irish voting problem

I have a couple of issues with the way transfers are handled in Ireland.

The main problem I have is the way the surplus votes are transfer based on those last received pile of votes.

This leads to a random selection and not proportional representation at all. If we continue to use this method we need to change the name.

I found a very interesting paper on the Mathematical Aspects of the Irish Election that pointed out these problems and I'll attempt to visualise it as best I can.

Scenario 1
3 seater constituency, 39,996 votes and a quota of 10,000. And 5 candidates running.

The boxes are opened and the first count:



We know Dennis is VERY popular. So popular he has 2nd preference votes from ALL of Albert, Barry and Cian voters (28,990). The only people who don't like Dennis are Evan voters (2,006). They all voted exactly the same with Albert, Barry and Cian as 2nd, 3rd and 4th preferences.

Evan is eliminated and votes redistributed for the second count.



Albert is elected! Looking at his 12,000 votes, next preference candidates are Dennis (9,994 votes/83%) and Barry (2,006 votes/17%).

Count 3 and surplus of 2,000 is redistributed, but it is taken from the top, meaning that only the top 2,000 votes (which came from Evan) are redistributed, all going to Barry.



Barry is elected! Looking at his 11,001 votes, next preference candidates are Dennis (9,001 votes/81%) and Cian (2,000 votes/18%).

Count 4 and surplus of 1,001 is redistributed, but it is taken from the top, meaning that only the top 1,001 votes (which came from Albert, which came from Evan) are redistributed, all going to Cian.



Now Cian is elected and all 3 seats filled.

Having received the most 1st preference votes, and the vast majority of 2nd preference votes from the 3 runners up in count 1, Dennis fails to get elected.

Scenario 2
3 seater constituency, 19,996 votes and a quota of 5,000. And 4 candidates running.

The boxes are opened and the first count and John is elected on first count.



We know Paul is popular, almost reaching the quota.

Looking at John votes, the majority of 2nd preference votes go to George and Ringo for 3rd preference. But there is some support for Paul, giving him their 2nd vote. Perhaps 5% (300 votes) but they are hidden somewhere in pile of 6,000 votes.

Second count and the 1,000 surplus votes are taken from John's top pile and redistributed. Since this is random and just happen to be the last votes counted, these contain no votes for Paul.



George is elected! Like last time, the surplus of 501 votes, which came from John are distributed and all go to Ringo for count 3.



And Ringo is elected and all seats filled.

If you're interested in this I urge you to read the paper and question is this way of voting unacceptable?

hbo nordic

I've been a HBO Nordic subscriber for the past year, but I'm going to stop today.

According to their website (only those in Nordic region can view this), they support the following:
1. Computer 
- PC and Mac only
2. Tablet/Mobile 
- iOS and Android only (I'm grouping these together since the lines between tablet and mobile are blurred anyway)
3. TV (three weak options)
- HBO is available as a 24 hour linear channel. More information will follow. (I've been waiting over a year, still no infomation)
- A small set of Smart TVs - Samsung TV's Series 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (2011-2014)
- Running a HDMI Cable from your computer (I think this just confirms you can watch HBO Nordic on a computer)
4. Xbox 360

That is it.

They don't support any modern way of viewing TV.

• No Chromecast Support
• No Apple TV* Support
• No Playstation 3 Support
• No Playstation 4 Support
• No Xbox One Support

*While they have support for AirPlay Mirroring on Apple TV, it is far from ideal. You have to play the show on your device and then mirror it to the Apple TV. This drains the battery on your device since it is playing on it and then displaying it on screen. I've also tested it and there is some lag, and blurred lines. It isn't a enjoyable viewing experience.

The only way I can watch HBO Nordic is on my Xbox 360. Even then I run into this problem:

@HBOse sick of seeing this each time try to play anything. Have to retry a couple of times to get it to play. pic.twitter.com/of3qCOsQJg
— Darran Crowley (@darran) March 2, 2014

I've been told many times I have to crawl under the TV where all the plugs are, unplug my Xbox, wait and replug it. It works sometimes, and other times it doesn't. What it always does it return back to the same Video Player Error screen after I finish an episode.

