Newest thoughts →

July 2019

Love it when things go as they did today. Finished final edits to an article on Jennifer Egan forthcoming in LIT; wrote 1,000 words of the report on the Jisc Monograph Experiment; did some programming work on said experiment; inbox zero. Now off out for our anniversary dinner.

"Does society still pressure women to have children?" asks the BBC in the same week that a woman visiting Disney World posted a rant ending: "I fucking hate childless women with a BURNING PASSION!!!"

6k out of 47k matches complete on this 300 book corpus and the highest scoring (cited by most books) is a predictable win for Pierre Bourdieu's _Distinction_. Anderson's _Imagined Communities_ up there, too, as is Benkler's _The Wealth of Networks_.

Poor little PC chugging along, processing 300 books and working out what they're citing in common: [task:5403/47540]. This could take a while.

Hit an exciting moment running our bibliographic intersect tool this evening:

9 books cited:
{'authors': 'J. Holmwood', 'title': 'A Manifesto for the Public University', 'journal': '', 'volume': '', 'doi': None, 'year': '2011', 'parser': 'Bloomsbury Academic'}

Cyclophosphamide sickness seems to have withdrawn. Felt much better by yesterday evening, so wreckedness lasts about four days. Done a cycle this morning. I'm back!

Hard work mind. Body still stressed from drugs.

Took a picture of our lovely guinea pig Heidi earlier. Then @CottonBudMusic spotted that she appears to have a sinister monkey in her nose. Then this photoshop happened. #sinistermonkeynosepig

University of Alaska makes preparations for "the required termination of more than 1,300 – approximately 18% – of remaining faculty, staff and the programs they offer". Grim.

Urgh. Another day, another tonne of nonsense from a learned society. "‘hybrid’ journals, as the coalition still describes them". Yes, funnily enough, that is how they are still described, because that is the accepted term used for this model. Blog post forthcoming.

I have two days until the next horrible chemo cycle. But: it's working! Went for a fab drink with @ernestopriego to celebrate.

Software now doing a not bad job of "Siri, show me all texts in my digital library that cite Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault".

Spent the afternoon writing the prototype extractor and parser engine for Cambridge Core OA books. It's pretty good at the moment but just realised there's a full openResolver set embedded here that will really help to improve results. https://openmetrics.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2019/05/open-access-monographs-and-metrics-more-than-counting-beans/

Oh yes. Working perfectly. {'year': '1998', 'title': 'Elite networks in Germany and Britain', 'journal': 'Sociology', 'authors': 'Windolf, P., ', 'doi': '10.1177/0038038598032002006', 'volume': '32', 'parser': 'Cambridge Core'}

Monograph experiment work:

Matched 3 books referencing Foucault, M. (1991). Discipline and Punish.
1 24596 - {"Remembering and Disremembering the Dead"}
2 20716 - {"Living with Disfigurement in Early Medieval Europe"}
3 27401 - {"Curriculum Reform in the European Schools"}

Poll: I've been _invited_ to speak at an event that costs delegates £230 plus VAT to attend. After the invitation was issued, they noted that they will not cover any travel costs. Should I withdraw on principle?

This does not seem acceptable to me.

OK, that's fairly decisive! Writing to them now.

Westminster Higher Education Forum.

Applied the "Hitman" FaceApp filter to my new look and... Wait a minute!

FaceApp basically thinks I am a hitman

So a great clump of my hair just fell out from the drugs and I decided there was nothing for it.

Actually the fulfilment of a decade long desire to do this ever since @Rachael_Gilmour joked about pretentious Ph.D. students thinking they were Michel Foucault.



Now @ajrbyers is sending me Picard pictures

So my hair hasn't fallen out in any dramatic way after the first cyclophosphamide dose, but it's definitely thinning, despite being relatively long for me. Options are to keep on growing or go for the grade zero shave, I reckon.

People have told me I have odd hobbies, but took a day of leave today and given that starting exercise is part of the recovery plan from this illness, I wrote various sync tools to pull Garmin data and tide times (for sea swimming) into my Google calendar.

sadly can't O/S this as it's basically scraping sites. WHY DO PEOPLE NOT HAVE PROPER APIs FOR HOBBYISTS?

It's not really very different to other craft/making hobbies tbh

I have had a blissful morning two hours of research writing that has gone well, working on our book on peer review. To feel good and thus to be able to write clearly is truly one of the things I find most pleasurable.

Another brief detour into health-related news: I am fairly certain that the cyclophosphamide is working. In the past week, probably 70% of the time I have felt acceptably well, which has not been the case since February. Perhaps things are looking up!

we also got a massive tax refund today, which didn't hurt :)

Just did some dirty self-promotional email stuff re. latest book. Had some kind responses back already so shouldn't feel guilty, but it still feels almost polluting, which it shouldn't, I know, but it does, but etc. etc.

sent 350 emails. 600 out of office autoreplies come back.

Skill at Wimbledon truly impressive. I definitely couldn't catch a second tennis ball with one already in my hand.

Walking with my stick today for the first time in perhaps a decade as seems my arthritis hasn't quite got the message from the new drugs yet, and the old ones are wearing off. Think I manage it with some style but had forgotten how annoying it is having one's hands tied up.

Rheumatology.

Me: "any tips on infection control?"

Them: "avoid children like the plague. Also avoid the plague"

Two @CambridgeUP books in which I have chapters arrived today. The New Pynchon Studies and the Cambridge Companion to British Fiction: 1980-2018

I have had two days of feeling Not Crap™ in a row. Nasty chemo drugs working? Could be. In any case, used the window of opportunity to take the space station for a spin last night.

The actual thing producing most of the noises, not pictured.

Suspend Parliament in favour of scoundrel (8)

This morning's topical cryptic crossword clue that I composed in the shower. Too obvious on the definition but enjoyed its relevance.

"Too many kids come out of university with huge debts ..young people can achieve amazing things without having a degree" - Boris Johnson. Rough times ahead for universities.

Thanks to @Wonkhe for this

Sitting down with a book I've wanted to read for a long time: @the_blochian's Utopia and the Contemporary British Novel.

@the_blochian I still think her original/working title - Fictions of the Not Yet - was also great.

Father-in-law, an entomologist by background, watching Paddington: "I found it rather zoologically improbable".

A thing that's really frustrating for people on mega-immunosuppression: the way we greet people with handshakes, hugs, and cheek kisses. Appears extremely ungracious to refuse without massive explanation but so increases infection risk.

On my current drugs they told me to go to a doctor if I even suspect I have a cold. Trying to protect against this is virtually impossible.

Popped into the office today en route to hospital to collect my post. I have a copy of @the_blochian's book. BEFORE SHE DOES! HAHA!

Next grump of the morning: when a copyeditor doesn't understand the correct usage of "that" vs "which" in restrictive clauses.

Do you know what drives me round the bend? NHS policies of "not giving diagnostic results to patients". This is information, _about me_. I am the data subject. I can request it under FOI. Receptionist just told me "Yes, but FOI will take you a long time." Outrageous.