Eternal Sunshine #71

December 2012

By Douglas Kent 911 Irene Drive, Mesquite, TX  75149

Email: diplomacyworld@yahoo.com or dougray30@yahoo.com

On the web at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com – or go directly to the Diplomacy section at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/.  Also be sure to visit the official Diplomacy World website which can be found at http://www.diplomacyworld.net. 

All Eternal Sunshine readers are encouraged to join the free Eternal Sunshine Yahoo group at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eternal_sunshine_diplomacy/ to stay up-to-date on any subzine news or errata.  We also have our own Eternal Sunshine Twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/EternalSunshDip, and a Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=112223650909

Check out my new Internet radio station, “Music You Should Know,” at www.live365.com/stations/musicyoushouldknow

 

Quote Of The Month“You want to empty your home, you want to empty your life, of Clementine.” (Howard in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”)

 

Welcome to Eternal Sunshine, the only Diplomacy zine that dares to publish Paul Milewski and Jack McHugh in the same issue…the matter/anti-matter danger is beyond belief, but I’m willing to risk the annihilation of the known universe for your reading pleasure.  Or maybe I am just crazy.  Or both.  You figure it out.

I’m running behind this month, mainly a result of the Thanksgiving holiday and a long Saturday night out I treated Heather to.  I decided to take her to a nice restaurant and then a burlesque show being held in the penthouse of one of the best hotels in Dallas. 

 

I thought Heather would enjoy it, but I couldn’t be certain.  Fortunately, she had a great time, and we’re planning on attending another show sometimes in the next few months.  It was nice to give Heather a reason to really dress up and look absolutely delicious.  She’s ALWAYS beautiful and sexy and gorgeous but Saturday she was simply stunning.  And so were the performers: beautiful and quite talented.  I’m told burlesque is making a real comeback so check your local area and consider going to a show.

 

Thanksgiving was rather nice.  First I had the pleasure of watching the Cowboys lose, which is always a big plus.  Then I cooked a turkey and stuffing, and Heather and I were able to quietly enjoy our dinner with just our household family: the two of us, Toby, Sanka, and Kayza.  Obviously the cats and the dog were treated to a big share of the bird.  No matter, there was plenty for us.  As usual, we were as stuffed as the turkey!

 

In zine news, we almost started the latest Diplomacy opening, the Richard Walkerdine Memorial Game, but one player dropped early in the month and one at the last minute.  So there is still a single spot available.  First come first served!

 

I was also happy to get four Acquire players so quickly.  That game starts this issue.  Hopefully I won’t screw up the GMing too badly.  Also the new game of Kendo Nagasaki begins this issue, and there’s no reason you can’t join in now.  It doesn’t hurt you in the slightest to miss a round here and there as long as you study the guesses and the clues.  Check out the letter column for some terrific hints in the letters there…a number of players from our just-completed game wrote about what they guessed and how they came to those conclusions.

 

I guess that’s about it for this month.  NOTE THE DEADLINE!  In general, Eternal Sunshine has its final deadline on the last Tuesday of the month.  The only exception is when that is also the last DAY of the month.  Therefore, ES deadlines fall this time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Which means….don’t wait until the last minute to send in orders if you are going to be doing family stuff over the Christmas holiday!  You’ll forget, despite my reminder emails, and fiond a big NMR next to your name (and a steep decline in your ESI stock value to boot). 

 

That’s it for this month, see you around the New Year!

 

Playlist: Retrospective – Buffalo Springfield; Message in a Box – The Police; Lionheart Love – Shannon Wurst; Beat Crazy – Joe Jackson.

 


Hypothetical of the Month

 

Last month, we gave you these hypothetical questions or situations: Three more from Andy Lischett.  #1. While helping you move your mother's belongings to a new home a friend of yours discovers an old camera and a World War II tank periscope which your mother threw in a dumpster while cleaning. Although both items have been at your mother's house for over fifty years, you consider them yours because you rescued them from the trash 30-some years ago and stashed them in your room. Neither the camera nor the periscope are especially valuable, but they are "neat." Who do they belong to?   #2. After an emotionally rough week you are running errands on a Saturday morning. You leave your bank to head to Piggly Wiggly for a loaf of rye bread and - unexpectedly - as you switch on your car's radio Beethoven's 9th Symphony begins (or Mozart, or Pink Floyd or Barry Manilow or Lady Gaga or whatever other crap you happen to adore). You love Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Soul music. You are basking in the beautiful music as you pull into a parking space at the grocery store but suddenly realize that if you turn off the engine the music will stop. Even if you turn the key for the brief time it takes to stop the engine and turn the radio back on, the moment will be gone and the spell broken. But you ALSO realize that premium gasoline for your supercharged Duesenberg Model SJ costs $4.65 per gulp AND that the ozone hole is creeping up on Buenos Aires. What do you do?  #3. One winter Sunday you and your wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend take your nieces and nephews sledding at a public park. There are perhaps 100 to 200 people at the hill. After a few runs down the hill you spot a scarf half buried in the snow being run over by tubes and sleds and saucers. You like scarves. They are dashing, and keep your neck warm, and if you wrap one around the lower half of your face you can rob banks. You watch the scarf for a while and nobody claims it and nobody appears to be looking for it, so you dodge screaming kids trying to knock you over and you retrieve the scarf and dust it off.  It is the world's most beautiful scarf. It is the softest and prettiest scarf you've ever seen. It is mauve and puce and other warm, pretty colors with funny names. It's not like the disgusting, scratchy, gray and bile thing from K-Mart that you are wearing. You show the scarf to your w/g/h/b who agrees that it is the world's most beautiful scarf, but as you wrap it around your neck she/he says that you can't keep it because it is obviously an expensive scarf and someone will miss it. It was laying on the hill for at least an hour, you say, and no one is looking for it. He/she says that you should hang it on the snow fence at the top of the hill next to that single pink mitten, the cracked saucers and deflated tubes and garbage cans overflowing hot chocolate cups, because the owner may come back for it later. No, you wail in agony, it is the world's most beautiful scarf and at 4:00 am a park worker will pluck it off the fence and throw it and the mitten and broken saucers and inner tubes and sticky Styrofoam cups in the back of a big green truck and soon after that it will be incinerated.   What do you do?

 

Melinda Holley - #1 - If my mother doesn't want them, then they belong to me.  Why is my friend even thinking of claiming them?  'Course if it was another member of my family, they'd stand there (items in hand) and say "You want these?"

 

#2 - I get another car.  Anything that costs that much to run deserves to be traded in.  However, at this particular moment, I turn off the engine and decide my next stop is somewhere where I can get a decent walkman (or whatever they're called these days) and put my music on that.

 

#3 - If I'm that in love with a scarf, I obviously need professional help.  Have I tried running my scarf through a couple of rinse cycles with a double shot of fabric softener?  If I love the scarf that much, I put it on the fence and wait until the park worker is ready to toss it away and then claim it.  If somebody else claims it, I ask them where they got it and go get one for myself.

 

Andy LichettThese were not hypothetical to me.

 

#1 - Although he did not say so, Ron - the friend - wanted to list and sell the camera and periscope on ebay and split the money. I instead gave the camera to Carol, who has a few other old cameras displayed on a shelf. Ron later moved the periscope as if to claim it when the move is done (it is an ongoing process) and I can't protest since he did pull it from the garbage.

 

#2 - I listened through to the end, not caring a whit for Buenos Aires.

 

#3 - Twenty years later I'm still grieving the loss of the scarf. Against my wife Carolyn's wishes I took the scarf home, saying that if Riverside (where the park is) had a Lost & Found I'd take it there after work the next day. I then drove the nieces and nephews home and against MY wishes Carolyn went back to the park and left the scarf on the snow fence, figuring that turning it in the next evening would be too late. I returned home, she told me what she'd done, and I went back to the park - now closed - and the scarf and mitten and garbage were all gone. Forever.

 

Epilogue: Carolyn felt so bad that the next day she bought me a $55 scarf which wasn’t nearly as nice as the presumed-incinerated scarf. Then I returned it because we couldn't afford it and I felt bad for making Carolyn feel bad.

 

The moral of the story? Let your sister-in-law take her own stinking kids sledding.

 

Richard Weiss - #1 - Belong to the friend who found them.  I had fifty years to ask my Mother for them.  I wouldn’t know they were dumped except he found them.  Tell the story to the friend, laugh, say I hope he enjoys them and maybe someday one of his kids will want them after he puts them in the Goodwill Box.

 

#2 - The moment is already broken.  Been a long time since I was at either a Piggly Wiggly or a JitneyJungle.  Probably the excitement of being back down home would get me jumping out of the car and ask, “Y’all hear that sublime music?”

 

#3 - Keep wearing it. If no one notices and approaches to claim, wear the scarf home.  I’ve been told the Torah covers such incidents.  The owner has some responsibility in this case.

 

Tom Howell - #1 - My friend.

 

#2 - I turn the key to the "accessories" position, which kills the engine, but leaves the radio playing.  I rewired that switch ages ago, just for this very situation...

 

#3 - Hang it on the fence as requested.  Then, I come back at 3:55, just as the park worker drives his big green truck into the parking lot, and: A) if it's gone, hope the rightful owner claimed it, and not some scum bag thief; or B) rescue it from the fence just in time to save it from the park worker, and etc.

 

Rick Desper - #1 - If my mother has thrown something in the trash, it doesn't belong to her any more.

 

#2 - An idling car doesn't burn that much gas.

 

#3 - Huh?

 

Andy York - #1 - Why would I have "my" things at my parents’ house (unless I loaned them something - such as a book). When I moved out permanently (i.e., got my own place rather than renting a room in someone else's house), I moved out everything. Well, except the baby grand piano (mine from my parent's divorce). That was left basically in my father's control, with him consulting with me if it was to be disposed of (I guess "right of first dibs"). It no longer exists, so there's no reason to expect anything of "mine" to be at either parent's house. If, for some reason, I left something behind for 30 years - it's theirs unless some other arrangement was made ("when I get rid of XYZ, I'll give it to you"). That being said, I don't know a parent who wouldn't let their child take something freely that was to be disposed of otherwise.

 

#2 - Buy the CD so I can experience anytime I like in the future. But, for now, turn off the engine unless it only has a few moments left.

 

#3 - Put it on the fence as I'd only wear a scarf in the most extreme circumstances.

 

Dick Martin - #1 -  they still belong to you

 

#2 - let the music play, but turn off the engine (my car doesn't kill the radio when i turn off the engine. hah! and i regain the moment easily anyways)

 

#3 - yell "anybody lose a scarf?" and if nobody claims it, keep it

 

Don Williams - #1 - In my world, the stuff is yours.  Enjoy!  (And that would be considered “cool” stuff by anyone!)

