Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund - CAA / DfT funding now open to encourage young people into aviation careers

I have literally (not figuratively) been clicking the first link every day for months as I'm going to apply for this funding. My project, if funded, will be an issue of the CS4FN magazine (plus a new aviation portal on the CS4FN blog about flying and careers) about the computer science and human-computer interaction involved in designing, flying and tracking of aircraft and development of lower carbon options. Very excited, wish me luck!

Here's what I've posted to psci-com, the mailing list for science communicators.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

 

 

 

The Civil Aviation Authority and Department for Transport are keen to encourage young people to find out about careers in aviation so this fund is less about public engagement with the science of flight and more about careers outreach (but the previously funded projects obviously do include plenty of flight-related scicomm!).

Reach For The Sky Challenge Fund
https://stem.caa.co.uk/reach-for-the-sky-challenge-fund/
• open today until 12 September 2025
• Total pot is £750k, likely spread among 10+ projects

They are looking for outstanding outreach projects that can meet the following three objectives:

1. Inspire the next generation of aviation professionals, championing the opportunities available in the sector.  Applicants’ activities should focus on developing interest and engagement with the opportunities available in aviation, showing clear links to career pathways. This might also involve supporting someone in developing skills or gaining experience that could be useful for a career in aviation or aerospace, but should not replace formal education, i.e., delivery of statutory licences or educational qualifications.

2. Reach individuals who would not otherwise be aware of opportunities available within the aviation sector. Applicants should consider how their project might benefit under-represented groups (i.e. women and girls, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities or those from lower socio-economic backgrounds).

3. Have a broad impact by reaching and engaging multiple people. This might be achieved through some form of mass participation event, delivery through an education setting or youth group, or via virtual methods that can reach a mass audience.

Other useful links
Today's press release:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/750000-to-break-down-barriers-and-get-more-young-people-into-aviation-jobs

Reach for the Sky evaluation (26 September 2024, updated 17 Feb 2025)
Evaluating the success of the Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund and its ability to get young people into aviation careers.

Last year's press release (they upped the pot with additional funding, to £810k, and funded 16 projects (actually 18 if you click on the 'successful applicants button on the first page linked).

PDF listing the 2024 successful applicants with a summary of their projects.

The CAA's (quite fun, cute cartoons page on Careers in Aviation and Aerospace which includes everything (engineering, programming, logistics, ground crew, pilots and cabin crew).

Generation Aviation Group (Gov.UK)
"Generation Aviation is a multistream programme that helps build an aviation workforce fit for the future by raising the profile of aviation careers, removing barriers to access and attracting diverse and talented people to tackle new technologies, decarbonisation and other emerging trends."

Flight tracking pages
FlightRadar24 | ADS-B Exchange | Flight Aware (enter an airport name to see what's coming and going)

How is it even possible that I've never knowingly heard of the Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence until today?!

How??

I work* in computer science-related science communication and actively go looking for interesting things to share with people, including lots about artificial intelligence. Absolutely gobsmacked to learn, while reading this in Sian Meades-Williams' freelance writing jobs newsletter, that there's a whole charity related to AI scicomm and I didn't know about it.

"The Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence - a charity that bridges the gap between public interest and robotics research - needs a part-time assistant editor."
(10hr/wk, £30.3-36.0k pro rata, clos 11 July 2025)

Amazing!

Anyway they have two websites: https://aihub.org/ and https://robohub.org/

I've shared the job advert with psci-com and pecs Jiscmail mailing lists (for science communication in general and science communication in computer science respectively) and the Association of British Science Writers list. I'll also add it to the TechDevJobs site as it's a computing-adjacent role and I collect those.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*I work (at QMUL's Computer Science department, EECS^) at the intersection of computer science and 'scicomm' (science communication) & public engagement. Effectively I'm an embedded science writer (editor, proofreader, admin, events wrangler) on CS4FN (the Computer Science For Fun magazine and blog) which is an outreach project for schools from our department. I often write about artificial intelligence, or highlight events and interesting things to do with it - for schools, teachers, general public, colleagues.

