Owner: In Fact, Ah URL:http://www.infactah.com Join Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:31:45 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: An Irish blog that discusses life, the arts, politics and anything that's trivial enough to disseminate to the big InterWeb. Irish Blog Awards nominee in 2006, more fact less fiction. Site statistics:Click here
6th/7th October 2007 2006-10-20 15:26:00 There's a long way to go till early October
next year for Rugby fans. Presuming Ireland can get out of the Rugby World Cup 2007 "group of death" we'll either be playing most likely NZ in Cardiff on the 6th or Italy/Scotland in Stade de France on the 7th in a quarter final. There's a big gulf between those two choices and it hinges on finishing first or second in our group. Anything less than a semi-final performance of note would see us leaving something behind. With an opening group including Argentina and France, nothing more in the line of a fear factor is required for motivation.
This weekend marks the opening of hostilities in true anger for Ireland's international players following an IRFU-pampered "easing" into the 2006/2007 season. It's not an exageration to say this is a season which should be defining for some of Irish sport's few and far between truely world class products. I've no doubt O'Driscoll and O'Connell et al would not be as nauseated by my far sighted para
SeeTickets and Secure Mail Services 2006-10-19 23:23:00 It has been a gig that I've looked forward to for months; the Raconteurs at the Brixton Academy. Alas, my non-attendance tomorrow evening can be attributed directly to the incompetence of Secure
Mail Services
, a licensed postal operator here in the UK, and SeeTickets, a ticket vendor for music events and theatre etc. If you've got the time, bear with me on this ...
On Aug 21st I purchased three tickets for the aforementioned gig at seetickets.com. I arranged for the tickets to be delivered to my work address as I was informed by the SeeTickets site that I might need to sign for them.
Three weeks later and still no sign of these tickets. I rang SeeTickets to enquire about my order and was told that they had been delivered to my work address on Sept 5th at 9.48am but that I should have been the only person who could have signed for them. Not to worry I thought, somebody has signed for them downstairs and they'll be waiting for me in the postroom or at reception. Wrong. Nobody knew any
Playful Sex 2006-10-18 00:52:00 It's a little more than a month since I picked up the best album of 2006, Asobi Seksu's Citrus. This is a dazzling record in my humble opinion and I'm more than a little surprised that it hasn't been mentioned elsewhere on the pages of my musically sagacious comrades of the boggersphere.Asobi Seksu are a four piece New York shoegaze pop outfit and Citrus is their sophomore album. The group hinges on the axis of Yuki Chikudate's keyboard and vocal talents and James Hanna's enthralling guitar. All the members count themselves New Yorkers, however Yuki spent a childhood in California and is second generation Japanese.If you can't feel the synaesthetic warmth immediately from the red and orange album cover, then you'll surely get your sensory wires crossed when Hanna's guitar starts humming along to Yuki's angelic vocals. In a reversal of their original MO Yuki is very much the vocal lead, but Hanna does chip in with some more than useful contributions also. With the sy
Your attention please! Some linkage is in order ... 2006-10-16 23:41:00
MADonna rescues a poor black boy from Africa using a private jet and some bodyguards. Let's hope she doesn't make him wear those white spiral boobs things.
Foreign Direct Investment for Ireland slumps from 2004 figures.
Dublin's Metro newspaper accused of plagiarising Irish blogger's photo.
Act all intelligent and shit - buy a moleskin. I did.
tags:linkage Read more:attention
Would You Love A Monsterman? 2006-10-16 15:59:00 In case it wasn't crystal clear already, I retract everything negative I have ever said about the Eurovision.
Fire, Hot Chick, Monsters, Levitation, Head Crushing. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!?
tags: music
George Galloway on the Late Late Show 2006-10-15 23:02:00 Courtesy of Flickr user Walnut Whippet In awe of this man's oratory skills. Poor old Eamon Delaney, editor of Magill magazine, tries to take on Galloway and embarrassingly fails."Where'd you get this eejit?", says George
after Delaney makes his point from the audience.Stream heretags:gorgeous george Read more:Late Show
You domain 2006-10-15 15:26:00 This post in inspired by the latest Irish blog, beaut.ie ...