 

#2 - Leave it on, there’s more than one way to save the world; donate something somewhere or clean up the park one afternoon, and remember that beautiful moment while you do it.

 

#3 - Hang it on the fence.  It’s not yours.  Everything else is self-justification.  Pin a note to it for the owner to call you and let it go.

 

Per Westling - #1 - If I still like them I would explain the situation to my friend, that they are mine.  If I have no interest in them I would let the friend keep them.

 

#2 - Isn't it possible to turn of the engine but still have the radio going? At least I think so in the cars I have been driving. And I don't think this gas is causing the problems with the ozone hole...But if it would turn of the music I would probably keep it running for a short while... if it is a very special moment don't break the magic.

 

That said I am in favor of using less gas, both due to peak oil, and due to global warming. The prize I do not really care about. Think it is too cheap, even here where it cost double to the US.  I think it was a bit depressing to see all those big cars in the US. You do really live as there was no tomorrow.

 

Some years ago, a cold winter morning, I passed a burger. Outside a man was sitting in his city jeep, with the engine running, reading his newspaper. Had been studying him for minutes and he kept on reading.  So I knocked on his window, he lowered it, and I reminded him that there are laws against running your engine while standing still. Said something about global warming. He answered something along the line "Good, the weather is too cold" and pulled up his window...

 

#3 - I would go with my w/g/h/b line, that is hang it hoping that the owner finds it.

 

Jack McHugh - #1 - You argue with your mom over stuff??? why you'll get when she passes anyway....i'd ask mom if she wanted it...if she didn't want it...

 

#2 - If the music is that great I’ll buy it....I turn the engine off

 

#3 - I’d take it or I’d come back just before 4 pm and check the fence...I really see this as some big moral dilemma.

 

Robin ap Cynan - #1 - I keep them, but tell my mother I'm doing so.

 

#2 - I love Beethoven- and I just love the engine note of the straight 8 in my supercharged Duesenberg SJ- so both stay on to the end of the Finale- especially if it is the 1950 Furtwangler performance from Bayreuth.

 

#3 - Finders Keepers. It's MINE MINE MINE.

 

Marc Ellinger - #1 - This sounds like the old baseball card scenario that happens to most guys.   We spend our youth collecting baseball cards, go off to school, get jobs, etc., and then mom throws them all in the trash.  In the current scenario, I would say be magnanimous and let your friend keep the stuff.. (and then hold it over your mom’s head for pitching your treasures.)

 

#2 - Really?!?  There isn’t any question here, you keep the car running for the end of the song, the next song after that and the news that follows.   You are paying the freight and if you can afford it, let it run (particularly if  you can afford a Duisenberg!)   As for Buenos Aires, when the Chinese start cutting back on their ozone emissions, we can discuss the piddling amount of pollution from the car.

 

#3 - I think you stay around and see if anyone returns to claim the scarf.  If no one claims it from you, then you keep it.   If someone comes up and asks, then you happily surrender it.

 

Heather Taylor - #1 – They belong to you but apparently you really don’t care that much about them or you would have gotten them sometime in the last 30 years from your Mother’s house!

 

#2 – I would listen for the rest of the song if it gave me that much peace and tranquility-besides I have OCD and sometimes HAVE to listen until the song is over-so sorry about the ozone layer and all but what can you expect from a nut-job like me!

 

#3 – Leave it on the fence for the rightful owner to claim or someone else that doesn’t have a conscience-if I really really had to have it then I would tell my significant other that since they guilted me into leaving it (which obviously they didn’t-I did it to myself) they have to find and buy me one just like it!

 

For Next Month (For the time being, I am usually selecting questions from the game “A Question of Scruples” which was published in 1984 by High Games Enterprises).  Remember you can make your answers as detailed as you wish.: #1 – On the street you meet a couple who have recently arrived from South America and want to remain in the country illegally.  They are destitute.  Do you help them?  #2 – A fellow nurse and close friend is neglecting her work and endangering the patients.  Do you speak to a supervisor, knowing it may jeopardize your friend’s career?


 

 


The Dining Dead -
The Eternal Sunshine Movie Reviews

 

The Sessions – Obviously, a movie where the main character spends over 20 hours a day in an iron lung is not going to be an action-packed thriller.  Instead, The Sessions is a moving and extremely well-done film based on the true story of Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes) – a writer and poet who contracted polio when he was six years old.

 

The main plot involves Mark’s decision that he would like to experience sexual intercourse as he approaches 40 years old (or, as he describes it, nearing his “use by” date).  After discussing the situation with his priest (William H. Macy is a funny and understated performance) he arranges to meet with a sexual surrogate (Helen Hunt as Cheryl Cohen Green) for up to six sessions, with the plan of learning about his sexuality and leading up to true penetration.

 

The film is as much about the growing relationship between Mark and Cheryl as it is working through Mark’s past and his ability to allow himself to feel good.  There is plenty of witty dialogue (Mark uses humor as a defense mechanism, and to put people at ease), but none of it is fake or forced.  Cheryl’s character, through her actions, reveals the vast differences between a sexual surrogate and a prostitute or call girl.

 

Some of the moments are at the same time quite sad and very beautiful, such as when Cheryl asks Mark if he’d like to know what she feels like, proceeding to move his hand over her face, skin, and breasts (Mark is almost completely motionless, but has full sense of touch….his muscles simply do not work.  He can, however, achieve an erection).

 

Cheryl and Mark grow closer emotionally as their sessions proceed, but the film does not follow a Hollywood pattern.  Instead, as it is a true story, real life and its complications are always there to keep things grounded. 

 

I don’t know if this movie has received enough distribution to generate any Oscar buzz, but it’s worthy of that consideration.  Check your local theaters and see if before it disappears…and if you miss it, find the DVD.

 

Seen on DVD – Miller’s Crossing (B-, not the Coen Bros. best but still fun to watch).  Bug (C+, slow and not enough real character development; the curse of putting a play to film). Eye 10 (B-, I love the different way the Asian filmmaker looks at the universe, and how creepy their ghosts are).

 


Meet Me In Montauk
The Eternal Sunshine Letter Column

 

Kevin Wilson: Are you sure In game 1, when someone first guessed Cadiz (Rick Desper in round 6) you told them they had the right place but not the right person.  I didn't return to Bangkok (my guess in round 1) once I was convinced it was Ben F. on the assumption that you would have said something along the line of "you've found where I am but not who I am" when I guessed  Bangkok in the first round.  Is the reason you didn't say something like that because no one had identified the who yet and we have to find the who first? 

 

[[The only reason I did not specify that you had found the location is that it was the first turn.  There’s no set rule, but in general if you guess the correct location on the first turn I am unlikely to tell you that you are 100% correct.]]

 

It may not have mattered that much.  I also read my map wrong and went the wrong direction having concluded Vientiane was the closest spot from the previous round.  Not that I may have guessed Bangkok anyway due to the point above.  Obviously Tom didn't reach the same conclusion (or didn’t notice/forgot about the Bangkok guess in the 1st round).

 

So, Tom is 2 for 2 now having won this one and shared in the win with 4 of the rest of us in the first.  Nice going Tom.

 

[[…the big show off!]]

 

Melinda Holley: Curious thing regarding bonus question from last time - this actually happened a week ago.

 

Someone friended me on Facebook.  Apparently we both went to high school together although for the life of me I don't remember her or recognize her picture.  Still, we had over 400 people in our senior class so that's not all that surprising.  (My younger sister remembered her name, however.)  Anyway, she would spend her evenings posting all sorts of religious and political postings.  I simply shrugged and skipped most of them.  However, they got more and more...bigoted as time went on.  Finally, she posted one that I felt was offensive and questioned it.  At the same time, she posted something political that was taken out of context and I pointed that out.  Then she came out with a really bigoted statement and I called her hand to it.  Her friends (or I assume they're her friends) immediately supported it and added to it, including statements that 'Anyone with any intelligence knows that Islam is NOT a religion'.  And, yes, that's a direct quote.

 

So I answered.  Now, I realize you can't win an argument with a bigot but you can make them look stupid.  It seems that when you present facts, they resort to questioning your intelligence.  Apparently, my quoting Abraham Lincoln merely proved that I pull up second-and third-hand inferior internet sites.  And when you start using words with more than two syllables, they get horribly offended.

 

Anyway, this person who had originally friended me posted that I was full of hatred and bitterness, obviously I didn't have anything to do with my life except start arguments, and that I felt I was smarter than anyone else.  Mind you, her posting was full of misspellings and mis-usage of words (pray rather than prey; their rather than they're).  Naturally, I felt the need to point this out to her and suggested she invest in a dictionary and thesaurus and learn to use spell-check.  (Hey, this is cheap entertainment!)  I also told her how much fun I was having reading the responses to my posts.  She took one more shot at me and said she would prey for my soul (guess she didn't get the dictionary after all) and unfriended me.

 

Gee, I can't wait for the next high school reunion *snicker*!

 

Dane Maslen: Looking back at the analysis I did for WITWIKN, I see that I had identified that series of answers as corresponding to a small area that included Bangkok (good) but had labelled them as an unacceptable series (bad).  I didn't keep notes of why I ruled any particular series of answers out, but looking back at some other notes I can deduce where I went wrong.

 

In an effort to interpret 'we lived in different eras' I had chosen, after consulting Wikipedia, to break history down into Antiquity (pre 500AD), Early Middle Ages (500-1000AD), High Middle Ages (1000-1300AD), Late Middle Ages (1300-1500AD), Early Modern (1500-1800AD) and Modern (1800AD onwards).  Then I went through and put everyone into the appropriate era.  Copernicus (1473-1543) and da Vinci (1452-1519) I noted as straddling eras, but for some reason I noted Michelangelo (1475-1564) as pure Early Modern.  So, irrespective of whether or not your approach to 'era' had been the same as mine, I'd not correctly followed my own rules and hence categorised Michelangelo and Franklin as being in the same era.

 

Now that I have equipped myself with a means to do the geographical analysis without making my brain explode, I shall have to be more careful with my analysis of your clues!

 

Tom Howell: Kevin,  Thanks for the accolades.

 

I suspect that this game is as much a challenge to moderate as to play.   Finding just the right balance in each response must be difficult.  Ambiguous and inclusive - but not too broad - responses seem appropriate; on the other hand, too explicit responses wouldn't be. What would be the effect on the game if the first turn's clue was,

"you've found where I am but not who I am"?  Twofold, I think.  First: the location is narrowed down to as many explicit cities as players in the game.  Second:  This gives no information on "Kendo"'s identity, effectively shortening this aspect of the game to a nine turn game.  The player on the correct city then must choose between staying put and moving elsewhere.  If he chooses the latter, he may give up responses to his suggested names; although, he'd know who was closest and could easily match responses to suggested names.  The trade-off would be that it would take the other players somewhat longer to figure out the correct location.  If he chooses to stay in his first location, the other players will pile up there all the sooner.  The main problem becomes: with multiple "closest" names to respond to, the GM's task becomes a nightmare.

