So this coming Saturday, March 1st, is the 3rd Annual Irish Blog Awards (well I think its the 3rd time). All details can be found on the Official Website but all places are gone. You can still turn up but you might not get a seat.
You should go anyway's as the following may or may not happen allegedly:
- Damien will receive a lifetime achievement award for services to blogging (sponsored by Young Fine Gael)
- Twenty to receive an award for use of the English language (sponsored by Young Christians of Ireland)
- Una to receive an award for hat wearing (sponsored by John Magnier)
- Tom to get an award for support of Irish rugby (sponsored & presented by Eddie O'Sullivan)
- Bock to get the best Limerick blog award (sponsoredby Dolores McNamara)
- Bernie to get the award for award giving & services to award giving (sponsored by Hollywood writers association)
- Bloggorah will get the award for best blog post July - Dec '07 (sponsored by Union of Irish Models)
And the special presenters award to Rick for presenting awards (sponsored by Ray Foley)
Hope everyone enjoys the night.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Where is Matt?
This is an old one but it's a good one. The music is top and if after watching this you don't want to travel and see the world there is something wrong with you...enjoy.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Scissor Sisters..
Has anyone else noticed that absolute absurdity (is that a word?) of the argument that one of the scissor sisters is putting forward for her appeal against the murder of the Kenyan lad?
Apparently getting a sentence for not only killing someone but cutting them up and throwing their dismembered body into a canal is not right if you will miss out on your children growing up, and, if you reported yourself to the police. It should mean even less of a sentence.
Maybe I'm just old fashioned but I would have thought that killing and cutting up some lad and getting caught should have some damming repercussions? Or maybe not.
Apparently getting a sentence for not only killing someone but cutting them up and throwing their dismembered body into a canal is not right if you will miss out on your children growing up, and, if you reported yourself to the police. It should mean even less of a sentence.
Maybe I'm just old fashioned but I would have thought that killing and cutting up some lad and getting caught should have some damming repercussions? Or maybe not.
One of those chicks is saying that as she gave herself into the Guards that should count for something. Also that with her being locked up inside for 15 years means her 3 children will be all grown up when she gets out. Having a parent, aunt and granny like they have, they could all be reunited quicker than we think or it may be the best thing to happen the children.
Personally, lock em up and throw away the key and good riddance to bad rubbish.
We really don't need people like this on our streets living it up. They chose to do what they did and they should live with it. I'm sure when she was cutting up the fella she was thinking "Oh no, wait. By doing this I will miss out on my children growing up. Let's stop this tomfoolery". Or maybe not.
The mad thing is, it happened after a day on the beer and after taking drugs. They were all at it and then the fella tried it on with one of the sisters (with so much gargle in him I wonder was it the chubby one? Jesus...) and this lead to getting his throat slashed with a stanley knife and then getting his head beaten in.
After the whole thing the mother (seen at the top here) went on the run and is believed to be in London for the last two years. She gave herself up and is in court.
I don't know. Am I being too tough or is that in this PC world of our's people get of to easily for crimes? Lawyers seem hell bent on proving themselves by either sending some to prison and proving it (even if the person aint guilty) or getting them off on a technicality. These two were given 15 years and they should serve them. Whats the old saying? Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Please let them do the time. And get their kids raised properly. Or send them to those religious freaks in America.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Not long left for Kofi Annan.
An unknown terrorist group have targeted UN dude Kofi Annan and placed a bounty on his head.
See below for further details:
See below for further details:
Can Ireland get out of the Traps?
Today the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) actually, in my mind, made a very good decision. I think the appointment of Giovanni Trapattoni is an excellent decision.
This lad has an excellent CV with 10 league titles in 3 countries and he managed Juventus to their very first European Cup. A very tough feat. He managed some of Juve's top players including Liam Brady, Michel Platini and the Polish lad who was excellent in the 80's. He has led clubs to trophies wherever he has been and the most important thing is he knows how to win.
Some people have been dishing his international record with Italy. It really wasn't that bad. He was done in the 2002 World Cup by some shocking referring. He was unlucky not to qualify from the group in the 2004 Euro's. They were the only team never to qualify with 5 points.
Some say he plays very negative football but so what if we are winning. You have to ask yourself what you would prefer - a 1-0 win away to Cyprus or the 5-2 loss we had? You mightn't get goals in games but he can get results.
