Shabby Brum, shadowy software, dodgy signs and a punch drunk pony

After what appears to have been a very successful Blog Action Day, both globally and locally, everything is back to “normal” today:

Terry Grimley is not enjoying the view from the top deck of the No.50 bus as it makes its way from Moseley to the Digbeth (sorry, Eastside) area of Birmingham.

I always enjoy Terry’s knowledgeable and informative opinion pieces on architecture and civic design.

He describes the route of the No.50 bus as “…a striking slice of inner city in which fading civic glory rubs shoulders with creeping shabbiness”.

Imagine Birmingham’s civic leaders and planners reading this article as they travel on the top deck of the No.50 – no, you’re right, it will never happen.

Back to the credit crunch/global financial crisis/international economic meltdown and my suggestion earlier this week that the end of days was upon us and the machines would soon be taking over the world might not have been as fanciful as even I thought.

It appears many are now pointing the finger for the world’s economic woes on computer software.

Over the last 20 years, large amounts of stocks and shares have been traded automatically by computers – these “algotrades” accounted for up to 40% of all trades on the London Stock Exchange in 2006, whilst on some American equity markets the figure can be as high as 80%.

Humans no longer make some of the decisions in our globalised money markets.

That might be just as well given our ability to cock up even the simplest of tasks.

Plans for a nationwide audit and cull of poorly worded and grammatically incorrect public signs is gathering more support, including the now ubiquitous Facebook group.

And finally it seems our binge culture is infecting the UK’s animal life.

Fat Boy, the pony who got drunk after gorging on fermented apples, had to be rescued by fire crews after staggering into a swimming pool in a Cornish back garden.