Looking up some domain
names on Hosting365.ie. Here are some of the available names you can register with a .ie country code TLD ...
www.cock.iewww.bert.iewww.doolal.iewww.pav.ie
and of course,
www.fann.ie
tags:domain
iPod Flashmob at Liverpool St Station 2006-10-15 01:37:00 Bizarre. An iPod
flashmob descended on Liverpool
St station in London last Wednesday. They call it mobile clubbing.These were the rules ...11TH OCTOBER 200619.24LIVERPOOL STREET STATION---------------------------------------RULES:BRING FAVOURITE DANCE MUSIC AND WALKMAN/IPOD WITH YOUARRIVE AT THE STATION AROUND 19.15NO DANCING BEFORE 19.24SPREAD OUT THROUGH THE WHOLE CONCOURSEAS SOON AS THE CLOCK STRIKES 19.24, DANCE LIKE CRAZYDANCE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER DANCED BEFORETRY NOT TO DANCE IN ONE PLACEDANCE FOR AS LONG AS YOU CANENJOY!-----------------tags:flashmob Read more:Station
Paraskevidekatriaphobia 2006-10-13 13:54:00 I was going to write something today but the paraskevidekatriaphobia is stifling, I think it's time to go back to bed.
Do any of you suffer?
tags:Paraskevidekatriaphobia
The Horror, The Horror 2006-10-11 18:13:00 To be honest, I always knew there was something wrong with Garden State.Get yourself to TrailerMash to see the rest.Http://www.thetrailermash.comAnd if you don't find "Shining" or "West Side Story" trouser-wetting funny then you should check your pulse.
Revenge of the bloggers 2006-10-11 00:36:00 Like Redmum, if I don't post this now I never will ...It was great to meet some of the old reliables (Dick, Damien and Kevin) on Saturday. The story told by Dick about my name still being on a pole in Merrion Square cracked me up. He figured that it's there since the night of the blogging awards last March. I have no recollection of taking off my nametag that night.What a venue for the Blogging the Election conference? The Digital Hub impresses the eye as can be verified by Redmum's photos. First to grace the stage was one-time blogger Richard Delevan, now Business Editor for the Tribune.We had three politicians then speak about their experiences using the medium as a means for vote getting and for reaching the electorate. I was very impressed by Green TD Ciaran Cuffe. It was hard not to warm to his public speaking ability.The headline act for the day was Guido Fawkes. Like so many other political bloggers
, Guido prides himself on tripping up the political establishment. He was resp Read more:Revenge
Paul Hunter 2006-10-09 23:28:00
Paul Hunter
1978 - 2006
I was shocked to learn of the death of Paul Hunter at the age of 27 this evening. He was one of those rarities in the game of snooker, media friendly, camera-loving but with the talent to back it up.
He has left the snooker world with some legendary memories including 3 Masters final 10-9 victories and one of the most memorable matches of the decade for Irish snooker fans in his 17-16 defeat to Ken Doherty in the 2003 World Championship semi-final.
The manner in which he fought such an agressive cancer and continued to play during his treatment was a testament to the character of a man who many liked to knock because of his image and success.
In light of the sporting related despair going around after Cyprusgate, Hunter's tragic illness and death brings some welcome perspective for this sports fan.
"Sex was the last thing on my mind. I just wasn't in the mood. But I had to do something to break the tension. It was a quick session - around 10 minutes o
The Exonerated 2006-10-09 23:25:00 The other night I went along to see 'The Exonerated' at the Liberty Hall Center on Dublin's Eden Quay. The Exonerated is a true story about 6 innocent people wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death in American courts. Each story is as shocking and chilling as the next in what is an utter indictment to the legal system in the land which champions equality and freedom for all. As the play progresses we learn of each persons journey from the initial arrest, to forced confessions, police brutality, judicial incompetence and unlawful detention, culminating in the terrifying wait on death row. The overriding theme is that these are ordinary, mainly poor people who have suffered great injustice at the hands of a state.
Each story is told in a rather unconventional manner with the cast of ten sitting in a row on stage with a spot light shining on them as they speak. The stories interweave, with actors taking on multiple roles. All the monologue and dialogue is that of actual, spo
The Cyprusgate Affair 2006-10-09 16:51:00 You probably thought this was going to be a scathing attack on Stan? I'm not going to do that. Instead, i'd like to focus on TV3's post-match analysis on Saturday evening. The following are quotes from Ronnie Whelan:
On the goal where Kenny failed to come off his line, then belatedly did."it wasn't Paddy Kenny's fault...well...in the end it was".
On the lack of leadership:"leadership comes from everyone".