We also have to look at the overall picture and the players we have. Personally, I think we have a very weak squad and may struggle to qualify for the World Cup. I think we need to aim for the tournament after that. The first 11 is decent but still weak.
Stephen Kelly is good for the Premiership but he is not good enough for the Irish team. Only Given, Dunne, McGeady, Duff, Ireland and Keane show enough for me to think they are international quality. We have others who are good enough to fill positions like Carsley and Hunt. Kevin Doyle has potential but needs to get a bigger club to prove it. Other than that there are few I can think of that are good enough to drive us through.
More than likely we will get a surprise result like we usually do. Maybe beat Italy at home but I can't see us qualifying to be honest. But in this age of instant results or nothing it won't be enough for the "fans" who will probably boo at any bad performance and we will lose this man. We need more foresight and plan for the future. We have some very good youngsters coming through and we need to prepare for that. We also need to start showing more organisation and be better tactically and the results will follow. But we need time.
We are not the force and nowhere near the force we were under Jack Charlton. Then we had Bonner, McCarthy and Morris from Celtic. Whelan, Houghton and Aldridge from Liverpool. McGrath, Moran and Stapleton from Manure. Brady from Juventus. Now we have a few lads from Reading, a Manure 'utility' player and players from the old 2nd Division in England. Not the same and I wish people would stop comparing.
So I back this decision. Yes it took time but they got it right. They got a good man. And to prepare for the Italy match enjoy this....
NTL
Really, need I say more than the title? So many people for so long have been giving out crap loads about NTL and their customer service and so I will add my little tuppence worth me thinks.
It all started last Friday when I arrived home from work at 7.40pm to find that their was nothing happening on the telly. The box at the bottom of the screen which tells you what is on now and what will be on next were frozen at 4pm. This type of crap has happened before and usually switching of the decoder and putting it back on again usually works. This time it asked for an activation Pin which the engineer didn't leave.
Being late and knowing that NTL close at 8pm I called straight away.
At 7.56pm the call gets answered. I gave my name, address and telephone number, as we haven't received out customer number yet, and they verified me. The rest of the conversation went something like this:
"Yes, there is a problem in the Raheny area at the moment. We expect the engineer to be out in the next hour to fix this."
"OK. But can I have the activation pin please so I can check it?"
"I'm sorry, the department that deals in those pins is closed at the moment so we cannot help."
"OK, but when the TV comes back will that message be removed?"
"It might be."
"It might or it will?"
"It may be removed but if not then the other department are open at 9am and they can help. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No thanks. Bye"
The TV did not come back that night.
The next morning at about 12pm I decided to check the TV again. The message was still displayed and no sign of it moving. Flucker. So I called NTL again and I must stress that I went through the exact same options as the night before.
"Hi. There was a problem in the Raheny area last night and our picture is still not back. Is the fault still happening?"
"Hang on till I check for you. Nope, it should be resolved."
"Ok, can I get the activation code please for the TV?"
"Yes, one second please. The codes for Dublin are XXX, XXX and XXX. Can you try those please?"
Now none of the codes worked and I went through the reboot process with her (amazing how she had the codes and a collegaue last night couldn't get them?? Another department me hole). None of the codes worked. She advised she would send a signal down the line that might take 15 minutes and to try then. However, she would book and engineer visit just in case to ensure a speedy recovery. This was Saturday morning at 12.20pm. The first available engineer was Wedneday morning. Yup, Wednesday.
What she stated next really startled me to be honest. She told me that 9 times out of 10 when an engineer goes to fix a fault like the previous evening's it usually results in some people losing their reception and NTL need to revisit the location and fix the fault again. Yup, that's what she told me. Can you believe that? Its unreal. Their first time fix rate is shite. Really, really shite.
Anywho TV came back last night at 8.30pm some 4 days after it went down. I was assured that if we noted how long we were without the service we would be refunded in the bill but lets wait and see.
To be honest if there was any other way of getting TV without using NTL or Chorus I would but fucking management companies wont allow dishes to be installed unless it's one of those shared ones. I do wonder what they would do if you installed one on your balcony??
It all started last Friday when I arrived home from work at 7.40pm to find that their was nothing happening on the telly. The box at the bottom of the screen which tells you what is on now and what will be on next were frozen at 4pm. This type of crap has happened before and usually switching of the decoder and putting it back on again usually works. This time it asked for an activation Pin which the engineer didn't leave.
