New Theme
29/01/09 23:52 Filed in: Blogging
I just discovered
this new theme, called Aqua, from Elixir Graphics. It’s easy to customise, and
I think it looks quite smart.
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Warwick redux
28/01/09 22:43 Filed in: Sport
There would appear to
be more to the Paul Warwick story (see below) than
originally thought. After London Irish came out
last night and made a statement
that they had
signed him, it would appear that Munster moved
quickly to deny it, and claim that he is a
Munster player for the foreseeable future.
(There is no statement on the Munster site,
just this report in the Limerick Leader
and this on BreakingNews.ie.)
It’s a hot topic of conversation at Munsterfans.com.
I’ll update if I hear any more.
It’s a hot topic of conversation at Munsterfans.com.
I’ll update if I hear any more.
Rugby Roundup
27/01/09 20:55 Filed in: Sport
Is it really that
long since I last
wrote about rugby?
Since then, Munster lost away to Connacht and got whipped at home by Ulster
in the Magners.
Following these setbacks, they won away to Ospreys
(Magners again); romped into the quarter finals of
the Heineken Cup, having dished out a six-try
spanking to Sale at Thomond; and last weekend
thrashed Montauban five tries to one to set up a
home quarter final against Ospreys. (Whipping?
Romping? Spanking? Thrashing? This post is
beginning to resemble something you might read in
the memoirs of a British cabinet minister of the
Thatcher era.)
Not wanting to tempt fate or anything, but we should be able to get past the Ospreys at Thomond on Easter Sunday. In some ways I would have preferred if we had drawn Toulouse at this point, just so that we could have a better chance to neutralise them on our patch, rather than have to face them later on. As it happens, if we get to the semi, we will face either Harlequins or The Goys. This will be a home match for Munster, even though it can’t be played in Thomond. That raises a problem - where could this match take place?
Lansdowne Road
won’t be available and none of the other provincial
grounds is big enough. There is Croke Park, of
course, but given that the agreement between the
IRFU and the GAA is for international matches only,
that might not be an option. The GAA work to their
own agenda and don’t like being pressured into
anything. However, a Munster-Leinster semi-final
would guarantee a full house at GAA HQ, and the
prospect of all that lovely lolly flowing into
cash-strapped GAA coffers might help sway things.
Also the fact that the fanbases of Munster rugby
and the various Munster counties’ GAA teams overlap
so much could influence a decision in favour of
opening the ground up. We’ll wait and see.
Sad news today from the Munster camp, in that Paul Warwick is
to decamp to
London Irish at the end of the season. Since
arriving from Connacht two seasons ago, he has
added a valuable extra dimension to Munster’s
backs. We saw that on Sunday against Montauban,
where he and ROG were able to mix things up very
effectively between one another. Also, we will
never forget his superb display against the All
Blacks back in November.
In the Irish camp, Brian O’Driscoll has been retained as captain of the national squad. I would like to have seen Paul O’Connell take on the captain’s armband this season, but by all accounts Declan Kidney made his decision having consulted with the senior members of the squad, who strongly favoured retaining BOD in the role. So that’s that then.
I’ll get around to a Six Nations preview before too long.
Since then, Munster lost away to Connacht and got whipped at home by Ulster
Not wanting to tempt fate or anything, but we should be able to get past the Ospreys at Thomond on Easter Sunday. In some ways I would have preferred if we had drawn Toulouse at this point, just so that we could have a better chance to neutralise them on our patch, rather than have to face them later on. As it happens, if we get to the semi, we will face either Harlequins or The Goys. This will be a home match for Munster, even though it can’t be played in Thomond. That raises a problem - where could this match take place?
Sad news today from the Munster camp, in that Paul Warwick is
In the Irish camp, Brian O’Driscoll has been retained as captain of the national squad. I would like to have seen Paul O’Connell take on the captain’s armband this season, but by all accounts Declan Kidney made his decision having consulted with the senior members of the squad, who strongly favoured retaining BOD in the role. So that’s that then.
I’ll get around to a Six Nations preview before too long.
I Am Not Worthy, Etc., Etc.
23/01/09 22:56 Filed in: Blogging
Thanks to whoever it was that nominated me.
