BBC: Cracking the Code

18th of March 2013 by liz

Last week’s Cracking the Code had a segment featuring a very familiar little computer, and a guy with a weather balloon whom you might just recognise. Isn’t it interesting how much more technical detail this kids’ show goes into compared to some of the adult tech news coverage we see on TV? Thanks to everyone involved – especially Dave!

[Update: looks like this video isn't available for viewers outside the UK - sorry if you're affected!]

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33 comments

Dave Akerman on
March 18, 2013 at 12:35 pm said:

The video autostarts when the page loads – something up with the link?

Dave

Comment ↓
matthew rose on
March 18, 2013 at 12:47 pm said:

woooahhhh, auto-start video and busy office…MUTE MUTE MUTE.

Comment ↓
liz on
March 18, 2013 at 1:03 pm said:

Argh – sorry about the autoplay, folks. It’s gone now; this is what I get for trusting someone else’s embed code!

Comment ↓
Andrew Edwards on
March 18, 2013 at 1:09 pm said:

I cannot view this in the netherlands. I think it only works in the uk.

Comment ↓
- Dave Akerman on
  March 18, 2013 at 1:24 pm said:
  
  Yes, it’s UK only, but just google for “watching iplayer outside uk” for how to get round that.
  
  Or send me a PM.
  
  Dave
  
  Comment ↓
Dave Akerman on
March 18, 2013 at 1:10 pm said:

Now if you could just edit the video so that my bandaged finger* isn’t so prominent, that would be great

*I managed to remove part of the end of the finger the week before when preparing my previous flight. Ended up with a trip to the hospital, where they spent 5 minutes fixing it and 10 minutes telling me off for not going in till after the flight was over!

Comment ↓
- liz on
  March 18, 2013 at 1:51 pm said:
  
  I was wondering what you’d done to it! I have always been very impressed by the regenerating power of fingertips. Hope it’s better soon!
  
  Comment ↓
  - Dave Akerman on
    March 18, 2013 at 2:37 pm said:
    
    Yeah it’s fine; the recording was quite a while ago now!
    
    Funniest bit was when the lad (Harry) suggested that my coding might be the result of random hammering on the keyboard! My secret is out ….
    
    Dave
    
    Comment ↓
ukscone on
March 18, 2013 at 1:14 pm said:

looks like there is some anti-exile bias from the bbc. those of us who committed major sins in past lives that karma have caused to be exiled to places that aren’t a green & pleasant land can’t watch the video

Comment ↓
- JamesH on
  March 18, 2013 at 4:13 pm said:
  
  At least you don’t live in Cyprus…
  
  Comment ↓
  - ukscone on
    March 18, 2013 at 4:37 pm said:
    
    or milton keynes or basildon. 6th & 7th circles of hell and that’s just the ringroad
    
    Comment ↓
    - liz on
      March 18, 2013 at 4:54 pm said:
      
      Milton Keynes *does* have a very nice Chinese restaurant. And an indoor ski slope. Neither of these are things that any of the circles of hell are renowned for.
      
      Comment ↓
      - meltwater on
        March 18, 2013 at 5:18 pm said:
        
        Shame, been waiting for the indoor ski slope in hell for a while now….one day…:D
      - alex on
        March 18, 2013 at 5:57 pm said:
        
        And there’s always the MK Jam at the National Museum of Computing too.
- Jim Manley on
  March 19, 2013 at 11:35 pm said:
  
  Try having a Revolutionary War with them … they just have NO sense of humo(u)r … or lack of memory … unless it has to do with saving some bacon in the 1940s … and don’t get me started on that Canadian style of “bacon” …
  
  I do have to admit that we greatly appreciate the work of the likes of Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Tim Berners-Lee, and the cast of literally thousands of scientists and engineers who have lent their broad shoulders for all of us to stand on in awe and excitement as we make our puny accomplishments in comparison.
  
  Of course, computing would be nothing without the contributions of Monty Python’s Flying Circus – how else would we have ever tested our code in spewing quotation database nonesense … that actually does make sense when the code finally works!
  
  Comment ↓
  - Jim Manley on
    March 19, 2013 at 11:43 pm said:
    
    Of course, “nonesense” should be “nonsense” – the autospeller even tried to change it to “none sense”, but I knew _that_ wasn’t right and overrode it … Smart-a$$ machines are just a robotic assembly line away from taking over … hey, what was it they were talking about is in Pencoed now … ???
    
