After four years studying business, it appears that time and knowledge are two of the most important things in business. Knowledge isn’t necessarily being clever, but about knowing what you need to know, when you need to know it (hence the time aspect). I believe, that despite from a few random facts and general knowledge on business literature, the main thing that i have learned from the teaching side of being at university is how to solve problems and how to acquire knowledge when i need to.

Sure, there are lots of other sociological and psychological things that i have learned as well, but i don’t feel that my degree has taught me many concrete rules on how to succeed in business. However, this is also because there are largely no such rules. Instead, people in business are faced with problems which they must aim to solve with the best of their abilities, and i feel that i have learned this valuable skill. The ability to adapt to a situation, understand it, investigate solutions and implement them successfully is a hugely worthy talent that i will hopefully keep with me for the rest of my life.

I’ve also learned that hard work often pays off!

Thankfully my research seems to have been pretty good, as the report pretty much says the same as what i found. The reassuring thing is that fraudulent clicks which are not removed by Google account for roughly 0.02% of all clicks – a serious difference from the 30% claim made by some reports! You can check out Google’s full report here.

My title ended up as ‘Is Google Addressing Click-fraud Effectively?: A Review of the Extent, an Analysis of Google’s Detection Methods, and the Ethical Implications’. 75 pages and 23,000 words of Google-filled goodness.

If anyone is a little crazy, or just wants to know more about click-fraud and what Google are doing about it, get in touch and i’d be happy to send you a copy for a reasonable fee of £36.42! ha ha…let life begin again, and the replanting of the 4 trees worth of paper that i used in the process!

The anticipation was intense…the kilts were donned…the dresses were slipped into…and we all managed a little touch of pink as the theme demanded.

Rather dapper i must admit…and yes i’m aware i’m showing a little too much leg there chaps – just thought i’d give you all a wee flash…wow…check those sturdy man like pins!

Sadly, the dinner at the ball ended up being a bit like a public school’s canteen, with overgrown kids standing on their chairs and shouting ‘I am Spartacus’ while downing their drinks, and trying to not fall over. All in good fun i know, and could be a good crack…but not when you’re at a ball in a posh hotel eating a nice meal! When dessert arrived…some clever fellow had been around to swipe all the cutlery, so everyone was supposed to eat their cake while standing on their chairs with their hands behind their backs. Again…great fun…but not when you’ve just shelled out your hard earned cash for a dress shirt and bow tie…or when you’re at a ball in a posh hotel eating a nice meal!

Nikki hiding in the corner so she could eat her dessert sensibly (well…mostly so that i wouldn’t steal it!)!

The rest of the night followed this tone, and i couldn’t help feeling a little old for it all. I know, i know…i’m only 22…but when i go to a ball i expect to have a nice evening…if i wanted a food fight and a piss up i would’ve gone to the pub with my little brothers. I feel sorry for the staff who had to put up with it all night, then clear up afterwards, and wonder how Edinburgh Uni plans on keeping its reputation. It unfortunately felt like most people were no more than spoilt public schoolkids – but then isn’t that half the joy of going my great university!

Thankfully…the whole night was not a wash-out. Anwar and I had a good crack and we got those kilts swinging to the Gay Gordons, the Eightsome Reel and all the rest, and Nikki got her dress swinging to just about every dance and every song in the disco afterwards!

Sadly, my sports photography skills weren’t quite up to scratch, and i managed to miss the crucial moments of the match because i was too busy watching the match! I then managed to miss more crucial moments because i was complaining about the fact that i had been busy watching the match instead of taking photos of it! So…after a hard day’s watching football…i did manage to get a couple of snaps, and if you want to bore yourself through 25 pictures…then feel free to check them out here (new window) (some funny captions!).

Must also make special mention of my faithful assistant Nikki who stood by my side throughout the second half, after turning up 5 minutes before the end of the first half, then refusing to believe that it was half-time…thinking that my usual completely honest and trustworthy nature had been caste aside and that i was lying to her! However, as the second half rolled on, she stood there holding my umbrella and wolf-whistling at the passing players who felt the need to take their shirts off every now and again.
Unfortunately she wasn’t quite sure how to hold said umbrella so spent most of the time trying to get it to stay up and protect us from the rain! It goes in your hand Nik!!