^EECS = the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

Atoma Union C.I.C. / Atoma C.I.C. and Youthworksunion C.I.C. - fundraising at stations in London and possibly elsewhere

I've been making notes about the various Community Interest Companies (CICs) which are involved in selling magazines or otherwise fundraising outside various stations in London and elsewhere. I've been approached by people from these companies as I pass through Farringdon and have been surprised by the volume of "chuggers" operating there (I counted 11 on one visit). 

These are not charities (so not strictly 'chuggers', a pejorative portmanteau of charity and mugger) but several members of the staff are quite persistent in getting your attention, telling you that you've dropped something (even if only your smile), or complimenting you. Many people find this sort of fundraising makes them uncomfortable. 

This post is about Atoma Union C.I.C. / Atoma C.I.C. and Youthworksunion C.I.C.

Also in this series are posts that are written to try and help me get a sense of the various different organisations under similarly-named umbrellas.

• Inside Success (4 companies)
  
• We R Blighty (2 companies)
• Atoma / Youth Works Union (3 companies) - this post
  

What are the organisations?
1. Atoma C.I.C. (12773310) - incorporated on 28 July 2020 for the purposes of "46180 - Agents specialised in the sale of other particular products". The accounts are delayed (were due on 30 April 2024) though the company is still listed as active. Run by Omokehinde Oreoluwa Aladenola and Ayoola David Osaruwvense Obisesan.

It looks like moves were made to have the company struck off voluntarily in 2024 but there was a court-ordered restoration on 3 February 2025 (PDF).

2. Youth Atoma Enterprise Ltd. (15045868) - this is a private limited company, not a CIC. It was incorporated on 2nd August 2023 for the purposes of "87900 - Other residential care activities not elsewhere classified" and "88910 - Child day-care activities" so may be quite unrelated to the companies above. Its accounts are delayed (due on 2 May 2025) and it's run by Omokehinde Aladenola (Ayoola David Osaruwvense Obisesan resigned in 2024). Formerly named Youth Atoma Enterprice Ltd.

3. Atoma Union C.I.C. (15686104) - incorporated on 27 April 2024 for "47990 - Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets", accounts not due until January 2026, run by Omokehinde Aladenola.

4. Youthworksunion C.I.C. (15790735) - incorporated on 20 June 2024 for the purposes of "47990 - Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets", run by Kenny Aladen.

Companies 2 and 3 both operate from a CV2 company address post code (#1 from DA8) and there are quite a few other companies operating from that address including #4, run by someone else with a slightly different surname. 

The website for Atoma Union says that "We are currently undergoing a name change from Atoma Union to Youth Works Union. This is to clear any misunderstanding if you see a representative of ours using a different logo . We are just currently in a transition period.". 

Alamy has a photograph purporting to be someone from Youth Works Union selling Uplifterz magazines (I'm not sure how the two companies are related), also Alamy has mis-labelled them as a charity.

Appointments records
Because each company has its own correspondence address (this is completely normal) it means that the records of the officers can too so there are multiple appointments records for Mr Aladenola.  

Omokehinde Aladenola aka Omokehinde Oreoluwa Aladenola has three appointment records: this record lists two appointments including Atoma Union C.I.C., this record lists one appointment for Youth Atoma Enterprise Ltd and this one (which includes his middle name) lists one appointment, for Atoma C.I.C. 

Misc
There is also a seemingly unrelated company (dissolved) called Union Atoma Ltd (14405810), included for name-search completeness.

We R Blighty C.I.C. now has its own subreddit

I've not actually encountered We R Blighty C.I.C. (14349080), a Community Interest Company (CIC), which is unusual as they seem to be everywhere in London and in other cities raising funds to support homeless veterans. Their record on Companies House says that their next accounts are due on 30 June 2025.

They came to my attention solely because of news articles, and later information on Reddit, expressing concerns about the organisation. Having never met them I've no particular beef with them but am currently making a note of the various CICs that operate at London's stations.

There has been a bit of a proliferation of these CICs and I've encountered Uplifterz, Atoma Union / Youtth Works Union and Safehaven Initiative (new kid on the block, one of the two Savehaven CICs having been incorporated only on 2 June 2025). I've also encountered Inside Success at Stratford and Mile End.

