On the basis of today’s Roast title, I’m pondering starting a new tradition – using a quote from a comment as the title instead of a quote from a movie/TV show/book/song as I normally do. Then again, as none of you ever make the effort to guess the provenance, I don’t know if I’ll bother 😛

What’s new in the life of Cas this week? Well, er, not a lot actually. I’ve been under the weather all week: not ill, just… not quite right. Then today I went to the gym! :O Yes, be shocked, be very shocked. It’s even going to be a regular thing again. I had a minor *eek* moment when I stood on the scales at the gym (damn them for having the ‘ideal weight comparison chart’ right over the scales) then I reminded myself that even at my thinest, (when I was 14, hadn’t eaten for 3 months, and you could count my ribs) I was classed as “obese” and that I don’t believe in all these charts and ideal weight mlarkies.

I know what my target is – a combination of a weight goal and dress sizes. I’m currently 13 kilos off that weight target and pushing the upper limit of that dress size. I’ll know when I get there because there’s a pair of trousers I want to fit in again (isn’t there always). In fact, there’s another pair of trousers that will be an even better guide – it had got to the point I could take them off without undoing them, and we’re talking easily took off, in that they slid off of their own accord if I wasn’t careful. Now, they are on the snug side.

Why this ‘Get Fit’ thing? Why now? It seems like I’m always trying to do something, at least if you look back through the archives it is. Something in my brain has just clicked again these last few weeks and I want to get fit again. Having the Race for Life looming large on the horizon is another kick up the backside for me!

So there you have it. Deliciously knackered from the gym, more than a little buzzed on endorphins, I bring you the Sunday Roast:

Courtesy of Moose, I bring you the Geostationary Banana Over Texas. Yes, you read that right. And there’s no way I could describe it better than the site itself, so go read…

The University of East Anglia is using Wikipedia in one of its courses. Trust those Fen people.

It’s harder than you think to come up with images for promotional material that are inclusive – this STAND UP FOR DIVERSITY poster caught my eye because I think it does a good job (though quite what it has to do with a bank is another matter entirely). Ok, so you of course have the problem that no everyone can actually stand up but I think it gets the message across quite well.

Roll on socially acceptable graffiti.

It seems like everyone and their monkey is signing up for Twitter these days but I am still at a loss to see how it might enhance my life. I’m willing to be persuaded so of course my ears pricked up when Liz talked about her initial thoughts on why Twitter matters. Setting aside for now the fact I can’t see how Twitter will fit into my life (I don’t have a phone that can can access the web nor can I afford to Twitter via SMS) one of my own bugs is that you can’t comment or ask questions of someone’s Twitter post. Yes, I could email/ring/SMS/IM them but sometimes it’s just a quick response that I see no reason to commit to a larger form of communication… Then again, as Liz points out, it’s this lack of obligation to respond which (for her) is one of the joys of Twitter. Hmmm. I never say never but I don’t think Twitter is for me, not least because most of the people I speak to on a daily basis I, well, speak to on a daily basis 😛 And they’re web-shy. As for the web-hoarde I’m not sure they need to know everything that goes on in my life. Surely the blog, email and IM are enough?

The Penguin wikinovel, A Million Penguins, has finished. I’m a little narked that I didn’t get involved in this, at the same time, I just didn’t have the time. I am still curious and keeping an eye on it however – as Jeremy the Digital Publisher said (and can I have his job, btw?) whether it was a success or not is still a qualified maybe. Ah, the beauty of wikis, they’re never one thing or the other.

Now I’m going to get my Archaeological Computing stalker-geek on and link to two more shiny blogs. Whether you read them or not is probably dependent on your level of interest in the field, but if you have any interest in the field, I suggest you read them. These are the people who are actually out there doing what it is I just sit there and read about. Plus they are just generally nice people and deserve to be read 🙂
Firstly there’s Leif’s offering, Archaetech. Woefully in need of more content (bad Leif) and with SPA activated (shudder) but using one of Phu’s layouts so he can be forgiven.
Then there’s Jo’s Archaeogeek. More techy-fun stuff. Go, read 😀

I was going through Kristin’s wonderful photoblog and these pictures just leapt out and grabbed me by the eyeballs. I would give a lot for talent like that… I’ll leave you with one more and suggest you go sink into her archives for a good look yourself.

Copyblogger has a great piece on the 5 common mistakes made in blogging. Useful if only for 4 (Affect vs. Effect).

The NYT has an article on how archives are in danger of being forgotten because they are not digitized… Oh, the number of things that spring to mind about this are legion, and I was about to get up on my soapbox then I remembered how I get grumpy when an article I want isn’t online… Still, I can see how amateur researchers might forget non-digital stuff, but serious scholars? Plus, don’t get me started on the problem of formats for this wonderous digital archiving.

And lastly, movie trailer time:
Talk To Me – anything with Don Cheadle, Martin Sheen and Chiwetel Ejiofor has got to be good.
Waitress – pie, Nathan Fillion, feel good fuzzies. What more do you need?
The Prisoner or: How I Planned To Kill Tony Blair – definitely not a warm and fuzzy. One of those films you know you should see, but that you aren’t exactly going to enjoy seeing.