			    TRAVELLER Digest 415

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Re: Delta Research (Paranoia Press?)
	by aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
  2) Re: Email
	by aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
  3) Re: Fusion Power
	by aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
  4) Northammon System Details
	by Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
  5) Northammon Errata
	by Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
  6) Virus: Canon vs real countermeasures
	by "Bruce Johnson" <JOHNSON@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
  7) RICE Paper DB-0921:  Northammon
	by Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
  8) Virus attacks Earth, News Feed at 11...
	by "Dane 'Danger' Johnson" <djohnson@frame.com>
  9) Re: FF&S Help
	by "David J. Golden" <goldendj@whip.com>
 10) Re: TRAVELLER digest 414
	by "David J. Golden" <goldendj@whip.com>
 11) Re: TRAVELLER digest 414
	by "David J. Golden" <goldendj@whip.com>
 12) Re: TRAVELLER digest 413
	by Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 14:41:40 -0800
From: aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Delta Research (Paranoia Press?)
Message-ID: <v01530505ac7d08d1609f@[137.229.100.53]>

>I found a Supplement on the Serpent Class Scout Ship in a used book
>store. The illustrations were signed RAPP 1980 and the deckplan had a
>copyright by Paranoia Press, Inc. I had never heard of these supplements
>before.
>
>| Glenn E. Myers  gmyers@ansys.com |

The Serpent Class Scout is a 100 ton variant of the Scout Courier, noted
for it's airframe hull. The design uses a 1m grid, despite the 1.5 meter
label, and 2.5m tall decks. ( I have counted this many times... otherwise
it's 200 tons of deck plan.    :-O

Supposedly it is a swing wing... In my campaigns it's a delta much like the
Fat Trader. I have converted it to TNE Stats as a TL 14 Scout/Light Survey.
When I get it finished, I'll post it. (I keep revising it.)


-Wil

William F. Hostman

EMail:          ASWFH@Orion.Alaska.EDU
HomePage:       HTTP://orion.alaska.edu/~aswfh/home.html

"History is the story of the life of societies; geography is the study of
what they evolved in."



------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 14:41:16 -0800
From: aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
To: traveller <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Re: Email
Message-ID: <v01530502ac7d0251d99a@[137.229.100.53]>

>Reply-To: traveller@MPGN.COM
>
>Have you sent me one -
>
>chris@zace.compulink.co.uk
>
>does it matter what the first name is before the @ ?

Here is where your message originated:
 cshort@CIX.COMPULINK.CO.UK

the name before the @ is your username on the system identified to the
right. If the local mail handler on that machine can't find the account
listed before the @, it'll normally bounce the mail back to sender as
undeliverable.

-Wil

William F. Hostman

EMail:          ASWFH@Orion.Alaska.EDU
HomePage:       HTTP://orion.alaska.edu/~aswfh/home.html

"History is the story of the life of societies; geography is the study of
what they evolved in."



------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 14:41:28 -0800
From: aswfh@acad2.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
To: traveller <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Re: Fusion Power
Message-ID: <v01530504ac7d0704f434@[137.229.100.53]>

Glenn:

While I posted my basic idea to the list, I wanted to point out that one of
the problems with fusion in traveller is that there are only about three
lines of official material, and they state that it uses the reaction to
drive turbines. I have asumed the Gravitic based fusion cell since about
'87; DGP had the same idea, and used it in their "Starship Operators
Manual" in '88.

Best of luck!

-Wil

William F. Hostman

EMail:          ASWFH@Orion.Alaska.EDU
HomePage:       HTTP://orion.alaska.edu/~aswfh/home.html

"History is the story of the life of societies; geography is the study of
what they evolved in."



