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26.04.05
Ironic Ad
Here's one to add to my series on deconstructing ads. Can anyone spot the irony in the text here? Purpose of ad - to get as many people as possible to buy the car. Message - if you buy the car, you'll be unique, individual.
Actually there's another irony in there. The slogan "go beyond" - most people in the target market will probably not go beyond (for a few years anyway) but instead go down to pick up the kids from the school 500 metres away. Or failing that drive around the streets of London.
Comes from:
Posted by Giles at 18:06 | Comments (0)
05.04.05
A travesty of democracy in the UK
I just tried to register myself for a postal vote for the UK elections. I had heard from rumours in the press, , well before they were actually officially announced, that the elections would be held in May. Below I have pasted the email exchange which I had as a result of sending the form (it's in the extended entry).
I think it's a travesty of democracy that an election is announced nearly a month after the deadline for registering to vote. It seems Tony Blair has learned something from his friend in the US about how to exclude people who might vote against him (Vide Florida Votes, Michael Moore, etc...).
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Giles,
The register is updated every year so if a form is not filled in from a property (in your case a narrowboat) then the electors are deleted. I have done a name search for you and you don't appear on the current
register in Oxford.
I agree that the deadline is far too early (as do most of my fellow
elections administrators) but the government doesn't. We will keep
suggesting that the deadline should be bought nearer to election day but we are in their hands. Of course, in many places there are planned County elections which would have happened whether the general does or not.
Thanks
****ANON**** [I've anonymized this guy because he had the courage to criticize his organization and I don't want him to get into trouble]
-----Original Message-----
Sent: 04 April 2005 10:30
Subject: Re: Postal vote application
I voted in Oxford last time and haven't changed my registration. Perhaps
you are not looking under exactly the right address?
Can you check and let me know.
I lived on a narrowboat where the address was registered (the narrowboat
name was Baobab Tree, Boaters' box, Oxford Canal, Woodstock Rd, Oxford
Ox2 7AH
)
It seems strange and undemocratic that it is already too late to
register to vote BEFORE the election has even been announced.
Thanks
[Me]
----- Original Message -----
Date: Thursday, March 31, 2005 3:57 pm
Subject: Postal vote application
> Mr Hogben,
>
> I'm afraid that I can't accept your postal vote application as you are
> not on the register in Oxford. From your application I assume that are
> now resident abroad - if you are not on the current register of
> electorsin the UK somewhere then I'm afraid it is too late to get on
> in time for the elections on 5th May.
>
> If you think you might be registered somewhere you will need to
> contactthat authority to check.
>
> Sorry I can't be more helpful.
>
> Thanks
>
>
****ANON**** [I've anonymized this guy because he had the courage to criticize his organization and I don't want him to get into trouble]
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>
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Posted by Giles at 11:44 | Comments (0)
04.04.05
Really counterintuitive
I found this very entertaining and counterintuitive:
Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?
See the extended entry for the answer plus caveats:
The answer is YES. Here is a good explanation of why. It's a good tip that it helps to think of more doors with just one car behind.
http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Monty_Hall_problem
But note that there are some caveats, which are described here:
The basic point is that only if the gameshow host INTENDS to choose the goats and you know that, does the solution hold. If he is chosing at random from the remaining doors, and he happens to choose the goats, then the answer is wrong.
Some analysis here:
http://www.wiskit.com/marilyn/gameshow.html
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/itprnn/book.pdf P.57
Posted by Giles at 16:09 | Comments (1)