Watch out, there might be one of these loose on the board

[rolling ball]

Thought that posting on this section will make it harder for the trolls to post nasty replies.

Gangs used Internet to plan street fight.

What's next? cyber brawl where people can crash other computers? Not likely. But for now they can brawl using fists, baseball bats and shovel in those networked games. If they still need to release pent up frustrasion, they can just break into the enemy's house and beat the crap out of his computer with the baseball bat or shovel.

[Dr Opinion]

> "...cyber brawl where people can crash other computers?..."

In the ancient 90's we'd play massive online Quake games on public servers with strangers.

If the script kiddies couldn't beat you with a rocket launcher they'd use WinNuke or other software to try and crash your PC over the Internet. These utilities would take advantage of bugs in Microsoft's crappy OS and could actually make the opponents computer blue-screen and reboot remotely.

There were various countermeasures, and it went back and forth. It was electronic war.  

[Fresh Mint]

How those long winter days and nights must have just flown by ...

[PhilM]

Sad really - in the late sixties and early seventies we were all too busy trying to get laid to bother with anything electronic.

[Manc Man]

But then Queen Victoria died and nothing was ever the same again.....

Right?

mm

[Fresh Mint]

He, he ...
And its been the steam age since.

[PhilM]

I think Manc man's problem is he has never got laid enough. Buck your ideas up MM and maybe next year Singapore will not come last in the world ratings for number of times sex is had per year.

[Manc Man]

You are correct, no matter how many times, it's never enough....

mm

[rolling ball]

Aging Manc Man finds love at last

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- It looks like Manc Man is in love.

After meeting the very fetching and slightly younger Aurora, he changed color and his eight arms became intertwined with hers. Then, the two retreated to a secluded corner to get to know each other better.

We're talking about giant Pacific octopuses here.

Aquarists at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward introduced the two Tuesday, and evidently they hit it off: Spermatophores were seen hanging from Manc Man's siphon.

"We really were not sure he had it in him," SeaLife Center aquarium curator Richard Hocking said Wednesday.

Love almost passed Manc Man by. At 5 years of age and 52 pounds (23.4 kilograms), he's reaching the end of the line for his species, the largest octopus in the world. Manc Man is in a period of decline that occurs before an octopus dies. His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots.

"He's not as strong as he used to be," said aquarist Deanna Trobaugh.

With so little time left, Manc Man, who was collected on a beach near Seldovia in 1999 when he was about the size of a coin, wasn't going to let the sweet Aurora slip through his eight arms.

Aurora sank to the bottom when aquarium staff put her into Manc Man's 3,600-gallon (13,627 -liter) exhibit tank and promptly made the first move, reaching out to touch Manc Man before retreating to her corner. But Manc Man was soon in hot pursuit.

"They both were gripping the back wall of the tank. He just about covered her completely," Hocking said.

The two remained intertwined for about eight hours. It's possible that during that time he passed his sperm packet to her, Hocking said. When they separated, Manc Man flashed some colors, turning almost white and then dark red.

"It looks like instinct took over during that encounter and they did what they were supposed to do," Hocking said.

If Aurora did accept Manc Man's spermatophores, she will produce 60,000 to 100,000 eggs. If with many, many children, Aurora -- who was about the size of a grapefruit when she was found in 2002 living inside an old tire in front of the SeaLife Center -- will stop eating while she tends her eggs. She will then weaken and die -- a fate that Manc Man also seems soon to meet.

"The goal for this was to let him lead a full life," Hocking said.

[PhilM]

Are you calling manc Man a Blur Sotong?

[Olly]

Oh! Mr Rolling Ball, I thought you were talking about one of these:
http://www.dansdata.com/timemachine.htm

[rolling ball]

Hey... that's pretty nifty. It's so much like the toys I would like to have.
I wonder if they have a bigger model (1m tall or so).  
I'm already thinking of an improvement. put a stick at the end of the 5 minute tray and every hour it'll hit the gong when it dumps the balls. of course you have to adjust the counterbalance so it can still work.