Please don't forget to read the bulletin board. Enter +read from anywhere.

Last Friday, March 7th, a celebration organized by Tarka, local Otter was held to celebrate 5 years of the SED (Society of Evil Doers). Quite a crowd showed up, including, PatchO'Black, local Jellicle Cat,Tanooki, local shiny raccoon, Findra, local Bunny - Wiz, Tarien, local elf, Malkernen local Sylvan Elf, Shadowstalker, local Stripey wallaby, Ba'ar, local Bear, Inigo, local wallaby, Nikon, local Raccoon, Wind-Dancer, local Winged Red Panda, DaemonNuit, local Black panther, Mouser, local Fursnake, Eris, local ghost bat,Steve, local 'toon squirrel, Argon, local Centaur, Butterfluff, local fluff, Tarka, , local Saarmas, and the guest of honor, Morticon, local Wallaby. As everyone came in, Tarka gave them a number for a drawing later.

The group had fun making up 'Short stories' which, at one time I had started as an event back on TF and F in lieu of the 'Short Story Circle' now hosted by Adara (See the Short Story announcement further down). Click on the link above to read and enjoy these off-the-cuff works.

After some fun with the stories, I asked everyone to raise their glasses as I made the following toast, "I salute Morticon and the SED and its minions, with increasing interest in the world of SpinDizzy, for giving folks opportunities to RP and interact. Thanks to Morticon, we have a Judge, a courtroom, a Sheriff and deputies. We have a common topic that everyone knows about, and can talk about. Morti has added fun and interest to SpinDizzy and done so while (his player has) taken a lot of heat (IC)."

Not even a strange Guest who tried to give Steve the third degree over whether he was a Wiz on some muck and tried to find out about Random was able to blunt the festivities.

Tarka then drew number for the door prizes. The winners and prizes were,

• Nikon won Findra, who offered to be a bunny servant for the night!
• Malkernen won a drawing of his character from a secret artist.
• Morticon won fishing lessons from Gilead.
• Steve (Who gave his prize to Tarka) won a Centaur back ride from Argon.
• Findra won Morticon's SED ninjas for the night.
• DaemonNuit won Tarka as a a devoted Otter minion for a week!"

After the prizes were awarded, I said, "Uhm, I think we ought to give Tarka a round of applause for organizing this party. He did a nice job!" Tarka got a standing ovation with Findra adding, ""Well done, Tarka. Thank you for organising this. =:)"

A good time was had by all!

This week in the Rose Garden, the SED (Society of Evil Doers) broke its long public silence with a brazen robbery attempt.

In a daring daylight raid, the SED blimp hovered over the crowd in the Rose Garden threatening the crowd below with messages on a large LED display on its side. As KevMan, local BiBreed, (Cheetah / Bat) prepared to shoot an arrow weapon at the blimp,its LED panel lit up messaging, "(The blimp's) casing is reinforced to prevent the average bow and arrow and dart from affecting it." With that, the blimp demanded everyone turn over their valuables to DaemonNuit, local Panther and SED 'Minion, as the LED display continued, "...I'll show you where the stuff I cleaned up from Boki's island went!"

With that threat, DaemonNuit began moving among the crowd attempting to collect valuables. Argon, local Centaur gave him a quarter, as Patch O'Black, local Jellicle Cat, changed form and flew up to the cargo doors on the bottom of the blimp. Patch used duct tape and a welding torch provided by Gina Doberman, local Doberman Pincher, to seal up the cargo bay doors. At the same time, Eris, local Ghost Bat flew though the wall of the control pod of the blimp (She's a Ghost, see) and began pulling wires and turning dials, causing the blimp to drift away. There have been reports its contents attracted a flock of Seagulls whos pecking to get at its contents of fish heads and other parts, caused it to crash.

As the Rose Garden was being defended from the blimp, DameonNuit continued to harass the crowd for their valuables. A suggestion from the folks to Cye, local 50 foot Vixen and Sherif, caused her to reach down and pick up DameonNuit by the scruff of his Feline neck and make him cease what was now misdemeanor panhandling without the threat of the blimp, rather than strong-arm robbery, a Federal offense. With a stern warning she released him and he has bothered no one since.

The group in the Rose Garden is to be congratulated for working together against the scourge of the SED and cooperating with law enforcement officials against this threat. The SED has not made a comment concerning this failed robbery attempt have gone unanswered.

