Back to Business!

 With the changes that have come to the number of lighting opportunities due to the pandemic, I have decided to return to advertising my consulting and repair services. I don't know how well this well work in the Cleveland area, but there are hopefully enough churches and small business that could use help settling in to the new world of on-line services and remote customer assistance that we find ourselves in now. I haven't decided how to advertise yet, but I've been working on a few ideas. I do know that I'm going to offer free consultations to non-profits in the area for the next few months, and I'm starting with my old pricing of $25.00 for the initial consultation fee, with that getting credited towards any additional services purchased.

Protests Reach Cleveland

A young woman holds a sign listing the names of those who have died.

As unrest continues across the United States, protests following the recent death of yet another person in police custody have even reached Cleveland, Tennessee. Yesterday, a number of protesters were gathered with signs at one of the busiest intersections in the city, prompting responses from many passing motorists.

A number of protesters gather at a busy intersection in Cleveland, Tennessee

These photos are licensed under the terms of CC-BY 4.0.

3D Tic Tac Toe for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “3D Tic-Tac-Toe” from Wicked Software as part of “The Big 100” collection. Like many of the games from that collection, it is two-player only, so I get to play against myself. Note that it requires a joystick in both ports, one for each player, but for the sake of emulation, your choice of input can be mapped to both ports and passed back and forth without issues.

Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/690

3D Stock Cars 2 for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “3D Stock Cars 2” from Challenge Software in 1991 with design and programming by Alan Cresswell. It features a selection of computer opponents and 6 tracks.

This copy features a cractro by Triad.

Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/1449

3D Scacchi Simulator for the Commodore 64

This is a game of chess in “3D Scacchi Simulator,” a chess game for the Commodore 64 from Simulmondo in 1991 by Vladimir Grigorev with programming by G. Tamburi and graphics by S. Huber.

This copy features a cractro by Triad.

Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/843

3D Pool for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “3D Pool” by Aardvark Software, with development and design by Nick Pelling, published by Microprose for the Commodore 64, in 1989, with some copyrights belonging to Firebird.

More information about this game and its various ports can be found at: http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/3d-pool/

This copy features a cractro by Remember made by Jack Alien with music by Demon.

Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/544

3 D Man for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “3-D Man” by Scott Elder, published by Nufekop for the Commodore 64, in 1982.

Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/489

The 3 Musketeers for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “The 3 Musketeers” by Computer Novels for the Commodore 64, featuring music by Lars Hård and a cracktro by Triad. It is essentially a choose your own adventure novel adapted into a computer game that features some illustrations of the locales and situations experienced through the text. Unfortunately, it also features many very easy ways to end the game, much like the novels of the same type. Fortunately, this version features a quick save and quick load patch by the group that cracked the original release of the game.

Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/815

2D Tennis Game for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “2D Tennis Game” for the Commodore 64 by Wicked Software. It was part of a collection called “The Big 100.” If you look at the first two videos I uploaded when I started this project, you will notice that they are also from this collection and also crap.



Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/689

221 B Baker Street for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “221B Baker St.” for the Commodore 64 by Datasoft. It was developed by Intellicreations and Pacific Softech, based on the board game by Jay Moriarty. Design work was done by Jeff Harth, John P. Sohl, and Steven Duboff. It features graphics by Todd J. Camasta and speech synthesis by Electronic Speech Systems. There is a trademark from Antler Productions.

The game requires additional material from the manual and the casebook that would have been included with the game or the optional set of additional scenarios. Scans of these can be found at: https://www.myabandonware.com/game/221-b-baker-st-9m They are from the DOS and Atari versions, but the contents are the same.

The game open with a cractro by Triad. Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/842

1st Division Manager for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of “1st Division Manager” for the Commodore 64, by Code Masters in 1993 with development by Reflective designs. It was programmed by Duncan Scott Kershaw. Graphics were done by Jonathan Smyth. Music was composed by Gerard Gourley. This disk image starts with a very brief introduction from Armageddon, referencing an “Import + Fix” on 23 February 1993, followed by a proper cractro by Illusion. This makes me uncertain as to the speed of the music found in the video, as it may have been adjusted for NTSC models by Armageddon. Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/2387

19 Part One: Boot Camp

This is a play through of "19 Part One: Boot Camp” for the Commodore 64, developed by Cascade games, with programming by Joe Booth & Mark Greenshields, graphics by Damon Redmond & Sam Mohabull, music by Rob Hubbard, and sound effects by Ian Martin. This disk image starts with an NTSC cracktro from a US group called “FBR.” This is followed by a PAL intro by Zenith. The game itself only runs correctly on a PAL C64. Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/40

1943: The Battle of Midway

This is a play through of "1943: The Battle of Midway” for the Commodore 64, a port of the Capcom arcade game by Tiertex 1988, with music by Mark Tait. The title screen was done by SB. This disk image starts with a cracktro from a group called “Triangle,” and it includes a trainer. Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/70

1943: One Year After for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of "1943: One Year After" for the Commodore 64, by American Action. It was published by in 1987. It was designed by Greve Graphics and programmed by Bernt Anlbäck. This disk image starts with a cracktro from a group called "TMC 1991." Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/39

1942 for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of "1942" for the Commodore 64, by Epic. It was produced by Japan Capsule Computers (UK) Ltd. in 1984 and published by Epic in 1986. Programming and graphics were done by Stephen Green, with a title screen by RCG, and music by Mark Cooksey. This disk image starts with a cracktro from a group called "Remember," and it includes documentation, a high score saver, a trainer, and some minor bug fixes. Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/38

180 Darts for the Commodore 64

This one came out quite a bit longer than I expected, even with the trainer enabled. Part of that was due to the exceptionally long intro scroller that appears to be part of the original, pre-crack game; it's rare to see a longer intro on the real thing than you find in an accompanying cracktro.

