THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #292

June 7, 2005


Produced by Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287
Accessible through Internet at burgess of world.std.com (all E-Mail addresses are reported in this format, replace the " of " with "@"; if you bounce try sending to me from another account or FAX to (401) 277-9904. For Faxing, most of the time you have to call me to tell me it's coming so I can set up the FAX. Some of you have been getting bounced messages from my ISP's spam protection, if that happens to you, USE my backup E-Mail at jfburgess of gmail.com!!! Don't complain that my E-Mail keeps bouncing without forwarding the bounced message to that address. Then I can forward it to the ISP help to get it dealt with.
Web Page Address: http://www.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


I'm late this issue mostly because one player was late and yes.... I didn't want to NMR him. I'm not changing the other deadlines, given the situations in those games, but I'll probably hold some or all of the games other than Spirals of Paranoia over to TAP #294. This also will allow us to run through my trip to Spain in July with another szine out. I won't name the player.... but he knows who he is as he finally got orders to me on the masthead date above. I'm actually going to be a few days later than that actually getting this szine out the door since I'm travelling on business this week. Cheers and happy summer to all, as it finally has arrived in this part of the country!! It also is time to pull the old games, isn't it.... small issue this time, but a goody....


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.n 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://www.diplom.org/DipPouch/
I also have taken over the Postal portion of the Pouch: http:/evel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/
and TAP on the web is there at: http://www.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
Peter Sullivan's subszine remains "in stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.
Peter was saying that he would be unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He is now hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date is now a "whenever". In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge are picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info.
The TAP mailing list has moved! It now is even BETTER protected than it was. I even have a bit of trouble posting to it. To post to this list, send your email to: tap of diplom.org. But this is completely moderated, it won't go out to the list unless I approve it. In general, I intend to keep traffic down to just the szine, as we've been doing.
General information about the mailing list is at: http://www.diplom.org/mailman/listinfo/tap
You can sign up from there, or send E-Mails to: Tap-request of diplom.org; with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions. You must know your password to change your options (including changing the password, itself) or to unsubscribe. Normally, Mailman will remind you of your diplom.org mailing list passwords once every month, although you can disable this if you prefer. This reminder will also include instructions on how to unsubscribe or change your account options. There is also a button on your options page that will email your current password to you. A big, big thank you for Millis Miller for setting this all up!!


THE SEARCH FOR DEREK NELSON
I'm going to continue putting some Golden Agers in here to hunt for, working up to some REAL, REAL hard people to find culminating in the 300th issue person whom I already have in mind. Derek Nelson is the person who won the first postal game in Graustark. He's been missing for at least 25 years, I know in the records I can find that he attended the 1976 DipCon in Baltimore. I think it will be fun if we can find these Golden Agers. So, let's really find Derek, it's worth fifty bucks!!! You have until issue #295 at the fifty buck price. See a note from Doug Beyerlein below.... thanks, Doug, I hope all of these people are found!!


Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Sylvain, Steve, Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, and ESPECIALLY Kevin found too!!! This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new "search for" every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Steve Heinowski or Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe or Sylvain LaRose or John Smythe is "found" from now on it is worth $25.


Doug Beyerlein (Tue, 24 May 2005 09:32:44 -0700)
Jim,
I received TAP #291 yesterday. The search for Derek Nelson and John Boardman's letter regarding same brought back old memories. Derek Nelson introduced me to the world of Postal Diplomacy in February 1966. I was a high school sophomore at the time; he was in college. He was living in (or visiting) Vancouver, BC, and saw my ad for players in the Avalon Hill General. He and a friend drove down to Seattle and I assembled a group to play Diplomacy at my house. He pulled out copies of Graustark, Big Brother, and Wild 'n Wooly. That was the first I heard of the Postal Diplomacy hobby. A few months later I joined the postal hobby.
Derek later moved back to Scarsborough, Ontario, and he and Bob Lake started their own Diplomacy zine. I didn't see Derek again until the 1976 DipCon in Baltimore. At the DipCon I gave a talk on Talleyrand (there is a story in itself) and afterwards he walked up to me and asked me if I recognized him. I didn't until he introduced himself. That was the last I heard of or saw him. I assume that he is still living in Canada, but have made no attempt to locate him. I hope that someone tracks him down.
Doug Beyerlein, Clear Creek Solutions, Inc., 15800 Village Green Drive #3,
Mill Creek, WA 98012, beyerlein of clearcreeksolutions.com


Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.
This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who "found" him.


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


WORLDMASTERS02 AND WORLDMASTERS04 SECTION
WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament Finals are still ongoing.
See http://www.cat23.com/wm02/ for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in for 04, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again, I guess. See:
http://www.worldmasters.net/wm04/
for details on that, the first round games are starting to wind down, I'll update this soon. It is helping now that I've joined the Yahoogroup WM04-Chat where this discussion is happening. You can join too! But most of the talk there has been about Yann Clouet and the French Hobby's new "World Palmares Evaluation" of FTF Diplomacy Play. Of course, Yann Clouet comes out #1, further backing up winning the John Koning award, and I am 1442nd (in a tie with Mark Nelson and Tony Dickinson, among others!). This uses lots of tournament results, more than 750 of them, and really is quite comprehensive. See those rankings at: http://www.18centres.com/SPIP3/article.php3?id_article=199


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


Check out current and back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org
We are back on solid track, Tim Haffey has agreed to be the Production Editor that I needed. We always need more articles, Issue #93 is out NOW!!! If you think you should have been on that list and weren't, let me or Dave Partridge know. Help us out, write an article for a future issue!


Upcoming Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines:
Deadline Summer 2005, Issue #94: June 1, 2005
Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:
Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Lead-Editor, Demo Game GM, and Publisher
Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor
Stephen Agar, 4 Cedars Gardens, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM BN1 6YD; stephen of stephenagar.com - Webmaster and Non-US Postal
Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852, USA; rick_desper of yahoo.com - Demo Games
Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA; rebhuhn of rocketmail.com - US Postal


ATTENTION: There is a new company doing a new PC Diplomacy game:
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/news.asp?ArticleID=239&Page=News
They ARE going to make it and release it this fall, but there are a number of concerns and opportunities that this is going to create. If anyone is interested, some of us have been in some informal contact with the game designers, but I really don't have the time to fully engage them. I think the key note to take away is that they're surely going to design a "simplified starter" version of the game that plays faster and more exciting. This is likely in some ways not to look like Diplomacy in any fashion that people familiar with variants would state. But they are committed to the basic design feature that you can make promises that you can't be held to keep. I don't want to be too negative or too positive about this development, but it will be something that "changes the environment". More on this for sure as I hear more. You all should read the interview in the Spring 2005 movement issue of the Diplomatic Pouch (and I mean ALL!!!!!!! of you!!!!!) that I think you can find at: http://www.diplom.org/Zine/S2005M/


MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)
Tell me anything you like about the recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! We're beginning to gear up for a "best of 2004" section.


