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KnowPost Island
Question asked on 3.21.00 Here's the scenario:
KnowPost held a cruise for all its loyal users. (Due to unfortunate circumstances, Cjoh, kovacsp and taragl were unable to attend.)
In the middle of the cruise, a huge storm comes up and the ship goes down. Some KPers survive and make it to a deserted, tropical island.
No one worried of course, because they had such a variety of expertise among them(surely some of the most brilliant people on the planet). In no time, they had a working community set up with a full government and workforce.
So, you decide: how was this miniature KP civilization set up and who held what positions/jobs?
Please include enough names for a working community...say 20-30 users.
This is a serious, thoughtful question, so please spend some time on it!
mamie on 3.22.00
Right after we washed up with the tide, someone had to take over and start yelling orders to get us all busy so we wouldn't have time to think about our problems...... that would have been Pahlavan and Kilnamar. They sorted us out into loose teams and decided who should do what. Fly20 and ChrisLK7 were the ones that we fell back on most to figure out how to 'do' things. They started building shelters immediately so Flogo and Scrooge could rest comfortably. Kyle the Magnificent and Benmax turned out to be of enormous help to everyone. Being young and physically fit made them invaluable to fly and Chris and their efforts to get us all covered and warm. Artemis, Lana and LLDY got the fires going and savia, ingrid and bridget managed to gather enough food to at least keep us alive for a while. Cyndy surveyed the whole area and determined the safest place to set up our little camp and was in conference with Chris and fly constantly. Pahlavan and Kilnamar had a lot of work keeping people motivated since we were all tired and hungry.
Jaschem and jeni spent a lot of time thatching roofs and digging post holes for the support braces....... naturally jaydogg was the best at digging post holes and he kept wanting us to call him McGyver. Whyknot had somehow managed to bring her portable radio because she had it on deck when we hit the sandbar. The radio survived but no one knew the language that the stations were broadcasting in. Lawboy and breakup were trying to figure that out with spudman's help.
Heyteach's role was evident as soon as our ragged band started working.......... she was our morale officer and she went around telling everyone that they were doing a great job and not to get discouraged. She also set up the device which turned seawater into fresh water.
GreyEyes and waterlin took obbop and disappeared into the jungle looking for food to cook and eat. They came back with coconuts, mangoes and some things that no one could identify.
Psychomom, febe and pickle found anyman living on the other side of the island. There's a mystery solved!
quizzard and max had washed up together and found a leaf that was particularly warm when wrapped around someone......... they made it their mission to collect enough for everone that first night. Babytisa made it her job to take care of individual needs and make sure Flogo and Scrooge had everything they needed.Whyknot's radio was blasting the Beatles, and yates decided to entertain by dancing the tango in the sand.
hedges and thomasgx built windscreens around our little encampment so the fires wouldn't go out overnight.
Pahel50 and solana had fashioned some dishes out of shells and were passing them around when anyman and jaydogg started arguing about Easter....... shepherd took them down the beach a ways so they wouldn't bother the rest of us.After about 8 hours on the island, we had set up quite a camp; now that survival was assured, we set about trying to figure out what to do about our situation.
Sexy23 and jmkm led the discussions which lasted most of the first night. We had brains, we had brawn and we were determined to survive.
Some had already demonstrated their leadership capabilities and were quickly voted in to lead us. Pahlavan, heyteach, sexy23 and cyndy10 were chosen. fly was our 'McGyver' as it turned out and was put in charge of our physical well-being. It was really hard to take this group, we decided, and turn some into leaders and some into followers because we were all leaders and we all followed directions well. We were such a homogeneous group that we decided to let the leadership be very 'loose', with heyteach and Pahlavan having the final word.
As the sun sets on Chapter 1, we hear N'Sync coming from whyknot's radio and see that yates finally has a partner on the sand -- is that AmyLeigh?
mamie on 3.24.00
Ted had been reading about the cruise for weeks and was a little sad that he had been unable to make it. But a promise was a promise, and he had planned to take the grandchildren to Disney World that week. As soon as he arrived back in Anchorage, he read on KP that the ship had gone down with the entire crew and all of the passengers. In his heart, Ted knew that this couldn't be true -- but how to find them when even the Coast Guard had failed?
Back on KP Island, we had managed to pull ourselves together quite nicely. The island provided all of our food -- fruit was abundant and Lawboy and obbop had learned to fish and drag the bottom for shrimp.
