McNealy's inflatable 'blimp' pleasure-dome angers neighbours

Sun boss Scott McNealy has installed a giant, blimp-like inflatable dome in his garden, where he entertains companions. Angry neighbours have complained about loud cries and the noise of muffled "slapshots" which "ring out across the valley". According to the San Mateo County Times, McNealy's pleasure dome is regarded in the …

[Gianni Straniero]

Slapshot

It took me a while to figure out that this is a hockey term, and not some peculiar North American sexual practice.

[Maty]

envy perhaps?

If you've ever watched ice hockey you'll know a slapshot is not that loud.

Anyway - they are either 'muffled' or they 'ring out'. Can't do both at the same time.

[James O'Shea]

there's no doubt

They're envious.

[Andy 43]

It can be loud

A slapshot involves aiming for about in inch of ice under the puck. Because you are essentially hitting an immovable object this causes the stick to flex like a bow, when the stick finally reaches the puck the stick unflexes moving the puck off at extremely high velocity (much higher than field hockey say).

If done right the sound of the stick hitting the ice, but more importantly the sound of the puck hitting the opposite wall can be extremely loud.

[Anonymous Coward]

Inflatable...

... I'm sure someone can point a way to solving this problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

@Gianni Straniero

Man, you're not alone there, it wasn't until the inconspicuous last line that I figured it out, and what with it being the Sun boss and all, what was I to think...???

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh you tease

And there was me thinking this involved Twister mats and baby oil. Then again, if it's covered, could be kinky cosplay?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ice Hockey

Of course, you will need to protect yourselves agains the outside cold ... when playing ice hockey

[Destroy All Monsters]

Excited cries echoing across the "forested, typically serene neighbourhood"

"Yes, Legolas... YES!"

Now picturing McNealy in an elf costume....

I really have to get my mind out of the gutter.

[Anonymous Coward]

Kill the last paragraph please

"For the record, the Times specifies that the pastimes in question are tennis and - in the winter - ice hockey."

Boo! This paragraph spoiled an otherwise excellent article. I was looking forward to an evening of pondering the delights of an illuminated, inflatable, back-garden fun-zone of my very own. Plus an illuminating hour or two of searching for, the doubtless bizarre and hopefully filthy, alternative meanings of 'slapshot'...

How dare The Register allow the truth to get in the way of such a good story!

Oh well. Looks like it's back to searching for clips from the 80s classic, 'Naked Nurses from Outer Space' again.

[Martin Lyne]

So..

You put up a dome to keep you protected from the environment.. then fill it with - ice? He's insulating it then wasting energy to make it cold. Uh huh.

Tennis, fine.

[Anonymous Coward]

the solution is simple

A few flaming arrows ought to fix it right proper.

flames...because...

[Anonymous Coward]

For those with minds in the gutter...

Don't worry, Urban Dictionary confirms your suspicions...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slapshot

NSFW

[Danny 14]

no-on has sued yet?

Its america! Sue him! Sue the permit granter!

[Robert Carnegie]

A savage place! as holy and enchanted, as

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

No wonder the neighbours complain about the noise.

But,

In a vision once I saw:

It was an Abyssinian maid,

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me

Her symphony and song,

To such a deep delight 't would win me

That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That plastic dome! those caves of ice! Hockey!

[rciafardone]

Isnt it on HIS property?

If the freaking dome is on hisproperty, what the heck do the neiborgs have to complain about? Inside my own house i can do whatever i like that is not against the law...