State of the Nation: Ashkenatza in January

Shireroth's DiploCorps has reported that Ashkenatza's elections for its second Nohsi were won by Max Rosenthal, who is also the Baron of K'Tzuni in Shireroth.

In other news, Ashkenatza entered into border dispute with neighbouring Tellia, and initiated a claim for territorial waters around Shireroth's own Naudia'Diva islands and Benacia.

State of the Nation: Stormark in January

Shireroth's DiploCorps reports that the Viking Empire of Stormark is working on a national wiki, StorWiki, which will also include information about its autonomous state of Hurmu.

Its parliament, the Althing, in which all Stormarkians are permitted to vote, has opened.

Stormark also a has a new Empress Consort, Sigrid, following the recent official death of the previous holder of that title, Asa, widow of the late Robert Davis.

Finally, the Empire has successfully applied to join the Small Commonwealth.

7 Years of MNN

We thought you might like to know that today sees the 7th anniversary of Micronations.Net, which started out life in a slightly different form back in January 2002 as the Micronational News Network. You can read all about its early years in this article of ours.

It has to be said that last year saw what was probably the most significant one-off change in its history, when the majority of its management decided to retire and take it down with them. Happily, a new site was established within a week of that happening, while a replacement forum was swiftly established by others. Although the previous site only survives in part via the Internet Archive, the forum did at least eventually reappear as an archive, while the original sites and forum have remained continously in the same original ownership.

The new setup has brought its own advantages, with the site using Wordpress, allowing better integration of the continuing MNN news service, and inspiring new peripheral services such as a radio station and a forthcoming store.

So here's to another seven years of Micronations.Net.

Deconstructing RIMA's 2008: The Inconvenient Truth

In which we analyze RIMA's analysis of 2008 and find it to be somewhat economical with the truth.

The Evolution of News

2008 was indeed a year of change, but the changes were not quite as profound as the RIMA article imagines. Of the dubbed "old guard" of micronational journalists of Scott Alexander and Liam Sinclair, who were out of the "picture" by 2008, it was Scott Alexander who had mostly retired from journalism in June 2003, before making an all too brief return in 2006. Liam Sinclair had at least three blogs, but curiously, despite his claims of them being "often the main source of news for the community", those that our investigative journalists have found and been able to attribute to him have all been unaccountably deleted.

In the meantime, the acclaimed "new guard" of 2008, while heralding the welcome mainstream return of group blogging, was not much more than the latest evolution of the micronational blogosphere which had been popularised by Jack Santucci's Microblog group since May 2004 and capitalized on with the launch of the MNN news aggregator shortly afterwards, which led to an immediate proliferation of individual blogs which has continued, with a few notable interruptions, to this day. To imply otherwise, as the RIMA article has apparently done, is at the very least disingenuous.

The Handover That Wasn't

With regards to the other notable change of 2008, the article has completed ignored the fact the Micronations.net hub, which was removed in a very rapid and underhand fashion, actually returned in albeit a somewhat reduced form about a week later, an event that was not exactly unreported.

While the article rightly praises the "younger generation" for taking up the challenge of immediately providing a replacement hub (i.e. a forum), it glosses over the fact that the "handover" was actually a rather desperate rescue effort, as a direct result of the majority of the MNN management refusing to consider handing over MNN as going concern to the very generation now being praised.

A genuine handover would not only have allowed the services provided by MNN to have continued without unnecessary interruption and inconvenience, but would also have meant the management majority could have retired on a high, rather than fleeing from a community that was understandably full of instant animosity and ill-will.

By completely failing to see the bigger picture, the older generation only showed the younger generation how not to do it, but these days that seems to be a globally recurring theme, doesn't it?

FNORDs 1, Norton Awards 0

It's Emperor Norton Day once again, and, as usual on Emperor Norton Day, there are one or two commemorative award ceremonies to look forward to.

There should ideally, be two, but the original Norton Awards seem to have sadly run out of steam, despite a poll showing overwhelming public demand for them.

Happily, the alternative FNORD Awards, back this year in the capable hands of its erstwhile founder Scott Alexander, has triumphed yet again with a wide variety of worthy winners carefully chosen by judging panel comprising such well-known and respected names as Ryan Caruso, Liam Sinclair, Chris Mules, Ari Rahikkala, and Ardashir Khan.