Being late and knowing that NTL close at 8pm I called straight away.
At 7.56pm the call gets answered. I gave my name, address and telephone number, as we haven't received out customer number yet, and they verified me. The rest of the conversation went something like this:
"Yes, there is a problem in the Raheny area at the moment. We expect the engineer to be out in the next hour to fix this."
"OK. But can I have the activation pin please so I can check it?"
"I'm sorry, the department that deals in those pins is closed at the moment so we cannot help."
"OK, but when the TV comes back will that message be removed?"
"It might be."
"It might or it will?"
"It may be removed but if not then the other department are open at 9am and they can help. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No thanks. Bye"
The TV did not come back that night.
The next morning at about 12pm I decided to check the TV again. The message was still displayed and no sign of it moving. Flucker. So I called NTL again and I must stress that I went through the exact same options as the night before.
"Hi. There was a problem in the Raheny area last night and our picture is still not back. Is the fault still happening?"
"Hang on till I check for you. Nope, it should be resolved."
"Ok, can I get the activation code please for the TV?"
"Yes, one second please. The codes for Dublin are XXX, XXX and XXX. Can you try those please?"
Now none of the codes worked and I went through the reboot process with her (amazing how she had the codes and a collegaue last night couldn't get them?? Another department me hole). None of the codes worked. She advised she would send a signal down the line that might take 15 minutes and to try then. However, she would book and engineer visit just in case to ensure a speedy recovery. This was Saturday morning at 12.20pm. The first available engineer was Wedneday morning. Yup, Wednesday.
What she stated next really startled me to be honest. She told me that 9 times out of 10 when an engineer goes to fix a fault like the previous evening's it usually results in some people losing their reception and NTL need to revisit the location and fix the fault again. Yup, that's what she told me. Can you believe that? Its unreal. Their first time fix rate is shite. Really, really shite.
Anywho TV came back last night at 8.30pm some 4 days after it went down. I was assured that if we noted how long we were without the service we would be refunded in the bill but lets wait and see.
To be honest if there was any other way of getting TV without using NTL or Chorus I would but fucking management companies wont allow dishes to be installed unless it's one of those shared ones. I do wonder what they would do if you installed one on your balcony??
You don't love me, you really don't love me..
So, unlike Twenty, Una and Rick I didn't make the shortlist in any category for this years Irish Blog Awards.
However, I will still be there with bells and whistles on. Therefore you should be able to both hear and see me and know who your buying pints for.
If you fancy going you need to register on the website and places are going fast.....
However, I will still be there with bells and whistles on. Therefore you should be able to both hear and see me and know who your buying pints for.
If you fancy going you need to register on the website and places are going fast.....
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Lost souls at Pearse Street dart station
I love this.
In Pearse St. station there is one of those revolving advertising boards. You know the ones where it has three ad's running on the same board that revolve around in strips. The thing about this one is two of the ad's that are after each other. These is a religious one and an ad for James Blunt's latest album.
What's the connection you say? Well here it is.
The first ad has a religious conontation on it saying:
"The Lord Jesus said:
Unless you repent you too will perish"
The second ad had James Blunt's album 'All the lost souls'. Was this before or after they listened to it?
Reckon this was lost of those who put up the ad's ?
In Pearse St. station there is one of those revolving advertising boards. You know the ones where it has three ad's running on the same board that revolve around in strips. The thing about this one is two of the ad's that are after each other. These is a religious one and an ad for James Blunt's latest album.
What's the connection you say? Well here it is.
The first ad has a religious conontation on it saying:
"The Lord Jesus said:
Unless you repent you too will perish"
The second ad had James Blunt's album 'All the lost souls'. Was this before or after they listened to it?
Reckon this was lost of those who put up the ad's ?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Are stats always accurate? What do they really mean?
I get the dart to work each day. Today while departing the train I noticed a sign beside the door stating as follows (not word for work obviously):
During the 3rd quarter of 2007 99% of darts arrived on time and 96% of darts went to schedule. Now, is that 99% of the 96% or is there something amiss?
