Everybody loves corporate governance
THE UK business school Mike Page belongs to subscribes to the Ebrary book reader service. When he tried to access a publication, Ebrary told him: 鈥淭he document you wish to access is currently being viewed by another user. Your institution permits access to the document 鈥楥orporate Governance鈥� by limited number of users at a time. There are 2147483646 people in line ahead of you鈥� You can now add yourself to the waiting list for access to the document.鈥�
Mike is impressed that about one-third of the population of the planet is trying to access this surprisingly popular publication at the same time.
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鈥淭he instructions for Steve Markham鈥檚 solar battery-charger promise that its charge regulator will 鈥渒eep the whole solar system in proper working condition鈥�. Cherish it, Steve鈥�
A REPORT on December鈥檚 in the normally reliable London Daily Telegraph notes that: 鈥淭here are only 1500 firefighters operating across Israel, a number widely accepted as woefully inadequate for a country of 7.6 people.鈥�
Ken Lassesen, who noticed this, is surprised that the population of the country has fallen so sharply. On the bright side, he assumes that one of the 7 people left is pregnant.
Britain鈥檚 expanding population
THINGS are hardly better over at that ironclad redoubt of science reporting, the UK鈥檚 Daily Mail. Stephen Lunn was researching statins. He unearthed from March 2010 titled 鈥淭he other side of statins鈥�. It featured anecdotes from people attributing side effects such as memory loss to these cholesterol-reducing drugs, which doctors prescribe increasingly as patients鈥� ages increase.
What caught Stephen鈥檚 eye, though, was the accompanying panel: 鈥�54 million: The number of adults in the UK with high blood pressure, that鈥檚 one in every two.鈥�
鈥淒o they know something we don鈥檛?鈥� he asks.
Even the all-seeing CIA hasn鈥檛 been told: the UK population in July 2010 as 62,348,447. Is the Mail suggesting that in addition to this there are 46 million asylum seekers 鈥� to pick another of its preoccupations at random 鈥� hiding under our beds?
AN 鈥淓SPO 860 framework鈥� is a list of refuse and recycling products recommended for procurement by local authorities in the UK, Ellie Lutterkort tells us. Last year鈥檚 ESPO 860 included an advertisement for a kitchen bin liner. Its dimensions were given as 鈥�210 + 190 脳 T-Shirt鈥�. Ellie says she really can鈥檛 imagine what they meant.
Promise of incomprehensibility fulfilled
鈥淚 AM not sure if this is fruitloopery, because I can鈥檛 make sense of it at all. I assume it is trying to sell something 鈥� perhaps a service or an idea 鈥� but have no means of identifying it,鈥� Nic Plum informs us.
He is talking about he was directed to in a 鈥渟ystems analysis鈥� group on the LinkedIn social network site. The document is called 鈥淩eflections on confronting the system resilient growth challenge among the 鈥楽ystemic quadruple power play'鈥�.
The impenetrable five page document that follows amply fulfils the headline鈥檚 promise of incomprehensibility. It is put out by a company called Alphafields which, Nic suggests, 鈥渓ooks like a management consultancy鈥�. It does, sort of, but then again it may be something quite different. Its website, , does little to make the purpose of its existence clear.
Nic is reminded of the entertainer Rolf Harris, who used to do drawings on his TV show. As his drawing proceeded, he asked the audience: 鈥淐an you tell what it is yet?鈥�
The answer in this case is, no, we can鈥檛.
WIKIPEDIA, in its interesting entry on the 鈥� that constitutionally peculiar island off the coast of north-west England 鈥� observes that the current incumbent, Adam Wood, has been holding the position from 鈥�2011-Present鈥�. It started saying this, by the way, in 2010.
CAN this be true? Sian Cole was looking through some iPhone apps and came across one for Domino鈥檚 Pizza. It states that people can choose from 1.8 billion pizza combinations, a claim that is repeated on the .
What Sian (who admits that she is not a mathematician) wants to know is: how many ingredients does it take to make that many different pizza combinations? We have asked round the New 杏吧原创 office, and several people here think the claim can be stood up. What do readers think?
Hope you鈥檝e had your breakfast
FINALLY, 鈥淗ope you鈥檝e had your breakfast鈥� is the subject line of an email from Robert Milne. It refers to a message he received from about courses and events on the topic of 鈥淪ustainability鈥�. One of these, at the UK鈥檚 Centre for Alternative Technology, is a 鈥淐ompost toilet taster day鈥�.