Amongst all the Bullfrog games I’ve ever played, nothing can compare to the enjoyable Theme Hospital. I recently had the urge to play it again after I completed the whole Cake Mania 2 game, but noticed that the game was sluggish. Even after using the recommended DOS game emulator DOSBox, it still didn’t fix my issue. So I scoured the Web as usual and found three useful sites:

1. At the Ubuntu Forums, they were discussing how to speed up DOSBox by modifying its cycles so that graphics from a game could render faster. This is the most recommended technique I found if your DOS game like Theme Hospital runs very slow. A detailed explanation on how to change the cycles can also be found in this site.
2. The Vogons Forum also discussed the same thing about how to edit the DOSBox cycles, and the members also recommended editing the core setting in the configuration file to dynamic, since it may have something to do with the computer processor.
3. You may want to download the files in the Theme Hospital Downloads site, especially the Theme Hospital Patch file, as it may help repair any faults in the original game which could cause the slowdown in your game.

To be honest, after trying all the techniques from those site, it still didn’t solve my problem. For some unknown reason, I decided to download the game again from Best Old Games, and — what do you know? — the game ran as smooth as melted chocolate! And I didn’t even have to use DOSBox!

I still have a problem with the sound, though. I can hear squat, so there’s none of those funny sound effects and music background, but I can live without it for now. I’ll post something up if I ever do find a solution to this problem.

Look at the image below carefully and ask yourself — which way is she turning?

According to Pairacy’s blog, you are using your right brain if you see her turning clockwise, and your left brain if you see her turning counter-clockwise. Supposedly, if you can see her turning both ways, then you have an IQ of 160 or more. Therefore, I feel no shame in admitting that I am, indeed, a super genius.

Thanks again to Pai for his post (hey Pai, it would be good blogging etiquette if you could quote the original source of this image if you still remember where you took it from).

Wildheart’s Works took my Spark challenge to review one of my post in exchange of a blog back. You really need to check out her site, and particularly her latest creation of free background textures if you’re looking for one for your site. I never knew you can do so much with Paint Shop Pro. I’ve used PSP before, but found out about the powerful Photoshop and have never looked back.

Wanna take my challenge? Log into your SocialSpark account, or e-mail me once you make a review on yours. Better read the challenge conditions first before you do so.

These pages constitutes a third in the list of my bookmarks, but I’ll share just a few for now. Most of them haven’t even been tested. Maybe you should try them out and see whether they work for you.

1. WordPress plugin to make money with Firefox referral
2. A dollar a day keeps the bills at bay
3. PPP or pay per PDF white paper
4. How I Make Over $500 A Month From Abandoned Blogs
5. 36 sites that pay bloggers

1. Before my mobile phone conks out, I should store my favourite ringtones. In case you like them, here they are for your Nokia phone listening pleasure. (note: works on Nokia monotone mobile phones)

Harry Potter Theme (tempo: 112 BPM)
8b1 8.e2 16g2 8#f2 4e2 8b2 4.a2 4.f#2
8.e2 16g2 8#f2 4d2 8f2 2b1 8-
8b1 8.e2 16g2 8#f2 4e2 8b2 4d3 8#c3 4c3
8#g2 8.c3 16b2 8#a2 4#a1 8g2 2e2 8-
8g2 4b2 8g2 4b2 8g2 4c2 8b2 4#a2
8#f2 8.g2 16b2 8#a2 4#a1 8g2 2e2

Winter Sonata (a Korean hit drama) (tempo: 90 BPM)
4d2 4e2 8e2 8f2 8f2 4f2 8e2 8d2 8c2 4b1 8-
8b1 8c2 4d2 4e2 8f2 8e2 8f2 8e2 8d2 8c2 8b1 2a1 8-
8a1 8b1 8c2 8c2 8d2 8d2 4d2 8c2 8b1 8a1 8#g1 8-
4#g1 8a1 4b1 8- 4b1 8b1 4b1 4c2 2.a1

2. I am having a BLAST with this site: The Advertising Slogan Generator is one wicked tool. Type in any word you fancy, and it’ll generate a slogan for you (obviously). The slogans are ridiculously hilarious!