Web Posted December 31, 2004
Updated December 31, 2004
Welcome back duelists. Having the August issue mailed out in August should be a small surprise. It is short because news is in short supply again.
What kind of information do you want this newsletter to bring you every month? I am asking this question because official support of autodueling is on hold definitely, there are few active autodueling groups today, and new Car Wars Web sites are more rare than high-octane gasoline in the world of Mad Max.
I would like for you to think back to the Golden Age of Autodueling -- the 2030s and the early 2040s -- when Autoduel Quarterly (ADQ) was published four times a year. If the magazine would have continued, what did you want to see in ADQ that was never printed? What rules have you wanted to see in Car Wars but were not written or the system needed to be revised to incorporate those rules? I can try to address these wish lists in CWIN but only if I know about them.
Drive offensively,
Michael P. Owen
RAINIER BEER WINS BLACK BEAR'S TASTE TEST
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002008625_webbeerbear18.html
The Seattle Times
Wednesday, August 18, 2004 -- Page updated at 08:48 A.M.
BAKER LAKE, Wash. -- Rain-eeeeer . . . Bear?
When state Fish and Wildlife agents recently found a black bear passed out on the lawn of Baker Lake Resort, there were some clues scattered nearby . . . dozens of empty cans of Rainier Beer.
The bear apparently got into campers' coolers and used his claws and teeth to puncture the cans. And not just any cans.
"He drank the Rainier and wouldn't drink the Busch beer," said Lisa Broxson, bookkeeper at the campground and cabins resort east of Mount Baker.
Fish and Wildlife enforcement Sgt. Bill Heinck said the bear did try one can of Busch, but ignored the rest.
"He didn't like that (Busch) and consumed, as near as we can tell, about 36 cans of Rainier."
A wildlife agent tried to chase the bear from the campground but the animal just climbed a tree to sleep it off for another four hours. Agents finally herded the bear away, but it returned the next morning.
Agents then used a large, humane trap to capture it for relocation, baiting the trap with the usual: doughnuts, honey and, in this case, two open cans of Rainier. That did the trick.
"This is a new one on me," Heinck said. "I've known them to get into
cans, but nothing like this. And it definitely had a preference."
BEAR GUZZLES 36 BEERS, PASSES OUT AT CAMPGROUND
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/08/18/bear.beer.reut/index.html
Reuters News Service and CNN
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Posted: 9:12 PM EDT (0112 GMT)
SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.
"We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 km) northeast of Seattle.
The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers' coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.
It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.
Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson.
They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of
Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.
"RAINIER BEAR" GETS A NAME
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/188277_tf230.html
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Monday, August 30, 2004
Local brew celebs Tim and Chuck, hosts of UPN's "Rainier Vision" -- their TV homage to Rainier Beer -- unveiled the name of their new mascot -- the black bear that passed out on the lawn of the Baker Lake Resort after guzzling 36 cans of classic Rainier -- at a party Saturday at the Bit Saloon in Ballard.
The fans voted, and the bear shall now and forever be known as (drum
roll, please) Brewtus.
ONE DEAD, TWO WOUNDED IN SEATTLE SHOOTINGS
http://www.king5.com
06:29 PM PDT on Saturday, August 21, 2004
From KING 5 Staff Reports
One of the shootings happened in a parking lot.
SEATTLE -- Gunfire left one person dead and two wounded overnight in Seattle, in two separate incidents early Sunday.
One gunman, an amputee with no legs, in a car specially designed for handicapped drivers, led police on a chase down I-5.
It started apparently over an argument in a parking lot on Western Avenue, near the Medussa night club. A dispute over who could exit first led to an argument with shots fired, wounding two young men.
"An individual in one of the vehicles armed with some type of firearm took it out and fired, hitting two victims," said Capt. Tag Gleason of the Seattle Police Dept.
The victims, both Seattle men in their early 20's, were rushed to Harborview Medical Center.
I-5 was closed after the police chased the suspect, who threw a weapon from his vehicle. They finally caught him and recovered the weapon.
Meanwhile in the Rainier Valley, in south Seattle, police searched unsuccessfully on the ground and from the air for the other shooting suspect. Again witnesses heard arguing and then gunfire, which killed a 53-year-old Seattle man.
The victim was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Police have no description of the suspect.
