July 2014
loose ends
11 July 2014, around 16.10.
Out and about.
It’s been warm and that brings with it vexation. I’ve been filling out paperwork for other people and then carrying it hither and thither because it can’t be emailed, but only faxed; fax machines and I have a long-standing disagreement, so walking it is.1 I could use the exercise, anyway. I sometimes think university administrations could be significantly reduced if academics had some practical problem-solving skills; then I realize this thought is trollish. From a research standpoint, of course, all paperwork must happen by magic (except for the grant-writing, which instead is assessed by a diabolical combination of magic and politics).
- I was adding tags to this entry and typed in ‘paper’ for paperwork, which autofilled to ‘toilet paper’; given how much of the paperwork I’m dealing with is CYA, this seemed apt. [↩]
Print is Dead
13 July 2014, around 14.19.
Cf. permanent failure of digital publishing.
The person who designed the interior must have been decidedly cranky. One could complain about setting it in a sans-serif, but that’s just typical for British books of this sort. The margins are the main issue – they are tiny; either they are meant to mimic an ebook (which is cruel), or they are jab at the bibliophilic reader and say ‘see, just because something is in print doesn’t make it a pleasure to read’ (which is worse). There are other issues, but perhaps you will want to explore them for yourself.