THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #250

September 18, 2001

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

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

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

All of our subszines (Tinamou, Deny Everything, and Houdini Blues) are now accessible via the above web page. The next Tinamou deadline will be October 1, 2001. I forgot to announce that last issue, but it would have been pushed back to here anyway.



This issue is dedicated to all victims of terrorism, in the US and around the world, especially those who have died in recent days and their families and friends. I offer prayers and hope that right thinking diplomacy will very soon change the way the world works to bring communities together, rather than drive them apart. There is an essential humanity in all of us that can be accessed and tapped, when approached in the right way. I pray that this happens a lot more in the world in the near future.



One may legitimately ask if I should be publishing this at all right now. I have decided to do so, with deadlines pushed back. I have let people know about this by E-Mail, but I have no idea how long postal issues will take to get to their destinations. What a way to have an anniversary.... I'm missing a whole lot of things that I wanted to put in here, but time to get it out. I'll get caught up soon.

Thank you all for joining me as I reach my 250th issue. It has taken me about seventeen and a half years to reach this plateau, an average of about 14.5 issues per year. I started this well after the only other American szine I know still publishing in the 200's, Cheesecake, which runs with considerably longer deadlines. We both are futilely chasing John Boardman and only slightly less futilely chasing Conrad von Metzke. By the way, Andy Lischett currently is trolling for new players for the famed warehouse szine and you can write to Andy for a sample of Cheesecake with his current game openings at: On the British side of the Atlantic, I have been VERY slowly catching up to Pete Birks' Greatest Hits. Pete is just a few issues ahead of me now, reaching #250 himself only a few months ago. Just a little insight into the useless trivia that runs through the minds of long time szine publishers, connecting ourselves to the rest of the community of the insane that do this sort of thing.



Speaking of community, here are some updates about affected parties by recent events in the Dip community. I was one of the people affected in a very minor way, having been in the air when the hijackings were taking place, and landing at Chicago's Midway Airport just as the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I was stuck in Chicago for the rest of the week. While my story pales in comparison to far more poignant and sad stories, I thought some might be interested in some of the details. Then I will say something about my view of this crisis at this point. Luckily, I was able to call my wife Charlotte upon landing in Chicago before she knew anything about any of this, since we don't watch TV or listen to radios in the morning at our house. As we came off the plane, only the first tower had been hit. Right after I got off the phone with Charlotte, I went back to the TV to see the second tower being hit live. Then the phone lines were jammed and I was unable to call anywhere for the next hour, so it was good (very good) that she knew I was safely on the ground.

I still had hopes that I might be able to fly to St. Louis (my actual destination) later that day, so I stayed around the gate area until they began to sweep the airport for an airport shutdown. This had me last on the list of looking for a hotel room once I made it out to a phone in the outer airport lobby. I got into this delightful little trucker's hotel near the airport that actually was VERY clean. I asked for a non-smoking room and the desk person practically laughed at me, but my room smelled better and was cleaner than lots of expensive hotel rooms I've been in. It was a bit primitive, of course, but I had a fan to cool my computer down, so I was all set. They had a big sign out on the marquee saying ``Great Food!'' Of course, this was in the trucker sense of the word as well - huge portions and lots of fat - and the only beer in the bar was Budweiser. I stayed there two days, watching how the staff knew and called all the truckers by their first names and called me ``Mr. Burgess''. I also watched how that particular part of middle America reacted to the growing tragedy. This is a VERY big country and there are widely varying levels of knowledge though lots of unity of concern.

Finally, one of my colleagues (who made our joint presentation by himself to others stranded in St. Louis and looking for a distraction) rented a car and drove up on Thursday. I was trying hard to work in my room and communicated some on the Internet, but he and I moved to a Hilton down the street, which was much nicer since it had two phone lines so people could call me while I was connected. Meanwhile, I was considering many options for getting home. I am not shy in thanking Southwest Airlines for being completely forthcoming and direct in updating its web page about likely future events. They very quickly informed me that Thursday flights were highly unlikely, when United was allowing me to book a flight that was never going to go. So, on Friday when Southwest said all systems were go, I headed back to the airport with my colleague.

And that was an adventure and a half. We waited in the terminal line for two hours waiting to get our tickets to get through the security checkpoint. Just when we were to the head of the line, everything stopped. There was a security problem, the first of what has been and will continue to be many across the country. The new procedure is that whenever there is a security question, they clear the entire airport back outside the security checkpoint, do a full internal sweep with dogs, etc., and then check everyone back in through security. This takes a VERY long time. Another two or three hours in this case. The Southwest personnel attempted to lead a singalong and do song and dance routines to entertain us as we sat saving our positions in line. We all sang patriotic songs, as well as gospel numbers and weird songs I'd never even heard before. They also came out with food (well, pretzels and the like) and drink. All I can say is that the talented employees at Southwest are the flight attendants and they didn't seem to have them up there ;-) But still, it did make the time pass more quickly. Meanwhile various rumors spread about the sources of the security problem. Apparently three men had something or said something at the checkpoint. Two of them were arrested, but the third one wandered away, and they didn't know where, so they had to clear everything out.

All along, as other airlines were cancelling flights, the Southwest people were trying to be as encouraging as they could. If they could do anything about it, they WOULD get us where we were going, but until the FAA let them get people back in the terminals and on flights there was nothing they could do. Finally, they did clear their way through all three Midway terminals and begin to let people back in. There were lots of security check points checking ID with police and security personnel, but the main metal detectors were staffed by the same inadequate system that helped to contribute to the problem in the first place. Plus enforcement was variable even on this one day and place where I was observing it. One person left a bag unattended and had it snatched by security and were themselves hauled away. Another woman left FOUR large bags unattended for five minutes. A security person came by worriedly asking whose bags these were, but no one knew. When the woman came back, I calmly warned her how lucky she was they didn't just take all the bags away. Personal opinion: in the first case, the security person could just grab the bag and take it away, in the latter case, it was too many bags for the one person to pick up, so he let it go. As for me directly, I have a belt that set off the metal detector, as it usually does. But the security person was distracted by me handing him my pager and in all the noise and confusion, he didn't hear the alarm. He asked me to show him that the pager worked, and I did. Then I asked him what next and he said: ``go on, that's all''. I thought about arguing with him that I set off the detector, but shrugged and went on. All this uncertainty and variability was quite frustrating. I hope there is something they can do about this eventually, but only with some REAL incentives or government systems to do it. Allowing the airlines to run this the way they do continues to be a farce.

Once we got in, finding the gates was difficult because Southwest and the other airlines were trying to push planes through as quickly as they could to catch up. I was talking to some Southwest pilots who (seriously) were looking for their planes. The boards were all messed up and they couldn't figure out where they were supposed to be. Amazingly, we found OUR flight and it wasn't even very crowded. It makes one wonder what this system will be like with full flights? We may never find out, as the airlines are quickly moving to cancel flights and lay off personnel. Just from that one Friday, I have a feeling that Southwest will be one of the fighters and their situation, operating mostly in the smaller airports, will put them in a fairly good situation.

The flight itself was extremely uneventful and I finally made it home at 11:00 PM, after leaving for the airport in Chicago twelve hours before. It looks like America is going to have to become a helluva lot more patient than it has been. I wonder if we have the maturity to do it, I really do. Well, perhaps, in the near term we will do it with a MUCH smaller air transportation system. In any case, I found my experience to be an adventure, but not a tragedy. There are so many people facing real tragedies and it was them that I was thinking about.

The rest of the szine after this was more or less completed BEFORE the events of the 11th. I just didn't think that I should push this out (in addition, being trapped in Chicago messed up lots of plans) until a bit of time has passed. But I agree with everyone who says that we MUST continue to live our lives, laughing and grieving, but moving on in the best way we can. That includes this szine. I hope you enjoy what follows. But before that, I do have one more serious thing to say to all of you as Diplomacy players. It was percolating in my mind because of some of my thinking about the Palestinians even before the hijackings and air crashes. I welcome any comments that anyone else wishes to make for next issue and like I did this issue with my comments about the Palestinians, I will try to let all of your comments be the last word. This is mine (given present events anyway). But I do welcome other comments if people want to make them. Please note if you want your notes on this subject sent to me NOT to be printed, otherwise I will assume you are sending them to me for print.

We have seen an intensity of terrorism and hate and destruction that DOES make the hoary overused metaphor of war meaningful. How can anyone describe the scene in lower Manhattan as anything but a war zone? All of us have felt the intense sadness that watching the images of these events conjures up. I, like many others, had those days afterward (also perhaps feeling a bit sorry for myself alone in a trucker motel where I didn't even feel like getting together with Russ Rusnak or Jim O'Kelley who offered) periods when tears and anger would just well up in me. But I also see the need not to act out of pure emotion, that more than ever we need to plan and plot using all of these Diplomatic skills that all of us have honed in years of playing this wonderful game. I hope our leaders have oodles and oodles of the same skills.