------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 16:10:58 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Northammon System Details
Message-ID: <05765080@MailXFER.DMCWAVE.COM>

     I couldn't fit this stuff into cc:mail's text editor, so here's the 
     appendix to the Northammon that should've come across with my RICE 
     paper above:
     
     Northammon System Details
     
     Orbit      Name    UPP     Remarks
     Primary    Kalighril       K5 V
     0  Usher Belt      H000166-A               As
     1  Northammon      B764767-9       A       Ag Ri Tp St Mr
     10      Burden  G586667-B       Fa Co Nv Sc 45      Galinor Y332568-B  
          Co Nv Sc
     2  Clarion H40036A-B               Nv Sc
     7       Ivid    Y100000-0       Va Ba 30      Danglo  YS00000-0       
     Va Ba
     3  Portnoy Y100000-0       Va Ba
     4  Glacia  G607227-A               Va Ic Sc
     1       Ring System     YR00000-0
     7       Icicle  Y100000-0       Va Ba 25      Tundra  Y300000-0       
     Va Ba
     5  Sanjivva        GA75566-B               Re Co Nv Sc
     50      Herschmann      F660365-B       Re Nv Sc
     6  Yaka    YA6A166-A       
     7  (Empty Orbit)

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 15:05:56 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Northammon Errata
Message-ID: <05762540@MailXFER.DMCWAVE.COM>

     Argh!  Not two minutes after I send out my RICE paper do I notice a 
     grievous error in the text.  The expanded TL listing should read as 
     follows:
     
     Tech: 99-99989-DB99-A8-G
     
     Also, down below, the tech level of land and gravitic vehicles should 
     be listed as "early TL-13," not "early TL-15."
     
     Enjoy!
     
     --Chris

------------------------------

Date:          Wed, 13 Sep 1995 16:11:38 MST7
From: "Bruce Johnson" <JOHNSON@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Virus: Canon vs real countermeasures
Message-ID: <76003A0E1D@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU>

	I, too never took the TNE manual's explanation of how they did stuff 
seriously for a moment...after all, how do you know these code 
phrases don't mean 'Dive into the planet at top maneuver drive' ?

	A far more realistic scenario is separated systems (ie: Comm is NOT 
networked to Engineering is NOT networked to Library, etc.) This gets 
away from the truly anachronistic Traveller mode of Computers as 
Mainframes orientation, where you have one giant (tons in old Classic 
Trav) computer that runs everything.

	Another measure is to have a human actually press the buttons that 
control the drives: ie: The computer says everything is green, the 
coordinates are thus (tap tap tap) and we go. Also, you could have 
the kind of system that they use on the space shuttle...three 
separate systems have to agree or there's no go.

	Actually, the depictions of the systems in TNE leads me to believe 
that no-one at GDW has any real clue how computer systems are 
networked and control systems work. 

	The key is physically separating some crucial element of control
from the computer, and limiting the routes of input to the crucial
control systems, which basically means you don't network everything.
It can be a pain to have to physically run a lot of redundant network
wiring, as well as having multiple terminals for some engineering
stations, but it makes life a lot safer in a Virus world. Besides,
that lets you create separate specialized control panels for each
system rather than have a single terminal toggle between roles, which
in some ergonomics studies by the military, actually increases humnan
reliability...it's actually a lot easier to pick out the fire control
panel on a wide control panel than to have to toggle your single
simpler system to 'Fire Control' 

	The downfall of the old Imperium was hastened by the intricate 
networking of ships systems, which made life infinitely easier, and 
better in many cases...in an emergency the life support systems 
engineer could pop over to the nearest terminal and control 
everything as if he were on the bridge, but the end result was the 
systems were wide open to Viral assault, since entry anywhere meant 
entry to the entire system.  With separated systems, the Virus has 
got to create a boot floppy for every system on board that has to be 
physically inserted to spread the infection.

	
Bruce Johnson
Information Technology/College of Pharmacy
The University of Arizona
johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu 


As if this place HAD any opinions...