GROUP CRATES ENGINEERED 'MARATHON MICE'
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Marathon%20Mice
By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press Biotechnology Writer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Last updated 6:02 a.m. PT
Photograph: Ronald Evans, Ph.D., right, holds a genetically engineered mouse handed to him by researcher Yongxu Wang, a post doctoral fellow, at the The Salk Institute for Biological Studies Monday, Aug. 23, 2004, in San Diego. Researchers have genetically engineered better stamina into the mouse moving the issue of Olympic doping from drugs to actual genetic manipulation.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Researchers on Monday unveiled genetically engineered mice that can run farther and longer than their naturally bred brethren, bringing the "genetic doping" of elite athletes a small step closer to reality.
The creation of the so-called marathon mice, announced Monday, follows earlier genetic engineering work that created "Schwarzenegger mice," rodents that bulked up after getting injected with muscle-building genes.
The engineered mice racing away on their treadmills are bound to add to the furor over performance-enhancing substances, just as the world's best marathoners prepare for the Olympic event Sunday.
The gene engineered in these mice essentially mimics exercise: Researchers say it conferred endurance and prevented the modified mice from becoming obese - even when they were kept inactive and fed a high-fat diet.
"This is a real breakthrough in our understanding of exercise and diet and their effects on obesity," said lead researcher Ronald Evans of the Salk Institute in San Diego. "The practical use of this discovery is the implication in controlling weight."
The paper describes how engineered mice, even the couch potato variety, were able to run farther and longer if their "fat switch" genes remain switched on continuously. The engineering also appeared to make them immune to obesity.
Evans found the gene he dubbed the "fat switch" more than 10 years ago, but it is only just now that its broad implications are being understood. Evans now believes his work has implications for just about every disease of the metabolism, from obesity to heart disease.
"This gives us a real lever on metabolism," Evans said.
Of course, nobody cares more about the intricacies of the human metabolism than Olympic athletes - and for better or worse, Evans is bracing for a flood of inquiries from their trainers now that his research paper has been published in the online journal Public Library of Science Biology.
Many predict that steroids, growth hormones and other drugs and chemicals that cheating athletes take to shave the smallest sliver of a second off their times will soon seem quaint - replaced by hard-to-detect genetic engineering, which could become commonplace as soon as the Beijing Olympics four years from now.
Instead of improving times by fractions of a second, the genetically enhanced marathon mice ran twice as far and nearly twice as long as naturally bred rodents.
The engineered mice ran 1,800 meters before quitting and stayed on the treadmill an hour longer than the natural mice, which were able to stay running for 90 minutes and travel 900 meters. Evans said he has not seen any adverse side effects in the engineered mice.
Evans expects his research will be of keen interest to the Olympic officials who struggle to keep athletes honest. "It's a bit ironic that we developed these marathon mice at the same time of the Olympics," he said.
Evans and his team made the marathon mice to help them better understand diseases of the metabolism such as obesity and diabetes. The bulked-up "Schwarzenegger mice" serve a different purpose - research into muscular dystrophy treatments.
The "fat switch" gene, when switched on, begins the process of creating "fatigue-resistant" muscles while helping the heart and nervous system create endurance.
Humans run and jump thanks in large part to two types of muscle, known as "fast twitch" and "slow twitch." Depending on workout regimens, fast twitch is converted into slow twitch or vice versa.
Sprinters crave fast twitch, which confers speed at the cost of endurance. Marathoners work to bulk up slow twitch for the opposite reason. Elite athletes are continuously probing their muscles to ensure they have the right ratio of fast- and slow-twitch muscles.
Evans' team found that slow twitch converted into fast twitch only when the gene in charge of the process kicked on, which was only when the mice exercised. That is a problem for couch potatoes with Olympic-sized goals.
So Evans took a piece of genetic material known as a promoter, or "gene switch," and injected it into the mice, keeping the gene on continuously. As a result, even the laziest mice increased endurance.
"The enhanced performance of the mouse could translate into human athleticism," Evans said.
There's a big gulf between mice and men, and the field of gene therapy has yielded mixed results over the last decade, including the death of a human subject five years ago.
Still, Evans' earlier work is already being tested in people. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline PLC is conducting mid-stage human experiments with a chemical that turns on the "fat switch" in hopes of developing a drug to raise levels of "good cholesterol."
"This may represent a significant role in exercise endurance," said Glaxo spokesman Rick Koening.