The year is 2015. It is a lot to ask for some proper device support? I can watch Netflix on every device mentioned in this post with no problems, as well as my LG Smart TV.

Finally, I have a post from February 2013 on the HBO Nordic Facebook page:

"Hela AirPlay" which was translated here as "All the AirPlay", I would understand as Full AirPlay still isn't here. Still only the mirroring option. Still no PS3 option, I guess their talks with Sony didn't go too well.

There are far better ways I can view HBO Nordics content, I tried the legitimate route, but they are forcing me to seek other ways to get the content.

sudocrem in sweden

I noticed a post today on Reddit about Sudocrem.

Sudocrem 1931 invented by Dublin pharmacist Thomas Smith. Sure where would we be without it? Every tub of Sudocrem sold worldwide is still made in Baldoyle.

Well holy god! Isn't that great!

That little grey tub that works wonders on nappy rash and is the leading baby cream in both Ireland and the UK was an Irish invention. I wonder if they sell it here in Sweden? I quick search on Apoteket.se for blöjeksem and blöjutslag shows 3 products available for that purpose. None of them Sudocrem.

• Inotyol - 54kr for 50g (432kr for 400g)
• Bepanthen - 55kr for 30g (733kr for 400g)
• Generic brand Babysalva - 49kr for 60g (327kr for 400g)

Inotyol and Bepanthen seem to be the two favourites talking to a few people and looking at some of the forums. 

I put the price per 400g for a reason. The big 400g tub of Sudocrem on Boots.co.uk is currently £6.25 or about 64kr. Go back and look at the price per 400g for the options available here in Sweden.

Now imagine paying over 10 times the price of Sudocrem for something you're going to rub on the arse of a baby.

Welcome to Sweden.

scout doodle

Subject: Not one Scout on your doodle team?
To: proposals@google.com

Greetings,

The worlds largest youth organisation celebrates the Birthday of it's Founder, Lord Baden-Powell today 22nd February. Yet again I notice a non-scouty Doodle on the homepage (sad face)

As I look at the Google homepage every day of the year, I notice all the birthdays, festivals, anniversaries, elections, national and independence days and out of the ordinary days. Last year on this day you celebrated Heinrich Rudolf Hertz 155th Birthday, (fun fact, he was born the same day and year as Baden-Powell) and the only previous doodles to be featured on February 22nd was in 2002, 2006 and 2010 for the Winter Olympics. I'd place a safe bet that on this day next year there will be an Olympic themed doodle on the front of your homepage.

So the Scouting and Guiding community world wide, all 38 million members (not including past members!) in 217 countries will have to wait until at least 2015 for the next available window and a possibility to be celebrated on the worlds most viewed homepage.

I urge you to read up on Baden-Powell, Scouting and Guiding world wide and make a note in your calendar for 2 years time! I know I'll be excited to wake up and see if Scouting will get the celebration and recognition I believe it deserves.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

Kind Regards,

Darran.

microsoft online password length

Last month Microsoft released an App for SkyDrive, however I couldn't log in because my password was longer than 16 characters. I contacted support and their response was:

Would you please change your password to be 16 characters or fewer? That way will help you to sign-in on iOS device successfully. Link

I left it go for a while, put it down to app teething problems. This week however I noticed that to sign into my hotmail or outlook (as it's known as now) I was welcomed to this message:

Microsoft account passwords can contain up to 16 characters. If you've been using a password that has more than 16 characters, enter the first 16.

I had a quick look on the official forums and found this response from a Microsoft Employee:

Windows Live ID passwords have always been limited to 16 characters.  What has changed is the login page now gives you immediate feedback to ensure you understand your password is not more than 16 characters.
To avoid this error message, do not enter more than 16 characters.
We are working on increasing the maximum password length. Unfortunately, for historical reasons, the password validation logic is decentralized across different products, so it's a bigger change than it should be and takes longer to get to market. Link

This is also going to be a problem in Windows 8. So I tried to find an official policy from them on passwords and their length. On the official Microsoft Safety and Security Center, on a page titled: Create strong passwords, it clearly shows an example password 28 characters long: ComplekspasswordsRsafer2011.

