WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

I've been reading about an explosion on a building site in 2009 and the investigation by the HSE. Foamed concrete was used to fill a trench 6 metres deep and there were men using angle grinders nearby to cut up steel framework. They were blown up into the roof of the structure by the explosion. HSE tested the concrete and found that it had been made with incinerator bottom ash aggregate. This has a significant aluminium content and this metal reacts with alkali (cement) to yield hydrogen.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/live ... ncrete.htm

[Big Kev]

a co-operative lemon fool. Currently 2 for a pound. Quietly impressed...

[Stanley]

Tiz, good example of the dangers that can lurk in the most unexpected places. Aluminium is dangerous stuff especially when associated with confined spaces or explosive atmospheres in other ways as well. Hence the section in Mines Regs banning the use of materials and alloys containing more than 10% aluminium. I wonder whether the politicians attacking the H&S regs really understand what they are doing?
I realised this morning that it is 29 days since the CEO of the Coop Food promised me that my Condor Green would be in store in "a couple of weeks". Another letter went off to him this morning. Remember what I was saying about incompetence?

[Marilyn]

....finding another distant relative on Ancestry yesterday...who lives only about an hour from me! ( shock!)
Email sent and I do hope they return contact.
(they may just be astounded how much info I have to share)

[Wendyf]

Ooh Maz, that sounds exciting, hope you get a reply quickly!

[Tizer]

I realised this morning that it is 29 days since the CEO of the Coop Food promised me that my Condor Green would be in store in "a couple of weeks". Another letter went off to him this morning. Remember what I was saying about incompetence?

Yes, from the 1970s onwards the Time & Motion consultants eliminated middle management from companies and other organisations, claiming it was a waste of money and wasn't necessary. This is what we are left with, an army made up of generals and foot soldiers and nobody in between except perhaps a few that are a year or two older and have been given a stripe.

[Stanley]

Add McKinsey to that list. Their mantra 'If it can be measured it can be managed' has much to answer for. Amazing how many of our masters spent time with them as interns. I sent the letter and will not give up. I've been thinking about why this has happened and have come to the conclusion that it is either simple incompetence and disregard of customer preferences or, and I favour this explanation, there is an algorithm in their new stock control software that will not allow the management to alter the outcome. In other words the same problem we see time and time again in big systems like banking where the algorithm has unforeseen consequences and the management simply don't understand the system. I may have to educate them.....

[Bruff]

I think it's the case that at the moment, GCSEs are marked to give an indication of a candidate's absolute performance regarding their knowledge etc as assessed by having this knowledge tested via examination and course work. This is in contrast I believe to the alternative 'norm-referencing' approach (used under the old O'Levels), where your 'grade' is assigned via your position on a spectrum of achievement post-examination/assessment - that is, X% of people get As, Y% Bs and so on. Clearly with this latter approach, if in any one year there is an excellent cohort, those who in previous years may have been assigned an A-grade may in their year be assigned a B-grade (and perhaps worse), and so on. What I think this shows is that talk of grade-inflation within the current GCSE assessment procedure is a rather simplistic and frankly sniffy debate as it is a perfectly reasonable consequence of the process.

Personally, I'm of the view that the current GCSE system being as it is, taken by (almost) all the 16-year old cohort, warrants the absolute assessment. We need a standard assessment of a student's capabilities with respect to what they have learned/understood etc. If we have a system like the old O' Levels (and back then A' Levels), which were in part a filter to decide those capable of advancing to University study (themselves having been weeded out pre-puberty via 11+), norm-referencing may make some sense. Indeed, in many people's working life norm-referencing applies via performance related reward systems and promotion panels. But to assess knowledge/skills of your societal cohort at minimum school leaving age? Not so sure.

One thing's for sure, debate on education isn't going away. A depressing thought. It's a sector bedevilled by ideological cherry-picking of evidence among those who having been to school themselves decide they are experts. For example, we looked to Scandinavia (Sweden) for the evidence base for free schools. Why did we not look elsewhere in Scandinavia (Finland) for our evidence base? Because Finland, a wholly comprehensive system with teachers undergoing extended and significant training and paid and respected accordingly, does not fit with the ideology. Even though of course, on many, many measures Finland's educational performance is right at the top of the OECD assessments.

Richard Broughton

[Tizer]

Stanley's algorithm theory reminds me of something we discovered during our 16 years of running our own business. Since computer databases have made it easier to store and edit customer information it has, perversely, become more difficult for the customer to get that information changed. We often asked, repeatedly, for changes but it either took a long time or was never done. For example, we had an account with the courier UPS and they visited us frequently to deliver or collect parcels but they had put the wrong house name on their database. Drivers kept complaining about it and we kept asking for it to be corrected; every time we asked they said it would be done immediately. It was still wrong when we closed the account after 16 years! I suspect the reason may be due to the proliferation of copies of the database. Once you're on it, it gets copied all over t' shop and you might manage to get one copy corrected but not the others. It's even possible that systems which synchronise files across a network are `uncorrecting' the corrections!

[Tripps]

WE had some NHS equipment on loan. We moved house, and they insisted on moving it for us and setting it up again. They knew we had moved and had all details. For the next two years they went to the old house to service it. I spoke to them and was told "we can't change the location - it must be shown as the place it was delivered to". I gave up and went back to quietly reading Franz Kafka.

