Well actually I never left it, but a this is a musing on my history with music and how a new piece of kit has changed my habits again.
Like others of a certain age, I started in music with records, vinyl mainly, though my grandfather had some old shellac 78s which I used to play on his radiogram. For the benefit of younger readers, a radio gram was a huge piece of furniture like a sideboard, containing a radio with exotic names on its dial like Hilversum, and a turntable with actual needles used in the tracking arm to play.
Anyway, I actually never had a record player, so never bought 45 rpm singles, in the days when the top twenty was a Sunday religious experience on the radio, rather I had a tape recorder, with reels of tape, this was long before cassettes, and I used to record the top twenty and other music off the radio or TV, often by sticking the microphone against the speaker ..........hifi this wasn’t.
I progressed via a proper hifi a very expensive at the time, Bang and Olfusen, (still with record deck but much slicker than Granddad’s) an early CD player and various makes and models of hifi separates. I made the transition from LPs to Cassettes, especially in the car and then to CDs. As I recall I spent most of my music listening using the car equipment, even back in the 70s and 80s, car audio systems were better than home ones a lot of the time, and the enclosed space made it all sound finer anyway.
At home my late wife used CDs for her music teaching, but we gradually seemed to not just sit down and listen for pleasure. Around this time of course the artistes of popular music gradually became unknown to me and after “top of the pops” on TV, finished I never really kept up.
Then came digital, I was given an IPOD by my daughter and converted my CDs to this new format, the sheer disbelief that you could have on a small metal device, days worth of music, gave way to regular use, again mainly through connectivity in the car or via headphones. Though an IPOD dock was added, it didn’t take mainstream place in the lounge for some reason.
Several generations of IPOD later and with a reasonable mastery of ITunes, I had also now bought both old and new music. Its so easy, one click and its yours there and then. No trotting down to the record shop and listening to a track in a sound proofed booth then.
What I bought was old stuff I had lost over the years but also new artistes on a fairly random basis but chosen because I just liked them. The ITunes ‘most popular’ section is not and never will be the same as the Top Twenty.
Another little piece of technology of aid to the music buyer, is an IOS app called Soundhound. You hear some music on the TV or on someone else's system, you kick in Soundhound which samples it and then tells you with reasonable accuracy what the track and artist is.......... and of course then offers a direct link to ITunes to buy it.
What Digital does especially, as well as quality, is however, to free you from playing albums, on records you couldn’t, on tapes, it was only fast forward, on CD you could skip or repeat tracks, but on a digital device you can construct your own playlist and mix up a selection to suit your mood or occasion.
In car use, via IPOD connectivity to the car system, continued to be my predominant channel though adding podcasts to the audio mix as well as music..........but then I bought myself an early Christmas present and invested in a Sonos digital music streaming system. (http://www.sonos.com/).
This connects the music on my computer, which already has some amplified monitor speakers so music can be played whilst doing other computery things but Sonos takes the music on the computer and streams it via wireless to, in my case two, Sonos units, ............many others can be added dependent on the size of your house.
Cleverly controlled from the computer and by a free app which runs on the IPad, (also working on IPhone and IPod Touch and I believe Android phones) , means I now listen to music and radio in the lounge and in the bedroom. The system can play the same on both units or on one only or different things in every location. I can set up a list, set the sleep timer and drift off with personally selected music or I can sit in comfort in the lounge and listen to an album or two or a podcast as I desire.
The sound is clear, bright and powerful even from a relatively small box containing amplifier, software and 5 speakers. However this is not an advert for Sonos, though I do recommend it, but merely to show how technological change makes things different, sometimes better, sometimes not, but music is something most people value, whether you are a folk, rock, jazz or classical aficionado, its about choice what you want where you want it. I’m glad I have rediscovered actually listening to music as well as just having it as a soundtrack to driving, cooking or cleaning.
The next steps are to further explore Internet Radio, there is something tantalisingly exotic in listening to a South American oe even Antarctica station.......... I wonder if Hilversum is still there ? ..........and to experiment with services like Spotify which means you don’t actually have the music on any device in your home or car, it just gets pushed down via the Internet to a computer, smart phone or IPad, you effectively rent it and have access to millions of tracks 24/7.
I just wonder whether not ‘owning’ music is a concept that I will have to learn, unlike the racks of LPs you can’t actually see and touch it...........who knows.
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Sunday, 28 November 2010
DRUGS, CRIME & ECONOMICS
A bit less trivial this time and possibly a bit more controversial.
Lets jump right in............why don’t Governments legalise drugs ? I refer of course to those ones not currently controlled, except for being illegal that is, thus Cannabis, Heroin, Cocaine, LSD and all their variants.
Now I am not the first to suggest it but it came to mind recently after sitting in Court where most of the cases are related to drugs, through including in that alcohol, which is of course legal.
The crimes divide into two main camps, acquisitive eg theft, shoplifting, burglary, mugging, pickpocketing and violence eg public disorder, affray, assault, threatening behaviours, affray.......the distinction however brings in the third word in the heading ........ economics...........
Most human endeavors are subject to the rules of demand and supply, so forgive my readers who are well versed in this area for a basic.... and I mean very basic guide.
The price that a commodity attracts is where demand and supply meet. As a consumer I would like things to be as cheap as possible and when its cheaper I am more likely to buy and even buy more of it. As a supplier I want maximum returns for lowest costs, so want to have a price that fits that model, though this might be, sell a few at a very high price, Rolls Royces, or a lot at a small price, newspapers. When equilibrium is attained then the price stabilises and buyers and sellers are happy, at least in theory.
Drugs however include further variables and bring in the idea of elasticity of demand and supply. Drug takers are less price sensitive ie they will pay whatever the price is within reason, because being a drug addict means you stop acting as a rationale economic being which the theory requires. You just need the next fix. The suppliers know this and manipulate supply and price to suit their profit maximisation goals, they are rational economic beings. Hence tactics like free or low cost samples until the user is hooked and then the price hike.
For illegal and addictive drugs this explains why many addicts unless they are rich and don’t depend on a job or business for income, are unemployed and become thieves, they have to keep finding some money to feed their addiction and stealing is the most common. Shops and businesses suffer, so do individuals, often family, friends or neighbours whose property is misappropriated and sold on, creating another set of crimes in handling, fencing etc
Alcohol is different, it is legal, well look at what happened in the USA when they tried to prohibit it, organised crime just moved in and took over the market, it didn’t stop drinking, its just made it profitable.
