May

9

REALLY Short Review of an EeePC

Filed Under 42 on May 9, 2009 | 3 Comments

This is just a quick test post from a friend’s EeePC to see what they’re really like to type on and browse with. My very first impression, I think I have found something worse to type on than a virtual keyboard – a shrunken one! Since it has no smart helper-features like the iPhone, it is actually more tedious than the iPhone. You spend more time correcting mistakes because none of them are auto-corrected. Although you do get better at it as you keep typing, the location of the shift keys in particular really strain your hands. I’ve just typed this much and I can feel the strain already, this is very very far from ergonomic! I’m starting to see Tim Cook’s point, this is not a good experience, and I wouldn’t want Apple to clone this experience. I do want Apple to do something in this space, but it has to be something more human-friendly than this! This feels like miniaturisation for the sake of miniaturisation. I’m not sure what creatures the EeePC was designed for ergonomically, but it was most certainly not adult Homo sapiens! The one good thing I’ll say is that the screen is better than I was expecting, sure the resolution is small by real laptop or desktop standards, it’s positively roomy by iPhone standards. I think this would make it a usable web browser, but the keyboard is a waste of space, you can’t useit for serious typing. Take the screen from an EeePC, rotate it to portrail, make it multi-touch, add OS X iPhone, and make thinner, then you’d be on to a winner IMO! For ultimate p0wnage, add support for a bluetooth keyboad … oh … and sell it for the price of an EeePC :)

Apr

1

The BBC – Leading the way in Mass-April-Fooling for Over 50 Years

Filed Under 42 on April 1, 2009 | 2 Comments

I’m a huge fan of the BBC, they make some of the very best TV programming in the world, and they’re record on April Fooling is also top-notch. Probably the best known BBC April Fool dates back to 1957, when a report on the bumper Swiss Spaghetti harvest hit unsuspecting Briton’s screens:

1957 is a long time ago, but last year they showed they hadn’t lost their touch yet, this time, we get to see Pengiuns fly!

If you think that looked like a lot of hard work went into making it, you’d be right!

Hopefully they managed to best even flying Penguins this year!

Mar

20

A Short Tribute to Mort Lachman

Filed Under 42, Mac, Photography on March 20, 2009 | 1 Comment

The single best thing about being involved in the Mac community is the great people you get to meet (all-be-it virtually). This evening my thoughts are with one of those people in particular, Robert Lachman of Photography and the Mac, Mac Review Cast, and NosillaCast fame. Over the past months I’ve really been enjoying a series of photos Robert’s been posting to his blog. They’re pictures of the great Bob Hope taken by his dad, Mort Lachman, who was on of Bob’s main writers. The photos are fantastic in their candour and lack of any pretentiousness.

I was very sad to read earlier in the week that Mort was in hospital having suffered a heart attack, and even sadder today to learn that he has passed away. Robert has posted a fantastic video on his website, which I think serves as a wonderful tribute to his Dad. I also think everyone should check out Mort’s great series of Bob Hope photos, they really are something special.

If you read this Robert, you and your family are in my thoughts at this difficult time in your lives.

Nov

30

NUI Maynooth Fire Update

Filed Under 42, Photography on November 30, 2008 | 2 Comments

Since the weather was good and I really needed some fresh air I took my proper camera down to NUI Maynooth to take some descent pictures of the devastation caused by last Friday’s Fire. It’s probably no surprise but there were a lot of people doing the same! I also met one of the dinner ladies who was on duty when the fire started, she’d come to have a look with her partner. She explained how it had started at the back of the building, apparently where workmen were felting the roof, and spread rapidly though the whole building.

I’ve added the best of my images from today to the Flickr gallery I started on Friday.

