Archive for the Uncategorized Category
My Blackberry (still) is not Working!
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Blackberry, Harry Enfield, Ronnie Corbett on October 13, 2011 by telescoperWhen is a Professor not a Professor?
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Amazon, Mark Brake, misrepresentation, University of Glamorgan on September 29, 2011 by telescoperNow that I’m back from panel duty, I notice that Amazon have finally corrected the misleading information on the page advertising a book by Mark Brake. Until a couple of days ago this page stated that the “author” was a Professor at the University of Glamorgan, despite the fact that it’s over a year since he was dismissed from that position. I’m not sure why they have suddenly removed their misrepresentation but now it merely says that Brake is an “academic”. I think that’s misleading too, as to my knowledge he doesn’t have a job at any university; the OED’s definition of the noun academic is
A member of a college or university; a collegian. Now spec. a senior member of a university; a member of the academic staff of a university or college; also loosely, an academically-gifted person.
Does the loose definition apply?
Meanwhile, this is taken from the front page of Mark Brake’s personal website. 
Which seems to demonstrate that although Amazon have corrected their error, Brake himself is content to continue passing himself off as a Professor. I wonder how long it will be until this turns into the version that’s advertised on Amazon?
Also, does anyone know what the “L” stands for in “Mark L Brake”?
Follow @telescoperWind turbines aren’t noisy!
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Noise, Wind Turbines on September 27, 2011 by telescoperI read this morning that a petition to the Welsh Assembly Government has been raised demanding that wind farms be switched off from time to time to give local residents “some respite from the noise they make”.
In fact wind turbines, even big ones, make far less noise than people seem to think, and certainly less than motor vehicles. So if you’ve got an objection to wind farms, please make it an honest one.
Follow @telescoperPostcard from Swindon
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Polaris House, STFC, Swindon on September 21, 2011 by telescoperSurprisingly I have got time for a quick post this morning after all. I got here to Polaris House before most of the rest of the Astronomy Grants Panel so I’ve got 5 minutes on the wireless to put something up. It turns out that my decision to come on an early morning train yesterday rather than come on Monday evening was the right one. The hotel we had been booked into, The Jury’s Inn, Swindon, was full up on Monday night so several of the panel people (who had been booked in for months) didn’t have the rooms they thought they had and had to go elsewhere for the night. When I checked in yesterday the coachloads of alleged Germans responsible for this debacle had left and I had no trouble. When I got to my room I discovered a bottle of wine which had been left there to apologize for the problems with my reservation on Monday night. Which I never had. I guess incompetence cuts both ways and I’m now a bottle of wine up out of the deal!
Anyway, we got through yesterday’s business reasonably well, although it was a long day and we were all flagging by the end. I guess that’s why they call it Swindon Wilts. We’re just about to commence Day Two so I’ve just got time to put up the following picture. For those of you who’ve never been to Swindon before, I believe this photograph conveys an accurate impression of what it’s like. This is the view through the rain from my hotel window yesterday evening.
Intermission
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Astronomy Grants Panel, STFC on September 20, 2011 by telescoperWell, dear readers, I am up at the crack of dawn in order to journey forth to Swindon, for three days of hard labour on the STFC Astronomy Grants Panel for the duration of which I will be confined to a dark dungeon in Polaris House. Given the severity of the sentence I very much doubt that I’ll have the time or the energy to blog while I’m there so, unless it all gets too much for me and I have to seek solace in a blog post, there will now follow a short intermission.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
In the Dark’s Third Anniversary
Posted in Uncategorized on September 18, 2011 by telescoperJust a quick post to mention that this blog has now been running for over 3 years. In fact the anniversary was on Friday but amid all the cricketing excitement it seemed to pass me by!
