Web Fed News Yearbooks - January 2001

THE MONTH IN BRIEF

Whichever way you figured it, January 2001 saw us firmly in the new millenium, as well as in the year of the famous Stanley Kubrick film. Arthur C Clarke, the author who co-wrote the film with Kubrick, thought that by the year 2001 there would be a huge space station permanently orbiting the Earth, as a way-point to the moon and other planets; and that there would be a manned mission to Jupiter by now. Sorry, Arthur, we're a bit behind schedule!

January 2, 2001 was also a momentous day for asteroids. It was the bicentenary of the discovery of Ceres, the first to be identified. It was spotted on January 1,1801 by an Italian astronomer called Piazzi. And on Christmas Eve 2000, Earth barely missed colliding with a city-killer-sized asteroid. Nobody realised until it had whizzed past, at a range of 800,000 kilometres - barely double the distance from the Earth to the moon. That was a close one!

In Fed, there was another duchy war... ho hum! This prompted Hazed to issue another explanation of what is and is not allowed when going to war - see the article below.

Nimat won a Carpenter Award for the design of his planet Scoutranch.

Hazed also uploaded some articles in her other persona as Diesel, to Diesel's Dump at http://www.chezdiesel.demon.co.uk. The articles were on a disastrous attempt at home decoration, and her clothes nightmares. Be warned: some of the articles on the site are not suitable for children.

On the net, a new strain of the Melissa virus targetted Mac users, who had previously been safe from viral pests.

THIS MEANS WAR!

History repeats itself, even in Fed, and the cycle has come round again to bring us another duchy war. This will inevitably mean a huge increase in the number of people doing things to annoy other players, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to restate some of the rules that set boundaries on what economic methods you can use to show your displeasure.

The Banning Rule

First up is the notorious banning rule, loved by some, despised by others. The rule gives Dukes the right to ban players from their duchy, for any reason or no reason at all. The ban takes effect from the moment that the Duke informs the player by TB that they are banned from the duchy.

If a player is banned from a duchy it means he, she or it cannot enter the duchy, or trade remotely to the duchy, or create jobs that go to the duchy.

Death Locations

One of the most effective ways to stop people trading with your planet is to make it too difficult or too dangerous to find the trading exchange. Simply moving the trading exchange and separating the link and orbit into different locations is enough to break many macros.

If that's not effective enough, you may be tempted to put death locations on your planet to kill the unwanted visitor. Do be careful if you try this, though, because it's all too easy to slaughter innocent visitors as well as the people you were actually targetting!

Although deathtrap planets are against the rules, that rule applies specifically to a set of locations designed to kill people twice (dead-dead) without giving them a chance to insure in between. You can make your planet as dangerous as you like, with death locations all over the place, so long as you allow people the chance to insure (or to travel to a safer planet).

Voiding Jobs

A PO is allowed to accept and void jobs off the board that are going to his, her or its planet; a Duke can do it for any planet in the duchy. That's a legitimate form of defence. However, voiding jobs going to someone else's planet is not allowed - even if its a friend and you are just defending them.

Giving Contracts

Offering people jobs, or contracts to buy goods, with the intention of annoying them is not allowed. Doing it once could be considered a mistake; doing it more than once to one person is harassment; doing it to more than one person is disruption. So don't use this as a way to annoy other people.

I am sure, however, that the two sides in the current contretemps are more than capable of find plenty of ways to annoy each other without breaking any of these rules. When it comes to being a nuisance, Fedders are endlessly inventive!

FROM THE POSTBAG

It's a while since anyone sent any letters to the Fed Chronicle - well, anything we could publish! So I was delighted to find a quirky question to answer. The questioner writes:

"I started wondering if mobiles move around even if nobody's on a planet, or does someone have to see them to move?"

This, of course, is a variation on the old chestnut about trees falling in forests, and whether they make a sound if there are no microphones present. Such deep matters of philosophy have occupied the Galaxy's thinkers for a long, long time, and still they haven't come up with a sensible answer. Perhaps they should turn their attention to something more practical! But I guess if they were capable of being practical, they wouldn't be philosophers.

The answer is that not only do mobiles move around when there is no-one to see them, but they live full and detailed lives. They live, they love, they laugh, they hurt, they bleed, they die.

It is only when a Fedder is around that they cease their independent ways, and follow the rigid pattern of behavior we are familiar with.

If you don't believe me... try creeping up on a mobile, and if you see them before they see you, you might just find them doing something unexpected!

