John Holland

An eclectic collection

2010-11-27T01:28:00.000Z

An eclectic collection of hits that never were ... perfect musical accompaniment to my eclectic blog.

43 things

2009-08-01T00:36:00.005+01:00

Found the 43 things website (list your goals, and share with a community), which I liked. So I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm an Extroverted Traveling Builder. Not sure exactly what this means, so I'll probably have to Buy the book

Twitter

2009-03-31T17:53:00.002+01:00

I joined Twitter today, as there's so much buzz about this. So selected a few feeds to follow, but I don't get it. Do I really want to know that Stephen fry has "rebooted the iPhone with v3.0 on. I'm sure it's a beta issue, seems ok again now. But went from 5% to 4% while charging". There must be more to this, but I can't see it yet.

Music

2009-03-16T17:09:00.005Z

I discovered Spotify a while ago - one of the new breed of legal music internet sites. You get to choose your own playlist and listen online - but no downloads available. Reading Sean Adams in the Sunday Times this week, he described the experience with online music sites - everything is available, so what do you choose?

Spotify doesn't quite offer everything yet, but its coverage is growing daily. Pandora used to offer a solution to this (before it limited its coverage to USA only) - the Music Genome Project. This fantastic project is seeking to categorise all music tracks to make it easy to automatically find music similar to tracks you know. While Pandora was available in the UK, I found some great new music by artists I had never heard of, just based on choosing a few of my favourite bands.

Now I have discovered last.fm, which goes some way to filling the void left by Pandora. last.fm will take a list of artists or sync up with the tracks you have been playing in iTunes etc, to find new music similar to the tracks you have chosen. And you can refine the selection by choosing the music you like or hate as it plays. It's close, but not quite the full nine yards ...

Unlike Pandora, the selections are purely based on comparisons with the music other people are playing. So, my selection makes me similar to a number of others, and I get recommended their music. This doesn't have the same power of search that the Music Genome Project had, in identifying all sorts of obscure tracks. Or maybe that's just my obscure music tastes! I don't really need to know that "Richard & Linda Thompson" has super-similarity with Richard Thompson - I want to find some similar music that would otherwie escape me. Perhaps we need the Muxic Genome transgenic project to use this data in other music systems.

More or Less - Bankers Bonuses

2009-02-19T10:52:00.000Z

I have been listening to More or Less for some time, one of the few programmes that challenges the use and abuse of statistics in politics and media. I tend to listen to the podcasts, so I have only just caught up with some of the broadcasts from January, and I'm joining a debate that has already run a number of rounds.

In a discussion of the current crisis in banking and bankers' bonuses, there was a claim that bankers are better rewarded by following the same strategy as everyone else in the bank, rather than trying to be different. The logic suggests that if one banker follows an alternative strategy (as described in the show), then he will be more successful than others (perhaps) 75% of the time and less successful 25% of the time. Assuming that the "normal" strategy is followed by all other bankers and this is successful only 50% of the time, then the alternative strategy will be less successful overall, as he will only generate personal success 75% of the times when the bank is successful overall (rather than 100% following the "normal" strategy).

But it struck me that this analysis is only looking at one aspect of the probability - the correlation between individual success and overall success. And, while it is true that the alternative strategy will only be partially correlated with bank success, while the normal strategy will be fully correlated with overall bank success, you also need to consider the quantity of bonus paid.

Claiming greater success for the "normal" strategy assumes that the same bonus is paid to all successful bankers when the bank does well – it does not account for the differential bonus that the most successful bankers will earn. For example, if the most successful banker earns twice the bonus of the others, then the alternative strategy will generate 50% more bonus on average.

The value of the alternative strategy depends on the level of extra bonus for the most successful people. At 1.33 (= 1/(75%)) times the average, the alternative strategy is equal to the other strategy, but for any more bonus, the alternative strategy is clearly superior. I have modelled this in a spreadsheet.

So the suggestion from the show is incorrect - there is an incentive for bankers to break from the "normal" strategy. The challenge for the banks is how much to reward the most successful with bonuses to encourage alternative strategies ... which seems to have been the cause of the problem as well ...

Apologies if this makes little sense - you probably need to hear the show to understand the argument. I have submitted this post to the radio show team for comment - we'll see what they make of it.

Regional World Cup

2009-02-14T23:43:00.003Z

Can you have a regional world cup? The unrecognised regions of current states appear to think so - I read about the Viva World Cup in this week's Sunday Times' report of the defeat of Occitania by Samiland. Having failed to win the Viva world cup on home ground in 2006, Occitania declined to enter the 2008 finals in Sápmi (the indigenous area of northern Scandinavia we used to call Lapland).

