Please don't forget to read the bulletin board. Enter read from anywhere.
Please also enjoy The spindizzy_muck LiveJournal community, open to one, all, and others.

Everyone is invited to Portia and Morticon's housewarming party! In addition, it also functions as the SED anniversary party, though it is important to note their house is NOT the newest SED base. Friend or foe, or mildly curious, all are welcome to attend. Please, leave your weapons and aggression at home. Food and an evening of entertainment will be provided. Watch the bulletinboard and eventlist for the exact location, date, and time.

It is not known at press time the exact time and location of this event. Rumors concerning invitations being refused by Kunoichi Corporation staff have not been confirmed. As the invitation invites all, "Friend or foe..." and the Kunoichi Corporation's alleged interest in the SED, it would be logical to assume they will attend.

As of press time it was learned that the event woll be on Wednesday 05/16/07 from 7:00 PM to: 09:00 PM (SpinDizzy (Pacific) time.) To get there, you'll have to enter luge s5 e5, kcr, tg, ng, no, pw, cy, fd, up, up . I've suggested to Morti that he install a temporary global to make it easier for everyone to attend.

I'm sure everyone here has heard of the asteroid Itokawa, which was visited by the Hayabusa space probe. It proved very interesting because the pattern of dust and rock on it was not what might be initially expected from a body with essentially no surface gravity. (Escape velocity from the asteroid is about fifteen centimeters per second, well below the rate of a reasonable walk.) That mystery seems to have been solved, but I noticed a fascinating side item.

According to http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000969/ scientists on Hayabusa have identified shapes on the asteroid thatmake them think of a sea otter, and as a result have identified various regions as the otter's head, neck, body, and the shell it holds in its paws. There's a picture at the bottom showing the various parts as they see them.

Coming next month (June), we're going to try and have a SpinDizzy gathering/dinner in New Jersey, since I'll be driving through there. Not sure of the exact day yet, just trying to see who lives in the area and might be interested. At the very least, Austin and I will be there.

Now's your chance to meet a few SDers and have a fun evening! If you think you'd like to attend, pmail me and Austin so we can gauge interest. Hope to see you there!

I recieved the following and wanted to share it with @Action News readers. It concerns a survey about "player types" on MUDS. In reviewing this survey, it seems to be directed at combat style MUDs (More likeD &: D) than social MUCKs like SpinDizzy. Although directed at MUD users, it might be a chance for us to change the impression folks have of all these types of games, and the players who enjoy them. The letter follows:

Subject: request: player types survey
From: "R.L.M.VAN MEURS"
To: argon

Dear MUD administrators of Spindizzy,

In advance I apologize for this maybe unwanted mail. This is a one time only mailing, however, with a humble request to contribute to my research.

I am researching MUD playing styles in the tradition of Richard Bartle's theory for Tilburg University in the Netherlands. I am currently running a survey that tries to either validate or correct his theory. I got your email-address from www.mudconnect.com to request your help in this. I would kindly ask you to notify your player base on my research, asking them to take part in the survey. It will only take about 10 minutes and might get rewarded with a $15 gift certificate for amazon.com. To do so you could use the specified text below or your own.

The input of any MUD user is invaluable for the research and the results might be very interesting to you and your MUD as well. So please take the survey yourself as well. You can indicate if you want to receive a summary of the results or the full resulting article. It could be useful for your own MUD. Many thanks in advance.

Richard van Meurs,
Tilburg university

Proposed Text:
"Are you always trying to achieve the highest status on a MUD or would you rather find out everything there is to know about the MUD world? Are you trying to make friends among your fellow players or would you rather slice their throats and make them feel miserable?" What do people consider fun and rewarding when they are playing their MUD and in what way do these behaviours relate to their character traits in real life.

This survey is part of my research in Leisure Studies at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. As I am a MUD administrator myself (after playing extensively for several years), I am very much interested in the results. Your contribution to this research is extremely valuable and it will only take about 10 minutes of your time to complete the survey. Of course everything you submit will be handled anonymously and with care and will only be used to draw general conclusions about playing styles for my research.

At the end of the survey you can indicate if you want to receive a summary of the results or a full copy of the resulting article. In addition to this, you might be rewarded with a gift certificate for amazon.com of $15. More information about this will be at the end of the survey. You can find the survey by visiting,0 http://www.rofv.nl/survey.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation and time.

Richard van Meurs

Hidy-ho, campers! In honor of the latest Spider-Man film, I thought I would look at some facts you might not know about our favorite web- slinger! Let’s start with his family.

Now, we all know his Uncle Ben and Aunt May raised him, and it was the death of his uncle that made him decide to become a crime- fighter, but why did he have to be raised by his aunt and uncle to begin with. As it turns out, Peter gets his heroic nature from them, as they turned out to be agents of that super-spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. They passed on while on assignment to infiltrate the Red Skull’s band of thugs, but were blown up in a plane by the Nazi ubervillian. It later appeared they had survived, but this turned out to be a deception. That’s the sort of luck Spidey has.

Now, while Spider-man has an impressive set of powers, one of his lesser-known ones is one he had even before the bite that had him climbing the walls. That is, he is a scientific genius. The most well known of his inventions is, of course, his web-shooters, which he had the foresight of inventing with triggers that only work when a precise amount of pressure from two figures is used. This is so he isn’t shooting of webs everywhere when he grabs something or wants to punch some bad guy. Apparently, the trademark hand position resembles “I love you” in sign language. Hey, that’s the web-head, one loving fellow.

