We're almost half way through this term already!

This week, we've got another tasty BakeTogether on Wednesday, a chilled-out Film Night on Friday, and some more tricky decision-making in PlayTogether on Friday.

Fancy taking on this year's Google Hash Code programming challenge? See below for details on HackSoc teams!

Google Hash Code is an annual programming challenge where teams compete to solve an engineering challenge picked by Google.

In the past, we have formed HackSoc teams of 2-4 people to tackle the problems together, though this of course depends on how much interest there is.

Due to COVID we'll be online this year, with each team being assigned to a "room" in Discord in which to talk, although if you wish to migrate to other platforms that's fine!

To sign up to be on a HackSoc team for Hash Code, please fill in this form by the 23rd of February!

BakeTogether - 15:00, Wed 10/02 - HackSoc Discord (The Pod)

A brand-new virtual event - join us on Discord and bake up something tasty to a chosen theme!

If you've got something in mind which fits the theme nicely then you can choose your own recipe, or you can use our suggested recipe.

This week's BakeTogether theme is: cake! If you've got a cake recipe you'd like to use, then that's brilliant - join us and bake that! If you don't have anything particular in mind, then we'd suggest the Victoria sponge recipe which you can find later on in this newsletter.

Film Night - 19:00, Fri 12/02 - HackSoc Discord (The Pod)

We gather together in our Discord server to watch a film (or sometimes several). Apparently some of these might have a link to Computer Science, but we haven't spotted one yet.

Vote for the film you'd like to watch using our Film Night Portal!

We'll use our very own live-streaming platform to watch the film together. Hop into our Discord server at 7pm, and the film will begin after some time to catch up with your fellow members. (If you wouldn't like to hear any conversation during the film, then you're welcome to mute and deafen yourself!)

PlayTogether - 21:00, Sat 13/02 - HackSoc Discord (The Pod)

We're trying out a brand-new event: gather in Discord and play a narrative video game together, voting on the story choices to make!

This week, we'll be continuing with "Detroit: Become Human".

Ingredients

• 230g plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 230g caster sugar
• 230g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 4 medium eggs

To finish:

• 150ml whipping cream
• 100g raspberry jam, or more if you like
• Icing or caster sugar for dusting

Method

1. Heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line the base of two 20cm cake tins with baking parchment and lightly butter the sides.

2. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, softened butter and eggs into an electric mixer or large bowl. Mix on a low speed, or whisk slowly using an electric hand-held whisk, until all the ingredients are evenly combined; do not overmix as this will tighten the mixture and result in a rubbery texture.

3. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and slightly shrunk from the sides of the tin. Leave the sponges to cool slightly in the tins for about 5 minutes, then transfer from the tins to a wire rack to cool.

4. To assemble, keep the best-looking sponge for the top. Lay the other one, top side down, on a serving plate. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Spread the bottom layer with the raspberry jam, then cover with the whipped cream. Place the other layer of sponge on top. Dust with icing or caster sugar and serve.

Adapted from

This recipe has been taken from How to Bake by Paul Hollywood.

Make sure you're in HackSoc's Slack workspace! We have over 200 members, and it's free to join the conversation, so sign up now!

If you're joining us for any of our virtual events, make sure you're also in our Discord server.

Have a great week,

Aaron 🤖