News
16 of us played 13 games! Welcome back long-lost Dawn (last seen 2 years ago), who brought 2 friends Kelci and Mart visiting from some frozen northern wastelands.
Many (including me) were stressed or sad from the election result. I'll pass along something I read:
A friend told me about a conversation she overheard between two young people discussing the election. The young man expressed his anger and frustration and said that he was "done" getting involved with politics. His female companion responded, "But I believe in the same things I believed in last night, and I'm still willing to fight for them. Aren't you?"
Getting rid of the faith-based president would not have magically solved everything, and him gaining another term doesn't magically destroy everything. Sure, it is bad that the population seemingly voted to affirm preemptive war, torture, detainment without legal counsel, reduction of liberties, anti-environmental and anti-science policies, anti-gay legislation, etc. (And the US doesn't seem to realize just how seriously bad our savage numbness about the Iraq invasion, massive civilian deaths, Guantanamo detainments, and Abu-Ghraib looks to outside observers.) But that's all the more reason to keep working for peace, justice, tolerance.
Lots-o-stuff happening soon that is fun:
- This weekend, November 6-7, is the annual Austin Celtic Festival, with more celtic music than you can shake a stick at. I consider it the best weekend of the year and will be there, rain or shine. Even if it looks like neither Maggie Drennon nor the Killdares will be there this year, damn it.
- Ankaŭ, ĉi-vendrede okazas internacia festo ĉe ACC, kiun kelkaj klubanoj ĉeestos por sciigi homojn pri Esperanto. Kaj okazos la 13-an de novembro la dua tut-teksasa kunveno, en norda Teksaso! Se vi volas kunrajdi tien, bonvolu diri al mi. Rob havas buseton.
- November 20 will be camping overnight at Inks Lake (car camping, near a bathroom; not primitive camping). Currently the lineup includes me, Whendy, JP, Jeffles, JeffS, Leslie and there's room for a couple more, so let me know if you're interested.
Game Results
Cloud9 | 4 | Jeffles 3 Ben 1 MarkH -1 MarkY -3 |
Tichu | 2 | ( Ben Jeffles ) 1 ( MarkY MarkH ) -1 |
Guillotine | 3 | Kelci 2 Dawn 0 Mart -2 |
SaintPetersburg | 4 | JP 3 RussW 1 KevinU -1 Clayton -3 |
Settlers | 3 | Dawn 2 Mart 0 Kelci -2 |
Tichu | 2 | ( William SarahM ) 1 ( Ben MarkH ) -1 |
Crokinole | 2 | ( JP Mart ) 1 ( Kelci Dawn ) -1 |
Acquire | 4 | MarkY 3 ToddG 1 Jeffles -1 Whendy -3 |
ZirkusFlohcati | 5 | SarahM 4 Clayton 2 William 0 Ben -2 KevinU -4 |
ZirkusFlohcati | 5 | JP 4 Mart 2 Kelci -1 Dawn -1 Marty -4 |
Carcassonne | 5 | Whendy 4 ToddG 2 RussW 0 Clayton -2 William -4 |
Vampire | 5 | JP 4 Dawn 1 Mart 1 Marty -2 Kelci -4 |
WhatsThatOnMyHead | 5 | Jeffles 3 MarkY 3 Ben -1 SarahM -1 KevinU -4 |
Saint Petersburg continues to fascinate. Some RussCon folks have played the computer version hundreds of times now. I've only played a dozen or so times, so I'll be happy with my come-from-behind grab of second place in this game.
Ratings
Rank Ratings:
5.2983 JP
2.5903 Jeffles
2.0149 SarahM
1.0986 ToddG
0.5754 Mart
0.4055 Dawn
0.4055 RussW
0.2231 MarkY
0.2231 Whendy
-0.5754 Ben
-0.9163 William
-1.3863 Clayton
-1.7916 MarkH
-2.3026 Marty
-2.5903 Kelci
-3.6231 KevinU
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Win Ratings:
5.2983 JP won 4 of 4
2.7081 Jeffles won 3 of 4
1.7918 SarahM won 2 of 3
1.3218 MarkY won 2 of 4
1.3218 Whendy won 1 of 2
0.2469 William won 1 of 3
-0.4463 Dawn won 1 of 5
-0.4463 Marty won 0 of 2
-0.4463 Kelci won 1 of 5
-0.5108 ToddG won 0 of 2
-0.5108 RussW won 0 of 2
-0.5641 Mart won 1 of 5
-0.7340 Clayton won 0 of 3
-1.0217 Ben won 1 of 5
-1.0217 KevinU won 0 of 3
-1.6740 MarkH won 0 of 3
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JP is the Devil! Jeffles is the Vice-Devil! Sarah is Vice-Vice-Devil!
If you are confused how the ratings work, you could peruse the FAQ.
I used GraphViz to generate the graph image.
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Meta Game
I was the Meta Devil and designed the following Meta Game:
I received 12 entries (including my own), plus 2 (Fina and Matt) which arrived after the deadline, but I include in the table anyway. In order of receipt (with # correct next to player name):
Player | AR | FL | IA | ME | MI | MN | NV | NJ | NM | OH | PA | WI | President |
MarkY 0 | crazy 2000-Florida-style legal chaos for all questions |
Jeffles 9 | Bush | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Bush | Bush |
DaveB 5 | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | |
BradS 9 | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Bush | Bush | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Bush |
Justin 10 | Bush | Bush | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Bush | Kerry | Bush | Bush | Kerry | Bush | |
Tim 7 | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry |
RussD 8 | Bush | chaos | chaos | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | chaos | chaos | Kerry | Kerry | chaos |
Fred 8 | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry |
Dan 9 | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Bush | chaos | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry |
MarkH 5 | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry |
RussW 7 | Bush | chaos | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry |
KevinU 8 | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry |
Fina 0 | crazy 2000-Florida-style legal chaos for all questions |
Matt 8 | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry |
Actual Result | Bush | Bush | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Kerry | Bush | Kerry | Bush | Bush | Kerry | Kerry | Bush |
# correct | 10 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
As the last row shows, some results more easily predicted by people than others! Although not all results are officially counted yet, it appears there is no true crazy 2000-Florida-style election chaos, and even though there is some suspicious activity which occurred especially in Ohio and Florida, Kerry conceded rather than contesting any of it legally, so I considered all states resolved for purposes of the Meta Game. (See CNN report or other webpages.) Although the election was serious business, it was also good geeky fun to do this sort of Meta Game, I thought. Thanks for all the entries.
DaveB mentioned "I used a coin to randomly determine my predictions." Dave and Justin neglected to pick the president.
Fred and KevinU and Matt picked identically, as did MarkY and Fina.
The high score was 10 by Justin, especially impressive since he only gave the 12 states and forgot to predict the overall winner! I urge Justin to pursue a career in election prediction. Justin is the Meta Devil and will design next week's Meta Game.
Evening's Soundtrack
My Dying Bride, The Angel and the Dark River
My Dying Bride, As the Flower Withers
My Dying Bride, The Dreadful Hours
My Dying Bride, The Voice of the Wretched
My Dying Bride, Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
Funereal music.
ne malesperu
russ