goParker

Today I presented a session in our new students induction called “Building Your Brand” which was broadly about how to develop your profile in a way that supplements everything that you are explicitly learning on your degree programme. In preparing for it I came across something that led me to an interesting diversion.

This is a bit of a while coming, mostly down to the need to generate Mobile Devices content each week. Better late than never.

Back in mid October we once again took part in the UK and Ireland Programming Competition. We fielded teams for the first time last year and this year doubled our entries with 4 teams. Each team can have up to 3 members and are given 1 computer and 0 internets to solve up to 12 secret programming puzzles in just 5 hours.

http://ukiepc.info/2019/

Another academic year has whizzed by and it always seems to accelerate to a final sprint in the summer. Subsequently, the new year is upon us and we have just finished Induction (Welcome/Fresher’s) Week for the 2019/2020 intake. The grand finale to the week is the student’s introduction to the Bored? Games! events: The Festival of Daring and Excitement.

Here is a little account of what went on.

A little while ago I was designing and printing an update to my printer to allow it to use one less motor for controlling the z-axis. The basic printer design uses two lead screws to raise and lower the x-axis. It still does, but now it only uses one motor to control both screws instead of the original two. But that is not what this post is about. Instead it is about staying cool under circumstances to drive one mad.

I quite like gadgets. So it should come as little surprise that I have been drawn by the bright future promised by smart bulbs. By their nature, in order to retain access to their smart functionality they need to be ‘on’ even if they are not shining. This presents a problem when faced with several decades of habit of flicking the power switch when you walk in to and out of a room.

Being ‘smart’ you can voice control them using Alexa, but that has some faintly annoying lag and that is even if she understands you the first time. Plus, shouting “you damn well know what I meant, Alexa!” to turn off the bedside light can be disruptive to one’s sleeping partner.

So this is about the start of my quest to find another way.

Yesterday, Terry Haynes from Studio Gobo and Electric Square came to Computer Science to talk about why our students might like to work there.

Today we fielded our first teams to the UK and Ireland Programming Competition. In it teams of up to 3 are given 1 computer and 0 internet to solve up to 12 secret programming puzzles in just 5 hours.

http://ukiepc.info/2018/

Today we fielded our first teams to the UK and Ireland Programming Competition. In it teams of up to 3 are given 1 computer and 0 internet to solve up to 12 secret programming puzzles in just 5 hours.

http://ukiepc.info/2018/

https://threethinggame.com/post/2018-10-01-the-autumn-event/

To cap off our induction week we ran a Bored? Games! event. Specifically the Festival of Daring and Excitement.

Still wondering? Let me explain.