sweet-suenos (sweet dreams)

Ireland Needs Solutions

2010-10-08T12:59:00.000+01:00

It will come as no surprise to anyone that Ireland is currently in a bit of a mess. Widely reported around the globe, we were blindly led into a black hole created by the supernova that was Anglo Irish Bank. Much has been said and written on this topic and though it is deadly serious, it is really time for the citizens of Ireland, who did not cause this in any way, to find an escape route out of a lifetime of destitution, despair and debt. There are always options. To wit, I have a couple to start us with:
(1) Invade America, along the lines of the movie "The Mouse That Roared" - only we had better lose!
(2) Mass exodus to somewhere cheaper, with better weather. I propose Spain. I will even organise it for anyone who wants to go, once critical mass is achieved. Let's say 100 couples with €200K apiece. We could all go, buy up some cheap(er) property - 2 bedroom apartment/flat type with secure parking, gated community and we will all set up our own "little Ireland" community. Get in touch if interested.
Any more ideas? I'd love to hear from you.

Ryanair Are At It Again

2010-09-05T17:43:00.000+01:00

Just when you thought it was safe, too.
Now the delectable Mr. O'Leary is suggesting that the second pilot is unnecessary. Apparently, according to a report in the Sunday Independent, he thinks that a second pilot is superfluous to requirements and that a trained Air Hostess could land the plane in an emergency. Is it just me or what? Isn't someone who can land a plane properly called a pilot? FFS!

A case of " A rose by any other name is still a rose".

Between this and stand-up "seats" on a plane. And no. Don't ask "what ever will he think of next".

More attention seeking. And to think that some people think this guy is a genius.

Blog split

2010-09-04T10:23:00.000+01:00

I have decided to split the blog into two parts. The reason for this is that I think that this blog is too diverse in subject matter to generate much of an audience. Too much diversity means that there will be a large amount of content that goes wide of the mark in terms of what the reader may want to read. So as a first step in addressing this (and putting some structure on my time too) you will find my posts on my writing process have moved here.
Everything else remains on this blog, for now. This includes my occasional forays into the travel industry, as it affects those of us at the front i.e. the travelling public.

Yet Another Ryanair Obstacle

2010-08-23T21:08:00.002+01:00

Checking in online for the return leg of my holiday flight I, like many others, had to resort to using the services of an internet café in Spain. Ryanair, in their infinite wisdom, have a 15 day constraint on the check-in facility. If your return flight is over 15 days beyond your departure flight, you cannot check in for the return at the same time as the outbound leg. Checking in for the return flight at the same time as the outbound one presents its' own problems, as outlined in a previous post.

Anyhow, on checking in for the return flight, I expected to see the boarding passes ready for printing. After all, I have done this a few times already. Instead, I was presented with an “offer” of obtaining £15 (yes – pounds) off my next Ryanair flight. I scrolled up and down the page looking either for the boarding passes or a button to continue to see them on another page. But no. The page displayed was covered in gawdy garish coloured graphics leading to the usual array of Ryanair partners offers and the only thing that looked like being what I wanted was the button marked “Continue”. Besides, why would I not want £15 off my next flight? Indeed.

My suspicions were aroused when, in order to benefit from this offer, I was required to furnish my credit card details. Scanning down through the form on the page, I noticed in the small print that completing the application process for this £15 would in fact allow the offering agency the right to deduct £10 per month from my credit card unless I took action to cancel this. What an amazing offer. I thought about it for a millisecond and decided no. Thanks but no.This is so far beyond a joke that I cannot honestly fathom how these SOB's are still being blessed with so many peoples custom.

I clicked backup on the browser and returned to the previous page to scrutinise the page once more for my boarding passes. Finally, I found it. A text only hyperlink that allowed me to view and print my boarding passes. Is it really too much to ask for that a real “no-nonsense” airline take them on, across the board? Please?

The airline industry traditionally operates in cycles. Every 10 years or so there is a downturn or upturn. The travelling public need a viable alternative to the tyranny of Ryanair. This particularly shoddy cycle within the airline industry surely must end soon. This abuse is not funny. Not witty. It is just contemptuous of the customer. Ryanair have truly turned business logic on its’ head and so many of us have gone along for the ride. But are you really enjoying it?

Ryanair Appoints New PR Firm

2010-07-30T10:59:00.002+01:00

Ryanair have appointed a new PR firm and as usual, in an unsurprising but continuing affront to normal business practices, they have dictated how much they will pay rather than deal in real world prices. This is perhaps why they lost their original PR firm. Nonetheless, as long as businesses are prepared to deal with them on the basis that it is a "loss leader", a firm that can well afford to pay for the service, gets it at a substantial cut-down price.
The thing that gets me though is this quote from their initial news release:

Edelman Ireland managing director Mark Cahalane said: ‘Our team will focus on partnering in the development of Ryanair’s story, as it continues to deliver lower airfares, increased routes and a no-nonsense approach to everything it does.’

No-nonsense approach? That sets the tone for everything else that they will utter on behalf of Ryanair, doesn't it?

P!nk - Funhouse Album

2010-06-26T10:30:00.004+01:00

I recently bought the "Funhouse" album on iTunes.
It was an impulse buy instigated by the song "Sober".
I heard this on the car radio on the way into work one morning recently and boy was I impressed.
The arrangement was superb with terrific vocals, a cracking tune and a very personal take on a significant real life issue.
Before I bought this, I considered Pink to be a fun character, more a "pop" star than a rock star. Now I definitely consider her in the latter camp.
The album itself is full of songs about her divorce. She captures all of the emotions that everyone goes through plus some that are peculiar to the rock stars perspective. However, she comes across as so human.
I was also particularly touched by the sleeve notes on the album.
One note of warning though, you will probably not be able to get the tunes out of your head. There are so many good ones that it is difficult to pick a best one. Be assured that there is not even one bum track though.
Solid gold. A masterpiece.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Buy it today!

Bumble Bee Picture

2010-06-22T12:49:00.000+01:00

I took this picture of a bumble bee in my garden as it went from flower to flower. It took a lot more practice than I had anticipated but I am happy(ish) with this result. Having reviewed the picture on my laptop, I am encouraged to try for closer and better.
One of the stumbling blocks with this subject is the speed at which it moves from flower to flower. especially in this area where there are numerous targets for it. Of course, another stumbling block is that the subject can sting!

Writing

2010-06-11T10:49:00.004+01:00

Many people think that having an idea is all you need to write a book.

Not so.

Having an idea is of course necessary to begin with but it's the fleshing out of this idea into a story, with interesting characters, situations, plots, sub-plots, narrative, description and timing that all add up to what is required to complete a book.

That and a flair for writing which presents itself as your individual writing style.

Throw in a large modicum of luck, copious quantities of perseverance, resilience and tenacity and you will be well on the way.

I have so many ideas that I think would make great stories that I have written them down and add to them frequently. The idea being that one day I will have the time to flesh them out and turn them into bestsellers. (Who wants a mediocre seller - aim high!).

The key here is the phrase "one day". Why not today? Indeed, why not.

Making all of the usual excuses (ahem! "reasons") for not getting down to it I have nonetheless persevered. Like many things in life, I expect that the first of anything will be the hardest. Ergo, my first book attempt should also be the hardest.

I have made a good start with plotting outlined and characters taking form and yet, something is missing. That something has just been filled by taking a book by one of my favourite authors and analysing it, chapter by chapter, looking at how the author has handled all of the above ingredients. It was an amazing journey doing that. I have learnt so many techniques and I am ready now to move on.

Now is the time.

Airlines and Volcanic Ash

2010-05-16T06:52:00.002+01:00

With the summer holidays approaching, the issue of the notorious volcanic ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano - whose unpronounceable name brings to mind Winnie the Pooh's donkey - looms large on the horizon. The effect that it may have on the ability to get to or from one's chosen holiday destination is now, for many people, a factor in planning said destination.

Checking Ferry prices has revealed that they are not a cheap option and unless your destination is fairly near the end point of a ferry service, substantial onward driving may be involved incurring yet further outlay in terms of fuel expenses and that other very important commodity; time. This is more marked for people in Ireland. As an island nation, unconnected by land or tunnel to mainland Europe, the costs associated with getting away are proving so prohibitive that many are already talking about holidaying at home. Indeed, inbound bookings are already substantially down on previous years as potential foreign holidaymakers also realise the obstacles to getting on or off the island. On the upside though, the airlines are cutting their prices in a bid to offset this negative effect on their business.

Which brings me to the subject of airlines and the effect on the bottom line for them.
Now regular readers of this blog will know that I am no fan of the low cost carriers (LCC's). Indeed when Mr. O'Leary of Ryanair first started making noises about not compensating stranded passengers I was outraged. Potentially being one of said passengers, I naturally thought of the effect that being stranded away from home could have on my personal finances. Aren't the airlines in a much better position to absorb this, what with their soaring profits? Besides, it is the law. The attempt to seek loopholes to get out of this obligation was also unsightly. At first glance what appeared to be good customer service was soon exposed. The real motivation in telling passengers that flights were cancelled 2-3 days in advance was to try to void the relevance of the law to the situation. A nasty thing to do, a PR nightmare and thankfully deemed illegal by the EU.

However, on reflection, there is a point here. I think that any rational person will agree that the volcanic ash cloud issue is not what the law was originally intended to cover. It was for the odd delayed flight. Not the mass grounding of entire fleets for indefinite periods. The airlines need to engage with the EU to change the law and their lawyers need to think through the implications of agreements when they are being drafted so as to cover the exceptional circumstances of force majure events such as this. Is it in anyone's interests if any of the airlines are bankrupted by this? Of course not. (Well, not unless you are an airline and a competitor is removed from the scene!) Wouldn't the EU have to step in to save the industry? I believe that it would and therefore a more reasonable approach needs to be adopted when considering the burden that the airlines have to face over this crisis. For the airlines part, I cannot understand how they can take bookings now without building in a clause that limits their liability for the ash cloud as a "known risk factor". Any other insurance quote would be so modified.

What abut the role of the aircraft and engine manufacturers? How is it that they did not define the "safe concentration" of volcanic ash density to which their aircraft could operate when they had the opportunity to do so in 2007? Why are they not culpable in sharing the costs with the airline industry now?

Surface transport is too expensive and too slow. Air transport is too vulnerable to atmospheric pollution and a range of other possible air contamination events. Clearly a longer term solution to this problem is required. Faster, cheaper surface transport technology needs to be developed or perhaps a filtering mechanism that can operate in real time for aircraft engines. Maybe a new propulsion unit that does not require air-intake at all. I hope that someone somewhere is taking note and working on this problem. It may be here for a long time yet.

John Connolly TV Programme

2010-04-07T11:39:00.001+01:00

I saw an RTE produced TV programme on the Irish author John Connolly a few days ago.
It was great to get an insight into his life and how he goes about the writing process.
It reaffirmed several of the techniques I am currently using.
I haven't read any of his books yet but I did go out and get a copy of his first book, "Every Dead Thing".
I look forward to reading it.

Partners in Rhyme?

2010-04-07T10:09:00.002+01:00

Writers are often encouraged to have a pen and paper to hand when they wake in the morning.
This is so that we can write our remembered dreams or fragments of dreams while they are still fresh.
Of course, this is also meant to be a good time for creative writing, with the brain still in creative mode.
The trouble is that this is not necessarily a very convenient time to write if you, like most, have other things to do. On Monday morning, two days ago, I woke with the following "murder rhyme" being still formed in my head. I wrote it down and here it is exactly as it flowed.
I could have gone on. Murder is such an easy crime to rhyme :)
It's a little novelette in rhyme.

She looked at him

Through folds of skin

Her deep-set eyes

Showed no surprise

And of course

No remorse

The gun was loaded

Twice exploded

And then

He was

No more

More Apple Ramblings

2010-04-05T15:09:00.000+01:00

I am a fairly frequent visitor to the iTunes Store and have acquired a substantial amount of music at this point. While the shop itself is very user friendly, there is one item that I think is sadly lacking. A shopping cart.
I would love to be able to browse the shop, pick some music that I want to buy, and hold it in a shopping basket to purchase another day.
Why not take a lesson from Amazon and give us this little gem? Please?

Why I Will Consider Buying an Apple iPad

2010-04-04T19:57:00.001+01:00

In the world of personal computers, there are basically two camps; PC's and Apple's. Forget about Operating systems.
I have always been a PC guy.
I know how they work. Intimately.
I feel confident that I can fix anything that can go wrong.
Apple's, on the other hand, have been a mystery to me. However, they have been a mystery that I had no interest in solving. I wasn't in the slightest bit curious about them. PC's satisfied my computing needs.
After becoming a now proud owner of an Apple iTouch iPod, I am sold on the many benefits of this type of device. Now I don't own one yet but from what I have seen, the iPad appears to be just a bigger iTouch. But size does matter. I know that the launch versions of the iPad are reportedly lacking in some areas, such as connectivity and how to get data on and off them but here are my reasons for considering getting one:

1. Instant On - Press the power button and go! Instantly surf the net, get email, run apps..this is a killer in my estimation. I love it on the iTouch and in the larger format, what could there be not to like?
2. Bigger screen than the iTouch. My eyes could do with the break!
3. Lighter than a notebook PC.
4. It would replace the laptop as my portable device.Remember, email and browsing? The mainstay of my current use anyway.
5. They are relatively inexpensive.
6. eBooks. Although I still prefer paper books.
7. Apps. - They are just great and controlled releases mean stable software. There is an app for almost everything.
8. Battery life is apparently way better than a laptop's.
9. Music while I work.
10. Hey, who needs a tenth reason. If I think of one, I'll do an update later ;)

Recession in Ireland

2010-03-29T14:17:00.000+01:00

Now as you know, I rarely ever mention my work here.
However, I would like to share this small anecdote with you.

I was talking to an external training company last week.
I was considering offering a training course in a particular piece of building machinery to participants at the Training Centre where I work.
I asked the prospective supplier whether the proposed course was worthwhile i.e. was the skill to be taught a worthwhile one that could lead to a job opportunity. I was both surprised and dismayed.
Surprised by the honesty of the prospective supplier when he said no.
Dismayed when he went on to say that the business in Ireland is finished. All of the roads have been built and there is no need whatsoever for further housing stock. Certainly not in MY lifetime and probably not in the next 40 years!
How deep does this recession go!

Yesterday Once More

2010-03-16T21:30:00.002Z

Hey have any of you seen the remastered version of the original Star Trek series?
I have to say that what I have seen so far is really great.
The colours are way better than I remembered. (Hang on, weren't they in B&W when I first saw them?)
William Shatner as J.T.Kirk. Wasn't he meant to be "wooden"? I like him still.
Then I listened to my iPod Touch and there were the Carpenters. Same era..
I was lost in a temporal vortex of 1970's greatness.
It's kind of funny.
I remember speaking to a superior (sic) of mine in the job circa 1985. Karen carpenter was alas no more and with more than a couple of drinks on me I confessed to thinking that the Carpenters were Carlsberg-like in their greatness and divinity. I am certain that Karen walked on water as a hobby.
Anyway, the "superior" died not too long after. An early demise brought on by stress in the job.
I liked him.
I remember saying that I did not fear death as I would be going the path of so many greats before me, including KC.
As a young man I said that.
You know what.
I still think that.
Her voice is not haunting me now, it is just superb. Magnificant.
Recently, I looked on iTunes to buy a Carpenters "greatest hits" type of album.
I managed to inadvertently purchase a compilation of their hits but performed by "solitaire".
Some kind of a tribute band.
Now I can understand their tribute, after all the Carpenters were leg-end.
However, when they hit the guitar solo's, the game was up. I smelt a rat.
I explained the error to iTunes who gave me a rebate but told me that I should have put the purchase in my "shopping cart" to verify.
When I pointed ut that the "shopping cart" had been discontinued by themselves since version 8.x of iTunes, I was using some irony. Boy, how smart was I, eh?
Imagine, they got that wrong.
I was smart with them. After all, what did they know, right?
When they responded by thanking me for having satisfied another iTunes customer I was impressed.
Who said that Americans don't get sarcasm?
I had to laugh.
Life's too short.
By a mile.

Oh For Pete's Sake!!!

2010-03-09T19:27:00.001Z

This one is a pet hate of mine. It used to be computer magazines that were the chief culprit's but now it appears to be that everyone is at it.
I an referring to the practice whereby magazines release e.g. the "May" issue on 1st April.
A stupid practice designed, I presume, to extend the shelf life of their magazine.
It annoys me to the extent that when I realise the error of effectively being duped into parting with my "hard earned" for a copy of what is really last-month's mag I refuse to buy it again. Period.
Why is the practice allowed? Surely it must be breaking the "trade description's" act?
Grrr!

Air Travel woe's (Part II)

2010-02-14T12:57:00.003Z

Previously, I discussed how the airlines themselves are making the air travel experience a rather unpleasant one.

Today, I am talking about the other bad aspect of air travel - fear.

There was a time when fear of flying was just that. There was a psychological fear based on a lack of knowledge (how could that thing stay up!) and coupled with not being "in control".

Understandable and quite widespread.

Most people probably experienced these in some way but could control them. Their minds could overrule the fear and allow them to cope. A glass of wine (or two) or another beverage also gave many people the ability to quieten their inner panic. of course, if you were heading away on holiday, the promise of something better at the end of the flight also served to concentrate the mind.

Since September 11th 2001 however, the world has seen the worst extremes of inhumanity that our species can perpetrate on itself. The impact of the events of that day still reverberate throughout the industry. Ever more heightened security measures contribute to making the overall flying experience be supercharged with anxiety. And as each new measure is implemented, another loophole of opportunity seems to spring up for the terrorists. Unfortunately, when people are prepared to carry out such attrocities, there really is nothing that can prevent it. Meanwhile, the airport security experience for the passenger just carries on getting worse and worse.

