There is something strange with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They were state supported institutions whose main purpose was to make it possible for people who could not afford it to buy houses.
The result was that they made the housing market unstable. They were there to hang a Damocles sword over the economy.
The excuse was that they helped poor people buy their homes. That is a very worthy cause. However, making it easier for poor people to buy houses, means that the demand increases and house prices increase. And this increase is illusory, as the prices depend on FM and FM. Once the state decides not to support them, the prices fall, and everyone loses.
25 September 2008
15 September 2008
A detailed survey
In the company where my sister works, a director heard that customers sometimes were not happy with the delivery time. To investigate this, a group was formed to create a survey. The draft survey was sent to each department manager. Each manager was able to add at most 10 questions to the survey. It was decided that each answer should contain a mandatory text field, where the customer should enter an explanation for his answer. In addition, multiple-choice answers were allowed. The average number of choices for each question was 17.2.
A few months later, the survey was ready to go out to customers. The return rate was an unfortunate low 2%, but luckily the group managed to get enough material out of each response to compile a report with 400 pages. The summary conclusion was 87 pages, according to people who claim to have read that far.
When management saw the report, they were very proud of the result and archived it for future use, once they had time to analyse the material.
That is, they archived everything that was stored electronically. Part of the report was an appendix written by hand in a paper notebook. It was the result of a janitor, who used to ask customers who came to the building "Are you happy with our delivery times?" He wrote the answers down in his notebook. 98% answered "no". 2% answered "yes".
That paper was thrown away.
A few months later, the survey was ready to go out to customers. The return rate was an unfortunate low 2%, but luckily the group managed to get enough material out of each response to compile a report with 400 pages. The summary conclusion was 87 pages, according to people who claim to have read that far.
When management saw the report, they were very proud of the result and archived it for future use, once they had time to analyse the material.
That is, they archived everything that was stored electronically. Part of the report was an appendix written by hand in a paper notebook. It was the result of a janitor, who used to ask customers who came to the building "Are you happy with our delivery times?" He wrote the answers down in his notebook. 98% answered "no". 2% answered "yes".
That paper was thrown away.
03 August 2008
Something to lose sleep over - usability
Somewhere in the Netherlands sits a computer program designer, who works for the GPS manufacturer Tomtom.
This designer decided that the words "now disconnect the device", was enough for smart people to understand that they should go to the menu "Device" and choose the option "Disconnect", after which they should physically disconnect the device.
I yesterday evening apparently did not belong to the group of smart people, so I just disconnected without going through the menus, and the GPS crashed completely.
On Tomtom's website there are of course support links, but none of them go to any forums where one can ask for help.
The FAQ required me to enter the GPS's model type. The box says Tomtom ONE. The options on the website were TomTom ONE XL, TomTom ONE 30 Series, TomTom ONE 3rd Edition, TomTom ONE 2nd Edition and TomTom ONE 1st Edition. The device itself does not give the number.
I was also asked to enter the product code. There was a very informative picture telling me how to get the product code from the device, IF THE FRIGGING THING HAD BEEN WORKING. If I go to the support site, because the device does not work, why do they require me to enter a product code I only can get from a working device!?
The entire support site was in French, by the way, even though there was a non-working option to enter English as preferred language - mostly as decoration, I guess.
In the end I followed the instructions at this faq. It told me first to reset the device (after it had forced me to guess a random model number.) I then restored the software (without success), backed up and duplicated the file system, reformatted the card, restored the content and finally cleared the flash.
The entire operation took about four hours. This morning I woke up four hours later than usual, and missed the opportunity to take a nice brisk walk in the fresh morning temperature. It is now around noon and more than 30 degrees.
That computer program designer in the Netherlands made me lose four hours of my life. Dear, Tomtom, sack him!
This designer decided that the words "now disconnect the device", was enough for smart people to understand that they should go to the menu "Device" and choose the option "Disconnect", after which they should physically disconnect the device.
I yesterday evening apparently did not belong to the group of smart people, so I just disconnected without going through the menus, and the GPS crashed completely.
On Tomtom's website there are of course support links, but none of them go to any forums where one can ask for help.
The FAQ required me to enter the GPS's model type. The box says Tomtom ONE. The options on the website were TomTom ONE XL, TomTom ONE 30 Series, TomTom ONE 3rd Edition, TomTom ONE 2nd Edition and TomTom ONE 1st Edition. The device itself does not give the number.
I was also asked to enter the product code. There was a very informative picture telling me how to get the product code from the device, IF THE FRIGGING THING HAD BEEN WORKING. If I go to the support site, because the device does not work, why do they require me to enter a product code I only can get from a working device!?
The entire support site was in French, by the way, even though there was a non-working option to enter English as preferred language - mostly as decoration, I guess.
In the end I followed the instructions at this faq. It told me first to reset the device (after it had forced me to guess a random model number.) I then restored the software (without success), backed up and duplicated the file system, reformatted the card, restored the content and finally cleared the flash.
The entire operation took about four hours. This morning I woke up four hours later than usual, and missed the opportunity to take a nice brisk walk in the fresh morning temperature. It is now around noon and more than 30 degrees.