Jack McHugh (Thu, 26 May 2005 19:28:43 -0400)
Jim-Bob,
Just read your latest issue. Sorry to hear about Phil Reynolds, we didn't agree on everything but I always liked him. I respected the fact that he went into journalism because that's what he loved rather than his original choice of computer science. ((Yeah, Phil was a neat person, I met him only once, but it seemed like he really found a publishing niche that gave him a lot of satisfaction.))
Leave it John Boardman to just hear about the contracting postal hobby-I agree with your analysis. It's much easier to play on the web now then any zine. I'm in several games on various judges and I especially like the variants available. Currently I'm playing a couple of different variants, my favorite being the Modern varient. ((Yeah, I intend to keep waving this flag for the foreseeable future, but it will increasingly be a more lonely flag. I honestly still don't get why someone hasn't started a REAL web Diplomacy szine. The Brits are doing the closest to it with Diplomacy 2000, Psychozine, and For Whom the Web Rocks by Tom Tweedy, Mike Dean, and Keith Thomasson respectively. But even there, these do not fully create a szine atmosphere. I'm not sure if I'm creating it here any more either, I should say, but a szine atmosphere is something you know when you see it.))
I feel more comfortable playing Dip on the web so if you want to form a World Dip Tourney Team you can count me in as a player. ((I would rather join a team that you formed rather than do the work myself. I don't seem to be successful at this sort of thing.))
I read your reply to Rick Desper on baseball. I can't say I follow the whole league since finances forced me to drop from my fantasy football league, but I am a die hard Phillies fan (with the team's awful track record of most losses of any team in North America and the worst overall record of any franchise in any sport-only ONE world championship in 130 years-all Phillies fans are diehards) I will say I think you're dead wrong on the Phillies-Thome, Burrell and Bell are simply awful. Abreu and Utley are the best position players and only All Stars the Phils have. Utley is a legitimate candidate for Rookie of the Year (if he qualifies-he may have had too many at-bats last year to qualify) but the bullpen, beyond closer Billy Wagner is terrible. I think its a three way race between the Braves, Marlins and Mets but I don't know if the Marlins or the Mets have the depth to hang with the Braves. I do think the wild card will come out of the East, the toughest division in the NL right now. ((Yeah, especially with the complete and utter collapse of the NL Central. I thought the Cubbies and Astros would be a LITTLE better than they've been.))
Hope you are doing well.
Keep up the good work. Jack McHugh, jwmchughjr of gmail.com
((Yes, thanks, I'm hugely missing John Caruso's baseball league. I tried to fill this void with a gentle (free) foray into Fantasy Baseball, but I'm not really enjoying it all that much. I am liking getting to know some of the DipWorlders a bit better (the Dip hobby group that organized the league I'm in), but the mechanics of looking at individual players on teams causes me just the sort of angst I always worried it would cause. John's league was great because your team always was YOUR team, but you still had to anticipate real baseball player careers as you did long term planning. I know you didn't like it that much in the end though. One neat thing in this DipWorld league is that Marc Peters is in the league. I still have fond memories of those great MadCons!!! Even sleeping in the same room with your snoring!!!))


Rick Desper (Mon, 30 May 2005 15:40:12 -0400 (EDT))
I'm out of the country, but have followed most of the C's series. They apparently completely collapsed in Game 7. The NBA is in a bad state, and it only has itself to blame. See Bob Ryan's column about officiating? It's telling that the biggest fine in NBA history is levied on a coach who says an apparently non-inflammatory thing, that the NBA was responding to Mark Cuban's complaints about Yao Ming's moving screens. Ryan mentions a couple games which were essentially decided by free throws. I could add some legendary Knicks/Heat games that had the same problem.
This is a big problem: I do not trust NBA games to be officiated fairly. That Lakers/Kings game a few years back was legendary. And the league is well known for favoring its "superstars" - "Bird rules", "Jordan rules", etc. Whether anybody can prove anything is debatable, but does the league think that players would not notice this phenomenon and react to it?
My other big problem with the NBA is that the players seem randomly motivated. Well, it's larger than that - they don't play team basketball anymore. The US performance in the 2004 Olympics is no fluke - American players just play to drive to the basket and make highlight reel plays.
And how can the Celtics lose 3 home games in a 7 game series where they have home court advantage?? These are not Bill Russell's Celtics or Larry Bird's Celtics. I really think they don't deserve the uniforms. Everybody's gotta go. Walker will never have the maturity to carry the team to the upper level of the NBA. And it's hard to find anybody else on the team to stand behind.
The ultimate result of the corrupt officiating, weak play, and bad attitudes is hurting the NBA badly. Some say it's racial, but it's more than that. Americans don't like watching spoiled multimillionaires who give full effort at most half the time.
My rant for the day. Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com
((I seem to have generated a number of rants this issue. I agree with your thoughts on the NBA in general, but you do have to note that TEAMS win the Championships most of the time. San Antonio is destroying the Suns with Team play and Detroit is still in there on Team play. And the Heat will beat Detroit only if they play like a team.))


