twitter stuff

Some interesting things happening with twitter and other services for it in the last few weeks!

Last week I had a problem, As I was a new UCC Student I didn't know where exactly I was supposed to go for one of my exams. I put to the question out on Twitter, and within an hour or so I've got 2 replies! They didn't see my question thru Twitter, but on my Facebook status! So there you go. Twitter solves problems!



Another cool tool is Twitterfone. Call a local number, say your tweet and a few minutes later it's updated your status! Haven't used it much yet, as no disposable (or any) income to me making phone calls just to update twitter, but in the future I'm sure I will!



Tweetshots, as you can see from the two images above takes someones tweet and turns it into a image and they even give you the option to publish it to your Tumblr or embed it into a post!

And finally, search twitter has gotten way better with Summize. This is a real time search of the twitter, that actually tell you when there is new results and you should reload!

Follow me @darran

sabbatical

A sabbatical (from Greek sabbatikos) is a prolonged hiatus, typically 2 months plus, in the career of an individual taken in order to fulfill some goal.

via Wikipedia

It's been about a half a month already since you last heard from me (no news with that last post either... yet!), and another 3 weeks till my exams are over. Fingers crossed, I'll have somehow achieved a Masters Degree!!

Till then, or whenever I get back here, you can see the odd funny video, image, link, song over on my Tumblr page: darran.tumblr.com

Slán!

D.

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!

10000bc review

Another friend has found himself blogging lately, kinda. Conor has guest posters (Ian and Taidy so far) doing a few reviews over on ConorDeeJayPeeSee.KOOM!

I really liked Ian's review of 10,000 BC:

So anyway one of the pikeys kill a CG mammoth by accident and wins the turd in a jar and all his other pikey buddies hug him in a, way too merry for it to be straight, fashion.

Next step Conor, install LouderVoice!

south park

Ya gotta love South Park. They are taking digital distribution to the next level. They have their entire catalogue of episodes going back 12 seasons available to watch online on their South Park Studio website (and none of this outside the US Region crap either!).

I just watched their latest episode, Canada on Strike. The Canadians want some of that Internet Money, similar situation to the writers strike, so Cartman and co make a video that becomes a huge internet hit. When they go to collect their millions of "theoretical dollars" from the hit, they meet a load of other internet memes; numa numa and tron guy as well as the Star Wars kid!

What I didn't know was the song Butters put online was already up there! See the videos below:

oldest blog in the world

I was looking at my new blog roll on the right and noticed the last blog to be updated was Donncha's Holy Shmoly! 38 Years ago, in 1970!

Does this make it the oldest blog in the world? Or that blogger isn't picking up the date correctly?!

roll call

I've finally gotten around to putting a Blog Roll/Bloglines/Reading List on my side bar. Not many people on it at the moment, but I'm not going to just add all the 230 odd feeds I've subscribed to.

As they are updated and I deem them interesting enough to share (and admit to reading) I'll add them. It's quite easy with Google Reader, I just add the feed to a new folder and by magic, it gets updated on my blog!

I've started with those people I know have put me on their blog roll and will add the rest as they are updated. If you want your blog on the list, chances are I'm already reading your blog and I'll add it when you update, or if you can't wait, send me an email or comment.

google suggests... fail

On searching for "I can't speak French so I let the funky music do the talking" on Google I get a nice Did you mean: suggestion.

I did think the lyrics were "so I let" not "to I get" so I clicked on to see what the results would be.

Fail. They found none!

You would think they would check to see if there was any result before posting a suggestion, making me look like I was wrong!

saint patrick's day

It's Today! Why?

The date of the feast is occasionally moved by church authorities when March 17th falls during Holy Week. This year Holy week starts on the 16th of March, thus the feast be celebrated today on the 15th. Next time March 17th falls during Holy Week is in 2160.

So now you know! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

In other news, I've been here for 3 years now! There will be cake.

free student hosting

Digiweb are offering free hosting and domain name to 3rd Level Students in Ireland.

