Inside View from Ireland

Technorati Noise

BOARDS.ie -- In one fell swoop, the noise inside the Technorati Irishblogs section just got louder because it looks like everyone with a blog on boards.ie is auto-pinging the Technorati Irishblogs tag. Previously, the section had information only from those people who pinged Technorati directly. Now the boards blogs cacaphony is pinging automatically which means I have to put on my Slashdot goggles to wade through the "Hello World" and daily diatribes. No worries--part of blogging is dealing with the noise and I can always revert to my Bloglines collection to quickly click into the mainstream. At least the images and social bookmarks remain ways to see what's happening in Irishblogs.

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Personalised Google Maps

GOOGLE -- Develop your own location-based Google maps. The Google Maps API lets developers embed Google Maps in their own web pages with JavaScript. You can add overlays to the map (including markers and polylines) and display shadowed "info windows" just like Google Maps. The Maps API is a free beta service, available for any web site that is free to consumers. Google retains the right to put advertising on the map in the future.

iPod on my car radio

KILKENNY -- Since Christmas 2004, I've pumped music from my iPod through my FM radio in the car, at home and in the canteen in college. You don't have to buy an iTrip to push the signal. You do need to know that in Ireland, you're probably doing something illegal when you listen to your iPod through an FM radio. Do you care? If you entertain friends who wear earbuds and you want to share their music with others at your party, there is more tech stuff you should consider from Doc Searls and my social bookmarks to extend your playlist onto other radio devices.

Get backstage at Live 8

SIFRY -- From the One.org blog comes news that bloggers can queue up for one of 10 backstage press passes to each of the following Live 8 concerts: 

• Philadelphia
• Paris
• Rome
• Berlin
• Tokyo.

Plus, Virgin Airlines will fly the Live 8 crew from NYC to Edinburgh and back and up to five bloggers will be given the opportunity to fly to Edinburgh and back with the Live 8 group. However, you must blog the trip AND the start of the G8 summit in Edinburgh. The flight departs from JFK in New York at 1900 on 3 July 2005. The same airline will return the bloggers and strap-hangers back to New York on 7 July. Branson provides accommodation in Edinburgh as well.

More details:

Visit Tate Modern

UPDATE: 43 THINGS -- I went over to 43 Things to see what I'm doing and discovered I haven't been good about setting and sticking to goals. (I didn't have to use 43 Things to discover this fact.) Then I tried out the "blog this" option on one of my goals and watched this post automagically appear.

In mid-September, I want to return to London and visit the Tate Modern from top to bottom. That includes the ticketed exhibitions, the bookshop and at least two of the cafes in the building.

Bono Wants His Hat Back

DUBLIN -- I watched two lads dressed in Stetsons standing behind The Clarence. I think they were making a statement about Bono's missing hat--the one he alleges Lola Cashman took after the Joshua Tree tour ended in Arizona years ago. I have Arizona connections and can testify that Stetsons are a dime a dozen. I'll bring a few back to Ireland the next time I swing through the desert southwest.

Summer Holidays Between the Lines

UNDERWAY -- I am on the tail end of a mailgram generated by four (soon to become six) American students who are backpacking across England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. I've picked up some things between the lines of their journey that will become proficiencies I drill into my first year Media Writing students. Those unsuspecting Irish college students will have the American backpackers to blame.

No More Percs

TEMPLE BAR -- A mainstay of my existence in Temple Bar--the Central Percs coffee shop--is closed forever. U2 and The Clarence wanted the property to expand the hotel with a €35m extension and offered Richard Coffey the right kind of money to vacate. They need the space for 45 more rooms, a spa and a swimming pool. So the coffee grinder, CD player and newly installed broadband link are turned off forever. And with them go a chunk of authentic Temple Bar--westward to County Kildare.

What I did on my summer vacation

PENNSYLVANIA -- Reading my information aggregators gives me all sorts of information about people on their holidays. This morning I discovered that Dennis Jerz and family escaped injury on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when the steering failed on their 13-year old car. Even though the car tumbled into oncoming traffic, no one was killed. A few of the walking wounded checked themselves out of hospital following a period of observation. Holiday travel can be an eventful activity in every country. No amount of travel insurance can erase the memory that follows a roll-over. Mine still lingers, 40 years later.

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Dennis Jerz -- "What I Did on My Summer Vacation"

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The Worst Mistake in History

IASTATE -- In an opinion circulated since 1987, the well-renowned theorist Jared Diamond argues that agriculture is the worst mistake made in the history of the human race. His essay suggests that we should have remained as hunter-gatherers. The thought has gained social currency on the back of arguments against the European Common Agricultural Policy and remains very relevant in Ireland's goal of accommodating policies that keep the country awash with green tillage.