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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Dr Plokta's LiveJournal:

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    Friday, July 10th, 2009
    2:55 pm
    Fire!
     Big fire between Dean Street and Wardour Street, right now. Dean Street is partially closed, and flames are coming out the roof of the building.

    http://img20.yfrog.com/i/zu0.jpg/
    Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
    1:31 pm
    Saturday, June 27th, 2009
    8:27 pm
    Poll!
     Posted for reasons that may remain obscure...
    Poll #1422012 Voyageur
    Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

    The word "Voyageur" has connotations that include the dissemination of news:

    View Answers

    Obviously!
    3 (7.3%)

    Yes, now that I think about it
    4 (9.8%)

    Maybe, now that I've Googled it
    1 (2.4%)

    Huh?
    33 (80.5%)

    I have lived for at least a year in the following cultures:

    View Answers

    UK
    33 (78.6%)

    Francophone North America
    0 (0.0%)

    Other North America
    14 (33.3%)

    Continental Europe
    3 (7.1%)

    Other
    7 (16.7%)

    Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
    7:27 am
    O2: The New AT&T
     Bah, O2 aren't giving existing iPhone users the subsidised price to upgrade to the 3G S until their existing contract expires. And they're charging £15 per month extra for tethering, for up to 3GB of data per month. Hope Netshare still works under iPhone OS 3.0.
    Saturday, June 6th, 2009
    2:51 pm
    Medical Testing Part 2
     Today was my Biobank appointment, and my numbers all look pretty good except for BMI, waist circumference and percent body fat, which are all slightly on the high side. I seem to have grown another inch, though. I always used to think I was 5'8", but when I signed up with a new GP four years ago they measured me as 5'9", and now I'm apparently 5'10".
    Monday, June 1st, 2009
    12:02 pm
    Sunday, May 31st, 2009
    5:57 pm
    Thursday, May 21st, 2009
    7:04 pm
    <plokta.con> Update
     Sadly, we've confirmed that Diana Wynne Jones will be unable to attend the convention due to ill health. We hope that she's feeling better soon, and we'll organise a card for her from the convention. Paul Cornell has kindly offered to do an extra panel or two to help us out. As previously stated, we'll give a full membership refund to anyone who no longer wishes to attend the convention.

    An updated draft of the programme and other information can be found here, but may still be subject to change.
    Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
    8:54 pm
    <plokta.con> Update
     We regret to announce that Diana Wynne Jones is unwell, and may not be able to attend <plokta.con>. We're sure you would join us in offering her our best wishes for a speedy recovery. If she's unable to attend, the Guest of Honour interview on Saturday afternoon will be replaced with a panel discussion of her works. We will refund membership in full for anyone who decides that they would prefer not to attend the convention.

    Whether or not Diana can attend, the rest of the convention will go ahead as normal, with Paul Cornell as our Guest of Honour for Sunday. A PDF copy of the draft convention Read-Me, including the programme, can be found here. Note that all items are liable to change.
    Saturday, May 16th, 2009
    2:27 pm
    Cygnets!
     Seven of them this year, which is the best they've ever managed.

    ( Photos of cute grey fluffballs behind the cut. )
    Saturday, May 9th, 2009
    6:18 pm
    Debaters Wanted
     We're planning to have a balloon debate at <plokta.con> to see which of the more superfluous-seeming Hugo categories should be jettisoned, and which one should be saved, moderated by [info]frandowdsofa. We have someone to speak up for the Best Graphic Story category; who would like to defend Best Semiprozine, Best Novelette, Best Related Book or Best Editor Long Form? It's currently scheduled for 17:00 on the Saturday.

    (I should probably add here that the debate is not an official deliberative body of the World Science Fiction Society, and the result will not have any actual practical effect on the Hugo Awards.)
    Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
    9:05 am
    Walking to Work
     It's Walk to Work Week 2009, so here's my walk (link valid until 28 May).
    Sunday, April 26th, 2009
    2:41 pm
    <plokta.con>
     If you're planning, or hoping, to come to <plokta.con> but haven't joined yet, perhaps you could let us know, as it makes life easier when choosing programme participants.

    There are still rooms available (phone 01344 634395 and quote "Plokta"; the location is Sunningdale Park), and we'll be selling memberships on the door for £30.
    Monday, April 20th, 2009
    8:46 pm
    My Number Comes Up
     I got lucky in the draw for Dreamwidth invites, so I'm now http://drplokta.dreamwidth.org/.
    Saturday, April 18th, 2009
    3:36 pm
    In Which I Become a Medical Statistic
     Just got a letter asking me to take part in UK Biobank, which is apparently the largest long-term longitudinal study of health outcomes. Since they're trying to sign up 500,000 people between 40 and 69, which is probably around 1 in 40 of that total age group, it's quite likely that one or two of my friends list will get similar letter.

    I have to go along for a 90 minute assessment in June (on a Saturday, how sensible of them), when they'll ask some questions and do some basic measurements (height, weight, waist size, bone density, blood pressure and lung function) and take blood and urine samples. Should be interesting, and this kind of study will eventually be immensely helpful in working out things like whether or not obesity really is bad for your health.
    1:25 pm
    Cataloguing
     I've been cataloguing the books (and DVDs and computer games), using the mostly wonderful (but see below) Delicious Library 2 (Mac only, I'm afraid). In theory, it uses the MacBook Pro's built-in iSight camera to scan the barcode and retrieve the details from Amazon, which can save a lot of data entry.

    The results to date can be seen here. (Warning: the page on this link contains all the books, and so has over 2000 images. If it breaks your web browser, you get to keep the pieces.) That's having done all of the DVDs, graphic novels, computer games and large-format fiction, and the small-format fiction up to Ellison (plus random other unfiled books). Still got to do the rest of the small-format fiction and all of the non-fiction. Cover images are the correct one for the edition we've got, as far as is humanly possible, but are mostly not scans of the actual physical copy on the shelves. 1,984 books done so far, and I think probably 1,200-1,500 to go.

    The cunning plan behind this is to make it easier to sell a thousand or so books on Amazon and make some more room on the shelves. But I've not yet tried out that part of Delicious Library's functionality.

    For anyone doing the same, here are a few random notes and tips based on the experience so far. ( Behind the cut. )
    Friday, April 17th, 2009
    1:32 pm
    Room Bookings for <plokta.con>
     To the best of our knowledge, there are plenty of rooms left, but some people are reporting problems with the De Vere Venues web booking saying there are no rooms available. We recommend that you phone 01344 634395 (and quote Plokta) to book a room -- the location that you want is Sunningdale Park. The con room rates apply for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights (the nights of 22-25 May), but the actual con programme will run from late morning Saturday to late afternoon Monday.
    Thursday, April 16th, 2009
    3:19 pm
    Anyone want a GPS?
     Due to an upgrade, I've got a spare TomTom Go 510 GPS unit. Similar ones are going for £80-£100 on eBay -- anyone want it for £50? Comes with the windscreen mount, power cable and PC dock. It has the UK & Ireland map on it, about 2½ years old. There's one scratch on the screen which looks a bit nasty when it's turned off, but isn't really noticeable in use -- apart from that, it's in good condition.
    Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
    7:54 pm
    Photo
     [info]bohemiancoast requests that I post this photo from her 5K run.

    ( It's behind the cut. )
    Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
    9:04 pm
    Microsoft Take Note
     Thanks to RaFi, who posted a comment with a link to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article that was posted a week after my rant about Vista and RFC3484. It confirms that they've changed the default back to the normal behaviour for Windows 7 (And also Window Server 2008 R2).
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