Air Travel Woe's

2010-01-10T14:31:00.006Z

I know it's not just me.
It can't be.
But I actually hate flying now.

It's bad enough that the whole experience has been made worse by the treacherous way that computer technology has been introduced but the persistence of terrorist organisations to target aircraft is the final straw in my estimation.

I will split this article in two and deal with each of the above in turn.

While many of the charges discussed below are nominally "discretionary", this notion is really at a very superficial level. For example, next they may charge for wearing trousers. Discretionary,yes. In reality, not so.

To start with, let me take a look at the normal experience of air travel:

Purchasing a ticket

While it is generally accepted that computers have brought about a major change to many human activities, some airlines, and I think we all know who they are, have implemented computer systems in a deliberately treacherous manner. They have designed the customer interface (the web page you and I use) particularly in a way that is deliberately confusing, misleading and fraught with anxiety. Penalties exist, and substantial ones at that, if the process is completed incorrectly. Any changes to what has been "booked" are costly afterwards to implement.
A Warning may be clearly displayed stating that the details supplied must match the details in the passport / travel documents. That sets the scene for "extreme caution required". I can almost hear the pulses quickening as the potential passenger tries to book a flight!
Everywhere you turn, boxes accepting this and that are to be found. The brain struggles to comprehend and manoeuvre around this user-hostile environment.

Baggage

The number of bags you wish to carry with you needs to be known in advance of travel.
The weight restrictions are ridiculously low.
The penalties for going over the weight allowance are ridiculously high.
The weighing scales at the airports are certified correct, to justify the additional charges when they come but people's weighing scales at home are not so well calibrated. They weigh and you pay.
Somehow ,this has strangely, become accepted by the travelling public as "the norm".
As the airline(s) continue to, what they like to call "drive down their costs", in effect they pass costs on to any other entity that they can identify. This may mean that the "handling agent" may have the monetary up-front value of the contract between them and the airline drastically reduced and in return they may be made the sole beneficiary of e.g. the excess baggage charge.
Now you know why the bags are scrutinised so vigorously for weight!

Charge for 1 Bag - e.g. €30 and a limit of 15 Kgs.
Charge for 2 bags - e.g. €100 and a limit of 30 Kgs, and must be no more than 15 Kgs in each bag. More than 3 times the single bag charge!
What is behind this charge? The airline(s) may say that they want to reduce the delay at the baggage collection carousel or they may want to reduce the weight carried and therefore fuel consumption/cost or it could be to save on the time and energy required to reunite passengers with lost bags. With the exception of the first one, the others are probably valid as it directly affects the airlines bottom line.

Insurance

This may inadvertently be taken out, as the clever (sic) design of the booking process asks the rather innocuous sounding "Please Select A Country of Residence". Unless one has ones wits about one and selects "No Insurance required" as a response to that question, the fare goes up.

Taxes / Fees

One could be forgiven for thinking that these were somehow paid to governments or airports but not necessarily. The fees may not represent those being charged by the authorities and are usually higher, adding another percentage to the airline.
The fees are not returned to the passenger in the event that the passenger does not travel, despite the fact that if the passenger does not travel, these fees are not levied by the airports or governments. Attempts to have these refunded in such circumstances are greeted with an "administration fee" that renders the attempt futile.

Advance Passenger Information System (APIS)

Another high-stress point where the information entered has to be correct first time. Changes to the information supplied by the customer at this point may only be changed by contacting the airlines offices. The contact points for these normally operate on revenue generating country-specific telephone lines. If you have a problem abroad and they don't speak your language, bon chance!

Credit and Debit Card Charges

These charges are applied by the airline on a per item rate rather than per transaction. How is this even legal? the credit card companies merely levy a transaction charge. How can the airlines justify charging this per item? Why do the travelling public accept it? Simply because there appears to be no way of getting around it and the airlines don't care about us. We are stupid enough to pay it so why shouldn't they take it? (Because it's immoral you dumbass airlines!)
Therefore, the regulators of such things should be acting to stamp out this daft practice. Don't hold your breath.

Check-In

Now please excuse my ignorance, but initially I thought 'great!'. No more queuing at the airport check-in desks. How wrong was I, then!
Remember the checked-in bags? They have to be dropped at a desk, usually the check-in desk. Once there, they also check the passports / travel documents and most importantly for them, the weight of the bags. Time saved for the passenger - nil. Unless you have no bags to check-in. Judging by the queues that I have experienced in my travels, most people check-in at least one bag.
Of course they charge you to check yourself in. A charge you cannot escape, yet is not included in the original price quoted. And if you don't check yourself in AND remember to take the document(s) that YOU printed on YOUR printer using YOUR materials, they insist that you have to check-in again at the airport. And pay dearly for the pleasure!
Check-in at the airport will attract a substantial levy over and above that for on-line check-in.
The airline(s) enthuse that passengers may check themselves in up to 15 days before the flight. I wonder who came up with the 15 days then? Why does that matter? I'll tell you why.
Once you have checked yourself in, no further changes may be made to your booking. You better believe it! The 15 days virtually guarantees that passengers going on a two week holiday will check-in in advance of travelling. They will most likely do this for both the departure and the return legs of the flights. Now, if one of the party in your group gets sick and cannot travel, that ticket is forfeited. Travelling with kids and one of them gets sick? Forfeit the lot! You will need to book a new ticket(s) to travel. Perhaps you could call the airlines offices in the country of your holiday and get an English speaker. Perhaps not. Once outside Ireland, you will not be able to get through to their offices in Ireland due to the un-connectable telephone numbers from outside Ireland.
That's what travel insurance is for right? Only then you have to collect documents and make a claim. How many do that? Some maybe but I would wager that not too many do. And simultaneously promoting a claim culture. Still, that's not too bad. They will be claiming from someone else.

Priority Boarding

Pay an extra fee to get slightly ahead of the queue at boarding time. Then have to arrive at the gate an hour beforehand to get any benefit at all from this. Depriving the airport of potential shopping sales. No wait. That's already been taken care of. The restrictive baggage allowance forbids more than one piece of carry-on baggage! No shopping then.

See below for the Boarding Process.

The Spirit of the Law

The intention throughout the process seems to be for the airline(s) to comply with the letter of the law whilst constantly changing practices to avoid the spirit of the law. And yet people say "fair play to them". Well some do. Perhaps they are airline staff, I don't know.
What I do know is that the law needs to move faster and adapt just as fast as their funny practices.

The "Charges"

The whole plethora of charges may be manipulated by the airline. Does anyone think that the charges for "taxes / fees" represent anything other than an additional opportunity for the airline to increase revenue?
For instance, landing charges , passenger embarking charges, security charges may all be waived by the airport under pressure during negotiations from an airline as a "marketing tool". The airline may or may not pass this on to the passenger. Do you think that they are passed on? Me neither. And when you consider that the airline(s) may successfully tie the airport(s) into multi-year arrangements, the savings to them are added onto the profitability of the route.

The Boarding Process

The exact procedure varies widely from airport to airport. No airline or handling agent staff steward the process for anything other than ramp safety. Segregation is not enforced once past the gate. This can lead to a scramble and a race to the plane. I have actually witnessed people being trampled on. Oh wait, it was me. I had a sore toe and was able to walk but not as fast as usual. I was pushed into by several people in their haste to get to their seat of choice.
This particular option has created this ridiculous boarding race and pits passenger against passenger while the airline and their handling agent sits back and watches the money come pouring in. And there are better ways. They could substitute the priority boarding charge for a seat allocation charge. Imagine going back to the days when one could check-in and get allocated a seat. Imagine the whole family seated together. No scramble to the aircraft so an improvement in health and safety. You would think it would be a winner. But then that would be treating the passenger like a human being. Where would the fun be in that?

Seat Allocation

So why don't the airline(s) allow you to reserve a seat and avoid the boarding race? Some do. But for the rest, one reason is that they would have to update their operational computers. All of the charges levied by some airlines that you experience are based on minimising the dependence on computers during the boarding process. But the airlines have computers at every desk so why is this a problem? Firstly, that is wrong. The airline does not have a computer at the desk. Most airports now provide a CUTE system. That is an acronym for Common User Terminal Equipment. Airlines may, for a reasonable fee, use this system to connect directly to their own systems servers. Airports could not function if every airline wanted to locate their own computer systems at every desk/gate. Indeed the airlines themselves would find it prohibitively expensive to try and do this anyway. And it would limit the availability of gates to those where their equipment is located. So no. Low cost carriers may choose not to use them. And we, the passengers, accept this. While the use of manual paper based systems ironically in this day and age, proliferate.

Writing the Novel

2010-01-03T16:13:00.003Z

I am well and truly getting back into the swing of writing.
I have put into practice some of the great suggestions in the book "Your Writing Coach" by Jurgen Wolff. It's a real help and I recommend it highly to any other aspiring writers out there.
At my current output, I should hopefully have the first draft ready in a few months. Before Summer.
Fingers crossed.

Ryanair Pulling Several Flights From Shannon Airport

2010-01-03T14:51:00.017Z

Ryanairs recent announcement that they are to decimate their base at Shannon Airport may be yet another example of the contempt with which they hold their customers.
They cite the 10% Government Travel tax as a major reason for this decision. If that is the case, then why not pull out of Ireland, not just Shannon? No. At best, Shannon is being used as part of Ryanair's ongoing feud with the Dublin Airport Authority, who administer the airport's at Dublin, Shannon and Cork in Ireland.
But what of the Shannon Airport Authority? Could this be merely a figurehead? It was part of the then Minister Seamus Brennan's plan to devolve management of Shannon Airport to Shannon Airport. The tediously slow process of ceding power to Shannon from the DAA was so drawn out that the recession caught it and now the plan is officially in mothballs until 2012 or later. Could the policies of this entity be giving Ryanair the excuse to withdraw from Shannon?
Ryanair have given no valid verifiable reasons for pulling out of Shannon alone. The fact that Shannon Airport is unable to negotiate outside of the influence of the DAA perhaps gives them little scope for manoeuvre. The fact is that the Shannon passenger base, built-up over the last 5 years, is now being summarily dismissed. Maddening!

Why is there no emerging competitor to Ryanair I wonder?
They can definitely be tackled on customer service and passenger loyalty. As it now stands, the existing passenger base at Shannon will have to collectively travel elsewhere to get to these destinations. That will entail extra costs on them as well as inconvenience. Surely they would be prepared to give this cost to another airline instead?

At the moment, Ryanair have the airport's where they want them. Particularly the smaller airport and any airport where they hold the majority of passengers.
The airports of the world need to unite as a group. That is one way to deal with a conglomorate like Ryanair. Should an airline pull out of one airport no other airport should accept their business, unless the airline can prove that their reason's for pulling out were commercially driven and based on sound principles.

Perhaps a more realistic approach would be to have a European Aviation Regulator who looks at the activities of both airlines and airports in tandem when making decisions. What about it, EU? Step up to the mark.

But is there anything DAA could do? Airport charges are regulated so that's not an option.
If they were to penalise Ryanair at their other airports by e.g. giving them inferior parking stands, surely Ryanair - who seem to hold ALL the cards - could complain to the aviation regulator. But what about having a discount scheme for airlines that operate services to DAA's other airports? Surely there must be some incentive DAA could come up with to retain Ryanairs services at Shannon?

As stated at the top of this article; Ryanairs recent announcement that they are to decimate their base at Shannon Airport may be yet another example of the contempt with which they hold their customers. Or perhaps there is something else lurking beneath the surface?

The passengers are the ones who ultimately suffer.

Ryanair in the news

2010-01-03T14:42:00.002Z

So Michael O'Leary now thinks that people want him dead.
Never one for saying anything banal, then.
Of course the real reason Michael courts controversy, as he is already on record as saying, is to get a lot of publicity for very little spend and thereby keep the Ryanair name on people's lips. And it works.
But how then does that square up with saying that the airline will be radically different when he leaves? In my view, they will more likely say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
There are already sufficient clones at Ryanair to ensure that the same ethos is promoted once Michael leaves.

iTouch problems solved?

2009-12-28T21:13:00.006Z

I have been having an on-off relationship with my iTouch.
It failed on me on the 2nd day of ownership.
A replacement lasted a few months then it too had to be replaced.
As a tech guy at heart, I love a challenge and I had to solve this one.
Getting back to basics, I had to ask myself a question, in an Occams razor type of style.
Which is the more likely reason: (a) that 3 new iTouch's could fail or (b) there must be something wrong with my laptop.
I decided to investigate (b) as the most likely suspect. The single point of failure.
Last thing I wanted to do was have to reinstall Windows (Vista!) and have to find the install info for the range of apps I had purchased and installed on it. Why is it that when I buy something as a download, despite knowing the necessity of holding onto the download and the validation email, I never truly have them to hand. The details are always kept in "one of several" places. I find them in the end but...it's exasperating!
To cut a long story short, I solved it.
How?
Well, I scanned my laptop for virus's (viri?) and it found one. A nasty one that interfered at a basic level. Maybe that was the problem. The scan took about 6 hours to complete. A thorough one using PC Tools excellent Spyware Doctor. Whilst I have the active scan running constantly in memory, I wondered how it had gotten there. However, this just shows the necessity to run a full system scan at least weekly.
Next, I looked in the "Task manager" to see what was running. There, I found an application that was monitoring USB ports for an iPhone. Not an iTouch. Maybe this was the problem? I remembered during an earlier troubleshooting session with the iTunes application that it had thought the device attached was an iPhone. So I removed that application. I found it under "Add / Remove programmes".
I rebooted my PC and there was an immediate improvement. The iTouch was now recognised as a device by the PC on all USB ports. previously, it was only recognised by one port. But it still didn't work.
So the PC was virus free and apparently working better at detecting the iTouch. The next step was to reboot the iTouch and see if that made a difference. Microsoft comes under a lot of abuse for the old reliable "reboot strategy" to problem solve issues. I decided to try it on Apple products.
Disclaimer: Whilst this is not likely to be a "destructive" process, I cannot be held responsible for anything that may go wrong. So, proceed at your own risk.
To reboot an iTouch, press and hold the circular button on the bottom of the screen on the device and simultaneously press and hold the power button on the top left corner of the device. Hold them like this for 10 seconds, then release and wait. After a delay of about 1 minute, the apple logo should display on the device. If this does not happen, press the circular button in the normal manner. No settings should have changed and your data should be intact.
I reconnected it to the PC, iTunes automatically fired up on detection however, if it does not start for you, you should start iTunes yourself.
The iTouch was identified correctly.
Lastly, I used iTunes to restore the settings on the iTouch.
Since then, it has been working well.
Welcome back old friend. As a gadget, I love it. I would even go so far as to say that I use it exclusively for the smaller tasks now. Checking email, Skype, Web browsing (limited use), Weather at places that interests me, Alarm clock, Twitter and a raft of applications that I have downloaded for it. Oh yes, and it also plays music!!!
I would love to have an iPhone but frankly, at least here in Ireland, the cost is prohibitive. The tariff's being asked by the Mobile Phone Companies is just too steep. Not worth the inconvenience of waiting to be in a WiFi area for coverage.
I expect that this will be one of the areas of change over the next decade. The widespread availability of internet over WiFi or other emerging wireless technology. But more on that later.

Dunsink Observatory - Dublin

2009-11-15T09:11:00.006Z

I enjoyed a visit to the old observatory in Dunsink, Dublin yesterday.
An IFAS arranged workshop on "astrophotography" was held in the building and afterwards, the curators opened the dome observatory for us.
It was an unexpected treat which coincided with clear skies over Dublin. The dome itself was opened to the night sky, positioned for viewing and the telescope brought into action. A 200 year old 12" telescope, it gave an image that can now be bettered by a small 8" telescope at home. Nonetheless it was marvellous to look at Jupiter and its moons and view the workings of the dome mechanism. Red low-level lighting added atmosphere and was the first real life application of the use of such colouring to preserve night vision that I have seen in action.
Climbing the mobile wooden steps to peer into the eyepiece added to the sense of wonder. Each step up marked a trip back through time.
A great day spent with like minded people. It was a treat.

Long time no...

2009-09-12T13:36:00.003+01:00

Sorry for the delay in writing anything here for a while.

I have been too busy.

Working. Reading. Spinning!

The Rod Stewart gig in Thomand Park was terrific. He sang most if not all of his hits and had a great backing band, including 3 or 4 female vocalists who were very talented.

It was like bringing a vegas style show to Ireland.

In some ways, it was so slick that it surprised me. It was like it was a cabaret act gone large. I expected more of a rock n roll experience. But it was great. I was amazed at the number of older music fans that were there and were boogying strong despite being past their 60th birthdays. Rock on!

The crowd were absolutely fabulous. They made for a great atmosphere, welcoming Rod Stewart to Limerick in a most positive fashion and afterwards, the friendly, happy banter as everyone made their way back to their park'n'ride busses was joyful.

Next day, I went to Spain for a holiday. It was hot, humid and after a couple of weeks a major fire started around the nearby town of Turre and the hills surrounding Cortijo Grande. At some 5 miles away, it was more of a novelty than a threat. The following week however, a second fire blazed around Mojacar resulting in several thousand people being evacuated. The fire came to within 700 metres of Marina de la Torre and we left and went to stay in a hotel some 5 miles away. Next day, we found that the wind had changed direction and the fire was gone over 20 miles away.

Rod Stewart at Thomond Park, Limerick

2009-07-05T11:29:00.001+01:00

I will give a detailed rundown on the event later.
Right now I am packing.
However, suffice to say that the gig was brilliant!
The man can still rock at 63.
And he can move too. Brilliant.

