On building cities

I am quite a fan of city building games. From Caesar III to SimCity, I have been playing city builders for the past 20 years, but it has always been PC-based. Over the last few years I have migrated to console gaming, where the city builders have been sparse, until recently.

Because, recently, I discovered the joys of Cities: Skylines. It means hours and hours in front of my console, which has given me a wonderful break from the current political and human climate of ugliness. I worked through all the scenarios and started building some really lovely cities, until I watched some community videos, like this one:

And while this city was created with the PC version of the game, which gives you a lot more tools, I thought I would attempt something similar, especially with the new road tools that came with the Mass Transit DLC.

I used one of the flattest maps I could find, and did this in sandbox mode – there is no way you can do this in a standard for achievements city, considering the costs of the highways.

I expanded the map to all 9 tiles, proving a lovely large canvas. I then cleared the map, leaving the highway connections at the edge of the map, and used the 6 lane highway to connect corner to corner and then cross section the map. This allowed me to easily create the first circles.

I took some time to plan out the highway connections, trams and busses, and then got to work.I forgot to do some captures before I started populating the zones, unfortunately, and I am not quite happy with the rounding of the highway around the tower in the middle of the city, but it is a fair first attempt.

I did build a few industrial areas outside of the circle area towards the edge of the map, as well as the supporting utilities and lots of garbage incineration stations. I’ve also now stated on a second, smaller circle off to the side of the big one.

The smaller circle suburbs turned out a lot better, I learned a few things about the road building tools that I will apply in the next attempt in doing something like this.

So far, the city has a population of 60k, with little visible traffic issues and a very low unemployment rate.And the city is now, finally, stating to run with a green balance – about 3 years in.So definitely not something you can do with a achievements city, unless you build it up with a fabulous bank balance and then annihilate it to rebuild, but I estimate it probably cost in the region of 4 million to get started, if not more. Six lane roads are expensive

But it has provided me with some lovely views, and escape from a world filled with Nazis.

On doing nothing and procrastination

Today is Mother’s day in the UK, which means I get to do even less today than I normally do on a Sunday

Sometimes, doing nothing is very hard work. You have to keep yourself from doing something active, which means you need to find things that you can do passively. This often involves consuming visual media (movies and TV Shows), but even that can’t always keep me from doing things. I mean, I am sitting here with my laptop open writing a blog post, aren’t I?

I have been dreaming recently about building a bed and breakfast establishment that is also a library. I think I may just want to live in a library. I have also been thinking a lot about writing again. I have the need to finish one or two of the novels in progress, and really get someone other than me to read it. But the power of procrastination has been very strong recently, even stronger than my inability to do nothing, and so I am stuck in this place where I don’t want to do nothing, but I also cannot bring myself to do the things I really want to do.

But, since I have scheduled these regular blog writing sessions, I am getting more into a good mind space around writing and creating a welcoming space for the words. If I can sustain this for a few more months I will be able to schedule regular writing time for fictions. In the mean time, I will keep filling up the well.

I travelled to Leicester again this week, where the world was wrapped in fog for a day. This picture was taken outside the hotel I stayed at, and is an actual Pokestop, because I am a nerd and two years behind the rest of the world.

On Truth, Opinions and Big Steps forward

This week, I removed someone as a friend on Facebook because of a post they shared that contained a bunch of racist, homophobic, transphobic and sciencephobic statements and untruths. When I commented that every line in the post was untrue, I was told that I have my opinions, and they have theirs, and if I don’t like it I should just move along… As if facts can be objective.

Somehow, it is acceptable now to position a fact as an opinion, and suggest that such an opinion is wrong, and even on the wrong side of godly law (i.e. Satanic). So, what is the difference?

A fact is something that can be backed up by evidence, while an opinion is based in belief or point of view. So, stating that the earth is round is based in fact, but your unhappiness with this fact is your opinion. The earth being round can never be an opinion in this universe, no matter how much you argue that it is.