 

No, I think that the players must assume that unless the GM's response indicates that a particular guess is in the wrong location (and there are many subtle ways to do this) that location is still a possibility. I learned this the hard way in one of my early Kendo games.  Several of us flailed around in the suburbs until someone finally, and correctly, went back into the "center of town".

 

As for this game:  (or any Kendo game) I think the key is figuring out who elicits the responses each turn.  Dane, don't feel like the lone stranger wasting eons on this silly game.  One of the things I've found helpful is to keep my analyses in forms that I can use in subsequent turns.

 

In turn one, I was fairly sure the clue pointed to Kevin Wilson's guess, so moved that direction, but purposely stayed within the area of which my guess would have been closest.

 

In turn two, you, Kevin W., were the only (other) player who had "stayed local", so I was then sure about your first guess being closest. However, from the names suggested, apparently, so did most of the other players.  Or, maybe not.  Some of them appeared to have only been responding to the clue without having tried to match it up with one of the first guesses.  The real competition showed up within your "closest to" area.  After comparing life dates of the five distinct names to my assumption that the clue meant "not a lot more" than a century earlier,

I spotted Kevin Tighe's suggestion which fitted both clues, assuming Rick was closest, and blatantly stole Benjamin from him.  Thanks, Kevin (T)!  I was sorry to see you drop out of the game thereafter.  At this point, I was pretty sure the action was all in South East Asia.  But, then came...

 

Turn three:  in which I tried to whittle away at the edges of the target area.  As did you, Kevin.  My notes indicate that I took a look at Richard Walkerdine's guesses in Europe, and considered the possibility that Indochina was not correct.  In the end, I narrowed the possibilities down to Mr. Desper and Mr. Weiss, and decided that for my current purposes, it really didn't matter which was closest.  Having seen no clue that indicated I should change horses, I stayed with Benjamin.

 

Turn four:  My notes indicate only that I was now sure that Phnom Penh had been the closest in round three.  Which, of course, I knew from having been closest in round four.  Now, I was sure who the four closest guesses were, and the area of possibility was small enough that it only included one city of any real size:  Bangkok.  It also included Ubon Ratchathani, which Brendan has mentioned in _Damn the Consequences_, and it was the only other city that I considered.  Yes, Kevin, I was acutely aware of your first turn guess.  Perhaps Doug can dig out and show us the e-mail I sent him about this right after ES69 came out.  I eventually decided that Doug was most likely only using major international cities.  Otherwise, the possibilities become rather unmanageable.  My other main consideration was that if Bangkok was correct, and I guessed Ubon Rat., that we'd end up with another dog-pile in Bangkok in turn six.  I hoped, that in going directly back to Bangkok, that I wouldn't find too many of my competitors beside me on the airport tarmac.  Also, if I was wrong about Bangkok, whoever found

the correct town in Thailand would probably share in a smaller 'draw'.

 

Turn five:  came with several surprises.  The first was that no one else picked Bangkok.  The second, stronger surprise, was that only Richard Weiss was even close.  I expected more guesses to be at least as close as Kevin's Dien Bien Phu.

 

I'd like to thank Doug for running Kendo.  I'd also like to thank everyone for playing, but especially Kevin Wilson, Rick Desper, Richard Weiss, Andy Lischett, and Jim Burgess for keeping me on my toes.

 

Richard Weiss: I protesteth in vain.  There are no rules and assumptions that the GM would include in clue if a location was guessed that was correct and also if the person was correct. Wrongo.

 

I liked Christian Huygens as the person with the most areas of genius and thus Bangkok, in the first round.  A number of others did as well, and a ring went up.  Michelangelo was a multiple genius and of all locations possible, being in Christ Church, painting the ceiling of the Chapel, was too compelling to resist.  At this point I found an internet program that had air miles between locations.  Southeast Asia and Borneo seemed most probable. Rick Desper was probably the closest and therefore the person had to be born more than 100 years before Uncle Ho.

 

Round 3 I got the private clue, in Phnom Penh.  Michelangelo was the wrong time period.  There was still a sizeable amount of space feasible.  Ho Chi Minh City was close but Hanoi was too far.  For Round 4, with Hillary visiting Myanmar and maybe Doug was a closet liberal and liked Nobel Prize winners, imprisoned leaders and thought Aung San Suu Kyi was sexy, I picked Yangon.  As did others.  I emailed the Boob, congratulating him on being closest and having picked the right person. He told me he wasn’t, but thought Rick had been closest once. Rick’s chewing musing about a pun on the word subjects led me to think about Shakespeare.  This time I went and bought a map.  I spent hours trying to find a place in Borneo that met all the criteria.  Only in the last few days did I read over the locations again and realize that Vientiane was not Venice or Italy.  Ah, Benjamin Franklin, although named earlier, never in the closest city. 

 

For the final round, Chang Mie was in the wrong sector.  Bangkok was the only large city that made sense.  I picked the famous Monkey City of Thailand as the next closest.  Oh well.  My pain was in vain. 

 

Doug, I had a great time and spent a bunch of time on the game.  That means it was great.  Thanks.  I do hate to be at the whimsical mercy of a GM without scruples and who like Hannah in the story, maybe likes cruelty.

 

[[Thanks to all of you for your Kendo Nagasaki comments and strategy hints.  I really like this game, even though I never win!]]

 

 


The Eternal Sunshine Baseball Prediction Contest Results

 

Time once again for the annual Eternal Sunshine Baseball Prediction Contest Results.  The contest was simple: you get one point for each correct division winner, and one point for correctly selecting the wild card teams (one per league).  Then you get two points for each team you correctly choose as league champion (meaning they play in the World Series), and three points for correctly picking the World Series winner. 

 

Kevin Tighe is the big winner, crushing the competition by getting both pennant winners and the World Champ!  Kevin has already selected and received his prize.

 

The Twisting Tale

 

This is a rotating story, with a different author every issue, and a chapter of 500 words.  If you’d like to participate, please email me and let me know, and I’ll let you know when your turn comes up.  We need more particpants!  Email me at dougray30@yahoo.com if you’d like to participate!

 

Chapter 16 – “Complicated” by Kevin Tighe

 

Okay, here I am at the porno waiting for my contact from inside the police department to arrive.   “A Hard Man is Good to Find” is showing on the screen.  The theater smells of urine, the chairs are threadbare with stuffing coming out of most seats, and the floor is sticky with – no don't think about that.  I don't see how this theater can stay open.  No one is here and the title tells me that the film is made by some art school drop out.  And when did everyone go hairless.  What is the point of that? 

 

I hope the contact is alright with me changing the meeting to now.  I needed a couple of days to recover from the beating by Big Brother or whoever he was.  Plus I had to get rid of the good samaritin(?) who took care me.  Life sure can get complicated.  Where is this guy?

 

A voice behind me says, “Cool, I enjoy seeing these Joe Thomber films.  That guy is so artsy.  Glad you can finally make it.  It's not like I've had to figure out a way to keep the target in custody while you lick your wounds.”

 

“Hey,  I reply, “Does the word concussion mean anything to you?  I've had to do impossible things just to stay alive and retrieve these samples.”

 

His voice stays behind me as he moves to my right side.  “Sure, I heard about the girl's bike and the bruisers in the truck.  I know it can get complicated, but your last two targets were just plain screw ups.  The boss says . . .”

 

“The hell they were.  I got the samples.  It's not my fault they didn't pan out . . .”

 

“Ahem.  The boss says.” He takes a long sigh, “Hey, you want to hear a story about Trashcan Man?”

 

“No.”

 

“Not really a question.  You see Trashcan Man was this guy who was completely devoted to his boss.  He would do anything and go anywhere for him.  He would say things like 'My life for you.'  Problem was he was a screw up.  No matter how hard he tried things just didn't go very well for the people around him.  His last final act to do the right thing ended up killing him and his boss and whole bunch of other people.  Now the boss had this right hand man named Lloyd who did all his dirty work.  But the boss never told Lloyd about Trashcan Man and that's why everybody got all blown up.”

 

The contact sticks a syringe into the man's neck and slowly pushs the poison into his vein.  “Now you see here Trashy, OUR boss does tell Lloyd about everybody.  So Lloyd can take care of the screw ups before things get out of hand.  There I can see you're relaxing already.  You're a good loyal man.  The boss really does like you, but like I said before, it's . . . well, you know.  Now just stay there and someone will find you at closing.”

 

He fixes the head so it looks like he is sleeping and gives him a gentle tap on the shoulder.  “Thank you, Stephan King, you tell some good stories.”

 

“Lloyd” walks out of the theater and heads down toward the front doors.  He sees a little girl smoking a cigarette by the doors.  “What the hell kind of place is this”, he thinks,  She can't be more than eight or nine, and her eyes look so cruel.”  He shudders and moves outside.

 

The girl with the cruel eyes snuffs out her smoke and follows him.

 

It's about to get complicated.

 

Next up – Chapter 17 by Don Williams

 

 


LIFEBOAT!

A game of survival, bad breath, and fish odor…

 

This is the simple game of Lifeboat.  Everyone plays this, whether you participate or not.  Each turn everyone still alive in the lifeboat may make a single vote to throw someone off the lifeboat, or a single vote to remove one vote from yourself (a defensive measure).  The high vote getter is thrown overboard, as well as any player getting 2 or more net votes (due to the damage caused when Sanka was tossed overboard).  In a tie, everyone with that score is thrown over.  Last one in the boat wins.  I’ll probably give a prize, as usual.  Press is encouraged.  Note that the votes themselves are NOT revealed.  I just simply announce who is thrown overboard.  If you’re not listed as in the lifeboat right now but want to be, email me and I will add you next issue.  If you are listed and don’t’ want to be…well, too bad.  There is no suicide in this game; you just can ignore it if you want to. 

Currently in the lifeboat:

 


Allison Kent

Amber Smith

Brendan Whyte

Carol Kay

David Burgess

David Latimer

David McCrumb

Geoff Kemp

Heather Taylor

Hugh Polley

John Biehl

Lance Anderson

Marc Ellinger

Martin Burgdorf

Michael Moulton

Paul Milewski


 

For eons, or so it seems, the lifeboat has bobbed around the Atlantic, slowly (unbeknownst to the residents) making its way to the British Isles….must be the Gulf Stream.   Suddenly there is land approaching….joyous sounds ring out….it is the Home Isles….so a brave Mark Firth jumps into to swim towards shore for salvation….wait, a single fin appears…slowly approaching…ever faster….Mark swims faster and faster, but to no avail…CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP….four bites and all that is left is a Fifth of Firth.

