I thought I’d just outline some things that I will mostly be doing in 2007 (assuming it doesn’t get any closer to midnight)

Fixing the MythTV system.

A year ago I built and installed a fairly comprehensive MythTV system for my parents (I don’t personally watch TV) The system has been gradually added to and now consists of a backend with 3 Nova-T and 1 Nova-S card and a mainfrontend running on a Biostar Ideq under the TV. (other linux boxes in the house can perform as frontends)

What needs fixing is the slow tuning of one of the Nova-T cards and a remote with more buttons is needed (currently using a StreamZap). Also, the frontend needs to be able to shutdown from the remote.

Build a MAME cabinet.

I’ve been meaning to build a MAME cabinet for a few years now, I’m still torn between building a ‘full-size’ couter-top or a miniature upright. Either way, it has to have authentic buttons It will also probably run wah!cade as a front end.

Making more money

Despite working full time, I earn barely half the UK average salary and inflation is running away from me (3% my a$$). So I will mostly be looking for ways to hike my income

Getting the hell out of here

You know it makes sense…

Oh dear.

BAS Email

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientist’s world famous Doomsday Clock has been ’set’ at 7 minutes to midnight since 2002 when the clock moved once again closer to midnight as the USA refused to sign the ABM treaty.

If you don’t already know, the Doomsday Clock is a clock which has a 15 minute marked count towards midnight, since 1949, it has counted down ‘minutes’ until total nuclear war. The idea being, the more minutes before midnight there are, the safer we (probably) are. The clock counts both backwards and forwards depending on the risk of nuclear release. The closest we have ever been to midnight was in 1953 when the USA and USSR tested nuclear weapons within 9 months of each other.

The furthest from midnight was in 1991, just after START was signed when we were at 17 minutes to midnight. Unfortunately, the clock has been ticking towards midnight ever since.

It is pretty much guaranteed that when the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists make their announcement on Wednesday 17th January, we will be significantly closer to midnight.

UPDATE: From a BAS Press Release:

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS) will move the minute hand of the “Doomsday Clock” on January 17, 2007, to 5 minutes before midnight, the first such change to the Clock since February 2002. The major new step reflects growing concerns about a “Second Nuclear Age” marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere, the continuing “launch-ready” status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, escalating terrorism, and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks.

Presumably the announcement on January 17th with make the above statement ‘official’.

The Bank of England today increased the UK Rate of Interest from 5% to 5.25%

This is apparently aimed at fending off inflation which the BOE measures by way of CPI. Ostensibly, CPI tracks inflation by measuring the consumer’s ‘buying power’ against a specified basket of items. However, as someone put it earlier; “That’s great if you’re buying a new TV every month”. In real life, CPI seems to have little bearing on inflation in terms of the ability to pay bills.

The BBC had a bit of a moment about it too. The had been running the story since the previous day that a ’stay’ at 5.25% was a done deal.

Interest rates set to stay at 5%

This story was still running on the BBC news ticker as the MPC read out their statement that interest rates were to rise this month to 5.25% The BBC were apparently surprised by this.

Shock as UK rates rise to 5.25%

Me? Oh, I’m not really shocked or surprised. I’m one of those low-paid people who feel the pinch of high inflation first. I suspect UK inflation is far higher than the 2.7% quoted by the BOE using it’s CPI figures.

I will await with interest the BOE statement on the current rate of inflation next Tuesday. I wouldn’t be surprised though if they ‘engineer’ the figure to be 2.9% (or 2.9999999%) to avoid the 3% cutoff where they have to write an open letter to Gordon Brown explaining why the economy is borked.