Despite government trying to use economics by raising the price through taxes, it is still affordable and easily available at every corner shop, pub, club, supermarket, indeed some great deals, and if you really object to paying the Government more tax, how about a quick trip to France and stock up there, although exchange rates have made this less attractive.
So acquisitive crime is less prevalent in alcohol, excepting the chronic, destitute, probably homeless alcoholic, whose situation is the same as the illegal drug takers and it seems many of those do both ! (There is a project for some economist or sociologist to explain that)
Most of the alcohol based crime is violence as referred to above. Not that this isn’t equally reprehensible. Governments are at a loss to deal with this and no one thinks of prohibiting it, so makes policies and decisions at the margins and tries to prevent the worst effects on others but time and time again fails.
What in my humble opinion differs is that with alcohol we do need to keep trying to prevent damage to other, innocent people, leaving aside that many assaults are against friends also equally drunk, ............... with drugs the aim is not the same, most drug takers are not violent perhaps some, in the commission of the theft, but when ‘high’ are mostly harmless to others.
So why not legalise drugs and let Boots and other pharmacies sell them, maybe its too early to let Tesco and Asda stock them, though the idea of premium brand drugs "Tesco Finest" , "Asda Choosen by You" etc, is intriguing....... the price would be ‘fair’, the quality would be assured, so less health issues, and accidental overdoses, the drug dealers would be out of business (new charity to retrain ex drug dealers ?) and the acquisitive crime would surely reduce.
Of course, being cynical, this means knock on effects on police....... courts.........social workers...... health service........ and could result in reduced demand for those functions, hence reduced employment .........so vested interests there then. But Government could put a tax on or at least charge VAT so they would get a new revenue stream and in these financially challenged times that might be attractive.
Mr Cameron, you heard it here and I am available to be a Government Advisor at economical rates !
Lets jump right in............why don’t Governments legalise drugs ? I refer of course to those ones not currently controlled, except for being illegal that is, thus Cannabis, Heroin, Cocaine, LSD and all their variants.
Now I am not the first to suggest it but it came to mind recently after sitting in Court where most of the cases are related to drugs, through including in that alcohol, which is of course legal.
The crimes divide into two main camps, acquisitive eg theft, shoplifting, burglary, mugging, pickpocketing and violence eg public disorder, affray, assault, threatening behaviours, affray.......the distinction however brings in the third word in the heading ........ economics...........
Most human endeavors are subject to the rules of demand and supply, so forgive my readers who are well versed in this area for a basic.... and I mean very basic guide.
The price that a commodity attracts is where demand and supply meet. As a consumer I would like things to be as cheap as possible and when its cheaper I am more likely to buy and even buy more of it. As a supplier I want maximum returns for lowest costs, so want to have a price that fits that model, though this might be, sell a few at a very high price, Rolls Royces, or a lot at a small price, newspapers. When equilibrium is attained then the price stabilises and buyers and sellers are happy, at least in theory.
Drugs however include further variables and bring in the idea of elasticity of demand and supply. Drug takers are less price sensitive ie they will pay whatever the price is within reason, because being a drug addict means you stop acting as a rationale economic being which the theory requires. You just need the next fix. The suppliers know this and manipulate supply and price to suit their profit maximisation goals, they are rational economic beings. Hence tactics like free or low cost samples until the user is hooked and then the price hike.
For illegal and addictive drugs this explains why many addicts unless they are rich and don’t depend on a job or business for income, are unemployed and become thieves, they have to keep finding some money to feed their addiction and stealing is the most common. Shops and businesses suffer, so do individuals, often family, friends or neighbours whose property is misappropriated and sold on, creating another set of crimes in handling, fencing etc
Alcohol is different, it is legal, well look at what happened in the USA when they tried to prohibit it, organised crime just moved in and took over the market, it didn’t stop drinking, its just made it profitable.
Despite government trying to use economics by raising the price through taxes, it is still affordable and easily available at every corner shop, pub, club, supermarket, indeed some great deals, and if you really object to paying the Government more tax, how about a quick trip to France and stock up there, although exchange rates have made this less attractive.
So acquisitive crime is less prevalent in alcohol, excepting the chronic, destitute, probably homeless alcoholic, whose situation is the same as the illegal drug takers and it seems many of those do both ! (There is a project for some economist or sociologist to explain that)
Most of the alcohol based crime is violence as referred to above. Not that this isn’t equally reprehensible. Governments are at a loss to deal with this and no one thinks of prohibiting it, so makes policies and decisions at the margins and tries to prevent the worst effects on others but time and time again fails.
What in my humble opinion differs is that with alcohol we do need to keep trying to prevent damage to other, innocent people, leaving aside that many assaults are against friends also equally drunk, ............... with drugs the aim is not the same, most drug takers are not violent perhaps some, in the commission of the theft, but when ‘high’ are mostly harmless to others.
So why not legalise drugs and let Boots and other pharmacies sell them, maybe its too early to let Tesco and Asda stock them, though the idea of premium brand drugs "Tesco Finest" , "Asda Choosen by You" etc, is intriguing....... the price would be ‘fair’, the quality would be assured, so less health issues, and accidental overdoses, the drug dealers would be out of business (new charity to retrain ex drug dealers ?) and the acquisitive crime would surely reduce.
Of course, being cynical, this means knock on effects on police....... courts.........social workers...... health service........ and could result in reduced demand for those functions, hence reduced employment .........so vested interests there then. But Government could put a tax on or at least charge VAT so they would get a new revenue stream and in these financially challenged times that might be attractive.
Mr Cameron, you heard it here and I am available to be a Government Advisor at economical rates !
Friday, 12 November 2010
TRAINS and BOATS and PLANES .................BUSES and CARS and TRAMS
This latest musings is about public transport or at least some aspects of it, as usual written from a purely personal viewpoint, errors and inaccuracies are subordinated to opinions and beliefs !
Had I been doing this blog a few years ago, then this is probably not an area I would be prompted to deal with. In fact I can probably account for 20 plus years when I rarely used public transport, with the exception of the train to London.
