Re: texaco

On Wed, 3 Feb 1999 devans@uneb.edu wrote:

> That wily Thomas sed:
> 
> -On Wed, 3 Feb 1999 devans@uneb.edu wrote:
> 
> -> Interestingly, this feeds to the work I've been doing on the
Corporate -Wars
> that
> -> led up to the formation of the Texaco Corporate States (trying on
yet
> -another
> -> name).
> 
> -aha! so it's you who is behind that fiendish corporation! your name
and
> -mail address have duly been added to the prelim list.
> 
> You have to pin me down, don't you? ;->=

there is no escape. resistance is useless. you will be recorded.

> Actually, in my fluff, the corporation
> is dead; the loyal employees, horrified by the terrible destruction
occurring
> when the skirmish battles got totally out of hand, and fearing
midnight
> reprisals, fled to deep space prospecting outposts.

aww, i was really looking forwards to accounts of planetary bombardments
and other atrocities commited in the name of shareholder value!

> Natch, a government run by former corporate committees is going to
take FOREVER
> to come up with a real name. ;->=

although they would probably do it quicker than a government committee
...

> -> Having first tried cut-out images on card, I decided to use Evil
Empire -(tm)
> Ork
> -> (tm) Bolt Pistols (??) with the handle cut off to represent
modified
> -independent
> -> commercial ships with strong company ties, fighting small border
-disputes. I
> -> liked the idea that the bolt pistol muzzles were actually add-on
-military
> -> engineering sections (engines) the corporation kept on hand for
just -such an
> -> occasion, and weopen systems dropped in whatever available cargo
-opening.
> 
> -i'm having a hard time visualising the bolt pistols - they're titchy,
> -surely? - but it sounds like a very cool concept. now all i have to
do is
> -get my Royal Dutch Shell tankers up and armed ...
> 
> I was thinking of the smaller, independent traders of the Traveller
universe,

fair enough; we could envisage an AT+T -> baby bells type situation in
which, say, texaco was broken up into a zillion little independent
companies, leading to this situation.

> kludgey and cramped. Nasty, smelly boxes barely keeping the
> occupants alive while searching for that lifetime find.

what? are we talking about siefert's new computer again?

> The kind of dumb, brutal existence that would give someone reason to
risk life
> and limb for a possible cushy company job, you know?

aah, we *are* talking about siefert's new computer again.

> -> I know the above doesn't make a lot of sense, but I have fleshed it
out -a
> bit,
> -> given the bits and pieces from FT and MT of a parallel military
history -in a
> -> gritty corporate universe.
> 
> -well, if you have any material on the web, i can link to it.
> 
> ;->= You've just seen about the only thing I've formally set down,

well, what there is is in the list.

Tom