 

 


Thrown Into the Shark Infested Waters: Douglas Kent, Jack McHugh, Chris Babcock, Paraic Reddington, Sanka the Cat (safely made it to land), Andy York, Toby the Helpful Kitty (safely made it to land), Phil Murphy, Fred Wiedemeyer, Don Williams, Kayza the Dog (safely made it to land), Michael Quirk, Dane Maslen, Larry Cronin, Chuy Cronin, Richard Weiss. Tom Howell, Jeremie Lefrancois, Harley Jordan, Cal White, Andy Lischett, Rick Desper, William Wood, Jim Burgess, Hank Alme, Kevin Tighe, Per Westling, Kevin Wilson, Jeff O’Donnell, Graham Wilson, Melinda Holley, Michael Cronin, Pat Vogelsang, Robin ap Cynan, and Tom Swider.

 

PRESS

 

Anonymous: mum always told me to lay a trial of Crumbs behind me in case I get lost... the problem is the sharks are not gluten-intolerant...

 

Shark to Boob:  Tommy Swider and Graham crackers, pretty tasty.  We're saving Melinda until we get some Whyte sauce to go with.

 

Anonymous to Boob: Thankx for the regards (you think I'm Dougie Kentie?) I vote you off this time .... NO LIFEBOAT FOR YOU!!!!

 

Anonymous: Hmm. I thought I'd gotten all those opposing Dip players off already and then the GM screwed me with new game starts.

 

Anonymous: Can we vote to throw off press releases? I vote to throw Boob releases to the sharks even though with a name like Boob it'd probably float anyway and then we'd hear these eerie, groaning, moaning, whining,

weenie (you pick your adjective) dis-embodied voices wafting around.

 

Eyeing the Water: Ooooo, yuck! Is that a 'floater'? Or is it a .... chocolate bar?

 

Eyeing the Others: OK, we got any candy wrappers here?

 

(BOOB RECANTS): Wow, you all really woke up and showed yourselves that time.  Way to add to the protein in the water so those of us swimmers can push others toward the sharks.  By my count, 12 of you remaining probably did or could have submitted orders last time.  The biggest slacker left, of course, is my brother David, you'll be sure to knock him off this time?  Amber Smith, Hugh Polley, Lance Anderson, and Michael Moulton were other NMRers last time.  But this now could get exciting.

 

(BOOB to MELINDA): Yeah, probably was something like my fault.... I'll protect you from the sharks, I promise!  I owe you.

 

(SWIMMING BOOB to CAPTAIN DOUG): Let me guess, I am all wet.....

 

Deadline for your vote and any press is December 25th at 7:00am my time


 

 

 


Eternal Sunshine Index – ESI

A Scientific Measure of Zine Health

Current Index: 56.52 +1.27%

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Eternal Sunshine Index is a stock-market-like index of the zine. You don’t do anything in this game, except write press or commentary on price movements (or why you think your stock should have gone up or down).  I move the prices beginning with next issue based on my own private formula of quantity and quality zine participation (NMR’s, press, columns, etc.).  Any new zine participants become new issues valued at at 50, but the stock for anyone who disappears will remain listed.  The average of all listed stocks will result in the ESI closing value each month, which will be charted issue to issue after we have a few months’ worth of data.  If you don’t like the stock symbol I have assigned you, you may petition the exchange to change it.  Blame Phil Murphy for suggesting this section to me.

 

Market Commentary: Despite a mountain of missing orders a few days before the deadline, participation remains high.  Acquire filled in only one issue, and the next Diplomacy game is shy just one player.

 

 

 


Stock

Price

% +/-

AJK - Allison Kent

65

1.6%

ALM - Hank Alme

17

21.4%

AMB - Amber Smith

10

-33.3%

AND - Lance Anderson

10

-33.3%

BAB - Chris Babcock

0.01

0.0%

BIE - John Biehl

97

2.1%

BRG - Martin Burgdorf

86

2.4%

BWD - Brad Wilson

95

5.6%

CAK - Andy Lischett

88

2.3%

CAL - Cal White

0.01

0.0%

CHC - Chuy Cronin

0.01

0.0%

CIA - Tom Swider

0.01

0.0%

CKW - Kevin Wilson

92

2.2%

CKY - Carol Kay

22

10.0%

DAN - Dane Maslen

88

2.3%

DBG - David Burgess

0.01

0.0%

DGR - David Grabar

37

-15.9%

DTC - Brendan Whyte

83

2.5%

DUK - Don Williams

70

2.9%

FRD - Fred Wiedemeyer

81

2.5%

FRG - Jeremie Lefrancois

0.01

0.0%

FRT - Mark Firth

81

2.5%

GRA - Graham Wilson

0.01

0.0%

HAP - Hugh Polley

35

2.9%

HDT - Heather Taylor

86

2.4%

HLJ - Harley Jordan

82

2.5%

JOD - Jeff O'Donnell

81

1.3%

KMP - Geoff Kemp

84

2.4%

KVT - Kevin Tighe

77

1.3%

LAT - David Latimer

80

2.6%

LCR - Larry Cronin

0.01

0.0%

MRK - Mark Nelson

8

-33.3%

MCC - David McCrumb

72

-7.7%

MCR - Michael Cronin

0.01

0.0%

MIM - Michael Moulton

50

-9.1%

MRC - Marc Ellinger

84

2.4%

OTS - Tom Howell

82

3.8%

PER - Per Westling

78

2.6%

PJM - Phil Murphy

28

-15.2%

QUI - Michael Quirk

6

50.0%

RAC - Robin ap Cynan

62

3.3%

RDP - Rick Desper

87

3.6%

REB - Melinda Holley

87

2.4%

RED - Paraic Reddington

94

3.3%

RWE - Richard Weiss

92

3.4%

SAK - Jack McHugh

135

3.8%

TAP - Jim Burgess

100

2.0%

VOG - Pat Vogelsang

0.01

0.0%

WAY - W. Andrew York

86

2.4%

WLK - Richard Walkerdine

141

0.0%

WWW - William Wood

0.01

0.0%

YLP - Paul Milewski

100

3.1%


 

 

 

 

 


Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki?

 

Rules in ES #58.  Send in your guesses.  I’ve played this in Brandon Whyte’s Damn the Consequences a few times and it’s fun, takes only a minute or two each turn, and helps you work your brain!  As soon as this one ends, a new one will begin.

 

ROUND 1

 


Kevin Wilson:

 

Mitt Romney in Washington DC

 

Jim Burgess:

 

Che Guevara in Vallegrande Bolivia

 

Dane Maslen:

 

Archimedes in Tripoli, Libya

 

Paraic Reddington:

 

Charlie Chaplin in Rochester NY

 

Brendan Whyte:

 

Erasmus in Anchorage

 

Richard Weiss:

 

George Washington Carver in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

 

Tom Howell:

 

Pontias Pilate in Jerusalem

 

Rick Desper:

 

Mark Twain in Hannibal, Missouri

 

John Biehl:

 

Ramesses II in Istanbul

 

Andy Lischett:

 

Cheech Marin in Chillicothe

 

Per Westling:

 

Winston Churchill in Buenos Aires

 

Robin ap Cynan:

 

Conrad von Metzke in San Diego

 

Marc Ellinger:

 

Barack Obama in Chicago

 

Mark Firth:

 

Mamie Eisenhower in Bogota


 

Hint to Player with Closest Geographic Guess: “You died before I was born”

 


 

Deadline for Round 2 is December 25th at 7:00am my time


 

 



Brain Farts: The Only Subsubzine With It’s Own Fragrance

By Jack “Flapjack” McHugh – jwmchughjr@gmail.com

(or just email Doug and he’ll send it to me)

Issue #49

 

 

 

I have a job again!  I just started a few days ago, so that’s why this subzine is so short.  If that’s a problem for you, go shove sand up your ass…hardly any of you offered me ANY help, support, or good wishes during this nightmare.  And the nightmare is NOT over, since I am still going to lose my house and probably my wife.  Eat me.

 

 

 


NINE WORDS WOMEN USE...

(1) Fine : This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing : This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks : A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome'.. That will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever : Is a woman's way of saying...Go to Hell...

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it : Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.


 

 


George Bush, Queen Elizabeth, and Vladimir Putin all die and go to hell. While there, they see a red phone and ask what the phone is for. The devil tells them it is for calling back to Earth.

Putin asks to call Russia and talks for 5 minutes. When he is finished, the devil informs him that the cost is a million dollars, so Putin writes him a check.

Next, Queen Elizabeth calls England and talks for 30 minutes. When she is finished, the devil informs her that the cost is 6 million dollars, so she writes him a check.

Finally, George Bush gets his turn and talks for 4 hours.

 

When he is finished the devil informs him that the cost is $5.00.

When Putin hears this, he goes ballistic and asks the devil why Bush got to call the USA so cheaply.

The devil smiles and replies, "Since Obama took over, the country has gone to hell, so it's a local call."

 


 

 

 

 

 


The Letters of King George III

by Paul Milewski

 

I recently finished reading The Letters of King George III, Bonamy Dobree, editor, originally published in 1935.  There are many conclusions to be drawn.  I mention but a few.  One of these was the similarity of the systems in Britain at the time and in the United States for the head of the Executive Branch (the King in the case of Britain) to appoint his own cabinet ministers regardless of which parties, if any, held the majority in the legislature.

 

Speaking of royal scandals arising from questionable behavior of heirs to the throne, on August 28, 1781 George III wrote to his Prime Minister Lord North [page 140]:


I am sorry to be obliged to open a subject to Lord North that has long given me much pain, but I can rather do it on paper than in  conversation; it is a subject of which I know he is not ignorant.  My eldest son got last year into a very improper connection with an actress and woman of indifferent character through the friendly assistance of Lord Malden; a multitude of letters passed which she has threatened to publish unless he, in short, bought them off her.  He had made her very foolish promises, which undoubtedly, by her conduct to him, she entirely cancelled.  I have thought it right to authorize the getting them from her, and have employed Lieut. Col. Hotham, on whose discretion I could depend, to manage the business.  He has now brought it to a conclusion, and has her consent to get these letters on her receiving £5,000, undoubtedly an enormous sum; but I wish to get my son out of his shameful scrape…


On February 1, 1801, George III wrote to his Prime Minister at the time, William Pitt [page 242 et seq.] to express his unwillingness to consent to emancipation of Catholics:


I should not do justice to the warm impulse of my heart if I entered on the subject most unpleasant to my mind without first expressing that the cordial affection I have for Mr. Pitt, as well as high opinion of his talents and integrity, greatly add to my uneasiness on this occasion; but a sense of religious as well as political duty has made me, from the moment I mounted the throne, consider the Oath that the wisdom of our forefathers has enjoined the Kings of this realm to take at their Coronation, and enforced by the obligation of instantly following it in the course of the ceremony with taking the Sacrament, as so binding a religious obligation on me to maintain the fundamental maxims on which our Constitution is placed, namely the Church of England being the established one, and that those who hold employments in the State must be members of it, and consequently obliged not only to take oaths against Popery, but to receive the Holy Communion agreeably to the rites of the Church of England.

