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A few years back I visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, and wrote the following piece, which appeared in the Sunday Times.
The flat, dusty streets of Amritsar, 250 miles northwest of Delhi, were choking with traffic and hawkers. The temple gates were almost within reach and the postcard-pushers knew it. I'd been polite so far, but now I waved my arms about and shouted, "Shoo!"
I walked into the temple compound, still swatting the air, but suddenly the midge-like hawkers were gone. It was as though an invisible force were stopping them from entering. Glancing back, the most pesky postcard-seller caught my eye and briefly interrupted his Churchill-Churchillian sulk with a smile.
I relaxed immediately.
At a busy row of benches, a greying lady in a rose-red sari mimed that I should take off my shoes and socks. She removed hers, too, then scooped up mine and bustled over to a long counter. Exchanging them for tokens, she hurried back and pressed a metal disc into my palm, closing my fingers around it as though it were precious. My grandparents used to do that when treating me with a five-pound note: I'd not thought of that for a long time.
She gathered in her sari and led me to a sawn-off oil barrel. It was full of head scarves. The few men not already wearing turbans were pausing to grab temporary head cover, a requirement for entry to the temple. My helper was more diligent, though — rejecting several scarves before teasing out the right one, Ali Bongo-style. It perfectly matched my shirt, and a tall Sikh boy with an insurmountable grin stopped to tie it on. My self-appointed chaperone single-clapped in delight.
Next, she led me to the entrance proper, where we paddled through a shallow pool to cleanse our feet. She held my elbow for balance and we climbed the steps together.
At the top, she leant against a column and proudly pushed me forward. There, framed by the white arch, was the 400-year-old Golden Temple of Amritsar. It was familiar to me from pictures in countless Punjabi restaurants, but in real life it was much more impressive. Shimmering in the heat, it loomed lightly, like a mirage. Its giant gilded strongbox glared bullion-brilliant, and paradoxically appeared to float at the centre of a giant olive-green pool.
My companion sighed contentedly, namaste'd me goodbye, and walked off along the marble poolside path.
Emerging from the inner sanctum, where Sikhs were filing past their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, I walked by a formal grassy area. Having just bathed ceremonially in the pool, men were drying their long, long hair in the sun.
Further on, a crowd milled outside a large brick building, where a toothy man handed me a large metal thali tray, big and round as a hubcap. A young girl in western clothes said hello and asked me where I was from. She explained that this was the langur hall, where free meals are served round the clock.
It was a two-storey building the size of a Victorian school. Catching my bemused look, the girl launched into an explanation. "Fifty thousand people a day eat here, can you imagine? Guru Nanak, our founder, started it so that all Sikhs should eat together and show we are not agreeing with the caste system, like in Hinduism, and that men and women aren't keeping separated, like in Islam.
"The people cooking and serving are volunteers, too," she continued. "All sorts of people, you'll see. We are calling it seva. It is the voluntary work we are doing at a temple."
A bell rang and the heavy wooden doors opened. We shuffled inside and sat cross-legged on hessian mats, at least 1,000 people, I reckoned. There was a tug on my sleeve: two wily little kids with worn-through clothes and quick movements asked my name, shaking my hand energetically. Opposite, a portly gentleman with a magnificent beard adjusted his sword and bowed his head minutely in welcome.
Sumpreet, the sassy girl from outside, explained that the boys were poor and possibly came to eat every day, while the man was a rich businessmen. A little shyly, she added: "I am studying for a geography degree, and come only when an exam is nearing and I am needing extra luck."
A line of servers scurried in from behind. They slung chapatis and dished out dhal with hilarious inaccuracy, but they were volunteers, and already the next sitting was agitating at the door. It's the same in gurdwaras everywhere; rich and poor, young and old, men and women, all eating together. The food may be basic, but the symbolism was fine fusion.
Without Question, the Golden Temple has all the grace and beauty of the Taj Mahal. It's not as big or as grand, but it is certainly as stunning. And while the Taj is a mausoleum, moribund except for the swarms of tourists and touts, the Golden Temple pulses with the energy of a thriving living community — the spiritual and temporal centre of the Sikh faith.
It is hardly visited by non-Indian or non-Sikh tourists, but there is an information office. After a cup of tea, information officer Sundeep Dalbir Singh (Retired) led me on a free tour of the temple.
Mr Singh was an old man with a forthright chest and bow legs. He had served in the Indian army before independence and referred to the Raj constantly, usually while staring into space, as though he were remembering a long-dead pet.
I followed him up the narrow steps to the museum, where walls were crammed with paintings. They were of the Sikh gurus and their followers, teaching, fighting and suffering, but mainly suffering.
In front of one particularly gruesome canvas, my guide scrunched up his face excitedly, like a schoolboy recounting an infamous scrap, saying that these three martyrs were tortured "very extensively, very extensively indeed". Each "very" was projected loudly, like when a giant first appears in a bedtime story.
Another picture showed a Sikh being sliced in two with an axe — lengthways; and another panel brimmed with black-and-white photographs of Sikh youths who had been shot by the Indian army. They were like school portraits, but madly macabre, and "very extensively" began echoing all around.
So much for blood and guts, bricks and mortar — I had a killer theological question that I wanted to air. So I asked: "What's the main difference between the Sikh salvation and the Christian heaven?" He thoughtfully twizzled his thinning grey beard and fell silent for a long time. A very long time. Then, with eureka certainty, he said: "The Christian heaven has better facilities."
It was mid-afternoon when the heat finally won out and, overcoming my shyness, I "went local" and joined some other pilgrims snoozing in the dependable shade of a loggia.
Lying on the marble was refreshingly cool, like face-pressing a fridge door in a heat wave; and wafting over the water on a jasmine-scented breeze came hypnotic chanting amplified from the temple roof. I fell asleep.
Suddenly, a young boy in a white dhoti was frantically prodding me awake, shouting: "The water is coming; the water is coming — look!" Advancing at a slow walk were at least 100 people. Sikhs were scoop-filling buckets from the edge of the tank, then passing them on to the next person in the chain. The pails swung across the crest of the crowd, water spilling and pails clattering. When they reached the last person in the row, the water was hurled over the marble. It was like watching a Sikh Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Then the crowd engulfed me, too. It was like a childhood summer — foot-stampingly happy days spent spraying friends with garden hoses. By the time a teenager tapped me on the shoulder and offered me a heavy pail, I was laughing aloud. "What on earth is going on?" I asked with a happy shrug.
"We are cleaning the pathway. Here," he said, handing me a full bucket. I took the weight, then hesitated and looked around. This couldn't really be allowed, could it — in what is the Sikh equivalent of Canterbury Cathedral? I lunged forward like a first-timer in a bowling alley and the water arched through the air, splattering onto the white stone. The youth beamed, grabbed back the bucket, then rushed off to the pool.
This was a long way from my village church in Derbyshire. All I remembered from there was frustrated fidgeting and drowsy daydreaming. What a shame that they never let us help wash the aisles.
I travelled as a guest of CTS Horizons.
Geting there: Amritsar's Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee Intenrational Airport has flights with Air India to Birmingham and Delhi, with Air India Express to Dubai, Indigo to Delhi, Mumbai, and Jammu (beginning May 2017), Jet Airways to Delhi, Malindo Air to Kuala Lumpur, Qatar Airways to Doha, Scoot to Singapore, Spicejet to Delhi, Dubai, Mumbai and Srinigar, Turkmenistan Airlines to Asgabat, Uzbekistan Airways to Tashkent, and Vistara to Delhi and Mumbai.
More information: for more on the temple itself see www.goldentempleamritsar.org, and for more on Idia, see incredibleindia.org
It's long made sense to slice the slog in half and recuperate along the way, but a stopover is also a great money saver. Often it doesn't cost you any more to get off the aircraft for a day or two – aside from hotel and sightseeing expenses. Some airlines even offer discounted hotel rates to encourage you to stay, and either way a stopover lets you experience somewhere new for a fraction of the cost of a separate trip.
You can book stopover flights via websites with 'multi-sector search engines' but this is one of those times when a travel agent can really ease the passage. They can search out the best deals on more complex itineraries and help with hotels and tours, too.
Taking the long journey between Europe and Australia as an example, while the most popular places to break your journey in are Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and increasingly Dubai, there are actually at least 20 other stopovers destinations to choose from.
Aside from flying to Australia, it makes good sense to think about stopping off on the way on any long haul trip. On a holiday to Hong Kong it works like this. For a start, forget BA or Cathay Pacific who fly direct - where's the fun in that? Think instead of all the places between the UK and where you're going that you have always wanted to visit. If it's Sri Lanka you've thought of, then Sri Lankan Airlines will happily oblige, if it was Dubai, then Emirates will be only too pleased, and if Istanbul, try Turkish Airlines. These are just three, but there are plenty more airlines out there, eager as anything to offer you a holiday on your way.
Just think of the benefits of two-holidays-in-one. You'll save a packet compared to visiting both separately, squeeze more precious tanning time from your annual leave, and cause a dinner party plate-wobble when you say you're off on a 10 day trip with a twist next week; "oh yes, for a spot of Safari in Kenya, and a dive or two in the Seychelles".
Their haste might well land you in Vancouver, Mauritius or Istanbul; but instead of making a bee-line for the baggage carousel and the beach, you'll be just changing planes there, probably nose-pressing the windows and daydreaming about what might have been.
Practicalitiles: Suss the weather in both places (there's little point stopping off mid rainy season), check the waiting times at the stopover airport (you don't want to be hanging around for half a day on the way home), beware of bank holidays and festivals that might make hotel rates skyrocket, and ask whether you'll need a visa. Also, remember that it might make more sense to stop off on the way back – you might not feel like Hong Kong after a week on a Sri Lankan beach, but the other way round is perfect.
Stopover friendly airlines: airlines with specific stopover programemes - that will ensure you won't pay extra for stopping on the fare, and will sometimes help with cheaper hotel rates and excursions too - include Air China, Air France, Emirates, Etihad, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, Icelandair, Japan Air Lines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, and Turkish Airways.