After Evans' latest work was published on Monday, Koenig added a cautionary
note: "We do not condone the pharmaceutical enhancement of athletes."
FRENCH AUTODUELING ASSOCIATION (FADA)
http://car.wars.free.fr
Forum: Dueling Debate <http://forums.delphiforums.com/carwars>
Subject: AADA Events and Tournaments / One case for two -- FADA's seventh
event
From: tdehais
Date: August 26, 2004, 1:14 pm
Check out our new event's rules.
FADA PBEM Duel 7 Rules
http://car.wars.free.fr/2002/arene07.htm
Submissions are open until 09/05 for registration and until 12/05 for submissions.
You can register by answering to this message or on the Web site.
Thierry Dehais
FADA President
CAR WARS GAMES
http://www.carwarsgames.com
THE FALL: LAST DAYS OF GAIA
http://www.the-fall.com
GUARDIANS OF ORDER ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS: BESM AUTODUEL
http://www.guardiansorder.com
http://www.iguardians.net/boards/showthread.php?t=1088&page=1&pp=10
STEVE JACKSON GAMES FORUMS: CAR WARS
http://forums.sjgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23
NEW OMAHA VEHICULAR ASSOCIATION (NOVA)
http://novacw.com
Arena Watch: Wells Racing Complex, Royal Crown Circuit
NEW OMAHA VEHICULAR ASSOCIATION (NOVA)
http://novacw.com
From: NOVA <nova-cw@cox.net>
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2004 1:34 AM
To: Michael Owen <owenmp@hotmail.com>
Subject: Duel Write-up
Hi, Michael. Here's our latest duel write-up. The duel took place a month or two back.
Take care,
Norman McMullen
NOVA President
Dropped Weapons R' Us
Drop-Out Arena Duel
Berkeley, California
May 29, 2054
One of the strangest duels NOVA had in a while in one of our oddest arenas. Attending duelists were Chris, Marty Koehler, Norman McMullen, Nick Fuhr, Don Jacques, and Andy Koehler. The format was Division 25 cars. Starting speed was 30 mph.
Don (gate 8) turned west out the gate as Chris (gate 6) turned east, both set to engage the other. Nick (gate 10) went west while Norman (gate 3) went east, having the first arena square fall out right behind him. Andy (gate 16) headed south. Marty (gate 12) also went south to engage Nick.
Chris fired first, doing minor damage to Don's left side with a blast cannon round. Norman fired his BC at Nick and missed. In turn, Nick's autocannon missed Norman by a mile.
Andy closed in on Don and Chris while Marty sent a BC round at Nick at long range, but missed.
Arena squares continued to fall as Chris hit Don's left side again, and did the same amount of damage as before. Don started dropping his double row of spikes to discourage Chris from pursuing. Andy joined in with his oil and turned to the west wall to get Don. Norman angled at Nick, fired his BC, and started to drop oil. Nick had minor damage to his right side. In response, Nick started dropping oil (in this case flaming oil) as well.
Closing in, Norman turned to drive in front of Nick, hoping to get him
to drive over the oil. Don angled towards the west wall, still dropping
spikes, and Andy went parallel to the wall and then turned southeast.
Don then turned towards Norman and Nick. In the meantime, Nick fired his
AC at Norman's back, knocking off a point of metal armor. Don and Norman
ended up driving side-by-side with Nick threading his way through the spike
and oil trail while leaving more flaming oil behind him.
After avoiding several spikes Nick decided to get out of them and drove over a set. The spikes where catalytic, and Nick received significant tire damage and a hefty hazard. He lost control and did a severe skid, running over more spikes. A major fishtail result, and when combined with the additional spike damage caused Nick to lose two tires. He ended up facing the northeast corner at a dead stop, becoming a maneuverability kill for Don.
Norman and Don stopped their dropped weapons and tried to outmaneuver each other in their left-hand turning action. Both having high-torque motors, spoilers and airdams made this an interesting contest. Marty circled back to the northeast corner to line up a shot at Nick. Andy stopped his oil and chased after Chris. Marty fired his rear flamethrower at Chris, doing minor damage to his front.
Chris tried to get to Nick, but was blocked by oil and spikes. Andy came along and blocked Chris's way out with more oil. Chris drove out, going through Nick's spent flaming oil patterns and Norman's pyrophoric oil, receiving minor tire and underbody damage. Norman braked and fired as Don passed in front of him, doing some damage to Don's back armor. Norman then circled back towards Nick.
