“To Thine Own Self Be True”*

13Sep09

So back to the lovely Conway Hall for another Interesting.

After (the now obligatory ?) Final Countdown singalong Russell wandered on to say hello and to give various thanks to various people including (perhaps most importantly) a salute to those who had brought home made cake. And then without any further ceremony Interesting09 began.

#01 Tom Loosemore was up first talking about the race to sail faster than 50 knots. Starting the day was always going to be difficult however Tom did admirably well despite the first of many IT gremlins (which kind of added to the day). He explained that the sails on yachts are pulled not pushed (which I’d never really thought of before) and explained the concept of the pressure on a daggerboard by the use of an apple pip. He was passionate, knowledgeable and as such a great start to the day.

#02 Jess Greenwood then spoke about why the least interesting thing about sport is the score, and that how the game stays the same but the world around it changes almost constantly.

#03 Robert Brook then discussed the concept of gentleman without the use of his excellent slide (which you can see here) due to the first proper IT failure of the day.

#04 Toby Barnes gave us a brief history of cheating in video-games from his earliest experiences with the legendary Manic Miner and the subsequent use of the Konami Code. He also spoke of games having “more game” about being less linear, about not simply stopping when a player gets to a certain point in a game that he cannot progress past.

[Toby's talk is now available to see on Slideshare here.]

#05 Leila Johnston read from her book, ‘The Enemy of Chaos’ which according to extracts read (and the reviews on her website) is a very funny book. She also gave some excellent advice regarding the production of a book : “Get you cover designed after you’ve got a plot”.

#06 Cait Hurley Spoke briefly on Arthur Jefferson aka Stan Laurel’s dad. Who as well as being Stan Laurel’s dad, was born on the 12th September, and was a quite remarkable gentleman (although perhaps I’ll have to defer to Robert Brook on that).

#07 Alby Reid’s Told us that “Everything You Know About Nuclear Power is Wrong”. Which was fine by me because my knowledge of nuclear is sketchy to say the least. By day it seems Alby is a physics teacher – I think if physics had been taught to me with the passion he showed for his subject I might not have got a U in my Physics A Level, (I actually got another U when I retook it so my heart perhaps wasn’t in it eh ?).

#08 Katy Lindemann then wrapped up the first session with an enthusiastic talk about her love of robots, which as Russell has already pointed out elsewhere is difficult to argue with. The tweenbots she introduced us to were particularly endearing.

* Which appears above the stage at Conway Hall.

Notes From Session #02 here
Notes From Session #03 here
Notes From Session #04 here

About these ads

Filed under: Ideas   |  5 Comments
Tags: Alby Reid, Arthur Jefferson, Cait Hurley, Conway Hall, Gentleman, Gentlemen, Interesting, Interesting2009, Jess Greenwood, Kay Lindemann, Komani Code, Leila Johnston, Mainc Miner, Nuclear Power, Physics, Robert Brook, Robots, Russell Davies, Sport, Stan Laurel, The Enemy Of Chaos, Toby Barnes, Tom Loosemore, Yachts