From selengut@MIT.EDU Wed Nov 9 22:44:52 1994 Date: Wed, 09 Nov 1994 10:30:40 EST From: selengut@MIT.EDU To: frc@nvg.unit.no Subject: Round 26 Final Summary Here it is, the final summary of Round 26: Lasting nearly a complete month, this round was definitely a long haul, characterized by attrition rather than knock-out. By 26:1 the rules were quite restricted and forced people to stick to the theme of the machine. Many thanks are due to Gareth, who had the inspired idea of placing the players inside the machine. The players strove to find loopholes to the restrictions of 26:1, and were successful by imbuing the machine with truth-telling abilities. The properties of absolute truth as it applied to fantasy rules led us into a gray area for a while, but no sooner had we found our way back to the light but an inadvertent (?) saboteur caused the whole thing to go up in flames. This of course, left little for the rules to discuss, and led to the end of the round. It is appropriate, then that both the player who gave birth to the machine and its fantastic purpose, and the one who destroyed it should be honored in the next round. So, by the power vested in me by the Fantasy Rules Committee, I hereby declare Round 26 to be ended. The member known as Stephen (S.R.E. Turner) having been the sole survivor of that round, shall be the Judge for Round 27. The member known as Player-Wizard Stein, having earned a grand total of 3 style points, will be known as Wizard for Round 27. As is our custom, I turn over the powers of the Judgeship to Stephen and await his word as to the theme and starting time of the next round. I would like to thank all of the members who participated in Round 26 and made it so much fun. Having only Judged 2 rules to be invalid, I feel like this has been a somewhat more collaborative effort than usual - I feel a camaraderie with those who actually occupied (served time in?) the machine for the last month. Of course, I might feel differently if I had had a barber's chair land on me!! Yours truly (or at least decidably), - Judge-Wizard (ret.) Jeremy ------------------------------------------------------- Round 26 Theme: A Rube-Goldberg Machine Round Begun Tues 11 Oct, 08:00 EDT Round Ended Tues 8 Nov, 22:52 EST --------------------------------- Eligibility: Stephen(7) ***Winner*** (+1 Style) Oerjan(4) Ineligible (+2) Stein(5) Ineligible (+3) alyxx(4) Ineligible (+0.5) Storm(1) Ineligible (0) Gareth(1) Ineligible (+1) Waggie(1) Ineligible (+0.5) Richard(1) Ineligible (0) 24 rules submitted 22 VALID 2 INVALID Total Style = +8 Style Ratio = 0.33 -------------------------------- Vote Proposals: Proposal 26:A (Proposed by Stephen) That 26:17 be declared INVALID FOR: Stephen, Gareth, Peter, Stein AGAINST: alyxx, Ronald, Dug, Jeremy Vote does not Pass - 26:17 remains VALID -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:1 (co-Wizard Stein) VALID (style +0.5) >>>>> There we were, a handful members of the Fantasy Rules Comittee, all ready to start the 26th FRC round. Each one with his own ideas for devious rules that would put all sorts of explicit restrictions on other rules: "All rules shall contain *this* or *that*", "Subsequent rules must all name *something* or *somone*", "All rules numbered *so-and-so* must or must not *such-and-such*", etc, etc ... But after the first rule of round 26 there would be nothing of all that, for behold, in that very first rule appeared: THE MACHINE !!!!! ... so vast, so complex, so breathtakingly beautiful, so thoroughly absolutely impressive. Needless to say, after this none of us could talk of anything else but this one machine. >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:2 (Stephen Turner) VALID (style 0) >>>>>> The machine has exactly five cogs, no two of which have the same number of teeth. The largest cog has only one tooth, in the sense that half of it is a circle of radius 12.2 metres and half of it is a circle of radius 12.3 metres (taking a cross-section at right angles to the cog's axis). Because it is so large, the designer and builder decided that this cog was to be made of aluminium. It is an interesting fact that no two components of the machine are made of the same material. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:3 (alyxx) VALID (style -0.5) >>>>>> The shimmering sides of the machine require closer inspection. This action, were you to attempt it, would reveal that they shimmer due to their unusual construction. The walls of this machine are made of ever undulating, yet miraculously stable, live snakes. What is the function of this machine? We have not yet determined this yet, but we have determined that it has many more than one. It would be germaine if the next machine-describer would begin to elaborate on same. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:4 (Gareth McCaughan) VALID (style +1) >>>>>> As well as the cogs, there are a number of parts of the machine which are clearly intended to have people in, on or stuck to them. This is all the more clear since many of them are in fact occupied by people; to be precise, each and every FRC member able to see the Machine is thus incorporated into it. In order to avoid danger to life and limb, the designers ensured that each person thus incorporated into the Machine would be strapped in, stuck in, boxed in or otherwise secured, to avoid danger to life and limb. It is a pity that a usual side-effect of this is a considerable restriction on one's field of vision. For instance, my impact-resistant white plastic cocoon holds my limbs and head entirely still, and I can only see what is straight ahead of me; at the moment, that is the back of Stein's wooden coffin. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:5 (Waggie) VALID (style +0.5) >>>>>> When the foot attached to the smallest cog in the machine reaches the peak of its cycle, it kicks over a bucket containing something I can't quite see, which falls down a track on the far side of the machine from my rotating barber's chair. Shortly after this happens, I can hear a loud "Clang!" and a spout of water shoots into the air, the droplets collecting in buckets which turn a waterwheel. I think that's Stephen by the waterwheel, but I can't be sure. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:6 (Alyxx) VALID (style +0.5) >>>>>> My vantage, which allowed such a close inspection of the walls of the machine, is not only inconvienent, it is also unbearably uncomfortable. The left side of my body is held by a glue-like substance to the writhing wall, while my torso is supported by a large, flat board. This board, made of oak, holds a large bucket of candlepin bowling balls, which seem to release a ball through a funnel at regular intervals (I do not yet know what causes the release), which hit the small cog with a loud "clang" causing the cog to turn, and setting in motion the previously described action, I assume. All I can see of this section is the bucket of balls, and their journey to the cog. The release of each ball occurs just after I feel a "Thud" behind me. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:7 (Oerjan) VALID (style +1) >>>>>> Whereas the constructors of the machine allowed visitors (like the FRC members) to enter, they did not want to waste the valuable machine room space, and so every visitor has been incorporated as or in an important part of the machine. For example, about every minute a flurry of feathers fall through the quartz sylinder encompassing me, causing me to sneeze. My sneeze causes the mirror ahead of me to vibrate, thus disturbing the path of a laser ray which I can sometimes see in the blue smoke raising upwards near me. It seems the ray is somehow reflected against Gareth's cocoon, but I cannot see where it passes from there. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:8 (Storm) VALID (style 0) Received Thu, 13 Oct 94 17:51:35 EDT >>>>>> I begin to wonder whether it was a mistake to become involved with this Committee. The niobium wire latticework encasing me is admittedly very attractive, reflecting the light filtering down from above in a display of peacock-like colors, but it is also alarmingly confining. My sole means of influencing my environment seems to me pushing a small bronze lever with my free foot, and thereby causing one of the endless stream of candlepin bowling balls which are passing me by to divert either to the right or to the left. I would be happier if I knew the outcome of my singular choice.... My specific part of the machine seems to become slightly warmer each time a ball goes to the right. I reflect on the melting point of niobium and am not comforted. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:9 (Stein) VALID (style +0.5) Received Fri, 14 Oct 94 05:21:41 EDT >>>> I too have discovered that I as all other strapped-in members have exactly one way of influencing the machine's actions, by banging my head against the piezoelectric sensor on my coffin wall. The outcome of this action is related to the status of a red LED diode inserted in the bridge of my nose and to the colored 'X'-es printed on a seemingly infinite strip of paper passing through the machine, more specifically to the 'X' directly under a great rubber stamp attached to a lever driven by the largest cog. When the LED is lit, the paper strip advances to the north, one 'X' at a time until I bang my head against the sensor. When I finally do this the outcome