Posts

Showing posts from May, 2010

Black Holes Space Game, by Paraglider. Free download.

Black Holes is a strategy game based on the behaviour of real black holes in Space. It's easy to learn but hard to play well. The idea is to create black holes in Space and to capture the stars that fall inside the event horizon. (See, it's even educational for the kids!) I originally invented it as a board game, but then decided to program a demo version for the PC. The Demo plays quite well and can usually beat me at my own game! You can read more about it here, or just go for it by downloading the demo plus full instructions. For anyone interested in such things, I wrote the demo in Quick Basic and compiled it as a DOS executable. Have fun, and let me know how you get on!

Once more, with feeling

Image
When you change apartments, unless moving well up-market, the odds are that your new place will be better in those aspects that bugged you about the old place, but worse in aspects you never considered, until they force themselves on your attention. My Muntazah apartment faced South-West, so it used to get very hot in the afternoon. It fronted a main road, with its attendant traffic noise, night and day. So, of course, my Bin Mahmoud apartment looks North-East, over a lo-rise roofscape, cool and silent. Silent, that is, except when the people in the floor above have their AC running. Then, the drips from their window unit land squarely on the projecting box of my unit directly below, playing on its flat top plate like a child's tin drum. Inside, the noise is more akin to a demented metronome. The clicks start Largo about 45 beats per minute ( con rubato of course - this is no mere drum machine), but soon settle into a gradual yet resolute accelerando: from Adagio , through A

And the Winner is - "When I, Roger"

Most spam, as most bloggers or webmasters will confirm, is just that - spam. Junk mail with no redeeming features. Most, but not all. Occasionally a gem turns up. This wonderfully convoluted (but perfectly spelt) invocation to puchase pharmaceuticals is well worth a second reading: The most skilfully situation dedicated to medical goods, here you are your notice most of the drugs that are now on the market. Also, you can occupy oneself with any responses to comprehend the discourse of pharmacies where you can occupy oneself with any responses to harmony your desired offshoot. Where the lowest prices on your desired consequence. Here is the report of the newest drugs, which no greater than plain on the market. So the regardless on our web purlieus you wishes greet a doctor of your questions. All consultations are conducted anonymously and on touching it no one wishes cognizant of. Yet, while I wouldn't presume to wish cognizant of, I'd have to give pride of place, this week

The Disappearing Chinese Girls - where have all the flowers gone?

No, this isn't about China's one child policy and its scandalous but wholly predictable side-effect in respect of female babies. There's nothing new to say about that. But nearer home, in Doha to be precise, rather older Chinese 'girls' have been disappearing for years, only to reappear briefly, prior to their final farewell. It's quite a tradition in fact, and equally unsurprising when the economics of the situation are understood. What happens is, they enter the country either on a visit visa or on an ostensibly legitimate but highly dubious business visa. Dubious because the job doesn't exist, and someone makes a great deal of money from the transaction. Then, when the time comes to leave or renew, the lady is off the radar - disappeared, in fact, to embark on a new career as an illegal immigrant. Of course, illegal in Qatar means unemployable; self employment is the only option, coupled with self-concealment, because discovery means arrest and deportment

Two pints of Aftershave and a packet of crisps please.

The guy who drove his forklift straight through the portacabin wall and the guy who was found outside the compound semi-conscious and coughing blood had this in common - both were blind drunk, on cheap aftershave. Subsequent inspection of the workers' quarters showed that most had a large bottle of the same cheap aftershave tucked away somewhere. All were of course confiscated on the spot, as if that were addressing the problem. How about, instead, providing an affordable 'clubhouse' bar where the guys could have a beer or two after work? How about raising wages to the level where an occasional visit to a cheaper hotel bar is a reasonable prospect? Oh wait, we've closed all but four and five star outlets haven't we, and we're working on closing even the fours. Better still, how about allowing the workers to bring their families to Qatar? Of course, Qatar is not good for women and children, because of the grossly skewed male/female balance. But isn't that a