Nomorenomicon

Wherein are collected the traditions, ideas, quirks, and randomness of the Lancaster site of the Center for Talented Youth.

{Section 0}

0.0 The Nomorenomicon

In the summer of 2005, Polveroj the Plural, then a minus-onemore and rather disappointed not to be attending CTY LAN.2, was worried that the decline in bathrobe-wearing and in general insanity he had witnessed the previous year would continue, to the detriment of everyone (not) involved.

P: Oh noes, whatever shall I do?
Z: Go write a book or something.  Make it insane.
P: That would be too much work.
Z: Then get someone else to write it.

Thus, Polveroj wrote a book, in order that the book would write itself so he wouldn't have to. It worked, somehow.

0.1 The Lorekeeper

The Lorekeeper (aka the Wearer of the Tape Bathrobe and Protector of 42) is a meta-traditional office whose holder's role it is to monitor the randomness (or insanity) level at CTY and generally participate in its increase. The Lorekeeper makes further additions to the Nomorenomicon as he sees fit, either by writing them himself or by accepting submissions from others. The events, thoughts, musings [etc.] recorded should be of interest to future CTYers. The material chosen is up to the Lorekeeper; it may focus only on the present, or it may extend to years before the creation of the Nomorenomicon. The Lorekeeper is also an honorary member of the Order of the Dodecahedral Watermelon, for reasons that may become apparent.

"Yog-Shoggoth is no ordinary rabbit!"

- St. Tim the Enchanter

0.2 Hail Eris All Hail Discordia

  "I find that the Principia Discordia is
  even more gloriously insane the
  harder I look."
  - Polveroj Zorn, Lorekeeper 2005-2004 Zelihar
    (KSC, KSG, ODW)

0.3 This space intentionally not left blank

There is no section 0.3. Go read the Principia instead.

0.FNORD Numerology (Law of Fives)

• Thursday is the 5th day of the week
• 42 = 5(2³) + 2

23 = 5(2²) + 3

• There are 5 books of the HHGG series
• The CTY session is divided into 5 sections: 3 weeks and two weekends
• The CTY day is divided into 5 sections: 3 classes and 2 activities

0.5 Philosophical Musing #0

In the days of yore, CTYers averted cosmic catastrophe by balancing the forces of Bing and Bang through an ingenious phone-flipping campaign. Bing and Bang, of course, were simply other names for the Hodge and the Podge, the universal opposing elements of reality - the Eristic and the Aneristic. The phones themselves, though, had no connection to either element, whether upside-up or rightside-left. It was the act of flipping phones, a random and insane action in a predictable and ordered environment, that restored balance to the Force (or at least to the Franklin and Marshall campus). Though phone-flipping is no more, the subtle acts of subversion and numerous minor reality hacks performed at CTY keep Pennsylvania, and indeed the world, from imploding with Aneristic Overload into a tiny quivering sporkule.

{Section 1}

1.0 The Game

YOU LOSE!

If you do not know what The Game is, you shall now be enlightened:

1. Everyone is playing The Game, all the time. You cannot stop playing, nor can you win. If you know what it is, you are playing it, whether you want to or not.
2. If you think about The Game, you lose. You must say that you lose. Then you cannot lose again for thirty minutes.
3. If you die within this thirty minute period, you lose FOREVER!!
4. If you die outside of this thirty minute period, you get a Patch. No one is quite sure what this does. We are working on it; Philip Punn's [sic] family will receive one shortly.
5. If you lose and someone asks you what you are talking about, you must explain all of this to them, thereby inducting them into The Game.

1.1 Rhythmic Ceremonial Rituals, Part I

1.11 The Afterdance: C is For Cookie (begun by Jeff Sachs, LAN.06.2)

C is for Cookie
That's good enough for me
C is for Cookie
That's good enough for me
C is for Cookie
That's good enough for me
Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C!

If you take a bite out of a cookie,
It looks like a C
And if you take a bite out of a doughnut,
It looks like a C also,
But it does not taste as good! [sic]
Sometimes, the moon looks like a C,
But you can't eat that!

C is for Cookie
That's good enough for me
C is for Cookie
That's good enough for me
C is for Cookie
That's good enough for me
Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C!

