This blog has moved home. Its new address is:

http://www.unlaoised.gerryos.net

If you have it bookmarked, don't forget to update the bookmark!

Today marks the second anniversary of my first click of the "Publish Post" button here on this blog. Since then, I have maintained a fairly steady output, with just over 600 posts published.

A while back, I began to ask myself exactly what I wanted to gain from the blogging experience. I have always enjoyed writing, and so this was a good way to indulge that pastime. It's also useful for letting off steam. I have learned a bit about the ins and outs of web publishing. And of course there is the community aspect to it, and the feeling of belonging to an emerging movement.

One thing I have never been is a stats obsessive. I average somewhere between 30-50 visitors per day here, which many would say is modest for a blog of two years. The most comments I think I ever achieved in a single post was about 12, and if I remember correctly, most of it was a game of pun tennis between myself and Ciaran of The Dreaming Arm.

I've always been a bit cautious about posting personal stuff. I kept quiet about my wife's pregnancy, but I couldn't resist posting the news of Aoife's birth, as the experience was just so overwhelming. The comments and congratulations that came in, mostly from people I only know through blogging and have never met face to face, were wonderful.

I have huge respect for many Irish bloggers, who publish well-written, thought-provoking material with remarkable regularity. Two in particular: Twenty Major and Swearing Lady. To be able to come up with such original and witty posts every day is incredible. I can only look on in awe.

I decided a while ago that it's time to move on. I had thought about jacking it in, but I know that as soon as I made that decision, I would have a flood of great ideas for posts. Also, I enjoy it too much. There is something very satisfying about collating your thoughts about a subject and publishing them. When someone comes along and comments, it's even better.

So what's all this building up to? Well, I have decided to take my blogging to the next level, and move away from Blogger. I have registered a domain name and bought some space on a server in New York or somewhere like that, and this is going to be my new playground on the net. This gives me the flexibility to do a lot more than just moan about traffic and blather about Mac OS X. The goal here is to learn a lot more about this interwebby thingy works.

So anyway, the new site is here: http://www.unlaoised.gerryos.net, and it labours under the name of UnLaoised. Having just moved to Co Laois after nearly ten years in Dublin, I thought it might be an appropriate name. (For any non-Irish reader, 'Laois' is pronounced roughly as 'leash'.) Rather than just lashing up a Wordpress template, I decided to use a completely different blogging tool - Rapidweaver. I've used this for a family history site that I've been working on with my Dad, and it's a really decent piece of kit. I'm going to take Hands in the Ruck over to the new home as well, and may well use Wordpress for that.

I'm changing my commenting handle too. From now on it will be just 'GerryOS'

I know that several bloggers have my site in their blogroll, and I would be grateful to all if you would amend it to put up the new address. Anyone who links via my old url gerry.osullivan.name will go to the new site anyway, as I am about to redirect it. And if anyone has my site in their blogroll and I don't have theirs in mine, please let me know.

And (as Steve Jobs might say) one more thing...
I mentioned that I keep some personal details close to my chest. One of these is my identity. Gerry O'Sullivan is in reality a psuedonym.

The IRB world rankings have just been updated after last weekend's matches. It makes nice reading for Eddie O'Sullivan and his men, as they go up two places to third, following their superb win over Australia yesterday.

Today, I was out and about in the south-east, calling on some of my customers in Wexford and Waterford. As I had one call to do in Arthurstown and then go on to Waterford City, I decided to take the ferry from Ballyhack to Passage East. The alternative is to go back to New Ross and head into Waterford on the N25, a journey of 40-odd km, and a major pain in the hoop, as New Ross can get badly clogged up at this time on a Friday evening.

So ferry I did. There were only a few other vehicles on the vessel as we crossed over. When we arrived in Passage East, we were confronted by a phalanx of protesters, unhappy with the operation of the ferry. Their method was to prevent us from getting off the ferry by standing in our way. The driver in front of me just barged through them, and one protester fell to the ground in his attempt to stop him.

I got out of my car and asked what all of this was about. The reply shouted at me was "Ask FBD." FBD are the people who run the ferry service, and eventually I got the answer from one of the protesters. They want the ferry terminal sited away from the village in order to remove all the traffic.

