Recycling water-filter cartridges

Ironmongers Robert Dyas take used water filter cartridges for recycling.

Recycling and reuse ideas

http://www.make-stuff.com/

Has lots

New Editor required for Hubbub

Hubbub is the local LCC newsletter for Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham and Havering. The current editor, Chris Elliott, is standing down so we need someone else to step forward. I see no reason why this shouldn't be a B&D LCC member. If your'e interested, contact Chris for more info about what it involves.

Bike Buddy available - Ilford - City

If you're thinking of taking the plunge and cycling to work during the rail strikes, a bike buddy is a good idea. Apart from a buddy to ride with, you get the benefit of your buddy's experience of commuter cycling.

Bill Gentry has offered to buddy people from Ilford to The City. If you're interested, get in touch.

Cycle track parking

Photo speaks for itself. I'll go round, shall I?

How to get to Stratford

The sign at Barking Station at the top of the stairs down to platform 1 (London Overground) says "change at Gospel Oak for trains to Stratford and Richmond". Its a traditional railway style piece of information, but pretty silly in context as the rail route to Stratford from Barking is West Ham (c2c or Underground) then the Jubilee Line, or possibly B&GO to Wanstead Park, walk to Forest Gate then Stratford on that line. It's extra silly at the moment as the line between Gospel Oak and Stratford is closed.

The Forest Gate and West Ham routes can take as little as 19 minutes - the Gospel Oak route will take an hour longer! The quickest route to Richmond is via West Ham and Waterloo - at least 12 minutes quicker than District line all the way.

Website content guru Gerry McGovern has written about the benefits of technology. Surprisingly close to some of the material used by Peter Joseph - including in his weekly (ish) blog talk radio show on the web (24 March episode), McGovern writes:

"The relentless march of technology-generated evidence is everywhere, from teaching, to medicine, to website management. And what are we learning? That doctors and web managers make much better decisions when they have evidence, data; facts, not opinions. We need to embrace technology and allow it to extend our capabilities. If we resist, and believe in the infallibility of humans, we don’t undermine technology—we undermine ourselves."

McGovern's point of departure is the use of technological aids for football (soccer) referees. He argues that they should not be prevented from benefiting from this technology any more than any other. He scoffs, basically, at the idea that humans should stop extending their capabilities by use of technology - the decision of when to do so must surely be arbitrary.

At the Z-day event in London, one of the speakers recounted how a passenger on the Docklands Light Railway was freaked out by the lack of a driver on the train, such that they had to put someone up front to 'pretend' to drive. This shows the underlying belief that a human is more reliable than a machine - which is patently untrue (perhaps not in every example, but generally overall). We see technological advances in cars from automatic gear boxes, through ABS brakes to SatNav. It is not lack of technology that stops the driverless car appearing, but the mistaken belief that the human must ultimately be in control.

http://newsweaver.ie/gerrymcgovern/e_article001706037.cfm