From ford@jps.net Mon Mar 5 12:11:24 2001 Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 18:04:10 -0800 From: Ed Murphy Reply-To: agora-discussion@gecko.serc.rmit.edu.au To: Agora Business Subject: BUS: Agoran Weekly Journal THE AGORAN WEEKLY JOURNAL VOLUME 47, ISSUE 21 March 4, 2001 "THE END IS NI" -harvel [This space for rent - 1 VE, Papyrus, or Indulgence] ADOPTED PROPOSALS ----------------- "Clarify Rule 459" by Elysion - Proposal 4114 adopted 2/25 The Nomic Week begins at the beginning of Monday. "Oligarchy Reform" (was "Undo Proposal 4104") by Elysion - Proposal 4111 adopted 2/19 Rule 594 (Proposals and Rule Changes) is increased to Power=2. An Oligarch may resign by announcing that e does so. Rule 1933 (Ordinary and Democratic Proposals) is amended to avoid the problematic "operation of" text. An Ordinary Proposal that fails quorum becomes Democratic, and its Voting Period is extended accordingly. "Tweak Scoring Events" by Elysion - Proposal 4113 adopted 2/25 Being the only Player to Vote FOR or AGAINST someone else's Proposal is worth only 2 Points, not 10. Gaining a Patent Title is not worth 5 Points any more. REJECTED PROPOSALS ------------------ "Banking Developments" by t - Proposal 4112 failed quorum 2/19 - became Democratic 2/20, but only if Proposal 4112 applies to it (see CFJs 1278 and 1279) Bank Currency Recordkeepors may create and destroy that Currency in the Bank's holdings. Debts owed by the Bank must be announced before the Bank is obligated to pay them. PENDING PROPOSALS ----------------- "Auction Fractional VEs" by Blob - Proposal 4117 VEs are auctioned in units of the MUQ of VEs. "Allow Tax Exemptions" by Murphy Rule 1853 allows part of an entity's Currency holdings to be tax-exempt. "Clarity of Communication" by Goethe - Proposal 4115 A Communication is a single declaration with a specific effect. A Communication has effect only if it has exactly one reasonable interpretation. A message is a (possibly empty) set of Collections to be sent to a Public Forum. A message's Communications have effect only if they have an unambiguous order. "Create Bards" by Goethe Anyone may grant Patent Title of Bard With 2 Supporters, or With Support if both e and the Supporter are Bards. Anyone may revoke Patent Title of Bard With 3 Supporters, or With 2 Supporters if both e and the Supporters are Bards. "Fix double Auction debts" by Steve (duplicated by Goethe) Rule 1887 double-bills Auction winners - once explicitly, and once by requiring the Auctioneer to bill them. The former clause is repealed. "More Ways to Win (redux)" by Murphy [This was part of Proposal 4102, but was ineffective due to quoting obsolete text to replace.] If an Insane Proposal reaches Voting, but no one Votes FOR it, the Proposer Wins. "Patch Up Dependent Actions" by Ziggy A Player may not Support emself. The Rule defining Dependent Actions is increased to Power=2. A Rule defining a specific Dependent Action may restrict the eligibility of Players to Support or Object to that action. "The Speed of Light in a Vacuum" by Wes The speed of light in a vacuum ranges from 3 to 5, initially 3.9. "VE Upkeep" by Blob - Proposal 4116 The Treasuror's Budget contains the VE Upkeep, which is from 0 to 2 times the Basic Officer's Salary. The Treasuror may amend eir Budget's upkeeps Without 3 Objections. E may still amend eir Budget's compensations With Support. At the beginning of the second month of each quarter, the Assessor bills each non-Bank entity for the VE Upkeep for each VE it owns. If any part of such a debt remains outstanding for a week, the Assessor may forgive the rest of the debt and bill the entity for a corresponding quantity of VEs instead. (This clock stops running while the debt is disputed