Ecuador's main railway line runs from its Andean capital Quito, along the high plateau Avenue of the Volcano's, to the busy Pacific port city of Guayaquil - from a high point of 3,600m to sea level, along 280 miles of track. The project to connect Ecuador's major port city of Guayaquil with the capital, Quito, was launched in 1885, and while the line down the Avenue of the Volcanos presented relatively few problems, and the same for the route inland from Guayaquil, the engineers hot a mountain-sized snag 130 kilometres inland at the neck of a valley where a rock face rises called the 'Nariz del Diablo', or Devil's Nose.
The ingenious solution was to have the track ascend the mountainside using a 12-kilometre zig-zag route, so that the train twice reaches a precarious dead end before reversing direction for the next section of the ascent or descent. From a distance the ledges cut to lay the train track on make the shape of a Zorro like slashes on the side of the mountain.
After years of neglect, the line has re-opened using smart new Train Cruise carriages with comfy seats and an open sided viewing car at the rear. The whole length takes four days with sightseeing stops, but it's the spectacular section from the little railhead town of Alausi, 170 miles south of Quito, that you should aim for if you are pressed for time.
It's here that the railway engineers almost met their match – as a precipitous dead-end valley blocked the way. The bold and bonkers solution was to carve a zigzagging ledge down the 800m side of the semi-sheer mountain dubbed the Devil's Nose; along which the whole train moves forwards, then backwards, then forwards again.
The fussy gait of the little locomotive and its wooden carriages is amusing for the first part of the ride, not unlike riding a pleasure railways anywhere else in the world. But it's not long before the ground falls away on the right hand side of the train, and gives way to a steep valley that very soon becomes worryingly steep and deep.
The decent of the Devil's Nose is astonishing: more suited to mountain goats than to trains. The carriages shuffle alarmingly in their tracks and after one especially alarming jolt, I scuttled to the other side of the carriage - away from the precipice - and tried to calm my vertigo by sitting tight by the solid rock face side of the train, where I opened the window fully and scanned the passing bushes for branches strong enough to jump out and cling onto in case the train plummeted down the gorge.
A beautiful and deserted beach in Sierra Leone. Photo My Bathroom Wall
I visited Sierra Leone in 2009 in order to write an article about what the place was like after the country had spent years known abroad only for its horrendous civil war. I was bowled over by the place and its people and plan to return. The country is has been declared free from Ebola since November 2016.
The following is a version of the piece that appeared in the Sunday Times in 2009.
"Would you like to be carried to the speedboat or do you prefer to wade?" is not a question I've had to face before on an airport transfer - but this is Sierra Leone, one of the world's poorest countries, and there's no bridge from the international airport to the capital city.
So, glancing down at my leather shoes, and looking along the beach at two local businessmen in suits, ties and the arms of local fishermen, I opted for a carry-out, too.
One of the most bonkers airport transfers I've ever taken. Photo My Bathroom Wall
There are other ways to get from the airport, but they are a lot less appealing than a 30-minute skim in a speedboat: a tediously slow ferry that leaves only when jam-packed; an unreliable former Isle of Wight hovercraft; and the most dangerous, an airline that uses former Russian military helicopters.
You may think these matters ridiculously beside the point, considering that I'm talking about Sierra Leone, a country famed for boy soldiers, blood diamonds and precious little else. The locals, though, will quickly point out that the war finished in 2002, that there were free and fair elections, and a peaceful transition of power 18 months ago, and that a tourism boom must be just around the corner. And perhaps that's not as crazy as it might sound.
The prewar fundamentals are still here: fabulous beaches and reliable winter sun, plus mountains and monkeys, slave forts, unspoilt islands and colourful markets. And getting to Freetown is easy, with nonstop BMI flights from Heathrow that take seven hours, only 30 minutes longer than those to The Gambia. There's no jet lag, everyone speaks English and even the three-pin plugs are the same.
Just 14 miles south of the capital, on the magnificent powder-white, if prosaically named, River No 2 Beach, the tourist potential is glaring. It faces west and spans miles of undeveloped bay, backed by palms and lush jagged hills, and is bisected by the green water of River No 2 on its sidewind to the sea.
Of all the beaches in all the world, this was the one chosen to feature in the old 'A Taste of Paradise' adverts for the Bounty Bar. In truth the beach plays second fiddle to swimming costumed models taking slo-mo mouthfuls of the chocolate bars, but the beach looks alluring too.
My chalet facing No 2 Beach brought back the best of backpacking memories. Photo My Bathroom Wall
I was the only guest at the one development on the entire beach: a community project where the whole village chips in to run seven beachside chalets. For £34 per night you get a large room with a big veranda, B&B - they are concrete and tiles, but have batik wall hangings, a clean bathroom (no hot running water, though) and a comfy double bed with a big mosquito net.
After a day walking along the beach, swimming in the sea, talking to the fishermen, eating a fine fish dinner for a fiver and taking a boat trip to a rock pool by a waterfall, I flicked on my iPod and watched the sunset from my veranda.
Keep it simple simple; the good life at No 2 Beach. Photo My Bathroom Wall
I'd backpacked a lot in the 1980s and 1990s, and being here kindled powerful memories of my first forays to Thailand and Bali, Fiji and Goa. It's not what I had expected of Sierra Leone, but there I was nonetheless, rediscovering the potency of a sunset seen from a beach hut, wafted by the subtle scents of sea spray and hibiscus, with towel and togs drying on a line, cold beer in hand.
Fishermen bringing home the catch to No 2 Beach. Photo My Bathroom Wall
But this place still has a way to go. For example, some of the roads in Sierra Leone are shocking - Freetown's tarmac hardly reaches the city limits on the main road south to the beaches, which turns an 11-mile drive into an infuriating hour's slog. There are good paved stretches further down the peninsula, but the lack of infrastructure is a big brake on tourist development.
Busy market scene along the road to Banana Island. Photo My Bathroom Wall
It hasn't stopped the locals preparing for an influx, though. Take Tommy, the bare-chested, 40-year-old owner of the Hard Rock Restaurant at nearby Lakka Beach. When I asked him about his place, he said: "I started to build this during the war, in 1997. It took me eight years - slowly, slowly. Before the war there were 500 French people here every week, but after the war it is quiet. I hope new tourists will come soon, though."
I looked both ways along the beach. There wasn't a single tourist in sight. I asked what he would suggest for lunch, and glancing over his shoulder towards the fishing boats, he said: "I have some nice barracuda."
Moments later, a young guy dashed down the sand and rushed back with a big fish. Cooked as a kebab, with rice and a mildly spicy onion and tomato garnish, it was delicious.
The next day, on a boat heading to Banana Island from the tiny hamlet of Kent, a greying young man in a green and white African-style suit asked: "Excuse me, may I ask what nature of endeavour brings you to my country?"
He was David Jones, the Kent head teacher, and his was typical of the omnipresent courtesy of Sierra Leoneans.
Everyone passes with a "Good morning, how are you today?", or in the local Krio language, a "How de day?" or "How de bodi?".
There were a lot of how de bodis lobbed my way on the short walk from Dublin Wharf - basically two large cotton trees and a couple of canoes - to the eight rondavels of the island's guesthouse. It's another community project, this time with more thoughtfully decorated huts, hot water, lighting provided by solar panels, and fantastic views back onto the mountains and beaches of the mainland.
The arrival and departure hub for Banana Island, Dublin Wharf. Photo My Bathroom Wall
I walked around the tip of the island with Michael, a local lad who showed me the overgrown foundations of a Portuguese fort and the village well (still in use). He couldn't remember when the Portuguese were here, so he took me to his uncle, the venerable Lord Moo. I sat on a bench on the tidy patio of his titchy house and waited for the old man to emerge from tending his cassava plants.
The affable and wise Lord Moo. Photo My Bathroom Wall
Hobbling over, he sat heavily and reclined next to me. With a wonderfully resonant voice, he told me that during the American war of independence, the British had promised to free any slaves who joined them in the fight, and how 50,000 of them had done so, some of whom were subsequently liberated and shipped to Freetown. "That is why we have so many British names for villages - Waterloo, Wellington, Hastings, Wilberforce - it is gratitude from the slaves who came here as free men."
Lord Moo didn't like Freetown. "People in the city," he said, pointing up to a big, green bunch of bananas in his tree, "they can't leave anything to ripen. Those bananas are not ripe. They will be perfect in maybe three more days, but in Freetown they are taken to market too early, to exchange for money. That is how people in the city live. They cannot wait for anything."
View from in front of my rondavel at the Banana Island Guest House. Photo My Bathroom Wall
On my last night in Sierra Leone, I stood at the bar of Freetown's best nightclub, Paddy's. I looked out to sea and thought about Lord Moo and his garden.
I couldn't agree with him about Freetown, which for my money is the prettiest town on the West African coast - good beaches, fine old colonial buildings and the mountaintop suburb of Hill Station, sprinkled with wonderful old stilted bungalows. Of course it's ramshackle, with terrible traffic and some grinding poverty, but if you like West Africa it's friendly and feels quite safe.
In fact, it's been a while since I last got so attached to a place so quickly. When it came to leaving, I checked out of my hotel with big handshakes all round, vowing to return. Then, in shorts and sandals, I waded out to sea and into the waiting speedboat for my trip back to the airport.
Sunset on Banana Island. Photo My Bathroom Wall
I travelled as a guest of Rainbow Tours.
Montenegro's poster boy island of Sveti Stefan, now the upmarket Aman Resort
I opened the expensively heavy curtains of my suite, barely resisting the urge to sing 'Oh what a beautiful morning' – and gazed out over the most perfect Mediterranean view. A smile-shaped beach. A giant yacht resting at anchor in the bay. And, rising to the right, a picture-book jumble of red roofs. If the Adriatic Coast is a beauty, this stretch was 24-carat supermodel-sensational.
Croatia? Not quite. Slovenia? You're getting colder. Yet trust me when I tell you that you've seen those russet tiles in scores of brochure snaps and poster shoots over the years. This is Montenegro, and if that piece of information leaves you non-plussed, well, that's the point – I wanted a holiday that would take me far from the madding-ding crowds. This tiny coastal country stands on the cusp of becoming a major Mediterranean player, as popular with tourists as its big-name neighbours; for the moment, though, it's largely unknown. And it's possible to have significant chunks of the place to yourself.
