Eternal Sunshine #177

February 2024

By Douglas Kent - 911 Irene Drive, Mesquite, TX 75149

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/270968112943024/ or on the web at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/. Follow on Twitter at @EternalSunshDip. Also be sure to visit the official Diplomacy World website at http://www.diplomacyworld.net.

Sign up for the Eternal Sunshine Mailing List at https://mailchi.mp/45376bbd05df/eternalsunshine

Check out my eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/dougsrarebooksandmore

Quote of The Month – “She remembers the day she got her tooth filled. Christ, I can hardly remember the first time I got laid.” – (Nick in “The Four Seasons”)

Welcome to Eternal Sunshine, a zine which died a while ago but the doctors haven’t pulled the plug. I’m not sure why; it’s not an organ donor so there’s nothing to harvest!

I guess that’s it from me for now. See you in March

Game Openings

No game openings, as the zine will fold when the currently-running games are completed.

Standby List: Current standby list who are qualified to standby in More Than Ever: Harold Reynolds.

The Dining Dead – Eternal Sunshine Movie Reviews

Older Movies Watched (that I’ve seen before, sometimes many times) – The Apostle, The Big Lebowski, The Producers, Sophie’s Choice, A New Leaf, The Four Seasons, Elizabeth, The Silence of the Lambs, Dead Man Walking.

Out of the WAY #65

by W. Andrew York

(wandrew88 of gmail.com)

Howdy!

First off, I made a faux pas with the Endgame report for the Gunboat game…and eagle-eyed Miller/Boardman Number Custodian Tom Howell caught it. I neglected to include the final center count on the chart for 1910 as we’d completed the Fall turn but the draw happened before the Winter adjustments. A revised chart is below, with repeated end-game statements to have a complete final report. Apologies to all.

It’s been a busy start to the year with catching up with some friends, seeing movies, a visit by my step-brother and his wife (in town for a medical conference) and some baseball related things. The Rangers Winter Caravan came through mid-January with a couple players, a coach and broadcaster. For some reason the event sold out within 24-hours (couldn’t have anything to do with the Rangers winning the World Series) and, though the official count was 400 folks, it looked like over 600 were packed into the conference center. Good info, tasty meal and nice to chat with some of the Express folks during the winter hiatus.

Also, the local SABR group had their annual “Winter Meeting”, a full day with speakers, group awards for season/play-off predications and general baseball discussion. One of the speakers was an Austin high school chapter member, a statistics whiz, who looked into whether a lead off walk or single was more detrimental to the team in the field as the consensus was that the walk was much worse. Looking at the 2023 season, she found walks resulted in slightly more runs than singles (but not a statistically relevant difference); however, in the 9^th inning, singles were definitely worse for the defense than a walk. (She did an excellent presentation last year as well).

Other speakers included the Express general manager talking about the upcoming AAA season in Round Rock, an umpire development staffer for Major League Baseball (much has changed in how umpires are recruited and trained during the past few years!) and a couple of authors presenting on their books (one about the Union Baseball Association in the 19^th Century and the other relating major league players’ recollections on their call-up to the Big League and their first game). All in all it was an excellent day. And, Spring Training starts next week!

See ‘ya next month!

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Letter Column

(always welcome, send them in!)

(if something shouldn’t be included here, clearly mark it as a personal comment)

None received, send some in!

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Mini-Book Reviews

(finished since last issue)

Looking Back by Alida Chapman (1976; 354p).

This is a bit of a special book for two reasons. The first is that the text consists primarily of columns, and other excerpts, my great-grandmother wrote, mostly for the Ingham County News in Michigan during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. These are her recollections of growing up and experiencing the changes that occurred during her lifetime in Delhi Township; as well as information culled from stories/documents about the settlement of the area, notes from government meetings and gleanings from older issues of the newspaper. The creation of the book was one of the efforts of Delhi Township’s Bicentennial Commission and it was sold locally (it was comb-bound, and not professionally edited).

The other reason it is special to me is that, besides serving on the Bicentennial Commission at 14, I was asked to write the book’s Introduction. Sadly, my great-grandmother died in December of 1975, so wasn’t able to see the fruition of the Commission’s efforts nor see the book completed.

