Web Fed News Yearbooks - October 2003

THE MONTH IN BRIEF

Another quiet month... but Halloween livened everything up, with a scary, spooky and very difficult puzzle on the planet Sleepyhollow, solved by Greyspacewolf. And see below for some links to Halloween web sites.

In real life, Earth was battered by a severe solar storm, from one of the largest groups of sunspots seen for years. On Thursday superhot gas erupted above the spots. This coronal mass ejection sent 10 billion tonnes of gas speeding towards Earth, arriving on Friday and created a geomagnetic storm, where wild fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field could affect electrical utilities, airline communications and satellite navigation systems. Fortunately this storm turned out to be moderate and no serious damage was done - the global positioning system lost its high precision service for a while, and climbers on Mt Everest reported interference on their radio equipment.

CHRONICLE TIMEWARP - TIMES TWO!

Last week's Federation Chronicle fell victim to not one, but two separate timewarps!

First, I got the date wrong when preparing the blank pages for the web site, into which I copy the text on Sunday. The pages were dated September 29, instead of September 28. Oops! Thanks to eagle-eyed Paul, who spotted the problem:

212824:764 - Paul: Uh oh...Fed news has a date of September 29th on it...that means today is Monday and I'm running late, Right?

And then, the email version of the news fell into a mailing list black hole, from which the mails only managed to escape late on Sunday afternoon. Not sure what happened there; I'm waiting for a response from the company that runs our mailing lists for us.

Now, the speculation is, could these two incidents have been linked? Did the mis-dating of the web Chronicle have a knock-on effect on the email Chronicle?

And whether they were linked or not, what caused the two timewarps? I don't think we need to look very far for the culprit. It's long been rumoured that Diesel has a small timewarp in her basement, which is how she manages to keep the bar open 26 hours every day. And since I spend all my time sitting in the bar of Chez Diesel, particularly when I am working on the Fed Chronicle, perhaps something seeped out of the basement and affected me...

Well, we'll probably never know, but if this kind of thing ever happens again, I'm going to get the Galactic Administration's health and safety inspectors to take a look in that basement. Goodness knows what the timewarp is doing to the pizzas!

MORE ON MACROS

A few weeks ago I wrote about macros: you can refresh your memory of what I said at http://chezdiesel/archives/fed/webyearbooks/2003/wyb0309a.html#2.

I received the following reply from an unnamed player:

I would just like to write that there are some macro users out here who still manage to be responsible about it. The way this game works, you need to haul in order to make any money or advance. A planet's exchange needs to be managed in order for it to make money in a way that is beneficial to the PO. There are also many reasons for a Planet Owner to need a macro for help. I, for one, do not set a macro and run off to work or the store. Just because I cannot be at the keyboard to type in the commands to haul doesn't necessarily mean that I am not keeping an eye on what my character is doing in the game. Personally, I can't stand the thought of my character being in Fed and doing something that I do not have direct control over. The thought of my character getting into trouble and I'm not there to fix it is totally unacceptable! Help, yes... playing the game for me though? No way!!

One of the aspects of Fed that keeps me playing is that it is so multi-faceted. There are so many sides and levels to Fed, as I'm sure you all know, so hauling is only a part of the game. And incidentally, I used to be totally against macros... however, I learned that it's not the macro itself that causes damage, it's how it's used. There are certainly ways to protect a planet's exchange, and your Duke or Duchess can be a wonderful resource for advice and help... that's what they are there for!

Certainly your computer has to connect to the Fed computer in order to play... but MY computer doesn't play this game for me. Not by a long shot!

Anonymous

Well yes, as with so many things - in Fed or in real life - it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it. Things can be used responsibly, or they can be abused.

Anyone else want to comment on the macro issue?

ADULTS AND JUVENILES

Last week, a player (who shall remain nameless, although many of you who were present will know who it was...) defended his right to swear on channel 9, because Fed is an adult game.

