# THE SILVER CRESCENT ## FEBRUARY 2020, ISSUE 2. ### "A Free Press for a Free Internet." ### QUINTUPLICATE CONFEDERATION, Editor. ### MINIWA, Publisher. ### FLOWER, Treasurer. *The content in this issue may be reproduced at will, except for matter specifically marked "copyright"; attribution is kindly requested if you find the content useful.* ## COMMUNITY NEWS. ### SANYA'S DISAPPEAREANCE AND RETURN. Just ten days after her unexpected return, she left and deactivated her account, equally surprisingly. No reason was given for her unexpected departure, and she did not even pause to say goodbye to anyone, or show the least sign of dissatisfaction with how things were. As a result of this, many theories have been advanced to explain this. One theory is that Tsuki told her to leave, while another states that she was uncomfortable with the "transgressive content" that was being posted in Toxspace, which she was not in, but had heard rumors of. But what these theories share is a universal concern for the health of Tsuki and Sanya, and appreciation of her personality. She came back on the 19th, visibly distraught. Apparently Tsuki had lost interest in continuing the Project, but Sanya continued to speak to her about it. They lost contact. She blamed herself for this, but most of those present at the time were sympathetic and told her it was not her fault. ### NAZASHI IS DEAD. Nazashi, a well-known member of the community of Toxspace and Chill Zone, died at Concord, North Carolina, in the early morning of February 4, 2020. The cause of death was Drug Overdose. His mother and brother logged into his account to inform his friends that he was dead, while several of his friends corroborated their account. Genosad is making a shrine for him, to which Quintuplicate contributed a eulogy. His family has started a GoFundMe to pay for his funeral. As of time of writing, it has raised $4,130 of its $10,000 goal. Many of those who knew the late Nazashi were invited to a Discord server he was in, where several new friendships were forged as members bonded over their collective loss. ### UNINVITED COMPANY. Early on the 26th, three people somehow managed to get ahold of an invite link to Miniwatrix. They insulted several migrants because of the sincerity of their beliefs, and at one point one attempted to interrogate Sanya as to Project lore. Predictably, she passed with flying colors. After several hours, most of the people present had had enough, and Miniwa accordingly threw them out. He is considering instituting a project quiz in order to join, and has already created a bot to announce registrations. ### GOT A NEWS TIP? **Contact us** at silvercrescent[at]protonmail.com and get subsidized ad space! ## CRESCENT DAY, CRESCENT TIME! Andre's birthday was marked on the 1st. The link to Miniwatrix was shared with several other wayward migrants on the 2nd. Genosad is running a "Systemspace Conversation". Cowtitties' server was disbanded following a heated argument on the 14th. Pomfwall created a new replacement server shortly after. Sanya is helping Miniwa make a signup quiz. ### HELP WANTED. Writers - Writing news stories - Coming up with "Puzzles" and "Trivia" Copyeditors - Proofreading and formatting articles Correspondents - Collecting notable and interesting community happenings for the "Crescent Day, Crescent Time" column - Reporting on stories for the "Community News" column Needed Give back to the community, hone your writing and people skills, and have fun along the way! Apply **today** at silvercrescent[at]protonmail.com ## IN MEMORIAM OF NAZASHI. *As part of an agreement with Genosad, of the Shrine to Nazashi, we hereby publish all textual contributions to the shrine in the Silver Crescent. May these short passages stand as a touching reminder of the community of the soul we lost this month. * ### EULOGY. *By Genosad; first posted on his blog at https://genosadness.neocities.org/blog.html* Nazashi is more than a Migrant or an acquaintance; perhaps even more than a person. In all the time I've known him, he showed nothing but compassion, understanding, and a nature of goodheartedness. He was someone so friendly that I wish I could live up to how I saw him. My first impression on him was one where we understood each other's tastes. It's not exactly something that I like to bluntly state, but I'm a submissive boy who prefers the company of a leading woman. I suppose people like me aren't very common, and to see that Nazashi had the same taste as I was nothing short of a delight to me. I regret saying that I know him mostly for this "kinky" (for lack of a better word) aspect. I understood his romantic needs, and knew him well for his tastes, but there was so much more I would have liked to know. In the time leading to his death, I had planned to interact with him more; to get to know him better. Maybe I ended up knowing more about him than most others do; or at the very least, I got to know a side of his which not everyone saw. He had an affinity for the occult, and I have to admit that I, myself, found it to be fascinating. I don't believe in it, but the aspects of its rituals and systems are nothing short of intriguing. Of course, too, I knew about his birds. Those little flying bastards always made their squawks whenever he so much as turned over in his own bed. As much as I regret not knowing him better than I could have, there is one regret I have, which pales in comparison to the aforementioned. After the death of Kitty0706, I remember watching a video made in his memorial. At the end of the video was an audio excerpt of Kitty in an interview, where the interviewer asked Kitty what his one message to everyone would be. When I started Normal Conversations with Normal People, I made a promise to ask that question to everyone on the show: "What is your message to the world?" In the Systemspace episode featuring Nazashi, however, I forgot to ask that question. More than anything else, I wish I could know and spread what his answer to that question would have been. For the world, for the laymen, for the scholars, for the children, for the old... What was his message to them? I guess we'll never know. ### EULOGY. *By Quintuplicate.