16.5.03

Dima took his first GCSE exam of the summer yesterday: he had to deliver a couple of speeches in German to the examiner! He's good at languages so it went well enough. He was "working" with his mother for the last few hours before the exam and they had some interesting exchanges of opinion! I found out the other day that network hardware has fallen in price by a factor of 12 or even 20 since I last looked and for the princely sum of GBP9 I bought an Ethernet network card for the desktop and hooked it up to the laptop: we now have an all singing and dancing home network that has already begun to show its worth. The reason for the fall in price is that they are now promoting wireless networks and they cost up to and over GBP100 a set. Now we can share the printer, files and even internet access so that whatever we do, there is no switching cables around, waiting for someone else to finish what they're doing to log on ... There was a pantomime attached to all of this however! I bought the box for GBP9 and installed the card ... went through the Windows routine of setting up the network protocols and so on. Wouldn't work. Spent an hour with Dima and still we couldn't get it to work. After a break went back to it and I found that since I was just connecting two computers without a hub, don't need it, I did need a Crossover Cable. I thought, I bet the cable I got with the £9 kit isn't Crossover. The following day I tried to call PCWorld where I bought the kit: first time their automated answering service was no help to me as I ended up in a department that had nothing to offer me. Then called again and was told to call their premium help line at GBP1 a minute. They told me that I needed someone else as they themselves know nothing about networking. I got through to someone who ASSURED me that I did indeed have a Crossover cable. Called the company that sold me my laptop and despite being barely able to understand what he was saying as he seemed completely preoccupied with something else, he did convince me that my cable was not Crossover. Went back to PCWorld and bought a Crossover cable having checked in person with them that the cable they previously supplied was NOT Crossover. Another GBP9 I should add. Connected the two computers with the new cable and IMMEDIATELY the network kicked in. What a palaver! DW

11.5.03

Part 2 of Tony's requests: Economic Growth this time Slightly unusual home page but it promises much You are promised a lot on the ins and out of growth, data sets, surveys, references, events, networks. It looks good but MAYBE not a 1st level resource. Biz/ed is a brilliant resource and you should find some very useful links here: they are not all relevant, however! How about this? In this analytical article, we examine the relationship between economic growth and the ability to travel - and how "virtual mobility" is changing the equation. There’s a massive resource of links and references from SOSIG The Centre for Growth … might be able to help The Bank of England must have something useful to say! There you are Tony: two excellent sets of links I think. DW
Tony bounced back with two requests: links on inflation and growth ... to help him with his end of 1st year University exams. Inflation A very basic introduction The Bank of England knows a thing or two about inflation: take a look some of the ways that the BoE uses probabilities in its inflation work including fan charts MoneyWorld gives you a database of inflation stats and a couple of basic definitions The ONS’s latest view of inflation plus a few useful links on the right hand side of the page From the UK Parliament is a pdf file on the value of the Pound from 1750 1998 Along the same lines but much more varied and comprehensive is Here you can find costs and values from Ancient Rome via medieval England to modern Britain … Norway, the USA and more. The Economist has an excellent glossary that includes inflation lots of links in the inflation section, too. Samuel Brittan says that Inflation Can be Too Low A slide based view of inflation, unemployment and expectations looks as if it aimed at MBA students from City University Under the heading of Revision Notes: Government Finances from learnDirect with related links on the left hand side of the page From the House of Lords: Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England - Report a LOT to read through, with the inflation control aspects to scroll for! An exam paper from the University of Exeter Principles of Economics ... no answers of course! From the Oxford School of Learning: generally aimed at A level but will apply to 1st year Undergraduate: Outline the Monetarist and non-Monetarist approaches to inflation This might be useful: an essay on Control of the Monetary Environment from the University of Essex Happy reading Tony! DW
Made a custard layer cake on Saturday and you can only imagine how good it is! DW