or the Player is On Hold.) "Zombie Upkeep" (proto by Steve; duplicated and Proposed by Goethe) - Proposal 4118 Zombie upkeep is increased from one Indulgence per quarter to one Indulgence per month, and if the debt is not paid as soon as possible, then the Zombie is lost. PROTO-PROPOSALS --------------- "Acolytes and Zombies" by Ziggy Only Acolytes may own Zombies or bid on Zombies. "Alternative OligarQueue" by Blob Each Player has an Oligarchy Priority, initially zero. A Player may increase eir Priority by spending Stems, or decrease it to zero by announcement. The Oligarchy is the six Players with highest Oligarchy Priority, with ties broken in favor of older changes. The first is High, the next two are Middle, and the next three are Low. Each month, the High Oligarch's Priority becomes zero. Each week, all Oligarch Priorities double. "A Synthetic Zombie" by Steve Frankie is a synthetic Zombie, deemed to be a Player and a Zombie. Monthly upkeep on a synthetic Zombie is 0.1 Indulgences, doubled for each full month since it was last Auctioned. If monthly upkeep goes unpaid for a week, then the Master must give up the Zombie instead. The starting bid on a synthetic Zombie is 0.1 Indulgences, and a lack of bids triggers a new Auction rather than deregistration. "Barring New Player Judges" by Stuart The Caller of a CFJ may bar all Players in eir Grace Period, in addition to barring three Players individually. However, if this results in no eligible Judges, then the bar on Players in eir Grace Period is lifted first. "Bonds" by Hooloovoo Bonds are Property, tracked by the Office of the Fed. Bonds cost 50 Stems each, have a term from 1 week to 1 year, and may be redeemed at the interest rate currently in effect for the Bond's term length. "End the Popularity Contest" by Elysion Kudos are repealed. "Fix exemptions bug" by Steve Only the Recordkeepor of a Currency may levy a tax on it. Rule 1853 allows part of an entity's Currency holdings to be tax-exempt. "Generalize Auction Results" by Kelly Auctioned items are transferred by their owner, not by the Auctioneer. "Group Bidding" by Blob A Player may transfer Stems to eir Group. A Group at least three months old and with at least three members may have a Role. Groups may bid in Auctions. When a Group wins an Oligarchy Auction, it must announce one of its members to become an Oligarch. "Intrarole Stem Swaps" by Ziggy A Player may transfer Stems to another Player with the same Role. "Make VEs Interesting" by Murphy VE supply is similar to Papyri, not to Indulgences. Bids in Oligarch Auctions are in VEs. "No More Bait-and-Switch" by Ziggy The 72-hour Auction timer is reset, not only when a new high Bid is made, but also when an old high Bid is cancelled. "Notices of Infraction" by Elysion A Notice of Infraction need not include the Rule defining the Infraction (but must still include sufficient detail to identify the offense). "Restore Democracy, more or less?" by Kelly The Oligarchy is repealed. "Roots" by Ziggy Roots are a Currency. Roots may be bought from the Bank with Stems. Stems may be bought from the Bank with Roots at least three months old. Hence Stems may be traded indirectly: buy Roots, trade Roots, sell Roots. CALLS FOR JUDGEMENT ------------------- CFJ 1265 "The Justiciar is required by the Rules to act in some way in Dismissed response to the Call for Judgement earlier in this email." 