We R Blighty personnel

• Benjamin William Mills - active (2 appointments, We R Blighty C.I.C. and Veterans in Need Ltd, 14955871)
• Danielle Jane Vidler - active (3 appointments)
• Benjamin Mills - resigned (1 appointment) and 
• Sally Ann Mills - resigned (1 appointment).

 

Further reading

We R Blighty subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/werblighty/

Do those ‘We R Blighty’ fundraisers outside stations really deserve your cash? (22 May 2025) The Londoner

Revealed: Armed forces fundraiser We R Blighty that collects thousands to 'get veterans off the street' is subject of TWO investigations by police and watchdog over its conduct (9 November 2024) Daily Mail 

Cash collections for homeless veterans probed by police (8 November 2024) The iPaper

We R Blighty - Forces Charity Scam (27 May 2023) Walter Mitty Hunters' Club HQ

Trying to get my head around "Inside Success" (station magazine sellers) and their various companies

Inside Success is a Community Interest Company (CIC) which has attracted a lot of attention for both the way some staff have behaved towards the public and the way in which staff have been treated by the company. They have been investigated twice by the Fundraising Regulator in March 2023 (1) and January 2024 (2) for pressurised fundraising and for not having the relevant licence to accept donations. ITV did a piece on them (3) which indicated that some of their staff had not been paid. Barking Council (2019) and Manchester City Council (2023) fined them for collecting money without a permit (4) and the Daily Mail drew attention to the large sums of money being collected (5).

As far as I'm aware CICs can ask for donations publicly if they have been given a permit to do so by Metropolitan Police (in London) or the local council. That doesn't appear to be the case here. (Companies don't actually have to be registered with the Fundraising Regulator to fundraise however; registration is voluntary).

I think that without such collecting permits in place they are only allowed to sell magazines.  

There are a lot of different companies operating in a similar way in London and elsewhere and I've itemised the ones I know about here (6).

How many Inside Success companies are there?
I think it's four; two active, two dissolved.

Active
Inside Success Union C.I.C. (10174759) is the one investigated by the Fundraising Regulator. It was incorporated on 11 May 2016 (previously known as Inside Success Union Ltd) and its accounts are currently delayed (should have been published in February 2025). The company is run by Darren Olawale and David Sonowo. 

There's also Inside Success Ltd (15932606) which is not a CIC but a private limited company. It was incorporated on 3 September 2024, its accounts aren't due until next year and it's run by Darren Olawale.

Dissolved
Inside Success LLP (OC357911), a limited liability partnership, was incorporated on 15 September 2010 and dissolved on 26 February 2013. It was also run by Darren Olawale and David Sonowo.

Inside Success UK CIC (08237681) was incorporated on 2 October 2012, dissolved on 20 December 2016 - five months after it was supposed to have submitted its accounts. It was run by Darren Olawale, David Sonowo and Cecil Hugh Quartey.

How many correspondence addresses?
All of these companies have different company addresses (perfectly reasonable!) which also means that the officers and directors etc also have different addresses and consequently different appointments records. This does make it a bit harder to keep track of things and as far as I can tell there are four records for Darren and three for David (there may be others).

Darren Olawale has one appointment here (for the dissolved Inside Success UK CIC [08237681]), seven appointments here (for Inside Success Ltd (15932606) active, Inside Success Union C.I.C. (10174759) active and, Inside Success LLP (OC357911) dissolved), and several unrelated companies - see more in reference (7). 

There's also a Darren Ola who has one appointment for an unrelated company. I think it's the same person because the other officers for the company are David Sonowo (and Anthony Sinclair Greenidge). I also found a record for a Darren Olawalw (typo) with one appointment for another unrelated company. The company's correspondence address was changed from an WC2H address to an SW8 one in 2021; both of those addresses are used by other companies Mr Olawale runs too.

David Sonowo has three appointments here (for the two dissolved Inside Success companies and an unrelated company), five appointments listed here (for Inside Success Union C.I.C. and four unrelated companies) and one appointment here (unrelated to Inside Success companies).

