Targeted Advertising

A while ago H, who is not the most computer-friendly person in the world, decided she wanted to learn how to do emails. For a bit she was checking emails about once a month but she does it a lot more frequently now her daughter has gone off to university.

I had set her up with the email service from a well-known web search engine and they have these clever advertisements that appear based on the content of the emails. Last night, she was offered skips and rubbish clearance from companies in Newcastle, Perth and Nuneaton (why does ‘Nuneaton’ make me smile?). This puzzled us until I remembered that she had sent an email to her son saying that she had tidied up the daughter’s room after depositing her at uni, and had made at least two trips to the local rubbish tip. Cleverly targeted advertising, eh?

Website advertising is getting to be a big thing but it worries me a bit. I think it was Lord Leverhulme who said that only 10% of his advertising was effective but he did not know which 10%. With click-through statistics, advertisers can work out exactly which advertisements are effective. Does that suggest that, in time, advertising revenue will drop by 90%? Worse still, what happens if the advertisers find out that nobody reads advertisements?

I remember, in 1979 I think it was, that there was a long strike at ITV, which was then the only television channel carrying advertising. I don’t actually remember the sky falling in then.

Musings on magnetite

I had to think a bit about magnetite – the magnetic oxide of iron – recently. The issue was whether a layer of magnetite might reduce the capability to detect cracks in a steel component using eddy current testing. That led me back to one of those flashbacks to school that I seem to be getting increasingly frequently now.

In chemistry, we were introduced to valency by a picture of atoms with little hooks on them. Carbon had four hooks, hydrogen had one, so a molecule of methane was CH₄.  Oxygen had 2 hooks so carbon dioxide was CO₂.

This all seemed very easy but then we got onto iron. Now, iron apparently could have either 2 or 3 hooks. So iron oxide could be either FeO or Fe₂O₃. Hmm. Bit more then difficult that. But then we were told about magnetite, which seemed to be a sort of mixture: Fe₃O₄. Suddenly, the simple picture of the hooks was disintegrating. And I knew that magnetite really existed, as my christmas present chemistry set had a little test tube full of it.

It got worse. We all understood about gas molecules: oxygen had two hooks, so the things buzzing around in the air which we breath are O₂. And while Mr Willmore was telling us this in the chemistry lecture theatre, downstairs in the physics lecture theatre Mr Rouse was telling us about the kinetic theory of gases, with gas molecules imagined as little billiard balls. (We were a posh grammar school, by the way. Hence tiered lecture theatres, not just classrooms.) So I think we began to think that everything existed as nice simple molecules. But then, what about common salt – NaCl. If it is in water, it exists as sodium and chlorine ions; when it crystallises it is an interlocking cubic structure of sodium and chlorine atoms. There is no such thing as a single molecule of NaCl.

I suppose the answer is that you have to start with simple pictures and then explain that it is not that simple as you get deeper into the subject. After all, even the 4 hook picture of carbon does not work when you get on to aromatic compounds.

I have to accept that. But there is, it seems to me, a risk that you are tempted to hang onto the simple picture for far too long and this may hold you back from going on to a deeper understanding. This may be why even quite competent classical physicists struggle with things like quantum theory.

Most unique

I previously described Barra airport as “unique” (for having scheduled flights landing on a beach). At least I didn’t say “most unique”. That brings back memories nearly 50 years old, of an English lesson in first year of grammar school.

Mr Palmer was talking about comparatives and superlatives and had put up a list of adjectives for us to write down the comparative and superlative. Some just involved adding a suffix (big, bigger, biggest), some were irregular and a needed a bit more thought (good, better, best), and for some you just had to add “more” or “most”.

One of the words was “unique” and I think we all wrote down “more unique, most unique”.  “Aha” says Mr Palmer trimphantly, “unique means only one of a kind so you can’t qualify it”. Of course he was correct, and Fowler, Gowers and Partridge are right behind him there.