10th Frame for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of "10th Frame" for the Commodore 64, by Access Software. It was written by Bruce Carver and Roger Carver. This disk image starts with a cracktro from a group called "Remember." Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/37

If you decide to try out 10th Frame for yourself, remember to put the joystick in the second port.

10 Pin Bowling for the Commodore 64

This is a play through of "10 Pin Bowling" for the Commodore 64, by Wicked Software as part of "The Big 100" collection. Emulation was done with VICE64 on a Mac and captured using OBS. The D64 can be found at: http://www.c64.com/games/691

This time, I decided to include a bit of background music to make up for the complete lack of sound in the game I was covering.

Music: "Elevator Bossa Nova" from Bensound.com

0 and X for the Commodore 64

Today I finally started seriously working on a project that has been at the back of my mind for some time now. I have wanted to go through the games on C64.com and record footage of as many of them as I could eventually work through. Unfortunately, I decided to do it in alphabetical order, so this first one is really boring. Still, share this with anyone you think might sit through it to the end, because I need that watch time!

Day Seven — Journaling

Photo by Bradley Huchteman Some Rights Reserved

Last night, I listened to tape seven of the set. As has been a theme throughout, it focused on the power of questions to bring clarity and focus, this time to one's beliefs and values and the distinction between what Tony calls "means" values and "ends" values — the former being things that are not actually an end into themselves, like having money or a family and the latter being what we're actually after in the end, like why we want more money or to have a family or to have better health. He makes that distinction to say that one should work toward the ends and not the means, because it's all too easy to get lost in how we think we should get what we want instead of realizing that we already have it. He also talks about the importance of understanding our negative values, i.e. the things we would do almost anything to avoid in life, such as frustration, physical pain, or failure, because he believes that much of the genuine failure experienced in life comes from conflicts between those two sets of beliefs — a positive desire for adventure and success but a paralyzing fear of frustration, failure, and the unknown to take a strong example.

He also talked a bit about conflict and how he believes it arises from "rules conflicts." He defines "rules" as internalized "if…then" clauses that drive our evaluation of both our own behavior and the behavior of others, such as how we've learned to show or accept love or respect. (e.g. If you love me, then… If you respect me, then…) When what I have internalized as respect or love or even basic civility doesn't match up with the rules someone else has for those things, it generates conflict. Given that he doesn't make any value judgements about any given set of rules, it may all come across as a bit postmodern, but if your focus is on understanding the conflict, it doesn't actually matter who's right, if there is even a "right" in a given situation. (Humans have a knack for finding conflict in the most meaningless of places.)

So, for the exercise of the day, he asks the listener to three questions that are roughly:

1. What's most important to me in life?
2. What are the emotions I'd do almost anything to avoid?
3. What has to happen for me to feel the positive things in life?

He wants the answers to one and two ranked and checked for incompatibilities to be addressed in more detail later.

I had a to actually think for some time about what my answers were, and I came to realize that I'm not actually that certain as to what is important to me, other than a few very basic things.

1. Stability
2. Productivity
3. Personal Growth
4. The ability to help others

I know "productivity" is a vague noun, but it's the best I can manage in English for what I actually mean. Imagine the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a chapter in a challenging book or finally clearing your to-do list or making 110% rate while working at a place like Amazon or doing in a few days a job that would normally take a team of people a week! That's what I strive for in life harder than anything other than maintaining the consistency and stability of the strange patterns that make up my life.

Their are a thousand other things I could have put on the list — love, a little bit of structured adventure, music, but those are the ones I kept coming back to time and time again, that seemed to ultimately encompass the rest of my desires.

The second list was somewhat more challenging, because I don't have words for what I fear the most. The closest I can come is "uncertainty," but that isn't quite right. I'm not fundamentally bothered by the unknown or the unpredictable as such, but I am bothered by avoidable uncertainty — things that are only uncertain because I couldn't find the right answers to my questions or the right way to prepare for what I had to face. This is what kept me from working a normal job for most of my life; my lack of work experience made me terrified of normal work, because no one had ever written a manual for how to have a boring job. (Then I found Amazon. If you've ever worked in an Amazon FC, then you know what I mean, despite the fact that I find the place deeply amusing.)

1. Uncertainty
2. Wastefulness
3. Failing others
4. Needless change

As for the last question… "What has to happen for me to feel the positive things in life?" I don't know that I actually know the answer to it yet, but as is the nature of this program, I'm going to try and step out on a limb and write one out. I may look back on it and find it to be the most inane thing I've ever said, or I could be dead on. Only time will tell.

For me to feel the positive things in life, I need a stable base from which I can achieve quantifiable productivity in all areas of my life and feed my personal growth, mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially, so that I can be more ably to help those around me while avoiding uncertainty.