THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #274

September 11, 2003

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

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


Hi all, this was going to be a quick and slim issue. Don't throw out the last big fat one, keep reading it too.... but then the end of summer came up. And a combination of work and vacation delayed this. Since we jumped up to the September 6th deadline, I decided to pick up a couple of games TO that deadline, while others were delayed three weeks. See below to see what happened to your game. Note that I do have a regular Diplomacy game opening. Yes, it really has been two years since I was grounded in Chicago by a ground stop. And it's about enough time to stop enabling fear mongering. We're all Diplomacy players, we understand that game. I'm as sensitive as the next person, but there's a difference from respecting and remembering the past (I'd like the world to keep remembering Strong Vincent too - see below - but I hope America is finally past still fighting and refighting the Civil War) and wallowing in fear mongering. That's how I feel this September 11th, two years later.
We have subszines from Harold Reynolds and from Rip Gooch. The 2003 Diplomacy Hobby Awards Ballot is contained herein! Please vote quickly as deadline is October 1. I've already announced this widely on the Internet and have received over 50 votes already, but I want YOURS! Don't worry if you don't know ALL of the ballot nominees. Hardly anyone does. But please vote for things that you think are noteworthy.
And, Ms. Erin McKeown's record Grand continues to pile up kudos and international recognition. This could really break my favorite unknown artist of recent years. All of you have to go out and find the record. She has a compelling Judy Garland style (a comparison not made lightly) about her, with unique jazz influenced guitar chops, and a way of songwriting that cuts you to the heart without being maudlin. This stuff really is difficult to categorize, is it rock, folk, jazz? Or the beginning of something a bit new? I don't know, but I don't really care either. Go pick up a listen! And go see her live if you can, where if anything she is even more impressive.
Lastly for the up-front stuff. I'm not going to be able to go to North American DipCon on Columbus Day weekend. I'm now pretty permanently booked on Memorial Day (put in the docks), Fourth of July (Lake Association Meeting), Labor Day (take out the docks), and Columbus Day (look at the brilliant leaves and close up the house) with my new summer house in Maine. I've really enjoyed it this summer, but it does put a crimp in the Diplomacy convention plans for those having cons on those weekends if you want me to attend. But you all should go to North American DipCon this Columbus Day weekend, E-Mail Andy Bartalone right now for the latest info at: buffalo of guisarme.net.




The postal sub price is still $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, with double that for other foreign subbers (or $3.00 per issue sent airmail). Players in current games and standbys will continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts (except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost $20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance. Or you can play in subszines for free and just jack up the issue page count. See the revised game start announcements below!
Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: 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.diplomacy.co.uk
David Wang still has the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! BUT, the site has not been updated in recent times. If you want to follow me and others in John Caruso's Baseball League, THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-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. Use the Telnet button in the upper left corner, that's the easiest way to do it these days. You need to sign up as a "member" to see all of the files. You, too, can chat with John Caruso there, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Really, you can. John's E-Mail address also is commishjohn of att.net if you want to send him E-Mail after all that. John still has one opening, you can play RIGHT NOW! Contact him at commishjohn of att.net if you're interested in joining us or ask me for more details, this REALLY IS THE most fun thing I do in the hobby at the moment, find out why!!!
Peter Sullivan's subszine remains "in stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.
Peter was saying that he would be unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He is now hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date is now a "whenever". In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge are picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info.
By electronic mail, through the Internet, subs are free and can be obtained automatically by sending the message: subscribe tap
to majordomo of diplom.org and messages can be sent to the entire electronic mailing list by mailing them to tap of diplom.org which will forward your message to all of the people currently on the list. The message:
unsubscribe tap
sent to majordomo of diplom.org gets you off the list. Please make careful note of that as well since you generally can get yourself off the list a lot easier than I can, and NOBODY likes to see unsubscribe messages sent to the entire list. A big, big thank you for David Kovar for setting this all up!!


THE SEARCH FOR STEVE KNIGHT - FOUND, HURRAY!!!
Yes, yes, we have some adept hunters out there and Steven Knight (the key if you were Googling) has been found. I'll have a new target set up for next issue, suggestions and requests are always cheerfully accepted.
Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, and ESPECIALLY Kevin found too!!! This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new "search for" every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe is "found" from now on it is worth $25.
Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.
This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who "found" him.


Rian Mitra (around Sept. 1 sent to one Steven Knight)
I was wondering if you are the same Steve Knight that started the Mad as Hell 'zine, in the early 80's. If you are not, please disregard this email and I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. There is an online 'zine run by Jim Burgess called The Abyssinian Prince:
http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/
and he is trying to track down some of the individuals who were involved in the early days of the hobby. Your name is one of the people he is currently trying to find
http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/abyss271.html
This is a scavenger hunt of sorts, with the readers trying to find the people identified. If you want to be found, you just need to send an email to Jim ( burgess of world.std.com ) with a letter that he will print in the next issue. You get a lifetime subscription to his 'zine. The choice is up to you whether you want to come forward or not.
rian_mitra of hotmail.com


Steven Knight (Sep 02, 2003 10:58:37 PM)
Hi Rian- Yep, you found me-thanks for doing so! I'll CC: Jim on this reply so you can get the credit.
I'm flattered to be considered someone worth tracking down. Jim's description of me as "famous" just for having tried to run a PBEM game back in 1982 made me laugh out loud...
((I don't know if you've done it, but all that early stuff back in 1982 can be Googled itself because you were using the precursor to Usenet, UUCP, and Google picked all that up and somehow, in a way that escapes me, is all archived and searchable.))
Nevertheless, seeing as how Jim first announced trying to find me back in May, I'm a little surprised that it took this long for someone to succeed. I actually have a pretty strong presence on the Internet, at least within certain computer geek circles. I suppose what makes it non-trivial is that I started going by "Steven" about ten years ago, which is how I'm listed on most current pages, but still, half of the top 10 Google entries for "Steven Knight" are mine, and I'm right at the top of the list if you Google for "Steven Knight" and "Olaf"...
((Olaf, of course, I even told them that's where you went to school!! See, my hints will get you far if you use them!!!))
Taking a look at Jim's recent issues of TAP were a great trip down memory lane. I'm amazed at how many names I remember: Mark Luedi, Gary Coughlan, John Caruso, Dick Martin, Mike Barno... So pardon me while I engage in a little self-indulgent rambling...
((Go right ahead, that's what this exercise is all about.))
MAD AS HELL and the game therein (I don't even remember the Boardman number) died a relatively swift death, mainly because UUCP (the Usenet transmission method in the '80s) was not reliable enough. It was still very novel to get a message within minutes of its sending, although it wasn't unheard of if you were emailing someone from a "neighboring" site; typically, messages would take hours or days to get queued up and transmitted through all the systems. We had an NMR right away in Spring '01, and it only got worse from there. Because everything over UUCP was transmitted through multiple hops and by the grace of the companies/universities running the machines, you had no way of knowing if the NMR was really due to someone not submitting their moves, or due to a communication problem with an intervening system.
Believe it or not, I had never played a postal Diplomacy game before trying to run the MAD AS HELL game, although I was aware of the postal hobby from things like Rod Walker's Avalon Hill booklet. Jim Grosch (Germany in the MAD AS HELL game) published a 'zine "Dogs of War," and introduced me to the "formal" postal hobby. From that, I ended up fairly active in the PBM hobby during the 80's, reviving the International Subscription Exchange for a while, and publishing my own print 'zine, "It's a Trap!" which ran for 16 or 17 issues. I had always admired the writing in the British hobby and tried to maintain good ties there, and I believe "It's a Trap!" was, if not the first, one of the first American 'zines to run a league of Alan Parr's postal soccer game, "United."
Unfortunately, I ended up flaming out in typical comet-zine fashion. Once the novelty of being a new publisher wore off, my interest waned and I ended up leaving the postal hobby in the late 80's, and not very gracefully at that: I orphaned my games and just dwindling away, leaving subscribers to wonder what the hell happened. I can only hope that enough time has passed that there aren't still any hard feelings out there... (In fact, I believe I still owe someone in Britain money for ISE subscriptions that I never forwarded-I'd be more than happy to settle up after all these years if the right person steps forward.)
((I've got all the ISE records that were passed to me somewhere, and if my very poor memory serves, didn't Pete Gaughan pick up the ISE after you? If so, I think he corrected a lot of those issues, at least that's what I recall. You may well hear from Pete after this.... and I don't think anyone worries about flameouts any more. We're more relaxed these days, at least I am.))
After Diplomacy, I became very active in early music (medieval and renaissance music) in the Twin Cities, and maintained a semi-professional hobby career in the '90s as a tenor with groups such as the Rose Ensemble and the Dale Warland Singers. In fact, if you check out the Rose Ensemble site:
http://www.roseensemble.org
I'm still in the slightly out-of-date publicity photo on the front page, just to the left of the big white column in the middle, looking back over my shoulder from 3/4 view. I stopped singing actively about two years ago, though, due to combined work and family demands on time.
Speaking of family, I've been married for seven years now and have a five-year-old daughter who's just starting kindergarten.
Throughout all of this, my day jobs have always been with computers. During the '80s I was working for Cray Research. I left them in 1993 to join a local startup, NetStar, that was making the first commercial Internet router with a switched backplane. NetStar got bought by Ascend Communications, and I left in 1998 to co-found a company with two of the other engineers there. That company was bought by Optical Solutions, which I left last year. I'm currently Director of Networking and Management Software for Caspian Networks, another company trying to leapfrog high-end Cisco Systems routers with cutting-edge technology. I have groups reporting to me in San Jose, Minnesota and North Carolina, so I travel a lot.
Outside of work, I'm currently mostly involved in leading and doing most of the programming for SCons (http://www.scons.org), an Open Source software project to create a software program that controls how programmers build software more efficiently and effectively. SCons is based on work I submitted which won a programming design competition in August 2000.
Last: Being the pack rat I am, I still have a *lot* of zines from the 80s boxed up, including some collections of British zines from the era that were passed on to me. I'd hate to see them trashed after all this time, so if there are any historians of the postal Diplomacy hobby out there who would be interested in giving a good home to these zines, I would gladly pay the shipping cost.
Jim, I have no idea what, if any, of the above would be of interest to people, so feel free to edit down any of it that's too self-indulgent. I'd actually be glad to exchange greetings with people who might actually remember me, so I don't have a problem with your letting people have my contact info.
Rian, thanks again for tracking me down...!
-SK, knight of baldmt.com
((Hooray!!! Thank you Rian. Both of you need to provide me with Postal addresses so I can send you things. Steven gets a free lifetime subscription and Rian at least gets a few issues, plus his monetary prize that he has to use for some Diplomacy related activity. Be assured, Steve, that I will print your entire letter, since I found the whole thing fascinating. I also am the current ISE person, so we'll see if we can do anything with that. I do have the old file cabinets with the old records somewhere. This whole thing is GREAT fun to me, and I always like it when someone is found! John Michalski continues to be irascible about complaining that I'm filling his mailbox, but I enjoy doing it! So, this is great, thanks again Rian for the "easy find". I myself had trouble figuring out what the "other" entry in the Google search should be. And somehow I overlooked or forgot about your interest in music. I am a much less trained baritone myself who loves to sing in my church choir and I have a very extensive early music record collection. Mark Lew (who is a much more trained singer, mostly Opera in the Bay Area) and I have had long discussions in past years about singing in the pages of TAP. We're a lot less music oriented these days than we used to be. Feel free to change that. Wow, I love these notes out of the blue! So, here's another one....I found him myself.... asking, are you the former editor of the Feuilletonist's Forum?))