Leaving aside the fact that a visit to any playground would show that swearing is no longer confined to adults (if indeed it ever was!) I would remind people that we use the word adult as meaning "grown-up" or "mature" - not pornographic or x-rated. In other words, we feel that the game's themes of politics and economics, cooperation and community, appeal more to grown up, mature people; as opposed to other games dealing with shooting big guns (or waving big magic wands).

Adult does not mean "anything goes". It means being mature enough to get along with other people, and to understand that sometimes you have to make compromises for the sake of a community. The Fed rules were formulated to be a kind of average of what most people feel comfortable with. That means that some people will think they are a bit too lax - allowing people to do stuff they disapprove of - while others will think they are a bit too restrictive - not allowing them to do all the things they want to do. But in general, they work for most of the people, most of the time.

MORE COMMENTS ABOUT MACROS

Here's another perspective on macro use, sent in by an ex-Fedder:

As a former player who still likes to read the Fed News I thought a bit about why people even write macros may be in order.

In my case it started with money. Back in the day when AOL connect and time charges could run a player into $100's a month, The renowned Onyxgod informed me that sitting on the billing screen would enable you to save some money. Now this enterprising individual asked me if I could create a way to automate the switch process. Well now that was an idea I thought, having just moved from programming mainframe systems and at the "Hello World" of VB and Windows the challenge was just what I wanted. Thus was born DSaver (Dollar Saver) which led to much strife and contention.

It was great fun and it allowed me to delve deeply into Windows. How do you find a window? How do you send text to a window? All of that neat techie stuff. Once version 1.0 was out of course it was couldn't you have it do this, surprise it could. But even more important to me was the TBs of how did you do that. This led to lots of discussions in game and out. Most of what DSaver eventually grew into was created in these discussions. Not from my perspective so my computer could play another computer, but coaching a series of young programmers though their own discoveries. Yes I'd do it first but I would have them do it with me or I would rewrite their efforts to fit into a whole. So BTree and recursive routine discussions and a hoard of other teaching moments was my reward. That efforts could be seen in a common environment only led to a level of enthusiasm hard to duplicate in a more formal setting. Several of those kids I coached are in collage computing courses right now, possibly because of my efforts, I like to thinks so as they still email me with questions.

So that was one macro and one story.

Judeling, Former Baron of Dynamic.

HAZED SAYS:

Getting into writing macros in order to come up with a program that automates ripping off IB (and therefore me) is hardly likely to persuade me that macros are a good thing! Does anyone have any more benign macro use they want to write about?

SUMMER IS OVER

The clocks went back last night, giving you an extra hour in Fed or in bed, and me an extra hour to get the Fed Chronicle ready for your reading pleasure.

This fall, the time change took me by surprise - so I didn't warn you last week that Fed would be taken down for a few minutes while the time actually does its backward spin. (We have to do this, otherwise anyone sitting in Fed would find themselves walking or flying backwards!)

Even so, some of you noticed the shift in time:

212852:252 - Paladin: Didn't I live this hour already once?
212852:255 - Halcyon: Whoa...timewarp. ;-)

Of course, if you do have to live the same hour twice, it gives you a chance to get it right the second time round...

EXTREME PUMPKINS

While on the subject of Halloween, if you are bored with the usual pumpkin-head jack-o-lanterns everybody carves, then you might like to take a look at the ideas on a site called Extreme Pumpkins. It's got lots of examples of carved pumpkins that are less traditional, together with tips about how to come up with your own extreme design. My favorites is the puking pumpkin, and Osama bin Lantern (an entry in the 2003 contest) - see for yourself at http://www.extremepumpkins.com.

Another strange Halloween web site is at http://www.retrocrush.com/costumes/default.htm, where can be found the worst Halloween costumes of all time. And they really are terrible!

And speaking of pumpkins, here's a novel use for one - as an assault weapon! A pumpkin is being held as evidence by police after it was allegedly used during an assault. The alleged criminal was a women who had a row with a man, which included her cursing at him and slapping him. He turned his back on her to enter his home, and she grabbed a pumpkin from the outdoor stairway, and chucked it at him. Allegedly. It struck his back and caused bruising and swelling.