I suppose part of this is the economist in me that abhors unintended consequences that are unconsidered, but I think of the orphans in Afghanistan NOW (not counting any more we might create in the near future). And I think of the eight relief workers that are under arrest by the Taliban on charges of ``preaching Christianity'' since they are Christians who were trying to help these desperately poor Afghani people. And I think about the Afghani opposition leader, murdered by two suicide bombers posing as journalists a few days before the plane hijackings. And I wonder what the policy would be that would end all this, really and truly end it. Not today, not tomorrow, but eventually. I think of the Marshall Plan after World War II and I think of the people who have said that we should have a Marshall Plan for New York City to rebuild it. And of course we should. But I wonder how much MORE important is a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan. Even were we to arrest, convict, kill, or otherwise eliminate Osama bin Laden from his Afghan lair, that hate for us and our system of values (which from their perspective is not without merit) will live on. And unlike the Hitler comparisons that many have made (and largely apply to an evil person like Saddam Hussein), Osama bin Laden has his position among his followers mostly from a position of love. They love him. It obviously is a love twisted to a monstrous goal of murder and ethnic cleansing (cleansing non-Islam people from ``Islam holy places''), but it is a type of love. If someone murdered Saddam Hussein, I would at least question whether he would become a martyr or not. He rules through fear and evil. The unintended consequences that are possible with bin Laden are much more dangerous, in my view. I can envision US military personnel protecting a program of rebuilding Afghanistan..... building schools for the orphans and other children and adults (the literacy rate there is well below 30% putting in a very, very select company of the least educated countries on Earth with the likes of Chad and Burkina Faso - speaking to aware Dippers, I realize that you know most of that, but still...), building hospitals and giving desperately needed health care, as well as helping to build economic structures that will allow the people to clothe and feed themselves. This would involve working with opposition groups in Afghanistan, that unfortunately are badly splintered with the death of their unifying leader, but it could be done. This type of Marshall Plan helped to build a Europe that is an economic powerhouse, if only we could be a tenth as successful elsewhere in places like Afghanistan. Yes, it would require something akin to a long occupation, but I think it would be worth it.

This is the only way that this group of orphans and displaced Afghanis do not become the suicide bombers of tomorrow. Somehow and somewhere the cycles of violence must stop. Can this be understood? Because, sure, one must at the same time bring perpetrators of murder and violence as well as supporters of those actions to justice, but unless we can begin touching on the root causes, this is only the beginning of an unending battle. I'm sorry if that labels me in certain quarters as insensitive, but that's the way it is, as I see it. If one wants to look at it selfishly, it is this argument that is used in some quarters to defend welfare plans to people who believe that everyone should stand on their own two feet. Helping others protects us from revolution. If one sees our current problems as partially caused by an inability of the intelligence community to infiltrate terrorist groups, one needs this sort of loose-tight approach to begin to make those inroads. Why would ANY Islamic militant be willing to become a double agent otherwise? Confiscate financial resources of Osama bin Laden as a downpayment, to be sure. But donate ten times that out of our own resources to start to build a world where we CAN be safe. As another timing issue why this was done when it was, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were scheduled to meet this weekend (not sure as of this writing what is happening with that) to discuss plans for ``changing the mission" of these organizations. A realization was striking them that some way needed to be found to alleviate poverty around the world for real, rather than have the goals of multi-national corporations hiding behind every policy and program. Only this way could the economies of these desperately poor countries be turned around. It would be a terrible shame if Osama bin Laden stops that meeting from happening.

To me this all is coming under sharp contrast. I like to think of this szine as supporting a worldwide community of Diplomacy players. Can there be worldwide communities more generally that destroy the hatred that arises from fear and prejudice? I hope so. I pray so. WE must demand it.



The postal sub price is now $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, STILL a bargain at twice the price.... but you can double that for other foreign subbers (or $3.00 per issue sent airmail). Players in current games and standbys will continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts (except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost $20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance). NOTE: See the revised game start announcements below! Isn't anyone interested in filling out the 7x7 Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy game start?? Sign up now!! I also have ONE more spot for a new Internet player looking to test out postal play. Sign up for that now too!

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

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

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

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

Help, David has grabbed and reserved the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! David Wang's site used to be the best place to follow John Caruso's postal baseball league that I am in. BUT, the site has not been updated as well in recent times. THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-POO Martin's website: http://www.phantomempire.com where in the ``files'' section, ``baseball'' sub-section, you can see all of the individual and team level stats. You need to sign up as a ``member'' to see all of the files. You, too, can chat with John Caruso there, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. My team is sinking quickly into the cellar this year, but I have devious evil plans for NEXT year!!

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

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

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

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

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

unsubscribe tap

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



THE SEARCH FOR BILL QUINN

Bill Quinn was the Boardman Number Custodian in the mid-1980's and won the Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service to the Hobby in 1986. More specifically, he was Publisher of Everything during the Don Ditter and Kathy Byrne Caruso Custodianships (issue numbers 53-62) and then took over the Boardman Number Custodianship itself from August 1984 to August 1986. Bill was known for his efforts to organize the BNC records and as a tireless worker at the task, during a period of one of the highest rates of game starts in the history of the position. Naturally, Bill burned out on this eventually and has dropped out of sight. I think it is time to find him again....

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

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

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



INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS

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

E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com

Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse. There has been some interest in finding a new Australian representative. Should someone Down Under have an interest, or from anywhere else in the world, please contact me.

We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into guilders or then into other continental currencies, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.

We also have reopened a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. I think we can maneuver deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at b.whyte of pgrad.unimelb.edu.au (same university where John Cain works!) or by mail to send checks at: Geography Dept., University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. This should help out my Australian subbers!!



WORLDMASTERS00 SECTION (with letters AND a game!!)

Worldmasters 2000 Email Diplomacy Tournament Goes ON!!

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

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

Sign up for the conference board at

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

The Conference board is where day to day communications and discussions take place. Yes, and Jack Brawner and Marc Peters are playing in there somewhere, go see if you can find THEM!



The Boasters game below is a ``demonstration game'' being run within the 2000 Tournament, but separate from it..... I also have been playing in another similar demo game there called Road to Rio that you can watch at the top of the Webforum page (how come Road to Rio gets such a prominent position.... ;-). We may be near calling it quits and declaring Toby Harris the winner though. There is not much interest in continuing it after a two month break.



M2000 Boasters!, Worldmasters2000 Time Wasters Diplomacy



Autumn and Winter 1908

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): rem a alb; has a BUD, a SER, a MUN, a GAL.

FRANCE (Pérez): R a hol otb; bld f bre; has f BRE, a SPA, f LON, f BEL,

a BUR, f MID, f EDI.

GERMANY (Mehaffey): rem f nth, f hel; has a HOL.

ITALY (Dennehy): bld a ven, f nap; has a VEN, f NAP, a MAR, f ION, f GOL, a TRI.

RUSSIA (Harris): bld a war, a sev; has a WAR, a SEV, f NWG, f NWY, a UKR, a RUM,

a KIE, a DEN, f LVP, a BER, a SIL.

TURKEY (Miszti): bld a con; has a CON, f GRE, a SMY, a BUL, f BLA.



Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (O'Donnchu): VIE,BUD,ser,mun (has 4)
FRANCE (Pérez): BRE,PAR,spa,por,bel, (has 7)
edi,lon
GERMANY (Mehaffey): hol (has 1)
ITALY (Dennehy): ROM,VEN,NAP,tun,tri,mar (has 6)
RUSSIA (Harris): MOS,STP,WAR,SEV,rum,nwy, (has 11)
swe,lvp,ber,kie,den
TURKEY (Miszti): ANK,SMY,CON,bul,gre (has 5)
Neutral: none (Total=34)



Addresses of the Players

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

ENGLAND: Ray Setzer, mczet of cat23.com

FRANCE: Niclas Pérez, perez of astrogator.se

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

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

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

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



Game Notes:

1) Tell me NOW if you want to continue this!!



Press:



DIPDOM NEWS SECTION (with letters)

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

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



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

The Summer issue is finally out and I hope you've found it worth waiting for. There is a ``wrap-up" of the 1999 WorldMasters tournament, some new variants from Scott Morris, my interview with the Finnish Diplomacy player Vesa Virri, some other great articles, plus an editorial from Stephen Agar. Stephen had a processing disaster with a hard disk crash on his computer and the first draft of the issue was lost, but we did manage to reconstruct it. I need to keep remembering to back up all of my Dip stuff so this doesn't happen to me someday. Since, a few weeks ago, I had an E-Mail disaster and if we had to reconstruct this issue again, it would not happen. I had all of my attachments wiped out, though the E-Mail is substantially intact.

If you want to subscribe in paper form at $3 per issue, North American subs should be sent to David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA. Stephen Agar is handling international postal subscriptions and you can write to him at: 47 Preston Drove, Brighton, BN1 6LA, UK. Issues from Stephen will cost you 2 GBP in the UK and 3 GBP for the rest of the world.

I am finishing up the resolution of back subs for Diplomacy World from the Doug Kent era. If you were a subber to Diplomacy World and think you should have been contacted and were not, let me know, otherwise I think this all is resolved. Thank you to all those who have responded, especially all of the KIND comments I received about starting this up again. They were most appreciated.



2001 Hobby Awards News - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!

Thank you to all of the voters. We had a dramatic increase in the number of voters, about four times as many as last year, so I hope this is the beginning of an upsurge in attention. All of the nominees received at least two votes, so there was wide breadth in the voting and many of the votes were very close. I also received a number of write-in votes. In keeping with tradition, I will not be announcing vote totals, but I thank everyone for their comments, donations, and votes. The winners will be receiving plaques as usual. The Committee currently consists of myself (Chair), Fred Davis (Treasurer), Gary Behnen, Melinda Holley, Jamie Dreier, Paul Kenny, and Robert Lesco. I am looking for more committee members, especially for someone from Europe, Australia/New Zealand, or elsewhere. Anyone interested should contact me. I shall start soliciting nominees again for the 2002 Awards in January of 2002. I hope with a quicker start that the process can be smoother next year than it was this year. I will get a ``one page'' announcement of these results for postal szines shortly, but please advertise the winners widely.

