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April 7th, 2010 by Wadds

Geordie geocoin project fails, but follows network theory (after 26 journeys and 7,300 miles)

18-months ago I set up the Geordie Jetsetter Geocaching project as a means of exploring how a physical object could be passed through a network connected by a community.

Don’t get me wrong this was never a grand sociological project. More a game of curiosity. Fun even. But it has fallen into line with the theories of social networks defined in the 1940s and 50s.

Geocaching is a web 2.0 sport where GPS equipped geocachers search for geocaches and share their experiences online. A geocoin is a special coin that has a unique tracking number so that its progress from geocache-to-geocache can be tracked online through logs on the Geocaching.com web site.

My project saw a series of three geocoins released in a geocache at Newcastle United Football Club in the winter of 2008 with the goal of reaching Newcastle in Australia, Newcastle in South Africa, and Newcastle in the US.

The South Africa and US geocoins have been lost in transit after travelling 620 miles and 6,000 miles respectively.

The South Africa geocoin has got as far as Southampton on the UK’s south coast but hasn’t been moved for nine months so is presumed lost while the US geocoin reached California in April 2009 but is now reported lost.

Only the Australian geocoin is still on the move. But it’s a long way from its intended destination. It’s currently in mainland Europe having been moved by 15 people to its current location in a cache outside Zurich.

It’s disappointing that after being moved on 26 occasions by difference members of the Geocaching community, travelling a distance of 7,300 miles, only one geocoin remains in play. But then the theory says that without strong interpersonal ties a network will eventually break down.

The photo was recorded in the log of the remaining Australian geocoin in Switzerland.

Posted in Interesting, Social media
Tags: Australia, Geocaching, Geocaching.com, Geocoin, GPS, Newcastle, Newcastle United, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, nufc, Outdoors, South Africa, US
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May 9th, 2009 by Wadds

Saving for a rainy day: FTSE Confidence Project shows 10% profit in four months

I started the £1k FTSE 100 Confidence Project in January as a personal show of confidence in the UK equity market. I was fed up with the doom and gloom and was convinced that the equity market had priced in bad news. I invested £1,000 in a FTSE 100 ISA tracker from the Halifax and commited to reporting its performance on my blog.

The market fell further to a low of 3,800 but has since climbed to 4,400 (FTSE 100 close 4,462 – 8 May). My £1,000 investment has grown to almost £1,105. Ten per cent growth is a cracking return in less than four months. I’m going to pull out the profit and save it for a rainy day. It could be a false dawn after all.

We’re seeing all the signs of a long, snakey and W-shaped recession. Bad news continues to arrive daily. UK manufacturing was hit further yesterday with news that Corus is likely to close its Teesside steelmaking plant with the loss of 2,000 jobs.

The recession was driven by a collapse in the credit markets. But there can be no doubt that the economy is recalibrating. A key report from the US Treasury this week showed that the US banking sector was slowly getting back on its feet and the Bank of England’s quantitative easing strategy appears to be having the desired impact in the UK.

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s strategy of increasing public spending to bolster the economy is a blunt instrument but its working. He’s unlikely to get any thanks of course because at some point spending will have to be cut back dramatically or taxes increased.

Increased public spending has to be funded through debt because we didn’t build up reserves during the years of growth. Prime Minister Gordon Brown wasn’t as prudent as he likes to claim. We didn’t put anything away for a rainy day.