When did Inside Success begin?
The first Inside Success company (Inside Success LLP) was incorporated on 15 September 2010 but this tweet from November 2009 made me wonder if there might have been an earlier company (if so I can't find it on Companies House).

http://pic.gd/20adf9 Delighted to meet Darren Olawale & David of Inside Success (http://bit.ly/11LfMw) for interview, out January 2010

— King of Shaves (@KingofShaves) November 17, 2009

The links don't work now but point to an earlier version of the Inside Success website which exists on the Wayback Machine - the pic•gd link goes nowhere but the bitly one points to (dead) https://ww1.insidesuccess.co.uk/lander whereas their current website has the insidesuccessuk format.

References

(1) Investigation summary: Inside Success Union CIC (March 2023) Fundraising Regulator
Registered company no. 10174759.

Code themes examined: Pressurised fundraising, dealing with vulnerable donors, fundraising licenses, causing an obstruction.
Code breach? Yes

(2) Investigation summary: Inside Success Union CIC (January 2024) Fundraising Regulator
Registered company no. 10174759.

Code themes examined: Pressurised fundraising, misleading fundraising, fundraising licenses, causing an obstruction, wearing appropriate identification when engaged in street fundraising, complaint handling and learning from complaints.
Code breach? Yes

(3) Anti-knife crime group Inside Success Union accused of harassing public to raise cash (1 August 2023) ITV

(4a) Bosses of magazine Inside Success Union are fined for selling in Barking without a licence (4 February 2019) Barking and Dagenham Post

(4b) Company who illegally 'pressured people into donating' to them on streets of Manchester fined (3 November 2023) Manchester Evening News 

(5) Exposed: Where the £3million we hand over to anti-knife 'charities'' pushy High Street collectors REALLY ends up (25 May 2024) Daily Mail

I hope the writer of this Reddit post, about the company fundraising in Bristol, won't mind me excerpting a bit of their comment as I think it's important - "It's worth noting that a section of the racist arsehole press in the UK (the Daily Mail and GB News) is down on this organisation because it is predominantly run by people of colour. Racists and racism can of course fuck off, this is Bristol after all, but ... I'd encourage everyone to respectfully engage with each of them [IS staff collecting at stations] and encourage them to do something better with their lives..."

(6) Community Interest Companies (CICs) selling magazines, collecting donations ('chugging') at many of London's stations (9 June 2025) Brodiesnotes: Stuff that occurs to me (this blog)

(7) Companies listed are: Inside Success Ltd (15932606) active, My Sounds Global Ltd (15096639) active, U Got Jokes Comedy Ltd (14290194) dissolved, Inside Success Union C.I.C. (10174759) active, Inside Success LLP (OC357911) dissolved, U Got Jokes Limited (07163628) dissolved, Kick Up Academy Limited (10052282) dissolved.

Community Interest Companies (CICs) selling magazines, collecting donations ('chugging') at many of London's stations

The term 'chugger' means 'charity mugger' and refers to people who are either paid by a charity directly to do face to face fundraising or, more commonly, are paid by a third company to which this has been outsourced. There are plenty of complaints to be had about the methods used by chuggers, some of whom even call at people's homes, but they are at least fundraising for a genuine purpose even if they annoy lots of people while doing so.

Community Interest Companies (CICs) are different but have followed a similar pattern. They are not regulated by the Charity Commission and have much less oversight on them. Consequently there are one or two that are or have been under investigation for raising money without a permit or for harrassing members of the public to give them money. They also fall between several regulatory gaps which makes it harder for authorities to do much about them.

Here are some of the CICs I've encountered or heard about.

• Inside Success Ltd Private limited Company 15932606

• Inside Success Union C.I.C. Community Interest Company 10174759 Accounts and Confirmation statement overdue - the Fundraising Regulator investigated people working for this one (in January 2024, and March 2023, they've also featured on ITV news and in the Daily Mail about how they spend their 3 million turnover; Manchester fined them for fundraising without a licence)

• Uplifterz CIC Community Interest Company 15835071- there's also Uplifters Agency Ltd (16102520) run by the same person.
  