Here are the winners:

DON MILLER AWARD (Meritorious Service)

Stephen Agar (Diplomatic Archives & Revival of Diplomacy World);

http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/

ROD WALKER AWARD (Literature)

Allan B. Calhamer (Calhamer on Diplomacy: The Boardgame and Diplomatic History);

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1585007587/107-0249852-4964538

JOHN KONING AWARD (Player Performance)

Simon Bouton (Winning World DipCon X);

http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Face/results/zAvalon2000.html

FRED HYATT AWARD (GM Performance)

Doug Burgoyne (Cat23 GM);

http://www.cat23.com/ & http://www.geocities.com/apocalypseinparadise/

Here are all the past winners of the awards:

Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service Winners: 1983 - Rod Walker; 1984 - Lee Kendter; 1985 - Bob Olsen; 1986 - Bill Quinn; 1987 - Bruce Linsey; 1988 - John Caruso and Simon Billenness (jointly); 1989 - Doug Acheson; 1990 - Fred C. Davis, Jr.; 1991 - David Hood; 1992 - John Boardman; 1993 - Cal White; 1994 - Doug Kent; 1995 - Andrew York; 1996 - Manus Hand; 1997 - Doug Kent; 1998 - Michael Lowrey; 1999 - Michael Lowrey; 2000 - Edi Birsan; 2001 - Stephen Agar.

Rod Walker Award for Literature Winners: 1983 - Presented in Rod Walker's name to Rod Walker by The Avalon Hill Game Co. as a perpetual plaque reading: ``Celebrating Diplomacy's 25th Anniversary, 1958-1983''; 1984 - Mark Berch; 1985 - Bruce Linsey; 1986 - Daf Langley; 1987 - J.R. Baker; 1988 - Mark Berch and Fred C. Davis, Jr. (tied); 1989 - Rex Martin, et al.; 1990 - Larry Botimer and Francois Cuerrier (tied); 1991 - Mark Berch; 1992 - Garret Schenck; 1993 - Conrad von Metzke; 1994 - David Smith; 1995 - Ken Walker; 1996 - Tim Hoyt; 1997 - Mark Fassio; 1998 - Conrad von Metzke; 1999 - Heath Gardner; 2000 - Paul Windsor; 2001 - Allan B. Calhamer.

John Koning Award for Player Performance Winners: 1986 - Dan Stafford; 1987 - Randolph Smyth; 1988 - David McCrumb; 1989 - Marc Peters; 1990 - Gary Behnen; 1991 - Gary Behnen; 1992 - Gary Behnen; 1993 - Marc Peters; 1994 - Jim Yerkey; 1995 - Bruce Reiff; 1996 - Mike Gonsalves; 1997 - Mike Gonsalves; 1998 - Sara Reichert (Harry Andruschak); 1999 - Frank Easton; 2000 - Mark Fassio; 2001 - Simon Bouton.

Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance Winners: 1996 - Andy Lischett; 1997 - Andy Lischett; 1998 - Doug Kent; 1999 - Andy Lischett; 2000 - Michael Lowrey; 2001 - Doug Burgoyne.



Jim-Bob Goes Dipping Across Europe, PART II

Postponed to next issue....



Mark Stretch (Mon, 20 Aug 2001 11:54:53)

Thanks for TAP. ((You're quite welcome!!))

ManorCon was quite fun and yes the game would have turned out very differently had you been playing Russia. With your replacement I had a fairly easy time of it and comfortably topped the board. I doubt I would have with you there.

The problem for me was that my curry disagreed with me and I spent Sunday morning with diarrhoea/vomiting so couldn't build on that result. Oh well. That'll teach me next year.

(( I hope the Mind Sports Olympiad went well this weekend! In retrospect then, I am ***GLAD*** that I missed Dinner on Friday night (I probably would have tried the curry....)!!))

The Mind Sports Olympia has been a bit of a headache but still. Hopefully we got some new dip players as a result and if so then it was worth it.

Mark, Mark of 34dartdrive.freeserve.co.uk

((I really wanted to make the revival of MadCon, but was glad to hear it was a success, despite travel problems by Mike Barno. But what would a MadCon BE, without travel stories from Mike Barno.....))



Mike Barno (Wed, 15 Aug 2001 02:01:21)

``Hey, Mike, if you get this, please confirm again exactly when it is your bus is arriving. - Marc Peters"

THREE AND A HALF GODDAM HOURS AFTER SCHEDULED, sir!!! Actually one of the scheduled two buses on that busy route went there close to on time - without me, because my Cleveland-to-Chicago run was delayed by a half-hour food stop at Thruway rest-area prices almost as expensive as Greyhound stations' own food. Waiting for the next run cost me a $20 cab fare I wouldn't have needed earlier. The return bus trip was worse starting when Greyhound screwed me in Chicago - I was the FIRST ONE IN LINE at Gate 9 once the 4:45 buses had filled at 5:00.

Gates 7 and 9 were scheduled and announced for this run's two 5:45 buses and gate 8 was for the reboarders. Instead the first bus driver (at 7) took New York/Newark direct people and ditched me, filling his holes with Gate 7 people from a line that was over forty people long. I waited there but the second bus, already very late, pulled into Gate 7's lane after the first bus left and the SECOND bus driver also took Gate 7's line, insisting that I do so. He asked for one or two people to fill his last holes, took one person that included some distraction/delay, and left with me standing at the HEAD of the Gate 7 line. Missing that connection (leaving 1 hour and 40 minutes later than booked) made me lose hours more on each connection including the extra connection that had to be added in Syracuse due to different runs in the later timeframe. So I also had to add a ten-dollar cabfare to my mother's place where she was dogsitting Mary Jane for me.

THE BRIGHT SIDE IS: Travel was the ONLY part of MadCon that was less than an excellent and worthwhile time! Only about ten people were there, only about eight at a time, but a lot of games were played and a lot of friendships were renewed. I hadn't seen lots of people in about ten years... i.e. since the last MadCon I attended. Several people among those contacted had expressed hope or intent to come, but ended up backing out late.

Speaking of late I'll wrap this up real tidy. We played two good games of Diplomacy (both voted as 3-way draws, in Spring '07 and Winter '05 or '06); four games of Ohne Furcht und Adel (Citadelles - I hope the US edition is available soon); two games of Stephenson's Rocket (which was the only choo-choo game played if I'm not mistaken); two games of The Princes of Florence; dozens (it seemed) of games of Manhattan because it takes half an hour and lets you choose whom you compete against; at least three games of Titan; one good noisy game of Junta; a long session of four-player sheepshead (small cardset, more than half the cards trump) where I came out furthest ahead in the only game we played for cash (Russ ended up paying the rest of the table); and maybe some other game that I slept through.

Two newbies (Craig Reges, who learned Dip in 1974, and his son Phil) on Sunday; everyone else was veterans of at least three MadCons (I think) although Deb's sister/Bakko's wife Karen wasn't a gamer most years. Both, uh, Regeses were friendly and played Dip and learned Ohne Furcht und Adel. I think everybody who played any games learned at least one new game. (Mine was Manhattan, which I'd seen but hadn't played.) Everybody had fun and everybody got along. When discussion of one MadCon veteran on the outs with a few others failed to fade away after a couple of minutes, I took a long walk through Sun Prairie seeing its (old) Town Hall (``For Rent": a sign of corrupt town government?) and other unspectacular sights. Problem risks were thus averted. Nobody even yelled at each other in traditional ``Goddammit Rusnak!!" fashion beyond some games' typical Madison intra-game noise. Nobody was set afire nor arrested in connection with the very colorful backyard fireworks. If any drunks puked or broke anything, I'm not aware of it.

When all the Madisonians had various nongame activities for parts of Sunday after its third game, I joined Dan Sellers' ride Bill Becker in Bill's new Chrysler PT Cruiser to Chicago. We dropped in at Russ' place with Tom Johnston there. Wouldn't you know, two more Princes of Florence games and a Titan game... no, not really, just two Princes of Florence games and one Settlers of Catan game ``because who cares if it's 2am; how many MadCons do you get anymore".

I had an absolutely tremendous time and I think everyone had at least a definitely good time. It might not happen again so I'm glad I overcame the travel issues to get there, and play every game at least once, and play with everyone except Debi and Karen who did a whole lot of food prep and laughed at the rest of us.

Undiluted helluva con.

- Mike, mpbarno of lightlink.com



Steve Emmert (Tue, 28 Aug 2001 09:26:09 -0400)

Jim, please let me congratulate you now for having reached 250 issues. This level of perseverance is unfathomable to me; I could never imagine publishing a zine for 25 issues, let alone ten times that number. (I do note that you have implemented one crucial improvement since issue #200, namely, the use of printed address labels. No doubt this was inspired by protests from USPS personnel, who were tired of trying to figure out whether you were sending mail to Poughkeepsie or Zanzibar.)

Very best wishes. Steve, lsemmert of sykesbourdon.com

((Haha, I will say that the ONE regret I have over the past two decades is that I took so long to switch to computer generated labels. Some luddite sense within me got hung up on the idea that it would be more difficult. Of course, it really is ten times easier!! By this point, what I call ``szineness'' is part of my life. I can't imagine NOT publishing a szine, so I likely will continue to do so. I've said many times though, this is my baby.... if I had children, this might be the thing to go. I understood this early on as this definition from the Official Encyclopedia of the Diplomacy Hobby, the Diplomacy AtoZ states:

BOOB'S RULE OF SZINE PUBLISHING (1) < MN:Aug96 > Jim Burgess' rule that having a child permanently doubles turnaround time and this increases exponentially with each additional child. Eventually, as they grow up, turnaround time begins to slowly drop. The pubber's comfort level with turnaround delays determines whether the zine folds or fades away. Also known as the Dick Rule, after Gregg Dick whose zine faded away and finally folded.))