So what I want to know is why Microsoft doesn't want us securing our accounts with strong passwords. I stopped password reuse as part of my new years resolution and now use KeePass (syncs with Dropbox/KyPass on iOS/KeePassDroid on Android) to save all my passwords under one strong master password. All my other passwords are 32 characters, Upper, Lower, Digits and special characters.

Speaking of passwords, check out this awesome password tester, and nice master password generator.

TL;DR: Microsoft limiting your password to 16 characters, thus doesn't care about your online security. correct horse battery stable

Edit 2017-04-08: The link to Microsoft's Security Checker is broken as they seem to have taken it down. And if the password tester above is too complex for you, try this one.

new scouts.ie website

Before I begin, this isn't a dig at anyone in particular. This is me talking about Scouting Ireland. I'll also state that I'm not perfect nor is neting I do!

Scouting Ireland relaunched their new Scouts.ie website yesterday. This new website will be the public facing, what's scouts about and how do I join for the public to view and get information. This website has also been finished for the last number of weeks, waiting a whole big unveiling at a Group Leaders conference this weekend. So they should be well prepared for their 16:15 launch, which eventually went live at 16:45ish.

I have seen many new websites go live, been involved in many go lives and even had the pleasure of testing, breaking and proofing website before launch. Standard practice, get people to test and look over your website, usability test etc etc. It seems that there wasn't many people left into the inner circle of testing this new website. I will go through some of the things I came up with on a 30 minute quick look through the site last night:

Typos typos everywhere

I found a total of 25 typos on a website that contains about 30 pages. In no particular order:

1 & 2 - On the National Management Committee page.

3 to 6 - On the Professional Staff page.

7 - On the Parental Information page.

8 & 9 - On the Campsite Locator page.

10 - On the homepage page.

11 & 12 - On the Join Today page.

13 to 15 - On the History of Scouting Ireland page.

16 & 17 - On the One Programme page.

18 - On the Cub Scouts page.

19 - On the Scouts page.

20 & 21 - On the Venture Scouts page. 

22 & 23 - On the Benefits of Join page in the Leaders section. 

24 & 25 - On the Why become a Leader page. 

Broken / Formatting Errors

Here are some of the things that I found didn't work as expected or there was a formatting issue

1. That Huge Banner doesn't link correctly. On the home page it links correctly to Beavers, Cubs and Scouts but click on the Ventures Banner and your directed to Rovers and click on the Rovers links to Leaders. The Leaders Banner is usually the first one that loads and it doesn't link anywhere. Also If you miss the banner, there is no way to go back, you have to wait until it goes around again.

On any section page, for example Venture Scouts, the banner rotates with different Venture Scout images and click to find out more (Why would I want to click when I'm on the page?), but they say Ventures and then link to the other sections, Beavers Cubs etc..

2. Section or Recent News. Every section page, Beavers to Leaders has their own Recent news box, which should contain news for that section. In this example, Cub scout news contains Venture Scout news. There is also a Read more Section News, which should bring you to loads of other Cub Scout News, but it fails and just brings you to the article about Challenge 2010.
Ok, there is a lack of news as the site just launched, but there could be a place holder Cub news for their section?

3. Formatting in Other Links. Again, a little formatting hiccup that should have been picked up straight away.

4. Contact Page. This is perhaps the worst designed page on the site. First off they seem to want to SHOUT about GROUP and CHILD PROTECTION POLICIES. Then there is a nice map, but no location placed on it. Sure National Office is somewhere there, but where? Then I only noticed it out of the corner of my eye, there is a contact form (with an missing image). There was no mention of filling out a form on the page, it is just there!

