Recent content by Nick Costen

Hi Everyone, Thank you very much indeed for the information and advice. That will be a great help. I'm obviously aware of the general image analysis and classification systems; they generally work on Bag-of-Words principles. However, I'm not sure how well they specifically work on sail numbers...

Thank you very much indeed - alas, yes I did. Oh well. I'll see where else that sort of image might be available. Nick

Hi Everyone, I seem to remember that there used to be a website on which people posted pictures of boats they'd photographed, with the idea that the owner would then be able to download it. Does anyone know if it's still running, and if so, what's the URL? One of my students wants to do a...

I suspect that this is the underlying problem - if you live in Edinburgh and can afford the cost of a marina, you afford to go over to the west coast regularly. The west coast is sufficiently enticing that the Forth can't support the critical mass of moneyed yachts. And so the situation...

That's an interesting point. On a paper-based system, how do you record the data in that situation? I agree that maybe vocally describing the scene (either to a scribe or some device) might be a better data-entry solution. But perhaps we need to differentiate between the data and entry means...

That's only the one firm, and I think they specialise in high-profile tasks for customers such as governments who will pay extra for environmentally-friendly disposal. I wonder if there are any others?

While Exeter (and Topsham in particular) is lovely, my experience is that it's a long way to the open water!

I was also going to suggest the Menai - Beaumaris perhaps. Or Conwy?

Don't you think that the most plausible reading of the text is that while he had plenty of night-time experience (both locally and elsewhere), the point of the sentence is to note that it was the first time he'd taken that particular boat out at night? Hence while he knew the boat and the...

Think how we'd respond if his seduction routine had involved going out drink-driving in a car and the young woman passenger had been killed. The only real difference is the lack of specific laws to punish and suppress the behaviour before it reaches the critical point (although the very...

We've certainly hired one of the Helford moorings for a week while visiting, and left the dinghy on it while out sailing. The one we were on might have counted as "resident" though - on the Helford side, right next to the ferry. I agree that our line of argument would have been "we've taken it...

I'm reminded of an American friend of mine introducing the concept of the "boat-buck", which is used to denominate equipment. 1 boat-buck == US$100. It does actually make some sort of sense! Nick

As others are saying, the thing to remember is that incomes tend to rise (i.e. we all get richer) over time, even if the value of money is falling at the same time. It makes sense; we tend to have more "stuff" than previous generations. I've often found this website useful for these purposes...

Who's going to find it? It's so small, the only way to see it is to extrapolate from the location of the reds and greens!

I'm not sure if these two statements should be juxtaposed.... Clearly, though, you do stand at the right end. I've always felt that the best distinction in that direction is the question of when chemists wash their hands. I'm still not sure, though, who comes out of it worse. Nick