Monthly Archive for June, 2005

DoC Ummah

Published on 30 June 2005 in Student Union/Politics. 0 Comments

A blast from the past… I received the following email today. 

On 6/29/05, Omar Ahmed  wrote:
> 
> 
> Salaams all! A rare opportunity to be reunited, through a website that took
> the mick over 4 years ago, and probably still holds well today?

 :)  
> 
> http://www.mozster.com/doc_ummah/> 
> Forward on to anyone who may have been missed insh'Allah.

The email above (and the DoC Ummah web page referenced) will make sense to you if you fulfil all of the following criteria:

  1. You are a member of the Department of Computing (DoC) at Imperial College and are familiar with their online photo database of all students since c. 1997 (I think, I can’t check any more since I am no longer a member and do not have a login). Yes, the site has been redesigned since then so anyone who joined DoC after c. 2003 may not recognise the page format.
  2. You were a DoC member of the ICU Islamic Society, at the time, or otherwise knew the cohort in question.

Just in case you are wondering, ummah is an Arabic word for which there is an entry in the online Islamic Glossary.

Richard Whitely dies

Published on 27 June 2005 in Society. 0 Comments

I was saddened to learn of Richard Whitely’s death today. Apparently he has been unwell for some time, though this had passed me by.

I’ve not watched Coundown for several years – ever since I started secondary school, in fact. As I remember the problem was that my secondary school was a 1.5 hr commute, by bus, from home. Consequently I would get home around 5pm (or 4.30pm if it was my ‘early day’). This meant that I wouldn’t be home in time for watching it. Plus the VCR didn’t quite record properly.

In my primary school days Countdown was a programme I would watch regularly. I wouldn’t just watch I would try to do the puzzles myself – and I wasn’t too bad at it. These days I suspect I’m a little slower.

Anyway, Countdown was a programme that gave me thorough enjoyment for several years. Richard Whiteley’s jokes were absolutely hopeless – but they did give the programme it’s character. I understand Channel 4 will be introducing guest presenters but from now on, but the programme will never be the same again.