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April 2011

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Off out to Convent Garden (is this wise?) for a birthday party. Sadly, there is shopping to be done beforehand, I have been told.

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Hurrah! Book chapter on Pynchon, DeLillo, Terrorism and the Cold War accepted! Also doing final edits to 'Pynchon and Wittgenstein' #phdchat

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Predictably, the trainwreck that is Ubuntu Natty is causing hell for many many people on freenode.

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Best thing about bank holidays: academics catch up on their emails and actually get back to me!

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OK, something is very wrong. Apart from utterly breaking grub, my Natty upgrade has gone entirely smoothly!

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Woah. Apparently prince William is getting married tomorrow. Why didn't somebody tell me? #thenewsisntdoingitsjob

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I am such a sucker. I don't *need* Natty. I just want it. So I'll probably spend all tomorrow fixing it.

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Ubuntu servers getting hammered. That said, it's time for a dist upgrade. Bracing for breakage.

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With apologies to Adorno: It is Pynchon's courtesy to spare the reader the embarrassment of believing himself cleverer than the author.

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Guardian Q&A Summary: Life After a PhD

A summary of the Guardian Q&A session, 'Life After a PhD' for which I was a panelist, is now available over on the Guardian Higher Education Network. Of particular interest, in my view, is Tennie Videler's reference to ASHPIT; certainly a lead I am hoping to follow up. Keep your eyes peeled for…

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My AHEA success featured in RUSTLE

Vanity post alert! I have just been told that my achievement of Associate of the Higher Education Academy has been featured in Sussex's Teaching and Education department's publication, RUSTLE ("Really Useful Stuff on Teaching, Learning Etc."). This is, obviously, only the start along the long…

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I don't quite agree with that "cult of done" stuff. Academic thought requires time to think. Do something. Think. Do it again.

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Just managed a trip to the corner shop in my pajamas without attracting suspicion #coathidesamultitudeofsins

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Just ordered a Kindle! Unfortunately, this is a birthday present from Helen to me, so have to wait a month before I'll be allowed to use it.

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1.) It's a basic attack; 2.) they imply they can break public-key cryptography (they'd have a Nobel Prize if they could)

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This new Beastie Boys single is ill: bringin' back that old school rap. I really can't pull that off. #notdownwiththekids

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"I'm sorry about that, Pete, but the one thing I really can't stand for is tailgating." Mr. Eddy/Dick Laurent, Lost Highway

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Taking the kids round the adventure playground. I love adventure playgrounds. #damnheightrestrictions

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Today we are taking our friend's kids to the zoo. Secretly, we'd go anyway, kids or not...

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Just looking at SlideDeck. What I don't get: it's GPL licensed. But claims that gratis version is "branded". If it's GPL, can just remove?

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Finished first draft of book chapter on auto-subversive behaviour in academic publishing. Anyone want to read & give feedback? #phdchat

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Sascha Pöhlmann, alongside whom I am speaking in Glasgow in June, is an inspiration for the generosity of his feedback on my work.

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Just got hold of a lovely quality recording of Leftfield at Coachella, then realised the setlist lacks Release the Pressure and Inspection.

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+1 RT @PaulOBrien I will ONLY buy a @htc Sensation if it's security unlockable, simple as that... Come on @htc! Listen to your fans!

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Laurel and Hardy reference just went into Zombies chapter: "“Another fine mess you've gotten me into”: Why is academic publishing as it is?"

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Crossword Helper for Android

A quick plug for my latest Android application, which is now available in the Android Market: Crossword Helper. This is, fairly obviously, an application designed to help you finish crosswords when you are stuck. You can get the app by scanning this QR code on your device: The application has a…

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Anybody else not receiving Twitter emails for new followers/DMs... just started happening to me over the last day.

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Will try and chip in to tonight's #phdchat as I'm doing a lot of conferencing at the moment, but can't promise full hour :P

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Uploading the third video presentation from the first meeting of the UK Pynchon Network. Vimeo's limits means this is taking a while.

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Symbiosis conference first draft; CHECK. 2 hours. (Just a reworking of a chapter section into speakable form). Good day today!

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Ice cream van has begun circling our block. I'm in danger of using the "I deserve one" rationale for having written conff. paper #dangerous

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Oh dear. BT and TalkTalk lose substantial part of judicial review of Digital Economy Act's illegal filesharing measures.

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So I spent this afternoon writing an awesome Android app. Last minute fail: no REGEXP support in Android sqlite.

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I'm not saying that's wrong, but just that the "it's impossible to be a militant atheist" argument is rubbish.

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Although I like him, Grayling is disingenuous. A militant atheist is, clearly, one who believes others should share their disbelief.

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Bah. Work quota not finished for today, but I need to stop. Will make it up tomorrow. David Foster Wallace for me now!

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At Foyles for Pale King launch event. Literary Agent Bonnie Nadell and Editor Michael Pietsch speaking.

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Predictably, it's a no go on recording, but should be available online at a later date. #DFW #PaleKing

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Hoping Foyles will let me record the event tonight. Don't hold out much hope though. Will review anyway.

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Right, not answering any more pre-panel posts. Panel starts at 1pm and I have an inordinate number of things to be done before then!

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Google finally transitioned my Apps for Domains account -- now Reader works on my Android :)

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Was about to go to the gym when the dulcet tones of the ice cream van went speeding past my house. Mr Whippy with flake it was.