MJ RIP

2009-06-26T22:03:00.006+01:00

Where were you when you heard the news that Michael Jackson had died?
I wonder if this will be asked in the years to come, as was/is the case with JFK (although I must confess to being a tad too young to even know who he was back then) and Princess Diana.
But is there a need to ask that or even to have an answer for it?
It serves little or no purpose other than determining a location for a place and time that individuals can place themselves in their memories. However, the fact that the news was continuously rolling means that the event remembered by individuals may still be seperated by some time, whether hours or minutes, it matters not.
MJ has come under a lot of criticism over the last few years.
People who are quite obviously better than I have cast not just the first stone but perhaps a whole quarry in his direction.
What is the truth about the allegations of his activities with children? Who knows. I certainly do not. "He must have bought them off", is an oft heard response to the reluctance of children to testify. Rumours of "X" millions being deposited in the families bank account add to the speculation. But that is still not proof.
To listen to his recorded words is also not reliable. Documentaries are edited. Meaning can be misconstrued.
Doesn't he deserve the benefit of the doubt?
His music lives on. But music is not alive. But there is no doubt that much of his music was incredibly good.
I, for one, in the absense of proof, am prepared to think only good of him.
I mourn his untimely passing.
When my turn comes, he is yet another of the great humans that I can acknowledge as having passed this way before me.
However, it is an outrage.
Death is an outrage.
I hope we conquer it someday.

The Fall

2009-06-25T18:46:00.020+01:00

What a start to the day.
I had arranged to meet a businessman to sign the lease agreement on our new premises at 09:15am.
I left the house at 08:49 and was parked in Limerick at 09:10am.
I set off for the office at a brisk pace. I felt on top of the world. No alcohol the night before guaranteed a clear head. The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. Already the temperature tipped 20 Degrees C.
Taking advantage of a gap in traffic, I crossed the road, taking the last few steps in a gentle run to avoid the rapidly approaching boyracer who just had to put his car into a burst of acceleration, albeit for just 200 metres. Nonetheless, I beat him safely across the intersection.
Passing the general post office, I took a shortcut between the rising but by no means high-rise buildings on either side of post office lane, still making a steady pace. I felt good. Carefree but a man on a mission.
Crossing the intersection with Glentworth Street and glancing fleetingly furtively to my left, it being a one-way street and all, unperturbed I crossed the gap without missing a stride. If this were the Olympics, I was heading for gold.
At the final 50 metres, a car approached and turned in the narrow space to park in a private parking garage. Blocking the narrow lane, I veered towards the back of the vehicle only to find there was insufficient room to pass. The driver flagged me on past the front of the vehicle, I declined. "After you", I motioned in universal sign language.
He insisted so, smiling, I passed in front of his motionless vehicle. Happy to be a couple of minutes ahead of time, confidently I forged my path ahead. A second car was stopped behind him, waiting in line for its time to park. Perhaps in the same area or maybe further down.
Ow! My ankle twisted into a pothole.
Stumbling, I arced forward, my over-shoulder laptop bag lost its tentative grip on my person.
I struggled to make a recovery. The odometer in my head accelerated to hyper speeds. Slow motion set in.
"Oh shit", I thought. "Look at me! No. On second thoughts, please don't look at me!"
As if in a vacuum, in slow motion I moved inexorably downwards, careering, repositioning my centre of gravity, all to no avail. The auto-pilot on my human machine was unable to compensate.
My laptop extending in front of me, overpowering my balance, I went down, hitting the ground with what can best be described as a dull thud.
My dignity having taken an unscheduled holiday, I struggled to regain my composure.
Shit! What a clod!
Besuited, business like, baffled.
"Are you all right", the woman in the next car asked urgently. Was that the start of a smile I could see on her mouth?
"Yes, thank you. My pride is absolutely battered though!"
I struggled to my feet, quick as my legs would carry me. Had anyone else seen me? Anyone from work? Anyone I know? Anyone?
The good samaritan opened his car door, also urgently enquiring if I was OK.
I struggled to contain the words "fuck off and leave me alone" and instead mustered up a smile, thanked him and reassured all present that I would live to stumble another day.
What a start to the day.
The rest of the day was great though.
I guess that the highlight was meeting the artist Aideen Barry and having a delightful discussion with her about her work, Space, NASA, Astronomy and so many other things that were shared interests. Pure delight. A beautiful person in all senses of the word that matter. Very genuine and a decent human being. IMHO.

The Dolmen Quest

2009-06-21T11:13:00.007+01:00

Despite living in relatively close proximity to "The Burren", yesterday I visited it with a purpose.
I set out to see the famous Poulnabrone Dolmen for myself.
With my Canon EOS 450D in tow, I headed for Ennis, the largest town in County Clare, being confident that I would see tourist signs to show the way. Despite having the most up-to-date map on TomTom, I couldn't seem to find where to look but what the heck. How hard could it be?

With vague memories of "Poulnabrone" in my head and an even more vague capacity to spell the word (phonetically it is powl-na-brone) I took some educated guesses.
Reaching Ennis, I noticed that the tourist signposts, directing one to interesting sites, are coloured brown. When you pass them every other day, it's funny how you never really notice that fact. The signs were for "The Burren" which was a reasonable though not terribly precise start. I turned to follow this and after following successive signs, passed uneventfully through two new roundabouts before coming to a third that had no tourist sign! Why, oh why? The roads are improving but the signage is lagging a bit behind.

Trusting to my instincts, I took the turn heading for Miltown Malbay. To be honest, I was really only half trusting my instincts. After all. What has instinct got to do with arriving at the right place? After five minutes driving and feeling less optimistic, I decided to cut my losses and turn around and try the other exit from the last roundabout. It was proclaiming Ennistymon as its destination.

When I reached Ennistymon, I saw signs for Fanore. Sounds familiar to my subconscious. Is Poulnabrone near there? Onward I drove. (Is there any other way?) At Fanore, I saw signs for the Burren Visitor centre. Now I knew I was close. That must surely be located near one of the most famous sites. Now, if I were a real tourist, I'd get out and go into the visitor centre to get my bearings but me? Nosiree. I drove straight past it. Time was my friend. I was in no rush. Now I know that at this stage you are probably thinking something along the lines of "stop, you idiot!" but this time, I was right. About one kilometre or so from Fanore I was rewarded with a sign for Poulnabrone. That definitely set my synapses into overdrive. Yes, the memory jigsaw was taking shape. I had seen pictures of this Dolmen in history books at school and a re-creation of it at Shannon Airport, once upon a time. It has long since been removed.

Proceeding at a slow forward rate down narrow roads and passing some interesting ruined buildings, I almost missed the Dolmen. A small car park at the side of the road has been so tastefully inserted into the environment that it could easily be missed. If, from the corner of my eye, I hadn't spotted a couple of people making their way back to their car, I would surely have missed it. Quickly scanning the locale, I saw the Dolmen in the distance - confirming I was in the right place - and parked.

It was a good time to be there. There wasn't a tourist in sight. I was going to have it all to myself which I considered to be all the better for taking photographs. I made my way through a gate that would only allow humans to enter. A "U" shaped concrete structure when viewed from above with a pivoting metal gate in the middle of the open end of the "U" that facilitated access by having one stand at the closed end of the "U" and alternatly swinging the gate to permit access through the structure. Clear? (Clear as mud, as we say here!)
Well, it's all I'm going to say about it at this stage. Except to add that the reason for such an entrance way is probably to keep animals out.

The Dolmen is situated in the middle of what looks like a petrified stream of limestone. Pock marked with erosion, it's as if the rocks are growing there, like a crop, but all pointing in one direction, like a river flowing. Strange.
The Burren is an area in the West of Ireland where the glaciers finally melted at the end of the last Ice Age. As they melted they dropped the large lumps of rock that they had carried beneath them. These now appear as huge boulders in the middle of fields and would certainly have you thinking how they got there if you didn't know. The Burren has so many of these and so much barren rocky landscape that it is often referred to as a "moonscape". I expect that it may look like a moonscape elsewhere in the Burren, but not at this Dolmen. In my humble opinion.

As I passed through the gate, I noticed a minivan full of tourists experiencing the same serindipity as myself. They had spotted me and thereby found the Dolmen too. They hit the brakes as they went over the rise in the road. Instinct told me that they would be back so I picked up my speed and walked to the Dolmen as quick as I could, passing all of the information data sheets artistically painted onto strategically placed boards. I could get to read them on the way back!

The Dolmen itself surprised me. It was smaller than I had imagined. The cap stone is meant to weigh 7 tonnes. It stands atop 4 upright "megalith" stones. I took photographs from many angles. None of which struck me as being terribly artistic. I have seen beautifully rendered images of this Dolmen but they invariably are taken at times of beauty. Like when the stars are out at night or at sunset. Today the skies are clouded over. And by now there are tourists approaching from the East. I finished up, happy that I had accomplished what I set out to do. Getting home was a doddle. TomTom knew the way back.

More information and pictures here.

Housekeeping and Hedge Keeping.

2009-06-16T21:23:00.003+01:00

This blog was getting a wee bit cluttered looking so today, I removed a lot of the use(ful/less) widgets that had been lurking on the right hand side.
Looks better already.

As I write this, the neighboring farmer is making hay while the sun shines.
Although, at 9:25pm, the sun ain't shine-in'!
Lots of noise as he drives his great big tractor (tractor envy?) up and down, up and down. Vrooom.
Gathering the cut grass to make sileage.

This particular farmer has divided the field into two areas. One, as a meadow for making sileage and the other for grazing his cattle. It's not a big field but approximately 4 acres.
The grazing side had been left bereft of cattle for the past few months and then suddenly, they were re-introduced. Despite an abundance of long grass to eat, they instead chose to eat our hedge.
Last year, in an attempt to (a) keep friendly with the neighbor and (b) keep his cattle away from my hedge, I purchased an electric fence generator and connected it to his aging fence wire. You see, he is of the opinion that the cattle are afraid of the wire and not the spark. Me? Call me sceptical. Clearly in more ways than one, eh?
I'd rather trust in good ol'-fashioned, honest to dog, science.
Imagine my surprise when I came home from work one day to find that the farmer had taken my electric fencer and re-positioned it into his field to segregate the field into the above two areas. Without permission or even the good manners to mention it!
Once again, to get along we said nothing. I suppose that if he was now taking on the responsibility of managing the fence, then that was OK. Win-win, yeah?
Well, as I was saying, last week the cattle came eating my hedge again. So the l'il woman wandered up to his homestead and asked him to please do something about his cattle.
Well.
He lost it! Imagine. He threw a hissy fit. Says that it's not his problem but ours and in the great scheme of things (his scheme obviously) this is a trivial matter.
Guess we ain't gonna git along no more then.
Checked with the ol' solicitor and she concurs. It's HIS problem.
So next time they come eatin', guess we'll have us our day in court!
Neighbor.

Notes from TROI (The Republic Of Ireland)

2009-06-06T08:44:00.004+01:00

Hi.
I know it's been a while since I have written here and I also know that it is not the first time that this has been the case.
Partly because of the fact that I have been extremely busy with my job (and feeling very fortunate to have one) and partly through a bit of ambivilance towards blogging in general. It can be ego-satisfying to write a blog but it soon wears off when there is a lack of feedback. I have agonised about whether to continue this and wondered what makes a blog worth reading. So, people. What is making you read this, right now?

We have had a great week with the weather with "wall to wall" sunshine since Thursday 28th May. The outside temperature thermometers in cars were reading between 27 Degrees celcius and 35 Degrees. The office, without A/C, was a furnace at 29 Degrees. I didn't complain as we rarely have such weather here and besides, if the usual course of events is followed, when this weather breaks Summer '09 in Ireland is over! As I write this, the sky is overcast, the temperature is a lowly 9 Degree - although it's only 8:55AM. Still, I'm getting concerned.

We had an Election yesterday. Local Government and EU. I voted as I believe that this is important. It also empowers and entitles me to criticise the way elected representatives perform, if I so choose. However, the EU election paper was full of candidates I had never heard of, who did not reside anywhere close to me and I had no idea of past performance or what could differentiate one from the other. Very frustrating. Most of the posters on the streets were for candidates that were not on the ballot papers. Mind you, one poster in particular brightened my day. If looks alone were all it took, then Toireasa Ferris had it made. But she wasn't on my ballot paper. Not that I would have been so shallow. Rationalising who to vote for under such circumstances then had to come down to (1) What party they were affiliated to and making sure it was not any of the ones on my nasties list. (2) How many I wanted to give a vote to. Just one or perhaps three or more of them? Decisions, decisions.

On the job front, I have been to Limerick prison. Now there's somewhere I never thought I'd see the inside of. Thankfully I was there in a professional capacity and not as a guest of the state. People. As if you needed to be told this. You do NOT want to be an inmate. Ever. It's not even as good (sic) as you see on TV. This job is so interesting and I am delighted to be in a position to be a positive contributor to peoples lives and to society as a whole. On top of all that, I am moving in circles where the vast majority of people are nice, well meaning and humerous. Lest we forget. People matter.

I am reading one of the most inspirational and constructive books I have yet read on the matter of writing. It is Stephen Kings' "On writing". The first quarter of the book is filled with Steve's musings about his growing up and contains some genuinely funny episodes and also shows the diversity with which growing up as a human being can encompass. In many ways, his formative years were very different to mine and in many others, they were similar. At a certain level, they were so human that you know that if you were in the same position, you would probably have had the exact same experiences. Reading it, we connected. Over time and space. Steve (I feel that we are buddies now) mentions this type of connection between reader and writer. Now that I am aware of it, I see it everywhere. Thanks Steve. If YOU are an aspiring writer, pick up a copy of this book. You won't regret it.

I don't think I mentioned this anywhere else before but I did want to say a little something about the Star trek movie. Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a Space and Sci-Fi enthusiast. Star Trek has been an element of my life from way back, so I was eager to see the new incarnation of the genre. Some of the latest iterations of the Trek franchise have been, how shall I put this, a little wide of the mark. The "Enterprise" TV series was dull as ditchwater in my opinion. I wanted to like it, I really did. But I couldn't get into Scott Bakula as Captain "Jonathan" Archer. And the rest of the crew? Nice Vulcan "babe" but to be honest, the inclusion of babes in Sci-Fi is not a welcome distraction for me. Don't get me wrong, they have their place. I like a babe as much as the next guy. But I also appreciate a smart intelligent woman. Equally as much.
I didn't want to comment on the movie until most people had seen it. There were so many bloggers saying what a great movie it was that my expectations were raised, despite my trying not to let that happen.
But.
Yes, there it is.
But.
Some of the problems I had were with the Cinema I went to - "Storm" cinemas in Limerick. The sound volume was way too high. And I'm a bit of a metal fan! The picture quality was, in my opinion, poor. In these days of HDTV, is it too much to expect that the cinema picture will at least match, if not exceed, the home TV picture? I don't have a HDTV signal but the picture at home was better than this.
Then there was the story.
Oh come on. Please. Not another friggin magalomaniac story. They really expect us to believe - OK, believe is a bit strong here, let's say "buy into" - the line that a lone bitter guy with a humungous sized ship that resembles a jellyfish's trailing stingers can defeat all of Star Fleet except for the Enterprise? No no no. Not me. It's too lazy. I can't see anyone building such a ridiculously shaped ship in the first place. I'm sorry. No way. And then have it, a mining vessel, being capable of destroying most of Star Fleets well....fleet. I know. They are "Research" vessels. We come in peace. Yeah. Armed to the teeth with Photon Torpedoes, Phasers etc. (but we won't come invisible. Oh no. That would be cheating, sissy-like and we are all nice guys) and this armada gets easily beaten. Sorry. I don't buy it. On the good side though, the crew were entertaining. The new Spock was brilliant and I really liked most of the rest. The one I least liked was the guy who played Kirk. Nothing personal. He just didn't have as good a character. I didn't care what happened to him. In fact, the movie was better when he was off-screen. I think that this was more the character than the actor. If you know what I mean.

Finally, the "book". I am still writing this but progress is slow. And that is because I have not been trying hard enough. It's that simple. I definitely feel re-energised by Steve's book so I will stick at it. The holidays are looming again and when I am off work, I will definitely be working on the book. Steve's advice taken on board. I just need to implement it.

Ciao for now.

North Korea Launches Satellite?

2009-04-05T10:07:00.005+01:00

North Korea has controversially but successfully (TBC) launched its' first satellite. At this juncture, it is fair to say that they have launched a rocket. Whether a satellite has been placed in orbit or not remains to be confirmed.What is the point in country after country re-inventing the wheel. The reason we, as a species, limit the transfer of technology to all peoples is the war-mongering aspect of humans. "I have something you don't have". Pathetic.

This act is controversial for me not because of the international treaties suspending such tests but because the signal it sends to neighboring countries and indeed those within range of the rocket, estimated at 6700 Kilometres, is threatening.

Now we know that NK has nuclear capabilities AND a long range delivery system.
So what impact can one more nation with this capacity cause?
Unfortunately for us all, the NK "powers that be" appear to be aggressive and provocative.
It is expected that any calls for more "sanctions" against NK will be resisted and even vetoed by the Chinese and/or Russians. How can anyone claim a veto on these affairs? It shouldn't be allowed. Vote one way or the other. Even abstain. But a veto! Come off it.

Let's look at it from the NK leaders perspective.
What can they hope to gain from this action? An improved seat at the international conference tables? More international "respect"?
Is that how they should be rewarded?
Is that not how the rest of the worlds powers get rewarded?
Well, "monkey see, monkey do". What do we expect.
(Do we genuinely respect such capabilities or do we not merely fear them?)

Haven't we had too many years in the past of being told to do what I say and not what I do?
Doesn't it start with parenting?
Humans, eh!

As for the notion that we need to move into space if we are to guarantee the survival of the species. Are we really worth saving? We can't even survive here on Earth without self destructive leanings.

