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By John, on October 2nd, 2004
Following on from my posting about the IMF warning about overheated house prices in the UK, I see that the Scottish Widows Bank commisioned a survey by YouGov and found that 63% of recent university graduates can not afford to buy a home. The situation isn’t much better for those who have been working for a number of years. Among those who left university 6 years ago, 20% fear they will never be able to afford their own place. The problem is the high property prices, combined with debts built up while studying – around £13 000 per student in Scotland, and even more in England.
And today another independent economic consultancy published a forecast that UK house prices will drop by 20%. Which given the massive rises over the last 2-3 years, seems to me to be a very moderate fall, although even this means that some 400 000 households will end up having paid more for their home than it is subsequently worth.
By John, on October 1st, 2004
When George W. Bush was elected president, and particularly after September 11, I saw that the values and principles of open society needed to be defended at home. September 11 led to a suspension of the critical process so essential to a democracy – a full and fair discussion of the issues. President Bush silenced all criticism by calling it unpatriotic. When he said that “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” I heard alarm bells ringing. I am afraid that he is leading us in a very dangerous direction. We are losing the values that have made America great…
Read the full text of Soros’ speach this week at the National Press Club, Washington here.
(via vowe dot net)
By John, on September 30th, 2004
As the chance of a new eruption at Mount St. Helens increases today, Shelley Powers has posted her recollection of living downwind of the previous eruption on May 18th 1980. Makes interesting reading – and makes you wonder what on earth it will be like if Yellowstone Park erupts (the last eruption there was 3000 times the power of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption).
By John, on September 30th, 2004
The International Monetary Fund yesterday added its voice to that of The Economist and The Bank of England, pointing out that British house prices appear much higher than can be explained by developments in fundamentals (wages and rents), and warning:
The central risk remains an abrupt adjustment in the housing market… …With interest rates on a rising trend, and most house purchases financed with adjustable rate mortgages, house buyers should exercise particular caution at the present juncture.
The government, estate agents and building societies have been talking down the risk of a sudden drop in house prices, but as The Economist has pointed out previously, the first law of bubbles is that they inflate for a lot longer than anybody expects. The second law is that they eventually burst.
By John, on September 28th, 2004
Most people will be familiar with Escher’s impossible pictures depicting water perpetually flowing downhill in a closed loop or triangles which appear to join up opposite sides. Gershon Elber has discovered that some of these impossible figures can be made as 3D objects – the optical illusion only works from a specific angle, however. He has made some short videos of the models being rotated, so you can see how the illusion works.
(via boingboing)
By John, on September 24th, 2004
Irish telcos were refusing to refund bills of up to $22 000 run up by unsuspecting computer users who had loaded trojan dialer programs to their computers and ended up routing their internet surfing via places such as Tuvalu, Diego Garcia and Mauritania for prices of up to $7.50 a minute. Now the government has stepped in and cut off direct-dialed calls to entire nations, in order to stop internet-based fraud.
Calls to 13 locations world wide will now have to be routed by operators who will check that the calls are being placed to humans, rather than to modems. Legitimate numbers will be placed on a white-list which will then allow further calls to be direct-dialed.
Could this result in a game of cat and mouse – I wonder how long it will take before the white-listed numbers get reconfigured by the fraudsters to route through to the money-making computer connections?
By John, on September 22nd, 2004
Elderly men, who walked less than 1/4 mile per day were found to be nearly twice as likely to develop dementia as those who managed two miles a day, an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports today.
As a reasonable amount of exercise (say 1/2 hr per day) also helps keep your blood values in order (sugar, fats) and is supposed to ensure that you are less likely to develop cancer or coronary disease, (for more on the benefits of healthy living, see also this item on the BBC web site), I guess there is nothing for it, but to brave the elements (it is pouring outside) this evening. On the way out, I can look at our freshly renovated pond, which is now threatening to overflow any minute into the next door neighbour’s garden because the overflow pipe has suddenly blocked. The weather forecast is for more rain in the next 24 hrs. We have ordered a visit from the local drain-clearing specialists tomorrow morning.
Memo to self – never buy a pond with the house ever, ever, again… In fact, never again buy a pond, with or without house.
By John, on September 21st, 2004
If you have an old digital camera knocking around and fancy using it for some aerial photography, take a look at this article in engadget.com about taking pictures from a kite. If you can wield a soldering iron, it looks fairly straightforward, apart – possibly – from landing the camera intact afterwards.
By John, on September 20th, 2004
The British Liberal Democrat party is proposing to send teenage joyriders to go and race cars or learn car maintenance, as well as fining them £40. The proposal is called “tough liberalism” by the party spokesman.
Um – is that supposed to be a deterrent or an incentive to break the law?
By John, on September 19th, 2004
 
If you see glass muesli bowls like these – they were sold as Villeroy & Boch, but we can’t find them on their web site and they have no identifying marks – and intend to wash them in a dishwasher, then don’t buy them. We have had three bowls crack, like the one above, in as many weeks. We haven’t dropped or mistreated the bowls in any way.
They come in various colors – the commonest is the white / red combination shown here, but they also come in yellow with black rim and with lime green and blue bodies (I can’t remember what color rims).
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