An Animal Between The Sheets
I’ve translated a page from a 1976 Mexican photocomic just for...
A Trip To The Orient
I’ve recently been looking through some of the public domain pictures scanned from books put online by the Internet Archive on Flickr and happened to spot a photo from a book called A Trip to the Orient, The Story of a Mediterranean Cruise by Robert Urie Jacob, published in 1907. The photos appealed to my love of street photography and travelling to exotic places. In addition to the pictures – you can see the full set tagged here – you can also, of course, read the book online: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31609/31609-h/31609-h.htm. Some quotes and photos appear below: An interesting feature of the book is the large number of illustrations made from artistic photographs, all of which have been kindly contributed by amateur photographers. It contains nearly two hundred illustrations of views or incidents in Funchal, Granada, Algiers, Malta, Athens, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Cairo, Luxor, Naples, and Nice, reproduced from photographs taken by Mr. L. O. Smith, Rev. G. B. Burnwood, Mr. Charles Louis Sicarde, Mr. Franklin D. Edmunds, Mr. Roberts LeBoutellier, Mrs. Charles S. Crosman, Miss M. Florence Pannebaker, Mr. Walter F. Price, Mr. S. L. Schumo, Mr. George C. Darling, Mr. Howard E. Pepper, Mr. John W. Converse, Mr. C. Edwin Webb, and Mr. Edwin Alban Bailey. It was yet early when we ascended the deck, but the sun was shining brightly. Funchal appeared like a beautiful picture. Overhead was the azure sky of a summer day; before us, stirred by a gentle breeze, glistened in blue and silver the waters of the harbor; on the curving shore, tier above tier, reflecting the sunshine, rose the white and yellow stone buildings of the city surmounted by roofs of red tiling; above the city, white cottages amidst a dense foliage of green shrubbery dotted the steep hillsides, and beyond, but seeming very near, higher mountains formed a dark and appropriate background. As twilight was settling down we arrived on schedule time at the white stone station in Granada where carriages stood in waiting to convey us to the hotels. The Spanish drivers strove to surpass each other in speed. Our coachman lashed his horses till they ran like a run-away team. Regardless of anyone in the streets, grazing wagons by the way, overtaking and passing carriages ahead, he gave us the wildest ride we had ever taken. This chariot race to the hotel, a distance of over a mile, happily ended without accident or collision. On the porch of the Mosque we put our feet into the loose slippers, a Moslem attendant tied them on as carefully as the clumsy things could be tied, and then, accompanied by him, we entered the...
SpeccyJam: The ZX Spectrum Game Dev Challenge
Through some random retweet I saw trickling through my Twitter stream I happened upon Speccy Jam, an annual event to create a game in one week with the rules being simply that the game can be for any platform and developed with any tool but must look like a genuine Sinclair ZX Spectrum game; specifically, the screen size (scalable) must be right and the colours used must be right with bonus points (there are no points) given if attribute blocks – the way every 8×8 block of pixels could only ever employ two colours (there’s a great discussion about this here) – is employed. I could describe how much joy I felt looking through the Speccy Jam forum and Twitter stream yesterday evening or I could post up a few screenshots of some of the games under development right now (although if you read this later then not really right now any longer) and I think it’s pretty clear which way I’m going to go here. Bratty Tim Inspired from Skool Daze if I had to guess and by Ants_And_Aphids. Pest Control Pete A classic-looking platformer by Retro Bungalow. The Accolade A little bit of isometric heaven and a very good-looking game even this early on from Juan. Bruce Leap A few puns abound as Bruce Leap tries to get Mai Wee back in this platformer from Gazzapper Games. Untitled Teddy Bear Game I’m sure this game by Stew Hogarth will have a name but right now it doesn’t although you are a teddy bear and you’re stealing things. Moon Unit Z Another gorgeous isometric game being developed for Speccy Jam by Lewis Lane. Lillian Gish A top down version of Lillian Gish in progress from developer Devi Ever. There are a load more ZX Spectrum-inspired games under development and last year’s entries can be found here too. I was too late in discovering the retro game development event this year but with a bit of luck I’ll remember for next year and have a stab at producing something truly awful and awesome at the same time, just like a real Spectrum...
British Museum Underground Station
A few years old but a great read with some excellent photos documenting the admittedly illegal and dangerous exploration of the London Underground system in search of the now-closed British Museum station. British Museum Abandoned Station, London I ran off down to the Eastbound Piccadilly platform, and nervously hopped onto the platform, and looked for the signs for the Central line. I went through the platform exit, down the stairs, along a short passage, and then into an escalator hall. Powering my way up the non-moving escalators, I came out at the top, and then had to cross another escalator hall. The bottom of these escalators were all taped off with red and white tape. Thankfully there was no one about, and I dropped down the stairs to the Central line. Turning left I was on the Westbound platform. It was empty. I ran for the end of the platform, absolutely shattered at this point. A final look back, and I hopped off the platform, and into the darkened...
Buying A New Car
“…and a signature just here… Lovely. Let me take that from you.” “Your pen?” “No, no, keep that for a moment. We’re almost finished That’s the financial agreement sorted so that just leaves us with the manufacturer’s legal documents.” “Do you need my driving licence for this?” “No, that was earlier. This is specific to the car. Here you go. You might want to read through this and then there are a few checkboxes at the bottom to tick and sign.” “There’s a lot of writing here.” “It’s fairly standard for this manufacturer.” “Okay… ‘I agree to treat the road as if I own it at all times?’ Really? I have to tick that?” “Yes. It’s a legal restriction on ownership. That was covered up, ooh, about here I think, in the third paragraph.” “Well, okay then. ‘I agree to drive at speeds in excess of the limit except when it is more irritating to do otherwise!’ And I have to tick all of these?” “Afraid so. Other drivers don’t seem to have a problem and you’ll find it comes as second nature after a while.” “‘I agree to tailgate or undertake depending on whichever is most dangerous at the time?’ That seems, well, dangerous. I suppose it is. Hmmm. Well, I’m ticking all these but I’m not really sure I’m going to follow them.” “Some people do say that but you’ll be surprised how you feel after a while.” “And does this form cover me from prosecution from the police?” “It certainly appears to be that way, yes.” “Okay, well, I think I’m done.” “Let me check that over… Yes. Yes, that looks fine. I think that’s it then. Let me grab the keys and let me take you out to your brand new...
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