More from Rick Desper
Hi Jim,
Regarding the NBA, I do think that success at the highest level still depends on team play. And that applies to the Celtics' collapse, too. The problem is that there is far too much individual reward to players for individual accomplishments. And so I think players are more interested in getting max contracts and lucrative endorsements than winning. I know that sounds like a cliche, but I think it's true. Rick


((Thanks, Rick, and yes, so really you can figure out which four or five teams have any chance at all at the title as the playoffs start, and perhaps when the season starts. Ainge says he's serious about making the Celtics one of those teams, and I believe him. The question is whether he and Rivers can do it. Expect HUGE battles of will to make it happen and that's why I think the ex-players are going to have to be the coaches in the future. Only a guy like Doc Rivers who did it, can tell THEM to do it. That makes Popovich and Brown something of coaching dinosaurs and I think they know it. But here they are and one of them wins the finals. I'd bet on Popovich (and Duncan). I find it also interesting that each of these teams starts at least one more or less purely defensive player - and Bruce Bowen used to be a Celtic, as did Billups, and famously ALMOST Duncan.... you could make up an All Ex-Celtic Team that could compete better than the current one.))
((I also want to say something else about Paul Pierce. Most people have forgotten the "stabbing issue" of a few weeks back where Paul Pierce was stabbed in a bar by a group of rowdies. You know, it looks to me like he partly suffers from post traumatic stress disorder that makes him pull away from people and his teammates. I do hope he is getting help and treatment for this, and I really hope the Celtics don't trade him. I think he is a good guy and a good player. BUT, you can't ask him to lead the team, not in any significant way, since his aloofness, or whatever you want to call it, just doesn't permit it. I heard a story recently that at the last All Star game, virtually NO reporters talked to Pierce. It wasn't that he was unfriendly when they DID approach him, he just put on that mask of being unapproachable. To any of you who suffer from PTSD, you have my sincerest sympathies it is one of the most life changing things that can happen to the mind that one can imagine. And it is insidious in its effects. So, Danny Ainge, I really want Paul Pierce to be part of the solution as long as you don't ask him to do things he cannot do, and not join this crowd of great ex-Celtics.))


Mark D Lew (Mon, 30 May 2005 00:55:33 -0700)
Jim-Bob,
A while back in TAP I noticed that someone (Goz?) tersely dismissed the A's as a team unworthy of notice this year. A month ago I would have said he put too much stock in the superficial sports columnists who misread the two big trades as a traditional fire-sale dismantling of the team instead of the short-horizon retooling that it really was. We all knew that Beane was looking more toward 06 than 05, but I still figured the 05 squad to be a slightly-over-500 team that could be competitive in a weak division. ((As did I, as did I.))
Today, I'd have to eat those words - well, except for the part about the weak division. The AL West has quickly dropped from arguably the best division in baseball to arguably the worst. As of today, the division as a whole is almost back up to .500, but only because Texas's recent win streak has been heavily padded by wallopings of bottom-feeder teams like Houston and Kansas City.
As for the A's, they're arguably the worst team in the league now, with only the Royals even disputing it. It's hard to fathom how much the A's suck right now. Those who don't follow the team might figure, "Yeah, well they traded Hudson and Mulder, and Tejada left, too," and leave it at that, but it's actually quite a bit more complicated.
About half of it has been injuries. There may be another team that has been whacked as hard, but if so, I don't know it. We lost three hitters from our starting lineup (Crosby, Swisher, and Durazo, though Swisher just came back), the better half of our bullpen, and our number-one starter. Nationally, Zito gets more attention, and he started the first game out of respect for his seniority, but among the A's cognoscenti it's taken for granted that Rich Harden is the team's ace now, and Zito is number two. In the bullpen, other than Bradford, who has been out since before the season began, only Calero and Dotel actually went on the DL, but both Cruz and Duchscherer have also been unavailable for extended periods due to injuries (and both Calero and Dotel were playing hurt before they went on the DL).
Part of the rationale for the younger team was to be less injury-prone, not more. Going into the season, the idea was that older teams like the Giants and Angels would lose some of their starters due to injury (as indeed they have) but that we wouldn't.
That was one surprise. The other surprise is that among the healthy players, the supposed stars of the team have been awful. At least at hitting they have.
The (superficial) conventional wisdom was that, having traded two of the "big three", the 2005 A's weakness would be pitching. In fact, pitching has been OK. Even in our huge team slump, the team ERA is still 4.67, which is not great, but not horrible either (slightly better than Boston's!). Considering how much the injuries pushed us down on the depth chart, I'd say it's even a little better than par. Harden pitched fabulously before he got hurt. Zito had one really bad outing but otherwise has been OK; his poor W-L record is mainly due to atrocious run support. Of the new guys, it was expected that each was about a 50-50 shot to make the team this year, so when two of the three (ie, one from each trade plus the latest guy coming through the minors) did, that was as expected. When those two (Haren and Blanton) did well at first but then struggled once advance scouting caught up with them, that was as expected as well.
What was not expected was that we'd be the worst hitting team by far. Eric Chavez, supposedly our franchise player, has been atrocious. In fact, there's only one part of his swing that has a hole, but everyone knows about it and everyone is pitching him outside. In the past week there have been signs that he might have finally figured it out, but only after two months of batting ~.200. Also very very bad is Jason Kendall. When we traded for him, there were two debates among the informed segment of the A's fan base. The Moneyball-conscious worried that even though he's a good player, he wasn't worth the heavy contract he carried. Another group complained that we need power hitting more than hitting for average. What no one expected was that Kendall wouldn't hit at all. Of the rest, three are hitting OK but not great (Kotsay, Hatteberg, Ellis), and Bobby Kielty - the fans' least favorite after a horrible season in 04 - has gone way beyond expectation to become our best hitter, though on this team that's not saying much.
Even less forgivable than the terrible offense has been the terrible defense in the field. In recent years, A's have been at the top of the league in defense. Some drop-off was expected, because after letting go of two groundball pitchers, Beane put less emphasis on infield defense than in past years. Even so, the whole team is drastically underperforming on defense. Eric Chavez, of the numerous Gold Gloves, has been decidedly mediocre on defense this year. Scott Hatteberg, whose ascent from zero-defense to halfway-decent was documented in Moneyball, is now playing worse than he ever has. Byrnes and Ginter were expected to be bad, and they have been. (Byrnes, notwithstanding his many Web Gems, is a lousy defender, often making a dramatic diving attempt at what might have been a simple catch if only he had read the ball right. There's a joke in Oakland that whenever the play-by-play guy says "it's a routine fly ball to Byrnes", the fans shout back, "No such thing!") Kendall was also expected to be bad defensively, and he's been even worse.
Among the few bright spots, Houston Street, our 21-year-old closer-of-the-future, who might well still be in AAA if not for the injuries in the bullpen, has been excellent, with 2.08 ERA over 26 innings, no HRs allowed, and 2:1 SO/BB ratio. He has no saves yet, largely because there have been so few leads to be saved. When Dotel was put on the DL, Street was anointed the closer in his absence. That was eight games ago, and since then the team has yet to go into the ninth inning of any game with a lead.
Other bright spots, um, let's see. Scutaro has exceeded his (low) expectations. I can't think of any more. This is a very bad team.
I'm still a fan, though. I listen to the webcast as often as I can - not nearly as much as last year, when I followed almost every game, but still about 50%.
I didn't get seriously interested in baseball until late in the 1999 season, so this is my first experience as a fan of a bad team. Surprisingly, I find that the fact that we're terrible doesn't make rooting for the team any less enjoyable.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
((Hi Mark, I was wondering what you were thinking..... I agree, it can be just as much fun to watch bad teams. I was first a Giants fan, and have been following them closely for almost forty years now, and a LOT of that was bad teams, especially their famous June swoons. Also, in terms of coming back into contention with a losing team, I always thought in terms of "ten game winning streaks" as in "if we went on a ten game winning streak right now... then....". The A's are still in "ten game winning streak" hailing distance. The other guy you didn't mention is Adam Melhuse. With Kendall stinking up the joint, I would have thought Melhuse would have carved out more playing time. But his weak OBP of last year turned into his abysmal BA this year. What, he's batting about .100? Less than half his weight and half Mendoza line. We'll see what happens next, but the AL West has nothing right now.))


