18 minutes to doss

Ok so i have 18 minutes to wait for a file transfer to complete. So i will use this time to bore people stupid with very bad anaysis of the news and other such things or i could just continue my catching up on harry potter that i am doing in anticipation of the next book. And the question on everyones lips is who is going to die. I have heard the rumours but i wouldn't committent. But would it not be a good ending and harry died and that she lied about a 7th book all along.

Podcasting

So if blogs are the new print media does this mean that podcasts or the new radio. Or is this a load of hipe. have a listen to http://www.tomrafteryit.net/podcastusingwordpress.mp3 a fine fine example of what podcasting could be like. Also don't forget the new itunes comes with podcasting built in. All we need now is some way of doing T.V.

African Music at Live 8.

Some people seem very against the idea that Live aid has no African stars. Well Im sorry to say it but no one cares about african artists. If the bill was dominated by it no one would go. It is regretable but Geldof is right to be a commerical success and actuall have people at it needed to be dominited by the likes of coldplay.

Bye Shell

IT looks like shell are leaving ireland. Well maybe not the Corrib field as many would like. But it seems to want rid of its petol stations so will this lloks like it could lead to less competion in the market. Are maybe if a company not in ireland takes over its stations then maybe competion will stay the same are maybe even increase. Will its 180 stores be closed or not i have no idea but anyway here's hoping for competion.

Fianna Fool

Who really went to the trouble to create this site with such a inlightened topics such as Pat Rabbitte and Enda Kenny are bent, i bet u paddy foolz will vote yes and in the one or two good topics you get like a debate about increasing tax to pay for the health services you get relies like.

for example, i am a computer programmer, i know a bloke who works for the dept of health, he's a complete muppet, i would never hire him, and believe me, he has a massive budget, and spends it on crap.

Really if you want to discuss politics there are better places.

The Next American Civil War.

Historians in future years will see 2000 as the start of a process that cumulated in the Second American Civil War. Where in 1861 the sides were the Union and the Confederate States of America. The sides are the liberal and the conservative. The battle lines have been drawn since the 2000 general election. As seen on the left the blues control far less land but they do have a pretty even amount of people. So what are the divides in this second civil war to come . Well theses have been already listed in this very good article by Dennis Prager and all so the sequal Which is a lot better list then i could have put together. So where will this conflict of idologises go. Will it mearly turn into a cold war. With retoric and little direct violence. If you think it will turn into a retoric cold war type conflict. Then look around you it already has look at www.foxnews.com and http://www.nytimes.com/. Two sides telling different versions of the truth look at Ann Coulter and Al Frankln This phase of the war has already started. But this not just a divided created to get ratings. If this had ever started like that well it has changed now with the blogsphere. The blogsphere has become the new warzones. look at http://www.liberaloasis.com/ where the headline says Where left is right and where right is wrong. or look at The museum of left wing lunacy Both of theses blogs share one thing in comman they both are in a way racist. Not that they are anti -black white asian etc they are anti people who don't share there views they are ideologist. They dismiss anything from the other side as stupid and refer to the opposite site as stupid. Why has this state of affairs come to pass. Why are people so willing to find hate figures. To vent there anger at. Is it a hang over from the cold war. Now that the reds are gone we have to find someone else to dispise and look down on and Osama just is no Rush Limbaugh or Michael Moore. Or is it a sypthmom of the human race that someone needs to be blamed. We in ireland blame the brits, the brits blame the french ukraine blames the russians and so on around the world. But back to the question when and where will this idololgy war break out if it does. America is the obvious answer but not nesscarly the correct one. Europe is breaking up into Franco-German Italian British groups. Look to our selves McDowell is becoming a Bush Type of figure. Where people either hate are love him. Wheather or not Hector will come the next Michael Moore it is hard to tell. So I should stop dossing here but I leave you with one question which side will you be on.?

The little people shouldn't disburb a fianna fail minister

Im sure many a person has said that. But maybe they haven't sat into a meating of North Tipperary County Council recently.Details from the Neangh Guardian When talking about a protest against Shannon Vermicomposting Ltd that was schedualed to take place during a visit by Fianna Fails Dick Roche to open the Civic Offices that was called off. Mayor John Hogan (FF) described the intended protest as “an intrusion” and was “delighted that it faded away in the end.” Cllr Casey (FF) said he was glad the protest had not gone ahead as he did not feel it would have constituted an appropriate action on what was supposed to have been a day of celebration. Cllr Michael O’Meara (ind), who strongly objected to the comments made in the chamber. “The people of Rathcabbin had every right to protest”, he exclaimed. “We live in a democracy where people are entitled to express their opinions to elected officials. This is not Tianamen Square or Communist Russia. Here here Cllr Michael O’Meara at least someone has sense. It was pointed out that

County Manager Terry O’Niadh said the local authority has and will continue to do everything it can to bring finality to the Shannon Vermicomposting issue. With the council’s legal team in the High Court again last Monday week, Mr O’Niadh explained that the matter is nearing conclusion and shouldn’t be jeopardised at this point, adding that Minister Roche will have no input into the ultimate outcome.