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 14:58:01 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RICE Paper DB-0921:  Northammon
Message-ID: <05762510@MailXFER.DMCWAVE.COM>

     Northammon (Vincennes:  Deneb/0921)
     B764767-9  A  Ag Ri Tp St Mr   120 RE K5 V G=0.82, Day=35:51:37, Year 
     = 122d 9:20:19.28 Atmo=1.40, No Weather Control
     Temp= +9.72 (6/lat +18 to -42) (day +7.5 to night -17.9) (season +14.4 
     to -7.0)
     Daily temp range 21.4; Orbital Eccentricity Effects:  +/- 0.45 
     Agricultural, Compounds; Agroproducts, Non-metals; Durables; 
     Recordings, Documents
     Conservative/Advancing, Competitive/Militant, Harmonious/Aloof Legal: 
     7-96255     Tech: BB-BBBAB-FDBB-CA-G
     
     Northammon was originally settled in 95 by colonists from Massilia and 
     Delphi sectors.  At first, Northammon seemed to be a cold mountainous 
     wasteland, an unforgiving environment for hopeful settlers.  The 
     planet's distance from its dim star, Kalighril (Northammon lies one 
     orbit outside the "habitable zone" of the system) has little 
     deleterious effect on the planet's meteorological activity.  A high 
     incidence of moderate solar flares and Northammon's high atmospheric 
     pressure combine to produce a virtual maelstrom of constant 
     meteorological activity.  Swirling coriolises of clouds fill the 
     northern and southern hemispheres throughout the year.  Northammon's 
     hemispherical regions are snow-covered almost year round with a slight 
     reprieve during the "warm season."  The warm season occurs for a 
     period of about three weeks at the perigee of Northammon's orbital 
     eccentricity around Kalighril.
     
     In sharp contrast to the frozen northern and southern hemispheres, the 
     equatorial region, or "hot belt" as it's known to locals, provides a 
     warmer, more moderate clime, with its rolling hills and river valleys. 
     A scarcity of large bodies of water throughout 80 percent of the 
     planet's 2,000 km-wide tropical zone bolsters the more stable weather 
     patterns of the region.  Six large mountain ranges, skirting the edges 
     of four of the planet's six tectonic plates, serve as barriers to some 
     of Northammon's harsher blizzards.  The numerous faultlines between 
     the plates result in a high incidence of seismic activity in the 
     region.
     
     The first Northammonese colony, which discovered, catalogued and began 
     to exploit the rich resources of the planet, nearly died out in the 
     late 100s.  Colonial overextension strained several supply lines 
     through the interstellar region during this period and several 
     colonies were left to their own devices for decades.  The colonial 
     population of the planet, which had risen to 20,000, fell to under 
     8,000 people.  A scarcity of supplies resulted in an exodus from the 
     planet to the more stable environments of Isurkun, Achemadon and Kauai 
     systems.  The hardy bunch who remained played a defining role in 
     establishing the culture of Northammon.
     
     The Northammonese settlers who remained and the trickle of daring 
     colonists who continued to settle the planet, developed a strong 
     self-reliance ethic that remains to this day.  The Northammonese 
     welcomed new settlers and continued to settle their world regardless 
     of the public sentiment against it.  Seemingly trying to prove their 
     detractors wrong, the Northammonese settlers went far and wide 
     throughout the sphere of their world, establishing farms and ranches 
     even in the most inclement regions.  While 65 percent of the early 
     Northammonese clung to the tropical zone, thousands of bold souls 
     plowed into the outback and staked their claims in the northern and 
     southern plateaus and mountain ranges.
     
     Northammonite Frontier, the planetary colonial development office, 
     maintained its aggressive colonial recruitment policy all the while.  
     Throughout the early colonial period of the planet, Northammonite 
     Frontier colonial recruiters could be found on any world within six 
     parsecs, actively encouraging people to come and share the wealth of 
     their rich and undeveloped planet.
     
     Not until the late 300s did colonial efforts on Northammon surpass 
     their former level, however.  In 397, ex-scout and entrepreneur Lewis 
     Tolliver discovered records of Northammon's rich natural resources at 
     the Imperial Archives on Vincennes.  He registered a claim with 
     Northammonite Frontier and mounted a massive colonial expedition to 
     bolster the extant colonies.  Before anyone knew it, Northammon was a 
     virtual boomtown.
     