Mark Lew (Tue, 31 May 2005 02:08:15 -0700)
You really can't judge Melhuse's hitting this year, since he's gotten so little playing time. Today he came in as a pinch-hitter, got a single, and as a result his batting average jumped up about 45 points. One more hit and he's back above the Mendoza line. That doesn't mean he's improving dramatically; it just shows how meaningless his current average is.
I agree that it's perverse that he hasn't had more playing time. Kendall has a reputation as an every day player. As soon as Kendall was signed, Melhuse's agent immediately made noises about wanting a trade. Whatever happened next was behind the scenes, but next thing we knew Melhuse was saying pleasantries to the reporters and he was back in place as the second-stringer.
It's all well and good to play Kendall every day if he's hitting, but when his hitting was so atrocious (and defense even worse), why not give him some days off. But Macha almost never did. You have to figure this was Beane's idea. Presumably the idea is that Kendall needs time in the AL to get used to the pitching and so long as we wait it out and don't give up on him he'll come around, just like Kotsay did last year, but it certainly taxes the patience of the fans - and presumably Melhuse as well.
I can see leaving Kendall and Chavez in the lineup, because they're not going to get better if they don't get a chance to hit. What I don't understand is keeping them in the 3rd and 4th spot game after game. I know that the importance of batting order is exaggerated. Even so, you still want your best hitters to get more ABs, so you put them at the top. Kendall and Chavez were the worst on the team. If they're only there to get their swings back anyway, why not let them bat 7 and 9? I don't get it.
But again, you have to pin the responsibility on Beane. It's known that Beane will sometimes play back-seat manager, and when he insists on something Macha will do as he's told. Either the persisting with the perverse lineup (which also has the strange quality of clumping all the LH bats at the top and all the RH bats at the bottom) is Beane's own idea and Macha is just the middle manager; or if it is Macha's idea, then Beane has decided not to intervene and tell him to change it.
Today they did finally switch the lineup, moving Kendall to leadoff and Kielty into 3rd in front of Chavez, and we won. They did this once before, and it was successful then, too, but then the next day it was back to the old lineup with all the slumping lefties on top. I didn't catch the game today, but I assume it was against a LH starter. That's the only time they even consider shaking up the lineup, because it means moving Byrnes up. Byrnes has dramatic splits, hitting very well against LH and terrible against RH.
By the way, the trade speculation I'm getting behind sends Ginter and Byrnes to San Diego for Xavier Nady. Nady is a young hitter who simultaneously addresses the A's lack of RH power and still fits the Beane profile of a patient hitter. (He's also a N Calif native, which Beane consistently prefers.) San Diego likes Nady, too, but the theory is that given how he's currently being used, Byrnes is nearly as useful to them. Padres have three LH starters they like in the outfield, which leaves Nady to bounce around as second-string for whoever needs a day off. (He also covers 1B or 3B.) They mostly use him against LH pitching anyway, so for that purpose Byrnes could equal Nady, even though he's not as good a player generically. To equalize the downgrade, San Diego gets Ginter at 2B. They need someone to fill in at 2B while Mark Loretta is hurt, but they don't want to go big bucks for someone like Polanco or Kaz Matsui, so that makes Ginter/Ellis/Scutaro a plausible alternative. Now that Crosby is back from the DL, Beane has one more middle infielder than he needs. Ginter is the one we'd most like to trade, but if San Diego asked for Ellis or Scutaro instead, I think that might be negotiable as well. Padres have injuries at both 2B and 3B right now, and they're playing second-stringers in both spots. They're looking to contend this year, so even though they don't want to do a major signing, I don't think they're going to leave the hole unaddressed either.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
((I agree about the Padres, I thought they had a good chance to do well, and they really have. Given that Bonds won't come back before July, I think the Giants won't challenge and neither will anyone else, so the Padres should win the division. But I see them as buyers of some help for sure.))