 

This principle of duty must therefore prevent me from discussing any proposition tending to destroy this groundwork of our happy Constitution, and much more so that now mentioned by Mr. Pitt, which is no less than the complete overthrow of the whole fabric.


Not until the The Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 was passed by Parliament in 1829 were members of the Catholic Church permitted to sit in the parliament at Westminster.  Prior to that, you had to be a member of the Church of England. 

 

Seven of the thirteen colonies had state-run churches that discriminated against other religious groups. In the Puritan and Anglican colonies, nonconformists were fined, banished, whipped, and even imprisoned for practicing their religion in ways not authorized by the established church.  In one instance, three Baptist preachers, Louis and Joseph Craig and Aaron Bledsoe, were brought to trial for preaching. This was against the laws of Virginia and the charge was disturbing the peace. The clerk was reading in a slow deliberate manner these words from the indictment, "For preaching the gospel of the Son of God."  After the prosecuting attorney had his say, Patrick Henry arose, stretched out his hand for the document and addressed the court.

 

"May it please your worships, I think I heard read by the prosecutor as I entered this house, the paper I now hold in my hand. If I have rightly understood, the king's attorney of this colony has framed an indictment for the purpose of arraigning and punishing by imprisonment inoffensive persons before the bar of this court, for a crime of great magnitude — as disturbers of the peace. May it please the court, what did I hear read? Did I hear it distinctly, or was it a mistake of my own? ‘For preaching the gospel of the Son of God!’ Pausing, he slowly waved the paper three times around his head, then, lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, with extraordinary and impressive energy, he exclaimed, "Great God!"

 

Mr. Henry resumed. "May it please your worships, when the yoke of oppression which has reached the wilderness of America, and the unnatural alliance of ecclesiastical and civil power, is about to be dissevered, liberty of conscience, is about to awake from her slumbering and inquire into the reason of such charges as I find exhibited here today in this indictment!

 

“If I am not deceived, according to the contents of the paper I now hold in my hand, these men are accused of' preaching the gospel of the Son of God. Great God!"

 

After a pause, he again waved the indictment around his head.

 

"May it please your worships, from the period when our fathers left the land of their nativity for settlement in these American wilds for liberty — for civil and religious liberty — for liberty of conscience to worship their Creator according to their conceptions of Heaven's revealed will from that moment despotism was crushed; her fetters of darkness were broken.

 

“But, may it please your Worships, permit me to inquire once more, for what are these men about to be tried? This paper says 'for preaching the Gospel of the Son of God.' Great God. For preaching the Savior to Adam's fallen race."

 

After another pause, in tones of thunder he inquired, "What law have they violated?"  Then, for the third time, in a slow, dignified manner, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and waved the indictment around his head. 

 

The first amendment assures us that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  It was framed in response to the intolerance represented by George III’s phrase, “…the Church of England being the established one…”

      


MAJOR MESSUP YM Correction for October’s Kim Philby Report, 14 November 2012

 


Orders Due:  48 hours before Doug’s deadline.

Need to include:        

 

Round 4 is messed-up.  We are back on Roll 2 for Round 4 (4:2).  I did not roll the dice again last month, so the same sequence showed again. There is a new roll posted above.  Let me know what dice you want to keep and how many to toss.  I have posted the dice you kept after Roll 1 (Round 4:1).

                       

Round 5 Roll 2 (Round 5:2) were also the same dice as Roll 1, so there are new Round 5, Roll 2 dice.  I believe I have posted the dice you wanted kept after Round 5:1. Let me know what dice you want to keep and how many to toss for Round 5:2. 

 

Round 6, Roll 1 has five dice rolled, same as before the correction.  Let me know which of those you wish to keep.

  

We will end up finishing Round 4 and Round 5 at the same time.  Eventually we will get back in sequence when we have Round 6:3, Round 7:2; and Round 8:1.

 

Deadline remains two days before Doug’s Eternal Sunshine deadline.  Kevin has notified me he’s gone and may be without internet.  He did provide Round 6:1 orders. If he does not meet the deadline, I will delay reporting.

 

Yahtzee Game:  Kim Philby

 

Round 3, How Scored           

Players:                       Scored

Doug Kent                  15 in the fives 

Kevin Wilson             15 in the fives    

Geoff Kemp                24 in Three of a Kind

Dane Maslen               25 in Full House

 

Round 4, Roll 2:         1,1,3

Players:                       Kept

Doug Kent                  1,2,3,4   

Kevin Wilson             1,2

Geoff Kemp                1,2,3,4      

Dane Maslen               1,2,3,4     

 

Round 5, Roll 2:         6,2,2

Players:                       Kept

Doug Kent                  4,5,6

Kevin Wilson             6,6

Geoff Kemp                6,6

Dane Maslen               6,6

 

Round 6, Roll 1:         2,2,2,5,6

Players:                       Kept

Doug Kent                 

Kevin Wilson            

Geoff Kemp               

Dane Maslen              

 

Upper

Doug Kent

Kevin Wilson

Geoff Kemp

Dane Maslen

Ace  = 1

1

 

 

 

Twos = 2

 

 

 

 

Threes = 3

 15 (Rd3)

15 (Rd3)

 

 

Fours = 4

 

 

 

 

Fives = 5

 

 

 

 

Sixes = 6

 24

 24

 

 

Total

 

 

 

 

Bonus +35 if >63

 

 

 

 

Total Upper

 

 

 

 

Lower

 

 

 

 

3 of a Kind

 

 

24 (Rd3)

 

4 of a Kind

 

 

 28

 28

Full House = 25

 

 

 

25 (Rd3)

Sm Straight = 30

 

30

 

30

Lg Straight = 40

 

 

40

 

YAHTZEE = 50

 

 

 

 

Chance

 

 

 

 

Yahtzee Bonus

 

 

 

 

Total Lower

 

 

 

 

GRAND TOTAL

40

69

92

83

 

Please let me know if there are still major oopsies.

 

Major oopsies.  Richard.


ACQUIRE

Player Aid Sheet

 

Goal:

 

To finish the game with more cash than any other player.

 

Setup:

 

1.  Set up the game tray according to the picture on the overleaf of the rule booklet.

2.  Put the game board in the center of the table with the gray tiles face down near it.

3.  Designate a “banker” and a “stock broker” to handle distribution of stock certificates (if desired).  The banker distributes $6,000 to each player:

    Four $1,000 notes

    Three $500 notes

    Five $100 notes

4.  The banker keeps the rest of the money in front of him in four piles.

5.  To determine who goes first, each player draws one of the face down gray tiles and places it on the board.  The player whose tile is closest to “A-1” goes first.

    Note that if during this process two tiles are adjacent to each other they are considered unincorporated until a third tile is placed adjacent to them.

6.  All players draw 6 tiles and keep them face down in front of them.

 

Turn Summary:

 

1.  Play a tile onto the game board onto its matching space.

2.  Buy stocks or any active corporation.  No more than three stock individual certificates can be purchased in one turn.

3.  Draw a new tile to replace the tile that has been played.

 

Game Play:

 

1.  Playing a tile – Depending on how a tile is played, one of four things can happen:

    The tile is not adjacent to other tiles and is “unincorporated”. (note that “adjacent” always refers to orthogonal)

    The tile is adjacent to another “unincorporated” tile and so forms a “corporation”. 

    When a corporation is formed the player selects an available building from the tray and places it on any one of the corporation’s tiles. 

    The player then gets one free stock certificate for founding the corporation. 

    The tile is adjacent to an existing corporation, in which case the corporation grows in size by one tile and its stock increases in value according to the stock value chart.

    A corporation that is 11 tiles or more in size is “safe” and cannot be merged with (see below). 

    A safe corporation can absorb a smaller corporation through merger, but can never be absorbed itself.

    A tile cannot be placed in a location that would cause two safe corporations to merge.  Such a tile is discarded and redrawn from the existing supply.

    The tile is placed adjacent to two (or more) existing corporations.  In this case the two corporations merge:

    Count the number of tiles in each corporation (do not include the merging tile in the count for either)

    The larger corporation always absorbs the smaller corporation.

    If corporations are the same size, the mergemaker determines which survives.

    Remove the building from the smaller corporation and return it to the tray.

    All players reveal how many stock certificates the hold in the now defunct corporation.  The player with the most becomes the “Majority Stockholder” while the player with the next most becomes the “Minority Stockholder”. 

    The Majority Stockholder receives the bonus indicated by cross-referencing the number of tiles in the defunct corporation and type of corporation (small, medium, large).  The Minority stockholder receives the bonus indicated in the next column to the right.

    If one player is both the sole stockholder in a corporation, that player gets both bonuses.

    If there is a tie for Majority Stockholder, add the majority and minority bonus and divide evenly between those who are tied.  The Minority Stockholder gets nothing.

    If there is a tie for Minority Stockholder, split the Minority Stockholder bonus indicated among those tied.

    Players must not decide what to do with their defunct stock.  They may (starting with the mergemaker):

    Hold – The player can keep the stock certificates from the defunct company anticipating that it will be founded again.

    Sell – The player can sell their stock certificates back to the bank for the market value of the corporation directly before the merger.

    Trade – The player can trade stock in for stock of the surviving company at a rate of 2 to 1.

    Note that a player can perform any combination of the above with their remaining stock certificates.

 

    If a tile is placed that merges more than one corporation, the larger one survives and the smaller ones become defunct.  The corporations are absorbed one at a time from largest to smallest.

 

2.  Buying Stock – A player can buy up to three individual stock certificates from active corporations.

    Stock prices are determined as follows:

    Find the name of the corporation in which stock is being purchased

    Reference down that column to find how many tiles in size the corporation currently is

    Cross-reference that to the stock price column for the cost per certificate.

    There are only 25 certificates for each corporation – once those certificates are gone, they can not be purchased (unless there is a merger and stock is returned to the tray through trade)

 

3.  Finish the turn by drawing one tile from the supply to replace the tile that was just played.  Each player should always have six tiles in front of them.

 

4.  Ending the Game – The games ends when one player, during his or her turn, announces that either all active corporations are safe OR that one corporation has 41 tiles or more.  A player does not have to announce that the game is over if they do not wish to.  After announcing that the game is over, that player may finish their turn.