Greg Ellis (Thu, 4 Sep 2003 23:42:38 EDT)
I'm him. On Bounced in the Full Court Press there is a section for Introductions. I posted my bio there and confessed to being the editor of Feuilletonist's Forum, active from 1984 to 1988 if I remember correctly.
I kept up with Pete Gaughan for a long time, but lost track of him in the last couple of years. I still talk to Stephen Wilcox (Arrow on Bounced) pretty much daily. In fact, he was looking for the latest (or last?) Dragon's Tooth Rating System publication. Any ideas on where to find that?
I'm also curious if anyone has heard anymore from Brux. I did see David Hood someplace online not too long ago, but not many other hobby folk. Glad to see you are still busy and involved.
OH! Vince Lutterbie was on Bounced too, but I don't know if he stuck around or not.
Greg, GMEllis625 of aol.com
((I can update you on nearly anyone you want to be updated on. If Pete and Stephen don't know where the last issue of The Dragon's Lair is, what makes you think ***I*** would know? The last issue was in something like 1987, wasn't it? Oh wait, you said that you do NOT know where Pete is. Well, he's a subber. He has a very lonely weblog on his web page at: users.ca.astound.net/gaughan/ Why don't you surprise him and stick something in there. Anyway, Pete is more likely to have the back issues handy.))
((Brux is playing in my szine, and otherwise he professionally runs Fantasy Sports Leagues. He also hosts massive gaming conventions at his house. A lot of old hobby stalwarts play in his various baseball and football leagues and swear by them. See his E-Mail in the game Secrets down below.))
((David Hood also plays in my szine, and probably you saw him since he still runs DixieCon every Memorial Day Weekend. I keep seeing your name around and keep thinking I need to ask you if you're you. You are you, of course.))
((You mean Vince Lutterbie, and he plays in TAP too. He also is a published novelist now in addition to being a dentist. Can I print this exchange? Of course I can.))


INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS
The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK.
E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com
Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse.
We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into Euros, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.
We also have reopened a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. We are now maneuvering deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at bwhyte of unimelb.edu.au (note that this is a new E-Mail address for Brendan) or by mail to send checks at: Geography Dept., University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. This should help out my Australian subbers!!


WORLDMASTERS02 SECTION
WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament First Round has ended and the selections for Round 2 have been made. Here are some of the "players" of interest who have advanced to Round 2, in order of their point score from Round 1: Tim Sweeney (who led tied with Martin Sanders!), Ray Setzer (who soloed the game I GMed), Brian Dennehy, Toby Harris, Kevin Wilson (see below), Lee Simpson, Jack "Trojan Owl" Brawner (yes, really!), Rod Spade, Len Tennant, Brain Sheldon, Mark Wightman, Adam Silverman, Sean "Blue" Cable, Chetan Radia, Egbert "Egg" Ferreira, David Cohen, Steve Cooley, Vincent Carry, Steve Emmert, Eric Grinnell, Chris Martin, Greg Ellis (is that "our" Greg Ellis, I'm really not sure....), Rick Desper, Frank Johansen, and Randy Hudson. Round 2 looks like it will be REALLY hard fought, as the riff-raff has been chaffed out. I haven't had enough time lately to verify this for myself directly, but indirectly it seems to have led to a number of new creative diplomatic ploys that are dastardly indeed (as I've heard from various parties talking to me about them, but I wouldn't dare reveal them in public here). You can get yourself more information on the new Yahoo Group. See below.
See http://www.cat23.com/wm02 for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again.


Ray Setzer (Thursday, August 28, 2003 7:19 PM)
Looks like this [ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wm02-chat/ ] will be Nathan Detroit's new home. Too bad the BBS didn't work out, but it kept going down. I see from the Team Tournament database that the Green Mountain Boys have lept into the lead in the early going of Round 2. Everyone thought the Riders would be uncatchable, but they slid to 3rd place. Still, it's early and its tough to tell if this indicates some serious get the leader campaigns or not.
A special place for WM links has been set up, and our dedicated Linkmaster, Ian Cowburn will be updating the table with links to all the game maps he can find. This table will be the the Worldmasters general home page at http://www.worldmasters.net/portal
To subscribe to this group, send an email to: wm02-chat-subscribe(at)yahoogroups.com
Ray Setzer, mczet of cat23.com


DIPDOM NEWS SECTION (with letters)
Obscure and not-so-obscure ramblings on the state of the hobby and its publications, custodians, events, and individuals with no guarantee of relevance from the fertile keyboard of Jim-Bob, the E-Mail Dip world, and the rest of the postal hobby. My comments are in italics and ((double quotation marks)) like this. Bold face is used to set off each individual speaker. I should also make a note that I do edit for syntax and spelling on occasion.
The game Diplomacy is a copyrighted product owned by Hasbro and all reproductions or other use of that material in this szine is intended to be personal use and not infringe on those rights in any way. All reproductions are done at a heavy financial loss to the editor and thus are without the remotest possibility of commercial intent, except to promote THE game, the Game of Diplomacy, which you all should purchase from Hasbro or other duly licensed distributors.
In what I believe is a RECENT change, Hasbro also has been putting the rules to Diplomacy up on their web page along with rules for most of their other games. Not only that, but they have the "current" as well as an older version of the rules there. Stephen Agar has matched that and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:
http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?x=cc_gameandtoyinstructions
http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy.PDF
http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy(OlderVers).PDF
Nice of them to make BOTH of these available. And all seven different US rulebooks for Diplomacy can now be found here courtesy of Stephen Agar (relatively new address for this):
http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/diplomacy_rules.htm


Check out back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org
As we tried to get together last Fall's issue, it became clear to all of us that the current editorial structure has failed. The new issue is almost put together, but needs a new lead editor. Stephen is backing away, I'm not at all prepared to go it alone, and certainly Dave Partridge isn't ready to take it over. But the framework is there. Rather than publish a substandard issue of what we have, let's declare failure and see if anyone cares enough to step forward as lead editor. It probably doesn't help that the new lead editor for the Diplomatic Pouch, Edward Hawthorne, has ten times my hobby energy and is running around like a vacuum cleaner scooping up all the writers (even me, I'm writing for him first, he's SO persuasive!) for the expanded and back on schedule Pouch. I do think there is more than enough room for both, especially since the Diplomatic Pouch is ONLY available on the Web, but if someone else doesn't think so, then so be it. I've heard almost nothing on this lately, so it is getting close to going away, but who knows, someone may get frisky.
If you want to subscribe in paper form at $3 per issue, North American subs should be sent to David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA. Stephen Agar is handling international postal subscriptions and you can write to him at: 47 Preston Drove, Brighton, BN1 6LA, UK. Issues from Stephen will cost you 2 GBP in the UK and 3 GBP for the rest of the world. Or subscribe electronically at diplomacyworld at Yahoo Groups! But I realize that most of you will wait for some notice about the future. Nothing new yet.


