Mayor Elect Tenk

Mr. Tenk has won the New Babbage election by one vote over Aeolus Cleanslate. There will be a dance in New Babbage tonight at 6pm SLT so all parties involved can blow off some steam, should be a party.

A tip of the hat to Frau Annechen Lowey for the spectacular attire she made in support of her candidate. That outfit realy does deserve to win something. But I'm not sure what....

Candidate Debates

While nominations for Mayor of New Babbage end tomorrow, the three extant candidates jumped the gun and held their final debate last night. Witness:

2 days of peace in Babbage? Yes, really!

A very strange thing happened in New Babbage on Thursday.

The bickering stopped. Flat out stopped.

It started with a tread discussing avatar development. Then someone posted a photo of their real face. Then another. And another.

The thread grew to over 20 pages.

It was eerie.

They unmasked.

Election updates

The Curious Case of Mr. Tenk, originally uploaded by galacticbaroque.

Over in New Babbage, election season continues to grind on the nerves of the citizenry. As of this writing, candidates are the outsider Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Babbage newcomer and entrepeneur Aeolus Cleanslate, and the reclusive clockwinder Mosseveno Tenk, finally down from his attic.

If you are not familiar with P.E.M. jokes, you may wish to take a look here.
My favorite one goes like this:

Psychologists subject an engineer, a physicist, and a topologist to an experiment: Each of them is locked in a room for a week -- hungry, with a single can of tuna fish but without an opener; all they have is pencil and paper.

At the end of the day, the psychologists open the engineer's room first. Pencil and paper are unused, but the walls of the room are covered with dents. The engineer is sitting on the floor and eating from the open can: He threw it against the walls until it cracked open.

The physicist is next. The paper is covered with formulas, there is one dent in the wall, and the physicist is eating, too. He calculated how exactly to throw the can against the wall, so that it would crack open.

When the psychologists open the topologists's room, the paper is also full of formulas, the can is still closed, and the mathematician has disappeared. But there are strange noises coming from inside the can...

Someone gets an opener and opens the can. The topologist, covered in tuna fish, crawls out. "Dammit! I got a sign wrong again..."

The New Babbage Elections

Shaunathon Sprocket, exiting Mayor of New Babbage, has declared a mayorial election that is shaping up to be the spectator sport of the season. Here is the short version:

IF YOU WANT TO RUN: If you are elected, and I receive payment in full (the selling price of $6000 USD). I will provide a "change of power" period where I'll make sure you have all the items, contacts, and permissions so that you can run New Babbage.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VOTE: You must be a New Babbage landholder with a positive number of days remaining in the rental board by January 25th. The size of your parcel or number of parcels you own does not matter. You simply must own a parcel of land by Jan. 25th. If I am not available you may do land deals through Charlene Trudeau, as she is authorized by me to sell land in New Babbage on my behalf.

Circus owner Dreddpiratebob "Bob" Streeter was first to throw his colorful hat into the ring, as leader of a coalition. Two other Babbagers, in the dictator camp, are also in serious consideration, but have yet to declare their candidacy.

The Europans were seen building an new consulate office near the train station yesterday in the Palisades. This morning, in a stunning maneuver, Baron Klaus Wulfenbach has declared his intention to stand for mayor.

I would refer you to the excellent Journal of Dr. Darien Mason for his inimitable commentary as the story develops.

Just when you thought you were safely relocated

New Babbage is up for sale.