But, you know, it still leaves me a bit uneasy. I suppose it depends on context. One of a kind in a small population is not all that special. But one of a kind in a large population seems a bit different. More unique, perhaps? Did Charlotte Bronte have that in mind when she wrote “A very unique child, thought I”?

Thrown off an airport

Well, my plans for posting during the holiday in the Outer Hebrides failed because of a failure to find an internet connection. Not so bad really, it meant I had two weeks away from emails. But you might lose the immediacy of a blog, and you will have to put up with odd events as I remember then.

How did we get thrown off an airport? Well, the airport on Barra is, I am told, unique because it operates scheduled flights from a beach. We arrived there and parked with the idea of seeing the North end of the island. There are notices saying to keep off the beach when the airport is operating and wind socks are flying but the tide was up at that time.

We crossed to the other side of the island, saw the beach there, climbed up a cliff path, had lunch on a prehistoric hill fort and then finished up walking back along the beautiful beaches to the North of the airport. Just before we reached Traigh Mhor, the bay with the airport, we saw the Twin Otter flight from Benbecula coming in to land, but the actual landing was hidden by the next headland.

Rounding the headland, we saw the airport. It is an amazing phenomenon. The bay is surrounded by sand dunes and a strip of silver shell-sand about three yards wide. The rest of the bay, at low tide, is a much darker, smooth, hard sand. The boundary between the two is very marked and here was my mistake.

The airport was obviously operating and the wind socks were flying. For some reason, I got it into my head that the beach we were to keep off was the hard sand, not the edge where we were walking. So we tramped on. We watched the Twin Otter take off and then a small plane land. As we got nearer to the terminal building it occurred to me that we were going to finish up on the “air side” of the building and I know that airports get a bit excited about that. I was pondering this when a man in a high-vis jacket rushed out and shouted angrily for us to “get off the airport”.

We dived off into the dunes and then realised that there was a road just the other side. We had been wondering about trying to get a cup of tea at the terminal but we gave up on that idea! To add insult to injury, there were no more flights that afternoon and another man went out and took the wind socks down. Bit silly, but I suppose they have to obey the rules.

A Twin Otter takes off from Barra Airport, photographed by a trespasser

Away from it all

I’ve not written anything for ages. The main problem is a whole series of issues with my professional institution which have stretched personal and professional relationships to breaking point and maybe beyond.

We had already booked a holiday in the Outer Hebrides so this was a really good time to get away from all the hassle. I could get email but I am not trying. I’ll face up to all that when I get back.

Our holiday started on Barra. Just like last year, the weather has been very kind to us. What little rain has fallen during the night or on other people! Today we walked up Heavel, the highest point of the island and then went on over the spine of the island.

Tomorrow, we head for Eriskay and then South Uist. One night there then on to Grimsay for a week. More will follow if I can get a connection.

A Good Day

I had to go to a meeting just outside Cambridge last Wednesday. I had planned to drive there and back from Bristol in the day but H said that was silly and that I should stay overnight. It was a bit late to sort out a hotel so I stayed in a guest room at my old college on Tuesday night. That meant I had a few hours to spare before the meeting on Wednesday. That was a good day…

A quiet walk through the college Deer Park before a full English breakfast in college.  A gentle walk around the centre of Cambridge. Seeing the sign “Second-hand Philosophy” on a shelf in Heffer’s bookshop (why did I find that amusing?). Walking over Garrett Hostel Bridge and along the backs. Coffee on the top floor of the Graduate Centre, with a chance to read the paper and make a couple of phone calls. The smug feeling of parking the car near the centre of Cambridge for free and having the Porter come out to work the rising bollard for me.

A good meeting, and a chance to meet old colleagues. A drive back across country to avoid motorways. A stop in Bibury, still attractive even when inundated with tourists, to stretch the legs. Half a dozen young Japanese tourists wearing surgical masks (anyone reading this in the future needs to remember about swine flu). Watching a beautiful Gray Wagtail scuttling along the stones beside the river while the tourists, quite oblivious to it, were busy taking photographs of the ducks.

We rush around too much and miss a lot. Nice to have a good day once in a while.