Of course when I was young....a long long time ago........ buses were a regular feature, I went to school and back on a bus, I went to work on a bus but............ then I bought a car. The story of my car ownership may wait until another day, but the freedom of your own personal transport was not to be underplayed. When I lived in more rural areas like North Yorkshire and Derbyshire, then the frequency and journey times of buses and the local trains meant they were not a reliable method of going anywhere where you had a time to be there.
Now I have discovered buses and trams in particular, both of which Nottingham has. Three main reasons, one whilst once upon a time you could park in Nottingham City, it like many conurbations, is discouraging you from driving in and charges very handsomely if you dare to do so and that applies to Council Carparks as well as private ones. (I shall not repeat my moan about NHS carparks previously made in another posting.) The second reason is that by surviving to the age of 60 I qualified for a free bus pass, so the cost becomes irrelevant (see later for the counter argument) and the third was that my post retirement activities have evolved to some of them requiring attendance in the City Centre.
So does the public transport option prove viable ? Well in part, I have to drive to a car park at a shopping centre about 2 miles away, from where I can catch a direct bus. This is actually fairly convenient, though limits the opportunity to have drink or two because you are still driving albeit a short distance. So I am on the bus and it travels to Nottingham, though in common with most buses via a roundabout route thus taking 45 minutes compared to 25-30 by car, excluding rush hour, more of which later. I have now mastered the stops and know where to alight and mount but for those who don’t know Nottingham has two main bus termini, one at the South end and one at the North end of the City Centre.
One place I visit I get deposited only 300 metres away from my venue, others, using the same bus, are however a 10-15 minutes walk. Given my bad knee I try and reduce the walking so now have to consult various timetables and find ways of starting at the same place but ending up in different places. Gone of course are the days of monopolies there are now multiple operators offered diverse routes and frequencies. If readers have a similar issue then I recommend http://www.traveline.org.uk/ which allows you to find the routes and times from anywhere in the UK to anywhere else, by train, bus, coach, cycle and walking or a combination of them all.
This multiplicity of operators can also cause confusion on using the bus pass. On Trent Barton you show the pass to the driver, tell him or her, where you are going and you get a ticket printed with £0.00. On Nottingham City Transport you need to swipe the pass on a machine, the drivers don’t talk and no ticket is forthcoming, on My Bus you wave the bus pass in the general direction of the driver and then just sit down. Once you learn all the rituals its all right, I still have to test the methods on other routes and operators, it could be the coffee table book of “101 ways to use your bus pass”, watch the best seller list next year.
However back to changing buses mid journey and taking pleasure in small victories I have now cracked getting from home to the North end of Nottingham City Centre (Victoria Centre/Milton St/Trinity Square for those with local knowledge) by Trent Barton and swapping over at Beeston Bus Station to NCT or My Bus, and the same on the way back.
But here we also uncover the flaws with public transport.
1. standing in the cold and rain waiting.......and sometimes waiting and waiting
2. seeing the connecting bus pull away just as you enter the bus station
3. Trying to travel in rush hour and having buses stuck in traffic, despite bus lanes which are often blocked by cars collecting chinese take aways or taxis just waiting and
4. buses filled to the gunwales with people and all their luggage
5. Buses running late or in bunches because of people volume and traffic congestion (why does everyone - lots of them anyway - go to work and come home at the same time ?)
6. Buses with seats designed for small people less than 5’3” I appreciate that they want to get the most people on but coming from cars with adjustable, comfortable leather, powered seats ............. maybe buses should be like airlines have a business or first class.
Clearly one answer is to travel off peak though this is not always possible. I recently did the return from Nottingham on the two bus connection plan as described before and part one was OK, but then the second bus came through packed solid, it went off and there was within minutes an even longer queue. Hating queues at the best of time but when tired, weary and hungry, I stopped queuing and went to the nearby Wetherspoons and had a drink and a steak, when I returned to the Bus Station the next bus was delightfully only a quarter full. Of course including the price of the meal and beer as compared to the free bus travel, changes the cost - benefit equation a bit and in total it took me 3.5 hours to get home, luckily no one cares when I get in and I can still watch Coronation Street on catch up TV !
Enough of the logistics, overall the travel is OK in the spring and summer, my main bus route has air-conditioned buses with leather seats, though non adjustable and still short of leg room, but I have had to buy a new coat and hat for the rain and cold. I had taken for granted that in a car you can take everything with you just in case, hat, gloves, umbrella, waterproof coats, fleece, parka etc on public transport you have to make the decision on clothing before you leave the house.
Lastly a small observation on who are the fellow travelers on public transport. Well out of peak hours, I have noted that a good percentage are all using bus passes of various types and the bus can resemble an OAP outing. Throughout the day you get students, lots of students, many of whom are Chinese, not that this is in any way a problem but I suspect that if the Chinese stopped going to Nottingham University their income might be cut rather drastically. Also traveling are, (by stereotyping on appearances and overheard conversations only), the more disadvantaged of society, who appear to represent a greater percentage than in other gatherings of the general population.
Being a British bus, people generally do not talk to even the person sitting next to you and actually avoid eye contact, I bet its rather different on a Spanish or French bus !
Finally it seems that the bus is the place, to listen to music, sometimes through leaky headphones, and especially to make and receive telephone calls, it is not unusual to hear people talking away for over 30 minutes and continuing to talk as they struggle with bags and or babies to get off at the right stop ! Well at least Orange, O2 etc get a benefit from bus travel.
I guess until I can afford a chauffeur to drop me off and pick me up, or someone invents Star Trek style 'beaming' from place to place, in this crowded Isle then public transport as well as cars will be necessary..................what I really hate is the thought that one day I cannot drive and thus I only have the bus, tram or train. On that depressing thought I shall go and do something else, until the next time happy reading and tell your friends to visit me via the internet of course, not by bus !
Had I been doing this blog a few years ago, then this is probably not an area I would be prompted to deal with. In fact I can probably account for 20 plus years when I rarely used public transport, with the exception of the train to London.
Of course when I was young....a long long time ago........ buses were a regular feature, I went to school and back on a bus, I went to work on a bus but............ then I bought a car. The story of my car ownership may wait until another day, but the freedom of your own personal transport was not to be underplayed. When I lived in more rural areas like North Yorkshire and Derbyshire, then the frequency and journey times of buses and the local trains meant they were not a reliable method of going anywhere where you had a time to be there.
