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

This Friday will be the 4th of July! In the United States, its the day we celebrate our independence from the United Kindom. Of course, it's been well over 200 years since we broke free of the British and became the United States. No longer a colony, but a nation of our own, free to govern ourselves and set our own destiny.

Of course now, rather than throwing British tea into the harbor, or riding through the night warning that "The British are coming," England is one of our strongest allies, and has stood next to us in many ways. Plus, they make those cool Mini-Coopers, and who can stay mad at a country that makes such a neat car?

Today, rather than celbrate our freedom from, we celebrate our freedom to. To read and write what we want, to express ourselves and our opinions without fear of governmental restriction. To enjoy being on line with friends and 'acting out' what might have been.

So, whether or not you're an American, or whether you agree or disagree with policies and / or politics, lets all join in a celebration of the freedom to enjoy friends and fantasy both in our real lives, and on SpinDizzy. We live in strange times, true, there are both horribly bad things and wonderfully good things occuring in the world. Let's try to enjoy the good things while we can. And hope they last forever!

Argon
Editor, @Action News

Late Monday night, explosions ripped through the peace and quiet of the French Quarter. Explosions that both freed the intelligent, clever Morticon and trapped his incompetent jailers in their own prison. Morticon got away scot-free, eluding pursuit by his former captors quite easily. As you all know, Morticon was arrested for kidnapping and attempting to brainwash Mosi. While the attempt was unsuccessful in one way, it was successful in showing that the SpinDizzy prison system is inadequate for the containment of even ONE evil wallaby.

The firepower presented against the do-gooders of SpinDizzy was overwhelming and far more advanced than the pathetically under powered arsenal of the Police forces. It is Morticon's own genius that makes such weaponry possible, as has been devastatingly seen in the past. By refusing to engage in research of the type that has produced such finely advanced weaponry, the police forces have as much given in to SED... And by not listening to their slightly sillier sides in the way of accident prevention, they give the battle over to SED as well, by refusing to think about the possibility of a flaming duct tape plane or a giant vacuum.

Morticon has always evaded capture in one way or another, and will continue to do so as long as the doers of good continue to get locked in their own prisons. So, from the bottoms of our hearts: Thank you.

A new ordinance requiring chicken farmers to secure their chickens, has raised the ire of the local fox community. Farmers have been required to surround their chicken coops and runs with razor wire and high voltage chain link fencing to protect the chickens from predators.

"This is insulting," remarked Marian, local fox, "The very idea that chickens need to be protected. Why chickens are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. This is government interference at its most intrusive! The added expense for the farmers, and the implication that chickens need protection like this, is insulting to chickens."

When asked about the reasoning that the ordinance was specifically designed to protect the chickens from foxes, Marian just glared at this reporter.

After getting a pass, and being searched, Farmer McDonald allowed me access to his chicken coop to get reaction from local chickens. Most seemed unaware of the new ordinace. After it was explained, the chickens reacted saying, "Cluck cluck, Braawk!" and, "Cock-a-doodle-do!"

This week in Ask Boki, Boki answers more questions! Boki always has the answer!

Q:
Dear Boki,

What does @lock do on a room, and why would I want to do that?

A:
When a player or zombie enters the room, the muck then forces them to perform a 'LOOK' command to display the new room's description along with its contents. What happens next is a little tricky, because the lock on the room is tested against the character before the display continues.

Yes, you can @lock a room just like you can @lock an exit.

Now this 'lock' is not the same as 'banning' a character from the room. Instead @lock on a room is used to determine if the character next sees the room's @succ message, which by default lists the room's exits, or the room's @fail message, which can be used to show any message you would like.

How does it wark?

Try the following example in a room you own. By locking the room to yourself, only you can see where to go when you look. This is helpful for hiding the rooms in your house or other places you do not want people to be snooping! But you should remember, always be nice, and leave a way out:
@fail here=You can only see the way [o]ut!
@lock here=me

How do you turn it off?

You can turn off any @lock by using the @unlock command, for example '@unlock here' would show the exits to everyone the next time they tried to look.

Did you know The standard 'look' command is actually synonymous with the command 'read', and either can be used in most cases.

Every other week, I will be calling attention to the new members of our community. (Editor's Note; ...with the permission of each of the new folks featured, of course. Folks who don't want to be featured in this series, will of course, have that wish fufilled.) This is not to embarrass them, but rather I do it in the hopes that it will encourage everyone to give them a special welcome and friendship.

The following members are new to our community as of a week or two ago at most. Please give them a warm welcome and offer assistance if needed. Who knows, you might even make a new friend or two!

• Simon - Male Least Weasel
• Mac - female border collie
• Eclipse - Player has already @named themselves
• Syndy - female Fennec
• Chrys - male human
• Dorado - female horse - "I'd like to say that I wouldn't have figured anything on Spindizzy out if a friend of mine hadn't showed it to me. Spindizzy can get very confusing at times."

This week, Argon asked folks, "I'm doing a survey for @Action News. The question this week is, 'What product would your character do a commercial for?"

• Gilead would do an environmental commercial. He would look around on a landscape full of trash, and the camera would slowly pan in to his face. Then he would bite whoever was responsible somewhere very sensitive, and make a tear roll down their cheek.
• BarterGarter -- Definitely not for the Resurrect Hitler Fund. Everything else is greenlighted from the idea-tossing stage as far as this greedy little snake is concerned!
• Terra would do a commercial for that Oxyclean stuff. Because its bubbly and strange!
• Weiran would do a commercial for Bob's House of Illegal Firearms. Put that down. Final answer, Regis.
• Carlos would do a commercial for BarterGarter's cart, but mostly just because she knows where he lives!
• Kelly would do a commercial for butter. Probably I Can't Believe Its Not Butter. "I'm a COW, for chrissake's, and I can't even tell! I mean, its good, people!"
• Mephox hmms, "My character would probably be most interested in doing a public service announcement for personal hygiene, talking about how to keep clean and fresh."
• Nimble -- My answer to the survey would be Nutella :)
• Gina_Doberman says, "Flea collars and dog food!"
• Tasha says, "A fried chicken place would be a natural for me."
• Waydya ponders the week's survey question. Hmm dunno. Nutcrackers perhaps. Or oaken furniture. ;)
• Butterfluff says, "Mister Fusion portable power plants."
• Cye giggles. "I was thinking one size fits all shirts :)
• Mephox murrs softly, , "After the recent news, I would model wedding dresses in a commercial for an elegant wedding chapel."
• Fenris grins, "I think I would sponsor BarterGarter's plushies, Argon."
• Adara purrs, "I would do an advertisement for my court...I could model it after the Judge Judy commercials? "Want Justice? Cal 1-800-ADARA""

Last week, disaster struck when Morticon, local inept evil wallaby, escaped from jail. Many, including Adara, local female feline judge, and KevMan, local bi-breed cheetah, were hurt or trapped.

This incident shows a sore need for police officers in Spindizzy. We invite all law-abiding citizens to consider becoming a police officer.

As an officer, you would be involved in RPs, most of which would concern the SED. You would also be working with Adara, the Spindizzy judge. Those arrested would be brought to Judge Adara for trial. If enough people are interested, a space on the map will be used as the police station, moving the jail (which was previously behind the courtroom) to that space.

For more information, please mail or page Adara.

*Please note that this is for IC purposes only. Becoming a police officer will not promote you to wiz or helpstaffer status (unless you were one to begin with!)*

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 Monday. 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