November 2005 Newsletter

Ah, November. The final stretch before exam season. Midterms, labs, and essays a’plenty. Come on out and relieve some stress, courtesy of the CSSS!

CSSS LAN Party v2.0 and Foosball Tournament

When: Friday Nov. 18, 6:00-12:00pm
Where: CS Undergrad Lounge (X-wing Lounge)

The last LAN party was such a success that we’re bringing it back! Consider it your last opportunity to game before final exam crunch time :-)

Foosball Tournament – The winner takes home a shiny new copy of NBA Live 2006 for the XBox. Play in pairs, then face off against your mate in finals for the prize! Be sure to check out the sign up sheet on the bulletin board outside the CSSS Office.
4-Player XBox – We bought a new projector for exactly this kind of thing. We have plenty of games including Halo 2, NHL 2006, and James’ personal favourite of the day, Amped 2 (yea snowboarding!)
Poker – ‘cause we couldn’t stop you if we tried…
Board games (eg Risk)
Rag Doll Kung Fu – Bring your USB mouse and plug it into our machine. Up to 8 players are supported simultaneously. Check out the website for details on this crazy game.
LAN gaming – Go all out and bring your full desktop PC or laptop for a full range of multiplayer gaming, whatever you want! Don’t forget your network cable. Look forward to Unreal Tournament/Enemy Territory shootouts, and more!

Fun for the whole family - well, almost. So, even if you protest and deny owning a decent gaming rig, you have no excuse not to come. Pizza (for *genuine* LAN party attendees) will be available and most likely subsidized by Yours Truly.

Like last time, if you want to suggest improvements and give your input, hit the forums.

Microsoft - Where do you want to go today?

When: Wednesday Nov. 23, 6:00-7:15pm
Where: Dempster Pavilion, Room 310

After Google, IBM, and EA, who have we left out? Microsoft, of course!

On Wednesday Nov. 23, 2005 from 6:00-7:15pm, MSFT will be visiting UBC. Whether you use Microsoft products or not is irrelevant - the fact is that they are the largest software company in the world. And they are always hiring!

Hear speakers talk about the software and projects Microsoft works on (it isn’t just Vista) and what it’s like to work there. UBC alumni (including last year’s CSSS president Jono Luk) will be there to relate their experiences there. Don’t forget to bring your resume! They want to hire you! That’s why they’re coming! And as always, it comes with pizza!

See Microsoft College Careers for more information about working at Microsoft. Or, check out theSpoke for general talk and more information about the Imagine Cup in New Delhi this year!

CSSS/CSGSA Wine and Cheese

When: Friday Nov. 25, 7:00-11:00pm
Where: CS Undergrad Lounge (X-wing Lounge)

Who says computer science students aren’t sophisticated? Coming up is the first ever Wine and Cheese event (And no, we’re not talking about Wine, which imho, is also quite sophisticated too). Tantalize your five senses and don’t miss out.

If the idea of rubbing shoulders with faculty, and students alike while sipping a stem of Pinot Noir doesn’t appeal to you, consider the cultural enrichment that you’d get knowing that there are more varieties of cheese than Chedder or Mozza. It’s all the fun of joining the UBC Wine Tasting Club with none of the commitment! ;-)

Tickets will be on sale for $5.00 at the CSSS office starting Friday (Nov. 18), won’t be available at the door, and are limited in number, so be sure to get yours early! The ticket includes food and entertainment, and wine will be for sale by the glass.

The event is semi-formal, so be sure to break out your nice duds and leave the sweats and lululemons at home.

This event is brought to you by the Computer Science Students’ Society (CSSS) and the Computer Science Graduate Students’ Assocation (CSGSA).

Showcase

Do you have a cool project or website that you’ve designed? Want some exposure for one of your sites? The CSSS website has a new forum just for that purpose! Post your stuff here and let everyone know about it!

Sites containing adult content or deemed as spam will be removed.

Grad Photos with Evangelos Photography

Are you graduating this year? Get your grad photos done now! Grad Portraits are being taken at:

Evangelos Photography
3156 West Broadway, Vancouver
(604)731-8314 / 732-3023

http://www.evangelosphotography.com

You must get your photos done if you want to be in the class composite and the yearbook (for Dec and May graduation). If you know you won’t order any photos, you can book a shortened appointment just to take a picture for the class composite. There is no charge for that.

A regular appointment requires a $35 deposit for the photo previews. If you choose not to order any photos and return the previews undamaged, your money if refunded. If you choose to order photos, that amount is deducted from the package you chose.

Simply phone Evangelos to book your appointment. Deadline is Nov. 30, 2005, so hurry up!

Come to the CSSS Office (X139) to pick up an info sheet with tips for getting your grad photos done.

ChicTech Volunteers

The FoWCS Committee and the Jade Project are sponsoring a new program for high school girls called ChicTech. Teams of four girls and one teacher from area high schools will create web sites for non-profit organizations, and all of their projects will be judged in a competition at UBC at the end of the year. More information about the project is available at http://www.chictech.ca

Who We Need:

Mentors: Teams of two UBC students (one male, one female) will mentor one team each in the spring to encourage and help them with their projects. Requires only ONE in-person visit to the team; thereafter you can communicate with them via phone and/or email.
Speakers: During the month of November, we need volunteers to visit IT or CAPP classes in area high schools (Vancouver, Richmond, North & West Van) and talk a little about ChicTech for ~10 minutes. We will provide a script and arrange for a public speaking training session. You can do as few or as many schools as you like. If you are an alum we can arrange for you to visit your old high school.

If you’d like to help us out with either of these roles, please reply to ChicTechUBC(at)gmail.com with the role name (Mentor, Speaker) in the subject line.

EA TankWars: A Competition

We’ve just received word that UBC is one of the invited institutions in Electronic Arts’ first ever programming competition, Tank Wars. This is an AI programming competition, similar to Project Hoshimi, where students are given an API to use, to create intelligent bots that wage war!

EA looks to have outdone itself by including a code base, that compiles on Windows (.NET), Linux, and Mac (Xcode)! So, unlike other programming competitions, there’s a great amount of freedom in whatever development environment you prefer. The contest runs through January 15th, 2006, so this sounds like an excellent activity to pass time away during the holiday season, if you’re raring to scratch that programing itch. And not to mention, it’s exclusive to you guys (and a few other Canadian institutions), so I’d say there’s a decent chance of winning. But you’ll have to get past me first :P (which shouldn’t be too hard). Let’s aim for more than 4 entries, eh?

And although it doesn’t specify it explicitly, if you’re looking to get the attention of EA for whatever reason - co-op student or summer intern - this might be a way of getting your foot in the door :-)

http://info.ea.com/company/company_tw.php

Reps and Execs

We are pleased to announce the inauguration of Eugene Chan as Office Manager and Charles Bihis as Manager of Resources. This dynamic duo takes care of the CSSS Office and maintain a fresh supply of drinks and chips for your hearty consumption. The CSSS Year Reps have also been given their own webpage, so be sure to familiarize yourself and say hi next time you see them!