Thursday, August 03, 2006

What do they need computers for if they won't do their job?

If Belfast Today (the online edition of the "News Letter") is to be believed, the Northern Ireland Assembly wants new computers for their Party offices. Understandably, Peter Hain said "No!"

If the parties carry on refusing to govern, what would be the point?

On the other hand, if the age of their PCs really is stopping them from getting government back from Tony Blair's direct-rule governors, maybe they could use some of the money they were paid for not working for the past few years to buy themselves a new machine or two. It seems only fair!

Monday, July 31, 2006

Not what you might have expected

Far from marching through catholic housing estates while rioting and calling for all nationalists to be interned, the orangemen and women, and the people who turned out to watch them, enjoyed a peaceful and sunny day out in Maguiresbridge.


But then, the Twelfth of July demonstration in Fermanagh generally is a peaceful and relaxed affair.


The sermon preached to the gathered orangemen, women, and other holidaymakers at "the field" challenged popular stereotypes of the Orange Order, however.


The retired Bishop of Repton, Henry Richmond (a Fermanagh man himself), called for more tolerance and understanding between Roman Catholics and Protestants. He hailed post-Vatican-II changes in Catholic practice, and told the gathering that, although dialogue does not necessarily mean agreeing with those one speaks to, it does require an effort to understand. While differences should be faced, rather than swept under the carpet, there is more that unites Protestants and Catholics than divides them, he said.


Not everyone was as sure as the Bishop that Martin Luther would believe in modern Catholic acceptance of the central doctrine of the Reformation, but they heard an impassioned plea for Protestants and Catholics to work together to increase understanding of where each is coming from.


After the service, food, cups of tea, and some serious rest and relaxation, the bands and lodges were assembled for the long march back through the town.



Probably too quiet a day to make the news...

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Silly season

Parliament has risen for the summer, so it's officially the "Silly Season". Of course it's been the Silly Season in Northern Ireland politics for ages - the Assembly has been suspended since 2002, and they are only now talking about restarting it. What do you reckon the chances are of our politicians getting their acts together by the November deadline, and agreeing to form a government? Or will we be condemned to a Silly Season that never ends...?

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Look what just wandered in


and started scrounging...

Monday, July 17, 2006

Which one is Father Ted, and which one is Father Dougal?

I was trying to think what it reminded me of, and then I realised...

Tony Bush and George Blair on the current middle east crisis sound a bit like Father Ted and Father Dougal protesting outside the cinema in the episode The Passion Of St Tibulus...

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Dublin









Wednesday, July 12, 2006

What was everyone doing?


Watching Portugal put England out of the World Cup, on penalties, after extra time.

This being Dublin, Portugal had lots of support.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Tallships

Lots of sailing ships came to Belfast the other weekend, and there were hordes of people looking round the ships (free) and the market stalls (not so free).


Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Useless advice

I was reading the label on some "daily shower cleaner" today. It says "to achieve best results, start with a clean shower".

Inconceivable :-)

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The Corruptibles?

Here's a slightly "cute" video about just how seriously your next TVs, video or radio is going to be messed up by new legal superpowers that the industry is trying to sneak right now! Power over your equipment.

You won't control your TV - they will.

The video is here!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Domain Listing Center Scam

I just received some spam from people calling themselves the "DOMAlN LlSTING CENTER". It described itself as a "final notice" and asked for $75 for what they called "ANNUAL WEBSlTE SEARCH ENGlNE SUBMISSlON".

They are evil spammers, using very dodgy business techniques. Have nothing to do with the folk at:

Domain Listing Center Inc.
8171 Yonge St. Suite# 149
Thornhill, ON L3T 2C6
Canada

What did they do wrong?
  1. They spammed me - unsolicited bulk email is one of the curses of today's Internet.
  2. They used an email address which is only used as the administrative contact for a domain we own, and which has been used for no other purpose. There is no legitimate way they could have got this email address.
  3. They tried to trick me (and all their other victims) into thinking this was an actual bill - not just an ad. Be wary of unexpected bills!
  4. They forged the sending address.
  5. They provided a nonexistent "unsubscribe" hotmail address. At least they won't have harvested many email addresses if anyone was daft enough to mail that address.
  6. They have failed to commit hugely painful ritual suicide!

Bah! Spammers! Hanging's too good for them!

Don't EVER buy ANYTHING from spammers - however much you might want the product. It's the one moron in a million who bites that makes the whole spamming racket so profitable.

Just say no.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Joke alert?

I was shocked when I saw the following article on wikipedia:


Are they taking themselves too seriously? Is it just an American thing? Irony bypass? Too many lawyers?

Maybe it's a deliberately ironic jab at the modern need to provide labels and warnings with everything? We can only hope!

Monday, June 05, 2006

Categorical error

I added categories to this blogger blog a while ago (because they weren't there, and because I thought that some people might not want to read about computing - shocking, I know!). Then I thought I needed an easier way to edit the categories than fiddling with the blog's template, so I wrote a wee script to do all the fiddling.

Unfortunately it didn't seem to work - or so I thought - so I left it for a while. When I came to look at it again, lo and behold, it had been working all along. The template was indeed being updated with the new categories. I'd just forgotten that updating a template on its own was no good - The old pages would still be sitting there, serenely unaffected by any new but unused template. I needed to republish the blog as well. I felt a bit silly.

But it's working now - so I don't feel all that silly :-)

I think I feel a bout of creeping featuritis coming on. Wouldn't it be nice if it could also...

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Olga and Andy (dot info)

Yes, they even have their own website. But since they don't have any pictures of the wedding up there yet, here are a few to get things started!





Some of their friends, old and young (or maybe old and new), were there to see them off!

There were some ex-skiers, illustrating Olga's artistic talents (Olga can explain all - I'm not going to).

And some fellow barn-dwellers!


It was a great day, and a wonderful chance to catch up with old friends. Some danced far into the night - others just put their feet up, and talked far into the night :-)