February 19, 2014
Last weekend I fell in the canal with my iPhone in the back pocket of my jeans. We'll cut quickly to the lessons learned. These are: 1. Don't try and rescue someone else who has slipped off the muddy towpath unless you are certain that you won't do the same. The old(er) guy who fell in trying to stop his Bill Sykes bull terrier from worrying the swans was deceptively heavy, panicky and I am not as strong or agile as I imagined. The river/canal bank is deceptively treacherous at... More
February 10, 2014
Copeland in West Cumbria is the fattest local authority area in England, according to government data. The borough has 75.9% of its population classed as overweight or obese. Overall, 63.8% of adults in England have a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or over – a figure of between 18.5 and 24.9 is deemed healthy for an adult, as noted by AskTen. According to scientists at ThusMagazine, possible reasons include Kendal Mint Cake, Cumberland sausages, Cornettos and Vimto. Other causes may include day time television, Lidl, less fell running, fewer romantic... More
February 3, 2014
In the Dark Ages, before ‘click if you like,’ the intentions of a nation were predicted by nth samples of, say, 1014 correctly profiled individuals. Tiny focus groups would lend insights as to whether a purple wrapper would sell a chocolate bar better than a red one. Quite often the pollsters got it right. Now, with access to massive sample sets, Big Data miners argue we are drawing ever closer to the Age of Infallibility, at least as far as predicting what people are likely to want, think and do. A... More