Paul Rauterberg (Thursday, August 23, 2001 5:19 PM)

Hi Jim: When I gave my brief report of Madcon, I mentioned that none of us retained the ``facial hair" of our youth. You said that you still had yours: I don't remember your having a beard or mustache....

I still have all the hair on TOP of my head, if that's what you were thinking of. It is 40% grey, but it I'm sure that it will survive to turn silver!

-Paul, trauterberg of wi.rr.com

((You haven't been reading Diplomacy World on the Internet, have you?? Shame on you..... my picture has been in there with the Interviews. And yes, I have had a beard ALL the time you have known me. I think I grew it in 1978? Something like that anyway.... brother David, do you remember?? I think you are the only one in the szine that knew me then!!))



MUSIC SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)

Tell me anything you like about the year of 2000 in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! Mine will appear ``REAL SOON NOW'' - yes, in issue #251 or something!!!

((I started Goz off with this comment... ``I have some other things to do tonight, including letting you know that YOU need to visit www.baseballfansunite.org - it's MADE for you!!! Perhaps run a bit too much by Red Sox fans ;-) but looks like they have YOUR agenda.))



Warren Goesle (Tue, 28 Aug 2001 21:43:37)

Jim-Bob,

Close. Their numbers are a bit different than mine, but they have my philosophy.

((Also, you commented in your szine about ``material" and staying on time. As you probably know, I have PRECISELY the same attitude, but I try not to ``whine" about missing material. Nobody really cares anyway ;-) and it makes you sound peevish. Please let me know if I do that too much.... I don't like to. BUT, games only work if you KEEP THE SZINE ON TIME. Most of the players REALLY don't care if you held up the szine to get another article in and the interest in games quickly wanes. Surely, non-playing readers do care, but let 'em wait... that's what I say!!))

Well, this last issue just caught me during a bad week. The fact that I had NO games that had all the orders in at deadline time on top of a lot of pressure in the real world (tm) kinda put me out of sorts. I'll take a laxative for the next issue, and be back to my usual cheery self. I'll also kick serious butt in the article department.

((Any special comments for my 250th issue?))

About time? Only 475 behind John Boardman? TAP: the szine to read while waiting for the next Red Sox WS win?

Goz, gozcorp of iquest.net

((Oh, that last one is cruel, cruel...))



Drew James (Wed, 29 Aug 2001 12:58:53 -0400)

I missed the New Order shows out on the west coast. I see that they are touring Europe this fall. I listened to an interview where they indicated that a tour of North America could happen in the spring. If they come to the Boston area maybe I could meet you. Their new single ``Crystal" is excellent, but I wish that we could have gotten the version in the US that they released in Japan. The Japanese release also includes four live songs (including Joy Division ``covers") from the 1998 Reading Festival. Don't know if I want to pay close to 30 bucks for the import. The full length album (``NEWORDER GETREADY" - dumb title) has been released in the UK and is due out in the States in October. I've listened to it on-line and it sounds promising. I guess they are having a little difficulty connecting with some audiences given their lengthy absence. Their core fans are old guys like me who are still living in the 80s musically. The young folks haven't ever heard of them and don't know or appreciate their unique history and contibutions.

Did you see the back page editorial in a recent issue of TIME magazine about 80s alternative music? It was talking about how alternative music from the 80s which was only available on a small number of radio stations is now being featured prominently on several television commercials. I can't think of the examples they used, but I know that I often hear The Clash in the background of mainstream radio commercials. The writer was also remembering when alternative meant something more than Limp Biskit!

Drew, drew.james of lmco.com

((Yes, there also is a new format called ``hits of the 80's'' that is primarily 80's alternative. We have a couple of stations in New England playing it! I'm actually almost ashamed to say I like it, since I've always hated oldies stations....))



Steve Langley (Thu, 30 Aug 2001 21:37:05 EDT)

``Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" - a movie

This is a very funny movie. It is also possibly the most offensive movie I have seen. Tough call. Most of the offense came from Jay, the slacker without a clue. Even though he was offensive throughout, he delivered it with such an air of innocence that you just knew he had no idea he was being offensive. He wasn't being a bigot so much as being an ignoramus. Usually I can not endure such a character. I think it is partly because the player almost always lets you know that he isn't really that stupid, it is just a role. With Jay you sort of forget that there is a role being played. A really truly very funny movie.

It even has a story of sorts. A preposterous story, but what the heck?

Steve, Steflan of aol.com

((I was kinda shocked that I liked this movie, and Charlotte liked it even more. The touches like having Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher from Star Wars play particularly wacky characters were my highlights. My wife liked it even better than I did!))



Steve Langley (Sun, 2 Sep 2001 17:57:49 EDT)

``Curse of the Jade Scorpion" - a movie

Good story. Snappy dialogue. I say `snappy' because this is set in the 40's when dialogue was snappy. At least in the good movies.

We have Helen Hunt who is rapidly becoming the blond who is in everything (used to be Meg Ryan) playing the Katherine Hepburn character, the woman executive who is smarter than the men she works with. Woody Allen cast himself in the Spencer Tracy role (Woody loves to play cruel jokes on himself).

This is a jewel theft mystery that is preposterous in reality but perfect in the film noir genre that is being satirized.

I loved it.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com



Steve Langley (Saturday, August 25, 2001 6:03 PM)

``Ghosts of Mars" ... a movie

As many of you may have observed I am drawn to Science Fiction and action. I have as many `B' movie on my must see list as not. It is rare that a `B' movie is also a good movie. Sorry about that. This is not the exception.

Long on gore and action. Short on story.

Seems humans have come to Mars and are making it over to suit their needs. They open a crypt of ancient Martians (who knew?) whose ghosts come forth (more demons than ghosts) to possess any humans within reach. The ghosts seem to have a sort of `Road Warrior' fashion sense. So their first acts are to mark up their new bodies with decorative cuts and piercings. Their second acts are to kill anyone not possessed.

The story is narrated to a governing body by Natasha Hensridge, who makes a very good action hero. She is the only survivor of a patrol of cops sent to the mining town where this all took place to bring back a recently captured bad-ass played by Ice Tea. He is such a respected bad-ass that a whole bunch of cops are sent even though he has already been arrested and is in custody.

Naturally the governing body doesn't believe her story. Would you? Doesn't matter, because despite the tactical nuke that Hensridge used to try to stop the ghosts, they were not stopped. The ghosts invade the city and start a whole new rampage just in time for the closing credits.

There you go, Jeff. This time I did say what the movie was about.

Steve, Steflan of aol.com



Richard Weiss (Mon, 27 Aug 2001 21:18:57 -0700)

Jim-Bob

1. I don't think that dementia is a protected class in the ADA statutes, nor do I think that any court, or for sure any federal court, has expanded protection to those of us with, that disease that we have trouble remembering things, at least as far as I can remember. Which is about as far as I trust people - pretty short. As best I can remember anyway. So, the reason that I started this was about that thing that you say in the thing I'm writing about. I don't think I am in that type class that you say.

((Hyork, hyork, hyork...))

((``To meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and for the personal edification of Richard Weiss, one may locate the Tinamou subszine at:

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

Oh, yeah, that ADA class. I took one once. Can't remember when, think it was a while ago. Pretty sure it was when I was studying that stuff. [Maybe you should put this in a different space, otherwise the contrast in style between the serious nature below might be miscontrued]]

((Probably, but I won't.... you are my transition to serious....))

2. Re; Steve Hutton, you, and Nastios. Evidence indicates that other cultures and other persons can take HIV cocktails successfully; treat HIV successfully and cope with the cultural changes to sustain these strategies. San Francisco is having a major and significant increase in unsafe sex and HIV infections. I concur with you labeling arguments regarding the cultural difficulty of AIDS in Africa as ``racist." I concur that the major issue seems to be the multinational pharmaceutical companies providing drugs at the true cost of production in one continent and at a rate that will produce ongoing billions of profits in the other continents. Call me a ``consipiracy theorist." Maybe it is because I believe that government is best when it does nothing, but when it does do something, the most common need is to protect the individual against the rich and powerful: whether government, corporations or individuals. Not so strangely, the multinationals are escaping single government control and attempting to create the political and racist arguments to distract from economic ones.

However, I really wanted to talk more about the risk of antibiotic resistance. This is a growing and soon to be more major problem, with likely result of further enriching the multinational pharmaceutical industry. However, the statements in TAP #249 regarding taking all of the antibiotics prescribed is ignorant, wrong and another example of old-wives tale and experience not being supported by evidence.

The evidence basis for antibiotic resistance is that most people in the USA take antibiotics because they are prescribed antibiotics and because they believe in antibiotics. However, most antibiotics are not indicated and do not diminish the burden of the disease the individual is trying to diminish. Most prescribing health care professionals do not follow guidelines for prescribing and most do not follow the guidelines for short course antibiotics.

Taking all of one's antibiotics is more likely to create resistance than stopping when one is feeling better. Really. Fact is strange when it meshes with old-wives wisdom. Most resistance occurs by plasmid exchange and other types of resistance not from the organism that was intended as the target of the antibiotic but from the development of resistance from other species of bacteria that then transfer that resistance to other species, including eventually to the species that was being targeted.