1.12 American Pie

American Pie has more traditions than everything else on the site combined, many of which vary from year to year with the Alcovians. Only a brief overview of things the campus yells will be recorded here.

After first verse: "LEFT [sic] FOOT FIRST!"

Third verse:

"While Lenin [sic] read a book on Marx [sic]"—yell "Which one? [sic]

Fourth verse:

Yell the last three words of the line, "The marching band REFUSED TO YIELD"

Fifth verse:

Yell the last three words of, "My hands were clenched in FISTS OF RAGE"

"No angel born in Hell"—yell "Not even one!"

Sixth/last verse:

"I went down to the sacred store"—yell "Turkey Hill!"

"And in the streets the children screamed"—scream

"Not a word was spoken"—either "shhh" or yell "Not a word [sic]

"The church bells all were broken"—yell "Clang!"

"The three men I admire most"—yell any three names, usually "Mo [sic], Larry, + Curly"

"They caught [sic] the last train for the coast"—yell "LA sucks!", respond "So does New Jersey", or both

After last verse: "LEFT [sic] FOOT FIRST!"

At the end of all refrains except first and second-to-last: "Die! Die! Die! Die!" Live! Live! Live! Live! Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex! More! More! More! More! ORGIE [sic]!"

1.2 Rhythmic Ceremonial Rituals, Part II

1.23 High Holy Canon (played at every dance)

i. American Pie (always played last)

ii. Stairway to Heaven

Traditions:

Headbanging circle

"And the forest will echo in [sic] laughter—yell, "Does anyone remember laughter?"

iii. Forever Young (always played second-to-last)

Traditions:

Yell the line, "And diamonds are forever!"

iv. In Your Eyes

v. Nightswimming

vi. Bizarre Love Triangle (BLT)

Traditions:

Some people make a human tunnel, and others run through it

Many take off their pants, ONLY if wearing boxers or shorts underneath (this began as a protest in the 80's, when the song was very popular and the DJ failed to play it)

1.24 Low [sic] Canon (1/2 played at every dance)

i. End of the World [sic] - join hands to form a chain and *cough* not run *cough* around the Quad

ii. Time Warp [sic] - Do the Time Warp, silly!

iii. Istanbul (is Constantinople Now) [sic] - conga line

iv. Oh, L'Amour [sic] - sit near the speakers alternately slap thighs and clap to the beat

v. Birdhouse In Your Soul - jump. the entire time. which is way too long.

vi. Blister in the Sun - get in a circle and kick to the beat; when the music gets quiet, crawl into the middle and and stay down until it gets loud again, then jump up and resume kicking

vii. Rock Lobster - get in a circle and kick; during the Key [sic] changes, kneel down and slap the ground

viii. James Brown is Dead - rave song

ix. Tunak Tunak Tun - do the dance from the online video; this song was added to the Canon in LAN.06.2 [sic]

1.25 Time Warp [sic]

On Second Saturday (aka Drag Day), Time Warp [sic] is temporarily added to Canon, and during Time Warp and Sweet Transvestite, selected Alcovians perform corresponding scenes from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

1.3 Frank Wang

Deep in the darkness of a massive black hole, approximately 1.4916253642 parsecs away from Squornshellous Beta, stirred the most awesome, the most terrifying, the most awesomely terrifying creature ever to plague this part of the galaxy, or any part for that matter. This creature, with a mighty effort, heaved itself free of the intense gravity, using nothing but its strength, its willpower, and its very loud voice. Meandering randomly about the Universe, the creature stumbled upon a tiny, backwards planet called Earth. It landed in a tinier, slightly less backwards place known as the Lancaster CTY site.

"Hmm, this place is tiny and backwards," said the creature. "I should take it over and become lord over all the stupid Earthlings." But because this was CTY, the Earthlings were not quite so stupid. Or at least the students weren't. So they were able to prevent the staff from doing anything dumb like allowing the creature to work in the cafeteria and make the food even less edible. They made him an RA instead.