John Biehl (Mon, 30 May 2005 17:37:08 -0700)
My commentary on your editorial regarding the Iraqi elections, Ahmed Chalabi and `press corps investigative journalism' begins with the last mentioned. Isn't this, if you mean `white house press corps investigative journalism' an oxymoron? Canadians get plenty of White House news bites on our nightly news and since this is `main stream' entrenched interest commercial news it is mostly `pablum news' for the masses. The result being a lot of ignorance (those who uncritically believe what they are told) and apathy (those who despair the lack of investigative journalism in the mainstream news). ((You correctly identify that I was using a bit of sarcasm in that phrase... or maybe you didn't see it...))
I understand Ahmed Chalabi to be an American appointee and, reputedly, a somewhat unscrupulous businessman. Whether he is investigated by American authorities (on whatever charge) is likely immaterial to his perceived `Quisling' status by other Iraqis. Chalabi is a minor concern. ((I do seriously disagree, but time will tell.))
With regard to the elections, firstly, I am sure this is welcomed by the majority of Iraqis, especially the Kurds in the north and the Shia in the south. The real question is whether the Insurgency will peter out or will it continue? The Kurds want their own nation, which they were given assurance they would get after World War One. How will Iran, Turkey and Syria view this, especially Turkey? The Shia in the south wield the most power and are numerically the largest population. How the Sunnis of central Iraq will be accommodated considering recent history is still problematic. American military planners predicted intervention in Iraq would be for a minimum of four years (if my recollection is correct). Maybe it will be longer now.
Two views of Iraq dominate the popular perception at the present time. One is the American government administration/military view which is rather uncritically parroted by the mainstream commercial media to wit - we are winning the `war' (read police action) in Iraq, the Terrorists (read insurgents) are losing and life in Iraq getting better. This is what too many Americans believe, who, unfortunately, have limited access to alternative views as to what is really going on. The second view, held by a majority of people from most of the other western democracies, is that the American intervention in Iraq was poorly planned (witness the widespread invasion looting), that the American intervention was illegal under international law (witness the outright lie about weapons of mass destruction) that it is not surprising that Iraqis are fighting an American invasion (one person's terrorist is anther person's freedom fighter) and is life getting better for Iraqis? I imagine it depends on who you ask. ((It does, and you're being way too general and extreme. There are all sorts of views here between those two. I am closer to the second, for example, but not there. And I freely admit I've not been to Iraq and can't really comment in detail on what things are like there. I like to listen to non-American foreigners who have.))
The American miltary intervention in Iraq is an Imperialist intervention and is primarily about MONEY for the American corporate military/industrial complex. The second benefit is a military presence in the Middle East to secure access to the oil (the prelude was Kuwait & Iraq, Saudi Arabia is the next concern - how neat it all fits). The one benefit that the American government espouses that they are providing to the Iraqi people (and that all people can agree on) is democracy. How beneficial to the American government propaganda effort (to garner domestic support). The question is - Is the cost to bring `democracy' to Iraq worth the price that will eventually have to be paid? I think not. ((If you think this, and again a bit more extremely than I think, then again you must be more worried about what Ahmed Chalabi's continuing role is and what is he doing as "Acting" Oil Minister.))
The American government's contention that Saddam Hussein's Iraq was a dangerous so-called `Rogue State' is dubious. The Israelis destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981. Then American intelligence propped up Saddam's regime throughout the eighties during the ill-advised Iraqi conflict with Iran. Then the Iraqi army was rendered toothless during the first `Gulf War' in 1991. Finally, it is obvious to any intelligent individual that the American and British governments outright lied to their people and to the World about weapons of mass destruction in the possession of Iraq. The government excuse is that it was an "intelligence failure". The only intelligence failure is if an individual believes that lie. The only people in denial about this are the ignorant individuals who fail to check the facts for themselves.
Amongst others, Iran and North Korea are deemed to be `Rogue States' by the George W Bush administration. Iran is, unfortunately, run by a conservative and fundamentalist Islamic regime. Surprise, the United States of America is run by a conservative and (arguably) a fundamentalist Christian regime. They both have elections too. The question here is - does Iran, as a sovereign state, have the right to pursue nuclear weapons capability? When we examine North Korea we see it is a communist and atheistic regime, quite a different polity altogether. Again the question is posed - does North Korea, as a sovereign state, have the right to pursue nuclear weapons capability? The answer, unsurprisingly, is yes. North Korea already claims nuclear weapons capability. Iran is accused of pursuing this capability. Which of these states, therefore, is the more dangerous? ((You also have to put the whole equation together, and I do think the Bush Administration has more of this right than you claim, and note that it is North Korea's capability that precisely makes it a harder target. You have to balance risk and reward, not just "rank badness" on one scale and go for it.))
Iraq, falsely accused of possessing `weapons of mass destruction' and being illegally invaded by the United States of America et al was a state with a decent standard of living, albeit ruled by a tyrant. Now it is a fractured state with festering wounds (a rhetorical flourish here).
Why was Iraq invaded by the United States of America but North Korea was not? Could it be because Iraq has oil (and is close to plenty more plus the place is flat) while North Korea has nothing (and is mountainous besides)? Could it be because the Iraqi army was already non-existent and Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction while North Korea has a huge army and maybe does have nuclear weapons? To a critical eye this is analogous to a teenager who bullies a toddler rather than an older child who could fight back. ((Perhaps, but you're imposing a value judgment. Perhaps the bully doesn't want to have someone fight back with dangerous power. And so that's what the bully does. It makes no sense to "predict wrongly" that the bully will hit the older, stronger child. It MAY make sense, upping this by a level (TM, Patent Pending), to berate the bully as a wimp to try to engage an emotional reaction. But even there, you have to be careful about what you're trying to do, and if the bully is inured to insults, it will be ineffective.))
The United States of America is the Rogue State. Furthermore, George W Bush and his senior adminisitration officials, in particular (but not necessarily confined to) Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleeza Rice and all those who espoused and defended the invasion of Iraq, in my opinion, are and should be charged in an international court of law, as War Criminals. A last unsurprising fact considering the above, the USA refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the International Court of Justice in the Hague and of the associated War Crimes Tribunal to have jurisdiction over American citizens. Surprise, surprise. ((No surprise, no surprise, is this the way you play Diplomacy, failing to account for another power's "interests in its own eyes"? Not good....))
(Guess that is enough - this got me going and got longer and could still go on)
John, jrb of dccnet.com
((I guess so! Thanks, it helps to see this when I wonder sometimes if people read what I'm writing....))
THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION
"So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.
He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,
You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...
You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.
It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,
I'm all alone, I've got no choice."
From "Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.
If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at "burgess of world.std.com". If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904 if you let me know in advance to be sure the fax machine is set up.
I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small "s" instead of a capital "S". This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine.
Standby lists:
Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Vern Parker, Heath Gardner, Paul Kenny, and Dan Gorham stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.


GAME OPENING INFORMATION
We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!! 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.
We have a new game start below. I am willing to open another new game if there is enough interest!!! Also, is there any interest in another game of Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire 7x7 Dip? I know it may be getting tired, but I really like it. We have Karl Schmit on the list, let's get seven!!
I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. I'll publish the rules shortly or you can look at them at www.variantbank.org. Bruce Edwards and Eric Ozog are signed up. I'll try to remember to punch in the rules in the next issue.
John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough and Bruce Edwards are interested, anyone else?
Harold Reynolds has been running the game of Colonia 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. And since Colonia is over, Harold is looking to start something else.
Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and we have an opening here: Bruce Edwards, Mike Barno, and Eoghan Barry are signed up. Postal rules from me will be forthcoming shortly, on my never ending to-do list. I will get them in SOON! I'm more likely to get these things started if I see some interest..... I've GOT to do this now, Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....
Right now, the other thing going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Bob Holt, Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, Dave Partridge, and Eric Ozog are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, the other Modern game is now done!