Benmax was sure,after all the fiction that he had read, that we would find a Marriott or a Hilton somewhere on the island, so he and Sexy had gone off to find it. fly and Chris were still building huts and discovered that Lana had a knack for designing them -- so she was their consultant. Heyteach spent a lot of time talking with those who had become downhearted and trying to lift spirits against heavy odds.
The one thing that became common among all of us was the urge to be alone. People could be seen wandering off by themselves at all hours. Some stared into the sunsets, others just went inland to the springs that we found to swim in the pools. Groups of two or three could be found all over speaking quietly to one another. There was a lot of praying going on.
Breakup had walked all over the island and found a plane wreck, probably from WWII. Not much was left of it, but he salvaged some pieces of metal and what was left of some navigational equipment. He spent most of his time fiddling with wires and tubes. Cyndy, too, was fascinated with the stuff he carried back and spent a lot of time with him - they're heads bent over the rubble. They told whyknot to stop playing her radio and conserve what she had left of the batteries.
yates was still somewhat manic, but at least had stopped asking people to dance. He now lead a daily exercise class down on the beach. He was getting a great tan on that pasty complexion of his.
jmkm and GreyEyes decided to put on plays and skits of 'classics' that we knew and loved. Yes, we still polled each other! What is your favorite classic and what part would you like to play? And this time you got to play it or write the script! jaschem played a great Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast At Tiffanys'. And Kilnamar did a convincing Al Pacino in The Godfather. We decided not to do any Shakespeare, because jaydogg refused to do Macbeth.
Back in Anchorage, Ted was hunting down every news story and report on our disappearance. He had calculated our position and found that someone's equipment must have been off because if the storm report was correct, we would have encountered it some 100 miles south of where the search was conducted! He was about to contact cjoh with this bit of news, hoping that someone would read his c-mail.
The metal found at the plane wreck site was wonderful news to all the 'crafty' persons who were among those shipwrecked. Now we had pots, pans and woks to cook in. Having nothing else to do but cook, LLDY, Pahel50, solana, savia, waterlin, and coney whipped up some of the most delectable dishes ever made. Fish, shrimp, root vegetables and fruit were our mainstays. jeni wished that somehow a cow could have washed up with us -- or even a goat. But Ingrid put forth the theory that we must be getting some calcium from eating off the shells every day -- no one could dispute her without a search engine!
Ted finally called Boston and talked cjoh into believeing that we all might still be alive. Since the site was so different without us, they decided to come looking for us. Knowpost investors would foot the bill. Tara would stay home and man the site and our brave Ted, cjoh and kovacsp would venture out into the heat and the unknown to find their lost comrades.
As the sun sets on Chapter 2, we find that Benmax and Sexy did not find a Hilton or a Marriott; they did find some wild sea birds that were as big as turkeys and delicious. dewey and briget had now joined yates on the beach in his wild dances. Pahlavan hoped that this would not become a problem.
mamie on 3.28.00 5:14 PM
KP Island --- The Final Chapter
We all knew that it would happen sooner or later but were still not prepared when it did. AmyLeigh woke in the middle of the night while having a dream about being pinned down by a weight of some kind. She woke up Pahel and heyteach who were bunking in with her for just this very reason. By dawn, we had a new member of our little community. And what a beautiful child! Some of us wept while we passed him around and let AmyLeigh sleep. Now it seemed more urgent than ever to get off this island!
It had taken Ted and cjoh and kovacsp about a week to fly down, find a boat and a captain and amass the equipment that might be needed if (when!) they found us. The boat was huge but they had to take what they could get in the small village that was fairly close to where we were suspected to be. They laid out their plans and set sail at dawn one day to try and trace our route and go where the storm may have caused us to end up. There was a reporter on board, too, curious about the whole expedition and with nothing better to do.
breakup and cyndy had finally put together a radio of sorts which was not capable of transmitting a voice, but could send out Morse Code in a primitive fashion. They had taken WhyKnot's batteries from her boombox and relayed them through a series of looped watch batteries (seems that each one of us had a watch on that contained at least one battery). They were going to try to 'reach' any ship or plane that would possibly have the equipment to pick up such a signal. Our frequencies were limited but it might be the only chance we had.