Nowhere is its cusp status clearer than here at Sveti Stefan. A miniature outcrop attached by causeway to the rest of the coast, the islet slumbered away 500-odd years as a fishermen's village, barnacled with cottages like something from a child's storybook – until the post-war years of Hollywood stars and voyaging royalty, when the Communist rulers of Yugoslavia reinvented it as a resort for celebs on the Med. Holiday here in the '60s and '70s and you'd have heard the footsteps of Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Princess Margaret echo in the cobbled lanes – interspersed with the Vesuvian arguments of the Burtons, Richard and Elizabeth. This summer – after a scouring renovation by Singapore-based luxury hotel company Aman Resorts – it's ready to cast more glitter over Montenegro when it opens at the end of May, those cottages painstakingly reworked into 50 suites of sumptuous-but-muted Aman-appeal.
The private beach for guests of the Villa Milocer at the Aman Sveti Stefan. photo My Bathroom Wall
On the beach there was just me, a lifeguard and a crisp-shirted chap to ferry out cold drinks I got a taste of what it will be like (and took in its beauty from a distance) as I breakfasted at Villa Milocer, on the shores overlooking Sveti Stefan. Built in the '30s as a holiday home for Yugoslavia's Karadordevic royals, the villa was later swiped by Communist president Tito as his summer pad. A couple of years ago, Aman Resorts restored it as a bite-size preview of Sveti Stefan, out in the bay. As I quaffed egg-white omelette and guava juice, shaded by Milocer's vine-covered terrace, insects whirring in the early morning heat, I concluded that Montenegro is perfection. But it's the kind of perfection that costs – the villa's 12 suites will knock you back upwards of £600 a night each – yet it's so quiet in these parts that a feeling of exclusivity isn't exclusive to those who are paying for it.
What you do get for your money is a sandy beach, 800 olive trees, and something that Sveti Stefan's suites will never deliver:a Flickr's-eye view of the island itself. Breakfast over, I strolled to the adjacent Queen's Beach ('for guests only'). There was just me, a lifeguard and a crisp-shirted chap to ferry out cold drinks from a little cabin. It's rare to find such a pristine slice of peaceful paradise in the modern Med – and who knows how long it will last in Montenegro? This diminutive country, home to just two-thirds of a million people, is beginning to appear on the world's radar, even if many of us couldn't place it on a map. Madonna has visited, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have been house-hunting, and a Monte Carlo-style marina is taking shape.
And beyond Villa Milocer and Sveti Stefan? I was keen to explore – but not in the Madonna-worthy black Mercedes S Class that the villa uses for airport transfers, and which would clearly mark me out as a tourist among the beaches and wilderness. On offer at the car rental company was a dented Chevrolet Spark with three hubcaps missing. Gingerly I signed along the dotted line.
Cruise ships call into the fjord-like inlet at Kotor
I wound down the windows, slipped on sunglasses and fumbled for the radio. There wasn't one, but who cares? Remote, romantic expanses were mine from the first bend. Wide and cliff-hugging, the coastal road took me north, swooping into the town of Budva, which – dare I say it – already felt a tad commercialised, with bobbing yacht masts and a thronging walled Old Town, rather like a mini Dubrovnik. Soon I was happily back on my own, my next port of call Kotor, just a few kilometres from the Croatian border, but a world away from that country's manicured honey pots. Lying at the end of southern Europe's largest fjord, the town delivered glimpses of international invasion – a London-registered super yacht at the quay side dominated the Mediaeval city walls – but the cliffs flanking the town soared hundreds of metres skywards, rendering everything man-made fragile and fleeting.
Switchback road winding up from Kotor to the mountains, and the Gulf of Kotor. Photos My Bathroom Wall
It was quiet, but I wanted utter peace. In search of more isolation, I pointed the Chevy inland. A squiggle on the map traced four hairpin bends, which turned out to be 27, and as the tyres squealed on the bends, I realised how the hubcaps had gone missing. At the last curve I looked down: beyond the fjord and Kotor town, shimmering far off in the hazy Adriatic, was an armada of mega-yachts. This was Porto Montenegro. I'd read about it in glossy magazines. Touted by its billionaire backer as the 'Monaco of the Adriatic', the site is in fact a former Yugoslav naval base. Gazing at it now you see a swanky near-future. Transformations are ushering in a 600-berth marina, upmarket holiday homes and – for the benefit of the Michael Douglas/Madonna crowd – a shiny, pricey new hotel.
As quickly as the vision materialised, it vanished. One tunnel, three bends and the sea was out of sight, as Montenegro-beyond beckoned me back into a pretty, pine-scented Adriatic past: forests of evergreen, shady cypress trees and, suddenly, the entrance to the mountaintop mausoleum of Petar II Petrovic-Njegoš. I parked the car and walked the last bit through needles of sunlight, to a soundtrack of my own scrunching feet.
The mountin top tomb of local big man Petar II. Photos My Bathroom Wall
European summit: the view from Petar II's tomb (Ivan Blazhev) Almost seven foot tall, Petar II Petrovic-Njegoš made a big impact on Montenegrin history. Polymath, prince-bishop, poet and sharp-shooter, he had a great party piece – asking guests to lob a lemon into the air, which he then blasted to bits. His solemn, sculptured tomb is fittingly OTT, glinting with gold leaf and black marble, and set loftily atop the country's second-highest mountain. At 1,660m, it is huff-puffingly challenging to reach – many of its 461 steps (I counted!) have been tunnelled through solid rock. Once I'd made it, I drank in the views over the almost-treeless mountainscape, savoured the solitude and contemplated. This man was a singular Montenegrin, a very big fish in a very small pond.
There's more to discover about him 12km on, in the mountain stronghold of Cetinje. It is home to Biljarda, Njegoš's former palace-home, which translates as Billiard House and rolls out 25 rooms without losing its rustic appeal. The curious name alludes to the billiard table he ordered to be carted up here – and in the upstairs front room you can find the eponymous item. One careful owner, excellent condition.
You'll love little Cetinje if the Duchy of Grand Fenwick means anything to you. It was the name of a fictional alpine mini-state featured in comic novels by Leonard Wibberley. The tiny nation was pitched into ludicrous situations whereby it became a power-broker between the world's great nations – most famously in the 1959 film The Mouse that Roared, starring Peter Sellers, in which they come to own a bomb that can destroy the planet.
Lord Byron thought this 'the most beautiful encounter between the land and the sea' Untouched by modernity, Cetinje has a similar filmic, fairytale appeal. Its population is barely 20,000 yet, between 1878 and 1918, it was Montenegro's capital. It is a town that invites you to wander – past fading facades and along tree-lined avenues, all steeped in an ambience of sublime tranquillity.
Before the country was swallowed up by Yugoslavia, the great powers wooed it with emissaries and embassies.
The latter are still here – almost a dozen of them, cute and comical, pinpointed by helpful maps in the town centre.
The French example is a rather grand fin-de-siècle affair (now part of the national library), the British (these days the University of Montenegro's music department) is a lovely pink-coloured building with a tarnished coat of arms above the door, and the Bulgarian is a modest restaurant.
The former embassies in Citenje; clockwise from top left, Ottoman, Italian, British, Russian, Bulgarian and French
I walked and walked and – a very happy hiker in this leafy corner of the Adriatic, keen to find the quiet heart of the place – continued to walk, through forest glades into the pretty town of Rijeka Crnojevica, where a splendid old stone bridge stepped delicately over the little river Crnojevic in three loopy spans.
It was impossible to stroll by the The Stari Most cafe/restaurant and not stop – even if the young waiter with the sculpted physique and impressive height wore a bored expression that suggested the Communists had never left. The outdoor tables and delightful view of the bridge implored me to stay awhile, as did the excellent food: a plate of local cheese and ham, then fish soup, made from lake-caught carp out of nearby Lake Scutari.
Laid back Rijeka Crnojevica, a gateway to boat trips on Lake Skadar. Photos My Bathroom Wall
I could have idled for hours in this bucolic throwback, but I'd arranged for a boat to return me to the spot where I had parked the car. The said vessel arrived at the appointed time, and down the river I drifted, to the gentle thrum of the old tub's diesel as it followed a channel of water through a lake of giant lilies. With a mountainous backdrop and cormorants flick-diving in the foreground, it felt as if the 20th century had yet to arrive, let alone the 21st.
A boat trip on Lake Skadar, before an impromptu swim. Photos My Bathroom Wall
Suddenly a large hand grasped my shoulder, shocking me back to the present, and the old boatman wheezed, 'You want swim?'
I had no bathing trunks – I was wearing khaki shorts – but I jumped at the chance and, my man having tied up at a landing stage, I leapt in. Lulled by the lunch, I bobbed about in waters that were deliciously cool and reviving, savouring a Montenegro that might not exist in a couple of years. The poet (and celebrated swimmer) Lord Byron called this part of the world 'the most beautiful encounter between the land and the sea' – and, for the moment at least, it very well might be. But go now, before boatmen stop offering unscheduled swims just because it's a beautiful day.
I travelled as a guest of HF Holidays. Other tour operators to try include UK-based Headwater Holidays, Authentic Adventures, and the The Natural Adventure Company. For more information see Visit Montenegro
A long distance train journey is an easy way to lift a simple city break trip into altogether more rewarding. Often cheap and comfortable, a long train ride shows off the sweep of a region's scenery. Onboard life has a rhythm to it; talking to locals, to other travellers, finding the buffet, and washing.
An Indian train journey is hard to beat for its atmosphere, but there are great options in throughout Europe, the Caucases, South East Asia and beyond. And then there is the buttock and brain-numbing, yet brilliant experience of the Trans Siberian Express.
St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, and the compartment of a 'local' train from Moscow to Perm. Photos My Bathroom Wall
Flickering past the train window are birch trees and patches of spring snow. And this ever-changing yet never changing scenery has become the surprising highlight of my time on the Trans Siberian Express. It's slow travel at its best, where the chief thrill is the journey itself: the cosy carriages, on board camaraderie, and the constant edging forward across the vastness of Russia.
The whole trip from Moscow to Beijing is a journey of 4,736 miles, which takes six days on an 'ordinary' through train, or 16 days on the Tsar's Gold tourist train, which makes sightseeing stops along the way.
This German-run 'cruising on wheels' experience is for people who don't fancy tackling the language barrier on regular Russian trains, or don't have the £9,600 one-way fare for the most luxurious train on the route.
