Redbrick Updates

20 January: updated by Angelkat

Hello Brickies,

Hope you've all enjoyed the holidays. We've a fair few announcements to make. This will be a busy spring!

Week 1

Thursday 11th February at 7pm we will be holding our first talk of the semester. The title for this talk is "Real World Low level optimisation" and it will be presented by Colm McCarthaigh (colmmacc).

This talk will cover optimisation and performance hacks that are rooted in low-level details of how systems work, but are also applicable and usable in high level programming languages such as Java and Python. Caching, pipelining and probing strategies, performance-oriented data-structure design and statistical profiling. But don't worry, each topic will be covered in plain language and explained from the ground up, and hopefully we'll have some fun along the way.

We will be following this up with food and pints. (Venues TBC)

Hoodies

due to issues with the hoodie companies we have had to postpone this hoodie order. We will be in touch as soon as we have something else sorted out.

Bletchley Park Trip

This trip has now been booked. The dates for this trip are 1-3 of February. If you would like to fund your own travel and join us email committee for further information.

NUIG CompSoc Botwars

Always wanted to try your hand at building your own fighting robot? Interested in robotics?

This massive robotics event will be held in NUIG on the 5th and the 6th of February in NUI Galway. Competitions that are scheduled:
Design Build, Code Challenge
-This one day challenge requires you to use all your skill to design, construct and program a robot in less than a day!

Intervarsity Wars
-Challenge robots from other universities for a chance to win the grand prize.

If you are interested in participating please reply to this email asap. If there are enough people interested we can see if we can get funding for this.

TOG Engineering Workshops

TOG (www.tog.ie for more info) will be hosting a series of events for Engineers Week (8 - 14 February). There are events on each night of the week on many different topics. All of the weekday events are free but require pre booking. The weekend Workshop require a fee for participation.

The workshops will cover topics such as amateur radio, soldering and robotics.

For a full list of events see the following link.

Engineers Week @ TOG 8 - 14 February. http://www.tog.ie/2010/01/engineers-week/

As always, if you have any suggestions about what you'd like to see a talk or workshop on or if you'd like to comment in general, please don't hesitate to email us.

Best of luck in the exams!

6 December: updated by Angelkat

Welcome to week 11. Or Hell Week for some

Downtime

There will be downtime this Monday, 7th December, at 9:30am. This is to allow our admins to apply kernel upgrades, access to irc and other services will be unavailable until 10:00am. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.

Events position

Unfortunately Carri Fuery has resigned from the position of Events. If anyone is interested in being our new Events person email the committee

Next semester

There will be Admin training, intermediate Python workshop, etc.. All next semester. So keep any eye out for them. If there's anything you'd like to see or that you'd like a talk on, we would love to hear your suggestions. Email committee with your ideas.

30 November: updated by Angelkat

Hey welcome to week 10,

Bletchley Sign ups

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Monday the 30th of November, will be sign ups for the trip to Bletchley Park. We're meeting in the Slipper, Matt Weldon's, at 7pm and we'll be watching the movie Enigma. Make sure you bring a deposit of €20. There's only 16 places for the trip. So it's first come first served. Unfortunately you do have to be over 18 to go on the trip. But if your under 18 don't worry there will be plenty of fun things coming up soon

Christmas Party

This Thursday, 3rd of December, is a night not to be missed. Why? Because it's the Christmas party RedBrick, Gamessoc, Airsoft, Booksoc, Filmsoc, Artsoc and Strange Things have all joined up to have one epic xmas party :) It's at 7pm in the Slipper, Matt Weldon's. It's going to be an awesome night so you better be there!

Help Desk Test

There will be an exam held for the position of Help desk on Friday, the 4th of December. If anyone is interested in sitting this exam, please be in the Clubs and Socs office upstairs in the Hub at 1.30pm.

New Putty Upgrade

Putty has now been updated. It is now UTF-8 compatible by default. So everyone should download the new one which can be found here.

Link of the Week

Here's a cute link that explains all the different type of smiles there are.