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Pynchon in Public Day 2011

Hereby instigating an annual May 8th culture jamming festival to be herein evidenced by photographic, textual, cartographic and video documentation. To prove it really happened, that our world was not projected. Post horns, W.A.S.T.E. insignia, the novels of Thomas Pynchon read unashamedly on…

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Deflected apologies aren't apologies and are used to belittle the recipient: sorry you were upset, sorry you don't understand #Lansley

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Pleased to announce that I will be part of the Q & A panel for @GdnHigherEd's session this Friday on "Life After the PhD"

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Homosexuality is found in over 450 species. Homophobia is found in only one. Which one seems unnatural now?

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How not to apply to give a conference paper

Giving conference papers is a crucial part of academic life. It's the prime means of engaging with others in your discipline, getting a face associated with your name and, to use a vile term, networking. However, before you've made it big-time and are being invited to such events, you'll have to…

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Off to Sussex for conference abstract discussions, journal editorial board meeting and supervisor get-together.

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Having a day off research tomorrow in order to put our NEW SHED together. It doesn't get more exciting than this.

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Delay to Report on First UKPN Meeting

This is a quick post to give an update on the report from the first meeting of the UK Pynchon Network. I have had several requests for reports on the day and also for recordings. This will all be forthcoming. The delay is due to the fact that Vimeo (YouTube has a restriction of 15 minutes length on…

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My copy of The Pale King arrived massively damaged. Have to return by post. Sigh. Read Beckett's Worstward Ho to make myself feel better.

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Speaking plainly

Following on from posts by @lizith and @ORGMotivation, this is a brief post to explain my current research in plain English. A quick precursor. In many research projects, communicating what you are doing involves making a justification for the research. If that is not immediately obvious, then…

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Unsurprisingly, the material I thought was rubbish yesterday looks great by the light of day. So subjective! #phdchat

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Frantically ploughing through this tedious Thomas Hardy novel so I can start the new David Foster Wallace tomorrow.

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Hey, that's the way research days go. You win some, you lose some. Just need balance towards the former! #phdchat

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Bah. Slow research day. Dislike most of my work. It'll look better in the morning, though, I'm sure. #phdchat

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It's not "disgusting" that Sally Hunt criticises VCs for huge salaries (cf @mariocreatura), it's just her hypocrisy. Critique is still valid

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According to the friendly librarian in Humanities 1, they test it every Thursday. Been coming for years and never noticed before.

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British Library fire alarm went off at 9.20. Hope this doesn't mean there'll be one of the two annual drills later. #tedious

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Trip to Brighton today accomplished relatively little, but was extremely pleasant in the sunshine!

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I'm getting used to Ubuntu Unity. It encourages me to use workspaces better and, hope performance on fglrx and display issues will be fixed.

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Edging very close to a first draft of the Zombies chapter. I say "edging", more like dragging my undead brain across the soporific floor.

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Ubuntu Natty Beta 1: My Upgrade Experience

I thought I'd share here some of the trials and tribulations I experienced in last night's upgrade to Ubuntu 11.04, Natty Narwhal. flgrx driver problems Using the flgrx driver most of my desktop was black, with occasional bits of the background visible. I solved this by selecting "Classic Session"…

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Took the plunge and upgraded to Natty beta on my laptop overnight (well, it's got 10 mins left). Hope my inability to sleep was unrelated.

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In a quandary. I know the best way to ensure Ubuntu 11.04 works on my hardware is to use the beta. I dread a month of pain ahead, though!

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My paper in Portsmouth is scheduled under "bondage in the Western World" panel. Details tomorrow, but I now expect much dodgy twitter spam.

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My favourite sentence written today: Mason & Dixon with its “latitudes and departures,” its “there and back again”s and its mechanical ducks

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Today is massive drive to get lots of last thesis chapter into article form and more work on 'Zombies' book chapter.

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I recommend any sane news organization employ @stebax to write a column for them ASAP; pretty much all he writes is gold.

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Wondering if my metaphors are getting too specific when I'm using hypervisor virtualization & rootkits in relation to academic publishing

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Trying out free software alternative to Scrivener, Kabikaboo. Not as feature-rich, but working well for me. #phdchat

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I have, once more, been let down by the BL cafe in my "Monday morning treat" scheme. Lack of croissants makes me sad.

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God, I hate doing web design/coding pricing for friends. How do others do it? I feel guilty, but my time is precious :/

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Installing Zotero on Ubuntu Natty (11.04/Beta)

I've been playing with the new setup of Unity on Ubuntu Natty 11.04 beta, which now comes preloaded with the forked LibreOffice. This has caused some problems for installation of Zotero, so I want to here give the walkthrough instructions that I used in a LiveCD environment to get everything…

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Exactly half-way through my PhD timetable

Today marks, by my calculations, day 548 of my PhD. I set myself a target to attempt to finish the thesis within three years (1096 days -- 2012 is a leap year) of the 1st of October, 2009; the length of full-time funding I receive from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. As a result, today…

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Bah, YouTube's length restriction is really tiresome. How am I supposed to upload academic conference papers?

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Thanks to @MarkKohut for pointing out that I had mistakenly written "World War I" in that Berfrois piece, omitting the second digit!

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Developing an application with a user profile in it. What terminology should I use for non-binary gender option?

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My recent work at Berfrois

Featured image by 1600 Squirrels under a CC-BY-NC-SA license. I was thrilled recently to be asked to write a piece detailing my recent work on interrelations between Thomas Pynchon and Michel Foucault at the online literary magazine, Berfrois. Feel free to check out the article at their site. This…