With a total of twelve teams registering interest in the 2008 finals, seven were elimated by inability to find funding or sufficient players for the trip to Sápmi, and the hotly contested finals saw Padania (northern Italy) defeat Arameans Suryoye. Such is the success of this competition, that the Viva World Cup has now become an annual event, with the 2009 competition due to take place in Padania, then 2010 in Gozo and 2011 in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The cup is organised by N.F. Board (standing for New football, Nouvelle Fédération or Not FIFA, depending on who you ask). With a dozen European proto-nations claiming membership, the UK is poorly represented solely by Sealand, which has so far failed to produce a team for any competitive football match. After recent calamities in the various national teams' performances (rugby, cricket and soccer), surely this must be an opportunity for British football. With ten or so professional football clubs in the west of England now (depending on how you define that), and the area's history as an independent nation (pre-927), Wessex has a great claim to nation status and a fantastic opportunity to win the Viva World Cup for (or in spite of) the UK.

France 2008

2008-08-31T17:02:00.007+01:00

Holiday in France again, staying near one of the most beautiful castles at Chambourd. Swimming, wine and catching up the reading. Photos on picassa ... click the pic!

Holiday reading included Birds without Wings (3/5), The Rotters Club (4/5), The Black Swan (3/5), Trinity (3/5) and The Last Templar (2/5).

Book reviews

2008-07-10T00:50:00.005+01:00

Hmm, offline for a long time, but I have been active in other areas. It has proved too difficult to keep information synchronised on this site, Facebook and Amazon, so all book reviews are now only on Amazon. Check out my book reviews on Amazon if you're interested in my ecelectic set of views on science, history, psychology, self development books and more ... I'll continue to add some of the more worthwhile books here.

Somerset 2008

2008-06-25T21:50:00.001+01:00

Pictures from holiday in Somerset, half term May 2008.

Bristol riots (1831 version)

2008-06-10T16:23:00.005+01:00

While investigating riots for a previous post, I came across the Bristol riots of 1831. There is a full description of the riots and aftermath reported rom the time, and numerous website descriptions. Following the failure of the Reform Act, Bristol was left as one of the many industrial cities with significant under-representation in parliament. The hated magistrate Sir Charles Wetherall arrived for the local assizes, threatening sentences for any demonstrations outside - igniting three days riot in the gathering crowd, assisted by the discovery and distribution of the contents of the Mansion House wine cellar.

Earlier riots in 1793 (the Bristol Bridge riot) and turnpike riots by the Kingswood Colliers had been tackled with force. But, possibley following the Peterloo massacre, the military waited for the mob to abate before acting. The army charged the crowd after three days, with drawn swords, killing and seriously injuring around 150 people. For failing to fire at the crowd as well, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Brereton was court-martialled for failing in his duty. He shot himself before the case was completed.

Update: in The Calendar, there are reports of earliers Bristol riots following the changeover to the Gregorian celendar in 1752.

Calendar fight

2008-05-18T01:35:00.001+01:00

The sect of the Old Calendarists have some deeply held beliefs about the nature of time, adhering strictly to the historical Julian calendar (rather than any modern revision). Reading about this in the Times, I discovered that the Greek state regards the Old Calendarists as an illegal organisation, occasionally imprisoning followers of the sect. Crimes for belief in an outmoded calendar system - there's a crime worthy of imprisonment!

Although, the British are in no position to criticise too deeply - during the 18th century switch-over to the Gregorian calendar, there are rumoured to have been riots. With a distrust of government meddling in their lives, the cry of "Give us back our 11 days" was the battle cry across the land. Well maybe ... this version is reported in many history books (eg [1], [2] , although disputed by others claiming that the myth arose from an article in The World, a satirical journal which had been used by Philip Stanhope to publish articles to influence acceptance of the new calendar.

National Novel Writing Month (the end)

2007-11-30T16:22:00.001Z

Fantastic month - I achieved the goal of 50,000 words in a month, and laid out the whole of a draft of the novel. The characters got from start to end of the plot, most of the characters started developing a personality of their own that I can now build on, and the story holds together. After months if researching data about the background to this, it's great to have the words down in front of me, even if this is only a first draft. No a month to let the book rest, and then the editing starts in earnest next year.