Storytelling had become the favorite diversion among us now. Naturally, Robinson Crusoe was a big hit. And several people were convinced (tongue in cheek) that Friday would appear at any moment to lead us away to civilization. Kilnamar told that story and then Lana and ChrisLK7 told the story of The Cabinboy -- a silly movie from several years back about a guy (Chris Elliott) who was stranded on a desert island with a chimp. Between them they did a terrific job. A long discussion ensued about why we had no monkeys on our island. We guessed it was because they would make us look too stupid. Pahlavan huffed that none of us were stupid; brightest damn bunch of people he had ever had the pleasure of knowing; he got a large round of applause!
Another diversion that really kept us on our toes was the Jeopardy game. Long hours and many thought-provoking questions were logged for the championships. GreyEyes, heyteach, cyndy and fly were such excellent players. Benmax was Alex Trabek. We would sit around for hours in the evening just having round after round of questions fired at us. waterlin was our 'grand high question writer' and our final word. If she proclaimed that the world was flat, then by golly, it was flat! And no one would argue with her. These long question and answer sessions kept us sane. The sessions also kept us from thinking too much.
One night after our firepits had burned low and almost everybody was asleep, a large boat drifted slowly by on the other side of the island. Of course we had look-outs everywhere, but the fog had rolled in early that night and the visibilty was very low. The boat just kept chugging along, unaware of us. Their radar picked up nothing. Two of the look-outs, LLDY and obbop that night, were playing checkers in the sand with flat rocks and sea urchin shells. They thought the rumble was distant thunder.
When Ted woke the next morning, he consulted the charts and figured that they were just about in the spot where we would have encountered the storm. So he and the others carefully calculated the direction in which our ship would have been taken. They decided to head that way when the captain informed them of an odd current that wove it's way through the islands -- apparently the first rescue attempt had not taken this into consideration. Bolstered by this news and some strong coffee, they pointed the boat in the direction that was recommended by the captain.
At daylight the next morning, breakup and cyndy started their Morse Code tapping, in shifts. Everyone was to take a turn until our batteries finally wore out. We made a schedule and each took an hour shift, figuring to keep it up non-stop, day and night. At last there was a flicker of hope that a passing vessel or plane might pick up our plea for help. But the day went by, and no one felt like Jeopardy that night. We had an unusally large shrimp meal that evening and everyone was full and just lounging around gazing up at the perfect sky and the stars. Most of us that were not scheduled for Morse Code duty turned in early.
Just after midnight, yates wandered down toward the beach. He saw that all of the firepits were almost out. We could start a fire easily enough in the morning, but keeping them going around the clock was easiest. So he decided to gather some wood and keep at least one going, since he was already up.
cjoh and Peter were in the cabin of the boat playing with the radio when they heard a distinct pattern coming over one channel. They woke up Ted so he could listen. Then the captain came in and identified the tapping noise. OSO, OSO, OSO, OSO, OSO, OSO,............... cjoh grinned! That's gotta be them! They listened to this mesmerizing tap for a while....... OSO, OSO, OSO, OSO.......... but how to find us?
yates watched the fire for a while and gazed up at the stars. What a display tonight, he thought. It was so clear and the moon was so bright you could almost read by the light! That was when he saw the red and green lights on the boat which seemed to be coming straight at him (and the fire!). He grabbed a long stick from the fire and started waving it and yelling for us to come to the beach. All the commotion woke up the baby and soon we were all at the beach or in the water yelling and waving.
cjoh was on deck with binoculars and just stared at the confusion. Then he actually recognized yates by the tie from his profile picture! Ted and Peter were lowering the inflatables into the water while the captain dropped anchor; his scanning equipment had told him that the water was very shallow there. It was so shallow that many of us waded in to meet the boats and pull them ashore!
The first thing that happened was that AmyLeigh and the baby were airlifted to the nearest hospital for checkups. heyteach went with her for moral support.
Then we all sat down to tell Ted and the others what had happened -- it took 'till dawn to relay the story.
Finally, it was time to go. Before anyone made a move toward the boats, we all just stood there and surveyed the whole scene; the huts, the lean-tos, the firepits, our pots and pans, our 'radio' and finally the maternity ward. It was almost sad to leave............ didn't some people dream all their lives about such a life? Hadn't we lived someone's dream in our time on this island? Perhaps. Perhaps not. We all had to admit that missing the people at home was the worst part of the whole experience. Now cjoh can go back to Boston and know that he has finally met some of us. And that he won't have to answer all those homework questions alone anymore.
And the reporter................? He turned out to be from the Boston Globe and thought he might write a little human interest piece called 'KP Island'.