• Uplifterz Union C.I.C. Community Interest Company 15944885 (this is run by a different person from Uplifterz C.I.C., but from the same business address or virtual office)
  

• Atoma Union C.I.C. Community Interest Company 15686104

• Atoma C.I.C. Community Interest Company 12773310 Accounts and Confirmation statement overdue

• Empoweryou Enterprise CIC Community Interest Company 15336620 Confirmation statement overdue
  

• Mentor Point Youth CIC Community Interest Company 14795768
  

• Youthworksunion C.I.C. Community Interest Company 15790735
  

• We R Blighty C.I.C. Community Interest Company 14349080 (Kent Police were looking into them for financial irregularities). One of the directors of this also runs Veterans in Need Ltd. Blighty's company records are due on 30 June 2025.

• Safehaven Initiative CIC (16061849) / Safehaven Initiative Union CIC (16490068) I met these today at Farringdon station. I had a pleasant chat with the guy who was not trying to sell me a magazine (only wanted donations) but there was was no pressure. SI CIC was founded in Nov 2024 and SIU CIC onl last week, on 2nd June (!) so I'm not sure yet if this is a new thing that's genuine or just more of the same.

Atoma Union's website says "We are currently undergoing a name change from Atoma Union to Youth Works Union. This is to clear any misunderstanding if you see a representative of ours using a different logo . We are just currently in a transition period." though if it's the same Atoma Union as the one above they have different officers (but who share the same correspondence address).

Plus at least one which has been dissolved.

• Inside Success UK CIC Community Interest Company 08237681

How about an 'easy mode' for people too skittish to enjoy horror films. Peril warnings given in advance, that sort of thing.

Because I would genuinely like this to be a 'thing' this post is Creative Commons and you can repost it with me as author (feel free to edit it but please don't change my meaning). See at the end on how to credit me.

Image credit: Image by KTkato from Pixabay, with added text. (Note that the image is separate from the Creative Commons licence below).

 
The main problem I have with horror films is gore and unexpected jump scares. The jump scares are worse and so I rarely choose to watch horror as I don't enjoy being startled, then shown something unpleasant. 

Sometimes films use music, pacing, cinematography, tropes etc to warn the audience that something unpleasant is imminent and I tend to close my eyes at that point. This has got me through Silence of the Lambs and Pitch Black, both of which I actually enjoyed. Now that I know where the 'eek' bits are in both films I can watch them 'safely'. 

Sometimes films don't use music etc to warn and I do not like that one bit.

For me the ideal would be that thing they use in old silent films where an intertitle card warns "Peril ahead..." or "Watch out for that thing there." 

Accessibility means that it's now possible to watch almost any film with subtitles and increasingly more of them now have audio descriptions to describe to visually impaired people what's happening on-screen. I'd quite like a Timid Setting version of scary films with variable options. E.g. you could have the screen blur when something horrific happens, or an audio or text indicator warns you to shut your eyes.... right about... now. 

Creative Commons Licence

How about an 'easy mode' for people too skittish to enjoy horror films. Peril warnings given in advance, that sort of thing. by Jo Brodie is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Post inspired by my niece who was a professional scarer at a Hallowe'en event.

The bit below isn't part of the CC BY 4.0 licence as I don't own the rights to others' posts so can't grant permission to use.

Examples from other domains

Haunted houses

I remember reading a few years ago a post somewhere (can't remember details sadly) where someone said that they were too feeble to enjoy haunted houses and would like there to be a preview event before it opened properly where you could visit and learn about the story world without any of the actual scaring. The actors could talk about their roles, you could enjoy exploring the experience and no-one would jump out at you. Wish I'd kept hold of that. I found some that are conceptually similar, below.

Wholesome haunted house shenanigans - this Reddit post gives a couple of examples of fairly mundane things where people dropped their spectacles and a scarily dressed zombie helped them then went back to growling at people. Commenters add their stories too.

"I like haunted houses in theory BUT I have no idea how to react when the actors speak to you. They ask me a question and I just… answer it… The scariest part of a haunted house is the unscripted social interaction." - this Tumbler post considers the awkwardness inherent in haunted house events.

Related: Autism Dad Creates Sensory-Friendly Haunted House - inspired by his autistic son a man in Ohio created a quiet, no flashing lights haunted house experience where the actors were friendly not scary.

Gaming

I like this thread from Moose Allain where he mentions that he'd enjoy playing a version of a game where you just get to explore the landscape without any of the jeopardy of meeting with someone or something that might want to harm you.

