RTE Political Debates 2016

The only thing that I hear from the ‘Debates’ were that Parties were running against Parties. There was no debate about anyone being held responsible for decisions, no one responsible for any outcomes. It’s the Party’s choice. The Party that Failed, the Party that succeeded, the party that brought you X or Y.

We the people are voting on, and for PEOPLE, not parties. We know that Kenny never fulfilled any campaign promises, but it’s not his fault, he was doing what his party wanted. Sinn Fein has killed people in the past, therefore the people who now represent Sinn Fein are all murderers, because Sinn Fein, the party, murdered.

There are criminals who have been CONVICTED dozens of times, that do not get painted as a criminal when next they come to trial, why does ANY party get painted with past party issues, by past party members, when it was the members who committed them.

This lame attempt by our politicians to redirect blame to an anonymous ‘Party’ is another attempt to shed personal responsibility for the outcomes of bad decisions and choices. Like cheap used auto dealer, I have to talk to my party…er manager about that deal.

I hold Kenny & Noonan responsible for Water Charges, and paying off the bond holders, not Fine Gael, and Labor.

But if you want to play party politics, fine, Kenny, Noonan you have lost my vote for ANY Fine Gael politician, Labor too, as you had no guts to stand up for your ‘Party’ position, you also will fail to get a vote.

Eircom eFibre Lies

Again Eircom can’t tell the truth even if that had to the ‘So Called’ up to 70 Mbps download speeds are currently only 26 Mbps about 1/3 what they are claiming, but what the hell it’s better than the ADSL they had, claiming 8 Mbps and delievering 4 Mbps.

UPDATE: just tested this, so maybe there is hope 43/11 not too bad.

Absence of Posts

With the rare exceptions, where my personal kettle boiled over, and small posts were made, I have been mostly absent from posting on this blog. Right in the middle of an election, a topic I usually spout off about, there has been silence. So I owe it to the one or two people that do read what I write.

Over the last two months I have been dealing with some health issues, via twitter, some of you know, but between one surgery and another, time flies, and while I was not intending it, I have joined the ranks of the Cancer survivors worldwide. Trust me this is not a membership you should ever seek to join, and an entirely UN-FUN thing to do.

My discovery has been a series of coincidences that began with some basic investigations of mine to determine if the untreatable cancers that have taken members of my family in recent years was to be my fate also. As it turns out, I am not, but during the testing a preemptive removal of an enlarged appendix, lead to the discovery of a cancer there, and further surgery to perform due diligence to ensure all of the cancer was removed cleanly. As of now, all further testing has been completely clear, and free of further indications of cancer. And now I mend, almost the worst part, and I have a enhanced sympathy of those who have been fighting more dangerous cancers.

My gratitude to my surgeon, the staff and nurses at the Bon Secours Hospital. (with the exception of that bed that was trying to kill my back 🙂

Displaying Toys

Conor got a cheap thrill from some of my Amazing Collection of computer Toys that I brought to the BarCampCork III meet up. I was more than happy to bring them out for an airing, although my back, and Walter’s will be thanking us later for our efforts. I would definitely offer (like in free beer) the collection to any group who would display, preserve and teach the history of these (and other) machines from my collection. And I support Conor’s idea of a computer/science/technology museum in Cork. After all, just because the UCC Computer Science Department refused the offer, doesn’t mean that citizens of The Republic of Cork should be denied the gift.


Antique_computers_Bar_CampIII

UPDATE: IS this going to be opportunity to have a Museum Cork Science Park

Free Beer, not a good advertising campaign

In the area of advertising, outside of posting nude pictures of celebrities and offering Free Beer I’m out of my league. When I talked about my new projects to the Open Coffee Cork gang, I got what I thought was pleasant interest. But outside of the amusing use of my @querynetTwitterBot asking about jaegerbombs, no one else bothered to visit my projects.

I have been seeking any feedback on Idea Forecasting, Query-The.net (@querynet) and fleetingthoght.com (@fleetthoughts) but if I can’t get a reaction from a more or less friendly crowd, it’s unlikely to get much of a reception from anyone else.

The Tao of IT problem solving

At the Cork Open Coffee today there was discussion about how the University of Cork could be utilized to solve real world business problems, with a counterpoint that the University also was a resource for IP that was underutilized or not exploited at all. Answers without questions that had been explored and solved, but not yet marketed and deployed. And I thought of how that could happen.

I have always been boring, in most conversations I almost never initiate a subject, but I can always contribute (read; shoot my mouth off). This is true in my IT skills. I know many things, but I don’t create many new things, but I can solve most puzzles and resolve problems. And in reviewing them, I find it’s more to do with not having an agenda, or operating under a set of predefined solutions. I examine the issue, then produce an alternative resolution. I become creative in my solutions, I invent extraordinary resolutions. I remain empty, of any preconceived notion of a solution (not empty of ego mind you) but I exploit the Tao of the problem. Hence I don’t project a topic of conversation, or add a new project, or imagine anything extraordinary until I have a problem to solve.

This was my dilemma about the university folks, creating answers, where there were no questions (yet?). Applications, without anywhere to apply them. For me, IT problems ARE the mother of invention.

The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.

