Telling it like it is

In keeping with the weatherperson's ethos of being 100% wrong 90% of the time, the much-touted mega storm has failed to materialise. All the watches and warnings have been cancelled, and it's been one of the nicest days this winter so far, with clear blue skies, sun and 8°C temperatures. Mega storm my arse.

This is going to be The Big One, I think. A Monster winter storm is heading towards us. It's nailed California with 10 inches of rain off the coast and 10 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevadas, with a 160mph wind recorded off the peaks. Ahead of the cold front, we had high temperatures here today but really bad wind storms. My weather station recorded a 95.7mph gust, and there are power lines down all over the valley - and the real weather hasn't even arrived yet. We're expecting up to 8 feet of snow in the mountains and possible 8 inches of snow in the valleys. The storm is due to hit full force around 7am tomorrow and could last out to wednesday next week ! If the blog goes quiet, it means the power went out.

It looks like the format war is over. Warner have finally announced they're going Blu-ray exclusive come May 2008. They're ditching HDDVD. Blockbuster and Hollywood video have also ditched HDDVD to go Blu-ray exclusive. Suck it Xbox fanboys. Your format is dead. Warner goes Blu-ray Warner goes Blu-ray

I had a disturbingly vivid dream last night about the upcoming space shuttle launch. Essentially, it crashed just after lift-off. As it cleared the tower, the TV footage showed the whole stack slow down and then begin to slide backwards towards the ground, tipping over as it went. The shuttle detached from the stack and fell to the ground separately, whilst the solid rocket boosters and external tank were all enveloped in flame as the fuel ignited from a split in the tank. In the reverse camera view, the number 2 main engine on the shuttle itself appeared to explode as it ignited, and the whole of the back of the shuttle was fragmented and burned. The two OMS engines were gone and the two remaining main engines were gimballing frantically trying to recover the situation. After the whole mess came to a stop on the ground, three of the crew were recovered alive. What made the whole dream a bit odd was that we were watching this footage as picture-in-picture to a documentary about the hi...

Happy 2008 everyone. We started it off with the coldest night of the year so far. We bottomed out at -17.8°C last night, or 0°F in old money. As I type, it's warmed up to a balmy -15°C....

Final thought for 2007: what do you think this is a description of? "After being searched and wanded with a metal detector, their backpacks are confiscated and they are herded into pens where food and drink are prohibited and there are no bathroom facilities." Guantanamo Bay? No. It was a description of the New Year celebrations under way in Times Square, NY, as described by our local Fox TV news. To top off another year of American stupidity, a million revelers are forced to practice the ten second countdown to midnight five times, on the hour, for five hours before the big moment. I guess they can't count backwards from ten? Happy New Year to anyone who reads my blog. You can look forward to another year of complete bollocks on this very page in 2008 :-)

It's New Year's Eve already, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, we've not got anything planned. I should be in Holland with Menno and the boys, blowing stuff up with illegal fireworks, drinking Stroh Rum and Belgian White beer, eating appelflap and poffertjes dusted with icing sugar.... Anyhoo, we're back, obviously. The trip to England was great. Well - seeing family for Christmas was great. England itself has completed it's circuitous voyage around the bowl and finally gone right down the shitter. The country is just plain broken. The flights there and back were awesome though. We got to travel in business class on BMI from Vegas direct to Manchester and bugger me sideways with a bargepole, the Delta flights to and from Vegas actually delivered our bags. I was stunned. But I digress. The business class cabin on the BMI A330 is basically like first class on most other airlines. 80-plus inch seat pitch with fold-flat bed-seats. For the first time ...