I ran into this beauty in How to think like a computer scientist chapter 4 def countdown(n): if n == 0: print "BLASTOFF!" else: print n countdown(n-1) indentation is probably wrong, I use idle and let it do the work question: I would like to call a sound effect say from /usr/share/sounds/KDE_Beep_Lightning.wav when n == 0 How? I would also like the countdown to be in real time, how? TIA mike Reavey