Cork Cliques

One of the first things I had heard about Co. Cork is the Cliquish nature of Cork. Everyone is always saying Cork is a small place, but when you are out in Cork, you are out forever. There are no open doors here, and no friendship extended. If I and my wife were not already rather private and reclusive, Cork would surely make us very lonely, and she grew up here. We have many times the friends online than we have in the whole of the Cork. Still it bugs me, but efforts to extend our circle have been proving fruitless and a waste of time as exampled in my last post.

it@Cork are Elitist Snobs!

I just got rejected from a it@Cork meeting. Which reads;

Hello Rxxxxxxx,
Thank you for your interest in it@cork however only staff of member companies can attend the AGM.
Regards,
Alison

Axxxx Rxxxxx
Events and Marketing Executive
it@cork
Work days: Monday – Wednesday
Tel: +353 21 2307076 Fax: +353 21 2307046
Email: xxxxx@itcork.ie
Web: www.itcork.ie
Blog: http://blog.itcork.ie

Unfortunately that’s not what it said when I registered to attend. As seen in the following Google Cache page;


Interesting how things have changed without an apology, (see below) The internet never forgets.


Settling back into Cork

Sunday, and I’m not back on the road to Dublin, I am now configured to work half time for my employer in Dublin rather than a full redundancy. The concession is, I get to work from home, and while this is not the ideal, it should keep us in beer money through this recession. Besides I could use the rest. The job never did require my presence in the office, it’s was only a vast empire of personnel from the perspective of management. I never touched any of the hardware, nothing I did in the office couldn’t be accomplished from anywhere on the planet. I was just another gopher popping out of the cubicle to reinforce the illusion of power. Long live VPN and the internet 😉

Review of Lemongrass Restaurant Ballincollig

Where not to eat in Ballincollig

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to eat good food, and it shows. So it comes with some regret that I have found some place where I will not return. One of the things I’m fond of in Irish restaurants in general is the leisurely way you can dine. The Lemongrass in Ballincollig is not such a place. Having been to the Lemongrass in Maynooth I was looking forward to a nice dinner, and as we were led through an over crowded floor, we were at first impressed with the decor.

But there began the feeling of being rushed along, the waitress was prompt and was anxious to take our orders after only a brief glance at the menu. I choose the Sizzling Peking Duck as I enjoy spicy food and a beer. We were amazed at how quickly the food arrived, ahead of the beers. And then began my first disappointment perhaps not being familiar with duck in general, I was immediately struck by the smell of cooked feathers, not a pleasant aroma. This followed by the heavy layers of skin and fat on the bits of meat put me off eating most of them, at least they did not taste of feathers, but the dish suffered from the thick cornstarch sauce which lacked any serious spicy elements, very disappointing. This was the least authentic tasting ‘Asian’ food I had ever tasted.

So if you like being rushed into eating nondescript ‘Asian’ food and quickly rotated through like an American Restaurant this is the place.

For real Thai food in Ballincollig, I suggest the Banna Thai Restaurant across from the Movie theater. At least you will not be disappointed with the food, service or the quiet leisurely dining you will find there.

Rated 1/5 on Jun 22 2007 by Branedy
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A green road to Cork.

Having driven the Cork to Dublin (or Dublin to Cork road take your pick) more than a few times, I realize that the upcoming Motorway while making the trip faster, it will make it more dangerous, boring and expensive. It will be faster, burn up more gas, and toll payments, wear out my car faster, and cause accidents by drunks, boy racers and road fatigue.

But there is another cost, and this one is a big unknown, Lifestyles of the communities along the old road.

In many ways, the towns along the way make a living from the traffic, but in a more ethereal way the motorway will disconnect each community along the way from each other, and the people traveling past them. It will erode the distributed population, and create a conduit to increased centralization in Dublin.

Having grown up in the Central U.S. I know that the era of the superhighway pretty much destroyed small town america. In a real way the world passed them by, slowly draining away the youth, and futures of small towns. One more nail in the coffin of Ireland that was, one more notch in the handle of globalization.

And you know, I’m going to miss the view.

Headhunters and Monster.ie

If you have ever wondered how it feels to be a wounded deer amongst a pack of wolves? I now know, having posted my CV on monster.ie, and having ticked the ‘Public’ button with the expectation that some reputable employer might contact me, no less that eleven ‘headhunters’ have contacted me in the past week. And at first it feels good to be wanted, it has soon turned into a feeling of being a piece of meat being sold quickly to make a profit, before the ‘sell by’ date.

The only time I’ve been placed by a headhunter, it turned out to be my worst job to date. And I should remember this, but I continue to have to relearn this lesson. But as some of you know, I have very few contacts here in Ireland, and most of the jobs I found in the States came from contacts I had, or, believe it or not, my reputation, neither of which I have here.

Here in Ireland, job posting in the paper appear to be bare legal requirements rather than open positions that have been filled by preselected candidates or have requirements that require 5 years experience in a technology that has only been available for 3 years posted by HR people who don’t know a twit about what the job requirements really are.

The reality is that I would take a job in Cork at half the salary I make in Dublin (€ 60K) just to work back in Cork. Damn the fancy titles, IT ditch-digger would be fine, well, maybe but you get my drift, it’s just not worth the money to be working in Dublin. There is no other way to say it, working in Dublin sucks!

But Cork seems to be very ‘Cliquish’ and me having no contacts here is proving problematic. But I’ll bite the bullet and keep trying, the sun will shine in Cork someday, and so will I.