Zopa Tweaks The Alogorithm
I am a Control Engineer by training, so I’m supposed to be able to make systems perform in a safe and stable manner. As an example, when your train comes into the station and stops precisely in the right place, or an airliner lands itself automatically, a Control Engineer will have been responsible for working out the principles of how that is done. I have said before that Zopa is in fact a stable system, but now they have tweaked the algorithm to speed up the lending process without losing any of the stability. It’s all described here in their blog.
The most important way to lend money faster is to create a bigger demand. Zopa asks lenders to spread the word to those with good credit ratings, who might want to borrow money for sensible purposes.
But of course, you won’t get a bigger demand unless you have more money in the pot to borrow! So the whole process should spiral and feed in on itself.
The one thing that needs to be maintained to the highest possible level, is the checking of borrowers to make sure, they’re credit worthy.
But even this process should get better, as Zopa learns more about good borrowers and this feeds back into the system.
The whole system is a classic feedback control system, that has the ability to mutate and change itself by learning from its history.
Does your very average bank, like the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers behave like this? Of course it doesn’t, as those at the top cast a strategy in stone and it gets slavishly followed to the letter. Unfortunately, it has no capacity to learn and change in a Darwinian manner.
But more importantly, it can’t respond easily to increased demand and a changed marketplace. Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers also has constraints placed on it, as regards to parameters like working capital.
Zopa just needs to balance their lending to the amount that is deposited by lenders, or as I prefer savers. If I look at my figures for Zopa over the last year or so, these figures have been moving towards balance.
Now with their Safeguard system enabled, the loop has been closed!
Are The New Bus for London’s Overheating Problems Fixed?
According to this article in the Standard, Sir Peter Hendy says that the overheating problems on the New Bus for London are fixed.
But don’t just take his word for it.
Today I went with a friend from Trafalgar Square to Warren Street on one of the new buses on Route 24.
It was very pleasant despite it being a very hot day.
I do have a slight reservation about route 24, in that, when the Hackney 8 on route 38 were running double-crewed, the atmosphere did sometimes catch a bit of a party mood. But probably, that’s because Hackney is the East End with all its bustle and humour and Hampstead is a lot more posh and sedate. I’ve even been chatted up by a widow some years older than me on a 38! That certainly wouldn’t happen on a 24!
Barts Take A Strong Line Against Smoking
This story in the Standard has the headline.
Hospitals warn smokers: no treatment and £75 fine if you light up
I can’t why this isn’t in force all over the country.
An Island In All This Heat
Yesterday on my way to and from the Truscott Arms, I took Hammersmith and City branch trains on the Metropolitan line.
I rode both ways in new S Stock trains.
These are fully air-conditioned and it makes life a little better. It would appear there’s only the Circle and District lines left to re-equip.
An Accident On A Bus
I’ve travelled on public transport for something like sixty years and I’d never been involved in any accident until yesterday.
I was on a 6 bus, coming back from the Truscott Arms, when it got hit by a skip lorry.
Does this show that public transport is actually rather safe, as one non-injury accident in sixty years doesn’t seem bad odds.
The Beard Liberation Front Gives A Dispensation To Trim
I like this story about the Beard Liberation Front from the Standard. Here’s the first paragraph.
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has announced that for the first time in its history it is permitting supporters to trim their beards due to the extremely hot weather.
I sympathise and am seriously thinking of getting rid of my nearly fifty year old member of my family. I did it once about thirty years ago and I immediately grew it back again. Mainly, I think because of complaints from C. In fact, I don’t think my youngest son, ever saw me without a beard and my middle son, doesn’t ever remember me without one. I certainly grew it before he was born.
Alternatively, I could write to Monty Panesar to see if he has any tips for beard wearers in hot weather. It’s a subject that Sikhs probably know a lot more about than most.
The Future Of Cash Machines
This article raises a few questions about cash machines and how they will look in the future.
I don’t have a problem with the machines themselves, but increasingly over the last few years, I’ve had problems with the placement of a few machines, due to being unable to read them in the sun. And it’s not just cash machines, as this post shows.
I also have problems with some touch-screen technology.
And of course, if they insists on a smart phone in some way, they can forget it!
As they can, if I get charged to take out my money!
I think we’ll see the standard design last a few more years yet!
The Anonymous Widower 