Thursday 19 December 2002

Pic of the day: Not quite like the magic potions that let you run non stop from Balmora to Seyda Neen in Morrowind, but magic enough for me.

Dark Dog day

All hail the Dark Dog! Thanks to its revitalizing powers, I managed to get through the workday almost without falling asleep. This was no mean feat, since I had not slept since a nap last afternoon. "Dark Dog", in this case, refers to the hypercaffeinated soft drink of that name. It doesn't taste all that fantastic, but it does its trick.

I am quite sensitive to caffeine, so I did not exactly slake my thirst on the stuff. Rather I sipped it respectfully, like some magic potion. The small (330ml) bottle has lasted me like three days, though half of it or so went down this last day.

I generally don't like using brain-altering drugs, even caffeine and Guarana extract. Moving about helps to keep me awake, but there are limits on a workplace how much you can run around for private reasons.

Apart from this (and a few new American comics) the day was unremarkable. I went home, ate, regretted it as I now was very sleepy but couldn't go to bed because I would suffer from acid reflux. I slept rather poorly in my chair for a couple hours before I was ready for bed. Then I slept till 1 in the night. Not much of a day.

***

I guess I could fill this out by telling that I've lately started playing SimCountry (Game of the Worlds) again. The game hasn't seen much growth since I played it last time (in April, I believe). There are now stupid ads on the pages, which I can understand. It really makes no sense to do such a giant project for free, not even if you are Dutch. They also have a reasonably priced subscription world with some more features, but it isn't THAT good. Still, I have adopted two small nations again, one on each of the less militaristic worlds. On White Giant I managed to get back control of Porcupine Nation, which is still in fairly good shape. On Kebir Blue I am now president of Inland Revue, which is in a rather sorry state. Not to say that it is a rather sorry state, with about half the population out of work and a poor tax base. I have overhauled the education policy there, but it will take some years before the bottlenecks are out of the system. Luckily something like 3 months pass during one of our days, so things should be much improved over Christmas.

I am taking a much more cautious approach this time. I meddle far less. I take to heart the sage advice of The Economist: "Don't just do something, sit there!" I have bought temporary surpluses from some state-owned enterprises. If they are consistently unable to sell at market prices of a period of several quarters, I am willing to let them drop. But so far the economy has oscillated so much that I have only seen temporary gluts. This is pretty much the only micro-management I do, and only with a few companies poised between success and failure. Apart from this, I build roads and railroads in a slow and steady tempo, and adjust the education so as to provide more of the workers that will be in short supply. Running a deficit is the beginning of the end, or at least it was the last time. I try to concentrate on keeping companies profitable and getting employment up to ca 90%. Any more than that and wages will likely spiral out of control. This happens last time. In the real world it is more like 95%, but it still happens to my native Norway right now. We are pricing ourselves out of the market.

Well, that is enough for one day. A treatise on the economy can wait, or you can read my year-ago entry. It is not like things have changed much.