In this post-truth world, fact checking is important, and there are a great many resources available for doing so. Even when reading the news, make sure you read from a variety of sources, as single outlets cannot be trusted to report objectively anymore. But then, my single reader, you know this already

This week, many of us used technology to witness an amazing event – the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. It seemed to have captured the attention and imagination of many people, even not directly involved in scientific work, for several reasons. Reusable rockets suddenly bring humans so much closer to affordable space travel, and man, that landing of the booster rockets was seriously impressive. I mean, just look at this:

Suddenly, the rest of the solar system is a lot closer than it was a week ago, and space exploration is possible. And this is very important, considering the Orange One has no interest in scientific investment and wants to stop funding projects like the International Space Station in the near future.

I may also have a small intellectual crush on Elon Musk, and love the fact that he launched his own Tesla Roadster into space, paying tribute to both Douglas Adams and David Bowie in the process. And, of course, for giving us images like this:

(images found with a Bing search)

It also gives me hope for humanity. Because, at a time when truth can be positioned as opinion, we can still achieve great things, and we can, for a moment, forget that right wing opinion appears to be main stream again.

On Star Wars and current politics

I have been thinking a lot about politics recently. And by recently, I mean the last few years, actually.

I am by no means politically savvy, and I often feel so lost in the noise created on social media and in the media, that I dip into little pools of apathy on occasion. But the decisions made by people in far bigger offices than I ever hope to occupy often have such a big influence on how we live, that I have no choice but to think about politics.

I tend to lean towards left social libertarian on the political scale, which generally means I believe that government exists to serve the interest of the population, not just a select few, and believe in individual freedom as well as social equality. Because I want a future for my child. And for my husband and myself. And everyone else I care about. And every one else in the world too. I make mistakes often, but I am willing to learn.

Having grown up and lived in South Africa for most of my life means a lot of the thinking I’ve been doing has revolved around South African politics, but the recent re-emergence of the right in both the US and UK have expanded my thoughts to include more of the western world. There have been flare ups of right wing activity across Europe, but it has not been quite as visible as in the UK and US, especially after first the Brexit referendum and then the US elections that put right wingers firmly into the White House.

I have learned a lot about politics from the media I consume. And I consume a lot of media. But the two biggest influencers on my political learnings have been Star Wars, and the writings of Terry Pratchett.

It is no secret how much I love Star Wars. And while the series has some flaws, it is a very good alternate universe to relate our current political situation to. In particular, I often think about the parallels between Palpatine and current world leaders, and specifically Jacob Zuma, the current president of South Africa.

There has been a lot of talk on both social media and in the news about the state of South African politics and the influence that a certain family have on Jacob Zuma. And many have speculated that this family control the current political landscape in the country.

I have a slightly different theory. I believe that Jacob Zuma is a master manipulator, and very good at playing politics. He, like Palpatine, has been manipulating situations for a very long time, and have lined up several fall-guys long before they are needed. And I believe the Gupta family play the role of the Trade Federation from Star Wars. They are perceived to be in power and pulling the strings, but I think he has set them up as fall guys too. In his mind, he will be the ultimate ruler of the empire – well, either him or his son, who has benefitted greatly from his father’s political dealings.

No amount of dirt will cling to JZ, because he will always have a fall guy lined up, and he will always be several steps ahead of everyone else, especially because most people believe him to be an illiterate fool. And this is why he laughs each time someone takes him on.

Fight for the future

On Moving

So, we’ve done this moving thing. Amazing to think that just a month ago, we knew we had to move, and had packed up all our belongings into containers, but we didn’t have a destination. Things work out in the end..

We have a LOT of stuff. Our final box count was 74, and that excludes the 15 blag bags filled with clothing and linen, as well as the toys and things we moved before the big day. And the furniture.

This is what happens when nerds move:

It was a little bittersweet saying goodbye to the old house. We lived there for just over 6 years, and really made it our own.

Last goodbye…

Hope the new owner is as happy there as we were.

As for us, we moved into a house that we bought – well, we’ve put in the offer, the offer’s been accepted, the bond’s been granted and all those things are now in progress.

And it feels like home already.

And we have dreams and plans.