Besides the columns, the book includes winning essays from the Elementary, Junior High and Senior High students about “What America Means to Me” and a collection of photographs showing Delhi Township and its citizens throughout the years. Also, there is a sketch map of Holt in 1917 showing the location/ownership of various homes and businesses along the main roads.

The book is of general interest for folks wanting a feel of the times as she includes background on early settlers, how the local government worked and the various social organizations that existed, along with stories of individuals and their activities. Many personal stories from her life help bring the reader into the way it was before automation, mechanization and the modern way of life. However, it shouldn’t be taken as an authoritative historical source as it is more of personal viewpoint reminisces than a fact checked text. The book contains no specific references or sources as Alida’s death occurred before that was attempted.

Recommended if of interest. [January 2024]

Selected Sonnets, Odes and Letters by Petrach [editor Thomas G. Bergin] (1966; 138p).

This book is a collection of some of the literary output of Petrach (1304-1377). His background and history is well summarized in the Introduction. That includes some background on “Laura” (identity not definitively known), a focus of his devotion and the subject/inspiration of many of the sonnets written while she was alive. The introduction also gives a bit of the political background as popes/anti-popes were crowned and Petrach moved between Italian city-states.

That said, I’m still not a great fan of poetry and verse, but made my way through this by reading one or two compositions a day. Most weren’t that moving to me, and some of the imagery/references I didn’t get (though, as this was a used copy acquired for one of my college classes, a previous reader did include some crib notes that helped every so often).

I can’t actually recommend this from a personal perspective. However, as a literary product of his time and, for those that do like this type of writing, it can be illuminating and worth reading. [February 2024]

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Babylon 5 Quote

In “Strange Relations” – Lochley: “You don’t have to solve every problem all at once. Problems are solved in pieces. If you’re

on the seventh floor of a burning building you can either die or jump out the window…once you’re

out the window, you’re alive for another two seconds, in which time you figure out the solution to the

next problem and so on and so on.”

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Game Section

Everyone Plays Games: Hangman, By Definition

~~+++++++++++++++++++++~~

“Round Rock Express”

(No-Press Gunboat, Game #1)

MN: 2021Crb32

Austria, France, Germany and Italy DIAS Passes after Fall 1910

Started on July 2021 in Out of the WAY #35/Eternal Sunshine #146

Ended December 2023 in Out of the WAY #63/Eternal Sunshine #175

GM: W Andrew York

Players:

Austria: Kevin Wilson (Draw)

England: David Burgess (drop F09); CD

France: Graham Wilson (Draw)

Germany: Mark Firth (Draw)

Italy: Heath Davis-Gardner (drop W05); Andy Lischett (Draw)

Russia: Brad Wilson (elim W06)

Turkey: Doug Kent (elim W08)

Supply Centers

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

Austria: 05 06 07* 07 06 05 06* 06* 06* 07**

England: 05 05 06 06 06 06 07 06 05 03

France: 03 05 03 03 03 03 02 03 02 03

Germany: 05 07 09* 09 12 12 12 11 12 12

Italy: 04 04 04 05 05 07 07 08 09 09

Russia: 04 04 02 02 01

Turkey: 04 03 03 02 01 01

*Playing 1 unit short due to inability to build

**Would play one short, if Winter builds would be done

End-Game Statements

Kevin Wilson (Austria) – First, thanks to Andy for running the game. I don’t often play gunboat as the discussion between players is such an important part of the game. But, every once in a while it can be a bit fun.

Second, congrats to Germany, whoever you are. Nicely done.

I thought I got off to a good start with the usual early Austrian gains and with a solid Italian ally thought both of us might prosper. But, Germany successfully ran a two-front war, keeping us at modest gains until Russia was gone and west in disarray and then it was simply stop him. I proposed several concessions as by the late game it was simply survival and keeping Germany from a solo. I’m still surprised the DIAS passed. I wonder if Germany forgot to vote?

It was fun and I’ll do it again but I think I’ll wait a while first.

Graham Wilson (France) – The DIAS was indeed a surprise. I had thought that the game would eventually end as a victory composed of some subset of AGI.

This was my first diplomacy game in many (many) years, and it taught me to NOT rely on my memory of the game board. My memeory of such has definite faults. After screwing up my moves in 1901, I got out my old board and pieces and spent the rest of the game trying to stay one step ahead of, and not be wiped out by, England.

