Kayaking Vs Drugs (Virtual Communities at work)

I was trying to find my mate's email address today by searching the web, and ended up stumbling across an engaging discussion he was involved in a while back. It is an interesting case of how passionate people can get about different topics and how discussions, forums and communities bring people back to a website again and again....like nectar to the bee.

You have to read down a little bit before it gets good but essentially, the discussion centres around the sponsoring of a 'Kayak Drop off O'Connell Street Bridge' in Dublin, being sponsored by a pharmaceutical company called Novartis. It seems like some of the kayakers had a problem with the "big bad drugs company" sponsoring the event and the discussion went from there. Looks like its one of the most popular threads ever and its nothing to do with kayaking!!
The link to the discussion is http://www.irishfreestyle.com/node/957

I'll have to ask him what the end of the story was and post again.

Ten two letter words of confidence

I was watching The Open Golf Championship yesterday and the commentator alluded to a piece of advice which Butch Harmon recently gave to a golfer. The advice was "If it is to be, it is up to me". I checked around the web this morning and it seems to have been said originally by a guy called William Johnson, of whom there are about 20 famous enough to be on Wikipedia so who knows. Great quote though.

News travels fast...be it true, false or somewhere in between

Back in the 19th Century, Mark Twain said "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes". This quote is remarkably appropriate in this age of the Internet where, as something happens it can be on someone's computer halfway around the world in minutes or even seconds.

The problem arises not necessarily when an action is broadcast or reported on, but when it is broadcast or reported on with bias, prejudice or just out of context. Ironically, Twain also said "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please”, which sometime seems to be the way certain news organisations report certain issues.

Must add a few examples of this.

China - The Experience So Far

I am out in Hangzhou, China lecturing for a few weeks. Then off exploring a few more cities before I return home. All is great here so far. The School of Informatics in the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics have put me up in the modern Xiasha Campus accomodation and have given me a nice suite with a kitchen, washing machine, fridge, living room, leather sofa, computer with speakers etc. Then the bedroom and bathroom are next door in another adjoining room. Happy days.

Most of the cultural difference so far revolve around the food. For starters, nobody warned me that nobody seems to have any English in this region, and that a knife and fork were seemingly never invented here. This can prove difficult when deciphering what is on the menu and then of course, trying to eat it. For example, yesterday's option in the accomodation restaurant was chicken claws in barbeque sauce or fish heads. I went for the vegetarian option. Today I ended up having eel, but didn't realise until I'd eaten it and the chef told me. Well he didn't so much tell me as dragged me over to the fish tanks and pointed to the bucket on the ground where about 50 eels were swimming around. Ended up having pigeon, duck's bill, frog, turtle and a few other delicacies along the way.

There are three Dundalk IT students studying out here for the year and I have met them a few times. They are all getting on really well. Two of them are staying in the apartment lived in by DkIT students from last year. The other guy is across the way in the same apartment block. They seem to be nicely set up with jobs, friends, extra curricular activities etc. Not easy coming out here for a year. Quite daunting actually.

As I head up to Beijing and back down to Shanghai next week I'm sure there'll be more to tell.

Funny Scare

There's a whole load of ones like this on YouTube. Search for 'Scare Tactics', its an American tv programme. Some very funny clips.

Bug found in blog post

Saw this today and thought it was good. Looks good when sent in an email on a white background. Just right-click on the image, save the picture to your computer and attach it in a mail.

New EBay shop in Drogheda

Passed by this shop the other day in Drogheda and had to look twice. I had heard of these before but had never seen one in Ireland or anywhere else on my travels. It will be interesting to see how well it does. I will be calling in to have a chat with the owner when it opens for business next week.