Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

It's been quite the month.  Jason was pulled over in the Tinny (again),  Inger had a mole taken off her foot. We skipped the mailbag in favour of a deep nerd chat about Obsidian starting at 32:51. The discussion gets waylaid part way through by a mutual existential freakout about Claude Opus. It's... a lot. Enjoy!

Things we mentioned:
Kangaroo time - Winner of the Dance Your PhD competition
Be visible or vanish - the book Inger wrote with her colleague Simon Clews
PostAc (on Inger's research page)
Quit by Annie Duke
Mac Sparky Field Guides
Building a second brain and PARA from Tiago Forte (and his post on Tags)
Markdown explainer
An article Inger wrote about Claude
One useful thing blog from Ethan Mollick
Inger's sample 'coffee Vault' (down these files from Dropbox and point Obsidian at it to open)
Marie Kondo's life changing magic of tidying up
YAML explainer
Marked2 (markdown text convertor)
Scrivener
Elicit

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

Jason had pneumonia when he recorded this very long pod with Inger.

It's a testament to his brainy-ness (and Inger's sound engineering skills) that it turned out as well as it did, given he coughed and sweated his way through it.

Warning: in the chat section at the top there's a lot of talk about TEQSA. If you're confused, here's their webpage. Jason was too sick to do mailbag, but please keep sending in your letters and speak pipes!

At we switch to our work problems section (26:04)  Large Language Models (LLMs) - we recommend you have a look at our Discussion Guide as we talk, or after you get back from your walk/gardening/gym/cooking or what every you are doing. You can read the briefing note that Inger wrote for her boss here.

We skip the reading section and  coast out with some two minute tips (1:38:22)  for planning large complex tasks and reading all the instructions before you start doing a thing.

The good news is that Jason did not die of his pneumonia and is back on his feet again - phew!

Things we mentioned:

On the Reg discussion guide for this episode (free to share)
The briefing paper Inger wrote for her boss on how researchers are using ChattieG
Timothy Snyder On Tyranny Book
Manchester Phrase Bank
Randy Olsen 'and but therefore' writing tip is in 'Houston, We have a Narrative'
Team Human podcast

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

Inger and Jason are at the end of the holidays. For Jason this meant going to a hash den in Thailand (it's a long story) and for Inger it meant organising all her rococo style porcelain figurines (yes, really).

The mailbag (18:53) is full of interesting letters and provokes only one moment of feminist rage from Inger. Ok, maybe two.

In the Work Problems segment (56:35) Jason gives us an alternative way to think about the year ahead with the VRIO model from Jay Barney and there's  quite a lot of talk about late stage capitalism.

Reading time (1:24) Inger's been reading romance books about audio p*rn stars (you read that right), while Jason has been reading about how to be younger. In the Two minute tips  (1:38) Inger shares her library thing project and Jason talks about his State Of Mind.

Then the first episode of season 5 was in the can- can you believe it?!

Stuff we mentioned

Thesiswhisperer on Instagram
Why so slow, on the advancement of women
Invisible women: exposing data bias in a world designed for men
Tiago Forte's PARA book
McSparky's new productivity field guide
Plain English Podcast episode with Oliver Burkeman that enraged Inger
Counter Productive by Mel Gregg
Mind the gap in the literature blog post on Thesis Whisperer
Fated Mates podcast
Can I tell you something? (romance novel)
The productivity Project by Chris Bailey
The man who invented Hitler
Younger next year
Library Thing 

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

Inger and Jason recorded an episode at 9pm at night on the 15th of November, before Inger took off for the UK. Inger was meant to edit and post this sometime in December, while travelling in the UK, but due to the vagaries of wifi and Christmas shopping, she ended up doing it at Heathrow airport on Christmas eve.

So look, it's a little bit ... unplugged?

But at least it's short (well, for us) and there's some good stuff in here - including a surprisingly long digression on KanBan boards. We figure there's got to be some dishwashing or gardening to do over the Christmas break when you can enjoy this nerd out. Happy Christmas to all who celebrate (and we hope the rest of you get a well earned break too).

We'll be back sometime in January :-)

Things we mentioned

Article Kevin sent us about leaders and managers
Personal Kanban: mapping work, navigating life
Mind the gap in the literature
Capacities app
Obsidian Field guide by mcsparky

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

This one has been in the can for a while - but it was recorded only a week after the previous one about the Meat Grinder. You'd think that would make the banter session shorter, but ...not really. Jason has largely avoided having his face squished at Brazilian Jujitsu and Inger has been writing whiny emails to her boss.

The team finish up the Cambridge hiatus mailbag (13:32), including one from Janet Davey that was lost at the bottom (sorry about that Janet!). This prompts a lengthly discussion about Teams and autocorrect, so the usual nerdy stuff.

In the Work Problems session (49:38) Jason confesses to Inger that he doesn't know how to gossip well, but Inger proves to him that he has got his academic gossip skills Just Right. Along the way Foucault is not mentioned, but he might as well have been given how much the word 'power' popped up.

Inger's read her friend Stan Emmerson's new book 'What is the It' (1:28:44) and gives a completely biased review. Jason features a couple of 50 cent app shop bargains. Finally

In two minute tips (1:37:10) Inger reports back on taking her own advice and Jason shares the rather tragic news that his email address is now on the Dark Web, which seems appropriate for a Halloween episode!

Mentioned:
We work to earn the right to work video
Inger's blog post on Hot Academic Gossip
Inger's academic paper 'Assembling the PhD candidate: troubles talk'
Stan's book on editing 'What is the 'it'? A Handbook for proofing court judgements
Austin Kleon Steal like an Artist
Clip at the end is The Fine Print: outer worlds song by Stupendium 

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

Inger and Jason are back, a bit later than anticipated because the audio the first time this episode was recorded was borked (that's a technical term). We promise the re-record is much better, and also, much longer.