     Tolliver's expedition, largely composed of detached duty scouts, 
     quickly performed detailed surveys of the planet's resources.  To 
     their surprise, the planet was rich in vegetative life, with over 600 
     edible plant species.  The Tolliver group and successors quickly 
     helped to establish agricultural combines to exploit the lush 
     Northammonese crops.  While most of planet species grow in the 
     temperate tropical region, astoundingly high numbers of crops are 
     exported from the northern and southern hemispheres.  The edible 
     lichens and fruits of the southern region are known as a delicacy by 
     people throughout Northammon's interstellar community.
     
     As a side note, Tolliver's expedition is well known for its 
     importation of Kians from Prilissa/Trin's Veil.  Several hundred Kians 
     were brought to Northammon to be used as cheap transportation by 
     Tolliver's colonists.  Kians continue to be widely used for 
     transporation in rural areas of the planet and in cities and towns on 
     the racing circuit.  In fact, while Tolliver's agricultural businesses 
     eventually failed, his Kian breeding facility and Tolliver Grounds, a 
     Kian racetrack, are his sole remaining legacies on Northammon.  
     Northammonese Kians are thought to number over 300,000 at the present 
     date.
     
     Like many of the systems in the Vincennes Cluster, Northammon's 
     indigenous life for the most part resembles that of Cambrian-era 
     Terra.  Most notable among Northammon's native life forms are the 
     lichens and shrubs of the northern and southern tundra.  Bursting 
     through the volcanic soil of the mountains and plains, these life 
     forms have shown uncommon resiliency.  For centuries, monastic orders 
     of Deneb's Church of the Stellar Divinity have lauded the medicinal 
     properties of several species of Northammonese mountain shrub roots.  
     Not until the last 200 years, however, have these claims been taken 
     seriously by the public at large.
     
     By 800, the Northammonese population had grown to over four million 
     inhabitants.  Their cultural emphasis on self-reliance spawned several 
     government-subsidized programs to independently develop technology on 
     the planet.  To this end, the former representative democracy of the 
     planet began to import materials for the production of starships, 
     vehicles and computers.  The industrial sector began to grow, but was 
     mostly restricted to serving the needs of agricultural interests. 
     
     As the limited agricultural markets began to tap out for Northammon's 
     private industries, tension began to grow with the landlords of the 
     agricultural combines.  Nara Tandy, president of Circumspect Inc., a 
     producer of advanced land and gravitic vehicles, lobbied for rights to 
     manufacture products for export to other worlds.  Most controversial 
     of her requests was an initiative that would bring in megacorporate 
     investment, a heretofore unseen occurrence on Northammon.  
     Agricultural interests onplanet greatly feared the portents of such a 
     bold move and lobbied hard against it.  Fear of overdevelopment, 
     atmospheric contamination and offworld control by big industry 
     abounded in agricultural circles.
     
     The combines were able to stave off offworld industrial development 
     until 962.  At this time, various factors contributed to a worldwide 
     depression that threatened to unhinge the infrastructure of the 
     planet's economy.  Tandy seized her opportunity and managed to corral 
     a hysterical electorate into believing that now was the time for 
     offworld investment.  Tandy brought in a consortium, led by 
     representatives of Ling Standard Products and Sternmental Horizons 
     Venture Capital division, who would revitalize the economy of the 
     planet.
     
     For a half century, that's exactly what they did.  Northammon's 
     economy grew and as the planet's ability to export technology grew, so 
     did its ability to export its agricultural products.  Agricultural 
     exports grew to the point that the "Northammon Grown" cargo module 
     stamp became ubiquitous on every inhabited system within 12 parsecs. 
     Megacorporate and sectorwide corporate developers flocked to 
     Northammon to get a piece of the pie.  The political strength of the 
     combines waned during the following years to the point that public 
     resentment for the megacorporations grew to a fever pitch.  The 
     conflict reached its climax when six anti-megacorporate development 
     militias (called "terrorists" by the megacorporate-sponsored media) 
     attacked dozens of industrial installations in a concerted effort to 
     derail their operations.  Corporate security teams and offworld 
     mercenaries took up arms against the militias, but found it difficult 
     to fight the guerilla-style militia troops, who knew the nooks and 
     crannies of Northammon's mountain ranges and valleys.
     