* I'd like to begin with a story. Back around the end of April last year, as you all know, there was a shooting on the U.N.C.C. campus. Two were killed and four hurt. Now I thought my best friend was one of the two and I even wrote a eulogy for him. It turns out he was alive. When I said "Thank God you're alive," all he said was "your heart is too pure" because he didn't even go to UNCC, he went to a local community college. It turns out I was right, just not at the time. To write something like this, you have to survey what you've lost, and go boldly back into it. You have to search your memories and come out with a definitive idea of how he should be judged. But not only that--there are a lot of creative decisions you must make on how you can present your findings. Do you talk about how he left? Do you talk about what he did while our system was blessed with his presence? Do these things bear repeating or will doing so be just rubbing salt into a wound? All I will say is, he gave us so much. His irrepressible fun-loving, free-wheeling spirit taught us to enjoy things as they come. His kind-hearted soul, always willing to lend a hand to someone who was down in the dumps, taught us that helping others is helping yourself. And even in leaving, he has taught us something: death comes for all of us. We are all equal before death, whether Systemspace or Apollo, or even if you haven't the foggiest what either term is about. His life speaks for himself. It would be dishonoring his free mind if I were to use this as an opportunity to push any of my mission or vision for the Systemspace Network and the community at large. We all knew him, some as a close friend, and others as a passing acquaintance. We have different, but overlapping, ideas of what he would have wanted. Don't forget we all lost a friend that terrible day. I quoted this in my first eulogy, and I will quote it here: "Hush, hush, it will all be okay / Aurora does things in her own little way." ## PUBLIC NOTICES. Users of "Toxspace Discord Edition" and "Chill Zone" are reminded that **one or both of** their username or their display name **must** contain **no** special characters **or** spaces, in order to allow pinging through the bridge. Miniwa and Yori are working on forking and making a custom Matrix client for mobile. Now is a good time to message them if you want anything special in the app! ## PRIVATE ADVERTISEMENTS. ### ADVERTISE WITH US and get access to an audience of almost ***fifty*** penniless autistic NEET's! - $1 for every 100 words of text, or 250 characters of ***area*** (length * width) of any ASCII art illustrations, ***not*** how many characters are actually used, or part thereof. - This rate is a maximum, and may be waived or reduced at our sole discretion. - We reserve the right to reject or request modifications to all advertisements. - Send Bitcoin Cash to bitcoincash:qq9ncyspj2k6uj7tmhyez0pgshr2r0gaasse0wsccg - Contact us at silvercrescent[at]protonmail.com if you would like to donate any other currency. ## PUZZLES ### ANSWER KEY TO LAST ISSUE'S PUZZLE. 1) Since the question mentions "fourth-to-last", we know any correct answer must have at least four digits. 2) Since 2) says the second and fourth-to-last digit are different, we know the answer does not have five digits. (Otherwise the second digit would have to be different from itself.) 3) Since 6) says the sum of the third and third-to-last digits is 9, we know the answer does not have six digits, either, because you can't get an odd number from two of the same number. 4) From this and 1), we know the answer must have either four or seven digits. Let us consider each case separately. 5) If the answer has four digits, from 3) we know that the third and second-to-last digit cannot both be even. Because a number cannot be both odd and even, it must be odd. 6) From 4) we know the first digit is greater than 4. From 5) we know the last digit is odd, and from 7) we know the difference between them is odd. Therefore, the first digit must be 6 or 8. 7) From 6) we know the sum of the third and third-to-last (second) digits is 9. This means there are at most 20 ways in which both spots can be filled. 8) From 2) we know the second and the fourth-to-last (first) digits are different. Therefore, if the first digit is 6, the second can't also be 6, and so with 8. 9) Since as we have already shown the third digit is odd, the second digit must be even. If the first digit is 6, the second can be any even number except 6, and so with 8, making a total of 8 possible answers for the first three digits. 10) From 5) we know the last digit is odd. We therefore have 5 possible answers. We multiply 8 by 5 to get 40 possible answers if the answer has four digits. 