StyleyGeek pretends to be a real blogger who cares about news and politics and stuff

Since BBC news is watching me, I might as well make the most of the attention and marvel out loud (in a metaphorical, online sort of way) at two new bizarrenesses.

(1) What is with the "What could be in the news during the next week" column? In my humble* readerly view, if it hasn't happened yet, it isn't news. It's weather forecasting. Or horoscopes. Or rune casting. But not news. Have patience, people! Wait until it happens and then report it. Otherwise you'll just have to repeat yourselves.

(2) On a less ranty note, I was sitting at the gym the other day on one of those horrible cycle machines which have TVs all lined up in front of them, and was pleasantly surprised to see that instead of Oprah or South Park repeats, I was just in time for the BBC World News Headlines. So we get the lead in and (presumably) music and all (no earphones). Followed by...

A five-minute-long screenshot of the BBC world news website.

I'm all for encouraging people to get their news online instead of from TV, but isn't the whole point of online news its interactiveness? Which is not exactly a quality that a screenshot has all that much of.

On the other hand, it is probably an excellent way to save money. So I'm thinking we could all incorporate this strategy into our teaching. (Think how proud of us our departmental budget monsters would be!) Rather than actually giving lectures, we could lock the students in a room with the readings projected up on the wall. Instead of tutorials, we can take relevant online discussion board posts and show them on a screen at the front of the class.

Tell me, am I on to something here?

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* Okay, we all know that any time anyone says "humble" when referring to themselves, they mean exactly the opposite. So yeah, read this as, "[...] in my megalomaniacal 'the world revolves around me' readerly view [...]" because clearly that's what I really wanted to say.