How good we really have it

When ever you sit in a bar in ireland or listen to a radio station you hear people complain about ireland . About corruption price of drink smoking ban's wheather traffic problams etc etc and we get into this mentality of thinking that ireland is a bad place to live. Well talking to some people this week I have realised how blessed we really are. For example talking to guy from Ukraine telling me that you can but converse shoes for the equilivant for 4 euros in Keiv which sounds great and seems to suggest we are being ripped off in ireland and the price of a big mac is about 80 cent. Where as in ireland the shoes are worth maybe 50 euros (well in barcelona they are) and a big mac is about 3.50. But when you really think about it the minimum wage in ireland is 7.65 euros an hour. While in the ukraine it is about 40 cent. So put it this way in the ukraine over 2 hours work will just about get you a big mac. in ireland on minimum wage it takes about 25 minutes of work.The average monthly wage for a collage grad in ukraine is about 70 euros a month. And when you are complaining about traffic it comes into perspective when you are talking to a guy from serbia about his house being cluster bombed 5 years ago. Maybe people in belfast can relate to that but to us southerners that experience is a million miles from reality. So if you ever wonder why people want to move to Ireland and take all the low paid jobs and why qualified people work in your local supermacs and deal with the abuse from drunk loats well now you know.

Muppet of the Week Award.

For the entire Week it looked like the Prime Minister of Luxemburg was the dead cert to win the award. But he has just been piped for it by none other then Bertie Seen here hugging the affore mention luxemburger (is that the term) I'm sure the Mr Jean-Claude Juncker is not too disappointed by the dessision not to award him the award after seeming this master stoke in muppetness he must realise he got beaten by the king. So what pushed bertie over the top. Well it is his annocement that they are going to swap prime city land to developers who build affordable housing else where. Why he couldn't just sell off the land for loads of cash and use that to finance the building I don't know instead of giving prime land for a few houses outside the M50 designed to clog up more morning traffic. Here and here are better put reactions to it then mine But there you go you don't get the Dossing times muppet of the week award for nothing. I am also waiting for the builders to build this affordable housing in the gaeltacht or some deprived areas and get tax breaks for it.

NUI Galway Fees Increase

Ever notice when a collage or government proposses something like massise increases in fees.. They do it in the summer when the student body is dispersed and lacking its numerical strength of term time. Cooncidence i think not anyway here is the reply from Paddy Reilly the Nui Galway SU presidant sent to the Údarás na hOllscoile, University Management Team and Faculty Deans regarding the above increase.

Hi, Attached you'll find a document outlining the proposed increases in postgraduate fees which were recommended by the Finance/Resource Committee on Tuesday last for approval by Údarás na hOllscoile next week. Needless to say, NUI, Galway Students' Union is very unhappy with the increases being proposed by the University. The proposals have been drawn up without taking any account of the following: - The direct decrease in the value of fellowships caused by any increase in fees. The University has not indicated it has any intention to increase fellowships in line with the fee increase; - Even if fellowships were to increase, the income cap of €12,700 imposed by the Department of Education and Science would most likely be breached, meaning students qualifying for a Higher Education Grant ("local authority grant") would lose out on grant funding; - That despite assurances from the University that the above would be investigated, the cap is beyond the control of the University and in seeking to raise it, the University would effectively be seeking further funding from the Exchequer (albeit in a roundabout way), which is extremely unlikely to happen; - The impact this will have, in particular, on students studying in the arts/humanities area, who already struggle to source funding of any sort, in a system increasingly driven by research in the sciences; - The fact that NUI, Galway has traditionally attracted students (who would otherwise have gone to UCD/TCD) because of its lower fees; - The service in the University has not improved in any significant manner in recent times which may merit a higher fee; - That even though the main justification being offered is that NUI, Galway has fallen behind the sector, fee increases of 9% and 7% occurred in 2003/04 and 2004/05 respectively with a fee increase of 10% already agreed for 2005/06, despite annual inflation rates running at 2-3% during the same period. Indeed, further investigation will, no doubt, highlight other issues which I have not raised here. We in NUI, Galway Students' Union are not opposed to the idea of increasing incoming funding into the University. However, the full range of issues arising from these increases have not been reviewed, with the potential increase in revenue being the only driver. This is not a sufficiently thorough process by which to decide on such significant increases in postgraduate fees. Please review the attached documentation (paying particular attention to the right-hand columns) and I will endeavour to contact you in advance of the meeting next week to discuss this matter further. Regards, Paddy.

