Hack

"Hack" is a word whose meaning has shifted in recent years. I think that many people would define it in terms of "chopping or whacking" or when referring to a writer (or other artist) who turns out shoddy easy-to-sell material, or even as an inelegant and temporary solution to a problem. (To say nothing of taxicabs, or wracking coughs....)

But nowadays (at least on the blogs we read), "hack" seems to mean an ingenious and unauthorized modification.

Recently, the wires started to come loose on the power supply to our computer. And Robb crafted this nifty new plug out of a ball-point pen cap. Nice hack, boy-oh!

(Oh, and that background? That's the desk that Robb made to fit our polygonal office, which started life as a Murphy Bed Room in 1927.)