Since this blog started, on 16th September 2008, I have made 1,178 posts which have in total received 9,891 comments. As of this evening, according to the WordPress software, I’ve received 700,697 views, so must have gone past the 700,000 mark at some point over the weekend. Over the last few months I’ve been getting between 1,000 and 3,000 (unique) hits per day, in case you’re interested in such things. I don’t know whether that’s a lot, but it’s a lot more than I expected ever to get when I started!
This occasion gives me the chance to thank you all for your continuing interest in this blog. Let’s see how long it takes to reach a million hits!
Follow @telescoperCommodification, the Academic Journal Racket and the Digital Commons (via The Disorder Of Things)
Posted in Open Access, Uncategorized with tags academe, arXiv, bad-social-science, biomed, business-ontology, capitalist-realism, ethics, fallacy, goerge-monbiot, HEFCE, international-relations, joe-pasquale, kent-anderson, lies-they-hope-you-wont-spot, millennium-journal-of-international-studies, plos-one, political-economy, Research Excellence Framework, social-science-research-network, stewart-lee, the-commons, utopianism on September 15, 2011 by telescoperHere’s another reasoned rant regarding the rapacity of the research racketeers. I think it makes some really good points.
The video clip is worth watching too, it being very funny.
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Concerning Torments
Posted in Uncategorized with tags London Underground, Mornington Crescent on September 2, 2011 by telescoperOn a lighter note, I couldn’t resist posting this completely wonderful anagrammatical map of the London Underground. You’ll have to view the image at higher resolution (which you can do by clicking on it) to see it in its full glory, but it’s worth it…
Now, who fancies a game of Mornington Crescent Concerning Torments?
Uninformed, Unhinged, and Unfair — The Monbiot Rant (via The Scholarly Kitchen)
Posted in Uncategorized with tags academic publishing, business-models, controversial-topics, george-monbiot, Peer Review, Publishing, Rupert Murdoch, social-role, sociology on September 2, 2011 by telescoperI had to force myself to use the “Like” option on WordPress on this one, because that’s the only way to reblog posts….
This supercilious item is an attempt to counter a polemical piece in the Grauniad recently by George Monbiot. That article was about the extortionate cost and general uselessness of the so-called Learned Journals, i.e. precisely the Academic Journal Racket I’ve blogged about previously. I agree with most of what Monbiot says.
You can tell from the tone of the opening paragraph that this rejoinder doesn’t present a coherent argument because it launches straight into invective. And notice too that this from an academic publisher, so it’s hardly unbiased….
Nevertheless I thought I’d reblog this in the interest of balance. Indeed, if the best arguments for retaining the monstrous expense of “scholarly” journals are those presented here then it’s just a question of time before real scholars see them for what they are and get rid of them.
Come the revolution, next in line after the bankers….*
*For the benefit of the entirely humourless amongst you, let me stress that I am not advocating armed revolution, summary execution or any other form of violence against the academic publishing industry. This line is what we in my country call “a joke”.
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Mornington Crescent versus the Computer
Posted in Uncategorized with tags I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Mornington Crescent on August 29, 2011 by telescoperIt seems appropriate to follow my rambling dissertation about the bygone age of London’s railways with an analysis of the following example of the classic game Mornington Crescent, in which experienced human players (and Stephen Fry) pit their wits against a computer. Mortimer’s Variation often leads to rather defensive strategies amongst inexperienced players, and is for that reason not recommended at club level. However amongst top players the constant danger of offside on the parallels playing this version of the rules simply encourages exploration of the diagonal moves eschewed by the less adventurous. Notice newcomer Stephen Fry, sitting West, whose daringly unorthodox shift to West Hampstead clearly tested the computer’s software to breaking point. Unlike the much simpler game of chess, it will be some time before computers can compete with the greatest human exponents of Mornington Crescent…
ps. Asking “Is it my go?” is also frowned upon in Bridge, I find, especially at competition level…
pps. Notice also the letter from Mrs Trellis, a regular contributor to Andy Lawrence’s Blog and email correspondent of Prof. Mike Disney.
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In the Dark 