preference would be to include Russia and England TWICE (after all, haven't they worked twice as hard???) and vote for this one with no regret!!

- The ET draw seems to be missing the French too, and..... well, what else? Seems a bit witchy to me, but vote for it if you like.

- And last but not least, the TIGER draw includes the one and only Toadfather in the fiercest outcome imaginable. Slashing and clawing, vote for this one with a flourish, if you dare.



Press:

(WARSAW): The Tzar had dispatched his best back beaters to England and Germany to dispense a few lashes on his known lackeys. They report the spilling of a bit of blood. Sticking his cigar back into his throat [heck, that never leaves his mouth!], the Tsar [brother of the Tzar] walked over the window in his dungeon and remarked, ``Heck, we finally got that traveling Pope to move!", noting that the statement would infuriate the Aussies and the Turkeys. ``Gee, they were so bent on assassination! We sure fooled those fools, huh!"

(SHREEVIES' BAR [Russian Liver Flukes and Ascaris Press]): Everyone was wondering where the scratching sound was coming from. Then, someone noticed that Bernie was trying to claw and scratch his way out of a spit-toon that had dried. Wanted oh so much to keep Bernie where he belongs, a feat heretofore not achieved, each bar-fly walked within 30 feet of the spit-toon and spat into the opening. Covered with gooooooo, Bernie finally and once more slid down [errrrrrr, back down] into the spit-urinal-toon. A loud burp of air was heard breaking through the top layer as the bubble burst and the ``wind" waifed into the bar-room of bar-flies. In a last ditch effort to flee from his brass captor, Bernie shouted to the Bar-Fly's ego and macho that he would bet none of those, errrrrr, guys, could put his fist through the opening, and shove that fist all the way to the bottle of Bernie's barrel, and squash poor Bernie! When the first fist came down, Bjarne [errrrrrr, Bernie] grabbed a bent finger an was finally pulled to safety. Luckily, Bernie landed in a glass of beer and was washed, as it were, of his ``Sins". where to from here!



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

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1757 IS JUNE 9TH, 2001

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1757 IS JUNE 30TH, 2001

Spring 1757

AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): a BUDAPEST-silesia, f south pacific ocean S f coral sea

(d r:peru,chile,east pacific ocean,fiji,samoa,bismarck sea,tahiti,otb),

f adriatic sea-NAPLES, a BAVARIA-silesia, a BOSNIA S a jerusalem-bulgaria,

a MATTO GROSSO S f ricefe-belem, a jerusalem-BULGARIA, f CORAL SEA S f south pacific ocean,

f ricefe-belem (d ann), f IONIAN SEA S f adriatic sea-naples, a BOLIVIA S a matto grosso,

a TOULON-bordeaux, a bulgaria-GREECE, f SAMOA S f coral sea, a RHINE-flanders,

f EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN C a jerusalem-bulgaria, a amazon-MANAUS, f MELBOURNE S

f coral sea, a PAPAL STATES S f adriatic sea-naples, a paris-BRITTANY, a VENEZUELA S

a amazon-manaus, f LIGURIAN SEA-western mediterranean sea, f GULF OF PANAMA-honduras(wc).

CHINA (Acheson): a xian-CHINGHAI, f AMOY-east china sea, f EAST CHINA SEA-philippine sea,

f SOUTH CHINA SEA-subic bay, a MAHRATTA S ENGLISH a burma-bengal (nso),

a BHUTAN S a szechuan-burma, f SEA OF JAPAN S f amoy-east china sea,

a LAOS S a siam-cambodia, f japan-WEST PACIFIC OCEAN, a szechuan-BURMA,

a siam-CAMBODIA, a NEPAL S a mahratta, a MONGOLIA h, f sea of okhotsk-VLADIVOSTOK.

ENGLAND (Power): a SURINAM-manaus, a MALAYA S f andaman sea-siam,

f nigeria-GULF OF GUINEA, a london-FLANDERS, a ashanti-GHANA, f grand banks-WEST

ATLANTIC OCEAN, f andaman sea-SIAM(WC), f mid-atlantic ocean S f central

atlantic ocean-ricefe (d r:sw atlantic,central atlantic,otb), a burma S f andaman sea-siam (d ann),

f west atlantic ocean-WEST INDIES, f hudson bay-YUKON, f malay sea-ARAFURA SEA,

a volta-SAHARA, a ANTWERP S a london-flanders, a fezan-NIGERIA,

a BAHIA S f central atlantic ocean-ricefe, f QUEBEC S SPANISH a massachusetts-ontario,

f central atlantic ocean-RICEFE, f EAST ATLANTIC OCEAN h, f sw atlantic ocean-ARGENTINA,

a CONGO-angola, a BRAZIL S a bahia, a DAKAR S a volta-sahara, f bay of bengal-EAST INDIAN

OCEAN, f ENGLISH CHANNEL C a london-flanders, f BELEM S f central atlantic ocean-ricefe.