Soon, however, it became clear that this was a bad move. The creature soon began to instill terror within those innocent young hearts with his shouts of, "GUUUYS!" his wanton frisbee confiscation, and his frequent reprimands of lanyard-swingers. The staff saw that the students were slightly better behaved, so they kept him. The students were not too happy about this, but at least it gave them an endless supply of material for Acting Improv—as long as he wasn't the RA running it.

1.4 Quotes

Because people at CTY say very random things.

i. Silent Football

"It's creating a cold rush of air.  It turns all your immune system into flesh-eating viruses
and Twinkies."

"You may not shrug a schrotum [sic] or schrotum [sic] a shrug.  It's the worst
possible thing you could do.  It's dividing the universe by zero.  It's like... stepping on
kittens.  It's like pouring milk on something that doesn't... like... milk..."

"You must address the Dictator as Mr. Dictator, or Madame Dictator, depending on the
Dictator's preferred gender at the moment.

ii. Acting Improv

"Oh Great + Powerful Sphinx, how do I get rid of this rash?
"You" "put" "two" "ants" "within" "your" "...oh my."

Subconscious:
  "flash a little, flash a little, pull it up—*gets slapped*  Hey!  I'm your subconscious!"

Party quirks:
  "Anyone with quirks get in the circle!"
  "Assigned quirks, or quirks in general?"

World's Worst Dance:
  "All your dance are belong to us!"
  "In Soviet Russia, the dance dances you!"
  "The no canon [sic] dance!"  "The all canon [sic] dance"  (Not Actually A Bad Idea [sic].)
  "The completely appropriate dance: guys on the Quad, girls in Mayser!"
  "The hit yourself in the crotch dance!"  "The hit other people in the crotch dance!"

Park Bench:
  "Greetings, I am the bench.  How may I make your stay more comfortable?"

World's Worst TA:
  "Welcome to Capitalism 101!  I am your TA, Joseph Stalin!"

World's Worst Pickup Line:
  "The word of the day is legs.  Spread the word!"

iii. Other Random Quotes

"My parents don't even know what happens here.  I'm going to tell them good, wholesome, Amish
fun."

"You robbed me of needing my fob!  That's cruel and unusual!"

"This is going to be the longest ten-minute Capitalism game in history."

"And [my non-CTY friends] were like, 'This is not the time for big words!  This is the time for
swear words!" [sic]

"I am not going to procrastinate!  I'll procrastinate later!"

"Are you perspiring?"  "Only at CTY do people use the word 'perspiring'." [sic]

"Imagine a world without hypothetical situations."

"Our RA can beat up your RA!"

"If you look at the morphology of Hallucigenia, you will see that it has no purpose whatsoever
and thus was created by God."

1.5 To Those Who Are Nomore

Let it be decreed that every fifth year, as long as the position of Lorekeeper exists, the new Lorekeeper shall e-mail the current contents of the Nomore-Nomicon to all Alcovians past and present, as well as to all former Lorekeepers, so that those who dedicated their sessions to maintaining the traditions shall always know the current state of affairs at the sacred Lancaster site. Every Lorekeepers should take up the responsibility of keeping the list up to date, so that none are forgotten.

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2.1 Non- Grass Orgies

In response to the recent ban on "lying on grass on top of one another", several new ideas have emerged to take the place of the grass orgy.

  - Airgies: The practice of standing in a tight group and leaning on one another forming a packed mass of people incapable of moving, is known as an "airgy"
  - Grass Party/ Grass Nongy: A large group of people lying on grass together, without actually touching at all, is known as a "grass party" (often punctuated by the line "we're all on grass, man") or "grass nongy" ("nongy" being a portmantenu of "non-" and "orgy"

2.2 For Squirrels

Because of the practice of referring to first time Lancaster attendees as "squirrels" and the mere existence of the completely unrelated band and self-titled album "For Squirrels," as of 2007, it is becoming traditional for a copy of said album to be presented to the first worthy squirrel to join the alcove, and then to be passed from immediate ex-squirrel to squirrel the following year and each year afterward (mirroring the passing of various other objects/ offices from Nomore to Onemore). the designated day for the passing of the CD is at Passion Fruit.

