We're going through changes...

Welcome to The Incorporated States of Ylaya

Motto: "It's just business, nothing personal."

UN Category: Inoffensive Centrist Democracy
Civil Rights: Below Average
Economy: Very Strong
Political Freedoms: Very Good

Location: Was The North Pacific, then the Kai Ko Islands, now in Hinirang!

The Incorporated States of Ylaya is a small (no longer tiny), economically powerful nation, renowned (no longer merely noted) for its barren, inhospitable landscape. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 8 million have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Social Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 20%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Soda Sales, Information Technology, and Gambling industries. (What happened to my Arms Industry? Or my Beef-Based Agriculture?)

The mining industry is making inroads into environmentally sensitive areas, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, nudity is frowned upon, and all tariffs have been abolished. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is relatively low, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ylaya's national animal is the Ylayan Maya, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the Rizal.
My 15 minutes of Infamy
And so I find that I'm in the news! Check out this link to INQ7 for the full story. I guess now everyone who reads this blog will know my name...

NCC not pulling out K2iA services for e-LGU project
Posted: 10:35 PM (Manila Time) | Mar. 12, 2004
By Alexander F. Villafania, Contributor
INQ7.net

THE NATIONAL Computer Center (NCC) is pushing to complete the massive e-LGU project with software developer K2iA by the middle of this year amid a six-month delay in K2iA's project implementation.

One Word: Dapitan.
The Region Report
The Incorporated States of Ylaya can be found in the scenic Kai Ko Islands. The Kai Ko Islands are a sheltered, priveleged set of islands. The Islands are full of food, water, shelter, and the opportunity to live a wonderful life.

Here's a look at how the folks in the Region are doing:

Ylaya (Inoffesive Centrist Democracy)
Civil Rights: Some
Economy: Very Strong
Political Freedoms: Very Good

Nikita (Father Knows Best State)
Civil Rights: Good
Economy: Strong
Political Freedoms: Few

The Alfar (Democractic Socialists)
Civil Rights: Very Good
Economy: Reasonable
Political Freedoms: Good

Pointymandia (Inoffensive Centrist Democracy)
Civil Rights: Good
Economy: Strong
Political Freedoms: Very Good

Zsa Zsa (Left-Leaning College State)
Civil Rights: Superb
Economy: Fair
Political Freedoms: Good

Vasool (Inoffensive Centrist Democracy)
Civil Rights: Good
Economy: Reasonable
Political Freedoms: Below Average
Go Pinas!
Welcome to The Incorporated States of Ylaya

Motto: "Trabaho Lang, Walang Personalan."

UN Category: Inoffensive Centrist Democracy
Civil Rights: Some
Economy: Very Strong
Political Freedoms: Very Good

Location: Was The North Pacific, Now in the Kai Ko Islands

The Incorporated States of Ylaya is a tiny, economically powerful nation, notable for its compulsory military service. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 5 million have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Social Welfare, Healthcare, and Education. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 20%. A robust private sector is led by the Soda Sales, Gambling, and Beef-Based Agriculture industries.

Crime -- especially youth-related -- is relatively low, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ylaya's national animal is the ylayan eagle and its currency is the ylayan peso.
Er, What?




You're One Hundred Years of Solitude!


by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Lonely and struggling, you've been around for a very long time.
Conflict has filled most of your life and torn apart nearly everyone you know. Yet there
is something majestic and even epic about your presence in the world. You love life all
the more for having seen its decimation. After all, it takes a village.



Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Games on the Horizon: Dragonmech
Here's an interesting new setting... Dragonmech!


DragonMech is set in a medieval fantasy world destroyed by relentless lunar meteor storms. To survive, the surface races have used magical and mechanical means to build thousand-foot-tall city-mechs, which now house most of civilization. Kingdoms have been replaced by mobile mechdoms, and the mounted knight is anachronistic in the face of steam-powered combat mechs. While lunar creatures launch invasions from the skies, fleets of smoke-belching steam-mechs battle for scarce supplies of wood, steel, and coal.

More information on DragonMech can be found at http://www.goodman-games.com and http://www.swordsorcery.com. More information on Sword & Sorcery Studios can be found at http://www.swordsorcery.com. More information on Super Unicorn can be found at http://www.superunicorn.com. Contact Philippe Boulle at prboulle@white-wolf.com or Joseph Goodman at goodmangames@mindspring.com for questions regarding this press release.

DragonMech is a trademark of Goodman Games. The content of the DragonMech rule book is copyright (c) 2004 Goodman Games. Sword & Sorcery Studios is a trademark of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. "
Friendly Neighbors... of Terror!


I love this pic.
What to write?
I've been silent on this blog for a while, not only because I've been busy... but also because I've been trying to think of something worth writing.

I do enjoy writing. There's something about taking your thoughts and composing them into a clearly worded argument on some important matter, a concisely crafted report on events that have taken place in the world, or a carefully woven yarn set in some fictitious world...

But good writing takes time and focus, and I've had little of either in the past few days.

Enough about me. What would you write, given the time and the focus, gentle reader?