So, I can sincerely recommend NaNoWriMo as a concept if you want to get a novel out of your head and down onto paper/PC. Having that 30 day deadline along with a hundred thousand other people is a great motivator when the word count grows to seemingly unachievable totals. I'm already planning for NaNoWriMo 2008!

National Novel Writing Month

2007-11-01T00:42:00.001Z

OK, so I've signed up for the annual event - National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The aim is to write a draft of a novel in 30 days - 50,000 words before the end of November. With a two week baby in the house, this may be madness, but if you never try ...

I have an concept for a novel that I have been working on for some time, based on a relative who spent most of the second world war in a POW camp. From training in Scotland to capture and finally walking home, his experiences tell another side of the war that is not often heard. Wish me luck in finding 50,000 words on this over the next 30 days.

I've now set up a separate blog for the NaNoWriMo entry.

Samuel Patrick

2007-10-18T00:26:00.000+01:00

Here's the beautiful reason for many delays in posting recently. Samuel Patrick arrived at 9.50 on 14th October, weighing 7lb 4oz. Growing steadily, keeping us awake at night, and worth all the effort required.

Books

2007-10-01T00:20:00.003+01:00

Well I started this idea of using this site to list some of the books I am reading or have read. This is just as much to make me think about the books, and write something to remind me, as for anyone else. But I've now found this great tool in Facebook, that allows me to load up books, search through Amazon, and write reviews there. And I can embed this here on this site. So the simpler option wins ...

Or at least that was the theory! There was a beautiful mechanism for placing information from Facebook in blogs, that either Facebook or the Bookshelf people no longer seem to support. I suppose they want you all to go to facebook to see my bookshelf ... so this service has been withdrawn. Probably shortsighted - as whatever has been done before on the web, someone else will re-create and beat them at their game. For now, I will have to start extracting reviews to place here. bear with me!

Update: There is now a separate blog for book reviews, that were beginning to take over this site.

Castle Combe - Sept 2008

2007-09-20T21:56:00.000+01:00

Family pictures from Castle Combe - September 2007.

Holland family tree

2007-08-17T17:02:00.001+01:00

My dad was never very good at keeping in touch with his family, so I had very little informaton about that side of the family when he died in 2005. With some perseverence, and the aid of Family Tree Maker, I have been able to piece together his family tree going back to the start of the 19th century using the census data.

I find it fascinating that all this information is now available to us from the comfort of our houses. The data on ancestry.co.uk and ancestry.com is completely searchable from Family Tree Maker, so the family tree quickly grows from a limited amount of initial information. The census data certainly proves worthwhile searching. It's just a shame that the births, deaths ans marriage data is quite poorly indexed, so finding women's maiden names has proved beyond my searching capabilities so far.

For any family, I have lots of pictures of family trees from both sides of the family. Please email me if you're interested.

France 2007

2007-08-08T00:51:00.005+01:00

Just back from holiday in France, staying in the Vendee. With some fairly mixed weather, there was plenty of time to enjoy the local beverages and catch up on some reading. Not the greatest of wine regions, but we still managed to bring back a bootful of bottles on the return journey. And family may be interested in the photos on picassa ... click the pic!

Holiday reading included Midnight's Children (5/5), Brick Lane (4/5), A Star Called Henry (4/5) and The Book Seller of Kabul (5/5). Strange how books just seem to fit so well together sometimes. I pickled up Brick Lane straight after finishing Midnight's Children, and found that it almost continued the story from the exact point the previous book finished. A great combniniation I would recommend.

Cycling Lands End to John O'Groats

2007-07-07T01:04:00.000+01:00

I've just finished cycling Land's End to John O'Groats, completing 1074 miles in 15 days - quite a feat for a non-athletic type. It was a fantastic trip to undertake and complete, despite the British weather. I've created an account of the training and the trip, so checkout the full LeJog blog.

Business

2007-07-02T14:35:00.000+01:00

I am currently setting up my new business (Performance and Growth Ltd) and writing about goal setting and coaching.
I have worked in and around the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years, managing IT teams and projects, including internal projects and developing specialist analysis products to sell. My most recent information is on LinkedIn.

Family tree

2007-07-01T14:32:00.002+01:00

I have been researching my mother's family tree for some time, and traced my her family back several generations in Ireland. Thanks to my cousin Cathal for sending me some of the earlier informaton. I have a GED file with several hundred people, including relatives in UK, Ireland and USA, which is published on ancestry.co.uk.

I created several pictures of the family trees for my mother's recent ancestors ... so please email me if you're interested.

Privacy and Google ads

2007-01-01T21:15:00.000Z

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