
Traveller-digest     Saturday, October 23 1999     Volume 1999 : Number 1251



(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
All rights reserved.

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: The Baron Population Bomb
Cold!
Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"
Missing info on Calit in Vilis subsector
Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"
Re: Nobility
Re: Missing info on Sting in Sword Worlds subsector
Re: Nobility
Re: Nobility
Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"
Re: Honoring J. Andrew Keith
Missing info on Derchon in Lunion subsector
Re: Missing info on Sting in Sword Worlds subsector
Re: Honoring J. Andrew Keith
Re: Missing info on Sting in Sword Worlds subsector
[none]
Re: Freezing in the Aleutians (was Re:   )
Re: 
Re: Freezing in the Aleutians (was Re:   )
Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"
Re: TML Members as resources

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 17:58:15 EDT
From: JFZeigler@aol.com
Subject: Re: The Baron Population Bomb

In a message dated 10/23/99 12:14:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
peersce@mindspring.com writes:

>   Lets remember that the Imperium is
>  not a democracy, thus needs no representation according to population.  It
>  needs whatever the Emperor says it needs, and those solutions are (usually)
>  confirmed by the Moot.

    [snip]

>      In the feudal sense, a baron is a title for someone who holds a fief
>  directly from the king.  Whether this noble actually has a job he does for
>  the Emperor or whether he just sits on his fief and is idle, is a matter of
>  why he got the fief in the first place.  It could have been a reward for an
>  act of extreme valor critical to the well being of the Imperium, or it 
could
>  be as compensation for an ongoing duty.  Having millions of barons just
>  because they have to represent people (how many per planet with a 
population
>  in the billions?) would water down the substance of the nobility to the
>  point where it would be no different or any more suited to rule than anyone
>  who had enough ability to be an elected representative for 50 million
>  people.

I think you misunderstand me.  I don't claim that the Imperium tries to
maintain any kind of "representation" so that barons each stand for
some fixed number of people.  In fact, I imagine the size of the baronage
relative to local population varies pretty drastically depending on local
circumstances.

On the other hand, since elevation to the peerage is one of the ways
the Imperium has to encourage loyalty and hold the empire together,
I suspect the Emperors have a policy of maintaining at least some
minimum number of barons in every world's population.  You need those
visible signs of Imperial presence and interest, after all.

Meanwhile, it's clear that the baronage is the backbone of Imperial
administration, so every population needs barons to staff the machinery
of Imperial government.

And -- hey, this is a new thought -- where else are you going to put all
those children of upper-rank nobles who don't inherit the titles themselves?
You could give them "courtesy ranks," but you could also put them in
the baronage.  Their title would be real, if not as high as the one their
older brother or sister inherited.

All that would tend to cause a (very rough) correlation between the size
of a local population and the size of the local baronage.

So, to rephrase my question -- "How many barons is the Emperor
likely to need on a given world?"  Even a rough rule of thumb (assuming
the audience can agree on one) would be useful to me.

- ----------
Jon F. Zeigler: Mathematician, computer geek, amateur historian, freelance
writer, occasional scribbler of bad poetry
"For any statement, no matter how innocuous, there exists a nonempty
set of people who will take offense at it."

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 14:37:55 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Cold!

In mail you write:

> And then, of course, there really is a "Camp Frostbite"... it is a series
> of quonset huts on the tundra, that the Army uses for long term cold
> weather training. Temps there have been known to get to -65F BEFORE wind
> chill. And tundra has steady and constant winds. For those not familiar
> with quonset huts, take the type of steel tubing with the wavy ribbing, cut
> the tube into three sections along the length, then bolt them into one
> arch, put a wooden wall at either end, and add power and a heating system.
> most run about 60' wide, 120-140' long, and 2 stories. They sometimes
> actually get insulated (CF's do, with spray on foam insulation against the
> inside walls). Oh, and aside from class time, non-instructors at CF DON'T
> get to stay in the huts. It's miserable in the summer (Been there on a CAP
> activity), when it's in the upper 80's and boggy; I would hate to see it in
> the winter.

Reminds me of the time when I first started to grasp the idea of "polar
climate". In one of my geography books in grade school, there was this
photo of someone in Siberia taking home some milk. The milk was in the
form of a *slab of ice* tucked under his arm. 

I don't want to *think* about the Russia equivalent of "Camp
Frostbite". Not when you consider that there are places in Central
Siberia where the temperature *regularly* drops below -100!

