Back to 'normal'

Did exam for OU course MS221 last week (sat at small school desk) so that draws a close on that course unit (Think that I did alright but will have to wait until end of Dec for results :-(). All being well I will then have an OU Certificate of Mathematics.
Thinking that next module (in January) will be M208 - Pure maths (Yes my sanity may be questioned...) to be followed by MST209 - Mathematical Modelling. This, assuming I survive it will get me a Diploma in Mathematics.
I hope to then do some further modules to get a Diploma in Statistics with a (long-term) goal of a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics to add to my BSc Biological Sciences and Graduate Diploma in Systems Design.

Kindle

Our group travel about quite a bit. I attend several meetings with material (70-80 pages) that consume piles of dead trees. So I've got a Kindle to try and improve our lot. First impressions are good. Screen is very readable even in direct sunlight. I've tended to use PDF files for work and OU documents and they display well.
On A4 if there's a lot of text or formulae then rotating text by 90 degrees helps. Zooming and panning on PDFs has apparently improved over past Kindles but still a bit clumsy when dealing with say 3-column scientific papers. A way out might be a utility to repaginate such docs as single column PDFs (Does anyone know of such a beast?)
Wifi works quite well. Keyboard isn't designed for a lot of input but is usable. Browser (WebKit based) is Ok but no flash (so no YouTube/Iplayer - but e-paper refresh not really suited to video playback anyway (at the moment)), no support for multiple windows, I've had no joy at getting it to render local (i.e. on Kindle) HTML files and it won't allow you to download PDFs direct from web-sites (so you need to download from PC and then copy to Kindle i.e. almost Sneakernet).
However, these minor things withstanding, it is a useful device.

StemNet

Attended an StemNet Induction meeting at University of East Anglia yesterday. This explained about becoming STEM Ambassadors "The STEM Ambassadors programme has volunteers who offer their time and support to promote Science Technology Engineering Mathematics subjects to young learners.  It is an invaluable and free resource for teachers, helping them deliver the STEM curriculum in fresh and innovative ways."
It is another route to promote understanding of the scientific work done at the Institute and it's value to Society.