Archive for August, 2009
I’m with the economists, stupid
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When 46 economists all agree on something and sign their name to it for publication in the Irish Times, you have to sit up and take notice. When it is in relation to the future economic well-being of this country, it is absolutely required reading.
Alan Ahearne, a “special economic advisor” to Brian Lenihan (obviously more special than all these other 46 and many more), knows better though. He has criticised them saying they are using careless numbers relating to the value of loans you and I are supposed to take on.
Some selected quotes of what he says:
“The problem I have with the article is that it comes up with this valuation for the loans. They have put a value on what they think the loans are worth, of €30 billion.”
“I can assure you what is going to be used is not optimistic about property prices.”
“The analysis all shows this thing [Nama] can break even or even make a profit.”
Has this man got a crystal ball that no one else has? The language of his criticism is one of extreme ego, and this is not a time for ego.
I don’t trust this government to do right by me and my countrymen/women and children.
I don’t trust “special economic advisors” allied in any way to the government
I don’t trust ego
I don’t trust anything that is cloaked in secrecy about valuation methods
What valuation would a special economic advisor put on apartments in Bundoran, Co. Donegal this morning?
How about €50,000 – fully furnished.
And according to Cllr. Joe Ryan’s blog post, the whole complex was empty.
What magic Crystal Ball could have predicted that I wonder?
This week’s header image on le craic
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I think every town in Ireland has a garden similar to this. Maybe not quite as many, but enough to make people stop and have a look.
Image owned by edmittance [cc license]
X Factor 2009 – quick thoughts on audience element and Irish accents
Posted by: | CommentsFirst episode of the X Factor has just ended. Had to jump on to the computer here to say I’m not a fan of this new fangled audience element to the auditions. A quick look at the reaction on Twitter would seem to indicate this is the majority view. The whole studio layout reminded me of a Roman Amphitheatre. Fitting I suppose, considering the reaction of the crowd during some of the auditions: baying for blood – trying to influence Claudius and the elders of his court.
It’s too late now for this series now – but they should bring back the unaccompanied audition in front of the 4 judges. That’s the only real way to judge a singing voice. A couple of the acts that got through tonight weren’t very strong vocally. They simply got through because the backing track and audience reaction helped.
Cowell, Walsh, Minogue and Cole are paid big money to be professional judges. As such, they should at least be professional and give auditionees a bit of respect by judging them without a circus going on in the background.
And how about the great Irish hopefuls in the competition then? John and Edward – the twins from Dublin. They’re cocky, they’ve got awful hair, they speak with an American accent. How could Simon NOT know they were from Dublin – sure all the kids speak that way. Ask any of their MOMs.
In case you missed it, here’s the video. Enjoy! They got through to bootcamp.
Should BookDepository.co.uk say that shipping is free worldwide?
Posted by: | CommentsInteresting thread on the Bargains section of boards.ie. The thread originator says that if you browse the BookDepository website using a UK proxy, it is possible to save up to 20% on purchases. Just in case you don’t know what a proxy is, it basically means that you can trick another website into thinking you are in a different country.
Ever tried to access the BBC’s IPlayer to view TV programmes? If you have, you’ll know that a message comes up saying you are not in the UK and are blocked from viewing the site. Switch on a reliable proxy, and you’ll have no problem. That’s because another computer based in the UK makes the request to the BBC site for you. That UK computer then fowards the result to your computer based outside the UK.
Ok, so enough Proxy talk – onto putting the "20% savings" thing to the test. I used a browser based proxy called daveproxy to browse the Book Depository website. Lo and behold, all of the prices were different. Here’s a few examples :
I’ve used Book Depository a couple of times for items that just weren’t available locally, and their prices have always been good. So good that I couldn’t work out how they made money with Free shipping worldwide, something that they point out very prominently on the site.
This has explained how they do it. The site is set up to detect where you are visiting from, and set the appropriate price based on your location. That seems reasonable to me BUT I think saying shipping is FREE is a bit misleading. It appears to me that the final price that appears on the site already has the shipping element built in. Since it costs a bit more to ship a book outside the UK, it’s obvious Book Depository can’t absorb that price. Margins on books are too thin for that.
Rather than saying Shipping is FREE, they should be more upfront about it and say that the price you pay has shipping costs built in and costs can vary based on where you are ordering from. That way, there’s no room for confusion.
I consider it a tiny misfortune that I have to use public toilets during my workday. One of the things I miss about working in the corporate world is being able to use clean facilities. By and large, in an office environment people treat the facilities like they would their own home. That’s not to say the cleaning staff in the shopping centre don’t do a good job, it’s just that it’s extremely hard for them to cope with the pressure of the countless hoardes every day.
Reading Chris Anderson’s book "Free" recently answered a question I have often asked. Why are public facilities often so messy? His answer seems pretty obvious : because the clean up costs are not borne by the user, basic rules go out the window. And I’ve seen the evidence of it every day.
It still leaves me puzzled though. Just because the user isn’t responsible for the clean up, surely basic "leave it as you would wish to find it" rules come into play. I wonder to myself what sort of cave dwelling monkey can make such a mess and walk away leaving the next person gag at the sight before them?
Same goes for the special type of dog owner who takes Fido for walkies and allows their pet defacate on pathways and grass verges and leaves it behind. Or how about the case of the 5 year old visiting Brittas Bay who suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns when she stepped on a buried disposable barbeque.
The Anderson answer only partly explains these behaviours though. What is the other part? Selfishess? Lack of thought? Family conditioning? Probably a combination of those and other things I can’t even begin to hazard a guess at. Ultimately though, it all boils down to having a bit of cop-on. Sadly, it’s a commodity that’s in very short supply as far as I can see.
Image owned by Molas [cc license]