- -- 
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 10:46:20 +1300
From: "Frank Pitt" <frankie@mundens.gen.nz>
Subject: Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"

> <snip great dialog>
> > Intelligence is, like beauty, in the mind of the beholder.
> 
> <swiping for sig file>
> 
> Wonderful post. Loved it.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

Frankie 

 

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 15:34:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Terry Mixon <tlmixon@yahoo.com>
Subject: Missing info on Calit in Vilis subsector

Greetings!

I note that Calit in the Vilis subsector is missing from 
Far Trader. How many gas giants and asteroid belts is 
it suposed to have?

Thanks.

Terry

=====

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 14:31:53 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"

"Frank Pitt" <frankie@mundens.gen.nz> writes:

>But for some reason, that seems more religious or hysterical than anything
>else,  lots of people don't like the idea of genetic engineering, look at
>all the fuss in the UK where they've even banned (or tried to ban, more
>like) genetically modified foods, forgeting that all the food they've been
>eating for centuries is already genetically modified. There's even people
>trying to get that done over here in New Zealand.

The GM thing is a combination of effects:

1) The standard luddite 'technology is bad' that some pressure groups have,
especially in the UK.
2) The fact that the choice to have fully GM or more traditional foods is
being erased by the US agri-business in combination with the US government.
(EU law requires GM modified products to be labelled - there has been an
ongoing dispute with the US government on this, and then there is the
mixing of soya..).
3) Monstanto (as an example) is also giving GM a bad press with the
terminator genes and patents on existing plants. And also the arrogance
with which their PR works.
4) A flawed study (which the Lancet is publishing) on the effect of GM
modified products which got a lot of press.

The GM industry could learn a lot from the nuclear industry but it seems
set on repeating the same mistakes.

Dom

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 23:51:33 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re: Nobility

shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) writes:
>That's spelled "Thule".
>
>> out in the Toolies" comes from) and last but certainly not least is
>> Shemya, Alaska. It's the next to last island in the Aleutian chain with
>> Army and Air Force manning. Guys on Shemya used to go to Adak for R&R.
>> Actually it was so bad that in 1980 or so, the NSA contracted the
>> staffing to one of the big Defense Contractors so that the military
>> would quit whining. It brought new meaning to the term "Hardship Tour".

Doesn't CJ Cherryh have a Station orbiting a planetless star called 'Thule'
that was pretty cold and desolate?

Dom

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 16:00:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Terry Mixon <tlmixon@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Missing info on Sting in Sword Worlds subsector

Greetings!
 
I note that Sting in the Sword Worlds subsector is missing from 
Far Trader. How many gas giants and asteroid belts is 
it suposed to have?
 
Thanks.

Terry


=====

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 18:57:59 -0400
From: "Thom Harris" <thomharr@mediaone.net>
Subject: Re: Nobility

Sorry Richard, I upgraded to the new "Outlook Express" (version 5 I think)
and it must have reset itself. I have now set it back to text only. Thanks
for letting me know. I am also sending this to the TML with my apologies.
For those of you who need to vent, go ahead, I have donned my TL15 Battle
Dress to handle the flamers with Richard's heads up. Yeehaaa.........

Thom

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Hough <rdhough@home.com>
To: <thomharr@mediaone.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 1999 1:51 PM
Subject: Re: Nobility


> Hi Thom. Could you turn off MIME or HTML encoding when you post to the
TML?
> MIME encoding posts pages of gibberish like this to the digest:
>
> >
> >This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> >
> >- ------=_NextPart_000_006D_01BF1D4A.4C9E6E60
> >Content-Type: text/html;
> > charset="Windows-1252"
> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
> >
> ><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
> ><HTML><HEAD>
> ><META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dwindows-1252" =
> >http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
> ><META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2614.3401" name=3DGENERATOR>
> ><STYLE></STYLE>
> ></HEAD>
> ><BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
> ><DIV>Well Leonard there is still&nbsp; Tooley, Greenland (where the term
=
> >"stuck=20
>
> [and so on...]

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 19:02:52 -0400
From: "Thom Harris" <thomharr@mediaone.net>
Subject: Re: Nobility

Not when you have been sitting in the "club" for a while and have just
downed your first case of Olympia (Oly for the old timers) for the day. ;)

Thom

In mail you write:

> Well Leonard there is still  Tooley, Greenland (where the term "stuck

That's spelled "Thule".

> out in the Toolies" comes from) and last but certainly not least is
> Shemya, Alaska. It's the next to last island in the Aleutian chain with
> Army and Air Force manning. Guys on Shemya used to go to Adak for R&R.
> Actually it was so bad that in 1980 or so, the NSA contracted the
> staffing to one of the big Defense Contractors so that the military
> would quit whining. It brought new meaning to the term "Hardship Tour".