I've never taken an entire prescription of antibiotics in my adult, post-professional education life. ((Ditto.... for the same reasons, since I am a health economist, I am equally aware of this evidence, at least generally, not clinically. Thanks for taking this to task...)) None of my kids have ever taken antibiotics for very long, sometimes not more than one dose, certainly not for the entire prescription. Nor did I advise my patients to do so - after a while, except for very specific infections such as TB (which you mentioned) or subacute bacterial endocarditis. We just don't know how long is optimal for taking antibiotics. And not just because most research is funded by the multinational pharmaceuticals.

I am working with two state-wide coalitions regarding antibiotic resistance and recently challenged them on the same issues. Surprise! The larger issue seems to be agricultural usage of antibiotics fairly indiscriminately and also for rapid growth in animals that some humans eat. My organization is working to organize a national meeting on this. Interesting stuff. Another great reason to be a vegetarian.

3. An insurance company recently told me that if I purchased 32 CDs they would reimburse me about 80% of the cost to me. This on top of some money whether or not I did. This made the proverbial ``Which 10 CDs would you take to a desert island with you?" very real. First off, though, this was in addition to anything I already own - which makes the question a little bit skewed. However, still a bit interesting for your music section.

Rather than tease you with curiosity, I bought my first ever Beatles CDs, filled out more of my Grateful Dead collection and Garcia CDs; a couple reggae (I have very little and this was a Marley and a Big Mountain); ((I couldn't live without my Bob Marley's....)) a couple of swing (Big Sandy and the Fly Rite Boys), some blues (I didn't have a complete list of what I had or not when I went, so not much in this area), another Shania Twain, best of Cher, best of the Who and fairly other pop music/not so distinctive purchases.

4. Great big kudos to you for publishing the coming gaming and dip events. This has been something I've sorely missed since Lee and then (my dementia is acting up, TX police person after Lee Kendter) did so with the game openings. Certainly motivates me to plan a couple of cameos.

Richard, diplomat of higherquality.com

((Thanks, I'll keep doing it intermittently. The big one coming up soon is the Pitkissers event coming up October 5-7 in Maryland, go to http://www.robandlisa.com/ptks/))

((I should have added one other short comment to the quotes from Hanan Ashrawi at the top of the last issue: ``so what will this look like in ten more years??'' Since, that is what I was thinking. I got a few interesting reactions, but they didn't touch the nature of the pure ``play of the game of Diplomacy" with true high stakes that I was thinking about. This is clearly a war and we are involved as surely as we are the world's only superpower. So, in ten years, if there still are no serious negotiations where Israel trades land for security - in particular many of the most precariously sited West Bank Settlements - then Israel is going to be overwhelmed by the population problem. In other words, are the settlements supportable or tenable? In Diplomacy terms, are the Palestinians crazy like foxes in waiting out the Israelis with the nature of the continuing warfare? Who is it who REALLY doesn't want to negotiate? I'll leave that as my last word and let others comment.))



Tim Miller (Tue, 28 Aug 2001 00:49:07 -0400)

Hi Jim-Bob,

Just got #249 in the mail today, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, particularly your account of the first part of your Europe trip. I would've liked to have gone, and if I knew my summer schedule earlier I might have been able to make it. I've put a line in my resume online about what I've been doing this summer BTW in case your interested (it's nothing economics related, unless you count some side research and practical knowledge as to why Microsoft has come to dominate the operating system market). ((Thanks, Tim, we would be interested in hearing about that if you get a chance. You can find Tim's resume at: http://home.uchicago.edu/ btmiller/resume.html where he is studying to be an Economist, like me...))

I also was interested by your editorial re the Israeli Palestinian conflict. You raise a couple of interesting points, but I think one of the things you might have missed is that the Palestinians are not trying to *be* diplomats in the sense of the western definition of the world. I don't really look at the PLO as a modern state conducting modern (i.e. Renaissance and after) diplomacy. It strikes me from what I have read as more of a quasi-feudal structure organized loosely around one vague goal (some form of Palestinian state). Now of course there are other feudal political agents at work, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, pro-Settlement Jews on the Israeli side, etc. I think ultimately peace will only come to the middle east when the Palestinians find someone who can build their organization into a modern state-like structure, and who can then force the Israelis to bargain at the table, and force Israel into ``fair play" diplomacy. Someone like Ataturk or Lycurgus to use an ancient example, a real **builder** who is more than an idealogue.

Regards, Tim, btmiller of uchicago.edu



Saul Spiel (Friday, August 24, 2001 12:30 AM)

Dear Jim,

I received your latest issue of TAP #249. I was surprised by your choice of using quotations by Ms. Hanan Ashrawi. As an amateur historian, I wonder about the accuracy of her evaluations given her obvious advocacy. It is usually more telling to hear her criticize her own government. Ms. Ashrawi does complain about official corruption.

Ms. Ashrawi believes the settlements are a major obstacle to peace. Why? Was there peace before the settlements? What if they aren't an obstacle, but just another excuse to wage a war of attrition? Why should the West Bank be free of Jewish towns? There are many Palestinian towns and cities in Israel. In fact out of six million Israeli citizens, one million are Palestinian.

After Israel's War of Independence, there were Palestinians and Jews on both sides of the border. The Arabs on the Israeli side were given citizenship. Those Jews living in the West Bank that could not flee were killed. From 1948-1967 Jerusalem was split in two & the West Bank was ethnically cleansed of Jews including the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. After the Six Day War, some Israelis decided to live in the West Bank. For some reason now their towns are called settlements. (I guess the Jewish controlled media missed correcting that misconception.)

I think Ms. Ashrawi knows how sardonic it is to criticize their fortress appearance. If her people choose to protest with flowers & slogans instead of stones and bullets, the walls may come down. Why are no Palestinian peace rallies?

Ms. Ashrawi would like to see the West Bank exclusively Muslim again. Would that be rewarding the ethnic cleansers in the West Bank when it was under Jordanian control?

In over a 3000 year history, Jerusalem was divided only for 19 years. Ms. Ashrawi would like to see Jerusalem re-divided. One doesn't have to be Solomon to know the rightful mother would not want the baby cut in two.

She would like to see Palestinians work in Israel without the humiliation of crossing security checkpoints. What can her government do to ease the fears of the Israelis?

It has been over 7 years since the Palestinian authority took total control over all the refugee camps in Gaza & the West Bank. The refugees still live there. They used to complain that their people live in squalor. They were vocal when the camps were built by the Jordanians and Egyptians. They complained when the Israelis took control of them 19 years later. Why have they made no effort to dismantle any of them? Perhaps because they breed discontent. How can they be still called refugees in a refugee camp, when they are in their own land under their own elected leadership? (Another fact ignored by the Jewish controlled media?)

I too am an advocate. I was very much in favor of the Oslo peace accord. Even retrospectively, it was important to try it. Israel needs peace with her neighbors, because that is the neighborhood she is stuck with. But the failure of Oslo is and has been that only one group was ready for what Arafat called ``the peace of the brave." Israeli schoolbooks do not vilify Muslims. Are the Palestinians ready to follow suit? Israeli's do not celebrate the death of Muslims. Will the Palestinians end their hero worship of martyrs?

The Palestinian leadership rewards the families of suicide bombers. One cannot negotiate with suicide bombers. One can hope to change the atmosphere in which they are raised. This generation of Palestinians are not ready to live in peace.

I hope you can place this letter in almost the same prominence as your original propaganda piece.

Saul Spiel, SESPIEL of aol.com





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

2000G, Amateurs Game, Winter 1905

Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com Build: A Trieste, A Budapest , A Vienna; Has A Munich, A Spain, F Aegean Sea, A Berlin, F Portugal, A Serbia, A Rumania, A Trieste, A Budapest, A Vienna

England Bruce Linsey GonzoHQ of aol.com Has F Norwegian Sea

France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com Remove F Helgoland Bight, F North; Has F Irish Sea, A Ruhr, A Belgium, F Brest

Germany Mike Barno mpbarno of lightlink.com Remove A Yorkshire; Has A Holland, F Skaggerak,

Italy Jim Burgess burgess of world.std.com Has A Naples, F West Med, A Piedmont, A Gascony, F North Africa

Russia Randy Ellis Bukowski64 of yahoo.com Build A Warsaw; Has F Mid Atlantic, F Denmark, A Prussia, F Baltic Sea, A Sweden, A Finland, A Sevastopol, A Kiel, A Constantinople, F Norway, A Warsaw

AUSTRIAN / RUSSIAN DRAW PROPOSED, PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE

PRESS:

Moscow to Vienna: Your stab in the back pains me, sir. However, it may not pain me as much as you wish. We shall see...

Germany to Russia: *sigh* two more centers forcing a Russian removal; you saw we had all the orders sent-but-not-received....

Jim: And just so you all know.... TAP is being mailed today and I am leaving for Europe tomorrow and will be out of E-Mail access until August 1. Russ, please make sure the deadline is after that....and so the rest of you know I am not ignoring you. It's fine to announce the adjustments while I am away.

Spring 1906 orders and draw (A/R) due Wednesday, August 8, 2001


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

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

Bruce Linsey PO Box 234 Kinderhook, NY 12106 ENGLAND GonzoHQ of aol.com

Paul Rauterberg 3116 W. Amer. Dr. Greenfield, WI 53221 FRANCE 414-691-4264 trauterberg of wi.rr.com

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

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

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

THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks to a suggestion by Mike Barno, from now on I will be noting cut or failed support orders with a small ``s'' instead of a capital ``S''. This will make it easier on the web page version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. I may forget every once in a while, but I will TRY to remember. I should also get an updated copy of my translation program for TeX to html, perhaps that has been fixed.

