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

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 [...]

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 [...]

I read RTE this morning and was delighted to see the headline “Hi-tech cable to link US with Ireland” but incredulous when they stated that it was the first transatlantic telecommunications cable to directly link Ireland with the US. I got over it until I saw an even bolder claim in the Metro paper – [...]

After some seems like weeks of rain, today was glorious and I took the opportunity to take a few photos with a very modest camera. Enjoy!

more after the jump i.e. you need to open the full blog post

Via Irland Inside and The Sunday Times
“HSE’s 4-star hotel bill for evicted travellers”
The Health Service Executive (HSE) is picking up the bill for a family of eight travellers who checked themselves into Dublin’s Citywest hotel after being evicted from their home in Clondalkin earlier this month.
The Doherty family booked into the four-star hotel on June [...]

Thinking of going somewhere for the weekend without leaving a massive carbon footprint behind? How about BallyB! Some of the newer attractions;

The Ballybunion Surf School – www.ballybunionsurf.com

Ballybunion Leisure Centre – www.ballybunionleisure.com

The easy and funny argument Spoofers guide to the Lisbon treaty HT: Paul Browne

If we vote yes to Lisbon the EU will work better. It will work for us in the areas of energy, immigration and sport amongst others which are added as competences. In times where energy prices are rising and climate change needs [...]

It is a sign of desperation when people try to excuse the behaviour of Bertie Ahern by comparing it with Garret FitzGerald having £200,000 written off by AIB like Eoghan Harris did on the Late Late Show (28th March ‘08)
What is not said, is how the Moriarty Tribunal investigated this matter including FitzGerald’s personal financial [...]

Via RTE: Trichet looks to Asian, oil crises for lessons
Trichet stressed repeatedly today that the ECB saw its role amid the turmoil as one of anchoring inflation expectations, making clear that an interest rate cut called for by some investors and politicians should not be expected in the near future
‘If we don’t learn the lessons [...]