Isn't it about time we had a real grown-up world government?
Not one with vested interests nor which has the biggest, most efficient and most destructive weapons.
A world government capable of being moral.
Above all treating all world citizens as equals. Rising above issues relating to local interests.
Let's freeze the territories of the world as they are now. No more land grabs should be recognised.
Let logic form the basis for the future.The present.Now.
Otherwise, we are lost.

Dirty Harry

2009-03-28T17:55:00.003Z

I was looking through HMV's range of DVD's the other day, when I saw "Dirty Harry" for sale at 3 Euro and 99 cents.
Ah...the 70's. Clint. He was my hero back then.
So I purchased it and gave it a spin.
I must say it was very satisfying.
Yes it has dated.
It also shows how much we have progressed.
Well, at least in the case of technology.
They had no mobile phones.No computers.No internet.No satellite TV.
Even the police sirens sounded like they were mechanical wind-up models.
And I loved it.
I hear that Gran Torino is good too. Must check it out.
After Clint went through a period of social and moral conscience, has he gone full circle?
Any comments?

TomTom Versus Garmin SatNav

2009-03-22T22:42:00.002Z

A couple of weeks ago, I had the dubious pleasure of using a Garmin SatNav device.
Readers of this blog will know that I have a TomTom device and that I have had a few problems with the map details.
Well, now that I have used the Garmin I am even happier with the TomTom.
The Garmin requires that, before you can look up a street, you must supply a postcode!
No way Jose.
TomTom is the one for me, no doubt!
And what is worse, the Garmin was a top of the range model versus my entry level TomTom.
Admittedly it was an old model but it was purchased at the same time as my TomTom.
If I had the luxury of having current models of both, I would love to do a proper review.
In the meantime, that's my experience of both.
So there!

Happy St. Patricks Day And Other Stuff

2009-03-17T13:39:00.002Z

Being an Irish-born citizen of the world, I feel it appropriate to wish you all a happy St. Patricks day. No matter what one might think of the concept of saints!
Any day to allow people to have "an excuse" to interact in a friendly manner is a day worth being acknowledged.

Unbelieveably, the weather in Ireland today is lovely. Nice, bright and sunny with the temperature currently at 14 degrees Celsius. In fact I am writing this on my laptop, whilst sitting in the garden. The screen is a bit hard to read but I love the open air.

I have had lots and lots of things going on in my life and I have decided to keep a diary of every working day so that I can reflect on it all when the project is complete. I am involved in setting up a training centre for clients of the probation services. Basically, when the centre opens, we will be running courses that will allow participants to obtain good quality work. This activity has been clearly demonstrated to reduce the incidence of recidivism and makes sense for the welfare of society as a whole.
I am involoved right at the very start and the main activities I am involved in at the moment are (1) the identification and procurement of a suitable premises (2) the recruiting of staff (3) the setup of the business from scratch. Anyone who has been involved in the setup of a business will know how busy that makes me right now! As I am doing everything, I am prioritising getting some staff in to help. As with all projects, this is a concurrant task!

I have decided that now is as good a time as any to start the novel.
OK, I know that I have already started it but I think that it is time to move on and get a programme together to complete it. Therefore, I have decided to engage with it actively from April 7th.
Why this date? Because i will be on a mini vacation at that time with lots of spare time on my hands with which to do it. and the ideas for stories keep on coming. Mind you, some of them may go to make up the first novel as i can already see ways to make them fit in. And they promise some mini exciting passages along the way. So I'll have a go at it.

Wowee! The first bumble bee of the season just flew right by my ear. At least it was the first one that I have seen.

What do you think of Twitter? Anyone reading this following me on there? Let me know.

Bye for now, ciao and salud.

Oh yes, and slainte (sláinte) too.

D

Tom Tom SatNav Update

2009-03-01T15:30:00.002Z

Further to my earlier rant about my TomTom, I decided to bit the bullet and upgrade the maps to the current ones.
Despite only being 18 months old, the map was seriously out of date.
I had no way of knowing whether an updated map would have the details I wanted but I decided that it was worth the risk.
The new detail is fantastic.
Everything that was missing before is present now.
I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and so far, so good.
Fingers crossed it'll keep on being a good experience.
I'll be going to Spain in a few weeks, so it'll be interesting to see the differences there too.

The Brights

2009-02-28T09:19:00.005Z

If you ever find yourself pondering some of the "big" questions in life, such as 'why are we here?' or 'what happens after death?' then read on.
Most people will gladly accept that there is no such thing as a magical guy in a red suit that can zoom around the world in one night in December (January in some places) dispensing goodies according to a naughty or nice list. Yet, they are quite happy (myself included) to delude the little ones into "believing".
Ramp it up a bit and apply this to religion. Only no-one ever tells you that it was all a big joke.
I think that this may have something to do with the fact that we all would like to live in a state of being that did not necessitate striving to earn a crust, constantly juggling with activities that generate an income so that we can be happy once or twice a year by going on a holiday to get away from it all! With the added benefits of escaping from the ravages of aging, disease and death.
However, the old adage "if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is" hold true.
There is no proof whatsoever to support the presense of a supreme being, creator or god(s).
Richard Dawkins excellent and profoundly readable book "The God Delusion", if you have an even partially open mind, will rebuff all of the arguements supporting religious beliefs.
Recently professor Dawkins was behind a project called "The Atheist Bus" campaign, where his foundation, supported by donations, paid for an advertisement campaign on London buses advising people that there was no god and they should get on with their lives.
I do have a slight problem with this message though. Telling people that because there is no god, they should "get on with their lives and enjoy themselves" is like saying that people are not enjoying their lives when they are believers. I don't think that this is true for many many people. Perhaps some of the religions with extremism would have followers in this catagory. I don't know. But to assume that all religious people will benefit from an improved life if they stop being believers is rubbish.
I also don't think that people's moral beliefs stem from religion. People are most naturally drawn to being moral, probably by virtue of evolution. It is a survival mechanism. It allows us to make allies, which aids in survival.
I have found a group called "The Brights" and I proudly call myself a member. They are a group dedicated to humanism and a naturalistic worldview, free of supernatural and mystical elements. The world is a marvellous thing. I feel priviliged to be able to enjoy some of the better things it has to offer. On the whole though, I am not sure that I would volunteer to join the ranks. All due to the associated pain and suffering that we all go through during our stay. Not to mention the fear of the exit process.
I have no personal experience of what happened here prior to my arrival. Why should my being have any continuence when I leave?

Busy Times

2009-02-25T22:32:00.004Z

I suppose that I have not really been writing here as much as I want to of late.
Fact is, by the time I get home from work, I'm tired.
And when I'm in work, I'm busy.
Busy getting the new business up and running.
It can be tiring viewing potential properties for use as a business premises - a training centre in my case. The requirement started at an estimated 3000 Sq. ft but this has now risen to 5000-6000 Sq.ft.
Then there is the small matter of recruiting the remaining budgeted staff members. Sifting through over 100 applications takes time.
There is also the matter of equipment. Like computers. And printers. And mobile phones.
But I have to say that I am also enjoying it.
I am hopeful that within the next 6 weeks some normallity will resume and I can once again focus on my writing.
The novel.
It's coming.
I can feel it in my bones.

A few Thoughts

2009-02-22T21:03:00.002Z

I have so much to write about.
So very, very much.
It's hard to focus on just one thing.

Have you ever thought about the survival of the species?
Why is it important?
Fact is...it isn't.
Why should it be!

Thought about God?
So did the inhabitants of Pompei.
Not the same God(s) though.

Does your God have a name?
Have you heard of Yahweh?
Thor?
Mars?

Technology.
It is the pinnacle of our achievements.
And yet we still cannot cheat death.
We are "conquering" some killers but what about the others?
We pour money into coming up with better, more efficient ways of targeting and killing our "enemies". But why should we do that?
Yet, if we pour that money into saving lives, would the planets resources support all of us?
Clearly it could not.
So why are we not limiting the size of our families?

We need a license to drive but not to procreate?

Running Out Of Space?

2009-02-15T21:48:00.002Z

Two satellites, one belonging to the Iridium Satellite LLC company and the other, an obsolete satellite belonging to Russia, collided in Earth orbit and were destroyed.
The resulting debris field, whilst being harmless to Earth, may pose yet another hazard for the International Space Station as this is in a lower orbit. Also at risk is the Hubble space telescope. Read the full story here.

International Space Station - Shaken And Stirred?

2009-02-08T19:39:00.003Z

The International Space Station (ISS) had a nasty shaking in mid January.
The story is leaking out now.
Read about it here.
The structural integrity of the station is being investigated, as the inter module sections would be particularly susceptible to problems arising from such extreme modulations as would the solar panel array.
Apparently, the problem was caused by errors in the software uploaded to the engine control program for the rocket firing on the russian module.
Questions are being asked about how software for such a critical function could have been uploaded without being tested in a simulation first.

Could this be the end for the ISS?
It is certainly a possibility.
If it is, then it will be scandalous that such a major international collaborative project could have been jeopardised thus.
Sceptics question the usefulness of the ISS, however, in the event that life in the form of micro organisms is found elsewhere, e.g. Mars, then the ISS is the ideal platform to return samples to rather than the riskier option of bringing them to earth for study.

The Recession in Ireland

2009-02-04T11:42:00.008Z

Following the broadcast of the governments action plan to reduce expenditure by some EUR2 Billion this year, David McWilliams offers some interesting insights on the real state of the Irish economy whilst Alan Ruddock's article in the Independent demonstrates how long this has been going on.
This government, particularly under Brian Cowen's bullish leadership, has let the people down.
Worse than that, they appear to have ignored ALL of the warning signs and they continue to act without any real plan to address the major problems facing us.
We do not have a roadmap to getting out of this mess. They appear to be in as much a state of shock and awe as the general population.(Enough of the middle east metaphors!)
Surely they have access to advisors of at least a similar calibre as David McWilliams?
And yet no plan?

Surely now, of all times, they have not "thrown the baby out with the bathwater" and dismissed all reliance on such advisors?
We need clarity and quickly.
No, not quickly, we need it now!
What is the solution to this procrastination?
A new government?
A "national" government comprised of the best of each party?
We need options but unfortunately, we haven't been offered any.
Perhaps the time is right for us to become a federal Europe?
Or maybe we should re-investigate joining up with the USA as a distant territory similar to Alaska?

Mobile Internet With 3 - Update

2009-02-04T11:03:00.004Z

As you may already know, I recently installed a 3 Mobile USB internet "modem".
In use, it has proven to be effective, if a little slow.
I am writing this blog update whilst simultaneously downloading an impulse buy from iTunes, sending and receiving Twitter updates, doing some research web browsing and, to be honest, the speed is perfectly acceptable but is slower than my Wi-Fi broadband connection at home.
However, compared to the old 64Kb modems of not too long ago, it is way faster.
As a way of getting mobile internet without bills, it's great.
The one drawback to it is the way that 3 manage the validity period.
With 3, you have to buy one days usage for EUR5, a weeks worth for EUR10 or a months for EUR25.
In Spain, I have a similar device but from Vodafone.
There, the usage is based on download, so for EUR20 you can get 400MB. For EUR40 you can get 800MB. For casual use, this is ideal.
The validity period is 3 months from date of activation.
This is a better model, in my opinion, and one I would like to see adopted here in Ireland.
How about it 3?

3 are also the only operator currently offering this type of service on a 2pay as you go" basis.
The other operators have restricted this to a contract service only.

Getting My XBox Live

2009-02-03T10:09:00.002Z

I have an XBox 360 for a year now and like many of you, I wanted to connect it to the internet to get the advantages of playing games with other people and receiving ALL of the benefits offered by XBox Live.
A few months back, I purchased the Wi-Fi add-on, as my router is nowhere near my XBox. However, the XBox could only detect a signal when I placed it in a particular spot in the room.
What was worse was that the "spot" went all North Pole on me. It was always moving about the room. This made XBox Live very elusive.
With the Wi-Fi working, I managed to download the updated interface and even spent a little time customising my avatar. What a ridiculous waste of time that was!
Anyway, I soon tired of the time it took to get connected and resolved to move my router to another nearer location.
Thing is, there was no ideal location. Wherever I had a phone line, I lacked a power outlet.
So it never got done.
Then last week, I went in to PC World to get some ink for my HP inkjet printer.
I spent a bit of time looking at the options for powerline ethernet.
The options they had were all quite expensive. That is, EUR130 for a pair of devices.
It won't break the bank but its a significant proportion of the cost of the XBox itself!
I asked the salesman for some advice as they had a few models available.
He was no help.
I know enough about the technical side I just wanted his help on the reliability of one platform versus another.
While we were talking he was reading the packaging. As if I hadn't done that.
Then I spied another brand on the bottom shelf.
I picked it up and it. Another option but with no price tag on it.
At my request, he went away to obtain a price.
When he returned he started telling me that blah blah the device was a "returned" item.
Someone else hadn't liked it. Or didn't know what they were doing, I thought.
He said that if I took it, I could return it within 7 days for a refund.
He mumbled the price at me and I thought he said 90-something Euro for the pair.
Well that was a step in the right direction.
Then he said that due to the sale, there was an extra 10% off, so the price was now, wait for it, 17 Euro and come cents. WTF! When he was first mumbling, he had obviously said nineteen Euro.
Hey, that's a no brainer.
"I'll take it!"
Back home, I plugged one of the adapters into my router and the other into an extension lead by my XBox.
Now, the instructions say not to use an extension lead but I wanted to see what would happen. Besides, I didn't have a free direct socket.
All of the lights lit up and flashed showing traffic.
The XBox detected the local network. Then the internet connection.
Then...stopped.
"Unable to contact XBox Live", it said.
The "help" messages indicated various problems.
1) Change the MTU setting on the Router
2) ICMP port is being blocked
3) Unable to resolve DNS
However, armed with the knowledge that it worked on the WiFi, I knew that none of these things could be the problem.
Now, I know networks but powerline ethernet adapters were new to me. So I tried something.
I simplified the network arrangement by fitting a double adapter to my single power outlet and plugged everything back in. Would that be enough to stop the devices signals roaming along the other pathways?
Hey Presto. It worked.
And it worked well.
The only trouble is that the XBox Live experience in Europe is not up to (my) expectations.
Granted, game updates are a breeze. Only I can't see what difference they make.
Free maps will extend the playability I suppose.
But the rest of the content?
I can download a few movies. When I say download, they say "rent" so I guess I can't purchase HD movies, which is what I expected. I never rent movies. If I like 'em, I buy 'em.
There is also a non existent range of TV shows to choose from. I understand that Stateside this is a big market. Well it could be here too, sucka!
As I write this, the XBox has just asked if i want to let it download and install a system update.
Sure, go right ahead. Whatever that is going to do!
Oh wait. Now that it has applied the update, I have lost my avatar. It is now a silhouette! And I like it more than the original!
Oh Wait. I figured it out.
It logged me out and now I have to log in again. Not a big problem, no keying or anything, but why did it not just log me in again?
Now. Let's see. What's changed.
Nothing that I can see. That nerdy geeky avatar is back.
I wonder of anyone actually uses the "friends" tab?
All in all, I am disappointed with the service. I was hoping to get a head start on "House, Season 5" but it's not to be.
Perhaps it will improve in the future. It'll have to if it is to really become an entertainment centre.
Perhaps someone will make a BluRay DVD Player for it now that the format confusion has disappeared.
What would YOU like to see as an improvement for the XBox?
And while we're at it, anybody want to buy a Wi-Fi attachment for it? One careful owner!

Meanwhile, the powerline adapters are great. Already I am thinking of another use for them.

2009 - International Year Of ...

2009-02-02T11:41:00.002Z

Astronomy , Reconciliation , Human Rights Learning , Natural Fibres
I would have thought that the whole idea of dedicating a year to any specific cause or idea was that it would focus the worlds attention.
Why then spread it over several disciplines?
That can only add to confusion and denigrate the dedication of the year in question, not to mention the topic.
Anyhow, for my money, 2009 is the year of ASTRONOMY!
But then, I would say that, wouldn't I?

Tara Tara Tara

2009-01-30T09:44:00.005Z

I could feel myself falling asleep.
Having returned home from working a night shift and, as a result of not being able to sleep prior to it, I was so tired I could not even remember the drive home. Awake for 26 hours straight.
I looked at some important documents on my laptop. Can't remember what they were exactly but I closed my eyes and started falling asleep.
But I was not in my bed. I wasn't in any bed. I was on the couch. So I tried to wake myself. Come on. Get up. Get UP!
I started to move but my eyes were closed. Message to brain. "Open eyes".
My eyelids started to part but it was taking such an effort.
"Opennnnn"
I became aware that my vision was in a quasi black-and-white. Almost like looking at a bad TV picture due to poor reception aeons ago.
I kept forcing myself awake and found my daughter in the room. Children were playing outside. I struggled to the window to look outside to see what the commotion was about. Three or four children who I did not recognise were playing outside with my dog Tara.
"Tara! ", I exclaimed.
My lovely doggins!
"Where have you been?"
I wondered where she had been staying, as I didn't remember petting her for some time.
Certainly not in the last few days.
Looking past her, I noticed our old wooden garden shed.
Clearly she must be staying in there.
I made a mental note to chastise my wife for not letting Tara into the house.
My lovely boxer put both front paws up on the windowledge outside and, wagging her tail furiously, she looked in at me through the glass divide.
I opened the window and she immediately poked her head in. Living in a bungalow allows such luxuries!
Well I hugged her and she licked me. I can't rightly say who missed who the most.
She had that lovely scent that boxer dogs have. And what an enormous personality!
1000% heart.
We hugged and licked each other for a few minutes. (For clarity, she did all the licking!)
I realised that sticking her head through the window, low as it was, still meant that she had to be resting her neck on the window frame. I stood so she would not have to do that and I stooped to rub her neck, to take any discomfort away from her.
Whan I felt her neck, it was as if a bone had been displaced. I rubbed her more. She didn't complain. Not once.
"Where oh where have you been?" I thought.
I was so happy.
No,Overjoyed!
Even better than that.

