[continued from previous message]   
      
   > Labs were staffed and open 2pm to 5/6pm every weekday. Some of them you had   
   > your own cupboard and glassware to look after too. Computing was cheaper at   
   the   
   > midnight hour but that mainframe was a 24/7 operation.   
      
   Each class had its own computer system -- typically with its own   
   "homemade" OS and tools.  (one of the favorite pass-times was to   
   deliberately crash the machine in the wee hours of the morning before a   
   homework assignment was due -- folks who had procrastinated were   
   screwed because the machine would be down until "morning")   
      
   The MULTICS machine had metered accounts for which one could apply.   
   Typically used to do some "personal" research.  (recall this predated the   
   development of the PC)   
      
   >>> Specialising was really only in the second and third years.   
   >>   
   >> You had to *declare* a "major" in your second year.  But, that   
   >> didn't entitle you to any special treatment.  You could take   
   >> any class that was offered, even if you had no intentions of   
   >> "majoring" in the course that the class was intended for.   
   >   
   > That is the same at my university (I did double physics at that point).   
   > Had I gone anywhere else I would probably have been a chemist.   
      
   I think the only real consequence of "declaration" was it got you assigned to   
   an advisor who would help guide your course choices.  You could opt   
   to change -- at the expense of having taken classes that may not be   
   applicable to your new "Course".   
      
   >> E.g., there was a very popular Mechanical Engineering class   
   >> where students would build "gizmos" out of a small, standardized   
   >> (for that semester) set of components -- rubber bands, tongue   
   >> depressors, thumbtacks, etc. -- to meet some stated goal.   
   >> These were then paired with "opponents" to determine the best   
   >> design.  It was always tempting to enroll but meant "losing"   
   >> a chunk of your time to a class that didn't meet any of your   
   >> degree requirements.  Ditto a photography class that was   
   >> invariably oversubscribed (spots awarded by lottery).   
   >   
   > Funnily enough I know that the mechanical engineering course in our year the   
   > first practical had to build a structure from Dexion to hold 3 anchor points   
   > apart against specified forces and torques. Teams of 4? designed their best   
   > effort and then they were tested to destruction.   
   >   
   > It was a pretty good team building exercise and fun to watch the tests.   
      
   This was an ad hoc design contest, different goals each year.   
   The "kit" each student was given varied based on what sorts   
   of INEXPENSIVE commodity items they could find.  Often tongue   
   depressors, paper clips, rubber bands, etc.  The challenge   
   might be something like trying to push your opponent off the   
   playfield.  Or, see how many ping pong balls you could push up   
   a ramp (knowing that if they fall off the ramp, they are GONE!)   
      
   A big IMPLIED part of the project was seeing if your device was   
   durable enough to make it through multiple "rounds" (the   
   more successful you were, the more rounds you had to complete to   
   progress to the "finals")   
      
   I think that has now been replaced by a robotics course   
   (I know there are local high school groups who design robots   
   for national competitions -- with equally dubious "goals")   
      
   >> We also had a ~1 month period between semesters (called   
   >> Independent Activities Period -- IAP) that would also offer   
   >> short classes of special interest to folks who were "around"   
   >> between the holidays.   
   >   
   > Prior to the final year we had a long vacation course where it was either   
   > dedicated morning lectures and theory classes or whole days spent on   
   seriously   
   > tricky experiments (Josephson junction being one such). Firing DU slugs into   
   > targets and measuring stress strain another.   
      
   IAP was intended to be a period where you could explore different   
   subjects that might not be related to your chosen field.  No   
   grades.  No cost.  I suspect a good part of it was to keep the   
   students who couldn't (foreign) or didn't travel "home" for the   
   holidays occupied.  The "period" was intended for people to   
   decompress before the next semester began.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)