Computer games are too tempting - even for Judge amidst a trial

Half of conflicts could be solved, if only one gives a patient hearing – to lend the other man one’s ears is one of the virtues – the World often wants others to hear their tales of adventure, achievements, failures, sorrows, the perceived impediments that prevented from accomplishing bigger things and more.  Concentration is a great virtue – One should involve oneself and give one’s total attention when an issue is being debated or when involved in any work.  There are places requiring attention for minute details and taking your eye or concentration away even momentarily could spell doom.   Cricket is all about concentration – the bowler has to concentrate on his line and length and deliver the ball precisely at the spot, he wants to – the batsman should concentrate, see the bowler as he starts his line-up, watch the ball as it leaves the hand of the bowler, with quick reflex and hand-eye coordination hit the ball – the fielder has to keep his eyes on the ball – whether it is travelling along the ground or is on air……………………….  All sounds good theory !!

For centuries, mankind has been attracted to playing games – modern man is not any different – tends to play wherever he is – many a times when fiddling with computer – desktop, laptop, tablet or any other form.  There are so many interesting games – be it ‘Angry birds’ or anything else.  

Sure, you have played the game ‘Solitaire’ – the card game on computer; the British use the term Patience to refer to solitaire with cards. The term "solitaire" is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout of tiles, pegs or stones rather than cards. These games include Peg solitaire and Mahjong solitaire. Most solitaire games function as a puzzle which, due to a different starting position, may (or may not) be solved in a different fashion each time.  One of its variants is known as Klondike,  a patience game.  In fact you can play this without computer also [computer can provide endless variants makes it more interesting] – in the standard 52-card deck of playing cards (without Jokers) shuffled, one upturned card is dealt on the left of the playing area, then six downturned cards (from left to right) are placed. On top of the downturned cards, an upturned card is dealt on the left-most downturned pile, and downturned cards on the rest until all piles have an upturned card. The piles can be built down by alternate colors, and partial or complete piles can be moved if they are built down by alternate colors also. Any empty piles can be filled with a King or a pile of cards with a King. The aim of the game is to build up a stack of cards starting with 2 and ending with King, all of the same suit. Once this is accomplished, the goal is to move this to a foundation, where the player has previously placed the Ace of that suit.  The pre-set challenge could be ‘turning 3 cards at once or turning only one card once’

Everytime, I sit in front of desktop at home, I play Freecel – another solitaire-based card game played with a 52-card standard deck. It is fundamentally different from most solitaire games – the deals are provided by the computer and there are some tougher ones which will kill your mind for solutions.  A version of FreeCell comes free with most Microsoft Operating systems.  The challenge is in moving the cards to the foundation cells which can initiate on placing the Ace of that variant, followed by 2,3,4 and….. depending upon the no. of empty cells, you can cascade a group of cards or move them singly.  It can be mind-wracking posing tougher challenges.  The Windows originally had 32000 Freecell games but in Windows XP there are million with at least 8 deals reportedly unsolvable – for ordinary mortals, perhaps there are thousands of such tough posers.  It is believed that game #11982 is the only unbeatable game out of the original 32,000 Windows FreeCell games.

To some, any form of gambling is most interesting – on which side are you ?

Elsewhere a high-profile murder case trial is taking place  - Self-confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has told his Norwegian trial about instances from his childhood and adolescence when he was supposedly slighted by Muslims, seeming to suggest they played a role in his radicalisation.  The court sat stunned as Breivik, who has admitted to killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage last summer, read a litany of grievances from a sheet of paper covered in minuscule handwriting.  The recent  hearing was part of the defence testimony. The trial is expected to end on 22 June, with a verdict due before the first anniversary of the attacks on 22 July. 

After seven weeks in court, the murder trial of Anders Breivik must be getting a little tedious for the five judges whose job it is to decide the Norwegian mass killer's fate. One of the men presiding over the lengthy trial has been caught on camera playing solitaire on his laptop.  Daily Mail reports that as  the Oslo trial entered its eighth week on Monday, TV cameras clearly captured lay judge Ernst Henning Eielsen tackling the tricky card game when he should have been listening to the evidence of a Swedish professor.  The image is likely to anger relatives of the 77 people Breivik, 33, admits he murdered in two attacks in Norway last year. But a spokesman for the Oslo court insisted Mr Eielsen was concentrating.

There are different ways of staying focused.  Breivik’s  trial, is designed to determine whether  he is sane. If he is, he will be sent to prison, if he's ruled insane, he will be held in a psychiatric institution.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th June 2012.