I stumbled across this page of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ today, and I just had to share it. Calvin and Hobbes are hilarious.
You can check out the rest of them here.
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.One of my favorite hobbies is computer programming. If I ever got a conventional job, I would want it to be as a programmer, and one day I will start a computer game development company, I think that would be great fun. The problem with enjoying programming as a hobby is that every time I don’t do it for an extended period of time, I have to learn a lot all over again, and that’s tough.
Anyway, the other day I was looking through some of my disorganized files, and I found a computer game that I wrote a while back. It’s quite a fun little arcade style game that I called ‘Space War’. It’s only got 8 levels, but I’ve never made it past level 6, and there is a high score so you can compete with your buddies. Check out some screen shots:
Early levels are easy enough:
After a while it gets tougher:
Anyway, you can download the full game here http://rapidshare.com/files/71654252/Space_War.rar, feel free to share it and spread it around, as long as nothing is changed. And make sure to give credit where credit is due, a link back would be nice. In fact, as an added incentive, I will link back to anyone that links to this post, you can write a review about it, or you can just make a simple link. Just leave a comment with the URL where I can find the link and reciprocate ASAP.
But first I gotta give a few credits of my own, I wouldn’t have been able to make this game if it weren’t for the book ‘Beginning Game Programming‘ by Michael Morrison. I owe a lot of code in the game engine to that book, and if you’re thinking of game programming as a hobby, this is the first book you should get.
Enjoy
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.I’m a bit different from most people, because I look forward to Monday. That was not meant to be deep, there is actually a pretty straightforward reason for my irregularities. You see, I work on the weekends, during the week I have my own projects so my time is pretty flexible, as a result I’ve chosen to take my off days on Monday. It doesn’t work every week, in fact, most weeks I don’t get any time off but it’s still comforting to know that if I were to take a day off it would be on a Monday. Of course when most people are looking forward to the weekend, I’m feeling slightly depressed cause I gotta be working for long hours. So it kinda evens out in the end.
Anyway, if you’re feeling a little down cause the weekend is almost over, cheer up, cause I’ve gone and scoured the internet for some funny business and money related jokes and quotes. So on Monday morning you can walk into the office and make the boss laugh (or scowl and fire you, so use with discretion). Here goes:
Ok, so I didn’t really ’scour the internet’ but if I got a smile on your face then I’m happy. If you want to read more quotes like these then here’s where I found them:
Have fun.
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.So the rugby world cup has started, a couple of days ago actually, but for me it only really kicked off today, and that’s because it’s the first time ever that my country plays a game in the WC. I’m more of a soccer fan myself, and I usually watch games where I expect Portugal to win, 
so it was a refreshing change to watch a game knowing that we would lose and simply enjoying it.
I’m very pleased and very proud of Portugal, even though we got beaten 56-10, we showed a lot of courage, passion, and tenacity. Portugal’s efforts weren’t completely in vain, we scored out first ever try in a rugby WC and would of scored another if it weren’t for the ref. All in all, I had a lot of fun watching my country in action. I previously had very little interest in rugby (even though I live in a rugby crazy nation), but I think that now I might take a little more interest, after all, Portugal is a WC nation :)).
I don’t know enough about rugby to make this a very informative post, so I’ll leave that up to the pros:
All we need now is to see Portugal in the next cricket WC, then I’ll be at peace :))
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.Hey guys, I’m feeling wiped today, so instead of thinking about finances and business I watched some soccer games, and drank some beers.
Portugal was shite and I’m a very disappointed with them. Ok, they did have to play away on a pitch that looked like something terrible, but that’s no excuse, they should have done better. Congratulations to Armenia for drawing against the best soccer nation in the world.
The England vs. Germany game was pretty good, in the first half at least. Despite the fact that Steve McClown is still the England manager, they didn’t do too bad. But of course they still can’t win, partially because of some brilliant German striking, but mainly because England is just not cutting it lately, especially the goalie.