     As the conflict escalated over the following four years, the dependent 
     local markets sent up a cry to the Imperial Navy to intervene.  And 
     intervene they did.  Already fighting the Zhodani and Outworld 
     Coalition on their spinward front in a series of border wars that 
     later became known as the Fourth Frontier War, the Imperium did not 
     want to foster the notion that internecine warfare existed throughout 
     the Spinward Marches and Deneb.  Four peacekeeping divisions of 
     marines were dispatched to quell the unrest.  While skirmishes 
     continued to occur at more remote locations, for the most part, the 
     TL-15 armed marines were able to quash the fighting.
     
     In an effort to preserve the peace, the Imperium removed the 
     corporate-dominated government of Northammon and placed moderate 
     pro-combine General Paul Javinovich, from the ranks of Northammon's 
     standing army, as the planetary dictator.  The Imperial Marines were 
     promptly removed and indigenous army divisions took their place.  
     While the military rule of Javinovich and his successors has kept the 
     peace, the seething hatred between the agricultural and corporate 
     interests has never been fully extricated from the planetary 
     citizenry.
     
     Despite Northammon's problems, the planet remains a major economic 
     force in the region with its powerful agricultural sector and active 
     vehicle-building industries.  Most worlds in Vincennes, Star Lane and 
     Inar subsectors actively import delectable Northammonese foods.  
     Northammonese industry is known to produce some of the most efficient 
     and dependable farming vehicles in the Regency.  R&D divisions are 
     currently expanding into military and commercial markets as well.  The 
     Circumspect Starhawk enclosed grav cycle is currently making waves in 
     the civilian gravitic vehicle industry.  Achieving early TL-15 in many 
     areas, Northammon is truly on the cutting edge of vehicular design.
     
     The native population of Northammon are about 95 percent vegetarian.  
     Because of the planet's lack of non-vegetative life forms and the 
     intrinsic self-reliance of its people, few meat products from other 
     worlds were imported during the early colonial years.  The diversity 
     of agricultural life on the planet made it possible to meet the 
     population's nutritional requirements without the need for imported 
     foods.  This aversion to imported food products became part of the 
     culture.  With few exceptions, the only Northammonese meat eaters on 
     the planet are the megacorporate employees.
     
     Northammon has only three major cities, Tergin (pop. 2 million), 
     Gebhardt (pop. 800,000) and the capital, Metro-Javinovich (pop. 
     350,000).  Only Tergin and Metro-Javinovich contain Starport B 
     facilities.  Gebhardt currently maintains a Spaceport F-quality 
     installation.  A small orbital level C facility, Northammon Orbital 
     Starport (pop. 12,000) serves the needs of transient travellers who 
     use the system only as a stopover.  The planetbound cities are all 
     located in the tropical region and for the most part serve 
     megacorporate interests.  Most of the combines have offices in the 
     cities as well, however, that serve as the conduits through which they 
     conduct interstellar trade.  The remainder of the population, 
     including over 13 million Northammonese, are spread out over the 
     globe, living and working on the combines and independent ranches.  
     Small cities and towns are the unofficial rule in the agricultural 
     regions, with only a few of them surpassing 100,000 in population.
     
     Northammon is one of the few worlds in the Regency that serve the 
     purpose of harboring refugees from the far-flung Two Thousand Worlds.  
     When the Rebellion struck and vargr raiders swept through Corridor and 
     trailing Deneb sector, many visiting traders, diplomats and merchants 
     were cut off from their homes in trailing and rimward sectors.  
     Several large communities of k'kree were among these disenfranchised 
     sentients.
     
