From ford@jps.net Mon Apr 16 12:31:33 2001 Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 18:58:35 -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 48, ISSUE 1 Easter Sunday, April 15, 2001 EASTER EGGS ----------- Andre - Stare Decisis http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/stare.txt harvel - THE END IS NI http://www.planetstarsiege.com/allyourbase/ Kelly - The Agora Trader http://www.pyrzqxgl.org/~kmartin/agoratrader.pl Lindrum - The AgorEx http://www.panix.com/~lindrum/agorex/ Murphy - Garden Nomic II http://groups.yahoo.com/group/garden-nomic/ ADOPTED PROPOSALS ----------------- "Cleanup the Transfer Tax" by Elysion - Proposal 4132 adopted 4/1 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 adopted 4/1 Making another Player Quiet is limited to once every 24 hours. "Fix Rule 1585" by harvel - Proposal 4135 adopted 4/1 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 adopted 4/1 The order of events when deregistering a Lawless Player is clarified. "Fix the Rule that Never Ends" by harvel - Proposal 4137 adopted 4/1 Fix the format of Rule 1794 (Classes of Orders), which was damaged when clause (3) was deleted. "Various Minor Changes" by harvel - Proposal 4134 adopted 4/1 Rules 1884 (Zombie Masters) and 1886 (Returning to Life; renamed to "Vivification Due to Noise") are simplified by removing redundant language. REJECTED PROPOSALS ------------------ PENDING PROPOSALS ----------------- "Ambiguous Ordering Fix" by Elysion An attempt to make multiple simultaneous communications, not explicitly ordered, fails if any two specific orderings would result in substantively different gamestates. "Bank Loans" by Blob - Proposal 4144 The Bank may buy Bonds for Stems, at rates specified in the Usuror's Budget and dependent on the face value and time-to-maturity of the Bonds. 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. "Becoming Parliamentary" by Goethe - Proposal 4146 A Group may become Parliamentary if at least two members are not in eir Grace Periods, and (a) It has existed continuously for at least one month, and has Voted on at least one Democratic Proposal; or (b) It was formed before May 1, 2001. This is a supplement to "Better Democracy Through Groups"; see below. "Better Democracy Through Groups" by Goethe A Group may become Parliamentary by announcement of its Vizier if: (1) It has existed continuously since March 21, 2001; (2) It has existed continuously for at least two months, and has Voted on at least one Democratic Proposal; or (3) With Support from a majority of the Viziers of all Parliamentary Groups. The Voting Power on Democratic Proposals of a P-Group with at least three members is twice the number of members plus the number of VEs it has, maximum sixteen. "Even More Better Groups" by Goethe A clean merge of "Becoming Parliamentary" into "Better Groups". "Fix insane bidding wars" by Ian This is a supplement to "The Speaker, Sanity and insane bidding wars"; see below. "Contested" is renamed to "Attacked". Lists of conditions and effects are expressed in convenient list form. "Fix Rule 1470" by Kelly The Bank may transfer Property when not specifically authorized to do so by the Rules; however, the recipient owes their return to the Bank. "Mentor's Bonus" by Blob - Proposal 4143 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. "The Scribe's Council" by Kelly A Player may make a Proposal Distributable for free, with the Support of a majority of all Scribes. "The Speaker, Sanity and insane bidding wars" by Ian - Proposal 4145 The Speaker may only make Interested, non-Contested Proposals Democratic. Proposals made Democratic by the Speaker are also made Sane, and the Distribution Cost is increased accordingly. For the change to be made during the Voting Period, someone must first pay the difference in Distribution Cost. A Player may, With 3 Supporters, Contest a Proposal that could be made Democratic by the Speaker. Doing so costs 0.1 VE. Players may pay VEs for or against a Contested Proposal. At the end of the Voting Period, if more VEs were paid for than against, then the Proposal becomes Democratic. (Ties cause a change only if the Player who Contested the Proposal was the Speaker and Untainted.) "The Whole Truth" by Kelly A Player may be convicted of Perjury or Misrepresentation only if e willfully made a false statement of fact. Specifically: * E must intend to make a false statement of fact. * E must realize that the statement e makes is false. * Excusable negligence, reasonable error, and reasonable reliance on the representations of another are defenses. * A conclusion as to the interpretation or application of the Rules is not a "statement of fact". Falsification is merged into Misrepresentation. PROTO-PROPOSALS --------------- "Fluid Activity" by Murphy The 96-hour waiting period between going On Hold and coming Off Hold is repealed. "Group votes are a' blocked" by Goethe If a Group casts at least one Vote on a Proposal, then its entire Voting Power is deemed to have been cast with equal FOR/AGAINST/ABSTAIN value. "Help New Players" by harvel New Players become Unready at the beginning of eir Grace Period, and Ready at the end of it. An Unready Player may become Ready by saying so. Rule 698 (Always an Eligible Judge) explicitly asserts its power to command Inactive Players, and extends