**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 94.02.27 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> ALL CHANGE A few weeks ago, we told you a little about how the new secret Senator commands would work. We explained that there would be a system of menus controlling spyrings and diplomatic missions. No sooner had we put the news up, but Bella decided to change everything! She does it on purpose, of course. It's spite, sheer spite, she just likes to see us newsdroids work extra hard to clear up her messes. The plan is now as follows. Senators will still access their secret commands through a menu option from the shell, called Diplomacy, but instead of being presented with further menus from which to choose their instructions, they'll type in commands. We refuse, point blank, to tell you anything else about the specific commands and how they will work, because Our Illustrious Leader will only go and change them all again. Mean. She's really mean. **>> GAMES ON THE MOVE A bit of advance warning for you: GEnie are moving the games to a different machine in early March, so Fed will probably be unavailable from early morning throughout the day on March 7. We'll give you more information when we know more! **>> DID YOU KNOW...? Yes, it's time for another round-up of trivial but entertaining facts about Fed! Old hands probably know all of these, but newbods might find them illuminating. You can down the bannisters in the mansion on Earth - although the Butler isn't too impressed! You can be Emperor for a day (or a millisecond, at least!) by typing . Looney is the richest person in the game - that's official! The stardate is shown on some of the displays in Fed, and you can also see it by typing . The first number increases by one each day, and is the number of days since some arbitary day back in ancient times (don't ask us why, it's probably some obscure programming thing) and the second number shows the player-minutes since the game fired up. **>> SHADOW ON THE WALL Poor Shadow has become a non-person since Rai's planet was linked into the game. No-one can kiss him; no-one can look at him; no-one can whisper to him, or offer him jobs, because Seppuku has a mobile on it called Shadow! We originally suggested that Shadow should ask Bella to change his name to something else, but when Bella thought about it she decided it would be easier to ask Rai to change the name of his mobile - and that also sets a precedent, since this kind of thing may well happen again. Shadow (the player) was here first, so Shadow (the mobile) should be the one to change. **>> SPOTLIGHT ON disABILITIES The first of a new series telling you about other areas on GEnie that you might find of interest. Miles to Go and Mountains to Climb Though he is blind, his vision is broader than mine. Though she is ill, her strength to endure and succeed inspires me to be better. Though there are many things I cannot do, I look to the things I can do, and I learn, somehow, that I am ABLE. The disABILITIES RoundTable is about being ABLE. It's about facing challenges of all kinds, be they professional, physical, creative or spiritual - being ABLE is not an issue of the state of one's health or human differences, not really. It is about looking at life's road and learning how to walk, even with no visible means to do so. It is about knowing how to get from this side of our challenges to the other. In our Bulletin Board, we have technical support areas for people using special access equipment. We have a CATegory of support groups for many conditions, we provide information and referrals to social services. We discuss our guide dogs and help pets, there is information on wheelchair repair and current teaching trends for learning disABLED. There are TOPics concerning intimacy issues and relationships. In the Equal Access Cafe TOPic you'll find magical unicorns that make you smile, virtual robots that fix the most delectable treats and serve them to you by our crackling fire. In our Real Time Conferences, we discuss hot topics like the American's with disABILITIES Act and the myths and facts about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Software Libraries are filled with current information on upcoming technology fairs and the latest advocacy and political news, as well as programs that assist disABLED users to access computers with ease and efficiency. The disABILITIES RoundTable welcomes all people of all ages and abilities. We have a great deal to offer in terms of support, technological assistance, and information. But I still must go back to the philosophical, perhaps even sentimental reasons why the disABILITIES RoundTable is such an important place. I hope you will come visit us and see for yourself what I mean. Page 970, or type "ABLE" and you'll find us. I have miles to go, and my friends here help me walk. I have so many mountains to climb, and my online family gives me the courage to do it, every day of my life. - Molly **>> HEY, STUPID! Who's the stupidest person in Fed right now? Tantras, that's who. Who's the nicest? Hazed, that's who. Why? Because Tantras was trying to solve the GM puzzle, and he got blown away by a vicious satellite. He rushed back to have another look round, neglecting one all-important step. He didn't re-insure! Knowing that Snark is a pretty deadly place, he panicked and sold his ship, hoping to to safety. No such luck - Snark is so dangerous the Galactic Liners won't go there. He was trapped. The only way off Snark was to die (which wasn't desirable since he had no insurance) or to solve the puzzle (very risky, since failure involves death). At this point, Tantras was resigned to his fate. Muttering 'So this is it, we're going to die' under his breath, he wrote out his will, had a last few words with his friends, and put his affairs in order. But the demi-Goddess Hazed smiled upon poor Tantras - after she'd slapped him a few times and told him what a silly boy he was. She used her special powers to rescue him, thus earning herself his eternal gratitude. The bozo has now carved the words 'RE-INSURE, STUPID!' onto his forehead! **>> WEDDING BELLS, FINALLY? After merrily living in sin for... well... since we can't remember, Fed's oldest couple has decided to make it official. Nearly official. Our newsdroid fainted from shock upon hearing Maxwell propose to Emmi, some two weeks ago, and has only now been revived and sufficiently recovered enough to tell us about it. Some of the recording is fuzzy, but the proposal took place on the bedroom balcony on Dawn. Max offered a simple proposal of "Will you marry me?"; Emmi's response was a simple, "Yes". We expected the next question to be "Who's the father?" however Maxwell seems content in not knowing. No date has been