FRANCE (Alme): a ontario S ENGLISH f quebec-massachusetts d r:manitoba,otb),

a sahara-timbuktu (d ann), a manitoba-OREGON.

OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): a izmir-JERUSALEM, a EGYPT h, f PERSIAN GULF h,

f BLACK SEA S f istanbul, a punjab-PERSIA, f RED SEA S a egypt, f ISTANBUL h,

a KAZAKSTAN h, a OMSK h.

PORTUGAL (Stimmel): f CANARIES S f azores, f khandesh-nizam (d r:punjab,otb),

f se atlantic ocean-MID-ATLANTIC OCEAN, f AZORES S f canaries,

a BENGAL S CHINESE a laos-burma (nso), f IFNI S f se atlantic ocean-mid-atlantic ocean.

RUSSIA (Rauterberg): f hawaii-NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN, f goa-NIZAM, a CRIMEA h, a MOSCOW h,

f SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN-somali sea, f cape colony-SE ATLANTIC OCEAN, f north pacific

ocean-GULF OF ALASKA, a LITHUANIA S a romania, a ROMANIA h, a HANOVER S a hague,

f WEST INDIAN OCEAN-somali sea, f gulf of alaska-ALASKA, f nizam-KHANDESH,

f st.petersburg(nc)-BARENTS SEA, a kiev-ST.PETERSBURG, a caucasus-ARMENIA,

a galicia-POLAND, a HAGUE S a hanover, a KALAHARI-angola, f ural-SIBERIA.

SPAIN (Partridge): f MEXICO(WC)-honduras(wc), f florida-GULF OF MEXICO,

f valencia-ARAGON, f MANILA-philippine sea, a madrid-HUELVA, a texas-MISSOURI,

a virginia-FLORIDA, f GIBRALTAR S f western mediterranean, a naples-MOROCCO,

f SUBIC BAY S f taiwan, f cuba-CARIBBEAN SEA, f TAIWAN S f subic bay, f ARABIAN SEA

S RUSSIAN f nizam-khandesh, a LEON S a bordeaux, a BORDEAUX S f valencia-aragon,

f somalia-GULF OF ADEN, f SOLOMON SEA S f new guinea-coral sea, a TAUREG S a naples-morocco,

f california-GULF OF CALIFORNIA, a SUDAN S a libya, f CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN S

f wake-south pacific ocean, f wake-SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN, a lagos-LISBON, f morocco-ALGERIA,

f NEW GUINEA-coral sea, a ETHIOPIA s a sudan, a OHIO S a massachusetts-ontario,

a TIMBUKTU S ENGLISH a volta-sahara, a TUNIS S a libya, a massachusetts-ONTARIO,

a LIBYA S a sudan, f WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN C a naples-morocco,

f TARAWA S f new guinea-coral sea.



Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): BUD,VIE,TRI,TAH,ven,bav, (has 22 or 23)
vza,col,nwz,pps,fij,sav,ecu,peru,gre,sam,
bol,tou,bul,jer,ric,par,MEL
CHINA (Acheson): PEK,WUH,XIA,AMO,tib,NAN, (has 14)
sin,jap,manch,mon,kor,nep,mah,sia
ENGLAND (Power): NIG,MLA,EDI,LON,kam,ire, (has 24 or 25)
jav,gab,sum,con,fez,ant,uga,arg,bur,cey,togo,
SUR,QUE,gha,ANG,bel,vol,bah,BRA,DAK
FRANCE (Alme): ont,ALA,manit (has 1 or 2)
OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): IZM,BAG,IST,persia,egy, (has 9)
afg,yem,oms,vla
PORTUGAL (Stimmel): azo,kha,ore,ifn,van,ben (has 5 or 6)
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): MOS,KIE,CAP,STP,CRI,pol,moz, (has 20)
swe,mal,zam,den,rom,han,die,nwy,HAW,GOA,nat,niz,hag
SPAIN (Partridge): MAD,MEX,SOM,VAL,MAN,cal, (has 33)
tun,rab,bor,eth,hon,tex,nwg,cam,ken,lis,lag,FLO,
lou,iwo,num,mor,tau,ohi,vir,gua,tar,tim,NAP,cub,
tai,bdx,sud,wak,mas
Neutral: none (Total=136)



Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Gene Prosnitz, 2600 Netherland Ave., Apt. 1116, Riverdale, NY 10463, (718) 601-8131 ($5)

ProsnitzE of aol.com

CHINA: Bob Acheson, 807-556 Laurier Ave., Ottawa, ONTARIO K1R 7X2, CANADA ($5)

racheson of magma.ca

ENGLAND: John Power, 18 Tilton Court, Baltimore, MD 21236, (410) 933-8827 ($4)

natjohn2 of home.com or jrpower of bechtel.com

FRANCE: Hank Alme, 506 Paige Loop, Los Alamos, NM 87544

almehj of swcp.com

OTTOMAN: Art Schleinkofer, 3120 Holly Road, Philadelphia, PA 19154-1708

Krolart of aol.com

PORTUGAL: Robert Stimmel, Apt. #57, Casa de Sherry Apts., 2462 North Sycamore Blvd.,

Tucson, AZ 85712-2541, (520) 326-8369 ($5)

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

SPAIN: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033

rebhuhn of rocketmail.com



Game Notes:

1) Wow, that wasn't too hard... I think I have everything right, but you might want to check retreat options carefully, especially Austria's from the South Pacific.

