So there I was using my computer today, viewing RetroCopy's 3D game room when my 22 inch LCD monitor just suddenly stopped working.
At first I believed it was my graphics card or CPU, it was a pretty warm day and my I7 is overclocked. When I got out of my seat I could smell electronic death, a smell you will never forget once smelling it, capacitor leakage! Great I thought, just what I need. However it wasn't anything in my case that was bad, it was my monitor.
It is an ASUS VW222U, manufactured in August 2007 according to the back of it. Now how can a monitor just blow up? It seems quite strange that just using a monitor can result in one of the capacitors exploding on you, at least this is the first time it has happened to me or anyone I know. I'm writing this on one of my other LCD monitors, a Samsung, and tomorrow I will be buying a new widescreen Samsung, forever tainted with this poor ASUS experience.
Having switched back to a non widescreen monitor it has shocked me how not used to a 4:3 screen I am. Most of my code utilizes very long lines for efficiency and they are chopped off on this smaller monitor (1280x1024), forcing me to scroll. However this monitor (Samsung SyncMaster 930BF) which is about 5 years old now has superior image quality. With the ASUS I felt like my eyes were bleeding after a few hours of coding. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as it was relatively cheap at the time.
Oh well, at least replacing a monitor is easy, 0.700 won't be delayed by it. 
Oh yes and check out the PROFILE/MEMBER sections now, they have been improved to show latest games, your personal details (age, location, etc) if you want to add them and some privacy options.
http://www.retrocopy.com/members/retroralph.aspx