Austrias PR Image

The Austrian government is worried about it's image in the aftermath of the case of Elisabeth Fritzl who was imprisoned in a cellar under her family home for 24 years by her own father and forced to bear him seven children 3 of which were held in the cellar with her. Alfred Gusenbauer, the Austrian Chancellor says his government is planning a PR campaign to demonstrate that Josef Fritzl's actions were not representative of his country.

"We won’t allow the whole country to be held hostage by one man."

I think it's fair to say Fritzl is not the worst Austrian in history (... *cough* Hitler...) so why make such meal of it. A year ago all those journalists were in Portugal searching for Maddie McCann.

No offence to Austria but I don't think anyone, except maybe the Austrians themselves, are blaming them for this one. Punish the crime and stop hiring PR agencies.

Bulmers name

Bulmers cider from Ireland has to be branded as Magners Cider for the international market since another company owns the international rights to the Bulmers name and sells a cider called HP Bulmers.

On Saturday I saw a shop on O'Connell St selling cans of HP Bulmers. Is this legal? Hardly seems fair to Irish Bulmers if they can't use the name abroad but HP Bulmers can use it in Ireland

Cancelled Flights

I've been listening to people bitching and moaning on the radio about Aer Lingus cancelling business class flights to America they bought
for 5 euros online yesterday. It was obviously a mistake, 5 euros across the Atlantic would clearly be a mistake but in business class? Come on.

No one can be so naive as to think that offer was genuine. They must have booked knowing it was an error and hoping to get something out of it be it cheap flights or some compensation. The best one so far was a guy was on the radio complaining that he now had to cancel his hotel booking.

No one seemed to notice the hypocrisy of assuming he had the right to cancel something but Aer Lingus doesn't.

(Edit: I hate using blogger on an iPhone, too difficult to type and read. Roll on the SDK and hopefully a decent editor)

Peoples Photography 2008?

Does anyone know if the Peoples Photography exhibition around St Stephens Green will be on this year? I've emailed them a few times over the last few months but got no reply and the web site has not been updated since 3rd May 2007 so almost a year ago.

At this stage I'd guess it must be dead and thats a real shame as it was a great way for amature photographers to show off their work.

[Update: 13th May 2008] I just got an email back from the organisers. The exhibition will be on again this year on the weekend 30/31st August

Quake 3 on an iPhone

The guys over at HermitWorks took the source for Quake 3 and "with a few modifications had it running pretty quick" on an iPhone and an iTouch. They posted a video on youTube showing an iPhone and an iTouch playing multiplayer Quake.



The iPhone is one hell of a great phone :-)

Missing buses

As I stand at a bus stop waiting for an 11 bus to come by a question is bugging me. Why does the bus service in this city seem to get worse when there is a big sports event like Manchester United in the Champions League on TV?

There always seem to be large gaps in the schedule on those days and nights. I hope if any drivers rang in sick today they aren't too ill to lift their heads and watch the match.

Bertie announces resignation date

Bertie Ahern has announced his resignation. He will leave office on Tuesday May 6th. Its some how ironic that after leading a cabinet for 10 years where resignation was removed from the dictionary Bertie himself resigns. Perhaps now we will see some change around the stale cabinet table.

Health Service Protest

I went into the health service protest on Saturday. Initially as I wandered around Parnell Square I was concerned that it seemed to be the same regular protesters that you see out at each and every protest in Dublin. I mean the groups who have turned Saturday protests into their regular social outing. They probably think they are fighting some good fight or other but really they just tire the public so now no one notices a march or two passing in between the buses. In fact one group tried to upstage the main protest by staging their own march up to Parnell Square and to the front of the main protest. I'm sure they felt they were expressing solidarity but it seemed like attention seeking to me. A Garda I was talking to at the time was surprised to see them marching but insisted that they would be rewarded for showing up late by being put to the back of the march. That was the last I saw of their banners.

However despite the semi-pro protesters getting there early once the start time of the march got closer the crowd built up to become a gathering of general people, old and young, male and female. Most of the people who took part in the march looked like they were off on a Saturday outing to the park or to the shops. These are people who in previous years would have been interviewed saying how they thought Bertie was a nice decent Dublin lad, doing his best for the country and he'd get things right in the end. Now they were marching down O'Connell Street calling for change. Many seemed to have brought their own placards. This wasn't a group of people who had a few minutes to spare and decided to join in for something to do. They were angry and wanted their voices heard. If they are not heard then they should be heard at the next election.

I doubt the organisers got their predicted 70,000 marchers but there were 1000s. When the march got going the pedestrians lining the route of the march did seem interested and some even had their own posters on display. Even passing tourists stopped to take photographs and one American woman I spoke had heard about and understood the reasons for the march.

At the end there were speeches on a stage on Molesworth Street. In general these were not that interesting, mostly being delivered by high profile people from the campaign or the trade unions. I thought the organisers could have done more to highlight individual patient cases. Politicians are not afraid of Union spokespeople or medical professors telling the public about how more funds are needed for their members or how they are going to this international conferences. Bertie knows the general public don't relate directly with those speakers. They are however afraid of cancer patients with microphones or a widowers with an audience, any of us could become one of them while the current government examines it's profit and loss seats.

In the end I doubt the march will achieve anything directly or in the short term. Harney and Ahern know they are in too deep now and the change people want will have to come from the top down. If change does come it will be because junior members of the Dail will begin to feel their seats getting shaky beneath them and they will start to put pressure on those above them for new faces at the top.

My photos from the march are up on Flickr.

Coffee

Mmm coffee, I missed you over the last 40 days. Now my venti tripple latte is coursing through my veins, buzz buzz buzz :-)

Bertie and Txting

Is it rude to go to someones house and while talking with their wife to keep taking txt messages? At what stage should you turn off your phone or at least switch it to silent? What if an aquaintance had invited you over and you took so many txt messages that they were forced to ask if there was a crisis or emergency at home, would that be impolite? Would you go down the pub and joke about it to show how cool you were?

Alternatively what if you were in an important work meeting, or at least one you claimed was vitally important, and you kept reading txt messages from your mates telling you how the match was going, would that be unprofessional? Would you go back to the office and joked about it in front of the people who are supposed do be your bosses and whom you had convinced to let you go in the first place?

I ask because of an article in the Sunday Independent today where Bertie Ahern laughs off stories of political pressure on him with a yarn of how during his recent visit to the White house for St Patricks Day, one of a series of Ministerial trips Bertie justified as vital to the profile of Ireland abroad, Bertie received so many txt messages that Laura Bush asked if there was a crisis in Ireland. Bertie explained to her that everything was ok and it was just his mates in Dublin txting him the news that St Vincents had won the Club Championships. Cringe. I wonder if she found it a refreshing change from all the serious world leaders that cone to visit or if she quietly asked the secret service to turn back on the cell phone jammers.