2) Bob Acheson informs me that he will be out of action for the first week in June with some surgery. We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery and we note that China has no summer retreats, so he owes me nothing for the upcoming deadline. I think I just need retreats from two of you, and Robert Stimmel should note that my default will be to retreat to Bengal, since there is only one on-the-board option.



Press:

(CHINA-PORTUGAL): Sorry, but unless I work with ENG/RUS, this one will be over.

(CHINA-SPAIN): That's an awful lot of fleets.



SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1907 IS JUNE 9TH, 2001

Summer 1907

ENGLAND (Sayers): has f EDI, a HOL, f BEL, f NTH, f HEL, f BRE.

FRANCE (Sasseville): has f GOL, a BUR, a MAR.

GERMANY (Barno): R a bur otb; has a PRU, a MUN, f KIE.

ITALY (Schultz): has f ROM, a PIE, a TYO.

RUSSIA (Reynolds): has a MOS, f NWY, a WAR, a SIL, f DEN, a FIN, a SEV.

TURKEY (Linsey): has f AEG, f BLA, a ARM, a RUM, f APU, f ADR, f NAP, a ALB,

f ION, a VIE, a TRI.



Addresses of the Participants

ENGLAND: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA ($10)

jimp of magna.com.au

FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($2)

roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030

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

mpbarno of lightlink.com

ITALY: John Schultz, PO Box 1322, Valparaiso, IN 46384, (219) 614-1406

probo of sprintpcs.com

RUSSIA: Phil Reynolds, 2896 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 953-6952

preyno of yahoo.com

TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106

GonzoHQ of aol.com



Game Notes:

1) I didn't hear from Mike so I had to retreat his army off the board. I know he was at DixieCon, so when he returns (since his was the only retreat) I expect a load of excuses. I won't be calling a standby.



Press:



EDWARD TELLER: 2001?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant

LOOKING FOR PLAYERS!!!



Game Notes:

1) I am taking reservations for the Edward Teller game, which will be the next NYEED 7x7 game in this series. Since it was asked, I'll remind everyone that we will again be playing the Black Hole Variant. Join THE most fun game in all Dipdom. Karl Muller, Harry Andruschak, and Sandy Kenny are on board. We need four more players? Let me know if you want to see the rules again, but I just printed them a few issues ago. This game is FREE!!!!



COME AND HAVE A GO (If You Think You're Hard Enough): 1998V, Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1909 IS JUNE 9TH, 2001

Winter 1908

AUSTRIA (Pollard): rem a gal; has a MOS, a BUL, a SEV, a WAR.

ENGLAND (Tallman): rem f gob; has f NWY.

FRANCE (Morris): bld f bre, a par, f mar; PLAYS ONE SHORT; has f BRE, a PAR, f MAR,

f MID, a MUN, a GAS, f EDI, a BOH, f SWE, a KIE, f HOL, a RUH, a LVP.

GERMANY (Sayers): R a mun otb; has a BER (While bunker is redecorated in subtle

Gotterdammerung theme).

ITALY (Emmert): R f edi-YOR; has a TRI, a GRE, f ION, f AEG,

a SER, a TUS, f ANK, f BLA, f YOR, f WES, a VIE, a BUD.

RUSSIA (Reynolds): has a STP.

TURKEY (Barno): R f bla otb; has a RUM.



Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Kent Pollard, PO Box 5726, Fresno, CA 93755-5726 ($4)

awargamer7 of hotmail.com

ENGLAND: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0384 ($3)

terryt of sinclair.net

FRANCE: Scott Morris, 12110 Shelbyville Rd., Louisville, KY 40243, (502) 893-8260 ($5)

Scottm221 of aol.com

GERMANY: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA ($10)

jimp of magna.com.au

ITALY: Steve Emmert, 3317 Hershridge Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452

(757) 631-1842; steve.emmert of home.com

RUSSIA: Phil Reynolds, 2896 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 953-6952

preyno of yahoo.com

TURKEY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883 ($5)

mpbarno of lightlink.com



Game Notes:

1) For the record, there was an error in the results last time. The French ACTUALLY ordered a BOH S AUSTRIAN a gal-vie (nso). The Austrian did not so order, so it made no difference in the final unit locations, but I did want to publically record the order. Sorry about that....



