Transcription of my speech at Speakmasters on the topic SitCom

(Joke) I am really tired today. I didn't have enough coffee. I only had 7 cups. Had I have two more, I could give a great speech.

Only a few of you laughed but imagine, if I hired the entire group to laugh at my joke except a single person, that single person would join the laughter too. The group action amplifies the comedy. This is one of the working principle of modern day sitcoms. My today's speech is about sitcom.

Sitcom is shortened for situation comedy that has a progressive storyline and a lot of jokes. Its origin can be found in ancient Greece, Rome and India. In modern day sitcoms, you will hear a lot about multi-camera vs single camera. In multi-camera, there are stationary cameras on one side of the room and all the other sides of the room is filmed. It is can be considered as a theatre set where on one end you have the audience. In the single-camera, there is not necessarily one camera but the idea is that camera is not stationary. It is like movies where two characters can move freely like they can walk in the hall way. It is also the reason why laugh track is not used in Single camera.

Getting back to laugh track, how many of you think that laughter is pre-recorded? Answer is both yes and no. While most of the shows use a live audience, there are shows like How I Met Your Mother that use recorded laughter since they have so many switches to different times.

Multi-camera sitcoms have several limitations like no close up shot of the actors and also, enclosed set like living room. But they are good money and better rating than single camera sitcom.

Writing SitComs is very  productive. Each episode usually requires a 20-30 pages manuscript. But the writer's salary is very high. Here are a few tips to write a successful SitCom:
1. Pick a theme that has been used before. Most of the successful shows are a remix of the old shows
2. Write the story first and add jokes later. Story will act as a path that your show will follow
3. Lead character can be a genius in his work but should be insecure about him/her when it comes to other aspects of life
4. Make your characters loveable to the audience. One easy trick is to hire (or describe them in the writing) really attractive people.

Frequently asked questions regarding higher study in Canada

Q. Is it must to give IELTS/TOEFL exam to get admission in Canada?
Ans: Usually, you need to give IELTS/TOEFL to study in Canada. But there are exceptions, too. For example, one of my friends came to Canada for her masters. For her, IELTS requirement was waived as her undergrad medium of instruction was English. Note that not all Canadian universities waive it but some do. Check with individual university's rule. Sometimes, even if it is not mentioned in the university's rule, you can pursue your case by reminding the graduate administrator that your undergrad was taught in English. To start with, consider University of Alberta, University of Canada as I have seen Bangladeshi students got admission at these schools without IELTS/TOEFL.

Q. How to write emails to Professors/
Ans: In the email, you need to talk about one/two topic that you want to work on. Pick two/three economics topics from the professor's website. Write one paragraph on each topic. In the writing, you will describe what the problem is and what needs to be done. For example, poor people can take loan from microcredit banks. It certainly helps them to start their own business. Due to the high risk, the banks impose high interest rate on the clients. It often makes the clients suffer and brings negative media publication. I want to investigate how this problem can be mitigated. It requires understanding each party's need and expectation.

This is just an example. You need to select topics and write on them. Use your own language. If necessary, take help from someone who is knowledgeable about the area. Just carefully select topics so that they match professor's interest.

Q. How to search for universities?
Ans: Visit the department's webpage (e.g., cpsc.ucalgary.ca) as well as the graduate admission page (e.g., grads.ucalgary.ca). Prepare a word document where list each university along with their requirements for
GPA: IELTS: GRE/GMAT: Tuition: Course-condition, number of reference letter. It will speed up your search process. It works as a progress bar.
Go through all the professors personal website. Know their research interest. Use google a lot if you are not familiar, take a friend's help who knows google very well.

Q. If someone is living in Canada already on a work permit, can he/she study?
Ans: I don't know the right answer. But here is a thought. (S)He needs to get admission from a college. Then they can apply for the study permit with the admission confirmation as a supporting document. Then it would be a decision of the Canadian immigration. It is better to check the exact rules from cic.gc.ca 

How to find Travel and Expense Center on PeopleSoft

Step 1:

 Step 2:

 Step 3:

Latex documents in Lyx with ACM SIG template class

Setup the stage:
           Install the latest version of MikTEX
           Install Lyx

Basics on Lyx and Latex:
           To get started, watch these videos from 1-4 

           See this Screencast on How to add images

To use ACM SIG template class, follow the instructions: 

Note that the file is initially read only. So you need to save it to edit. When you press view pdf, it might give error message regarding image size. Just replace the images with any existing image from HDD.

Scale a table:
In order to scale a table to fit the size of the document, use this starting file. In your own document, you need to add packages in order run the instructions that you see in the starting file. You can add packages in the following manner.

How to add packages into the preamble of a document:

Copy by Value Copy by Pointer

In Python, variables are treated like objects. In fact, data structures are classes and a specific data structure variable is an object of that class. Consider lists in Python. When you create a list variable, it is treated like an object of a class. The contents of the variable are not a set of values rather it is a pointer to the memory spaces that contain those values.
Therefore, when the variable is copied or assigned to another variable, the pointer is copied. The assignment will not duplicate values in the memory but it will duplicate the pointer and finally, there will two pointers pointing to the same memory spaces. As a result, if the contents are changed using the second variable, the contents for the first variable also get changed.

For example
>>> a=[23,45,66]
>>> b=a
>>> b[0]=90
>>> a
[90, 45, 66]
>>>

This is called copy by pointer.

Another way to explain it is this. For example, I have a document containing some text. After opening the document with MS Word, I can create multiple windows and all will show the content of the document. These are all pointers to the same content. If I change content in one of these, contents in the rest will be changed too.

Now if the contents are selected using ctrl+a and pasted to a new file in Notepad, Wordpad or even MS Word using ctrl+v, then the contents are duplicated instead of pointer. Now there will be two pointers pointing to different memory spaces. Changing contents using one will not affect other.

This is called copy by value. To copy the contents of a list, use the instruction, b=a[:] instead of b=a.

Finding the gem (Programming problem)

There is a 5by5 grid where each cell contains a gem. Each gem has a name. The grid should contain only one Kohinoor. Find the Kohinoor. At each step of the search, print the cell name where you are searching. As soon as you find the Kohinoor, stop searching and print Kohinoor is found.

Watching Carrer IQ watching us

Carrer IQ is a software that is shipped with many smartphones like iPhone 4 and Android phones. It provides feedback to the phone carrier about its network and subscribers.
A developer named Trevor Eckhart who had access to a unmodified version of Carrier IQ discovered that Carrier IQ's software logs all the keystrokes a user make on their device. The software even logs interactions over secure connection (https). Trevor released a video explaining how the surveillance takes place. Carrier IQ tried to silence him by threatening with legal actions.



If you are curious about your phone having Carrier IQ, try this android app to find out.