TAKING OVER ISHKIBIBBLE'S REGULAR DIPLOMACY GAMES
I'll be taking over Phil Reynolds' two regular Diplomacy games somewhere in TAP. One or both games might go to Harold Reynolds' subszine, since Colonia is over. I have Phil's last issue, #44, but that was published way back in December of 2003. I'm not sure if people have moved or whatever in that time, so a little help would be appreciated. And I hope everyone comes back, but I might need some standbys. I am STILL not hearing from too many of you!!! I'm going to start nagging so I can get these restarted. Please let me know if you care playing, thanks to Karl Schmit for responding each time that he's in....
Us and Them: Winter 1901 was published and it was early on, but I think I can find all the players. Hank Alme (Austria), Karl Schmit (England), John Power (Germany), Tim Snyder (Italy), and Fred Wiedemeyer (Russia) are all here already and Paul Boymel (Turkey) and Marc Ellinger (France) are locatable. Please let me know if you plan to continue!!!
We are the Champions: This one is even earlier, ONLY Spring 1901 had been published. But again, most of the players are around here, and I've located Paul Boymel (Italy) and Marc Ellinger (Turkey). Dave Partridge (Austria) is here of course, Graham Wilson (England) is just joining us, Fred Wiedemeyer (France) and Kevin Wilson (Germany) are here. Paul Risner probably is not going to be able to continue in the game.
You can find that last issue of Phil's szine at:
http://www.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/ishkibibble/ishkibibble_44.pdf


SPIRALS OF PARANOIA: 2005A, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1901 IS JUNE 18TH, 2005
Summer 1901
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): has a SER, a TRI, f ALB.
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): has a EDI, f NTH, f NWG.
FRANCE (Tretick): has a GAS, f MID, a SPA.
GERMANY (Tallman): has a KIE, a RUH, f DEN.
ITALY (Baker): has a APU, a NAP, f ION.
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): has f RUM, a GAL, a STP, f GOB.
TURKEY (Biehl): has a BUL, f CON, a ANK.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,
(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net
FRANCE: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle, Spotsylvania, VA 22553-1953, cell (540) 226-5571 (E-Mail)
berniebuddy32 of aol.com
GERMANY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 331-5698 ($2)
terryt of whidbey.net
ITALY: Marvin Baker, 822 W. Garner Rd., Garner, NC 27529 (919) 772-7542,
marvinrb1 of bellsouth.net
RUSSIA: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
TURKEY: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,
(604) 591-1832 ($7); jrb of dccnet.com


Game Notes:
1) I have orders on file for most of you. I'll use those unless you change them.


Press:
(ITALIAN GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT to ALL): Sorry about the lack of communication, in the last 2 weeks my wife has found out the need of and had done a heart cath. I am very thankful to say it was negative. But that leaves us still to explain the chest pains. Then her father (her parents live beside us) had a pacemaker put in. So it's been an eventful 2 weeks full of a different kind of stress than I am used to. Now that the bad stuff is past I can get back to a more normal routine.
(TURKEY to GERMANY): Actually, the Berphoon is SOOOO lucky to be so far away from me.
(BOOB to TURKEY): Uhhh, YEAH!
(ANONYMOUS): The French and Italian Lemmings have `mass migrated' to the Mediterranean beaches to suntan. Meanwhile, as `Pierre' and `Linguini' run from the Hun, the Scandinavian ski season promises to open with a `boom'.
(CONSTANTINOPLE, OCT 31, 1901): Sultan Hatas I thought, "Methinks I should again partake of the hookah so my `spirals of paranoia' might disappear."
(ANONYMOUS): The `International House of Flapjacks' (the rest of us) would REALLY like to see Fritz `waffle' with six pancakes.


FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1904 IS JUNE 18TH, 2005
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1905 IS JULY 16TH, 2005
Fall 1904
AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): a tri-VEN, a vie-TRI, a BUD S a ser, a alb-GRE,
a LVN-war, a UKR-war, a SER S a alb-gre.
ENGLAND (Schmit): f iri-MID, a BEL h, f ENG S f iri-mid, f SWE h,
f NTH S a bel, a MOS S RUSSIAN a sil-war.
FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): f SPA(SC) S f wes-gol, a BRE h, f wes-GOL,
a bur-MAR, a GAS S a bur-mar.
GERMANY (Sundstrom): a KIE S f den, a ber-PRU, a ruh-MUN, f DEN S a kie.
ITALY (Williams): f gre h (d r:ion,otb), f gol s a mar (d r:tyh,tus,otb),
f tyh-WES, a mar h (d r:pie,otb).
RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell): a sil-WAR.
TURKEY (Levinson): a con-BUL, f AEG S a con-bul, f BLA S a rum,
a SEV S a rum, a RUM S a con-bul.


Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): TRI,VIE,BUD,ser,gre,ven (has 7, rem 1)
ENGLAND (Schmit): EDI,LVP,LON,nwy,stp,bel, (has 6, bld 2)
mos,swe
FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): PAR,MAR,BRE,spa,por (has 5, even)
GERMANY (Sundstrom): KIE,BER,MUN,hol,den (has 4, bld 1)
ITALY (Williams): ROM,NAP,tun (has 1, 2, 3, or 4, rem or bld to 3)
RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell): war (has 1, even)
TURKEY (Levinson): ANK,SMY,CON,bul,sev,rum (has 5, bld 1)
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net
ENGLAND: Karl Schmit, 1452 Seville Dr. #3, Green Bay, WI 54302-5559, (920) 469-5981,
diplomacy of new.rr.com ($5)
FRANCE: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,
(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell)
GERMANY: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
ITALY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org
RUSSIA: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230,
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com
TURKEY: Alexandre Levinson, 1, allee des Marniquets, 78430 Louveciennes FRANCE, don't need phone,
levinson7 of hotmail.com ($5)


Game Notes:
1) Neutral Sweden FINALLY is overwhelmed by the English hordes. It stayed neutral until the end of 1904, that's a record as far as I've ever seen. Anyone else see Sweden or any other neutral stay empty for so long?? And Russia takes a home center back and survives....