Press:

(ITALY to AUSTRIA): Hey, Kent, you wanna reassess the source of the danger here? You might want to keep in mind that I have kept every promise I have made to you, ever since I took over this position. ((Hmmmm, it seems not only France has been ``keeping promises'' to you....))

(ROME to PARIS): Don't waste your electrons on me, boy. From now on, I have to assume that everything you tell me is just another lie. I think I'd be better off buying a watch than asking you the time. ((Never mind....))

(STEVE to JIM-BOB): Okay, so the Senators fell ever-so-slightly short of reaching the Stanley Cup finals. At least my pick for the championship, St. Louis, is still alive at this writing. I see you have three out of four semifinalists. Have you considered another career as a hockey analyst? And do you also predict lottery numbers? ((No, I don't do lotteries.... and I now am 2-2 for the finalists (of course, this shouldn't be seen as having been that difficult, since Colorado and New Jersey were the respective #1 seeds, but it hasn't happened in recent memory. I am solidly behind Colorado to win it. Let it ride.....))



SO GOOD IT HURTS: 1998 P, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1909 IS JUNE 9TH, 2001

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1909 IS JUNE 30TH, 2001

Spring 1909

AUSTRIA (K. Ozog): f tri-ADR, a VIE-boh, f nap-TYH, a ven-PIE,

a BOH-sil, f tyh-GOL, a rom-TUS, a TYO S a ven-pie.

ENGLAND (James): f POR S a spa, f tun-WES, a spa S f por (d ann).

FRANCE (Kinney): a bre-SPA.

GERMANY (Goesle): a mun-SIL, a BER S a bur-mun, f BAL h, a PRU S a mun-sil,

f MID C FRENCH a bre-spa, f NWY-stp(nc), a ukr-war (d ann),

a GAS S FRENCH a bre-spa, a MAR S FRENCH a bre-spa, f ENG h, f NAO h,

a bur-MUN, a lvp-WAL.

RUSSIA (Rusnak): f SEV h, a WAR S a rum-ukr, f con-AEG, a GAL S a rum-ukr, a STP-nwy,

a bul-RUM, a MOS S a war, f ION S AUSTRIAN f nap-tyh, a rum-UKR.



Addresses of the Participants

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

heyday6 of yahoo.com

ENGLAND: Drew James, 3644 Whispering Woods Terr., Baldwinsville, NY 13027, (315) 652-1956 ($5)

kjames01 of twcny.rr.com

FRANCE: Mark Kinney, 4820 Westmar Terrace #6, Louisville, KY 40222, (502) 412-3079

alberich of iglou.com

GERMANY: Warren Goesle, 3907 Cedar Ridge, #1B, Indianapolis, IN 46235 ($5)

gozcorp of iquest.net

ITALY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 ($5)

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

RUSSIA: Russ Rusnak, 1551 Highridge Avenue, Westchester, IL 60154-3428 ($5)

RRRRRUSNAK of aol.com

TURKEY: Steve Emmert, 3317 Hershridge Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452, (757) new? ($4)

steve.emmert of home.com



Game Notes:

1) The RAG draw proposal fails. We have some new ideas for your consideration. We have a proposal for a concession to Germany.... just admit that Goz is ghod and the game is over. Or, if you are more wimpy, go for an GREAF and give me some ``grief". Actually, I'll propose a GRIEF too!! Why not let Paul into the draw and keep Kurt out??? Oh, yes, and the RAG is reproposed for those who wish to just RAG on me. Vote for any or all of these with your Summer orders. If you don't vote, you automatically veto them all and give me REAL grief.



Press:

(ENGLAND to AUSTRIA/RUSSIA): I'll hold on as long as I can, but you better get ready to see German fleets in the Med.

(SWITZERLAND to ENGLAND): So are Austria and Russia cutting you out of your part of the line?

(ENGLAND to FRANCE): If you will join with me against Germany, I will give you all of his home centers and Sweden and I will just take the low countries and Norway. Everyone knows that Germany can't hold out long against a determined E/F alliance!

(GERMANY to AUSTRIA): I don't vote anyone into a draw who isn't writing me. Diplome me into believing you belong here.

(RUSSIA to GERMANY): Goz, you got it wrong. I don't particularly give a damn if they start paying second string bat boys a million a year or if they all go the way of ECW (the only sporting promotion that was truly worth a damn), bankrupt. Much better to participate, no matter how badly, then to watch a bunch of others play. I would actually be kind of happy if every pro team left Chicago, though it really doesn't matter. The only thing that bothers me is the corporate execs who take a tax deduction for going for going to things the average man can no longer afford.



EMBRACING THE CONSTRAINTS: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules



GET ME YOUR TEAM AND PLAYER NAMES, ALONG WITH CARDS, NOW!!!