Islands in The Wash

H and I were over in King’s Lynn for a couple of days last weekend. I had a bell ringing engagement there on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon (http://www.campanophile.co.uk/show.aspx?Code=81550 if you are interested but don’t expect an explanation if you don’t know what I am talking about). It gave us the chance to see my cousin and her husband. She is my last link with King’s Lynn since my father and both of her parents passed away over the last few years. I wouldn’t normally use an expression like “passed away” but it seems to suit their generation.

We were fortunate to get a good deal at the “Dukes Head” hotel in the Tuesday Market Place. I use the word ‘fortunate’ advisedly. I wouldn’t have wanted to pay the full rate. When I was a youngster in Lynn (well, it was 50 years ago) the Dukes Head was the hotel. It’s looking a bit sad now, with serious plumbing issues in at least two bedrooms and the most boring cold breakfast buffet I have ever seen, although the cooked breakfast was good, apart from there being no smoked salmon for H. Talking to the staff, it seems to have got caught in up in a lack of investment and a potential sale which has stalled because of the credit crunch.

Perhaps you shouldn’t go back. My first bank account was with the Midland, on the corner of the Tuesday Market Place. I had to spend more time there (when it was an HSBC) while I was looking after my father’s affairs. Now it is a Nando’s. I was reminded of that Natwest advertisement, with the elderly lady saying that her local bank branch was now a wine bar. Actually, I found the new HSBC, in a new shopping centre next to Anne Summers and opposite the defunct Woolworths. Sic transit gloria mundi or something like that.

The more perceptive among you will be wondering what this has to do with islands in The Wash. Well, H wasn’t involved in the bell ringing and when trying to find something to do she came across the “Sir Peter Scott Path”. This runs from the lighthouse at the River Nene outfall where he lived in the 1930s round the sea wall to West Lynn. The idea was that I would drop her off at the start and she would walk back to Lynn while I was ringing.

We had plenty of time so I walked a bit with her. Comparing the path on the current 1:25000 map with the rather delapidated 1″ map (1954, cost 4/-) which I bought when I was at school, it is amazing how far further out the sea walls have been pushed as more land has been reclaimed. A Dutchman would feel at home here. So the Sir Peter Scott walk is on sea walls which didn’t exist when he llived there, although he may well have walked on the salt marshes or punted in the creeks while wildfowling.

It was quite misty out to sea but we soon saw what appeared to be a rather large island. “Don’t be silly” says I “there are no islands in The Wash”. Of course, for someone trained as a scientist this was a pretty stupid thing to say in the face of the evidence. But the current map showed nothing out there although there is a much smaller island closer to the sea wall a bit further round.

Well H got back OK, even in time to sit on the other side of the river for a bit listening to us ringing.

When I got back I did a bit of internet research. There are two islands, both built in the 1970s as part of an experiment on the feasibility of freshwater reservoirs in The Wash. The idea was dropped but now the larger island is a very successful seabird and wildfowl habitat.

The best reference to all this is http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/428938.html, which gives several further links, including one to Google Maps where you can clearly see both islands. I also found http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7659304.stm which is a video of a BBC Look North item about the islands.

All very interesting. But why is the larger island not shown on the current 1:25000 OS map? Is it to try to discourage people from walking out there over the mudflats at low tide (which would be a very hazardous thing to do)?

Worms Head – the Gower

I’m not much good as a blogger am I? I post so infrequently. I guess the problem is that I am just too busy. Although if I really wanted to do it I’d find time, wouldn’t I? My old mum used to say “If you want something done, ask a busy man”.

I’m wandering already. What I am leading up to is that we went out onto Worm’s Head today. It’s at the end of the Gower (South Wales) and is a bit of land that is cut off except for about 2 hours either side of low tide. There is a very rocky causeway out to the “Inner Head”, a high grassy hill, then a another very rocky section known as the “Low Neck” leading to another grassy bit, over a natural rock bridge leading eventually to the highest point. I think that the word “Worm” refers to a dragon. The Inner Head is the body and the highest point is the dragon’s head.

