Well, I've only gotten through message 4, but I read the
messages up to message 5 and Andrew Plotkin's translations,
and I have some comments.

(a) There was an old message about 'h' that seems to have been
forgotten.  'h' should be _arccos_, not cos; then the somewhat
mysterious 'j's become clear.  For instance, arccos 1/2 =
36 heg _or_ 180 heg.

(b) Irrelevant technical question: what's the order of the
new symbols in the third message?  Is 0 above or below the
other digits?

(c) Why does everyone assume the little picture of a Tau
Cetian in the third messageshows it standing?  To me it
looks an awful lot like a six-legged crawling critter, in
which case the picture would be from above.  It's awfully
round, w/ spindly legs, to be standing.

(d) And in the same message, I'd like to take issue with
Andrew Plotkin's derogatory comments about the semicircle
picture.  It serves to further verify the image format;
in particular, the relative starting points for the various
circles (i.e., it's not spiralling out, as Andrew himself
suggested in one preliminary message).  I thought it was
quite clear.  And of course the Tau Cetians realize this
won't do to tell left from right.

Fun puzzles.  And I definitely think another run, with more
than one person behind the scenes, would be a good idea.

Things I'd like to see:
I liked the inside-out grammar, but I'd like to see a non-
human grammar more fully developed.  Maybe in the coming
messages...

A more sensible transmission scheme.  Those Tau Cetians are
awfully prolific with the tones.

And no hints, dammit.

--Dylan Thurston

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