2/4 Called by Wes 2/4-10 Assigned to Kelly, who dismisses it 2/14 Appealed by Murphy Caller's argument (summary): Rule 991 (requiring the Clerk of the Courts to act upon a submitted CFJ) takes precedence over Rule 1831 (requiring the Justiciar to perform the duties of the Clerk of the Courts for CFJs filed with em). Judge's argument (summary): The statement of this CFJ may appear in different messages, so 'this email' does not have a fixed meaning. Counterargument: It did have a fixed meaning at the time this CFJ was called, which is the only time relevant to Judgement. CFJ 1266 "1. That of the following two messages, Dismissed http://www.escribe.com/games/agora-business/m2253.html and http://www.escribe.com/games/agora-business/m2255.html exactly ONE legally registered Goethe as a player in the game of Agora. The other one is either incorrect or superfluous. 2. That at a time 1 minute immediately BEFORE the SEND date listed in Goethe's e-mail header for m2253, normalized to GMT as Feb 5 0:22:49 (anecdotal evidence available on request), Goethe unambiguously was NOT a player. 3. That at a time 1 minute immediately AFTER the latest distribution date of m2255 listed in e-scribe, normalized to GMT as Feb 5 as 1:19:24, Goethe unambiguously WAS a player. 4. That, from these time indications, rounding to the minute, Goethe's Window of Ambiguity of Status as Player (GWASP) extends ABSOLUTELY NO LONGER than between GMT 0:21:00 and GMT 1:21:00 on Feb 5, 2001. 5. That Goethe's instant of becoming a player lies unambiguously within es GWASP. 5. While judgements on timestamps or the legality of the first message (c.f. http://www.escribe.com/games/agora-official/m967.html) may narrow the extent of this GWASP, no judgement may extend it. 6. Therefore, irrespective of the EXACT moment of Goethe's registration, and independent of any decisions further refining the exact moment, any game events, payments or adjustments, mandated by the rules to occur to Goethe's status, which must happen WITHIN a time period following registration, must use a registration date for Goethe NO LATER THAN 1:21:00 Feb. 5, 2001 in determining time of occurrence. 7. Likewise, any game events, payments, or adjustments mandated by the rules to occur a certain time AFTER Goethe's registration must use a registration date for Goethe NO EARLIER THAN 0:21:00 Feb. 5, 2001 in determining its time of occurrence." 2/6 Called by Goethe 2/7 Assigned to Crito, who dismisses it 2/7-8 Appealed by Kelly, Ziggy, lee, and harvel 2/9-16 Appeal assigned to Chuck, Steve, and Wes, who unanimously move to sustain CFJ 1267 "Syllepsis is a Scribe." [TRUE] 2/6 Called by Grech 2/7-9 Assigned to Blob, who Judges TRUE 2/22 Appealed by Goethe, Crito, and Ziggy 2/25-3/3 Appeal assigned to lee, Steve, and Wes, who unanimously move to sustain CFJ 1268 "Peekee has committed the Crime of Application Fraud as described in [TRUE] Rule 1626 by claiming that eir Application (included in Evidence Appealed below) was signed by Players who did not actually sign that Application." 2/7 Called by Wes 2/7 Assigned to lee, who Judges TRUE 2/8 Appealed by Peekee 2/10 Appeal assigned to Chuck, Steve, and (improperly) Wes 2/15 Steve moves to overturn and reassign 2/16 Appeal assigned to Chuck, Steve, and Elysion 2/16 Chuck moves to overturn and reassign 2/17 Elysion moves to overturn and reassign 2/25 Reassigned to Razl Caller's argument (summary): Peekee published a Dissenting Position, then changed it to Concurring and got some signatures, then sent the Dissenting copy by mistake. Counterargument: X is the action Peekee performed. Y is the action Peekee believed e was performing at the time. Peekee believed that X was a Crime (or would have if anyone had pointed it out), but did not believe that Y was a Crime. If eir belief about Y is what matters, then Rule 1575's last paragraph forgives Peekee. Commentary: lee submitted eir Judgement early by mistake (by eir own admission) and had not yet addressed Peekee's defense. CFJ 1272 "All Players always have at least one inherent right, regardless of [TRUE] any rule (for purposes of this statement, inherent right means a right that players have even when or if the rules do not explicitly grant them that right)." 