Archive for January, 2010
Instead of a header here’s something about Oz
Posted by: | CommentsWasn’t in the mood for firing up the main computer today, scouring flickr for images and photoshopping a new header. Instead, I offer you this quote from Salman Rushdie’s account of the Wizard of Oz. Published by the British Film Institute, this book is a wonderful insight into the much loved classic.
“So Oz finally became home, the imagined world became the actual world, as it does for us all, because the truth is that once we have left our childhoold places and started out to make up our lives, armed only with what we have and are, we understand that the real secret of the ruby slippers is not that ‘there’s no place like home’, but rather that there is no longer any such place as home: except, of course, for the home we make, or the homes that are made for us, in Oz: which is anywhere, and everywhere, except the place from where we began.”
Now, I’m off to see the Wizard.
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In praise of reading
Posted by: | Comments“The person who opens a book acquires wings, and the better that book the higher he flies. He does not travel alone. The writer bears him company, and together they go hand in hand. And that is the purpose of – and the justification for – not only reading but for writing as well. To fly, not alone, but in companionship.”
Hugh Leonard. From the wonderful book ‘The curious mind’. It is a treasure trove of thoughts from 25 years of the RTE radio programme.
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RTE News App for iPhone – How to share articles on Twitter
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RTE released a really nice iPhone App on January 18th for keeping up to date with all the latest news from the rte.ie website. A lot of people will already get their RTE news delivered via RSS feed or browsing the mobile version of the RTE website so it may seem pointless to have a dedicated app for the task. Having installed just yesterday I think it’s a more pleasant viewing experience. The addition of the live news video stream makes it a must have.
One slight oversight is the omission of Twitter as a share option when viewing articles. Email, Reddit, Digg, Facebook, MySpace, Delicious and Stumbleupon are all included. Maybe it was a deliberate decision to exclude Twitter as there are already so many accounts on Twitter with feeds of RTE News articles already. There is a way to Tweet news articles within the app in a slightly roundabout way.
If you have an account Delicious and want to Tweet a link from within the app, just tag the article in Delicious with something like Tweeting or Tweet. Fill in whatever other tags you want to use to bookmark the news item.
You can then use Twitterfeed to send the Tweet for you (you will, of course, need to set up an account there).
Simply create a new feed and enter the details of the RSS feed of your delicious account followed by the Tag you are using on Delicious to Tweet bookmarks.
In my case, I’m using tweeting as the tag to indicate those links I’d like to Tweet. The RSS feed for those tags is:
http://feeds.delicious.com/v2/rss/lecraic/tweeting
Your feed will look very similar, apart from lecraic and tweeting. Replace lecraic with your username and tweeting with the tag you are using to tag news items to be tweeted.
Here is the Twitterfeed configuration screen for reference.
Once all of this has been done, you are set to go. Next time you see an article on the RTE News Now App on your iPhone, just click on Delicious to share the item, and then enter the tweeting tag and save the bookmark. Twitterfeed will pick up the new entry from your Delicious feed and Tweet the link for you.
No doubt there are other ways to accomplish the same task, but as I already use Delicious I found this to be the handiest way for me.
Updated versions of the App may include the Twitter in which case none of this will be necessary. So if you are reading this after January 24th 2010, there may be an update available which has Twitter sharing integrated. If this is the case, none of the above is necessary.
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This week’s header image on le craic
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On a train from Dublin to Belfast.
Image credit robertpaulyoung [cc license]
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Sponsor Michael’s amazing ‘Every breath I take for Haiti’ fundraising initiative
Posted by: | CommentsAn amazing, rambly, vaguely-resembling-a-press-release which I just received into my inbox*
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BREATHTAKING FUNDRAISER FOR HAITI
Ireland – 20th January 2010
Aid organisations in Ireland have praised the response from the Irish public in their appeal for funds to help survivors of the earthquake in Haiti on Tuesday 12th January. 8 days on and people continue to dig deep. The vast majority give until it hurts. They do so in their own quiet way. Nobody needs to shout about their donations or what they are doing to help.
One Irishman, Michael E. Gowan, has come up with a novel way of egging on the last remaining folk who have yet to pick up the phone and call one of the aid agencies to donate a few bob. Mick has decided to breathe for 5 days for Haiti.
“I was sitting in front of the computer monitoring all the chatter on various internet sites about Haiti and to be honest, I was fucking well sick to the back teeth of so many messages about the tragedy. People were sending around links of where to donate. They were sending around pictures and news reports of all the devastation. I just couldn’t take it any more.
There was far too much talk, and not enough action. All of these bleeding hearts fucking up my chillaxed day were obviously just not fucking well donating while they were sending around all these links and what not.”
Mick’s mind went into overtime and after about a week of fevered thinking the idea for the ‘Every breath I take for Haiti’ initiative was born.
“Yes, it has quite a ring to it. I like the name of it. I came up with it myself. I should actually be given a job writing press releases to be honest, I’m that fucking good – I really am. Oh sorry, sorry got distracted there for a minute. Anyway, I am going to BREATHE for the next 5 days solid. In and out, in and out through my lovely lovely lungs. 15 breathes a minute, 900 an hour, 21600 in a day. Over 5 days that’s the best part of 108,000 breaths.
All I’m asking is people to sponsor my breathing for the next 5 days. They can do this by visiting the special donation page I have set up. At the top of the page you can read all about me and my amazing breathing and lung capacity and how awesome breathing is and whether I should stop breathing or not. I also have a Q&A section on the site. One common question people ask is what will do if my breathing is not going to reach the 108,000 breath target. Simple solution – paper bag & bit of the old hyperventilating will do the trick to get me back on target”
Potential sponsors shouldn’t be put off by the fact that Mick is asking you to sponsor something that requires no sacrifice or effort like running a marathon or fasting for 24 hours or climbing a mountain or swimming a river or having a chest wax or anything like that.
“That shouldn’t put people off at all. It’s not unreasonable to ask for sponsorship and give nothing in return for that sponsorship. It’s all in a good cause and if anyone should question this they can just FUCK OFF. I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow them right down. How FUCKING dare they question the great Michael E. Gowan. “
Michael’s website is open for donation now at www.icantbelieveitsontwitter.ie
END
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* May or may not be true.
Any articles/blog posts/photos/stuff of interest I could blog about here ? Send the link direct to my iPhone now
