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July 2011

How does one critique the field without causing massive offence to others, in a small field? No ad hominem, but still. #phdchat

As things stand, pleased to say that I'll be teaching at the University of Sussex for the next academic year.

Eduroam is a glorious thing. It works everywhere I go, except to my home institution who can't fix their DHCP server.

Just been embroiled in several hours of dependency hell upgrading SSH to use Elliptical Curve Crypto across boxes.

Will be re-reading Infinite Jest on my holiday. This counts as work, but is enjoyable enough to also be holiday.

Coffee with the lovely @SarahR_H, meet-up w/ supervisor and co-editor of Orbit, taught productivity workshop, teaching interview. Good day!

Really liking the Google+ concept; great idea for separate circles. Not sure how it will centralize (ie. TweetDeck). I need one admin hub.

Teaching a workshop tomorrow on productivity; it features lots of reflection on current practice. Could be fun!

Our biggest endorsement is from renowned critic, Harold Bloom, who said of Pynchon: "Certainly he is still the most important writer alive".

. @DrEvanHarris at what level does conscience apply, then? Told to write lies to make life of disabled on benefits miserable. Do you?

Really great day of thesis work today, topped off with a visit to the climbing wall, which I am now well enough to do again!

On the Guardian comments (via fb friend): don't shed too many tears for #notw journos. They're better off on the dole. It said so in notw.

The problem with a 30 minute coffee break with @HalliganEm is that in such good company, it easily spirals into an hour

Digital Humanists out there: any recommended resources on best metadata practices for an archival catalogue?

Vermeulen & van den Akker's use of Kant's "as-if" context is dubious. Example they cite is just Kant using a simile.

Read the last few pages of chapter 20 of Marx's capital vol 1 and then think of internships. You'll see what I mean.

After a day's solid reading, I need to write -- feel like my words are exploding onto the page. #phdchat

Great lunch meetup with @drtomcrick from a chance tweet. Excellent when real-world connections formed (& he's a top bloke). #phdchat

. @dropbox_support you've missed the point. Users can't confer license for files to which they don't hold copyright or sublicense rights.

Return from conference season to @BritishLibrary & encounter Finn Pollard, whom I met in Glasgow at a conference.

Just got a very nifty OpenVPN setup running now that should eliminate my need for ssh dynamic tunneling when out and about.

. @SFD85 I should think not. Also, infringement is tort, not criminal, so would rely on being sued by rightsholder.

. @savasavasava a bit dubious. @dropbox can't say "oh, the legal stuff says x, but we won't really use it, k lol?"

Assange: our lawyers have never cast doubt on character of women involved. < is that strictly true? Genuine q. #FCWiki

Zizek now on Kant. For those who don't know: piece he is referring to is "What is Enlightenment?" #FCWiki

Assange laying into the mainstream media. He's right on the problems, but he also needed them throughout. #FCWiki

Assange: Fox News gave people more of the truth than CNN by showing whole video. Commentary skewed, but strange. #FCWiki

. @WilliamCB ha ha - someone should do an introduction for Zizek like that. "so predictably dangerous, he's safe"

WikiLeaks "much more radical" - goes beyond "bourgeois press". "Changing rules of how you violate the rules" - Zizek #FCWiki

Zizek making notes as Assange calls war "most significant event in past 20 years of its history" #FCwiki

. @qui_oui I had ethical reservations about coming, but attending not to necessarily condone, but to listen. Hope debate stays on politics.

Oh dear! Marx on schools assesses the handwriting of the school mistress and declares her unfit to teach. Good job he can't see mine!