You're right, I'd blotted out Shemya from my memory. No, I was never in
the service (couldn't pass the medical) but I've known people who were.

Obtrav:

Let the players get a contract to do something on an out of the way
planet, well off the nearest main. A planet with an odd name "Shemya",
or "Adak". (Thule is from mythology, so it's more apt to get stuck on
something *interesting*).

This could be *real* fun if on of the *players* recognizes the name,
but has no way of justifying his *character* knowing it.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." :-)

- --
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 11:51:04 +1300
From: "Frank Pitt" <frankie@mundens.gen.nz>
Subject: Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"

> > I could be interesting, but it might be frightening too.
> > What if you find out that morality is silly?  I'm not
> > saying that such a conclusion would be a necessary
> > result of higher intelligence, but (as you pointed out)
> > we cannot imagine how brainiacs would see the world.
>
> This gets into the area that fascinates me -- the intersection of
> intelligence and motivation.  Niven's _Protector_ got me started on this,
> long ago; I still highly recommend the book to anyone interested in this
> area.  What he points out is that high intelligence is only a tool, an
> "enabler", which is independent of motivation.  So for example his Pak
> protectors are quite a bit smarter and faster thinkers than humans, but
> *all* of that intelligence is focussed entirely on protecting their
> bloodline.

And it was interesting that it was only those Protectors who no longer had
any "herd"  that could effectively carry out research and invent new things,
and then only when they could avoid dying due to the loss of their herd and
replace the motivation of protecting a single herd with the concept of
somehow protecting the entire race.

Remarkably similar to humans really, huh ? <grin>


>
> ** SPOILER **
>
> What I found most interesting was that a human who became a protector
> experienced the change as a loss of free will; for any given situation,
> the right course of action was immediately apparent, inevitable, obvious.

Well, personally, I found that bit a little sillly.

Sure the Protectors could be wired to think that way as they were very
conservative creatures and instinct driven , but in order for the _right_
course of action to be apparent to anyone, even a highly intelligent person,
they would have to have perfect knowledge,  as well having a confirmed set
of ethics that allowed them to decide what was "right"

I read the Protector as being wired to always choose the _optimal_ solution,
and optimal meant least number of damaged breeders in the forseeable future.
It was a loss of free will, but though the choice was wired to _seem_ like
being the _right_ course to the Protector, anyone with a more active mind
than a Protector (for all it's intelligence and capability a Protector is a
pretty stupid and predictable creature to a similar level intelligence
without the hardwired "Protector" instincts ) would realize that it was
really only the most optimal course given certain constraints (in this case
limiting damage to breeders) , and that they had no way of determining if it
was the best or the right course of action, and as such they might come up
with a better, though not necessarily optimal, solution

Not sure if I can explain the difference between the "best" solution and the
"optimal" solution, but I'l try. I think it has to do with the fact that
without perfect knowledge, a solution that may seem optimal is not really
the most optimal, and it is possible, if you are not hardwired to chose the
_most_ optimal, you may choose the better solution for reasons other than
logic.

Sorry, that was a bit rambly.

It does however bring up a far more interesting concept with relation to a
God or "Protector" who _does_ have perfect knowledge. With perfect
knowledge, and "perfect" intelligence,  then, yes, your every action would
become utterly constrained and you would indeed lose all free will, and all
your actions would be forever be set (or alternatively you would be unable
to act )

Taking _this_ "Protector" concept a wee bit further, we reach the Herbert
solution to the quandary of a God with perfect knowledge, as detailed in
"God Emperor of Dune" , try and breed your subjects so that you _can't_ have
perfect knowledge of their actions. In other words, try and create something
you can not "see" with your omniscience, and which they cannot "see" either,
thereby giving _them_ free will, and incidentally introducing a measure of
free will for yourself, due to your now less than perfect knowledge...

This, of course is remarkably close to certain theological arguments
espoused several centuries ago by (I think) Thomas Aquinas ..... <grin>

Frankie
















> ** END OF SPOILER
>
> --
>    |   Craig Berry - cberry@cinenet.net
>  --*--  http://www.cinenet.net/users/cberry/home.html
>    |   "They do not preach that their God will rouse them
>       a little before the nuts work loose." - Kipling
>
>

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 11:56:43 +1300
From: "Frank Pitt" <frankie@mundens.gen.nz>
Subject: Re: Honoring J. Andrew Keith

> > Looking over the recently-posted list of Keith-authored items, I
> > was struck by how few seemed to be overtly military, and how many
> > seemed to be Scout-type stuff. It occurs to me that perhaps a
> > more appropriate honor would be to have a class of scout ships -
> > perhaps an 'upgraded' successor to the Donosev class survey ship
> > - named after him instead.  Certainly, Andy was more of a pioneer
> > than a warrior in the realm of Traveller.
>
> Brilliant! I agree. And good eye for detail there, I never would have
caught
> that.

