Hello? Yes, this is dog.

Stop. Proofing time.

Original pirate material

And more...

If only the original had featured some kind of "board game" https://t.co/tpZ15DQZz1

Thoth, the open metadata system from the @COPIMproject, hit and deployed v0.5.0 today: https://thoth.pub. I've updated the python API client already so that it will continue to run despite breaking changes. New features of 0.5.0 soon: https://github.com/dqprogramming/thoth-client/tree/master

Today is the @COPIMproject bi-annual meeting and I love it when @ScholTom gets his hands on my slide deck preparation 😂

Sorry to end the week on a pessimistic note, but the omicron variant has been pretty devastating news for our household. I clearly have a very poor immune response to the vaccines. Now even that looks shaky. It may not be a population-wide "reboot" but it's terrible here.

I fear for the future as I have to keep rearticulating that while most people think it's over, we're still shielding. The most populated place I've been in 20 months is a hospital ward as an emergency.

I'm so close to an exciting* open-access book announcement tweet, but it's been delayed and delayed and delayed. Perhaps this week will be the week.**

* probably not for anyone except me

** yes, I know this is a ridiculous "announcement of an announcement" tweet

This is, actually, the best description I've ever read of the "problem" that blockchains actually try to solve (and I've read a lot): they are a distributed consensus timestamp server

Proof of stake is a scam and the people promoting it are scammers
https://yanmaani.github.io/proof-of-stake-is-a-scam-and-the-people-promoting-it-are-scammers/?fbclid=IwAR27s1QanEJhAao5K3jQL0BkpF10hWJinIvYukIJ3wLCyJFBgBJ5UsDks0c

"a hieroglyphic sense of concealed meaning" https://x.com/Notorious_RSG/status/1464678169013854209

This would be good though no reason it needs to be a DAO. A charity could do it just as well. https://x.com/dmcdougall/status/1461276221761859586

Same time, same place

I was wondering how far this case had gone so far. Thing seemed to have gone quiet...

Indian academics throw weight behind Sci-Hub and LibGen in landmark case
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/indian-academics-throw-weight-behind-sci-hub-and-libgen-in-landmark-case-51780

Yeah, thanks "todo"

Umarell is a term in the Italo-Romance variety of Bologna referring specifically to men of retirement age who spend their time watching construction sites, especially roadworks, stereotypically with hands clasped behind their back, offering unwanted advice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umarell

Today I learned about the "double bongcloud" chess opening https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/mar/18/bongcloud-meme-opening-carlsen-nakamura

Oh good. https://t.co/SWdeYfd6DL

New COVID jab offers hope for immunocompromised https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-covid-jab-immunocompromised.html

This evening, I am attending the launch of #storylistening with @profsarahdillon -- on the importance of narrative evidence and public reasoning https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/events/storylistening/

Final call for our Lecturer in Contemporary Literature and Culture post, which closes tomorrow!

https://cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lecturer-in-contemporary-literature-and-culture-465908.html

This AM's research writing, working on /NEW LEAVES/, is asking: why, on the computer keyboard, is "home" the opposite of "end"?

Pleased to be speaking on this one... https://x.com/BACLS_official/status/1455091498739978243

I am really enjoying the latest EP -- "Income Trax" -- by "Clive from Accounts", as much for the humour in the naming as the music https://soundcloud.com/les-yeux-orange/premiere-clive-from-accounts-linton-ttwav

No peace for the wicked...! From today I'm back at the helm of @openlibhums until the end of the year, covering for new parental leave.

Good to have a hobby :P

Jeff Edmunds gets *very* enthusiastic about OA... (and it's really well done, even if I do dispute some of the claims that it has avoided profiteering etc.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNXp_CvssI8

A new article out today at @OrbitJournal! Professor Kit Hume writes on Maria Dahvana Headley's /THE MERE WIFE/ as diffused satire. Open access from @openlibhums.

https://orbit.openlibhums.org/article/id/3445/

A drug that can save lives of people with a rare condition. But because it's a one-time shot that cures for life, the pricing means that nobody will ever get it. Makes me want to tear down big pharma in despair and start again.

The million-dollar drug
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/glybera

Sunday so far has been a walk by the sea (made challenging by a bad ongoing arthritis flare up), completing copyedits on WAREZ, and enjoying some time with our friends who are staying and who isolated to make it safe. Could be worse!

So here's an odd one. I *was* on Rituximab, the only drug shown tsignificantly to increase death risk. I'm now on Baricitinib, one of the only drugs shown significantly to reduce death risk 🤔

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211116175040.htm

Oh dear

Toby advises on copyedits to WAREZ...

I can vouch that this book is good! Congratulations, Erik, on the publication! https://x.com/erikketzan/status/1461311691959029762

Not going to lie: I totally don't regret commissioning this brilliantly mimetic muppet puppet of myself. Useful for conference presentations, I reckon.

For this evening's reading, I am turning to Steven Connor's IN DEFENCE OF QUANTITY

Today was an exciting day. I got the copyedits in on Warez from @lilyibrew, who has done a really superb job of making me sharpen the clarity of the work.

Lecturer in Contemporary Literature and Culture job for January here at @birkbeck_ETC!

https://cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lecturer-in-contemporary-literature-and-culture-465908.html

Hurrah! Some music news. My track, "Small Time Hero", is going to be available as a digital download for the first time this month. There's also a really geeky programming joke in the title of this compilation.

https://soundcloud.com/ticitaci/sets/ttcd005-various-artists-2021

Today's fact of the day, learned with @ScholTom, is that Dr. Alban of 1990s Eurodance fame ("It's My Life") is actually a qualified dentist.

