The end of the Weekend
Bit of an update really rather than something new… the weather this weekend kept up – i.e. it was sunny – but hardly record-breaking – a tad cool out of the sun in fact, so I did my bit and went to B&Q for some stones for the garden but actually having had success with my new solar flood circuit – see a couple of blog entries back – the circuit works a treat and I’m now running 3 AA rechargeable cells and a PAIR of sets of 3 series white LEDs in parallel – up to now the combination is giving very reasonable pathway lighting – but bear in mind the sun’s done well for the last couple of weeks – the solar cell had no problem charging the batteries – funny really, my wife Maureen normally heads off to better weather in the States and she ‘s been away 2 weeks – it’s rained most of it over there and been QUITE the opposite here for a change. Even Galera hasn’t had the sun we’ve had.
Apart from that I’ve spent the rest of my day, well, in a complete fantasy world. Check out Cities XL 2010 the last post in here – I’ve started to get to grips with it now and this is so near science fiction – but it works. The program is basically Sim City on steroids, the difference being you can actually go in there and be part of your city, none of which would be THAT impressive if it were not for the sheer scale of the areas you can work in – tonight I’d just finished putting together a major freeway leading through a sub-urban area into a massive sprawling city and armed with a glass or two of wine I drove through the city in more or less real time – to say we’re looking at AT LEAST 20 to get from one end to the other (if you don’t cheat) kind of puts this in perspective – all the way there are people going about their business – kids playing in front of houses, cars going from home to work and vice-versa… it really does put some kind of perspective on modern PC power – there was a time when the PC could just about manage the angles of a PONG ball going back and forth.
And with that I’ll leave you with some screen shots. A picture paints a thousand words – or whatever – these are crude screenshots and bear no resemblance to the fluid, real time video quality graphics in the actual game… and remember this isn’t a prefab – I put this lot together in blocks… I need to write to the developers – I want customisable street signs! These are late-evening shots.