See this year's 2003 Hobby Awards ballot at:
http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/2003HOBBYAWARDSBALLOT.htm
and included postally with this issue. The deadline is coming up fast, October 1, so vote now. Results will be announced at North American DipCon Columbus Day Weekend in Washington, DC. You should be there!! Even if I won't. The most up-to-date info can be obtained from Andy Bartalone, if you want to go, E-Mail him IMMEDIATELY!!!
If you are planning on attending or know someone that is planning on attending DipCon. Our room block in the Washington Terrace is sold out. Rooms in the Washington Terrace at this time are 189.00 per night. We are getting a second hotel nearby with a more reasonable rate. If you are coming to DipCon, and haven't made your hotel arrangements, please contact Andy Bartalone or Andy Marshall, IMMEDIATELY. We are trying to gauge the number of rooms we will need to accomodate our out of town guests.
Andy Marshall - landruajm of netscape.net
Andy Bartalone - buffalo of guisarme.net


MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)
Tell me anything you like about the recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!!


Rick Desper (Fri, 15 Aug 2003 13:21:59 -0700 (PDT))
I finally saw "The Pianist" on DVD. Really good - the best Holocaust movie I've seen. (But I haven't seen "Shoah".) Worlds better than "Schindler's List", which was just repulsive. Spielberg movies always have a feeling of "look how wonderful this movie is". Polanski did a much better job. He had all of the gruesome images but didn't insulate the viewer with fake melodrama or suspense. (Also, he didn't insist on having a happy ending.) The historical accuracy regarding Warsaw was very good.
The other DVD I've seen recently that is terrific is "Spirited Away". The title is silly, but the movie is great. When it was in cinemas, I kept confusing it with that horse movie titled "Spirit". Again, this is a really, really good movie.
I saw "Memento" on DVD and was a bit disappointed. Why? Well, when I played the scenes backward (i.e., forward in time), the movie made no sense, esp. the actions of Joe Pantoliano. And of course the main character is completely unbelievable. (Who could function in life without the ability to make new memories? Apparently Guy Pearce can!) ((As a costume designer, Charlotte has to be able to think about such things and she told me as we were watching it that it would make no sense actually played backwards. She was annoyed by it. She was right, I'm annoyed by it too now, though I admit to being a bit captivated at the time.))
Also, I keep seeing "Donnie Darko" on HBO, and it keeps getting better and better. (Not to be confused with "Donnie Brasco" with Depp and Pacino or, for that matter, "Johnny Bravo" on the cartoon network.) I've figured out the whole plot arc in this movie and it finally makes sense. (More than most time travel movies do.)
Summer movies:
Matrix - very good. I have an inkling about how this series will turn out, but it's just a guess. (And no, it doesn't involve Bobby Ewing coming out of the shower.) Best parts involved the albino twin vampire/wraiths.
Charlie's Angels - would probably have been better with the sound off. I mean, it's hard to complain about a movie featuring Cameron Diaz in a bikini, but this comes close. John Cleese added nothing to the movie - why was he there?
Pirates of the Caribbean - the best popcorn movie of the summer. Johnny Depp, who easily could have mailed this in, didn't, and that makes all the difference. The premise is silly, but the plot isn't bad given that constraint, and it has some nice twists that were unexpectedly clever.
Italian Job - lot of fun. Wahlberg was unimpressive, but Theron was good, and Ed Norton was great, as always. Seth Green has a few good lines. Mini Cooper chase is neat.
Lara Croft II: actually I thought this one was better than Lara Croft I. (Perhaps because Jolie's ditched Billy Bob Thornton and is thus more available? But Billy Bob could be a bad stalker - I picture him walking in dressed as Karl Childers carrying a "sling blade".) ((Damn, I was afraid of that, I really wanted to see this one, but my wife [who went with me to see LC I] would not go. Why not?))
Swimming Pool - my concession to see a French/English film about a teenage French girl who likes swimming naked and shocking her father's writer friend. Reasonably good, with one problem. Ads say "you won't believe the twist at the end!" Well, not only will I believe it, I can pretty much predict what it will be.
Haven't seen T3, Seabiscuit, Bad Boys II, or Finding Nemo, and don't plan on seeing any of them soon. ((T3 and Seabiscuit were OK, but a bit disappointing, esp. Seabiscuit. They entirely lost any sense of plot in it, so that you felt like you were seeing staged vignettes, instead of a movie. Some nice production design, though.))
I'm trying to remember the last time there was a "twist" that I didn't suss out. I figured out the one in Vanilla Sky. (Pretty obvious given that it was a Philip K. Dick story). I think the last ones that surprised me were "The Crying Game" and "The Usual Suspects". That's why I try to see movies quickly before stupid reviewers blow it for me. ((Yeah, though Charlotte and I both spotted the twist in the Crying Game, Usual Suspects was THE best twist of all time.)) Or worse, over-long trailers. (The trailer for "The Italian Job" features Charlize Theron punching Ed Norton in the face - which happens in the very last minute of the movie!) ((Sigh, I would like to see GOOD trailers, and wipe out these "put all the best stuff and the twist spoilers in the trailer" style that they seem to think will market movies most successfully.))
This is almost as bad as the "figure out who the killer is" problem in a movie with only one significant supporting actor. Examples: Blood Work, Minority Report, and From Hell. I saw those three movies in quick succession. By the time I saw "Blood Work", I was like, "gee, what's Jeff Daniels doing in such a low-profile role in an Eastwood movie - is he that hard up for work?" (snicker, snicker) It's better when the moviemakers bother to hire a few more actors, like in The Usual Suspects. I mean, sure, Kevin Pollak can't possibly be Kaiser Sozay, but what about Gabriel Byrne? I really think it would have been neat if they'd had alternate endings, a la "Clue". Perhaps for the DVD version?
I think this "Alternate Ending" idea has some legs to it. Think about "Do the Right Thing", but Mookie doesn't throw the trash can through the window of the pizza store, but instead he puts it down and Danny Aiello pats him on the back and says "You did the right thing". In the alternate ending for "Pearl Harbor", the American carriers show up at the end and sink the Japanese fleet. (Why not just abandon any pretense of historical accuracy?) ((Has some promise....))
Baseball: 48 hours ago, I was quite depressed, but the Sox rallied to win the last two in Oakland, and things look competitive again. They have the hitting, and I think the bullpen's OK. They really need starters other than Pedro to step up and pitch well. Also, it would be nice if the Mariners fell back to their level along with the A's. I'm quite pleased that Aaron Boone is playing so poorly in the Bronx. It really offends me that the Yankees can just pluck All-Stars from other teams at will. And the talk about signing Vlad Guerrero as if it is their right. Small wonder interest in MLB is fading. I think Yankees' starters are still their weak point. Wells and Clemens are too old and Weaver just isn't that good. Neither Pettite nor Mussina is truly dominant, except on occasions.
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com
((Let's see some of what Goz has to say about that.... but I agree, at this writing the Sox are almost safely in the playoffs, with the Mariners and A's facing that killer march of two straight weekend home and home series with each other. Six losses that one or the other of them must take and there isn't much room for the Red Sox most likely or the Yankees for sure to fall behind both. Everyone's flawed, whoever gets hot at the end will win the World Series. It is virtually impossible to know who that will be, though my real smart money is on the Giants. Wouldn't a Giants/Cubs NLCS be interesting? What about a Yankees/Red Sox ALCS? Well, if you force me, those would be my predictions. But I'll go on the bandwagon of whoever gets hot these last few weeks for prediction. The rooting all is with the Giants and Red Sox. What if they meet in the WS, as I think I predicted back in April? Arrrgh, my all time favorite team, the Giants, vs. the team I do the day-to-day rooting for, the Red Sox. I hope just one makes it and then my rooting will be clear. Can you hear me now?))
((I got Goz going with this: Goz, Feel free to convince me about how I don't get it. But my view is that the Yankees won those titles because they managed (through a combination of luck and skill) to get both on and off the field leadership that was successful. They still have the off the field leadership and that isn't enough. It gets them to the Division titles. That's where they're headed this year too. The Royals have a better chance of winning the World Series THIS year than the Yankees do. You don't get it, people are what matter, not money.))