5. Group Locator page. When you click on a group, you get a nice balloon popping up with details of the group. It is however butt ugly with scroll bars. Format it correctly please!

Final Thoughts

On the design of the site, I think the banner is too big, the duplicating of the groups and ages on the main page takes up far too much space. There is no RSS for the latest news and no social media integration (HUGE opportunity missed here). I believe the correct term is Scouters not Leaders as National Office has drilled up for the past few years, but decided to let it slide on their national website. 

Ok, it is a website for the general public and we will have to wait until next Wednesday to see the amazing my.scouts.ie website for actual members to use. Overall it does its job but there is a lot of really bad mistakes. I've been trying to look at it in the mind of a potential youth member or parent and hopefully it will increase members and raise the profile of Scouting.

worldscouting on twitter

So I created the Twitter Account @WorldScouting in July 2008 and had a custom RSS Feed to update it from January this year with any World Scouting News from the WOSM Website. It gained a number of followers, from the emails I received, over 1,350 Scouters started following the account. I even noticed that there was a link on the official scout.org website to follow them on Twitter, linking to that account.

This evening I received an email from Twitter themselves:

Hi
It has come to our attention that your Twitter account:
http://twitter.com/worldscouting
is in violation of the Twitter Rules:
* Trademark: We reserve the right to reclaim user names on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those user names. Accounts using business names and/or logos to mislead others will be permanently suspended.
In this case "trademark" is the issue. To avoid confusion regarding brand and/or official affiliation with the business/company in question, we've removed your profile from the site.
Thanks,
Twitter Support

That is fair enough... I put my hands up, it was me, I broke the rules. However my issue is the way this happened. Was it a request from WOSM to close the account or did Twitter come across the account themselves and act on their own? Was I given a chance to answer why I did it and if I wanted to transfer ownership over to WOSM?

A few weeks ago I did notice that a new account has been set up as @worldscouting2 and that account seems to have taken the place of my @WorldScouting. This new account has a classy new low resolution JPG instead of a PNG as an avatar giving a poor quality effect. They also don't capitalize their name properly (@worldscouting should be @WorldScouting)

That's only a little thing that annoys me, but the biggest annoyance is the fact that over one thousand people on Twitter who were getting frequent updates and retweeting them (over 140 retweets) now have no idea that the account that they were following does not exist anymore and they have to re-follow the new @WorldScouting to start receiving updates!!

My message to the guys in Geneva, I'm sorry I provided a service that you didn't offer at first. It wouldn't have been very hard to find out who ran the account. A quick tweet with "@worldscouting who runs this" would have gotten a reply from me. I would have happily handed over the log in credentials and you could have kept all the followers, after all I am a good Scout! Instead you went running to cut off the head, losing over 1,350 followers!

(On a side note, this gives me food for thought with all the other accounts I have... might go on a deleting spree!)

my opinion of irish opinions

Over two years ago I signed up for Irish Opinions. They take all your details and areas of interest and in turn send you surveys to complete online. Each survey has an estimated completion time, cut off date and reward. They usually last anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes and the reward is usually from €0.50 to €2.50.

This has been an easy deal with the amount of surveys increasing from 1 in 2006, 10 in 2007 to 15 so far this year. I have earned about €40 which I can redeem for HMV, Tesco or Amazon vouchers.

The last few surveys had really annoyed me. I got one this morning that was the final straw!

I received an email as usual telling me there was a survey waiting for me. I clicked on the link, nearly as soon as the email appeared in my inbox. Standard first question pops up; Age and Sex. When I fill it in I get this response.

Thank you for coming through to our survey, unfortunately we already have enough responses for this survey.
We hope to invite you to other surveys in the very near future.
Please wait whilst we register your participation...

This wasn’t the first time this has happened to me, several surveys in the past couple of weeks I didn’t fit the criteria or the quota was already reached. I fired off an email to them asking why they sent me a survey they knew I wouldn’t be able to complete due my age and sex (which they already know). I was fobbed of with a generic reply about sometimes the quota is reached on a survey.