Speaking of the blog awards, I see that the winner of Best Blog for the least few years, Twenty Major, has returned from his self-imposed exile with a redesigned site. The space on my blogroll page, left empty since he retired has been filled once more. Sweary is back in her rightful place too.
“IBA nominated” logo above by Eolai
Dublin Airport Parking Woes
23/01/09 22:03 Filed in: General
Nonsense
I have to do a good
bit of to-ing and fro-ing over to London and other
foreign parts on foot of my job. I like to be fully
prepared before I set out, and so will have
checked-in online and have bought my ticket for the
Gatwick Express.
Recently, I heard ads on the radio offering discounted parking at Dublin Airport’s car parks, available by pre-booking on their website. I gave it a go for the first time back in December when I was going over to Edinburgh for the day. Everything went fine until I went to exit the car park on my return. Neither my car nor my Laser card were recognised, and I ended up having to get three cars behind me to back up so that I could get out of the
lane and try
the next one along, as suggested by the attendant
in the carpark office. That didn’t work either, but
eventually, the attendant just lifted the barrier.
I reckoned that it was just a glitch in the system
and thought no more of it.
Last week, I was due to go to London for an overnight stay, and so I booked my place in the long-term car park. This time, it didn’t recognise my reg number and Laser card on the way in. I had to take a ticket to get in, and then when I was coming out, had to call the attendant to arrange payment of the agreed lower charge. He reckoned that there was something wrong with my Laser card. I assured him that the card was in good working order, a fact of which I am painfully aware. When I got home, I noticed that my front reg plate was a bit grubby, so reckoned that could have been it.
Wednesday this week, I was flying again, and I said I’d give it one last shot. I had the car washed in the meantime, and at 05.00 I presented my gleaming reg plate in front of the beady eye of the camera at the red zone of the long term car park. And once again it didn’t work. Same story as last week.
I wonder is it just me, or has anyone else had these problems?
Recently, I heard ads on the radio offering discounted parking at Dublin Airport’s car parks, available by pre-booking on their website. I gave it a go for the first time back in December when I was going over to Edinburgh for the day. Everything went fine until I went to exit the car park on my return. Neither my car nor my Laser card were recognised, and I ended up having to get three cars behind me to back up so that I could get out of the
Last week, I was due to go to London for an overnight stay, and so I booked my place in the long-term car park. This time, it didn’t recognise my reg number and Laser card on the way in. I had to take a ticket to get in, and then when I was coming out, had to call the attendant to arrange payment of the agreed lower charge. He reckoned that there was something wrong with my Laser card. I assured him that the card was in good working order, a fact of which I am painfully aware. When I got home, I noticed that my front reg plate was a bit grubby, so reckoned that could have been it.
Wednesday this week, I was flying again, and I said I’d give it one last shot. I had the car washed in the meantime, and at 05.00 I presented my gleaming reg plate in front of the beady eye of the camera at the red zone of the long term car park. And once again it didn’t work. Same story as last week.
I wonder is it just me, or has anyone else had these problems?
PC Alert In The Night Garden
13/01/09 22:13 Filed in: General
Nonsense
Normally I don’t take
much notice of political correctness, but every now
and then, I feel the urge to reach for my pipe and
walking stick and splutter out “Why… it’s-it’s…
political correctness…gone mad!!”
Like today, when I saw this story on the BBC website about a doll based on a character from the hugely popular children’s TV show “In The Night Garden…”
Like many other parents of toddlers, I have become well acquainted with Upsy Daisy, Igglepiggle and the Tombliboos, among others. These are all characters in the show, made by Ragdoll Productions for the BBC’s CBeebies channel. “In The Night Garden…” was created by the same people that brought us the Teletubbies. Of course, as night follows day, the show has spawned a large range of merchandise from dolls to bubble bath to clothes and bedspreads, etc. Given that our little one is a big fan, this stuff makes up a fair chunk of our household’s trade deficit with China.
So anyway, what’s all the fuss about? Apparently there have been complaints (by whom we do not know) that the skin tone on the Upsy Daisy doll is paler than the character in the show.