I boarded the Tsar's Gold train in Yekaterinburg, just east of the Ural Mountains, for a three-night ride to Irkutsk, not really knowing what to expect.
Cities soon give way to ramshackled wooden villages, and trees. Photo My Bathroom Wall
We chugged out of the city and passing the tiny kitchen at the end of the carriage, I entered the toasty dining car and began meeting the jolly group of about 20 English speakers. Most passengers on the train are German, but the 'English' group on this trip were Brits, Danes, Dutch, Italians, Americans, and a Spaniard. We were together for meals and tours.
It was nice to warm through, eat a hearty meal of fish salad, cabbage soup, and 'beef in Russian Monastic Manner', and move on from the gloomy spots that I'd visited before boarding in Yekaterinburg. In 1918, Tsar Nikolas and his family were shot, mutilated, and then dumped down a well there.
I learnt that it wasn't just the imperial family who's enforced journey eastwards was doomed, when after dinner, Larissa, the guide for us English speakers gave her evening talk on Siberia.
"It's been a place of exile for 300 years, with perhaps 21 million inmates passing through the gulags in total", said sparky Larissa. The majority of people were sent east during Stalin's time, when he expanded the isolated prison camps. "Even on the trains" said Larissa, "There were gun emplacements on the top of the carriages and hooks underneath to kill anyone trying to escape".
I wouldn't fancy anyone's chances in this wilderness. Between the cities there was barely a sign of life; save for a meagre hut or two close by the train tracks every few hours.
Typical Siberian homestead, silver birch forests, and sunrise east of Novosibirsk. Photos My Bathroom Wall
I'd imagined that the size of towns would grow smaller and cuter as the train trundled further into Siberia, but Novosibirsk, the first stop after Yekaterinburg and 2,000 miles east of Moscow, was big and bombastic. Soviet era buildings here included the country's largest opera house and a prominent Lenin statue flanked by five heroic workers.
The imposing train station at Novosibirsk, 3,385 kilometres east of Moscow. Photo My Bathroom Wall
At Krasnoyarsk, while other passengers were having a city tour, I asked train manager Hans for a peek in all the carriages. Squeezing past a large man with a small vacuum cleaner, I entered the Classic category of cabin - a basic compartment with two bench seats that convert to four bunks, with shared toilets at either end of the carriage. It costs about £4,000 one-way per person.
"All of our classes include the same meals, and sightseeing", said Hans, as we moved briskly down the corridor. The windows of the Nostalgia cabin, with one shower shared between two cabins, were being cleaned inside and out – "so our guests can always take good photographs", he explained. At the front of the train were swish modern Bolshoi Class compartments with double beds and an en suit toilet and shower.
Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake, Siberia. Photo My Bathroom Wall
I caught up with the group walking towards the city with local guide Irena. Siberia may conjure an empty freezing wasteland to us, but almost 25 million people live here, in an area about the size of China.
Down by the river promenade, the spring sun was enlivening everyone's spirits. Sitting on the open deck of a large pleasure boat I fell into a backslapping beer-fuelled chat with some young Russian lads about football and pop music.
On my last night aboard the train I returned to my compartment tipsy from a robust vodka tasting evening with Larissa and the group. I fell asleep wondering if she had really said that Tsar Peter the Great had made dancing and moustaches compulsory?
We joked as the train approached Irkutsk – "yes Peter the Great really did that" beamed Larissa. Then after my 100-hour stint on the train, I popped back to the compartment for a last stare into the birch forests.
The monotony had become magical, the carriages homely, and several of the group were now friends. What a cracking experience, and what a wrench to leave for my six-hour flight back to Moscow.
I travelled as a guest of The Russia Experience
Some practical advice...
There are several Trans Siberian Express train services. They run along a series of tracks that that were started in 1891 and instigated by the Tsar Nicolas, who wanted to connect his imperial capital in Moscow with his eastern port of Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan. Over the years branch lines were built to connect Russia's far east to Mongolia and China - Moscow to Beijing via Russia's east is called the Trans Manchurian Route, and dipping south sooner through Ulan Baatar is the Trans Mongolian route.
Which route to take? Well for me there's a strong pull from the historic and original 6,000-mile route from Moscow to Vladivostok, but aside from its location at the end of the line, Vladivostok has little going for it in a tourist sense.
However, the most popular tourist routes by far are from Moscow to Beijing, which allows you to visit another of the world's great imperial capitals. A whole week on a train is a bit much for anyone, and on the trip above I only travelled east as far as Irkutsk. The scenery to is monotonous east from Moscow, but it perks up considerably - so I'm told - on the Beijing route through the Gobi Desert, but still you'll be cooped in a small cabin with few creature comforts, and dreadful coffee.
Most people make a couple of stopovers; in Irkutsk for Lake Baikal, and Ulan Bataar for the Terelj National Park.
What type of train? This question sort of answers itself once you see the price of the private trains. They are run to a very high standard, with sightseeing at each stop, all meals and a good guide to passenger ratio, but you are looking at about £11,000pp, without flights at either end.
On the other hand, a trip on the regular train starts from about £1,300pp, with two nights accommodation in Moscow, three in Irkutsk and three in Ulaanbaatar.
Tour operators offering the posh Trans Siberian private trains include Regent Holidays and Steppes Travel. For the option of the ordinary 'local' trains, or the private tourist trains, there's the Russia Experience or On The Go Tours.
You won't have to take instant coffee, powdered milk, and a mug – well advised on the regular passenger trains – if you splash out on the Golden Eagle or Tsar's Gold luxury tourist trains of course. They run just a few times per year, but offer comfortable 2-berth cabins (some even en suit) and off train sightseeing, air conditioning, and smart bar and restaurant cars.


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A Little Loco...
Just the ramblings of a crazy Mom of two beautiful girls (and YaYa to many children that I adore) navigating through my snafu'd life. This blog is my way of 'clearing the cobwebs' and trying to maintain my sanity.
I have a chaotic life full of kids, rebuilding after our house burnt, coffee, my best girls, mornings in my breezeway, blogging, a full time job, screaming kids, laundry, remodeling, Asperger's/OCD Big'K, mowing, taking the trash out, Bipolar w/psychosis and RAD Lil'K, a crazy family, more kids thrown in the mix, bad plumbing, laughing until I pee my pants, electrical malfunctions, and everything else the Big G thinks He needs to throw at me on this ride we call life, all the while trying to survive being a single mother. Because let's face it...every day that I wake up, I am outnumbered!
my brain says right now stay where i am. upgrade within google. and go from there. but the 'i want my stuff to grow' says head to word press. have you moved? did you make a huge blog switch? what was your motivation?
my MLC happened in the beginning of my 30's. the dreaded thirtieth birthday. was not a big deal for me. so many people have it as a milestone. one that brings distress. not me. i was happy to finally be 30. in my family that means you are grown. you no longer have to sit at the kids table during the holidays. i was happy to be 30. but for me it was filled with distress of another sort. i was suffering from post partum depression. it had me by the throat. and the mind. it was taking over. and then it happened. my MLC. i was an adult. i was a single mother with two children. i had bills. and all of a sudden i had realized. i was in over my head. and my shoulders bent a little too much. i broke. i had broken the same way a couple of years after Big'K was born. i guess i just was tired of all the responsibility. i think that is why men buy fast cars. to escape without actually going anywhere. maybe that is why people stray from their marriages. for the thrill. for something out of the normal. for the escape. it took me a long time to get my escape. my escape was not a fast car or a stray. it was last year. it was that twentieth year. can you have three midlife crisis'? when does that stop? i think it stops when you finally heal. when you are out of crisis. i think for everyone that is something different. for me it was that year. and something snapped. in a good way. it was fixed. the PPD is no longer kicking me in the ass daily. the grief that i had carried for so long had started to slough off a layer at a time. like an onion. i was starting to peel away. layers at a time. but underneath...there was not an onion core. there are pieces of something better. an apple. or strawberry. or kiwi. or hell maybe a lemon. i am not sure. there are so many colors showing through. so many textures coming to light.
with all the change something strange has happened. i would say fourth time is a charm...but this is not a crisis. things have changed. i am still a mother. i still have bills. things are not always good. but that is ok. Big'K will start high school at the end of summer. my child with more acronyms than letters in her name. my child that is so awkward socially will head to the mecca of social issues. high school. my child with no organization. will head to term papers and tons of homework. the one that does not care if she stinks or if her ass crack shows. will head to the root of all 'stick-out-in-a-crowd' evil. what do i do? do i let her homeschool herself through high school so that i can hide her from that? do i hold her close and keep her safe? my heart aches. Lil'K will head to second grade. at a school that i am not sure can handle or contain her. my little stick of dynamite in a bubble gum wrapper. my child who rapid cycles so quickly between happy and rage. second grade where kids start to find lifelong friends. where strange things set you apart. weird actions can begin to determine your status. where kids get labeled weird and strange and crazy. what do i do? do i move to find a therapeutic day school that can suit her? my heart aches. i am 36 and have done the same job since 1996. but i can no longer work in that job because i am not degreed or certified. approaching 40 i will have to change careers if i plan on ever making enough money for us to survive. to live. what do i do? move? pick up everything and change? jobs? homes? latitude? my heart aches.
even with the ache. even with the pain. everything will be ok. because this is life. this life that we think bends us till we break. this is what it is. it is pain. it is joy. it is more importantly finding the joy midst the pain. not being scared. releasing the fear. people in this life that are happy...that walk around with a smile. that is their secret. they have released the fear. they have accepted. and now...i find myself in the middle of it. another step.
my mid life acceptance.
i will accept that things are not always fun. or happy. or even sane. i will accept that there will be pain. but i will try to find the joy. i will accept that sometimes people need a change in latitude. to fix their attitude. and that very well may be what ends up happening.
Loco YaYa's Snafu'd World
Just a mom of two kids. Big K and Lil K. Who make me loco on a daily basis. I have a ton of other kids that call me 'YaYa'. They are my 'stray cats' as my great aunt refers to them. Once you start feeding them they won't go away...and apparently i'm a great cook!
The things I say will not always make sense. I am funny. I am sarcastic. I am educated. (Sometimes I forget this and the ghettoredneckcoonass comes out. I cannot help it. Hushitup!) I am a smartass. I do not sleep a lot. I may be off color at times. I am also harmless. You may not get my style and that is not my fault. This blog is not meant to be anything other than my thoughts. What I say belongs to me and at the end of the day...it's just words. Get over yourself. If you are offended, go away. You have been warned...