However it seems that it has been passed. So again it looks like the collages are trying to squezze everything they can out of students You can follow the collage debate on the student bulliten boards

Why is Ireland not cool to holiday

I wass reading this fine blog from that girl and she made the point about

I don't know about you, but I get lazy living in Ireland. I see bus loads of tourists making their way religiously around Ireland and it makes me realise that there's so much of this place I've yet to pay attention to. It's too easy to jump on a plane and go to foreign climes assuming that "back home" will always be there.

But is that the reason is it a case of, I can go to the arann island anytime but barcelona (ironic that i mention it considering im living here at the moment) I might never get there. Now I would be of the same mentality as that I have never been to the arann islands or the Marble Arch Cave (which are mention in that girl's post and look cool) and I am probably missing out. I was sitting in a cafe in pisa a few weeks ago and they were asking me and a friend all about ireland and how amazing they thought it was and how they were going visit it. Asking us where to send them for 10 days. (aventually it was fly into shannon go to doolin cliffs of mohar burran aran islands galway connamara dublin belfast north antrim coast donegal fermanagh fly out from dublin. sorry west cok people ) North Antrim Coast Kilbane castle. I realised alot of thoses places i have never been to. So why haven't i and most people in this country. If you look at the Tourism figures for 2003 Foreign Holidays was at 4,929,000 and domestic was at 2,933,000 So why the massive difference So I think the main reason is that there is a preception in ireland that ireland isn't good enough. That we are to cosmopolitan to go to the places or parents when't in pre-tiger days. You are talking in work to your co-workers what would you prefare to say i am going to prague for the weekend or i'm going to Bantry. Will this stigma ever go will we ever realise what we actually have here. Are is it just that it is cheaper to fly shannon to london for 20 euros then get the train from limerick to Belfast for 60

Mary "Michael Howard" Harney

They say imatation is the sincerist form of flattery. Well if this is true then Ms Harney is certainly laying the compliments on Mr Howard quiet thickly with her "MEAT factories are cleaner than some of our hospitals" speech in the dail yesterday. This is simular to Howards Matron drive which peaked with the washing of the hands scandel . So what is Mary's solution to the fact that as she said "she had visited meat factories and food processing concerns and found them to be cleaner than some hospitals." Now she has a point when she says

I am not happy with the standard of hygiene in hospitals and it is one of the first things I asked the new national hospitals office to deal with. I am determined that our hospitals are run to the highest possible standards, There is no excuse for dirt especially when huge money is being spent on cleaning programmes involving both in-house cleaning and outside contracts

but still it seems to me that all this is really only a publisity stunt . THe health ministery has always been a poisin callace and has damaged the reputation of many a good minister. It is riddled with problams with no easy solution. This however seems to be the same as Howard ie away to make an issue out of something that makes a great sound bite and looks like Ms Harney is strong on health. Hygiene is an inportant issue in hosipdeals but it is far from the greatest problam affecting the health service in Ireland. She has also come out with a new spending amount that is going to be invested by the HSE But again to justify it she compares it to the poor spending by Blair

"Our overall health capital budget this year is about €146 per person. This is nearly 60 per cent higher than the UK, for example, which will invest about €92 per person."

This again is Michael Howard talk selling a scheme by saying its better then theres. The question is will this health thing work are will mary go the way of michael and a new face takes the Pd throne. (2 guesses who that will be )

Cafe Bars

Why are Finna Fail so against this idea. Pure market econimics tells you that if there is a market for it then they will survive if not they will faulter and close. Yet FF still seem so against to such an extent that it could bring down the government. The main reason that seems to be put forward against the solution is that due to "the difference in the attitude towards drink between Ireland and the continent". But then the point comes out again about the market econemy if people don´t want it then theses places will shut down so why then stifle free enterprise. You go to spain and walk into a tapas bar and get a bear and a plate of pratatas braves. Why not walk in get a pint of guinness and a small bowl of stew or some battered sausages or something. It could work here and if it doesn´t then what harm has it done. The harm it will do is when it works. When it works there is the possiblity that people will drink less and not drink in pubs but drink it quiet cafes discuss the meaning of life and possible more worring for publicans who will win the all-Ireland. The vintneers association in ireland is a very strong lobby group so is it surprising that McDowell has been forced to back down like the others pointed out futher down the blog. Is McDowell more afraid of Publicans and back bench fianna failers then the IRA. Some people point out that the surge of binging drinking needs to be stopped like north Tipperary Mayor John Hogan who believe that underage binge drinking, introducing tighter controls on off-licenses and supermarkets, weeding out the operators who serve underage children, introducing random breath testing of younger drinkers, and, most important of all, providing the Gardai with the resources to tackle these problems needs to be dealt with. However i think McDowell was spot on to change the culture of drinking in ireland you need to change the culture and get rid of the monopoly of pubs. I for one would enjoy a nice stew with my pint. For a decent price that is.

