Our bath was out of comission until I rolled up my sleeves, headed to Woodies/B&Q and googled furiously. In the end, I just needed to re-seal the waste water fitting with some sealant. These websites came in handy:

http://www.practicaldiy.com/plumbing/bath_waste/bath_wastes.php and

http://www.victoriaplumb.com/bathroom_DIY/Fitting-a-bath.html

I did this a couple of months ago and still no leaks so happy days!

Here are some snapshots from my travels. First up, Belfast and the reason I have a cold this weekend:

The ceiling in the Tesco near Castle Court Shopping Centre, Belfast

Some photos from the beach in Ballyb – beyond the men’s beach:

and my feet…which appreciated the salt-water after the soccer/tag rugby the previous weeks:

The poster I first put up…yes, I climbed a pole

if you like listening to Irish nerd-talk and squeeky old me, tune into the IT Freely podcast over on IAN. This week there was some chatter about twitter and in interesting interview with someone called Emmanuel from 2600 – Episode #7

The first meeting of the Irish Robotics Club  (www.robots.ie) will be held tomorrow (June 24th) in the TCD Science Gallery (7-8pm in studio 2)

Since it will be the first meeting I’ll talk a little bit about setting up the club and what sort of activities the club run (talks, workshops, competitions, etc). Then I’ll open it up to discussion to see what people are interested in getting from a robotics club. All suggestions will be very welcome.

Also, they have snapped up Peter Redmond (he who built RuBot II, a Rubik’s cube solving robot which holds the Guinness World Record for a robot solving the cube in the least amount of time).

He also built two battle robots (Dioitoir and Nemesis) for Robot Wars and another robot for a BBC show called Techno Games, this time an internal combustion powered sprinting robot that set a new world land speed record for petrol powered walking machines. He also built and bravely drove an all-terrain stock car for a Channel 4 TV show called Full Metal Challenge. With a project list including such wonders as a robotic bicycle, micromouse, trebuchet, and an orange cannon his talk is sure to entertain and is not to be missed.

Peter will talk about the world of hobby robotics and happily answer your questions afterwards.

Glad to see things like this getting off the ground.

Today is your chance to have your voice heard. Your vote is as important as every other person’s vote, even the President’s or the Taoiseach’s. For all the criticism we do or suggestions we make, if we don’t vote, we may as well have said nothing at all.

Use your vote wisely too. The balance of power will be decided by the last seats to be decided. And the last seats are decided by transfers. And everyone is usually eliminated by that time apart from 2 candidates. So no matter how far down the list, a 13 for candidate A is as good as a 1 if candidate B is 14th on the ballot.

Here is a sample Irish ballot paper with instructions from a TCD page

Despite the weather forecast, this afternoon and evening was gorgeous and I took the opportunity to walk on the western pier of Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The first photo is actually of the Commissioners of Irish Lights – the people that look after the lighthouses. There is quite a nice map of the harbour and its walks. It provides the details of the length of each pier, the duration to walk them, the year that each pier, breakwater and building was built and a few more details.

for those of you looking for live coverage of the Irish Budget 2009 (or the 4th attempt as some call it), have a peek at the live streams from the Oireachtas website, provided mostly by HEAnet.

Dail Eireann – Windows Media Player – http://asx.heanet.ie/oireachtas/dail_broadband.asx

Dail Eireann – Flash Player (new to me) – http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/livewebcast/DailFlash512KB.htm

Dail Eireann – audio only – http://asx.heanet.ie/oireachtas/dail_audioonly.asx

RTE have a twitter account and a special page on their website for the occasion – http://twitter.com/RTEBudget2009 and http://www.rte.ie/money/budget2009/

Unfortunately there is no concensus on which tag to use on twitter but you can watch #aprilbudget #bludget or #budget09 for live tweets. Do like me and add them all together like this http://search.twitter.com/search?q=+aprilbudget+OR+bludget+OR+budget09

okay, the last post was very serious so how about I remind you of Great Friday! From the website: www.greatfriday.ie

Great Friday Festival 2009. Great Friday, Limericks original and best music festival returns on the 10th of April. Following on from the huge success of last years attendees are once again invited to hop on the bus at Arthur’s Quay Park and be taken to a world of music and good times. This years main stage will feature a hugely talented array of bands from Limerick, Tipperary, Cork and Dublin.