Blog Archive
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D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD Camera
Watch the video from D-Link
Omna 180 Cam HD
[Omna Logo]
[Music Plays]
SoundWizard "Point of View"
[Father uses phone to set up camera]
Set up in Seconds
120¢X Angle Camera
180¢X Wide-Angle with 1080p Full HD
[Notification sound]
Motion Dectection
Works with other HomeKit enabled devices
Local Recording
microSD card not included. Accepts microSD cards up to 128GB
Night vision
[Father showing mother how to share HomeKit access]
Share HomeKit Access
[Father at office]
[Father uses two-way audio to speak to mother and daughter at home]
Two-way audio
Hello guys
Hey it's daddy, Hi!
[Product image]
Omna 180 Cam HD
[D-Link Logo, www.dlink.com/omna]
The D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD camera combines D-Link's deep knowledge of IP surveillance devices with the easy usability of Apple HomeKit technology. Its elegant, stylish design fits effortlessly into your home, while delivering a full suite of high-end features such as a 180-degree wide angle lens, Full HD 1080p resolution, two-way audio, night vision, and a microSD card slot.
The 180-degree wide-angle lens can capture an entire room using just one camera, and Full HD 1080p resolution allows you to see every little detail. Infra-red LEDs are hidden in plain sight behind the black bands on either side of the lens, providing night vision up to 16 feet (5 meters), even in complete darkness. You can also access the Omna 180 Cam HD directly from the Home app on your iPhone or iPad*. Or you can simply use the free Omna app for more control and advanced settings—you'll receive instant notifications no matter where you are.
See your home from an entirely new perspective with the 180-degree wide-angle view
Full HD 1080p resolution for sharp images that display every detail
Record video clips with sound to microSD card to play back later (microSD card sold separately)
Receive alerts and record video clips whenever motion is detected*
Enjoy crisp and clear two-way communication using the camera's built-in microphone and speaker
Night vision lets you see up to 16 feet (5 meters) in the dark
What's in the Box
D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD Camera (DSH-C310)
Power adapter
Quick installation guide
Tech Specs
Other Features: HomeKit Compatible, Wireless
Connections: Wireless
Power Source: AC, External power supply
Height: 5.2 in./13.2 cm
Length: 2.28 in./5.8 cm
Width: 2.28 in./5.8 cm.
Weight: 8.18 oz./232 g
System Requirements
Operating System: iOS 10.1 or later
Manufacturer Information
Part Number
UPC or EAN No.: 790069430534
Note: Products sold through this website that do not bear the Apple Brand name are serviced and supported exclusively by their manufacturers in accordance with terms and conditions packaged with the products. Apple's Limited Warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if packaged or sold with Apple products. Please contact the manufacturer directly for technical support and customer service. The documentation and packaging for this product is in English.
Manufacturer Note
*To control this D-Link Omna 180 Cam automatically and away from home requires an Apple TV with tvOS 10.1 or later or an iPad with iOS 10.1 or later to act as a Home Hub. You will also need an iPhone or iPad with iOS 10.1 or later.
iPhone Models
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone SE
iPad Models
- iPad Air (3rd generation)
- iPad mini (5th generation)
- iPad Pro 11-inch
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation)
- iPad Pro 10.5-inch
- iPad (7th generation)
- iPad (6th generation)
- iPad (5th generation)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation)
- iPad Pro 9.7-inch
- iPad mini 4
- iPad Air 2
Apple TV Models
HomePod Models
- HomePod
iPod Models
Answers from the community
Does it work with mydlink application -or only Homekit?
- Asked by Bo A from bath
- on 07-Sep-2018
Haven't tried "mydlink". It has a proprietary "OMNA" app for specific settings. Also works with Home Haven't tried "mydlink". It has a proprietary "OMNA" app for specific settings. Also works with HomeKit
- Answered by Aaron V from Croydon
- on 29-Dec-2018
can I connect more then 1 phone to the D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD Camera
- Asked by Leon B from Southbank
- on 26-May-2017
Best Answer:
If you set this up for HomeKit using the Home app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 10 or later the If you set this up for HomeKit using the Home app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 10 or later then it's available to all your iOS/watchOS devices using the same iCloud account, and anyone else you share access to your Home(Kit enabled home) with.
- Answered by Jeremy E from Christchurch
- on 25-Jun-2017
If motion is detected when away from home, does video image record onto iPhone as well
- Asked by nicholas P from Bournemouth
- on 09-Apr-2017
does it work with mydlink application?
- Asked by Magdi M from Auckland
- on 16-Dec-2017
Compatibility: Requires iOS 10.0 or later.
You are always home with the Omna 180 Cam HD, which gives you a 180-degree view of your home in crisp 1080p Full HD. Omna brings a new perspective to your home through its trendy but discreet design. Simply smart, the camera is state of the art and easy to set up, operate and manage. Omna is derived from the Latin "omnis" meaning all, every, all-encompassing – and indeed, the Omna camera can see e verything, wherever you place it in your home. Control your Omna camera with the free Omna app and get a live view of your home, receive alerts when motion is detected, watch motion-triggered video playbacks, and use your camera's two-way audio function.
- 180-Degree Field of View – D-Link's unique 180-degree solutions and de-warping technology allow you to see just about everywhere and everything.
- Dynamic Video Streaming – The video bitrate continuously adjusts to ensure optimal performance given the available bandwidth.
- Two-Way Audio – Listen and speak using the camera's built-in microphone and speaker, so you can still make your presence known even when you're not at home.
- Night Vision – See up to 5 meters in complete darkness with infrared night vision.
- Motion Detection – Receive motion detection alerts and view motion detection-triggered video clips to know what's going on at home.
- Local Recording – Record motion detection-triggered video clips directly to a microSDXC card up to 128 GB. Offers more flexibility on recording video locally to the camera without impacting network or Internet bandwidth, all with no recurring monthly fees. …


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Parking problems. Gary M. Cademar-tori, Newark staff accountant, phoned his wife, Pat: "I'll be home late. My car was just hit by an airplane in the Bendix parking lot." It all happened one afternoon when Gary was on assignment at the Eclipse Pioneer Division of Bendix in Teter-boro, New Jersey. A single-engine private plane used for instruction was approaching the Teterboro runway for a landing. The approach pattern is over one of the Bendix plants, which is directly opposite the runway. A girl student pilot was at the controls. The first inkling of impending disaster occurred when a 60-year-old Bendix employee who was facing the plane's approach noticed it heading directly for the building and him. The agile gentleman established a new course record for the Bendix aisleway from the window to the rear. The plane engine faded out. The pilot crash-landed the plane on its nose with the help of her instructor and one rabbit's foot. The plane landed in one of the Bendix parking lots between a row of cars just 20 feet from the general accounting section where Gary and other H&S staff accountants were working. Gary raced to the window and saw that he was double parked next to an airplane. The only damage to his car was a dented rear panel and some scratches. The total casualty list: 10 cars, uncounted shattered nerves and one smudged lipstick. Bepairs were made on the lipstick before the pilot left the cockpit. Help for the layman. Do financial reports mystify any of your friends— your wife, for instance? Here are two publications that are particularly good at explaining financial statements to the uninitiated: "Understanding Financial Statements" (write for Small Business Advisory Service, Vol. 7, No. 11, Bank of America, San Francisco, California 94120). "How to Bead a Financial Report," originally written with the help of Harold V. Petrillo, H&S partner (write to Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 70 Pine Street, New York, N. Y. 10005). We Scene Outstanding alumnus. Recently transferred to the Executive Office, partner Michael N. Chetkovich has been named first "Outstanding Alumnus of the Year" by the Schools of Business at the University of California in Berkeley. Chosen by a faculty committee, Mr. Chetkovich was honored "in recognition of service to and interest in the accounting program of the Schools, and on the basis of personal achievement as an accountant." This award, to be made annually, will be recorded on a plaque in the offices of the Schools. Automated tax returns. This spring 31 Haskins & Sells offices in the U. S. were assisted by computers in the preparation of clients' personal income tax returns. The project is still quite experimental. With the bugs worked out, however, it could be most effective. T. Milton Kupfer, Executive Office partner responsible for coordinating the Firm's tax practice, explained: "After the needed data is carefully analyzed and classified by us, it is fed into the computer, which delivers a return completely filled out in print." Was each return then ready to go to the Internal Bevenue Service? "Well," said Mr. Kupfer with a wry smile, "we did check each return—just to make certain we got back what we sent in." Cash awards for DPH&S papers. The Executive Office has announced the completion of plans to make at least one cash award each year for papers by authors on the staff of Deloitte, Plender, Haskins & Sells offices. "For the past twelve years," said an E.O. letter to partners-in-charge of DPH&S offices, "we have been making annual cash awards for the best papers presented before audiences or published in journals by members of Haskins & Sells staff. . . . Of the papers prepared by staff members eligible for an award during any year, a number are published in our annual volume of Selected Papers. This book also includes papers prepared by some of our partners and, from time to time, articles prepared by DPH&S personnel when these have come to our attention. . . . "We believe," the letter continued, "that Selected Papers would be a more useful volume if it led our readers to a better understanding of accounting thought in other countries as well as our own and that this objective could be achieved, at least in substantial part, if a greater number of papers by DPH&S authors were included." The amounts of the awards for the best papers "would be within the dollar range of the awards made each year to H&S staff members." The H&S awards for papers published or delivered between October 1, 1965, and September 30, 1966, were $750, $500, $300 and $200. 9 Copyrighted -- License from Black Star


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The Diamonds are a plot element featured in Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony where in they are involved in many scenarios also involving the protagonists, Niko Bellic, Johnny Klebitz and Luis Fernando Lopez as well as many others. Detailed below are the many different scenarios that take place involving the diamonds and the different people that gain possession of them each time. The diamonds are the main purpose which led to the Impossible Trinity in GTA IV and Diamonds Forever in TBoGT achievements/trophies. Diamonds also appear in Grand Theft Auto Online, however, no longer as a major plot and they only play a minor role since they only appear in a mission.