Warren Goesle (Wed, 6 Aug 2003 22:38:26 -0400)
Jim-Bob, Sorry about the time lag since the last missive. I'd forgotten how busy you can get with a job.
It seems to me that, when we last left things, you were trying to convince me that the Yankees, with 4 Series' titles in the last 8 years, had a worse chance come playoff time than the Royals, who have a 28-35 record outside their division. I'm still puzzling out that one. I don't think I can.
((I still believe that, even today, though admittedly, the Royals probably only have about a 2% chance to win the World Series this year while the Yankees have about a 1% chance. Just for fun, here are all my current prior probability percentages: Giants at 40, Red Sox at 25, Braves, A's, Mariners, Twins, White Sox, and Cubs all at about 5 (see above, the posterior probabilities as one or more of these teams get hot at the end of the season will rise substantially), with the remaining 2% going around to anyone else who might get into the playoffs from the NL. I've listed all of the AL possibilities. Right now (before I see who gets hot at the end), I see myself having about a 2/3 chance of being REALLY happy.))
Last I looked the Royals had a starting rotation held together with spit and glue, and that won't work against Seattle, or New York, or even Boston. As it stands now, their pitching has been exposed the last ten days against the White Sox, who have finally turned into the team that most thought they'd be in March. Granted the Sox have problems (no closer, no centerfielder, and a shortstop that has an arm that should come with a warning label), but they are far fewer than KC. Heck, in looking at things this year, every team has a problem someplace. It's just that the Yankees can still afford to keep trying to fill their holes well past the trading deadline. And that's the crux of the problem... ((Yeah, really? Well, I don't think it is purely money. The Mariners have a LOT of money, but they can't grab anyone because their farm system is TOTALLY depleted. The Red Sox are still pretty close to that situation too. The new collective bargaining agreement is doing its job, you'll see.))
Let's make a deal here Jim-Bob: we'll have 2 fantasy contests next year. In the first one, we'll play fantasy baseball. I get 3 times the money to play with that you get. In the second one we'll play fantasy NASCAR. You get 3 times the money to play with that I get. I'm willing to bet that I, and anyone else still reading, can guess the outcomes, even though you think I know less about baseball than you think you know about auto racing.
((Can I just pick Kurt Busch to win every race? I don't know who any of the other current NASCAR racers are. Richard Petty isn't still racing, is he? And do we just pick races, or is there some kind of overall champion? I don't think this is fair, I DO believe you know FAR more about baseball than I know about Auto Racing.))
So let's analyze the current standings:
NL has Giants in the West, Braves in the East, and a jumble in the Central. I still think that Houston has fewer holes than St. Louis, but the Cubs look like they have just enough to break my heart around September 20th or so. Wild Card is a wild thing, but I'll pick Philly to hold off everyone long enough to get swept first round. Braves get to be the visitors in Game 1 of the WS.
AL has Seattle holding Oakland at arms' length in the West, the Red Sox staying close enough to the Yankees to be in it until about September 20th in the East, and a jumble in the Central. It looks like Chicago wins that by default, but I'll be surprised if they have to win 85 games to do it. Wild Card is a tossup between Oakland and the Bosox. Yankees get to host Game 1 of the WS, and win it in 6.
How does that compare with what I said in April?
((I don't know, it's on the website, why don't you go look? I know this particular note is a bit old, but I would have said then and still say now that one will need 87-88 wins minimum to get the AL Central, though 85 might be enough in the NL Central.))
(As an aside, there is no truth to the rumor that all the perogi vendors in Pittsburgh are now wearing name tags that say, "Randall Simon".)
Can we get Mark Cuban to buy the Texas Rangers? I bet that would shake up things in a positive way.
Carol says `hi', and Nathan says he wants an alliance with you.
Cheers! Goz, wgoesle of core.com
((Are you ready to have Nathan join the new Dip game yet? Linda and Steve Courtemanche can tell you what fun they had joining up Robert Courtemanche into a TAP game back.... oh what would you say, Linda? Just how old is Robert now??? I never got a good answer to this one. We're now after the Sept. 1 playoff eligibility deadline and all George got was guys who are underperforming, even Boone, who I think is only batting .256 since joining the Yankees. I'm intentionally sending this to you the day of a Red Sox LOSS to the Yankees just so you don't mistakenly think I'm front running. The Yankees MAY limp into the playoffs, but will do NOTHING once there. Bet on it.))


Warren Goesle (Mon, 8 Sep 2003 07:18:30 -0500)
Jim-Bob,
I don't think *I* got a good answer. The last time I checked the biggest problem that everyone said the Yankees had was that they had no one to get them outs #22, #23 and #24 of any individual game. Man, every team should have that as their biggest problem.
((But it is a big problem, especially when someone also can't get outs 19-21!))
So we'll have to see come October what happens. My math training tells me that if the Yankees continue to play at a .600 pace, they won't have a problem, so don't cry for them. ((I'm not crying for them, I'm just saying that they ain't goin' anywhere in the playoffs once they get there.))
On another note, let's look at something else here... The Cubs are in 1st place. The White Sox are tied for 1st place. The Red Sox are currently in a playoff spot.
The question is: which of these are the 7th sign?
Goz, Warren.Goesle of cmcelectronics.us
PS. Kansas City over St. Louis in the Super Bowl. Ya heard it here first.
((Yawn, football season. Time to dig out the books on tape. I've been listening to "High Fidelity", really interesting to mentally compare it to the movie, which I also liked. I don't think any of the three is the Seventh Sign, though the Red Sox and White Sox square off for the next three games as I write.... should be a tough series for both. Rick is much more sensible, let's go to him....))


Rick Desper (Mon, 25 Aug 2003 13:09:09 -0700 (PDT))
Well, Petey and the boys beat the Mariners again today, to sweep them out of town and tie their record. Something the baseball columnists have not paid complete attention to is the fact that the Sox only need to beat the A's OR the Mariners. If the Mariners fall apart (which they've been doing lately), that will suffice. ((That's where it's going, and if they come back and make a run, they'll have to do it at the expense of the A's... only one team from the AL West this year, almost guaranteed as of this week.))
It was very annoying last week to read about people "doubting" whether Pedro could have pitched when he had an infection and a 101 temperature. Numbskulls like Dan Shaughnessey are the kind of people who drive good players out of town. Gammons is great, but Shaughnessey brings nothing to the table. He has no special insights, he just whines and moans when players don't want to talk to him. ((Boy, ain't that the truth! Petey almost deserves the Cy Young when he ends up with most strikeouts, best ERA, and something like a 14-5 record. He won't get it, but it wouldn't be an upset for him to beat out Loaiza.))
So...after reaching despondency five days ago, I'm now convinced that the Sox will make the playoffs.
a) the Mariners are falling apart
b) Mulder was the A's ace this season, and the A's are so pitching-oriented they'll be hard-pressed to make up for that loss
c) the Sox finish against the O's and the Devil Rays, while the Mariners and A's play each other for 6 games out of the last 9. This is why it's so great that the Sox have caught the A's - if they are still even going into the last week, they will be unlikely to fall behind two teams playing head-to-head.
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com


