From ford@jps.net Mon Apr 2 13:03:17 2001 Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 01:17:24 -0700 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 23 April Fool's Day, 2001 THREAT TROMBONES ---------------- Andre - http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/stare.txt Bush - Strategery Gore - Lockbox harvel - THE END IS NI Kelly - http://www.pyrzqxgl.org/~kmartin/agoratrader.pl Lindrum - http://www.panix.com/~lindrum/agorex/ Murphy - I'd rather be in Stars Hollow, CT ADOPTED PROPOSALS ----------------- "Allow Tax Exemptions" by Murphy - Proposal 4127 adopted 3/26 Rule 1853 (Levying Taxes) permits exemptions. "Bonds" by Kelly - Proposal 4126 adopted 3/27 Bonds are Property. The Recordkeepor of Bonds is the Usuror. Bonds with the same Issuer, face value, and maturity date form a species, and are fungible. Players, Groups, Contests, and the Bank have Bond Issuance Authority. A mature Bond is redeemed by transferring it to its Issuer for the purpose of redemption. The Issuer owes the transferor the Bond's face value. (If the Bond is immature, then the Issuer owes the transferor the Bond instead.) Redeemed Bonds may not be further transferred. The Usuror's Budget contains the Basic Fee for creating one or more of a species of Bond. (The Bank is exempt from this fee.) The Bank may issue Bonds (With 2 Supporters) and Auction Bonds (Without 3 Objections). An unredeemed Bond matures immediately, and is deemed to have been redeemed, if its Issuer ceases to have an Executor. The Bank may mint Bank Currencies as follows: (a) Up to five times the Basic Officer Salary, within thirty days after a new Player registers (With 2 Supporters). (b) VEs equal to the VE Surplus minus the Bank's VE holdings (With 2 Supporters). (c) At any time (Without Objection). "Create Bards" by Goethe - Proposal 4129 adopted 3/26 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. "End the Popularity Contest" by Elysion - Proposal 4124 adopted 3/26 Kudos are repealed. "Fix double Auction debts" by Steve (duplicated by Goethe) - Proposal 4122 adopted 3/20 Rule 1887 double-bills Auction winners - once explicitly, and once by requiring the Auctioneer to bill them. The former clause is repealed. "Rational Objections" by Lindrum - Proposal 4123 adopted 3/20 (but insufficient Power to have any effect) Players Objecting to an action must provide reasons. "Streamline Rebellion" by Murphy - Proposal 4128 adopted 3/26 Upon a successful Rebellion, the Registrar (not the Herald) levies an Indulgence tax. REJECTED PROPOSALS ------------------ "Bonds" by Hooloovoo - Proposal 4125 rejected 3/27 Bonds are Property. The Recordkeepor of Bonds is 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. "Make VEs Interesting" by Murphy - Proposal 4131 rejected 3/27 ["Proposal 4130" omitted part of the text, and hence was not a Proposal.] VE supply (by tenths) is made similar to Papyrus supply. Oligarchy Bids are in VEs. [old] "Clarity of Communication" by Goethe - Proposal 4115 rejected 3/5 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. "Start the Sanity-Insanity" by harvel - Proposal 4120 rejected 3/13 Each non-Senator receives 100 Stems. "The CotC's Budget" by Blob - Proposal 4119 rejected 3/13 The CotC's Budget specifies the penalty for each Crime (from 0 to 15) and Infraction (0 to 5, except Dereliction of Duty which may be penalized as if it were a Crime). "VE Upkeep" by Blob - Proposal 4116 rejected 3/5 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.) PENDING PROPOSALS ----------------- "Assistant Director of Personnel" by Murphy - Proposal 4142 Grand Warden of the Oligarchy is split into two Offices: one that tracks Officers (Assistant Director of Personnel) and one that tracks Oligarchs (GWotO). Both Offices then go up for Election immediately. "Cleanup the Transfer Tax" by Elysion - Proposal 4132 Pro-rated