Addresses of the Participants

TEAM 1 (???): Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham MA 02492

(0 points) 72060.1540 of CompuServe.COM

TEAM 2 (???): Rick Desper, 703 Monroe Street, Apt #302, Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 545-0143

(0 points) rick_desper of yahoo.com

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

(0 points) johnh of fiendishgames.demon.co.uk, fiendish of operamail.com

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

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

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

(0 points) rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

TEAM 6 (???): Jim Tretick, 12925 Circle Drive, Rockville, MD 20850

(0 points) JTretickGames of aol.com



Game Notes:

1) I am going BACK to the designer rules for Breaking Away that allow cards of greater than 15 to be replenished. I printed the original postal rules in Issue #239, if you need a copy and don't have that issue, just ask.

2) Remember that your A rider gets three or four cards to a total of 30, your B rider gets three cards to a total of 25, your C rider gets three cards to a total of 20, and your D rider gets three cards to a total of 16.

3) John Schultz is waiting in the wings as he wanted to ride, but didn't make it in time. He is welcome to send me cards and if any of you don't get them to me by the next deadline, I will slip him in! So hurry up!!

4) We have one more note from Tom on the last game...



Tom Howell (Thu, 03 May 2001 21:34:34 -0700)

Jim, I like the game so much, ... I shouldn't do it, ... but sign me up for the next one anyway.

For Eric: Well, I'm not gonna tell you everything I know. However, I must say I had my share of luck in this one. As far as strategy goes, I just tried to make sure no one got more points than I did. :)

Actually, at the first sprint line, I was seriously considering holding back to retain some high cards, but when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn't hold back... :( This is where the luck came in: I ended up with adequate cards anyway...

I also tried to predict how the other riders would move and moved mine in the hopes of getting good replacement cards. Towards the end, I mostly gave up on the players I hadn't been able to predict very well. I will say, and Jim should be able to vouch for this - if he remembers some of my comments to the GM, that I find playing Breaking Away! face to face a bit easier. In face to face, each rider moves in sequence. Therefore, at least on some turns, I know where some of the opposing riders will (have) move(d) to when it's time to move mine. In postal play, every move is blind. It gets kinda tense some turns... ((Yes, but as both a player and a GM, I find that part of the charm. I'm doing pretty well in the game Dave Partridge is running.))

As for agreements, I think I played this game straight. ALICE on the starting line, there's the finish, and first one there wins-shut up and pedal! (Well, ... press doesn't count, does it?) In the second postal game I played, I did engage in some conniving, and I think I'm in worse shape than I ever was in MA.

I haven't played very many games of Breaking Away!, although I do enjoy it and have done fairly well in all the games I've finished. Thanks to Jim for running the game. I think I'll take another shot at the next game. Luck to us all!

Best wishes, Tom, off-the-shelf of olympus.net



FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 2005 IS JUNE 9TH, 2001

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 2006 IS JUNE 30TH, 2001

Fall 2005

BRITAIN (Schultz): f lon-ENG, a YOR h, f SKA S f swe, f NOR S f nth,

a DEN-ham, f edi-NWG, f SWE h, f IRI S f lon-eng, f NTH h.

EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): f LBS S SPANISH f tun-mal, f ION-nap, a SYR S a sau-irk,

a LIB S SPANISH a alg-tun, a SAU-irk, f eme-IZM.

GERMANY (Rauterberg): f BAL-lit, a KRA S a gda-war, f HAM-den, f GOB-stp,

f eng-mao (d r:wal,pic,bri,bis,otb), a SLO-pod, a bor-par (d r:bri,otb), f BEL S f hol-nth,

a gda-WAR, a CZE S a kra, a SIL S a gda-war, a AUS S ITALIAN a cro-hun (nso),

f HOL-nth, a LYO-par.

ITALY (Ozog): f NAP S f mal-tys, f mal-tys (d ann), a ser-cro (d r:bos,otb), a cro-VEN,

f LIG S a mar, a ven-TUS, a MAR h, a APU h, f izm-ANA.

SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): f POR-mao, f GOL S f wme-tys, f tun-MAL, a alg-TUN,

f wme-TYS, a nav-BOR, a AUV S a nav-bor.

UKRAINE (Partridge): f WBS S f bul-ist (nso), f RUM-bul, a ODE-rum,

a KIE-pod, a POD-kra, a BIE S a pod-kra, f ist-GRE, a alb-SER, a ANK S EGYPTIAN f eme-izm,

a IRN-irk, a war-gda (d r:pru,otb), a HUN-cro, a LAT S a lit, f BUL-bul (h),

a STP h, a LIT S a war-gda, f gre-ALB, a ADA S a irn-irk, a MAC S a alb-ser.