I didn’t want to go really. I’ve been working hard, had a headache from looking at a computer too much and a bit of a stomach upset (maybe that was the cause of the headache?). I went because I would have had to put up with pained looks from H for weeks to come. But it was good. Perfect weather, perfect tides – low water about 14:00 and spring tides so a long window to get out and back. There were a lot of people out there but I don’t mind that. Anything that get people off their backsides and out into the fresh air is good in my book.

The last time we went was in Autumn with a high wind blowing. The wind was the reason why we wimped off the highest point – the dragon’s head. It just didn’t feel safe there. But today was fine and we made it this time. On the way back the tide was low enough for us to walk over the flatter rocks,  rather than the rough scramble over the Low Neck.

Looking back to the Dragon's head

The picture was taken just as we got back onto Inner Head. You can see the natural arch (“Devil’s Bridge”, it is called) and the highest point. We were there!

Well, we are back. Still feeling a bit rough, but a good day. I should stop feeling sorry for myself and get out more. And write this blog more often.

Books Graveyard

There’s this company in Bristol called “Book Barn”. Or rather, there was this company. They dealt in second hand and remaindered books and had a massive warehouse. They closed a bit ago when the lease on their warehouse had expired. They seem to have walked out leaving a warehouse full of books. The landlords, perhaps hoping to avoid the cost of a lot of skips, just made it known that anyone who wanted could just come and help themselves, up to some date (which I think is quite soon, so don’t all rush).

Of course, this got out and people were coming from all over the place. Some were book lover and collectors,  some wanted to stock up charity shops, some came in white vans hoping for a quick buck.

I went along last Friday out of curiosity. I think most of the good stuff (and I don’t think there ever was much of that) had gone by then, although I did manage to find a 1961 copy of “The Eye of the Wind” – Peter Scott’s autobiography. I spend a fair bit of time at Slimbridge and I have some of his other books, so that was a nice bonus.

Some of the books were on shelves but many were just piled on the floor. I am not sure if this was done when the owners cleared out or if people just threw them there while going through the shelves. You got this surreal view of dozens of people just picking through the piles of books, like so many vultures. No, that’s unfair. Everyone I came across there was friendly and polite. they vertainly weren’t fighting over first editions!

In fact most people, like me, were a strange mixture of bemused and sad. I love books. I never turn down corners or bend back spines. I regard myself as pretty computer literate but I haven’t made the break with books yet (although I have played with a Sony Reader on display in Waterstones). And here was me with little choice but to walk over mountains of them just to get around the place.

Ironically, the only books in good condition were mainly manuals for obsolete computer software. Remaindered, I guess, rather than second hand.

While do I feel so sad about this?

A book mountain

Where does the time go

I really did mean to write this blog regularly. No, frequently. “Regularly” could be once a year. Stop being a pedant.

Since my last post the world has gone into economic meltdown, the US has a new President, Gaza has been flattened and lots of other things I can’t think of just now have happened. Oh yes, I got a smart phone for Christmas. Well, actually, it was a company purchase at the beginning of December but H, who is the company secretary, took it away and wrapped it up for a present. I’m pleased with it, even if it does take me much longer to do things I could do on my old phone quite easily. But I have finally reached the Holy Grail of having my calendar and contacts all in one place an synchronised with the ones on my PC. I could do that with my old PDA, of course, but now I can make a phone call without having to juggle two gadgets.

Going back to the beginning of the previous paragraph, I strayed from what are really rather important things to a load of self-obsessed stuff. If I was giving a sermon (which this blog is certainly not meant to be) I might make a big point about that. I might point out that a lot of the ill in this world is caused by people thinking only about their own interests and not looking more widely.

Oh, shut up Robin. That last bit was fairly nauseating. I will just say that what has been going on in the world over the last few  months has had me angry and depressed in equal measure, with just a few rays of hope (maybe just one).

I ought to explain myself a bit more. I really will try to write more frequently.