Speakeasy iPhones coming soon?

O2Online.ie accidentally, it appears, published details of their prices for speakeasy iPhones. For new users the prices were

8GB iPhone 3G €529
16GB iPhone 3G €589

Upgrading users only had the option of the 8GB phone. The page for new customers has already been removed but the upgrade phone is still listed here though that could be taken down as well at any time. More details can be found on the O2 forums.

So iPhones could be the most desired present this Christmas, though probably the hardest to get.

Interest Rate Cut

The central banks Europe, the UK, the USA, China, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland all just cut their interest rates by 0.5% in a co-ordinated move. When something like this happens with all those countries acting together on any issue you can just smell the panic in government buildings around the world. Lets hope some coordinated action does the trick or God only knows what will stop the economic crash.

Donnybrook

The word of the day on Dictionary.com is Donnybrook.

donnybrook \DON-ee-brook\, noun:
1. A brawl; a free-for-all.
2. A heated quarrel or dispute.

The word comes from the suburb of Dublin called Donnybrook which used to be famous for its annual fair where loads of fights and brawls used break out. Today its one of the more affluent posh areas of Dublin.

7 is the unlucky number

I noticed tonight that the breaking news ticker BBC News 24 said that the Dow Jones ended up down 7% with a fall of 777.7 after the US congress voted down the 700 Billion bail out. The TV numbers were rounded up but on the web site the numbers were more accurate and less interesting.

Bonjour Mr Sarkozy

So President Sarkozy is on his way to Dublin today in an attempt to find out why we voted No to the Lisbon Treaty. I don't know why he thinks coming here will help him understand why we said No considering he didn't understand it when the French voted Non to the original EU constitution. He didn't let his own people vote again and just pushed through the Lisbon Treaty so it is generous of him to say we should
vote again instead of strong arming Cowen into just rubber stamping the treaty in a similar way.

I'd love it if Cowen stood beside Sarkozy at this evenings press conference and announced Ireland will vote again, but only as part of an EU wide referendum. Everyone in Europe gets to vote or the treaty dies. Imagine the look on Sarkozys face :-)

Repairing the Spire in Dublin

I was in Dulin city center last night and was lucky enough to be walking past when they were repairing the spire. There is a cool platform that is placed around the base of the spire and then lifted up the length of the spire by a crane. It moves slowly but not as slowly as I would have expected, the platform made it half way in about five minutes.

More photos can be found on my flickr account.

Quiet Here Isnt it

It's been very quiet here lately, over a month since my last post. It's been a hectic couple of weeks with people moving, first my old flat mate was moving out and then my girlfriend was moving in so the apartment was in chaos, work stuff, photo stuff and just general bits and pieces. I only get to blog properly from home since my iPhone still does not have a decent blog tool and with no cut-n-paste it's difficult to blog and post links to the things I am blogging about. Still I'll try to post more often.

I voted

I voted yesterday and in the end my fonal decision was made on the way to the polling station. For a long time during the campaign I was on the No side, though as I found out more information and listened to the arguments I gradually drifted to undecided.

Both side were saying "vote for us or bad things will happen". It was like someone asking you would you rather have your left leg or your right arm cut off. Neither please. Personally I would have prefered if this constitution and treaty had never been proposed. However it was and it seemed that we were stuck with making a decision.

It came down to the people involved. Who did I trust more? The Yes campaign had the support of most mainstream groups while the No
campaign had too many groups I feel I disagree with most of the time.

Finally in a funny way it came down to Brian Cowan V's Bertie Ahern. I think Cowan is more likely to fight for Irelands interests in Europe than Ahern who always seemed to want to compromise and seemed to have one eye on a job on Europe do didnt want to upset anyone. Had Bertie still been Taoiseach I might have voted No since I would not have trusted that Bertie was not putting Europe ahead of Ireland.

So I voted yes. It felt like the best choice, the one that had fewer downsides. Its sad that my decision came down to that, though listening to the tallies I may have been in the minority.

Voting Delay

So I went to vote before work this morning. Got out of bed, shower, shave, grabbed my passport and voting card then headed off to the polling station.

I was most of the way there when I heard an advert on the radio from the referendum commission asking people to come out and vote... on Thursday, i.e. tomorrow. Duh!

Sex and the City Billboards

Went to see Sex and the City, with the girlfriend. I'll admit the story was better than I expected. The movie itself was watchable, better than the last chic flick I had to see, 27 Dresses, but afterwards I felt a little exploited, like I'd spent 20 quid to buy a book and found every second page had an advert on it.

I know part of the Sex and the City thing is the clothes and I was willing to put up with that but I dont think there was a single scene that did not have product placement, clothes, bags, books, magazines, phones and so on. That movie must have broken even just on sponsorship deals. They should have paid me to go see it.

At least now herself has to sit through Star Trek when it comes out :-)