These are only the comments I can remember. Who needs Apres Match when we have these clowns?
tags:[tagname] Read more:Affair
Can Teflon be reapplied? 2006-10-04 12:37:00 The "Teflon
Taoiseach' has, without doubt, suffered the most bruising two weeks of his political career. While it looks unlikely that he will resign or that the government will disintegrate over this affair, just as a frying pan that has been abused by a spatula, Bertie Ahern's famed Teflon coating has most certainly begun to peel.
Let's briefly examine the facts that have been made available:• Ahern received €50,000+ as a loan from various businessmen in 1993/94, ostensibly for the purpose of paying legal fees arising from his marriage separation. One such cheque was drawn on a company account. Eventually, this weekend past, Ahern paid back the monies in full, with interest.• £8,000 was paid to him as a gift for giving a speech to a group of Irish businessmen in Manchester. Ahern claims this was a private function and he was not acting in his capacity as Minister for Finance.• When Ahern was asked if any of his benefactors received political favours as a result of
Life and death at 37,000 feet 2006-10-03 23:55:00 My evening's digest of television and Internet is definitely not the best preparation for an impending flight on Friday. The BBC's wonderful Horizon show "Survivor's Guide to Plane Crashes" had me rivoted from start to finish.Did you know that ...- 3 million people fly every day- over 90% of crashes have survivors- some planes have airbags- inflating your life jacket before exiting the wreckage can severely hamper your chances of survival- a woman called Mercedes survived a plane. Having a name like that, is it any great surprise?Over at Memex 1.1, the ever-interesting Guardian journo John Naughton points to an article written in the NY Times by one of its reporters who happened to be on the plane that clipped the recently downed Boeing 737 in Brazil.tags:plane crash Read more:death
Deliver Us From Evil 2006-10-03 10:59:00 http://www.deliverusfromevilthemovie.com/tags:film
LDN 2006-10-03 00:15:00
It's amazing how swiftly the seasons decide to take turns. Walking through the Mall this evening and across St James' Park, an unnerving, yet unmistakable cold autumn wind blew into my eyes inducing tears that stretched across to my ears. Last night too, I needed to pull my arms beneath the covers - something I haven't had to do in at least six months.
My walk home takes me from through Piccadilly Circus, down to Waterloo Place, across the Mall, around Westminster Abbey and along the Thames. The route still fascinates me. For some bizarre reason, I still consider myself a tourist here; it's probably due to my relative lack of knowledge of the city.
I pass this preacher every day on my way home.
tags:london
Spamming in Ireland carries no penalties says Data Protection Commissioner 2006-10-23 23:32:00 We all receive emails that we'd prefer didn't make it into our inboxes. God knows, if one was of a sufferer of paranoia, you'd be convinced that it would worth paying to add a few inches and investing in some Nigerian oil scheme.
So when Thinkhouse PR kept sending unwanted emails to Ireland
Offline's email address, Damien Mulley complained to the Data ProtectionCommissioner
requesting that they investigate. According to Thinkhouse PR's Managing Director, the DPC felt compelled to apologise to them for having to investigate this trivial complaint of abuse, made by a blogger of all people.
Meanwhile Damo's post has mysteriously disappeared from Google's SERPs but still appear on Yahoo! and MSN.
The DPC then told the bold kids to behave and never do it again. Unfortunately, they forgot to threaten to cancel playtime the next time it happens. So it seems every bold kid is allowed to pick on one of the small kids and not face the consequences.
Here is the full text of his original Read more:Spamming
, penalties
No compromising on Rules Series 2006-10-27 00:12:00 Written by Francie, a regular In Fact, Ah commenterSo this year's International Rules
series is almost upon us, with the first leg game set for the lights of Galway this Saturday evening. The second leg will be played on Sunday the 5th in Croke Park. It's the first time a series match has been played outside Dublin (and also under flood-lights). Saturday's game is already going down in the history books, albeit for the right reasons.To this commentator, the series is a complete waste of time and harmful for our GAA players. One only has to look at the clip below to witness the punishment these professional AFL players dish out to them. And enjoy doing so at the same time. For them, it was a medium for taking out their anger after a long hard season on innocent little lambs, safe in the knowledge that they would not be reprimanded for doing so.Thankfully, this has changed following on from last year's disgraceful tackles. AFL players can now be disciplined as if it were a normal AFL
Transamerican Fat 2006-11-02 00:17:00 Them old trans fats. Getting an awful doing in the press of late. You mean you don't use Extra Virgin? God be with the days of Frytex. My old grand-aunt, bless her soul, used to use the stuff for anything that needed frying.Thankfully, KFC don't use Frytex nor will they use transfats in their cooking oil come spring 2007. This follows the trend set by some of the other major fat sellers/midriff enhancers who have recently become ab-friendly.If fatty breasts and thighs are not your thing, you should follow the age-old Irish tradition of cooking the heads of animals. Like my old grand-aunt would have said, "waste not, want not".tags:fat
Anticipation of Asthmatic Kitty star's gig has me breathless 2006-11-02 23:07:00
Image used under Creative Commons licence (Kathryn @ Flickr)
Cheesy post title aside, it's fair to say that I'm excited. The anticipation of attending tomorrow night's (Friday 3rd) Sufjan Stevens gig at the Barbican here in London is almost too much to endure. The reviews from Dublin only serve to heighten it.