Nobody who struggled for the diamonds ever owned them permanently. From the beginning, the diamonds were stolen property, originally belonging to Ray Bulgarin. Almost everybody involved with the diamonds was at some point killed. Below are the consequences of the people that stole and owned them. The consequences are based on the storyline.
Sometime before the events of the Grand Theft Auto IV saga, The Cook had stolen the diamonds from Ray Bulgarin. He then smuggles the diamonds by hiding them in cake batter, and brings them into Liberty City inside the Platypus, which is also bringing in Niko Bellic.
Eventually, Anthony "Gay Tony" Prince, his boyfriend Evan Moss and Luis Fernando Lopez met with The Cook to buy the diamonds. However, Pegorino Family capo Ray Boccino discovered the transaction was taking place and sent Johnny Klebitz and other members of The Lost Brotherhood to crash the meet and steal them.
After buying the diamonds, Luis notices Johnny approaching and bundled Tony into a limousine, while shouting to Evan, who was holding the diamonds, to get them to Maisonette 9. Johnny sent numerous Lost members after Luis and Tony while he chased Evan. Luis and Tony managed to fend off the bikers, but Evan is caught by Johnny and killed, and the diamonds are taken from him. Johnny followed Ray's orders to hide the diamonds in two trash bags, which would later be collected by Niko Bellic, Luca Silvestri, Johnny Barbosa and Joseph DiLeo while disguised as trashmen.
Niko left Luca with the diamonds as instructed, however Luca and his crew plotted to steal them and flee to Las Venturas. Niko soon caught them before they left and killed them all in Middle Park, before taking the diamonds back and returning them to Boccino.
Around the same time, the McReary Family had Niko kidnap Ancelotti's daughter Gracie, the original intention being to extort money directly from the old man by holding her at ransom.
Eventually, Ray struck a deal to sell the diamonds to the Jewish Mob. He sent Niko and Johnny to The Libertonian museum to finish the deal and sell the diamonds to representatives, Isaac Roth and Mori Green.
Gay Tony got wind of the deal at the Libertonian and sent Luis Lopez to ambush it. Luis managed to get a vantage point from a window overlooking the spot where the deal takes place and kills Green along with two other Jewish Mob enforcers. The deal breaks up and chaos unfurls as Johnny snatches the money and Isaac takes the diamonds. A lengthy shootout occurs which culminates in the death of most Jewish Mob enforcers, Luis knocking out Isaac to steal the diamonds, Johnny getting away with the money and Niko coming out with nothing.
Because Johnny stole the money, Ray sends Niko to kill Johnny's best friend, Jim Fitzgerald, after failing to do so himself. Johnny is then attacked by numerous groups of hitmen but manages to survive, only to be told by Ashley Butler that Jim had indeed been killed. Johnny was then advised by acquaintance; congressman Thomas Stubbs to stay away from Ray, as Stubbs correctly predicted that Ray would be either be dead or in jail within a month, foreshadowing Ray being killed by Niko Bellic on the orders of Jimmy Pegorino.
After regaining consciousness subsequent to the deal, Isaac Roth fled to his base at the Majestic Hotel and began accusing Ray of setting up the deal in order rip him off and keep both the diamonds and the money. Isaac threatens to have Ray killed, so Ray promptly sends Niko to the Majestic to finish off Isaac and his associates. After doing this, Niko refuses to do any more work for Ray.
Prior to ambushing the diamond sale at The Libertonian, Luis had been working for Ray Bulgarin, who had arrived to the city to find and try to kill Niko Bellic with the aid of Dimitri Rascalov. After learning that Luis and Tony had gotten hold of the diamonds, Bulgarin sent Luis to an ambush at a rooftop, where he found The Cook's severed head and was then attacked by several of Bulgarin's hitmen, forcing him to shoot his way out.
With Gracie Ancelotti still being held at ransom, the Pegorinos soon came up with a plan to get the diamonds back from Tony and Luis. They planned to coax Tony into giving up the diamonds for Gracie herself. The McRearies cooperated (having been offered a cut of the diamond money), and after the Ancelottis failed to get Gracie back by force, they gave in and agreed to exchange the diamonds. Luis and Tony, who were facing death threats from Gracie's father, were sent to represent the Ancelottis. Niko and his friend Packie McReary met with them on Charge Island. The deal would have gone to plan if not for the interruption of Bulgarin, who was looking once again to retrieve his diamonds and kill both Luis and Niko.
Bulgarin ordered his men to attack the exchange and kill everyone, in order to retrieve the diamonds. Luis, Tony and Gracie quickly fled the scene, but Niko and Packie cut down many of Bulgarin's men and chased the one holding the diamonds. When Niko and Packie cornered him, he drops them into a truck to ensure that nobody could have them, reasoning that Bulgarin would have later killed him if he was to give them up. Ultimately, Niko and Packie leave empty-handed, with Niko mentioning that the diamonds were more trouble than they were worth.
A short while later, Luis was walking through Meadows Park to meet with Tony, shortly after killing Bulgarin aboard his private jet. He accidentally bumped into the homeless Jerry Kapowitz, who fell to the ground into a pile of trash. After apologizing and helping Jerry up, Luis continued on, but Jerry noticed that amongst the spilt trash, lay the small pouch of diamonds. He examined them before running off, laughing with glee.
According to a Liberty Tree report, over 100 people contested Jerry and claimed ownership of the diamonds, but Mayor Julio Ochoa finally allowed Jerry to keep the money made from selling them. He later bought a mansion in Alderney, and also planned to move to Vice City and open a gun and liquor store.
Mission Appearances
The following missions are sorted in chronological order of the timeline.
- The Cousins Bellic (GTA IV) - Examined by The Cook, before being hidden in a batch of cake mix.
- Diamonds in the Rough (TLAD) and Frosting on the Cake (TBoGT) - In Diamonds in the Rough, Johnny Klebitz, with the help of the Lost MC, ambushes the deal between The Cook, Luis Fernando Lopez, Gay Tony and Evan Moss; he sends his boys for Luis and Tony, while he chases Evan, killing him and stealing the Diamonds on the orders of Ray Boccino. He then hides the diamonds in trash bags. In Frosting on the Cake, Luis Lopez uses Sticky Bombs to kill the bikers and LCPD and escape with Gay Tony. Towards the end of the mission, Evan is revealed to be dead from a Bleeter.biz post reading "Cornered by bikerz. Eugh. Eugh. Eugh. 2 young 2 die."
- Taking in the Trash (GTA IV) - Niko Bellic, with the help of Luca Silvestri and his crew, on the orders of Ray Boccino, picks up the diamonds Johnny hid in the trash. After evading a pursuing Oracle, Niko, assuming Luca will give the diamonds to Ray, leaves them with him.
- Meltdown (GTA IV) - It is revealed that Luca and his crew stole the Diamonds in Taking in the Trash, so Ray orders Niko to steal them and get them back to him. Niko does, killing Luca and his crew (although Ray complains that he did not tell Niko to do so) and gives the diamonds back to Ray.
- Museum Piece (GTA IV), Collector's Item (TLAD) and Not So Fast (TBoGT) - Ray sends Niko and Johnny to trade the diamonds with the Jewish Mob, who planned to buy the diamonds for $2,000,000 at the Libertonian. The deal is soon ambushed by Luis Lopez, killing several of the mob and Mori Green. Johnny steals the money and flees the museum, then gives the money to Jim Fitzgerald for safekeeping. At the same time, Niko flees the museum, killing many of the mob members and escaping the cops. Meanwhile, Luis knocks out Isaac Roth (later killed by Niko), who was carrying the diamonds and, using Yusuf Amir's Buzzard, escapes the cops and gives them to Gay Tony.
- Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (GTA IV) and Ladies Half Price (TBoGT) - Niko Bellic and Packie McReary have kidnapped Gracie Ancelotti, and have demanded the diamonds for her to be handed over. Giovanni Ancelotti threatened to kill Luis and Tony if they did not rescue his daughter, so the deal proceeds. At the deal, Gracie is returned, but Ray Bulgarin and his men prevent Niko and Packie from getting the diamonds. While Luis, Gracie, and Tony escaped on a boat, Niko and Packie can only watch as one of Bulgarin's men drops the diamonds into a passing truck. They immediately gun down the rest of Bulgarin's men and escape empty-handed.
- Departure Time (TBoGT) - Jerry Kapowitz finds them in a pile of trash, and is later allowed by the Mayor to keep them.
- Diamonds are for Trevor (GTA Online) - Trevor Philips sends up to four players to steal diamonds at Paleto Bay and deliver them down the Calafia Bridge.
- In the GTA IV trinity, everybody who touched or held the diamonds besides Niko, Luis, Tony, and Jerry Kapowitz have been killed. Ironically, Jerry Kapowitz was not involved with them in any way, and never even knew of their existence, but was eventually the one to have them for himself. The following are the people who touched the diamonds and died in order: Evan Moss, Joseph DiLeo, John Barbosa, Luca Silvestri, Mori Green, Isaac Roth, The Cook, Bulgarin's henchman (who throws them onto a truck), Ray Boccino, and Ray Bulgarin. Although Johnny Klebitz survived the events of GTA IV and its episodes, he was killed five years later by Trevor Philips. With the exception of The Cook (killed by Ray Bulgarin), all of these people have been killed by either Niko Bellic, Johnny Klebitz, or Luis Fernando Lopez.
- Where the diamonds ended up is not chronologically correct. On the Liberty Tree website, the diamonds were supposedly heading to the dump (after which one of Bulgarin's men threw them onto the back of a truck). However, Jerry Kapowitz finds them in the trash at the Monoglobe in Meadows Park. Either they were somehow transported to the bin, or it is a minor retcon.
- The diamonds are very similar plot devices compared to the Heroin:
- They are worth a lot of money, and both are stated to be worth around 2 million.
- They appear in, and play a plot role in the first three of the HD Universe games.
- Virtually all of the people who came into contact/possession with the Heroin ended up killed.
- The difference between the two is that the heroin was destroyed.
- The role of the diamonds throughout the events of the games are similar to that of the 2000 crime comedy movie Snatch in which almost all who come in contact with the diamonds are either incarcerated or killed and the diamonds end up with someone who happened to stumble on them by chance, the main difference is that in GTA they are several small diamonds where with Snatch it is one big diamond.
