The website of David Jones

Recent changes

Sun, 19 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0600

2026-03-25 - Economics and Trust in Veterinary Care - Website content added an article titled ‘Economics and Trust in Veterinary Care’, discussing veterinary fees, credence goods market, trust, principal-agent problem, and regulatory response by Competition and Markets Authority
2026-03-24 - The Best Metaphor - Document added: Article about Cargo Cults, their history and metaphorical use in understanding business situations.
2026-03-23 - The Incoherence of Liberal Morality - Document added: Analysis of liberal morality’s selective outrage, focusing on the inconsistency between condemning Western infractions and ignoring non-Western traditions.

About this website

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0600

I’ve recently revamped this website and I’ll be using it to collect links and content I find interesting, and for my own occasional writing, so the important things are speed and readability. I’ve closely followed the suggestions of Edward Tufte’s stylesheet recommendations for simple and clear text on the web, and a long-standing aim is that markup should be as close to purely semantic as possible. The principles derived by Dave Liepmann from Tufte’s writings are guidelines, not mandatory diktats, but they’re very useful guidelines. I’ve also been influenced by Gwern Branwen’s Gwern.net in this most recent site revamp, though I hope not to be too copycat as the site evolves.

Economics and Trust in Veterinary Care

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Veterinary fees in the United Kingdom have risen sharply, and the Competition and Markets Authority has responded with proposals for greater transparency, including published price lists and comparison tools. These measures assume that the problem resembles a standard market failure: prices are high because consumers cannot easily compare options.

But the behaviour of pet owners during a consultation suggests a different structure. Decisions are typically made before price is discussed. A vet recommends a diagnostic step or a course of treatment, and the often-distressed owner agrees straightaway. Questions focus on the animal’s condition and the likely outcome, with the cost often considered only once the invoice is presented, after the service has been delivered.

The Incoherence of Liberal Morality

Thu, 08 May 2025 08:00:00 +0000

A consideration of the liberal left’s selective outrage—quick to condemn Western infractions, silent before non-Western traditions—and a call for a reconstructed universalism grounded in coherent, cross-cultural moral reasoning

I recently saw a video circulating on X of a white French man walking through a town in Algeria. The camera followed him along backstreets as several women passed by wearing robes that covered them head to toe with only a single hole for one eye to peer through. It was ’tradition’, he was told by a smiling (male) local.

Bayesian Thinking

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The death of Mike Lynch and others on board his yacht ‘Bayesian’ got me thinking about Bayes Theorem and its use as a tool in knowledge discovery.

Bayes Theorem - the basics

Stephen Hawking said he was once told that the inclusion of each equation in his book would cut the number of interested readers by 50%. Nevertheless, this one isn’t hard to grasp though it might appear to be using slightly odd syntax if you haven’t seen how conditional probabilities are expressed.

Getting married in Japan

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

I’m a UK citizen, and a few years ago I married another UK citizen in Tokyo while we were on holiday. If you’re planning to do the same, here’s a guide to help you through the process. It will involve the preparation of some translations before you travel, a trip to the British Embassy in Tokyo (pre-booked), and at least one visit to a municipal office in Japan that deals with the registration of births, marriages, deaths, and divorces — I recommend two visits.

These are the steps involved, described in detail below:

CV - David Jones

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 06:00:00 +0600

Professional Summary

Experienced in designing and implementing complex solutions across multiple industries, nationally and internationally.
Possesses strong technical expertise and excellent communication skills.
Able to translate business requirements effectively into technical solutions that meet or exceed client expectations.
Experienced in managing large transformation projects, cloud migrations, and legacy update programs.
Possess strong leadership qualities and can guide teams in achieving project goals.
Provide architectural leadership to ensure project success.
Proficient in team management, including assigning tasks, setting goals, and ensuring deadlines are met.
Adaptable and able to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams to achieve common goals.
Up-to-date with emerging technologies and industry trends to ensure solutions remain innovative and effective.