Now I have discovered buses and trams in particular, both of which Nottingham has. Three main reasons, one whilst once upon a time you could park in Nottingham City, it like many conurbations, is discouraging you from driving in and charges very handsomely if you dare to do so and that applies to Council Carparks as well as private ones. (I shall not repeat my moan about NHS carparks previously made in another posting.) The second reason is that by surviving to the age of 60 I qualified for a free bus pass, so the cost becomes irrelevant (see later for the counter argument) and the third was that my post retirement activities have evolved to some of them requiring attendance in the City Centre.
So does the public transport option prove viable ? Well in part, I have to drive to a car park at a shopping centre about 2 miles away, from where I can catch a direct bus. This is actually fairly convenient, though limits the opportunity to have drink or two because you are still driving albeit a short distance. So I am on the bus and it travels to Nottingham, though in common with most buses via a roundabout route thus taking 45 minutes compared to 25-30 by car, excluding rush hour, more of which later. I have now mastered the stops and know where to alight and mount but for those who don’t know Nottingham has two main bus termini, one at the South end and one at the North end of the City Centre.
One place I visit I get deposited only 300 metres away from my venue, others, using the same bus, are however a 10-15 minutes walk. Given my bad knee I try and reduce the walking so now have to consult various timetables and find ways of starting at the same place but ending up in different places. Gone of course are the days of monopolies there are now multiple operators offered diverse routes and frequencies. If readers have a similar issue then I recommend http://www.traveline.org.uk/ which allows you to find the routes and times from anywhere in the UK to anywhere else, by train, bus, coach, cycle and walking or a combination of them all.
This multiplicity of operators can also cause confusion on using the bus pass. On Trent Barton you show the pass to the driver, tell him or her, where you are going and you get a ticket printed with £0.00. On Nottingham City Transport you need to swipe the pass on a machine, the drivers don’t talk and no ticket is forthcoming, on My Bus you wave the bus pass in the general direction of the driver and then just sit down. Once you learn all the rituals its all right, I still have to test the methods on other routes and operators, it could be the coffee table book of “101 ways to use your bus pass”, watch the best seller list next year.
However back to changing buses mid journey and taking pleasure in small victories I have now cracked getting from home to the North end of Nottingham City Centre (Victoria Centre/Milton St/Trinity Square for those with local knowledge) by Trent Barton and swapping over at Beeston Bus Station to NCT or My Bus, and the same on the way back.
But here we also uncover the flaws with public transport.
1. standing in the cold and rain waiting.......and sometimes waiting and waiting
2. seeing the connecting bus pull away just as you enter the bus station
3. Trying to travel in rush hour and having buses stuck in traffic, despite bus lanes which are often blocked by cars collecting chinese take aways or taxis just waiting and
4. buses filled to the gunwales with people and all their luggage
5. Buses running late or in bunches because of people volume and traffic congestion (why does everyone - lots of them anyway - go to work and come home at the same time ?)
6. Buses with seats designed for small people less than 5’3” I appreciate that they want to get the most people on but coming from cars with adjustable, comfortable leather, powered seats ............. maybe buses should be like airlines have a business or first class.
Clearly one answer is to travel off peak though this is not always possible. I recently did the return from Nottingham on the two bus connection plan as described before and part one was OK, but then the second bus came through packed solid, it went off and there was within minutes an even longer queue. Hating queues at the best of time but when tired, weary and hungry, I stopped queuing and went to the nearby Wetherspoons and had a drink and a steak, when I returned to the Bus Station the next bus was delightfully only a quarter full. Of course including the price of the meal and beer as compared to the free bus travel, changes the cost - benefit equation a bit and in total it took me 3.5 hours to get home, luckily no one cares when I get in and I can still watch Coronation Street on catch up TV !
Enough of the logistics, overall the travel is OK in the spring and summer, my main bus route has air-conditioned buses with leather seats, though non adjustable and still short of leg room, but I have had to buy a new coat and hat for the rain and cold. I had taken for granted that in a car you can take everything with you just in case, hat, gloves, umbrella, waterproof coats, fleece, parka etc on public transport you have to make the decision on clothing before you leave the house.
Lastly a small observation on who are the fellow travelers on public transport. Well out of peak hours, I have noted that a good percentage are all using bus passes of various types and the bus can resemble an OAP outing. Throughout the day you get students, lots of students, many of whom are Chinese, not that this is in any way a problem but I suspect that if the Chinese stopped going to Nottingham University their income might be cut rather drastically. Also traveling are, (by stereotyping on appearances and overheard conversations only), the more disadvantaged of society, who appear to represent a greater percentage than in other gatherings of the general population.
Being a British bus, people generally do not talk to even the person sitting next to you and actually avoid eye contact, I bet its rather different on a Spanish or French bus !
Finally it seems that the bus is the place, to listen to music, sometimes through leaky headphones, and especially to make and receive telephone calls, it is not unusual to hear people talking away for over 30 minutes and continuing to talk as they struggle with bags and or babies to get off at the right stop ! Well at least Orange, O2 etc get a benefit from bus travel.
I guess until I can afford a chauffeur to drop me off and pick me up, or someone invents Star Trek style 'beaming' from place to place, in this crowded Isle then public transport as well as cars will be necessary..................what I really hate is the thought that one day I cannot drive and thus I only have the bus, tram or train. On that depressing thought I shall go and do something else, until the next time happy reading and tell your friends to visit me via the internet of course, not by bus !
Monday, 1 November 2010
Money and Value
Don’t panic ... this isn’t an economic essay, nor a treatise on the price of gold, rather its a musing as a result of various things I have been involved in, including budget planning for the Nottingham Credit Union (www.nottinghamcu.co.uk) some personal reflections on spending and just possibility a small influence from the current UK and Global predictions on growth, recessions, unemployment etc.
Lets start with a very brief history lesson. Money was invented by people in ancient times, (blame the Chinese, they seem to have done things like this well before the West) as an answer to the ineffectiveness of the barter system. Its all well to trade three chickens for a goat but what if you want a sheep but the sheep owner wants hay ? or if you only want one chicken, how do you divide the goat and what bits are worth a chicken..............the exchange rate of chickens, goats, hay and sheep would trouble the Bank of England or other financial authorities as much as today’s system, so money was invented.
