Jan 16 2010

Follow Friday – a post for twitterers…

There is a tradition on Twitter, called Follow Friday in which, of a Friday, you mention people you follow who you think other people would be interested to follow. For me this is a cause of social stress for fear of forgetting someone I should remember, so I thought I’d try doing it in my own way. You can see all the people I follow here, and the people that mention me are here (I think you might need to login to twitter to follow those links).

And here, in alphabetical order to avoid accusations of favouritism, are my micro-biographies of people you should follow:

@alexconnor is an astrophysicist who now works on policy at the Institute of Physics. He shows his weekend DIY exploits to great acclaim.
@Allochthonous is a geologist, he writes the Highly Allochthonous blog. I mis-pronounce is name “allo-kan-thus”, I believe it’s a habit I cannot break.

@andromedababe Observer of shagging frogs, lover of shoosies. Blogs at AndromedaBabe’s Blog on teaching and other stuff.

@BarbaraMaller a closet writer and chatter from California.

@BillyGottaJob originally @BillyNoJob took us on a journey at his now named At Long Last I’ve Got A Job blog.

@Carmenego is a very cheerful musical lady from old London town, who blogs skeptically at Carmen Gets Around (II)

@ChristineOttery a journalist, doing an MA in science journalism, her blog is Open Minds and Parachutes but she is also published in proper media like the Guardian’s Comment is Free.

@Crafthole is a archeologist / historian person engaged married to @ladycrafthole. We share an interested in the scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries

@DaintyBallerina historian, and writer of the Fragments blog, is often the first with a #wine hashtag.
@DanielFurrUK is a libertarian Liberal Democrat, who blogs at http://danielfurr.tumblr.com/.

@deborahshelton is an interior designer, see here. She hangs around with the historians.

@doyle2718 – it’s me mate from work: Doylie! The only one on twitter, the rest just think I’m odd…

@dr_andy_russell is an atmospheric physicist at Manchester University. Writes a blog. Handy for a knowledgeable opinion on climate change.

@DrEvanHarris is former LibDem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, and was the party’s Science spokesman. He joined twitter recently and immediately gained a massive following of nerds and geeks, he uses twitter like a pro and is responsive to queries. His website is here.

@Drop4three an enigma I have yet to crack, he blogs at dropped

@Duddy an author of several novels of a scientific bent, and Cestrian and Keeper of Snails blog. She has retired from Twitter, but the blog is still well worth visiting

@Essiefox a historian and the writer of the Virtual Victorian blog, we seem to share a taste in music.
@FyreFlye a chatty lady, who I always associate with the big sunflower in her avatar.
@Gelada is a mathematician and makes pretty sculptures with maths, his blog is Maxwell’s Demon.

@GentlemanAdmn a gentleman and an administrator, he writes an eponymous history blog.

@graemearcher is a statistician and a relatively unpolitical politician who writes an occasional blog post on Conservative Home. He likes swimming, cats and Mr Keith.

@hangbitch always happy with an acerbic comment. She has a blog at Hang Bitch.

@HappyMouffetard is my wife, so I must mention her. Cruelly deprived of twitter at work, when she can she tweets on nature and gardening. Curator of The Inelegant Gardener

@iknowhim I always think of as mysterious, a cause de her avatar. She has a blog, Last Tango in Dulwich. And her twitter background is a very fine, if not sensible, shoe.

@Jackpot73 another friendly soul of the interwebs, who has been sharing my sense of humour, which may or may not be a good idea ;-)

@jme_c is many things including college lecturer at Somerville and MSc Science Communicator at Imperial College, he is suffering geek-envy for my HTC Desire. His website is here.

@jordancdarwin is a fellow code monkey, these things are important. He is also an enthusiastic atheist, as you can tell from his website.

@KateKatV is @PaoloViscardi’s mum! I know this is an impolite way to introduce someone, she also has a blog here.

@laales is a split between Hong Kong and Dorset (which is where I come from), she is a member of the historical faction.

@LadyCrafthole is a photographer who blogs at Lady Crafthole’s Blog. She makes little planet photos.

@lahossner is most mysterious, I believe she is a fan of books.