Finland beat Kazakistan 2-1 which is a bit of bad news for Portugal since that puts Finland ahead of Portugal on points. The table is still pretty finely balanced with Portugal needing a win against Poland on the 8th of September if they want to jump into second place again. We should be able to do it, since its only against the smaller teams where we struggle.
Alright I’m off to bed, I’ll be back in business tomorrow. You all have a good night, or day.
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.Lately I’ve been thinking about what a treat it would be to experience the John Chow effect. The only way to properly do that is by ordering a John Chow review. When I started this blog I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t spend any money on my blog until I have made that money from my blog, but I’m getting a little impatient.
So I’ve devised a masterful plan. I’m begging, that’s right, I’m stooping this low. If you feel a little pity or maybe like you want to help a poor desperate soul, don’t resist the urge to chip in. And remember that I need 400 dollars so don’t be shy.
As a little incentive, I’m offering a mini-review to anyone that chips in, however small the contribution. Just leave your details in a comment on this post, and I’ll do the reviews ASAP.
And John Chow, if you read this, be a pal and just go for the whole thing, you know you can afford it.
Thank you all.
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.I’m not sure what I did to deserve this but I must of done something because everyday I get a fresh batch of scam emails to contend with. When I say batch I don’t mean one a day I mean a whole batch, on average about 3 or 4 per day ranging from the 1,000,000 dollars lotto I won to the old lady that wants to will me her husbands fortunes.
Its pretty easy to spot a scam email, and for those of you that are wondering, here’s some things you should look out for. Never pay anything, if they ask for money, its a scam. Most emails will be from free email services such as yahoo, these types of emails are very unprofessional and are a clear indication of a scam. If the email asks for all sorts of personal details, don’t give them because its a scam. If the email is offering a large sum of money for no apparent reason, its a scam, don’t feel sorry for the old lady or the war veteran that’s writing it.
If you have any doubts towards the email you’re reading, do some research, a quick search in google will quickly unmask its true intentions.
I have been getting one email though that almost fooled me. It’s from ‘yahoo.com’, and it says that I won a 500 dollar reward for something or other. There’s a few reasons that made this one tempting, firstly its from yahoo so there’s no reason why the email shouldn’t come from yahoo. Also the prize is so low that it seems ridiculous that someone would try to entice people with that amount. But most convincingly when you click the URL it takes you to a genuine looking yahoo page.
Alarm Bells
Then it asks me for money. I can’t access my winnings unless I upgrade to a premium account, it only costs 8.something dollars to upgrade. Ok, I can easily do that, but hang on why are they asking me for money in the first place, don’t they know who is premium and only do the draw with them? So I decide to investigate.
Right away I start to notice a few inconsistencies. The real yahoo.com looks much better and newer than the site I’m directed to. Also they were accepting payments through e-gold, paypal, and stormpay which is very uncharacteristic of a site like yahoo. By now I was pretty suspicious, but then I check the bottom of the page and it says copyright 2005, the real yahoo says copyright 2007.
But perhaps the funniest thing and the thing that really put the last nail on the coffin for me was this headline about something to do with a Clark, an Abdul, and some explicit evidence to an affair. Upon doing a quick google search I find this article talking about the incident, and guess what? Its dated April 28, 2005.
Thank you yahoo, but I think this time, no thank you.
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.A few minutes ago I sat down at my computer to make my one or two posts for the day, and I was suddenly hit by an unsettling realization, I had writers block! For those of you that don’t know what writers block is, its when you sit down at your computer, you think that maybe something great is going to come to you but all you end up writing is blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
There are a lot of elaborate theories for getting rid of writers block, and one day I’ll give you two or three of my own. But today the solution was actually very simple. I started surfing around other blogs, and checking my stats for the hundredth time when I decided to check how I was doing with Technorati. I love Technorati, they always have something nice for me when I’m down, but nothing in the world could have prepared me for this:
Some of you might be wondering what in God’s name are you supposed to be looking at and why is it so special. Well if you squint a little at the middle of the picture, you’ll notice that ‘Simon’s Money Notes’ is ranked number 1 and I’ve got a nifty little ‘Top 100′ badge next to it. I always knew I’d get to this stage but I never imagined that it would happen so soon.