Skills

Expertise in solution architecture, design, and implementation
Extensive knowledge of cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Strong understanding of software development life cycle
Ability to create technical documentation and presentations
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Proven leadership and project management skills

Recent Employment Experience

Senior Solutions Architect, Capgemini

March 2018 – Present

Led the design and implementation of complex solutions for large transformation projects for key clients.
Seconded to large Government department to provide architectural guidance and leadership
Designed complex cloud-based solutions and closely collaborated with AWS and IBM to evolve new product offerings
Translated business requirements into technical solutions that meet client expectations.
Provided guidance to project teams throughout the development life cycle
Collaborated with stakeholders, including project managers, developers, and business analysts, to ensure successful project delivery.
Created technical documentation and presentations to communicate solution design and implementation details to clients and project teams.
Conducted technical evaluations of third-party products to ensure they meet client needs.
Developed and delivered technical training to internal and external teams.
Provided technical support to clients during and after solution implementation.
Reviewer for more junior architects
Board member of internal Architect Academy training scheme - mentoring & training junior team members on solution architecture and design best practices.
On working group for exploration on AI/LLMs. Also, producing content for the Capgemini Streams platform

The noble lie of Ada Lovelace

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0000

Despite Ada Lovelace Day, the Ada Lovelace Institute, the Ada Lovelace Award and Wikipedia’s confirmation that Ada Lovelace is ‘often regarded as the first computer programmer’, Lovelace was not the first programmer and she had no hand in the creation of the Babbage Difference Engine and Analytic Engine. Does the exaggeration of her contribution matter? Is it a noble lie?

Not only is there no evidence that Lovelace ever prepared a program for the Analytical Engine, but her correspondence with Babbage shows that she did not have the knowledge to do so.

Seeing off Yuan the Second on a Mission to Anxi

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 06:00:00 +0600

I’ve been trying my hand at translating Tang-era poems again. This one’s by Wang Wei

Original in traditional script

And here’s my translation:

Seeing off Yuan the Second on a Mission to Anxi

The willows at the inn are fresh and green
The dust is dampened by the morning dew
I buy my friend another cup of wine
Beyond Yang Pass, good wine and friends are few

The Best Metaphor

Sun, 06 May 2018 06:00:00 +0600

A small group of almost-naked figures gathers at the edge of a rectangular jungle clearing. At the northern end stands their recently-completed spindly bamboo mast; halfway along one of the longer sides is a rickety hut on thin stilts. Running down the center of the cleared area, a strip of flattened sandy scrub, like a giants’ cricket pitch. Twenty metres beyond the southern end of the clearing, through the jungle greenery, is a strand of white sand, and then the sea.

The Banach-Tarski Paradox

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 06:00:00 +0600

Given a solid ball in 3‑dimensional space, there exists a decomposition of the ball into a finite number of disjoint subsets, which can then be put back together in a different way to yield two identical copies of the original ball.The reassembly process involves only moving the pieces around and rotating them without changing their shape.

The Banach-Tarski Paradox

This ‘paradox’ is a firm result in set theory. It’s not up for debate.

Pronouncing Don Quixote in La Mancha

Wed, 09 Nov 2016 06:00:00 +0600

Pizarro in the market square of Trujillo, Spain

On holiday in Spain in 2007 I read Don Quixote — and ploughing through some parts in the Don’s homeland of La Mancha, I thought I’d solved the puzzle of the protagonist’s name: Key-Ho-Tay or Kwiksot?

I’ve previously spoken the name ‘Don Quixote’ as Don Key-ho-tay, presuming it was more Spanish, though of course I’ve been aware of the alternative in English of Don Quick-Sot. The version of the novel I had, the translation by John Rutherford (winner of the 2002 Primo Valle Inclàn Prize) definitely plumps for Kwiksot in its rhymes. For example, on page 222 (Chapter XXVI) of the paperback, he translates a poem to read:

The website of David Jones

Recent changes

Links

About this website

Economics and Trust in Veterinary Care

The Incoherence of Liberal Morality

Bayesian Thinking

Bayes Theorem - the basics

Getting married in Japan

CV - David Jones

Professional Summary

Skills

Recent Employment Experience

Senior Solutions Architect, Capgemini

March 2018 – Present

The noble lie of Ada Lovelace

Seeing off Yuan the Second on a Mission to Anxi

The Best Metaphor

The Banach-Tarski Paradox

Pronouncing Don Quixote in La Mancha