Panic! Europe Prepares Contingency Plans For Greece Leaving The Euro

 General, Media, Politics  No Responses »
May 232012
 

There are reports that share prices in world markets fell dramatically on the announcement that Europe has asked countries to prepare contingency plans in the event of Greece dropping the Euro. Which probably shows that there are some pretty dumb share dealers around.

That is not to say there are not valid concerns about the possibility of Greece reverting to the old drachma but that is hardly news – I knew about the chances of that happening this morning well before the announcement. Perhaps some intellectually-challenged people believe that preparing contingency plans increases the risk of something happening.

Of course preparing contingency plans does not increase the risk of anything (except possibly a shortage of paper). An event will occur with or without a contingency plan which is after all a way of preparing for an event if it occurs.

In fact it is probable that such contingency plans already exist for Greece leaving … or indeed any other country. In fact they bloody well should do – those whose job it is to draw up contingency plans would be grossly irresponsible if they have not drawn up plans by now. To draw a parallel with the computing world, the person who waits until their disk drives all start making strange and worrying sounds before starting to perform backups is doing so far too late.

 

The Political Grand Prix

 General, Politics  No Responses »
Apr 222012
 

Today’s Grand Prix in Bahrain is mired in controversy because of the race going ahead when the political protesters want it cancelled. Those associated with Formula 1 are claiming that the race should go ahead because it is totally separate from the political issues in Bahrain.

That is one point of view. Although it is more in the nature of wishful thinking – perfectly understandable as the Formula 1 organisers who undertook to race in Bahrain are hardly responsible for what is happening there on the political scene.

The protesters claim that the race going ahead legitimises the Bahrain regime by adding international credibility.

That is another point of view with rather more weight to it.

But it could well be wrong – it may well be that having the race go ahead brings more attention to the political instability in Bahrain. Most normal people may well not have been aware of the political trouble in Bahrain; at least not recently. By having the race go ahead, the amount of coverage of the political issues has gone up through the roof. Whilst cancelling the race would have increased the coverage slightly, it is likely that it would have resulted in nowhere near as much coverage as we are seeing.

Panic Petrol Buying Causes Injuries ?

 General, Media, Politics  No Responses »
Mar 312012
 

No of course it doesn’t.

Despite the claims of the media who like to imply that the government is to blame for the injury of someone who tried decanting petrol in her kitchen. However stupid the government advice was, they did not suggest people keep petrol in their kitchen in inappropriate containers. They explicitly mentioned “jerry cans” – being the generic name for appropriate petrol containers.

To steal a title from Pink Floyd, what is to blame here is a “momentary lapse of reason” by the woman herself. It is the kind of thing that can happen to anyone – not so much general stupidity, but a temporary ability to disregard the stupidity of some action. We all have been known to do it – you, me, and that daft bloke down the street.

Try to claim otherwise and I’ll laugh at you.

And sometimes that stupidity can have drastic consequences.

It is possible that the government’s rather stupid advise to top up cars and jerry cans has led to an increase in stupid and nasty accidents, but that is no reason to blame the government for accidents. If the government has to avoid issuing advice on matters involving dangerous substances because of the potential for accidents, we need an alternative “government” who will issue such advise.

Of course what the government is responsible for is issuing advise that encouraged panic buying. They obviously paid so little attention to the potential for panic buying that you have to suspect whether it was deliberate – did they want fuel shortages in the middle of the working week rather than during the Easter weekend ? Did they want people blaming the Unite union for causing woes?

Probably not. Even though the “scheme” backfired, the conspiracy theory would credit the government with too much in the way of brains to be possibly true. When issuing advice in such matters the government needs to :-

  1. Get the timing right so that if there is panic buying, it occurs at the least damaging time. Easter (despite the pain of not being able to go away) is better than in the middle of the week.
  2. Phrase advice so that panic buying is less likely.
  3. Point out that diesel or petrol are dangerous substances where a “momentary lapse of reason” can have drastic consequences.

Roadworks – So Why Is It Happening ?

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Feb 112012
 

At the moment (and for quite a few weeks in the past), there has been a lot of activity in the road outside my flat – a major cross-roads is being dug up, fiddled with, and all neatened up again. Which has the usual bunch of irritations :-

  1. Because the traffic lights are set so far back from the cross-roads, it makes crossing on foot even trickier than it usually is.
  2. It always seems that they’re keen on working whenever I would prefer some peace and quiet – including on a couple of occasions working through the night.

But perhaps more frustrating than anything else, is just what the road-works are for. Why not stick up a little sign explaining what they are for ?

The “Strength” of Coffee Shop Coffee

 General, Media  No Responses »
Dec 032011
 

With news like this, my first reaction is: Where can I find a coffee shop that sells coffee that strong ?

It is rather extraordinary that you can find a coffee shop that sells a cup of coffee that is six times stronger than a “standard” cup of expresso. And even more extraordinary that nobody really knows how strong a cup of coffee they’re drinking is – even the proprietors of that shop selling the really strong coffee had no idea it was that strong!

It’s also clear from the interviews carried out by the BBC that people are under the impression that you can tell how strong the coffee is (in terms of caffeine content) by how strong it tastes. That turns out not to be the case – whilst at extremes, it is probably true that watery coffee (“American”) is likely to have less caffeine in, and thick, bitter, and flavourful coffee is likely to have more caffeine in, there are other variables at work too.

The news article concentrated on the potential danger to pregnant women which is your typical media sensationalism – whilst a few pregnant women might well be drinking more caffeine than is good for them (but just how many people have coffee shop coffee everyday?), it is also the case that others might want to know how strong the coffee is – on certain mornings, I’d be willing to go a whole lot further to get a coffee with 350mg of caffeine over a coffee with 50mg of caffeine.

So yes we want better labelling of coffee

 

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