Standby lists:

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

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

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

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



GAME OPENING INFORMATION

REGULAR Diplomacy Game Opening for E-Mail Oriented Players: Tim Miller, Daniel Méhkeri, Jim Sayers, Allan Heikkinen, Adam Mitchell, and Chris Lockheardt are signed up. This game is FREE, but you have to be pretty active on E-Mail or I won't let you in, we need just ONE more player.....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1902 IS OCTOBER 6TH, 2001

Summer 1902

AUSTRIA (Kent): R a ser-ALB; has a BUD, a ALB, a VIE, f GRE.

ENGLAND (Sundstrom): R a bel-PIC; has f NTH, a PIC, f NWY, f MID.

FRANCE (Tretick): has f GOL, a BUR, a POR, f WES, a SPA.

GERMANY (Williams): has f DEN, a SIL, f SKA, a RUH, a BEL.

ITALY (McCullough): has f TYH, f NAP, a PIE, a TRI, f TUN.

RUSSIA (Pollard): has f SWE, a GAL, a UKR, f RUM.

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



Addresses of the Participants

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

dipworld of ix.netcom.com

ENGLAND: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882 ($5)

Matt.Sundstrom of chicago.bbdo.com

FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 12925 Circle Drive, Rockville, MD 20850 ($4)

JTretickGames of aol.com

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

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net

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

jodymc of telocity.com

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

awargamer7 of hotmail.com

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

gozcorp of iquest.net



Game Notes:

1) Note Matt Sundstrom's new address.



Press:

(A PARABLE): A man came home from work early and found his wife in bed with another man. He reached into his briefcase, pulled out a gun and put it to his head. His wife screamed, ``Are you crazy?!? You'll kill yourself!" The man replied, ``Yes. Me first, then you." Any connection between this parable and a certain player is not necessarily coincidental.



FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1907 IS OCTOBER 6TH, 2001

Winter 1906

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): rem a nap; has a GAL, a PIE, a TYO, a TUS, f ROM, a BOH.

ENGLAND (Biehl): bld f lon; has f LON, f GOL, f NAF, f TUN, a RUH.

FRANCE (Davis): has a VEN.

GERMANY (Shreve): bld a ber; has a BER, a KIE, a SIL, a MUN, a MAR,

a PRU, f SPA(SC), a GAS, a BUR.

ITALY (Tallman): has a POR.

RUSSIA (Tretick): R a sil-WAR; has a STP, a LVN, a MOS, f WES, a WAR.

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



Addresses of the Participants

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

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

(604) 589-9124 ($8); jeen of telus.net

FRANCE: Rick Davis, 2420 West Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407, (707) 544-5201,

redavis914 of aol.com

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

dwayneshreve of yahoo.com

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

terryt of sinclair.net

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

bernietretick of earthlink.net

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

bukowski1964 of yahoo.com



Game Notes:

1) The seven way DIAS draw is fails and is reproposed. Please vote on it with your Spring orders. If you fail to vote, it cannot pass.



Press:

(DOWN AT THE BARROOM WITH SHREEVY): It was an odd night at the barroom, because the topic eventually and briefly came around to literature. Crazy Henry had just made a comment about the classic Mae West scene in which she asks ``Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

For a change, I made a comment. ``I�ll have you know that the idea goes back to a Victorian writer. This fellow, Anonymous, wrote a story called The Cremorne, where he had Louisa say: ``Gracious! It�s more like a clarinet. Wally, have you something stuffed in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?" ((And isn't that comment preceded by ``What's that little piccolo down there?'' Which is where the ``more like" comes from??))

Shreevy just snorted. ``Both these were Johnny come latelys. How about back in 1843, when there was this other story by somebody called Anonymous? Its name is Eveline. Little Eveline asks,"

`What have you got in your pocket, John? Is it a flute?' ((And doesn't THIS flute also get bigger and bigger...))

There were comments as to how the concept seems to have developed from its beginning. Crazy Henry and others noted the usefulness of ``Anonymous" as a literary device, although quite not in those words.

I was about to suggest that, for certain aristocrats in the 16th century, passing poems and plays along to Shakespeare was the equivalent to the later usage of ``anonymous" in the 19th century. However, the main topic swept along and soon everyone was talking about the fishing out on the bay.



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

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1758 IS OCTOBER 6TH, 2001

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1758 IS OCTOBER 27TH, 2001

Spring 1758

AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): a vienna-VENICE, f TAHITI-south pacific ocean,

f NAPLES S f ligurian sea-western mediterranean sea, a swisse-BURGUNDY,

a bosnia-BULGARIA, a matto grosso h (d r:paraguay,amazon,otb),

a bulgaria-ISTANBUL, f MELBOURNE S f tasman sea-coral sea, f IONIAN SEA S

f ligurian sea-western mediterranean sea, a peru-BOLIVIA, a toulon-PARIS,

a GREECE S a bosnia-bulgaria, f SAMOA S f tahiti-south pacific ocean, a RHINE-flanders,

f EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA S a bulgaria-istanbul, a MANAUS s a colombia,

f TASMAN SEA-coral sea, a papal states-SAVOY, a COLOMBIA h,

f ligurian sea-WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA, f SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN-gulf of panama.

CHINA (Acheson): f peking-YELLOW SEA, f AMOY-east china sea, a nanking-WUHAN,

a chinghai-SINKIANG, f KWANTUNG S f east china sea-south china sea,

f east china sea-SOUTH CHINA SEA, f GULF OF SIAM C a cambodia-borneo, a MAHRATTA-circars,

a bhutan-NEPAL, f vladivostok-SEA OF JAPAN, a SIAM S a burma,

f WEST PACIFIC OCEAN s f amoy-south china sea, a BURMA S a siam, a cambodia-BORNEO,

a BENGAL-circars, a MONGOLIA s OTTOMAN a omsk (otm), f sea of japan-JAPAN.

ENGLAND (Power): f london-NORTH SEA, f EDINBURGH S f london-north sea,

a VENEZUELA-manaus, a MALAYA h, f MID-ATLANTIC OCEAN-gulf of guinea,

a FLANDERS s a antwerp, a GHANA h, f CENTRAL ATLANTIC OCEAN-mid-atlantic ocean,

f ANDAMAN SEA-east indian ocean, f SURINAM S f west indies-venezuela,

f WEST INDIES-venezuela, f ONTARIO S f quebec-hudson bay, f coral sea h (d r:new zealand,western

desert,arafura sea,solomon sea,fiji,bismarck sea,otb), a IFNI h, a ANTWERP S a flanders,

a kameron-GABON, a bahia-MATTO GROSSO, f quebec-HUDSON BAY, f RICEFE S f belem,

f EAST ATLANTIC OCEAN-north atlantic ocean, f ARGENTINA h, a CONGO S a kameron-gabon,

a BRAZIL S a bahia-matto grosso, a DAKAR h, f MALAY SEA S a malaya,

f brittany-ENGLISH CHANNEL, f BELEM S f surinam.

FRANCE (Alme): a MANITOBA S a oregon-missouri, a oregon-missouri (d ann).

OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): a jerusalem-BAGHDAD, a egypt h (d r:suez,otb),

f PERSIAN GULF S a kazakstan-persia, f BLACK SEA-armenia, a yemen-ARABIA,

f istanbul-black sea (d r:izmir,otb), a kazakstan-PERSIA, a OMSK-ural.

PORTUGAL (Stimmel): f canaries-AZORES.

RUSSIA (Rauterberg): f goa-BAY OF BENGAL, f cape colony-SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN,

f st.petersburg(nc)-BARENTS SEA, f CRIMEA-black sea, a KIEV-ural,

f NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN S SPANISH a missouri-oregon, f NIZAM h,

a CAUCASUS-armenia, a ural-SIBERIA, f WEST INDIAN OCEAN S

f ceylon-east indian ocean, f SE ATLANTIC OCEAN-gulf of guinea,

f VANCOUVER S SPANISH a missouri-oregon, a LITHUANIA-kiev, a ROMANIA h,

a DENMARK h, f ceylon-EAST INDIAN OCEAN, f ALASKA-hudson bay, f khandesh-PUNJAB,

f NORWEGIAN SEA-north atlantic ocean, a finland-NORWAY,

a persia s a caucasus-armenia (d r:afghanistan,uzbekistan,otb), a prussia-HANOVER,

a HAGUE S a prussia-hanover, a angola-KATANGA, f siberia-BERING STRAIT.

SPAIN (Partridge): f mexico(wc)-GULF OF CALIFORNIA, f CALIFORNIA S a missouri-oregon,

f GULF OF MEXICO h, f aragon-TOULON, f PHILIPPINE SEA S

f new guinea-coral sea, a HUELVA-lagos, a missouri-OREGON, a cuba-PANAMA,

f GIBRALTAR-western mediterranean sea, a MOROCCO h, f subic bay-EAST CHINA SEA,

f CARIBBEAN SEA C a cuba-panama, f TAIWAN S f subic bay-east china sea, f arabian sea-YEMEN,

a leon-ARAGON, a BORDEAUX S f aragon-toulon, f GULF OF ADEN S f arabian sea-yemen,

f RABOUL-west pacific ocean, a taureg-NUMIDIA, f HONDURAS(WC)-gulf of panama,

a sudan-EGYPT, f hawaii-CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN, f central pacific ocean-WAKE,

a LISBON-lagos, f ALGERIA S f gibraltar-western mediterranean sea,

f new guinea-CORAL SEA, a ETHIOPIA h, a LOUISIANA S a ohio-missouri,

a numidia-BENIN, a TUNIS S a libya, a ohio-MISSOURI, a LIBYA S a sudan-egypt,

f western mediterranean sea-ligurian sea (d r:valencia,otb), f TARAWA S f new guinea-coral sea.



Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): BUD,VIE,TRI,TAH,ven,bav, (has 20 or 21)
col,nwz,pps,sav,ecu,peru,gre,sam,
bol,tou,bul,par,MEL,NAP,fij
CHINA (Acheson): PEK,WUH,XIA,AMO,tib,NAN, (has 17)
sin,jap,manch,mon,kor,nep,mah,sia,bur,cam,ben,vla
ENGLAND (Power): NIG,MLA,EDI,LON,kam,ire, (has 26 or 27)
jav,gab,sum,con,fez,ant,uga,arg,togo,
SUR,QUE,gha,bel,vol,bah,BRA,DAK,vza,ric,ont,ifn
FRANCE (Alme): ore,manit (has 1)
OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): IZM,BAG,IST,egy,afg,yem, (has 6 or 7 or 8)
oms,jer
PORTUGAL (Stimmel): azo (has 1)
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): MOS,KIE,CAP,STP,CRI,pol,moz, (has 24 or 25)
swe,mal,zam,den,rom,han,die,nwy,GOA,nat,
niz,hag,cey,ANG,ALA,persia,kha,van
SPAIN (Partridge): MAD,MEX,SOM,VAL,MANILA,cal, (has 33 or 34)
tun,rab,bor,eth,hon,tex,nwg,ken,lis,lag,FLO,
lou,iwo,num,mor,tau,ohi,vir,gua,tar,tim,cub,
tai,bdx,sud,wak,mas,HAW
Neutral: none (Total=136)



Addresses of the Participants

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

ProsnitzE of aol.com

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

racheson of magma.ca

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

natjohn2 of home.com or jrpower of bechtel.com

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

almehj of swcp.com

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

Krolart of aol.com

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

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

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

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

rebhuhn of rocketmail.com



Game Notes:

1) I'm getting the hang of GMing this thing (and you guys are making it easy for me by not fighting complex battles on tricky fronts). As usual, let me know about any errors, please!



Press:

(CHINA-OTTOMAN): I'm not interested in you're open centres. Just getting a few armies in place for when they're really required.

(CHINA-SPAIN): Yes, Russia has almost got me surrounded. But, he should know better.



SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1908 IS OCTOBER 6TH, 2001

Summer 1908

ENGLAND (Sayers): has a LON, f NAO, a KIE, f MID, f ENG, f HEL, f POR.

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

GERMANY (Barno): has a BER, a MUN.

ITALY (Schultz): has f ROM.

RUSSIA (Reynolds): has a MOS, a LVN, a SIL, f BAL, a STP, a WAR.

TURKEY (Linsey): has a ARM, f AEG, a SEV, f TYH, f BLA, a UKR, a RUM,

f ION, f ADR, f NAP, a TUS, f TUN, a GAL, a VEN.



Addresses of the Participants

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

jimp of magna.com.au

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

roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030

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

mpbarno of lightlink.com

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

probo of sprintpcs.com

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

preyno of yahoo.com

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

GonzoHQ of aol.com



Game Notes:

1) All quiet here..... just so you all know, if you do send orders in early, I can adjudicate Fall turns early, your choice.



Press:



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

LOOKING FOR PLAYERS!!!



Game Notes:

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



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

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1910 IS OCTOBER 6TH, 2001

Winter 1909

AUSTRIA (Pollard): has a MOS, a GAL.

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

f GOL, f SPA(SC), a BER, a MAR, f NWY, a BOH, f SWE, a KIE, f NTH, a MUN, a YOR.

ITALY (Emmert): bld f nap, a ven; has f NAP, a VEN, a TRI, a BUL, f TYH, f TUN,

a SER, a TYO, f SEV, f BLA, f LON, f WES, a VIE, a BUD.

RUSSIA (Reynolds): has a STP.

TURKEY (Barno): has a RUM.



Addresses of the Participants

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

awargamer7 of hotmail.com

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

terryt of sinclair.net

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

Scottm221 of aol.com

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

jimp of magna.com.au

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

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

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

preyno of yahoo.com

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

mpbarno of lightlink.com



Game Notes:

1) Lots of builds here.... ready for action??



Press:



SO GOOD IT HURTS: 1998 P, Regular Diplomacy

THE RAG DRAW PASSES - GAME OVER - SEND IN END GAME STATEMENTS!



Addresses of the Participants

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

heyday6 of yahoo.com

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

kjames01 of twcny.rr.com

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

alberich of iglou.com

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

gozcorp of iquest.net

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

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

RRRRRUSNAK of aol.com

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

steve.emmert of home.com



Game Notes:

1) The RAG draw passed and the RG draw failed. I should just note that according to standard rules on these sorts of things, had BOTH passed, we would have used the SMALLER one. I thank all of you for playing, it seemed like it was a fun and interesting game. Comments from you?? I'll do the Supply Center Chart sooner than later, I hope!



Press:

(ENGLAND to WORLD): These should be my final orders. So long, farewell, it was fun while it lasted...

(FRANCE to EUROPE): Well, it's now or never. Either I survive or I don't. Let's see how it goes, hm?

(ENGLAND to FRANCE): Yep, you outlasted me. I can see you sticking out your tongue from here. At least I survived longer than Emmert.

(BOOB to ENGLAND AND FRANCE): You actually both survived equally. If you WANTED to be eliminated, you didn't want to vote for the draw... ;-)

(AUSTRIA - GERMANY): I'll give it some thought and get back to you. Promise. ((OK, but that would seem to be a bit irrelevant now...))

(JAMES to EMMERT): I just got my SU season basketball tickets for this year. Only a couple more months until college hoops and caring about reading the sports page again. They have had a stellar recruiting year again. This year they will be good, but not great. Next year they will win the Big East, and in 2004 they will be a Final Four team and contend for the National Championship - you read it here first. ((We did indeed....))

(GOZ to BOOB): Well, we're to Labor Day, and as of today I have picked the leaders of all 6 MLB divisions...if you use my picks from last year. I'd have picked the Giants in the NL West had I known how much more their new ballpark was pulling in. They went from a small-market team to a big-market team in a hurry. But the most important thing we need to learn from this year is that it is just THAT: a YEAR! 162 games. Nobody clinches a playoff berth by Memorial Day, or even the Fourth of July. All those prognosticators that jumped on the Minnesota bandwagon have come crashing down with it. They CAN'T win. The schedule won't let them. They have to have their whole team last the whole year, and eventually the actuarial tables catch up with them. It took a bit longer than I'd have thought, but heck, you can even win money in Las Vegas from time to time too, if you get lucky. But the house will win in the end, and so will the big-markets. Yankees over Braves. Gonna watch? ((If that's the matchup, NO WAY. See comments elsewhere....))



EMBRACING THE CONSTRAINTS: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules



THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 4 IS OCTOBER 6TH, 2001

Turn 3

32 (replenish with a 3): William Shakespeare
31 (no replenishment): None
30 (replenish with a 3): Dave the Tinamou
29 (no replenishment): None
28 (no replenishment): None
27 (no replenishment): None
26 (no replenishment): None
25 (replenish with a 3): Alfalfa
24 (no replenishment): None
23 (no replenishment): None
22 (no replenishment): None
21 (no replenishment): None
20 (replenish with a 3): Edi the Emu, Sir Isaac Newton
19 (replenish with a 5): I.K. Brunel, Rectangle
18 (replenish with a 7): Brandon the Kiwi, Alfred the Great, Rhombus
17 (replenish with a 10): Boniface, Greenwich, Square
16 (replenish with a 13): Dennis the Menace, Halbert, Peery the Peacock
15 (replenish with a 16): Dana, Diamond
14 (replenish with a 18): Beaver, Prescott, Charlie Brown, Christie, Enfield
13 (replenish with a 23): Alice



Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards

TEAM 1 (The Quabbin Reservoirs): Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham MA 02492

(0 points) 72060.1540 of CompuServe.COM

A: Dana 10 15 3 16 (1)
B: Enfield 14 12 18 (3)
C: Greenwich 7 15 10 (4)
D: Prescott 1 8 18 (3)

TEAM 2 (The Flightless Birds): Rick Desper, 703 Monroe Street, Apt #302, Rockville, MD 20850,

(0 points) (301) 545-0143, rick_desper of yahoo.com

Coached by Petey the Penguin
A: Edi the Emu 15 10 3 3 (15)
B: Dave the Tinamou 10 3 3 (13)
C: Brandon the Kiwi 10 12 7 (8)
D: Peery the Peacock 3 13 13 (10)

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

(0 points) fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com

A: Alfred the Great 12 3 19 7 (15)
B: William Shakespeare 8 3 3 (15)
C: Sir Isaac Newton 15 3 3 (15)
D: Isambard Kingdom Brunel 9 15 5 (12)

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

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

Manager: the White Maid
A: Alice of Avenel 8 14 11 23 (5)
B: abbot Boniface 9 11 10 (4)
C: Christie of Clint-hill 9 10 18 (3)
D: Halbert Glendinning 12 10 13 (7)

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

(0 points) rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

A: Rhombus 12 3 19 7 (15)
B: Square 11 17 10 (13)
C: Rectangle 14 3 5 (13)
D: Diamond 3 17 16 (11)

TEAM 6 (The Bad Boys): Jim Tretick, 12925 Circle Drive, Rockville, MD 20850

(0 points) JTretickGames of aol.com

A: Alfalfa: 8 5 3 (3)
B: Beaver: 8 10 18 (3)
C: Charlie Brown: 7 7 18 (3)
D: Dennis the Menace: 8 8 13 (6)



Game Notes:

1) I am going BACK to the designer rules for Breaking Away that allow cards of greater than 15 to be replenished. The Breaking Away bonus is earned only on the FIRST turn that you break away from the pack. I printed the original postal rules in Issue #239, if you need a copy and don't have that issue, just ask.