2.3 Afterdance Songs

Title: (Leader as of 2007.2)

    -Make a Circle (Cedilla aka Satan)

    -Cows are Freaky (Meghan aka the jester)

    -In Heaven There is No Beer (Jeff)

    -Eyelashes (Laney aka Jesus)

    -C is for Cookie (Lowell)

    -Hokey Pokey (Nixxi)

2.4 Monty Python Monk Walk

On the last Wednesday of Session 2, it is common practice for Ctyers to form a line and walk throughout the dining hall using cafeteria trays and chanting to imitate the "Monk Walk" seen from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, (" Die esu domine... *THWACK*... Dona eis requiem... *THWACK*... etc.)

2.41 2008 Revision

As of first session 2008, the Franklin and Marshall dining hall no longer provides trays for your dining pleasure. Thus, during the penultimate supper, students now thwack themselves with plates.

2.5 Real CTY

The website www.realcty.org holds a student maintained CTY wiki which is a much more complete and accurate source of information on CTY traditions than the Nomorenomicon itself. However, as only the 2nd nonmous Lorekeeper I don't want to be responsible for killing the position, so if you're reading this it's your decision. But if you do decide a Lorekeeper is no longer necessary, then put the contents of this book on RealCTY, note your decision in here, and pass everything* along as if nothing had happened.

... oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, the first page of this has accidentally been reinforced with double- sided tape. Do something about that.

• Yes, including the bathrobe. If you keep it, I'll know, and I will find you.

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3.1 Flaar! - Official Manual

Flaar is a card game. It is a game played with cards. The cards are created by you, yes, you. The rules of Flaar are thus:

 1. Draw a card.
 2. Play a card.
 3. Justify any and all other actions.

---

The goal of Flaar is to win. How do you do that? By WINNING!!!

3.11 The Cards

The cards are created by the players. A deck should have as many cards as possible, so as to avoid having to revise a card in the same game. Cards should be drawn on 3x5 index cards, preferably white and unlined on both sides. On one side is written "Flaar!" (including exclamation point, excluding quotes), and on the other side is written or drawn ANYTHING. Previous cards have included The Happy Vampire (with illustration), "That's no __________, it's an Imperial Space Station!", Cheese (with illustration), and such random nonsense. Go ahead, make your own Flaar deck. Make it insane.

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3.12 The Head Flaar

The head Flaar is the referee and ultimate judge of a game of Flaar. He may participate as a player or not, depending entirely on his discretion. It is the decision of the Head Flaar who the winner of the game is, as well as whether a move is valid, how many cards to deal each player at the beginning of a game, and any other aspect of the game which ends up needing officiating. It is also the responsibility of the Head Flaar that players take their turns in some vague semblance of order. Each previous and future Lorekeeper is hereby a member of the High Cabal of Flaar, and has the authority to be Head Flaar whenever he wishes, without contestation.

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"AIDS beats crabs because it's worse! I WIN!"

         -The Late Proffesor Gershwin Tapdance Thorax McThunderman, the Vaudvillean Villain

3.2 Silent Football - Non-Rule Book

A Silent Football universe is the Universe. Nothing outside of the universe exists, except RAs, Instructors, TAs, and administrative staff. Time also exists in the universe. For something not real to become real, it must be worn or eaten, as food and clothing clearly exist in the universe. Everything else is hallucination.

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3.21 Hallucinations

Hallucinations must NOT be responded to. If a player is caught responding to a hallucination, he will be assumed to be taking illegal drugs and must be penalized accordingly. The only exception is when Mr. Dictator deems it necessary to call a Jihad and attack a particularly annoying hallucination. However, a jihad should rarely be necessary. Come on guys.

3.22 Pennance

At the end of a game of Silent Football, the player player who has amassed the most pennance points (even if this player is Mr. Dictator) is assigned a pennance which is agreed upon by the rest of the Universe. The pennance should be vaguely CTY-A.

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3.3 Thursday

THURSDAY IS THE END OF THE WORLD. Bathrobes must be worn and towels must be carried if you want to give yourself any chance of survival. Of course, the chances that that weird kid in your class is really a hitchhiking alien are pretty slim. He's probably just weird. But bathrobes are fun and towels are useful, so you might as well. ALSO, be aware that during the last week of CTY, Thursday is the 6th day of the week. That is, the order of days is Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Friday, Thursday, Saturday. This is because any day with both class and a dance MUST be a Friday and the last day is the end of the world, and thus a Thursday.

