Blog Archive — Page 30
This is part of my blog, which I have long since stopped maintaining. The page has been preserved in case its content is of any interest. Please go back to the homepage to see the current contents of this site.
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Inbound
I have watched the sun set over Iraq, seen the lights of cities glow beneath me, and further out the flourescing military bases, square and uncomfortable amidst the desert. I have watched the first stars come out over Kuwait, reflected in the orange plumes of oil platforms in the Gulf below.
I am sitting in an aeroplane 33,000 feet from the sea below, eating salmon and cucumber sandwiches, and I’m on my seventh cup of tea.
And, in thirty minutes time, I will land in a country that doesn’t speak my language or even use my alphabet, where I am alone, three thousand miles from home.
My wanderlust is sated, and I am loving every minute of this.
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To Arid Pastures New
In just over 12 hours’ time, I’ll be off for two weeks of joyous business trip to sunny Saudi Arabia. I’ve no idea what I’ll get by way of an internet connection out there, but I’ll try to pick up mail if I can.
So if I’m forcibly out-of-touch for a while – have a nice rest-of-March, internet peeps!
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A Question for DS / PSP Owners
Dear lazyweb,
I’m off on a business trip on Tuesday, which involves amongst other things a couple of 18-hour plane/taxi trips on my own. I’m not sure I can read a book for that long straight, so I’m thinking of buying a DS or PSP to pass the time.
First question: What’s the battery life of each like?
Second: Can anyone name me a good time-sink game for either? Ideally RPG, Strategy or the combination thereof. Caveat: I’ve played Disgaea, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, and most of the Final Fantasy series to death already. I haven’t played FF Tactics Advance though - any good? Are there any non-Disgaea Nippon Ichi SRPGS for handhelds?
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Six Inches!
Six inches of snow this morning! Settled! In March! In Bournemouth! That just… doesn’t happen.
This morning was convoluted. Went to my normal spot to be picked up, car pool had got the train instead. Got drenched. Caught bus into town, bought umbrella. Waited 15 minutes. Got bus to station, bought coffee, caught train. Waded through snow for 35 minutes. Finally rolled up at work at… 10:15. Woohoo!
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Vaccination Complete!
Vaccinations over and done with! I am now resistant to:
- Polio
- Tetanus
- Diptheria
- Typhoid
- Hepatitis A
- Meningitis A, C, W & Y
- AIDS
- Cancer
- Fire
- Zombies
- Acts of God.
Unfortunately, I still appear to be weak to:
- Wind
- Rain
- Caffeine
- People shoving sharp things into random bits of me.
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Thought for the Day: Watching Pots
“A watched pot never boils.”
What the hell? Of course it boils. In exactly the same time as it would if it were unobserved. What, is there some kind of quantum thing going on here?
No, the only time a watched pot wouldn’t boil is if you were the bastard lovechild of Cyclops and Iceman. Now imagine the personality that bastard lovechild would have.
…Now imagine Cyclops and Iceman making sweet, sweet love. That, ladies and gentlemen, was your thought for today.
I’m off to douse my brain in bleach now.
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A False Sense of Difference
Travelling alone, riding a cross-country train into the darkness of evening, enraptured by music and by story, I experience a strange feeling that something is different, something has fundamentally changed. Wrapped up in fantasies, I revel in what pathetic part of my wanderlust I am allowed to exorcise.
But yet, nothing has changed. I go home, I make dinner, tomorrow I get up and have breakfast and drive to work. How strange, then, that my brain seems convinced otherwise…
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Gunboat (Early Preview)
As part of my irrational desire to teach myself OpenGL programming, I’m making a game that’s (currently at least) called Gunboat. It’s a fairly slow-paced 2D shooter that has the player in command of a ship, protecting a harbour from an attacking fleet.
There’s not that much of a game there at the moment (nothing happens if you beat all the enemies, nothing happens if you die…) but you can move around and shoot a few waves of enemies.
If anyone would like to play around with it, you can get it from here. Some degree of geek-fu is required to get it running, as there isn’t an easy-to-use installer yet.
Comments / suggestions / bug reports / flames welcome!
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Dreaming of a White Candlemas
Candles burn in the windows of the flat, dividing the warmth of the inside from the darkness and the snow that still coats the ground outside.
Today, after being out of the house an hour, I’d travelled about a hundred yards. All in all, two and a half hours were spent getting to work, and all the while Twitter regailed me of the tales of those lucky buggers who got to work from home!
Still, having survived the day, I am now full of pig and cider, and busy celebrating a holiday that I’m probably Pagan enough to celebrate the alleged pre-Christian roots of.
This incoherent brainfart was brought to you by Henry Weston’s Vintage Special Reserve.
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The Thousandth Obama-Related Blog Entry You Will Read Today
A black man is the leader of the free world. Not only that, but one in whose inaugration speech favourably mentioned Islam, atheism and scientific reasoning.
I think we might be on the right track after all.
Or rather, I think they might. Because I’m not American. Before very long, Britain will go to the polls too, and our next great leader will be… Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Nick Clegg. Excuse me while I am not overflowing with passion.
Granted, the American presidential race exemplifies the same kind “personality before policy” (or hair before policy?) thinking that we grew to hate in Blair, at least there’s something to get worked up about. Obama’s inaugration had an audience of millions. Actually there, in person. Imagine that in London? Turn up a bit late and you’ll be watching it from about… Camden.
So in summary: I’m more excited about the democratic process in someone else’s country than my own. I think British politics needs a heck of a lot more excitement, or possibly that I need to emigrate.