Places in London that do talks and public events that I like (or might like) going along to

Since my old blog post (written in 2013, updated in 2016) has links that are out of date I thought it was time to give this a bit of a refresh and add some new venues. 

There are ~62 venues listed here and I seem to have been to events at 41 of them, so a few more to visit!

Science and culture

• Academy of Medical Sciences: Events
  
• Barts Pathology Museum: Events | Eventbrite page
• Blackheath Scientific Society: Programme
• Chelsea Physic Garden: What's on 
• Geological Society: Public Lectures 2025
• Gresham College: What's on
• Hampstead Scientific Society: Talks
• Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution: What's on
• Horniman Museum: What's on
  
• Hunterian Museum (surgery etc): What's on 
• Kew Gardens (the KMIS lectures are a treat, info about where they're held can be found on their Eventbrite page): What's on
• Imperial College: Events
  
• Institute of Physics: Events (filtered for public / family / STEM professionals)
  
• Linnean Society: Upcoming events
• Natural History Museum: What's on 
• Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garrett: Events 
• Old Royal Naval College: Homepage (scroll down for talks and events, e.g. 20th January celebrates Luke Jerram's Mars)
• RI - Royal Institution: What's on 
• Richmond Scientific Society: programme
• Royal Astronomical Society: Public lectures & events  
• Royal Geographical Society w IBG: Events / Upcoming events (London | online) 
• Royal Museums Greenwich (National Maritime / Royal Observatory): What's On | Planetarium shows
• Royal Society of Chemistry: Events (filtered for South East / schools etc)  
• Royal Society of Medicine: Events | Public Engagement Programme
• RS - Royal Society: Public events 
• Salter's Institute (chemistry): Events
• Science Gallery London: What's on 
  
• Science Museum: See and do
• South London Botanical Institute: Events
  
• The Crick: What's on | Public events 
• UCL (University College London): Lunchtime Lectures
  
• Wellcome Trust (Wellcome Collection): What's On | Events
  
• Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London: Events list 

Music, film and arts culture

• Antique Beat / A Curious Invitation / Salon for the City: | Eventbrite page
• Barbican: What's on 
• BFI: What's on (inc IMAX and London Film Festival info) | Previews and events 
• Biggin Hill Museum: Events (a mix of science, e.g. history of radar and WW2 history)
  
• Blackheath Halls: What's on
• Blackheath Society: Events
  
• British Academy: Lectures
  
• British Library: What's on | All events
• British Museum: Exhibitions and events 
  
• Cafe Oto: Events
• Cinema Museum: Homepage | Spring Season 2025 | Kennington Bioscope
• Centre of the Cell: Events
  
• Century Club: The Soho Series (with Antique Beat and A Curious Invitation) | Events
• Conway Hall: What's on
• Design Museum: What's on | Talks, courses & workshops
  
• Garden Cinema: Homepage / What's on
• Guildhall Library: Eventbrite page
  
• Horse Hospital: What's on 
• ICA: Upcoming 
• Iklectik: What's on
  
• Interesting Conference: Interesting 2025
  
• In The Dark Radio - A celebration of stories told through sound
• King's Place: What's On
• London Month of the Dead (see also Antique Beat): Homepage (every October)
• Lost Lectures: Events
  
• Morley College: Events | Penny Lectures
  
• National Gallery: Events 
• National Portrait Gallery: Events
• QMUL (Queen Mary University of London): Events
  
• Regent Street Cinema: Homepage 
• Roundhouse: What's on 
• Royal Academy of Arts: Events | Exhibitions
  
• Royal Academy of Music: What's on
• Royal Albert Hall: What's on: everything 
• Royal Institute of Navigation: Community Calendar
  
• RSA - Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce: Upcoming events | Public talks
• Shakespeare's Globe & Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (candle lit): What's on
• Society of Antiquaries of London: Events 
• Somerset House: What's on 
• Southbank Centre: What's on 
• St Bride Foundation: What's on
  
• The Charterhouse: What's on 
• The Courtauld: What's on
  
• V&A - Victoria and Albert Museum: What's on 
• Wallace Collection: Events 
• Wilton's Music Hall: What's on 

 

 

Internet whimsy: I'm looking for more examples of quirky web and computing stuff, here's what I have so far

Part of my day job involves writing about computer science (in its widest sense) for the Computer Science For Fun (CS4FN) blog and print magazine(s). We write about computer science research, history of the topic, themed stuff, how to do something or other - all sorts. 