At its basis is a way of trying to measure what very different things are worth or VALUED. This is where we start to see flaws in the relationship between money, which has numbers attached to it................. in the old days we used to say pounds, shillings and pence, but what the coins and notes are called doesn’t matter to my argument............... what is important is how the numbers become measure of value in their own right, when they patently should not.
If you have £1000 and I have £5000, I have five times as much, but your £1000 may in fact be worth more to you than my £5K to me. You have more value or can purchase what is valued more by you for your £1000.
Value is therefore personal, people and business enterprises, for profit or non profit alike, all see value differently.
We can go all philosophical and talk about love, loyalty, integrity, power, praise etc that is things that cannot be readily measured in money terms, though it must be admitted that many have tried. The Insurance industry can tell you what a life, or loss of a limb or an eye is worth but their figures tell us nothing about the person affected or in the case of death, those connected with the deceased, what was that life really worth ?
However lets not get too morbid, the dilemma applies to any situation where people need to be valued, like my budget planning. The Accountants, also called the ‘moneymen’ or by some less respectful people, ‘bean counters’ have little problem, the cost of employing people is easily calculated and is easily reduced by shedding staff. What is lost is the value that these people deliver to their organisation, never mind the value they may make to the future.
On a more personal level, I might value a nice car more than a neighbour who is happy with an old runabout and who would rather spend their money on home improvements. That's fine, he would not pay my definition of a reasonable price for a car and I would not pay so much as he would for a new kitchen.
I might value control over my time, against working for someone who takes those decisions for me and people do become self employed for that sort of reason and maybe sacrifice money and perks for the personal freedom.
If I am starving in the desert and someone has food and water, then I might be very happy to pay rather more than the Asda Price for it. Staying alive is valued more in money terms than the money itself.
If I were rich and famous (maybe one day, we can still dream), I could easily become adjusted to the wealth so I may be happy to spend £50,000 on an expensive Swiss Timepiece, rather than £20 on one from China which is just as accurate. The argument there is of course that if I were rich, then I need to look like I am rich, so conspicuous consumption is necessary. (Apologies to all modest multimillionaires driving 1999 model Ford Escorts and wearing Hong Kong Digital watches.)
On a more mundane level, maybe as we get older our priorities change, for some this may mean choosing between eating or heating, .......... for others more fortunate, enjoyment in the twilight years has a value which means you spend the money on things, on trips and whatever else you fancy, as otherwise you would only leave it to your children. Others may of course have a sense of value in maximising the inheritance to their heirs and that is their right.
Conscious that I am rambling a bit, I will end with saying that a past boss of mine was fond of saying. He applied it to all the situations where the ‘bean counters’ got excited over small expenditures and really excited when the budget was overspent on one line and underspent on another and to the numerous requests to show the value of a project or course of action, a value expressed in money of course.......the phrase was and I quote
“You don’t fatten the pig by keep weighing it”
Money measures things, its people who create and add value.
Lets start with a very brief history lesson. Money was invented by people in ancient times, (blame the Chinese, they seem to have done things like this well before the West) as an answer to the ineffectiveness of the barter system. Its all well to trade three chickens for a goat but what if you want a sheep but the sheep owner wants hay ? or if you only want one chicken, how do you divide the goat and what bits are worth a chicken..............the exchange rate of chickens, goats, hay and sheep would trouble the Bank of England or other financial authorities as much as today’s system, so money was invented.
At its basis is a way of trying to measure what very different things are worth or VALUED. This is where we start to see flaws in the relationship between money, which has numbers attached to it................. in the old days we used to say pounds, shillings and pence, but what the coins and notes are called doesn’t matter to my argument............... what is important is how the numbers become measure of value in their own right, when they patently should not.
If you have £1000 and I have £5000, I have five times as much, but your £1000 may in fact be worth more to you than my £5K to me. You have more value or can purchase what is valued more by you for your £1000.
Value is therefore personal, people and business enterprises, for profit or non profit alike, all see value differently.
We can go all philosophical and talk about love, loyalty, integrity, power, praise etc that is things that cannot be readily measured in money terms, though it must be admitted that many have tried. The Insurance industry can tell you what a life, or loss of a limb or an eye is worth but their figures tell us nothing about the person affected or in the case of death, those connected with the deceased, what was that life really worth ?
However lets not get too morbid, the dilemma applies to any situation where people need to be valued, like my budget planning. The Accountants, also called the ‘moneymen’ or by some less respectful people, ‘bean counters’ have little problem, the cost of employing people is easily calculated and is easily reduced by shedding staff. What is lost is the value that these people deliver to their organisation, never mind the value they may make to the future.
On a more personal level, I might value a nice car more than a neighbour who is happy with an old runabout and who would rather spend their money on home improvements. That's fine, he would not pay my definition of a reasonable price for a car and I would not pay so much as he would for a new kitchen.
I might value control over my time, against working for someone who takes those decisions for me and people do become self employed for that sort of reason and maybe sacrifice money and perks for the personal freedom.
If I am starving in the desert and someone has food and water, then I might be very happy to pay rather more than the Asda Price for it. Staying alive is valued more in money terms than the money itself.
If I were rich and famous (maybe one day, we can still dream), I could easily become adjusted to the wealth so I may be happy to spend £50,000 on an expensive Swiss Timepiece, rather than £20 on one from China which is just as accurate. The argument there is of course that if I were rich, then I need to look like I am rich, so conspicuous consumption is necessary. (Apologies to all modest multimillionaires driving 1999 model Ford Escorts and wearing Hong Kong Digital watches.)
On a more mundane level, maybe as we get older our priorities change, for some this may mean choosing between eating or heating, .......... for others more fortunate, enjoyment in the twilight years has a value which means you spend the money on things, on trips and whatever else you fancy, as otherwise you would only leave it to your children. Others may of course have a sense of value in maximising the inheritance to their heirs and that is their right.
Conscious that I am rambling a bit, I will end with saying that a past boss of mine was fond of saying. He applied it to all the situations where the ‘bean counters’ got excited over small expenditures and really excited when the budget was overspent on one line and underspent on another and to the numerous requests to show the value of a project or course of action, a value expressed in money of course.......the phrase was and I quote
“You don’t fatten the pig by keep weighing it”
Money measures things, its people who create and add value.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Procrastination
There is a saying, I don't know who said it, and I really can't be bothered looking it up, which says that if "you want things done quickly then ask a busy person".
