Superdecade Games: photos of my travels

Showing posts with label photos of my travels. Show all posts

They could be desktop backgrounds

Superdecade 17:30 Add Comment

I have recently been sorting through over 200GB of images in my OneDrive.

"That's a dank meme - move it to 'memes'"

"That's a duplicate - delete!"

"That's a blurry mess - delete!"

"That's a photo taken by my mum, with someone's head cut off and a thumb over the lens - keep it!"

"That's of an ex - defo delete!"

During my exploration of my camera roll folder, I encountered many images that could have been desktop backgrounds, and perhaps in a parallel universe indeed there are.

An old family photo (very old)

I now present them to you, gentle reader, for you to do whatever you like with them. Each image has been shared here because it is either prominent in its unusual texture, vibrant in colour, or otherwise just a good desktop. Please feel free to do whatever you like with them. Set them as desktop backgrounds on your PC, phone, or tablet. If you are reading this in the future, then perhaps set one as the background of your Human Molecular Decimation Breakdown, Transportation, and Relocation device.

Suckers!

Sure, some of the images need cropping, rotating, or otherwise passing through some image editing software, but they are provided free (as in 'free' chips, AND 'free' as in do what you like) under the Creative Commons Zero license.

The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.
You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

I will be adding more images as time goes by, so please have a look and let me know what you think.

If you enjoyed this post, then you might like to see this random post, or just play the 'best 2D, text-based adventure game'. Your call. See you next time.

Castle Museum York

Superdecade 15:18 Add Comment

I recently went to the Castle Museum in York. This is one of my favourite museums and there is a lot to see here. Originally built as a prison in the early 18th century, the building now contains numerous displays including period rooms from the 17th century onwards to the present day. It is somewhat disconcerting to move forwards through time only to find your own life preserved in a museum.

The Castle Museum's star attraction is this perfectly preserved relic of the Cold War

In one case you will find a selection of technology from the 1980s. That's a 'yes' to Big Trak and a 'yes' to the Acorn Electron. The Acorn Electron was a microcomputer built for the home games market in the UK and was essentially a stripped down version of the brilliant BBC Microcomputer. I wasted many hours of my childhood playing games on my friend's father's Acorn Electron from Elite to Danger UXB, and Abyss to Cosmic Combat.

Grab a friend and take control of a spacecraft in this battle game - Cosmic Combat by Alexander Selby for the Acorn Electron. In this game, the aim is to shoot a stream of bullets into your opponent's fuselage without crashing into any of the obstacles whilst skillfully piloting your 8-bit sprite under the action of Newtonian physics. They don't make games like this anymore.

Round the corner is this vision of 90's Britain. This pretty much looks identical to my mother's kitchen when I was just a little geek long ago in the mists of time. All that is missing from this picture is Big Trak roaming around on the linoleum.

Well, that's me for now. I'm off to fire up the BBC Micro emulator and get some of those Acorn games running. Thanks must go to the Castle Museum in York staff for a brilliant visit. If you get a chance to go to the heart of God's own country, then do please pay a visit to this museum.

Before I go, one Geek Experience Point is awarded to Alexander Selby for Cosmic Combat.

If you liked this post then you might like to tell me all about it on the public noticeboard, or maybe you want to stick around for something different.

Near the Castle Museum is Clifford's Tower in York, built by William the Conqueror (who was a big Acorn fan, unlike Clifford who preferred the Spectrum 48K).

Goji Cafe York

Superdecade 12:46 Add Comment

Today I went to York for breakfast. This post has nothing to do with technology and geeky things, but it's my blog and I don't care.

York is a fantastic city in Yorkshire, full of ancient ruins and endless cool places to explore. Founded by the Romans, invaded by Vikings and more recently by countless tourists. There is too much to see and do in York to write about here, so I will just mention what I had to eat.

One of my favourite places in York is Goji Cafe on Goodramgate. I had this delicious vegan sausage ciabatta. All the food at Goji's is vegetarian or vegan and it is all delicious. The staff are friendly, the service is great and it is well worth a visit if you are ever in York.

Nom nom nom

If you haven't already set off for York, and you are still able to wiggle your mouse after this post, then you might be interested in these photos of computers from the 1970s, or perhaps you just need some light reading.

@gojicafe #york #vegan

Weird things spotted in Whitby today

Superdecade 23:04 Add Comment

I went to Whitby today.

Whitby is a lovely town on the North East coast of England. Whitby is a place where you can be who you want to be. Whitby is home to the famous Lucky Duck; was the place where Count Dracula first arrived in England; and is home to the superdecade games chatbot - Mac.

You will see many strange things in Whitby. Today I saw some, and managed to get a few on camera.

Kleptoparasitism is a thing. This is how gulls feed. Just because you bought the chips doesn't mean that the seagull respects your property. I saw this gull trying to break into someone's car. When it realised that it couldn't peck through the roof, it decided to try and eat the aerial instead. Then it saw my chips and wanted some. It didn't get any. I am not sure why this fellow looks like it has a mustache, it just does.

There are many junk shops in Whitby. This one is selling a sarcophagus. The shop was closed, but there was a phone number to ring if you wanted to enquire about anything. I want to ask how much this costs, because, you know, you need somewhere to sleep at night.

Errr, what? I don't know what the actual flip this is. Moving on....

This shop selling LPs from some of the worst vermin of society.

Sorrrrrrrry

Taken from a poster by the authorities, encouraging us not to feed the vermin of the sea - the rats with wings, the aerial-munchers, the chip thieves. Is it just me, or does it look like that photograph of Theresa May? You know the one....

....Do NOT feed (or vote for unless you can afford to sell your house to pay for your health care).

I bought some dinosaur poo

Superdecade 15:30 Add Comment

Yesterday I went on a day trip to Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire and was delightfully surprised to discover the Yorkshire Coast Dinosaur & Fossil museum. If you are ever in the area then it is well worth a visit.

I couldn't resist buying a piece of fossilized dinosaur poo, which just goes to show that you can indeed polish a ****.

Macro photo of my fossilized dinosaur poo, or coprolite.

Me: Is this really dinosaur poo?
Curator: Yes, it is?
Me: Where does it come from?
Curator: From America. America is full of it!
Me: It still is...

Yorkshire Coast Dinosaur and Fossil Museum - School parties welcome. Plus one geek experience point awarded!

Robin Hood's Bay, so called because according to the legend, Robin Hood defeated a bunch of French pirates here and distributed the booty to the poor-folk of the village. The beach makes for a fantastic walk and you will likely find some interesting shells and maybe even a fossil or two.