Steve Langley (Mon, 18 Aug 2003 21:00:01 EDT)
"Seabiscuit" === a movie
This is a really big story. Lots of it early on is told in visual shorthand. Very sort clips moving quickly through time, leaving the actual story development up to the audience. Nice technique actually.
((Yes, but it also made it difficult to really get into the characters. I kinda liked the young Pollard better than the older one that was in most all of the movie.))
This is based on a true story, obviously. Seabiscuit is the little engine who could. He was a discard horse, who had been trained to be an also ran. He was a scrub essentially. He had some good blood. His grandfather was Man o' War, the greatest horse of all time, but Seabiscuit was barely fourteen hands at the shoulder, as compared to the eighteen hands of his grandfather. In racing, size usually counts. Small horses can sometimes sprint well, they can turn on a dime as it were, and they frequently have stamina for a long run, but they also have to take five steps to a larger horse's four, and that is a significant disadvantage in a race.
So, a horse too small to be taken seriously. Then there is his jockey. Red Pollard was a depression child, essentially abandoned by his family, forced to live from day to day through whatever he could put his hand to. He was good with horses, but was large for a jockey. He could ride, but had to starve himself to keep his weight down. He also fought in club fights. He lost the sight in one eye in one such fight. So, a too small horse, and a too large jockey who was also blind in one eye.
The competition. War Admiral was the son of Man o' War. He was nearly as large as his father, measuring eighteen hands. A hand by the way is four inches. Thats a difference of sixteen inches in height at the shoulders between the two horses. War Admiral had already won the Triple Crown. He was considered to be the best horse in the world at that time.
Seabiscuit was the darling of the little man. He was touted by his owner as being the kind of horse who went out and did his best day after day, whether he won or not, despite being the little guy. Of course, he also won a lot of small races in a row. He was loved by most of America as being their champion against the rich. His owner was a car salesman, not a millionaire.
Finally, public opinion demanded that War Admiral give Seabiscuit a race. War Admiral's owner was far from pleased. He had nothing to win and lots to lose. If War Admiral beat Seabiscuit, it would be no more than expected, and if by some miracle he lost, it would be devastating to the price of War Admiral's future stud fees.
Bad bit of casting in the race by the way. Remember that sixteen inches difference at the shoulders. Well the two horses they chose to play the parts in the race were nearly of a size.
Great story. Movie wasn't bad, either.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com
((As noted above, I liked it less than you did since I felt the grand story telling overshadowed the characterizations. In many ways, William H. Macy stole the movie. He was wonderful and might earn a Supporting Actor nomination. The three high profile "stars" (playing the jockey, trainer, and owner) did not seem to do their best work and came off as flat characters.))


Steve Langley (Mon, 18 Aug 2003 20:32:31 EDT)
"S. W. A. T." ===== a movie
This was fun to watch. I didn't watch the TV show that it is based on so I can't say how close to the original this came. There was an origin story for the first three quarters of the movie, how this S.W.A.T team was put together, trained, who they were. In parallel there was a story about the Police Captain who didn't like them. The writers selected to make him very slick and not very smart. I think that was a poor choice. If he were smart he would have been a much more effective character.
Great action, occasionally confusing, but things happened quickly. Simple computer effects, unless the Lear jet landing on the bridge was done in a computer.
I'm really becoming a Colin Farrell fan.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Steve Langley (Sun, 7 Sep 2003 18:35:17 EDT)
"The Order" === a movie
Going in I had a problem with the ads which projected Heath Ledger as a young disillusioned priest. My problem is that he is barely old enough to be a priest and not nearly old enough to be disillusioned yet. Now, some of us are born disillusioned, but we are not likely to become priests. Priests are more of the idealistic optimistic turn, harder to disillusion than most.
Anyway the movie is not well served by the misleading ad.
Heath Ledger was raised by a priest. A Carolingian Monk, one of the last of that order. They deal with exorcism, with driving the demons and the hell spawn from the physical world. Ledger plays Alex Bernier, a young idealistic priest, who has seen more evil and fought more evil than the church is willing to admit exists.
The story is marvelously complex. I still find myself making small leaps of understanding about things that went a bit over my head as they slipped past. Along with a good plot there were very good characters, and dialogue. Good writing.
Just enough computer special effects to make it work. I very much liked it.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com
((This is one of those movies where Steve's views are especially valuable, since at the time I'd seen this review there were virtually no other ones available. That web site that does reviews for Parents said something about it, but since the studio didn't release the movie to critics for review, they all ignored it. I might actually go see it now, since I also was put off by the misleading advertising.))


Steve Langley (Sat, 23 Aug 2003 19:33:33 EDT)
"The Medallion" === a movie
Jackie Chan is best at comic action. In "The Medallion" he opts for action hero, leaving the comedy pretty much to Lee Evans who plays the part of an Interpol Agent who is inept right up there with "Johnnie English". Not actually all that funny.
Claire Forlani is the pretty girl. She usually plays the delicate sensitive heroine. She is a lot more attractive as the smiling super hero actually. Everyone in the movie seemed to be a black belt of some school or other. The story made little sense. The medallion in the title has the power to overcome death and induce super powers in the recipient. Julian Sands plays the evil villain who wants such power. Inexplicably he has a whole bunch of bad guys willing to commit all sorts of crimes to make his dream come true. You have to ask, do they think he is a nut, or do they think he will become super powerful? If the former, why not get a different boss, if the latter, why not take the medallion for themselves? Doesn't seem to occur to any of them.
Lee Evans is an Interpol agent by day and at home a librarian. At one point in the story the good guys decide that the bad guys will attempt to kill his family (not for any reason I was able to grasp) and sure enough they arrived in the nick of time to be met by a ninja gunfighter force. By this time Jackie has super powers, but it is the librarian wife who surproses everyone by hauling out an arsenal of armor and weaponry, which her husband didn't know about, and then blowing the bad guys away. Where she got the fighting talent and arsenal was never explained. Maybe librarians are more exciting people than I had come to believe.
The real problem with the movie is that Jackie Chan is famous for his impossible physical stunts. There were so many wire assisted, camera assisted, computer assisted stunts that Jackie becomes just another action hero, not the stunt genius we have come to love.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com
((That's too bad that Jackie is getting old and that he is getting into this sort of thing. I love the basic run-of-the-mill Jackie Chan movie just fine.))


Steve Langley (Sat, 23 Aug 2003 19:14:30 EDT)
"Open Range" === a movie
Kevin Costner is still trying to make another really good movie. He had success with a sort of western before. He sort of has done well with "Open Range". It misses though. There are two all too simple stories. Boy meets girl, boy courts girl, boy gets girl. Not a gripping plot. Cowboy rides into town, town is controlled by an evil strong man, cowboy and strongman fight, cowboy wins.
Okay, story lines aside. What the movie has going for it is one very good gunfight. That is what the western is all about really, and "Open Range" delivers.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com
((I'm likely to go see this anyway, this weekend, but I also was not expecting a great deal.))


Steve Langley (Wed, 20 Aug 2003 20:51:51 EDT)
"Uptown Girls" === a movie
Sweet, Sad, Funny - Killer combination.
Britney Murphy as "Molly Gunn" the little girl who never grew up after her rock star parents died in a plane crash. Dakota Fanning as "Ray" the little girl who has skipped childhood in response to her father being in a coma. Molly becomes Ray's nanny when she suddenly becomes penniless and has to work for a living. Ray teaches Molly how to be an adult while Molly teaches Ray how to be a kid.
Dakota Fanning is an amazing actress. The very neurotic Ray becomes a very real complex person by the end of the film. I can think of a few adults who do not act as convincingly.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Rich Goranson (Tue, 2 Sep 2003 18:58:27 -0400 (EDT))
Jim-Bob: I'm trying to remember just who the hell it was who was asking me about Strong Vincent's statue in Erie and his birthmarker in Waterford and I think it might have been you. If it was I have some pictures for you that you might want. Drop me a line.
Rich Goranson, Amherst, NY, USA, ForlornH of aol.com
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -Theodore Roosevelt, 7 May 1918
((Yes, Rich, indeedy do! I believe that I was asking this THREE years ago, but I did ask! I would like to see and print the pictures in TAP, if you please. I've just been reading the relatively new biography of Joshua Chamberlain which has me thinking about Strong Vincent again. I really do think he is the most underrated hero of the entire war, mostly because he had the poor fortune to get killed right after he made all those quick brilliant decisions. The basic idea, for those not familiar with the outlines or details of the story was that General Warren was up on Little Round Top and realized that a brigade needed to be sent up there on the second day of Gettysburg or the entire Union line would be turned and the battle would be lost. After that, the entire war could have been lost. General Warren sent for the brigade through the command structure, but Strong Vincent intercepted the order before it went through his commander, General Barnes, and took his brigade to Little Round Top on his own authority. This could have been courtmartial behavior, if later judged to be foolhardy or if some higher officer were looking for someone to blame for a defeat. That was one thing, then he set his brigade perfectly (including making a last second split decision to put the 20th Maine on the extreme left) to fend off an attack that went all the way across the hill's western and southern slopes. He was killed on the western slope leading the battle. He could be viewed as the greatest hero of the north in that war, not just because of what I just said, but because he began a flip flop of aggressiveness, in his HOME state of Pennsylvania, that eventually changed the whole attitude of the war. Before this, northern troops were sluggish in maneuver and easy for Lee to exploit with daring cross marches. After this, that became less and less possible for Lee and he started to lose battles, or at least fail to win them, which was enough.))


