That TUC paper properly explained.
I am very much hoping it wasn\’t Duncan Weldon that wrote it. given that he\’s a competent economist that would be shameful.
If it\’s the usual suspects then less so: they don\’t know what they\’re doing anyway.
That TUC paper properly explained.
I am very much hoping it wasn\’t Duncan Weldon that wrote it. given that he\’s a competent economist that would be shameful.
If it\’s the usual suspects then less so: they don\’t know what they\’re doing anyway.
Tim>
“Their actual chart is not extractable from the .pdf, not by me at least.”
Not particularly germane, but you might find this useful: http://www.extractpdf.com/
Actually, this is vaguely relevant, now I come to think of it. What is it that stops a competent and literate economics blogger googling for something simple like a PDF extractor? Is it that you don’t realise such a thing exists? This is not a criticism, because many people do much the same thing – but I’m wondering if there’s a link to the seeming blind ignorance of some at the TUC.
Tim adds: Essentially, I’m near illiterate as far as computers are concerned. And phones, electronics generally.
Example 1) I use Skype. I also like to play music while I work. I’ve had my current computer set up for some 5 years now and still do not know how to have the Skype phone plugged into a USB port and manage to have the music come out of the speakers not the Skype phone.
Example 2). I do not use the text feature on my phone. I cannot work out how to actually use it: quite apart from anything else how the hell does anyone do anything with that predictive text nonsense?
“how the hell does anyone do anything with that predictive text nonsense?”
You turn the f*****g thing off. write text-options-dictionary-disable.
Tim>
Your first example is interesting. I think it’s possible, but not trivial by any means. How would a non-expert know the difference between that and the PDF extraction problem?
I guess we’re into anosognosis here:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/
On the other hand, google is pretty good – search for ‘usb skype phone music speakers’ – without the inverted commas – and the first answer you get tells you how to fix it.
What is it that makes someone realise ‘someone must know how to do this’?
Hmm, first answer gives me this:
For Windows 7 and Vista
To use your USB phone or headset for Skype and loudspeakers for other audio:
Click Start > Control Panel > (Hardware and Sound) > Sound > Manage audio devices.
Select the Playback tab and select your loudspeakers as the Set Default device.
Select the Recording tab and select your phone or headset as the Set Default device.
Sign in to Skype and go to Tools > Options > Audio Settings.
Under both Microphone and Speakers, select your phone or headset from the drop-down list.
Click Save.
Now you can make calls on your phone or headset, while all other sounds and music are played through your computer’s loudspeakers.
And at “manage audio devices” my Portuguese fails on this Portuguese language version of Windows.
I’m sure there are people who find this sort of thing both easy and obvious. I’m just not one of them.
I’ve argued, in fact, that it took 90 years odd for the car to become something that non car geeks can use. The Model T was great: but it was only really in the 1990s that you could buy a car that just needed petrol to “go”.
I expect computers to be roughly the same.
As the self-employed have more than doubled in number and nearly doubled as a %age of the labour market, excluding the earnings of the self-employed from the labour share of GDP produces a massive distortion.
The TUC is comparing the wage bill for 93% of the workforce in 1980 with that for 87% of the workforce in 2011. Of course it has declined. A sleight of hand that you overlooked when focusing on their ignoring tax.
“how the hell does anyone do anything with that predictive text nonsense?”
You keep typing until the right word appears.
Tim, it seems as if you could not survive as a 5 year old in the modern world 🙂