It was a fun game. Thanks to all for playing and special thanks to Andy for GMing.

Mark Firth (Germany) – Seems a fair outcome.

Having taken territory from Russia early, I would then have happily kept the neighbour in place through the game. But in the end the southern Powers were too much for me to maintain both my units and help Russia’s and I had to watch Turkey go too. Likewise I was content to work with England. But, perhaps rightly, they saw fit to turn on me, fearing a stab.

Nevertheless, as the game went on and Germany still expanded, I was never reaching a point where I felt it wasn’t going to crumble. Gunboat often affords the leader an opportunity to push on, whilst rivals step on toes or fail to coordinate. But that didn’t look the case here. Italy and Austria were slowly getting into place and France, who I saw now as a necessary ally, also had the odd pop on my direction. No negotiations possible, I had to hope my moves would convince.

I would have liked to have played on even so, but the loss of an active England meant any victory would be less merited. With the tide close to turning, I decided to see if everyone else was ready to lay down arms. They were.

Thanks to everyone for the game, to Andy for running it and to Doug for providing it a home.

Andy Lischett (Italian Standby) – Had I been paying attention I would have vetoed the draw, because this game was fun and had a ways to go. I simply missed the call for a vote.

I don't remember playing a gunboat game before, and when I took over Italy it was frustrating not to be able to say, "Let's stop Germany. I'll support you to XXX if you'll help against YYY." Instead I tried building goodwill by not attacking potential allies, and supporting some of their orders from the previous turn and hoping they would notice. I thought of submitting orders such as, "Italian A ... wishes Austria would support him to Tyrol next time" but even if Andy would have allowed it, that's contrary to the idea of gunboat.

When I joined, Germany was running away with the game and, although I don't know what happened earlier, nobody seemed to be trying to stop him except on their own turf. So I started supporting Austria around Rumania and didn't attack him. I did attack Turkey, however, because he was too small and remote to help stop Germany, and then I attacked France for basically the same reason, plus France was distracting England from fighting Germany.

And that's how it went until England disappeared. Everything in gunboat is slow-motion, but Germany had been stopped, Austria and I were cooperating and I think England was realizing that I would help him get France out of his way.

But then England and his six units went into Civil Disorder, leaving a bunch of supply centers and control of the seas open to Germany. I stopped attacking France and sent my fleets around Spain into the Atlantic and as far as the Irish Sea, and think Austria, France and I had a good chance of stopping Germany. To suggest that alliance to Austria and France I even proposed an AFI draw.

But I didn't see the DIAS proposal and NVRed. Rats.

Thanks to all the players for an interesting game. Who are you, anyway?

Doug Kent (Turkey) – All I remember is I took a sip of coffee and I’d been eliminated.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Hangman, By Definition

This is a five-round game, with each round consisting of a variable number of turns. The winner will be the person who wins the most rounds, with a tie breaker being fewest total number of turns in those winning rounds. Second tie breaker will be the greatest number of letters guessed (by total count revealed, not by individual letter).

Each round will consist of identifying a word of at least six letters. Along with each word will be the first definition given. All words and definitions will be identified by blank spaces. Words and definitions are verified in a dictionary that was my high school graduation gift (slight hint to those who might want to find the edition).

The goal is to guess the word in as few turns as possible. Each turn, all players will submit up to three different letters to be revealed. The letter submitted by the most players will be the letter revealed in the next turn. Ties will be broken by a randomized method. Additionally, each player should submit a guess for the word. Once the word is correctly identified (spelling is important), that round will end and a new round will begin. All players who guess the word in the same turn will share in the win for the round. If the word is not guessed by the end of six turns with no letter being revealed, no one will win the round.

Along with revealing letters in the word, letters will be revealed in the definition. There are no bonus points for guessing any part of the definition, it is only there to help players figure out the word. No guesses about parts of the definition will be confirmed or displayed except by the letter revealed in that round. The letters “E” and “S” can never be chosen as the letter to be revealed.