[Stanley]

My daughter Janet knows about these things and it was she who first made me aware of the dangers inherent in powerful algorithms. She told me that one way to look at them was that they acted like a virus and removing or modifying the original algorithm didn't necessarily cure any associated problems as it could have spread its influence throughout the system. She said that the only sure way to ensure that these unintended consequences weren't perpetuated was to physically remove the hard drives, destroy them and start again with a clean base programme. You can guess what the attitude of a user would be to such a Draconian solution.
(Liked the Kafka reference David..... Not a new problem!)
Later... I think I've just heard the most important and fundamental exchange of views in a radio interview that I can remember. I'd urge you all to got to listen again and get the benefit of two Law Lords, Faulkner and MacDonald discussing the implications of the Hillsborough revelations on R4 Today. They were absolutely clear that there should be a new inquest, prosecutions on new evidence going back 23 years and a revision of what this all means for secrecy in government, particularly the making public of documentation. Absolutely fundamental stuff and most encouraging to hear clear and unequivocal opinions from as high up in the justice system as this. It breaks open the whole subject of the independence of the judiciary and their powers to force the politicians to disclose evidence. Do listen to it.....

[EileenDavid]

The big blue Brittany sky, looks like a good day. Eileen

[Tardis]

The only news about Barnoldswick in the Craven Herald is Cllr Whipp running over Cllr Langtree

[Stanley]

What a good sleep I had after eating a small bar of 80% dark chocolate.......

[Bodger]

Not quite the same but i like a cup of Bournville drinking choc., it has the same effect on me !

[Bodger]

Good value, wonder if it will see the light of day ?

The $9 cardboard bicycleSEP 11 2012

Izhar Gafni has designed a bike that weighs 20 pounds, costs between $9-12 to build, can hold up to a 485 pound person, and it made out of cardboard.

Cardboard Bike

Engineers told Gafni that his idea was impossible. Yet he realized that paper could be strong if treated properly. As in crafting origami and tearing telephone books, he explains, "[if] you fold it once, and it's not just twice the strength, it's three times the strength."

The development to what you see today took three years. Two were spent just figuring out the cardboard complications--leading to several patents--and the last was spent converting a cardboard box on wheels to a relatively normal looking bike.

(thx, mickey & erika)
Read more posts on kottke.org about:
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[Bodger]

whoops
http://kottke.org/12/09/the-9-cardboard-bicycle

[Whyperion]

Werent the early bicycles made out of wood, and only went to metal to save weight ( and trees ! ) , now carbon fibre to make lighter so card not much different , hope it doesnt rain though.

[Stanley]

The Irish farm family and the slurry pit accident.
The deaths in Afghanistan. It's like an open wound and quite obvious that we are doing no good, as soon as we leave the Taliban will attempt a take-over and there is nothing we can do about it. The time has come to cut and run, never mind what has been agreed. The possible consequences of that will be less than to constant stream of deaths for no good reason.

[Nolic]

Comrade,what a horrible death and tragedy for the whole family. The son killed was Nevin Spence a young professional rugby player who had made a big impression playing for Ulster and Ireland under 21's and was tipped to become a full international this year.
As for Afghanistan a friend's son is at Camp Bastion in RAF support. Andy had a sleepless night on Friday until he heard that Si was OK.I am proud of the young people out there but wish they were all home and the place left to rot .Nolic

[EileenDavid]

I'm with you Stanley on Afghanistan. Watched a DVD called The Far Pavillion set in Victorian times and our soldiers were fighting then in Afghanistan and lives being lost.

What attracted my attention is the farmers gunfire. Eileen

[Thomo]

Two more lads from the Yorkshire Regiment dead at the hand of someone in Afghan police clothing. I agree with the above comments, bring them home now, and make sure that what is left behind in that festering hole, stays there.

[Tizer]

I agree with the comments about Afghanistan and that we won't ever get a satisfactory solution - it takes time, lots of time, for different `tribes' of people to get their issues sorted and live peacefully. It hasn't even happened in Ireland yet. But there's one big concern - Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hand of the Taleban. We should be concentrating directly on that issue instead of using Afghanistan as a proxy. We've also got to realise that a lot of the world (most of the world?) is not politically a friend of the West. America has a lot to do with that - an isolationist country that only ventures out to bomb others into submission, to make the world eat their burgers, or to `do' Europe on holiday. They helped us out in two world wars and perhaps we would have lost without them - but they throw it all away during `peacetime'.

[Stanley]

One of the most striking things about the Middle East and other parts like the Balkans is that the boundaries and structures were largely put in place by either well-meaning colonials with an eye to trade (Usually us) and the rearrangements made after conflicts like tidying up the Balkans. As far as I can see all these constructs have broken down. Afghanistan is slightly different in that the basic mistake made has been to assume it is a 'country', it is not an entity and never has been, it's an amalgamation of tribes who are constantly striving for territory and precedence. Alexander the Great found this out and every attempt to impose order since has failed. Read Robert Baer's 'See No Evil' for a good account of the mistakes made by the US in the Middle East which led to the rise of Bin Laden and the Taliban. I wish our masters would read history!

[Tardis]

Andrew Stephenson MP will be present at the next West Craven Disability Forum at the Civic Hall in October

He was invited to talk about PIPs and benefits, but the agenda also asks him about disabled access and the planning system

The notices will go up in the Council Shop