A list of projects

Not a particularly engaging title, I admit... ;)

1. 3D laser scanner. I
   do a bit of this stuff at work, but I came across a couple of websites
   with some fascinating homebrew laser scanners, for making 3D models of Things around the Home. I would love to make
   one. No practical reason, other than the learning experience, I guess! As examples we have crazily homebrew, or slightly more sensible homebrew.


2. Political cartoonery. I
   had this great idea for a cartoon of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. (This
   will be completely meaningless to anyone outside the UK, but what the
   hey). Entitled 'the Carrot and the Stick', Tony will be this Ken
   Dodd-like figure, grinning maniacally and brandishing a tickling stick
   (note for those lucky enough to live outside the UK: tickling stick = a
   feather duster). Gordon will stand just behind, wearing a bulky rabbit
   costume and a face like thunder, and generally looking extremely
   threatening. Cradled in his hands, where a nightclub bouncer might
   cradle his baseball bat, will be an enormous carrot.


3. Design Dream House. My
   parents built their own house. I seriously want to do that. I know I
   could, and it would be brilliant. I wish I'd done architecture instead
   of design.


4. Write book.
   Actually I've
   already done this once; it was science fiction, and I wrote it for the
   Games Workshop people. They didn't publish it; the plot got a little
   complicated. I found it way too difficult to write a straight-up
   blood-and-guts gothic heroism story - hey, I'm a complicated guy. My
   characters were complicated, okay? My hero went mad. That just doesn't
   do it for your basic nine-year-old Space Marine fanatic. Someday I'll
   come back to it and rewrite; more likely
   I'll try and start from scratch again.


5. Lego robot for sweeping floors. Preferably
   solar powered. Got all excited about the new Lego robot sets which are
   coming out in August (ish). Need to justify it somehow. Since I have no
   carpets, a simple sweeping robot that I could fire-and-forget (like,
   forever) should be adequate. Can't afford to go out and blow the
   necessary cash right now, though... but you can now download design software for
   designing stuff in Lego . How crazy is that? (Mind you, the software doesn't get a stunningly good press).