tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-263324702011-12-15T02:59:49.176ZThoughts, info and pointers on a wide variety of subject domains - many a bit unusual.Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1173524063142597882007-03-10T10:44:00.000Z2007-03-10T10:54:23.150Z

It looks like the EU at their meeting yesterday agreed to do something other than empty words. Incandescent light bulbs will be phased out by 2009. With that the demand will rise and prices will fall - and no longer will the shelves be filled with 99 variants of incandescent bulbs, but instead will start to take CF seriously.While light bulbs aren't going to make significant inroads into energy

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1164475546046082522006-11-25T17:19:00.000Z2006-11-25T17:25:46.056Z

So either I have much more juice than I think I have, or others have noticed how badly the supermarkets do on walking-the-talk with regard to being green and saving energy. Either way, ASDA now sell energy saving light bulbs for 99p each. Admitedly these are only 60W equivalent bulbs, but its massively better than before.Three cheers for ADSANow, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, etc. - can you match

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1162742935519650322006-11-05T16:03:00.000Z2006-11-05T16:11:37.080Z

We hear a lot from the big supermarkets on their green credentials. Tesco claims to “believe in sustainable growth - it is responsible”; Sainsbury’s is “committed to investing in improving impacts”; Waitrose is taking “all reasonable steps” to “promote good environmental practice”; and Asda are “to sell products that sustain our resources and our environment”. Lots of fine words, carefully

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1158230175893895002006-09-14T10:34:00.000Z2006-09-14T10:36:15.903Z

Sorry I've not been keeping up this blog (for those that asked). I've been too busy writing other things! I promise to get some newer thoughts up this weekend.

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1154083850428081892006-07-28T10:44:00.000Z2006-07-28T10:50:50.456Z

The latest change programme seems to be a fact of life for most employees of large companies. Every few months there seems to be another announcement, another mug, poster, newsletter, webpage as part of that integrated communications initiative for ‘X’ change management programme. In general there are two or three such change programmes running in parallel – all fighting for attention and

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1151962911354315782006-07-03T21:38:00.000Z2006-07-03T21:41:51.370Z

We benefit from, and kids would say suffer from, over a decade of education. Not only does this teach us the basics of living in today’s world, it also explores and expands our tacit understand, our interest and our intellect.And then in one or two career interviews and simplistic assessments we are supposed to understand ‘what we want to be’. Millions of children every year are asked the

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1149625921848850022006-06-06T20:28:00.000Z2006-06-06T20:36:38.076Z

Predictions in the field of economics are a strange beast. Unlike the real would, economic predictions generally always expect tomorrow to be an extension of today. Growth is the norm and everything is mutable to ‘money supply’ and ‘rate changes’.At their heart is the expectation that economists, and in particular macroeconomists actually understand how things are connected, where the levers are,

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1148807146732703322006-05-28T09:03:00.000Z2006-05-28T09:05:46.743Z

The word has gone quiet, the world has turned away. After all the reportage and the scare stories, nothing has happened. Attention turns to more immediate concerns; just what is happening to the markets?However the progress of disease has its own pace. The slow, probabilistic mutation of genetic signatures that signals the path between ‘so what’ and ‘you what?’ Timescales which aren’t necessarily

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1147774103790057082006-05-16T10:06:00.000Z2006-05-16T10:08:23.796Z

It’s strange when you notice something that nobody else is commenting upon. You feel you’re not sure if it’s really there, even though it’s right in front of your eyes. That occurred recently with supermarket shelves.We are used to overflowing supermarket shelves, to the neat lines of goods all pushed to the front, ready to be picked up. We don’t see it any more. However recently I’ve been

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1147259368788414312006-05-10T11:07:00.000Z2006-05-10T11:09:28.796Z

In contrast to the terrible design of mobile phones, some devices just exude a sensuous touch, caressing the user with interfaces that quickly become second nature. In general these products go on to become market leaders. Kind of makes you wonder why so many get it so wrong?Specific examples of this curvy tech includes the ubiquitous iPod; which although nowhere near first to market, so defined

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1146040038371755492006-04-26T08:22:00.000Z2006-04-26T08:27:18.380Z

Mobile phones are the bane of my existence. How could something so horribly bad ever have reached the position it has? And now we are expected to believe it will claim the rest of the world into its postage stamp screen.To start with, the screen is far too small to encompass much more than 3 or 4 pieces of information at once. No matter what resolution these end up having, to make my mobile phone

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1145821725274149742006-04-23T19:44:00.000Z2006-04-23T19:50:35.053Z

You would have thought that by now we would have wised-up to the problems with imprisonment. We have been doing it seriously for millennia now, we know the drill. Prisons have been shown:not to do much in terms of rehabilitating the prisoners and preventing a life of crime. Instead a sentence in prison seems to be like government sponsored training for the better criminal of tomorrow.systemically

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1145609384639641992006-04-21T08:47:00.000Z2006-04-23T19:52:55.676Z

Today, even at this moment, millions of people are sitting in cars - commuting to work. When you stop to think about it, it’s a terrible waste. Even those on the train are unlikely to be doing anything productive, crammed in like sardines with the delightful whiff of body odour as the commuters’ perfume.If you do some rough calculations there are approx 60 million people in the UK. At least 40%

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1145520496529539662006-04-20T08:03:00.000Z2006-04-20T08:08:16.703Z

One of the fundamental truths about the universe is that symmetry and the breaking of symmetry underlies much of nature, science and finance. Symmetry comes in a number of forms; reflection, rotation, translation; but also in scale, similarity and type.Symmetry has long been a tool in art. From Arabic mosaics and Celtic knotwork to the structures within great paintings and many sculptures the

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1145441504402813462006-04-19T10:07:00.000Z2006-04-23T19:52:35.503Z

In discussions about peak oil, talk eventually turns to the implications and future predictions of population. The ‘Olduvai’ hypothesis suggests that world population growth was fuelled by the existence of hydrocarbon based energy and that with that removed the population would have to fall to a pre-oil level. This reduction is usually seen as happening suddenly, in a die-off. Numbers of dead

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1145371290211050082006-04-18T14:31:00.000Z2006-04-18T14:41:30.233Z

.eu Internet domain names is an idea which has been seven years in the planning. In theory this is a good idea for those with a pan European presence, or those that might seek to have one. Besides this, the .eu with no other second level domains predefined potentially allowed for some very short URLs.Launching of this followed the now usual process of a ‘sunrise’ period where trademark owners

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26332470.post-1145301998555703532006-04-17T19:09:00.000Z2006-04-17T21:00:36.123Z

As the first post I should say hello and explain a little of why this blog is here and what it is for.I tend to have very diverse and wandering interests. I explore many subjects, learn something of them, and keep that knowledge on the shelf for the moment where it can be used again. That use is often not connected with the original subject domain in any way - but the insight itself is useful.

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09650482061736900455noreply@blogger.com2