THE END
Ingrid on 3.28.00
The Fate of the Voyage of KP
This nightmare would never have happened if it wasn't for Whyknot, Waterlin, & Sexy23 charming the Captain and crew one night as tropical storm Helena was fast approaching. Watermelon shooters were the order of the night, as the Captain was charmed by these three women. Too late, the first mate found the captain crew and women in the engine room, and, explaining the dire circumstances, the captain ordered the ship turned around to meet the storm. Instead it was caught in midturn, causing the ship to take on water, slowly sinking.
Fly20 had been nervous about the weather, and noted the disappearance of the Captain, WhyKnot, Waterlin and Sexy 23 at the same time. As most of the KP people were watching the evening's entertainment, Fly gathered Pahlavan, Kilnamar, Obbop, Lawboy, BenMax, Fistorn, breakup, Jmkm, Ted, Jaydogg, and Kyle together. He explained that the captain has disappeared, a storm is coming, and the ship was drifting. At first everyone joked with Fly, thinking he had too much to drink and was simply paranoid. However, they decided to humor him and started checking all the life rafts, just to be sure. About this time, the electricity started flickering on the ship. Obbop, having been on a ship before, and knowing what was coming, started gathering up communication devices and threw them in one of the rafts, at the rear of the ship. Jmkm was given the responsibility of finding Whyknot, Waterlin, Sexy and the Captain, and getting them back on deck. Kilnamar, Lawboy, Jaydogg and Kyle were sent to round up the KP group and meet near the rear of the ship. Lana, LLDY, Pahel, Jaschem, Flogo, Mamie, and Solana were the easiest to find...They were sitting at the best table in the house, drinking Daiquiri's and taking turns doing karaoke. Good thing the guys were there, for the women were quite a site, dressed to the nines and giggling from the drinks and having a hilarious time singing off key. LLDY and Lana refused to leave their drinks, and followed the others.
Pahlavan located Heyteach in one of the smaller rooms, having coffee and an intimate talk with an older mysterious man. She was engrossed in the conversation, and waved Pahlavan away. He left for a few minutes to find more Kper's, but with the winds and danger increasing, went back, burst open the door and carried a screaming Heyteach away, explaining the urgency. Lawboy and Fistorn were guarding the lifeboats and letting Obbop and Breakup slip back and forth, loading the rafts with supplies. It was starting to get too dangerous to remain on deck, but Lawboy and Fistorn were too loyal to leave.
By this time, most everyone was rounded up and waiting around nervously. Ted did a head count and dicovered we were still missing Cyndy, Whyknot, Waterlin, Sexy and Jmkm. Ted volunteered to look for them, and returned several minutes later, with 4 contrite looking people. Seems on the way back from the engine room, they ran into Cyndy who was in her suite, rolling a joint. She offered everyone a smoke and a vodka rocks and, everyone still not understanding what was happening around them, passed that joint around til it was gone. About that time Ted, smelling an illegal drug, followed his nose til he found the four partygoers, laughing and unaware of the iminent danger. Benmax, Kilnamar, Jaydogg, and Kyle spread out to make a final sweep of the ship. Heyteach wanted to go too, but it was pointed out that she would be more
helpful staying with the group and calming people down. About this time, Obbop and Breakup entered and informed us the liner was taking on water and sinking. The decision was made to abandon ship.The large rafts were lowered into the water as the wind blew and the other passengers were unaware of their dire fate. Since Obbob and Pahlavan were the two most experienced of the group, they quickly used rope and tied all the rafts together, ("where we go one, we go all!" was the attitude) Tired and wet with heavy wool blankets around their shoulders, most everyone fell asleep with the men taking turns on lookout.
Morning, and afternoon came and went with no sign of land. Everyone was too scared to eat, but by night, Cyndy saved everyone by bringing out about three hundred little crackers she had stuffed in her purse. Another night on the water, and by this time nerves were starting to get short. Every once in a while, Heyteach would try to tell an uplifting story and while at first it was comforting, Now they were just shouting, "Up YOURS!" Someone suggested we needed more room on the rafts and Febe suggested making Whyknot Waterlin and Sexy walk the plank for causing the ship sinking. Things were getting pretty tense, when suddenly land was spotted. Jumping to attention, the oars were distributed and everyone took turns rowing. Some of the Newbies started whining, but, threatened with swimming to shore, they relented. It was a small island, and as all hands carried the rafts to shore, prayers were audibly given in thanks to God.
