Archives for the month of: July, 2011

The Irish question

July 31, 2011 //

I love playing around with Google Trends. You can see when particular search terms:”recession”, say, or “bailout”, hit the headlines and world consciousness and how they have fared since then. Here’s a fascinating one, though. I typed “Irish” into Google Trends and I got this profile.

No huge surprise here. Each year, there is a big spike around March 17th for some reason. The bottom graph tells the story of the Irish financial meltdown from 2008 onwards. Curiously, the St. Patrick’s spikes seem to be declining in magnitude each year. Something to worry about, perhaps?

Then I typed in the keyword “Ireland“.

A similar pattern can be seen on the bottom graph, but what is happening in the top graph? St. Patrick’s Day is almost invisible amidst the noise and yet, each year around Christmas, the frequency of “Ireland” as a search term takes a precipitous dip.  I wonder what that is all about?

Incidentally, I can’t quite figure out what the spike in late 2007 was either. Both “Irish” and “Ireland” show a similar increase, and Google isn’t helping me to locate it.

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Categories Ireland

Goodbye Space Shuttle

July 24, 2011 //

As people on Twitter might know, I have a thing about the Space Shuttle. I was my son’s age when the Shuttle first launched itself into space. I gasped with incomprehension when the Challenger exploded. Many times I rushed outside at just the right time to see it fly over. On a few rare occasions, I was one of the first people in Europe to see it just after launch: its jettisoned fuel tank descending below it.

They needed to be retired. The fleet was long past its use-by date. They were using technology from the dawn of the computer age. They were dangerous and ridiculously expensive. The International Space Station has been completed. There are now other ways to send crews and supplies to it. There was no rational reason to extend its lifetime.

Nevertheless, I am sorry to see it go. I would have loved to see a launch first hand, to hear the roar as it rose above the atmosphere in a matter of minutes. No matter what comes next, the Space Shuttle program will be missed, if only because we are reminded, in a very tangible way, that 30 years have now passed us by.

Here is a great video which quickly recounts entire program, its highs and its lows, from 1981 to 2011. Let’s hope that the next few decades will inspire us even more.

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Categories science

Stuff

July 23, 2011 //

I need to apologise. I’ve been very quiet with my blog postings over the past few weeks.

The reason I have been remiss?

Stuff.

Stuff? Yes. Stuff. Those dreary things that get in the way of regular blogging. Reality. Life. Work. That kind of thing.

I’ve had a lot of Stuff to deal with over the past while. Every time I think I have enough Stuff on my hands, more Stuff seems to come along out of the blue.

I’m very rich in Stuff right now. I’m like a Stuff magnet. If there were shares in Stuff, I would have a triple A rating. Stuff investors would be delighted with me. Commentators would be speculating about a Stuff bubble.

For a while, I pretended the Stuff wasn’t there. People would tell me I had a lot of Stuff to be getting on with, but I would politely ignore them, imagining that a few blog entries would hoover up the Stuff. As you can imagine, this strategy hasn’t quite worked out as I expected.

I promise I will be back in action soon. Just as soon as the flow of Stuff begins to abate or I decide to stuff the Stuff for a while. Stay tuned.

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Categories about me

The Tall Ships Festival in Waterford

July 4, 2011 //

I spent Saturday at the Tall Ships festival in Waterford city. While I can’t call Waterford my home city for obscure geographical and sporting reasons, it is nevertheless the city of my education and upbringing.

And what a terrific city it is.

The Tall Ships Festival this weekend was easily the best organised event I have ever attended. It would not have been possible without the active involvement of hundreds of dedicated men and women and a project management team that were dedicated to the pursuit of perfection in making the occasion as successful as possible.

It was quite clear, right from the beginning, that the organisation was top class. Some examples:

Most of the city was cleared of traffic, creating an enormous pedestrian zone, the likes of which I have never seen. Park and Ride car-parks were in place with numerous shuttle busses and taxis taking visitors to and from the city.

Litter collectors were out in force, ensuring that the streets remained clean and the bins remained usable despite the huge crowds.

Toilet facilities were clean, numerous, and plentiful.

There was a large fun-fair, a crafts village, a food village and a music venue, allowing visitors to enjoy different aspects of what the city had to offer.

Booklets, signage and literature were very clear and inviting.

The variety, quantity and quality of food and drink outlets obviated any major queues or bottlenecks. This also ensured that prices remained reasonable.

Crowd barriers were sensible and unobtrusive. Indeed, security, while probably quite extensive, was very low-key.

There were numerous fringe events and street performances.

The city looked great. The shops and venues were brightly painted and inviting.

Without doubt, many arrangements were in place far away from the eyes of tourists and visitors, such as ramping up hospital staff and emergency staff should the need have arisen.

Did I mention there were ships there too?

When it comes to an event like the Tall Ships, Waterford has a natural advantage: a port area slap-bang in the centre of the city. It was chosen to be the first city on the race route, and it’s no wonder it has been invited to host the ships again in a few years time. This was a world class undertaking. The people of Waterford should be proud of what they accomplished this weekend. Future festival organisers now have a gold standard which they must aspire to meet.

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Categories events, Waterford