From the BBC report:
Ragdoll Productions, the company behind the show, said the character had not been "intended to represent a specific race or culture".
"The characters are toys, not representations of people," it added.
I suppose if you go out of your way to look for offence, then you can find it in the most unlikely places. Would a two-year old notice if her Upsy Daisy doll was lighter in colour than the Upsy Daisy on the screen? Of course not. No more than if her Igglepiggle doll was a lighter shade of blue.
Like today, when I saw this story on the BBC website about a doll based on a character from the hugely popular children’s TV show “In The Night Garden…”
Like many other parents of toddlers, I have become well acquainted with Upsy Daisy, Igglepiggle and the Tombliboos, among others. These are all characters in the show, made by Ragdoll Productions for the BBC’s CBeebies channel. “In The Night Garden…” was created by the same people that brought us the Teletubbies. Of course, as night follows day, the show has spawned a large range of merchandise from dolls to bubble bath to clothes and bedspreads, etc. Given that our little one is a big fan, this stuff makes up a fair chunk of our household’s trade deficit with China.
So anyway, what’s all the fuss about? Apparently there have been complaints (by whom we do not know) that the skin tone on the Upsy Daisy doll is paler than the character in the show.
From the BBC report:
Ragdoll Productions, the company behind the show, said the character had not been "intended to represent a specific race or culture".
"The characters are toys, not representations of people," it added.
I suppose if you go out of your way to look for offence, then you can find it in the most unlikely places. Would a two-year old notice if her Upsy Daisy doll was lighter in colour than the Upsy Daisy on the screen? Of course not. No more than if her Igglepiggle doll was a lighter shade of blue.
The Lesser Spotted '09 Reg
13/01/09 21:33 Filed in: General
Nonsense
Back in February
2000, I was coming home from work one evening and
was stopped at traffic lights somewhere around
Blackrock in South Dublin. In front of me was a car
with the reg 00-D-20000. I remember thinking to
myself “Wow! Twenty thousand new cars sold in
Dublin the first eight weeks of the year.” That was
the year that Dublin registrations went over
100,000 for the first and only time, topping out
somewhere around 108,000.
Normally by now, with nearly two weeks of the new year gone, you would expect to see a fair smattering of new year registrations on the road. I have driven around 1500 km since the turn of the year, and so far have only seen three. One was a waste-collection truck, another was a van, and yesterday I spotted a Ford Mondeo with 09 plates.
Now if that isn’t a barometer of the current economic downturn, I don’t know what is.
Normally by now, with nearly two weeks of the new year gone, you would expect to see a fair smattering of new year registrations on the road. I have driven around 1500 km since the turn of the year, and so far have only seen three. One was a waste-collection truck, another was a van, and yesterday I spotted a Ford Mondeo with 09 plates.
Now if that isn’t a barometer of the current economic downturn, I don’t know what is.
FriendFace
11/01/09 22:57 Filed in: Tech | General
Nonsense
Speaking of catching
up on things over Christmas, I
had three
episodes of The IT Crowd canned in the Sky+ box and
watched them all in one go one night. Best of
the lot was Friendface. Here’s a clip from C4. Can’t embed it,
unfortunately.
Ahead In The Cloud
11/01/09 21:23 Filed in: Tech
I have been a
subscriber to Don McAllister’s
excellent
ScreenCasts Online
for ages, but over
the last few months, I haven’t been as diligent
at watching the weekly episodes as I once was.
So over the Christmas, I made it one of my goals
to get myself up to speed.
Two highlights from the recent SCO back catalogue concern the issue of cloud computing. For those not familiar with the idea, cloud computing involves saving files to a remote server, either instead of or in addition to saving a local copy on your hard drive. You can then sync your data with another machine or access it off the server via a web browser.
The first of these is Evernote. Evernote is an information management system rather than a full-blown folders and files structure. This is useful if you need to save a snippet of information and store it somewhere handy, rather than have to root around for it within your files and folders. In my old job, I had a Mac on my desk and used to synch my Yojimbo information and notes between home and work via .Mac (or MobileMe as it’s known now). There is a web service for Yojimbo called Webjimbo, but it’s a paid service and looks a bit complicated to set up.