2/11 Called by Evantine 2/11-18 Assigned to Chuck, who Judges TRUE Caller's argument (summary): A Player can quit, even if the Rules forbid it. Counterargument: The Zombies have "quit", but the Rules still regard them as Players. CFJ 1274 "t's Order of Wed, 14 Feb 2001, 'I order everyone to make fewer [TRUE] bids in the next auction.' was improperly or invalidly executed." 2/15 Called by Oerjan 2/15-21 Assigned to Evantine, who Judges TRUE 2/16 Evantine makes a Motion to emself that e issue a Judicial Order, an Order to Compel, for the Clerk of the Courts to stay t's Order as soon as possible; e then grants the Motion and issues the Judicial Order 2/21 Evantime Orders emself to vacate t's Order 2/22 Appealed by Taral Judge's argument (summary): The Rules do not require, permit, or describe this type of Order, so it is invalid. Counterargument (summary): Game custom holds that arbitrary Private Orders are valid, unless Judged "improper" (a deliberately variable standard). Concurring argument (summary): Players who made no bids in the previous auction were ordered by t to make a negative number of bids in the next auction. CFJ 1275 "An entity is a Player if the Rules cannot distinguish that entity [TRUE] from a Player." 2/19 Called by Goethe 2/25-28 Assigned to Murphy, who Judges TRUE CFJ 1276 "An entity is a Player if, and only if, the Rules cannot distinguish that entity from a Player." 2/19 Called by Goethe 2/25 Assigned to Lindrum CFJ 1277 "Lindrum's message was sent after the end of the Oligarch Auction announced in Murphy's message ." 2/25 Called by Ziggy 2/25 Assigned to Grech Caller's argument (summary): Prior to Lindrum's message, at least 72 had elapsed since a new bid became the highest bid. CFJ 1278 "The Assessor has announced the results of the voting on Proposal 4111." 2/21 Called by Murphy 2/26 Assigned to Syllepsis Caller's argument (summary): The Assessor's announcement specified the Vote count correctly, but specified the result of that Vote count (adoption or rejection) incorrectly. CFJ 1279 "Proposal 4112 is Democratic." [FALSE] 2/21 Called by Murphy 2/26-3/2 Assigned to pTang, who Judges FALSE 3/3 Appealed by Murphy Caller's argument (summary): If CFJ 1278 is false, then so is this; otherwise, while Proposal 4111 is adopted too early to place a requirement on the Assessor to announce Proposal 4112's failing quorum, it may still cause Proposal 4112 to become Democratic upon the Assessor's announcement. Counterargument: An announcement may trigger the final clause of Proposal 4112 only if the Assessor was required to make the announcement, and/or only if the Proposal failed quorum after Proposal 4112 took effect. Judge's refutation (summary): As of the calling of the CFJ, the Assessor had not announced that Proposal 4112 failed quorum. Counterargument: Part of the Assessor's message attempted to announce it, and got it wrong; but another part of the Assessor's message announced it correctly. CFJ 1280 "The Articles of Confederation of the United Nomic DEAD Groups (The UNDEAD Agreement) is an agreement between Players." 2/28 Called by Peekee 3/3 Assigned to Oerjan 3/4 Goethe, Syllepsis, and Ziggy sign this Application: PUBLIC AGREEMENT, BINDING BY THE RULES We, the Members of the Anemocrats, publicly agree that the The Private, Binding Agreement knows as the Articles of Confederation of the United Nomic Dead Groups affects the Votes of the Anemocrats, and affected the Votes of the Anemocrats from the time of the Group's Formation to (at least) the time of the execution of this Application. CFJ 1281 "The Private, Binding Agreement knows as the Articles of Confederation of the United Nomic Dead Groups affects the Votes of the Anemocrats." 