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[WTS]
micawber (mik-kaw'-bur) n.
one who is poor but lives in optimistic expectation of better
fortune. [from Wilkins Micawber, character in the Dickens novel
David Copperfield.]
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The Comedians Of Comedy %}
Remember this name:
Zack Gaf-- Galin-- Galifin--
Whatever. He's great!
Future Magazine
Covers
"I'm writing this letter in thanks for the great holiday
card you sent out. This Monday had been going really cruddy for
me and I had an overall bad day, but when I got home my mom told
me I had some mail. I saw I had a letter from Looney Labs and
wondered what it was. When I opened it up and saw the great Tirade
art on the front I felt great that you guys sent me a card. When
I opened it up and the three promo cards and the mini-catalog
fell out I was thrilled. To cheer myself up even further I stopped
at the mall and picked up a copy of Eco-Fluxx. Thanks for the
card Looney Labs, it really brightened up my day!" -- email from a Fluxx fan named Brett
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This Year's Holiday Gift /
Farewell Russell / JD Rules 2.2 |
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This year, for
a change, we got our Holiday
Gift to the Rabbits done nice and early, and judging from
the chatter on our mailing lists, most people have already received
theirs at this point. (Sorry International Rabbits, yours will
probably be late... a sorting mistake led to inadequate postage
being placed on most of the cards being sent out of the USA,
and they've been coming back marked postage due...)
In any event, here's a look inside the little envelopes that
many of you have already received by now, and others will hopefully
be getting very soon.
As you can see, it's a set of cool new Fluxx promo cards!
For years we've been wanting to make a Keeper called Earth to
add to regular Fluxx
so that we could also make a Goal called Peace on Earth... we
decided that this was the year to do it after publishing EcoFluxx
and realizing the Earth could also be fun when included in that
game.
Then, having decided to make a set of Holiday promo cards,
we couldn't resist the idea of making a Christmas Tree for our
newest game, Family
Fluxx, which includes the new Keepers it requires, the Gift
and the Tree. This card makes Family Fluxx the perfect game to
play with your family on December 25!
Lastly, the mailing includes a newly updated version of our
Micro-Catalog, and a holiday greeting card featuring our broccoli
Tirade.
It's a bit less extravagant than our holiday gifts have often
been, but it had to be for us to send it to 9000 names on our
mailing list! (If you know we don't have your mailing address,
or just want another copy: this year's gift is already
available in our Dollar Store.)
We're hoping that by mailing these cards out nice and early,
many people who might have forgotten about us will look
for our games this holiday season. And guess what? It seems
to be working! Yay!
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In
other news, Russell
is stepping down from his job as our Rabbit
Coordinator. He has been working for us with this title for over
2 years now, but always as a part-time job... and unfortunately,
his real day job still has him working so much overtime that
he just can't give us very much of his attention. He is working
too hard, and is no longer having fun, so he is taking off his
Rabbit Coordinator hat. Please continue to be patient about bio
and Rabbit point approvals... and stay tuned for what this means
for our convention schedule next year. We already have one candidate
for the job of Rabbit Coordinator, but if any other Rabbits are
interested in this part-time, paid position, they should contact
Kristin.
We're all very sorry to see you go, Russell, but believe us,
we know what it's like to be too busy. Sometimes, you just gotta
cut back. But thanks ten million times for all the great help
you've given us these past few years! You've been a real asset
to our team, and I know we will remain good friends.
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Meanwhile,
we've been continuing to playtest and tweak the ruleset for the
new way
of playing Just
Desserts, which I announced last
week. I'm still really pleased with it, and the feedback
we've been getting has mostly been very positive... but that
doesn't mean we have all the kinks worked out yet.
The new way of playing has a Set-like quality to it, in that
players compete to be the first to notice something and call
it out; however, the bonus we've been using for giving someone
their Favorite stymies and undermines this element of the competition.
So, much as we've found it fun being able to intercept someone
else's Guest by saying "Wait, I've got his favorite,"
I've decided to ditch that. Instead, the reward a player gets
for delivering a favorite will be an extra card draw. (Now the
person who makes the call first always gets to serve the Guest,
but they get an extra tip if they bring out the person's favorite
thing.)
Another place I've decided to make a change is in the end-game.
It gets tedious reshuffling the last few picky eaters until everyone
has been served, so rather than letting it drag out, the game
now ends after the Guest pile has been exhausted twice.
Lastly, much as I like starting my games with 3 cards, I have
to concede that the first few turns usually end in the Guest
leaving hungry, and there's just no good reason to force a slow
start. So, the initial handsize is 5 cards again.
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Thanks
again for your feedback and please keep playtesting! |
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"By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks showed that one
candle can light the darkness. Like so many institutionalized
evils, segregation ultimately depended on public accommodation.
Like so many institutionalized evils, once the ugliness of these
laws was held up to the light, they could not stand. Like so
many institutionalized evils, these laws proved no match for
the power of an awakened conscience -- and as a result, the cruelty
and humiliation of the Jim Crow laws are now a thing of the past." -- President George W. Bush, Comment
on the Signing of H.R. 4145, to Place Statue of Rosa Parks
in U.S. Capitol |
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I believe someday, future politicians will praise the leaders
of the anti-prohibition movement, using words very much like
those President Bush used to describe the legacy of Rosa Parks
on December 1st. The War on Drugs is yet another institutionalized
evil, and more and more of us are seeking to hold the cruelty
and humiliation of the drug war up to the light. But sadly, like
so many other Americans, the President continues to support this
particular institutionalized evil. So who will be the Rosa Parks
of the legalization movement, and what will be the public act
of defiance that eventually leads to reform? |
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"Five Mickey Mouses, three Tom and Jerries, six geese
a-laying, ten fat old women, one Brazilian conjurer, four fugle
horns, one Union Jack, seven little men in bowler hats, one Florence
Nightingale, some admirals (a rear admiral, a front admiral,
a red admiral and a vice admiral), two framed masterpieces painted
by Van Dyke's mother-in-law, four elephants, two Chinese policemen,
one photograph of Battersea Power Station, three typical British
housewives, a rugby team (complete with umpire), the Norfolk
Broads, three Widow Twankies, the Empire State Building, eleven
performing seals, an abyssinian fire-eater, a chocolate wristwatch,
a first aid kit (complete with fretso) and a jar of stick-anything
adhesive glue." -- Contents of the Do-It-Yourself
Cartoon Kit (which I remember very fondly but haven't seen in
30 years) as quoted in an online description
of the film |
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