Also, went they say arrived on time is that arrived at the FINAL station on time or at all stations? The reason I ask this, is that each morning the dart is a different time. I've caught darts scheduled at 11:14 at 11:14, 11:15, 11:17 and 11:19. But it got to Bray on time which is the main thing. The 18:16 train left today at 18:18. See the thing is I get trains at middle stations in Raheny and Sydney Parade. Maybe people want the dart to arrive into Bray, Greystones, Malahide and Howth on time but couldn't care less about the middle stations. In my experience they are rarely bang on time so I really would love Irish Rail to explain their stats.
I know the German's wouldn't put up with this. It acutally reminds me of a story my sister told me about when she lived in Germany. She was at the bus stop outside Karlsruhe and was used to Irish traffic and buses (this is mid 90's as well). On the bus stop it states the time the bus will arrive at each bus stop (unlike Dublin where it tells you what time the bus leaves but nothing else). This is amazing. Anyhow, the bus was 3 minutes later than advertised. A women in her 50's boarded the bus and gave out to the driver for being late and he apologised (can't imagine Dublin bus drivers doing that).
He tried to explain that the road works held up the bus and still admitted he should have been on time. Amazing. Yet look at the crap we put up with in Ireland.
Anyone else notice this??
Oh, and I still blame unions ;)
During the 3rd quarter of 2007 99% of darts arrived on time and 96% of darts went to schedule. Now, is that 99% of the 96% or is there something amiss?
Also, went they say arrived on time is that arrived at the FINAL station on time or at all stations? The reason I ask this, is that each morning the dart is a different time. I've caught darts scheduled at 11:14 at 11:14, 11:15, 11:17 and 11:19. But it got to Bray on time which is the main thing. The 18:16 train left today at 18:18. See the thing is I get trains at middle stations in Raheny and Sydney Parade. Maybe people want the dart to arrive into Bray, Greystones, Malahide and Howth on time but couldn't care less about the middle stations. In my experience they are rarely bang on time so I really would love Irish Rail to explain their stats.
I know the German's wouldn't put up with this. It acutally reminds me of a story my sister told me about when she lived in Germany. She was at the bus stop outside Karlsruhe and was used to Irish traffic and buses (this is mid 90's as well). On the bus stop it states the time the bus will arrive at each bus stop (unlike Dublin where it tells you what time the bus leaves but nothing else). This is amazing. Anyhow, the bus was 3 minutes later than advertised. A women in her 50's boarded the bus and gave out to the driver for being late and he apologised (can't imagine Dublin bus drivers doing that).
He tried to explain that the road works held up the bus and still admitted he should have been on time. Amazing. Yet look at the crap we put up with in Ireland.
Anyone else notice this??
Oh, and I still blame unions ;)
Friday, February 01, 2008
Are smokers the quickest people on the planet?
You may have watched the Men's 100m final in the Olympics. These lads are fast.
You may have seen Fernando Torres, Michael Owen or Ronaldo in action and thought "my, these lads could deliver my domino pizza in under the promised 30 mins given the chance".
But is there anyone in the world faster than a smoker? It never ceases to amaze me how quick these people spark up once they are off a train or bus, outside of work, or outta their car. It is stunning.
Within seconds of getting of the dart in the morning and before we have left the platform there is a sudden haze. It truly is stunning how quick it happens. Don't believe me? Just have a look next time.
You may have seen Fernando Torres, Michael Owen or Ronaldo in action and thought "my, these lads could deliver my domino pizza in under the promised 30 mins given the chance".
But is there anyone in the world faster than a smoker? It never ceases to amaze me how quick these people spark up once they are off a train or bus, outside of work, or outta their car. It is stunning.
Within seconds of getting of the dart in the morning and before we have left the platform there is a sudden haze. It truly is stunning how quick it happens. Don't believe me? Just have a look next time.
Nominated - Yasies
This blog has been nominated in 2 categories in the upcoming Irish Blog Awards. It has been nominated in:
Best Blog and
Best Personal Blog
Also Rate This Toilet has been nominated in 2 categories these being:
Best Blog and
Best Specialist Blog
A big thank you to my home boys and girls who nominated me...word to you all.
Now, let the fun begin !!!
p.s. I hope Una has TM'd yasies.
Best Blog and
Best Personal Blog
Also Rate This Toilet has been nominated in 2 categories these being:
Best Blog and
Best Specialist Blog
A big thank you to my home boys and girls who nominated me...word to you all.
Now, let the fun begin !!!
p.s. I hope Una has TM'd yasies.
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