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February 2019

Did you know, when Barrington Pheloung started composing music for the original Morse, way back in 1987, he hadn't really been Barrington for long.

Oh yes. I have cleared my other reading just because I'm so excited to get to @Ted_Underwood's Distant Horizons. Here we go.

My weekend reading is Rose Tremain's Sacred Country. Struggling to get going with it tbh but could be because I'm under the weather.

Good progress so far on doing my one hour of stretching per day regime. Using the Habithub app in the end, which lets you set "rewards" for when you've done something consistently over several days. I did miss one day due to illness, but not bad.

Thanks all for running shoe advice the other week. The official recommendation from podiatrist and rheumatologist is that I should stick to cycling as running would not be good for me, given that I break my feet walking. This probably should have been obvious. Annoying though.

It's Friday night. That can only mean one thing. That's right. It's time to read the draft REF Code of Practice.

🤔🤔🤔

It didn't last that long

Shaka, when the walls fell.

Best email today: "Swamp Protocol is the first project by Most Dismal Swamp, an experimental art platform & record label simulating & exploring a contemporary ecology that has come to be defined by the hallucinatory entanglement of [...] a pervasive, horizonless swampscape."

Thanks all for your kind words today. The good news is that I don't have to stay in the hospital and am almost home with medication!

I'm going to do that clichéd British thing, but I don't care. The NHS is so remarkable. Here at 9, had various scans, blood tests, seen two consultants. Treatment plan agreed. Discharged by 1.30pm. Prescription issued. And no financial worries at being able to do this.

Even if I didn't need this myself I wouldn't resent a penny of tax that pays for this. It is good for all that we cover each other.

Not terribly well at the moment and some battering emails to handle so cheering myself up with some lunchtime 1992 classics.

Does anyone have any good ideas for how I can track progress on stretching for a long-term goal? I've got lots of advice that I really need to sort my posture and hamstring stretching but I find it very hard to motivate myself to this as it's not easily measurable.

Twitter, help me! If I want an outdoor camera (wired to a UK outdoor mains plug) that I can stream to an Android tablet app on a continuous 24hr basis, what should I get?

Something I have realised over time is that compulsive instant email repliers -- of which I am one -- need managing by remote recipients. Deliberately not replying for 24hrs or more if it's not urgent or not a thread terminator is much healthier. Sets better expectations.

... and halfway through tweeting that, I replied to an email that had just come in.

Elsevier launches new open-access Social Sciences & Humanities (yes, that's right, all of them) journal. Just $500 to submit on an initial discount. Or you could come to @openlibhums instead where it's OA, free to publish, and we have more than 1 person on the editorial board.

Article today: "A group of cold water swimmers have said that plunging into sea temperatures as cold as 6C is helping with the effects of the menopause." Presumably because it takes their mind off everything except the fact that they feel as though they are dying.

This morning, @ajrbyers was telling me all about the lightbulb cartel and I was like, "uh huh, yep, Phoebus. WW2 stuff.".

"How do you know that?", he didn't ask.

Me: read loads of Pynchon.

Anyone have any advice on running shoes for someone with: 1. massive overpronation (see picture); and 2. consistent metatarsal stress fractures?

@Nadine_Muller @sadiseshiah

Got back into my groove this morning of early rising for research writing. Reminds me of what I love doing and soothes my mind. Doesn't help with sleep though.

Well, today's joyous hospital finding is that there's nothing wrong with my bone density, but 13 years of arthritis have affected my gait causing abnormal loading and my feet fracturing just from walking. Great.

Rheumatology clinic waits, oh how I love thee, let me count the ways. Zero.

In fact, just cut that to "rheumatology clinics".

I know everyone scoffs at smart glasses, but I've just tried Google's new Live Transcribe for those with hearing problems and wow would this be an amazing thing to have in front of my face while someone is speaking.

Index checking here. Computational stylometry, _Dracula_ and, 79-80. 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️

Ho ho ho there's going to be a review of the statistical soundness of TEF. You might as well say that the T stands for Titanic. Doesn't bode well for TEF. :)