The Indian Summer ended today when high winds and torrential rain arrived. Within minutes, there was minor flooding on my path home across Singleton Park to Brynmill. It was also nearly dark at 5.00 pm so winter’s almost with us. [](http://picasa.google.com/blogger/)

Since I discovered them a month or so ago, I have been tuning in to the webcasts of Brian Harvey’s course “61A Introduction to Computer Science” from the University of California Berkeley. A couple of things struck me. First, the breadth of this introductory *course which seems to take in the whole of computer science from functional programming through to logic programming and seemingly all types of programming in between. Second, the length of the semester in the US: from August 27 through to December 10 (about 5 weeks longer than the *Michaelmas term in Swansea).

There are all kinds of interesting nooks and crannies on campus. Here’s a mock gothic window in Singleton Abbey. I like the heads had the bas of the arches. [](http://picasa.google.com/blogger/)

Today I introduced blogging to my students in EG-259.

As noted in a previous post, I am working on a 365 photos project and that means that I always have a camera with me and need to find a suitable subject every day. This one didn’t make it into today’s selection but I still quite like it. Your mission, should you choose to accept, it is to identify the spot in the University where this historic entrance to the Arts faculty is located.

The BBC Proms Season ended with a bang in Singleton Park last night as the Fireworks, launched during the Welsh National Anthem, brought to an end a great concert of Italian Music and Neopolitan songs. The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, conducted by David Charles Abell and Soloists Rebecca Evans (Three Costume Changes!) and Alfie Boe kept us all entertained for the three hours of the concert itself and the rehersals, which as early arrivals, we also got to see.

[](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__bnNGgqRugY/SMl2tc3bsOI/AAAAAAAAEnM/mPFuLuq56Q8/s1600-h/Beach,+Sea+and+Clouds.jpg) Today we took a walk along the Beach. It was late evening, just before sunset and the clouds, sea and sand made for some dramatic images. The full set are to be seen on [Picasa](http://picasaweb.google.com/cpjobling/BeachSeaAndClouds). [](http://picasa.google.com/blogger/)

One of the nice features of the newly released beta of Google Chrome is the feature that makes it easy to convert a tab into a standalone desktop application shortcut which you can add to your desktop, quick launch and start menu. I’ve already gotten Google Reader, Flickr and Zoho Docs “application-i-fied”, and no doubt Facebook, Google Docs, and my other frquently-used web apps will follow. A major advantage of this is that the applications launch in their own independent windows whereas links launch in tabs in a separate instance of the Chrome browser.

Day 3: Legitimate Ospreys Fan Originally uploaded by Chris P Jobling Today, I picked up my first Ospreys season ticket (actually the first season ticket of any description) so I’m all set for a year of live Magner’s League, Anglo-Welsh and European cup rugby at the Liberty Stadium. First game is Shane William’s testimonial against Leicester Tigers tomorrow!

Another rainy day in August Originally uploaded by Chris P Jobling Here’s the first real 365 Project photo. It puts into pixels what I feel about August so far! Follow the rest of this series by visiting Crispy’s 365 Photos Project.

A popular subject on Flickr is the so called 365 pictures project in which individuals or groups take and upload a picture a day. I’ve decided to have a go myself, but couldn’t add the snaps taken at the 30th Pontardawe Festival last Sunday, because that would have left two days without a photo! However, the Sunday night headliners, Transglobal Underground, were just too good to ignore, so here’s a mosaic from Flickr which you can click on to go to the Album.

Nat Torkington lives in New Zealand and has spent the last couple of years volunteering as a sysadmin, computer club organizer, and teacher at his local primary school. He shares his experiences of teaching programming to 8-12 year olds in his blog (and also on O’Reilly Radar) as well as in this inspirational talk from OSCON 2008. His conclusion, a call to arms for geeks everywhere to help their local schools, is inspirational.