Taiwan vs Japan vs China

Ah looks like the battle of the eastern rockall has begone. But where in rockall it extended to putting sentries on the island. The Taiwans chinas and japans go the extra mile just to get a bit of saber rattling in. So off the Taiwans go and send the fleet in to show strength to japan who attacked there fishermen and china is in there to. I really have to wonder do they really care about the oil or is it just saber rattling. I just hope it doesn't come to blows or worst still a eastern version of this. Sung by and eastern version oh please think of the childern

Is this guy just out to bug me

Being new to this blog thing i find it strange that i mention the same guy twice in in under a week and this is not bertie or mcdowell the names one would think of when looking at an irish blog but no it is Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.Now what has he done now to bug the dossing times. Well this guy really doesnt seem to have to same idea of what europe is, that I do. In my opinion Europe is a democratic institution in his case it seems to think it is not that demorcracy is mearly a way of looking legimate."Juncker said countries should decide how best to ratify the charter – through a national referendum or parliamentary vote" This is from breakingnews.ie I thought that by either national or parliamentary vote they would see if they wanted to ratify not how best to do it. So hopefully Luxemburg will vote no just to get rid of this guy and in my opinion extremely undemocratic views.

The day the vroom vroom died

What has happened F1. Remember the days when schumacher and hakkinen would battle out the season to the last race. When jordan would slip on to the podium every few races. Remember when it was fun?. Now it is dead last season we had a schumacher battling with him self to see if he could win a race by a bit more each time. Now we have alonso at that craic. But it seemed to be prephaps chaning mclaren and kimi seemed to be getting there act together maybe there would be a firey ended to the season with some wheel to wheel action between messers kemi and fernado. But alas the farce that is F1 has been shown. America the market that needed to be shown the greatness of F1 need to be shown that F1 is the pinicle of world motar sport not just european motor sport. And what better place to do that then the banked curves of the old brickyard. But instead of a major battle of drivers we got . The death grown of the sport. The picture of the starting grid from BBC Says it all. Good bye F1 ye have kept me entertained from many a few years but not anymore.

The end is coming

Crude oil is heading from 60 dollars a barrel . What in the world can we do. Well nothing really the over reliance on petol in this world means that this is just the tip of the iceberg remember not so long ago people were hearlding the day of the 50 dollar barrel. Now people whould gladly take it. So what is causing this massive rise in price. Is it the emerging market in china. Well i think that has something to do with it . Not a lot though if you look at this graph from bbc. The price has steadly increased and is not far off having doubled in price. Has china used that much extra fuel in that amount of time i don't think so . The rise in my opinion (me not being an economists means my opinion is utterly worthless) is due to investors buying up stocks of oil to make a profit. I mean if you bought 35 dollars last year you now can sell from around 60. Not a bad trade. The current reason seems to stem from trouble in nigeria as the consulates of various countries are closed and fears of hurricanes in america. So what can be done. I don't know much about the econimics of oil to come up with a solution but i think we all have to bow are heads in shame and admit that the tree hugging hippies and there proficcies of doomed and there calles for hydrogen cars were right.

Department Of Foreign Affairs

Now the new french ambasstor of ireland seems to want a female runnning her house. So the question i wonder is if that was a female employed and was being fired for a male would it be cause for people to claim gender discrimination. I would probably guess so but of course this will become the issue which is a shame and shows that the statement equal oppertunities employer does not apply to the foreign services. But anyway this is the reply from the Foreign affairs office. I could delve more into this but i have to go.

Hand ball

Got this news from a bit old but still. THe GAA are throwing handball out of croke park the gaa say they are trying to protect all irish sport and yet they are taking out the best venue in the country for hand ball. What is in mind for this facilite i have no idea. Just thought id add it to the blog. Dear god im geting into this blog thing. i really should do something. Even though not much to do here at work at the moment so ah well

Flying Tax

It looks like there could be an eu tax on flying according to this polish site translated by this European commission has accepted aerial tax about mode of voluntary collecting (taking) tax from aerial tickets on development assistance for poorest states document. Ministers of finance will receive him (it) 7 july UE. It analytical document, but legislative initiative not spokeswoman has explained - KE Francoise Le Bail. Project forecasts collected 2 for flights (lot) after country - 5 euro and in the area of union. On podst. Agency oprac. p.r. So from that translation it looks like a 5 euro tax on flying to pay for development aid. The full document is realsed on the 7 of july. Also if ye think i am that bored and dossing to such a large extent that i read polish newspapers i got it from here