Patch O'Black, local Jellicle Cat and source of the well known and coveted 'Marshmellows' that he grows, came into the Rose Garden last week to introduce a new treat he is growing in his magical mellow marsh. He, along with his lovely wife, Nikon, local mini-Raccoon and sometimes Jellicle Cat, arrived with Patch proudly announcing, "Hi, folks! Great news! I've succeeded in growing a new treat in my magical mellow marsh!

As folks asked what was up, PatchO'Black nodnoded, brought out a basket and sang us a song. (Jellicle Cats, of course, are known for their ability to make folks happy by singing and dancing)

PatchO'Black mewed, "Don't waste your pucker on some all day sucker!"
PatchO'Black mewed, "And don't try a toffee or cream!"
PatchO'Black mewed, "If you seek perfection in sugar confection, well, there's something new on the scene!"
PatchO'Black mewed, "A mouth full of cheer..."
PatchO'Black mewed, "A sweet without peer..."
PatchO'Black mewed, "A musical morsel supreme!"
PatchO'Black sang o/`Toot Sweets! Toot Sweets! The candies you whistle, the whistles you eat. Toot Sweets! Toot Sweets! The eatable, tweetable treats! o/`

As Patch finished, Nikon giggled saying, "Patchy sounds like Willy Wonka!"

PatchO'Black then handed out samples of the 'Toot Sweets' which looked like recorders or flutes, but brightly colored and with a fruity scent. Patch explained that "Mr. Caractacus did the orgional research, but had to make the mechanically and had a small problem with the tonal qualities."

Argon, local Centaur, attempted to play a song from 'Cats', but was only able to get about three bars into it before forgetting how the song went. Nikon gave Cye, local 50 foot Vixen an extra large 'Toot Sweet' that Patch had prepared for her. Fenris, local Redwolf, played some music from Willie Wonka on his 'Toot Sweet'

Everyone enjoyed the candies that Patch had grown in his magic Marshmellow Patch. Wonder what other treats will come out of Patchy's magical mellow marsh in the future?

Hello there, everyone! This is a message from your friendly local feline judge, Adara! I have a few things to discuss with you...

First of all, the dates for the Story Circle have moved around. Generally, they're on Fridays or Saturdays. I will ALWAYS have a notice about the date for the story circle on the bulletin board two days before the circle is held.

For those who have never been to a story circle, I would encourage you to come. We really need more furs to show up. its a great way to meet new people and have some laughs. For more information about the circle, go to http://www.fuzzyyarns.org/rules.html. One of the most common reasons I get for furs not going is that they aren't good writers. I will repeat, good writing skills are NOT necessary! If I wanted a world-class novel, I'd write it myself. The point is to have an amusing little anecdote that is almost like a dream in that weird characters show up and random, and we constantly allude to movies, songs, characters on the MUCK, or world events. If you have any questions, please page me. I love to talk to interested furs! (Or even uninterested furs).

I was also wondering who else on the MUCK plays Diablo II. I was thinking that if we all knew who we were, we could play together or something. Nothing formal, just for when you're bored, and you see some fur online that owns the game, you could play. So please page me if you have it (even if you only have low level characters).

Watch this space for more news!

With the number of folks showing off artwork to folks in the Rose Garden, I thought it might be fun to revive the Art Ambush. its been a while since we've had one and it would be a good opportunity for folks to show off their 'talent'.

I put the word "Talent" in quotes because talent isn't a requirement. The idea is to illustrate and idea or subject that I will give the group, and you'll have 10 or 15 minutes to complete your work and send it in.

Now, if you can't draw, or son't have a scanner, not to worry! 'Art' consists of any product of your imagination, so written 'illustrations' of the subject of the ambush are perfectly acceptable.

So here's how it works. Everyone will gather in Centaur Square (Enter CS to go there, or go east 8 Squares from the Rose Garden) at 19:00 muck time. That's 11:00 pm Eastern Time, and 8 pm Pacific time. I'll state the subject, say 'Your character enjoying your favorite food.' and you'll have 15 minutes to complete your drawing or written work and send it to me at argon@spindizzy.org . Don't worry about the quality of your work, this is an exibition, not a competition, (Please, no wagering.) and the idea is to illustrate to subject, not produce a work of art. I'll then post them on line and we can look over each other's work. Then, we'll do another, and keep it up until folks get tired of it.

So make plans to be at Centaur Square at 19:00 muck time, Wednesday, March, 12, 2003 and get ready to let your creative juices flow!

See you there!

Argon

This week, Argon told folks, "I'm doing a survey to be published in @Action News. The question this week is, 'Do you think we ought to have weather in the Rose Garden?