I’m fed up with them wasting my time asking me to do surveys that they would know I can’t complete if they looked at the details and surveys about myself I’ve filled out.

I have decided to cash in my rewards and just stop. Once I receive them I’ll be closing my account. Thanks for Isabel… if that is your real name!

P.S. I sometimes lied on those surveys when they got too long and I just wanted to finish!

open letter to o2

Dear O2 Ireland,

I'm a long time customer of Vodafone, for at least the last 9 years. I've also only had 1 brand of phone, Nokia. I have been a loyal customer to both companies.

Now since you got your monopoly on the iPhone here in Paddy taxed Ireland, and I really want one, the only option for me is to abandon the two companies that have served me well for the last decade.

For the last 2 out of the 11 weeks that the new iPhone has been on sale I have been checking your website for the opportunity to purchase one. Needless to say I haven't been able to as you know well, they are all sold out.

I don't want to hear your beef with Apple and their supply, I do know they are mighty pissed with your rediclous tariffs too and there is no one to blame for that. And I am aware that you will be changing them after Christmas, after all how can Apple target business accounts when faced with the options, a Blackberry easily out matches an iPhone on value!

You have me, a customer who is willing to abandon ship and move networks for something you fought hard to gain exclusive rights to (did ye really have to work so hard on this considering the deal was in the bag once O2 UK got it). Yet, after 11 weeks with the phone on the market, I'm here writing this letter explaining my frustration.

From Wednesday, if there is not any news on your website (last updated nearly 2 weeks ago) I will have no choice but to try and buy an iPhone online, get it unlocked and stay with Vodafone for several more years.

If you loose potential customers like me one at a time and don't care if you do. I guess I'll be glad I join your Company. Hopefully that's not the case..

Kind Regards,

Darran :-)

P.S. I know I won't hear anything from you on this.. but wouldn't it be nice if someone dropped me an email..

am * dam

Just back from Amsterdam and I had a good time!

You can fly into Amsterdam with AerLingus from Dublin or Cork, but it was cheaper for me to get a Ryanair flight to and from Dublin than pay the huge price for the Cork flight. I've also restored my loyalty and faith in Ryanair. AerLingus are a bunch of hippies. They can't have it both ways, low fairs and high quality reputation. Has anyone been on an AerLingus flight that was on time?

So anyway we stayed in two different Hostels for the week.
De Lantaerne
This was right in the heart of the popular Leidseplein location, great for partying and bars. Be warned tho, to get to our room (which was a box, but did it's job) on the 4th floor, we had to walk up and down 88 steps!
Y Boulevard Hotel
Once we got tired of walking up and down those steps we moved to this Hotel, which was closer to central station and a nicer friendlier hotel, not to mention a way nicer breakfast! Nice and quite compared to the last one.

There is loads of Museums to keep ya occupied, but be warned about the Van Gogh Museum, he decided to become a painter at the age of 27 and then only did 10 years work before killing himself. Didn't think he deserved a whole Museum dedicated to himself! Also the Museum of Bags and Purses completely fail to mention Scottish sporrans at all!

My final gripe with the city is a meal we went out for, seeing this sign:

Yet after ordering my meal (of spare ribs with fries and salad) I got charged €17 for the ribs! I questioned it and was told basically since I didn't order it off the special menu, I had to pay the full amount! JERKS! So be warned, avoid Argentinos Restaurant just off Dam Square!

So I should put putting up more photos on Flickr, but I have stuff to do now. Off to National Council this weekend I think to decide what kind of Programme we will be offering to our youth members!

20 pixels

So this is the story:
1. I got this Private Message yesterday from one of the Moderators (name removed) on the Scouting Ireland Chat Forum:

Hey Ablaze

Sorry to inform you that your signature can only have 1 image in it at a time. Can you please change it at your earliest convenience.

Thank you

<--->
Mod Squad

Here is the signature they were talking about.