Zombie Maintenance is billed by the Registrar (not the Herald), and is pro-rated according to normal Zombie Maintenance being monthly rather than quarterly. "Fix blanket quieting" by Tim - Proposal 4133 Making another Player Quiet is limited to once every 24 hours. "Fix Rule 1585" by harvel - Proposal 4135 Rule 1585 (Official Duties upon Officer Change) is amended by removing obsolete text that refers to how ASAP used to require actions to be performed in a certain order. "Fix Rule 1714" by harvel - Proposal 4136 The order of events when deregistering a Lawless Player is clarified. "Fix Rule 1953" by Hooloovoo Rule 1953 (Sane Proposals) claims precedence over other Rules pertaining to Voting Power, particularly Rule 1950 (Voting Power) which currently makes Rule 1953 ineffective. (See CFJ 1282.) "Fix the Rule that Never Ends" by harvel - Proposal 4137 Fix the format of Rule 1794 (Classes of Orders), which was damaged when clause (3) was deleted. "More Ways to Win (redux)" by Murphy - Proposal 4138 A Player Wins if eir Insane Proposal is distributed and gets no FOR Votes. [This was part of a previous adopted Proposal that had insufficient Power to make this change.] "Points Adjustments" by Wes - Proposal 4141 Rule 1929 (Points) is amended to eliminate mention of Players "having" Points, and to say that Score changes not following the regulations are "ineffective" rather than "invalid". Rule 1930 (Scoring) is amended to award 5 Points for a Patent Title (but only if it has not been held within the past week), and to not award Points for a Degree already held previously. Rule 1923 (Defined Unique Patent Titles) is amended so that "Distributor" is no longer a Patent Title. "Restore Our Sanity!" by Steve (duplicated by Goethe) - Proposal 4139 Rule 1953 (Sane Proposals) clearly takes precedence over Rule 1950 (Voting Power). "Various Minor Changes" by harvel - Proposal 4134 Rules 1884 (Zombie Masters) and 1886 (Returning to Life; renamed to "Vivification Due to Noise") are simplified by removing redundant language. "What is Public?" by Wes "Public" means "sent to all Players". Messages sent to a Public Forum are deemed always public. "Discussion Forum" is defined. Messages sent to one are deemed never public. All other mention of "Public Forum" is reworded with "public" or "publicly". "Yet Another Cleanup Proposal" by Wes - Proposal 4140 Rule 1565 (Dismissal of a CFJ) is amended to pay a standard Judicial Salary, rather than a hardcoded 20-Stem salary. Rules 1893 (The Treasuror's Budget) and 1940 (Periodic Compensations) are amended to require listing all Offices, even non-wage-earning ones. PROTO-PROPOSALS --------------- "And The Fix" by Goethe Amend Rule 1539 (Regulations and Membership of Contests) to restrict Entry Fees to Currencies transferrable directly between Players. "Bank Loans" by Blob The Bank may buy Bonds for Stems, at rates specified in the Usuror's Budget. The Credit Limit is an amount of Stems from 0 to 1000. No Player may sell Bonds to the Bank equivalent to more than this amount of Stems. The Treasuror may, With Support, stop or start the Bank from buying Bonds. "Bluff Auctions" by Blob Cards are Property. Their Recordkeepor is the Dealer. The Deck and the Pile are entities. The Dealer's Budget specifies the cost of buying a random Card from the Deck, and the maximum bid and raise in a Bluff Auction. Each of these values is from 10 to 100 Stems. A Player may call for a redeal, Without Objection by Players with four or more cards. If this happens, then all Cards return to the Deck, and each Player receives as many random Cards as e had before. A Hand is a set of one to five Cards. For Bluff Auctions: * The Dealer is Auctioneer. * A Player becomes a bidder by transferring one or more Hands to the Pile. * Non-winning bids may be raised. * Bids may be cancelled. The Hand is given back, and