• Gilead chirps, "North Winds bwow! South Winds bwow! Typhoons! Hurricanes!! Earthquakes!!! SMOG!!!!"
• Sunni says, "yeah :)"
• Lady_Ravenwolfe says softly, "That would be an added pleasantry....at times."
• Alderem says, "If you add weather to the Rose Garden, Morticon is sure to find a way to control it."
• Rosey_Raccoon says, "Yes, we should have weather here. If we don't how do we know when the seasons change?"
• Suri says, "I don't think we should have weather. No one ever pays attention to stuff like that. On NarniaMUSH, the weather was always broken, and it always sleeted, and we just ignored it."
• Cye says, "Sure but no lighting! u.u"
• Tarka says, "Yes! More rain! Storms! Lighting! Doom!"
• Fenris growls, "Yes. Be fun to have rain and fog and snow and sleet."
• Spin chitters, "Yes."
• Dizzy chatters, "Yes."
• Aries says, "Yes, life is not all sunshine and rainbows"
• Ceralor chirps, "Um....sure."
• Terry -- Only if there's a dial to turn it off. Or up.
• Ba'ar -- "I think it would be wonderful to have weather in the park. (1) We could do seasonal things (such as snow at Christmas time) and (2) that could be another comical tp for Morti to hold the weather for ransom."
• Flutterz -- Nerpnerpnerp!
• PatchO'Black mews, "As long as it is nice weather, yes!"
• Terra chirrbles. "Yes! I love snow!"
• Basil likes weather.
• Tarka says, "Yes!"
• BarterGarter takes one look at her raincoat stock, and says, "Yes!"
• Steve chatterchitters, "I think weather would be a nice idea if it was part of the room @desc. Personally, I don't care for noise-making things, though."
• Shoe says, "Weather might be fun.

I received the following letter from a person in the U.K who has another Spindizzy domain. I asked, and she agreed to let me share her letter with readers of @Action News.)

Just a passing note to say, I registered my domain name (spindizzy.org.uk) a couple of years back for my writing and management consultancy activities, basing it on the spindizzies used to power cities in the James Blish Cities In Flight sci-fi series, and it has taken me this long to find out that there is a spindizzy.org website. I've just been reading it - it tickles me pink! A pleasure to be associated, even though very remotely..... :)

Jo Lloyd

I responded,

Hi there,

The 'world' of SpinDizzy that spindizzy.org is associated with is based, loosely on the books by James Blish. Glad you enjoyed the site. Feel free to stop by as a guest sometime. SpinDizzy is a 'muck', a kind of role play chat room. Players log on as 'characters' they want to play. its not exactly a 'Dungeons and Dragons' thing, although some elements of that are evident at times. To connect, you'll need a muck 'client', or just use telnet if you're using Windows.

If I may, I'd like to include your nice letter, and a link to your site, in our weekly on line newsletter (http://www.spindizzynews.org). I think it would be nice to share your kind words with the rest of the group.

Thanks.

Ms. Lloyd Responded,

Thank you - and now I know what muck is I am even more interested (I am both a sci-fi/fantasy fan and an on-line roleplayer, though I'm not a dungeons and dragons person either, I like mine more freeform).

I would be happy about your including the letter and the link to my spindizzy.org.uk site in your newsletter - thank you - there is just one point, I only started setting my site up yesterday, if you have looked at it you will see it is just a beginning - I plan to get it properly working over the next few days. So could you miss your next newsletter and put the letter/link in the one after? that will give me enough time to have my site in shape for visitors.

Jo

To which I responded,

Will do. I'll put it in the March 9th edition.

From what you wrote, you might enjoy SpinDizzy. its more chat than Role Play to be honest, but its 'In Character' chat. Sort of talking about stuff from your character's point of view.

Good luck with your site.

A

So, its nice to know that there is at least one other Spindizzy domain that hasn't been hacked and who's owner seems like a reasonable person. With any luck, she'll stop by and see what our 'Spindizzy' is all about.

Argon
Editor, @Action News

Submitting a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org or qmail or page Argon about it.
@Action News is published weekly on or after 12:01 AM Eastern Time on Sunday. Most any type of story or article will be accepted. Generally, we'd prefer things that aren't out and out lies or flames about other folks, and have a basis in the reality of SpinDizzy. Things that occur in public areas are fair game. The things reported don't have to have actually happened, (any more than anything that happens here does) but make sure you don't overstep the social boundaries and rules of interaction that we have. These are pretty broad guidelines, but we expect good sense to apply.

Thanks! Argon, Editor @Action News