11) Now we consider the case with seven digits. We have shown that the first digit must be 6 or 8, making 2 possible values for that, and it is given that the last digit is odd, making 5 possible values for that. 12) From 3) we know that the third and second-to-last (sixth) digit cannot both be even. There are 100 different ways two digits can be filled. Only 25 (5 x 5) of them involve two even numbers. Subtracting that from 100 gives us 75. 13) From 2) we know the second and the fourth-to-last (fourth) digits are different. This means there are 90 ways (excluding the 10 ways involving two of the same number) to fill them. 14) From 6) we know the sum of the third and third-to-last (fifth) digits is 9. Independently, this means there are only 10 ways to fill them both. But if the sixth digit is even, there are only 5 ways to fill them both. This means there are only 75 ways to fill in the third, fifth, and sixth digits, as the value of the fifth is completely dependent on that of the third. 15) Multiplying the number of ways gives us 67,500; add 40, and we get the final answer, 67,540. ### THIS ISSUE'S PUZZLE. There are forty kids in a class. Some did their homework and some didn't. If you choose any two kids, at least one will not have done their homework. How many kids did their homework? Send us your answer at silvercrescent[at]protonmail.com, and get $5 of subsidized ad space if you get it right! ## TRIVIA. There is a city called Houston, Missouri. It is located in Texas County. There is also a city called Missouri City near Houston, Texas. In 1850, it was planned to divide California into one pro-slavery and one anti-slavery state along the Missouri Compromise Line (36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude). No one knows why magnetism exists. The only two states to have never attained a temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) are Alaska and Hawaii. ## LITERARY LUNACY. - The following classes of works are accepted: poetry, skits, short stories, essays, song lyrics, and serialized parts of novels and plays, of any genre, relating to any subject except political or religious. - All submissions must be in English only, and contain no promotional content. - Submissions shall not exceed 1,000 words; exceptions are available on a case-by-case basis where the word limit would seriously detract from the merit or quality of the work. - All work will be deemed released into the public domain UNLESS you explicitly indicate otherwise, and provide an email address for contact regarding permissions. If one is not provided, the one you sent it with will be used. - Send it to silvercrescent[at]protonmail.com. ### THE SWORD OF THE WILDERNESS. *An Alternate History.* By Quintuplicate Confederation. **[None of the occurrences or documents mentioned herein are guaranteed to have happened or exist by the author. This is a work of fiction and should not be cited or taken as any indicator of historical truth.]** **TOP SECRET** (No. 2590) Dear Mr. Director: Enclosed herein you will find the report on the current situation in the Republic of Guyana that you requested by your letter of June 12, 1978. (Guyana Series Correspondence, No. 2587) To it is also annexed the full text of a speech given by The Honorable Prime Minister Linden Forbes Simpson Burnham on national television on June 19, 1978. With our fullest regrets we notify you that Section D of the report is as of yet incomplete; expect to receive it by next Tuesday. Sincerely yours, Andrew J. White, Paul E. Parker, Charles O. Eaton, Members of the Special Commission on Matters Relating to Guyana, July 5, 1978. **TABLE OF CONTENTS** A. The "Peoples Temple" Group B. Their Migration to Guyana, and Activities since then C. Guyanese Government Actions on Them pre-*Gedaliah* D. *Operation Gedaliah (incomplete, see* Foreword) E. Their Trial in Georgetown Superior Court F. Their Remnants in the U.S., Guyana, and Elsewhere **A. __THE PEOPLES TEMPLE GROUP__** The Peoples Temple Group was founded in 1955, in Indianapolis, Ind., by Jim Jones. (Files concerning him and his possible Communist tendencies predating 1955 are to be found on Shelf H, Row 14.) Basing his cult on the tenet of racial integration, Jones' cult grew quickly, holding a mass convention in 1956, the year after it was founded. In the 1960's, as director of the Human Rights Commission, he conducted a variety of acts intended to promote racial integration within his state. (A full record of his official acts furthering it is numbered J-214 and is available to everyone with the clearance to read this.) He also adopted children from other races, and criticized U.S. foreign policy. In 1963, after a trip to Brazil, (see the Head of Division for further information about this; recordings of his private conversations while there are available to authorized individuals) he decided to move his group to Northern California, near Ukiah, Cal. (Field Report F/210-2235 is an account of a brief stay with the cult in mid-1967.) It was about that time that his cult formally repudiated many traditional Christian doctrines, opting instead to build a Communistic "heaven on earth". To that end, he opened many branches in regional cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles. Eventually he moved his base of operations to San Francisco, becoming highly influential in local politics. (The