So everyone one's in the twilight saga: New Moon craze at the moment. If you haven't already read the link Carri posted around a while ago check it out here . It was written by someone who clearly hates twilight FYI. So people who hate twilight should definitely read it :P

23 November by Angelkat
Hello everyone and welcome to week 9!

Downtime

Following ISS's downtime yesterday redbrick didn't come back up, on investigation this morning the admins discovered the new fiber link wasn't up, Redbrick is currently running on our secondary link, there will be some brief network down time, hopefully today to rectify this as soon as the admin team are in touch with ISS.

Helpdesk Resignation

Austin (Haus) has resigned from his helpdesk position. The committee would like to thank him for his work. This means that there is an opening on the helpdesk team. Anyone who is interested in running for this position should email helpdesk

Trip to Bletchley Park

RedBrick are going to Bletchley Park during intersemester break (February)! Bletchley Park was the home of the UK's code-breaking operations during World War II. "Unbreakable" nazi codes were broken here. Dates are yet to be finalised but will be between the 1st and 6th of February for 2 nights and 3 days. Cost will be about €40 altogether per person for plane tickets, entry to the museum/talk and the hotel. Remember to bring money for food and drinks too! We will be showing the film Enigma (a film about Bletchley Park) in association with Filmsoc and taking sign-ups before the showing. The showing will take place on Monday 30th November upstairs in the Slipper (Matt Weldon's on Ballymun Road) at 7pm. Places are very limited (16).

To clarify : Sign-ups for the trip and a showing of the film Enigma will be upstairs in the Slipper (Matt Weldon's on Ballymun Road) at 7pm on Monday 30th November. Bring a €20 deposit.

Qzar

Signed up to Qzar? Remember that it's on tomorrow (Tuesday 24th November). Bring bus fare! We will be meeting up outside the bookshop (Spar side of the Hub) at 6pm.

Hoodies

This is your last chance to sign up for a RedBrick hoodie. We will stop taking names on Wednesday. Please email us by Thursday to let us know what name you would like printed on your hoodie. To see what they look like you can check out the following link

Xmas Party

RedBrick, Gamessoc, Airsoft, Booksoc, Filmsoc, Artsoc and Strange Things are getting together to host a Christmas party from 7.30pm on Thursday the 3rd of December upstairs in Matt Weldon's (The Slipper) on Ballymun Road.

This is the perfect chance to get into the festive spirit! Mulled wine, mince pies and gingerbread will be on offer. Have a really cheesy Christmas jumper? Christmassy outfits are encouraged! If we deem you to be the Christmassiest person there we may even reward you... Presents and a raffle. We guarantee that you will not be leaving empty handed!

Drinks promos on the night.

Have a Facebook account? Below is the link to the event page.

Python Talk Slides

A few people have asked for the slides from Pooka's Python workshop so here they are here.

16 November by
Angelkat

Pooka Python Talk

Tomorrow Monday the 16th Nov, at 7pm in LG26 Cian Synnott (pooka) will be giving a short introduction to the increasingly popular Python programming language. It's easy-to-learn but powerful, runs practically everywhere, and has a large and useful standard library. The talk is aimed at smart brickies who are new(ish) to programming. People more familiar with programming might find it a little slow but hopefully there'll be notes of interest along the way. So come along and check it out.

Qzar and Bowling trip

On Tuesday, 24th Nov, We will be going to Qzar and Bowling. We will be meeting outside Spar at 6pm. This trip will only cost you €4 for both bowling and Qzar. If you would like to sign up to this event click here

Ohhh and don't forget to bring some change for the bus.

Clubs and Socs Ball

Clubs and Socs ball tickets are now available for collection by those who have paid for theirs. If you didn't get a ticket and would like to go, there will be a few tickets on sale from the SU reception from 10am on Monday. It's going to be an epic night!

Hoodies

We're taking orders for hoodies now. So if you wanna take a look at the hoodies and put your name down for one click on the link here

Redbrick trip away

We're currently planning a trip to Bletchley Park during intersemester break. For anyone who's interesting in knowing more about Bletchley Park check out this link

The cost for the trip will be about 30 per person. Which includes accomodation, flights and entry fees. So think about it.

9 November by Angelkat
Hey its week 7, that time when some lucky people get to have a reading week.

New Admin

Congratulations to Andrew Martin (Werdz) who was elected as our new admin!