the bidder owes the bid to the Bank. * At the end of the Auction, each bidder owes eir non-winning bids (if any) to the Bank. Papyri, VEs, and Indulgences are auctioned using Bluff Auctions. "Ephemeral rules" by Tim Rules have Attributes. "Ephemeral" is an Attribute. An Active Player may make a Rule Ephemeral, Without Objection. An Active Player may make a Rule non-Ephemeral, With 3 Supporters. An Active Player may repeal an Ephemeral Rule, With 2 Supporters, if that Rule has not been invoked for three months. This carries a 30-Stem bonus. "Kitu" by Wes Kitu are categories of Property, tracked by the Mtunza. When the Rules award a Kitu to a Player, the Player must Summon it within a week. E may never Summon the same Kitu more than once a month. A Player is the Executor of eir Kitu. Sauti Kitu are awarded for Winning the Game, and may cast one Vote on any one Proposal. "Mentor's Bonus" by Blob During the four weeks after the end of a Player's Grace Period, the Player (if not a Zombie) may award a Mentor's Bonus to one other Player. "Proposals made Democratic by the Speaker are Sane" by Murphy Self-explanatory. "Sane Power" by t Rule 1950 (Voting Power) is amended to explicitly define Voting Power in all situations (rather than deferring some situations to other Rules), and to clarify timing issues. Rule 1953 (Sanity) is amended to explicitly invalidate certain attempted Votes, rather than adjusting Voting Power. Rule 683 (Voting on Proposals) has its Power increased to 2, and is amended to allow only Rules of at least Power 2 to restrict legal Votes, and to leave it to the Assessor's discretion to determine synonyms for FOR, AGAINST, or ABSTAIN. "The Auctioneer Started It!" by Murphy The default Auctioneer is, not the Speaker, but the Player who initiates the Auction. (However, the default identity of *that* Player is the Speaker.) "Votes divided" by Oerjan Fractional Votes are permitted. CALLS FOR JUDGEMENT ------------------- CFJ 1268 "Peekee has committed the Crime of Application Fraud as described in [TRUE] Rule 1626 by claiming that eir Application (included in Evidence 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, issues a Sentencing Order, and Orders a Formal Apology 2/8 lee's Judgement 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, who Judges TRUE at some point between 2/25 and 3/14, issues a Sentencing Order, and Orders a Formal Apology 3/15 Peekee appeals Razl's Sentencing Order, as lee had already issued one 3/18 Razl penalizes Peekee for Failure to Apologize 3/18 Elysion and Wes Appeal Razl's Sentencing Order 3/18 Appeal of Razl's Sentencing Order assigned to Elysion, Steve, and Ziggy 3/22 Razl's Judgement Appealed by Peekee 3/22-24 Steve, Ziggy, and Elysion sustain Razl's Sentencing Order 3/23 Appeal of Judgement assigned to Taral, Steve, and pTang 3/23-24 Steve, Taral, and pTang sustain Razl's Judgement 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. Judge Razl's argument (summary): The action Peekee actually performed is what matters. CFJ 1277 "Lindrum's message [TRUE] was sent after the end of the Oligarch Auction announced in Murphy's message ." 2/25 Called by Ziggy 2/25-3/18 Assigned to Grech, who defaults 3/18 Assigned to pTang, who Judges TRUE CFJ 1279 "Proposal 4112 is Democratic." [FALSE] 2/21 Called by Murphy Appealed 2/26-3/2 Assigned to pTang, who Judges FALSE 3/3-5 Appealed by Murphy, Taral, and Elysion 3/30 Appeal assigned to lee, Steve, and Wes 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. Judge's refutation (summary): Assessor t's announcement that Proposal 4112 failed quorum was not required by Proposal 4111, so it was not "such an announcement" to cause Proposal 4112 to become Democratic. CFJ 1282 "Maximum Voting Power, as referenced in Rule 1953, is a different [FALSE] quantity from an Entity's maximum Voting Power, as referenced in Rule 1950." 