Archive for March, 2006
Taxing questions
On behalf of a polar bear
On a related topic to flat fares for buses, I’m wondering
if you think it in keeping with the so called greener budget of last week to
increased road tax on large engined vehicles by such a derisory amount ? Why
does the UK not consider the example of Irish Republic, and increase road tax on
silly, unnecessary vehicles to a sensible level (ie engines over 3 l pay over
£1000).
4 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Taxing questions”
Provide common sense...
Tickets to Ride
An Edinburgh resident asks
As we are trying to encourage folk out of cars and onto the buses do you think the recent increase in a single bus fare from 80p to £1 is a bright idea?
One pearl of wisdom on “Tickets to Ride”
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Consultant G Says:
March 28th, 2006 at 9:33 amSimply no, this is not a good idea.
Provide common sense...
Chest in Time
A gift giver asks for advice
I am in the last stages of putting together a time capsule for a kid that is only a few months old. I want to put in things that will last, increase in value and also be of interest in 18yrs time. Would be grateful of suggestions (and ofcourse items to go into it)
One pearl of wisdom on “Chest in Time”
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March 27th, 2006 at 10:10 amYourself ?
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Itchy feet
an aging singleton asks
At what point are you too old for going traveling . It is just I remember the old folk at some of the places I stopped at when I was younger and there was always at least one strange old person?
10 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Itchy feet”
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March 24th, 2006 at 12:57 pm“At least one strange old person”. Did you note how many normal old people there were. This may be a sampling bias.
And I don’t think your old yet either. I mean, I have far more grey hairs that you, and I don’t consider myself old. -
March 24th, 2006 at 12:58 pmItchy feet ? Try this:
http://www.mypharmacy.co.uk/medicines/medicines/s/scholl/scholl_athletes_foot_powder.htm
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March 24th, 2006 at 1:03 pmI heard Brian Blessed speak (loudly) on such matters recently. He suggested that middle age doesn’t start until 55 or so, that you are never too old and that one should “Go for it!”
*Magnificent*
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March 24th, 2006 at 2:06 pmOK, let us put it the other way round. Is everyone else doing the travelling lark so young they are going to annoy? I may be accused of being a been there seen it done it type to a certain extent when compared to most folk and after recent travels with my dog I did find myself wishing to tell folk to stop talking about stuff and start doing it instead. Or maybe that is just me being a grumpy young man
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March 24th, 2006 at 2:18 pmPerhaps we could start a new blog for examining personal woes. Let’s stick to common sense here. You don’t even have a dog.
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March 24th, 2006 at 3:01 pmthat would create another site which could be ignored. Maybe the way in which questions are asked should be addressed rather than the content
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March 24th, 2006 at 4:25 pmI was unaware that Hawfinches could write, let alone dodos.
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March 24th, 2006 at 4:48 pmwhy are you advertising SNH postcards ornophobist?
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March 24th, 2006 at 5:37 pmDear anonymous,
I like squirrels.
O
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March 24th, 2006 at 6:10 pmI have nothing against squirels (well red ones) but I don’t see why govt quango requires to try and sell postcards! - probably at a loss
Provide common sense...
Joined up writing
A troubled writer asks
Something came to my attention this morning that hitherto I had not noticed: a close acquaintance does not routinely use joined up writing, but merely writes the letters close together with very neat results. No speed penalty appears to be incurred. At school we were taught that ‘adults use joined up writing’, and told it was faster. I made some rudimentary experiments over my breakfast Fruit and Fibre and found my writing to be more legible with the letters separate. The current prominence of computers has led to a general decline in the aesthetic qualities of handwriting. Should we all revert to disconnected writing?
4 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Joined up writing”
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March 24th, 2006 at 12:24 pmI think you will find that this falls into the “horses for courses” category. Someone who does writing all day will be quicker if they use joined up writing as the pen is lifted less often. As most folk now do not do very much writing they are not up to their full speed or neatness. Finally, the eye finds it easier to read joined up writing in the same way that fonts like Times New Roman is easier to read than Arial
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March 24th, 2006 at 12:40 pmConsultant K, your arguments are theoretical rather than practical. I would argue that legibility in most cases is vastly improved where disjoined letters are used. That’s common sense (and why people use captials for clarity). I disagree with your assertion that the eye finds joined up writing easier to read: you have oversimplified the problem by analogising with printer fonts.
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March 24th, 2006 at 12:55 pmWell, common sense simply suggests that the best option will be a trade off between a/ what is quickest and easiest and b/ what other people find easy to read. For instance, a fast, barely legible scrawl is fine for your own purposes, but may be unintelligable to others. By contrast, copper plate may be pretty and readable, but takes for ever.
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March 24th, 2006 at 2:56 pmon a reading basis it is far far easier to read writing where the words and spaces are clear and also the start of new sentences is also. This is best achieved through joined up lower case writing. On a speed basis, as G says it has to be a balance between legibility and speed. That is a personal thing and form personal experience I know I can write faster with joined up writing. On an aside I also know I can type faster than I can write now!
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Common Sense for the CSC
From the Common Sense Consultancy itself
How do you make money out of a website when in the last year we are yet to earn $3 from click through advertising?
One pearl of wisdom on “Common Sense for the CSC”
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March 24th, 2006 at 9:52 amThere are many ways of making a website more popular advertising. Try:
1. Producing content relevant to the masses
2. Advertising (tell people the website exists orally; by email & spamming; put the link in other websites, blogs, forums etc; paper flyers; business cards; TV ads; block the local radio stations with your own broadcast - this last is illegal, but there are some people idiotic enough to respond).
3. Frequent updates, to make people look every day.
4. Acquire an email list of frequent visitors and mail them with friendly reminders and useful CS tips.
5. Do some work.
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All in a swim
This from the Southern Hemisphere
Please could you help me. Scottish swimmers have won two
gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, beating Australians. While this is great
news, common sense suggests that it is not possible. How can it be so ?
One pearl of wisdom on “All in a swim”
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March 17th, 2006 at 8:45 amWhy not. If they put the work in why should they not get their just reward!
March 29th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Common sense would put the tax onto the fuel that is used. All mpg figures are theoretical and to judge an engine by its size (litreage) is wrong.
The UK government (despite many a protest) has it 100% correct in having a very high level of tax on the fuel. Now that insurance and vehicle registrations/MOTs are linked we should abandon road tax and increase fuel duty.
Maybe a luxury tax on cars over £20K would be a good idea, just to reduce the number of overpriced, over-equipped monstrosities
March 29th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Dear Consultant K,
This is indeed correct, and taxing by CO2 produced, which equates to fuel used, is, ultimately the best way of doing it. However, most people do not think like that, and only consider costs when they come along in a big lump, or if they are larger. Thus, a larger road tax could act as a psychological deterent to the 4wd drivers.
Then again, if they are stupid enough to buy a 4wd to drive about a town….
March 30th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Dear Anonymous, I agree that people do recognise the pain of large sums of money but do still disagree that road tax is the way. Road tax is a very very costly to collect and recent govt statistics suggest that it costs almost £30 per disc issued. The UK is awash with taxes and the sooner we simplify the system the better, as it will make tax levels more transparent and also dramatically reduce the cost of administration.
Rather than car tax maybe we should have warnings on pumps in the same way that we have warnings on cigarettes?
March 30th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Perhaps, along the same lines as smoking, we could simply ban the use of such unnecessary vehicles in unnecessary locations (i.e., town centres…)