I was reminded of this when sitting in the conservatory, reading a magazine and waiting for the bread rolls to defrost themselves so I can make sandwiches for lunch. Now readers may be thinking that having plenty of time so I can muse, read and generally do nothing is a good thing, well perhaps, but now as an inhabitant of the "retiredsphere" ........oh I think I may have just invented that as a new made up word, based on blogsphere, websphere and other words which may not yet been recognised by the OED nor indeed by the word processor spellchecker, but are used in more trendy publications and sometimes in real life......but I digress.
The point is that not working for a living and ............. perhaps diferently from the unemployed, having no intention of working again, even supposing someone wants to employ me.............I have much, if not total, control of my time.
I look at my diary, there are events, sitting in Court, attending meetings, training people in computers, all these being voluntary but dictated to some extent by others; hospital, doctors etc which are also imposed and others which are agreed time slots to eg visit someone, go out to dinner or the cinema etc but this still leaves swathes of time as yet unallocated.
My time picture seems to have days when I am busy doing different things in different places and absent from the house for many hours, whilst on other days, there is nothing. Now this doesn't mean that there is nothing to do, domestic stuff like washing, hoovering, though most of this is delegated to the Irobot Roomba, as is lawn cutting to the Robomow, but there is still the loading and unloading of dishwashers and some light dusting etc but I am not so structured that I schedule these things in, rather I do them as I think about them ... and this is the point, in addition to domestic stuff, there is other things, go shopping, plan holidays, fill cars up with petrol or diesel, (preferably the right stuff for the right vehicle) and more interestingly, the more developmental type tasks, ie things which are 'new' rather than ones that just maintain the status quo. Indeed I constantly update the "ToDo" list with such matters of all descriptions. It may be a sign of old age but I sometimes find myself thinking of something that should be done but immediately forget it, writing it down (for writing substitute typing of course) helps. So to the title of this piece why is that given a completely empty day, do I put off doing things. I may think about doing it, I may mentally plan it, but I don't.
As I report in a previous post, I have the great unfinished novel and I keep thinking about doing it, but haven't yet. This blog evolved from the sitting down activity which I opened on, and only became action as I had to get up to answer the door bell and take a parcel, so on the way back, I stopped at the computer and captured the thoughts. Your own opinions on whether I should have carried on walking are of course for you to have.
So does it mean that human beings, or is it just me, perform better when someone else structures things for them. At work you have a boss who controls your time, self employed ?... well you have those customers who want you to do things when they want them....in 'retiredzone'...... OK I'll stop making up new words ..... and especially when alone without the benefit of a partner or offspring who otherwise also manage your time, you are left taking responsibility for yourself. Maybe being the manager of time and the user of time are incompatible activities, maybe some people just are procrastinators by nature.
I think in my case I like new things, I get bored with routine and I haven't learnt to completely manage myself.
Anyway enough time wasted on blogging, the rolls are defrosted....................and I have the afternoon and evening to avoid things in.
I was reminded of this when sitting in the conservatory, reading a magazine and waiting for the bread rolls to defrost themselves so I can make sandwiches for lunch. Now readers may be thinking that having plenty of time so I can muse, read and generally do nothing is a good thing, well perhaps, but now as an inhabitant of the "retiredsphere" ........oh I think I may have just invented that as a new made up word, based on blogsphere, websphere and other words which may not yet been recognised by the OED nor indeed by the word processor spellchecker, but are used in more trendy publications and sometimes in real life......but I digress.
The point is that not working for a living and ............. perhaps diferently from the unemployed, having no intention of working again, even supposing someone wants to employ me.............I have much, if not total, control of my time.
I look at my diary, there are events, sitting in Court, attending meetings, training people in computers, all these being voluntary but dictated to some extent by others; hospital, doctors etc which are also imposed and others which are agreed time slots to eg visit someone, go out to dinner or the cinema etc but this still leaves swathes of time as yet unallocated.
My time picture seems to have days when I am busy doing different things in different places and absent from the house for many hours, whilst on other days, there is nothing. Now this doesn't mean that there is nothing to do, domestic stuff like washing, hoovering, though most of this is delegated to the Irobot Roomba, as is lawn cutting to the Robomow, but there is still the loading and unloading of dishwashers and some light dusting etc but I am not so structured that I schedule these things in, rather I do them as I think about them ... and this is the point, in addition to domestic stuff, there is other things, go shopping, plan holidays, fill cars up with petrol or diesel, (preferably the right stuff for the right vehicle) and more interestingly, the more developmental type tasks, ie things which are 'new' rather than ones that just maintain the status quo. Indeed I constantly update the "ToDo" list with such matters of all descriptions. It may be a sign of old age but I sometimes find myself thinking of something that should be done but immediately forget it, writing it down (for writing substitute typing of course) helps. So to the title of this piece why is that given a completely empty day, do I put off doing things. I may think about doing it, I may mentally plan it, but I don't.
As I report in a previous post, I have the great unfinished novel and I keep thinking about doing it, but haven't yet. This blog evolved from the sitting down activity which I opened on, and only became action as I had to get up to answer the door bell and take a parcel, so on the way back, I stopped at the computer and captured the thoughts. Your own opinions on whether I should have carried on walking are of course for you to have.
So does it mean that human beings, or is it just me, perform better when someone else structures things for them. At work you have a boss who controls your time, self employed ?... well you have those customers who want you to do things when they want them....in 'retiredzone'...... OK I'll stop making up new words ..... and especially when alone without the benefit of a partner or offspring who otherwise also manage your time, you are left taking responsibility for yourself. Maybe being the manager of time and the user of time are incompatible activities, maybe some people just are procrastinators by nature.
I think in my case I like new things, I get bored with routine and I haven't learnt to completely manage myself.
Anyway enough time wasted on blogging, the rolls are defrosted....................and I have the afternoon and evening to avoid things in.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Creative Writing
Having just finished my latest piece of writing ..........and this doesn't somehow include this blog, though writing it certainly is, this made me reflect on the fact that for over 50 years I have been in a very small way writing. Clearly I am not on the best sellers list nor the acknowledged authority on some important science or philosophy, but I think with all due modesty that I have been able to find an outlet for my creative inner being through words. Probably just as well, as art and music are ones that having tried at various times, I clearly lack any talent.