That's fair enough. It's plain to see that Passage East and the roads around it get choked with traffic generated by the ferry, and there is merit in the argument that the point of embarkation and disembarkation should be moved away from the village. But boy, are they going about it the wrong way.

By blocking people getting on and off the ferry and going about their lawful business, they are just pissing people off. One protester held up a large banner with the words "Children are at risk" on it. Another protester was wheeling her young baby around in a pram. So whatever about children being at risk from the traffic, this child was at risk from being brought into a volatile situation.

They should be trying to get people on their side. Maybe they're taking their cue from this shower of loopers. They are, of course, entitled to protest, but their protest could be a lot more effective. They could get an information sheet printed up and hand it to drivers in the queue for the ferry. They could lobby politicians. They could nominate spokespeople to make their case to the media. The best way to make your case is to make it in a reasonable manner. I knew nothing of this protest or issue before I got on the ferry at Ballyhack. If I was made aware of it before I got on, I may have decided to go the other route. One protester suggested that it was the responsibility of the operators of the ferry to tell those intending to travel of the protest.

Eventually the Gardai came to the quayside and managed to get things moving. Sadly, this sort of nonsense will continue as long as the protesters continue to scream their objections rather than trying to make their case in a reasonable way.

There was a letter in the Irish Times today from a correspondent in Belfast, bemoaning that fact that the Republic of Ireland lacks an honours system, and so could not bestow a meaningful honour on her most famous artist, Louis le Brocquy, on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

"If he were a British subject, he would probably by now have received a high honour of some sort."

[…]

"Why should the Irish Republic eschew a system of honours to recognise the acheivements of its citizens?"

Well, with the current "cash for honours" controversy in Britain, I'd reckon we're as well off without one. Indeed, my opposition to an honours system could be summed up six words.

Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare.

(I really should get Hands In The Ruck back on the rails, seeing as we are now well into the rugby season.)

I was discussing rugby with a colleague at work today, and I posited a theory of how Ireland could win next year's World Cup.

Madness, you might think. The All-Blacks will run away with it. Well, yes. They should run away with it.

So how could Ireland spoil the party? First of all, they need to go to the World Cup as Six Nations Champions. This will help fix their heads to win their group, a task that will involve beating France, as well as the Argies.

Whoever comes second in our group will almost certainly get the All-Blacks in the quarter-finals, and for whoever that is, it's Goodnight Irene. Whoever wins the group will most likely get Scotland. The winner of that quarter final will meet either England, South Africa, Australia or Wales in the semi. England and Wales are eminently beatable. On a good day, Ireland could get past the other two. (Don't be fooled into thinking that just because we stuffed the Springboks last weekend, that the same result would come as easy during the RWC. It won't.)

Whoever gets through this half of the draw will more than likely meet come up against New Zealand in the final.

"But we've never beaten New Zealand!" you cry. True, but the ABs are notorious World Cup chokers, and who knows what could happen on the day. They could freeze and we could nick a win. Or indeed they could be majestic and beat us 1497-3.

If anyone other than New Zealand hope to win the World Cup, they most likely will face them in the final. I think I'd prefer to meet them in the final than earlier.

Many, many years ago, when the downy fuzz on my teenage face became plentiful enough to warrant the use of a razor, the twin blade razor was an exotic tool. My older brothers (those without full beards) used single blade disposables. My dad used a "safety razor", which came apart and used replaceable blades.

For a while, I was an early adaptor in the razor market. As soon as a new razor with another blade (to shave you closer still) or a lubricating strip swooshed onto the market, I was there to be at the cutting edge, so to speak.

I gave up when they started putting batteries in razors. By that time, razors had become like inkjet printers - a small initial investment for the main equipment, but then the consumables required thereafter cost an absolute fortune. I now use a twin-blade razor I bought in Aldi a couple of years ago, where I can get replacement blades for a couple of €s per pack.


Now, Gillette have released a five-blade razor called the Fusion (Warning: link involves quite a bit of Flash and lots of swooshing.) Dear God, how may more blades will they continue to add? What will our grandsons and great-grandsons use to shave? Fifteen-blade razors?