Click for more pics

Nov

28

Today’s Fire in NUI Maynooth

Filed Under 42, Photography on November 28, 2008 | 2 Comments

Canteen FireOne of the things I like about NUI Maynooth is that it’s the kind of place where very little excitement ever happens. You get the odd evacuation because some muppet with a JCB has hit a gas main but nothing ever blows up. Life as a member of staff or a student in NUIM is generally a pleasant, peaceful, and uneventful affair. Today however was a little more dramatic, though you wouldn’t think it by reading the official press release from the university:

A small fire occurred this morning in the student restaurant at the edge of the North campus of NUI Maynooth and has since been brought under control …

My definition of a small fire is dramatically different. Surely when you can see the plume of smoke from your office half a mile away and when a building is levelled it counts as more than a small fire?

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Aug

31

Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the God-Awful Film

Filed Under 42 on August 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I finally got around to watching the last (it better be the last) Indiana Jones film. It started well. The silhouette of Indie putting his hat on was fantastic, it felt like we were in for a true Indie film, another classic. Sure, Ford is old, but he's clearly still got it! If only, the opening few minutes were the high point of the film, it was down hill from there. At first we were heading slowly down hill, but the speed soon picked up.

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Mar

7

Naas General Hospital – a Most Pleasant Surprise

Filed Under 42, Polemics, Morality & Politics on March 7, 2008 | 4 Comments

You hear lots of stuff about how utterly inadequate, mismanaged and generally shambolic the Irish health service is. Those stories are unfortunately true, the experiences of my direct family speak to that. That's why I was so pleasantly surprised by Naas General Hospital this morning. I'm suffering from a very bad chest infection at the moment which my doctor fears has developed into pneumonia. So he sent me to Naas for a chest X-Ray. I got there at 8:40, was seen by 9:10 and on my way home by 9:20. The place was clean, efficiently run and the staff were very nice. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I'd gone in expecting the worst, that's why I had my laptop, 3G card and iPod with me. As it happens I barely had time to check my email!

Lets hope this is a sign of the things to come and not just an isolated case of efficiency in the Irish health system.

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Jan

23

Reflections on the Passing of Heath Ledger

Filed Under 42 on January 23, 2008 | 2 Comments

I don't usually post about what the famous get up to because I think most of the celebrity 'news' we get rots the brain, however, the passing of a great actor is not gossip. I'm sure we'll see lots of gossip about how exactly it happened, there'll be mindless speculation about whether or not it was an accident and so forth. The poor family will be hounded and tormented and denied the one thing they really need, time to grieve, and all in the interest of making the tabloids rich. People might even decry the horrible invasion of privacy while running out to buy the latest red-top with pictures of his grieving family snapped by the tabloid's telephoto-armed hounds. But before things descend to that level, I just want to post my own reflections.

I've always felt a strange connection to Heath Ledger because we're of a very similar age. When I'd see his latest work I'd always find myself thinking, "wow, he's the same age as me, and look what he can do ... wow ... that's real talent". I've also grown up watching his work. When I was young, he was starring in the kids TV I was watching, and as I grew up, he grew up and went on to star in the Films I was watching. I've always liked his work and I think he had a real talent. For him to die so young is a real loss. It's also strange when people your age start dying. That's just not right!

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Dec

11

A Festive Use for an Old DEC Alpha

Filed Under 42 on December 11, 2007 | 3 Comments

Sure, it may be the size of a fridge and have the computing power of a pocket calculator, but there are still things you can use DEC Alpha Server 2100's for. For example, they make great Christmas Tree stands in systems departments :)

Systems XMas Tree

Systems XMas Tree Closeup

Nov

26

Irish Residents – BEWARE of Audible.co.uk

Filed Under 42 on November 26, 2007 | 21 Comments

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Loads of them are sponsored by Audible.com and the service they offer sounds fantastic. With that in mind I went to sign up today. I didn't get far. Firstly the US site told me to go to the UK site instead. Pity, there goes my free book for using a promotional link from a podcast. However, their service did sound good so I did as I was told and went over to the UK store. It let me sign up no problem. Took my credit card details and welcomed me aboard. Unfortunately it all went down-hill from there.
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