James Galvin

It’s that time of the year again - time to vote for your buddies in the Net Visionary Awards. The question on everybody’s lips: “How do Jacobs get the fig” “Whom should I vote for in all of those other categories?”. Even the all-knowing Michele is struggling with that one.

As for the “Best Online Banking Service”, Bank of Ireland’s 365 Online is the only one I’ve used and it is not quite painfully bad, so that’s a no-brainer. Congrats, BOI.

In the web designer category, it has to be Darren Murphy, because he’s the only one who links to me on his blog. A close second-place goes to Alan, because I’ve actually seen some of the work he’s done and it’s very good.

The real decision now is, do I randomly select my votes in the other categories, or do I pick the guy with the funniest name? Now who said anything about this being a popularity contest?

With the amount of sports on at the moment, I picked a bad two weeks to go to America. Hundreds of TV channels, including dozens of dedicated sports channels, and 90% of them show nothing but college football.

In a country where 34.5 million people claim Irish heritage, I had expected it to be easier to find a place to watch the games. The Rugby World Cup is relatively easy to come by, since the Ireland games come standard with Setanta. I made it to the Hibernian Pub in Cary, North Carolina, to watch us blindly stumble their way past Namibia, and I’m happy to say that I didn’t go out of my way to watch the Georgia game. There was nowhere within 300 miles that was showing the Euro 2008 qualifier vs Czech Republic… although I gather that may also have been a blessing in disguise.

The one game I could not afford to miss was on today, and I was surprised to find that Napper Tandy’s Irish Pub, in Raleigh, was showing the All Ireland Football Final. We paid $20 each to watch the game, surrounded by Kerry people. What a disaster. All credit to Colm Cooper - he is a class apart. It has been a rough few months for Irish sports, particularly for a Cork person. Hopefully we can show some spark against France on Friday.

The one stop shop for Irish politics on the web has just been relaunched . How it works: just install this plugin on your Wordpress site and it will automatically link every time you mention an irish politician. I like the way it brings together so many different perspectives. Politics in Ireland posts whatever the bloggers are saying, so any apparent bias stems from the consensus of the blogosphere.

I had heard bits and pieces about somebody selling a vote for the Irish senate on eBay, and was surprised to see the coverage that it got in the Irish Times today.

Dan was disgusted:

I recognise that for a great portion of people the Seanad and all who sail in it are something of a joke, but the right to vote is a pretty basic idea that I would expect every citizen to have some respect for. I’m genuinely disgusted.

And I agree with him about the right to vote being a pretty basic idea. That is why I am disgusted by the fact that people actually believe this election should be taking seriously - a system that doesn’t allow your average working man to vote, but instead gives a voice to this guy:

All those of you who went to an Institute of Technology for four years, how does it feel to be inferior to him?

As Dan points out, every citizen, especially second class citizens, should respect this man’s right to vote. But seriously forks, I say fair play to dermotthegreat, protest votes making a mockery of this system are exactly whats needed here. But then again, the fact that nobody was even willing to fork out €1.62 for the privilege implies that perhaps the system is already a bit of a joke.

It has been over a year since thousands of French tourists caused havoc on our roads as they emerged like lemmings from Cork airport in their rental cars, driving on the wrong side of the road. As they spilled precariously onto the Kinsale Road dual carriagway, hurtling towards the oncoming traffic (which was already agitated by the chaos of the pre-flyover magic roundabout) they could only think of one thing: fromage. But if they had been able to think of anything else, they would surely have cursed the careless road sign maker who led them astray with explicit instructions to “Conduire a droite”.

As the seasons passed, the rogue sign makers slowly grew in confidence, knowing that the public would soon forget the former destruction. At last, they have returned, as John Finn presents evidence of more of their handiwork on display, down at the train station. Perhaps they are toying with our Dublin visitors who tend to struggle with their reading even when the spelling is correct. I recommend that you take a look at some of John Finn’s other photos, because he has some some great ones in there.

Head over to Irish Election for the latest updates as the votes are being tallied up. The site has really come into its own now, enhanced by technologies like twitter and mySay (allows you to phone up and leave a voicemail which will instantly be available on the web) which are made for times like this. Here are instructions on how to contribute.

Somebody called Stephen gave an update on Cork North Central about an hour ago, which you can listen to online here.

Zoe Conway’s website has been relaunched to complement her new album, the Horses Tail, which has been getting great reviews since it was released a few months back (including a nine out of ten from Hotpress). The album is for sale online, with some more samples on Zoë’s website. Note to all Americans: this would make a great gift for Mother’s Day.

One of the best ways to hinder a cause is to promote it badly. I’ve just cringed through a bunch of videos on Blogorrah here and here urging young people to Rock the Vote. The idea is fair enough, and an initiative like Rock the Vote is an essential weapon in the war against apathy. However, these “celebrity” videos are so far off the mark that it hurts. I was planning on voting in this election, but after seeing none other than LOUIS WALSH encouraging me to do so, I have changed my mind.

The reaction around the place has been negative, to put it mildly.

Twenty Major

“Shove the vote up your hole”

Jim Carroll:

“Are young voters so dumb that they need sideburned singer-songwriters, lead singers of flop Dublin bands and devilish pop managers to remind them to vote?”

Adam:

The PR people that came up with this shite should be shot (along with most of the rest of them)”

Paul Campbell:

It’s a bit cringe-y

Maman Poulet:

Ryan Tubridy Rocking the Vote? I rest my case!

In fact, the only positive response I came across was Christine Bohan’s scintillating praise, declaring that the campaign is “kinda funny, gets the message across and it’s not nearly as cringey as you’d imagine.”

Unless I have got the wrong idea entirely about Irish people, the only young people that this will impress are under 13, and thankfully not eligible to vote. There was a lot of money put into this campaign, and I find it worrying, bordering on insulting, that they believe we can be seduced by the likes of Ronan Keating making the rock hand-sign. On the bright side, at least Marty Whelan/Linda Martin/Derek Mooney didn’t make an appearance.

Most people laugh cynically when I say that I am not a geek. I have never seen Battlestar Galactica, I’m no good at electronics, and I don’t even know where that “smoke me a kipper” quote comes from. They just retort with the cruel wisdom: “any true geek is in denial”. It stings because despite my best efforts, I know who CmdrTaco is.

Adam has thrown down the gauntlet for those of us who know dopefish from blowfish: a geek table quiz. The proposal is just at interest-check stage, so if you think that you have what it takes to be the alpha geek, then leave a comment on Adam’s notablog. I’ll be there if its in Cork.

RTE notes that new Census of Population figures published today have ordained six new large towns. Any Cork people who were confused last year by the city’s official decrease in population will not be surprised by the fact that three of the “new major towns” are within 25mins drive from Cork City.

By now, most people acknowledge that the population figure associated with the city of Cork is very misleading, since the official boundry of the city is too tight. With no room for expansion in the city centre, the inner suburbs have been packed in recent years, and now the CSO acknowledges the same trend slightly further afield. What perks will this glorious new title bring to Cobh, Mallow, and Midleton? I don’t know, but word on the street is that the locals are expecting a shipment of white runners and Nissan Micra body kits.