    Majority and Minority bonuses are paid out in the surviving active corporations

    All stocks are sold back at their market price

 

Winning the Game:

 

The player with the most cash wins.

 

ACQUIRE:

Reference Charts

Turn Order:

1.  Place a Tile

2.  Buy Stock (up to 3)

3.  Draw a Tile

 

Mergers At a Glance:

1.  Two orthogonally adjacent tiles form a corporation.

2.  Count tiles in each corporation, not counting the merging tile.

3.  The Smaller becomes defunct.  Remove its building from the board.

4.  Player with most stock in defunct corporation gets Majority Stockholder Bonus.

5.  Player with the next most gets the Minority Stockholder bonus.

6.  Players (starting with mergemaker) can then either hold, sell or trade their remaining stock in the defunct corporation.

7.  In multiple mergers, the largest company survives, and the others are absorbed from largest to smallest.

8.  A corporation 11 or more tiles in size is “safe” and can never be absorbed, but can absorb smaller corporations.

 

Game End:

The game ends when a player declares that either:

1.  All the active corporations are safe, or

2.  One of the active corporations has reached 41 tiles or more in size.

 

Play By Mail Changes:

1.      Each turn consists of a round plus one extra tile placement for the first player.  This way the first player rotates.

2.      Conditional orders are usually necessary for each turn.

3.      If a player does not have conditional orders for a merger he holds shares in, the default is his shares are sold.

4.      If a chain is started but no chain is selected, the GM will select the least expensive chain.

5.      The GM reserves the right to do whatever the heck he wants.

 

 

Number of Hotels in Chain on Board

Stock
Buying/Selling
Price Per Block

Majority Holder's Bonus

Luxor
Tower

American
Festival
Worldwide

Continental
Imperial

First

Second

2

-

-

200

2,000

1,000

3

2

-

300

3,000

1,500

4

3

2

400

4,000

2,000

5

4

3

500

5,000

2,500

6-10

5

4

600

6,000

3,000

11-20

6-10

5

700

7,000

3,500

21-30

11-20

6-10

800

8,000

4,000

31-40

21-30

11-20

900

9,000

4,500

41+

31-40

21-30

1,000

10,000

5,000

-

41+

31-40

1,100

11,000

5,500

-

-

41+

1,200

12,000

6,000

 

 


BALKAN WARS VI       WESTERN PACIFIC                  2012Bpb08

 


WINTER 1909/SPRING 1910  

 

REMEMBER KOSOVO!!

 

ALBANIA (Burgess): Build three armies. A Valona S A  Tirana-Skopje, A Tirana-Skopje, A Montenegro-Nish

BULGARIA (Kemp): Build A Thrace. A Sofia H, F Varna- Dubruja, A Plovdiv S A Sofia, A Thrace H

GREECE (McHugh): Build F Ath. F Athens-Aegean Sea, A Salonika-Thrace, F Sparta-Cyclades

RUMANIA (Whining Kent Pig): F Constanta S A Bucharest- Dubruja, A Bucharest-Dubruja, A Galati-Bucharest

SERBIA (Murphy): A Belgrade-Montenegro, A Nish S A  Belgrade-Montenegro, A Skopje S A Nish

TURKEY (Whyte): A Constantinople-Arda, F Izmir- Constantinople, F Smyrna-Eastern Mediterranean Sea

 

Emails:

Jim Burgess, jfburgess@gmail.com

Geoff Kemp, ggeoff510@aol.com

Jack McHugh, jwmchughjr@gmail.com

Doug Kent, dougray30@yahoo.com

Phil Murphy, philip.murphy@skynet.ie

Brendan Whyte, obiwonfive@hotmail.com

 

Underlined moves do not succeed. The Albanian A Montenegro is dislodged and may retreat to Hercegovina, Mt. Jara, Tirana, or off the board. The Serbian A Skopje is dislodged and may retreat to Macedonia or off the board.

 

The Fall 1910 Deadline is 3 p.m. Dec. 21.

 

My contact info: Brad Wilson, 713 Tasker St. #1,  Philadephia, PA 19148; 215-668-5522 voice/text;  bwdolphin146@yahoo.com or fullfathomfive675@gmail.com.

 

My apologies about the delay, which came about from a mortifying reason I was too embarrassed to mention -- I, the designer of the variant, couldn't find my map and rules. After MUCH searching they turned up in a box otherwise devoted to recipes. Ah well.

 

As a GM I like to participate in the press. My dateline is PHILADELPHIA and that is the ONLY dateline off-limits to you as players. Otherwise fire away!!!

 

PRESS

 

Crown Prince Philip of Serbia -- The Serbian government invites all friendly states to make contact with our foreign diplomatic representatives in their respective capitals to discuss peaceful co-existence and matters of mutual benefit. Our diplomats look forward to hearing from your ambassadors.

 

PHILADELPHIA: Except maybe Albania's, eh?


Game Openings

Diplomacy (Black Press – Permanent Opening in ES): Signed up: Steve Cooley, Don Williams, Jim Burgess, Jeff O’Donnell, Hank Alme, Marc Ellinger.  Needs one more.  Will be named in honor of Richard Walkerdine.

Gunboat Diplomacy (Black Press): Two signed up, need five more.

Everybody Plays Diplomacy (Black Press): An ongoing everyone-plays variant.  Rules are in ES #47.  Join in at any time!

Yahtzee!: Richard Weiss is running a game of Yahtzee! in his subzine Zero Sum, returning from a decades (?) long absence.  Join in now!

By Popular Demand: Join anytime.

Eternal Sunshine Movie Photo Quiz: Join anytime.

Lifeboat: Everybody plays, whether you actually do anything or not. 

Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki?: Rules in ES #58.  Join anytime!

Standby List: HELP!  I need standby players! – Current standby list: Richard Weiss, Jim Burgess (Dip only), Hank Alme, Martin Burgdorf, Paul Milewski (Dip only), Brad Wilson, Kevin Tighe (Dip only), Chris Babcock, Don Williams, Marc Ellinger, and whoever I beg into it in an emergency.

I’m going to continue to go through my files and seeing what other variants I can offer, until I find one that gets enough interest to fill.  When I offer a variant I’ll give it an issue or two, but if nobody signs up I’ll drop the opening and replace it.  If somebody wants to guest-GM a game of anything, just get in touch.  If you have specific game requests please let me know.

 

 


Eternal Sunshine Game Section

 

Gamestart – Acquire – “Winterbloom

 

Players: Tom Howell, Hank Alme, Per Westling, and Martin Burgdorf.

 

This game requires some thinking ahead and conditional orders.  But I’ve played it before in a zine, and if I can do it you can probably do it in your sleep!

 

Based on the random tile draw, the first turn order will be: Martin Burgdorf, Tom Howell, Hank Alme, Per Westling, and Martin Burgdorf.  Remember, whoever starts the turn also ends the turn.  So next time the order will be the same, but starting and ending with Tom Howell.

 

Feel free to ask any questions.  Press is encouraged of course.  Your tiles will be emailed to you privately.  Good luck!

 

 

 

Deadline for Turn 1 is December 24th at 7pm my time.

 

 


Kremlin – “Four Stitches”

 

Players: Jack McHugh - Communist Party Against Reform (CRAP), Rick Desper - The Rusty Curtain (RUST), Jim Burgess - Chylak's Galicians (CG), Mark Firth - Trixci (TRI), and Geoff Kemp - Refuseniks (REF).

 

Turn 1-B

 

Starting Politburo:

 

Party Chief: Empty.
KGB: Y, Ulan Putschnik, 53, (Strong), CRAP 10

Foreign: Empty

Defense: L, Igor Doberman, 65, CRAP 9

Ideology: U, Wassily Protzky, 57, (Weak)

Industry: Q, Tigran Zenjarplan, 60

Economy: W, Leonid Bungaloff, 54

Sport: C, Alexej Goferbrok, 74, +

Candidates: D 73, E 72, H 69, S 58, T 57

People: B 75, F 71, G 70, I 68, J 67, K 66, N 63, O 62, P 61, R 59, V 55, X 53, Z 50.

Siberia: A 82 +

 

Phase 5 – Funeral Commission – CRAP declares 6 on U, 2 on C, 4 on Q, and 3 on W.  RUST declares 4 on W and 5 on Q.  With U, CRAP nominates L as Party Chief.  Y, L, and U vote Yes.  CRAP now declares 6 on Q, and Q votes Yes.  W votes No, and C votes Yes.  The nomination passes, and L is now Party Chief.

 

Phase 6 – Replacement Phase – Using L, CRAP promotes Q to Foreign Policy and C to Defense.  L ages 2 to 67.  By age, D is promoted to Industry, E to Sport, and B and F are promoted to Candidate.

 

Phase 7 – Rehabilitation Phase – No activity.

 

Phase 8 – Parade Phase – L waves. 

 

Ending Politburo:

 

Party Chief: L, Igor Doberman, 67, CRAP 9
KGB: Y, Ulan Putschnik, 53, (Strong), CRAP 10

Foreign: Q, Tigran Zenjarplan, 60, (Strong) CRAP 6, RUST 5

Defense: C, Alexej Goferbrok, 74, +, (Strong) CRAP 2

Ideology: U, Wassily Protzky, 57, (Weak), CRAP 6

Industry: D, Petr Niewitko, 73 (Strong)

Economy: W, Leonid Bungaloff, 54, RUST 4, CRAP 3

Sport: E, Karel Krakemheds 72

Candidates:, B 75, F 71, H 69, S 58, T 57

People: G 70, I 68, J 67, K 66, N 63, O 62, P 61, R 59, V 55, X 53, Z 50.

Siberia: A 82 +

Waves: CRAP has 1.

 

PRESS

 

None.  You guys suck.

 

Deadline for Turn 2 through Health Phase is December 24th at 7pm my time.

 


Diplomacy “Dulcinea” 2008C, W 20

Seasons separated by player request

Austria (Martin Burgdorfmartin_burgdorf “of” hotmail.com): Retreat A Denmark - Kiel.. Build

 A Vienna..Has A Belgium, F Brest, A Budapest, A Gascony, A Holland, A Kiel, A Marseilles, A Moscow, A Norway,

 A Picardy, A Ruhr, A Sweden, A Trieste, A Ukraine, F Venice, A Vienna, A Warsaw.

England (Kevin Tighetigheman “of” yahoo.com): Build F Edinburgh..Has A Denmark, F Edinburgh,

 F Helgoland Bight, A London.

