Football As Monoculture
This is the sub-title on a wonderful picture of football on Hackney Marshes in a piece by Simon Barnes in The Times today.
There are 88 football pitches on the marshes these days.
The marshes were also the venue for BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in 2012.
Another Urban Fox Attack
There is a report of another fox attack on a baby. Happily, it doesn’t seem to be too serious and not outside the capabilities of the NHS.
One of my friends is Korean and I asked him, if they get these sort of problems in Seoul. he said that they don’t and he felt, there was many wild animals in the city except for rats and mice. This is confirmed by this post from a blog.
But how many other cities in other countries have urban animals, that aren’t always cuddly?
This is a story about wildlife in Berlin.
So it’s not just a British problem!
Even The Mafia Are Cutting Costs
I woke up this morning and found a Findus lasagne on my pillow!
[From a Radio 5 listener!]
How To Shoot Penguins
I like penguins, and it was one of the reasons, I joined the London Zoo.
But in the new BBC series; Penguins – Spy In The Huddle, which is previewed in the papers today, there does seem to be some amazing shots of everybody’s favourite birds. There is more here in the Daily Mail, which includes a video. The article in The Times is more technical describing how fifty cameras were used, some of which went to a cold watery grave. One egg camera was even stolen by a sea bird.
I shall be watching on Monday night. Probably along, with a good proportion of the UK population! the iPlayer was made for television like this.
And Now Berkeley Homes Get In On The Act
Crossrail is setting new standards in the way it distributes information about Europe’s largest project and London’s new railway.
And now Berkeley Homes, who are developing the site at Woolwich Arsenal with new homes and a new station, have published a time-lapse video, which shows the construction of the enormous station box, where the railway tunnels will go. It has been embedded in this web page on the Crossrail web site.
It is definitely worth watching.
I shall be going to the Open Day for the station box on February 27th, if I can get a ticket.
Are Bookings At The Shard Going As Well As Expected?
I ask the question, not because I want it to be unsuccessful, but this evening, I was browsing the on-line copy of The Times and an advert to visit the Shard was displayed.
I would have thought, that given the building’s prominence on the London skyline, it really wouldn’t have needed to advertise that it was open for business.
I did check The Shard’s web site and there did seem to be tickets available for the following two Sundays, although the Saturdays are sold out.
On the other hand with weather like we’ve been having, I might even pass a trip up the building. Even if it was a gift!
But articles like this one in the Daily Mail aren’t very helpful.
I shall probably go to the cable car this Sunday, but there is a slight problem in that the Docklands Light Railway isn’t running to the northern terminal.
Liverpool University Comes To London
Liverpool University is opening a campus in London. The details are here on their web site. As I was going to the area this morning to shop at the Marks and Spencer on Finsbury Pavement, I took a few pictures.
It is an area, I know well, as we used to live in Cromwell Tower in the Barbican, which can be seen from the front of the building.
Note the 205 bus in the picture, which is the easiest way to get to the area from Euston, especially if you need step-free access.
It is an area too, with a lot of interesting history and a bright future, as it is close to Shoreditch, Bunhill Fields, Spitalfields and Silicon Roundabout.
According to Wikipedia, Finsbury Square is in the London Borough of Islington.
Crowd Funding For Research
I sometimes get involved in helping research projects at Liverpool University and I will also lob small amounts of funding towards projects I think are worthwhile.
I also look into innovative ways of raising funding for individuals and businesses, like Zopa and Funding Circle. I also loan money to the Developing World using Kiva.
So can their methods be used to raise funding for research projects.
Let’s take a researcher interested in how patients manage with the gluten-free diet, they need for coeliac disease. They perhaps want to interview as many patients as possible and produce a report that highlights both the problems and the successes, possibly on a regional basis.
So they have two needs.
A small amount of money is probably required, the size of which would depend on the size and scape of the project.
The second thing, that many projects, like the mythical one I outlined, often need subjects for the research.
Surely, a properly designed system could do both.
Similar things have been done under the general heading of crowd funding. There’s more here on Wikipedia.
How would such a system work? I would steal some of the methodology from sites like Zopa and Kiva.
The on-line system would be uploaded with suitable research projects, which borrowing from Zopa’s methods, would be checked as to the veracity of the researcher.
Prospective funders and participants would join and then search for projects, they might like to support, just like you search for suitable borrowers on Kiva.
Obviously, you could also rate researchers, just as you rate buyers and sellers on eBay.
There are some obvious winners, if this could be made to work!
I know from those in Universities, I’ve talked with, that getting funding for small projects is difficult and a lot of time and money is wasted.
Are there going to be any losers? Not directly, but I suspect some charities and their inefficient structures might be by-passed.
I will probably not develop the system, but someone will! On the other hand, if anybody wants to, I’ll be happy to advise.
Lonely In The Cold
I think that living alone in the cold weather, we have had the last few weeks, has been much worse, than living it with someone. The weather is after all a classic mutual moan and a problem to share. And where do you get cuddles from?
At least if the sun is out, the sun gives you a lovely rub and bathe!
This weather can’t go on much longer. After all Noah only had to put up with just over a year and he had some nice pets to play with! And some awful ones too!
The Mess That Is RBS
Just reading this article from the Guardian shows the mess the wunch of bankers at RBS got themselves into. Here’s an extract.
Clear thinking and firm principles are Royal Bank of Scotland’s best defence as it tries to negotiate its Libor fine, which could end in UK taxpayers, in effect, dispatching £400m to American taxpayers. But, in the case of Hourican’s exit, it’s hard to know what point RBS is trying to make. On the one hand Hourican’s head (we are led to believe) will be offered up in acknowledgement of the seriousness of the Libor penalty. On the other hand RBS is likely to undermine the force of this resignation by saying that Hourican would have departed anyway because his investment banking unit is to be split in two with the new heads of each section – markets and international – reporting directly to the chief executive, Stephen Hester. Since there’s no suggestion that Hourican knew about attempted Libor manipulation in the ranks, he will keep the bonuses he earned in past years.
The Guardian says it’s a muddle and if everybody in these Isles have to give a few quid to American taxpayers, how about we all sue Prudence, who to protect his Scottish majority, didn’t do the humane thing with RBS and liquidate it. I feel slightly sorry for Mr. Hourican, as I suspect, he’ll suffer badly at the hands of the tabloids, although it would appear he’s done nothing wrong.
The Anonymous Widower 