Tom Roper's Weblog

WiFi at the British Library

I am not alone in my perception that the charges for wireless access at the British Library are excessive. The new issue of Information World Review covers Heather Brooke's campaign to cut the costs (no online text, nor an RSS feed,  I'm afraid). She's used the Freedom of Information Act to ask for information about the charges for the service.
I entirely agree; it would be nice if it was completely free, but as it doesn't cost the BL a penny, surely they could offer it at a more reasonable rate. The real costs involved are those of the base stations, the internet connection, some maintenance and support and nothing else, unless I'm mistaken.

Grand National selections

Aintree 145: Grande Jete
215: My Will
250: Westmeath Flyer
320: Inglis Drever
410: Colnel Rayburn

The Curst Sons

I must give the oxygen of publicity to the Curst Sons who launch their second CD on Thursday 28 April at 8pm at Komedia in Gardner Street, Brighton. Competing interest declared:  I am related to one of them, Tim Dunkerley (slide guitar, mandolin), by marriage.

Grand National Meeting Day 1

Aintree 310: Cerium
Aintree 345: Guns n Roses II
Aintree 410: L'Ange au Ciel
Aintree 435: Pole Star

Bill Ash: Under the Wire

i went to the launch of Under the Wire: http://www.underthewire.co.uk , Bill Ash's new book co-written with my friend who was once unwise enough to give me a job, Brendan Foley.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, with speeches by Jim Corrigal, president of the National Union of Journalists, the two authors, and a song, Lili Marlene, from Brendan's fiancée Shelly.
The book is wonderful. Bill tells his story with characteristic wit. I knew it in outline from his earlier autobiography, A Red Square, but there is much more detail here and whoever did the research has found some remarkable and hard-to-find pictures.
The remarkable thing is that Bill never rested on the laurels of war. He went on to head the BBC's radio drama department, to write a number of novels and a definitive work on Marxism and moral philosophy. For an introduction to Bill's fiction see: Nicholls, Doug Class Writer: An Introduction to the Novels of William Ash Coventry: Bread Books, 2002 I may have a stab at a bibliography (though he will keep writing new books).

Lincoln day selections

It's an odd time in the horse racing year. The jumps season can hardly be said to be over, but the flat season is bursting forth.
Selections for today
Newbury 225: Red Devil Rocket
Doncaster 245: Smokin Beau
Doncaster 320: Stream of Gold
Newbury 335: Zaffaran Express
Navan 530: Rathgar Beau

Technorati Tags: Lincoln

Sussex weblogs

I'm interested to see Sussex ranked alongside Warwick in the world of academic blogging,  according to Katherine Allen's Market Watch column in the March issue of Information World Review. She says "institutions such as Sussex and Warwick Universities are pioneering the use of blogs for research and teaching"
Allen, Katherine
Market Watch: blogs get corporate edge
Information World Review 2005 211:7

Wirelesss Brighton

I ate last night at Due South, on Brighton (t d) beach and, in the interests of experiment, to say nothing of impressing people at the other tables with my sophistication and technical know-how, got the PowerBook out to see if i could pick up a wireless (t d) signal from the Pier-to-Pier network. There was a signal, but very weak: a pity. There's a little way to go before we reach the state to be discussed at next week's SCONUL conference as wireless Brighton.
I had an excellent meal though, potted shrimp, venison with red cabbage and spinach and a hazelnut and honey tart.
On a more positive note, the people behind the wireless signal I sometimes pick up on the train have been in touch and ask if I want to be part of a trial.

Only in Cambridge...

...would the advertisements at bus stops promote an academic journal. On a Sunday morning run while visiting my mother for Easter I was amused and surprised to run past a bus stop in Trumpington Road advertising subscriptions to Science. In a Roper-run Britain advertising would be completely banned and its practitioners sent to productive labour in the countryside, but I suppose if we must have it, advertising scientific journals is better than many things, for example poisonous food or ridiculous magazines about celebrities, usw, usw

Patrick Hamilton at the NFT

I'm a little late with this, as the last day is tomorrow, but i was catching up on old newspapers and found Iain Hamilton writing on film adaptations of Patrick Hamilton.
The National Film Theatre has a season of films based on Patrick Hamilton novels and plays; they're all unsatisfactory (or utterly dire in the case of Hangover Square) but worth recording.