Here's another vote for an exploration class starship.
I think the following paraphrase works well  :

"These are the voyages of the ISS J. Andrew Keith, it's continuing mission
to seek out and explore strange new worlds...."

( Hopefully Mr. Keith didn't hate Star Trek )

Frankie

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 16:20:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Terry Mixon <tlmixon@yahoo.com>
Subject: Missing info on Derchon in Lunion subsector

Greetings!
  
I note that Derchon in Lunion subsector is missing from 
Far Trader. How many gas giants and asteroid belts is 
it suposed to have?
  
Thanks.
 
Terry


=====

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 18:35:32 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: Missing info on Sting in Sword Worlds subsector

Terry Mixon wrote:
> 
> Greetings!
> 
> I note that Sting in the Sword Worlds subsector is missing from
> Far Trader. How many gas giants and asteroid belts is
> it suposed to have?

Here's the info from Galactic 2.4 for all three worlds:

Sting:  0 belts, 2 gas giants
Derchon:  0 belts, 1 gas giant
Calit:  0 belts, 1 gas giant
> 


- -- 
AuricTech Shipyards Journeyman Gearhead
"Gold-Plated [tm] solutions for copper-plated problems!" (r)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 19:43:58 EDT
From: Sethkimmel@aol.com
Subject: Re: Honoring J. Andrew Keith

In a message dated 10/23/99 6:48:46 PM !!!First Boot!!!, xrp@sierratel.com 
writes:

<< Brilliant! I agree. And good eye for detail there, I never would have 
caught
 that. >>

Here's an idea. J Andrew Keith designed the "Beltstrike" adventure module for 
GDW (1984). It took place in the Bowman system (Bowman/District 268/Spinwards 
Marches). I originally thought that maybe we should change the name of the 
star (and hence the entire system) to "Keith", but I decided that a lot of 
people probably wouldn't want to have to write on their Spinwards Marches 
maps. So I decided why not change the name of the system's only planet 
instead. This wouldn't screw up maps, and "Keith" sounds a lot better than 
"Bowman Prime". It's just a pity the planet's a gas giant, and not an 
inhabited world...

Seth

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 16:49:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Terry Mixon <tlmixon@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Missing info on Sting in Sword Worlds subsector

- --- Black ICE <wombat@premier.net> wrote:

> Here's the info from Galactic 2.4 for all three worlds:
> 
> Sting:  0 belts, 2 gas giants
> Derchon:  0 belts, 1 gas giant
> Calit:  0 belts, 1 gas giant

Got it. Thanks a bunch!

Terry

=====

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 20:37:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net>
Subject: [none]

>>And everyone I've talked to who's been stationed there
>>Liked it, except for not being allowed to have visitors beyond
>>immediate family come from off island (eg:  parents or siblings or
>>non-dependant children). And, it's pretty. It has trees.
>
>William, you choose to live in Alaska.  For a Florida boy like me,
>I'm sure I'd find it pretty all right...pretty damn cold!  <g>
>
No, I never chose to live here, I just can't afford the cost of moving out
of state without giving up all my possessions. Given my druthers, I'd live
in portland oregon, or maybe tacoma, washington. I just haven't been able
to gather a nestegg big enough for an out of state move (Typically, about
3-4 thousand dollars for a family of 3 and their goods, but not any
vehicles). I'm stranded in alaska because my PARENTS got shipped up here by
the US Army, and they liked it. (note the use of the past tense!)

While it is beautiful, most of alaska is widely varied from summer to winter.

Ob Trav 1:
	A fun scenario, which I have used, is a bunch of 1st termers get
mustered out in the armpit of the imperium, with no cash, no ship, and no
jobs in sight...

Ob Trav 2:
	one interesting variant on a mildly Corrosive atmosphere is
extremes of temperature:
a noteably eliptical and/or a high (>45 deg) axial tilt will result in
worlds where the annual temperature extremes are huge; say >150C per annum.
Below -30C, protective clothing becomes a must-have for humans; below -50C,
respiration assistance is needed (atmospheric mixes become problematic once
the CO2 starts to "snow." when the ground heats, you get wonderful
"Heaves", as various compounds in the soil expand at differing rates. With
posts, foundations, buildings, you get what is known as "Jacking": the
building gets lifted as the supports do, but the supports don't always go
back down.

