James on the box - Part Two

Well, it's done. It was more than I thought too. Turns out that Look North are doing a special on the flood disaster - showing next Wednesday (25th) on BBC1 at 7.30. East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire definitely - SKY channel 997 - and I'll be on there, talking to Paul Hudson, the regional weather guy. It was very weird when he came up and said hello as I felt I knew him! We also had to do some walking towards the camera - that took *a few* goes thanks to lawn mower men, people walking in front of the camera, and the construction that's going on round campus while the students are away. Turns out that you have to be very, very patient to be in TV.

So not tomorrow, but next week. (Obviously, I'll still need a copy, as I'll be in Lanzorote!) Now, on to today's graduation ceremony!! Yes, a James-in-his-suit occasion. Not many of those about...!

James on the box

I hope no-one minds but I can't resist mentioning this. I'm going to be on the telly next week! Look North - the BBC local news programme - are coming to interview me about the short and long term effects of the flooding we've had recently. They've asked someone from the department and it ended up being me. I'm all excited!! :)

Psychology 101

These last couple of weeks, there's been a fair few coach loads of kids about. AS-level students, GSCE students etc and the university often runs Masterclasses for the various subjects, trying to get give the kids an informed choice and to make them come to the University of Hull when they finish school. Dave and I have been roped into this twice now, once for 20 17-yr olds and just this morning for 100 15 year olds. Both times, it went well. I spoke a bit about Gestalt psychology (which came out of Germany in the 30s at the same time as Nazism so unfairly, wasn't all that fashionable for a few years after the war). Anyhow, it gave me an excuse to dig out a few of the psychology "classics": these two pictures included. The first is the good old Rabbit/Duck picture. The second however, caused a few problems with some of the lads in this mornings session. There is a gender difference in this second one as men have evolutionary reason to spot younger women, but not older ones. There was two lads this morning who could *NOT* see the older woman at all. Not without myself - and several of their friends trying to point the older face out for the best part of two minutes. When the penny finally dropped, it was brilliant. "OOOOOOH!" :)

E-bay with a "Venger"-ance ;-)

The signs are bad. I think I may have suddenly got hooked on e-bay. I dabbled for a while, but then forgot all about it for the best part of 18 months. But now I'm back. Still, grabbed a bargain the other day. (Some of you will agree with me, though I bet some of you will not). My inner child escaped again and I bought the complete series of the 27-episode Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series I loved so much as a kid. £15 with postage. That'll do me. Anyone else remember it??

Morning Morning Feeling...

Ah, crap. I had something to Blog about this morning, but I've forgotten what it was. :)

Learning vs. "Staff"

Heh, I've been "attacked" - as Gareth says. Granted, it's verbal, not really an attack, and it's by a mate that I know well, so no worries. :) See here (second one down). It's in Jason's June archive. This is in response to a couple of postings by Jason about his plans for a new supercomputer to replace his current steam-powered device. Lots of techie talk and a comment by me underneath stating: " Heh, I don't understand any of the techie stuff. I wear my ignorance with pride!! :)"

Thing is, Jase, ignorance isn't something to be changed. That's lack of knowledge. Ignorance is a state of mind, or more exactly, a conscious - or mostly conscious - choice to not do anything about it(!) Thanks for the link though - I had already tweaked Oblivion but it did remind me that I should check for NWN2 updates. As it turns out, there were three! I've gone back to it recently having not quite finished it in the past - I'd tell you where but I fear giving a spoiler away. Turning off the anti-aliasing I can handle, but the innards I leave to Mik and Eddie to choose for me. As such, I don't need to know anything about the insides of my PC. I have staff! ;-) For example, my PC had a bit of a fit the other month, and the processor reset itself to something much slower. Called Eddie, he came round, showed me how to reset it in BIOS, sorted. God only knows how much extra reading I'd have to do - and my job involves a lot of reading - to prepare for any eventuality by myself.

PS. When I move to Huddersfield (for good!) in late August, no more easy access to Eddie and Mik for advice. But, fingers crossed, Geoff is on standby too. He also knows what he's talking about! :)