UPDATE!! The Senate Debate will be held on Thursday, April 21, at 2:30pm Whyville Time in the Greek Theater.
Oh boy oh boy -- there is so much big stuff going on in City Hall these days, I'm just dying to tell you all about it! The bad news? I can't!
City Hall made me promise not to tell a soul about the new games and activities being developed for Whyville. This is cool stuff we're talking here, people, available to everyone in Whyville, not just Why-Pass holders. Ah, but you don't have to believe me it's cool.
Just wait and see. ;-)
Okay, okay, you want a hint? Take a look in your satchel, and you just might see something...
As for what's going on in Whyville right now, one of the coolest additions is the boost to the Challenge Hour. Have you heard about it? Every citizen who plays a complete game with another citizen from a different country will get 20 clams. Every time!
How does that work? Just be sure to attend the Challenge Hours listed in the Welcome Page calendar. While you're there, find somebody who lives in a country other than yours, and play a whole game with them.
If more than two people can play, such as Chinese checkers, the City Workers check all the players, and if even one differs in nationality from the others, they all get clams. To complete a game means to play all the way until Chaim declares the result of the game: "xxx won", or "tie game".
That's it, easy as pie... or tic tac toe, or Ion Engine game, or....
On almost every citizen's wish list has been the Friend Finder -- and as casc302 reports in this week's Times, the Friend Finder has indeed arrived! If you've got a Why-Pass, check it out, and pardon our dust while the City Workers polish everything up to perfection.
Speaking of polish, the Trading Post has been expanded, big time. What do you think of the larger rooms?
From larger to less: the Trivia Hour is being put on hold for the next month or so, as CW neutral focuses more energy on his programming work, which is why he's here in the first place. (See? What did I tell you about good stuff being worked on big time???)
MediaWiz wants to thank everyone who participated in Saturday's Media Hour. He learned a lot about nuclear power from you all, and really appreciated the efforts of those who went out to research the topic.
Speaking of those hours, you'll soon notice that when a calendar event is happening, the icon in the Welcome Page blinks. Check it out during the next Challenge Hour or Media Hour.
Another piece of good stuff is the fix made to Akbar's Face Factory and Mall. Now only spaces, capital letters and numbers can be used for the store names and face parts. This means no more broken face part names and no gobbledy-gook store names. Should help a lot!
Shopping, shopping, shopping... have you shopped at the Whyville Store lately? Head over there in the bus menu and check out the Gear section! Many of you probably never saw our CafePress store, which we closed many months ago because of technical problems. We believe those issues have been mostly resolved, so... get out there and get yourself a Whyville T-shirt, cap, tote or journal!
And then there's Whyology! Yes, the Whyologists are back with another stage of their awesome, clam-winning survey. Go see if you can sign up in the Why House.
Now, about that there election... just in case there's any questions hanging over the current Senate election, let me explain what happened a bit. Yes, a couple people spent way too much time harrassing their fellow citizens running for office by using the 911-report tool on all the platforms they could get their hands on. This meant a huge flood of hundreds of extra reports at City Hall. (Actually, the flood happens every time, but this one was unusually large.) As with all floods, it took the CWs a while to clear out all the mud and water until everything was finally taken care of -- and that includes punishing the children who abused the 911-report tool like that.
The good news is that this event has got the CWs thinking seriously about a reorganization of how the platform 911 reports are handled. It's possible that all platforms will have to be checked by City Workers in the future; the best suggestion has been that everyone will have to submit their platform ahead of time. After a week has passed, the CWs will publish all the acceptable platforms at once, and none of them will be 911 reportable.
That would save us from the crisis of last week; unfortunately, it would take away EXTREMELY VALUABLE time from the City Workers. Here's hoping that City Hall comes up with a solution that makes even that go super-fast!
Outside of Whyville, don't forget to celebrate Earth Day on April 22. You can find info about this environmentally-friendly event at http://www.earthday.org.
Also, Pesach (or Passover) begins on April 23 at sundown. This is the "8-day observance commemorating the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II." (Source: http://www.holidays.net/passover/) For more info, also check out http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm.
On a curious note, I was surprised to discover that for nearly every one of this week's guest writers, this is their fourth published article in the Times. That doesn't really mean anything, it's just an odd coincidence I thought I'd share with you.
Here's another important story I should tell you folks about. It turns out that City Worker neutral doesn't know what last week's articles about him were all about. He doesn't recall acting oddly during the latest Trivia Hours. More importantly, he arrived at the Meet the Makers meeting only a few minutes late, and he never apologized for his supposedly "odd" behavior.
What does this mean? Well, first of all, slap the Editor on the wrist! I should have checked with neutral and gotten his opinion of the stories' veracity. Then there's the authors -- I don't know if they were confused or actually lying about the events of the Makers' meeting and the Trivia Hour, and there's no way to know. That's why it's important for us all to read things in the news and everywhere else with great care.
I encourage everyone who writes anything for the Times to double-check your facts in the future. If you write about someone behaving in a way that might make them look bad, you should talk with them after the events and include their response in your story.
This isn't something everybody should automatically know. It's an important lesson in journalism, one I'm glad to have the opportunity to explain to you all -- and to remind myself of at the same time. :-)
By the way, this week's issue is number 250 of the Times. We've published more than 5,000 articles in that time, with I don't know how many wonderful writers and readers. Thanks, kids. This has been one long wild ride I've shared with you these five years. Who knows where the future will take you all... I'm glad to have shared a small portion of your lives.
C'est la vie,
Times Editor