This years festival features a Main Stage, DJ Tent, Bakers Tent and Skate Ramp. Tickets 30 euro includes entrance and the bus to and from the festival. The festival is BYOB (bring your own beer) again this year.

Great Friday’s Bebo Page

Great Friday’s Myspace Page

Great Friday’s Facebook Page and Facebook Event

Great Friday’s Last.fm Page

I’m not good at dancing but I was shocked to hear that public entertainment like nightclubs, football and sporting events are forbidden in several states in Germany, not just on Good Friday but on other religious holidays depending on state law. Don’t think about washing your car in a car-wash in Bavaria on Good Friday either. Firstly, I’ve translated the law from the state of Brandenburg (Gesetz über die Sonn- und Feiertage (Feiertagsgesetz- FTG)), followed by the law from Bavaria(http://www.datumsrechner.de/gesetze/Bayern.pdf):

§ 5
Forbidden Events

(1) On Sundays and legally recognised holidays, the following activities are forbidden,as long as they have not been permitted by federal or state law, during the hours of worship:

1. open-air public gatherings and public theatre or processions (parades),
2. all public entertainment events which do not have a higher interest in art, science or education,
3. public meetings in closed rooms,

thereby preventing the interruption of worship. This ban, does not apply for the 3rd October if this day falls on a weekday. Furthermore, it does not apply for union events on the 1st May. The hours of worship are defined as the time from 6 o’clock to 11 o’clock. The local authorities can determine that the hours end before 11 o’clock after consultation with the affected religious communities.

(2) On Good Friday, the ban in section 1 applies from 00:00 to 24:00 and on the remembrance days (Totensonntag and Volkstrauertag) from 04:00 until 24:00.

Bavaria like their sport more and so their interpretation is something like this:

Art. 2
Protection of Sundays and Public Holidays

(1) On Sundays and public holidays, publicly noticeable work that could interfere with the quietness of public holidays is forbidden unless otherwise specified under this law.

(2) During the usual local hours of worship the following are also forbidden:

1. all avoidable noisy acts near churches as well as rooms and buildings related to the purpose of worship, in so far as these  acts could interfere with worship.
2. public entertainment events; however sporting events and art, science and educational events that normally take place at that time are allowed, as long as they do not fall under number 1,
3. Hunts (??).

(3) These prohibitions (paragraphs 1 and 2) do not apply

1. for the operation of the German Federal Post, Federal Railway and other such companies that provide passenger transportation,
2. for repair works to means of transport insofar as they are essential to continue a journey,
3. for works that cannot be delayed to satisfy domestic or agricultural needs that are necessary to prevent damage to health or property, in the interest of public facilities or for the prevention or elimination of an emergency situation,
4. for light works in the garden that are undertaken by the owners or their relatives,
5. for the operation of car wash facilities on Sundays and public holidays, apart from New Year’s, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, 1st May, Whit Sunday, Whit Monday as well as the first and second day of Christmas from 12:00, if the local authority has allowed this through by-law in the local authority area.

(4) The normal hours of worship for a locality are between 07:00 and 11:00. The local authorities are authorised to adjust the time through by-laws to a time differing from sentence 1 according to the local religious customs. The total duration of the protected time is permitted to be not less than three and not more than six hours.

