Free squiggle with your Sunday rag
Today's “other rant” is about the music industry (again, probably) - I know naff-all about business economics, but I do know what hypocrisy smells like when I see it…
TAFKAP is giving away his new album free to readers of a certain newspaper. Mr. Quirk of the Entertainment Retailers Association says, “It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career.”
How about the insultingly high prices of CD albums in high street
stores, Mr. Quirk? Good work TAFKAP; I'm sure you're making your
millions off this “give-away” anyway, but losing the big stores from
the high street (Fopp: gone, HMV: going?) might not be the end of the world for the music industry, or for DJs looking for the latest vinyl, either; shops like Plastic Fantastic
will still be around as the nightclub and DJ industries keep vinyl
alive long past its sell-by date (a good thing, I think?), and legally
downloaded tunes become more and more widespread as technology makes it
easier and easier to get good-quality, reasonably-priced music online.
It'll be interesting to see how this one pans out.
Posted by Alex on Sat 30th June 2007
No sh*t Sherlock: BBC reports bank charges ‘crippling the vulnerable’
The BBC has run a 'Let's state the obvious' story today, as the National Consumer Council says the hidden costs of “free banking” should be investigated.
Obviously, though, it can only be a good thing that these issues are being highlighted - students are among the most vulnerable group of people who can be hit with repeated charges, and their limited income, usually in Student Loan chunks, means banks can expect to be able to hit students with numerous charges as students' loan money runs out, safe in the knowledge that further loan payments will be coming soon to cover these amounts.
In my second year at Uni, my account ran almost
Posted by Alex on Sat 30th June 2007
How to work out your degree - an idiot’s guide
Thanks to Christina for writing me an “idiot's guide to figuring out your degree classification” - I know everyone else already knows this and it's just me that's stupid, but I'm going to stick this up here anyway so I can refer back to it:
right well
1 - get the average of 2nd year and multiply it by 0.4, add that to the average of 3rd year multiplied by 0.6
2 - Simply find the average of 3rd year and thats your mark!
3
- this ones weird,,,, look at your marks from 1st and 2nd year…
collect together the 12 best marks (having at least 60 credits from 3rd
yr) and if they're all 60's then you get a 2.1… if they're all 50's
then you get a 2.2 etc
Cheers hon!
Posted by Alex on Tue 26th June 2007
Ok, so how the hell do I work my degree mark out then? (aka “Yet another thing I can’t figure out”)
So I have a vague idea what my course marks are now; although I have resits to do, I know that, if I pass, those marks will be capped at 40% (i.e. a basic pass). As a result, I'm in a position to work out my degree mark.
The only problem is, no-one seems to know exactly *how* to work the bloody thing out.
You see, (and I don't know if this is true for all Universities), there are three methods of calculating a degree mark. The wording on these methods is as cryptic as it is for us mortal chaps to decipher the myriad variations in body language a member of the opposite sex expresses shortly before smacking you in the mouth for upsetting them (although that could just be me…).
Posted by Alex on Mon 25th June 2007
Got a bit of a ring to it…
I'm working on the NUS registration system for 2008; this week I'm adding security logging across UPSU.net to support the NUS card issue system. It's so boring I can't honestly think of anything to write about it that won't send you to sleep, so here's something completely different…
I'm not *that* stupid that I'm going to wade head-first into a raging debate about religious rights, but BBC News are covering a High Court challenge by a 16 year-old Christian today.
Her assertion is that her school's refusal to allow her to wear a ring symbolising her sexual purity - the “Silver Ring Thing” movement - is a breach of her human rights.
The story is here, but - since I'm a bit of a sheep when it comes to matters like this - I quickly found myself reading the “Have Your Say” discussion about this story.
Currently, the “most recommended” HYS entry reads, “As a practising Jedi, I am concerned that my daughter will not be able
to wear her robes and carry a lightsabre when she starts school. My neighbour, a zealot Rastafarian has learnt that his son will not be able to smoke hashish at school. Political correctness gone mad.”
Posted by Alex on Fri 22nd June 2007
Grad Ball: it’s good to talk
This entry was written around the time the Union first issued the Grad Ball statement. To make sure I wasn't about to get myself sacked, I withheld publishing this entry until it had been checked to make sure it didn't contain anything it shouldn't, and to make sure - as far as possible - that the facts in the article are as accurate as possible.