     The Beng!xkr and Kr'ukleeri!iir herds, members of the k'kree trading 
     organization, Rr!krmiixk, were among the larger cohesive groups to be 
     stranded far from home.  While the Beng!xkr and Kr'ukleeri!iir were 
     spread around the Domain of Deneb conducting trade operations, after 
     the Rebellion hit, they soon realized they would not be returning home 
     at any time in the near future.  Their trade mission completed, the 
     wayward k'kree had nowhere to go.
     
     As one of General Javinovich's last acts in office before he died in 
     1121, he sold the Rr!krmiixk merchants a large tract of undeveloped 
     land in Northammon's tropical region.  Northammon, which fits the 
     parameters of a k'kree "steppeworld," was an ideal site for the 
     refugee k'kree to set down their roots.  The rather exhorbitant price 
     paid by the k'kree for their land included the provision that the 
     k'kree were to be left to their own devices and not bothered by smelly 
     omnivorous humans.
     
     Many vegetarian Northammonese natives maintain regular contact with 
     the k'kree, but there is no communal mixing of k'kree and human 
     populations.  The limited trade between humans and k'kree enable the 
     k'kree to maintain TL-9 for public transportation and other services 
     in their community and for maintenance of their trader fleet.
     
     The sale of this land to the k'kree was heavily disputed by 
     megacorporate interests.  They were appalled at the unabashed efforts 
     of the vegetarian combines to use any means possible to make 
     Northammon a less hospitable environment for the corporations and 
     their employees.  The hostility of the k'kree toward carnivorous races 
     was an established fact.  To combat this move, many corporations 
     embarked upon aggressive, albeit shortlived, programs to enforce 
     vegetarian diets among their employees.  Suffice it to say that for 
     the brief life of these programs, the corporations experienced a 
     considerable turnover rate among their largely offworld work forces.
     
     The initial settlement numbered over 12,000 k'kree, who had emigrated 
     to Northammon from various locations throughout the Domain.  Several 
     smaller families, realizing they had little hope of ever returning 
     home to the Two Thousand Worlds, chose to relocate to Northammon as 
     well, with the blessing of the Beng!xkr and Kr'ukleeri!iir herds.  
     Northammon became a haven for stranded k'kree. 
     
     Upon the discovery by a SuSAG research team in 1145 that some species 
     of Northammon's equatorial flora had valuable pharmaceutical 
     properties, the company established a research lab at the fringes of 
     the k'kree reservation.  This was not looked well upon by the reigning 
     Steppelord, Kurr'eengx, who immediately made a call to arms to his 
     brethren.  In a move that could only be called reactionary, Kurr'eengx 
     and his troops swept into the Divigee Valley, where SuSAG had 
     constructed a makeshift headquarters, and promptly massacred the 
     humans at the facility.  SuSAG, known for its paranoia, had two 
     companies of TL-15 equipped security personnel on-site, but the 
     surprise attack caught them offguard.  The k'kree took heavy losses in 
     the battle, with some estimates at over 2,500 dead.  Nevertheless, 
     they managed to communicate a dire message to any who would threaten 
     the sovereignty of their reservation.
     
     SuSAG appealed to the Regency government for reparations, but was 
     denied.  The Northammonese megacorporate sector did not react well to 
     this development.  While the k'kree were looked upon as an oddity for 
     the first two decades of their stay on Northammon, they were now 
     looked upon as a threat.  Armed militia bands were formed by the 
     megacorporations, with the intention of settling the region adjacent 
     to the k'kree reservation and daring the k'kree to challenge human 
     sovereignty on the planet.
     
     Things began to heat up, with several skirmishes occurring on the 
     borders of the k'kree settlement.  The combine-dominated Northammonese 
     army refused to intervene on the side of the corporations.  Extreme 
     factions of the Northammonese army began to make a call to arms to 
     "aid their k'kree brothers against the corporate oppressors."  Duke 
     Norris himself sent two divisions of Regency Marines to keep the 
     conflict from escalating into civil war.  This was the second time 
     that divisions of marines had been sent to preserve peace on 
     Northammon.
     