Show off your creative side with your very own website, create a design portfolio, publish your online photo gallery, develop your own web projects or simply set up your own personalised email address with our great website offer.

Website hosting for 1 year - €48.38
Domain name .com/.net/.org - €8.45
Total Free: €56.83

Sign up here: digiweb.ie/studentoffer

I'm still waiting for my account details to come in. Also make sure you read the terms and conditions!

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!

luxury self catering

This is my entry into the competition to win a €1175 luxury self catering weekend. All I have to do is write this post, mention Luxury Self Catering, link to their website and link to a friend who might be interested. Done, done and done!

I was thinking their criteria for this comptition is quite strange and then as I was pasting in the links it hit me. This is brilliant marketing. This is Search Engine Optimization like none before.

You will get blogs from across the blogosphere linking on that one term and not only that, to their friends website, ensuring the Googlebot won't just pick up the post as an advertisement post. I'm sure Glengarriff Lodge won't be at the bottom of Page 4 of Google search results for luxury self catering as it is now!

I still hope I win! 1175 is a very odd number too!!

future posts

Finally Blogger has gotten off their asses and introduced Scheduled Posts!

I can now set a time in the future I wish my post to be published and when that time comes, it will go live!

Yes, I know WordPress has had this feature a long time, but now the Blogger platform has secured I stay here a little while longer!

P.S. I should be in the Pub when this is Published!

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.

the game

RULE 1: You are playing The Game.
RULE 2: Whenever you think about The Game, you lose.
RULE 3: Loss must be announced.

The objective of The Game is to forget that it exists.

P.S. I lost.

stumbed

Funny Signs - Stumbling
Originally uploaded by luckybuttons76

I've been Stumbled apparently? So I just want to say welcome to all you stumblers out there. I hope you did hurt yourselves!! (Get it?!) And if that wasn't a good enough excuse to hit the button again, I guess you want to stay and have a look around. It's not much, my Life, the Universe and Everything. It's your basic blog! Enjoy :-)

heath

Uncyclopedia is an encyclopedia full of misinformation and utter lies. Or as they say, puts the "psych!" in "encyclopedia". Even they draw the line somewhere!

On the subject of Heath Ledger, there was rumors of him getting the Oscar nod for playing the Joker in the Dark Knight. That would add him to a list of 1 other dead person who received an Oscar! From Wikipedia:

To prepare for the role he lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's posture, voice and psychology. While he initially found it difficult, Ledger was eventually able to generate a voice which did not sound like Jack Nicholson's take on the character in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film. He started a diary, in which he wrote the Joker's thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance.

blog quicker

So lets try something. More posts, more often, but shorter.

Tonight I've made two more RTÉ Twitter bots, RTÉ Irish and World News.

Follow them here:

• RTÉ News: Ireland
• RTÉ News: World

I've also returned to Twitter.

asshole

Another Year, another trip to Clon, another year where nobody knows the right/correct/any rules of asshole. So I have decided I'd do some research.

Asshole is a card game first introduced by Seb. It is usually played once a year, at New Years and has been played for the last 6 years! Over those years the game has transformed into a hybrid of the original and a game of switch. I want to find the original rules we used so in 12 months time, we can have another argument about them. At least I'll have something that represents the original ones!

First stop, wikipedia. It has a page on the game. Its not so bad, the layout is a bit hard to read, it is an article about the game, not how to play it. So the search continued.

Google provided me with a load of pages with different variations of the game, all hard to read and understand. I tried to read through a few of them, they all mostly had the idea, but each was boring and didn't sound like I was getting the complete game. I then remembered one of the words from the original game and threw that into the search query: Waterfall!

I found the complete, concise and easiest to read rules of Asshole. These guys seem to have mastered the game after perfecting it after many attempts. It covers everything from the general rules & special cards to players rank & terms used! It is the closest thing I've found online to match the original game and it looks like it is fun to play too!

• Rules for playing Asshole - 87C Style

I'll be printing out a copy of this for next year.