We live about 3 miles from Birmingham city centre, one of the UK's largest cities. But just a mile from our house is a ford, where the River Cole cuts across a residential road (just downstream from the Sarehole Mill with its Tolkein associations). Wonderful.
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This is a cracking read. Mapping the Global Future (7 MB), the CIA's view of the world out to 2020.
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Nick and I promised ourselves a year or so ago that we'd aim to start climbing in the alps. For the last two winters we've managed a short trip to Scotland to do some snow and ice stuff, and we'll hopefully do the same this winter (if ever there's enough snow). But this is hopefully the first year we also do the alps in summer. As a prelude I've been looking at all the alps books, and settled on the following as the best set to have:
- Kev Reynolds "Walking in the Alps" for a general intro (get the US paperback, its a lot cheaper)
- Alpine 4000m Peaks By The Classic Routes as the best route book
- 100 Hut Walks in the Alps for the acclimatisation and recce trips
- In Monte Viso's Horizon: Climbing All the Alpine 4000m Peaks by Will McLewin as a personal experience and practical take on the climbs.
If it all comes off I should have some stunning words and photos for the blog.
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This year I stumbled on the true meaning of twelfth night. It's not to do with when the decorations ought to be down, or even the arrival of the three kings. Instead it's all about how long my Christmas wish list is valid for - since January 6th marks the opening of the huge CES Consumer Electronics Association show in Las Vegas. This is where we get the first look at the products which will make our 2004 objects of desire seem obsolete, and start laying the foundations for our 2005 Christmas list.
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Over Christmas I played my first table-top wargame in over 25 years. With the kids getting older and time getting freer I'd made the first tentative steps back into the hobby with a few SPI simulation board games. But having collected my old box of figures (and those of my brother) from my parents before Christmas my old gaming partner and I had our first table top game just before New Year. This has given us both the bug again painting (or repainting) figures, building terrain squares. Of course this being the age of the internet I'm building an on-line campaign manager to manage all the large scale force movements so that we only get the reports of our scouts rather than seeing both sides forces laid out on the map. Should be fun.
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Had NASA TV on watching ESA's Huygens probe make its descent while I worked today. Not much to see of course but it did mean I got to see the first photo the second it was shown and a couple of hours ahead of the news channels.
Wonderful images, the first time an alien world has seemed "earthlike" in the sense of seas and river forms, and a near complete absence of craters. Even if it is about -180 degrees below.
Go Europe! Go Huygens!
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