Damien Mulley

Via the Irish Art Blog is news that Liverpool Registry office is removing heteronormative* art from their walls so as not to offend gays. Fucks sake. Bit overboard if you ask me.

The city, which has over recent years become one of the most gay friendly in Britain, is removing two paintings because they are too associated with straight marriage. One is of a young bride signing the register and the other is of Romeo and Juliet on a swing.

* always wanted to use that silly word.

Chile Presidential Candidates answer questions from blog readers. Another way of conversing with the public. Will we see the parties using blogs before the next election? and using them to actually converse with people and not talk at people without listening, as is the current case.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart). This makes me sad for a few reasons.

Torrent of Sigur Ros on Jools Holland playing hoppípolla and með blóðnasir. Saw them live in the Olympia on Friday night. Sinéad has a review here. Additionally read what memories are swirled up when she listens to them.

Store Pandora streams to your hd.

Girl from tomorrow type bracelet. ‘Embrace “interactive braceletâ€? concept includes LCD display, Bluetooth, camera.’

Ferrari Joyride around Paris.

Table with conveyor belt to get rid of the crap on it.

10 most powerful women in the blogosphere. We need more women in the Irish bloggersphere. We need more non techies too.

Adds to my Christmas wishlist.

Attacking a rival company is bad. Attacking the company by attacking an employees personal blog is really bad. Even if the information was right (which it wasn’t) it was still unprofessional and just plain petty.

Scoble made a post and quickly erased it from his own blog which personally attacked a blogger because of who he worked for. For a guy writing a book on Business Blogging it appears he still doesn’t get some of the lessons to be learned from the book. It reminded me of that Forbes Article. Prime example really. The post was entitled “Google employees push sites that only work with one browser” mirrors are here and here. Since so many of Scoble’s regular readers read him via RSS, they are still going to get a copy of this in their feed. D’oh. In fairness Scoble apologised and if there’s one thing about Scoble it’s that he’s genuine. A good lesson is that once the “Publish” is pressed you simply cannot erase what you said, even when you pull it off your site a few seconds later. There were links before going around about how not to write angry emails and angry forum posts. When I go into rant mode against some fuckwit I write a draft post and leave it for a few hours or even a day and then come back and see do I want to still want to publish it. Stick that in the book Rob.

But if you look at the Google employee’s blog entry he doesn’t condone blocking IE from sites. He stated:

Not to mention a bit violent sounding for people like me who just want to advocate a faster web experience.

and from that Scoble stated:

Google is pushing a single-browser solution. And their employees are advocating putting code on your site that’ll turn off Internet Explorer.

Eh no. He saw the code and reworked it so users could detect IE and then display the Google Firefox Ad. It makes you wonder though if Scoble just let the mask slip this time and these are the real feelings he has for Google. You know what though? Scoble is still a great blogger and a real person. He’s made us all like Microsoft a bit more. Maybe not right now but Google will need their own version of Scoble in a few years time.

Seems my 4th ticket just can’t keep on to an owner. Anyone in the Irish Blogs want a Sigur Ros ticket?

So today ComReg launches Callcosts.ie a website for Irish consumers to check mobile costs. I was asked by one or two journalists for comments on it. Dermott Jewell was on TodayFM last night saying how fantastic the site is as he got a preview. Dermott is also on the ComReg Consumer Panel.

I’ve written about my views on telecom prices in Ireland already. A website is a good idea to help people check tariffs besides having to go to 4 different sites to compare and contrast. However, this “shop around” excuse that people are given is to be quite blunt – bollox. The mobile companies are in a cosy cartel and a website which can only be reached by at most half of the population will not make significant impact. This was put to Jewell last night and he seemed to justify it by saying that at least people will know about the high prices. Right, like we don’t read our bills or go to the local shop and pay out on credit every day.

Here is a comparison of EU countries from a recent ComReg report. Ignore the Switzerland red herring, stuck in there to make Ireland look slightly better. Switzerland is not in the EU.

Click to enlarge.

If you compare Ireland to the EU average we are €17 a month more expensive. €17! A website ain’t going to bring that down. Regulation might. Better and stronger regulation. So while the site is a very good idea, the fact that it is supported by all the mobile companies should start to make you go hmmmm.

Funny thing is the site is being launched by Eddie Hobbs, I wonder what he’ll have to say about the telecoms market in Ireland and how it’s regulated? I also wonder can the website be accessed via WAP, GPRS and 3G?

Via Doc Searls which came via Saintperle which came from Pinko Feminist Hellcat. It is another piece ripping that Forbes article on bloggers into bits. The more the merrier. Loving the sarcasm in it though. The title is brilliant though.

Irish users of del.icio.us pay attention.

Unrelated. No, really! Hello Kitty Stormtrooper.

Irish woman gets top EU job. An Irish woman has been appointed as Secretary General to the European Commission. Well done Catherine. I’m delighted for you. It is well deserved. (That really looked like I know who she is. I have no clue who she is.)