Baffled, I wondered what had become of the mighty John Chow. I was a little disappointed to find that he was also ranked number 1. At this point I started getting a little suspicious, so I decided to check who was on that damn ‘Top 100′ list anyway. It was the exact same blogs that were there yesterday and the day before. I think I really started wising up at this point, and I thought that maybe I should check a blog that I knew had a lower rank than me, they would’ve been happy to see that they were also now number one.
After this ordeal I felt a little cheated, but I also felt a little relieved because I had finally discovered the secret to getting rid of writers block. Go check Technorati, because with Technorati every body’s number one.
I couldn’t resist.
Simon
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If this is your first time here, you might want to subscribe to my full RSS feed, and don't forget to check out my latest tweets.Here’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Start a comic strip. I don’t know if I’ll be good at it, but I do know that I can try, and if I’m terrible you guys will tell me, right?
I can’t draw if my life depended on it, so I’ve decided to make the artwork as simple as possible, I’m actually making all the art in paint hence the name ‘The Paint Boys’. If you think you have a better name please share it with me.
Ok, here goes the first one, yikes :)).
There you have it, I’m a big fan of this kind of humor thats why I found it funny, but please share your thoughts.
In case you liked it, you might consider subscribing to my full feed.
Hahaha
Simon
For those of you that don’t know, gambling can also be a great way to make some extra money. Cool, lets all run off to the casino. Hang on, the casino is also the best place to lose all your money, so you have to know what you’re doing. The first thing to keep in mind is that you must stay away from the slot machines, 80% of casino revenue comes from there (and 90% of “statistics” are made up on the spot :), but seriously, stay clear). But if you know what you’re doing, there is some serious money to be made at the tables.
But in this post I’m just going to talk about poker, Texas Holdem to be more exact. If you don’t know what Texas Holdem is thats fine, cause I’m going to tell you. Texas Holdem is a variation of poker where each player is dealt only two cards, then there is a round of betting, then 3 cards are laid down on the table for each player to see, another round of betting follows, then 1 card is placed for all to see and another one is placed with a round of betting in between, and everything ends with a last round of betting. Each player uses the 2 cards in his hand and the 5 cards on the table to make his hand, and the winner takes all. Things can get pretty complicated so I let you find out more by reading this article.
Poker is not an easy game, and I will definitely not be able to tell you how to win the world series, that stuff is for the pro’s. The good news is that not everyone that plays poker is a pro, in fact, chances are that they won’t be, and when they are you should be able to spot them and leave the table. If you follow the few tips that I’m going to give you, you should be able to stick out a little amongst the crowd of amateur poker players.
There are many ways that you can get a good poker game, you can go to a casino, join a club, or start your own. But my favorite place to play poker is on the Net. One of the reasons for that is the vast quantity of variables that you get out of the way when playing online, for one, you don’t have to be constantly analysing each others tells. The other reason is that you have many more options for people to play with, you’re sure to find someone worse than you. So I’m going to focus mainly on online poker here.
Ok, the first thing you do is find a poker playing site that appeals to you (I know a great one), then you have to register with them. Most poker sites allow you to play with play money until you feel confident enough to play with real money, this is obviously a great advantage. Once you’re registered, just start playing around.
Here’s a few tips:
There’s still quite a lot to learn if you want to be a serious poker player, but these tips should get you started.
There’s one poker site that I’m quite fond off is Poker Room. Poker Room is very simple and user friendly, you just sign up free, download the software, and you’re ready to go. You can play for as long as you like with play money, and there is also a lot of fun tornaments that you can take part in. So check them out.
If you’d like some more information, here’s some books that might help you:
Have fun.
Simon
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