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Archive for May, 2007
Why is Registered Post so expensive?
Published May 30th, 2007 in open to interpretation, consumer pays, vague, an post, rip off ireland, irish government and uncategorized. 0 CommentsAn Post, the Irish post office, charge EUR 5.00 to send a registered letter (signature on delivery, and web tracking number) anywhere on the Island of “Ireland”.
We would expect the charge to send a regsitered letter abroad to be higher, but infact it is cheaper. The charge for “Great Britain”, “Europe” and “Rest of World” is just EUR 4.93.
Looking past this current irregularity lets just look at the price within Ireland, EUR 5.00. It is quite expensive, when we consider a normal stamp is EUR 0.55, and that registered post is no faster. So why is the price so high? Well I content it is because An Post have a monopoly in this area. Various Government Acts and Statutory instruments specify the “Mode of service” of notices.
For example
RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTIONS REDRESS ACT 2002, Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006
These say a notice can be served by the writer delivering it to the receiver’s hand, or sometimes just at his address, or having it delivered by “Registered Post”
For the obvious temporal and economic reasons most notices are sent via the latter “Registered Post”. In keeping with the practice of vagueness that keeps the courtrooms whirring legislation does not specify what exactly is meant by “Registered Post”, so rather then use a Private Post Provider and risk it being judged an invalid service it is the practice to use only An Post.
The Surprise is not old; no one would call her old. She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. She’s a fine seabird: weatherly, stiff and fast… very fast, if she’s well handled. No, she’s not old; she’s in her prime.
Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) speaking of HMS Surprise in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). Had he lived today he might have well spoken the same words of the BMW 5 Series (E39).
Wordpress is excellent. Prior to its coming I suffered for years using bad CMS’s.
A recent chance visit to vote.ie, which I had never heard of before, reminded me of the evils of the other CMS’s.
vote.ie (animated gif, publisher text effects, over compressed jpgs). Credit goes to Deep Blue (mambo cms).
The Chaser’s War on Everything
Published May 27th, 2007 in ultimo, abc, sketch show, sydney, australia, comedy and television. 1 Comment
The Chaser’s War on Everything (ABC TV Australia) it is one of the best comedies being broadcast today. In UK terms it marries the sketch show genre of the Fast Show with the Current Affairs whitty commentary of Have I got news for you.
Testament to its popularity is the loyal uploading of clips just moments after broadcasting on YouTube, which incidentally ABC does allow, idents.tv even has high quality full episodes.
Comparisons have been drawn between the Chaser and The Colbert Report (Comedy Central US). There is certainly a similarity between the Chaser’s Andrew Hansen and Colbert’s Stephen Colbert, as both take care of their appearance, but the Chaser trumps.
I do feel the Chaser overstepped the mark in its use of BDSM nudity in a Circular Quay sketch, Sydney, yes that was bad, and I’m not just demonstrating my extensive knowledge of Sydney’s Streets gleaned from many a happy walk. Another bad sketch was when the Crazy Warehouse Guy went to Church.
But getting back on the forward track if you live in Australia you should watch the Chaser on ABC Wednesdays 9pm Eastern.
Fox News
Prolix Song Writer
Pauline
I have Joost invites to give away
Published May 26th, 2007 in long haul television, sydnet london airroute, joost, viral marketing, television and video. 11 CommentsJust like GMail in its infancy you cannot just sign up, you must be “invited“.
What is Joost? Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.
Just leave your email address below (hint: put it in the email section so its not published).
At the moment the Joost experience is like watching the TV on a long haul airplane. There is a selection of non-offensive English language programmes; ranging from the filler titles of Guinness World Records (UK Version) and World’s Strongest Man to the educational titles of A Dog’s Life and A Cat’s Life, and cringeworthy why can’t we just get along female programming that reminds me of Secondary School Religion classes. There are also plenty of junky MTV clone “channels”.
What I’d like to see is, of course, is Lost, but I would settle for the “classics” Barnaby Jones, Murder She Wrote, Matlock, The Scarecrow and Mrs King.
There is an old chestnut joke doing about the memos exchanged between pilots and ground crews…
- Problem: Left main tire almost needs replacement.
Solution: Almost replaced left main tire - Problem: Test flight OK, except autoland very rough.