As is traditional, the award winners are listed as follows:

• Tony Au Award for Economics: Andreas Mayer
• Liam Sinclair Award for Micronational History: Jonas Windsor
• Jeremy Bellamy Award for Recwar and Storytelling: Antony Montague
• Liam con Toketi Award for Best New Micronationalist: Peter Ulsnes
• Best Original Idea: Dr Spangle
• Bill Dusch Award For Cultural Development: Troy Thompson
• Best Graphic Artwork: Scott Alexander
• Iain Jacobson Award for Micronational Journalism: Will Tomsett
• Shane Odlum Award for Overall Achievement: Hesam Jayatar

Our congratulations to all.

Camel Racing and Other Distractions

Camel racing is back, and it's gone "offshore"! Babkha's most famous pasttime has evaded gaming restrictions by reappearing in an "offshore" location, where addicted punters can bet their Rials for the Kingdom's most daring dromedaries in an infinite number of races.

For those who eventually need a change of entertainment, or who simply don't like camels that much, there are also other games available like Connect 4 and Tic Tac Toe.

Micronations.Net is Ready for Christmas

Micronations.Net has given itself yet another new makeover in time for the Christmas season. The website has a new green and red Christmas theme complete with falling snow that changes direction and collects briefly at the bottom of the screen before melting away, while the slogan had been appropriately updated too.

You can check out the new look here.

The FNORD and Norton Awards Return!

Rejoice, for the season of micronational awards in honour of Emperor Norton is upon us once again!

The FNORD Awards are being co-ordinated by their founder, Scott Alexander of the Institute of Micropatriology. Nominations are currently being accepted for the following categories:

Economics, Best New Micronationalist, Overall Achievement, Micronational History, Journalism, Cultural Development, Recwar and Storytelling, Best New Micronation, Best Original Idea, Best Signature/Avatar, Best Graphic Artwork.

Meanwhile, the Norton Awards are being co-ordinated by their founder, HM Kevin Baugh of Molossia, with nominations being accepted for:

Intermicronational Achievement, Political Achievement, Cultural Achievement, New Micronation of the Year, Personal Achievement

We recommend placing your nominations while you can.

Convergence of Evil 1, Euromeet 0

We are pleased to report that we survived the Convergence of Evil, which was unofficially extended into a second day and included an appropriate visit to Babylon, as well the usual selection of taverns.

Unfortunately Euromeet was not so lucky and was cancelled for a variety of reasons. However, a replacement UKmeet is now under consideration.

The Merry Month of Meetings

It has been a while, but, following a somewhat long absence, there are two international micronational meetups just around the corner.

First on the agenda is the slightly pretensiously titled "Convergence of Pure Evil", being held this Saturday in London, and organised by the Kingdom of Babkha.

Secondly is the rather more mundanely titled "Euromeet", scheduled for December 21st in deepest Prague, and arranged by the Micronations.EU forum. Euromeet will also have a special guest DVD presentation by Stephen Scharff of the Microfreedom Index.

We plan to attend the Convergence of Pure Evil. If we somehow survive it, we might report back. If not, then, in advance, so long and thanks for all the fish (especially those rich in Omega 3).

Music for Micronations

Micronational radio stations have come and gone. Mostly, by now, they have gone. Generally they have taken the form of podcasts, sometimes regularly, sometimes intermittently, with a mix of news, discussion, unintelligble rants and chatter, and a smattering of royalty-free music. 

Now, there's a new radio station in town. One that narrowcasts continously, doesn't require the involvement of any micronationalists to keep operating, and doesn't have any actual micronational content.

However, it has been created by Micronations.Net especially as a dedicated music station for micronations, with a varied playlist to suit many tastes, and it's called Micronational Music Radio.

We quite like it, and we think you might like it too. You can listen to it indirectly here, or directly here.

Viva La Vida!

A familiar name returns today in the form of a revived-yet-new Apollo Fireball V, being the fifth incarnation of various micronational journals bearing an Apollo Something name, all trying to continue in the spirit of the original Apollo Fireball created by everyone's favourite micronationalist, currently known as Scott Alexander (and himself a man of many names), back in the times of micronational antiquity in the days of the legendary Republics of Blackrock and Treesia.

Those of you with an urge of nostalgia can read the very first issue here. The rest of you are invited to keep on reading here, not that we intend to guarantee any specific regularity of coverage, hence our disclamatory new slogan.

So there you have it. Viva la Vida, and Viva la Fireball.

And not a paper butterfly in sight.