NEW PROVERBS FOR THE DIGITAL AGE

Now we're into the 21st Century, isn't it time to throw out those old clichéd proverbs that we've forgotten the meaning of, and invent some new ones for the digital age? After all, what relevance has "a stitch in time saves 9" when nobody sews their own clothes any more? "Too many cooks spoil the broth" has no relevance when everyone eats alone, living on take-away pizza or microwave meals. And who in a city would understand "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"?

So here are my suggestions for some new proverbs for our shiny new technological times.

A watched file never downloads.

A backup in time saves 9.

A file on the disk is worth two on the net.

Too many programmers spoil the code.

Too many clicks spoil the browse.

The geek shall inherit the Earth.

There's no place like home page.

If you have any ideas for modern proverbs, send them to feedback@ibgames.com. I'll print any goods ones in future issues of the Fed Chronicle.

DARKNESS BLANKETS TITAN
Power Shortage Brings Blackout
by our special correspondent, Qaxlor

Emergency managers on Titan had to implement a 200-year old blackout plan for the first time ever last week as power shortages struck the colony. The blackouts, which lasted approximately 60 minutes at a time, rolled from dome to dome as power officials tried to keep the entire colony's power grid from collapsing.

The power shortages are blamed on a combination of historically high prices for fuel, lowered power generation capacity and increased demand. New power facilities have not been constructed on Titan in over 30 years and the older plants, which rely on high quantities of powerpacks and rads, are facing shortages as those raw materials are being consumed by a recent building boom around the galaxy. This building boom has raised prices for the major power generator on Titan, Titan Edison which, unlike other generators, relies on short-term purchases on the commodity markets instead of longer-term contracts to procure raw materials.

While prices have skyrocketed for raw materials, the cost that Titan Edison charges its customers remains capped by Imperial Edict. In the last few weeks, the company has found it harder and harder to produce the necessary electricity and finally implemented the blackout plan last week in order to prevent potentially damaging brownouts. Looming over Titan Edison is a mounting debt, caused by these high commodity prices and capped electricity rates. Whispers of financial bankruptcy are already making the rounds of the financial markets, making it more difficult for the utility to raise much-needed capital.

The greatest concern came when ventilation equipment and oxygen generators were shut down during the blackout of the main dome. John Sanders, a spokesman for Titan Edison said, "Our blackout contingency plan calls for life support and critical systems to be spared from any power interruption - we are investigating why the ventilation and oxygen systems suffered a shutdown."

Titan Mining, the major employer on Titan, has announced temporary layoffs as a result of the blackouts. In a press release, the company stated that, "We purchase power for mining operations on an interruptible contract, which means when supplies are short, our power gets cut. The company expects to resume operations within 5-10 days."

Smaller employers, who rely on standard consumer power, were caught off guard by the outages, and many lost data or suffered equipment failures as a result of the sudden blackouts. Workers in the assay lab on Titan were paralyzed for nearly 30 minutes, until security arrived. Said one labworker who refused to give her name, "We work with dangerous chemicals, acids, reagents and the like, so when the lab went dark we couldn't see well enough to leave the room without risking a chemical spill. We all just sat in the dark until someone showed up with a flashlight".

Although in recess for Persimmon Recognition Day, the Imperial Senate is expected to be called into emergency session to consider the power crisis on Titan, several lawmakers have already proposed a financial package to assist Titan Edison in making purchases. For the citizens and businesses of Titan stranded in period darkness, relief can't come too soon.

PROPOSED INTERSTELLAR LINK RAISES CONCERNS
by our Special Reporter, Qaxlor

Morning commuters out of Sol are used to the frequent backups near the interstellar link (IL), the only egress from the system. A routine rush hour wait of a half-hour just to jump is common and waits of up to 2 hours have been reported when collisions or other snarl-ups slow things down. To relieve some of the stress of commuters, the Galactic Department of Transportation (GDOT) last year began working on a proposal to construct a second IL in Sol.

Henry Herbeshire, Under-secretary of Transportation, justified this project by saying, "It has become clear that we have two serious problems with the existing single-link scheme. Firstly, delays on a regular basis are getting worse as the volume of people working outside of Sol increases. Secondly, maintenance on the existing link has been severely limited by the volume of traffic that flows through it." Last month, Mr Herbeshire's second point became very clear, when a glitch in the time-space displacement circuitry of the IL threw several ships millions of light years off course, stranding one in the middle of the Triffid Nebula.