MORE HALLOWEEN FUN

Following on from the pumpkin and Halloween fun I gave links for last week, here's a few more...

If you want to wear a costume that is slightly different this year, how about a billionaire Halloween mask? At http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/28/cx_mh_1028billiemasks.html you will find life-size pictures of famous billionnaires, which you can print out and turn into masks. Oh, the pictures have been made suitably gruesome and spooky, such as Donald Trump as a werewolf. My favorite is the Oprah Winfrey green-skinned witch!

Bored with carving your pumpkin? You could try throwing it instead. Delaware's Sussex County holds an annual Punkin Chunkin World Championship - where the objective is to see who can fling or propel a pumpkin the furthest distance. The contest took place on Halloween itself, of course. For more details, and to see who won, go to http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com.

REAL LIFE NEWS: TAKING ON THE TELEMARKETERS

It's a tough life being a telemarketer.

In the past, although anyone you actually talked to would say they hated being disturbed at home, in the middle of dinner, by the phone ringing so some twerp could try to sell you double glazing or insurance, nobody had ever actually done any reliable surveys about what the public thought of this practice. So telemarketers could claim that they were really offering a valuable service, that most people appreciated being told about their products, and although there were one or two soreheads, in general the public loved them really.

Then came the "do not call" list. Americans in their millions flocked to sign onto it. Clearly, the public did NOT enjoy being telephoned at all hours to be told about things they didn't want! Telemarketers could no longer claim it was just a few malcontents who didn't like them.

So just in case they were in any doubt that their practices annoyed people, the telemarketers decided to go the extra mile to really piss them off: they started legal proceedings, claiming that the "do not call" list was unconstitutional, and infringed their right to free speech, by not allowing them to call up anyone they liked even if the person didn't want to be called.

But revenge is sweet, and it can come in an unexpected form. Humorous columnist Dave Barry (who once plugged Fed!) wrote about telemarketers a few months ago, and suggested that if they felt they had a right to phone people up whenever they felt like it, thEN the public had a right to phone the telemarketers up, too. And he printed the toll-free number of the American Teleservices Association.

Well, you can probably guess what happened. Thousands of readers of Dave Barry's column took the opportunity to phone up the telemarketers and tell them what they thought of them, which clogged up their phone lines, overloaded their switchboard, and swamped their staff. The association was forced to stop answering its calls, then to change their phone number.

So a few weeks later, Dave revisited the issue, and printed their new phone number.

It really is tough being a telemarketer! :)

Read Dave's two columns on telemarketers at:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/6649728.htm
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/6934584.htm

Now if only we could come up with something similar to get revenge against spammers...

COOL GADGET: THE PHOTONIC HANDBAG

If you are forever rummaging around at the bottom of a bag trying to find your keys in the dark, you will be intrigued by a new invention pioneered by a German company - a handbag with interior lighting. Something like a fridge, the bag lights up when you open it, allowing you to find those elusive keys. The light comes from an electroluminescent layer, sandwiched between layers of conducting polymer film. The bag was demonstrated at a leatherware trade show in Germany a few weeks ago, and the firm expects the bags to be in the shops within a couple of years.

MORE COOL GADGETS: LIFE-SAVING UNDERWEAR

Biomedical underwear. Sounds faintly sinister. But it could be a life-saver. Dutch researchers working for electronics company Philips say that a bra or knickers rigged to monitor heartbeat or blood pressure could dial the emergency services if they detect a problem.

The smart underwear has electrodes built into the fabric, and uses the thread in the fabric to send data to a small microprocessor. If it spots signs of trouble, it uses wireless technology to call for help. The inventors do reassure us that the device can tell when the wearer is taking exercise, and discount high heart rates generated by physical exertion. And, for the practical, it's good to know that it can be put through the washing machine - and ironed if necessary!