Mike Barno (Sat, 06 Sep 2003 18:25:22 -0400)
stolen from slashdot;
"On the 21st of this month the Galileo Space Probe, which has been orbiting Jupiter for nearly eight years, will plummet fatefully into the crushing pressures and searing heat of that planet's interior. The spacecraft's 14 year journey has brought the discovery of, among other things, the first moon orbiting an asteroid, the first remote detection of life on earth when Carl Sagan used data from an onboard infrared spectrometer to observe the spectral signature of Oxygen in our atmosphere, it has caught snowflakes of Sulfur Dioxide as it flew through the plume of an erupting volcano on Io, snapped pictures of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 as it smashed into Jupiter's atmosphere and most importantly, provided proof a >60 Km deep ocean on Europa with hints of oceans on Callisto and Ganymede(listen to Ganymede's eerie sounding plasma wind). And all this with scarcely more computing power than a late '70s video game and a maximum data transfer rate of  120 bits/s over a distance of more than 600 million Km. In a mission spanning three decades, the Galileo space probe has answered many of humanity's questions about space and presented us with the knowledge to ask many more which will be answered by the next generation of Jovian explorer. Goodnight Galileo."
Mike Barno, mpbarno of lightlink.com
((Indeed, thanks, Mike. This summer, it has been fun to watch various aspects of the Mars hype. I have been using my little telescope to look at it from Maine (where the air is clearer) but it still is awfully fuzzy when it comes up in the earlier part of the evening. I think, again despite the hype, that it will be better to look at it in October, when it is further away, but higher in the sky earlier in the evening.))
THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION
"So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.
He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,
You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...
You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.
It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,
I'm all alone, I've got no choice."
From "Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.
If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at "burgess of world.std.com". If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904 if you let me know in advance to be sure the fax machine is set up.
I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small "s" instead of a capital "S". This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine.
Standby lists:
Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Kevin Wilson, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, and Dan Gorham stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Brad Wilson and Jack McHugh stand by for the Modern Diplomacy game.
Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.


GAME OPENING INFORMATION
We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!! Especially, contact Rip Gooch for Railway Rivals, see Rip's subszine elsewhere in most issues of TAP. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com.
I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. I'll publish the rules shortly.
I'll also open another regular Diplomacy game, it's been too long since I've started one. You can sign up NOW! Sean O'Donnell, Jeff O'Donnell, and Alexandre Levinson are signed up already. Just four more are needed.
You also can sign up for the next Breaking Away game, which is starting now. Tom Howell currently is signed up, knock off the superstar, come on, you can do it!! So far, Eric Brosius Rick Desper, and David Partridge want to challenge Tom. We want just TWO more, let's get this one going.
John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough is still interested, anyone else?
Harold Reynolds has started the game of Colonia (see elsewhere in this issue) and is interested in guest-GMing a game of Aberration. Sean O'Donnell and Brendan Whyte are interested in Aberration. Brendan and Sean BOTH need rules from Harold Reynolds.
Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and Chris Lockheardt is pulling out of that opening too, so I need three players. Eoghan Barry is signed up. Postal rules from me will be forthcoming shortly, on my never ending to-do list. I will get them in SOON! I'm more likely to get these things started if I see some interest..... Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....
Right now, the other thing I am contemplating getting going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, Dave Partridge, Eric Ozog, and Kurt Ozog are signed up for that.
Mike Barno and Edi Birsan run a great web site at http://www.diplomaticcorps.org!
Stephen Agar runs a British Diplomacy mailing list at: http://www.diplomacy.co.uk
and if you are interested, contact Stephen Agar at stephen of meurglys.com or join the Brit hobby mailing list at (aw, you guessed it, another new address): http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/


I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1906 IS SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1906 IS OCTOBER 18TH, 2003
Spring 1906
AUSTRIA (Lockheardt): a gal-UKR, a tri-TYO, a tyo-BOH, a MOS S a gal-ukr, a SER S a rum,
a RUM S a gal-ukr, a WAR S a mos, f GRE S ITALIAN f aeg-bul(sc) (nso).
ENGLAND (Kinney): a LON h, a EDI h, f ENG-nth, f NTH-nwy.
FRANCE (Kent): a mar-BUR, a pic-PAR, a BRE S a pic-par, f GAS h, f MID-eng.
GERMANY (Wilson): a kie-HOL, a ber-KIE, a MUN h, f SWE-nwy,
a RUH S a bur-bel, a bur-BEL.
ITALY (Gardner): a VEN h, f ION S f aeg, f AEG S f ion, a APU S a ven.
RUSSIA (Desper): a STP-mos.
TURKEY (Miller): f SMY S AUSTRIAN f gre-aeg (nso), a ARM S a sev, a CON S f bul(sc),
f BUL(SC) S AUSTRIAN f gre-aeg (nso), a SEV h.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Chris Lockheardt, 54 Butler Avenue, Maynard, MA 01754, +1 978-897-1547
clockheardt of yahoo.com
ENGLAND: Mark Kinney, 4830 Westport Road, Apt D, Louisville KY 40222
alberich of iglou.com
FRANCE: Doug Kent, 11111 Woodmeadow #2327, Dallas, TX 75228
dougray30 of yahoo.com
GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 373 Gateford Drive, Ballwin, MO 63021
ckevinw of aol.com
ITALY: Heath Gardner, 1627 Abbotts Creek Circle, Kernersville, NC, 27284
hdgardne of uncg.edu
RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Tim Miller, 5421 S. Ellis Ave. #1-E, Chicago, IL 60615, +1 773-834-4597
btmiller of uchicago.edu
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287
burgess of world.std.com


Game Notes:
1) Note Mark Kinney's and Heath Gardner's changes of postal addresses.


Press:
(PRESS FROM EXILED Washingtonian to Dan Snyder): Just because you can run a telecommuncations giant doesn't mean you can run a football team.
(BOOBISH NON-FOOTBALL ORIENTED RECOGNITION): But I think they did win their first game, didn't they? If I was paying enough attention. Boo Hiss to the Bush Administration for allowing the "Excess on the Mall". To that I was decidedly paying enough attention to get annoyed!
(FRANCE - ALL): Sorry for the silence, getting ready for prison can be time consuming. But don't worry, soon I'll have PLENTY of time on my hands! Mooohahahaha! ((At least you have a sense of humor about it.... but you always did have one of the blackest senses of humor I've ever seen, so if anyone could laugh at this, you could.))
(PRESS FROM EXILED WASHINGTONIAN to ERNIE GRUNFELD): Looks like the Russian snows will do you in (them or the Timberwolves).
(PRESS FROM AUSTRIA): Let me see, who to attack now?
"Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a supply center by its toe, if we bounce there let it go, eeny meeny miny mo."
Turkey? But Sultan Tim is the only one who writes to me! Let's try again.
"My mother and your mother were churning out fleets. My mother stomped your mother right on her feet. What color was the bruise? B-L-U-E spells blue and you are it."
Turkey again? That can't be right. Me and Tim have a good thing going here.
"Cinderella, dressed in yella, went upstairs to kiss a fella. Kissed Tsar Rick and it made her sick; how many times did she say `Ick!'? 1-2-3 and you are it."
Uh oh, Tim. Somehow you have displeased the God of Playground Rhymes. *Shrug* My hands are tied! (Which is a shame because I suspect everyone in the game but you is intending to attack me. But I've unburned those bridges before!)
(PRESS FROM SILENT SULTAN to BOARD): Supply centers are like pieces of popcorn chicken, you always want one more.
(BOOB to BOARD): You can't write 'em better than that. Just read the press and put it in the right order.
(PRESS FROM JUDGE WIZARD to POSTAL PRINCE): How's bout some postal press lovin'?
(POSTAL PRINCE to TOMMY THE JUDGE WIZARD): Damn straight! You can play them all!!
(DOUG KENT UPDATE FOR PRINT): effective immediately the dipworld email is null and void, the dougray one will still work but sometime after Sept 18 (my new sentencing date) I may not be able to access it. In all likelihood I will be released again on Sept 18 and not have to report anywhere until early to mid-October. I'll advise on my new mailing address when I have it, but Heather will forward postal mail sent to me. Also, once I'm officially a guest of the nation, you may be able to find my address at the Inmate Locater button at www.bop.gov (bureau of prisons), but that could take a month or so to show I'm guessing.


SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR AUTUMN AND WINTER 1907 IS SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1908 IS OCTOBER 18TH, 2003
Fall 1907
ENGLAND (Sundstrom): f STP(NC) S f bar-nwy, f nth-HOL, f SKA-swe,
f bar-NWY, f nao-IRI.
FRANCE (Tretick): a BUR-mar, a pic-BRE, f ENG h, a GAS s a bur-mar.
GERMANY (Williams): a DEN h, a MUN h, a RUH h.
ITALY (Barno): f NAP-tyh, a ven-PIE, f GOL S a mar, a MAR s f mid-gas, a VIE S a tri,
f SPA(SC) S TURKISH f wes-mid, f MID-gas, a TRI S a vie, f POR S TURKISH f wes-mid.
RUSSIA (McHugh): NMR OF PLAYER AND STANDBY, PAUL RAUTERBERG IS CALLED AS
NEW STANDBY; a FIN h, a war h (d r:mos,lvn,sil,otb), f SWE h, a BOH h.
TURKEY (O'Donnell): a bul-SEV, f TYH-wes, a BUD S ITALIAN a vie, a SER S a bud,
f WES-mid, a pru-WAR, f BLA C a bul-sev, a UKR S a pru-war.


Supply Center Chart
ENGLAND (Sundstrom): EDI,LVP,nwy,hol,stp (has 5, even)
FRANCE (Tretick): PAR,BRE,bel,lon (has 4, even)
GERMANY (Williams): KIE,BER,MUN,den (has 3, bld 1)
ITALY (Barno): ROM,VEN,NAP,tun,tri,vie,por, (has 9, even)
a,mar
RUSSIA (McHugh): MOS,rum,swe (has 3 or 4, even(r:otb) or rem 1)
TURKEY (O'Donnell): ANK,SMY,CON,bul,gre,ser,bud, (has 8, bld 1)
sev,war
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Doug Kent
ENGLAND: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882 ($5)
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 1383 Canterbury Way Potomac, MD 20854, (301) 279-0803 ($4)
JTretickGames of aol.com
GERMANY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($3)
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net
ITALY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998
flapjack of comcast.net or Xatsmann of comcast.net
RUSSIA: Standby is Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,
(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com
TURKEY: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or seanfodonnell of yahoo.com


Game Notes:
1) Sorry, it really wasn't such a hot idea in retrospect to call Brad Wilson for Jack's NMR. Calling Paul Rauterberg should properly get the position back under control. I'm calling in my best standby, I'm SURE that Paul will submit orders. If Jack somehow wants to return, he would have to get orders to me by the Winter deadline. Again, I'm sorry for essentially delaying the game like this. In retrospect, trying to call Brad didn't work. My bad.


Press:
(MIKE): It's nice to be welcomed with black press. Not only was the "ITALY-BOARD" item not my style (calling it "this humble game" when it wasn't mine to call humble), but it was inaccurate (not all players offered me welcome despite my writing both the Russian players and most others).
(EDINBURGH-BERLIN): Good morning!
(PARIS): We have been in contact with all our neighbors and all the new heads of state. We continue to work with our friends and have extended non-aggression talks to Italy. Since we have not heard counter-proposals, we will continue to count Italy as hostile and work to remove their forces from our country. ((And guess right at least once.))
(EDINBURGH-AMSTERDAM): Just want to stay for one more year.


FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR AUTUMN AND WINTER 1912 IS SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1913 IS OCTOBER 18TH, 2003
Fall 1912
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a VEN-tri, a apu-NAP, a ROM S a apu-nap.
ENGLAND (Biehl): f edi h (d r:nwg,otb), f LVP h.
GERMANY (Osuch): f BAL S f swe, a sil s a ber-pru (d r:mun,boh,otb), a BER-pru,
f SWE h, a DEN S f swe, a MAR-spa, a boh-GAL, a VIE S a boh-gal,
a HOL-bel, f cly-NAO, a PIC-bel, a POR-spa.
RUSSIA (Tretick): f nwy-NTH, a LVN-pru, f nth-EDI, a YOR S f nth-edi,
a WAR S TURKISH a gal-sil, f nwg-CLY, a FIN-swe, a sev-mun (nsu).
TURKEY (Lutterbie): a con-BUL, f aeg-ION, f bla-CON, a gal-SIL, f gol-TUS,
a ALB S a tri, f mid-IRI, a TRI h, a RUM-gal, f nap h (d r:tyh,otb).


Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): ven,rom,nap (has 3, even)
ENGLAND (Biehl): LVP (has 2, rem 1)
GERMANY (Osuch): BER,KIE,MUN,par,mar,swe, (has 11 or 12, bld 2(r:otb) or bld 1)
bre,vie,por,hol,spa,bel,den
RUSSIA (Tretick): MOS,STP,WAR,SEV,nwy,lon, (has 7, even)
edi
TURKEY (Lutterbie): ANK,SMY,CON,bul,rum, (has 9 or 10, bld 1(r:otb) or even)
gre,ser,tun,bud,tri
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ENGLAND: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,
(604) 591-1832 ($7); jrb of dccnet.com
FRANCE: Rick Davis, 2420 West Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407, (707) 544-5201,
redavis914 of aol.com
GERMANY: Bob Osuch, 19137 Midland Avenue, Mokena, IL 60448, (708) 478-3885
ROsuch4082 of aol.com
ITALY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 710 9613, cell (360) 710-9613 ($2)
terryt of whidbey.net
RUSSIA: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle, Spotsylvania, VA 22553, (540) 582-2356 (E-Mail)
batretick of earthlink.net
TURKEY: Vince Lutterbie, 1021 Stonehaven, Marshall, MO 65340-2837
melvin of cdsinet.net


Game Notes:
1) Germany is pressed on many fronts, but still builds. Thanks everyone.


Press:
(TURKEY to GM): Paul is a very good player, but he's become a pimple on my butt. Time to sit on him! He's still around for awhile though, especially if I keep goofing up.
(A RUSSIAN PREDICTION OF THINGS TO COME): German fears not taking Sweden so will hold there with support of both fleet Baltic and army Denmark, since Denmark can be cut and that leaves two units against the German fleet in Sweden.
Germany sweats it out regarding his bad placement that should be used to guard Brest, Belgium, and Holland. That leaves our team two chances in three to take one of those centers from Germany. Not to worry, though, since the Veteran's Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, has a sign on one door ... SOILED LINENS. Perhaps Germany would do better if he went into yet another room there at that hospital, where the sign says ... Cerebral Hygiene ... clear a dirty brain, to you, guy.
(TURKEY to AUSTRIA): Well, Paul, planks come in various shapes and sizes. The one you will be walking looks a lot like Italy! :-)


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


Game Notes:
1) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed draw passed and I still didn't have a chance to do the final Endgame chart. You have until then to do Endgame statements.
2) Harold Reynolds has done a lot of work with the maps and is guest GMing a new game of Colonia (see elsewhere in this issue).


Press:


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1914 IS SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1915 IS OCTOBER 18TH, 2003
Fall 1914
ENGLAND (Brosius): f LON h, a GAS S FRENCH f mar, f NAO S f mid, a KIE S FRENCH a mun,
f MID S FRENCH f spa(sc), f ENG S f mid, f HOL S a kie, f POR S FRENCH f spa(sc).
FRANCE (Sasseville): f MAR S f spa(sc), f SPA(SC) S f mar, a MUN s a bur, a BUR S a mun.
GERMANY (Barno): a GRE-bul.
RUSSIA (Reynolds): a MOS h, a LVN S a mos, a BER S FRENCH a mun, f BAL S a pru,
a STP S a mos, a PRU S a ber.
TURKEY (Linsey): a BUL-ser, f ALB-gre, a UKR S a war, a WAR S a sev-mos, f WES h,
a SEV-mos, f GOL h, a SIL S a war, a GAL S a war, f NAF S f wes, f TYH h,
a TYO-mun, f PIE S f gol, a SER S GERMAN a gre-bul, a BOH S a sil.


Supply Center Chart
ENGLAND (Sayers): LON,LVP,EDI,bre,por,bel,kie,hol (has 8, even)
FRANCE (Sasseville): PAR,MAR,spa,mun (has 4, even)
GERMANY (Barno): gre (has 1, even)
RUSSIA (Reynolds): MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber (has 6, even)
TURKEY (Linsey): ANK,SMY,CON,rum,bul, (has 15, even)
bud,nap,ven,tun,sev,war,rom,tri,vie,ser
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham, MA 02492
eric.brosius of comcast.net
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)
roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Phil Reynolds, 2896 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 953-6952 preyno of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) The FREGT draw is rejected and then reproposed. I had no complaint, so I've granted a request that we go back to where we were on the voting, which was this: (1) Some of you have "perpetual draw votes on this proposal on file", those are still in force; (2) Some of you do not and have been voting every season, for you if you FAIL to vote it counts as a yes vote for the proposal.
2) Application of all those strange little rules this season. You cannot cut your own support. And your support of an attack that would dislodge your own unit doesn't count. We had both situations in the Balkans this time, didn't we?