Despite what many consider the overwhelming need for the second link, the GDOT proposal has been attacked from many quarters. The original proposal placed the link near Venus, but serious and credible threats of terrorism from the military wing of the Venus Freedom Party caused the site to be reconsidered. The current site choice is near Mars, but protests are already underway to this placement. Zoxil Trantnor, of Save Mars, explained their concerns, "The time-space displacement caused by an interstellar link is tremendous and its effects poorly understood. The current link is located in a very isolated area of space, this new one is right in our backyard and we are deeply concerned about the affect it will have on our health and environment."

Joining the ecological protests, are several independent physicists who worry that the placement of the link, close to a planetary body, is not just unhealthy, but possibly disastrous. Dr Quentin Klopps, from the department of astrophysics at Freewater Science Institute on Earth described the problem this way, "The link technology relies upon curving space-time around the ships entering the field. Its unclear whether this process will work correctly when the link is located close to the existing curvature caused by a planet. Worst case scenario is that the fields set up around the link will collapse explosively and possibly damage space-time in that area."

Physicists employed by GDOT vehemently reject all the arguments against the new link. Speaking on behalf of the GDOT science team, Dr Gor Hammert tried to dispel the concerns, "Link technology has been around for almost a century and there are many people in transport and travel occupations that receive many more times the exposure to these links as any person or thing on Mars would receive from a link nearby. With all the people using the links, we have yet to find one documented case of illness, chronic or acute, caused by this technology." Dr Hammert continued, "As for interference from the planet itself, we understand the forces involved much better than when the first link was installed. We can now balance the field generators more precisely and compensate for the planet's presence. Just look around the galaxy, numerous systems have links very close to the planets themselves and there have been no problems."

Un-swayed by the GDOT arguments, several groups are planning protests of the new link. A group from Save Mars is intending to blockade the construction zone with rings of ships, and a loose alliance of environmental groups and concerned citizens are filing lawsuits to stop the planned construction. GDOT had expected to start laying superstructure in the next two months, but that timeline may be delayed as protests and court actions pile up, like so many morning commuters at the first and currently only, interstellar link in Sol.

SPACE RAGE
by our special correspondent, Qaxlor

In these hectic times, it seems everyone is feeling increased frustration when travelling the spaceways. Congested links, increased cargo traffic and what seems to be lower patience are fueling what some psychologists are calling 'Space Rage'. As the spaceways get more congested, it seems more and more pilots are taking out their frustration on fellow flyers.

Flyers throughout the galaxy are reporting sporadic acts of irrational rage on the spaceways. On Tuesday, a trader was forced to crash land on Mercury after another pilot rammed her ship in a dispute over right of way on the spaceport approach. Earlier in the month a heated exchange of laser fire between three ships erupted in an outer duchy after an unsignalled lane change. So far no fatalities have been reported, but the increase in spaceway violence has some officials concerned.

Terrance Kinner, Director of the Intergalactic Spaceway Patrol, cited figures through the end of last year which showed a nearly 30% increase in the number of fly-by shootings and attempted shootings on area spaceways from the year before. "Not a day goes by that we don't respond to, at least, someone struck by a pot shot fired in anger, or an intentional collision."

Space rage is caused by a variety of factors, according to Dr Hugh Jenssen, a psychologist with the Galactic Department of Transportation (GDOT). "It is not simply a matter of frustration taken to extremes, space rage involves feelings of social distance and invulnerability too," explained Dr Jenssen. "The average hauler spends nearly three hours a day at the controls, a situation which isolates the pilot from the social universe around him, her or it and tends to create a sense that the only real world is the one inside the ship." Added to this is a sense of invulnerability caused, in large part, by what Dr Jenssen refers to as, "a proliferation of stronger, safer and better-armed ships available to the consumer." This complex of social isolation and invulnerability compounds the problem on both sides - pilots take more risks in their own flying, causing situations which frustrate those at the controls of the ships around them, who in turn feel justified and safe in taking extreme action.

Breaking the cycle of space rage is the focus of a new commission within the GDOT, the Spaceway Violence Reduction Panel. This body has met several times already to address the issue. So far, they have recommended a sign campaign, urging pilots to "Fly Smarter", and obtained approval to redecorate several area rest stops in more cheerful color schemes. Critics of the commission's work argue that only an extensive campaign of pilot education, coupled with counselling for the worst offenders will reduce the incidence of space rage.

No matter which solution is chosen, all sides of the debate agree that the problem will only gradually disappear and efforts need to continue over a fairly long period of time. Dr Jenssen summed this up by saying, "This problem has taken many years to develop and become a part of our flying culture; it will take many more years to reverse the attitudes and behaviors that contribute to it."