The thing I am still not good at and have not yet solved, while on research leave, is the feeling of guilt re. admin. That is: I feel guilty, at any point beyond 10am, that I am doing my research rather than admin. I am so used to doing research in the early morning...

Keynote invitation for September 2022 and still having to say "it depends on the virus situation". Sigh.

Found myself taking quite a detour in the chapter of the book I am writing to think about software as a “bad reader” with majority prevalence (Internet Explorer) and some specifying standards as impossible diktats of “high literariness” (MS Word legacy binary format).

Not caring about deaths of specific children because they had "an underlying health condition" is what we like to call "eugenics". https://x.com/SGriffin_Lab/status/1458928435892473858

"I would like some more of your dinner, please"

‘I wanted less than a minute’: 105-year-old unsatisfied after 100m world record
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/11/julia-hurricane-hawkins-100m-sprinter-105-year-old-louisiana-world-record

I have been working on my book and think it may be time for a break.

Starting in 20 minutes! https://x.com/martin_eve/status/1457659047696637952

Mandatory Covid jabs shouldn’t be controversial – NHS staff have a duty to do no harm. "A healthcare worker’s right to be unvaccinated does not trump a clinically vulnerable person’s right to life."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/10/mandatory-covid-jabs-nhs-staff-frontline-workers-unvaccinated-pandemic?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Some thoughts on being a disabled academic

http://blogs.bbk.ac.uk/bbkcomments/2021/11/08/birkbeck-academic-makes-the-disability-power-100-list/

Broadband speed upgrade today makes me disproportionately happy.

Looking forward to the Sandars lectures this year on the histories, presents, and futures of paper.

Open Access Book Programs: Answering Libraries’ Questions https://openaccessbooksnetwork.hcommons.org/2021/10/27/open-access-book-programs-answering-libraries-questions/

Just realised that tomorrow I have 4x conference/webinar presentations to give in one day. Unthinkable in pre-pandemic times. Hopefully I'll emerge still standing!

Today's reading is @djbduncan's Index, A History of the.

Creating a Campaign to Increase Open Access to Research on Climate Science and Biodiversity: A joint initiative of Creative Commons, EIFL and SPARC https://creativecommons.org/2021/11/08/creating-a-campaign-to-increase-open-access-to-research-on-climate-science-and-biodiversity-a-joint-initiative-of-creative-commons-eifl-and-sparc/

Monday night reading was finishing Mark McGurl's Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon. I loved the extended focus on self-published works as both sociology and lit crit herein.

Happy Monday, all. I've had a good start the week with 1,000 words of book written and inbox zero achieved!

I'll be speaking with Adam Hyde this week on building open source publishing technologies. Do join us! https://openpublishingfest.org/calendar.html#event-17

Ultra-generous postal gift today from @rupertgatti. Cheers!

I've ended up doing a lot of work so far this weekend, although it was mostly quite an enjoyable mix of programming and research. I think it's now time to make some music though.

Jam some more

Saturday reading is finishing James Fox's /The World According to Colour/.

OK, most gorgeous book of the week has arrived. @LEUSavage's Early Colour Printing

Larry Trotter and the Philosophy of Marx

Sending good wishes to everybody with a dog who's scared of fireworks. A horrendous time of year for these poor animals here in the UK. Luckily, Toby can't really hear them/doesn't mind but know this is just luck.

I see the UCU website has gone on strike

The "masks are a massive authoritarian imposition" crowd mysteriously silent on the home arrest imposed on the vulnerable and disabled by rampant viral spread.

Happy Friday all.

The Daily Telegraph thinks that 1/53 is lower than 1/56. Oh good. https://x.com/Telegraph/status/1456368505310400515

JSTOR usage of books converted to open access went up 3,200% on average. 3,200%. Africa and South America the greatest increase in readership. #chsconf2021

About to speak at #chsconf2021 and I'm ultra-impressed by the hybrid in-person/remote setup they have rolling!

Yeah, no shit Sherlock, because we don't want to die. https://x.com/ONS/status/1455471563034308608

As @jamescummings put it to me: this should be on posters on public transport

Oh dear how sad never mind

The video of the launch of @ernestopriego's The Lockdown Chronicles is now available https://youtu.be/xgxyMWsJ1EI

UK first to approve oral antiviral molnupiravir to treat Covid. Seriously good news here. The first in a long while. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/04/uk-is-first-to-approve-oral-antiviral-pill-molnupiravir-to-treat-covid

New updates to Thoth from the @COPIMproject!

https://copim.pubpub.org/pub/new-thoth-releases-and-wp5-updates/release/1

Thursday morning cobweb dispeller from my label boss, Mr Duncan Gray. New track from me at the 44 min mark featuring some harmonica blasts and deep synth grooves. https://soundcloud.com/bound_in_sound/duncan-gray-the-pitch-down-011121

I know autocaption mistakes are old hat now, but I love "be-verb constructions" transformed to "beaver constructions".

I despair.

The way to keep schools open is to limit transmission. They aren't willing to do so.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59139389

My 7.30am trans-continental call was cancelled so it's WRITING TIME.

Please 👏 stop 👏 saying 👏 "invitation to review". It's a "request" and reviewers are doing you a favour.

This evening, I'm pleased to be able to celebrate the launch of @ernestopriego's graphic collection, The Lockdown Chronicles!

Today's postal delivery is a "now for something completely different" moment. It's @RealMandeville's Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life, launched just last night.

An amusing photo just sent to me as a reminder by an acquaintance from when I was an 18-year-old Blues Brother.

also good. My actual brother is in the photo.