documents of a collaborative effort to probe the extent of their influence by the San Francisco Police Department and various Federal agencies are preserved as the Taskforce Titus Series. Docs 541, 1048, and 1547 are particularly noteworthy and should be given a read by all those whose work is pertinent to Guyana.) His dabbling with Communism, as well as his ingratiation with key governmental officials, grew deeper during that period also. (An obstinate attempt led by them to prevent an investigation of this group in the 1973-1977 period is the cause of the dearth of official sources relating to them for that time.) It was then that he planned to move to Guyana where he could start an "agricultural commune" all whose citizens could enjoy peace and happiness. **B. __THEIR MIGRATIONS TO GUYANA AND ACTIVITIES SINCE THEN__** Acquisitions of land in Guyana between 1974 and 1977 did not go unnoticed by informants within the Guyanese Land-Office. Seven suspicious transactions were "flagged" by them, but no action was taken because it was felt that the pro-Communist leadership of Guyana was not worth antagonizing over what was then seen as a relatively benign religious group. There was a very real risk of them perceiving it as interference in their domestic affairs, and this could cause them to tilt more towards favoring the Communist camp. In any case any action that could have been mustered would have been severely limited in capacity and strength by the heavily cut budget of the oil crisis years. The migration did not take place all at once, but rather was accomplished in stages. Groups of believers as small as one and two were traveling to Jonestown even on the day before *Gedaliah*. There has so far been discovered no substantial tangible evidence that any form of compulsion was used to effect the move, and encouragement and the example of those who had already left for Jonestown should be rightly considered to be the main, if not the only, factors in convincing most to leave. However, the possibility that a large part of the believers had been lied to regarding the true state of Jonestown cannot be immediately eliminated. After their arrival in Guyana, their paranoia meant we could only establish listening posts in a radius of between six to ten miles from Jonestown. Fortuitously, Jim Jones broadcast his messages for hours on end over the commune's radio system, which could be easily intercepted by any person with a simple handheld radio over a twenty-mile radius. This wealth of information enabled us to analyze the properties of as well as the messages delivered in the broadcasts so as to understand the condition of Jonestown. Combined with several overflies of Jonestown, which obtained many excellent-quality aerial photographs, a fairly detailed picture of Jonestown could be drawn by Fischer and Hare in their Annual Report on Jonestown, 1977. There was no large flow of defectors from Jonestown; this either indicates that Jonestown was governed mildly, or harshly beyond the worst expectations. Overflights show lush vegetation in some areas, and wilting plants deteriorating from improper care in others. A nurse from the Guyanese Medical Service sent to vaccinate Jonestown's children from polio and smallpox was refused admittance; she did not make and could not remember any observations of Jonestown or its people of note. *...to be continued...* ## OPINION. ### End of an era This month has been one of great change. Nazashi left us - forever. And Tsuki has decided to just end his association with the Project, which, in all practical terms, means it's over for us. No one, however much they may criticize his actions, can fault Tsuki with deciding to terminate a "life's work" he never signed up for, after three years of leading it to the best of his ability and efforts. No one can blame Sanya for wanting to restart the Project so it can save even more souls. And no human who is a human can fail to feel a sense of sympathy towards Tsuki's struggle through adversity, a sense of deep disappointment and regret at what could have been, and, yes, a sense of confusion and indecision over what the future of our Network should be. I believe it is time for the Assembly to consider the following difficult but necessary questions: Should we continue to bathe, once we have pulled out the drain-plug and turned off the tap? The water will drain, very slowly, it is true, but one day the tub will be dry. The first question may prove easy or hard to answer, but it is: Should we continue to exist? From that point on, everything is negotiable. Do we keep our current name? Are any alterations needed in our constitution and rules, both locally and federally? Are there any changes the community needs to try to make? This month is a trying time for all of us, but with good leadership, it is a surmountable one. Give comments...express feedback...propose suggestions...make your voice heard with ### LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Tips to maximize your chances of acceptance: - Write to silvercrescent[at]protonmail.com, and clearly label it as such. - Keep it under 250 words. - Give it a descriptive title, and focus it around one main idea. - Be clear and respectful but firm. - We try to be fair and balanced, but we will select a cross-section of all viewpoints; yours will not necessarily make the cut. - We will try to respond publicly to your letter, but there are no guarantees.