3/6 Called by Syllepsis 3/8 Assigned to Stuart Caller's argument (summary): Rule 1953 may deem a Vote invalid (i.e. without effect), though Rule 1950 allows it to be cast. For the final clause of Rule 1953 to conflict with Rule 1950, it would have to refer to the casting of Votes, which would make the clause redundant with the previous text of Rule 1953. Judge's refutation (summary): Rule 1953 causes extra Votes to be cancelled, as permitted by Rule 683. CFJ 1283 "On or about Tue, 06 Mar 2001 16:04:06 -0800, Hoovooloo violated Rule [FALSE] 1729." 3/6 Called by Kelly 3/8-18 Assigned to Murphy, who Judges FALSE Judge's refutation (summary): Hooloovoo's attempt to Vote on Insane Proposal 4120 was ineffective (because it was not sent directly to the Assessor), so eir discussion of that attempt was not discussion of any actual Votes. CFJ 1285 "Between the time of the creation of the "Enrich the Contestmaster" [FALSE] Contest and this CFJ, Syllepsis, Ziggy, and Steve each successfully lowered the number of Stems they possess by 50, thus paying the Entry Fee for the Contest and successfully increasing the number of Stems possessed by the "Enrich the Contestmaster" Contest (in the Contest Fund) by 150 (total)." 3/19 Called by Goethe 3/19-22 Assigned to Kelly, who Judges FALSE Judge's refutation (summary): Rule 1539 is restrictive, not permissive. CFJ 1286 "The Herald is required to bill Syllepsis the Zombie Transfer Tax of 0.1 Indulgences for transfering 1 Zombie to the Bank" 3/27 Called by Syllepsis 3/27 Improperly assigned to Crito, who was On Hold 3/29-31 Assigned to Elysion, who proto-Judges FALSE Caller's argument (summary): Syllepsis attempted to create a Currency called Zombies, mint some units of it, and transfer one to the Bank. Judge's refutation (summary): An entity does not change a Rule's referent merely by having the same name as the Rule's original referent. CFJ 1287 "The message (as quoted above) Goethe sent titled "Contest announcement: Bardic Gatherings" failed to create a Contest." 3/30 Called by Peekee 3/31 Assigned to Tim Caller's argument (summary): Goethe did not explicitly label eir message as an Application to Create an Organization. OFFICES/OLIGARCHS ----------------- 3/17 Elections begin for Justiciar and Notary. 3/18 Peekee Nominates for Notary. 3/19 Steve Nominates for Justiciar. Hooloovoo Nominates for Justiciar. Tim Nominates for Notary. 3/21 Taral Nominates for Justiciar. 3/22 Lindrum Nominates for Notary. Razl Nominates for Notary. 3/23 Elysion resigns as Herald, naming Goethe as eir successor. 3/24 Nominations close for Justiciar and Notary. Candidates for Justiciar are Hooloovoo, Steve, and Taral. Candidates for Notary are Lindrum, Peekee, Razl, and Tim. 3/28 Voting begins for Justiciar and Notary. Nominations open for Herald. Goethe Nominates for Herald. OTHER ----- 3/16 Murphy becomes a Scribe. Tim becomes a Scribe. 3/19 Stuart goes On Hold. Papyrus Auction ends. Murphy wins 3, Steve 2, Harlequin and Hooloovoo and Kelly 1 each, at 150 Stems each. Taral comes Off Hold. Goethe creates "Enrich the Contestmaster". 3/21 Taral creates the Currency "Large Wet Noodles". Goethe dissolves "Enrich the Contestmaster". 3/22 Taral creates "The House Committee on Un-Agoran Activities". Taral auctions 2 Large Wet Noodles. Bids are in VEs, Papyri, or Indulgences, at an exchange rate of 1 VE = 2 Papyri = 3 Indulgences. Kelly creates the Currency "Kangaroos". 3/23 Razl becomes a Politician. 3/25 Ziggy grants eir Power of Attorney to Syllepsis till April 4. 3/26 Crito makes emself ineligible to Judge CFJs. Tim makes emself eligible to Judge CFJs. Syllepsis creates the Currency "Zombies". Evantine resigns as Vizier of the Alethiologers, appointing Steve as eir successor. Steve consents. Evantine makes emself ineligible to Judge CFJs. Treasuror Blob announces eir intent to increase the Basic Officer Salary from 70 to 100 Stems. Taral and Razl give eir support. 