-> <table width="453" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td width="100%" colspan="2" height="51"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#333333" colspan="2" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" height="46">

_The Fourth of September in the Year of Our Lord FireFox,

Two-Thousand and Four  

**Report Forty-Eight**_

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[- The life of the rich and Jacish -](#1)  

[- Situational Commentary -](#2)  

[- GJW Ch II/III Results Update -](#3)  

[- Jacland Leadership School (tm) -](#4)  

[- Clan/Order Powers Update -](#4half)  

[- Rebirth Update / New site feature -](#99)  

[- Tidbits -](#tidbits)  


[- Big Props -](#bigprops)  

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" If it isn't broken, let's take it apart and see why not. " </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#333333" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="20"> <>- Thelife of the rich and Jacish -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="18">

Well boys and girls, since we last talked, I've been busy. I started law school 2 weeks ago now and man, it takes up a lot of time. I enjoy it, don't get me wrong. The subject matter is sweet and the people/professors are cool. The reading is hard to keep up with though. This is especially hard when my roommates are playing XBox every time I come in the apt. Since I have no willpower to begin with, it makes it hard not to procrastinate. We have a long weekend this weekend though, and hopefully I can get ahead enough that I can get on schedule with things.

I finally gave up my keys to my old apartment, finally got my loan check, and last sunday I finally officially graduated from college. yaaaay to me. The Diploma is hanging on the wall, and it feels good to be done.

With all that taken care of, and hopefully the ability to get ahead of my work this weekend (and no more convention speeches to watch), I will have more DB time. Some of you I'm sure have already noticed it, too. My IRC time will still be limited to evenings, but I am hoping to spend more time on inbetween classes doing reports and responding to emails.

Today also marked the start of the Football season. AMERICAN FOOTBALL. The 
Ohio State University commenced a great season with a big win over The UC 
Bearcats. Michigan sucks.  

Soooo, yaaay.

</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#333333" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="20"> <>- Situational Commentary -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="18">

Things are interesting right now in the DB. I can feel the people who have energy to move forward with things. There seems to be a urge to move on from the GJW and other competitions, and believe me, I feel you. A lot of people have mentioned how Chapters 3 and 4 have been almost aniemic in nature. This was a conscious decision by the GJW people. We basically cut the end of the GJW in half, taking out a lot of the complex things we had planned and making things run faster. I just want the thing to be done so we can move on with more imporant things.

In that regard, we are going to do a large debriefing of the GJW and figure out what we need to change for the next one (which won't be for a while). I want to establish a document that will essentially be a GJW checklist that make sure that each problem we have encountered here doesn't happen again. This will include scheduling facets, judging facets, making sure the entire plot and website are set before the event and a rule that will require automation of most scoring procedures. I think that this will help us run things in the future more efficiently.

Further, We are no longer going to pawn off a GJW to a single individual to create, manage and run. We will be making a GJW Committee that will work under a schedule, work within certain guidelines, and have a varied group of people to make sure that the GJW will incorporate all parties of the DB. I think the last 4 GJWs have been run by people with no previous experience at running them (including myself) and that is a HUGE detriment to their success.

I want to get moving on a lot of things, and I'm sure most of you do too. We're going to move faster, and I am going to make less things dependant on my time constraints. I want to perform more of the managerial role in the xoming months than the doer role. I think functioning like a business more will help a lot,

</td> </tr>
<tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#333333" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="20"> <>- GJW Ch II/III Results Update-</td> </tr>
<tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="18">

Soo -- we're working on it. The Ch II results will be done by Sunday at the latest. Ch III we are still judging the fiction portion and those results will be out soon.  

</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#333333" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="20"> <>- Jacland leadership School (tm) -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="18">

In a contintual effort to better the leaders of the DB, I have talked with Kaiann about starting a new series of courses in the SA. Un-seriously dubbed the Jacland Leadership School (tm), these courses will be designed to further the comunication skills, management skills and well...skills...of people seeking to be the leaders of the DB.

The first course, code-named "RASSA TASSA!!!", is about getting your ideas 
heard in the DB. It will focus on the different approaches to change, and 
specifically, how to write an effective proposal. This will segway into the 
second course that talks about project management (something we all need to 
be better at).


If you have any ideas or any requests for Jacland courses, let me know.  

</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" bgcolor="#333333" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="20"> <>- Clan/Order Powers Update -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="18">

  The documents pertaining to the Clan and Order Powers are finished and in 
  my hands. I am going over thenm and they will be submitted to Advisors for 
  comments. Then to the DC, etc.

</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5" bgcolor="#333333"> <>- Rebirth Update / New Site feature -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5">

    Site feature: Active XP


    When we first thought about how to front the Experience system in the 
    new website, we had envisioned something that was going to be pretty 
    simple to calculate based on ranks and medals and the whatnot. The 
    formula wasn't hard, and would require little to prepare.  



    However, we got to thinking: why stop there? If we are doing this, we 
    need to do it right. In that sense, we have decided to adopt a 
    modified-proposal of Kaiann's to have variable XP awards. Kaiann 
    originally wanted to have Leaders be able to give out XP for services 
    rendered from active members. I found this to be a little too 
    subjective, and so in a middle-ground decision, we decided that in the 
    website we would code in the main activities that will award XP.  



    This is where Active XP comes in. The new website is being built to log 
    the activity of each user and for the different things that a person 
    does, they will receive XP (and in some cases, credits). These 
    activities include running and submitting to competitions, posting on 
    message boards, being active in gaming nights, and talking on IRC (to 
    name but a few).  



    The cool part about this is that it will also give a great activity 
    tracker for Consuls to use. They will be able to see who is doing what 
    and when. You will also be able to track your own progress, even against 
    others who have chosen to let their records be public.  



    I am excited about it. In the coding, it's a completely different 
    approach than what we were taking before. It will be harder to make 
    initially, but in the long run it will pay off.  



    Now as to the progress of Rebirth -- I just started school. Ask me next 
    week.

</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5" bgcolor="#333333"> <>- Tidbits -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5">

  Current Projects


  - Clan and Order Powers

---

See above

• RPG

---

> Kaiann got me what I wanted. Working on getting things more organized too

• Wargaming

---

Put on hold until RPG stuff is done.

• CoJ website

---

Waiting for Rebirth website

• Position Manuals

---

> CoFo is taking this over. I will be personally working with him to get this going

  - *New Project* Position Badges  

---

> We are working to replace the little purple badges for the position markers. McKenna is making the gfx and they look STELLAR! More updates as they come

• Hush Hush

---

> Got the files to lannies today. She's gonna proof

</td> </tr>

<tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5" bgcolor="#333333"> <>- Big Props -</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5">

- Big Props to everyone who puts up with me -

</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5" bgcolor="#333333"> " Today I broke my record for consecutive days I've been alive. "</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" style="border-left-width: 1; border-right-width: 1; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1; border-bottom-width: 1" bordercolor="#333333" colspan="2" height="5">

![](dgm/weekly_jac_footer.jpg)</td>

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