Turkey (Jim Burgess – jfburgess “of” gmail.com): Disbands A Moscow..Has F Adriatic Sea, F Albania,

 F Apulia, F Black Sea, A Bulgaria, F English Channel, F Gulf of Lyon, F Mid-Atlantic Ocean, F North Sea,

 F Piedmont, A Rumania, A Serbia, A Sevastopol.

 

S 21 Deadline is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 

PRESS

 

Eng - Aus: So close, so very close. Hah, hah, hah.

 

 

Dulcinea” Diplomacy Bourse

 

 

Billy Ray Valentine: Probably in his limousine.

 

Duke of York: Sells 360 Crowns.  Buys 551 Pounds.

 

Smaug the Dragon: Nothing.

Rothschild: Sells 500 Pounds and 500 Piastres.  Buys 829 Crowns.

 

Baron Wuffet: No activity.

 

Wooden Nickel Enterprises: Sells 500 Piastres.  Buys 501 Crowns.

 

VAIONT Enterprises: Sells 500 Crowns.  Buys 499 Piastres.

 

Insider Trading LLC: Hiding.

 

Bourse Master: Stands pat.

 

PRESS

 

(DUKE OF YORK to the PIKERS): Now I'm all set, rid of the accursed Crowns.  I sell the last ones in memory of Lance Anderson's participation in the game, unfortunately his successor is not worthy of holding his currency.  Onward.

 

Next Bourse Deadline is December 24th at 7:00pm my time

 

 


Graustark Diplomacy Game 2006A, F 19

Austria (Don Williams – dwilliams “of” fontana.org): A Budapest Supports A Vienna, F Trieste Hold,

 A Vienna Supports A Budapest.

England (Fred Wiedemeyerwiedem “of” telus.net): F Aegean Sea – Constantinople, F Belgium Hold,

 F Bulgaria(sc) Supports F Aegean Sea – Constantinople, F Eastern Mediterranean – Smyrna,

 F Mid-Atlantic Ocean Hold, A Moscow Supports A Ukraine – Sevastopol, F Naples Hold, F Norway Hold,

 A Paris Hold, A Picardy Supports F Belgium, F Spain(sc) Hold, A St Petersburg Hold, A Yorkshire Hold.

France (Hank Alme – almehj “of” alumni.rice.edu): No units.

Germany (Harley Jordanharleyj “of” alum.mit.edu): A Armenia - Ankara (*Fails*),

 A Burgundy Supports A Marseilles, F Denmark Hold, A Greece Hold, F Holland Hold,

 A Marseilles Supports A Burgundy, A Rome Supports A Venice, A Rumania Supports A Ukraine – Sevastopol,

 A Serbia Supports F Bulgaria(sc), A Silesia – Warsaw, F Sweden Hold,

 A Syria Supports F Eastern Mediterranean – Smyrna, A Ukraine – Sevastopol, A Venice Supports A Rome.

Russia (John Biehljerbil “of” shaw.ca): A Ankara Hold, F Black Sea Supports A Ankara,

 F Constantinople Hold (*Disbanded*).

 

W 19/S 20 Deadline is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 

Supply Center Chart

 

Austria:            Budapest, Trieste, Vienna=3, Even

England:          Belgium, Brest, Bulgaria, Constantinople, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Moscow,

Naples, Norway, Paris, Smyrna, Spain, St Petersburg, Tunis=15, Build 2

France:            Portugal=1, Plays 1 Short

Germany:         Berlin, Denmark, Greece, Holland, Kiel, Marseilles, Munich, Rome, Rumania, Serbia,

Sevastopol, Sweden, Venice, Warsaw=14, Even

Russia:             Ankara=1, Remove 1

 

 

 

 

PRESS:

 

The Imperial Bedchamber, Vienna (Oct 31, 1919): The Ghost of all Backstabbers Past appeared before the German Bootlicker and intoned, "Where is thy stabbishness? Where is they perfidiousness? Where is thy
past Duckliness? Why wallow in the black stickishness of the Harleyan Ooze? Booo!"

 

DON – JIM: Hey, given what the Europe looks like the Anglo/Even-More-Anglo flag now waving above every nation on the continent, pre-W’01 sovreign borders look pretty damn good to me about now. Judge not, lest ye be eliminated.

 

  

Diplomacy “Dublin Boys” 2010D, F 11

Austria (Paul Milewski – paul.milewski “of” hotmail.com): A Bohemia Supports A Munich,

 A Finland Supports A St Petersburg – Norway, A Livonia - St Petersburg (*Bounce*),

 A Moscow Supports A Livonia - St Petersburg, A Piedmont - Marseilles (*Fails*), A Prussia Supports A Berlin,

 A Silesia Supports A Berlin, A St Petersburg - Norway (*Fails*), A Tyrolia Supports A Munich,

 A Venice - Piedmont (*Fails*).

England (Kevin Tighetigheman “of” yahoo.com): F Barents Sea - St Petersburg(nc) (*Bounce*),

 F Helgoland Bight Supports F Kiel, F Kiel Hold, F Mid-Atlantic Ocean Supports F Western Mediterranean,

 F North Africa - Tunis (*Fails*), F Norway Supports F Barents Sea - St Petersburg(nc),

 F Sweden Supports F Norway, F Western Mediterranean Supports F Spain(sc) - Gulf of Lyon (*Void*).

France (Jeff O’Donnell – unclestaush “of” yahoo.com): A Burgundy - Munich (*Fails*),

 A Gascony Supports A Marseilles, A Marseilles Hold, A Ruhr Supports A Burgundy – Munich,

 F Spain(sc) Supports A Marseilles.

Germany (Melinda Holley – genea5613 “of” aol.com): A Berlin Supports A Munich,

 A Munich Supports A Berlin (*Cut*).

Turkey (Brad Wilson - bwdolphin146 “of”yahoo.com): F Aegean Sea Supports F Ionian Sea, A Apulia Hold,

 F Gulf of Lyon Supports A Piedmont – Marseilles, F Ionian Sea Supports A Tunis,

 F Rome Supports F Tyrrhenian Sea, A Tunis Hold, F Tuscany Supports F Gulf of Lyon,

 F Tyrrhenian Sea Supports F Gulf of Lyon.

 

All Draw Proposals Fail

W 11/S 12 Deadline is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 

Supply Center Chart

 

Austria:            Budapest, Moscow, Rumania, Serbia, Sevastopol, St Petersburg, Trieste, Venice,

Vienna, Warsaw=10, Even

England:          Denmark, Edinburgh, Holland, Kiel, Liverpool, London, Norway, Sweden=8, Even

France:            Belgium, Brest, Marseilles, Paris, Portugal, Spain=6, Build 1

Germany:         Berlin, Munich=2, Even

Turkey:            Ankara, Bulgaria, Constantinople, Greece, Naples, Rome, Smyrna, Tunis=8, Even

 

PRESS

 

Con-Lon: Oooh! Oooh! I like 3-ways too!!!

 

Ankara: Allman Brothers again.

 

Eng-Ger: World DipCon sounded like way too much fun. Wish I could have made it that weekend.

 


Everybody Plays Diplomacy “Dandelion” 2010Cvj08, W 11/S 12

Player Names or Handles will be shown for any power they commanded each season.

Remember, in some seasons if we get enough players you may not wind up commanding any nations.  All press submitted will be printed.

Austria (Brad Wilson): Remove A Vienna, A Trieste.. F Adriatic Sea - Ionian Sea (*Fails*),

 A Albania - Greece (*Fails*), A Berlin – Kiel, A Bohemia – Galicia, A Budapest Supports A Serbia – Rumania,

 A Greece - Bulgaria (*Fails*), F Ionian Sea - Aegean Sea (*Fails*), A Munich – Burgundy, A North Africa Hold,

 A Piedmont – Marseilles, A Serbia – Rumania, F Syria Supports F Ionian Sea - Aegean Sea (*Fails*),

 F Tuscany - Gulf of Lyon, A Tyrolia - Munich.

England (Tom Howell): Retreat F St Petersburg(nc) - Barents Sea..Remove F Barents Sea..

 F English Channel Convoys A London – Brest, F Finland Supports A Norway - St Petersburg, A London – Brest,

 F Mid-Atlantic Ocean - Spain(nc), F North Atlantic Ocean - Mid-Atlantic Ocean (*Bounce*),

 A Norway - St Petersburg, F Norwegian Sea – Norway, A Picardy Supports A London - Brest (*Cut*).

France (Rick Desper): Retreat A Picardy - Paris.. A Paris - Picardy (*Fails*),

 F Portugal - Mid-Atlantic Ocean (*Bounce*).

Russia (John Biehl): Build A Warsaw.. F Black Sea Supports A Rumania – Bulgaria, A Moscow – Sevastopol,

 A Rumania – Bulgaria, A St Petersburg – Moscow, A Warsaw - Silesia.

Turkey (John Biehl): Build F Ankara.. F Ankara – Constantinople, F Constantinople - Aegean Sea,

 F Smyrna Supports F Constantinople - Aegean Sea.

 

F 12 Deadline is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 

PRESS

 

All to George: What game are you watching?

 

Austria Must Not Win: McCrumble is 'crumbling' my strategy.

 

Vienna: Ding-dong.

 


Diplomacy - “Lighthouse” – 2011A – W 06

Seasons separated by player request

Austria (Don Williams – dwilliams “of” fontana.org): Has A Trieste.

England (Paul Milewskipaul.milewski “of” hotmail.com): Has A Liverpool, F Wales.

France (Kevin Wilson – ckevinw “of” gmail.com): Build F Brest, A Marseilles.. Has A Belgium, F Brest,

 A Burgundy, F English Channel, F Gulf of Lyon, A Kiel, A Marseilles, F Rome, F Western Mediterranean.

Germany (Brad Wilson – bwdolphin146 “of” yahoo.com): Remove A Munich.. Has F Helgoland Bight,

 A Holland, F North Sea.

Italy (Melinda Holley – genea5613 “of” aol.com): Retreat F Greece - Albania.. Remove F Albania, F Tunis..

 Has A Budapest, A Rumania, A Tyrolia, A Venice, A Vienna.

Russia (Fred Wiedemeyerwiedem “of” telus.net): Build A Sevastopol, F St Petersburg(nc).. Has A Apulia,

 F Black Sea, A Bulgaria, F Denmark, A Galicia, F Greece, F Ionian Sea, F London, A Norway, A Prussia, A Serbia,

 A Sevastopol, A Silesia, F St Petersburg(nc).

 

Now Proposed – Concession to Russia.  Please vote, NVR=No.

S 07 Deadline is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 

PRESS

 

BERLIN: Outta here baby.

 


Diplomacy “Jerusalem” 2012A, W 02/S 03

Austria (Melinda Holley – genea5613 “of” aol.com): A Galicia Supports A Vienna – Budapest,

 F Greece Hold (*Dislodged*, retreat to Albania or OTB), A Serbia Supports F Greece (*Cut*),

 A Trieste Supports A Serbia, A Vienna - Budapest.

