Telephoning Exam Papers

While I'm away I installed Skype so that I can phone home cheap. 1.2 pence a minute sounds like a good deal to me. Of course, today when you install applications you often get more than you asked for.

I've just gone on to our departmental Sharepoint pages to look at some past exam papers. All the files are indexed under course codes, which in our department means that we have links that start with numbers like 08101. A Skype browser plugin (which I didn't even know I had) converted all these into into buttons I can press to call each exam as a phone number, which is not terribly useful.....

Update on 2007-11-10 17:39 by Rob

You can get rid of the problem by going to "Tools->Manage Add-Ins" within Internet Explorer and disabling the Skype plugin. Or you can just remove Skype entirely, like I have just done.

Sexy Computer Science

I've been thinking a bit about how "sexy" the subject of Computer Science is. In her intro yesterday Karen Young from Microsoft mentioned that it was being seen as less attractive as a subject for students to take up. Applications to study computing are presently falling in Europe and the USA and for the life of me I can't understand why.

A few years ago there was a bit of a dip in the business, but at the moment the demand for computer literate people is as strong as it has ever been. If you are looking to move into a field where you get to shape the future and also build it then you should enter computing. If you like working with people, finding out what they want and creating answers to questions then you should enter computing. If you like puzzles and working in an environment where things just get more interesting every day, then you should enter computing. I can't think of any other field where you have the potential to have so much impact on the future. Computers are already a huge part of people's lives and that is set to accelerate.

For me the question is not "Why should I study computing?", it is "Why would I not?".

Professional Idiot

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to be as daft as I am. I must remember that not everything that seems like a good idea is actually a good idea. Here at TechEd they have a "Diary Room" in a kind of tribute to the "Big Brother" tv programme. It has a big red chair and a camera, and the idea is that delegates can describe their conference experiences which can then be put out as part of the coverage of the event. I guess the purpose is to get a true delegate perspective.

I walked past it this morning and the idea popped into my head that it might be hilarious to record a piece into the camera asking where the butter was, why there was no milk or cheese and then, after carefully examining the conference guide, look up take say "Oh, so it isn't the dairy room after all". So I tried it. Not good. I then made some other rather silly points and finally, for no sane reason, pressed the save button. Arrrgh. I'm cringing as I write this, I just hope that there is some kind of an editorial layer between my stupidity and worldwide distribution via the interweb.

Then, this afternoon I'd been asked to give a talk about being an valued professional. Karen Young, MVP Program Lead gave a great introduction to the program, finishing by making the point that computing is not seen a sexy any more. I started off my talk by wondering aloud if bringing me on next really was going to show how sexy computing really is. Good thought Rob. I then continued to tell all the students how the internet is "The Biggest CV you will ever have", and that you should regard your internet persona as a brand to be carefully managed so that you always look your best. As I was forcefully making this point the awful vision of me in front of the camera asking for yogurt drifted across my mind.

Idiot.

Update on 2007-11-10 17:41 by Rob

They've actually used my "dairy gag" on the end of the show-real for the Wednesday report on the TechEd delegate web site. The good news is that they've blurred it a bit and not added my name.

Sunny Barcelona

Had a nice flight out to Barcelona this afternoon. Paid the "Tall Persons Tax" to get a seat with leg room and the flight was fine.

This isn't Spain, I took it at the airport in Leeds

The conference starts tomorrow. We are on at just before tea.

Long Lens

I bought a long lens for the SLR today. It wasn't expensive, but it seems to work quite well. Of course it is unlikely that I will encounter anything worth photographing, but if I do, and it is in the distance, and I have time to do the lens swapping thing, I'll post the pictures.

200 Wrong Answers

At around half way through the semester we have some tests for our students. I'm doing a whole bunch of courses this year (including teaching Visual Basic - which has been interesting) and so I have to invent the quizzes. Each test has 25 questions with one correct and four incorrect answers.

That makes 200 wrong answers to be invented. Plus the sample tests as well. You might think that inventing wrong answers is easy, but actually it is a bit tricky. You have to have ones that kind of make sense, but are not right. If they are too right they are confusing, and if they are too wrong they are too easy.

Wonderful fun.

Delayed Answer

Our new answering machine is a bit tempremental. It seems that sometimes it takes a while to tell us about new messages, and it doesn't always give us all of them. This could of course be us not using it properly (as if) rather then a fault. Either way, it got me to thinking.

Perhaps one day there will be a market for unreliable devices. Perhaps people will pay extra for a slightly duff model so that they can say "Oh, sorry, the machine must have lost that one, sorry I didn't get back to you".

With the guaranteed delivery of SMS and universal voicemail, maybe we will eventually welcome a little bit of uncertainty in our lives. Perhaps our machine isn't broken, just ahead of its time. 

Inspiration on the Road

Today we had Ed Dunhill and Ben Coley from Microsoft over to see us as part of the Microsoft Inspiration tour. These guys work hard. A five hour drive to Hull, a three hour presentation, and a five hour drive on to the next gig. Tough stuff.

Ed and Ben in the Large (lecture theatre)

Some of the students limbering up

Keeping your audience watching....

The talks, about SilverLight, XNA, Embedded Development and why everyone should enter the Imagine Cup this year, were excellent, despite some comings and goings from students who had to head for timetabled lectures.