@langtry_girl was best able to finish the sentence: “Understanding the Periodic Table is very much like making love to a beautiful woman…” is an economist, so nearly a scientist ;-)

@Lesanto is a social media consultant with a difference, speak to him and he’ll speak back: he tries interesting things on twitter. His company is media140.
@localbuilderuk Lover of snowboarding and wine, of which I approve – not so sure about the golf ;-)

@louwiseman joins me from the gardening faction, she seems obsessed with insects at the moment.

@LucyInglis historian and writer of the awarding winning Georgian London blog, she attracts the strangest blog search terms and seems to like cricket, or possibly cricketers…
@Margit11 was living in Edinburgh but is now living in Munich. Blogs at Intercultural Musings, on being a foreigner in the UK but things will change.

@markgfh science editor of the Times, and fellow science-politics geek.

@MarkReckons is a fellow LibDem, and political blogger – you can find him here. A moderate in all things.

@masticatingmanx is a fan of food, no indication as to how this has affected waist-line but his blog looks pretty healthy. An inhabitant of the Isle of Man, which I have only seen as a distant shadow.

@MentalIndigest a macho biologist, proud of his snowsocks, my main competition in the race to identify the Friday Mystery Object (see below). He writes the Mental Indigestion blog

@Morphosaurus a teacher who was able to recognise tunicates from my inept description, keeper of Bastard the Cycad and author of multiple blogs.

@nemski is that rare creature: the American Liberal he comes from just down the road from Malvern (Mrs SomeBeans comes from the UK version). Various sciencey tweets.

@Nora_Lumiere is an animator and writer, and a friend of food. She blogs at Animated Writing, where she has been kind enough to invite me over as a guest blogger.
@opheliacat a member of the historical faction, she is our woman in New York.

@PaoloViscardi biologist and proper curator at a museum. Also master of the Friday Mystery Object, on his blog Zygoma, which provides me with much distraction.

@PatrickBaty and @PapersPaints are one and the same, analyser of historic paints and one-time instructor of tank drivers. He blogs at News from Colourman, he’s been on the TV but was upstaged by his cat, Caspar.

@philipmcdermott is a research associate and software engineer. He blogs at http://number23.org/

@Quackwriter author of Kill-Grief and alumni of the Wirral, curator of the Quack Doctor blog, which reports on the wacky medical adverts of the past.

@rebekahthornton is local. She sometimes has a mathematical air about her and is fond of darts.

@ripplestone is from the gardening tendency, although her name makes me think of geology. She blogs at Ripplestone Review.

@robajackson chemistry lecturer, card-carrying red, and trombone player. He blogs on chemistry and politics.

@rosamundi I associate with a pair of purple shoes, which she used as an avatar for a long time. She is a lady of mystery, and is often found with the historians.
@rose_darling Writer. Editor. Poet. Dreamer. Music lover. Conversationalist. Gastronaut. Traveller. I love it when people write their own biographies! She has a blog here, which I don’t think she pimps enough!

@sallybercow  I started following all sorts of people for the election. Sally, self described #1950shousewifebot with a familiar surname is by far the most fun

@Samiahurst Doctor, teacher, blogger, and sometimes apprentice chocolate maker.

@sarahsiddons seems to come to me from the historical faction, curator of the Weird, Ordinary, Wonderful blog.

@Schroedinger99 is a fellow skeptic, how did I manage not to add him sooner? He has a blog at Bad Reason.

@Sciorama a scientist I know from some time ago, a biological physicist with very red hair.

@Scisu interested in things sciencey, she blogs for BioData.

@smithatcity is a doctor and a Science Communicator in training at Imperial College, she blogs at in bed with medicine.

@Stephen_Curry a fellow scientist, who scatters x-rays from crystals. He blogs at Reciprocal Space.

@stephenemoss a biological scientist, his work was on the BBC website recently. We hang around together at virtual science policy gatherings. He blogs at a little bit at The Mad Professor.

@Steve_P_Knight is the king of lasers. I think we must have met over something sciencey, but I can’t remember what!