Press:
(MAD COUNT BARNO OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE to DOUBLE PARENTHESES): I'm merely sure that nobody in the E-F-R alliance can eliminate me nor force Turkey to eliminate me. I didn't claim to be certain whether Bruce would voluntarily choose to do so, given that it wouldn't help him reach 18 centers and he's not playing for a few points' difference under any scoring system.
(F-T): Negotiations were tempting, but I decided to hold the line with the alliance and hope nobody else broke. Sorry for the no reply, but the longer I delayed a reply the better chance you would not get another to break.


EDWARD TELLER: 2002?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1905 IS SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2002
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1906 IS OCTOBER 18TH, 2002
Fall 1905
AUSTRIA (Andruschak): has a VIE, a BUD, f TRI; and 5 nukes in their silos.
ENGLAND (Kendter): f eng-POR, f nth-BEL, a EDI stares into space; and
nuked The whole frelling game, STP, BRE, KIE, MID.
FRANCE (McHugh): has a PAR, a MAR; and 5 nukes in their silos.
GERMANY (Kenny): has a BER, a MUN; and 5 nukes in their silos.
ITALY (Schultz): has f NAP, a VEN, a ROM; and 5 nukes in their silos.
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): f fin-SWE, a sev-CON, f RUM S a sev-con; and
nuked BUL, GRE, ARM, SER(2).
TURKEY (Muller): a con-TUN; and nuked BLA, GAL, MOS, ION, SER(2).


Current Standings
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 TOTAL
JOHN SCHULTZ  3  3  3  3  3        15
PAUL RAUTERBERG  6  1  6  3  5        21
KARL MULLER  2  3  3  4  3        15
HARRY ANDRUSCHAK  4  5  0  3  3        15
LEE KENDTER, JR.  1  6  2  4  5        18
JACK MCHUGH  5  0  3  3  2        13
SANDY KENNY  3  1  3  3  2        12
Black Holed  8 14  7  1  7        30
Neutral  2  1  7 10  4        20
Totals(eventually) 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 238
Times GM Nuked  0  1  1  0  0      2
Whole Frelling Game  0  0  1  0  1      2


Addresses of the Participants
John Schultz plays on in our memories....
Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
Karl Muller, 3154 East Lydius Street, Schenectady, NY 12303-5035
karlmuller of alumni.lemoyne.edu or pegandkarl of mindspring.com
Harry Andruschak, 734 West 214th Street, Apartment 12-A Torrance, CA 90502-1907
(310) 533-8945, harryandruschak of aol.com
Lee Kendter, Jr., 1503 Pilgrim Lane, Quakertown, PA 18951
lkendter of speakeasy.net
Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998
flapjack of comcast.net
Sandy Kenny, 23 East Coulter Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108-1208 (609) 869-3160
KennyShire of aol.com or possibly sakenny of net-gate.com


Game Notes:
1) A couple of adjudication notes.... when you guys nuke the same province more than once, I put in parentheses the number of nukes that hit that spot. Also, if your move to a space succeeds and THEN you are annihilated, I capitalize the first letter of that space where you are annihilated. The reverse happens if your move bounces where I capitalize the first letter of the place you started.
2) The rules I have been using for this game have been that there are no replacements or standbies. Nukes for the positions John has will remain unfired in their silos. None of his units will move or support anything. They can be attacked and dislodged and his centers can be nuked. John could win the game this way, conceivably, but likely would not. But you never know, given how extreme the yuppiedom part of the game has gone.
3) There are two more "shots" that everyone has. Next time, Karl Muller moves up to take Austria and everyone else slides down one country.


Press:
(TURKEY - RUSSIA): No fair, putting thought into your moves!! What the hell do you think we're playing?
(ENGLAND to WORLD): DANG! I should have nuked a way to get Edi to the continent.
(BOOB to WORLD): See what happens when you do and don't put thought into your moves??
(TURKEY - WORLD): I think we should really toss this one to John, RIP. Mostly because it would be difficult to get him into first place this late in the game, and the rest to tick off Paul, since he leveled me this year.
(ENGLAND to GM): Is this a record for yuppieness even with this game?
(BOOB to ENGLAND): Well, we do have Karl back active in the game again. But, yes, this is the most yuppieness I've seen. I'll still probably run another one of these after this one finishes though. No one ever said I wasn't a glutton for punishment.
(MORE FROM KARL): Hey, two seasons in a row! I ain't no Yuppie! By the way, I Googled the Sch'd'y Wargamers and signed up. Oddly enough, since I'm already running about with a roleplaying crowd, I think everyone I already know is in it! But I'm glad for the link, to expand - through it, I finally found someone in the area who plays Dip! My wife got a teaching job in Ballston Spa, and she's going to be heading through Sch'd'y proper and Scotia each day to get there (at least, that's what she was told was the best way; we'll see). Now she wishes we bought in Clifton Park or Malta. They're never happy...




FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 2012 IS SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2003
Summer 2012
BRITAIN (K. Ozog): has a SWE, f LON, a EDI, f NTH, f DEN, a NOR, f NWG, f BAL.
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): R a irk-SAU; has f EME, f ALE, f ISR, f NAP, a SYR,
a TUN, a SAU.
GERMANY (Rauterberg): R a par-PIC; has a HAM, a ALS, f BER, f HOL, f BHM,
f BIS, a PIE, a PIC, f ENG, a SWI, f BEL, a ROM.
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): has a BAR, a NAV, f SAO, f ALG, f MAL, a PAR, a AUV, a LYO, f BRI, f LBS.
UKRAINE (Partridge): R f eme-AEG; has a POD, f IZM, a ADA, a GRE, a CRO, a GOR, a BIE, a STP,
a SIL, a KRA, f AEG, f ANA, a URA, a CZE, a PRU, f ALB, a IRK, a KAZ, a AUS,
a LAT, f ION, a LIT, f ADR, a IRN, a VEN.


Addresses of the Participants
BRITAIN: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, (630) 837-2813
heyday6 of yahoo.com
EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728, (440) 322-2920
or (440) 225-9203 (cell) ($2)
FRANCE: Harry Andruschak ($5) Tapmdfrance of aol.com
GERMANY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ITALY: Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138, (360) 691-4264 ($3)
ElfEric of Juno.com
POLAND: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
RUSSIA: Randy Ellis
SPAIN: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230 ($3)
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or seanfodonnell of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Kent Pollard, 1541 W. San Jose, Fresno, CA 93711, (209) 225-0957 ($10)
UKRAINE: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033 ($8)
rebhuhn of rocketmail.com


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


Press:
(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): Month off....
(CAPTAIN'S LOG): The invasion begins! The Vulcan ship "Intrepid" has been defeated by superior Romulan forces and is retreating to Andoria, the Vulcans' largest dilithium crystal producer and the Federation right flank. If we can form a line at Andoria, the Federation could still survive. Mr. Spock says our chances are about 3,269,322.04 to 1. ((That last 0.04 is really important, right? As if I had to ask....))) Sometimes that Vulcan really gets on my nerves! I lost my composure and threatened to give him and Mr. Chekov back to the Romulans. On the brighter side, we did, with the help of Cardassian neighbors, obliterate a front line Klingon troop transport with all hands on board. We, of course, cannot hold the Klingon space station for long, but I did enjoy the moment. PS Still no word from 7 of 9!
(GERMANY): The "Germany to Egypt" press last season was black, but it expressed things quite accurately.
(UNCLE JEFFY POOH to SEAN): Your Harry Andruschak imitation really sucks!
(BOOB to SEAN): It's really not all THAT bad....
(KIRK to THE EVIL COMMANDER WORF): It is very obvious to me that you do not really have 7 of 9 in custody. How do I know this? Because! If a "Real Klingon" actually had 7 of 9 in his custody, he would be more concerned about dressing her down, not up!
(EGYPT to UKRAINE): .... about that alliance we talked about....
(JEFF to JIM): Wouldn't it be great if the aging Yankee pitching staff faltered enough that Boston could win the East and Oakland could win the Wild Card? Could you imagine a $180,000,000 non-playoff team?
(BOOB to JEFF): While I ****could*** imagine it in fantasy, Goz is right that far, it is not going to happen in fact. Especially now, with Seattle faltering so far. But it still doesn't matter, the aging starters and lack of middle relief still will kill them in the playoffs again this year.


Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.35.
On 14 Sep 2003, 21:28.