set, although we understand an engagement party is to be held when the happy couple can agree to a time and find a suitable place. The only detail of the wedding available at the moment is that Sean has agreed to be Emmi's Maid of Honor. Given this couple's slowness over doing ANYTHING, we wonder if the wedding is to be held before or after the baby is born. Stop press! Our newsdroid reports that Emmi was seen with another man last night! The lighting was dim, but if the idea wasn't so disgusting, we'd swear it was Tellurain, the evil twin of Senator Tellurian! Emmi, have you no taste? (Well obviously not judging by her choice of icecream.) **>> FROM THE MIDNIGHT INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY A bit of scandal... erm... news that we received just too late to go into last week's news: Blackadder and Talisan shared their outrage at ex-wife Mosquito and squeeze-on-the-side Tellurian hitting the sack. If the outrage hadn't been pillow talk, they might have been taken more seriously. It didn't stop BA from trying to get back together with Skeets though, or Tal from wanting a still-married Tell to stay true to her alone. **>> THE WEAKLY GOSSIP Our ace gossipmon... erm... reporter is still missing. We have, therefore, assigned his/her/its duties to a "reporter" from a temporary service. Following is THAT reporter's column. --------------- was seen spending time at Samantha's with ------------. ------------- was seen spending time with ------------- in the Cantina on Earth. ---------- and -------- were seen together several times this past week in several places. "You there! You call yourself a JOURNALIST? Get out of here! You're FIRED!" "But... they told me not to mention any names." "Don't give me that! Haven't they taught you anything about innuendo and vague inferences? Jeez, the quality of education has gone to rot!" [BANG!] ... (The sound of a door slamming or a small caliber firearm, the reader may decide.) The management wishes to apologize for the previous "News Report." The search for our regular reporter goes on. As before, no reward is being offered but any information leading to his/her/its return would be greatly appreciated. **>> PARTY!!! It has come to the attention of the Current Events Desk that there was an unannounced party Tuesday night on Fortymile. It was such a surprise party that it caught an amorous couple quite unawares. Unfortunately, the names of the surprised guests of honor are not available to us. (Does anyone know of a GOOD newsdroid repair person? -- Ed.) Several people have been given "credit" for arranging the party; all have denied responsibility. **>> THESE PEOPLE NEED TO GET LIVES! Over the past several weeks (months ... heck, YEARS) it has been noticed that a portion of the people in Fed Dataspace do nothing but haul jobs until they reach Trader and then they do nothing but TRADE! These are the good soldiers that you'll see every night flitting hither and yon, with cargo bays bulging. Now, there's nothing really WRONG with that, mind you, but these folks need to lighten up! They need (gasp!) SOCIAL LIVES! So... the next time you see one of these people, take them gently aside and GIVE THEM A GOOD SNOG! Note -- A list of names was SUPPOSED to go here but the bloody newsdroids seem to have forgotten how to record NAMES! So, good people of Fed Dataspace, take it upon yourselves to find these misguided souls and show them how to have a good time! **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES Rai's new planet was linked into the game during the week, and we despatched a newsdroid to explore it. Seppuku is an oriental world, as the name suggests. The descriptions have been very well written; both the rich Imperial parts of the planet and the poor slum areas are very atmospheric. There's a real sense that Rai understands the culture he's based his planet on. Unfortunately, when the planet went in there were some serious movement table errors that made exploring a bit tricky for those without teleporters. We haven't looked at the planet since Rai altered the files, but hope they've been fixed now. Despite the errors, Seppuku is very good work and we urge you to explore it. Rai has allied his planet to Barberousse's Duchy of Source. Apart from this, there has been very little channge in the makeup of the duchies. Brewski, formerly an Independent world, has joined Looney's Insanity, and Zan's Paradise (Independent) has been put back since he's returned from a rather long absence. The only other changes are due to planets spinning out and back in again. Plantking is stymied by the devilish Duke puzzle, and seems no nearer gaining a duchy of his own. Meanwhile, Otoole has completed his builds and will shortly be ready to take his first trip back in time to Horsell. **>> SPYNET REVIEW Congratulations to everyone who was promoted since the last news. The week's new Captains were Janelle, Zeke, Surfer, Shadow, Corinthus and Amano. Surfer and Jaegar are the new Adventurers; Starseeker and Exbro are the new Adventureuses. Strider, Dirtbiker, Surfer, Chance and Starseeker were admitted to the Traders Guild. Talisan, Tellurain, Strider, Rynait and Surfer were all promoted to Merchant. Tellurain then whizzed through JP, GM and is now an Explorer! (His brother probably helped him.) Rai is now the Squire of Seppuku. Maxwell was promoted to Thane as his planet advanced to mining level. It will be turning mini soon, so make sure you explore it now because it's an excellent world. Sadly, Merchant Risor and JP Stalker went dead-dead during the week. On a lighter note, Silk played 1000 games!! **>> CONTACTS The following information will appear at the end of every News Bulletin, so you don't have to read it if you already know it. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed or Bella in the game * a message to Hazed or Bella * send GEnie mail with the Mail about Federation option from the main menu A front-end terminal program is available for Federation, for the PC. You can download a copy of FedTerm from the Federation libraries (option 3 on the main Fed page). The Amiga version is in beta-test. The third edition of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to Federation is now available, price $15.95. Type ORDER from any GEnie main menu and buy one. Or more! Federation has several categories in the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 13 (for information, instructions, questions and answers) or 14 (for general chat and discussions). The Federation Leader in the bulletin board is Oxcart (Mail ID: J.LONG29). There are also private categories for Explorers and the Sentate, run by Krell (Mail ID: K.HILLYER). The MPGames RT also has a Federation library in the files area, Library 5. **>> BULLETIN ENDS