My earliest recollection, omitting school essays, was a short fictional piece on the origin and habits of the haggis, I am not even sure I have a copy, that being in the days of typewriters not computers. I did some other short pieces when the muse took me, including ones designed to impress young ladies. I ventured into poetry occasionally, again memory is dimmed by age, but I think I penned my late wife a poem, which as she did marry me can't perhaps been that bad.
I did some more non fiction for the College Magazine back in the late 60s and this was probably the first actually published by someone else piece, this was about the perceived differences between University and Polytechnic. Of course Polytechnics have all now been upgraded to University so history has rendered this first effort irrelevant.
The non fiction theme continues as, related to my work, I submitted and had published, several pieces to professional journals. The fictional root briefly flourished when I did, I think for three years or so, a Christmas Story for my Department at Asda. Full of insider references that even I cannot remember now, I was reminded of them quite recently when a old colleague made contact via that strange beast called Facebook and admitted she had just found a copy when clearing out, she didn't say whether having found it, she then cleared it out properly or put it back into storage for future generations. I don't think I will ask.
More recently I have taken up the pen as an adjunct to various hobbies I was involved in. I became the newsletter editor for the Pines Park Archers, a Field Archery Club, and as anyone who has ever taken on this job knows, the editor doesn't just edit but usually has to create most of the content ! I enlivened the editions with some short fiction and as well as in the Club, some got published in the National Field Archery Society's magazine, fame indeed.
I have been following a similar vein with my Greenlaning (see other post) and have submitted and had printed both factual articles and more whimsical humourous pieces.
They say that everyone has one novel in them, well I have tried to extract my novel and at the current time have three on the go. One is a Science Fiction piece on time travel, one is a French Detective in Britttany and the last and most progressed, thirteen chapters in the hard drive, is about......well its about people, families, relationships and fears, hopes and aspirations with a bit of travel, some romance and sex and themes from the world..........interestingly I wrote this with the absolute vanity that it would make a great film. This is maybe from my other creative writing strand which was screenplays and scripts for training and corporate communication, with Asda and later Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Police.
I am not sure why the novels got stalled and I tell myself, as no one else is interested, though maybe now I have confessed on the web, others may, that it was time and other distractions. Perhaps but I find that writing has to come, you have an idea and follow it. Just like todays blog which I though about it for some reason and then immediately took to the keyboard.
The novel ............ oh well as you asked so nicely ............... is called "the Start of Something Else" and writing it has shown that my creative track is very loose, I like to write and move on, but having not finished it, I have to go back and read the chapters I have, before I can pick up again. Sometimes a new idea pops into my head and very often when I do sit to write I have some mental plan but the fingers on the keyboard take over and what emerges is different, hopefully better, but who knows. I keep telling myself to finish it, even just for my own sense of achievement and of course with the hope that it will be published, I will sell the screen rights and become rich and famous.
In the meantime I shall hopefully continue writing and creating, after all its a harmless pursuit.
My earliest recollection, omitting school essays, was a short fictional piece on the origin and habits of the haggis, I am not even sure I have a copy, that being in the days of typewriters not computers. I did some other short pieces when the muse took me, including ones designed to impress young ladies. I ventured into poetry occasionally, again memory is dimmed by age, but I think I penned my late wife a poem, which as she did marry me can't perhaps been that bad.
I did some more non fiction for the College Magazine back in the late 60s and this was probably the first actually published by someone else piece, this was about the perceived differences between University and Polytechnic. Of course Polytechnics have all now been upgraded to University so history has rendered this first effort irrelevant.
The non fiction theme continues as, related to my work, I submitted and had published, several pieces to professional journals. The fictional root briefly flourished when I did, I think for three years or so, a Christmas Story for my Department at Asda. Full of insider references that even I cannot remember now, I was reminded of them quite recently when a old colleague made contact via that strange beast called Facebook and admitted she had just found a copy when clearing out, she didn't say whether having found it, she then cleared it out properly or put it back into storage for future generations. I don't think I will ask.
More recently I have taken up the pen as an adjunct to various hobbies I was involved in. I became the newsletter editor for the Pines Park Archers, a Field Archery Club, and as anyone who has ever taken on this job knows, the editor doesn't just edit but usually has to create most of the content ! I enlivened the editions with some short fiction and as well as in the Club, some got published in the National Field Archery Society's magazine, fame indeed.
I have been following a similar vein with my Greenlaning (see other post) and have submitted and had printed both factual articles and more whimsical humourous pieces.
They say that everyone has one novel in them, well I have tried to extract my novel and at the current time have three on the go. One is a Science Fiction piece on time travel, one is a French Detective in Britttany and the last and most progressed, thirteen chapters in the hard drive, is about......well its about people, families, relationships and fears, hopes and aspirations with a bit of travel, some romance and sex and themes from the world..........interestingly I wrote this with the absolute vanity that it would make a great film. This is maybe from my other creative writing strand which was screenplays and scripts for training and corporate communication, with Asda and later Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Police.
I am not sure why the novels got stalled and I tell myself, as no one else is interested, though maybe now I have confessed on the web, others may, that it was time and other distractions. Perhaps but I find that writing has to come, you have an idea and follow it. Just like todays blog which I though about it for some reason and then immediately took to the keyboard.
The novel ............ oh well as you asked so nicely ............... is called "the Start of Something Else" and writing it has shown that my creative track is very loose, I like to write and move on, but having not finished it, I have to go back and read the chapters I have, before I can pick up again. Sometimes a new idea pops into my head and very often when I do sit to write I have some mental plan but the fingers on the keyboard take over and what emerges is different, hopefully better, but who knows. I keep telling myself to finish it, even just for my own sense of achievement and of course with the hope that it will be published, I will sell the screen rights and become rich and famous.
In the meantime I shall hopefully continue writing and creating, after all its a harmless pursuit.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Technology
I have seen the future and it is tech shaped
You are either technophobe or a technophile, I don't think there is a half way house. Once upon a time you could survive without gadgets that do things you didn't used to need, no more.
I must confuse that I tend to be the 'early adopter' the person beloved of marketing people who wants a new gadget, because ......... well because it's new.
