Trying a Dark Theme

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I’m a chronic theme-fiddler, and I thought I’d try to use a version of the zenburn colour theme that I use in emacs and vim. It’s designed to be low-contrast, and easy on the eyes for extended use. Zenburn works well for me in Org mode (see here), so I thought I’d give it a go. If light-on-dark bothers you, or anything else come to that, let me know in the comments.

The WordPress theme is Parabola from cryout, which is fantastically customizable. The colour choices from the zenburn palette are my own.

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Impostor Syndrome

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This is a vivid and completely unsubtle dream I had in late July, or maybe early August. Offered for anyone who has similar ones: feel free to add your own.

I’m about to give a talk in Manchester, in a large crowded room that looks like a courtroom. I’ve given the talk the day before, in Liverpool, and it went well, but now I’m feeling nervous because I can’t find my notes anywhere. I’m sure they’re in a pocket, or a bag, but I just can’t find them and now the crowd is coming in.

The room is full and there are two young white men with dark hair who are my hosts. One stands up to introduce me. He starts with “Tom Slee spent …” and then looks for the background information, and then at the other young white man with dark hair. He thinks I come from somewhere impressive; that I have qualifications for the talk I am about to give; that I have credentials that will roll off the tongue and give the evening a stamp of prestige.

I don’t. It’s not like I’ve deceived anyone – the other host knows my background, it just doesn’t include … Continue reading

“Hacking Society”: me at the Literary Review of Canada

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I am thrilled to have a long review of three “internet and society” books in the always-excellent Literary Review of Canada. It’s online at http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2013/09/hacking-society/.

Books covered are: Networked: The New Social Operating System by Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman; Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace by Ronald J. Deibert, and Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking by E. Gabriella Coleman.

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