Not the result I was expecting

Polish hackers test the claims of a monitor to be damage resistant.

With a crossbow.

Edit: Ukranian. Cheers for pointing that out. I was clearly brain dead when I posted this. What comes of staying up until 1am.

Predictions for the year ahead

1)The success of Rock Band inspires a number of imitation group-effort games, including Improv Troupe, Support Group, Rowing Team and Philharmonic Orchestra. That last comes with 30 electronic instrument controllers and costs more than $1,200, but gets a perfect 10 from Official Xbox Magazine, which describes it as "a game that finally captures the erotic, dangerous mystique of playing viola in a local symphony."

2)The One Laptop Per Child initiative is followed up by the No More Than One Laptop Per Adult initiative. Adults who are found in possession of more than one laptop, cellphone, MP3 player or portable videogame system have the extras forcibly taken from them and sold to raise funds to vaccinate orphans. I, personally, have my PSP taken from me and don't notice for eight months.

3)The housing market and subprime mortgage industries continue in their free fall, leading to widespread despair and a harsh recession. However, Beanie Babies, "Death of Superman" comic books and Dutch tulips suddenly skyrocket in value, leading to a new ruling class of people who are insufferable know-it-alls.

4)The Wikipedia community, faced with competition from Google's Knol project, decides as a group that the only chance for survival is to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and the policy "Wikipedia:Jessica_Alba's_Breasts" is instituted. It requires every article on Wikipedia to contain a picture of, reference to or citation of one or both of Jessica Alba's breasts. This approach is so successful that the rest of the internet just gives the hell up.

From here

Signals

The ether sits 30 feet above my head, carrying signals back and forth. Tantalizingly out of reach, except for my morning trek to the edges of the property, and drives outside of the dead zone.

Sometimes, atmospheric vagaries squash it down, and for a brief moment, signal permeates the house, bringing the outside world into it.

And my phone beeps, delivering Christmas cheer and gossip.

And then, while I frantically type a few words of response, the pressure changes, the signal rises back out of reach, and I am once again cut off.

(Of course the TV, internet and landline all work just fine.)

Some family photos

While here we've gone up Hay Tor (some nice photos there). I've walked to the top of the hill, but never made it to the top of the rocky outcrop before. This time we did - and here are a few photos:
Noah waiting at the bottom:

Mike and I standing on top (bit of a grey day, sadly)

The Tor from a distance, with people for scale:

(All photos link to larger versions)

Tradition!

There are few things that will induce me to eat sugary evil. But the cake above is a birthday tradition since I was born. Layers of chocolate cake mix and cooked apple work far better than they have any right to...

Wed 26/12/2007 20:22 26122007292