Press:
(STAR TREK PRESS - EPISODE 7 - "Truth is Stranger then Fiction"): A Conversation Kirk (K) and Spock (S)
K: Report, Spock!
S: We have good news, great news, really really great news to report.
K: Did the Tribbles take the bait?
S: They did, Captain. We won a battle in the Tribble neutral zone causing one Tribble starship to withdraw, and they walked into Deep Space 6 as planned. They can't hold it long enough to use its resources and the starship "Structured Corruption" is now within range of the Tribbles first military colony on the fringe of the Neutral Zone.
K: Sweet!
S: It gets better, the Tribbles, the Children of Tamari, and the (this is too good to be true!) Romulans have attacked the Breen. With the Tribbles trapped on Deep Space 6, they can't defend their homeworld. The Breen can just walk in or if they don't, they're nuts. On top of that, if the Tribbles retreat to defend homeworld, we can advance or at least hold our own. The only question is...
K: What will the Federation and the Romulans do on our "other" front?
S: If they don't attack, we don't have another front.
K: Cool! I'm wondering Spock, the attack on the Breen by the Tribbles doesn't make any sense. If they had waited just a little longer they could have held Deep Space 6, now, even with Federation help they couldn't hold it.
S: According to an intercept of a Tribble subspace message, the Tribble commander is away on a pilgrimage.
K: Maybe he is looking for his "pau".
S: He's a Tribble, not a Bejoran.
K: Well, I wish him all the best, but I hope we can take advantage of his absence.
S: Agreed.
(Now in Sick Bay, later in the day, Kirk talking to Dr. McCoy(M))
K: Any luck in your attempt to change us back into human form? I hate being a Ferengi.
M: Actually, I have a theory but I have to try it on one of us. 7 of 9 has agreed to let me "experiment on her".
K: I always wanted to be a doctor.
M: Wish me luck!
K: Can I watch??? (McCoy rolls his eyes and walks away)
(JEFF to JIM): John Boardman sent me his szine. Its main theme is the evil of patriotism. I of course "had to respond". He ended up giving me the "Colin Ferguson Award" of the month for conservative stupidity (should I be proud or angry?) ((If I were you, I'd be proud, it does put you in some pretty mixed company, but John's szine is the hobby's original szine. This all is pretty well known for people who've been getting the szine for 20 years or so like I have.))
I told Mr. Boardman that he did have some good points but that there are plenty of examples, World War II for example, where patriotism was justified. He responded by telling me he has no interest in a dialog with someone as "insane" as me. The guy mails me three szines, but claims he's not interested in a dialog. ((Well, if he's not interested in an exchange of ideas and isn't willing to change his mind on anything, that actually does make sense.)) He never directly responded to a single point I ever made. The man is obviously intelligent but he is also arrogant and mean and even dangerous. I was just curious if you knew him.
(KARL-SEAN): Saying the Colonial map is better than the Modern map really makes me want to never try Modern.
(JIM-BOB to KARL): Or, you could go with everyone else I've ever heard comment on the two after playing them.... Modern's map is way, way better than Colonial's.
(JEFF to SEAN): How's married life treating you?
(BOOB to JEFF): Wait a sec, Sean is married and he didn't tell us??? Wow, it seems like yesterday that he was still in high school.
(ANKARA-DENMARK via SILESIA): A summit was held in Sevastopol and many plans were hatched. The Russian leaders were invited, unfortunately there were none nearby to be found.
(JEFF to JIM): I disagree, I like the Star Wars prequel. Nicely done in my opinion. I think the Star Trek prequel was a good concept, just poorly written. I'm still trying to figure out why John Boardman's zine has not been cancelled.
(BOOB to JEFF): You're certainly entitled to your opinion and lots of people agree with you. I also agree that the worst part of Enterprise was the writing, especially how Vulcans were portrayed.
(GENE RODDENBERRY to THE PARAMOUNT NETWORK): Of course "Enterprise" sucks. I'm still dead!


I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1910 IS JUNE 18TH, 2005
Summer 1910
AUSTRIA (Parker): has f ALB, a VIE, a TRI, f ADR, a PIE, a BUL, a TUS, a ROM,
a SEV, a APU, a SER, a STP, f GRE.
ENGLAND (Kinney): R f nwg-CLY; has a YOR, a EDI, f CLY.
FRANCE (Kent): has a GAS, a WAL, f ENG, f TUN.
GERMANY (Wilson): has f NTH, a MUN, f HOL, a PIC, a SWE, a BUR, f NWG, a BEL.
ITALY (Barno): has a NAP, f ION.
TURKEY (Miller): has f AEG, a ARM, a CON.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139
VernDip of aol.com is preferred
ENGLAND: Mark Kinney, 4830 Westport Road, Apt D, Louisville KY 40222
alberich of iglou.com
FRANCE: Douglas Kent - Unit F, #30694-177, Federal Correctional Institution McKean,
PO Box 8000, Bradford, PA 16701
GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 18623 Santa Maria Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70809, 225-751-3857,
ckevinw1 of cox.net
ITALY: Formerly was Heath Gardner, 1510 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC 27403-1207
metaphorman of gmail.com
ITALY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Tim Miller, 258 New Mark Esplanade, Rockville, MD 20850,
tim of webjudge.net
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287
burgess of world.std.com


Game Notes:
1) The concession to Austria and the AFG draw are rejected again. This time an GA draw is proposed, if you think this game is GA GA, vote for it with your Fall orders and the game can end. Failure to vote vetoes the proposal.


Press:
(F-ALL): Rifles for sale. Only dropped once.


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1919 IS JUNE 18TH, 2005
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1919 IS JULY 16TH, 2005
Spring 1919
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 smy-CON.
RUSSIA (Parker): 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 ARM-sev, a UKR S a sev-mos, a WAR S a sev-mos,
f WES s ENGLISH f por-spa(sc) (nso), a SEV-mos, f GOL s ENGLISH a gas-mar (nso),
a SIL s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso), a GAL S a sil, f NAF s ENGLISH f mid-wes (nso),
f AEG C GERMAN a smy-gre (nso), a TYO s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso),
f PIE s ENGLISH a gas-mar (nso), a BOH s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso).


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: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139
VernDip of aol.com is preferred
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) The FREGT draw is rejected and then reproposed. We now require everyone to vote every season, no perpetual draw votes. And failure to vote would be a yes. So actually technically you don't HAVE to vote, since this does NOT mean the game will just be ended by the GM, it just means someone must veto the draw every turn. So it is just draw vetoers who must vote. At least one person continues to veto the proposal.


