Dalby Noise Reduction

Went to the Dalby Forest today. The weather forecast was pretty horrible, it is a Bank Holiday and so we knew we were taking a gamble. But it paid off. Weather was great and it was very quiet when we arrived. We had a walk around the Bridestones. These are lumps of stone which for some reason or other haven't eroded like the rest of the valley. So they stick up out of the ground in a rather impressive way.

By midday we confidently expected to be underneath a lot of rain, but as it turned out we weren't.  We even had a chance to walk around Staindale Lake.

There are more pictures on Flickr.

On the way round the walk we bumped into a few people who had also ignored the weather forecast and sallied forth. They always seemed to be chatting about something. We discussed things you culd say to be overheard by someone as they pass you on a country walk:

• "...we buried it quite a long way from the footpath. I don't think anyone will find it in a hurry...."
• "...apparently the plan is to put runway one just over that hill....."
• "...and they say that even today he wanders the moors looking for victims..."

Profound Question no 1 of 1000

If you copied someone else's outbreak of the Black Death would you get done for plagueurism?

Table Tennis for XBOX 360

There is only one game that I will claim to be any good at. Oh, I can play tennis, and squash, and I have even been  known to turn up to (as opposed to play) rugby and cricket. My game of choice is table tennis. I have been known to beat people at that game. And I really, and I mean really, enjoy playing it.

So the XBOX 360 Table Tennis game by Rockstar was of more than passing interest to me. Particularly as it only costs thirty quid. This means of course that I have bought a copy.  And I have spent the last couple of hours playing it.  It is very, very, very, very good. Have I mentioned it is good?

The controls are simple, but you can do a lot with them. You have to watch the other player and the way they hit the ball to work out what it  is going to do.  Where you are standing affects how much you can do. I've found myself taking part in the game in just the same way as I do in the real one.  

The presentation is not particularly impressive, but everything is as it should be. The animation of the players is smooth and I like the way that their clothes flap about. The sound is spot on, you can get a feel for what is going on by the noise the ball makes as it hits the table and the bat.

I've won one tournament and it was fun. I've not quite got the hang of the controls yet, I tend to forget to make my player swing his bat, so that he just stands there like a dummy as the ball whizzes past. But I'm pretty sure that I'll get the hang of things quite soon. I've played a couple of XBOX Live games (lost one won one) and the experience was very smooth.

You can have a lot of fun with a simple bat and a ball. What Rockstar have done is taken that fun and put it into a video game. If you have an XBOX and a liking for ball games you should get this game.

Watch This

I hardy ever put links on my blog. They go out of date and such. And people have usually found them already. But you really must see this. Really.

New Trip Hazard Installment

There is now a new Trip Hazard installment. Enjoy.