www.nationstates.net

30 June 2007

Issue #214 Is In The Game


This is a photo of the path leading to Crail Harbour.

The new issue is something quite special and I'm sure it won't be long before people figure out how to get it. It has a mammoth twelve options which is six more than the previous largest issue. Enjoy...

On a side note, I recently discovered the joys of PayPal. Anyone feeling like contributing to the payment of my rent is free to do so. My e-mail address is siroccothemod@gmail.com

29 June 2007

Issue #213 Is In The Game


The Caiplie Caves.

I'm quite proud of the new issue. It's a political issue of the kind I haven't been able to find in quite a long time and I had good fun editing it.

I discovered an interesting compilation of homemade NationStates maps while browsing the internet and I think it's a splendid idea after you've removed the pop-ups. I've no idea how up-to-date the site is but it's still pretty neat.

I will soon be moving to my new home in Aberdeen which is fraught by multivaried and aggravating complications so you may not hear from me for a while. That's if the letting agents don't screw us in the ears and decide to put the place back on the market after demanding paperwork from us for nearly a month. But we'll see.

26 June 2007

Image Competition


This is a photo I took inside the Caiplie Caves just outwith Crail.

But my photographs have nothing to do with the competition. What I'd like for this blog is a fancy image for the header instead of just 'Sirocco's Blog' in text as it is now. The image should be about the same size and should preferably incorporate a flightless hippo and the title but I'd be happy with anything sufficiently awesome. The best entry will be rewarded by a special mention in the blog and, if they want, perhaps have their name used in an issue for a disputant. You can enter your submission in this thread in the forums (though feel free to either e-mail it to me or leave a comment). Good luck!

In the same vein, here's a neat thread someone's started which invites everyone to post pictures of themselves. Great for those wanting to put faces to names!

Finally, I have added a selection of issues-related links to the sidebar.

25 June 2007

Just A Photo

This is a photo I took of Crail Castle's turret.

I've been a bit busy recently but I'm hoping to put another issue in within the next few days.

21 June 2007

Issue #212 Is In The Game


This is a photo of Kilminning Rock, outside Crail.

I do not feel there is anything more I can say that the title does not already convey.

20 June 2007

Issue #211 Is In The Game


This is Crail's doocot.

As you will no doubt have gathered from the title, I have put another daily issue into NationStates. May it bring a ray of sunshine into the stilted, withering darkness of your lives.

19 June 2007

Unadulterated Terror


The fear is all too evident.

More issues in the works. Here's an example of one that didn't make it:

Title: alien powers are invading

Description: freak aliens are attacking @ @nation@ @ and are asking for our supply of tolhouze cookies

Validity: not valid for nations without armed forces or cookies

Option 1: "I want to keep my cookies let go kill the aliens." says cookie enthusiast, Ora Ida, "send out our military, we're far more superior!!"
Effect: thousand of aliens are dead and there is no more ozone layer

Option 2: "cant we just be friends." says cookie hater donna donna, "we should learn from them."
Effect: thousands of cookies are gone and there is no more ozone layer

Option 3: "lets just give them our cookies we don't need them to stick around here anymore." says your antiwar grandma danna.
Effect: all cookies are gone no one has fun the economy plumets and the ozone layer is gone

18 June 2007

Issue #210 Is In The Game

This is a photo I took of two sheep. Hebridean wild sheep to be more exact.

A new issue has been coded and entered into the game. Written on the seventh of March, 2006, coded on the 18th of June, 2007. It's a hard slog but someone's got to do it. There's another one in the works, but it's not by me. You'll find out who all in good time...

I'm also adding a permanent link to Safalra's website in my sidebar because it is very cool and compact, rich with interesting NationStates stuff. There's a list of founderless regions too which wasn't there last time I visited.

11 June 2007

Max Barry At Google

Here's a video of Max Barry discussing his latest book Company and companies in general. I mentioned this in a previous post but back then I didn't know how to put the actual video on my blog. So here it is - enjoy.

Awkward Squad

This is a local band I'm vaguely affiliated with called the Awkward Squad. The song is called 'Yellow'.

10 June 2007

Inclement Weather


My first day back home for the summer holidays was heralded by the worst lightning storms I can remember for a long time. Torrential rain, lightning bolts hitting the ground everywhere (one hit house - it was on the news), and the loud booms of thunder. One bolt landed right outside my house lighting up the whole room with whiteness. The noise was incredible. But it says Scottish summer all over it. My first day of the holidays was spent wading through icy water that had flooded the kitchen and hallway and trying to sweep it up whilst wearing nothing but my boxers. It's good to be back.

I've also got a bass guitar! I already play piano and guitar so it's cool to have something new to mess about with.

Now, anyway, I know no-one cares about what's going on in my personal life, so let's move on to NationStates things.

There's an interesting discussion about the maternity leave issue here. Well, I say discussion, but it's really a rant since everyone there has the same opinion. Interesting all the same.

There has been a lot of crying and moaning over issue repetition recently. So much that it has become, yes, really repetitive. I'm not sure what I can say to those who complain that hasn't already been said before. There are only so many issues in the game and sooner or later you're going to come across ones you've done before. As of now there are over two hundred issues, but way back in the day before issue submission was created there were only Max Barry's original thirty-one. New users may not be able to imagine this but it was a documented fact that if anyone should be asked whether they liked Harry Potter or not they would go insane, eat dustbins, and scream 'NOT AGAIN!' If you don't want to do the same issues again, just dismiss them.

I will put new issues into the game once I've found some worth doing. In the mean time, just hold tight and think of peaceful things like kittens and rainbows.

03 June 2007

Modshort List


This is a photo of the ruins of an old fisherman's cottage on the West Braes outside Crail.

The Modshort series is at an end. Here is a list of them all:

Modshort #1 starring Katganistan
Modshort #2 starring TJ Hairball
Modshort #3 starring Cogitation
Modshort #4 starring SalusaSecondus
Modshort #5 starring Scolopendra
Modshort #6 starring Melkor Unchained
Modshort #7 starring Euroslavia
Modshort #8 starring GMC Military Arms
Modshort #9 starring Reploid Productions
Modshort #10 starring Sirocco
Modshort #11 starring The Most Glorious Hack
Modshort #12 starring Frisbeeteria
Modshort #13 starring Tsaraine

02 June 2007

Summer Is Upon Us


This photograph of me conveys my manliness whilst betraying a fragility that is somewhat... beautiful.

Anyway. My last week living in university accommodation has arrived. I will soon have to pile all my belongings into a car and take it a hundred miles back to Fife only to have to bring it all the way back again when I move into my new residence on the second of July. During this month I'll devote some of my spare time to adding new issues to NationStates.

I was looking through the forums today when I happened across this thread by Hydesland about the first video games NSers have ever played. I'm fairly sure the first one I ever played was Alex Kidd in Miracle World for the Master System. Bloody hard game. I never got past the level with the thunderclouds... other games I recall playing are Phantasy Star (which I never completed either), Psychic World (nope), and Castle Of Illusion (I'm appalling at video games). That said, I decided to indulge in some nostalgia and skimmed my way through Youtube looking at these old games. Couldn't find anything for Psychic World which was a shame 'cos the big enemies were really cool. What I did find was this video for a game I'd never played called Psycho Fox. Watch this video but not while drinking. It made me snort Pepsi out of my nose.

I haven't been able to get Artpad to work for ages so I think I'll have to admit defeat and announce that there will be no more Modshorts in the series. I'll put up a list of them all with the links in my next post.