The Beginning

Daily Mail readers and Trago Shoppers are well aware of the constant stream of 'euro-bans' brought in over the last few years to gradually steal the traditional British childhood.Everything from climbing trees and playing conkers to soft plastic toys and sitting on Santa's lap, as well as celebrating Christmas and scrumping for cars are all now against the law. Even drinking vegetable oil by the litre is also out of favour, according to the latest ads. But I never fail to be amazed by the things that don't get banned. For example, what about rubbish American films specifically targeted at developing young minds? Take WarGames. For those unfamiliar, this 1983 movie starred a young Matthew Broderick, before he hit the dizzy heights of Inspector Gadget and Godzilla. The basic premise sees Broderick star as a young hacker who breaks into the most secure and lethal military computer system in the world, in a bid to play noughts and crosses, and accidentally pushing the world to the brink of global thermo-nuclear war. Of course, there are many lessons a young me could have taken from this multi-layered epic morality tail. a) Suit jackets with sleeves rolled up is not a good look. b) A mullet will never help you attract the ladies. or c) Someone really ought to take a look at the security at military installations. Instead what it inspired in me was a desire to become a top grade hacker, learning computer code and breaking my way into Government websites to bring down The Man and The System from within. Well, it never happened, but I did get pretty good at playing noughts and crosses. This failure to hack was in no part due to a lack of support from my parents. Spotting my eager interest in technology they strove to supply me with the goods. My Dad, being a man who knew people who could get anything, first dragged home a BBC Micro. Great for operating remote control turtles, or for drawing triangles. Rubbish at everything else. For those who don't remember the Micro, Johnny Ball used to have a radio show where he would play programs over the air, you could record them, then play them back to your computer, and it would draw a triangle. The programs never worked, but while we were playing them back their high-pitched squeeking attracted several species of dolphin to Leicester. After that we went for the Dragon 32. Rubbish computer, but big enough and heavy enough to take down any burglar, and pin him down until the police arrive. Finally they went for something half decent, by 80s standards, and decided not to spend the whole family allowance each week on Players No6, putting a bit behind instead to save up enough for a ZX81. Despite their best efforts I never achieved a career in hacking, although once after a fall-out with my best mate I did manage to log onto a Leicester City Council computer and ensure his whole family was registered to pay council tax. And today? Well, lets just say The Man and The System can rest easy in their ivory towers... for now, but I do have enough skills to a) get a computer to draw a triangle b) beat most machines at noughts and crosses (although with noughts and crosses as well as with war, the only way to win is not to play) and c) keep a close eye on the Evening Herald's virtual presence here at thisisplymouth A smattering of technical skills combined with years of editorial training and experience has seen me elevated to the lofty heights of Web Editor. Its a full-time job I manage to squeeze in between hunting for organic food to satisfy a growing toddler. By the by has anyone visited Drake Circus yet? No, well it has been quiet, just the odd 120,000 people or so each day. Only mention it because I remortgaged my house to buy a bar of organic chocolate from Hotel Chocolat on the opening day. I haven't brought myself to open it yet, its locked in a safety deposit box in a bank in Zurich (£4!?! for one bar of chocolate?!? Perhaps I should have looked at the price before I got to the till. Anyway. I'll report back on a taste test when I and my wallet recover). Back to the day job. There are many ideas in the pipeline for improving the site in the coming weeks. Regular visitors will already have spotted audio content with many stories, and may have noticed me beavering away at all hours of the day and night to upload stories first thing in the morning and through the weekend. We are also uploading breaking news throughout the day, adding more pictures to our slideshows, creating new sections packed with the latest news and generally trying to make our site everything you all want it to be. None of this would have been possible without a dedicated team of techies in Exeter who have been taking all my requests with good humour (or at least waiting until I've put the phone down to start swearing) Look out for more, perhaps even an online noughts and crosses game. And follow my tribulations in this blog, along with regular updates on my online hunt for organic custard powder and a solution to the problem of used onion skins. Anyway, must go, got to get back to building myself a real-life friend like off of D.A.R.Y.L. and Short Circuit