I'm also a big fan of the Really? No, Really? podcast in which the hosts (Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden) have a guest on each week to talk about something that's amazed, amused or baffled them and sometimes all three. 

There are lots of stories in the world of computing that do the same and I thought I'd write about some of them, but while I know lots (below) I'm sure there are others I've not heard of yet. 

What am I missing in the list below of quirky computer science type things? 

• Lava lamps and security - Cloudflare trains a camera on a wall of lava lamps and converts the images (incredibly random!) into a string of numbers to help with encryption.
  
  
• "Open Office can't print on Tuesdays" - a glitch which meant that if the word Tue appeared at a particular point in a line of metadata then the file was miscategorised and treated as a non-printing file. The fix was to replace all instances of 'Tue' with 'tue'.
  
  
• "Can't send email further than 500 miles" - a university stats team in North Carolina found that they could only email within a 500 mile radius. The culprit was the length of time allowed for a ping message and its response. It didn't time out when emails were sent 'locally' but the message took too long once the distance was over 500 miles so the emails failed.
  
  
• The UK Government website for Bank Holidays displays bunting if you visit it on the day of a Bank Holiday (on Christmas Day it displays tinsel).
  
  
• IP over avian carriers - an April Fool's joke written as a serious document discussing the transfer speed of data sent by pigeon. The real-world equivalent is river rafting tourism which used carrier pigeon to return camera rolls to the head office which could then be processed for guests to collect once the trip ended.
  
  
• Google's Pigeon Rank - another April Fool's joke with Google explaining that pigeons were used to pick websites to display when a user searched for information. The real-world equivalent is the discovery that pigeons are pretty good at discriminating photographs of healthy tissue samples from diseased ones.
  
  
• Broadband over wet string - this one is peak internet whimsy ;) Engineers had a go at getting a signal to transmit over wet string and managed to get an impressive 3.5 Mbps. Althugh wet string is conductive apparently it's more about the medium acting as a wave guide for the high frequency signal.
  
  
• I need to dig out the nice story on Twitter of someone's mum being paid to try and test software to destruction - she first used social engineering to get into the room and the program by carrying an awkward amount of papers and struggling through a door then simply asking people "what's today's password".
  
  
• Optical mice don't always work in bright sunshine.
  
  
• The first webcam was pointed at a coffee machine so that people could check whether there was coffee left.
  
  
• The Utah teapot as the first item rendered digitally in 3D.
  
  
• Ada Lovelace and the first dry run table.
  
  
• HTTP status codes - many fairly dull, one or two demonstrate a bit of whimsy.
  
  
• List of animals awarded human credentials (formerly 'list of cats with fraudulent diplomas') - edging out of remit but computational in the sense of logic - testing the weak points of a system where people can get PhDs without doing the work, as demonstrated by people getting qualifications for their cats and dogs. To make it a bit more computing-relevant I might add something in to this post about web certificates and keychains etc.
  
  
• "What kind of medicine does Dracula take? Con medicine" - this baffling cracker joke can be explained by jokes written in fonts with a ligature then printed on devices with fonts that don't have it, meaning that the word 'coffin' loses the ffi as ligature fonts treat that as a single glyph. Bonus material: non-English orthography and how many foreign names and addresses used to get mangled when people entered them into the old CS4FN mailing list database.
  
  
• Les Horribles Cernettes - first picture on Tim Berners-Lee's interwebs. See also Annie Rauwerda / Depth of Wikipedia's TikTok about them.
  
  
• Mark Rober's dartsboard that uses Arduinos, computer vision / motion capture, sensors and rapid trajectory calculations to ensure the dart always lands you an excellent score.
  
  
• Please add your example of computerish internet whimsy to this form :-)
  

If you work at one of these UK unis or educational institutions you can watch lots of free TV with "bob" from Learning On Screen

Note to university press officers checking this post for mention of your institution thanks to some Google alert it's simply a list of subscribers to Learning On Screen's Box of Broadcasts and your organisation is in the list (at the end).