I'm Heinrich the Eighth, I am.

It took me ages to doze off last night - I don't know whay, other than being a little too warm with the duvet on and a little too cool without it. It's that time of year, I guess, or rather that time of year has made an unseasonal appearance.

As a random item to note, I have been playing a lot of Sid Meier's Civ IV sionce I bought it a few days ago. I'm not very good at it yet. To be honest, I generally get more enjoyment than success out of any of the Civ variants (I never played Civ III, but I expect that frills and fancy graphics apart, it's essentially the same game).

The problem is, that I like to build huge, cultured civilizations and never quite get a hang of the war bit. I can generally tell when the neighbours are getting upset and know they are getting ready to rumble (as it were), but I can rarely resist just one more turn building improvements, which means that I am on the defensive as soon as the buggers get bolshy.

The current game I am playing, I have decided to follow a very militaristic route via research and development. It's odd. There are periods where all I can build are military units; all the civic amenities are built for the particular technology level I have reached and yet I still can't quite bring myself to go on the rampage.

This time around I am playing the German Empire - if I was going to be militaristic, it seemed somehow appropriate and I never quite get over the fun of building the Hang Gardens of Frankfurt. What has amused me though, probably more than anything, was the citizens of Berlin clamouring for me to build a synagogue.

Who says games don't generate a sense of irony?

I'm Heinrich the Eighth, I am.

It took me ages to doze off last night - I don't know whay, other than being a little too warm with the duvet on and a little too cool without it. It's that time of year, I guess, or rather that time of year has made an unseasonal appearance.

As a random item to note, I have been playing a lot of Sid Meier's Civ IV sionce I bought it a few days ago. I'm not very good at it yet. To be honest, I generally get more enjoyment than success out of any of the Civ variants (I never played Civ III, but I expect that frills and fancy graphics apart, it's essentially the same game).

The problem is, that I like to build huge, cultured civilizations and never quite get a hang of the war bit. I can generally tell when the neighbours are getting upset and know they are getting ready to rumble (as it were), but I can rarely resist just one more turn building improvements, which means that I am on the defensive as soon as the buggers get bolshy.

The current game I am playing, I have decided to follow a very militaristic route via research and development. It's odd. There are periods where all I can build are military units; all the civic amenities are built for the particular technology level I have reached and yet I still can't quite bring myself to go on the rampage.

This time around I am playing the German Empire - if I was going to be militaristic, it seemed somehow appropriate and I never quite get over the fun of building the Hang Gardens of Frankfurt. What has amused me though, probably more than anything, was the citizens of Berlin clamouring for me to build a synagogue.

Who says games don't generate a sense of irony?

Peking* Olympics

A quick read of the BBC News and Sports websites suggests to me that if Russia fail to pull their forces out of Georgia as they have promised, but so far failed to do, there is a case for bumping them from 6th to 4th in the Olympic medals table. Rankings are decided by the numbers of gold a country's team has won rather than the country's overall haul. At the time of typing, the places are:

1 China 43
2 USA 25
3 Great Britain 16
4 Australia 11
5 Germany 11
6 Russia 10

26 Georgia 2

Olympic excellence through territorial acquisition.

*Use of Peking rather than Beijing in LJs passim

Peking* Olympics

A quick read of the BBC News and Sports websites suggests to me that if Russia fail to pull their forces out of Georgia as they have promised, but so far failed to do, there is a case for bumping them from 6th to 4th in the Olympic medals table. Rankings are decided by the numbers of gold a country's team has won rather than the country's overall haul. At the time of typing, the places are:

1 China 43
2 USA 25
3 Great Britain 16
4 Australia 11
5 Germany 11
6 Russia 10

26 Georgia 2

Olympic excellence through territorial acquisition.

*Use of Peking rather than Beijing in LJs passim