Press:


FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules
THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 16 IS JUNE 18TH, 2005
Turn 15
-F-I-N-A-L- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-
120 (replenish with a 3) Pebble
119 (no replenishment) Empty
118 (no replenishment) Empty
117 (no replenishment) Empty
116 (no replenishment) Empty
115 (no replenishment) Empty
114 (no replenishment) Empty
113 (replenish with a 3) Spades
112 (no replenishment) Empty
111 (replenish with a 3) Marge, Clay
110 (replenish with a 5) Homer
109 (replenish with a 6) Hearts
108 (no replenishment) Empty
107 (no replenishment) Empty
106 (replenish with a 3) Sand, Frederick
105 (replenish with a 5) Clubs, Lisa, Edmond
104 (replenish with a 8) Wade, Diamonds
103 (replenish with a 10) Franklin, El Vez, Paige
102 (replenish with a 13) Carl Sagan, Geri Lee Lewis, Johnny Peso
101 (replenish with a 16) James
100 (no replenishment) Empty
99 (no replenishment) Empty
98 (no replenishment) Empty
97 (no replenishment) Empty
96 (no replenishment) Empty
95 (no replenishment) Empty
94 (no replenishment) Empty
93 (no replenishment) Empty
92 (no replenishment) Empty
91 (no replenishment) Empty
90 (no replenishment) Empty
89 (no replenishment) Empty
88 (no replenishment) Empty
87 (no replenishment) Empty
86 (no replenishment) Empty
85 (no replenishment) Empty
84 (no replenishment) Empty
83 (no replenishment) Empty
82 (no replenishment) Bart quits and is too busy up the tree to replenish
81 (no replenishment) Empty
-S-P-R-I-N-T- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-
80 (no replenishment) Empty
79 (replenish with a 3) Zedd
78 (no replenishment) Empty
77 (no replenishment) Empty
76 (no replenishment) Empty
75 (no replenishment) Empty
74 (no replenishment) Empty
73 (replenish with a 3) Omega
72 (replenish with a 4) Silt


Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (39 points)
Team Name: Team Springfield
A: Homer Simpson (13) 11 7 4 5
B: Marge Simpson (13) 3 3 3
C: Bart Simpson Refuses to Ride, Plays in his Treehouse
D: Lisa Simpson (3) 4 3 5
Total Replenishments: 22+63+46+13+15+29+21+17+25+17+18+33+32+10+13 = 384
TEAM 2 (Bruce Edwards): kactusjak of ntlworld.com (2 points)
Team Name: Last Again
A: Zedd (4) 3 3 3
B: Omega (3) 4 3 3
C: Paige (11) 5 13 10
D: James (4) 3 6 16
Total Replenishments: 16+37+29+25+12+13+26+24+21+18+16+15+30+23+32 = 337
TEAM 3 (Tom Howell): off-the-shelf of olympus.net (1 point)
Team Name: The Soils; Manager: Boulder
A: Clay (7) 7 3 5 3
B: Silt (3) 4 4 4
C: Sand (4) 10 3 3
D: Pebble (15) 3 3 3
Total Replenishments: 17+62+63+25+12+13+12+29+27+21+17+31+15+15+13 = 372
TEAM 4 (Dennis Menear): dmenear of wirefire.com (9 points)
Team Name: The Firm
A: Edmond (13) 3 3 3 5
B: Franklin (7) 4 4 10
C: Frederick (9) 4 4 3
D: Wade (11) 3 3 8
Total Replenishments: 12+28+32+35+38+25+24+17+29+21+15+26+21+35+26 = 384
TEAM 5 (David Partridge): rebhuhn of rocketmail.com (24 points)
Team Name: It's In The Cards; Manager: The Joker
A: Spades (11) 3 7 3 3
B: Hearts (4) 2 3 6
C: Diamonds (11) 5 6 8
D: Clubs (3) 3 3 5
Total Replenishments: 17+55+51+25+30+24+26+20+34+15+15+25+18+20+22 = 397
TEAM 6 (Karl Schmit): diplomacy of new.rr.com (3 points)
Team Name: 25 Dollar Quartet
A: Carl Sagan (8) 3 15 9 13
B: El Vez (11) 15 13 10
C: Geri Lee Lewis (8) 9 9 13
D: Johnny Peso (7) 1 8 13
Total Replenishments: 12+37+22+44+16+27+28+27+32+39+33+20+24+39+49 = 449


Game Notes:
1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. Press is VERY welcome!!!
2) Up above in parentheses is the card you played to get to where you are in the field. The replenishment card is the last card in your list. Be careful to note that the card you played (the one in parentheses) is not available for you, for next turn. Just for fun, I'm going to keep track of total replenishment, by turn, which is a rough measure of how the teams are doing. Of course, it is lining up to get across the sprint and final lines in the right places that really counts. We can calculate an "efficiency score" later, which will be the ratio of scoring points per replenishment. If I'm predicting how the future of this will come out, a 10% score will be really tremendous for this measure (note that Rick still is just barely ahead of this pace). And Dennis and Rick have precisely the same number of replenishment points, but very different outcomes with those points. And Karl leaps out to a COMMANDING lead in replenishment, now he needs to go, go, go and get these guys over the finish line and earn some POINTS!


Press:
(TOM to GM): What's with this game? I NMR two turns in a row and still come in first!
(BOOB to GM): As I discovered in the other game, having the first rider across the line is NOT winning the race..... the Gold Trophy goes to the TEAM that wins!
(TOM to DESPERATE RICK): Hey! Congratulations! You got the gold trophy this time out! I'm going to grab the bronze: then I'll have a complete matched set.
(KARL to BOOB): Replenishments are overrated! Rick should have this game as Homer looks to be the 2nd across the finish line. Not having looked at it too closely, I think I should have another amazing turn for replenishments but the best finish I could hope for would be grabbing 4th through 7th places. Perhaps early replenishments are key? Or maybe one team doesn't usually grab a nearly insurmountable lead most of the time... anyway, I'll get y'all in Tinamou! ((I've found that the way Rick grabbed that lead is almost unprecedented. But you know those mathematicians, he probably had some complex differential equation model with Bayesian posterior distributions tacked on that solved the whole thing out for him.....))
(BOULDER to SILT): You are going to let Omega finish last, aren't you???!!
(BOOB to SILT): We'll see who catches up to Bart, won't we???
(TOM to JIM-BOB): On your efficiency score, you going to subtract the cards left in the players hand at the end? You should at least count those up and figure some kind of "Wastage Score"... < g >
(BOOB to TOM): I wasn't going to, but that is a good idea. It partly will explain why Karl has more replenishments at the end, but won't win. Most of you probably can figure out how this all ends up, but let's play it out! (Tom has placed his educated prediction)


Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.30.
On 10 Jun 2005, 19:35.