Newest thoughts →

May 2011

45 minutes until my meeting. This is exciting because it involves CAKE. BIRTHDAY CAKE. (cake is still cake, even if overpriced)

... "just" means you think it was right and deserved. It was his death. Therefore, you support the death penalty.

.@dsymons thank you for looking at that for me; much appreciated. I'll have my own copy of Word reinstalled soon!

Anybody w/ MS Word around to whom I could email a proposal, to ensure that it's formatted correctly after OpenOffice.org conversion, please?

Planning a workshop... does anybody use time tracking software on Windows/Mac? What do you use? I'm 100% GNU/Linux so less familiar #phdchat

Right. Onwards from research to workshop teaching planning, abstract writing, article polishing, journal editing, general joy.

Adorno's Kierkegaard: Construction of the Aesthetic is one of the most painful reads I've ever had the misfortune to undertake.

This would mean that it would be distributed (between users and over time) & users would just be proofing for grammar/spelling. #phdchat

Perhaps we (I) could write a basic web app. Upload your thesis. App randomizes sentences and presents in isolation for corrections? #phdchat

Are there any prohibitions on crowdsourcing thesis proofreading? Might people near completion on #phdchat help each other proof?

Miraculously, everything on my todo list to be done today, was. Now off to see @GreatDismal and @doctorow.

Mmm, Adorno getting all hypocritical on me: "it is their interwovenness that makes his [Kierkegaard's] philosophy so impenetrable."

Booked a restaurant for 15 people. They call me 2 hrs later (after I've told everyone) with an outrageous minimum spend and booking deposit.

Vince Cable says people don't understand how bad the economy is. I'm guessing the 2.46m looking for work do, actually.

So after using GNOME 3 for the first full day, returning to my Classic GNOME box is really annoying. I love GNOME 3!

"I am out of the office preparing for the end of the world. But I will respond to your email if it's the last thing I do" via @MarkKohut

Argh! This @GdnHigherEd discussion is too interesting. Not PE that's taking time from my "proper" research, but this great meta- stuff!

It really says something that a USB fedora live environment is faster than my HDD Ubuntu 11.04 install.

I've also just written, and submitted, a patch that adds command-line export; considering publishing my time usage online #phdchat

En route to Sussex for meetings and teaching. Hurrah! I expect it will be harder now our dept is so highly ranked. #sarcasm

Really would have liked to have gone to @beckettfestival, but 1.) I couldn't afford even the discounted rate; 2.) it collided with Symbiosis

The second I start writing about what's wrong with academia, I become Adorno, but more accessible. #easyreadmisanthropy

Pretty sure this Twitter workshop is as prepared as it's ever going to be now. Off the todo list it goes!

ARGH!! Spent two hours going to hospital this morning for a blood test. They just called to say they've lost it and calling me back. *ANGRY*

Just emailed by a Professor of Structural Biology wanting to participate in next year's Pynchon in Public Day. Interdisciplinary engagement!

.@JeffreyKeefer I often say to people who ask what a PhD in English Lit. examines: "the conformance of your thought with the discipline".

Yeah, so I don't have a TV. This means I neither fund BBC's shoddy journalism, nor encounter Eurovision. Dr. Who is on iPlayer, though :)

Why is my @TweetDeck on Ubuntu going so badly wrong? Mentions not updating, segfault if I restart (have to clear all data) :/

Hope everyone on #phdchat is wishing @naomi_jacobs the best of wedding days today! (not to embarrass her or anything!)

.@GregorHopkins because collective debt is far preferable to ruining the lives of people who had no say in running up the deficit

BBC News flags up #rallyfordebt attended by ~200 people. When thousands of disabled people marched last week, it barely registered.

Can't see how Nottingham can have the cheek to call Rod Thornton's paper defamation: if so, refute the references, don't just threaten.

Anyone on CM7 - why do I sometimes have to press the "home" key multiple times to get to homescreen? #Android

All waiting for Pynchon in Public Day website updates, please hold the line, I'm currently unwell & will fix when back on my feet #PIPD2011

Colin & "Woz" in my ward are now debating erotic fetish dressing. They can understand dressing as nurses, but not as dogs. I need to get out

I wish HTC would take note of Samsung's full release of all source for Galaxy. Even binary drivers.

Thanks to all posting Pynchon in Public pics - I will sort out the website as soon as I feel better. #PIPD2011

Anybody waiting at Brighton station, make yourself known by shouting "love the dolphins" at the top of your voice. #PIPD2011

This journey to Brighton is painful. Not feeling exactly great, train stopped outside Gatwick and I have to get a bus from Haywards Heath.

Apologies to those following who are less interested, but today my timeline will be even more Pynchon centric than usual.

So, today is Pynchon in Public Day 2011! Off to Brighton to meet enthusiasts. Worldwide events planned. We've started something!

Just sent a patch to hamster-applet (time tracker for GNU/Linux) that allows report exports from the command line :)

Sorry to say it, but my experience with @BlueMileCloud has been terrible. Now they are invoicing me for cancelled services. Avoid.

My todo list contains "lodge ssh keys in a safe place in case of own death". Hoping that won't be needed for a while, but hey.

. @htc Mmm Sensation. Have an upgrade coming, but as you've locked bootloader, I'll look elsewhere.

Don't forget that, for Pynchon in Public Day, we welcome videos, photos, reports of your undertakings!

If you vote against AV because it gives us weak coalition governments, you should realise that is because no party merited absolute rule.

I have disparate chapters, conceptually linked. Master lit review of concept goes in intro, specific reviews in each chapter #phdchat

There'll be a Pynchon in Public event /meet in New York at The Dead Poet, Amsterdam & 81st, Sunday 9PM.

I'm in for not having a separate review chapter (but that's an Eng. Lit. PhD); material goes where appropriate #phdchat

In E. Standard, Amy Miller says against tube strike "people are losing their jobs everywhere and not striking" - surely that's the problem!

The annual Textual Practice lecture takes place this evening at Sussex. Sadly, I can't make it, but if you can, you should.

David Lynch lecture went pretty well - I also managed to sneak a Back to the Future reference in there as well!

Those saying "not even the yes camp want AV" are being disingenuous. It was the Tory funders of the no campaign who made this the choice.

"AV would...make it...impossible for Labour to win a majority"<democracy requires individual sacrifice; not rigging system so your side wins

I disagree politically with most things @MarioCreatura writes, but on that last tweet I couldn't agree more.

Ubuntu 11.04's Unity is nice, but too immature at present. Deadly slow even on powerful graphics hardware.

Realised why I find Apple products so disappointing. I went tech I can make do what I want, not tech that tells me what I can do with it.

Dr Who yesterday contained either a Scottish, or Pynchon, reference. Character called Renfrew in AtD. Also a Scottish town, though.