    Comment ↓
alex on
March 18, 2013 at 4:00 pm said:

If any of you exiles want to see a Raspberry Pi balloon preparation and launch vid of the TARDIS flight from a couple of weeks ago it’s available, without political boundaries, to all and sundry over on Youtube…
http://youtu.be/IM_DLgJEa0k

Comment ↓
Renzo on
March 18, 2013 at 4:25 pm said:

If you can’t view the video because you live outside of the UK, download Hola Unblocker in the Chrome webstore or use a proxy, then you can view the video.

Comment ↓
- Doug on
  March 18, 2013 at 7:04 pm said:
  
  Thanks, Renzo. Hola Unblocker allowed me to watch the video in the U.S. (First two attempts ran a few seconds and stalled. Third attempt worked flawlessly.)
  
  Really excellent BBC report. Worth finding a proxy for non-UK people.
  
  Comment ↓
Paul on
March 18, 2013 at 5:56 pm said:

You think Milton Keynes and Basildon are the rings of hell??? Oh gawd you have no concept of hell, try and spend 48 hours in some of the more impoverished parts of Detroit or LA or most any major US city for that matter. I’d love to live in Milton Keynes, pure luxury mate, pure luxury.

Comment ↓
Wyzax76 on
March 18, 2013 at 6:33 pm said:

Great bit of tech program making BBC keep it up. Now how about some better tech programs for us big kids (I hate the word adult).

Comment ↓
- liz on
  March 18, 2013 at 6:43 pm said:
  
  It’d be nice, wouldn’t it? Brian Cox using wooden blocks to explain the ratio of surface area to volume just doesn’t cut it…
  
  Comment ↓
  - Dave Akerman on
    March 18, 2013 at 6:52 pm said:
    
    My favourite tweet re the show:
    
    “Jog on Brian Cox. I just watched ‘Cracking the Code’ @BBCLearning. How does the BBC keep finding these gems ?”
    
    Comment ↓
    - alex on
      March 18, 2013 at 6:59 pm said:
      
      It was a very good segment Dave. Well done indeed. Still chuckling to myself about the Helium though
      
      Comment ↓
      - liz on
        March 18, 2013 at 7:29 pm said:
        
        Was it that special sort of flammable helium?
      - alex on
        March 18, 2013 at 8:21 pm said:
        
        They had to use real Helium rather than the good stuff “wot goes bang” because of TV and kids. “Like a big party balloon”.
        I understand it, but it makes me laugh. We’re such a namby pamby country now.
        
        It’s really exciting holding a big latex bag with a couple of cubic metres of hydrogen in.
      - Dave Akerman on
        March 18, 2013 at 8:37 pm said:
        
        Yeah, once H&S get involved then it’s going to be the expensive, post-fusion, limited resource version of hydrogen
        
        I had a tank of H2 handy and at one point thought I was going to have to use it. I’d put the balloon neck a bit too far down onto the filler, leaving too small a section to tie off. So I pulled the neck up to stretch it and …. the balloon came right off the filler! If I’d let go the balloon would have flown towards the clouds at a rate of knots! Fortunately I kept a good grip on it, and Anthony came over to help me get it tied closed and tied down.
        
        Dave
ColinD on
March 18, 2013 at 7:34 pm said:

Oh that’s good, that’s really good that video is. Possibly the best single bite of combined education and optimistic “you can do it” programming from Auntie Beeb I’ve seen. Really encouraging to see they didn’t dumb down the coding side. Kind of like a technical version of The Gadget Show with bells on. Am impressed.

Comment ↓
meltwater on
March 18, 2013 at 8:21 pm said:

Just watched video, what a well presented program.

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paul on
March 19, 2013 at 1:23 am said:

i reconise that water towerin the background of the field

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Steve Smith on
March 19, 2013 at 2:40 am said:

I really enjoyed that. Almost made me want to be back at school! Great to see the ‘Pi getting national exposure with it’s target audience.

Comment ↓
Giggity on
March 19, 2013 at 6:48 pm said:

god i love these raspberry pis not a fan of the real thing though but they are really determined not to say raspberry pi aren’t they

Giggity

Comment ↓
Dave on
March 21, 2013 at 5:02 pm said:

google uk vpn trial and use it

Comment ↓

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