As readers may already be aware, my main hobby to distract myself from my day job in the profoundly depressing world of politics is to delve into retro videogaming via my Retropie. It’s an endlessly rewarding fount of discovery and entertainment for many reasons, but sometimes the two spheres collide in extremely unexpected ways.
So let’s talk about GORF.
Midway’s 1981 arcade hit was a pioneering and innovative game. It was the first game to be comprised of multiple highly distinct sub-games, boldly including direct lifts of other people’s coin-ops in the form of Space Invaders and Galaxian. And while it wasn’t the first arcade game to feature synthesised speech – it was beaten to that punch by the likes of Berzerk and Wizard Of Wor the previous year – it was famous for the extensive and iconic vocabulary with which it taunted and goaded the player.
It got numerous conversions of variable quality to various home systems, whether as contemporary licences or later homebrew ports, and that’s where we come in.
It’s taken me four weeks to write this, because I barely knew where to start.
Channel 4 showed the singular and vastly wonderful The Banshees Of Inisherin at the weekend, and as brilliant as it is in its own right, it also came loaded with all sorts of resonances and finally prodded me into action.
The equally singular and wonderful Jonathan Nash, who will be known to readers of this isolated and quiet island parish under a variety of names, died last month, of death. It was sudden yet expected, and in those respects very much the opposite of the man himself.
The Spectrum community is arguably more on top of the machine’s history than any other in the world of gaming, so it’s always quite noteworthy when something and/or someone escapes its notice entirely. And so it is with Lukasz Kur.
The screenshot above is of a game called a_e Adventure, or sometimes a_e in King Chrum’s Gold Mines. (According to Kur the character’s name represents “a portion of a forum member’s user name which inadvertantly looked like an emoticon of sorts – a little face with asymetrical eyes.”)
This page lists the various contract tariffs for the imminent iPhone 4S on O2. If you add them up, you get some pretty strange results.
(For the purposes of these calculations, we've worked out the total cost for the term of a 12-month contract, including a £6 "Bolt-On" for 500MB of data, and based on purchasing the 64GB model.)
Not least because I essentially don’t give a shit about the environment. (The result depicted in the image below is from Scottish Vote Compass, and my non-Scotch chums might find it interesting to take the test too.)
I do believe human activities are causing global warming, and that we’re rendering the planet incapable of sustaining human life at a terrifying rate – via greenhouse gases, pollution and overpopulation – to the point where mankind could in my view have well under 100 years left of anything recognisable as our current lifestyle. It’s just that I think that’s a good thing.
Willie on The Secondhand Amendment: “If it was AI as you suggest Iain then this would mark Judge Kemp as a liar since Sandra Muir…” Jan 19, 04:09
Tim on The Secondhand Amendment: “Are the judges and lawyers (reputed to have been) involved in “Fettesgate” in the early 90s still in place? That…” Jan 19, 03:50
Iain mhor on The Secondhand Amendment: “Everybody and their dug knows it was AI. Every Civil Service letter I get is patently AI generated. Nobody in…” Jan 19, 03:18
Willie on The Secondhand Amendment: “Surely not another cover up? Surely yes I’m afraid Northern Lad. Duvet government, duvet law, might be euphemisms to describe…” Jan 19, 03:18
Northern Lad on The Secondhand Amendment: “A long time reader and admirer of the site but rarely a commentator. What I would say is that the…” Jan 19, 01:21
Willie on The Secondhand Amendment: “A most excellent informative article Rev Stu. And a thanks too to solicitor Ewen G Kennedy for his excellent complaint…” Jan 19, 01:20
Cynicus on The Secondhand Amendment: ““Whether it was Judge Kemp or our mysterious John or Jane Doe who made them up, they were still made…” Jan 19, 00:44
Young Lochinvar on Learning Insanity: “H McH Another your “bad” to add to your count. Wrong again. FACT!” Jan 18, 22:13
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Learning Insanity: “Professor ALF BAIRD’s commendable letter to the MODERATOR of the Church of Scotland is on BarrheadBoy’s site here: SCOTLAND’S COLONIAL…” Jan 18, 19:34
Alf Baird on Learning Insanity: ““Indy should be such an easy sell, a unifying idea, that we really shouldn’t be bringing religion into it. Not…” Jan 18, 19:23
BigJay on Learning Insanity: “…and I’ve found the letter in reply from the Moderator to the Professor: “Dear Alfie, TL;DR. Lots of love, Rosie.”” Jan 18, 18:45
DaveL on Learning Insanity: “I can’t remember this particular halfwits name but I do recall that he was known for constantly ‘flouncing’ off twitter.…” Jan 18, 18:42
willie on Learning Insanity: “So Trump is now at war with Great Britain. 10% tariff on all goods from 1st February and 25% tariff…” Jan 18, 18:36
Lorna Campbell on Learning Insanity: “But it didn’t end, James. Had it ended, there would be no Union. It simply expanded to include the Treaty…” Jan 18, 18:29
TURABDIN on Learning Insanity: “Scotland has a rich intellectual history, dissident and questioning. That i respect, particularly valuable in a time when information is…” Jan 18, 17:27
Insider on Learning Insanity: ““James” Cheyne That is absolutely hilarious “James” !” Jan 18, 16:49
Hatey McHateface on Learning Insanity: “I’ve found Alf’s letter to the Moderator of the Church of Scotland. It’s written in English.” Jan 18, 16:46
Hatey McHateface on Learning Insanity: “What can I say, TURABDIN? If Scottish nationalism is indeed about intellectual reacquaintance with our immensely rich heritage, then the…” Jan 18, 16:23
Hatey McHateface on Learning Insanity: ““the most dangerous in the world” Yet you not only claim to know details of its inner workings, but you…” Jan 18, 16:14
Hatey McHateface on Learning Insanity: “Good one, Confused. There is no more pernicious religion than zealous antisemitism. Take a look in the mirror. As for…” Jan 18, 16:03
Hatey McHateface on Learning Insanity: “Wow! Welcome to 2026 – same as 2025! Post “Orcs” and up pops Implants with some “Great Satan” sophomoric drivel.…” Jan 18, 15:56
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Learning Insanity: “TURABDIN, thank you for your thoughtful and informed contribution. My essential gripe is that few Scots seem to do any…” Jan 18, 15:50
James Cheyne on Learning Insanity: “this funny picture sprung into my head of unionist very busy on keyboards trying to..delete.. all the old available information…” Jan 18, 15:28
James Cheyne on Learning Insanity: “The treaty between Scotland and England either stands or it does not, IF it is claimed it still stands as…” Jan 18, 15:20
James Cheyne on Learning Insanity: “Strange though it may seem, The 1707 treaty of union for and of Scotland only refers to two gender biological…” Jan 18, 15:05
James Cheyne on Learning Insanity: “If religion came into it at all, then king Charles and the present governments would be in breach of the…” Jan 18, 14:51
James Cheyne on Learning Insanity: “The resulting evidence is that one half of a two country (duel international treaty) [ England ] cannot apply new…” Jan 18, 14:37
Xaracen on Learning Insanity: “James needn’t bother, Aidan. Your appeal to ‘established and recognised case law’ is indefencible on the matter of ‘the’ constitution…” Jan 18, 14:32
