A Slice of History

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I was up in the loft again today and I happened across something of great historical interest. I found a Computer Science Departmental Prospectus from 1978, the year that I graduated. I’d kept it because, ahem, I’m in it.

Cover

This is the cover. Any idea which language this is?

Cool Dudes

..and this is the money shot. I think I’ve probably still got those shoes somewhere. And that hairstyle….

The computer in the corner (yes, that is a computer) was a Prime machine and myself and the other chap (another prize for naming him) were allowed special access to it for our Final Year Projects. We then went onto create an unbeatable version of the “Fox and Hounds” board game that was so good that nobody wanted to play it.

Good times.

New Years Hornsea

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Hornsea Beach

For some reason we always try to go and see the sea early in the New Year. This usually means a trip to Hornsea. Today the weather and the tide were very kind to us, and so we had a little walk down the beach and I took some snaps.

Hornsea Beach Pebbles

The weather was nice, but very chilly in the wind. We sought refuge in an amusement arcade.

Hornsea Penny Falls

They have these “Penny Falls” machines where you try and push pennies off the a ramp. This looks like it is good to drop, but I reckon those coins are super glued into position…

Free Xbox 360 with Nokia Lumia 800

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image

I didn’t realise it at the time, but getting a new Windows Phone has other benefits as well. In the form of a free Xbox 360 with every brand new Nokia Lumia 800. I think the offer has expired now though. I’d have got the phone anyway, free console or not, but it is rather nice.

I’ve had an Xbox 360 since day of release. I have fond memories of around 30 of us sitting in the dark playing Condemned when I took my shiny new console in having picked it up on the very first day. I have less fond memories of the “Red Ring of Death” and sending the whole thing back for repair fairly shortly after that of course….

Anyhoo; today the postman brought me a brand new Xbox 360. It is the new design one and almost shiny. It doesn’t have a hard disk, but it works a treat using an internal 4G of memory and is much, much quieter than my previous machine. Number one sun put in a copy of Skyrim and fired it up. Very, very good. I find it hard to believe that this is now a “mature” console.

The new machine works so well that it has now taken over from my original device. If anyone out there wants a “one careful owner” console, give me a yell.

Me, I’m off to buy a hard disk to plug into it.

Fifty Years of Private Eye

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Private Eye

Last week we went up to London for a day trip. One thing we wanted to do was take a look at the “Private Eye: The First Fifty Years” exhibition in the Victoria and Albert museum. Private Eye is a satirical magazine which must be finding life quite interesting in a world which seems to have moved beyond satire in the last few years.

Free to visit and some very funny cartoons. Worth a trip, but you’ll have to hurry as it closes early next year.

Christmas Bash 2011

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What CS labs are actually for...

We had our Christmas Bash today. A bit near the end of the semester so it was a fairly select gathering, but fun none the less.  We did the usual Team Fortress 2 and Pizza

Simon is a winner

After 3 hours of solid effort Simon found all of the 78 words in the “Three Thing Game” Christmas Wordsearch. We had to give him a prize, but only after we’d checked the age rating of it.

Notice beautifully sharp image of Simon's shirt.

Double barrelled cracker action. I think the blur adds atmosphere….

There are some more pictures on Flickr.You can find them here.

Christmas Shopping on Oxford Street

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Oxford Street Again

We took a day trip to London today. Great fun. We were even brave enough to go down Oxford Street. To say it was busy would be a bit of an understatement. But it was nice.

Political Note: I don’t usually comment on politics on this blog. My opinion is that no matter how you vote The Government always seems to get in. But I feel I must apologise to the rest of the world about the behaviour of our Prime Minister with respect to the European Talks last week. When a previous Prime Minister was negotiating very important treaty stuff he hid a diplomat under the table who passed him notes with sensible things to say written on them. Apparently our Mr Cameron did the same, only he took Jeremy Clarkson.

VideoBash on December 12th

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VideoBash

Christophe dropped into my first year lecture today to promote the upcoming Videobash at the university. It’s a co-production between ComSoc and the university film society. Movies, video games, fancy dress. Looks like fun. I think they still have some tickets left. You can buy them next week on the 7th, 8th and 9th in the union.

On a related note, you can get the Final Fantasy movie – The Spirits Within on Blu-ray for 6.49 on Amazon, which has got to be a bargain.

Too Many Accounts

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Yellow Lines

Today I bought something on the internet and paid extra so just to avoid having to register on yet another shopping site. I found a site selling the item for a tiny bit less but they wanted me to register and set up a username and password (and would presumably bombard me with emails and “offers” ever afterwards). I wish sites wouldn’t do this. Some places have an “order without setting up an account” button and I much prefer this. When I’m shopping on the internet I’m after the goods, not a relationship.