@TiggerTherese is of the gardening tendency, her bio mentions being an ex-banker – but she doesn’t like to talk about it.

@thecredo I think may have escaped from The Thick of It. Originally the owner a mad old bearded-man avatar, this is how I will always see him.

@ThetisMercurio is in her own words rationalist, humanist, satirical… Staunch opponent of Steiner-Waldorf schools, the homoeopathy of education.

…and now I find I have shifted my social stress to a different sphere. My plan is to keep updating this post, if you spot any factual errors, find my biography offensive, or feel left out then please let me know.

Added Saturday (16/1/10): @scisu @Stephen_Curry, @Sciorama, @Samiahurst, @Quackwriter, @PatrickBaty, @paperspaints, @PaoloViscardi, @Nora_lumiere, @morphosaurus, @mentalindigest, @lucyinglis, @lesanto, @jackpot73, @happymouffetard, @GentlemanAdmn, @Gelada, @FyreFlye, @duddy, @daintyballerina, @ChristineOttery, @Carmenego, @BillyGottaJob, @BarbaraMaller

Added Friday (22/1/10): @AlexConnor, @Allochthonous, @GraemeArcher, @Rosamundi, @StephenEMoss
Added Friday (29/1/10): @opheliacat, @ThetisMercurio, @rebekahthornton, @LadyCrafthole

Added Friday (5/2/10): @dr_andy_russell
Added Friday (26/2/10): @crafthole
Added Friday (6/4/10): @jme_c, @MarkReckons, @TiggerTherese, @smithatcity, @DrEvanHarris
Added Friday (30/4/10): @hangbitch @nemski @louwiseman @sarahsiddons
Added Friday (7/5/10): @sallybercow @jordancdarwin @rose_darling @markgfh, @Schroedinger99
Added Friday (5/6/10): @laales, @KateKatV, @iknowhim, @doyle2718
Added Friday (30/7/10): @masticatingmanx, @robajackson, @deborahshelton, @lahossner
Added Friday (27/8/10): @ripplestone, @Steve_P_Knight, @Margit11, @langtry_girl
Added Friday (3/9/10): @andromedababe @thecredo @localbuilderuk
Added Friday (17/9/10): @philipmcdermott

http://bit.ly/7vp2rD

11 comments

Skip to comment form

    • The Virtual Victorian on January 16, 2010 at 2:42 pm
    • #

    Thanks for the mention!

    • Caroline on January 16, 2010 at 2:51 pm
    • #

    Thanks for including me, and for the useful recommendations – a few I didn't know about there!

    • The Gentleman Administrator on January 16, 2010 at 2:57 pm
    • #

    Thanks for the mention. More blogs for me to check out from that list.

    • Colourman on January 16, 2010 at 6:48 pm
    • #

    Thank you for the mention / follow and for introducing me to things well out of my range.

    • StevieB on January 16, 2010 at 7:34 pm
    • #

    Thanks very much indeed for including me in your list – I'm flattered by being in such quality company! I'll also take a look at your twittering suggestions.

    • SomeBeans on January 16, 2010 at 9:18 pm
    • #

    The only problem is that I know there are some more people I should have added.

    I shall add some more on Friday.

    • rosamundi on January 22, 2010 at 12:47 pm
    • #

    A lady of mystery? :-)

    • Jim on January 22, 2010 at 3:00 pm
    • #

    "@HappyMouffetard is my wife, so I must mention her."

    LOL

    • SomeBeans on January 22, 2010 at 5:03 pm
    • #

    @rosamundi – I found you particularly mysterious when you were a pair of shoes!

    @Jim – I feel it helps to provide these details ;-)

    Only problem with this scheme is that it isn't as direct as #ff in which you can be following somebody within a couple of clicks…

    • Stephen Moss on March 26, 2010 at 5:39 pm
    • #

    Thanks for the mention! Not been blogging much recently – work getting in the way. But planning to scribble something this weekend about govt spending on science.

    • SomeBeans on March 26, 2010 at 8:44 pm
    • #

    @StephenMoss – I'm rather enjoying blogging. I've started trying to do it at work as a way of putting down stuff that doesn't rate an internal report.

Comments have been disabled.