     The divisions were drawn from the marine training camp at Burden, one 
     of Northammon's two moons.  Forming a loose cordon around the k'kree 
     reservation, the marines have successfully deterred all hostile 
     actions by the megacorporations against the k'kree.  The marine 
     garrison remains to this day to ensure the safety of the k'kree 
     settlement.
     
     While the k'kree population has swelled to over 640,000 in the 
     following 75 years, the k'kree enclave on Northammon makes up less 
     than four percent of the total planetary population.
     
     The divisiveness between industrialists and agriculturists has 
     continued into the 1200s.  While muted hatred continues to seethe 
     between the two groups, the presence of not one but two military rule 
     garrisons keeps the peace.  The k'kree are a reluctant ally of the 
     combines, but are suspicious that they are being played as pawns by 
     their benefactors.  Because of Northammon's importance to the region, 
     it is vital that this situation doesn't erupt into fullscale war.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 16:30:58 -0700
From: "Dane 'Danger' Johnson" <djohnson@frame.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Virus attacks Earth, News Feed at 11...
Message-ID: <9509132335.AA15032@fmcuro>

At 06:36 PM 9/13/95 -0400, Cynthia wrote:
>From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
><<
>  > From: toad@ugcs.caltech.edu (Benjamin Lane) 
>  > Subject: Virus deaths 
>  >  
>  > Also, as a reality check - what would Virus do if unleashed on 1995
>  > Terra? Well, I can imagine the following; trash the Internet, trash
>  > the phone system, and severly damage the power grid. GPS wouldn't
>  > work, and this might affect some airliners for a time. THese effects
>  > would NOT be enough to plunge Terra into the Stone age. If the Virus
>>>
>>You're forgetting a few things:
>
>>- 747s dropping out of the sky onto cities
> How? Airplane electronics aren't hooked to the Internet.  How do they get
>infected?

Technically, the way I'm reading some of the virus infection descriptions,
using Radar to "view" a virus-infected systems (or having radio contact with
an infected ground computer) would cause you to "infect" the ship.

This is pretty silly, so I personally ignore it (ie, I agree with Cynthia).

Also note that I'd be surprised if any of the Air traffic control computers
are on the Internet directly...

>>- almost *no* communication (no phones, TV, radio)
>Phones, TV, stuff bounced off sats, yes, not most radio.  
>
>>- the collapse of every major bank
>Oh yeah.  A given.  

How many banks can you telnet into?  Or send e-mail to their primary
computers?  On the other hand, they do have modem links into the Fed, as I
understand it, so once the fed goes, all the rest of the banks (in the US) go.

>>- train crashes
>Could well be.

I've always figured that trains were more electric than electronic...

>
>>- all factories shut down (no power or workers dead, panicking, or unable
>>to get there)
>
>Temporary.  Too much of this would be temporary-- I mean, figure out what is
>going
>on, reboot the computers with clean backups, pull the Pentium chips ;-) , and
>go on 
>your merry way.

This was the topic that really made me want to respond :)

I used to work on a heavily automated assembly line putting together
computer disk drives -- There was an internal network and we were heavily
automated.  Shutting down any one of several computers would have hosed us
until that system was repaired.  But:

1)  Although all the stations were computerized, the "work stations" weren't
on the internet or anything.  They were on a reasonably small LAN.

2)  Although we had a lot of automation, the automation didn't necessarily
talk to one another.  We had several "Robot" stations, but the "work
station" computer didn't talk to the robot's "computer brain" or to our LAN.

3)  We also had an automated conveyor system for moving stuff around.  It's
computer controller didn't talk to any of the other computer systems
involved -- and we made it do things by pushing buttons.

In my estimation, it'd be hard to grind this to a halt with an infection
like the virus -- too many of the systems are isolated from each other and
from outside contact.  You'd almost have to infect it on purpose.

I conclude that a Virus attack on TL 8 Terra would:

a) Clobber Internet.

b) Clobber all the university computer science departments, who are on internet

c) Clobber the telecommunications industry

d) Clobber the computer soft- and hardware industry

e) Clobber the financial markets, including stock exchanges and banks.