I shifted and surfaced.
Oh no.
It came to me in a flash.

Tara died some 10 years ago.
I had been dreaming that I was after waking from a dream when in fact I was still dreaming.
Very Shakesperian, I thought.
We had some wonderful times with our dear dog.
Even thinking of the loss now is difficult.

Top Ten Recession Proof Jobs?

2009-01-29T12:28:00.003Z

Found this list of the top 10 jobs to have during a recession.
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/21012009/389/10-safest-jobs-recession.html
Interesting reading, particularly the IT one.
There is always the danger, in a technical job, that your skills become obsolete, which rapidly means so do you, unless you constantly update them.
Of course, that means you have to keep trying to guess what the "next big thing" is going to be.
Have a read and see what you think.
Comments welcome.

Ready For A New Job

2009-01-27T11:00:00.014Z

After a very intense 10 days (roughly) of research for the upcoming interview I spent the weekend immersing myself in the material gathered and putting a huge effort into the assimilation and interpretation of this.
Yesterday, then, was a tale of two meetings.
I met two professionals at a senior level in the target area.
The first meeting went like a dream. The hard work had paid off. I knew exactly what he was talking about, even adding to the discussion with relevant examples, keywords and phrases. I knew what I was talking about! Yay!

The second meeting, a couple of hours later, was also extremely beneficial but in it, I learned that I knew nothing!
Well OK, not exactly nothing.
But, my eyes were opened. In fact, I had already known this but now it was out in the open.
I had only scratched the surface of what is a huge area of activity.
You see, the position I have applied for is outside of my comfort zone by about 20-30%.
And what is contained in this 20-30% is challenging my whole cultural programming and attitudes to date.

So, can I do this? On one hand, Obama like, I say "Yes, I can!"
On the other, (possibly also Obama like!) I have doubts.

And yet, sleeping on the issue last night and having abstained from further attempts to swot any more, I came to some surprising conclusions when I awoke.
So they don't know what sleep does, exactly, but this is one of the phenomona that occurs frequently, hence the oft used "sleep on it".
Sure didn't the great philosopher Meatloaf even say it!
A little analogy, if you will:
When my wife was pregnant with our first child, many moons ago, the subject of husbands / partners attending the birth was discussed with us by a nurse. As a young man in my early twenties, I said that I wanted to but was kind-of afraid that I might faint.
Come on! You've heard the stories too, right?
Right?
Anyway, the point of my story is that the nurse responded that the ones that faint are the ones that DON'T think that they will.
She was right.
At least about me. I didn't faint.

And my sleep generated conclusions?
The object of my discomfort is known to me.
It has a name.
I have a strategy.
I believe I am ready.

2 Busy 2 Blog

2009-01-22T22:45:00.002Z

Whew! What a week.
I have been called for interview for a job at last.
I know, I haven't gotton the abacus out to the henhouse just yet but I am getting a buzz out of the research that is attached to this opportunity.
I don't want to say too much about this but if I get it, I'll fill in the gap retrospectively.

I am having some fun with Twitter.
Not even so much my using it myself but reading others short posts. Mini blogging.
People are being quite creative with their 144 characters or so.
In my experience, most twitterers are not just "answering the question".
That's fine too in my book.

Funny Vista Widget Error

2009-01-19T09:33:00.002Z

Look at this!
Right now, as i post this, the widget on my desktop is showing Limerick with a temperature of 36 degrees celcius!
How I wish it were. It's darned cold 'round these parts.
It's actually more like 4 degrees.
And yes, the widget is set for degrees C.

I checked the widget and reset it and now it's behaving as it should. It seems to have slipped into degrees F mode but I didn't do it, honest gov'!

TomTom satnav

2009-01-18T21:58:00.005Z

In the past, I have written about my TomTom SatNav device and how impressed with it I was. (Click here for previous article).
Well not anymore.
On Friday 16th January 2009, I had to go to Dublin for a meeting at the Irish HQ of Microsoft. Confident of my SatNav's abilities, I entered the City (Dublin) and nearest streetname (Blackthorn Drive). This is in Sandyford on the southside of Dublin.
My TomTom never heard of it!
So I looked on the web at the map for the location of the hotel ( the Beacon Hotel) and entered other street names. Blank expression on its little screen.
So I tried for the M50 Motorway, Junction 13. Nothing.
I saved a screenshot on my laptop, drove to the M50 and manually looked for Junction 13. As I approached it, it appeared on the SatNav screen, clearly marked. When I got to Blackthorn Drive, it too was marked on the screen. So why couldn't I search for and find it on my device?
I know my map is not the most up-to-date available but it's only 12 months old.
And there is no guarantee that if I shell out for the new version it will be any better.
I have the most up-to-date map of Spain and it still doesn't have a major motorway that I use on it. One that opened over a year ago. It's on the paper maps so why not on the electronic one? And why should I have to pay for an update only to find that it is still not good enough?
I wonder what Garmin's are like?
I would love to hear from other SatNav device users on their experiences.

War Crimes

2009-01-18T21:41:00.002Z

So the Israelis have announced a ceasefire and the Hamas response is to have a ceasefire but to limit it to giving Israel one week to pull out all of its' troops. More goading. Give the people of Gaza a break!
Journalists are in Gaza now and reporting on the destruction.For the second time today I have heard a comment that does not sit easily with me.
It is said that the people are shell shocked and that now they see that the dead include "women and children".

It is as if men do not count.

Why should this be?
Men. Do you hear me?
Why is is that we are deemed acceptable casualties of war?
Are you happy with this?
To my mind, all violence is clearly wrong.
I would not like to be deemed an acceptable casualty of fighting as though I were somehow to blame because of my gender.
People are people. War is just wrong.
Provoking war is wrong.
Macho posturing and guerilla warfare / terrorism is wrong and is unacceptable in a mature sentient species. So why does it happen?
Is it because there is no clear "world" government? I mean, the United Nations is anything but united. It is aspirational at best.
I think that we need world government. Unbiased and with the power to make decisions based on logic. Decisions that can be binding.
Surely there can be a way to deliver this.
As for "war crimes".
The very term implies that attrocities up to a certain level are legitimate and justified.
Mea culpa.
Our species should hang its head in shame.

Amazing Amazon

2009-01-18T14:24:00.003Z

I was impressed with Amazon.com this morning.
Back in December, I purchased a product from an Amazon affiliate supplier.
They had failed to deliver and repeated emails were delivering a snail-like response. In short, I was being fobbed off.
Yesterday evening, I asked Amazon for assistance as I was having no luck with the supplier.
I asked their advice as to whether I should ask the credit card company to refund me.
This morning, Amazon have refunded me!
Great service.
Whilst I would have preferred the goods, the extremely prompt action from Amazon has reinforced my confidence in dealing through them.
And I was already impressed.
Anyone else care to comment on their experiences with Amazon?

David Bowie Caused Recession (?)

2009-01-14T09:03:00.002Z

According to a report in the Rolling Stone magazine, the British press are blaming David Bowie for the recession! Apparently the Thin White Duke came up with a financial plan called "Bowie Bonds" which, in financial terms is a process called "securitization".

"He sold bonds of his future royalties to his fans for an immediate sum of money, figuring they’d be more patient about waiting for the royalties, plus it’d give them a stake in Bowie’s catalog."

I can understand that this makes economic sense to the Zigman but who would have thought he'd need it.
This proves two things to me. (1) A bird in hand is worth two in a bush and (2) You can never have enough :)
He may as well get his hands on the "future" money now. Like the rest of us, he probably won't be there to collect it later on.

Review - Huawei E160G mobile USB Modem for "3" Networks

2009-01-12T12:01:00.005Z

Attractively packaged with the "3" logo emblazoned on each side of the box.
On the front is a welcome message that declares that the USB modem can, with the addition of a micro SD card, be used as a USB Memory key. This a a very worthwhile and welcome addition to the hardware device facilitating usage beyond the mobile internet option..
Opening the box, we find the modem itself, a USB cable, User Guide and SIM card pack in a CD sleeve sized package.

The USB cable is a nice extra touch. Whilst most notebook computers have very accessible USB ports, the cable allows you to connect the modem whilst leaving ample space in the remaining USB slots to ensure that you do not interfere with other devices access requirements. It is also handy if you are using this modem with a desktop PC which may have the USB ports tucked away at the back. The cable allows you to bring the modem out in front where you can effectively extend the port to a more accessible area.
The modem itself has two access ports. One is the Micro SD slot but the other, intriguingly appears to be for an aerial, although no reference is made within the user documentation to this feature.
The modem requires Windows 2000/XP/Vista or OS X for a MAC, a minimum 800 X 600 resolution display and Administrator rights on the computer for the installation process.
The "user guide" indicates that the SIM holder is a cleverly designed integrated slot just above the USB connector on the modem.
An etched drawing on the removable holder demonstrates the correct method of insertion for the SIM and the diagram in the manual is quite clear on how to re-insert the holder the right way up. So far, so good.
Next step is to connect the modem to a free USB port. Typically these devices have a software installation application contained on-board which kicks in when the device is connected and this one proves to be no different.
Once inserted, reassuringly, the "installing device software" notification message is displayed on the Vista desktop followed, within seconds, by the "your devices are ready to use" message.
The application software installer runs next and having prompted for permission to install, the system asks for language, followed by the "Mobile Partner Setup" application install routine. Initially you choose the operator that your are installing the SIM for. In our case this is 3 Ireland but it demonstrates that with the aid of a SIM from one of the other operators it may be a cheaper option installing a SIM without buying a new modem in one of those countries. The only trouble is the limited number of countries available (8).
It is a peculiar and nonsensical requirement of the license agreement that the software is forbidden from being installed on more than one computer.
For a portable product I find this an amazing limitation of use. Of course, the ability to police such usage is another matter entirely.
I know most people generally skip through these verbose agreements but this one seems to exonerate Huawei from any responsibility. For example, the "SOFTWARE is provided on an "AS IS" basis and without warranty of any kind" . Further, "HUAWEI does not represent or warrant that SOFTWARE furnished hereunder is free of infringement of any third party patents, copyrights, or trade secrets."
Governing law for disputes is the Peoples republic of China!
For a device costing less than 100 Euro, let's just put this aside and move on to see how the modem works in practice.
Accepting the agreement and the defaults for location of software, the installation completes after a few minutes.
Then, Vista again goes through a background process installing device driver software for the new device.
When this completes the "Mobile Partner" application starts automatically.
Clicking on the "connect" button establishes a connection to 3's network.
The manual tells you that different coloured lights on the USB modem indicate connection status. Green denotes a connection to GPRS/EDGE network, which is described as Fast", Blue means you are connected to the 3G network ("faster") whilst Cyan means you have a connection to the HSDPA network which is "fastest".
The lights show through the "3" symbol on the USB modem and are not otherwise visible.
So how do we get onto the net and start surfing?
What the manual does not make clear is which type of connection type is preferred (home/work/public location) which Vista requires to setup the network and allow access. I chose "Home" as it best fits the descriptions, although it's a close call. Checking with "3", they recommend "Home" for this setting also.
Assuming you are using the modem as a casual user (prepaid) rather than having a pay monthly account, the manual states that you must buy credit. However, buying credit for the "3" Network is not as straight forward as for other operators. You must get a voucher from a physical shop or machine. No online banks facilitate top ups on this network as at the time of writing this piece (January 2009). This is not exactly conducive to a "mobile" experience. The manual indicates that "3" are working on an "online credit card top-up facility" and "details will be announced soon". Not soon enough for this review however and the "3" operator could not say when this might happen.
The modem allows access to the "3" website to activate your credit once obtained. The unit also comes with a "Free" bundled 100MB of access. According to the "3" helpline operator, this is sufficient to allow downloading of approximately 70 pages of web page data.
So I am up and running and now have mobile access. If "3" could sort out the online credit purchase issue this could be a real winner.
I will use the device for a while and update you on performance issues in a long term test.

Jobs

2009-01-09T16:14:00.002Z

Dell announced yesterday, 8th Jan '09, that they are to shut down their manufacturing (assembly) plant in Limerick with the loss of 1900 of the 3000 or so jobs.
There is enough material in the media concerning this however, the government response is surely nothing short of shameful.
The Taoiseach (pronounced "tea-shock" - Hmm, actually makes two words!) announced the setting up of a "task-force" (nothing) and that every agency of the government will be mobilised (more nothing). The Minister for Defense, Willie O'Dea, a local Limerick politician to boot, said that we (Ireland) must go after industries "higher up in the food chain" (or more intellectually challenging) and that the workforce must be "upskilled". Just how he thinks he can "upskill" the 1900 assembly line workers is beyond me. Will he send them all to university to get a degree? And who will pay their mortgages / loans / rent etc. while they do this??
Dell are shifting their production to Poland, the Irish workers having shown the Polish workers what to do. In Poland the rate is EUR3 per hour compared to the Irish rate of EUR12. Can't argue with that, can we. Dell need to survive too.

I am seriously hunting for a job for a few months now and not even one interview have I had. Well, except for the one in London with Reed consulting. They invited me to London, at MY expense, for an interview connected with Qatar Airways (the worlds 5* Airline) and jobs in the Qatar airport / aviation sector. They promised to let me know one way or another within two (2) weeks. I am still waiting!
The majority of companies do not reply to job applications.
The recruitment agencies websites are left with jobs on them from last summer!
This week has been slow as most companies are just back after the way too long xmas break.
I do have a couple of opportunities that have not been exhausted yet and there is some hope there. As a friend of mine wrote to me recently,
"Cheer up" they said, "it could be worse". So I did. And it was.

O'Briensbridge, Clare, Ireland

2009-01-08T18:13:00.006Z

This morning, in the cold and frosty conditions, I had to travel to Roscrea. Everywhere looked beautiful in the sunshine. Here is a picture I took in a small village called O'Briensbridge in Clare.

Robbie

2009-01-08T18:01:00.003Z

We have a tame robin in our garden. Above, you can see her perching on the aerial of my car.
Below, she is in the kitchen, where she comes in to eat crumbs and (her favourite) cheese. Mozarella especially! She looks in through the window each morning and has even pecked at it to get our attention. She first started getting friendly when she used to follow me about the garden as I cut the grass. We have her for 5 years now.
Just thought I'd share.

First Post of 2009

2009-01-07T09:41:00.006Z

So another year begins.
I have been using twitter a lot, which has surprised me.
It has proved very useful for doing exactly what it is intended to do.
Short fast snappy updates on what is happening in your life, at a given moment in time.
As you can see, it also updates the blog page with the latest Twitter comment (see top right).
Christmas is a time for family and that is why I have not been updating the blog as frequently as I was before but normal service has now resumed.
My search for a job continues with a few possibilities ongoing.
Hopefully I will have some positive news early in the new year.
Yesterday, I started some work for a charitable organisation. Giving them my skills for free in exchange for some friendly banter and cups of tea. Met some really nice people too.
The weather here has been lovely. Cold but nice clear skies and it's great to see the sun!
Some respite from the usual rain. Although that will probably arrive in buckets when the summer comes!
Last night we watched a TV programme called "The Great Escape". I initially thought it was going to be the movie with Steve McQueen but instead it turned out to be the first in a short series being run by RTE, the Irish national broadcaster, about a couple who made the decision to quit Ireland for a better climate. They went to Marbella in Spain and set up their own business. We found it very interesting and exciting.
I wonder if we should dare...
Ciao for now!

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T22:36:00.001Z

Wishing YOU a very VERY Happy New Year!
I hope that 2009 brings YOU all that you wish for.
Enjoy life.
It's not a dress rehearsal.
Sláinte!
Salud!

Fighting in Gaza

2008-12-28T17:21:00.002Z

War again.
I cannot understand why the people in Hamas keep goading Israel.
Do they not respect their own people?
If you pick on someone bigger and stronger, they will fight back.
It's only natural.
In fact, Israel have shown great restraint in waiting this long.
Embrace peace.
Stop involving innocents.
Work out your problems in a peaceful manner.
Let the world know what your real grievances are.
Unemployment? You are not alone.
But don't mislead people into thinking that they can achieve something by allying themselves with a common cause. Taking on something bigger and stronger and leading them into a false belief that they can somehow "win" something.
Life is not a game and there are no second chances.
Stop throwing it away.
And stop ordering the poor impressionable disaffected youth to give their lives up for a useless cause.
Please.

Time after time, Israel is called upon to cease hostilities.
In this case, it could be no clearer.
Israel did not start this and they must act to defend their people.

My First Microscope Picture

2008-12-25T12:18:00.004Z

This is a picture I took with my new Bresser Microscope.
The set included some pre-prepared slides and this particular one contained the leg of a common housefly.
The end that you can see here is the foot of the fly.
So.
Cool or what!

Happy Christmas Message

2008-12-24T15:24:00.002Z

Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you all, wherever you are and whatever your beliefs, have a very happy Christmas and I also hope that we get some resolution to the global financial difficulties in 2009 so that we may all have a prosperous New Year too.

Friends Come and Go but Enemies Accumulate!

2008-12-22T21:00:00.002Z

OK, the headline isn't an original but I really like it!
I went to a funeral this evening to pay my respects to the family of an old lady who had died in the village.
Having sympathised with them, I went outside where I met an old friend of mine.
I can honestly say I haven't seen him in about 5 years.
Much to my surprise and delight, we immediately picked up where we had left off!
It was great to see him.
We plan to go out together over the christmas / new year period.
I just know it's going to be great.
Friends may well come and go but you know what? Friends are also not just for christmas. They are forever, they just don't bug us like the "enemies" do!