There's some unscripted banter at the start, which Inger had to cut as it went on a bit long. Jason can tell you about his new bike another time and you really don't need to hear all about Inger's struggle to find supplies of Ozempic. We dig into the mailbag (18:22), but not all the way to the bottom, then we get side tracked with a rave about MacSparkey's new Obsidian Field guide.

In the work problems section (52:49), Jason drops all the knowledge about teaching large classes, drawn from his experience of teaching 1000 students a year in the same subject, over three countries and time zones. Yes you read that right, Inger is amazed - - and also horrified.

Inger read some  books (1:33:38). They include a cook book, which Jason was interested in, and a romance novel, which he was not. The two minute tip section (1:42:48) actually takes around 17 minutes and includes at least four tips, so it's a bonus episode! Enjoy.

Things we mentioned:
Mac Sparky Obsidian field guide
Download Obsidian for Mac or PC (it's free!)
Clean text (Mac app)
Scrivener
Mathpix
Overleaf
Zotero
Timing
Things app
Marked 2
Teaching for quality learning at university by Jamie Biggs
Style, 10 lessons in clarity and grace
Workflowy
PARA - Tiago Forte
Extra focus: a quick start guide to adult ADHD
My kitchen year: 137 recipes that saved my life
The stand in by Lily Chu
Info click (mail.app search tool)

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

The Downs household has suffered a loss, while one member of the Mewburn household has discovered hither to unknown talents. Somehow the team still end up crapping about Obsidian a lot in the banter section.

This is our second sabbatical mailbag episode (starting 20:44), which prompts a series of incredibly nerdy conversations about Microsoft Teams, Omnifocus, Text Expander, Obsidian, Bullet Journal etc - Even Nvivo and MaxQDA. In other words: the greatest hits.

(A comment from listener Aaron has us wondering why most people's eyes glaze over when we start talking about this stuff, prompting Inger to wonder out loud if being interested in productivity is a bit like being a vegan. You decide!)

Jason is reading Hunter S Thompson (starts 1:12:17) to avoid Inger giving him yet another romance novel. Oh, and Inger read the new Tiago Forte book so you don't have to - you're welcome. Lastly: Two Minute Tips (1:33:13)  lasts heaps longer than two minutes, fair warning.

Stuff we mentioned:

The Cat protection society
David Sparks Obsidian Field Guide
Our first Obsidian Episode (mysteriously popular with listeners - warning. Super Nerdy)
Danah Byrd Context Collapse

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

WE'RE BACK BABY!

Inger sums up her whole Cambridge University experience in one anecdote about dinner. Jason has gone up a notch in Brazilian Ju Jitsu, which puts him in a position to comment on Mark Zuckerberg's training routine. In other words, it's a normal catch up, but twice as long!

This episode is all a mailbag, starting with a speak pipe from Jonathan O'Donnell challenging the team to regular lunches and a content warning at 30 minutes about weight talk. If you don't want to hear a discussion about losing weight, skip ahead to 40 :46.

We follow with a letter from  Alessa Teunisse about Bullet Journalling with all kinds of #bujo spreads to share. At 58:40 we get to a speak pipe from Ben Archer, who is asking about old technology and what to with it At 1 hour 17 minutes with a letter from Marcel Cardinali with all kinds of cool automations in Obsidian.

In the reading segment at 1 hour 27 minutes, the team tease their new book project. Finally, two minute tips happens at 1 hour 32, In the sign off, we explain that @thesiswhisperer on Twitter will shortly be shut down. If you're one of the 52,000 odd followers to that account, have a look below for other options.

Oh - and the first two episodes of the Academics talk about Severance pod have finally dropped! Listen and subscribe here.

Things we mentioned:
Google document with the images from Alessa and Marcel
Focussed pod and yearly wall calendar
Sadie James art from Ningaloo reef
E-waste donation in Canberra
Automater app Jason used to create his Fantasia File Problem
David Kadavy: Mind Management not Time Management
Inger's video about Obsidian plug ins for Zotero
Joplin app for transferring Evernote data

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

Inger and Jason pop in for a brief, 2 minute-ish pod. The quickest episode in OTR pod history! 

It's not really an episode, just a reminder that we will be back next month. 

Thanks for all the amazing emails and speak pipes so far - we're enjoying them all and planning a big mailbag episode when we get back!

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!

On The Reg is officially on hiatus until Inger returns from her sabbatical in August.

Listen to our quick explainer so you know what is happening until then. We're asking you send in all your questions and thoughts so we can put together a reader mailbag episode when we come back.

The claim here that Severance Pod has dropped are false, but honestly, it will be here really soon. Follow on Thesiswhisperer pod 

The claims about blog posts about writing with ChattieG etc are entirely true and can be fact checked on the Thesiswhisperer blog. Have a look at the latest one here, which is all about using ConnectedPapers.

If you're in the UK, you can meet Inger at a couple of public talks in Cambridge:

A lecture at Wolfson College, Cambridge on Tuesday 6 June at 5:30pm, which touches on themes from hernew book with Simon Clews ‘Be visible or Vanish’. There’s an in-person option if you can get to Cambridge, and an online version if you can’t: you can book here.

She's also giving a lecture about the PhD in uncertain times where she will talk about the latest data on the UK market for research skills, at Kings College, Cambridge on Monday 10 July, 5:30 – 7:30pm: you can book here

We'll be back.... Until August friends! 

Got thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on

-  Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer.

-  See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at [email protected]

-  Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address)

- We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).

- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. 

- If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site