2/28 Called by Taral 2/28 Taral moves that the Ordinancekeepor of the Anemocrats be Ordered to publish the UNDEAD Agreement OFFICES/OLIGARCHS ----------------- 2/14 Kelly Nominates for Speaker-Elect. 2/21 Kelly is Elected Speaker-Elect. 2/22 Michael wins the Oligarch Auction. Another Oligarch Auction begins to fill the position vacated by Peekee. 2/23 Michael becomes an Oligarch. 2/25 Ziggy wins the Oligarch Auction. 2/28 Ziggy becomes an Oligarch. OTHER ----- 2/9 Blob announces eir intent to amend the Budget to increase the Registrar's Salary from 0.5 to 0.6 times the Basic Officer Salary. Lindrum gives eir support. 2/10 Crito gives eir support to the Budget amendment, and Blob makes the amendment. 2/11 The Agoran Carnival dissolves. 2/16 Auction begins for 8 Papyri. lee becomes a Politician. Oerjan becomes a Scribe. 2/21 Lindrum makes all other Players Quiet. 2/22 Hooloovoo registers. 2/24 Papyrus Auction ends. Steve and Oerjan win 4 Papyri each, at the rate of 102 Stems per Papyrus. 2/26 VE Auction ends. lee, Blob, Wes, and harvel win 1 VE each, at the rate of 312 Stems per VE. 2/28 Auction begins for 4 VEs. Bidding for 4 VEs beginning 2/28 ---------- 1368 Elysion 684 Elysion 500 Michael 456 Elysion 342 Elysion 279 lee 200 harvel 200 Blob 100 Blob 50 Taral 50 Taral 50 Taral 50 Taral Bidding for 4 VEs ending 2/26 ---------- 500 Taral - cancelled 486 lee - cancelled 400 harvel - cancelled 400 lee 399 harvel - cancelled 372 Taral - cancelled 372 Blob - cancelled 370 Blob 325 Taral - cancelled 320 Wes 315 Taral - cancelled 312 harvel 311 Wes 310 Taral 309 harvel - cancelled 309 harvel 305 Wes 304 harvel - cancelled 301 Taral - cancelled 300 harvel - cancelled 300 Blob 270 Wes 247 Taral 246 Novalis 246 Taral 243 lee - cancelled 200 harvel - cancelled 141 Anthony 126 Taral 124 Taral 123 Novalis 100 harvel - cancelled 93 Taral 82 Novalis 78 harvel - cancelled 61 Novalis 50 harvel - cancelled Bidding for 8 Papyri ---------- 600 Steve 300 Steve 204 Oerjan 204 Oerjan 150 Steve 150 Steve 136 Oerjan 110 Syllepsis 102 Oerjan 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 81 Oerjan 68 Oerjan 58 Oerjan 51 Oerjan 50 Syllepsis 50 Syllepsis 1 Kelly 1 Kelly 1 Kelly 1 Kelly 1 Kelly 1 Kelly 1 Kelly 1 Kelly TRADE OFFERS ------------ Ongoing offers: Player Date Will sell In return for ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Blob 6/19/00 Votes as Oligarch Highest bidder; minimum 10 Stems Elysion 7/23/00 Herald's Privilege Negotiable Murphy 2/4/01 Ad in AWJ 1 VE, Papyrus, or Indulgence OotEE 9/13/99 1 Iris 1 VT; non-members subject to 9% Tariff Peekee 3/2/01 Votes on Proposals Negotiable and Elections Wes 4/5/00 1 Twig Commenting on and changing a proto Wes 4/5/00 ad space 1 Twig per 30 days Recent one-time offers: Player Date Will sell In return for ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Blob 1/23/01 1 Indulgence 1 Papyrus Blob 3/1/01 Indulgences Papyri Blob 3/1/01 1 VE at least 4 Papyri Chuck 2/6/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences harvel 2/9/01 Negotiable 3 Papyri Hooloovoo 3/2/01 1 Papyri 1 VE Kelly 7/1/00 1 VE Negotiable Kelly 10/4/00 9 BTs Negotiable Kelly 1/24/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences Steve 2/5/01 2 Indulgences 2 Papyri t 2/6/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences Taral 10/4/00 5 Stems 1 BT Wes 10/19/00 16 Stems 1 Indulgence ERRATA ------ "Clarity of Communication" was suggested by Syllepsis, not Goethe. -- Ed Murphy http://members.fortunecity.com/emurphy/ "Most of the time, it seemed sublimely unaware of its limbs, though it was beginning to suspect it had hands."