Supply Center Chart

BRITAIN (Schultz): EDI,LIV,LON,ire,nor,mur, (has 9, rem 1)
swe,den
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): ALE,ASW,CAI,isr,sau,lib,izm (has 6, bld 1)
GERMANY (Rauterberg): BER,FRA,HAM,MUN,hol,cze (has 12 or 13 or 14, bld 2(2 r:otb)
swi,par,lyo,gda,war,bel,aus,kra or 1 (1 r:otb) or even)
ITALY (Ozog): NAP,ROM,VEN,cro,mon,mil, (has 7 or 8, bld 1(r:otb) or even)
ist,mar
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): SVE,MAD,BAR,gib,por,mor,bor, (has 7, bld 1)
tun
UKRAINE (Partridge): KHA,KIE,ODE,SEV,ros,rum,bul, (has 18 or 19, bld 1(r:otb) or even)
geo,ank,mos,bie,gre,gor,ada,irn,
lit,ser,stp,hun
Neutral: none (Total=64)



Addresses of the Participants

BRITAIN: John Schultz, PO Box 1322, Valparaiso, IN 46384, (219) 614-1406

probo of sprintpcs.com

EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728, (440) 322-2920 ($4)

FRANCE: Harry Andruschak, PO Box 5309, Torrance, CA 90510-5309, (310) 835-9202 ($5)

Tapmdfrance of aol.com

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

ITALY: Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138, (360) 691-4264 ($3)

ElfEric of Juno.com

POLAND: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($5)

roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030

RUSSIA: Randy Ellis, 3116 McGee, Apt. 1N, Kansas City, MO 64111, (816) 931-8406

surfeit of swbell.net

SPAIN: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044 ($5)

sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com, sfo25 of netscape.net

TURKEY: Kent Pollard, 1541 W. San Jose, Fresno, CA 93711, (209) 225-0957 ($10)

UKRAINE: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033 ($8)

rebhuhn of rocketmail.com



Game Notes:

1) Check out the Modern Dip web page at: http://www.modernhof.webprovider.com/

2) I'm going to start a quiet interest list down here in the next Modern game. I don't want to start it until this game is done or nearly done, but with ten players it may take awhile, so I'll start now. Rick Desper is in to be one of the players.

3) A concession to the Ukraine is proposed. Please vote with your Winter orders. Failure to vote vetoes the concession. Thank you for your time.....



Press:

(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): ``I can never recognize what is in front of me anymore, see anything for what it is, smeared with the murky film of flayed defenses. So easy to be wise after the event, even easier to be present and stupid. Take it on the chin, the School of Hard Knocks. The day spent keeping my head down, greeting people with a sickly smile.... and Heracles cried, at the first light of dawn.'' Background and Chorus from ``Myth'' off of the stellar Journey to the End of the Night.

(SPAIN-GM): That's just the thing I been trying, but my men can't find you anywhere in Spanish territory. Are you a Spy?? Or just so bump dumb that you make it out of our search teams?? ((Huh???))

(DAVE - SEAN/JIM): Well, I'd be happy to host that game in Tinamou. Kent, you want a seat? Anyone else? ((Sorry, I have to cut down, until a few games that I'm in end, I'm on the sidelines.))

(UNCLE JEFFY-POOH to SEAN): Let me get this straight, you don't have time to play me and I live 10 minutes away, but you have time to play Jim and he lives on the East Coast? ``I feel so inadequate!''

(SPAIN-UKRAINE): Looks like Germany and Italy wish to toss you the game, well that would end the game faster wouldn't it. Or did they suddenly realize there is no way we aren't stopping our thrusts.

(SPAIN-GERMANY/ITALY): It's something about I was winning and now losing does this play any part in why you just want to throw in the game. Or did you get stabbed so hard that you guys have yet to recover your senses?

(THE REICH to THE UNTERMENSCH): What is the point to your existence?

(KLINGON AMBASSADOR-CAPTAIN KIRK): I do apologize for the shuttlecraft, but since the intersteller breaks wouldn't even break I decided to loan the shuttlecraft to the Ferengi when they tried to make a sneak attack onto the Romulans near the worm whole which is at the current time close to Earth. I leased the care to them for 20,000 dollars with a few modifications in the shuttlecraft, but I do apologize for the shuttlecraft, but I find it a bit ironic when the Federation shot at their own vehicle even though it was a hunk of junk. Not even Worf could help fix it before the Federation forced the Shuttlecraft off its course after phasering the shuttlecraft into the hyperdrive engine and its stellar battery which caused its inevitable crash into a asteroid belt. All that I can say is in my defense is it aided the assault on the Ferengi starbase. I still as of yet to distinguish why the Ferengi leased the shuttlecraft from the us, but I do apologize and spoken like a true Ferengi at least I made 20,000 dollars out of a 2,700 dollar piece of equipment and besides it hampered Ferengi advances around the wormhole.