2) The number in parentheses is what you played, the last card in your list is the one you replenished with.

3) The Sprint Line is coming up AFTER square 40, but if I count correctly NO ONE can pass it next turn.



Press:

(WHITE MAID to BOOB): Mayhap Eric is hoping his score will be flooded with points.

(BOOB to WHITE MAID): It looks like YOUR team is the one flooded with points. You have just set a TAP record for highest replenishment at 23!

(CHRISTIE to TWILIGHT ZONE): As I remember it, the story ends with some reference to following a horses arse.



FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 2006 IS OCTOBER 6TH, 2001

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 2007 IS OCTOBER 27TH, 2001

Fall 2006

BRITAIN (Schultz): f ENG S SPANISH f mao-bis (nso), a LAP-mur, f DEN h,

f nor-SWE, a swe-FIN, f nwg-BRN, f fin-GOB, f NTH S f eng.

EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): f ALE-eme, f LBS C a lib-apu, f ION C a lib-apu,

a SYR S a sau-irk, a LIB-apu, a sau-IRK, f IZM-eme.

GERMANY (Rauterberg): f BAL S a lit-gda, a KRA-war, f ham-BER, f LAT-lit,

f bis-BOR, a SLO-hun, a bor-PAR, f BEL h, a lit-GDA, a CZE-slo,

a SIL-pru, a AUS S a slo-hun, f hol-HAM, a LYO S ITALIAN a mar-auv.

ITALY (Ozog): a BOS-ser, a cro S GERMAN s slo-hun (d r:ven,otb), f LIG-tys,

a ROM s a apu-nap, a mar-AUV, a APU-nap, f ANA-eme.

SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): a NAV s GERMAN a bor (otm), f MAO S a nav, f GOL-lig,

f MAL S a nap, a NAP s f tys-rom, f TYS-rom, a auv-mar (d r:bar,otb).

UKRAINE (Partridge): f WBS S f bul-ist, f bul-IST, a RUM S a hun, a kie-CRP,

a POD-kra, a WAR-lit, f ALB S a mac-ser, a ser-CRO, a ank-ADA,

a irn-KAZ, a PRU-sil, a HUN s a ser-cro, a BIE-lat, f ist-GRE,

a STP-mur, a gda s a war-lit (d ann), f ADR S a ser-cro, a ada-IRN, a mac-SER.



Supply Center Chart

BRITAIN (Schultz): EDI,LIV,LON,ire,nor,mur, (has 8, even)
swe,den
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): ALE,ASW,CAI,isr,sau,lib,izm (has 7, even)
GERMANY (Rauterberg): BER,FRA,HAM,MUN,hol,cze (has 14, even)
swi,par,lyo,gda,bel,aus,kra,bor
ITALY (Ozog): ROM,VEN,mon,mil,mar (has 6 or 7, rem 1(r:otb) or 2)
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): SVE,MAD,BAR,gib,por,mor, (has 6 or 7, bld 2(r:otb) or 1)
tun,nap
UKRAINE (Partridge): KHA,KIE,ODE,SEV,ros,rum,bul, (has 18, bld 4)
geo,ank,mos,bie,gre,gor,ada,irn,
lit,ser,stp,hun,war,cro,ist
Neutral: none (Total=64)



Addresses of the Participants

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

probo of sprintpcs.com

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

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

Tapmdfrance of aol.com

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

trauterberg of wi.rr.com

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

ElfEric of Juno.com

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

roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030

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

surfeit of swbell.net

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

sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com, sfo25 of netscape.net

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

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

rebhuhn of rocketmail.com



Game Notes:

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

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



Press:

(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): ``Drugs have long been the currency of the Central Intelligence Agency, USA, and EEC, a long dull story of corruption." From ``Brutal'' sung with brutal frankness by our very own Sally Timms. This is on Curse of the Mekons.

(THE LAST WORD FOR #250): I put this quote in BEFORE recent terrorist events and the need to start a new war on terrorism/drugs (where Osama bin Laden has processed much of his continuing money), but it is interesting that I chose that..... bye now, blessings and good wishes to all!!

(THE GREATER REICH to SPAIN): ``Never interrupt an enemy while he's making a mistake." -Napoleon

(SPAIN-ITALY): Well, I would say you're in deep trouble.

(SPAIN-ITALY): Take that Italian scum.

(ROME-MADRID): We shall retreat till we can't retreat no more.

(UKRAINE-BRITAIN): Oh come on, I thought we were friends. I only took Stp to keep Germany from taking it. Or is it I haven't advanced on Ber sooner.

(POLAND-UKRAINE): Liberate us and we'll rise against the Kaiser.

(RUSSIA-BOARD): Last time I looked in the rules there was no liberation rule. Should we make one?

(BOOB to LIBERATORS): It is always legal according to my house rules to concede the game to an eliminated player as long as you all vote affirmatively for it. Try that if you like....

(ANOTHER CONVERSATION KIRK AND SPOCK):

Spock: Captain, I've been studying some earth history in my spare time. In particular, the 2001 Boston Red Sox. ((Oh please, torture me some more why don't you??)) Their best player, Nomar Garciaparra, was injured most of the year. Their best pitcher, Pedro the Great, was injured for half the year, and a full 1/3 of their roster spent 60% of the season on the disabled list.

Kirk: What's your point?

Spock: Their manager, Jimy Williams, was highly regarded around the league and was in fact in the running for Manager of the Year for keeping the Red Sox in the race, yet the General Manager fired him in the middle of the stretch run. I find this action completely illogical!

Kirk: Spock, there are some actions of human behavior that are simply unexplainable.

Spock: You mean like Disco, Puff Daddy, and the ending to the new Planet of the Apes movie?

Kirk: Exactly.

(FRANCE-RUSSIA): The day we can liberate a country in the game of Diplomacy is the day I hang up my sword. As well as my knife.

(BOOB to ``FRANCE''): That is, of course, SO ironic....

(SPANISH NEWS): The cannibal killers roaming Spain's capital park has been eliminated. Spainish intell has made a astonishing discovery as well. Most of the killers were American democrats and Republicans. This new development has the Spanish government and intell dumbfounded. The Spanish people are also astonished at the news that Republican and democrat's joined forces in cannibalistic attacks here in Spain. Thought we have now found evidence of the same thing in the U.S.A.

(SPANISH NEWS PART 2): Evidence now shows the people were only eaten by the democrats when they refused to give money and the Republicans ate the people who gave money. There is also evidence that both ate people when someone mentioned Al Gore who showed his stupidity in Florida which thus showed the American people that he couldn't even cheat George Bush Jr in the race for Presidency which as far as the evidence is concerned and the American's concern is even Al Gore's fellow democrats If you couldn't beat Bush in the race then you shouldn't try for presidency and it's even worse when you can't beat him from cheating. Please note that my mom is a democrat and my dad is Republican and I vote for whoever I feel can run this country best. Also note that to a degree I ragged on Bush as well by virtually saying he was a weak runner. I went after Al Gore since he couldn't even beat Bush the right way or by cheating. At the time I could see why Saddam Insane doesn't listen to the U.S and I can just see him shaking his head. American idiots. Well, I figured I ought to ragg on everyone here, even me.

(MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH PART 2): A lady sleeps with a man that never wakes up. Though she is curious if he's sleeping comfortably, but it's hard to digest with the hole in his chest.

(MEKONS QUOTE OF THE YEAR): Retaliation is must. The enemy must suffer the mother--ing consequences. Dead lead. I want everyone of these mother'ers not breathing.

(MEKONS REPORTS): Who are we the Mekons who have never been heard from the future of the world. To what sense do we make to the people who hear us. Is there a man alive that understands us. Is there a woman that would like to be with us. Is there a man to fight us. For how can a man fight we he can't see nor can a man fight what he doesn't know. To this we ask the...

(BOOB to ILLICIT MEKONS QUOTERS): I can sensor your press if you are going to make up these things. Go get yourself some REAL Mekons quotes. There are more than enough of those to last a lifetime. And lots of people understand them.... hee, hee, hee.



SHOW ME THE MONEY: 1997Mea04, Colonial Diplomacy

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

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

Final Supply Center Chart - From the Last Season

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



Addresses of the Participants

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

wandrew of compuserve.com

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

ForlornH of aol.com

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

roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030

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

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

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

heyday6 of yahoo.com

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

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net

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

terryt of sinclair.net

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



Game Notes:

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



Press and End Game Comments:

No more here yet..... they're probably waiting for that spellbinding SC chart. Don Williams says he is sending me an Endgame statement now, so that will finish it one way or the other. Can I get the SC chart out before Don gets me an Endgame statement..... stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion..... Rich Goranson and Andy York are relishing their free issues while we work it out.



Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 2.70.
On 22 Sep 2001, 10:15.