Monthly Archive for September, 2008

Teen pregnancy epidemic – not

Finally, some sensible reporting on a numerical issue. Summary: UK rates of teen pregnancy have fallen in real terms since 1998 (caveat: you can normally chose past dates to help these kind of figures – you need to see the historical data in full to really understand). So no massive rise in teen pregnancies. But, as the article notes, the UK’s rate is still high compared to Europe. Now we can make sensible policy.

Invisible to tsunami?

Lovely application of metamaterials (those whose structure affects their function) to shield objects from heavy waves, including tsunami.

Cameron sounds statesmanlike

Neatly avoiding the McCain mistake of getting involved and then looking like you have blocked the agreement. Also a useful non-partisan approach. I wonder if Labour can match the tone? Presently they are all about “decisive action” which seems foolish, given that the market is still snafu.

Transfer IMAP accounts to Google Mail

I have finally started the switch over to using Google GMail as my main mail host and my personal hosting as a backup. I have often had problems copying messages between accounts in Thunderbird (slow, sporadic crashes) and there was no difference with GMail – “cannot append message. (failure)” errors that stopped the whole copy, not just that one message.

So I found (for the second time) that IMAPSize does a very good job. You have to list each folder in the messages pane and then right click to get the copy menu. Then leave it be.

Essential Mac tweaking apps

Or so they say!

Market solution to fish quotas

Interesting idea to use a share ownership modela to manage fish catches and stocks. Sounds like a formalisation of what would have happened pre-regulation. Is it the wrong time to be suggesting that the market can make this kind of thing work?

Who blocked the bail out?

Interesting analysis of the Congressional votes on the bail out. Summary: if you are retiring and don’t care about voters you voted for it; if you are in a close fought seat, you voted against it. Everyone else was evenly divided. I like the factoid: $700bn blocked by partisan politics, $1,000bn knocked off share prices.

How (not) to do presentations

Some great stories on consulting presentations. I still enjoy two Datamonitor stories based on overhead projectors (yes I’m old):

  • “Hi, my name is Dean B.”. Turns on projector which promptly explodes. Meeting adjourned.
  • Ali picks up her first slide and half the letters fall off onto the projector and start melting. The same happens on the next few slides and suddenly the slides are invisible thanks to the pile of black goo on the projector.
  • Tough maths questions

    Yikes – they are pretty out there.

    Example: “Computation at Scale: How can we develop asymptotics for a world with massively many degrees of freedom?”

    Cost of BB

    Interesting point from Robert Peston – if the Bamp;B collapse could end up costing the city firms

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