That computer program designer in the Netherlands made me lose four hours of my life. Dear, Tomtom, sack him!
29 July 2008
Clarity without Perfection
To many teachers, writing well is to write perfectly - not to write clearly.
What we usually are taught in school is to write with correct spelling and perfect grammar. However, it is perfectly possible to write using correct spelling and perfect grammar without being clear.
Is that clear?
What we usually are taught in school is to write with correct spelling and perfect grammar. However, it is perfectly possible to write using correct spelling and perfect grammar without being clear.
Is that clear?
17 July 2008
Private Photos in Public Spaces
One should not forget that people may feel strongly about having their photos taken in public, and accept their feelings - no matter what they are. When I go to a public space with my camera, I consider myself a guest, and I should respect the wishes of everyone around me, as much as possible.
On a trip to Taiwan last year, I saw a charming small workshop where a woman with a very characteristic face was working. It was a perfect shot opportunity, so I asked for her permission to take a photo. She was very polite, but very firmly said no. Just the workshop and not her? No. Just her outside the workshop? No.
If this woman is photophobic at her private workplace, she has all the rights in the world to be so in public as well. I do not want the presence of my camera make her nervous when she goes shopping or crosses the street.
Taking candid pictures of private people can cause exactly that kind of nervousness, so I do not do it if I can avoid it.
Does that make me lose photo opportunities? Yes.
Does that make my portfolio poorer? Yes.
Do not other people take plenty of candid photos in public spaces? Yes, they do.
However, I think we own it to the respect for others, not to do to them what they may highly dislike, regardless of if we happen to share their dislike or not.
There are, after all, plenty of people who happily say yes to having their picture taken, when asked. And there are plenty of people in public situations, like parades, public theatre, concerts and demonstrations, who implicitly accept having their photos taken. They choose to be there to be seen.
On a trip to Taiwan last year, I saw a charming small workshop where a woman with a very characteristic face was working. It was a perfect shot opportunity, so I asked for her permission to take a photo. She was very polite, but very firmly said no. Just the workshop and not her? No. Just her outside the workshop? No.
If this woman is photophobic at her private workplace, she has all the rights in the world to be so in public as well. I do not want the presence of my camera make her nervous when she goes shopping or crosses the street.
Taking candid pictures of private people can cause exactly that kind of nervousness, so I do not do it if I can avoid it.
Does that make me lose photo opportunities? Yes.
Does that make my portfolio poorer? Yes.
Do not other people take plenty of candid photos in public spaces? Yes, they do.
However, I think we own it to the respect for others, not to do to them what they may highly dislike, regardless of if we happen to share their dislike or not.
There are, after all, plenty of people who happily say yes to having their picture taken, when asked. And there are plenty of people in public situations, like parades, public theatre, concerts and demonstrations, who implicitly accept having their photos taken. They choose to be there to be seen.
Limit the phone access
It may not be the biggest problem human civilisation has encountered, but is not all inclusive rates for mobile phones horribly annoying?
You may sit down on the train or in a bus to peacefully read a book or a newspaper, and it turns out that the person next to you has unlimited minutes on his/her phone, so they go on talking, talking, talking, just to be social with someone at the other end. It does not cost them anything after all.
I'm all for short useless messages like "We are just approaching the station. No, wait, not yet. But we'll soon be there. Just on time." However, when the discussion goes on for 30 minutes or more, it is torture. Sometimes what you eavesdrop is not even interesting enough to publish to the world on your blog.
You may sit down on the train or in a bus to peacefully read a book or a newspaper, and it turns out that the person next to you has unlimited minutes on his/her phone, so they go on talking, talking, talking, just to be social with someone at the other end. It does not cost them anything after all.
I'm all for short useless messages like "We are just approaching the station. No, wait, not yet. But we'll soon be there. Just on time." However, when the discussion goes on for 30 minutes or more, it is torture. Sometimes what you eavesdrop is not even interesting enough to publish to the world on your blog.
31 May 2008
The greater gift
I just forgot what I intended to write about. Luckily.
Could you imagine what our brains would be like, if we remembered all the clever ideas we ever had? What an incredible chaos there would be!
Forgetfulness is a much bigger gift to us from God than memory.
Could you imagine what our brains would be like, if we remembered all the clever ideas we ever had? What an incredible chaos there would be!
Forgetfulness is a much bigger gift to us from God than memory.
01 May 2008
Headline spin and bias
Our opinions are usually based on facts to a reasonably large extent. I guess that at least 15% of our opinions come from evaluations of facts we hear. The rest is based on the subconscious desire to share opinions with people around us, the desire to oppose the opinions of people around us, and repeated unsubstantiated messages in media. It has been claimed that "the fourth estate", media, are important in forming our opinions, as they select which facts to give us.
At least as important is the way they present those facts.
One striking example of this is a story presented at sina.com and AFP. Both articles build entirely on a story from China's state news agency Xinhua (新华). They do not use any other sources. All the facts are the same. However, Sina's headline is Policeman killed in pursuit of riot leader. Read no further. You learn that a policeman is killed, the poor fellow. AFP's headline is Police kill Tibetan during gun battle in China: state media. Again, read no further. You learn that a Tibetan is killed by nasty Chinese police, the poor fellow. If you read both headlines you may end up very confused. Was a policeman killed or did he kill? It turns out both are true.
