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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: jaimie.nicholson@********.otago.ac.nz (Jaimie Nicholson)
Subject: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1996 10:53:28 +1200 (NZST)
Here's some proof that a good decker can become a squatter purely through
bad luck:

I sent, to a prospective employer:

>>>>>[ You want a decker? I've got a talking rat, he can come too. He may
>>>>>ask to suck some of the energy from your soul, though. Are you a mage?
>>>>>He says they are easier to suck.]<<<<<

(This is perfectly logical, I have a free spirit with the animal form power
hanging around using me to get matrix access, and he wants to suck karma
from people, but I've got none)

The employer replied:

>>>>>[Squatter you do not seem quite as professional as my needs have me
to require. I will not be able to fit you in on this contract but
perhaps another time.]<<<<<

No work, just because I have a talking rat. I don't ask much.

And I realise that this argument seems to have dropped away, but I can't
stand not getting the last word.

PLAYTHING OF A CRUEL GOD...
JAIMIE NICHOLSON
Message no. 2
From: "Randy Nickel (General)" <a-randyn@*********.com>
Subject: RE: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 16:02:08 -0700
>And I realize that this argument seems to have dropped away, but I
>can't
>stand not getting the last word.

Don't take it personal Jamie. Tai is a $@#t. Besides there is very
little decking involved in this.

You may be able to get involved in the aftermath. :)

> - Otter
Message no. 3
From: jaimie.nicholson@********.otago.ac.nz (Jaimie Nicholson)
Subject: RE: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1996 11:12:18 +1200 (NZST)
Randy said:

>Don't take it personal Jamie. Tai is a $@#t.

I didn't, you'd have to be a maniac (or know more than you should) to hire
the squatter after that little spiel (about the rat soul sucker, I mean).
Insanity doesn't add to a decker's ability, only to the risks he's willing
to take.

PLAYTHING OF A CRUEL GOD...
JAIMIE NICHOLSON
Message no. 4
From: winter@******.med.harvard.edu
Subject: RE: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 19:15:08 -0400
What was that?
Message no. 5
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Sat, 8 Jun 1996 01:20:43 +0100
In message <199606071304.JAA02569@*****.itribe.net>, sticks to teflon
<mbroadwa@*******.glenayre.com> writes
>Actually, you could have been turned down for any number of reasons. Like
>the name "Squatter". Doesn't exactly ooze class, does it? Or the fact that
>you talk like a nutcase. Would _you_ hire someone talking about their rat?
>Now, if you said "I also have a companion who is a free spirit, and is
>willing to work with me on this" well, then I would reconsider.
>
>Jamie, that squatter is gutter trash. He's no decker, cause if he was, he
>would've made enough nuyen from a couple minor datasteals to not live on the
>streets.

Here I have to agree. Easy blew into Seattle from DFW with an empty
credstick, two sets of clothes and two firearms. She table-dances in
nightclubs so she can afford to be relaxed at meets, paying her way and
buying prospective team-mates drinks. As far as she's concerned, her
severe poverty would make her look like an amateur who couldn't get work
to most people: so she wouldn't get hired.

If you can't even afford to pretend, you must be pretty bad. And, let's
face it, if you can't stand upwind of people without causing wrinkled
noses, you're not going to be much use on many runs...

--
"There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy."
Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
Message no. 6
From: jaimie.nicholson@********.otago.ac.nz (Jaimie Nicholson)
Subject: Re: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Sat, 8 Jun 1996 16:34:41 +1200 (NZST)
Paul said (giving me more trouble about my decking squatter):

>If you can't even afford to pretend, you must be pretty bad. And, let's
>face it, if you can't stand upwind of people without causing wrinkled
>noses, you're not going to be much use on many runs...

If I'm there in body, I won't be much use anyway :)

The point remains, though, that the possibility exists that the guy was a
decker who has been out of work due to personal problems, and needs a bit
of cash just to get by. Through no fault of his own, he has been a touch
unbalanced recently by the arrival of a talking rat. He knows nothing about
free spirits (I tend to believe that not all PC's have read the grimoire,
and that even most mages should have only heard about free spirits a few
times, and never met one). So, he makes a few slips in social wossname, and
he doesn't get hired. Sure, he didn't deserve to get hired with that reply,
but that's not what I'm protesting. What I'm saying is that that a decker
might just find himself out on the street, with the desire to stay out of
any records even on false names, therefore being forced to live
hand-to-mouth, as a squatter.

STT said:

>Jamie, that squatter is gutter trash. He's no decker, cause if he was, he
>would've made enough nuyen from a couple minor datasteals to not live on the
>streets.

Can't have money, got to have a SIN to do that, even if it's false, and I
don't want that, because I'm a paranoid... ummm... thing that's paranoid. A
bit of cash is all I can afford to have, and I don't even trust that (they
say that handling a copper coin allows the government to get your DNA on
record, that's why they keep them in circulation, and I heard that on "The
Simpsons", so it MUST be true).

PLAYTHING OF A CRUEL GOD...
JAIMIE NICHOLSON
Message no. 7
From: Benjamin <benjamin@*****.com>
Subject: Re: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Sat, 8 Jun 1996 18:49:28 PDT
> >And I realize that this argument seems to have dropped away, but I
> >can't
> >stand not getting the last word.
>
> Don't take it personal Jamie. Tai is a $@#t. Besides there is very
> little decking involved in this.
>
> You may be able to get involved in the aftermath. :)
>

Aftermath? Is this going to be dangerousz? More than normal, I mean?

If so, I (stainless) want out. Or someone to pay for the revival.

Just tell me. Please?

> > - Otter
Message no. 8
From: mbroadwa@*******.glenayre.com (Sticks to Teflon)
Subject: Re: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 08:15:10 -0500
>What I'm saying is that that a decker
>might just find himself out on the street, with the desire to stay out of
>any records even on false names, therefore being forced to live
>hand-to-mouth, as a squatter.
>
>STT said:
>
>>Jamie, that squatter is gutter trash. He's no decker, cause if he was, he
>>would've made enough nuyen from a couple minor datasteals to not live on the
>>streets.

So he's paranoid enough to use _only_ his real ID, is too honest to steal,
and yet he's on the list under an alias, offering to work for a team and
steal? Come back when you make sense.
Message no. 9
From: jaimie.nicholson@********.otago.ac.nz (Jaimie Nicholson)
Subject: Re: squatter or decker, you can't be both
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 15:05:37 +1200 (NZST)
STT said:

>So he's paranoid enough to use _only_ his real ID, is too honest to steal,
>and yet he's on the list under an alias, offering to work for a team and
>steal? Come back when you make sense.

Paranoid enough to not use any official ID.

Too scared to steal. Where did you get the _honest_ impression?

Alias? He's a squatter, he calls himself "Squatter". That's quite deceptive.

Offering to work for a team, he doesn't know the job yet. If it involved
too much exposure, he wouldn't have taken it. As it turned out, that last
issue is irrelevant.

PLAYTHING OF A CRUEL GOD...
JAIMIE NICHOLSON

Further Reading

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