I remember the first PDAs I had several versions of Psion Organisers, I remember the early mobile phones and I wondered why they couldn't combine them with the Psion ! I was just ahead of my time, I had the various incarnations of Nokia Communicators and loved having all my calendars and contacts and other stuff with me, though getting them to sync with my works computer networks was a bit of an issue. I find that some IT people don't like being asked why they can't do things like that !
I had the first IBM compatible the Amstrad 1512, young readers may not know that the first PCS all came from IBM until Alan Sugar got involved, I had the deluxe model with twin 5 inch floppy disks !
More recently I have gone Apple, first with an IMac with a stunning 27 inch all in one screen, processor, hard disk etc and wireless keyboard and mouse and now with the magical IPAD. Only worrying thing is they are already planning IPAD2 !
But back to the point, all this means I constantly have to review what I've got, what I need, and what I want, astute readers will note that need and want are NOT the same thing.
Since IPAD appeared, I have replaced my IPOD, my Sat Nav (bye bye Garmin), saved having to buy a Kindle, disposed of a nearly new netbook and retired the makeshift setup under the TV which allowed web surfing in the lounge. I have also found that my latest smartphone, a Nokia E71 is increasingly only a phone again.
Now I know many who use all the features on their smartphone, but I still think a stand alone camera is better, and I speak from starting with 2 megapixels, via a semi pro digital SLR with separate lens and any settings you could imagine, back to a Panasonic lumix, probably out of date now, but with 10 of those essential megapixies and a really great Intelligent Auto mode which sorts out the settings and takes fab pictures.
I want calendar, I wants contacts and other data, but the IPAD does those and Itunes syncs everything. The Nokia died on holiday, so not yet time to check out the battery charging .......... but phone lust is rising within me. I bought an old LG from Ebay for £12, it works well and rescued me when the Nokia died, but it doesn't seem right, though it will make and receive calls fine, I find myself looking at adverts for new touchscreen phones with all the features I don't need.
You see the problem, the IPAD does everything but phone calls, though check out Truphone or Skype and then it partly does, but since I retired no body really rings me, so a £30 a month contract on an Iphone is not economic, though attractive in a subtle, cunning way.
I shall continue the exploitation of tech but my recent experiences on the Continent were marred not by the gadgets but by the suppliers who supply what is in fact the one essential tech needed by everyone, I mean of course connectivity to the web and email.
There is a long saga as to why I lost connection, partly due to 3 forgetting to tell me things I needed when I asked for the IPAD to be activated for roaming, ie that you had to pay on account, partly because the hotel advertised wifi but didn't state it was chargeable and that their speeds were abysmal and their router didn't like IPADs. Like having to ring the UK to charge up the account, and of course why your inclusive data is restricted to the UK, who owns 3 ITaly anyway ????????? for heaven's sake .... Especially hurtful and surprisingly disorientating however was the loss of instant on, instant access to the net, any question any time being available for answer. All the apps that need Internet, news, weather, maps.............
So the tech we need is connections, always on, always fast, always there, anywhere, affordable, ........ "one day my prince" will come as the song says, in the meantime thanks Macdonalds.
You are either technophobe or a technophile, I don't think there is a half way house. Once upon a time you could survive without gadgets that do things you didn't used to need, no more.
I must confuse that I tend to be the 'early adopter' the person beloved of marketing people who wants a new gadget, because ......... well because it's new.
I remember the first PDAs I had several versions of Psion Organisers, I remember the early mobile phones and I wondered why they couldn't combine them with the Psion ! I was just ahead of my time, I had the various incarnations of Nokia Communicators and loved having all my calendars and contacts and other stuff with me, though getting them to sync with my works computer networks was a bit of an issue. I find that some IT people don't like being asked why they can't do things like that !
I had the first IBM compatible the Amstrad 1512, young readers may not know that the first PCS all came from IBM until Alan Sugar got involved, I had the deluxe model with twin 5 inch floppy disks !
More recently I have gone Apple, first with an IMac with a stunning 27 inch all in one screen, processor, hard disk etc and wireless keyboard and mouse and now with the magical IPAD. Only worrying thing is they are already planning IPAD2 !
But back to the point, all this means I constantly have to review what I've got, what I need, and what I want, astute readers will note that need and want are NOT the same thing.
Since IPAD appeared, I have replaced my IPOD, my Sat Nav (bye bye Garmin), saved having to buy a Kindle, disposed of a nearly new netbook and retired the makeshift setup under the TV which allowed web surfing in the lounge. I have also found that my latest smartphone, a Nokia E71 is increasingly only a phone again.
Now I know many who use all the features on their smartphone, but I still think a stand alone camera is better, and I speak from starting with 2 megapixels, via a semi pro digital SLR with separate lens and any settings you could imagine, back to a Panasonic lumix, probably out of date now, but with 10 of those essential megapixies and a really great Intelligent Auto mode which sorts out the settings and takes fab pictures.
I want calendar, I wants contacts and other data, but the IPAD does those and Itunes syncs everything. The Nokia died on holiday, so not yet time to check out the battery charging .......... but phone lust is rising within me. I bought an old LG from Ebay for £12, it works well and rescued me when the Nokia died, but it doesn't seem right, though it will make and receive calls fine, I find myself looking at adverts for new touchscreen phones with all the features I don't need.
You see the problem, the IPAD does everything but phone calls, though check out Truphone or Skype and then it partly does, but since I retired no body really rings me, so a £30 a month contract on an Iphone is not economic, though attractive in a subtle, cunning way.
I shall continue the exploitation of tech but my recent experiences on the Continent were marred not by the gadgets but by the suppliers who supply what is in fact the one essential tech needed by everyone, I mean of course connectivity to the web and email.
There is a long saga as to why I lost connection, partly due to 3 forgetting to tell me things I needed when I asked for the IPAD to be activated for roaming, ie that you had to pay on account, partly because the hotel advertised wifi but didn't state it was chargeable and that their speeds were abysmal and their router didn't like IPADs. Like having to ring the UK to charge up the account, and of course why your inclusive data is restricted to the UK, who owns 3 ITaly anyway ????????? for heaven's sake .... Especially hurtful and surprisingly disorientating however was the loss of instant on, instant access to the net, any question any time being available for answer. All the apps that need Internet, news, weather, maps.............
So the tech we need is connections, always on, always fast, always there, anywhere, affordable, ........ "one day my prince" will come as the song says, in the meantime thanks Macdonalds.
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