Moment of Inertia

I'm easily side tracked when something comes in to my mind.

Inertia, it is what big cynical commercial organistaions rely on to make obscene profits out of certain individual customers. By this I mean they make use of the fact that folk get on with their busy lives unaware that say the first 21 months of a phone contract have come and gone and a premium rate kicks in (for ever) unless the customer cancels or, more likely, signs up for a new contract when they realise.

Back in the days when people used bank savings accounts the hidden sting was that the interest rate would silently dwindle to 0.01 of a percent without them noticing and your life savings would return 12p interest at the end of the year. I've mentioned mobile phone companies above but land line companies and broadband suppliers are just as bad.

To be a prudent consumer these days you have to have eyes in the back of your head and above all be prepared to overcome that inertia and actively pursue a better deal. You can be sure Mr Vodadfone isn't going to draw your attention to a cheaper package. One of M's friends has just moved broadband suppliers and has dramatically cut a monthly bill and another has just realised she pays in a month what many pay in a year for land line calls.

I recall having a discussion with a naive young man taking his first steps as a house holder and he was complaining about his high electricity bill. I asked how much he was paying per unit. He didn't know. If he used a lot of power then of course his bill was going to be high but on further investigation he could have saved a fortune simply by paying by direct debit, his existing set up actually being the most expensive way to pay per unit .

That isn't even what I was going to say about "inertia". Its a terms that kicks about in the back of my head from college days specifically "Moment of Inertia". Only the term stuck and the vague recollection of needing to know about it to design a beam in a structure. Easily side tracked I have felt sufficiently distracted to do some quick web based research.

Also referred to as second moment of area it defines the properties of a structural component and how it will withstand the effects of shear and bending stress. I don't think I even understood it back then. Get your head round this; you measure length in metres, area in metres squared, volume in metres cubed -easy so far- second moment of area in metres to the power four.

Anyway this is Caley at Achaderry. He also has a great interest in "moments of inertia", specifically keeping his as short as possible.

Five Caleys