Diversions

On my computer at work, I set up my DOS window to display text in phosphor green against a greenish-black background. It reminds me of a simpler time, when CPU speeds were in megahertz and CRTs were monochrome.

Back in those days of my youth, my elementary school purchased some Apple ][+ computers that came with one of the first really successful "edutainment" computer games: Oregon Trail. I recently found a web site where you can play it online. (Unfortunately, the Apple emulator only runs on Windows machines, so you're out of luck if you have a Macintosh. Go figure.) This version is the 1985 release for Apple //e, which is a little different from the 1981 version with which I was familiar.

Another game from that era I used to play was the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure. It was made by the same company (Infocom) that made the groundbreaking Zork. This one was ported to a Java applet and is available at douglasadams.com. Note that the opening screen displayed on the web page is really just an animated GIF. To get to the real game, you need to enter 851108 in the text box on the bottom of the page. The two main objectives of the game: Get real tea (as opposed to tea substitute), and collect different kinds of fuzz.