And it's not the gee-whizz, "he's bringing a full band and wings and giant Santas" that's getting me worked up. It's the army of sweeping songs that he is going to perform for me that's causing this ebullience. He will have to try his hardest to knock Tapes 'n Tapes off the top spot of gigs I've attended this year.
Containing ridiculously long track titles, his albums to date have been numerous and long. There's an argument to be made that the best bits should really be put together in fewer records, but the concept of making albums as opposed to collections of singles is part and parcel of his songwriting philosophy.
Hell, he's even releasing festive 42 songs in Read more:Anticipation
, Kitty
, breathless
Sufjan at The Olympia 2006-11-03 16:31:00 As usual I'm too late with my gig review and half the blogosphere has already ranted on about the full band that he brought with him, the inflatable Supermen, the wings made out of kites and all that, so no point in boring you with those details.
Apart from the theatricals, I was there to hear some quality music from one of the my favourite musicians of the past few years. Compared to previous Read more:Sufjan
, Olympia
Highs and lows 2006-11-05 17:56:00
Hardly a novel idea as others have done this before, but we shall recap on what has been a week full of enjoyable posts in the Irish blogosphere.
- John has a very absorbing
post about his baby daughter connecting with the spiritual world.
- Another John, this time of Fústar, has a great piece on Halloween.
- Arguing for the merits of semiotics is Michael Larkin at Disillusioned Lefty.
On the downside, Sarah Carey has taken it upon herself to tell everyone else what actually happened in Monaghan when five people lost their lives a few weeks ago. She reaches the conclusion, before any inquest has taken place, that Dermot Thornton was to blame for the accident. In a post that she has since taken down, Sarah says
"What is he? Some kind of hero because his dangerous driving killed him and his friends?".
For a blogger to pass an opinion off as fact is disgraceful. For a Sunday Times columnist to do it is unforgiveable. Only when two relatives of the deceased emailed her to complain
Seetickets follow-up 2006-11-06 23:47:00 I may not have had much response from Seetickets regarding my complaint with their atrocious service, but at least someone, or something is listening. Google has been showing my post in the first page of their search results page on the keyword 'seetickets'. Hopefully, potential customers will read about my experience of using their service.Who knows, some other bloggers may even link to this post too?tags:seetickets
State of an un-nation 2006-11-06 23:55:00 If Tony Blair does indeed believe that the death penalty is wrong, why then did he put 600,000 on a very short death row waiting list? If Tony Blair wishes not to be remembered in history as a mass murderer, why did he side with a man now being deserted by conservatives, neocons and conmen who struggle to find an exit strategy of their own?Yesterday, the greatest tyrant to grace the world in which I have lived was condemned to the same fate that befell hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. The execution of Saddam Hussein will be seen as a victory for George Bush but it's a hollow win in the grand scheme of things. Blair and Bush together have managed to do what Hussein could never have imagined in his wildest dreams. Iraq is being carved into three in the most violent of means by Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. In short, it's imploding.It's likely that Hussein's body will be buried at an unmarked location in an Iraqi desert. This burying of a head in the sand was seen last week too Read more:State
, nation
No Rules, No Future 2006-11-07 10:34:00 Written by France, regular commenter and now contributer to the blog.
No rules and no future, this series has to come to an end now. For the GAA, it's time to stop milking the cow and look at the well-being of our GAA stars.
My comments on this farcical series last week have been justified I feel, after Sunday's distasteful showings in front of a packed Croke Park. Many came to see a fight and Read more:Rules
, Future
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