3/27 Palnatoke deregisters. 3/28 Treasuror Blob increases the Basic Officer Salary from 70 to 100 Stems, and announces eir intent to set the Usuror's Salary at 0.5 times the Basic Officer Salary. Kelly gives eir support. Goethe creates the Contest "Bardic Gatherings" and announces a Gathering. 3/29 Treasuror Blob sets the Usuror's Salary at 0.5 times the Basic Officer Salary, and (also with Kelly's support) increases the Treasuror's Salary from 0.5 to 0.6 times the Basic Officer Salary. 3/30 Goethe repeats eir "Bardic Gatherings" actions, in case eir attempt on 3/28 was unsuccessful. See CFJ 1287. 3/31 solublefish registers. 4/1 Steve makes Grech Quiet. Bidding for 8 Papyri beginning 3/15 ---------- 500 Murphy 300 Steve 250 Murphy 167 Murphy 151 Hooloovoo 150 Kelly 150 Harlequin 150 Steve 125 Murphy 100 Steve 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 Murphy 84 Murphy 75 Kelly 75 Harlequin 75 Steve 72 Murphy 63 Murphy 60 Steve 50 Kelly 50 Harlequin 50 Steve 37 Harlequin 36 Oerjan 35 Kelly 30 Kelly 30 Harlequin 25 Kelly 25 Harlequin 21 Harlequin 20 Kelly 19 Tim 18 Harlequin 18 Oerjan 16 Tim - cancelled 16 Tim 15 Kelly 12 Oerjan 9 Oerjan 7 Oerjan 6 Oerjan 5 Oerjan 4 Oerjan Bidding for 10 x 0.1 VEs beginning 3/16 ---------- 314 lee 249 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 240 Taral 210 Lindrum 200 Goethe 157 lee 130 Lindrum 125 Goethe - cancelled 125 Goethe 124 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 120 Michael 120 Taral 115 Goethe - cancelled 112 Goethe - cancelled 106 Goethe - cancelled 106 Goethe - cancelled 105 Lindrum - cancelled 105 Lindrum - cancelled 105 Lindrum - cancelled 104 lee 100 Goethe - cancelled 95 Goethe - cancelled 95 Goethe - cancelled 86 Lindrum - cancelled 86 Lindrum - cancelled 86 Lindrum - cancelled 86 Lindrum - cancelled 86 Razl 85 Goethe - cancelled 85 Goethe 84 Razl - cancelled 83 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 82 Razl - cancelled 81 Lindrum - cancelled 81 Lindrum - cancelled 80 Taral 79 Lindrum - cancelled 79 Lindrum - cancelled 79 Ziggy 79 Ziggy 78 lee 75 Goethe - cancelled 65 Goethe 62 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 62 lee 60 Taral 60 Michael 52 lee 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 50 Wes 49 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 48 Taral 45 Ziggy - cancelled 45 Ziggy - cancelled 45 Ziggy - cancelled 44 lee 41 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 40 Michael 40 Taral 39 lee 35 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 35 Goethe - cancelled 34 Taral 34 lee 31 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 31 lee 30 Michael 30 Taral 27 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 26 Taral 25 Goethe - cancelled 24 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 24 Michael 24 Taral 20 Michael 18 Goethe - cancelled 18 Goethe - cancelled 18 Goethe - cancelled 18 Goethe - cancelled 17 Michael 15 Michael 13 Michael 12 Michael 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 5 Ziggy 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob 1 Blob TRADE OFFERS ------------ Ongoing offers: Player Date Will sell In return for ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AgorEx 3/28/01 1 VE 665 mP AgorEx 3/28/01 1 Papyrus 107 mVE 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AgorEx 4/1/01 2.0 Papyri 14.5 mVE per 0.1 Papyrus AgorEx 4/1/01 1.0 Papyri 350 mIN per 0.1 Papyrus 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 harvel 3/22/01 2.0 VEs Papyri / Negotiable 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 Wes 4/1/01 Vote, Prop 4138 Negotiable Wes 4/1/01 Vote, Prop 4142 Negotiable ERRATA ------ "Expanding Abbreviations" was only a Proto-Proposal, not a Proposal. -- 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."