Damien Mulley

Phoarrrrrrrrrrrrr. This looks cool.

Generally I only get free brochures thanks to this blog but today a box arrived with packages of tea, coffee, mixed dried fruit and Macadmaia nuts from the Traidlinks organisation’s Heart of Africa brand. The mixed fruit package is fruity and juicy. Was expecting the kind of dried fruit you’d get in cereal. Don’t think I’ve ever had Macadmaia nuts before, they’re nice and kind of meaty. Not tried the tea or coffee idea.

Anyway fair play to the Traidlinks promoters for sending me a package with no requirements to blog about them or spread the word. I like that. I also like that Traidlinks itself is comprised of successful business people who can provide great advice and contacts for the group. You need experience with ideas like this.

Only thing I seem to not know about this is where these goods can be purchased.

The Horrors – Sheena is a parasite. The newest Chris Cunningham music video. Typically weird and entertaining.

Fun:

Police shoot a guy out of the hand of an attempted suicide.

One side launches missiles that contain ballbearings to inflict as much civilian damage as possible. The other side has kids write messages on the bombs that’ll be dropped over Lebanon.

Alienware backpacks.

Seems the “Long Tail” Book is boosting sales of “Naked Conversations” book.

Jeff Jarvis points out that if media outlets broadcasted Bush’s “Yo, Blair .. shit” unconsensored they would have gotten massive fines. Bush’s Government were the ones that brought these new fines in.

Got the below email yesterday advertising two Analytics jobs. Having poker skills is a plus it seems. Is PaddyPowerPoker hiring? These skills make me think a lot of the bloggers in Ireland, especially the ones obsessed about their stats.

Role 1 – Web Analytics Analyst, Business Intelligence Team
Role 2 – Email Marketing Specialist, Business Intelligence Team

Both are permanent roles based in Dublin (South-Side in Cherrywood /Cabinteely). Salaries depend on experience €40,000 up to €70,000 with 20% bonus, Pension and VHI . Please read the job descriptions and apply via the link below.

Web Analytics Analyst, Business Intelligence Team
Main role is to provide web metrics to aid business decision-making within the organization. Candidate will be responsible for analysis of web visitor behavior and making recommendations based on this analysis for improving website design and marketing campaign optimization.

Primary Responsibilites: Daily, weekly and monthly analyses of web marketing campaign activity, including website and e-mail performance and trends and click stream path analysis. Work regarding Web metrics – ranging from report creation to the impact of user. Behavior on key conversion and revenue factors -make recommendations on how to improve campaigns and the site. Conduct ad-hoc traffic analysis of key areas of the site. Develop and evolve web traffic reports . Manage incoming web analytics requests.

Required technical skills: Proficient at analyzing and interpreting data; able to synthesize information from a variety of sources and translate into effective and actionable reports. Should have knowledge of website design and development and their impact on the customer experience. Ability to write and understand SQL queries. Experience with Microsoft Excel. Organizational, verbal, written communication and presentation skills. The ability to develop excellent quantitative, analytical, problem-solving and technical skills. Should have knowledge of website design and development and their impact on the customer experience. Hands on experience with web analysis tools .

Additional skills that are a plus: PHP or SQL or Poker

Email Marketing Specialist, Business Intelligence Team.
The Email Marketing Specialist will plan and execute mass-market email campaigns and optimizing the effectiveness of all email campaigns. The specialist is responsible for all e-mails created and deployed by the marketing department; works with executives and other business intelligence analysts to maximize the profitability of all email campaigns.

Primary Responsibilities: Evaluate evolving technological needs to support a robust email program. Report on key e-mail metrics: deliverability, open rates, click-through rates, and response rates. Strong understanding of Usability, Human Computer Interaction, and Design Guidelines, and optimization of email design. List management. Message creation and management. Form and survey QA testing. A/B split and random group testing. Dynamic content assembly. Trigger based email planning and implementation. Familiarity of email best practices including CAN SPAM compliance.

Additional skills that are a plus: PHP or SQL or Poker

To apply for either role please click here.

Sky gets into the broadband market in the UK today with an expected free broadband offering for it’s big spending TV customers. While they own Easynet they have done nothing with the company since purchasing it in January and today will come the first Sky branded broadband offer. More from the UK Independent. I doubt they’ll have an offering like this in Ireland.

UPDATE:
From James Enck

Top tier product is 16Mbps unlimited usage for £10 per month, with an optional call package for £14 per month. In Q4 of this year Sky will come to the market with PSTN line rental of £9 per month

Bernard mentions that IrishJobs.ie have finally enabled RSS feeds for job searches. Nice one. Some feedback from looking at it first. I think there needs to be more of an explanation than just the RSS logo. Perhaps have a “Save to Bloglines” or “Save search to Newsreader” etc etc bit of text.

Now all they need is a bit of javascript code that allows bloggers to stick a job search window on their blogs to allow blog readers to search for jobs without being on the IrishJobs web property.

When in Dublin this weekend (for the amazing Hedwig gig, review on way) I started listening to a lot of my Tom Waits stuff and really started appreciating him more when it was just me, my iPod and the blur of Dublin crowds. There’s something to be said for locking yourself away from distractions when trying to indulge in music. Or walk in solitude with headphones. Anyway, the song Martha really really stuck out for me and here are the lyrics for us all to sing along to:

Operator, number, please:
it’s been so many years
Will she remember my old voice
while I fight the tears?
Hello, hello there, is this Martha?
this is old Tom Frost,
And I am calling long distance,
don’t worry ’bout the cost.
‘Cause it’s been forty years or more,
now Martha please recall,
Meet me out for coffee,
where we’ll talk about it all.

And those were the days of roses,
poetry and prose and Martha
all I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
we’d packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I feel so much older now,
and you’re much older too,
How’s your husband?
and how’s the kids?
you know that I got married too?
Lucky that you found someone
to make you feel secure,
‘Cause we were all so young and foolish,
now we are mature.

And those were the days of roses,
poetry and prose and Martha
all I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
we’d packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I was always so impulsive,
I guess that I still am,
And all that really mattered then
was that I was a man.
I guess that our being together
was never meant to be.
And Martha, Martha,
I love you can’t you see?

And those were the days of roses,
poetry and prose and Martha
all I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
we’d packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I remember quiet evenings
trembling close to you…

For lunch, our chef has made this and all for just €7:

West Cork Royal Seafood Platter

Fresh poached salmon
Smoked salmon
Marinated Anchovies
Shrimps
Crab Claws
Marinated Mussles
An Oyster
Calamari Provencale
Selection of salads and sauces

UPDATE: Here’s the pic

Joan Burton’s latest blog post actually comes across as human. And look NO CAPITALS IN THE TITLE this time. No pink suit either. Good. I had heard Blogorrah were going to do an exposé on it soon. I had also heard there was going to be some Google Maps mashup where you could see everywhere the suit went. But back to the main story. It’s good to see the personality come through in this blog post. Keep it up Joan! Here’s hoping that Seamus Ryan’s example of how to do it right will influence the other press release Labour blogs to change.

Lastly, quick note to Labour folks who leave comments on my blog all from the same IP inside the Oireachtas or from the Ely Place IP address. If you are going to go to the hassle of making up names of strangers who just happen by my blog and leave supportive comments about labour, at least use anonymous proxies to hide your tracks. That’s what others do! 🙂

EDIT: I spoke too soon. Or maybe I should say: I SPOKE TOO SOON