Nlogaxical – What am I doing here?

I was one of the lucky 400 to have tickets for last night’s Goldacre – Drayson debate at the Royal Institution.  90 minutes of back and forth discussion about the state of British science journalism and how it’s both viewed by and acted upon by ‘end users’ of mass media, ie the rest of us.  While there was plenty of online conjecture via Twitter and blogs during the event (judging by the number of open laptops and lit phone displays around me), I think some of it had lost the point.  There should be no ‘winner and loser’ in the debate.   If the standard of science journalism drops to the point where none of us know which way is up or down, which items cause cancer or which are rumoured to enable eternal life – then we will all lose.

The debate dovetailed into a longer question, one which has bugged me for a long time – that being the state of all journalism today.   What defines ‘journalism’ anymore?  And if it can still be defined, against what standards can it judged? Yesterday there was an interesting moment where most of BBC News’ online headlines were effectively reports OF reports.  (confused?  try BBC ‘News’ )    For a while, the front page looked more like DigitalSpy than the front page of a world-leading news gathering organisation.   Rumour, conjecture, gossip.    So who can you believe anymore?

Bye bye Sun Microsystems.   Today its shareholders voted in favour of the company being acquired by Oracle.   It’s a sad day for Sun – one of the true Silicon Valley upstarts. Yet it is an evolutionary step in which has become a really close partnership between the two companies.   And it’s hopefully going to be an exciting time for those of us who are proud to work for a company that started out as a personal project of a Stanford graduate back in 1982 and sold Unix workstations.

My first job in IT was back in 1991, and the Sun 3/60 workstation was my first proper “PC”, even before I discovered (suffered?) Windows.  So I have a particular loyalty, even if it is a slightly geeky one.

20 MHz, no internal drives, 4MB, and -that- optical mouse which would only work with the reflective mat.   Happy times.

As for the future – who knows?  Well, probably someone does, but I’m totally in the dark.  That’s what happens when the sun sets.

UK mass media amuses me.  When confronted by the shocking revelation that some teenagers like stuff and dislike other stuff, it is seen as nothing less than an epiphany, a window inside a teenage skull to the sloshing, hormone-filled mind of a fifteen year old male.

Adrian MoleMatthew Robson, (aged 15 years and 7 months no less) reckons that Twitter isn’t popular with his peers, that PS3s are low down in the a typical teen’s list of preferred consoles, that newspapers aren’t popular unless they’re free, and that music is also a big factor in their lives.   I’m not entirely sure why the mass media picked up on this as some sort of Jerry Maguire moment of truth and clarity representing the ‘common teen’.  Some kids like PS3s and newspapers, some don’t, most like free stuff over stuff you pay for.  More to the point. only the tiniest fraction are interns at Morgan Stanley.   Hardly representative of a typical teenager  (..is there actually anyone who is representative?)

It’s not as if it’s been a slow news week in the land of all things digital.   So exactly why is this a story?

(yes, I’m tweeting this – do I fit the profile as a 35 year old teenager?)

JG Ballard died this morning after a long fight with cancer. He was 78.

He’ll be sorely missed. For me, he was the one author who ensured I roamed ‘Contemporary Fiction’ section of any bookshop I stumbled into. I first discovered his works in a local library fifteen years ago, and I never looked back. To this day my bookshelves are selection of travel writings, non fiction reference and Ballard. His stories of the near future continue to haunt.

This morning I’ve been guided towards video of a verbal assault directed at Gordon Brown. The manner in which it was dished out restores faith in the grand old British tradition of pointed, clear political finger-poking.

Step forward Dan Hannan, MEP, journo and writer.

Normally this wouldn’t have made the insides pages of any newspaper, but this time El Gordo was sat in the same chamber at the time. That’s what makes it compulsory viewing. Check out the highly embarrassed grin that he’s wearing towards the end of the speech.

When the buzz initially went round about Sir Fred Goodwin’s annual receipt of a £650,000 in pension monies, I briefly (and somewhat embarrassingly) had a full-on Daily Mail moment. Steam from the ears, a red mist descending like the rain on Manchester and the urge to yell something not fit for family listening.

This evening Goodwin stared down the flak of the meeja and a barrage of bile from similarly aggrieved hacks and ‘spokespeople’, and then..fantastically…raised two fingers at them and the government by vowing to keep the dough. And all I can think is, ‘good on him’. That’s testicular fortitude right there. Sheer bloody-mindedness at its very best. I can’t wait to see what the papers say tomorrow. A collective press coronary awaits, the full fury of Wapping awaiting to be unleashed as the spleens of a hundred incredulous commentators line up ready to be vented. Fabulous. Bring it on. Anything that riles them up is great viewing. The only thing that would make it better is if Goodwin would utter three simple words.

“I deserve more”.

Have it, sir. You’re worth every penny

ClownsBizarre dreams will eat me. And so will headcolds if this keeps up.