First on the agenda was a meeting to determine what was to be done and in what order. Pahlavan presided and let everyone have their say. Obbop, frustrated over the lack of action, and with evening approaching, took Cyndy, Febe, Brigit, Chelsea, JanFla, and Nikkip and went to gather wood, and dried materials for burning.
Fly20 was assigned the task of housing, with help from Jeni, Heyteach, mamie. Taking reeds collected, they weaved little makeshift huts for privacy.
LLDY, Lana, Psychomom with the help of sananom, Solana and Ted went in search of edible fruits and vegetation. They made Ted go first in case there was spiders or cannibals.
Kilnamar, Lawboy and Benmax went to scout out the island and look for the best place to build. With nighttime approaching, the first evening's dinner consisted of mangoes, bananas and coconuts.
The following morning, Obbop was up early working on the electronics he grabbed off the ship. Along with it came a shortwave radio which was tuned to the only english speaking station. Everyone was solemn as the news came on reporting the sunken cruise ship with everyone lost at sea. This meant bad news, for there would be no search for survivors. Due to the location of the sunken ship and the depth of the water, a recovery would not be conducted. Everyone realized it would be a long time before the group was rescued, if ever. Pahlavan, a ham radio enthusiast, joined Obbop in trying to build some sort of two-way radio.
Meanwhile, Everyone was getting used to their responsibilities. Strict laws were enacted by majority vote regarding such things as taking drinking water (since a spring had not yet been found) and wasting food supplies. Lawboy was the designated person to keep the peace and he was voted in unanimously as everyone knew he was a fair person..
Heyteach, Waterlin and Nikkip were in charge of first aid and morale. Their jobs were very important, especially at first, and later when depression began to set in. They started an exercise regimen which everyone was required to attend in the mornings before breakfast. Everyone was getting into shape after months of sitting in front of a computer. Heyteach, Lana, and LLDY were so pleased with their new figures they asked Jeni to sew them each a bikini.
LLDY, Lana, Psychomom, and Flogo were in charge of meals, and between them and occasional help from Heyteach when needed, everyone had plenty to eat.
Jeni, Ted, Jaschem, and Solana were in charge of finding food, collecting dew in the mornings and from the occasional rainshower. Ted and Jaschem were the first to be punished for using precious water and fruit to make alcohol. Everyone was so impressed with the moonshine they made, that Ted was made designated distiller.
Jaydogg had the hardest time getting used to life on the island. He missed his girlfriend terribly and was rarely around. One night after drinking too much of Ted's moonshine, Jaydogg detached one of the life rafts and attempted to leave the island. In his inebriated state, he realized he forgot to grab an oar, and by morning, had washed back up on shore. Breakup started spending lots of time with him, and they became best friends.
Cyndy and Febe helped wherever needed. Day to day at first they were hard to keep track of, gone in the morning, and back late in the afternoon. Since there were no cigarrettes on the island, both of them were running around trying to find a plant to dry and smoke. One month later, Cyndy came to dinner and announced that her marijuana seeds that were in her stash had been planted and were sprouting.
There were little problems every day. A fight broke out one night; Brigit vs Chelsea, Sexy, and Jeni. Seems due to the man shortage on the island, Lawboy was in demand and Brigit didn't like it. After getting her way, she and Lawboy disappeared into the jungle-never to be heard from again.
In the meantime, Whyknot, feeling somewhat responsible for their predicament decided to go help Pahlavan and Obbop by handing them her laptop, in the hopes it would be put to good use. Between the three of them they were able to use the GPS that had been recovered in conjunction with the radio and laptop to send an SOS message to a military satellite. They weren't able to receive information, so they didn't realize their signals were being detected. Through GPS, the nearest military tracking station was able to pinpoint the source of the signal. A plane was sent to fly over, and within 24 hours a ship was on it's way to the little island.
The first place on American soil was Logan International airport where they were swiftly taken to the Knowpost Executive offices. A haggard and harrassed looking Clay suspiciously peeked around the door. He quickly became ecstatic upon realizing his Kpers were still alive. Apparently, there was no time wasted in lawsuits being filed after the shipwreck, and, coupled with the fact that Knowpost was on the verge of extinction with his Top 100 gone, Clay had been inconsolable. He was so greatly relieved, he bestowed T-shirts on everyone.
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