- The way The Cook holds the diamonds up to the screen in the first cutscene of GTA IV is the same way Jerry Kapowitz holds them up to the screen in the last cutscene of TBoGT,book ending them and bringing the story of them to a conclusion.


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Edge or Edgy: The Clash of Two Game Makers - Update
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Edge or Edgy: The Clash of Two Game Makers - Update
Tim Langdell's litigious defense of his "Edge" trademark has made him the target of much scorn, but the uncomfortable truth is that he has a legitimate case.
Interesting to hear another side of the story, certainly after Tim Langdell even got a lot of serious hate from the Escapist community.
I just don't understand how you can own a word thats in the dictionary. a word or conglomeration of words like Starwars or The Elder Scrolls is fine because they are actually names. proper nouns created by a company... but how can you own a word like edge or duck or tree. that would be like owning the word fire and making every jrpg maker pay you to use name fire magic thus.
this is not directed at the company or the man in question... just a general query about trademarking.
I'm sure the Edge "Racers" and "Mirrors" games advertised on Edge Gaming's site don't help their cause at all:
http://www.the--edge.com/edgegames/racers.htm (linked from http://www.edgegames.com/)
The flash app on the Edge site, and their upcoming games list have a game called "Mirrors". As in, Mirror's Edge, which I think was one of the "transgressions" mentioned towards the beginning of this fiasco.
The whole thing just smells. Having legit products around it doesn't make the company any less shady or more right, it just makes it harder to dig out the scheming from the legal entanglement around it.
Email tennis from me and Mr. Langdell:
Do not believe the lies you read on the Internet about Edge Games. Edge has never taken a cent from any company for trademark rights. It has only sued one company in 30 years and withdrew that complaint when the parties reached an amicable resolution that did NOT involve Edge being paid any money. The dispute with Mobigame is over with Apple making the decision Mobigame were in the wrong to use our mark EDGE. Mobigame did not pay us any money and we did not demand money from Mobigame (do not believe the faked emails you see posted on the Internet that suggest otherwise).
Obviously if you have made up your mind that Mobigame is in the right and Edge is in the wrong then there is nothing I can say that will change your mind. But I will make a couple of comments and invite you to think these points through. First, it has nothing to do with Mobigame benefiting from the company EDGE. If someone -- anyone -- uses your registered trademark mark then the law says you *have to* stop them (or get them to license the use from you) or you will lose your trademark rights. That is how the law works, Edge Games didnt invent that law, its just the way it is. So if your best friend uses your trademark in the same type of product you have to take action just as much as if some huge faceless conglomerate used your trademark. When Edge discovered it was a small indie developer with their first game that had used Edge's registered trademark Edge thought long and hard before doing anything since Edge had no interest in taking action against a fellow indie game developer. But Edge Games took legal advice and was told it had to at least send a Cease & Desist letter to Mobigames (which is all it did -- it never demanded money). Additionally, a very large game publisher with whom Edge was having a trademark dispute informed Edge that if it allowed *any* other game company -- small or large -- to use the registered mark Edge then it would have to permit that large company to use it too. Thus that company's pressure on Edge meant it was forced to contact Mobigame and ask them to stop using the name "Edge".
As to trademarking a common name, it is frequently done and Edge is entirely right to trademark and protect "EDGE" and "THE EDGE". Many other common names are trademarked - Apple, Blackberry, Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Take 2, etc etc. And of course EDGE is trademarked for the Future magazine "Edge" (which no one seems to have an objection to ...) and Ford for car "Edge" and S.C Johnson for the "Edge" shaving gel. Yes, you could even trademark "Middle" if you used it enough and it became associated with the goods you sell. Remember, Edge Games and its licensees have sold over $5billion of games and other goods with the Edge and The Edge and other Edge trademarks so it cost a lot of money over the past 30 years to build up the trademark rights Edge has in "EDGE".
As to the timing: yes it is unfortunate that Edge Games did not hear about Mobigame's game until shortly after it was launched on iTunes. But to be fair, the soonest Edge might have heard about it was shortly before when it won awards and so the soonest Edge could have contacted Mobigame was after it had already won the award. In addition, a company cannot really take action for trademark infringement until the other company actually *uses* the mark -- so Edge would have had to wait until after the game went live on iTunes anyway. Last, all Mobigame had to do back in April was rename the game (to EDGY or whatever else they chose) and they would have been off iTunes for perhaps a few days at most. Why Mobigame refuse to change the name of their game even now that Apple decided their use was wrong and the US trademark office decided their application for the mark "EDGE" was not acceptable, is a great puzzlement to many people.
You have no idea how much your image would benefit if you gave up the rights as a "charitable offering". As I said, if you used a non-standard English word for your company's name, i.e, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Microsoft, words that can be trademarked without furore, and where, if used by someone else, is definitley breach of trademark.
MobiGames were legally in the wrong, I know, there's nothing I can do to change or deny that, but morally, and technically, they meant no harm.
As to Mobigame not meaning to do harm. I disagree that Mobigame were innocent in this. David Papazian has now confirmed in several ways that last year BEFORE HE NAMED THE GAME he did thorough research in the trademark registries and saw that Edge Games owned the rights in THE EDGE, and that it has registrations for EDGE on its own in process, but thought he could get away with using the name Edge anyway. That was naive and he should have got a lawyers advice who would have told him his idea was very dangerous. But given he researched Edge Games ownership of the mark Edge and STILL went ahead and used it, I don't agree that he morally or technically meant no harm. He just thought he could get away with infringing Edge Games rights, did it with eyes wide open, and then was angry he got caught.
Again, Edge Games is entirely within its rights to use a common word and to protect use of that word, just as is the case for Apple, Blizzard, Windows, etc etc. No one is saying any of those companies are wrong to protect their common word trademarks, why are people singling Edge Games out? Because Mobigame is an indie developer? Well, Edge is an indie developer, too.
$5 billion? Isn't Activision-Blizzard only worth like $3 billion? You mean to tell me this pissant little studio, that hasn't made a new game in over 10 years did more business than Activision-Blizzard? I call bullshit.
No matter who is the victim here the fact that the word EDGE is able to be trademarked is 100% bullshit no matter which way you try to swing it.
If you can trademark the word edge then I'm going to go trademark the word "the" and start suing every book publisher there is since they're infringes on my rights, even though I've never written a book before. I did however write term papers when I was in high school so technically I am a legitimate writer.
I find this whole issue silly. A company should not be able to trademark an actual word. A series of words like "medieval:Total War" sure, but not a single word like edge.
Making 5 billion dollars in revenues is different from having a net worth of 3 billion dollars. How much do you suppose Blizzard makes with all the WOW licenses? aboutt...10 million players a year...15 bucks per 6 weeks? fancy that.
So Langdell is in the right. There was clear violation of law, with intent to do so. Langdell has every right to press Mobigames for copyright enfringement, which he did. He's not even all that big of a dick, if you think about it, he was just following legal counsel and saying 'hold up'.
After reading the article, I've come to the conclusion that they're both being dicks about it.
On one hand, holding onto the trademark of the word "Edge" is just being a huge douche with your cock flailing in the face of reality. Especially when in said reality, you haven't actually made a game in how many years now?
On the other hand, knowing full well about said trademark, pushing ahead anyway, and turning down an offer to be able to market your game with a subtle one letter change is also pretty stupid.
So wait, if I were to make a game called When Blizzards Attack, would I get slapped in the face by Blizzard?
If not, then doesn't that mean a *game* called Edge is fine because Edge Games is a game *company's* name?
No. Read through this. He is still a pretty big dick.
k guys... stop saying that you shouldn't be able to trademark normal words, and read the sequence of emails which RobCoxxy has posted.
Windows, Apple, Blizzard, Blackberry, id etc... these are all words that have been trademarked by companies. Calling your game "blizzard" or "Windows" would warrant and even demand exactly the same legal ramifications that Edge have dolled out.
Now i have to say that i was also set against this Langdell chappie.. It sounds like a truly faceless, money hungry, power crazy thing for a large company to dish out on a rival upstart. It's incredibly david and goliath"esque" - and as a result people are queing up to have a go at Edge Games.
But i am also unashamed to say that I believe i was wrong in this regard - after reading this article. And i think it would be sensible of the rest of us to also see that it isn't all a black and white "edge being dicks" situation. Yes it is always hard relinquishing a view which seems initially very clear, but we've gotta try not to be irrationally stubborn in this regard.
It's a horrible thing to have your face despised by media and public alike.. no one deserves that unfairly, and i think it would be wise to stop dishing out mindless judgment towards these people. Yes, business is part and parcel of a cruel world and you occasionally have to be pretty emotionless to conduct yourself properly in it.
I think it really is a case of a conflict blown out of all proportion by language barriers, the fact its gone cross continental, and the relative difference in size between the two companies. I think it would have been the case with any other case in this unique position.
I'm on the same boat as this guy. I thought Langdell was a massive douche, but now that I know all of the facts, it's really obvious that it's Mobigames that did the wrong thing in this situation. Edge Games owns the rights, and if anyone infringes on that right, they are legally obliged to enforce their copyright, especially of Mobigames knew there was someone who owned the rights.
Tim cant keep the word Edge for himself. He should make a new name for his fame company.
Arn't they are trademarked as "Microsoft Windows", "Apple Inc." and "Blizzard Entertainment", so you would not be infringing on copyright if you used the words you listed?
I read this, and I read the points that are pro-Langdell, but I still say he is being an idiot. Yes he may own the rights to "Edge games" or "The Edge" or whatever his copyright covers exactly, and yes he can draw comparisons between Apple and Blizzard who also have normal words copyrighted. But he misses the point that Blizzard don't sue every weatherman who mentions that particular meteorological phenomenon. This person has called their game Edge. Nothing alludes to Edge games. But he sues them anyway. It's just a pointless piece of corporate bullishness
This article could use citations. I hadn't heard of the issue, but upon Wiki'ing the subject, I found this about the supposed "Edgy offer":
Sounds like Langdell wasn't exactly the good guy there. I'm not saying that Papazian is right here, but to be honest, I have no reason to believe this article is.
I'm surprised that so many people are lapping up this info and so quickly changing their mind about the whole subject.