England (John Biehljerbil “of” shaw.ca): Build F Liverpool.. F Liverpool - Irish Sea,

 F London Supports F English Channel, F Norway – Sweden, F Norwegian Sea - Barents Sea,

 F Skagerrak – Denmark, A Sweden - Finland.

France (Jack McHugh jwmchughjr “of” gmail.com): F Brest Hold, A Gascony Hold, A Marseilles – Spain,

 F Mid-Atlantic Ocean - Irish Sea (*Fails*), A Picardy - Paris.

Germany (Don Williams – dwilliams “of” fontana.org): A Belgium Supports A Burgundy,

 A Burgundy Supports A Picardy – Paris, F English Channel Supports F Liverpool - Irish Sea,

 A Munich Supports A Burgundy, A Silesia - Warsaw (*Fails*).

Italy (Mark Firth - mark.firth “of” bluefingroup.co.uk): A Apulia - Greece (*Fails*),

 F Ionian Sea Convoys A Apulia – Greece, F Tyrrhenian Sea Supports F Ionian Sea, A Venice Hold.

Russia (Richard Weiss – richardweiss “of” higherquality.com): Disband A Galicia, F Sweden..Build

 A Moscow..A St Petersburg Supports French Fleet North Atlantic Ocean to the English Chanel #5,

 F Sevastopol laughs and spits at the GoobyGobbler, A Ukraine – Warsaw,

 A Moscow Supports A Ukraine - Warsaw.

Turkey (Geoff Kemp - ggeoff510 “of” aol.com): Build A Constantinople..

 F Aegean Sea Supports A Bulgaria – Greece, F Black Sea - Rumania (*Fails*), A Bulgaria – Greece,

 A Constantinople – Bulgaria, A Rumania - Serbia (*Fails*).

 

F 03 Deadline is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 

PRESS

 

Russian Jews for Christ to Professor The Boob who will not be silenced:  When caught between the viperous jaws of liars and cheats on one side and the mightily self-righteous on the other, do I squeeze out dots to never admit to anything bad Duck Bills?

 

Russian Southern Baptists for Mormons to Mother Nature:  As a substitute, I realize you are always right – “BUTTER.”

 

RomneyRyanRussians to A/E/G/T:  You are the 47% damnit!  Why is the GM giving you the gifts of his adjudications?  What are you paying him? Duck, you yourself told me that my recipe to influence the GM should include “heaping tablespoons of abuse.”

 

RomneyRyanRussians to Ima Honker, Sir:  You lied.  You do not deserve to be the Lord of State.  Your ships were not carrying gawkers wanting to party in celebration of the opening of Salaman Rush Dies in St. Petersburg.  You were terrorists.  You lied.  You stole this game from me.  My supercomputers said I was going to win.  You were supposed to follow the same pattern as 08.  I’m taking my pieces and the board home. 

 


By Popular Demand

 

Credit goes to Ryk Downes, I believe, for inventing this.  The goal is to pick something that fits the category and will be the "most popular" answer. You score points based on the number of entries that match yours. For example, if the category is "Cats" and the responses were 7 for Persian, 3 for Calico and 1 for Siamese, everyone who said Persian would get 7 points, Calico 3 and the lone Siamese would score 1 point. The cumulative total over 10 rounds will determine the overall winner. Anyone may enter at any point, starting with an equivalent point total of the lowest cumulative score from the previous round. If a person misses a round, they'll receive the minimum score from the round added to their cumulative total. In each round you may specify one of your answers as your Joker answer.  Your score for this answer will be doubled.  In other words, if you apply your Joker to category 3 on a given turn, and 4 other people give the same answer as you, you get 10 points instead of 5.  Players who fail to submit a Joker for any specific turn will have their Joker automatically applied to the first category. And, if you want to submit some commentary with your answers, feel free to.  The game will consist of 10 rounds.  A prize will be awarded to the winner.  Research is permitted!

 

Note – This is the regular By Popular Demand, not the By ALMOST popular demand we did last time.

 

Round 8 Categories


1. A noble in the game Kingmaker.

2. An organized professional sport league which no longer exists.

3. A U.S. state capital.

4. A Tim Burton film.

5. A vital organ.

 

Selected Comments By Category:

 

Noble – Dane Maslen “It had to be either Percy (to Cockermouth) or Scrope (to Masham): those are the two cards that I still remember 30+ years after last playing Kingmaker.”  Kevin Wilson “I've never played Kingmaker so had no clue.  His name was the first mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the game so I'm going with that.”  Rick Desper “Well, I've never played Kingmaker.  But it's apparently about the War of the Roses.  I feel compelled to choose Richard III.  "Richard of Gloucester."  John Biehl “Glad to see someone still knows about/plays Kingmaker even tho the depicted Map land spaces are ATROCIOUS! FAIWIATPNO (for anyone's information whose interested and that's probably no one) - I make revisions to certain games and like the 3M

Company advertisement - "I don't make it (the game) but I (do) make it better." I have a revised map for Kingmaker, more Royal Heirs, a noble 'Death' rule, have rule revisions and additions, use some of the

advanced and expansion rules, have Royal Heirs age (actually game works well if each players turn is considered a real year of time beginning at 1451) plus I include the 'missing' 50 pt ships necessary to get nobles like Beaufort & Stanley off their islands (also one 250 pt ship as well), etc (a few other tweaks). In all, my variant works as well as (I think better than) the simpler original as I have added the missing 'chrome'.”  Per Westling “Have never played Kingmaker, actually, even though I did own a copy of the game.

 

League – Dane Maslen “I doubt that 'Champ Car' will score me more than a point - for one thing it's probably not what most people would think of as a league - but I used to watch it on TV so I might as well opt for it rather than guess wildly at some other defunct league.”  Richard Weiss “Hmmm, ABA and AFL jump to mind. Then the WFL, maybe the tennis teams, or the ladies lingerie league. The AFL merged.  The ABA closed.  The WFL is not as well known.  I’ll go with ABA.”  Per Westling “This was one of the hardest questions ever in this game!”

 

State Capital – Dane Maslen “Other than Boston the other options that looked good from this side of the Pond were Phoenix, Atlanta and Salt Lake City, with Indianapolis and Oklahoma City having some appeal, and Juneau and Tallahassee being ones that I could have named.”  Richard Weiss “Boston or Sacramento.  I’ll go with Sacto.   Not Carson City or Camden – although they are a trivia answer in that both share borders with another state.”  Marc Ellinger “I live in Jefferson City (which is the unknown capital of Missouri) but I have to go with Austin.   What a fun town!!”

 

Tim Burton – Kevin Wilson “About the only things he's done that I liked were his Batman movies.”  Paraic Reddington “Bugger, I know this will be Batman.”  Marc EllingerBeetlejuice – Probably the most popular, but I really like Mars Attacks.   Jack Nicholson is GREAT, I love the line after Congress is annihilated, “I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of 3 branches of the government working for them, and that ain't bad.”

 

Organ – Kevin Wilson “I figure it's either the brain or the heart so I (mentally) flipped a coin and (mentally) the brain won.”  Brendan Whyte “Hammond? Yamaha? Oh, the heart.”

 

Congrats to Jim Burgess for scoring the maximum possible 79.  Sad face to Mark Firth and his lowly 18.


 

Round 9 Categories


1. A brand of bottled water.

2. A product sold by Apple.

3. A former British Prime Minister.

4. Another word for “friend”

5. Something a plumber uses.

 

Deadline for Round 9 is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 



Eternal Sunshine Movie Photo Contest

 

There are ten rounds of movie photos, and each round consists of ten photos.  Identify the film each photo is from.  Anyone may enter at any point. If you want to submit some commentary with your answers, feel free to.  The game will consist of 10 rounds.  A prize will be awarded to the winner – and it might be a very good prize!  Research is not permitted!  That means NO RESEARCH OF ANY KIND, not just no searches for the photos themselves.  The only legal “research” is watching movies to try and locate the scenes.  Each round will also contain one bonus question, asking what the ten movies being quoted have in common.  The player with the most correct answers each round gets 3 points, 2nd place gets 2 points, and 3rd place gets 1 point.  In the event of ties, multiple players get the points (if three players tie for first, they EACH get 3 points).  High score at the end of ten rounds wins the game, and a prize (unless you cheated).  If there’s enough participation I may give a prize for 2nd and maybe even 3rd place overall too.  The final round will be worth double points.


 


Round 3

 


1.   

Something Wild.  Correct – RD, AL, KT. 

2.   

Heartburn.  Correct - RD.  Ironweed – KW.  Ordinary People – HA.  Terms of Endearment – KT.

3.   

The Purple Rose of Cairo.  Correct – RD, KT.  The Postman Always Rings Twice – AY.  Rosemary’s Baby – AL.  Coal Miner’s Daughter – HA.

4.   

Arachnophobia.  Correct – RD, KW, PR, AL, KT.  Barton Fink – HA.

5.   

The Hours.  Correct – RD.  Pollock – KW, HA.

6.   

Gettysburg.  Correct – RD, KW, PR, AY, AL, HA.  Gods and Generals – KT.

7.   

Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael.  Correct - KT  Beetlejuice – KW.  Girl, Interrupted – PR, HA.

8.   

Terms of Endearment.  Correct – RD, KW.

9.   

The Squid and the Whale.  Correct – AY, KT.  Fly Away Home – RD.  X-Men – KW.  Adventureland – PR.  Zombieland – AL.  Juno – HA.

10.

Radio Days.  Pennies from Heaven – RD.


 

 

Bonus – What do these films all have in common?  All feature Jeff Daniels.  Correct – RD, PR, AL, KT.  All Won Oscar for Best Cinematography – KW.

 

Points This Round: Rick Desper [RD] – 8; Kevin Tighe [KT] – 6; Andy Lischett [AL] – 4; Paraic Reddington [PR] – 3; Kevin Wilson [KW] – 3; Andy York [AY] – 2; Hank Alme [HA] - 1.

 

Scores So Far: Rick Desper [RD] – 9; Paraic Reddington [PR] – 3; Kevin Tighe [KT] – 3; Kevin Wilson [KW] – 3; Don Williams [DW] – 1; Andy Lischett [AL] - 1.

Round 4

 


1.   

 

2.   

 

3.   

 

4.   

 

5.   

 

6.   

 

7.   

 

8.   

 

9.   

 

10.


 

Bonus – What do these films all have in common?

 

Deadline for Round 4 is December 25th at 7:00am my time

 


General Deadline for the Next Issue of Eternal Sunshine:  December 25th, 2012 at 7:00am my time. See You Then!