Via Piaras is Conall McDevitt’s insider experience of the formulation of the Good Friday Agreement. Very much worth a read.
Author Archive
Good Friday Post of the Day
Friday, March 21st, 2008Best Hot Chocolate in Ireland branded so poorly
Friday, March 21st, 2008I bring many people to O’Connaill’s if they’ve never been before. This Cork based chocolatier make the best hot chocolate around and come the good weather (July 22nd – 24th in 2008) they’ll also be doing amazing chocolate milkshakes. They only use couverture chocolate in their products which makes them really nice. So many people (inc Cork natives) don’t know about the O’Connaill’s store on French Church Street in Cork and I often feel they could advertise the place much better by just changing their cups. This is one of the cups they use:
They already have queues out the door most Saturdays but generally that’s because they don’t have enough staff perhaps. They have gorgeous chocolates, amazing hot chocolate and they do nice coffees and other bits and pieces too. But they could use the people that visit them to get word out even more. I wonder if they did something like specially coloured cup tops or even the coffee holders with their name or some design which would get attention, could they spread the word more? Not so much boutique cups and chocs, though they are luxury at a good price but something setting them apart. Or are they happy with the business they currently have?
Imagine a chocolatier where it’s not just the experience of the damned fine chocolate that makes them great but the kick of introducing new people to them too? Imagine any product being able to get customers to do that? Is this what Apple does in a way? Every iPhone buyer seems to be an evangelist, is every Vista buyer? Apart from an awesome product, how do you make it easy for a customer to be an evangelist for it?
Stephen Ireland’s motor
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Gavin
Thursday, March 20th, 2008Tom Kitt let out a yelp or depending on your view, a swipe at bloggers recently. I think perhaps Gavin could be fully or partially to blame for this.
Indeed, this also holds for the democratic processes themselves where simply facilitating those who want to be heard is not good enough where we need to ensure that we are not overly swayed by obsessive bloggers where we have to make sure that those who do not have the time or the inclination to voice their views and opinions in public, can still get continued democratic representation.
He’s been hunting down Bertie and Fianna Fail and their associates for a good bit now via his own blog and Public Inquiry too along of course with his Uncle, Anthony. Of late too have been those fantastic VHS to YouTube/Google video conversions with some very embarrassing past utterances from Pee Flynn and the Bertmesiter himself. You can get some of them here.
Kitt’s statement the other day was the closest to “and we would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you pesky kids”. How Scooby. Well done Gavin and Anthony for keeping at it and making a public record of all this Mahon Tribunal stuff.
Fluffy Links – Thursday March 20th 2008
Thursday, March 20th, 2008JazzBiscuit always has something good. G’wan over.
Shane on journo schools. And loadsa comments.
The Nine Billion names of God.
Turn YouTube into RollTube.
Yes. We Rick rolled the Apple Store in Regent Street:
Steve Jobs interviewed in Forbes. Just quotes no opinion from the journo. If that mentality in the company is true than it sounds like an exciting though intense place to work.
DMX doesn’t know who Barack Obama is.
Ambient Skype. Interesting idea. Might be a good idea too for a company with a few small offices around the world.
Does Google really have 76% market share in search in Ireland?
Bye bye Eddie O’Sullivan
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Slán and all that. I got the news from Cathal Garvey on Twitter.
Statement: (via Newstalk)
At the conclusion of the Six Nations Championship and having given my role as National Team Head Coach much consideration, I have come to the decision to step down. In doing so I would like to thank my management team and all the players that I have worked with during my tenure as Irish coach. Their commitment and professionalism in representing their country has been consummate throughout. I would also like to thank the IRFU for their unwavering support of me as coach to the team. In addition, I would like to thank the Irish rugby supporters who have played a huge role in driving the team on to some outstanding performances in recent years. Finally I would like to wish the Irish rugby team and the IRFU every success in the future, in a professional sport that is becoming more demanding and competitive by the day. I will not be making any further comments on this issue for the foreseeable future, and I would ask that the privacy of both myself and my family at this time be respected.
Unsubscribe button in GMail
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008We have the Archive and Report Spam buttons inside GMail. Wouldn’t it be great if Google had an Unsubscribe button too for those emails that come in via Newsletters? Much better than having to go into each email and finding and reading their method of unsubscribing from their mailing lists. Perhaps if Google and Yahoo! and Hotmail came up with a common standard like nofollow it would get a wider adoption?
In return GMail might more strongly ensure these newsletters don’t get marked as spam.
Fluffy links – Wednesday 19th March 2008
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Shotgun! Want Richard to ride with you on your long commute? Richard is looking for the longest commutes in Ireland.
Des talks about the computers for school scam.
Via Johnny. Check out Home. A new film about an Irish Immigrant’s journey in New York.
Via Daithà (way back) is this fontarific talk from Michael Bierut.
Thought police in action. Cops want potential trouble kids to have their DNA tagged.
Apparently the best talk at TED this year. A neurologist talks about her experiences when she suffered a stroke.
The ESB rolling some cable. Or maybe not.
Nice interview with George Clooney, then Esquire showed him two girls, 1 cup. Yeah nice.
Conor O’Neill on the iPhone’s multitasking ability.
Luminescent gravel, I like. Vandals would have fun though.
Never before but now I want to play around with polaroid cameras.
How to get out of Facebook. Also go here.
How new tech and the net aids conspiracy theories.
Bulgarian Music Idol 2 – Mariah Carey – Without You
Twenty’s book
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Was in Hodges Figgis and saw the book at Number 26.
That’s not right though, so made a change:
Better. Now, everyone go and buy it in Eason’s or Waterstone’s or Hodges Figgis
Three Ireland – Not so good customer care?
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008Liam is far too patient with the way they’re screwing him around.