The fact is that you don't always have a good guy and a bad guy in every battle. So I'm not saying that Mobigame have done the right thing or wrong here. But you can't just go and start to ignore the vast amount of evidence available on the internet to show what a shell of a company Edge Games is. My advice would be to make up your own mind, don't just read the articles and news on this matter and follow their opinion. Do a bit of personal research. There is a vast amount of info out there and it's all just a google away.
Look at the statements made by people that Edge Games claims to be working with (and for most how they actually aren't), have a look at the list of games Edge Games claims to have released, look up the list of products currently in production and find out what their current status is.
Do the same for Mobigame too, search and look for information about them and their business.
Ultimately just make up your own mind from the information you find.
That guy was known for screwing dev teams by refusing to pay for their work.
Just because the law's on his side this time doesn't make his practices right or his case "legitimate".
Yah, but i think they're called "Edge Games".. not just edge. I think the fact still remains that this is a fairly regular business dispute, which has equally un-innocent people involved in a pretty unkind environment. I think that Edge Games have been arbitrarily targeted, just because of the unique relationship these two companies have.
Now this shed some very interesting light on the issue, but I am nonetheless not sure that Edge Games have a legitimate dispute. As I understand it, as a general rule, the more general and widely-used the trademarked term in question, the more narrow the categories of goods and services which will infringe. With "Edge" being no more than a common noun, I suspect any court would give it a very limited jurisdiction. Thus, if you were trying to set up a computer games company called Edge, Mr. Langdell's complaint would unquestionably be justified; however, given the common nature of the word in question, a single computer game might be sufficiently distinct as to not represent an actual infringement.
(Not a legal opinion, etc.)
Since reading this I have filed a trademark application for the word "the". Anytime someone uses it in a title they will have to pay me. I shall be rich beyond my wildest dreams yet at the same time look like a complete twat.
People seem to be under the assumption that because something is legal, it's automatically right. I keep getting the impression here that "oh what he's doing is legal so he isn't a massive dildo after all" No.
It's like saying we shouldn't criticize some conglomerate for polluting a lot. They may legally be able to be able to, but that doesn't make it any less of a dick move on their part. Or we shouldn't criticize some (-Godwins Law Phrase Redacted-) for saying we should (-Godwins Law Phrase Redacted-). Sure he can legally say that, it doesn't mean we're wrong for calling him out on it.
Why doesn't BLizzard or Apple sue people for making products with word Blizzard or Apple in it? Because they would look like idiots and face a wave of criticism like this Tim Langdell guy is. Edge the video game has nothing to due with Edge the game company. Neither does The Edge the movie. Or the upcoming game Edge of Twilight, a phrase Tim Langdell just applied to trademark. Gee I wonder why he did that?
Tim Langdell's company exists for the sole purpose of abusing copyright law. He should not be sitting on the IGDA board. Abusing copyright law, no matter the legality of it, is still a dick move. Nobody here needs to feel bad about calling a douche bag out for acting like a douche bag.
tl;dr Tim Langdell is still a massive tool well deserving of all the increased scorn, scrutiny, criticism, attention, and nerd rage he's been getting flung at him. Keep it up.
I rescind previous statement. He is a dick, thank you. Which has actually made me wonder one thing: were any of his shit games being re-ported when Mobigames named their game? Because if nothing his company made a decade plus ago was being replayed at the time, I can totally see why Mobigames went forward they way they did, because he wasn't defending the copyright.
yea, Blizzard probably could, but they don't.
Do you know why?
Because their business turns a profit on _video games_ NOT bullying people into purchasing licensing over trademark infringement. Sure, Langdell never won any $ in court because it's all settled outside of court. The money he is extorting isn't on the public record.
I've been following this issue since day 1, and have read _everything_ including court documents, transcribed emails, forum posts and all the rest. The journo here is in the "hmm, well it _is_ legal" stage of grief. But really, when you start to uncover more and more about Tim's character you come to the grim realization that while this _is_ legal, that may very well be what makes it so utterly awful.
Being within your legal rights sadly has very little to do with being a good person. You've got to have your own laws to live by. I believe they're called morals or something...
EDIT: also to the "well do you just expect me to give up my company i've had for 30 odd years?" question from Langdell. Well, yes. Yes I do. If I had a video game company (and I do) and I wasn't making/organzing a video game for even a full year, let alone 15, I'd have a hard time keeping that business afloat, right? The business is pretty much dead at that point, no? Of course, we all know this has nothing to do with making and selling video games and everything to do with taking advantage of the legal system.
"Why doesn't BLizzard or Apple sue people for making products with word Blizzard or Apple in it? Because they would look like idiots and face a wave of criticism like this Tim Langdell guy is."
How I wish that were true. But that is not the reason, and it is not how IP law works. Those companies usually don't sue because the products are not in the same sphere of goods and services (and are obligated to take action if they are), but certainly do sue when they are in the same market. See Apple Corp v Apple Records (or whatever they were actually called in the case): dispute between the Beatles label and Apple computers, primarily over iTunes moving into the music business and hence the same market. Blizzard are yet to have there trademark tested in their own market, to the best of my knowledge. But if they were, then "looking like a dick" aside, they would probably have no choice but to take action to defend their mark or risk losing it.
None of which makes me support Langdell, as I said above.
Doesn't work like that, you don't just patent the word you patent it in an application IE Apple didn't trademark the whole word "apple" They trademarked it prolly for something like Computer hardware and software usage.(+ a ton others related to their company).
Differing companies can trademark the same word, think dairy queen and their "blizzard" icecream, and Blizzard and their games. Same word differing applications.
You could possibly trademark something like "T.H.E" gaming company but not the actual word because the only usage is in speech to denote something.
Mobigames had never heard of Edge Games prior to being harassed by Langdell, it's already been discussed. When They received the first letter signed by Tim Langdell in April, they suggested to change the name of the game to EDGY, and you know what Langdell did? He made an application for the trademark EDGY, just to block'em. This has been known for about two months or more now and Langdell EVADED all questions regarding this act, until recently. (he needed time to think of his strategy?)/ He did the same to Souledge, or Edge of Twilight, and more recently to Killer Edge Racing.
Edge Games never released a video game, it is a one man company. If you want to know who is Tim Langdell you should read this page: http://tigsource.com/pages/edge-games/
Just a tiny bit of reading of all the information dug up on the IGDA's forums or TIGsource would havemade it clear to the author that Langdell DOESN'T HAVE A CASE, since he has not realeased products in years, and his "evidence" that Bobby Bearing was released on mobile phones or that other games he sold during the past five years were all DEBUNKED.
This is a case where technically the villain is right (Yes, he owns the rights to that particular word, and technically Edge shouldn't be titled it) but un-technically he's just being an ass about it, for lack of a better term. Why didn't he go after EA when they released Mirror's Edge? And then he puts MIRRORS a game by EDGE on the front page of his site, which clearly is trying to gain attention by brand confusion, which seems to be the very thing he's arguing against Edge (the game) for. A sane judge should look at that and say "Hmm, you don't like that this little guy took your candy, so you started pushing other people into the mud."
This is a whitewash. If you ignore context or facts, Langdell is a victim!
Blithely accepting that Langdell's trademarks are legitimate or enforceable makes the whole piece pointless. The question isn't whether it's right to be able to trademark a word, it's exactly what Edge owns, whether they have a claim to it, where it's applicable and whether they've acted appropriately, in Mobigames' case or in the various historical cases that Edge until recently boasted about on their website.
Sure, the silly end of the games press has jumped on the story to demonise Langdell, but many more diligent people have been following it too.
Other IGDA members have been scrutinising Langdell's history closely on their message boards. Several people who have worked or corresponded with Langdell/Edge in the past have added their voices. And Sheridan's (solicitors) think that Mobigames at least have a case.
If you'd prefer an overview of the affair which doesn't blur or omit established facts, try Eurogamer: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-edge-of-reason
It doesn't work like that. When you copyright something you prevent the use of a certain word within a certain area of the market. If I made a company that sold socks and called it fluffy (I have no idea why this was the first idea that came to mind) it would be copyrighted within the clothing industry. This means no one else can use the word "fluffy" to sell clothes, but they could use it to sell food or technology or whatever the hell else they want as long as it isn't clothes. The main reason is to prevent brand confusion (people buying the wrong thing or using a better known product to advertise their own by using the others brand name). So Blizzard haven't copyrighted the word Blizzard just it's use withtin the games industry. The same can be said of EDGE, you could sell edge razorblades or edge socks or edge tables, just not any edge games. If you did EDGE have to legally defend their copyright or they forfeit it and lose out on money advertising etc.
Don't get me wrong I haven't picked a side because to be completely honest I've just come back from holiday and have only just heard about this entire thing.
No offense Andy but I was not impressed by this bit of writing.
While I can understand playing devils advocate, you've completely omitted several key facts of the situation to paint Tim as the victim. Making this nothing more than yellow-journalism.
While I can understand the right to protect his trademark, pursuing only lesser known companies/games for trademark infringement is a key indicator that this guy is nothing more than patent troll.
Why go for Edge of Twilight and Edgy instead of Mirrors Edge? because he knew, legally, EA could beat him in a fair fight. If he was truly looking to protect his trademark and had a valid case he'd take on EA as well to protect his IP, isn't that supposed to be all he cares about?
Furthermore why do you think he has reached an amicable resolution with Edge of Twilight (even after pulling the dick move of copyrighting their game AFTER threatening them)? It's because the company is broke! there's no money to milk. Fuzzeyes is in it's death throws and this vulture swooped in too late.
While Mobi may have pulled some dick moves on Tim as well, I can understand being pissed off at this patent troll coming in and being a leach on the game development industry.
He's a patent troll at best clinging on to 80's ports and vaporware - if he wants to be taken serious as a game developer again he needs to "shit or get off the pot".
how is the law possibly on his side, the trademark of his is for Edge games not the specific word edge excuse me if im wrong but i dont think your allowed to sue someone for the use of a word thats part of your trademark, if so many companys would be stopped window companys groceries etc. this man is greedy and lives off the scraps of the gaming world by attacking small time developers (mirrors edge wasnt a problem i wonder why though sc) and extorting them, my point is this man is in the wrong and he knows hes in the wrong but he uses technicalities and loopholes to prove himself right. a leech by any other name
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YES (Your Employability Skills) Program Overview
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