(UNCLE JEFFY-POOH to SEAN II): Your writing has improved ((I agree, I've noticed it too.)) but to be honest, I still don't understand 90% of what you write about. The question is, ``if you were to write short story ripoffs about my Star Trek press, would I understand it well enough to even notice?''

(CAPTAIN'S LOG, UKRAINE): Let's see, light saber? Nope. Blaster? Nope? Cosmic Ray gun? Nope. Dang, what is it we use in this universe? Oh yeah, set feezers?, pleasers?, tasers?, on shun?, oh to hang with it, just chuck the holy hand grenade and lets get this ball rolling.

(SPAIN-ITALY): Yeah I wouldn't have a chance, but unfortunatly I've made my bed you don't sleep in it anymore. I've seen one James Bond film too many.

(UKRAINE - ITALY): IIInnncomingggg!!!!!!!!!!!!

(GERMANY-ITALY): Why should I help you when you can't even help yourself?

(UKRAINE-GERMANY): Soon you'll be mine.

(GERMANY-SPAIN): I'll get you for this.

(SPANISH PRESS): The Spanish press has been quieted becuase of the coming fall. We shall await and triumph.

(CAPTAIN'S LOG ``WHATEVER!''): Lt. Uhura has intercepted another transmission from the ``Sultan'', complaining that his previous transmissions were phony and did not come from him or anyone from Kragon. Commander Data has analyzed the new ``Sultan'' transmission and has determined that it also could not have come from the Sultan. According to Data, ``it is plausible that the Sultan could have found a way to communicate in plain English using a universal translator but, the poor sentence structure, lousy grammar and misuse of punctuation could have only originated from the Klingon ambassador for the purpose of interstellar propaganda. Future communiques sent from the `Sultan' on open comm channels should probably be ignored.''

(CRAYZIE BONE QUOTE): If you did not come for war what the f*** you come here for?

(DMX QUOTE OF THE MONTH): If your gonna cut a ***** it might as well be his head.

(SPAIN-GERMANY): No hard feelings about the stab right?

(SPAIN-ITALY/GERMANY): You do realize regardless this is just a game, not real armies and fleets. Though I think Jonas Johnson never could make that distinction. Though I have thought about telling him to watch the news to see what his forces did.

(JIM-BOB to SEAN): I assure you, they know the difference between a game and real life very, very well.

(GERMANY-FRANCE): Maybe I should have risked a strong French government instead of dealing with that idiot in Spain.

(SPAIN-BRITAIN/UKRAINE/EGYPT): Let's take 'em.

(JEFF to HARRY): I have a theory as to why you don't put in any more press. For eight years your enviro``mental'' buddies led by Commander And Thief Bill Clinton have passed so many Federal regulations on energy exploration and production that in California it would take an act of God to build a new power plant. You can't use the Internet when the power is off and it's really hard to write in the dark. Al Gore has a lot of time on his hands. Maybe he could improve communications in California by re-organizing the ``Pony Express''.

(SPANISH NATIONAL TRIBUNE APRIL 16, 2005): Special STARS teams have been routed to police the streets in Madrid as the death toll from the unmarked killings of civilian people increase by the day. With more STARS units in the area only time will explain the unknown phenomenon.

(JEFF to HARRY): PS All kidding aside, I miss ya!

(JIM-BOB to JEFF): I will note for the record that the ``energy powers that be'' in California did not WANT to build new power plants. They wanted to use the half-assed regulatory rules (neither regulating nor allowing the California power market to be competitive, but some impossible ``in-between'' model) to earn as more profit and new power plants would have jeopardized that. Of course, they did ``miscalculate'', they intended higher profits but not the blackouts - this just argues for going fully one way or the other more. Probably ACTUALLY allowing market forces to fully work would have been better, but now that they screwed it up, they might have to re-regulate all that. And all of this did not have anything to do with Mr. Clinton. Again, just for the record.

(JEFF to JIM): I might be going on line. Can you suggest a carrier. ((I'm not really in a position or experienced with your situation to do so. I will say that my general opinion is that local carriers are best, rather than going with the big national and multi-national services. But I know nothing about your local carriers.))

(1995 PROLOGUE): The leaders of the super powers on the modern century met in Swi to discuss the tensions and come to a peaceful solution, but tensions only mounted instead. Forcing the 10 powers on the board to form alliances and decide how to proceed.

(1996-2005): The patterned result of the alliance that never stops shifting has come to pass the occupations of Turkey, France, Russia, and Poland by Britain, Germany, and Ukraine. Throughout it all Egypt had portions in Turkey that were soon overrun by Italian and Ukrainian forces while Spain has been in constant fighting the entire war and not gaining much ground beyond its own borders. As Paul of Germany and Eric of Italy band together against the 4 manned alliance of Jeff of Egypt, John of Britain, Dave of Ukraine, and Sean of Spain rush forward in hopes of expanding their borders more or to expand. Chapter 1 next issue..