Aer Lingus to Restore Shannon-Heathrow Link

2008-12-22T13:31:00.007Z

Aer Lingus today announced that it would restore the Shannon to Heathrow service. Full story here.
This was discontinued amid great controversy in the Mid-West prompting the Government to take steps to protect the services in Dublin and Cork Airports.
It is likely that the recent takeover bid by Ryanair would have allowed the government to put pressure on Aer Lingus to resume the route or else face the prospect of considerable support within government circles for the takeover bid. The Ryanair offer would have been accepted if the government threw their shareholding weight behind Ryanair.

This move should see Shannon Airport becoming viable as a seperate self-sufficient entity to Dublin Airport Authority and may heavily influence the ministers imminent decision regarding the full seperation of Dublin, Cork and Shannon into competing airports.
Individual airport viability is a pre-requisite for the seperation issue and the impact of the Aer Lingus decision is fully quantifiable and will restore a healthy complexion to the Shannon Airport Authorities Business plan and its aspirations for independance.
Whilst Ryanair have already committed in their offering to reinstate the Heathrow service at Shannon, Aer Lingus have added a caveat. They propose to try the service to see if it becomes profitable. They should already know that it was profitable and in the context of the recent cost saving deal entered into with the unions, I find this to be a staggering addendum.
It tempers their re-instatement and calls their committment into question.
With the second running of the Lisbon Treaty scheduled for next year, the government may see all of this as a vote-buyer for the Mid-West region.
If Ryanair were to step up to the plate and call the Aer Lingus bluff by, for example, reinstating the Shannon-Heathrow service at the previous frequency i.e. four return flights daily, then this could trump the Aer Lingus intention and once again place Ryanair with a chance of success.
It's all to play for.

UPDATE: 22nd december '08 21:00
The government have decided to postpone the breakup of DAA until 2011 due to "the recession". For crying out loud. MAKE A DECISION!!!
Now I remember why I had to go!

Darkest Just Before the Dawn?

2008-12-21T19:59:00.020Z

I will have been unemployed for six months at the end of December.
I left my last job voluntarily, with a handsome enough severance package, having worked with the one company for some 32 years.
It was not a big deal back then. The decision that is. I had been offered several jobs outside the company and the company needed to downsize. It was a no-brainer. A classic win-win.
From the ranks of the offers, I picked the company that I thought was the best bet for the future.
Best for me and my family.
They offered me a sizeable increase in salary.

My old company asked me to stay on and offered to increase my wages but still not to the dizzy heights that the “new” one was offering. I confirmed with the "new" company, that they were still going to make good on the offer and they said yes.
No worries!
So I continued on my exit path.

Only after I had left, inexplicably, they changed their minds.
Instead of the full time role they had promised me, they offered me a 12 week contract. Supposedly to allow them time to get set up so that they could directly hire someone in Ireland.
Bullshit!
I smelt a rat. There would have been NO formalities for them and, after the 12 weeks were up, I would have been tossed aside. The contract they sent me to sign was all one-sided. My solicitor suggested changes to it and I passed these suggestions to them. That’s what one does with a contract. Negotiate, right?
Not only did they not negotiate. They immediately thanked me for my “interest” and wished me all the best “in the future”. They didn’t even tell me to “take it or leave it”. Tossed aside, my usefulness to them expended.
Trust me. There's a book in this.
A tale of intrigue, shady characters, bad practice and double dealing.
And I've already started it.

2008 wasn't all bad though.
For the first six months I at least thought I had a brilliant career ahead of me.
I worked extremely hard. Long hours. Weekends.
All to make sure that I could get out from my old company on the due date. A date that my old company had forcefully, traumatically, already moved once before on me.
In doing this, I also helped the "new" company by doing work over and above my duties and digging them out of several holes.
If only I had known what lay ahead.

The seventh month, July, was also good. In fact it was great. I took the family away for a month, we cruised the meditteranean for a week, laughing and enjoying ourselves, content in the apparent security of our future.

So, 2009.
What gifts do you bring?

Winter Solstice - Newgrange Webcam Available

2008-12-20T11:24:00.003Z

The Winter Solstice occurs tomorrow, 21st December.
The ancient megalithic tomb at Newgrange in Ireland was aligned with the rising sun 5000 years ago. Before Stonehenge in the UK was built.
At sunrise, a shaft of light - weather permitting - will enter through an 18 metre long tunnel and illuminate the floor at the base of a decorated stone. 5000 years ago, the stone itself would have been lit.
On the morning of 21st December, at 08:30am UTC, a live webcam feed will be activated so that you can view this spectacle. Click here to check your systems readiness state and to get the URL for the webcam feed.
Enjoy!

UFOs Over UK West Midlands 18th Dec. '08

2008-12-19T15:29:00.005Z

Read the full story by clicking here

UPDATE 20th December 2008 11:11

The "UFO's" have now been identified.
They were flying lanterns and had been released from a local school during a childrens carol service.
UFO "enthusiasts" were too willing to accept these as genuine extra-terrestrial objects and this is where their objectivity always lets down such groups. Investigate first lads, then show your hand!
Don't be all X-Files "I want to believe".
Then and only then might you gain some credibility.
The full explanation can be found by clicking here.

Fade out to the tune of the X-Files...

Sterling Performance

2008-12-16T12:26:00.006Z

While most, if not all, of the world are having problems with the financial system, the UK's Sterling currency is taking a particularly strong battering. Especially against the Euro.
Whilst this is bad news for the UK - sorry Great Britain (a resident there recently told me that they are no longer "united", having seperate parliaments / assemblies in Norther Ireland, Wales and Scotland) - it is also bad news for Ireland as most of our trade is with GB.
Traditionally, Ireland would have devalued their currency to maintain competitiveness with GB but now that we are a part of the Euro that little trick is no longer in our hat. Still. I like the Euro and I like being a part of the European Community.
I feel sorry for many of the GB ex-pats living in Spain. I hear that many of them are having to return to GB as they cannot afford the lifestyle anymore as their pensions are paid in Sterling. The value of sterling has dropped some 33 per cent in the last 9 months. I still think it is a pity that Britain doesn't adopt the Euro as their currency along with the rest of us. It is so convenient holidaying in Europe now, not to mention transferring money abroad. There are no currency conversion charges between the Euro Zone countries.

LIDL Specials

2008-12-15T18:55:00.005Z

I managed to get to my local LIDL store early this morning.
I was hoping to pick up a Bresser Microscope.
LIDL seem to like Bresser. They frequently carry their products.
I bought a pair of Bressers' binoculars in LIDL a couple of years ago, following advice that they were "really good" optics from the astronomy community in Ireland. I am glad I did buy them because they are terrific. And they cost a mere nineteen (19) Euro.
So when I saw that they were offering a microscope from Bresser, without hesitation I decided to try and get one.
When LIDL offer specials, you need to get down to the store early if you want to have a good chance of getting it as they tend to get in a small supply. Lately though I have noticed that it is easier than it used to be. Anyhow, I got mine and there were at least 6 more on display.
I'll try it out and let you know what I think of it. Later.
I have always wanted a microscope but never actually got around to buying one.
And this is a geeky one too. It connects to a computer via USB for imaging. Cool eh!

Wireless Internet connection problem

2008-12-13T19:56:00.005Z

It first happened yesterday.
My laptop failed to connect to the internet over my WiFi setup.
I remembered reading an article in a magazine a few weeks ago about HP Pavilion laptops.One of which I own.
The reviewer said that, when it came to the wireless receiver, they were problematic so I initially thought 'damn'. Obviously it was happening to my 4 month old (new) laptop.
Then I thought, 'Hold on a minute. Let's diagnose this problem.'
So I checked the WiFi connection with a Skype WiFi phone.
It found the WiFi, connected to Skype and was pointing to my laptop again.
But I have seen this type of thing in the past when, after a few hours troubleshooting, I remembered doing something to my computer that could have caused the problem.
So I scratched my head and thought.
No.
Nothing.
Nada.
So I thought some more.
Nope. Still the same. I didn't do anything to my setup that could have caused this.
Later, the laptop having been turned off for a few hours, everything worked fine again.
Until I moved the laptop into the front room. Then the WiFi signal was lost again. Hmmm. Strange.
The only odd thing about the laptop setup was a dratted piece of software I had downloaded a few days ago. A Hallmark Card designer that had refused to run, giving Vista a numeric error code. It also refused to be un-installed but I hadn't thought too much more about it.
This morning, I decided that it had to go.
If nothing else, I had to rule it out.
So I did a restore from a 5 day old "restore point" and the WiFi worked again. Great. That was it!
Only it wasn't.
The problem returned again.
So WHILE my laptop was having the problem, I started up another new Dell laptop that I had - doing a job on it for a friend - and guess what? It couldn't find the WiFi either. Aha!

A swift change of the router, reconfiguring DHCP and its IP address and I'm back in business.
The moral is...never assume anything. I'm glad I stuck to the principles of troubleshooting and solved it.

You may have noticed that I started a "twitter" account.
Why did I do that?
Well, Cali Lewis from www.geekbrief.tv has one.
Geekbrief is very entertaining and well run by a couple who are interested in technology and, you know what? It's pretty cool. Check it out.
Anyhow, I'll try the "twitter" thing and see what it's all about.
It appears to be like a "minimum effort" blog update. Just answer the question "What are you doing right now".
I don't know though. I mean, just how interesting can that be? Not very is my gut reaction.

Follow This Blog

2008-12-13T10:59:00.004Z

I have added a widget to let you easily follow this blog. You will find it at the top on the right hand side of the blog.
I would really appreciate you taking the time to sign up.
When I say time I do, of course, use the term lightly. It is a two click process. Click on a radio button to decide if you want to follow publicly or anonymously and another click on a button to confirm your choices. That's it. Couldn't be simpler, could it?
It would be nice to know my writing is not just going into the vacuum of (web)space!
Once you are signed up, you will get notified of each new post.
Oh, and you can unregister any time you like.
Come on, it's easy!
Cheers! Salud! Be good!

Ryanairs' Aer Lingus Takeover Bid

2008-12-12T12:43:00.003Z

The Chairman of Aer Lingus has attacked Ryanairs' Michael O'Learys' claims that Aer Lingus have reduced routes and are shrinking. On the contrary, Aer Lingus have increased both routes and quantities of aircraft.
Aer Lingus, he said, are now looking for a strong rival bidder in order to keep Ryanair away from Aer Lingus.
The Ryanair bid, he claims, would be bad for Ireland as it would leave the consumer at the mercy of one merged airline rather than having two competing ones.

His comments were made on "Morning Ireland" on RTE's Radio 1 and in the Irish Times newspaper.

Writing for a living (2)

2008-12-11T16:44:00.003Z

Zowie.
I had a swift reply from the newspaper regarding my suggestion for writing a column on a particular topic. I had proposed doing a book review slot, as I saw that this particular paper didn't have one.
Now I know they don't want one ! :)

Whilst perusing said newspaper, I read a column where the writer was anti-Dublin to the extent that he was blatently and unashamedly racist.
I wrote a letter of complaint while I was at it.

Still it's not real writers rejection. This was a rejected proposal rather than say a book rejection.
How to break into getting paid to do this stuff.
Hmmm.
Where did I put that thinking cap?

Writing for a living

2008-12-10T12:48:00.005Z

Increasingly, I find myself drawn to the idea of writing for a living.
Yesterday, I took the bold-ish step of approaching a magazine and proposing an article for publication - which I, of course, would write.
Today, I wrote to the editor of a newpaper suggesting a regular item.
Both of these steps were inspired by reading the "Writers and Artists Yearbook" mentioned in a previous post.
Let's see how I get on.
Every writer has to get used to rejection, right?

It is said that a writer should write something, anything, every day.
Besides the above, today I also wrote the second installment of my "Apollo Space Programme" series for the Astronomy Club.

Dioxin / PCB Contamination in Irish Pork Products

2008-12-07T09:18:00.008Z

On the 9pm news bulletin on the national TV station, Radio Telefís Eireann (RTE), last night, it was announced by the Food safety Authority that results from tests in a UK laboratory (Central Science laboratory) of Irish Pork samples had tested positive for dioxins and PCB's.
The levels were extremely high, being 80 to 200 times higher than "safe" levels. According to the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website, there are NO safe levels. I wonder what that means to the Irish and UK public, who have been exposed to this contamination.
All pork products have now been recalled from the supermarket shelves although, it would appear, individual pork products being held in homes are to be dumped by their owners \"in the normal way". Given that PCB's are "persistent" I find this astonishing. If these products end up in landfill, surely it is possible for PCB to once again end up in the food chain, being flushed by rainfall into the water?
The pork is being withdrawn on "precautionary" grounds.
With the Christmas season approaching and the tradition, in many homes, of having a ham with the turkey, this is a major blow to the "industry".

The source of the problem is pig feed, manufactured from recycled bread and dough. How the PCB got into this mix is under investigation. An Irish manufacturer is being investigated in connection with the problem.

The government is working on plans for how to destroy all of the products.

There has been no indication yet what the fate of the entire national pig herd should be. Apparently "safe" pork products will be available within weeks and before Christmas.

Update: 8th December '08 09:17am

The pig herds of the 9 affected farms are being slaughtered.
The source of the contaminated pig feed has been identified and has been shut down. While investigations continue to try and identify exactly how the toxins got into the "crumb", the Irish Government feel that this has been enough to contain the situation and they expect normal supply to resume in the next few days.
With the total withdrawal of existing pork supplies, the culling of the herds of the affected farms and the eradication of the contaminated food supply, it is plausible to accept that enough has been done to eliminate the problem.
All that remains is to test the next batch of "product" to confirm its' "safe to eat" status.
This has all been possible because of the stringent steps the Irish Government took during the Foot and Mouth and BSE scares to clearly have traceability in the Irish meat industry.

Update: 9th December '08 00:20am

With approximately 100,000 pigs from the affected farms identified for slaughter, the Irish government is anxious to resume normal operations in the industry. However, the main slaughter houses have laid off workers and have declared that they will not reopen unless the government pays the costs incurred by them in the recall. The government are reluctant to do this but have fallen short of an outright refusal. talks have been going on all day Monday and will probably continue Tuesday.

Update: 11th December '08 08:00am

Finally!
Agreementhas been reached between the government and producers.
Factory processing resumes today.
That ends my coverage of this issue on this blog.
Real coverage was available on the news services and I wasn't chasing this down as a reporter.
My 2 cents worth? This was a little bit of a catastrophe.
First we were advised that all meat was recalled when all that should have been recalled was the processed elements like sausages and salami as these lack traceability as they are sourced from multiple animals.
Having been told that the meat contained between 80 and 200 times the "safe" levels, we were assurred that the meat was safe to eat. Duh???
Pig farms, even modest ones, produce approximately 1000, yes, one-thousand new baby pigs a week. If the factories did not resume processing, we were going to have an animal welfare issue and a BIG one at that.
Lastly, the government dragged out reaching agreement with the producers for compensation and in so doing, allowed the size of the financial damage to increase. People lost jobs and therefore government lost taxes as well as having to pay unemployment benefit. Sigh!
Will they ever learn.

Ryanair Bid for Aer Lingus

2008-12-06T15:09:00.004Z

For a second time, Ryanair have put in a bid for Aer Lingus.
Speaking on "The Late Late Show" last night with Pat Kenny, Michael O'Leary was making a lot of sense.
This time, Ryanair are prepared to accept the unions, guarantee the Heathrow slots for Ireland and even re-instate the Heathrow service to Shannon Airport.
It would appear that Ryanair have addressed the fears of the staff in this offer whilst at the same time making the cash-strapped government a very tempting offer.
Will he succeed? I wouldn't write it off. Not at all.
However, if the merger does get the green light, one thing that Shannon Airport will have to watch out for is the continuation of the Aer Lingus transatlantic services. It was one thing to lose Heathrow. It would be completely disastrous were Shannon to lose the TA traffic. Michael O'Leary has previously stated that Ryanair were interested in having a TA service but not from Shannon.
Now if Shannon were to resurrect the "Atlantic Hub" proposal from about 15 years ago, I think O'Leary might be interested. It made sense then but Aer Lingus management were on another agenda at the time. I think it could work now. And it fits the Ryanair model, or could be made to fit it. Especially as the model would need some re-working to take account of the Aer Lingus operation.
The "Atlantic Hub" provides for feeding traffic in to Shannon from various airports throughout Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) / Baltic countries and connecting them with transatlantic services from Shannon. It could work.
Watch this space!

Fuel Crisis

2008-12-01T20:26:00.002Z

Current estimates are showing the world running out of oil in about 15-20 years time.
Now I know that there are reputedly vast reserves of oil in Alaska that can't be touched because of environmental concerns. But when the world runs out of oil, that will be very - probably TOO - tempting.
But it will only buy us some more time.
What we need is an alternative fuel.
By the looks of things, the "green" options won't develop anything even close to what we need.
We already have nuclear technology.
Stop using oil for generating electricity and grasp that nettle!

And there is something else we could do.
Do what the Chinese have done and limit the size of our population.

Mumbai Terrorist Attack

2008-12-01T20:17:00.001Z

I am deeply saddened to once again see a terrorist attack perpetrated against innocent people.
Aren't we all innocent?
These are hate-filled crimes waged by human beings against human beings.
Not one religion against another. I wish the reporters would stop their subconscious "justification" of such events in this way. It doesn't even make for a good story. It just helps to de-stabilise society. And it all adds up.

We have to stop seeing religion as a valid excuse for hateful, spiteful, violent actions against fellow human beings.
When will the human race grow up?
If we don't do it soon, fanatics WILL eventually cause other reactionary (government) forces to unleash the worlds worst nightmare.
Enough is enough!