Two of his lesser-known pieces of equipment are the “Spider-signal” and (no, I’m not making this up!) the “Spider-mobile”! The Spider- signal was simply a flashlight with a lens that projects an image resembling his mask from his belt’s buckle. Didn’t know Spiderman wore a belt? He does! It’s where he stashes extra web-fluid, his camera, and spare film.

The Spider-Mobile was actually a pretty nifty idea. It resembled a dune buggy, and was provided to the wall-crawler as a promotional stunt by the builders to advertise its non-polluting engine. At first, it just had web-shooters and a spider-signal spotlight. It turns out, though, that Spider-Man doesn’t actually have a driver’s license. See, he got his webs when he turned sixteen, so the whole transportation thing wasn’t as big a deal for him. Easy to see why he didn’t date much in high school, isn’t it? Anyway, Mysterio tricks Spidey into driving the web-covered car off a pier, then later it is salvaged by a villain called the Tinkerer, who adds remote controls, the ability to drive on walls, gas-bomb launchers that nullify Spider- Man’s wall-crawling and spider-sense. Spider-Man finishes what he started, wrecking the car for good, and returning the corpse to the folks that made it in the first place.

I think I will close by one last little known fact about Spider-Man. Over the years, he has gone through a few costume changes. From the black outfit that turned into his enemy Venom, to variations of the red-and-blue suit. However, he was gifted with a particularly embarrassing fashion disaster after getting rid of the sneaky symbiotic costume. Since he was at the Fantastic Four’s place, as Reed was the one who got the darn thing off finally, he borrowed one of their old uniforms. However, the Fantastic Four don’t wear masks. Thus, he had to improvise…. with a brown paper bag with eyeholes cut in it! Also, since Spiderman needs to have his hands and feet close to surfaces when wall-crawling, he couldn’t wear the boots that were a part of the original clothes, so he went more-or-less barefoot! To add to the shame, Johnny Storm added a final touch: A “Kick Me” sign on the back. Look out, here comes the amazing Bag-Man!

And that’s another Four-Kolor Kitty in the can! Remember; send in any questions or suggestions for topics! See you in the funny papers!

Hi there, Ba'ar here. This week's Spindizzy @Action News survey question is....if you had a chance to market a product that was uniquely yours, what would it be?

• Andros yips, "Andros Verde's planetary subjugating laser."
• Haruka says, "A line of clothing, I suppose. I can sew reasonably well."
• Wren says, "The C.O.S.M.O.S. Comically Oversized Squeaky Mallet Of Smushing."
• Argon says, "Hmm, a perfume called, 'M', so all the ladies who envy Mavra's beauty could at least have something resembling her pleasant scent."
• Borris Gruffs, "Chocolate Penguin on a Stick"
• PatchO'Black mews, "I already do! Several, in fact."
• Ceredwyn says "I would probably market my own brand of sweets. Strawberry flavored ones."
• Ba'ar growls, "I'd market likenesses of me in plush. I think I'd look uber-cute as a teddy bear. Of course, I'd keep the very first one off the assembly line for myself and send the second one off the assembly line to Argon."

Dear @Action News,

We've just had the Badminton Horse Trials, and all I could think of was a Centaur going around the Cross-Country Course. Could centaurs do that? I mean would they be physically able to manage the jumps?

A curious mind would love to know.

Thanks

Dear @Action News Reader,

As far as centaurs jumping, obviously they can jump like a horse can. But just as different breeds of horses can do different things well, I'd guess that centaurs with equine aspects based on different types of horses would be better at different things. A centaur like Mavra, who's equine aspect is based on a quarter horse, would be a better jumper and would be able to gallop faster than a centaur who's equine aspect is based on, say a Clydesdale. The Clydesdale based centaur would be larger and more powerful, but not able to gallop as fast or jump as well. As you see in this image, Mavra is smaller and lighter, and her legs are relatively longer, than those of the larger, heavier Argon, who's legs are relatively shorter.

However as far as competition, I don't believe a centaur would be allowed to enter any type of "horse race" as centaurs aren't horses. Although they have equine aspects that are, as I indicated, based on different types of horses, they aren't quarter horses, or palominos, or appaloosas or mustangs. They aren't a "pure breed" of horse as they aren't horses at all. Even competition that isn't based on equine breed would, at best, frown upon a centaur entering. As a centaur isn't ridden and controlled by a rider the movements and competitive drive would be "hard wired" from the centaur's more advanced brain. (No offense to horses. Some are far smarter than a lot of humans.)

I was asked once about centaurs entering the Kentucky Derby. I researched this idea and found that only Thoroughbred horses were allowed to enter races such as the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. All modern thoroughbreds descend from three stallions imported to England from the Middle East in the late 17th and early 18th centuries: the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian, also known as the Goldophin Barb, and the Byerly Turk, together with around 35 mares. As no centaur is in any way related to any of these horses, that by itself would prohibit a centaur from entering these races. Although I would bet that a centaur could beat any equal horse in a race.

Heh, probably more information than you wanted, but interesting stuff. Hope I've answered your question.

Argon
Editor, @Action News

Got something that you'd like to contribute to @Action News, but aren't sure if you should, or how to do it? Just get in touch with any of Argon, Skyler, or Findra, and they'll be happy to help! Here are some basic guidelines, though.

Contributing a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org, or qmail/pagemail Argon, Findra, or Skyler, with your article!

• @Action News is published weekly sometime on Sunday.
• Articles received after midnight Pacific time on Saturday may be held and published in the next edition of @Action News.
• Most any type of story or article of interest to SpinDizzy's newspaper readers 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