William F. Hostman  |  "Smith & Wesson: THe original Point and Click
interface!"
Aramis 0602 C55A364-C S kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge-
533
Mailto:aramis@gci.net http://home.gci.net/~aramis http://www.alaska.net/~mhaa
ICQ:14640742          AIM:AKAramis	ARM 1.0: 3 R H++ P+
IMTU 1.0: tc tm++ tn- t4-- tt+ to- tg-- ru+ ge 3i+ c+ jt-() au+ st- ls
pi+() ta+ he+(-) kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge- pi+

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

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 01:29:26 GMT
From: j_pete@bellsouth.net (Pete)
Subject: Re: Freezing in the Aleutians (was Re:   )

On Sat, 23 Oct 1999 16:37:14 -0500, "Eris Reddoch"
<eris@pcola.gulf.net> wrote:

<SNIPEROO>
>
>The navy folks here in Pcola don't say bad things about Adak, but
>the AF folks down the road at Eglin do.  They speak even more
>unkindly of someplace called Minot.  <sp>
>
Ah yes, Minot. On a clear day you can see Canada!

Why not Minot?
Freezin's the reason!!


================================================================================
- - Jeff Peterson                                             j_pete@bellsouth.net

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."
                                               -Ecclesiastes 3:1

Pete 0609 D258A85-3 S kk- hi++ as+ va++ dr++ so zh- vi+ da++ A833
GCS V 3.12 d- s:+: a- C+++ UH++$ P-- L+ E-- W++ N++ o-- K- w++++(---)$ !O M-- V-
PS-- PE++ Y+ PGP t+ 5++ X+ R+ tv+ b+++ DI++ D++ G e+ h--- r+++ y+++
NOG #74  AirStar Nova 700

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 19:08:29
From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: 

At 04:18 PM 10/23/1999 -0400, you wrote:

>He palled around with the emperor's GF, prior to Strephon meeting Iphegenia
>(or is it Iolanthe? I can't keep the Empress and the Princess straight).
                                                               
Ah. Explains why they're so keen on the Aslan then.
- -- 

Douglas E. Berry       gridlore@mindspring.com
http://gridlore.home.mindspring.com/index.html

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 19:12:39
From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Freezing in the Aleutians (was Re:   )

At 04:37 PM 10/23/1999 -0500, you wrote:

>The navy folks here in Pcola don't say bad things about Adak, but
>the AF folks down the road at Eglin do.  They speak even more
>unkindly of someplace called Minot.  <sp>

The Army has the Korean DMZ.  My one trip there, in 1986, the temperature
was -30, and the winds were 50mph+  The South Koreans had gone home.  The
North Koreans had gone home.  The only people *stupid* enough to be out in
that weather was the US frigging infantry.
- -- 

Douglas E. Berry       gridlore@mindspring.com
http://gridlore.home.mindspring.com/index.html

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 19:18:04
From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: WTF- "vingean singularity"

At 02:44 PM 10/23/1999 -0700, you wrote:

>** SPOILER **
>
>What I found most interesting was that a human who became a protector
>experienced the change as a loss of free will; for any given situation,
>the right course of action was immediately apparent, inevitable, obvious.
>
>** END OF SPOILER

Yet he was still able to use his intelligence for things not directly
invovled in his compulsion.. the way he decorated Kobold, or the little
pranks he played on humanity.
- -- 

Douglas E. Berry       gridlore@mindspring.com
http://gridlore.home.mindspring.com/index.html

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

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 22:48:50 -0000
From: "Chris Seamans" <semo@pil.net>
Subject: Re: TML Members as resources

From: Leonard Erickson <shadow@krypton.rain.com>


>I'm in an interesting position. My main "skill" doesn't even *exist* in
>the game. You see, I have an odd sort of memory. It's not
>"photographic". Instead, you can ask me about something, and I can give
>you the gist of whatever I've read about, and quite often, if I own the
>reference or references, I can drag it out, and flip to the within a
>few pages of the appropriate entry. Which means I'll be there in only a
>few seconds. This works even in disorganized stuff like fictional
>references or poorly laid out game rules.


Actually, Leonard, this isn't all that uncommon of a skill among
roleplayers. There's probably an interesting study in there somewhere. I've
known several long time roleplayers who have the exact same ability. In
fact, I was just thinking about it yesterday when I had a few seconds to
myself.

I've always just considered it a fuzzy version of a photographic memory. I
can read something once in a book and remember roughly where it is just by
"feel." I can flip through a book and within a few seconds find a passage or
a quote, no problem.

It's a great party trick, and it saves on highlighter ink and marring my
books with margin notes ;)

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1251
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