What is the root cause of this evil?
Are we seriously to believe that young, disillusioned men can really, honestly think that they will be considered martyrs by any right thinking people, anywhere?
And that a dozen or so virgins will be there waiting for them when their atoms are spread all over the place?
Unfortunately, I fear that the answer to this is yes.
They really do think that.
But they are so wrong.

Some of the causes probably include:

Religion
Jealousy
Lack of wealth
Living conditions
Dishonesty
Brainwashing
Race

This should not be viewed as a case of "them" against "us".
Or "us" against "them".
We are destroying ourselves. Each other.
I think that all of the above need to be addressed and each relegated to it's own level of irrelevance.
Without doubt the way we do things isn't working. The ideals and aspirations of democracy might work for some of us, but if there are others who are "excluded" from the club, and there are, then this breeds discontent.
Perhaps what we need is an "opt-in" agreement for the world.
Let the democracies of the world unite as a trade bloc.
Don't do business with any country outside of this bloc.
Agree that they have the right to exist outside of this and just live and let live.
Allow the borders be open to immigration from the countries outside the bloc.
Give meaningful work to everyone that wants it.
A sort of communist democracy if you will.

Now I know that this is not a fully thought out solution.
But is there anyone, anywhere considering how to deal with the worlds problems in any meaningful way that does not involve the use of force as a means to an end?

Come on.
We need to grow up as a species.
As soon as possible.
The clock is ticking.

Tomtom Satnav Service

2008-11-25T09:36:00.002Z

I love my Tomtom.
Sure, it gets me ever so slightly lost from time to time (See my earlier post re Vera, Almeria for more on that aspect) but it is so handy, I hate to be without it on a car trip.
Imagine my disappointment then when last week, returning from my second trip to Dublin in a week, Tomtom refused to turn off. I shook it to see if I could dislodge some dirt or dust that might be preventing the switch from engaging. Highly technical, I know. Somewhat akin to banging the TV set. We used to do that a lot in years gone by. TV's weren't as dependable as they are now and banging them used to actually work. But back to Tomtom. It didn't work.
Moving up the technical scale, I looked for a paperclip with which to press the "reset" button. You know the type? They hide them in teeny weenie holes and you only get to press them when you weally needta! Finding a paperclip proved a bigger challenge than expected so eventually I settled for a pin. More precise but careful you don't miss the button and spear some other unsuspecting part inside! Mission accomplished, Tomtom was now turned off. Then... and I can almost see you shaking your heads knowing what comes next. Not that you have more than one head! I am sure there are a raft of people reading this. So it's their heads I am talking about. OK writing about. Sheesh! Anyway, then... Tomtom would not turn on again. At all. Everrrr.
Oh. My. God. Tomtom-less. Driving won't be the same without Tommy telling me when I will get there or when I drive too fast.OOps. I turned that last one off. Forget I said that. Anyway, I missed that lil guy. I better ask Big Tomtom what to do. So on to the website at www.tomtom.com, go through a simple reset procedure and voila....I had to send him back to the factory for repair. Tomtom goes on a trip. WITHOUT ME! All the way back to Holland. In a lickle parcel. Sob.
The really good thing about this and my reason for writing this article is that the service provided by Tomtom, the company, is amazing. It really must be commended. They arranged, at their expense, to have my device collected from my home by DHL, they repaired it within two days and returned it, again at their expense. And the device is 17 months in my possession. Outside of the warranty period. I am well impressed. When I come to upgrade I know where my Euro's will be going. Thanks Tomtom.
And welcome home.

Cold Snaps and Space Stations

2008-11-24T12:58:00.006Z

Brrrr!
It's after turning rather cold around these parts.
Here, that means about 7 or 8 degrees C.
I know that there are many colder places than this but I remember a few years ago there was an Eskimo woman being interviewed on the radio.
She had come to live in Ireland.
She said that the weather here was much colder than in the arctic.
At least it felt that way.
I think it is because of the moisture content in the air.
The cold here gets right into your bones.

Last night, my daughter even remarked that we must be mad to be living here.
People here exist, they don't live.

We were watching Stephen Frye in America on the TV at the time.
While part of the programme was spent in Alaska, the other part was spent in Hawaii.
It is the Hawaiian part that tugged at us.
And before you ask, no, it's not just because of Sarah Palin either.

The cold descended on us due to the clearing skies.
I couldn't believe it. Yesterday was so awful. Dark. Damp. Gloomy. Yuck!
I had just completed repairing a PC with a nasty 'rootkit' and a boot sector virus (trojan) when I spotted a couple of very bright stars in the sky. I took out my binoculars and identified one of them as the planet Jupiter (by the moons) but the second one had disappeared behind clouds again. I wanted to know what the other one was so I started looking for my sky atlas on my PC. Then I remembered that the Sky Atlas had resided on a previous PC. The one that had had the power supply go kaput. So I went online to www.heavens-above.com to see if it could help. When you do that though, you can lose sight of the goal and soon I found myself looking for any potential sightings of the International Space Station and the Shuttle, which is currently docked there. To my surprise, it was due to pass overhead in a few minutes. So I took up position and mentioned it to my daughter and my wife, in case they would like to see it also.
It was cold outside (I may have mentioned this!) so we decided to watch from the comfort of the front room. Due to the direction of travel of the ISS, it was perfectly viewable from inside.
When it arrived, bang on schedule, I pointed it out to my daughter who commented 'Is that it?'
She was very disappointed. She expected to see an up close type of picture, not just a star moving through the sky.
Doh!
As an amateur astronomer I know said , with a Northern Irish twang to his voice 'You seen one space station, you seen them all'.
Quite.

"Green" Ireland

2008-11-18T20:04:00.004Z

Something that I have to get off my chest.

This has been bugging me for some time now.

In Ireland, we have a tax on plastic bags.

You know, when you do your shopping and need something to pack it into?

The government have placed a tax on the shops providing such bags.

The shops charge this to the end user. You and I.

All supposedly to "protect the environment".

Come off it!!!

If they wanted to protect the environment, they would ban plastic bags and insist on paper.

It's just another tax!!!

Forget about being "green" in the environmental sense.

We are being "green" in the naieve sense!

There.

I finally said it.

Spooky Happenings on my Dublin trip.

2008-11-18T19:18:00.007Z

It's been quite busy the last week, hence the gap in my posts here.

Honestly, I really don't know where the time goes.

Do you?

I went to Dublin to visit my parents. Both are in very good health and looking well.

I had the dubious pleasure of using the new M50 automatic tolling system.

I haven't been to Dublin in a while and I was surprised to find that the Red Cow roundabout is no more. It has been replaced by, what I jmust say, is a far superior interchange involving underpasses. About time too.

Then there is the automatic vehicle registration recognition and billing system. I was new to this but noticed signs telling one to pay by 8pm the following day at www.eflow.ie

What I didn't like about that system was that, when you visit the site to pay, it can't identify your movements so you are paying blind. It also doesn't tell you what happens if you fail to pay on time. I mean, 8pm the following day is not exactly being flexible, now is it!

The reason for my visit was twofold; (1) See my parents and spend some time with them (2) install a new satellite receiver box as they had told me that their old one was broken.

So.

I managed to "source" a new satellite receiver for them. Not inexpensive but I was lucky enough to have a "contact". Fully legit, I hasten to add.

I stayed overnight and had a really nice time. After a pleasent dinner in Beaumont, I tried the satellite receiver but unfortunately, found that the problem was not the box and more likely the cable or the dish. Being strategically located on the edge of space, or at least the roof of their high two-story house, I decided against trying to rectify this. I know of at least two men that have died trying such antics!

During the evening, we enjoyed watching the "new" Indiana Jones movie. Harrison, I enjoyed it (kind of) but for nostalgic reasons rather than the original "indie" type of entertainment. But it was OK. And I did enjoy it.

When we retired for the evening, I was given an old bedroom that had so many memories for me. As as kid, I watched Niall Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon in this very room. I remember my father being away on a trip to the USA with the Garda Band while my mother gathered all of us into one room to sleep together. She slept with a carving knife under her pillow for protection! Happy days!

In the room, they have a bedside lamp that responds to touch. No switch as such, just touching the metal base turns it on (at three brightness levels) and off.

And so to sleep.

I awoke at 5:10am feeling the need to visit the "smallest room".

I lay there in the dark deciding whether I would go back asleep or get up and do the necessary.

Next thing, the light came on.

I looked over at the lamp.

It went to the next brightness level.

Now, I can see easily how if I were superstitious, this would mean something other than a malfunction. I even thought about getting spooked. Then assurred myself that there is nothing supernatural about this world or this life.

I got up, went to the loo and returned.

I turned off the light, turned over and went to sleep.

In the morning I tested the lamp.

Shaking the cable caused it to turn on and off.

Vindicated, I went down to breakfast.

Michael Crichton RIP

2008-11-05T18:51:00.002Z

I am sad to hear that it has been announced that US based author, Michael Crichton, has passed away.

His passing, at the way too early age of 66, is attributed to cancer.

Many of his books, including Jurassic Park, Congo, State of Fear, Timeline, The Andromeda Strain, Airframe and many more were read with delight, excitement and a terrific sense of adventure.

Thanks Michael. You were a great storyteller.

May you rest in peace.

Testing the Email Posting feature

2008-11-04T00:41:00.003Z

If this works it will be cool.

Hey, if you are reading this, then it worked.

So what does that make this?

All together now....COOL!

Vera, Almeria

2008-11-03T10:46:00.007Z

Vera is a reasonably populated town close to Mojacar.

Since we started going to Spain regularly, the rate of change never ceases to astound and amaze.

They build roads in Spain while we consider building them in Ireland. The SatNav doesn't stand a chance. Speaking of which, my trusty TomTom let me down a couple of times on the trip. I was a bit annoyed at this, as the road system I was using has been in place for over 12 months. It still could not find the way onto the AP7 Motorway from Mojacar to Murcia. SatNav's, good and all as they are, have to be used in conjunction with the roadsigns.

Vera has witnessed an explosion in population due to the mass building of apartments over the last few years. Some people like this. Some don't. I'm not bothered. Thing is, once you get a lot of people into an area, the services improve. Like, there is now a really good Chinese restaurant in Vera Playa. Don't get me wrong. There are lots of Chinese restaurants in the area. Up until now though, the flavours have been a bit, how shall I put this, bland.

Spanish people in general, I am told, do not eat spicy food. In Ireland, we appear to love it.
This new restaurant is called "En Fu" although the main sign you can see from the road is "Wok Buffet" - see picture above. They do an amazing self service buffet. In fact, that's all they do. For a mere EUR9.50 per adult you can eat as much or as little as you want. The decor veers a little on the functional side rather than pandering to the aesthetics. However, the food is fantastic. I thoroughly recommend it.

You are greeted by very friendly staff. They don't have much English but why should they. The international language of hunger is all you need :)
The menu is in three languages, Spanish, English and German. You only need to refer to this to tell the chef what sauce you want your main course cooked in, which he does right there in front of you after you choose the ingredients.

All of the starters are like main courses themselves. These are prepared and laid out on hot serving cabinets where you help yourself. Don't miss this place if you like Chinese cooking. They even give you a bottle of house wine when you leave!

I was driving on the road between the Garrucha roundabout and Vera town heading for the Dry Cleaners when I noticed an attractive young woman hitching a ride. She had long black hair and was dressed mostly in white. White jacket and pants. But the pants were almost like pyjamas. Spanish fashion, I thought. She definitely caught my eye as we passed. As in she looked right at me. I felt kind of special. But she didn't use the international "thumb up" sign. We, my wife and I, passed on and went about our business. When we were finished we returned and noticed the same girl - we call them girls in Ireland, nothing to do with age - still standing at the side of the road. Although she seemed to have moved on by about 100 metres. We thought it strange that no one had stopped for her. Still. The times we live in.

Later that day, we had to travel to Murcia Airport to collect my daughter. There was the same girl on the same road again. Did you hear that too? I distinctly thought I heard a penny drop! Another sign of the changing times. Only now there were other ladies on the other side of the road. They were ladies of the night, working the day shift! Professional ladies. I hadn't seen anything like that since I was in Washington DC a million years ago. OK it was 20 years ago but it sure seems like a million!

On the drive to Murcia on the AP7, there are four tunnels. A couple of them are substantive. One in particular is over 1.8KM long. That's over a mile. Heading north, the entrance to the tunnel has a definite downward slope. This downward slope seems to continue all the while, with the exit of the tunnel not being visible for some time. It had the strangest effect on me. I felt like I was in the egress chute for a Viper fighter leaving Battlestar Gallactica. Now if i were in a Viper it wouldn't be so bad but I knew i was in a Saab. And I got the strangest feeling that I was going to plummet off the side of the earth when I exited the tunnel. I didn't like it one bit.

Ryanair Flights Between Shannon and Alicante

2008-11-03T10:26:00.002Z

On our recent trip to Mojacar, we flew with Ryanair and despite previous misgivings about their quality of service I have to say, hand on heart, that the flight out was excellent.
Except for the stupid tune that gets played about 5 minutes into the flight! Sounds like the Sugababes (sorry sugas!) gone terribly wrong. Nobody can make out a single word so there's really no point to it. I thought at first that one of the crew had inadvertently let music through the PA system but no.
Talk about cheesy!
Please Ryanair, stop this one.
When we landed in Alicante, we were treated to another jingle that advertised the "fact" that we were on yet "another on-time" flight with Ryanair. This one we could hear but, come on Ryanair, when you allow three (3) hours for a two and a half hour flight, you will almost certainly always be "on time". I think that some independent group, perhaps the EU, should set the flight times between airports and then measure an airlines performance based on this. It's the only way to be unbiased and to have a realistic benchmark.
On the way back from Alicante, the flight was again very good. Unfortunately it looks like the ground handler at Alicante, Swissport I think, seemed to have allowed more than they should have in handbaggage. There proved to be insufficient room for this on board and several passengers had to have baggage placed in the hold instead. Luckily, we were amongst the first passengers on and had no problems. Of course, we also stayed within the allowances.Overall though, I was impressed with Ryanair.
Credit where credit is due.
Well done!

Mojacar - The Corner Of enchantment

2008-11-02T12:18:00.005Z

Buenos Dias!

I have just returned from a five day trip to my second home - Mojacar, in Almeria, Spain.
Also known as "The Corner Of Enchantment". Google it if you like!
It is said that once you have gone to Mojacar, you will always feel the need to return.
For my part, I'm hooked.
Back in the 60's - I don't have to prefix that with a "19" yet, do I? - the Mayor of Mojacar, in an attempt to stem the exodus of people from the area to the cities, offered free land to anyone who was prepared to build and live in Mojacar.
Very inventive and it worked. For a large part, the offer was taken up by artists and writers. Arty folk. It has transformed Mojacar into that magical place. I just love it. From the old pueblo up on the side of the mountain to the miles - sorry kilometres - of sandy playa, with year round good weather what's not to like! The eating out is great with enough restaurants to eat in a different one each day for a year. And the livin' is easy.

I was amazed and pleasently surprised at the temperatures.
Day time temperatures were typically 21-25 Celcius.
On Monday night, the temperature plummeted. To 22 C.
:)
Very very pleasent.

We flew from Shannon Airport in Ireland to Alicante Airport in Spain and drove south in a car rented from Avis. Here's a nice little tip for you. Join Avis "Preferred" programme on the Avis site where you live. Renting the car was so much faster and as a bonus for joining, you get a couple of handy vouchers. Needless to day (so I'll say it anyway!) I joined the programme. I used my free voucher to upgrade the class of car originally hired by one class. However, when I got there, they kindly upgraded me by four classes! I had a great time driving around in my (OK theirs!) SAAB 95.
Very economical on Diesel too. And the price per litre of Diesel in Spain was at EUR1.02. Cheap compared to the Irish price at the pumps of EUR1.28 at this time.

I have a number of interesting anecdotes to post. Right now, I have to do a bit of cooking so I'll be back later to finish this.

Hasta luego!

Thoughts on this 21st Century Recession

2008-10-24T11:45:00.006+01:00

I don't know about you, but here in Ireland we are being literally bombarded by the media with the word "recession".
Looking up this word in the great dictionary that is the internet, I found several very wide-ranging definitions.
Whilst they don't necessarily actually conflict with each other, some are definitely gloomier than others.
In Ireland, we seem to be using this classic:

"As reflected in the gross national product, a decline in economic activity in at least two consecutive quarters."

So how does this affect us?
Let's see. Yes, there is an increase in unemployment. Mainly confined to the construction industry. Now, as I recall, the government in Ireland had been warned continuously, over the last 4-5 years by the opposition parties, that they would have to address the dependency on construction for the boom in the Irish economy. Did they do anything constructive? Nope. Apparently, with their heads in the proverbial sand, they ignored this. The figured that the good times would just keep on coming. But (surprise! surprise!) they didn't.

So now, armed with the definition above, we are officially in a recession.
Now I remember the recession / depression (much worse definition!) back in the 1980's.
Bad as it was, we knew no better. We were even happy.
The music was absolutely the BEST ever produced.
Even back then I remember thinking that I could not see music improving beyond the sounds that had then been achieved. Gone were the old crackly sounding 78's and 45's playing such 'classics' as Rock Around The Clock and the funny dances that went with them. At least that's what they were in my young and not so humble youth-filled opinion! Strangely enough, I still hold that opinion.
FM Radio cured all that. Top 30 shows were regularly recorded onto tape and became the DJ at parties.
Anyway, I digress.

People partied at the weekends. Usually in house parties. We had our share of violence too but they were so easily spotted that they could be avoided. Skinheads and Bootboys. Little territorial armies that even "protected" those from "their" territory! I kid you not!
Have you noticed that, even today, thugs still tend to dress to a particular code?
Why are they not rounded up and dispatched. Perhaps to serve time in the armed forces. Or on dangerous missions for their country. Or to help in medical trials. By all means, build in the safeguards {"Are you anti-social ,a thug, a menace to society?" - "F*$k off!" - "Welcome to the programme"} but society, for whatever reason, allows these gangs to exist and perpetuate.
Banging my head on the table I wonder 'Why, oh why, oh why!"
Ouch!

