Equipment Decay

Problem: The various machinery in the tower are constantly breaking down.
Cause: TAU's self-repair systems are hampered due to the disconnection problems. The colonists have also made things worse by installing life-support systems and living spaces in locations where there wasn't supposed to be any. Many systems are overloaded due to others being down, particularly those lost in the various catastrophes such as the big rock hitting the top of the Tower.
Symptoms: Life-support failures; production holdups; towerquakes...
Attempts for a fix: Plenty of damage-control teams working day and night fixing equipment; burrow jobs to get to previously unaccessible locations.
Status: A severe and time-consuming problem at the moment (Oct 104).

Material Shortage

Problem: There's a shortage of raw materials used for spare parts, tools and other necessities.
Cause: The mining machinery down at the base of the Tower were damaged during the floods. Made more severe by a block in one of the material delivery pipelines.
Symptoms: Slowing down of production; competition over resources.
Attempts for a fix: Recycling of materials.
Status: Very much a proglem at the moment (Oct 104).

It's some logo of some hockey team or a shoe manufacturer.

So, we'll play again next Sunday.

Mehken and Dustman: Would it be possible to start playing with you at 12:00 CEST already? I'd like to finish that thing you're doing first thing. Or maybe start later with the others?

Organized Haggling

At the time The Technocracy was formed, humanity had long ago recovered from globewide catastrophes such as overpopulation, the spiral of violence, and global warming. In fact, the standard of living was far beyond necessity all around the world. Automation was rapidly taking over the last unpopular jobs still plaguing mankind. Most people could live their lives doing work that inspired them, or do no work at all, without having to worry about their material well-being. Most governments provided their citizens with material goods such as food, accommodation, and clothing free of charge. Jealousy between those who chose to work and those who chose not to was steadily going out of fashion.

Capitalistic economies did not vanish on their own but they became less and less central to the human condition. Most found the concept of spending their lives trying to increase their bank account absurd or disgusting. The more popular reasons for working (if you did) were to bring joy yourself and others, to satisfy your curiosity, or the embettering of humankind (though many considered the latter rather pompous attitude). And even though working for the sake of money was something you'd accept with a frown, doing business to maximize profits was shunned by most - usury had reclaimed its place among the deadly sins.

These attitudes made it possible for The Technocracy to pull its support for money as one of its first acts. With no government backing, money soon lost its value. Instead of buying goods, the citizens of The Technocracy had to file a request for them. The requests were processed within minutes by one of the Administration Assistance Units and if the goods were available they could be retrieved from the nearest sharepoint. For services, a matchmaking application in the Internet was used to help find someone providing the needed service (for free).

People still weren't pleased with their lives, of course. However, the things that made the grass greener had shifted away from material wealth. Instead, people measured their success in life by the inventions they had in their name, their friends, families, their popularity and lifespan. And of course, power.

The votes used in the everyday decicion process of The Technocracy became a sought-after commodity. Just like politicians in earlier societies, some would make promises, distribute gifts and favors, or even lie to be the recepient of as many vote delegations as possible. A black market emerged around the voting. Other things traded were the more extravagant of material goods not provided to everyone, invitations to parties, sex, inventions, high-end expert health-care... However, votes soon became the new de facto currency due to their government-backed value.

Vote trading was, of course, highly illegal and publically dispised. However, studies showed that at nearly one half of the world's population had taken part in it at least once in their lifetimes. It has been claimed that many of the most powerful people in the world rose to their power by very carefully organized illicit haggling.

Well. Seems I'm not able to edit, so you'll just have to copypaste that. And the questions:

1) What is that?
2) In what kind of situations is it annoying?

It's parts of the official postal map of The Shire and nearby districts, also found here: http://www.shirepost.com/ShireMapV5-8.jpg

The red dots are part of the borders of The Shire.

Map of Middle Earth by Tolkien's grandson?

40. Encounters Between People

Simeone and Klatch were talking pretty heatedly with Andrea. It sounded much like all those interrogations they do. Why don't they go after the Lurkers instead of harrassing honest people?
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Balthazar seems to have some trouble convincing some of his converts to accept his God. No wonder, the ridiculous concept that it is. I wonder what Mike thinks about the whole thing.
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I heard Tagato turned down Corteza's invitation to join her cause. I wonder why. Maybe this whole thing is a little hasty, actually...
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I think I'm being spied upon...

Name: Mark
Rank: Former Ringmember

Name: Bitisururu
Position: Handler