Clubs and Socs Ball

We have six tickets available for the Clubs and Socs Ball. It will be held in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Santry. The evening consists of a four course dinner and entertainment. The dress code is formal. Tickets are 45 euro each. Please be prepared to pay by 2pm on Wednesday 11th November or your ticket will be reallocated. Sign up here

Introduction to Python

We will be holding an introduction to Python workshop. It will be held by our guest speaker Cian Synnott (Pooka) on Monday 16th November at 7pm in LG25

Why learn Python?
It is a very versatile programming language that will tackle almost any problem. It is portable so whether you want your code to run on a Windows, Mac or Linux machine (or even your phone) that will not be an issue. Thanks to its clear, easy to understand syntax it can be learned quickly, even by beginners.
A few examples of who uses Python: Google, Industrial Light & Magic (the visual effects company that created Star Wars), YouTube.

Hoodies

A reminder that we are looking for a new hoodie design. The contest ends on Tuesday the 10th of November at 3pm. If you would like to enter your design this is your last chance to do so. Email your ideas to committee!

Halloween Ball

Hope that everyone enjoyed it!
Congratulations to Charlene for winning the fancy dress contest at the Halloween Ball with her witch costume! She has won herself a RedBrick hoodie.

For those of you with reading week : enjoy your lie ins!

For those of us without reading week : well... on the bright side, the queues in Spar shouldn't be too bad this week...

2 November by Angelkat
Woo more updates, crap its week 6!

EGM

This is the last reminder about our EGM at 2.30pm this Wednesday, 4th of November, in T101. It's to elect our new admin. So come along. We will be heading to Eddie Rocket's in the Omni to celebrate afterwards. Free fries with every burger.

Halloween Ball

Our Halloween Ball is this Thursday, 5th of November, in the Vaults (just under Connolly Station. www.thevaults.ie for more info on the venue and here is a map!). Drinks will be buy one get one free! Entry is free and the first 10 associates to come will get a free drink. Like I said before it's just another excuse to wear your Halloween outfits again.

For those of you with Facebook accounts you can view the page for the event here

If you haven't already got an outfit and don't have the money to buy one check out this link found by Carri. It has brilliant idea for making outfits with stuff just around your house. Requires minimal effort. Take a look.

Hoodie Competition

The hoodie competition has been extended till next Tuesday, the 10th of November. So you still have loads of time to get your designs into us. If you would like to submit a design please email it to committee

Renewals

If you haven't renewed your account please do so now. We will start disabling accounts on Monday the 9th of November. You can either find a committee member and hand them the appropriate fee or you can use Paypal.

Events coming soon

There will be an introduction to Python talk held on Monday the 16th of November at 7pm.

We have a trip abroad in the works. More details will be announced soon. Also there's going to be a Qzar and Bowling night. So make sure to keep an eye out for when we mention then again. They are not to be missed!

Ubuntu Open Week

This week is Ubuntu Open Week. If you are interested in getting involved in opensource projects this is the perfect time to do so.

Ubuntu Open Week is a series of online workshops where you can: learn about the Ubuntu landscape

talk to some of the key developers from the Ubuntu project

find out about the Community and its relationship with Canonical

participate in an open Q&A with Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu

Check out our booklet, with the schedule and descriptions of the sessions"

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek/ has the information on speakers and also on the timetable. So check it out :)

On Saturday we celebrated the launch of Karmic Koala (Ubuntu 9.10). If you want to find out more check out www.ubuntu.com

Link of the Week

Random link of the week. It has loads of info on useful things you can do on Redbrick. Like how to program and other random bits and bobs. So definitely take a look at it :)

Join RedBrick!

Redbrick is DCU's only neworking society. We provide features such as a limitless gallery for your pictures, a chat area to meet and keep in touch via the internet and many more such as free tutorials on many computer topics for our members and also needless to say, many a night out!

This year some of our major events include our very own Redbrick Freshers Ball, which is a huge hit every year and this year boasts a live band and console gaming with Games Soc, our Halloween Ball which is always frighteningly good, our main week, Tech Week, which was a huge sucess and a load of fun last year and of course our annual Table Quiz in semester two. Other events are organised all year round like cinema trips, drunken nights on the town and others such as paintball.

Come join the fun and join Redbrick!

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RedBrick Wiki

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