3.41 The Island Coconut Chicken

First hailed in 2006, the Island Coconut Chicken was a sandwich supposedly made by the Sky Ranch Grill represented in poster form on the wall of the new Alcove. At any time while in the Alcove, someone could call out "All hail the Island Coconut Chicken!" and everyone who heard would respond "It died for our sins!" Later, the phrases "And so did they!" and "Because of Her!" They referred to the current Jesus (Rachel) and Chris Burnette (Known as Christ), and 'her' referred to Kai, the current Satan.

3.42 2008 Revision

The first two parts of this entry were written shortly after CTY ended in 2007, when it was believed that the closing of the leftermost dining hall spelled certain doom for the young Game Corner. In fact, we were so certain it was doomed that the Alcove shirts featured dancing angels with sword-fighting devils for shadows with the legend "The Alcove: Ballroom Dancing and Swordfighting in Heaven" and on the back the names were contained in a tombstone. However, as was discovered upon arrival in 2008, the leftermost dining hall had not been demolished, and the Game Corner was untouched. What had previously been the perpetually closed Sky Ranch Grill was now a feature called KIVO (Kosher International Vegan Organic). The loss of the Sky Ranch Grill saddened no one.

3.5 Tradition Creation

DON'T DO IT, unless you have a very good reason. You cannot create a tradition just becuase you made a neat thing out of duct tape. Not everything cool has to be passed down

3.51 Current Legitimate Passed Down Stuff

-Holder of the DUCK -Jesus -Jester -Unfortunate Holder of the Ages-Old Fruitopia -Lorekeeper (of course) -Duct Tape Suit

3.52 Satan

A good example of responsible tradition handling is that of the short-lived position of Satan. At the Last Supper in 2008, Vin (the final Satan) discontinued the position on the grounds that Michael Nixon (the first Satan) was the only person ever really meant to be Satan, seeing as he was appointed to the position after the Jesus of 2005 failed to attend CTY that summer.

3.6 TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES!!!

At the end of the Afterdance, do it! Take'em off! Especially if the current DRL or site director or any random powerful adult is an uptight former missionary *cough Matt cough*. Keep your underwear on, though. Please.

"You really need to get out less!"

-Ben Horkley

4.1

Love and Acceptance are the oldest and most precious of all the traditions of the Lancaster site of the center for Talented Youth. Carry on this tradition throughout your life <3

5.1 Squirrel Meeting

Beginning in 2009, a meeting has been held in the Alcove on the first Wednesday of the session in order to inform the squirrels of the bountiful traditions at CTY Lancaster Session 2. this meeting was first created due to a decrease in a tradition appreciation and a fear that they would be no more. However, seeing that CTY traditions did not cease to exist when 2010 came around, the Squirrel meeting served its purpose and will hopefully continue to educate the naive.

5.2 GLOW

GLOW (Gay Lesbian or Whatever) is an activity that has grown immensely since its humble beginnings during Lancaster Session 1 in 2008. It is a discussion group where CTYers as well as staff can discuss sexuality (usually, though sometimes straying off topic) and find oneself in an open, tolerant environment -- a safe space within a safe space. Of course, the founder of GLOW at CTY is none other than the goddess, Shae Fitzgerald. GLOW has turned into a major activity, competing with Acting Improv and leaving other activities in the dust. It represents everything that makes CTY paradise -- tolerance, acceptance, and of course, LOVE.

5.3 Robot Unicorn Attack

A popular computer game, Robot Unicorn Attack found its way to CTY Lancaster Session 2 during the summer of 2010. From its appearance as an activity to the playment of "Always" by Erasure at every dance during the session, soon the entire site was hooked. Although this movement seemed unforgettable, the future of this phenomenon is uncertain, and whether CTYers will put on their unicorn horns and gallop while singing "in harmony, harmony" in the upcoming years or fade away like so many others is a mystery.