eligibility to the Caller as a last resort. An Unready Player does not appear in the Order of Succession to the Speakership. Ordering an Unready Player to Formally Apologize for violating a Rule is optional. An Unready Player may expunge half of any Blots e receives. The New Player Award is, for each Bank Currency, three-quarters of the average holdings of that Currency of Players not in their Grace Period. All Players currently in their Grace Period become Unready. All Players who registered on or after September 21, 2000, with a Grace Period, receive the New Player Award. "Making Democracy easy but expensive" by Ian The power to make Proposals Democratic is given to all Players. It now costs 0.1 VE, but gives that Player an extra Vote on the Proposal. "The Constant Struggle for Supremacy" by Blob A Player's Supremacy is initially zero. A Player may increase eir Supremacy by paying an equal quantity of Stems. At the end of the week, all Supremacies double. The current High Oligarch's Supremacy is 200, that of the Middle Oligarchs is 100, and that of the Low Oligarchs is 50. Each week, the Grand Warden of the Oligarchy shall announce the Players with the six highest non-zero Supremacies at the start of the week. The highest becomes the High Oligarch, the next two become Middle Oligarchs, and the next three become Low Oligarchs. If there are less than six such Players, then the remaining positions are vacant. Ties are resolved in favor of the Player who paid to increase eir Supremacy least recently. A Player's Supremacy becomes and remains zero whenever something happens that would currently cause em to lose an Oligarch position. A Player may set eir Supremacy to zero by saying so. "The Reset Switch" by Blob The Speaker or the High Oligarch may reset the game, With 10 Supporters. When the game is reset: 1) All Electees are retired 2) A Speaker Transition occurs 3) The Oligarchy becomes completely vacant 4) All Zombies are deregistered 5) All Property is destroyed 6) All Organizations are dissolved 7) All Players are deemed to be New Players, and get Grace Periods. 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 mistakenly assigned to Taral, Steve, and pTang; Taral's failed attempt to come Off Hold on March 19 had been overlooked 3/23-24 Steve and pTang move to sustain Razl's Judgement 3/24 Taral attempts to move to sustain Razl's Judgement 4/8 Taral replaced by Blob on Board of Appeals 4/9 Blob moves to 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 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 4/5 Steve and lee move to overturn and reassign 4/7 Wes is automatically recused 4/8 Wes attempts to move to overturn and reassign; eir automatic recusal had been overlooked 4/8 Mistakenly reassigned to Hooloovoo 4/13 Hooloovoo proto-Judges FALSE (or attempts to do so) 4/13 Wes replaced by Razl on Board of Appeals 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 Rule 1965, so it was not "such an announcement" to cause Proposal 4112 to become Democratic. Board of Appeals grounds for overturning (summary): There are three possible readings of "such an announcement" (of failed Quorum) in Rule 1965: any announcement, an announcement required by the Rules, and an announcement required by Rule 1965 itself. pTang failed to consider the second possibility. Also, due to the partly-switched information in the relevant announcement by Assessor t, it may be that Proposal 4112 failing Quorum was announced before Rule 1965 was created. CFJ 1286 "The Herald is required to bill Syllepsis the Zombie Transfer Tax [FALSE] 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 3/29-4/3 Assigned to Elysion, who 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 [TRUE] announcement: Bardic Gatherings" failed to create a Contest." 3/30 Called by Peekee 3/31-4/6 Assigned to Tim, who Judges TRUE Caller's argument (summary): Only an Application (to Create an Organization) can create a Contest, but Goethe did not designate eir message as an Application (as required by Rule 1626). CFJ 1288 "The Bank transfered 100 stems to me on April 3, 2001." [FALSE] 4/3 Called by Hooloovoo 4/6-13 Assigned to Steve, who Judges FALSE 4/9 Taral attempts to Appeal Steve's proto-Judgement Caller's argument (summary): lee wrote "The Bank owes Hooloovoo 50 Stems. The Bank owes Hooloovoo 50 Stems. The Bank satisfies the above debts." but the Bank actually owed only one debt of 50 Stems to Hooloovoo. Judge's refutation (summary): It is clear what Property lee intended to transfer, so the basic definition of a Notice of Transfer is met. However, Rule 1470 prevents the Bank from transferring its Property in the absence of a debt, and so Rule 1598 (3) prevents an attempt at such a transfer from being a Notice of Transfer. OFFICES/OLIGARCHS ----------------- 3/28 Voting begins for Justiciar. Candidates are Hooloovoo and Steve. Taral is mistakenly listed as a candidate; eir failed attempt to come Off Hold on March 19 had been overlooked. Voting begins for Notary. Candidates are Lindrum, Peekee, Razl, and Tim. Nominations open for Herald. Goethe Nominates for Herald. Office of Usuror created. Kelly consents to delegation of same. 3/29 lee delegates Usuror to Kelly. 