Back to the 80's.
Inflation was running at 17%. We lied constantly to bankers to get mortgages. Our companies assisted. It was the done thing. Everyone knew but no-one asked. Once it was on paper no one questioned it. AND WE SURVIVED! We were all in this together.

Now, with the 21st Century current "recession", you would think that it was the end of the world.
Remember, this whole worldwide financial collapse is not a natural disaster. People somewhere are doing things with money to engineer the collapse and ongoing instability. It reminds me of a Bond movie theme. Some major baddie plots to ruin the worlds financial systems.
"Yes, Mister Bond. That is precisely what I intend to do. Hahahahaha!"
Double Oh invariably saves the day. But not today.
Why don't we just stop playing the charade?

So again, what has changed for the man on the street (or typing at his desk).
As far as I can see...nothing.

Last week, my wife and I went out for a snack in one of the larger hotels in Limerick.
There were so many young people out having a great time that I had to seriously wonder where the recession was. Wherever it was, it certainly was not in Limerick!

So as far as I can see, don't worry about it.

"Everything is going to be alright", as Mr. Marley said.

The major worry for me is that when the world gets into a depression, the powers that be like to fight their way out. As in World War II.

Keep an eye on them!
You know who they are.

Oh, and think happy thoughts :)

A Novel Blog

2008-10-23T10:50:00.002+01:00

As you know, I recently purchased the essential writers companion "The Writers and Artists Yearbook 2009". Well, there is an associated website with some nice links and whilst scanning through these, I came across the Novel Blog. Here, a journalist blogged the process of writing his novel over a 12 month period. It is very well written, being of equal measure entertaining and enlightening.

Having read (some) of it, I found niggling at the back of my mind that James was already an accomplished Journalist and therefore already at a (perceived) advantage. He is a wordsmith. I don't at all mean to denegrate what James has done. It is fantastic and I applaud him. I wish I could have done it.

It set me thinking. What about doing something similar from the perspective of a 'novice'. Of course, in other words I do mean me!

Should I start this as a seperate blog or do it here?

Decision time.

Let me think about this for a few days.

When I attended the short weekend course in Killaloe, one of the many things learned was that if you make yourself take the time to write, you will. So it's going to mean scheduling the writing activity. But, you know what? That is exactly what it is going to take. So am I serious enough about this? I think I am.

Why would I not do it?

It would be embaressing not to complete it.

Everyone would know I was a failure.

As opposed to:

Why would I do it?

It would incentivise me.

I'm thinking...

Changes to Budget proposals on Medical Cards and the "Income Levy"

2008-10-22T11:47:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, the Irish Government changed their stance on the issue of free medical cards for the over 70's and they changed the Income levy of 1% so that it only applied to people above the minimum wage. But they did not say anything about index linking this. If that is not done, within a few short years, those people will be brought into the net.

Why are the government calling it a levy anyway? Surely it's a tax and should be a part of income tax? Is this another "cute" Oirish way of saying we have low tax rates but in reality, we pay more? Hmmmm.

Sure we'd never spot that.

How stupid do they think we are?

How stupid are we?

"X Factor" TV Show Security Stepped Up

2008-10-22T10:02:00.009+01:00

A report from ITN quotes 'The Sun' newspaper as saying that a muslim cleric has called the show 'anti-Muslim'.

"The exiled radical, Omar Bakri, hit out at the show for supporting charity Help For Heroes, which aids injured troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to reports."

Apparently Omar Bakri has said that it is offensive for Muslims to even watch the show now.

Surely then, by this logic, it is offensive for Muslims to even live in a country and pay taxes to a government that has troops in Afghanistan too?

You can read ITN's full story by clicking here.

Irish Medical Card Controversy

2008-10-21T10:44:00.005+01:00

In the Irish Governments Budget for 2009, announced on Tuesday 14th October 2008, the most controversial item was the proposed removal of the automatic entitlement to free medical aid for those aged over 70 years of age. This has been proposed in order to save money in these difficult times. There has been a public uproar based on taking such draconian measures against the elderly. Particularly as that generation significantly made Ireland what it is today.

This morning, at a press conference held by the Taoiseach, there has been some climb down on the part of the government. Now they have raised the means-tested limit to the point where, they claim, 95% of citizens will continue to get this entitlement.

This has broadly been seen as not enough. It is the thin end of a wedge that establishes a principle and could be modified later at the whim of a minister.

It is quite possible that when this comes to a vote in the Dáil, the government could fall on this issue. And when this one is out of the way, the next big controversy is expected to be the governments plans for education.

The whole situation made me think.

What if a "cure" for aging was found.

Perhaps it already has been.

On the basis that the world could not financially afford to keep us all and that there would not be enough food to go around, it is clear where that leaves us.

Isn't it?

On Writing

2008-10-18T10:36:00.010+01:00

Hello again reader(s)!

As you may have gathered (perhaps not!) from some of my previous posts, I am an aspiring writer.

I have lots of ideas but getting them down onto paper and maintaining momentum is proving to be a problem.

I don't think for one second that I am alone in this.

However, I do go through periods of daydreaming about producing something tangible and good in my "any day now" novel.

Earlier this year, way way back in February, or sometime about then, I attended the Killaloe "hedge-school " of writing. Run by accomplished author, David Rice, it was a wonderful weekend of workshops. It was inspiring to meet a group, there were about fifteen of us, of like-minded people. Whilst we individually gravitated towards our own genres we shared a love of the creative process, reading and writing. I will treasure the memories. However, I promised myself that this would be the last workshop until after I had produced some serious volume of writing. Writing that I would be happy to show to others. Good stuff. You know what I mean.

A few days ago, I was in Easons in Limerick, a large bookseller in Ireland.

They have a lovely downstairs area for books. I could literally spend all day browsing through the varied collection of books on all subjects. They have also added some real comfy armchairs at strategic locations around the shop. Being a "Dub" and living "down the country", I think that the Limerick shop is way nicer for customers than the Dublin store. It's in the goldilocks zone. Not too big, not too small - just right!

After some time spent browsing, I found myself looking at two rival books that billed themselves as essential reference books for the aspiring or established writer. I must confess to having heard of this type of book before but here I was with two mighty tomes and a big leather chair beside me. Browsing first through one and being quite impressed with the content I changed to the other to compare the two offerings. After a few minutes my mind was made up. I chose "The Writers and Artists yearbook 2009". What sold me on this was (1) Its relevance to the Irish and UK marketplace and (2) its much greater content in terms of helpful articles. Both books had extensive lists of who's who in the business but I wanted that little bit more and I believe that I have gotten it. So I purchased it and cannot recommend it highly enough to other budding writers out there.

Irish Government Introduce Air Ticket Tax

2008-10-17T15:45:00.010+01:00

In the Irish Governments' Budget, announced on Tuesday 14th October 2008, it was announced that a new "ticket" tax will be implemented on all airline tickets.

Ryanair responded by saying :

"Ryanair today (17^th Oct) condemned the Government’s discriminatory €10 ticket tax as regressive, damaging to the Irish tourism industry (when visitor numbers are already falling) and devastating for Shannon where passengers and visitors are now facing a 100% rate of tax. The Government should realise that they can’t tax the tourism industry out of recession, they need to stimulate it."

Despite what Ryanair have to say about the impact of this tax on Shannon Airport, if the government pass this revenue to the airport, it will allow them to make money from these passengers and support the airport. Without fear that Ryanair will threaten to "pull out", as they are so frequently doing these days. Ryanair have on several occasions in the past few months indicated that should Shannon Airport attempt to increase charges when the current incentive deal expires, they will "pull out". And they have done this before. The Frankfurt route (okay Hahn!) from Shannon was removed several years ago, despite being well supported by the local population, and moved to Kerry Airport. Ryanair are only now bringing a Frankfurt service back to Shannon.

In the past, airlines used to give a route time to mature. Typically this was over a period of three (3) years. At Shannon, Ryanair keep changing some of their destinations about every six months. This is very frustrating to the people who have just gotten used to the service. This practice is damaging to passenger loyalty. But who cares about that anymore either!

NASA get all clear to go back to the Moon

2008-10-16T17:10:00.002+01:00

WASHINGTON -- The following is a statement by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin after the signing by the president of the NASA Authorization Act of 2008:

"I'm grateful to the president for his signature on the NASA Authorization Act of 2008. The major provisions of this authorization bill affirm Congress' support for the broad goals of the president's space exploration policy, including the return of American astronauts to the moon, exploration of Mars and other destinations."

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

Capturing Video from the Web

2008-10-15T10:13:00.005+01:00

Have you ever been looking at a video on the web, like on say YouTube, and you wondered if it was possible to download it to your own computer so that you could show it later without being online?
Well today I set about finding out how to do just that.
The answer proved to be very simple.
You can.
Of course, as soon as I had a solution, I stopped looking, so there may be other ways of doing this.
The quick method I used was to use the Firefox browser.
There is an add-on called the "ant.com toolbar".
Install this into Firefox and when you restart, the ant.com toolbar has a button marked "download".
Browse to the video you want to capture, press the download button on the "ant.com" toolbar and that's it!

DIY Security Woes

2008-10-13T11:15:00.008+01:00

Previously, I mentioned how our quiet peaceful idyllic rural retreat was shattered by the intrusion of hardened thugs.

It turns out that proving that they were there is a bit of a problem.

Rather than have a situation where one party is saying one thing and the other party denying everything there needs to be some evidence.

With this in mind, I decided to upgrade my security measures by adding CCTV surveillance capabilities. I went in to the Maplin store in Limerick. This is a great store for gadget freaks and enthusiasts. Moi? Mais Oui!

Anyhow, they had on offer a package which included a Hard Disk recording unit with 160GB capacity and four (4) infra red capable day / night indoor /outdoor cameras from a reputable company called Swann. So I purchased one.

I bench tested the system and was quite happy with the technology.

Yesterday, I started the deployment.

One of the frustrating things about DIY is that you don't know in advance what tools and equipment you will need to complete a given job.

The installation instructions do not mention anything about bore hole sizes to accommodate the installation of the necessary cabling. I can, to an extent, understand this. The company does not know where you will be installing the product. But come on. There are a few "typical" installation types, especially when it is targeted at a "home" or small business customer.

On Saturday (the day before yesterday) I started gathering what I thought I would need.

Cable to run power to where I needed it, a drill bit of the correct size and type, a two gang power socket and associated backplate, portable lighting. Nothing major there.

In fact, what I feared most about this job was getting up into my attic. It's been a while and a couple of years ago we had a rat which ultrasound successfully drove out. Thing is..I absolutely hate rats. They turn my stomach. But feeling the fear and doing it anyway, off I went.

I mounted the first camera under the eave of my house, a bungalow. I used my contortionistic ladder to act as a scaffold platform and went to work. Mounting the camera was a breeze. Three screws and it was secured. Then came the problem. I drilled the hole into the facia board for the cables. The drill was just right for the cable connector that I measured but there was another connector that was the next link in this chain. When this was added, the opening was barely big enough. I tried opening it more by wiggling the drill but eventually I realised that there was nothing for it but to get a bigger drill bit. (For the purists out there, I know that a drill "bit" is actually a drill. The machine is a drilling machine. But colloquially it is a "bit". Sorry!)

Logistically, this proved time consuming. My daughter had to be taken into work at 3:30pm and I had no choice but to do that first and then continue on to get the new drill bit.

Having procured this, I re setup my ladder and other tools, venturing into the attic to inspect where I was going to make the hole and be certain that I wouldn't damage anything else in the process before proceeding. Cautiously, I entered the darkness with my 500W portable sun in hand. I powered it on and whump! It was amazingly bright. Good! Dispelling the gloom and exposing all of the secrets that the darkness harbours, I entered with courage in one hand and my supernova in the other. Gently stepping from beam to beam I made my way to the end of the roofspace where I was attempting the installation. It was going to be tricky. You never think how low the roof is going to be out at the edge. How the heck was I going to get out there. How did anyone ever get out there? But get out there they did as I have an extractor unit to testify.

I realised that I wuld need a "fish" wire to bring the cable up into the roofspace and then I would need to snare this and pull it out to where the roof level was higher. Simple. In theory.

I headed back down to set this up but on the way I noticed that the heating overflow tank was empty. Hmmm. That's not right. The valve was stuck. Even though the ballcock was down, there was no water flowing in. I was glad to have noticed this. I moved the ballcock and immediately the water entered the system. I'll have to check on it again later in the year.

I descended into the house and went to work making a fish wire out of a wire clothes hanger. Then I attached the cable to it and voila! Damn! Damn! Damn! Now the enlarged hole was again too small. So I decided to trail the cable behind the fish wire, attaching it by means of some electrical insulating tape I called upon the assistance of my wife. I needed her to monitor the progress of the cable whilst I tried to snare it up in the attic. She was a little reluctant. To be fair to her, she was a little bit under the weather since Friday. But I wasn't asking for much. Us men never do, do we!

So there i was, crouched down in cramped conditions at the far end of the universe trying to catch the end of the fish wire with another length of wire. I got it, then it fell off again, then I recaptured it. Hooray! Then when I pulled on it, the tape snapped and the cable fell back out of the hole!

'This can not be happening', I thought.

Although something else seemed to emerge from my lips! Go figure.

My wife shouted up the good news to me (she had the cable) and I responded that I was on the way back down to reattach it and start over.

Now, going to and fro the length of the attic was quite tedious, especially when I had to drag the worklight and the extension cable with me. So I made a rational decision to leave the light where it was. There was still ample light from the single bulb I have overhead the entrance to see my way out so off I headed.

When I was half way out, something was bothering me. There was an awful amount of heat generated by the lamp. Still, i would disconnect the extension lead and everything would be OK once I got down. So I descended, pulled the plug then went back up to put my mind at ease. I extinguished the light overhead the entrance and looked down into the gloom. Only it wasn't gloomy!!! Oh no! This can't be happening! I looked down at the plug. It was definitely out. Quick. Get back there. I'VE SET THE FLIPPING HOUSE ON FIRE!!!

Throwing caution to the wind, I nimbly stumbled (!) from beam to beam. If I got there quick enough I might contain it. Left, right, left, right, quick as I can. I was breaking into a sweat. What do I do when I get there. Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!!! Don't panic! Too late!

Left, right, left, trip, stumble, I crashed through the ceiling! Not letting a little thing like that stop me, I hauled myself bodily back into the attic space and continued on. Oh no! The light I had seen was just the upward light from the now activated kitchen ceiling lights below!!!

No fire but I was in deep doo doo.

My wife rushed into the hallway to see what the commotion was. She screamed, quelle surprise!

She rushed up the ladder and popped her head into the attic.

In a state of shock she shouted to me 'Are you OK?'.

Ashen faced and feeling very very foolish I replied that I was.

Instantaneously, she berated me. Now it was 'what a stupid idea to put up a CCTV system' and, of course, she 'only went along with this because she knew I wanted it'. What every man wants to hear when their pride is injured. I was also sporting some mighty painful grazing on my left shin. And I had hit the rafters with my belly (soft-ish landing).

For the next hour I was battered and bruised, my ears were ringing and I was left to clean up the mess on my own. Bad boy!

The CCTV system is still in it's box. Right now, I am more concerned with getting the attic resealed. The insurance want to look at it before I do anything with it other than get a quote.

Isn't life great?

Humans Reach Evolutionary Peak

2008-10-08T10:57:00.002+01:00

I read with interest that, according to professor Steve Jones of the University of London, "Humans are the best they can possibly be and this is as good as it gets."
He is making the point that human evolution has stopped because "Our life expectancy is now so good that eliminating all accidents and infectious diseases would only raise it by a further two years."
According to Sky News: it is lucky we worked out how to farm. Without that ability, Prof Jones estimates the world population would be around half a million - about the size of Glasgow's population.
"Humans are 10,000 times more common than we should be, according to the rules of the animal kingdom, and we have agriculture to thank for that," Prof Jones said.

Well....I don't agree. Mankind has been thwarting the best efforts of evolution for some time now. Our use of contraceptives are a conscious choice as one example. I think that biologically we may be as good as we can get but I think that our technology will move us into a new era for evolution. A hybrid of biological and technological parts. This could still be deemed evolutionary.

NASA awards Research Contracts for Future Air Transportation Vehicles

2008-10-07T09:23:00.005+01:00

The contracts, worth USD2 Million each, have been awarded to Boeing, GE Aviation, Lockheed Martin Corp., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Northrop Grumman. Each contract is for an 18 month study.
The focus of the contracts is to generate practical new aircraft designs that will take into consideration modern developments in technology as well as environmental considerations. It is intended to produce viable commercial air transport vehicles that can enter service between 2030 and 2035.
I am delighted to see this development. The current crop of the worlds best airliners are using old technology and frankly, in my opinion, are way too slow. The contracts are for both subsonic and supersonic developments. There is a phasing of the contracts to shortlist the best designs for phase two, where additional funding will be made available.
It is NASA's aim to have the new aircraft be technically superior to the current commercial vehicle offerings by a factor of three generations of developments. Consequently the anticipated vehicles have been dubbed "N+3".
For the full story, please click here.

Interesting Fact

2008-10-04T12:56:00.003+01:00

I heard a very interesting fact on 1st October.
The US Government is bailing out Wallstreet with 700 Billion USD.
Did you know that that is as much as NASA has spent in the last fifty (50) years!!!
And they said that the space programme was too expensive and cancelled the last few Apollo missions!
Incidentally, the 1st October was NASA's 50th Anniversary, having been established in 1958.