My usual signature is the ABLAZE that changes each letter on a new page load, and because of the Jamboree I added a countdown timer to the Big Day. (It's going to be great... apparently!)
2. So I replied:

Hi <--->,
From the Site rules:

Quote:
# Maximum image width: 400 pixels
# Maximum image height: 200 pixels

Note: The maximum image file size, width and height are determined from the combined number of images in the signature.

The two images in my signature are 420 x 134. I know that it is 20 pixels too wide, but after a bit of looking at a few of the other members signatures, I thought that wouldn't be a problem. Plus 20 pixels is a very small size.

Let me know if you still have a problem.

Yours in Scouting,
Darran.

3. I got this reply back later back (including a misspelling of my name):

Hi Darren

Thanks for the correction, I must admit I didnt look into before I pm'd you, we are currently asking all members to correct their sigs if they are not within the limits so if you could please make it so it fits within the rules.

Thanks

4. They admit they didn't even know the rules until I looked them up! They were asking me to correct my signature without knowing what to correct it to! So I replied again:

You really want me to change it because it is 20 pixels too wide?
20 pixels is this wide:

YiS,
Darran.

5. And I got this:

Darran

Rules are rules im afraid, I know it may only look tiny but if you wouldnt mind.

Thanks
<--->

6. At this point I'm getting kinda annoyed. This was never mentioned before, and it was not as easy as just resizing the images, I couldn't! I sent this off:

Hi <--->,

I actually would mind. I cannot change the image as both pictures are generated on page load on another website. The countdown timer wouldn't work otherwise.

I kinda like it. In just over 4 months it will be gone!

Darran.

7. I got this reply today:

Ablaze

Your signature is in breach of forum rules, I have spoken to other moderators regarding this issue and we have all agreed that your signature should be changed to comply with Site Rules. Please see below quotes from the site rules regarding signatures and moderators decisions. If you do not comply with these rules the Admin team can change your signature so it does comply. If you have any issues with this you can contact any of the Mod Squad or Admin Team.

Quote:
2) Images, Links and Signatures
[[Text from Site rules already quoted above]]

Thanks again
<--->
Mod Squad

I am kinda pissed now, this moderator reminds me far too much of Meitheal Staff.
They already know my name, as they have called me by it before.
They also know I know the site rules, I have quoted them already for their benefit (which they admitted they didn't look at before they questioned me)

So now I've just decided to make a new signature. 400 by 200 pixels! Hope they are Happy.


Maybe that's how you've found this website? Am I over-reacting? Why not leave a comment?

travel thoughts

Here are some thought and observations from my recent trip to Sweden:
Ryanair:

• It is impossible to hear announcements on board. They always seem to have 4 stewards working, usually 2 native English speakers and 2 non-native. The non-native English speakers will do all the talking into the PA system making it nearly impossible to understand their thick eastern European or Russian (I'm certain it was Russian, he looked like he was with the KGB!)
• If you dress up like a pilot you get free food. Wear a white shirt with epaulets and a ID badge. Sit either in the 1st row or the emergency exits in the middle. Introduce yourself as you board the plane. Always say your new. Then when it comes time for the food trolley to come around, order something to drink and eat and offer to pay with not enough money. They guy I was sitting next to ordered a cappuccino (€2.95) and a slice of pizza (€4) and offered to pay with a fiver. He got his meal for free! Altho he did spill the cappuccino all over his shirt and had to go change! :-)
• They love flight change emails. These are emails they send to inform you that they will be leaving 30 minutes earlier than when you booked the flight. I've received seven so far (I got another one this morning), I even got one an hour before boarding my flight! I wonder when it will stop.
  

Dublin Airport:

• The Secret Door. When flying out to Dublin on a domestic flight to somewhere in the Republic of Ireland, there is another door to security you can go through. This will cut at least 5 minutes or 10 at busy times queuing up to go through security. It is just to the left of the main queue, manned by one person who will check your boarding card. Handy to know!