That all said, these - like everything in this blog - are my personal ramblings, based on my opinion. Like everything else I think I know, you should probably take everything said here with a fairly generous pinch of salt. A lorry-load should just about do it…
I'm glad to see the UPSU Management have taken the unprecedented step of issuing a statement to explain how the ticket sales for the Graduation Ball - which have divided opinion as they do each year - have been conducted.
It's never easy to find a balance between investing a lot of the Union's - and therefore your membership, clubs' and societies' - money into a ball, and ensuring there are as many tickets available as there are people that want to go.
In fact, it's pretty much an impossible situation: the potential to damage the Union's future strength by gambling a huge amount of money on an expensive ball just to make sure there are enough tickets for everyone who can go, in the hope that it will sell enough tickets to break even, is a risk the Union's management and directors - your Sabbatical officers - face each year.
It's also one I honestly think they've got just right for the last few years, too, with the last two balls held at the Union breaking even, showcasing some great acts and a beautiful venue (yes, I'm still talking about the Union!), and receiving positive feedback from almost everyone who attended.
Since 2005 - the last year the Union held a ball at a green field site with a high capacity - the Union has been through bankruptcy and, as a result, been split into two companies; UPSU - the independent Union charity - and UPEL, a subsidiary company of the University. You can find out more about the differences between the two companies here, but what's important for you to be aware of here is that UPSU - the charity that runs clubs and societies, takes your membership money, and re-invests every penny into student services - organises the Graduation Ball, while UPEL organises and runs the regular entertainments, such as Purple Wednesdays and Orange Fridays.
Your Sabbs are the directors and trustees of UPSU, and it's ultimately down to them to make sure that your Union, and its accounts, don't suffer financially from the worst-case scenario - a Graduation Ball that blows a lot of cash. We even have a point of reference: the 2005 Graduation Ball, which lost a significant amount of money despite being well attended (and well organised). This was due to the unavoidable cost overheads associated with holding a ball at a green field site - the money wasn't “lost” due to bad management, and a green field site is realistically the only way to hold an event with a higher capacity than the Union can provide.
In Portsmouth, no other venue comes close to having the capacity of the
Union. Even the Guildhall and the new Liquid and Envy actually have
lower capacities than the Union, because licensed capacity is governed
more by the number and size of fire exits than actual floor space.
For now, the 2007 Grad Ball is looking to be an unrivalled success. Surprisingly, despite the vocal efforts of some concerned students, the tickets waiting list is less than 150 people as I write this, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that all the graduating students who have returned the forms from their graduation packs will be able to go if enough people drop out of the ball. That, of course, is a fairly uncomfortable “wait-and-see” situation for everyone on the reserve list, and I wish it wasn't like that, but such is life =(
Reading the Facebook groups (linked in the last para.) about this, there are some interesting comments and suggestions which I think can and will definitely be borne in mind during the planning of next year's ball. I've spoken to our entertainments chap who reports the Union does indeed have the largest capacity of any indoor, licensed venue in Portsmouth. It's fairly clear that there are a lot of rumours flying around - something that's inevitable when as many people are hearing bad things from peer groups, and while a lot of what's being said is true, there are some big factual inaccuracies being reported too (I don't think the Union's ever held a Grad Ball at the Guildhall, has it?).
The old saying that “you can't please all the people all of the time” springs to mind here; the Union is a great venue to hold a ball in - when it's thoroughly draped and filled with all sorts of interesting and fun things to do and drink - but it can only hold so many people before it gets uncomfortable or - worse - dangerous. Because of this, both UPSU and UPEL's management team have a tough juggling act to face to make the most of the venue without infringing on space, not to mention the fact that it doesn't matter how much space is available outside, because it's the internal capacity of the building that limits how many people can be present.
Granted, the Graduation Ball is the end-of-University event for a vast majority of people, and for this reason, not being able to get a ticket after three years' work is undoubtedly one of the biggest frustrations to have to come to terms with at this time of year. Frankly, it sucks, and I wish this didn't have to happen, but the alternatives are limited - to say the least - and in the short-term at least, there really are no alternatives.
Longer-term, it might be possible to have another ball at a green field site, maybe along the lines of Bournemouth's massive - and excellent-looking - summer ball. Maybe it can happen in the future, but for now the cautious approach UPSU have shown for the last couple of years is probably going to stay until a way of holding a large ball with less financial risk can be found.
