Another Pair Of Eyes

iPad

Nope, I’m not convinced that there is a sturdy  market for this. I may be proven wrong, but frankly I don’t think it adds anything other than size to the iPhone.* I can see potential uses in labs for viewing images, specifically in my mind X-rays off of the hospital intranet, but other than that and a few commuting people who don’t want a laptop per se I don’t think it’ll make a big splash. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a pretty cool item, with a huge quantity of gadget cred, but gadget cred isn’t worth the £££.

The eBook reading function is a good try but I’m not sold on the idea that it will outpace, outmatch or out-pretty-much-anything the Kindle; being specifically designed for books and with a battery life to support that function makes it a vastly superior choice. And it’s cheaper. eBook functionality seems more of a tag-on feature for people who are going to get one anyway rather than a central pillar of the device.

Yes, the iPad is functional as a portable computing device, but I’d argue that it doesn’t have the same ease of use as a netbook when it comes to typing – it is not tactile, and watching the screen and typing is much harder on a surface that is completely flat as opposed to one that has a screen at a separate angle i.e. any kind of note/netbook. Obviously I’ve not actually used one, but I may go down to the apple store next time I’m in town and have a look at one. Currently, though, the idea has not sparked fireworks.

Thoughts?

*and it’s actually a lot more similar to a giant iPod Touch.

Español

I do not speak spanish, and my exam is tomorrow. Yes, on a Saturday, the world is rubbish. Anyway, this is basically a post of regret – the Spanish course I have done is easy and under other circumstances I’d've enjoyed it, learnt it well, probably continued it and actually ended up speaking spanish well enough to get by in a spanish speaking country. I have not done any of these things, because in the end when I weigh up my workload spanish always loses out to medicine, because medicine is quite simply more important. From that stance the quality of my spanish goes rapidly downhill and thus the enjoyment wanes in proportion.

Yes, it is entirely my fault, but I just think it’s a shame that it is. I’m aiming for a solid 40%, which I am currently over with coursework etc, so I don’t need to do well to pass. Flipside, I hate doing things badly when I know full well that I could have aced the whole course if I’d put in a bit of effort.

Shame on me.

To make myself feel better, here is something cheery I found on the internet.

Blood

Today I put a needle in a living someone and took blood. Three bottles. Successfully.

Twice.

Woooo! Actual useful skills, here we come!

Mmmm, blood.

Living

Life at the moment can only be described by the phrase ‘crazy busy’. I, on the other hand, do not seem to be as crazy busy as I need to be. Sure, I’m writing a couple of A4 pages of notes a day, and I’m out the door at 8am and back through it somewhere around 3 every day, but I’m just not as busy as I should be, and I know it. I’ve got a LOT to learn this year, and I’m not even kidding – our exams at the end of the year are the most serious we’ll get before membership exams in however-many-years time. Even finals pale in comparison, or so I’m told. The Intermediates are synoptic; they can contain anything we’ve learnt in the first three years from molecular cell biology and theoretical physiology through to hands-on clinical skills and diagnostic knowledge. It’s a lot to know, to link together and hold on to when more learning threatens to tear the older stuff away.

I could go on and on about all the stuff I have to learn, but I won’t because it’s boring.* Instead, I shall leave it with a pictorial representation of how much there is for me to know. I need to know, basically, the information on every single page of every single on of these texts:

There’s a bit of overlap, but that’s basically it. The top one I need to know at the drop of a hat, the others need just a working grasp of their contents. Should be interesting.

That, of course, is not the only aspect of living at the moment. There’s the social side of things, which currently is adequate but far from perfect. D and I are no longer together, due to circumstances beyond our control resulting in her being a good three hours away on a constant basis for the forseeable future. I’m sure given the opportunity to have a solid basis the whole LTR thing might have worked, but seeing as we’d only really been together for a month and a half when the challenge presented itself we decided to let things lie rather than risk seeing them fade into obscurity. Life is full of fun surprises. No doubt.

Anyway, I’ve written enough and I’m tired and I’ve got a load of washing to take out and a lot of Spanish to do. Basically got to sit down and learn the whole module. Terrific.

If I’m not about much, the above is all why!

Hasta luego.

*the going on about it, rather than the actual stuff which is brilliant.

Monolith

Yes.

Avatar

Wow. Prepare for a nauseating splurge of positivity.

Words fail me, really. That was the most beautiful, mesmerising, thunderously awesome piece of cinema I’ve seen for years. Yes, the film is merely ‘good’ but as an experience I think it is fantastic. I don’t know whether it’s an artefact of 3D providing increased immersion or whether it was just well thought out characters, but I really found myself rooting for the Na’vi, and actually caring whether they lived or died. At one point I even caught myself think ‘please don’t die.’, which is probably a first for me.*

Did I mention that it was actually beautiful? As in heartstoppingly beautiful? Everything in it has been lovingly rendered, and it shows. ‘Polished’ is inadequate. The Na’vi are brilliantly done, and at times it’s hard to believe there is are any humans behind them at all and that the whole thing isn’t just CGI. In fact, the whole world has been incredibly well thought out; the animals and plants are all believable and ‘fit’ in a way which very much implies that they are of the same ecosystem.

It’s a long film, but it doesn’t feel like one. Even those of you who aren’t fussed should go and take a look, because I truly believe that this is a game-changer for cinema. The world of film is notably different now, which sounds dramatic but having watched the flagship of 3D I think that the end of 2D cinema is in sight, and I’d imagine you’ll be hard-pressed to find a 2D cinema screen near you inside of the next 5 years.

*Although, I do generally find it quite easy to get very involved in films, so take that at face value.

Monday

Tomorrow, every single person on every single course (or evening class!) in the university has a day off. As does anyone working in any university office, café, sports facility, bar etc. People will be having fun.

Unless you’re a 3rd year medical student. We do not get the day off.

Hmph.