is related to what color 'X' is under the stamp. If it is red, the stamp is sprayed with blue color before the cog turns and drives the stamp down, changing the symbol to a blue 'X'. Similarily if the 'X' is blue, it is changed to a red one. After this the LED is turned off, and while the LED is off banging my head has no effect. I can then only observe that the paper is being moved north or south in complex patterns, and at times stamped with red or blue 'X'-es. I don't know what makes the LED light up, but there always is an audible 'splash' prior to its being lit. >>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:10 (Stephen) VALID (style 0) Received Mon, 17 Oct 94 10:20:43 EDT >>>>>> The history of the machine is worthy of note. It was originally much smaller and only intended to rinse spoons before stacking them neatly in a dishwasher. But the various owners of the machine over the years have each seen fit to add more and more devices (*) until it has reached the state in which we see (#) it now. It is only in relatively recent times that people have been incorporated into the machine, although dogs have been used for many years. I know all this because I got chatting to a passing engineer who told me all about. Footnotes: (*) Except for the seventeenth owner, who removed several of the more useful functions, including the spoon stacking. (#) at least, in so far as our various fields of vision allow. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:11 (Stephen) INVALID (style 0) Received Mon, 17 Oct 94 13:44:48 EDT >>>>>> The engineer has just come back and told me that the machine affects our minds. I had already thought it strange that we could know what fantasy rules the other players were proposing, despite being out of hearing and out of reach of computer terminals. But this is, it seems, just one of the two possible mental effects of being a part of the machine. Now the other one is about to occur. Every time the waterwheel completes a full revolution, it causes a brass bell to ring. After the next ring of this bell, we will all feel (owing to the second mental effect of the machine) a compulsion to end all fantasy rules with an incomplete sentence, and begin all fantasy rules by completing the final (part-)sentence of the previous valid fantasy rule. Oh, I hear the bell now. The function of the middle-sized cog, by the way, is to cause >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:12 (alyxx) VALID (style -1.0) Received Mon, 17 Oct 94 14:19:34 EDT >>>>>> [The function of the middle-sized cog, by the way, is to cause] a long hemp rope to spool up (around the axle of the cog), slowly raising a hematite chair. From my vantage point I cannot see who/what sits in this chair, but as it rises the rope to which it is attached seems to be jerked variously to the right or the left. To whom is this action related? I suspect to our Player-Wizard, but it is up to another to explain how. Besides...there seems to be something touching my left foot. I believe it is..... >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:13 (Richard) INVALID (style 0) Received Mon, 17 Oct 94 14:26:31 EDT >>>>>> I'm really into this machine -- in fact, everything below my head in envelopped in an amber pillar. The only parts of the machine that I can see are two other pillars which rise above mine. From the clues available to me, I have deduced that I'm 40 meters above the ground. Each time I speak, the outside world seems to change. The last time I spoke, a tropical forest suddenly appeared and then disappeared. I'm not sure what's happening, but I'm sure one of my fellow committee members will explain these phenomena by the end of the week. What a mysterious machine! >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:14 (Player-Wizard Stein) VALID (style +1.5) Received Tue, 18 Oct 94 04:29:25 EDT >>>> This is the most amazing thing, but the Constructor-in-Chief himself told me so, so it must be true. The machine now does function as a truthtelling machine. We are all collaboratively, and in part subconciously, working out all decidable truths in our universe, and coding them in patterns of red and blue X'es on the turing tape. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the C-i-C has added a decoder connected to the rotating LCD sign. You have probably wondered, too, why that sign is there when it is completely dark. Well, according to the C-i-C it is about to light up any minute now with the first absolute truth computed by the machine, and...and...oh goodness gracious... there it is, and it says: "No more than 1/4 of the Fantasy Rules of FRC round 26 will quote absolute truths as computed by this magnificent machine!" >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:15 (Oerjan) VALID (style -1) Received Wed, 19 Oct 94 08:40:49 EDT >>>>>> Thanks to the mirror, I can see more than some of the other members. I have the most splendid view of some of the Machine's more zoological quarters. A little below me I can see a marble pool, with dolphins playing with various toys. Sometimes a candlepin bowling ball falls down into the pool, but the dolphins seem to be trained to immediately throw it out of the pool to the opposite side of where it splashed down. Otherwise, they seem to have more freedom of movement than we humans do.. but not as much as the mice running around everywhere in the Cheese Labyrint and nearby. A worker told me that the labyrint has been put in the Machine by the Corporation for Researching Mice, though nobody seems to be researching them.. Hey, that mouse is staring so at me, it makes me crazy! I'll better look somewhere else, like on that calm blue neon sign saying "!)I|/|Aq T`|/|O(|", or maybe the rotating LCD sign, which now looks like "S|'". Achoo! >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:16 (Stephen) VALID (style +0.5) Received Thu, 20 Oct 94 13:54:52 EDT >>>>>> This is the most amazing thing, but the Constructor-in-Chief himself told me so, so it must be true. The machine also functions as a falsehood-telling machine. We are all collaboratively, and in part subconciously, working out all decidable truths in our universe, and coding them in patterns of red and blue X'es on the turing tape. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the C-i-C has added a decoder connected to the rotating LCD sign. However, this decoder is also connected to the calm blue neon sign. The truths computed on the turing tape are sometimes interpreted and displayed on the rotating LCD sign, and sometimes interpreted, negated and displayed on the calm blue neon sign. According to the C-i-C it is about to light up any minute now with the first falsehood computed by the machine and written in English, and...and... oh goodness gracious... there it is, and it says: "The next fantasy rule in FRC round 26 will say what is displayed on at least one of the two signs of the machine." >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:17 (alyxx) VALID (style +1.5) Received Fri, 21 Oct 94 11:14:48 EDT UP FOR VOTE (26:A) >>>>>> By craning my neck more than I ever thought possible (and I can only imagine the state into which this will put my chiropractor), I can see over the edge of the board, to an uninterupted view of the dolphin pool, and above it the lovely blue sign. I cannot say what is written on the LED [truth] sign, for it is out of my view, but I can say what I see on the blue [negated-truth] sign. An exact negation of a truth, of course, is as absolute as the orignal, so I am unphased when I see it light up to say "The Dolphins have nothing to do with the Negations" as I had already determined that the final calculation was enacted when they determined which of the three color-coded holes would recieve a given ball. By following their movements, I believe I can predict the next Falsehood, but based on my observations of the time delay, that Falsehood will not show up for at least 2 more turns. When it does, one of our names will be involved, but I cannot tell more than that until the next ball falls. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:18 (Player-Wizard Stein) VALID (style -1) Received Mon, 24 Oct 94 17:49:42 EDT >>>>>> Hmmm, watching these signs is getting very, very interesting, just now the calm blue neon sign said "The meaning of MU", while the LCD was blank - cute ... Then the LCD lit up: "If Alyxx' rule falls, then her prediction was right, if it stands then her prediction was wrong". Then after a while the machine got very talkative, and the LCD lit up again: "Zak, the most intelligent being in the universe has put one thousand dollars in the golden box labelled A, and either nothing or a million dollars in the silver box labelled B. The author of Fantasy Rule 26:19 will be given the option of receiving the content of either both boxes or the content of box B only and e will choose the option that yields the most money, keeping in mind that Zak don't cheat, Zak has never been known to err, and that Zak has put a million dollars in box B, only if he has predicted that the author will choose box B only - otherwise he put nothing in there." Now the calm blue sign shows "Don't Panic!" again... >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:19 (Oerjan) VALID (style +0.5) Received Wed, 26 Oct 94 08:28:42 EDT >>>>>> I just heard a horrible scream, and then I saw a man falling down behind me. I recognised him as the chiropractor who used to walk around here and make sure we weren't too uncomfortable. Then I heard a *boing* followed by a thud and the whispering of several snakes, then silence. I am beginning to worry about the rest of this visit. I also wondered what made him fall.. The CiC has given us instructions that if we should move too much, we might effect the machine in disastrous ways. But things have been going wrong before during our stay. Especially the mice have caused no end of trouble for the workers. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:20 (Stephen) VALID (style -1.5) Received Wed, 26 Oct 94 12:48:56 EDT >>>>>> The LCD sign now says: "Oerjan is now given Zak's offer, as described in rule 26:18. He will say which option he chooses in his next fantasy rule." I can still see the large cog turning, turning, turning... >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:21 (Player Wizard Stein) VALID (style +1.5) Received Mon, 31 Oct 94 09:26:33 EST >>>> I'm getting this strange feeling about this mysterious calm blue neon sign. I guess it started when Alyxx told us all that she saw that sign light up to say: "The Dolphins have nothing to do with the Negations", at a time when we all were convinced that she could not possibly say what the signs displayed. But in a way, she didn't. For regardless of what Alyxx did or didn't see, at that time, to my eyes, the sign displayed "The owls are not what they seem!". I've tried to ask Alyxx about all this, but she has become mysteriously silent. Now we know that the blue sign lies at times, yet at other times its messages have no truth value, fi when it displays "Don't Panic!". I've asked the CiC about this (who I BTW strongly suspect to be identical to the mysterious Zak as his statements always seems to be correct, though often somewhat less than helpful), but all he answered was the cryptical: "Trust the LCD you all can!". Now the blue sign says "Don't Panic!" again ... but WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO DO !!! >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:22 (Stephen) VALID (style +0.5) Received Tue, 1 Nov 94 14:19:02 EST >>>>>> Down by the waterfall, I seemed to be relatively free to move around, although I did have some sort of lead attached to me. But it seems I didn't pay enough heed to the CiC's instructions. As I started to walk around, the LCD sign said "The machine is going to self-destruct in exactly two minutes." That was 1 minute 58 seconds ago. So it seems it's going to have exploded before you get this fantasy rule. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:23 (Oerjan) VALID (style +1.5) Received Tue, 1 Nov 94 22:52:28 EST >>>>>> The pain is unbearable, but I can thank the quartz cylinder that I am still alive, as it didn't break completely. After pulling out glass pieces from my head and wiping off blood I manage to look around. Everything is chaos. I look up and see the open sky above. I see a shadow up there; It is the LCD sign on its way down. It lands with a crash and becomes half embedded in the concrete floor. It is not a pretty sight; pieces of wood and metal all over; I see the once rotating barber's chair lying there, and I hear Waggie's voice shouting "Help.." from underneath it. Small pieces of red stuff is everywhere, and I cannot keep from throwing up when I realize what it is: dolphin meat. The poor cetaceans must have been right by the center of the explosion. I then note the dead body of the CiC. Right by him lies what used to be a silver box; if anything was inside, it is now only ashes. The golden box lies right beside me; With much trouble I stretch out my hand and take it. While its contents are ruined, the box itself may be of value. I'll pick up the other box later. I notice something against my arm; it is one of the mice, which looks unharmed. I see several others; strangely enough no mice have died. What are they doing, I wonder. Then everything is darkness. >>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Rule 26:24 (Stephen) VALID (style +1.5) Received Sun, 6 Nov 94 13:45:01 EST >>>>>> I can see a mynah bird in the wreckage. It must have been part of the machine. It seems to be saying the following over and over again: "The third fantasy rule after the one currently being written will be invalid if it fails to explain the owls. PKKRRRHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The second sentence is the nearest I can reproduce in print an extremely realistic impression of the machine exploding. The first sentence is unmistakeably in the CiC's voice. I realise that the CiC (who never erred) must have said those words just before the explosion caused his untimely death. It is a very poignant moment. >>>>>>