For those of you reading this that can't attend the ball this year, please make sure you have your names on the reserve list, and if you don't get a ticket, I do hope you'll have an opportunity in coming years to experience one of our balls instead.
For everyone coming to the ball, I hope you have a great night and really enjoy yourselves.
And of course, for everyone regardless of whether or not you're going to the ball, I wish you the best of luck with your studies and graduation, and spare a thought for those of us - like me - who will be re-sitting a swathe of exams and coursework to scrape a degree because we've spent too much time faffing about, being drunk, or just didn't quite get it right the first time round ;o)
A disclaimer, of sorts: this is, like everything on my blog, personal opinion based mainly on heresay and - usually - with very little in the way of factual accuracies. Likewise, this blog post, although my bosses have checked it to make sure I'm not libelling anyone or telling outright lies, is my own posting. I'm not - and (hopefully) never will be - anyone's mouth-piece, so what you read here is all my own work, and my own opinion. And, of course, if you don't like it, please shout at me (here).
/al
Posted by Alex on Mon 11th June 2007
Worrying…
I'm not particularly prone to viewing the world with suspicion but, in the last two-ish days, I've been asked by 12 people (yes, I've started counting now…) whether I'm going to the VIP Annual Awards Dinner, tonight. My suspicion has been aroused because their tone has consistently implied that a “no” is most definitely not an option.
What's intriguing is that I know I'm not getting an award - apparently I couldn't even if I'd done something worth writing home about 'cos I work for the Union - so the only other thing I can think my presence might be needed is to wait tables, clean up sick, or act as Fraggy's bitch for the night. Still…
For the record, yes I'm going - any opportunity for a paid-for dinner and drinks isn't something my chubby posterior is going to turn down in a hurry. Hell, I might even have a wash and put on some clean underkeks beforehand… ;o)
On another note, Facebook seems to have some worries about use of its messaging service by… Uhhm, ghosts, maybe?
Posted by Alex on Thu 7th June 2007
Last PWs: busy!
There's a line of energetic, suntan-sporting, beach apparel-wearing students queuing outside the Union already - it's not even 8pm yet - reaching at least to the entrance to Blackwells. Meanwhile, the downstairs of the Union's pretty much full, and people are stacking up in the beer garden outside Waterhole.
Cheers everyone! Enjoy your night, and enjoy the last few days of the year :o) /al
Posted by Alex on Wed 6th June 2007
An indecent proposal
I have, for the last month-and-a-bit, been steadily working on a proposal for a small cluster of iMacs to grace the UPSU Media Suite. I'm just proof-reading and editing a “not-quite-final” draft, which is - at the moment - exactly 20 pages long.
This is my first serious attempt at a proposal since I tried to get a house music night going in my second year (three years ago then, for those of you who can't be arsed with the maths). That proposal - much like an excessively tanned 40-something ex-model - looked great from a distance, but it was soon picked apart by the bods whose job it was to … well, pick it apart, I guess.
This time, I'm doing my best to take no chances; if the proposal doesn't get through before July, it won't be possible to get it back to the table until the start of the next academic year, scuppering any chance of being able to set up the machines and create a training and use program so we know how to use them for Pugwash, Purple Wednesdays, Pure:FM, etc. It doesn't sound like much, but I really really don't want to start my year in office scrabbling around to get these machines working while Pugwash writers, Pure:FM tech team members, and anyone else foolish enough to get involved in UPSU Media next year, wait for me to finish faffing about so they can actually do some work with these shiny new machines.
I'm proofing page 15 at the moment, and I'm starving, so I'm going to knock together a quick spaghetti bolognese using… Well, whatever's left in the cupboard from last week, and hopefully by the time I get back, the Proposal Fairy will have dropped by, edited my work, updated the proposal on my laptop, and left me a servant as well (the bedroom needs hoovering apparently - carpets, I'm reliably informed, aren't supposed to “crunch”…).
Tomorrow I'm off to meet the University directorate; I wonder how long it'll take me to upset them? ;o)
Tarrah :o) /al
Posted by Alex on Mon 4th June 2007
POETS day
It's Friday afternoon - ten to five as it happens, in typical clich
Posted by Alex on Fri 1st June 2007