Media Domination

My Bro in Law, 6th, was on the radio today. He was on Today FM. National Radio no less. I was quite impressed, as always with his interview, he is always so cool.

I happened to flick onto RTE1 this evening, to the drivel that is "Off the Rails" and low and behold, what do I see in the background? Only 6th's bike!

Is he the new Rupert Murdoch???

The consensus...

From the 2 comments I got, I'm going to train old school. So watch out for me running up some steps in the snow near you!

Science or Hardwork?

I'm back doing a small bit of training. I'm trying to see if I would be able to do a marathon or perhaps a good half marathon next year.

I'm wondering how I should approach it? Should I be like Rocky and drag some tyres up a hill, run up some steps and punch the air, or should I be like Ivan Drago, using machines, computers and science (let's not even mention the drugs).

How much help will it be to me to know my VO2 max levels or my lactate thresholds, does that really make a difference to me?

Should I just go out and run, or should I do fartlek intervals, and tempo runs, temperatures, graphs, figures?

Or should I just go about building those "Hurting Bombs" by just getting out there and running.

I'm trying to think of a good set of stairs to run up, and the only ones that come to mind are the ones at the foot of the Central Bank in Dublin. I would be like some sort of anti-goth running up those stairs in my running gear!

I think I'm going to be old fashioned, not only because I don't have access to scientific equipment, but also because you can over analyse these things.

Sellotape X-rays

Sometimes science and it's application amazes me. This is truly amazing. Who needs an expensive MRI, I'm going to get the sticky tape out tonight.

Yeti - Update

From today's Guardian. A group of Japanese climbers have claimed to have found a footprint. This isn't the most compelling evidence but at least they are out there looking.

3k, it's a start

I got out last for a 3k run last night which is a nice start. I hope to get out for 5k on wednesday. It was about 18:30 when I went into the local park so I was very surprised to see a woman in a wedding dress standing in a muddy field having her picture taken.

It was dark, it was cold, it was mucky and it was weird!

The run was grand though, the cycling has really helped my fitness so my lungs felt comfortable all the way round.

CushyCMS

I've tried out a lot of CMS lately. Joomla, Drupal, CMSMadeSimple. Joomla and Drupal are too complicated for the small sites I want to use them on, even CMSMadeSimple which is by far the most simple (clever name eh?) is a bit too much.

I recently came across CushyCMS and it is a pleasure to work with so far. It is simple and easy to use and gives you all the functionality you need for small sites. The free option is so good, I'm tempted to go for the Pro version!

I would definitely recommend it for simple XHTML / CSS Sites

Brian Lenihan - Be a man

I was reading today that Brian Lenihan is blaming the Medical Cards Fiasco on Mary Harney.

Who is the Minister for Finance? Are you telling me that Mary Harney, a junior coalition party member, told the minister for finance what to do?

Surely each department were told to cut x budget and that's what came back.

Be a man Minister Lenihan, you can't be everybody's friend, especially when you take money from the poor and the elderly.

Budget Bull

I just read what Brian Lenihan had to say about yesterday's budget.

So the reason he had to increase VAT was to decrease the impact of people shopping in Northern Ireland. Do I need to say any more? The reason they shop in the north is down to high costs, so increasing them won't help and I'm not sure the yields make sense either.

But the best bit was that the €200 levy on car parking spacies is to encourage use of public transport. WTF? How about increasing public transport, or reducing the cost of public transport. More buses perhaps? Follow the Finnish model of subsidiased Public transport.

Use your brain and stop taxing people. That "levy" is not going to stem the traffic jams, it won't even make the tiniest dent. It's moronic.

And just because you call it a levy, doesn't mean it's not a tax.

Budget Day.

So you can get a tax free bike, 4 weeks after I bought a new one. Oh nuts!

Now everyone is paying tax, EVERYONE. Well PAYE workers anyway. I wonder will it hit Bono and Enya or the rest of the population of Killiney.

Over 70's don't get a medical card automatically. That's a cheap shot, at least you should treat the elderly right.

I don't mind paying my taxes as long as you see them in action. So I don't have to wait 5 years for an appointment in the local hospital.

Petrol will sot more as will everything else because of the hike in VAT. I particularly don't like the rise in VAT as it hits everyone including those on a fixed income. Is that really fair?

I'm not sure about this budget but I never really am!

The day before...

It's the night before the one day a year when politicians actually have an impact on people's lives. Of course it's budget day and tomorrow is expected to be a brutal one.

I'm looking forward to all sorts of misery, cuts here, tax hikes there, hopefully they will borrow some, and spare the regular PAYE worker, but I doubt it.

I wonder are they far enough away from an election to get away with a harsh budget?

Dublin Paranormal Convention - 4 days to go

There are only 4 more days to wait for the Dublin Paranormal Convention. The final preparations are being put in place.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Paul O'Connor, and hear what he has to say about remote viewing and hopefully give us a demonstration!!!

Driving Test

I've got my driving test tomorrow so keep of the roads between 3 and 4. I did a bit of practice tonight and it all seemed to go ok. Hopefully tomorrow will fall nicely into place and hopefully I won't make the silly schoolboy errors I made last time.

Wish me luck!

Picture of the Day - 4

This is a picture of the Cao Dai Place of worship in Tay Ninh in Vietnam. It is an an amazingly colourful place and these gargoyles gaurd the entrance.

Picture of the Day - 3

This is a Picture I took in Paris at the start of my honeymoon. It was an overcast day and this was taken just prior to a massive downpour.

I thing Paris is the most amazing city to look at and photograph.

Is there anything Google isn't doing?

Google is putting Microsoft to shame. It has launched it's latest strategy, reducing the US's dependency on oil in the next 22 years.

I think it's great that there are people and corporations out there being proactive, but I'm also a little bit scared of a corporation that is becoming so ubiquitous.

I'll not be cynical, if a company like Google come out with such initiatives, it will get people talking and no matter what, that is a good thing.

I'm glad commas don't cause global warming because that last sentence would personally do away with a few polar bears.

Picture of the Day - 2

This is a picture of Tower Bridge in London. It is a very impressive structure and if I had the money I would buy that bridge and have it shipped brick by brick to my back garden.

Picture of the Day - 1

This is a picture I took on a beautiful early spring day in 2006. It's in Montebello, which is a nice suburb of Oslo in Norway.