5.4 Starcrash!

Starcrash is a B-list science fiction movie from 1979 that's genius could only be appreciated by CTYers. Through the repetition of the same scene over and over again, minimally clothed main character, defiance and general disregard for the laws of physics, Starcrash has blown the minds of humans, robots, amazons cavemen and galatic beings everywhere. Quotes

The Wheel... will always... turn.

Stop approaching ship approaching!

Galatic battleship: halt... the flow... of time!

My seatbelt's stuck!

But We're not like other people... are we?

Because then you'd try to change the future: and that's against the law! (says the intergalactic smuggler

Fire!Fire!Fire!

It feels so good to be turned on again.

5.5 End of the Shnade!

Shnader dorm, home of the Shnade, great lounges and endless memories, is set for demolition between the summers of 2010 and 2011. This building was an icon of the horrible conditions that make F&M campus so ridiculously memorable. Even if Shnader is to be torn down, it will forever live in the heart of CTY.

Notes

General

• This section is not part of the Nomorenomicon
• The Nomorenomicon has been copied verbatim.
• The cover page reads "NOMORE-NOMICON", with the word "NOMICON" on a separate line, because the letters were too big. However, Nomorenomicon is, in fact, spelled "Nomorenomicon".
• Even though each person is theoretically supposed to contribute 5 new articles, so far the Lorekeepers have been making 6.
• All paragraphs are actually supposed to be indented. However, MediaWiki does not have this function.
• All in-text bullets are actually dashes, as opposed to bluish squares.
• The actual Nomorenomicon does not have a Table of Contents.
• The Section headings (i.e., {Section X}) do not appear in the Nomorenomicon. They were added here to make the Table of Contents look pretty.
• The Nomorenomicon was transcribed in its entirety to this location by Max W. These notes are of the same author.

Section 0

• The [etc.] in Section 0.1 was an illegible scribble that looked vaguely like etc.
• The rabbit-oriented quote at the end of section 0.1 was on the back of the piece of paper which, on its front side, contained 0.0 and 0.1. It is the only text on the back of said page.
• The two equations in section 0.FNORD should be aligned. There is only one bullet, however.

Section 1

• There should be a half-page-sized space between "YOU LOSE" and the rules of the game.
• The Game rules are wrong. See The Game for the real rules.
• Philip Gunn's name is spelled incorrectly. See Phil Gunn for more information on Phil Gunn, including the correct spelling of his name. Rest in Peace, Phil.
• Similarly, the sentence about Phil was written in small letters in the left-hand margin of the page, and an arrow was drawn to the word "one" in the phrase "No one is quite sure..."
• Technically speaking, Section 1.11 should be 1.1.0; following sections have similar errors.
• The C is for Cookie song has several errors. See the the Afterdance page for more accurate lyrics.
• In American Pie, there are a great number of errors, and very little of the great amount of tradition. See American Pie for more and more accurate info.
• Assorted errors in Section 1.2, especially in that High Holy Canon should be Upper Canon (High Holy can refer to the whole Upper Canon or just the three untouchable songs), and Low Canon should be Lower Canon.
  • Also, the protest may or may not have been about playing the song; it may have been because somebody didn't want the song played. However, BLT has been on the tentative Canon since the 80's.
  • Also, Tunak was added to the Canon in 05.2, not 06.2.
  • Second Saturday is almost never referred to as Drag Day. That's only in Carlisle. At Lancaster, it's Cross-dress Day. Or, most commonly, just Second Saturday. In fact, I don't know any Lancasterian who has called it anything but Second Saturday.
  • Sweet Transvestite is temporarily added to the Canon, not Time Warp. Time Warp is always on the Canon.
• Actually, everybody loves Frank Wang, and it's fun to make AI jokes involving him while he is running AI.
• In section 1.4, for World's Worst Dance, the phrase that starts with "Not actually a..." is off to the right margin with an arrow drawn to the words "all canon dance."

Authors

1. Section 0 = Polveroj the Plural
2. Section 1 = Emily Ehrenberger
3. Section 2 = Kendal Reed
4. Section 3 = Sarah Hackney
5. Section 5 = Charlene Vance
6. Section 6 = Timmy Chu