4/2 Nominations begin for Usuror. Kelly and Hooloovoo Nominate for Usuror. Quarterly Speaker Transition occurs. Speaker-Elect Kelly becomes Speaker. Promotor Elysion becomes Speaker-Elect. Nominations begin for Speaker-Elect. Taral attempts to Nominate for Speaker-Elect; eir failed attempt to come Off Hold on March 19 had been overlooked. 4/3 Ian Nominates for Usuror. 4/4 lee attempts to Nominate for Herald, but misses the end of the Nomination Period. Steve is Elected Justiciar. Razl is Elected Notary. Goethe is Elected Herald. Taral Nominates for Speaker-Elect. 4/5 Razl delegates Notary to Tim for April 7 to April 14. 4/6 Kelly submits Proto-Budget for Usuror. Tim consents to delegation of Notary. 4/8 Blob resigns as High Oligarch and Nominates for Speaker-Elect. 4/12 Kelly is Elected Usuror. (Hooloovoo and Ian did not submit Proto-Budgets, so eir Nominations were automatically withdrawn.) Voting begins for Speaker-Elect. Candidates are Blob and Taral. 4/12 Auction begins for one Oligarchy position. OTHER ----- 3/30 VE Auction ends. Taral's failure to come Off Hold on March 19 had not yet been noticed, so results were incorrectly resulted as lee (3), Taral (2), Lindrum (2), Goethe (2), Michael (1), at 104 Stems each. Actual winners were lee (3), Lindrum (2), Goethe (3), Michael (1), Razl (1), at 85 Stems each. 3/31 solublefish registers. 4/2 Steve makes Grech Quiet. Ian registers. Auctions begin for six 100-Stem Bonds maturing on May through October 1. 4/3 Auction begins for ten units of 0.1 VE. 4/4 lee attempts to make David Quiet, but David is not Active. Oerjan goes On Hold. Syllepsis ceases to have Power of Attorney over Ziggy. Goethe's Grace Period ends. Elysion makes Chuck Quiet. Taral comes Off Hold. Finally. 4/5 Grace Periods end for Grech and Syllepsis. With the support of Herald Goethe, Treasuror Blob increases the Herald's Salary from 0.5 to 0.6 times the Basic Officer Salary. 4/7 Razl goes On Hold. 4/8 Razl's Grace Period ends. Goethe creates the Currency "Fish". 4/9 Grace Periods end for Evantine and Lindrum. Bond Auctions end. Bonds are won by Michael (95), Kelly (90), Michael (85), Michael (70), Michael (70), and Michael (70). 4/11 The Anemocrats create the Currency "Bones". Bidding for Bonds maturing on: (cancelled bids in parentheses) 05/01/01 06/01/01 07/01/01 08/01/01 09/01/01 10/01/01 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 95 Michael 90 Kelly 85 Michael (73)t 70 Michael 70 Michael 93 Novalis 88 Novalis 81 Novalis 70 Michael (64)t (53)Novalis 90 Michael 50 Blob 80 Michael (62)harlequin (56)Elysion (51)Elysion 50 Blob 1 Steve 50 Blob 51 Novalis 51 t 51 harlequin 1 Steve 1 Steve 50 Blob 50 Blob 50 Blob 1 Steve 1 Steve 1 Steve Bidding for 10 x 0.1 VEs beginning 4/3 ---------- 263 harvel - cancelled 249 Taral 243 harvel - cancelled 223 harvel - cancelled 204 harvel - cancelled 144 harvel - cancelled 124 Taral 124 harvel 114 harvel 104 harvel 100 Elysion 95 harvel 95 harvel 94 harvel - cancelled 94 Blob 94 Blob 94 Blob 93 harvel 93 harvel 90 Elysion 90 Lindrum 84 harvel 83 Taral 80 Elysion 70 Elysion 62 Taral 61 Elysion 60 Razl 52 Lindrum - cancelled 51 Elysion 50 Razl 49 Taral 45 Lindrum 42 Elysion 41 Taral 40 Razl 35 Taral 32 Elysion 31 Taral 30 Razl 30 Lindrum 27 Taral 24 Taral 21 Elysion 20 Razl 11 Elysion 10 Razl Bidding for 10 x 0.1 VEs beginning 3/16 ---------- 314 lee 249 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 240 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 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 - invalid because e was On Hold 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 - invalid because e was On Hold 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 - invalid because e was On Hold 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 - invalid because e was On Hold 45 Ziggy - cancelled 45 Ziggy - cancelled 45 Ziggy - cancelled 44 lee 41 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 40 Michael 40 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 39 lee 35 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 35 Goethe - cancelled 34 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 34 lee 31 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 31 lee 30 Michael 30 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 27 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 26 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 25 Goethe - cancelled 24 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 24 Michael 24 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 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 ??? mP AgorEx 3/28/01 1 Papyrus ??? mVE Blob 6/19/00 Votes as Oligarch Highest bidder; at least 10 Stems worth Elysion 7/23/00 Herald's Privilege Negotiable 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 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 ERRATA ------ Taral failed to come Off Hold on March 19, as it had not yet been 96 hours since e last went On Hold. This had the following effects: * Eir Nomination for Justiciar was invalid. This did not change the final result of that Election. * Eir first Nomination for Speaker-Elect was invalid. E Nominated again after successfully coming Off Hold. * Eir Bids in the VE Auction beginning on March 16 were invalid. This changed the winners and the Winning Bid. * Eir assignment to the Board of Appeals for CFJ 1268 was invalid. Blob was assigned in eir place. -- 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."