The two news sites slyly ignore the death of one or the other of the two victims in the headline. This conveniently twists the opinions of the casual reader, who reads headlines but not articles.
At least as important is the way they present those facts.
One striking example of this is a story presented at sina.com and AFP. Both articles build entirely on a story from China's state news agency Xinhua (新华). They do not use any other sources. All the facts are the same. However, Sina's headline is Policeman killed in pursuit of riot leader. Read no further. You learn that a policeman is killed, the poor fellow. AFP's headline is Police kill Tibetan during gun battle in China: state media. Again, read no further. You learn that a Tibetan is killed by nasty Chinese police, the poor fellow. If you read both headlines you may end up very confused. Was a policeman killed or did he kill? It turns out both are true.
The two news sites slyly ignore the death of one or the other of the two victims in the headline. This conveniently twists the opinions of the casual reader, who reads headlines but not articles.
26 April 2008
Svarabhakti
As I grow older there are a lot of things from the past that I forget. Some things disappear completely. Some things hang around like very thin threads that make me almost remember them, but not quite.
For many months, perhaps years, I have wondered about one word that has been bouncing around like a rubber ball in my brain every now and then. I did not remember exactly what it sounded like, so it was impossible to search for it on the world wide thingummy.
Today, finally, the word became clear enough for me to find it: svarabhakti.
In case you also go around and wonder what it is about, here is what I found out:
A svarabhakti is a vowel that is inserted between two consonants. One example would be if you pronounce blue really slowly: be-lueue. The e between b and l is a svarabhakti. In many languages a large number of words have svarabhakti, like German, Dutch, many Celtic languages and Icelandic. It is difficult to find an Icelandic text without any words with the suffix -ur, and the u in -ur is a hundreds of years old svarabhakti. The word maður used to be maðr, but the Icelanders gave up pronouncing the tricky consonant combination ðr and added the u to make things easier.
The word svarabhakti comes from Sanskrit. Svara (स्वर) means sound, vowel. The word bhakti (भक्ति ), on the other hand, belongs to those words that can mean about anything: devotion, fidelity, order, part and division. The logic of the full word is "a vowel that divides" [two consonants from each other].
Other words for the same thing are epenthesis (ἐπένθεσις, from επι, on + εν, in + θεσις, placement) and anaptyxis (ανάπτυξής, growth).
At least that's what the internet tells me. However, it is unable to tell me where and when in the past I had seen the word before.
For many months, perhaps years, I have wondered about one word that has been bouncing around like a rubber ball in my brain every now and then. I did not remember exactly what it sounded like, so it was impossible to search for it on the world wide thingummy.
Today, finally, the word became clear enough for me to find it: svarabhakti.
In case you also go around and wonder what it is about, here is what I found out:
A svarabhakti is a vowel that is inserted between two consonants. One example would be if you pronounce blue really slowly: be-lueue. The e between b and l is a svarabhakti. In many languages a large number of words have svarabhakti, like German, Dutch, many Celtic languages and Icelandic. It is difficult to find an Icelandic text without any words with the suffix -ur, and the u in -ur is a hundreds of years old svarabhakti. The word maður used to be maðr, but the Icelanders gave up pronouncing the tricky consonant combination ðr and added the u to make things easier.
The word svarabhakti comes from Sanskrit. Svara (स्वर) means sound, vowel. The word bhakti (भक्ति ), on the other hand, belongs to those words that can mean about anything: devotion, fidelity, order, part and division. The logic of the full word is "a vowel that divides" [two consonants from each other].
Other words for the same thing are epenthesis (ἐπένθεσις, from επι, on + εν, in + θεσις, placement) and anaptyxis (ανάπτυξής, growth).
At least that's what the internet tells me. However, it is unable to tell me where and when in the past I had seen the word before.
23 April 2008
The clear message
Occasionally one can hear people asking for a "clear message" to this or that person or country about this or that issue. Clarity is a nice thing. A clear summer day is much nicer than an unclear summer day. Clear vision is nicer than blurry vision. A clear mind is better than a confused mind.
So let's have a look at some of the clear messages given in history:
Serbian nationalists gave Archduke Ferdinand a very clear message the 28 June 1914.
Germany gave Poland a very clear message 1 September 1939.
Japan gave the US a very clear message the 7 December 1941.
George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein a clear message 20 March 2003.
The results of these messages may not always have been what the sender intended, but they were undoubtedly clear.
Have I made myself clear in this blog entry? No? Good!
So let's have a look at some of the clear messages given in history:
Serbian nationalists gave Archduke Ferdinand a very clear message the 28 June 1914.
Germany gave Poland a very clear message 1 September 1939.
Japan gave the US a very clear message the 7 December 1941.
George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein a clear message 20 March 2003.
The results of these messages may not always have been what the sender intended, but they were undoubtedly clear.
Have I made myself clear in this blog entry? No? Good!
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