Solution: Autoland not installed on this aircraft. - Problem: Something loose in cockpit.
Solution: Something tightened in cockpit. - Problem: Dead bugs on windshield.
Solution: Live bugs on backorder. - Problem: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200-fpm descent.
Solution: Cannot reproduce - Problem on ground.
- Problem: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
Solution: Evidence removed. - Problem: DME volume unbelievably loud.
Solution: DME volume set to more believable level. - Problem: Suspected crack in windscreen.
Solution: Suspect you’re right. - Problem: Aircraft handles funny.
Solution: Warned Aircraft to straighten up, fly right, and be serious. - Problem: Radar hums.
Solution: Reprogrammed radar with words. - Problem: Mouse in cockpit.
Solution: Installed cat.
In programming it’s sometimes necessary to adopt the same attitude, viz don’t solve the problem, just silence the error message. Fortunately all error messages are enclosed in named divs so they can be silenced by editing the stylesheet.css of a wordpress theme;
.wpdberror {
display: none;
}
.error {
display: none;
}
The text will still be sent, but a brower will not display it.
Continue reading ‘Wordpress error messages’
Irish Lordships for sale
Published May 23rd, 2007 in titles, lordships, commonwealth and uncategorized. 0 CommentsOn May 24th we will cast votes for the next government of the Republic of Ireland. Across the channel in England an “auction” of a different kind will be taking place.
Ordinary citizens with illusions of grandeur are being offered the chance to become Irish “Lords of the Manor” as five feudal baronies, and more than 30 lordships will come under the hammer.
However, while the new owners will be able to call themselves ‘Lord of X’, they cannot be known as ‘Lord X’, and cannot sit in the United Kingdom House of Lords.
The feudal baronies of Castle Knock in Co Dublin, Carrigaline in Co Cork and Clanwilliam in Co Tipperary are to be auctioned off by the Anglo named Strutt & Parker.
The feudal barony and lordship of Carrigaline has a guide price of GBP 25,000 (approx EUR 37,000)
Jtold the BBC News Website that there had been a lot of interest in the 24 May sale, with several bids already received.
“A lot of the titles come with ancient grants. Many of them have not been used for a long time and research into the titles may show that the grants may still be able to be used,” said Mr Chaplin… One title sold previously came with rights to a harbour. The government wanted to rebuild the harbour and the title owner received £4m - but that is a complete extreme.” - Jonathan Chaplin of Strutt and Parker
Some of the titles give the owner rights governing local markets and fairs.
Title owners will be able to apply to the United Kingdom College of Arms for a personal coat of arms for their exclusive use.
Manorial lordships date back 1,200 years to Saxon times when they were formed part of the feudal system.
A 1922 United Kingdom property act allowed lordships to be sold separately from the estate they related to, but they continue to be conveyed in the same way as property.
Mentioning “Titles” in Ireland can be risky, while there are many “Lords” and “Ladys” etc in the country there are many people of an Anti-British sentiment here, and the question as to whether or not the titles were nullified upon Independence is complicated.
Article 40, of BUNREACHT NA hEIREANN (CONSTITUTION OF IRELAND) which dates from 1937 reads
1. Titles of nobility shall not be conferred by the State. 2. No title of nobility or of honour may be accepted by any citizen except with the prior approval of the Government.
This paragraph stopped the Order of St Patrick, which was seen as too British. But could it also make the purchase of a title pointless? Indeed are titles pointless?
Well, pontification aside, if I had the money I would bid at the auction, and I imagine there are many of a similar mind in todays Celtic Tiger/SSIA Ireland who do have a bank balance to support their illusions of grandeur.
Driving in Ireland
Published May 23rd, 2007 in hire car, hired car, rent a car, irish rental car, petrol and uncategorized. 0 CommentsDespite the 2005 Switchover to Metric road measurements in Ireland there are still road signs with distances in miles. Miles seem so quaint, but in Kinsale, and other tourist towns quaintness is bankable.
Website housekeeping
Published May 23rd, 2007 in wordpress template, wordpress theme, template, webmaster and uncategorized. 0 CommentsI’m considering repacing the lovely image at the top of this website (Roches Point Lighthouse, Cork Harbour, Ireland) with something less “Orish”
I need your input, please leave a comment of wisdom below. Continue reading ‘Website housekeeping’
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