Don also circled back, but it was along the wall where the oil-and-spike
trail was concentrated. Taking a gamble to get back into the action, Don
drove over a pattern of Andy's oil and his own spikes. He received heavy
tire damage. Norman dropped more oil around Nick so that no one
else could get close without getting tire damage. Still with fight,
Nick fired his AC at Norman's back, knocking off another point of metal.
Andy and Chris started after Marty, who was shooting at Nick. Marty got some front armor damage for his trouble. Norman continued to drop oil, leaving a trail straight across the arena floor, and fired at Andy's side for some damage. Chris circled back to Don and Andy started his oil in front of Norman.
Going southeast, Norman avoided Andy's oil while dropping the last of his own. Also running out of oil, Andy went northwest. Marty t-boned Nick on the left and pushed him into an open section of the arena floor. Before that happened, Andy hit Nick with a BC round, breaching the front armor and destroying his AC.
Almost out, Don had an arena square drop out right in front of him. To avoid the fresh pit, Don drove too close to one of his own spike patterns. The spikes took out three of his tires and sent him skidding to a stop. While he could, Don fired at Marty several times, the damage mitigated by Marty's diminishing metal armor. Chris fired at Don's left side, going through the armor and killing the driver.
Marty, euphoric over his victory against Nick, drove over Andy's oil
and Don's spikes to get after Chris. The combined damage was enough to
destroy his tires, spin out, and come to a stop on even more spikes. With
his underbody on fire and then breached after bottoming out at
speed, it was too late for the driver to escape as he had no body armor.
As Marty's car and driver continued to cook like barbeque Chris headed
away from the spikes and oil. Norman, in a relatively clear spot, drove
toward Chris. At a combined speed of 75 mph they collided, and their point-blank
fire added to the damage. Both heavily damage, it was Chris
that still held the advantage. Andy moved out the arena, and time was
called. Chris was declared the winner.
Time Elapsed: 14 turns
Finishing Positions
1. Chris (kill on Don)
2. Norman McMullen
3. Andy Koehler (1/3 kill on Nick, kill on Marty, left the arena)
4. Marty Koehler (1/3 kill on Nick, mobility killed by Don, killed
by Andy)
5. Nick Fuhr (1/3 killed by Don and Marty and firepower killed by Andy)
6. Don Jacques (1/3 kill on Nick, mobility kill on Marty, killed by
Chris)
Vehicles
Chris's Cannon -- Description not available at press time. This vehicle featured an ATG.
Norman McMullen's Fightblaster H-1 -- Mid-size with CA frame, extra-heavy chassis, heavy suspension, large power plant with high-torque motors, 4 radial PR tires, driver, BC front, OJ (with pyrophoric oil) back, BC-OJ link, 4 sand dischargers (linked in pairs; 2R, 2L), airdam, spoiler. Metal/plastic armor: F15/30, R8/30, L8/30, B8/30, T0/6, U0/10, four 10-point plastic wheelguards. Accel. 5/10, Top speed 92.5/67.5, HC 3 (4 at 60 mph +); 5,753 lbs., $24,986.
Andy's Fightblaster C-2B -- Mid-size, extra-heavy chassis, heavy suspension, large power plant (with high-torque motors and overdrive), 4 solid tires, driver, BC (with HESH ammo) front, OJ (with pyrophoric oil) back, BC-OJ link, overdrive, HD brakes, HRTC. Metal/plastic armor: F18/15, R7/15, L7/15, B7/15, T0/1, U0/10. Accel. 5/10, Top speed 92.5/67.5, HC 3; 5,753 lbs., $21,546.
Marty Koehler's Demolisher -- Description not available at press time. This vehicle featured a BC.
Nick Fuhr's Ravager -- Description not available at press time. This vehicle featured an AC.
Don Jacques's L.E.D. -- Mid-size, extra-heavy chassis, heavy suspension, large power plant with high-torque motors, 4 SB PR tires, driver, pulse laser front, 2 linked SDs (each with catalytic spikes and extra catalytic spike magazine; 1 right-back, 1 left-back), SWC. Armor: F90, R50, L50, B50, T5, U8. Accel. 5/10, Top speed 92.5/67.5, HC 3; 5,754 lbs., $24,998.