Evernote offers clients for Mac and Windows (and smartphones) and access via any standard browser. Simply download the client for your machine, sign up and away you go. I have to use the web-based service on my work PC as it is firewalled like a medieval maiden’s chastity belt. But you still get all of the functionality on the web.
One of the really cool features of Evernote is its ability to search for text within images. Here’s an example of a photo that I uploaded to Evernote just now:
Now if I search for the word Sullivan, it can find it within the image.
Pretty darn neat, I reckon.
The other app that was featured recently on SCO was Dropbox. This is a “files and folders” system, where you can sync whole files and folders across multiple machines and also access them form the net.
Like Evernote, it has clients for Mac and Windows, where you can manage your files and folders on your desktop. Once installed on the Mac, it sits as a folder on the sidebar of the Finder like so.
It behaves as any other folder would, and you can drag and drop items into or out of it. If you use Dropbox on another machine, and update any of the files within your Dropbox folder, they will be automatically updated as soon as you save your changes. Similarly you can choose to share folders with other Dropbox users, and again any changes made to files within the shared folder will sync pretty much immediately once saved on any machine within the share. I find this really useful for work, as I have apps on my Mac at home that I sometimes need to use for work (like Acrobat and Photoshop). I can just save the files I need to work on to my Dropbox folder, and pull them out when I’m on the Mac. Once I’m done, I can save them and retrieve them on the PC.
I found out recently that Microsoft are running a beta of a similar service, called Mesh.
Finally, if you aren’t signed up to ScreenCasts Online, have a look at some of the free shows that Don publishes on a regular basis. It really is a fantastic resource and I have learned an awful lot from Don’s work.
Two highlights from the recent SCO back catalogue concern the issue of cloud computing. For those not familiar with the idea, cloud computing involves saving files to a remote server, either instead of or in addition to saving a local copy on your hard drive. You can then sync your data with another machine or access it off the server via a web browser.
The first of these is Evernote. Evernote is an information management system rather than a full-blown folders and files structure. This is useful if you need to save a snippet of information and store it somewhere handy, rather than have to root around for it within your files and folders. In my old job, I had a Mac on my desk and used to synch my Yojimbo information and notes between home and work via .Mac (or MobileMe as it’s known now). There is a web service for Yojimbo called Webjimbo, but it’s a paid service and looks a bit complicated to set up.
Evernote offers clients for Mac and Windows (and smartphones) and access via any standard browser. Simply download the client for your machine, sign up and away you go. I have to use the web-based service on my work PC as it is firewalled like a medieval maiden’s chastity belt. But you still get all of the functionality on the web.
One of the really cool features of Evernote is its ability to search for text within images. Here’s an example of a photo that I uploaded to Evernote just now:
Now if I search for the word Sullivan, it can find it within the image.
Pretty darn neat, I reckon.
The other app that was featured recently on SCO was Dropbox. This is a “files and folders” system, where you can sync whole files and folders across multiple machines and also access them form the net.
Like Evernote, it has clients for Mac and Windows, where you can manage your files and folders on your desktop. Once installed on the Mac, it sits as a folder on the sidebar of the Finder like so.
It behaves as any other folder would, and you can drag and drop items into or out of it. If you use Dropbox on another machine, and update any of the files within your Dropbox folder, they will be automatically updated as soon as you save your changes. Similarly you can choose to share folders with other Dropbox users, and again any changes made to files within the shared folder will sync pretty much immediately once saved on any machine within the share. I find this really useful for work, as I have apps on my Mac at home that I sometimes need to use for work (like Acrobat and Photoshop). I can just save the files I need to work on to my Dropbox folder, and pull them out when I’m on the Mac. Once I’m done, I can save them and retrieve them on the PC.
I found out recently that Microsoft are running a beta of a similar service, called Mesh.
Finally, if you aren’t signed up to ScreenCasts Online, have a look at some of the free shows that Don publishes on a regular basis. It really is a fantastic resource and I have learned an awful lot from Don’s work.
iPhone Killers
10/01/09 23:42 Filed in: Tech
Since its release
only 18 months ago, the iPhone has become a phenomenon in
itself. It is a classic Apple product - take an
existing product form (in this case the
smartphone), and produce a version that just
blows everything else out of the water.