Game 2, Round Five, Turn 2:

Letter Vote: A – 4; B – 1; C – 2; D – 1; F – 1; H – 3; I – 1; M – 1; N – 2; O – 1; R – 1; U – 1; W – 1

Revealed: A

Words Guessed: (Firth) Ambulance; (Galt) <>; (Howell) Majuscule; (Kent) Blackbird;

(Lischett) Homicidal; (Maslen) Zymolysis; (Wilson) Buckyball

Solution:

Word: __ __ __ __ A __ __ __ __ (9)

Definition: T __ __ (3) __ __ __ T __ __ AT __ __ __ (11) __ __ (2) __ __ A __ T __ (6)

__ __ (2) T __ __ (3) __ A __ __ __ __ __ (7) __ __ (2)

__ __ __ __ __ T __ __ __ (9); __ A __ __ __ __ __ (7);

A __ __ __ __ __ __ T __ __ __ (11)

Never Revealed: E, S Already Revealed: A, T

Words Previously Guessed in this Game: Aftermath, Dramatize, Mezzanine, Obsessive, Parataxis, September, Zymurgies

Game Words Correctly Guessed: Metamorphosis (Firth, Maslen, Smith, Wilson); Chromatic (Firth, Maslen, Smith);

Petroglyph (Maslen); Regalia (Howell, Maslen)

Player Comments:

[Tom Howell] – I’ll suggest majuscule (only because it has nine letters and contains no ‘T’).

[Dane Maslen] – Until I’ve got any better ideas I’ll stick with suggesting the alphabetically last possible word.

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Deadline for the Next Issue of Out of the WAY:

March 6, 2024 at noon Central US Time Zone

See You Then!

Game entries, letters of comment and other material can be sent to:

wandrew88 at gmail.com; or by post to: W. Andrew York; POB 201117; Austin TX 78720-1117

Eternal Sunshine Game Section

Diplomacy, “More Than Ever”, 2021A, F 12

Austria: Andy Lischett – andy@lischett.com – F Ankara - Black Sea,

A Armenia Supports A Rumania – Sevastopol, A Budapest – Galicia, A Bulgaria – Rumania,

F Constantinople Supports F Ankara - Black Sea, A Galicia – Ukraine, A Rumania – Sevastopol,

A Serbia Supports A Bulgaria – Rumania, A Silesia - Prussia (*Fails*),

~~F St Petersburg(sc) Hold~~ (*Dislodged*, retreat to Gulf of Bothnia or Finland or OTB), A Tyrolia – Venice,

A Vienna Supports A Budapest - Galicia.

France: Brad Wilson - fullfathomfive675@gmail.com - Ret F Norwegian Sea - Edinburgh..

A Burgundy Supports A Ruhr – Munich, A Denmark - Sweden (*Fails*), F Edinburgh - Clyde (*Bounce*),

F Helgoland Bight Supports F North Sea, A Kiel Supports A Munich – Berlin, A Munich – Berlin,

F North Atlantic Ocean - Clyde (*Bounce*), F North Sea Hold, A Picardy – Belgium, A Ruhr – Munich,

F Spain(sc) - Mid-Atlantic Ocean.

Germany: Andy York – wandrew88@gmail.com - Ret F Denmark - Sweden..A ~~Berlin Hold~~ (*Disbanded*),

A Prussia Supports A Berlin (*Cut*), F Sweden - Denmark (*Fails*).

Russia: Graham Wilson - grahamaw@rogers.com - A Moscow Supports F Norway - St Petersburg(nc),

F Norway - St Petersburg(nc), F Norwegian Sea – Norway, ~~F Sevastopol - Black Sea~~ (*Disbanded*),

A Ukraine – Warsaw, A Warsaw - Livonia.

Now Proposed – A/F Draw, DIAS

Please vote. NVR=No

Supply Center Chart

Austria: Budapest, Bulgaria, Constantinople, Greece, Naples, Rome, Rumania,

Serbia, Sevastopol, Smyrna, Trieste, Tunis, Venice, Vienna=14 Build 2 (Could be 1 short)

France: Belgium, Berlin, Brest, Denmark, Edinburgh, Holland, Kiel,

Liverpool, London, Marseilles, Munich, Paris, Portugal, Spain=14 Build 3

Germany: Sweden=1 Remove 1

Russia: Ankara, Moscow, Norway, St Petersburg, Warsaw=5 Even

PRESS

None.

Deadline for W 12/S 13 is March 9^th at 7am My Time

Deadline for the next issue of Eternal Sunshine is: March 9^th, 2024 at 7am My Time (U.S. central time) –subzine deadline is earlier