In almost any context, it is usually a good idea to avoid trapdoors. They are the sort of thing that just sound like trouble, or else they would be called welcome gates, or warmth ways. Or cuddle ports. Two brothers … Read more

The ideal place for storing state secrets in the post Cold War era is on laptop computers, which are then placed in briefcases and left in random places upon the public transport networks of Southern England. In the Eighties it … Read more

If you don’t have the space for a full sized arcade cabinet, this could be the answer. It’s a familiar story. You desperately want an arcade cabinet running Mame with the best custom joystick parts… But either you’ve got no … Read more

Since medieval times, children riding mountain bikes around housing estates have been the traditional English method of buying drugs, guns, and litters of dangerous dogs. Happily, across the Atlantic, things are very different. In America, children are healthy, hearty, cheerful, … Read more

For an innocuous and perfectly likeable little mammal, lemmings seem to have attracted something of a bizarre press. For instance, it was once widely believed that they formed clouds and were rained down during storms. It was then argued that … Read more

Technically this is week 4, but I’ve been away on an exotic cycling trip to the Isle of Wight. I know…you’re jealous right!? Anyway, this is my 3rd week of actual training. To be honest, my training has somewhat been … Read more

I’m annoyed. Frustrated. In pain. Tired and drowsy yet worryingly satisfied. It’s week 2 of my training and I’ve improved. Only ever so slightly, but still improvement nonetheless. I have managed to grasp at least 3 fighters in the form … Read more

I’m about to say something that might send shivers down your spine. In fact it’s quite disgusting if I say so myself. I have never really got into any Street Fighter game. Now before I receive an abundance of Hadokens … Read more

In 1984, 8 bit computers all over the country started running seed numbers through fixed algorithms, creating sequences of other, bigger, numbers that might, for example, be used to determine the fictitious characteristics of a fictitious planets within a fictitious … Read more

The ZX Spectrum is a great technological milestone. Not only was it pretty much the first popular home computer, it contained – as the rainbow device on the right hand side of the machine will verify – the first gay … Read more