There have been
many smartphones on the market before the iPhone,
but few of them came even close to the elegance,
style or ease of use that Apple’s phone has. There
were user-unfriendly UIs, clunky keyboards, poor
browsers, crappy video or music players, etc. The
iPhone came along and showed how a real convergence
device could be done. Crucially, it did this by
using its own operating system, and also by
focusing on the user.
That’s not to say that the iPhone is perfect. The camera is still a measly 2MP, there is no video capture, and the actual phone function itself comes in for criticism.
Every now and then, rival companies release a new model in competition to the iPhone, and they are immediately dubbed “iPhone Killers”.
The
BlackBerry Storm
was one. This
week, Palm announced the arrival of the
Pre. Now both of these phones are
significant steps forward for their
manufacturers, and may well be as good overall
as the iPhone.
Some of their
features may be better that those available on the
iPhone. For example, I would expect the camera
technology on an equivalent Sony Ericsson to be
superior to an iPhone simply because Sony makes
cameras.
For a phone to be called an iPhone killer, it has to push the boundary out the way the iPhone did. It has to make the iPhone look like yesterday’s technology and be so far ahead of the game that Apple can’t even catch up with its next revision of the iPhone. None of them have done that yet, but that’s not to say that it can’t be done.
That’s not to say that the iPhone is perfect. The camera is still a measly 2MP, there is no video capture, and the actual phone function itself comes in for criticism.
Every now and then, rival companies release a new model in competition to the iPhone, and they are immediately dubbed “iPhone Killers”.
For a phone to be called an iPhone killer, it has to push the boundary out the way the iPhone did. It has to make the iPhone look like yesterday’s technology and be so far ahead of the game that Apple can’t even catch up with its next revision of the iPhone. None of them have done that yet, but that’s not to say that it can’t be done.
What If?
01/01/09 22:36 Filed in: General
Nonsense
Every now and then,
whenever a prominent businessman like Michael
O’Leary or Bill Cullen is interviewed on one of the
drivetime news shows, texts flood in with comments
like “Now that’s the man that should be running the
country” or “Michael O’Leary for Taoiseach” and so
on and so forth.
So, let’s imagine that one or other of them did become Taoiseach. How would they run the country?
Micko first:
- Enforce a ban
on all public sector unions.
- Change the tricolour to blue, white and yellow.
- Introduce a national ID card scheme, funded by a scratch-panel on each card, which would cost €1.
- Relaunch the Seanad as an independent body in competition with the Dáil.
- Reduce income tax to zero, but charge for every public service availed of.
- Close all Irish embassies in capital cities, and move them to small towns 50km away.
- By 2030, Micko’s policies should see the size of the Irish economy overtake that of the UK’s.
- Once that happens, launch a takeover bid for the UK.
Bill:
- Cabinet posts to be filled by applicants to a reality TV show to be called “The Government”
- Tasks to include selling fleet deals on Renaults to fellow EU governments. Bonus points if you can sell one to the French.
- Under-performing ministers would be voted off by text vote (€1 per text, proceeds to fund the health service).
OK, I’m struggling now. Any more ideas?
So, let’s imagine that one or other of them did become Taoiseach. How would they run the country?
Micko first:
- Change the tricolour to blue, white and yellow.
- Introduce a national ID card scheme, funded by a scratch-panel on each card, which would cost €1.
- Relaunch the Seanad as an independent body in competition with the Dáil.
- Reduce income tax to zero, but charge for every public service availed of.
- Close all Irish embassies in capital cities, and move them to small towns 50km away.
- By 2030, Micko’s policies should see the size of the Irish economy overtake that of the UK’s.
- Once that happens, launch a takeover bid for the UK.
Bill:
- Cabinet posts to be filled by applicants to a reality TV show to be called “The Government”
- Tasks to include selling fleet deals on Renaults to fellow EU governments. Bonus points if you can sell one to the French.
- Under-performing ministers would be voted off by text vote (€1 per text, proceeds to fund the health service).
OK, I’m struggling now. Any more ideas?