John Gruber writes about attitudes to that most beloved of Web 2.0 conceits - beta.

Using “beta” as a badge of honor for released commercial software makes no more sense than using “buggy” in the same context, and it makes no more sense as an excuse, either.

The mid-term elections on the USA have given the Democrats control of both Congress and the Senate, a turnaround which begins the lame-duck phase of George W Bush's presidency. In two years time, there is every chance that the Dems will win back the White House, but what a poisoned chalice that will be. It is very unlikely that the Iraq situation will have sorted itself out by them, and whoever takes over at the Oval Office will have one hell of a mess to sort out.

Not that any of this will matter to GWB. He can retire to his ranch in Texas and establish his Presidential Library, safe in the knowledge that he has done what he set out to do when he was elected to the highest office in the land back in 2000 - serve two terms and kick Saddam's butt.

The more I see of George W Bush, the more I get the impression that the only reason he decided to run for President was to impress his father, or even to achieve more as President than his father ever did.

Before taking office in January 1989, Bush Snr had a very impressive track record. He was a decorated fighter pilot in World War II, while still only 20 years of age; he had been captain of the Yale baseball team; he built up a very successful business career in the oil industry and then went on to have a distinguished career in the public sphere. He served as congressman for Texas; as Nixon's ambassador to the UN; as chairman of the Republican National Congress, as US Liaison Officer to China, and later as head of the CIA. In 1980, he sought the Republican nomination for the presidency, losing to Ronald Reagan. He joined Reagan's ticket as Vice-Presidential nominee and served two terms under the Gipper. In 1988 he became the first serving Vice-President to be elected President since 1836.

And then it all went wrong. Sure, he did what many other Republican President had done before him - running up a massive deficit and starting a war - but his presidency will be remembered for two things. After successfully liberating Kuwait during Gulf War I, he stopped short of deposing Saddam. To many in the "Arab Street", this was a victory for Saddam. Also, during his campaign for the White House, Bush had said "Read my lips, no new taxes", a pledge upon which he was forced to renege. This contributed in no small way to his defeat to Bill Clinton in 1992.

In contrast, Bush Junior's pre-presidential record is rather less impressive. He managed to stay out of the way during the Vietnam War by serving in the National Guard, an option that would probably not have been available to him if he had been poor or black or both. He attended Yale and Harvard, and by his own admission was only an average student. He never emulated his father on the sports field at Yale, but he was an exemplary cheerleader by all accounts.

He followed his father into the oil business, but his record is less stellar. He set up a number of oil exploration ventures, none of which ever managed to discover anything. In truth, his career in the oil business should never have risen higher than gas pump attendant. His "youth" lasted well into his late 30s, he was an alcoholic and it is alleged that he was troubled by other substances as well. He was arrested for drink-driving in 1976 and pleaded guilty.

He coasted along until 1986, when he found Jesus and turned his life around. He stopped drinking and cleaned up his life. He managed to get his business life together, buying into the Texas Rangers baseball team, and helping build up their profile. He entered politics and was elected Governor of Texas in 1994.

This is where I reckon he saw the opportunity to prove to his father than he could achieve more. By this time Bush Snr's presidential career had ended in ignominy. If any President Bush was going to be remembered, it would be GWB, not GHWB.

And so, he managed to get himself elected in 2000, with the help of Katherine Harris, Secretary of State of Florida, who just happened to be his campaign co-chair in the state. After 9/11, he was forced to rethink his non-interventionist stance in relation to foreign policy, and launched a UN-backed war against the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Influenced by several of his advisors, Bush decided that the greatest threat to the US was Saddam Hussein, and so he set about planning an invasion that would topple the despot. This he did, and indeed, Saddam was driven from power, but we all know what happened next. Bush somehow managed to get elected for a second term, and you could see the glee on his face as he strode up to take the oath of office for his second term in the presence of his father.

I could be completely wrong of course. Maybe George W Bush aspired to the Presidency simply because he wanted to serve his fellow Americans in whatever way he could. But I reckon he just wanted to look his once-disapproving father in the eye and say "I did what you couldn't do."

I know! I know! I'm turning into a complete baby-bore, and I can't help it.

But this photo is too cute to let pass.