VinceH's Miscellany – Page 3 – Random gibberings

The changing face of VinceH(.com)

December 12, 2021December 20, 2021 VinceH

This post has been prompted by an email I’ve received – I’ve replied directly, but it’s worth commenting here as well in case anybody else is wondering the same thing. The question was what on Earth is going on with this site, because it keeps changing appearance? It’s been happening a lot over the last week or two – sometimes quite a few times in rapid succession in a short space of time, then staying as is for ages, then another round of changes, and so on. And the short…

The live/drunk tweet-along from Eurovision 2021

June 1, 2021December 17, 2021 VinceH

Although I’ve been watching Eurovision since 2014 and commenting on Twitter as the evening progresses – both tasks aided with a supply of cider and snacks – I’ve only once pulled my comments off Twitter and turned them into a blog post, in 2017. Although, to be fair, in either 2018 or 2019 I didn’t make it through the entire show online because I hit a Twitter limit and was unable to post after that point, and in 2020 rain coronavirus stopped play. So, really, I’ve only not done this…

This living Earth- a science fiction failure from school

May 9, 2021 VinceH

As a long-time fan of Gary Numan, I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of his next album, Intruder, which is due for release this month. Intruder is a follow-up to his last album, the excellent Savage (Songs from a Broken World), in a more connected way than it simply being his next release; it looks at the same subject matter as Savage, but from a different point of view.

Tales from the pandumbic – part 11

October 15, 2020October 15, 2020 VinceH

Hi Gene, how’s your hygiene? Today is apparently Global Hand-washing Day, so it’s the ideal day on which to talk about my portable washing kit – and why it exists in the first place. I’ve always had a distrust of other people’s personal hand hygiene – and there are two particular examples that spring to mind of where that distrust brings itself to the fore:

Tales from the pandumbic – part 10

October 2, 2020December 12, 2021 VinceH

Delivering danger to your (neighbour’s) door! Back in July, I purchased some items online from Asda, and at the final step, when faced with the delivery options, I chose a ‘named day’ for delivery. This costs a small amount more than standard delivery, but it ensures that the delivery will take place on the specified day. It meant I could select a day on which I would be home all day, rather than have the goods arrive when I’m not in. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work in theory…

Some adventure gaming nostalgia

September 27, 2020December 12, 2021 VinceH

TL;DR: Two rubbish text adventures I wrote as a teenager are online My business, Soft Rock Software, has existed for just over thirty years, but my programming – and my very first games – date back further still; all the way to my school days. Two games from that period before Soft Rock Software, and which for reasons below I consider my first two games, are now available to play in your favourite BBC Micro emulator. I therefore thought it might be fun to look at the history of those…

Tales from the pandumbic – part 9

July 17, 2020 VinceH

Don’t stand so close to me It’s already mandatory to wear masks or face coverings on public transport here in the UK, and from 24th July it will also be mandatory to wear them in shops – and after a trip to the shop a few days ago, that date can’t come around soon enough for me.

The grave of Scipio Africanus – an addendum

June 20, 2020December 12, 2021 VinceH

When I looked into and wrote about the grave of Scipio Africanus last week, I left a couple of loose ends. In fact, because so much about Scipio is unknown, there are any number – but there were a couple of points in particular that I was thinking of. The recent vandalisation of the grave has reminded me to look again at those points.

Desecration of a grave

June 19, 2020December 12, 2021 VinceH

A couple of weeks ago, the statue of Edward Colston in central Bristol was pulled down and it reminded me of a local grave – that of (possibly freed) slave Scipio Africanus, which I first learnt about at school. I couldn’t remember very much about it, so I paid it a visit to grab a photograph, and then set about a little armchair research to remind myself of the detail and/or improve on what I may have been taught at school. I then wrote about it on this blog.