What are you trying to do to me, Macbook?!

Tuesday 26 April 2011

So my beloved Macbook went on a massive go-slow. A rare occurrence but non-the-less I restarted. Half way through the restart it crashed... then it somehow crashed during the crash. Then it booted fine, quietly apoligised for Mac OSX crashing and continued to go about business as usual.

Whut?!

Half way through all this nonsense I got this screen...



Which is apparently like a windows blue screen of death. According to Wikipedia. Also people who've been asking around on forums about this a) were doing something unusual (using new hardware/software) and b) couldn't revive it.

Mine's now fine after a reboot. Plus all it was running when it happened was Chrome, Photoshop and Word. Just the usual.

I'm SO confused.

My Macbook is undead? Should I be worried that my awfully expensive laptop just seemed to have a near-death experiance?

Redtops and jesus socks

Friday 22 April 2011

I'm currently writing an essay critiquing health and crime reporting and this ended up in my trawling tabloid websites for examples of irresponsible journalism.

It was highly useful when the Express whacked me
in the face with this frankly ridiculous headline.
However I've now had to take a break from my essay and get back to packing for my Easter week at home (hurrah for my little village being away from all this awful killer smog) because it was chipping away slowly but steadily at my belief that there's good and intelligent life in the world. Urgh.

The other day I happened to bump into an old "friend" from high school who asked me how I was getting on. After replying with "busy, journalism degree, lincoln, blah blah blah small talk" her friend said something that saddened and irritated me.

"When you finish your course do you want to work for The Sun?*"

Not, "a newspaper" but specifically The Sun. Yes, I get that people enjoy that redtop trash but it's not really something to aspire to, is it? I guess people must want to write for the redtops but surely people can see that the quality press is refered to as the quality press for a reason. The writing quality is better, everything is better.

There's a chance that I'm being a bit... er... "socially mobile" here but really. If I get stuck reporting on "celebrities" and socks with heavenly aspirations then my career has gone down entirely the wrong path.

*She seemed the type that if she'd have written it down she'd have used the wrong "your".

Thanks, Aunty Beeb, for that fleeting glance into the dystopian future of Britain.

Thursday 21 April 2011

Maybe I watch too many sci-fi films, maybe it's because I'm currently reading Do androids dream of electric Sheep? in which cities trudge on underneath a blanket of radioactive fallout, maybe I've just gone a bit odd out of boredom (I stare pointedly at the essay that is sitting ignored in another window). Either way, this tweet both chilled and excited me.



As a lover of futuristic fiction it excites me every time I see something that hints towards the future. Sometimes the robot, Akimo will pop up in a documentary or I'll learn of some crazy sounding new scientific experiment... then every now and then I see a Segway and yearn for the future where they're as cheap and commonplace as bicycles. Oh see how I yearn.

In spite of my love of dystopian fiction seeing a smog alert hashtag on twitter is still a little strange and disconcerting. Should I wear a mask out? Or a protective suit? Or maybe I won't go out at all, just stay inside with my hoverboard and self-lacing boots.


Is anyone really surprised at the £9000 fee hike?

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Right now do I hate the Government more or The Inbetweeners for giving us so many ready made self-loathing headlines? "Second-rate education" "shithole"... fuck off, okay? Was anyone calling Lincoln this before the goddamn Inbetweeners? Lincoln is a gorgeous city, a tourist hotspot and the university isn't bad at all! We're not fantastic but for a relatively new university 72 in the league tables isn't too shabby.

All I know is I don't hate my university. What other option did they really have? It's not the university's fault that David Cameron wants to bugger our universities and strip the UK of quality education. The government are taking away all funding for universities... is it really any surprise that when they didn't have enough funding in the first place they'll opt to get all the money they can?

People have been complaining that the university announced they could afford £7500 fees yet still opted for the full £9000. I mean, wouldn't you? Would you be happy with your university unable to afford any improvements? I think my course is pretty good, yes we don't get a huge amount of contact time, and the computers are a bit dodgy but I know many people doing Biomedical Science at Lincoln, a course that seriously needs better funding. They have no lectures theatres meaning that 2 or 3 hours lectures that frequent their schedules have to be split up in hour sections where they're shoved into whichever lecture lecture theatres the media and humanities buildings can spare.

Why are people asking "Is the University of Lincoln even worth £9000"? How do you define what university education is actually worth? The dickhead politicians who are bringing in these higher fees got their degrees for free. At the time would they have happily paid £1000 for it? "No!" they cry in outrage, "Free education is a right! Why would I pay for something I could get for less?!"

Why would I pay £9000 for something I could get for £3000? You wouldn't! No-one would! Just like if you could earn £9000 instead of £7500 you bloody well would. Define worthiness for me. If this were as simple as how much the course is worth then £9000 wouldn't be such an infamous figure. It's all political. It's not the universities fault that they've been put between a rock and a hard place. The government took away their funding so they have to find it somewhere. Even with the government funding they didn't have enough so why not get as much as they can?

Stop blaming the universities. It's the government that's made this happen. And all of us foolish Lib Dem supporters who didn't foresee Clegg's arselicking tendencies. Politicians are at fault here.... as fucking always.