Journal Entries
Otto's Journal: the NOW show!
Posted Mar 11, 2004
Radio 4's 'Now Show' is back on, and can be heard via the radio player thing on the BBC website. It's absolutely fantastic. Listen out for the Britishness test and Mitch Benn's Janet Jackson song....
You've got until Friday before it's replaced by the new version. Have a listen!
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Latest reply: Mar 11, 2004
Otto's Journal: I was walking past 'Dorothy Perkins' today.....
Posted Mar 4, 2004
.... when I noticed that one of the models in one of the big pictures in the shop window is the spitting image of a lovely (in every sense) lass I went to university with, and whom I've now stupidly lost touch with. Last time I heard from her she was modelling and and supply teaching, so it *might* be her....
Thing is, the model who may or may not be my friend from university was wearing underwear or a swimsuit or something like that, and I felt I'd get some very odd looks if I stood outside the shop and stared at this picture of a beautiful scantily clad woman. I suppose I could go in and ask the staff if they know her name, but I'm not brave enough and they might think that I'm really odd.
Weirdly - and for reasons that I still can't explain - I never fancied her. I was about the only one who didn't.
To summarise.... 
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Latest reply: Mar 4, 2004
Otto's journal: A new way to combat terrorism
Posted Mar 2, 2004
Interesting article in today's Grauniad about a programme in Yemen where an Islamic judge engages Islamic militants in debate and (mostly) succeeds in changing their minds...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1160225,00.html
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Latest reply: Mar 2, 2004
Otto's Journal: You can't get me, I'm part of the union....
Posted Feb 29, 2004
I was on strike for two days last week, along with other members of my union, the AUT (Assocation of University Teachers), which is the main union for academics and senior administrative / library / computer / technical staff in 'old' universities in the UK. I'm a university administrator rather than an academic per se, but I do teach on one undergraduate module. Generally speaking I hold the AUT in contempt, beng largley made up of unreconstructed Trots who don't appear to be living on the same planet as the rest of us. However, on this occasion they're right.
The dispute is over pay. The employers are offering 3% this year and the same next (which is not linked to inflation) in return for changing to a new job grading system which has more annual increments and less of an annual payrise than the current system. Thus it will take years longer to reach the top of the payscale for any particular type of job. In addition, the employers want to make more use of job evaluation and local negotiation. What this means, it seems to me, is a de facto pay cut compared to what I can expect to earn in the future at the moment. Frankly, I don't trust my university (which is skint) to do anything other than take the cheapest possible option. That's not too damaging when there are national models and payscales, but if that's undermined as is proposed, I don't trust my employer to carry out these exercises fairly. Hence the strike action.
Strike action for a couple of days is one thing. What this has meant in practice is that work has been relocated rather than cancelled. But we've also voted for action short of a strike, which includes a boycott of assessment. This starts tomorrow. It's six weeks or so before my students are due to submit assignments, and I really hope that it's all sorted by then. But if it isn't, I'm going to have to decide between supporting the union and standing up for my current and future pay and conditions and disadvantaging students, or caving in and doing the marking. I don't know what I'll do.....
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Latest reply: Feb 29, 2004
Otto's journal: The Digibox Controversy
Posted Feb 10, 2004
There's plenty of trouble t'mill at the moment on H2G2 with some massive rows about the Digibox users. Apparently they used to be able to access H2G2 because it was part of the BBC website, even though they technically weren't supposed to be using the website for anything other than news and sport. Or something like that. But now their access has been blocked.
If Telewest (the Digibox owners) had found this out on their own, that would have been one thing, but it seems that one or more researchers have tipped them off. This raises all kinds of issues - what was going on was apparently against the terms and conditions (not sure it's *illegal* though- maybe that's a bit strong) of Digibox use - but does this give anyone else the duty or even the right to intervene? And what would have motivated them to do that? There's all kinds of discussions about that - was it spite, was it the problems created by a particular digibox user, was it the act of a good citizen? Or was it the act of an attention seeker?
It's clear that some 'crimes' or breaches of t's & c's ought to be reported because of the effect that they have on other people. I'm not sure if this falls into the same category. Would I personally have bothered to email Telewest? No - they're big and ugly enough to look after themselves, and either already knew or ought to have known if it was really a problem for them. Are the Digiboxers and their advocates entitled to complain? Not sure - they've had something withdrawn from them that they weren't really entitled to, but it's the manner of the withdrawing that's the problem.
I'm not sure what to think about Digibox users. I don't think that Digiboxers caused any more hassle (proportionally speaking) than normal internet users - some of the most deeply unpleasant and hostile people I've met here haven't been Digibox users. Sure, the txtspk is irritating, as is all of the chat stuff, but it's not obvious that chat pages are any more 'off topic' than the H2G2 Fantasy League Football page. I only found out recently that a lot of the txtspk and poor grammar and spelling is because their keyboards are really dodgy.
I did find the behaviour of some digiboxers irritating, as I'm sure others do, but that's because I'm a bit of an elitist. Sorry. Leaving aside particular recent problems, there's the constant stream of 'hello I'm new here what do I do?' postings. Take the guided tour, that's what you do! Follow the links! Do some reading? Clearly, I ought not to be volunteering for an ACE badge anytime soon! 
But then, how do I tell whether someone is a digiboxer? To be honest, I assume that anyone who communicates in txtspk and hasn't read the site instructions is a Digiboxer, and that anyone who makes interesting and reasoned postings and contributes to the guide isn't. That's prejudice on my part, and is unfair to digiboxers and the less bright interneters!
But the fact is that historically most people with internet access have been among the better educated and the more intelligent (the two are not the same thing) than the general population, and I think we can expect to see that gap reducing over time....
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Latest reply: Feb 10, 2004
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Otto Fisch ("Stop analysing Strava.... and cut your hedge")
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