Original texts:

§ 5
Verbotene Veranstaltungen

(1) An Sonntagen und gesetzlich anerkannten Feiertagen sind, sofern sie nicht nach Bundes- oder Landesrecht zugelassen sind, während der Hauptzeit des Gottesdienstes verboten:

1. öffentliche Versammlungen unter freiem Himmel und öffentliche Auf- und Umzüge,
2. alle der Unterhaltung dienenden öffentlichen Veranstaltungen, bei denen nicht ein höheres Interesse der Kunst, Wissenschaft oder Volksbildung vorliegt,
3. öffentliche Versammlungen in geschlossenen Räumen,

soweit hierdurch der Gottesdienst unmittelbar gestört wird. Dieses Verbot gilt nicht für den 3. Oktober, wenn dieser Tag auf einen Wochentag fällt. Es gilt ferner nicht für gewerkschaftliche Veranstaltungen am 1. Mai. Als Hauptzeit des Gottesdienstes gilt die Zeit von 6 Uhr bis 11 Uhr. Die Kreisordnungsbehörde kann nach Anhörung der betroffenen Religionsgesellschaften festlegen, daß die Zeit bereits vor 11 Uhr endet.

(2) Am Karfreitag gelten die Verbote gemäß Absatz 1 für die Zeit von 0 Uhr bis 24 Uhr und am Totensonntag sowie am Volkstrauertag von 4 Uhr bis 24 Uhr.

Art. 2
Schutz der Sonn- und Feiertage

(1) An den Sonntagen und den gesetzlichen Feiertagen sind öffentlich bemerkbare Arbeiten, die geeignet sind, die Feiertagsruhe zu beeinträchtigen, verboten, soweit auf Grund dieses Gesetzes nichts anderes bestimmt ist.

(2) Während der ortsüblichen Zeit des Hauptgottesdienstes sind außerdem verboten

1. alle vermeidbaren lärmerzeugenden Handlungen in der Nähe von Kirchen und sonstigen zu gottesdienstlichen Zwecken dienenden Räumen und Gebäuden, soweit diese Handlungen geeignet sind, den Gottesdienst zu stören,
2. öffentliche Unterhaltungsveranstaltungen; erlaubt sind jedoch Sportveranstaltungen und die herkömmlicherweise in dieser Zeit stattfindenden Veranstaltungen der Kunst, Wissenschaft oder Volksbildung, soweit sie nicht unter Nummer 1 fallen,
3. Treibjagden.

(3) Diese Verbote (Absätze 1 und 2) gelten nicht

1. für den Betrieb der Deutschen Bundespost, der Deutschen Bundesbahn und sonstiger Unternehmen, die der Personenbeförderung dienen,
2. für Instandsetzungsarbeiten an Verkehrsmitteln, soweit sie zur Weiterfahrt erforderlich sind,
3. für unaufschiebbare Arbeiten, die zur Befriedigung häuslicher oder landwirtschaftlicher Bedürfnisse, zur Abwendung eines Schadens an Gesundheit oder Eigentum, im Interesse öffentlicher Einrichtungen oder zur Verhütung oder Beseitigung eines Notstands erforderlich sind,
4. für leichtere Arbeiten in Gärten, die von den Besitzern oder ihren Angehörigen vorgenommen werden,
5. für den Betrieb von Autowaschanlagen an Sonn- und Feiertagen – ausgenommen Neujahr, Karfreitag, Ostersonntag, Ostermontag, 1. Mai, Pfingstsonntag, Pfingstmontag sowie Erster und Zweiter Weihnachtstag – ab 12.00 Uhr, wenn die Gemeinde dies in ihrem Gemeindegebiet durch Verordnung zugelassen hat.

(4) Als ortsübliche Zeit des Hauptgottesdienstes gilt die Zeit zwischen 7.00 Uhr und 11.00 Uhr. Die Gemeinden werden ermächtigt, durch Verordnung diese Zeit zur Anpassung an die örtlichen religiösen Gewohnheiten abweichend von Satz 1 festzulegen. Die Gesamtdauer der Schutzzeit darf hierbei nicht weniger als drei und nicht mehr als sechs Stunden betragen