(SEAN-JIM-BOB): Is it just me or is everyone out against me? I feel that it's just them that's after me. ((You'll have to figure that out on your own.))

(CAPTAIN'S LOG SUPPLE``MENTAL''): Lt. Uhura has intercepted another transmission. The Cardassians have attempted to contact and recruit ``Q'' into intervening and to help expedite a possible break-up of the Federation/Klingon alliance. ((By the way, I resent that implication..... I clearly have stayed quite neutral and will continue to remain so.)) Uhura says that ``Q'' has responded by suggesting the Cardassians adopt a new National Anthem. ((Uh, huh....)) It goes something like this; ``it's my party, and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to...'' The Cardassians have not yet initiated any communications with Federation on this issue, so I have to accept the possibility that the transmission was a hoax.

(SEAN-JIM PART 2): Well, since I can't find you to slit your throat I've been wondering how have you escaped capture from my security forces so that you can face your death in pain and on your knees?? ((I have my ways....))

(JIM-BOB ON END OF VOYAGER): As most of you know, I was a faithful Star Trek watcher for years through all the series, but around the time that Seven of Nine joined Voyager (and by the way, is it just me, but Jeri Ryan is NOT especially attractive! I prefer ALL of the other Star Trek women over the years to her, including the other ones on Voyager) I totally lost interest. The uber-plot stunk and so did the plots themselves. Anyway, I watched the last 45 minutes or so of the final episode (since the Red Sox were losing....) and wasn't expecting much, but.... it managed not to even hit those lowered expectations. It totally STUNK!! The final couple of scenes were especially terrible!! And the final shot was the worst of all!! Man, good riddance, good riddance, good riddance. I will weakly look forward to the ``return to the Roots'' of Star Trek: Enterprise, with the Enterprise before the Original Series one, set about 100 years before Kirk and Spock. It will have a female Vulcan first officer, I understand. Scott Bakula is taking lots of flack as the actor choice for the Captain, but I think he has a chance of being pretty good. I bet they will take FULL advantage of the opportunity to back off on all of the techno-babble that seemed to drag down Voyager especially.

(SEAN-PAUL/ERIC): Well, if you do decide to hand over your centers to Dave. Why do you think I even care? It's a game and this alliance eliminates the threat of Italy making another stab in the future and sorry Paul, but you blocked me in and I can't have that.



SHOW ME THE MONEY: 1997Mea04, Colonial Diplomacy

SHUT IT DOWN, A HOLLAND/JAPAN/RUSSIA DRAW IS DECLARED

BUT CAN JIM-BOB FIND TIME TO SUMMARIZE THE CHART???

Final Supply Center Chart - From the Last Season

BRITAIN (York): DEL,HK,SIN,mal,cey,aden,ban,mad (has 8)
FRANCE (Sasseville): TON,may,u.bur,ass,bom, (has 7, PLAYED ONE SHORT)
ben,can,ran
HOLLAND (Desper): BOR,SUM,JAVA,SAR,new,dav, (has 11)
mna,cebu,for,ann,coc
JAPAN (K. Ozog): TOK,KYU,OTA,KYO,vla,fus,sak, (has 12)
p.art,seo,sha,mac,pek
RUSSIA (Williams): MOS,OMSK,ODE,rum,mon,ang,tab, (has 17)
con,chu,shi,egy,per,tas,kag,sik,kar,kam
TURKEY (Tallman): sud,bag (has 2)
Neutral: none (Total=58)



Addresses of the Participants

BRITAIN: Andy York, PO Box 201117, Austin, TX 78720-1117

wandrew of compuserve.com

CHINA: Rich Goranson, 4351 Chestnut Ridge Road, #7 Amherst, NY, 14228-3227 ($5)

ForlornH of aol.com

FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($5)

roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030

HOLLAND: Rick Desper, 703 Monroe Street, Apt #302, Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 545-0143 (E-Mail)

rick_desper of yahoo.com or desper of math.rutgers.edu

JAPAN: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, 630-837-2813

heyday6 of yahoo.com

RUSSIA: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($4)

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net

TURKEY: Terry Tallman, 3805 SW Lake Flora Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367, (360) 874-0384 ($0)

terryt of sinclair.net

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



Game Notes:

1) Hey, we're already late.... SC chart forthcoming sometime. I'm waiting for Don Williams.... ;-)



Press and End Game Comments:

No more here yet..... they're probably waiting for that spellbinding SC chart.



Pete Gaughan / technical editor & publisher / gaughan of ix.netcom.com / (925) 687-7987 / fax (509) 472-4209 / 1522 Rishell Drive #1, Concord CA 94521



1998A ``ARSENIC AND OLD FARTS"

I need to find my End Game statement..... I looked and apparently I sent it to Pete last June but I don't think I saved a copy... I'm still looking.



Personal Note to You:

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH!!!


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 2.70.
On 30 May 2001, 22:30.