IF the plans come to fruition, the Olympics could have a positive effect on those of you out there who enjoy taking a dip. The plans only apply to England, with different setups in Scotland and Wales, but if you are an OAP, you get first dibs. Those under sixteen get the next bite of the cherry, and then ‘by’ 2012, all people will be allowed free entry to swimming pools. Whether this will only apply to local government run pools, or if private companies will receive subsidies as well, I don’t know, but if this does come through, it is no bad thing.
May 23 2008
Tables Turned
Long term readers/’real life’ friends will remember that Irina and I used to live in a cottage out in Bourton on the Water, a real picture postcard village in the Cotswolds. At the time, there was no chance of getting ADSL at all, which led to us having two phone lines. One was for normal voice calls, and the other was permanently (24/7) connected to Freeserve on one of their 0808 numbers. Whilst this was never faster than 51.2 Kbps, it still gave me the possibility to leave the PC downloading all day and night, and traffic shaping never seemed to hit their dial up services. Anyway, according to a BBC report, the ratio of broadband:non-broadband customers in the country has swung so far that city dwellers are now statistically less likely to have a broadband connection than their rural brethren!
The section that particularly caught my attention was:
There has been a major drive to bring broadband to every corner of Scotland, partly to sustain the economies of isolated communities where many residents can now work from home.
I really think this sort of thinking should be bought to the attention of decision makers in this country…
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Apr 14 2008
Firemen Resuscitate Cat
Fire fighters in Dundee, Scotland unfortunately found that one of the pets they rescued from a smoking home had become unconscious and was not looking healthy. Faced with the prospect of informing the (not yet present) owners with such sad news, one of them decided to treat the moggy with oxygen, using a child-sized oxygen mask. Apparently it worked, though if anyone has heard on the current status of the pussy, please do let us know.
Aug 02 2007
One Word, Sounds Like…
Researchers from St Andrews University, in Scotland, believe they have identified intelligent communication modification habits by Orangutans. Although great apes have already been shown to be capable of using sign language to communicate with humans, the researchers have proven that Orangutans will modify their signals if the human involved does not appear to understand.
This approach shows intelligence, the researchers have stated in their study published by the journal Current Biology.
One of the authors, Richard Byrne, stated “We were interested in the intentions behind communication. When humans communicate, we routinely use our knowledge of what our audience knows and what they don’t know automatically. We wanted to find out whether the great apes, that have so much flexibility with their communication, do the same thing.”
To test their theory, the researchers carried out tests with six orangutans; their keeper would display a range of food items, such as a banana, and also more boring food, like a leek. The Orangutan would attract the keeper’s attention, hoping for the banana. At this point the keeper would either hand over the banana, pretend to not notice the request for the banana and give them the leek, or only give them a piece of the banana.
At this point, the Orangutan would react to the keeper’s actions; if the whole banana had been given, they would simply consume the food, and communication would often end, when a leek was offered, they would appear to comprehend that they had been mis-understood, and so change the signals they had originally given, hoping to get the banana this time, and where only a piece of banana had been given, the same signal would be used, but more emphatically.
This communication behaviour modification indicates some intelligence was applied by the Orangutans, and was repeatedly observed with different Orangutans in different locations.
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Jul 22 2007
Britain Suffers From Flooding
No, not a general warning to all travellers thinking of visiting the UK, but I am instead referring to the current problems afflicting many areas in England and Wales (not sure on Scotland). Although Mum in Wales is in an area that is marked as effected by some maps I’ve seen, they live quite high up, so unless there is a river close to them that bursts its banks, they should be OK. I tried calling Dad at home, as his area has problems with all the rain, but as the phone was ringing, it can’t be too local too him, as the phone lines are working, and considering his answer phone kicked in, I can safely assume that the mains electricity has not been cut off; anyway I hope his and Jan’s houses are OK. I’ve spoken to Alex today, who said parts of the Forest of Dean were cut off, and that other places more local were effected, but that she was ok, and that just leaves Nick (in Falmouth) – if you ever get round to reading this Nick, and have not yet e-mailed, leave me a comment so I know you are not needing to take a dinghy into Uni 😉
Jun 16 2007
Cornwall Nationalists
Militants in Cornwall (where my brother attends university) have issued a statement warning two celebrity chefs that their businesses are at risk.
There is history of rebellion in Cornwall, reaching back centuries. In some areas, there also strong ties to the Brittany area of France. Around 1500, a protest march was taken to London by Cornishmen unhappy at the extra taxes King Henry VII was imposing, in an attempt to finance the struggle in Scotland. (Any fans of the movie Braveheart might want to actually check what really happened sometime.) Anyway, needless to say Henry was having none of it, and sent his troops out to defeat the Cornish.
The rebellion was put down, and all the leaders executed. Why all this explanation? Because one of the executed was Michael An Gof, and the An Gof group are believed to have combined with the Cornish Liberation Army to form the Cornish National Liberation Army. This group has threatened both Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver’s businesses, complaining that the ‘newcomers’ are responsible for a surge in house prices in the locality, causing true locals to not be able to afford houses in areas that they have lived in for generations.
A couple of apparent flaws in their logic though – 1) Stein has lived in the area, on and off, for a long time, and both he and Jamie Oliver bring a lot of business to agricultural and dairy farmers in the area, not to mention fishermen. Both chefs are proud of the produce they use being locally reared/harvested/caught 2) Jamie Oliver’s business was setup to help dis advantaged youths in the area, with the idea of training them up to be professional chefs themselves.
Neither people really seem to be fairly targeted, perhaps it is simply because they are high profile, and so will bring publicity to the Cornish Independence cause? Either way, I’m hoping the restaurant Nick is currently working in is safe from such threats…
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