You'll notice that all of these are either very dependent upon
telecommunications or are very dependent upon *heavily networked* computers.

Places like NASA and the National Labs are probably going to go down pretty
hard, too.

The manufacturing businesses -- like, say, car assembly plants -- aren't
going to have anything beyond their engineering and administrative computers
connected enough to the outside, easily infected networks to be brought down
hard.

IMHO, of course.

Dane "That Workflow Guy" Johnson  <djohnson@frame.com>
Frame Technology,                 (206)990-2043
Curo Division
"We have tamed lightning - and now use it to make sand think."


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 20:36:05 -0700
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@whip.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: FF&S Help
Message-ID: <199509140135.AA28457@ns-1.csn.net>

>Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 00:54:33 -0400
>From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@UDel.Edu>

>Here's what I've come up with.  2.5kl for the cramped seat (for the
>driver), and another 1.5kl for the restricted seat (for the passenger),
>then 2.5kl for the cramped crewstation.  That's already 6.5kl out of
>7kl.  Take the .7kl that you're suppossed to add for this being a
>moderately sloped grav vehicle, and you've surpassed your limit!
>
>So, I must be missing something.  If some kind soul could just tell me
>what, I'd really appreciate it.

        I may be mistakem, but I believe the crewstation _includes_ a seat,
so you don't need a separate seat for the driver. That'll give you 2.5kl
back ...
        
 ___________________________________________________________________
  Dave Golden                              PGP Public Key available
  goldendj@whip.com     http://www2.csn.net/~goldendj/homepage.htm

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 20:36:09 -0700
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@whip.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 414
Message-ID: <199509140135.AA28467@ns-1.csn.net>

>Date: Wed, 13 Sep 95 20:47 BST-1
>From: cshort@cix.compulink.co.uk (Christopher Short)
>To: traveller@MPGN.COM
>Subject: Email
>Message-ID: <memo.891286@cix.compulink.co.uk>
>
>Have you sent me one -
>
>chris@zace.compulink.co.uk
>
>does it matter what the first name is before the @ ?


I assume you're trying to sign up for the Traveller Mailing List. First of
all, your email address according to the header above is
"cshort@cix.compulink.co.uk" -- yes the name before the @ does matter.

Second, to receive the mailing list, you need to send a message to the list
processor, NOT the list. The message needs to be addressed to
"listproc@mpgn.com" and should contain the line "subscribe TRAVELLER
Christopher Short" -- an automated program will read your message, pick off
your return address automatically, and add you to its addressee file.

Good luck.
 ___________________________________________________________________
  Dave Golden                              PGP Public Key available
  goldendj@whip.com     http://www2.csn.net/~goldendj/homepage.htm

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 20:38:14 -0700
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@whip.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 414
Message-ID: <199509140137.AA28590@ns-1.csn.net>

Sorry about that last message -- I meant to send it straight to him, but
didn't check the address Eudora stuck on it.
 ___________________________________________________________________
  Dave Golden                              PGP Public Key available
  goldendj@whip.com     http://www2.csn.net/~goldendj/homepage.htm

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 12:02:16 +0200 (EET)
From: Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 413
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9509141123.A13161-0100000@vserver.evitech.fi>

About bioengineering.

The possibilities of bioengineering are almost limiteless (sp?), in 
theory. At lower TLs there is not enough knowledge to know what kind of 
modifications are good ones, and in fact what happens if you tinker with 
that gene. For example if you modifie a gene that expresses as a growth 
hormone, you end up having modified growth but also with some other 
properties that have been modified.

I think that those worlds that support human kind life forms (like Vland) 
have naturally occuring life forms that have similar biochemistry to 
Earth's creatures biochemistry.

It is really hard to say what kind of effect life forms with different 
kind of aminoacids etc. can cause in human's system. Probably nothing, 
but it can also cause severe allergy or poisoning.

Well, I gotta go.

Joni Virolainen
jonimv@evitech.fi



------------------------------

End of TRAVELLER Digest 415
***************************