If you are at a college or uni. and you haven't got these two coming round to visit, you are missing out. If you check on the web site, I think they have a few slots free next year.

If you were at the talk and want to find out more about the stuff they showed off the best place to look is in Ed's blog, which you can find here.

How to turn a laptop into a paperweight

Lose the power supply.

I've just spent the thick end of an hour (and I mean the very thick end) looking for a little black box which is not worth a lot on its own, but given the fact that it has the right funny shaped plug and strange voltage output makes my little UMPC laptop worth having. I found it in the last place I looked.

Wish I'd looked there first.

Insomniac Dreams

I keep having this dream where I'm lying awake, trying to get to sleep.

Or at least, I think am.

Second Worst Place To Live in Britain

Some idiot Channel 4 program has just published a survey that makes out that Hull is the second worst place to live in Britain. This morning I thought I'd take a few pictures of the horrible place where I live.

The Spurn Point light ship as was. You can go round it if you like.

Princes Quay shopping centre

Posh boat

Awful place, isn't it.

Kewl bridge

Town Centre

Go Hull.

A Sad Moment

All good things must come to an end, so they say. At the end of the week we turn off our old departmental forums. I set them up many years ago and they have been a roaring success. Many students have signed up for them and some have stuck around for years after they officially left Hull, passing on help to undergraduates. Some of the debates have been truly hilarious, and others very thought provoking.

However, with a move to a more unified and managed set of resources we are finally turning off the old forums and moving on to our new shiny system. I'm sure that they will will soon be hosting the same level of discussion, debate and odd bit of stupidity that made our old forums so much fun.

But I'll still miss the original system....

How to succeed at Lan Parties

1. Turn up late.
2. Bring your own game.
3. Play your game until it looks like you might lose.
4. Leave.

It worked for me. Hull ComSoc had a lan party today. They had Halo 3, Quake, Wii Tennis, Guitar Hero, in fact all kinds of games. I took along my copy of Virtua Tennis for the PS/3 and played a few games, which was nice. I kept carefully away from all the games I was less good at (i.e. everything else) and managed to make sure I didn't lose. Wonderful. And you don't have "friendly fire" in tennis. I did take the camera though, and grabbed some snaps.

Halo 3 multiplayer semi final. Tight stuff.

A tense moment in the final

Mission Control

Magic spread a bit thin

I saw this today up town. "Experience the Magic of Light" eh? All together - "It's just a flashlight".

They don't seem to have sold many.....

Ancient History

Whilst digging around on my hard disk for some files I came across the notes I wrote for my Workstation Technology course in 1995. I thought it might be fun to pdf them and put them on this site. You can find them here. It is interesting to read them and see how much has changed.

And how much hasn't...

And just to prove that I'm still working in the present, I've put up another chapter in the XNA book.

With Friends Like These....

From the TV listings in today's paper:

10:15 BBC 1 Medium Allison is upset to discover that her new friend Debra is to be the serial killer's next victim....

I suppose it completely ruins plans for her next dinner party.

Open For Business

We had our first University Open Day of the new session today. I did my bit, followed by John. We had a great audience, and, as usual, I took a picture...

Thanks for coming, I hope you found it worthwhile

I told my "Favourite Joke In All The World" again. I think I'm starting to wear it out....

End of Week 2

The first couple of weeks of a session are always pretty exhausting. Getting to know a new group of students (who are all a great bunch by the way), bedding in new courses and writing new material does seem to take it out of me a bit. Not to mention trips to Grimsby with a robot dog and trying to finish chapter 7.

This evening I sat in the car wondering what this big round hoop of plastic was doing in front of me. Then I remembered that it was the steering wheel, and it was time to drive home.

STEM Fun

Just had a great time at a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) careers fair in Grimsby. Somewhat exhausting, as I was presenting continuously from around 6:00 to 8:10 this evening, but great fun. Of course, Digby the robot dog stole the show as usual...

The audiences were all great and I took a few pictures of them.

Click on the pictures for a larger versions on Flickr.

Excel Prize Competition

I don't use spreadsheets very much, but every year we have to produce a demonstrators timetable, and Excel is how we do it. I've got a very clever spreadsheet that lets you enter things and automatically highlights cells for the demonstrators, counts their loading and all sorts. I'm quite proud of it.

It uses a named range, called Times, which has all the timeslots in it. This year we have added modules and moved things around, and now the named range does not reflect the part of the spreadsheet that I want it to.

And nothing in Excel 97 would seem to let me change this.

The help, like always, tells me in mind numbing detail how to do things which are either too simple for words or too complex for me to ever want to use. I have that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that there is a very easy way to do this (in fact I even remember doing it once many years ago) but I don't know what it is.

Very frustrating.

So, I turn to you, dear reader. You have already shown that you are highly intelligent just by the kind of blogs you read (i.e. this one). So prove this by letting me know how to do this "simple" thing. First answer that works wins a Mars Bar.

Update on 2007-10-03 18:25 by Rob

I really must be careful posting when I'm cross. I meant Office 2007 rather than 97. And I must thank Andy (and the enigmatic Me) for providing the answer, which turns out to be as simple as I suspected it might be.