Inside View from Ireland

Populism Exhibition Fills Out

POPULISM 2005 -- The Populism project continues growing online with a group of artists adding content to an already well-balanced website. Its multinational remit is to formulate concrete spaces for experience, reflection, and discussion linked to a contemporary populism. It brings together artists and essayists.

Irish Yahoo 360

YAHOO -- You can tell something's new because Google hasn't heard of it. At this point in time, there's nothing registered in Google about Irish in 360.Yahoo.com. Power searchers would expand their web search to the general string "360 yahoo" irish where Google finds 104 references. As expected, all of them do not refer to posts inside 360.yahoo.com but when you restrict the search to sites listed from that URL, you get nothing Irish.

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Bonus Link: Bernie Goldbach's Yahoo 360 site.
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Short night sushi

KILKENNY -- I have several late nights ahead of me and wish I could make better sushi--good energy food for my belly. There's only one place to buy sushi in Kilkenny and it's not fresh at night. Alternatively, I would settle for a sushi pillow so I can enjoy some short naps.  The Nigiri pillows (shown and available for $36) measure 14" long, 8" wide and 11" high. Other pillows are bigger and all are handrolled--California Roll, Avocado Roll, and Salmon Roll They come in standard sizes of 12" diameter by 5" height.

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Catalog for The Original Sushi Pillow via Xeni Jardin
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Martin Sheen Irish Degree

GALWAY -- A spokesman for NUI Galway said Martin Sheen would be most welcome to study there. Sheen told The Daily Mail he wanted to finish his education after he retires from acting. "I never got my high school diploma and have always felt a need to address that," he said. Sheen's mother was born in Galway. I wonder if he's up for the rigour of a four-year college education or whether NUI Galway would be flexible enough to grant him experiential credit for his life experiences.

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BBC -- "Sheen offered study place"
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Yahoo 360 Review

YAHOO -- Tens of thousands of people dove into Yahoo 360 late yesterday, resulting in an enormous uptake of a content management system that promises to evolve into one of the most dynamic examples of social networking on offer. Based on the results I have seen come into view after 15 minutes of work by first year multimedia degree students, the system is well-designed for new web authors while incorporating all sorts of hooks that are bound to keep people interested in the online community.

Yahoo 360 Launches Beta

YAHOO -- Yahoo! launched its beta version of Yahoo! 360 today and it's a tight integration of push-style social networking across the Yahoo! properties that uses a Multiply model to take weblogs and Irishblogs to another level on the back of the Yahoo! brand. That's because your 360 view is what you ask for from friends and acquaintances. You can also post blog items, upload pictures, write reviews, vote on music and cross-link to your address book. The service leverages much of the Yahoo! network, bolted onto a simple set of editing tools that lack the sophistication of Typepad Pro or Wordpress. However, it's a blend of technologies that will enhance the credibitility of recommendations viewed on the Yahoo! network, basically increasing the level of traffic to Yahoo! sites.

The first views of Yahoo! 360 are quite impressive: fast to upload stuff but limited in power features. It took me less than five minutes to configure my 360 blog. (Note to self: get a tiny URL redirect.)

Disclosure: I am involved in the Yahoo! 360 programme as http://360.yahoo.com/bgoldbach. I pay to use Yahoo! mail services, have ordered music through Yahoo! Launchcast and depend on several Yahoo! groups for my knowledge management.

Plan your pranks

JWALK -- With April Fool's Day fast approaching, John Walkenbach recommends reading materials that will provide lots of laughs on the day for the family. His top recommendation requires a rubber band and a kitchen sink. "Wait for a moment when the kitchen is empty, and then slip the rubber band over the sink sprayer handle so that it is stuck in the on position. Carefully aim the nozzle so that it sprays out--onto anybody who turns on the faucet."

Other April Fool's Day pranks:

       

               

                    

   

Message in your coffee

ONE OF THE THINGS I enjoyed on my last trip to the States was the advertising around the hot cup collars of coffees--now Starbucks has taken that a step further. Instead of using the cardboard cup clings as  hand-sized billboards, Starbucks is printing messages on the sides of cups. The one in this image is from film critic Roger Ebert: "A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it."

Comments on cups would be an interesting adjunct to the political scene in Ireland--comments from the opinion pages, electoral canvassing and front pages of papers making it onto the sides of coffee cups. The idea has received mixed reviews in the States.

Starbucks calls its campaign "The Way I See It" and it involves quotes from thinkers, authors, athletes and entertainers on the side of your morning latte. The goal, according to the company, is to foster philosophical debate in its 9,000-plus coffeehouses.

The quotes aren't all that inflammatory, though several mirror Starbucks' hallmark tall-grande-venti pretentiousness.

Yahoo Groups have a new look

UPDATE: On a lazy Sunday, I got one request per hour to join the Yahoo Group for Irishblogs even though I sent no invitations. I think this group has legs.

YAHOO -- I like the new look in Yahoo! groups--it's better streamlining of content--but several other reasons bear mentioning because a cluster like Irishblogs might have a sustainable group dynamic if it was a Yahoo group for Irishblogs.

Sunday snippets

KILKENNY -- It's a sunny Easter Sunday the morning after the Irish soccer team threw away easy points in Israel and many of the Irishblogs have taken a weekend away to enjoy a four-day short break. Some interesting stories are making their rounds today as I continue cleaning up my 4BR Kilkenny house for sale.