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May 2014

Short thought

Attempt to hide from masses involves disclosing what you want to hide to Google.

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It also gives a very specific and definite tie between an individual and sensitive information that can be mined.

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If you report to Google under "right to be forgotten" suspect it's flagged as important & just hidden until law reversed. Indicates value.

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I am once more reminded that Twitter is not good for nuanced discussions. My last tweets overly blunt/hide detail/elide specificity etc.

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Fascination with "barbarism" abroad betrays our blind eye to brutality at home. "We do know what's going on and we let it go on" - Pynchon.

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A bit of early-morning reading before I get down to OLH work. I basically wish I'd written E. Markovitz's The Politics of Sincerity. Superb.

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In case you don't know, here's the key detail of the #TTIP in one tweet: companies can sue governments if they get in the way of profits.

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Well I braved it & swam in the British sea for my birthday. People were right. Once you're in & your nerve endings have died it's not so bad

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Oh dear. There's a pastebin post putting up the Ebay database for sale via anonymous Bitcoin.

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My research reveals that a charity can't have "a purpose which excludes the poor from benefiting", which implies that someone has tried it.

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Just been shown that some of Žižek's "Living in the End Times" is identical to a Wikipedia article.

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"By the end of 2001 the much heralded ebook revolution had faltered" John Thompson, 2005. Index does not include term "Kindle".

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Haven't yet managed to consolidate my thoughts on it. Read it in a fragmented way. Sprawling, epic, erotic, paranoid, messy, framed.

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Thanks to my brother here's more detail on U̶K̶I̶P̶ The Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly & Looking Stupid Party.

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Today I am working hard on the @openlibhums library sign-up mechanism and details.

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Peer reviewer #1: you are great. Peer reviewer #2: I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. #commencesrevisions

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Had a fairly musical weekend, in between bits of OLH work. Saw @mountain_oflove on Friday and now off to hear @NatalieMerchant!

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I have achieved Inbox Zero for today. This was mostly done by writing to-do list items: respond to X. #cheating?

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Second, if you want to win a copy of my book, Pynchon and Philosophy, tweet a picture of yourself reading Pynchon to #pynchoninpublic

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Two reminders - my feed will be dominated by #pynchoninpublic and #Pynchon2014 today. Please mute if these irritate.

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It is also Pynchon in Public Day tomorrow! If you don't want to see this stuff, mute #Pynchon2014 and #pynchoninpublic - you've been warned!

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The "tax his land" meme and its discontents (me)

There's a meme going around at the moment (or at least internet post, if not a meme), which I think is pretty insidious. It reads as follows: Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table At which he's fed. Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts Anyway! Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants,…

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Dear The Labour Party - forget bringing railways back under national control, what about the NHS?

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Not convinced by reductive "science vs. humanities" poster doing the rounds. Pretty patronising as scientists have also seen Jurassic Park.

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OK, some great news! Next week for #pynchoninpublic @PalgraveLit will give away two copies of my book! Stay tuned for more.

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"There's far too much to take in here / more to do than can ever be done / It's the circle of academic life [aaah oooh]"