MAXroam:

• Texts aren't cheap. It was my first outing with my MAXroam sim. I put a message on my Irish mobile number, if people needed me, try me on my MAXroam number. The thing was everyone knew I was going away, no one needed to ring me! I do communicate a lot through texts on the other hand. On my Vodafone sim it was €0.29 to send a text, and it was €0.08 more expensive to send it on my MAXroam sim.
  
• Saying all this I could have saved about €0.04/min to receive or anything from €0.09-0.20/min to make a call.
• It didn't work out too well for me in Sweden. The Vodafone Group are over there making sure they keep costs down for their users. I'm sure in another country the pros would outweigh the cons. I really need to find a dual sim phone for trips!

irish jamboree sign and logo

In true Irish fashion, news came in today of the Jamboree Sign was unveiled on site in Punchestown. The fact this news is over 2 weeks old doesn't bother me, there is something in the photo that annoys me even more!

As you can see from the photo, there is our amazing Camp Chief Christy (where is my kneckerchief) McCann and the new sign.

So now anyone attending any event in Punchestown will see that Jamboree 2008 is coming to Punchestown in August 2008.

Our new National Emblem isn't on this sign, which is a shame. So it will cost even more money to take down that sign and replace it with the correct logo.

1st Draft of the Logo

2nd Draft of the Logo

3rd (and apparently final) Draft of the Logo

With it completely over booked, not enough staff to do all the jobs, and the international guests coming to experience an Irish Jamboree separated from the Irish ones with their own programme, the word on the street is that it's going to be great... apparently...

UPDATE: As Des points out, it's nothing compared to the Jamborora One!

irishman wins world race

Update: Its Official, see below..Irishman, Damian Foxall and his French team mate Jean-Pierre Dick will sail into Barcelona tonight in the Paprec-Virbac 2 winning the 1st ever Barcelona World Race.

The Barcelona World Race is a new two-handed, non-stop round the world yacht race starting on the 11th November, 2007 [and to be held every four years]. For the first time, this race will see the world's best professional sailors from both solo and fully crewed disciplines coming together to compete against each other in teams of two.

I've been following them since late November, when they were battling for 3rd position. It was great to get an update every day via RSS about accidents, masts breaking, teams dropping out, challenges for 1st position! They have held the lead for a while now, with Hugo Boss nipping at their tails, but tonight they will complete the race by returning to Barcelona, winning the competition.
One thing I must say is that the media attention over the entire race has been poor. Only once I heard an update on the news about how they were getting on, and this was a quite news day over Christmas. This is a shame considering there is an Irishman winning this race! I'm sure there will be loads of press today and tomorrow about our new Hero, now the hard work is over!

UPDATE: Its official:

Updated : 11/2/2008 21:02 GMT

Jean Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall have crossed the finish line at 20h 49.49
GMT in the port of Barcelona and officially are the winners of the first edition of the Barcelona World Race. The ecstatic duo are clearly over the moon, jumping up and down in celebration of an incredible feat - 92 days 8hours 49minutes and 49seconds having covered 28,329 miles non-stop around the world.

my delusional outlet

Found this comic via Nelson's weblog, I liked the analogy!

[Blogs] provide their frustrated creator with the delusional outlet of being a published author, sort of like how the prison warden lets the psychotic inmate scribble "poetry" on the cell wall so he doesn't beat his bunkmate with a toilet seat.

I've also found a way to subscribe to Dilbert and others via RSS! Check out Tapestry Comics! No more emails for me.

On the subject of Dilbert, Boo-urns to Scott Adams for stopping his full RSS feed. Pitty about him, not making as much advertising as he hoped, how about putting ads in his feed?! One way not to win over your readers is to stop your full RSS content feed. I can't believe he is actually crying blogging less because:

Readership of The Dilbert Blog is growing rapidly, but at about the same rate people figure out how to use RSS feeds to get the content without the ads. So there’s no longer a correlation between how hard I work and the ad income I earn. It topped out at “trivial,” even while the audience grew to substantial.

Grow up! Give us full RSS ya cry baby!