SpeedCabling

Perhaps we could run SpeedCabling competitions? Maybe a book-token for the winner?

A new "sport" based around unravelling the mass of wires that can typically be found beneath computer desks the world over is taking off in the western US.

The first "speedcabling" competition took place in an art gallery in Los Angeles and was won by LA-based web developer Matthew Howell.

The challenge was devised by IT professional Steven Schkolne. Contestants are faced with a tangled mass of six ethernet cables of various lengths. Their task is simply to separate them in the fastest time.

To get them to replicate the conditions of the wires found snaking and choking their way around hard drive units, monitors and printers in offices worldwide, Schkolne first started by tangling them in a figure eight. Then he threw the bundles in a clothes dryer - no longer attached to any computer unit, naturally.

Full story from BBC News

HALO dEMO

d/l'd the Halo demo n gave it a whack. Sim controls 2 old Castle Falkenstein, which evolved into Doom. So intuitive. Loved the Gunny character that appeared when I quit (having failed to get thru doors in the Easy - Silent Cart'pher miss'; but also failed in my attempt to drown the warthog at sea). Sale's pitch for the full ver: "It's got tanks, guns"...all to a happy jingle. "Buy one, heck, buy two" (uToob, n spoof)

The skills you need to succeed

Bill Gates writes:

Today and in the future, many of the jobs with the greatest impact will be related to software, whether it is developing software working for a company like Microsoft or helping other organisations use information technology tools to be successful.

Communication skills and the ability to work well with different types of people are very important too.

A lot of people assume that creating software is purely a solitary activity where you sit in an office with the door closed all day and write lots of code.

This isn't true at all.

Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.

I also place a high value on having a passion for ongoing learning. When I was pretty young, I picked up the habit of reading lots of books.

It's great to read widely about a broad range of subjects. Of course today, it's far easier to go online and find information about any topic that interests you.

Having that kind of curiosity about the world helps anyone succeed, no matter what kind of work they decide to pursue.

Source: BBC. Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed

Forbes Top 400 richest Americans

Hair Today

Ian across at RGU has added hair no his computer model. With Aberdeen being a small place, I think I know his supervisor from my old RGIT days.

http://teach-hairdesign.blogspot.com/

New Tech, New Problems

One of my students has just had to move to another PC while I fixed the problem with the network. Turned out that someone had forgotten to plug in a network cable, and it had fallen down through the wiring hole in the desk. I have noticed some of the students who have wireless laptops access our wired network by using the desktop network cables. Either don't do this, or make good the connection after you are finished with it. It's nae rocket science.