Alexia Blogs

Been a bit of a Galactica week for me, that’s why news of the possible greenlighting of Caprica is making me happy. Thanks, WGA strike. No spoilers here, but I refuse to believe the * big * revelation of Season 3. There’ll be a Bobby Ewing shower scene at the beginning of Season 4. Eugh. Mark my words.

Free Microsoft Windows Mobile Developer Briefing in Dublin on February 21st. Demos of Visual Studio 2008. Code samples and a how-tos for Windows Mobile 6 and .Net Compact Framework 3.5. And lunch thrown in too, for good measure.

Sprite is doing her bit to brighten Twitter up one cleavage at a time.

Lots of Lego nerds about. That Near, Far Away scene from Father Ted. Lego prostitute. Famous Lego geeks (love the Stallman).

I’ve been off coffee for a week now. Happy anniversary me. Loving Tazo Calm tea available from Starbucks. Chamomile and spearmint. It promises a lot. “A single cup of Tazo Calm has been known to have the same effect as sitting for 45 minutes in a mountain meadow on a sunny day with your shoes off”. And delivers, too.

.. someone decided to kill that house alarm that’s been going off for days, next door. We contacted the guards and they said they couldn’t help. Someone must have taken matters into their own hands. Yay. Not me, btw. Now for major sleep over the weekend.

I would love to go along to TechLudd tonight at the Odessa Club, Dame Court. It kicks off at 7pm. I had planned to, but the smothering cold I have and no sleep I had last night has stopped me. Why not go along if you’re interested in the tech scene. Sign up here.

Just like every other blogger on the island, I was livid listening to John Waters yesterday morning. I felt personally insulted. Some of the most intelligent, witty and erudite writers I read are via the media of blogs. I’ll not point them out as ego baiting is not my style and?there is enough narcissism inherent in blogging than one can shake a stick at.?Enough to say that every day I’m challenged and educated by these gifted writers. To hear blogs and blogging described as poison is an affront to these writers. A poison onto the face of this talented bunch. A ragged insult.

However, much as I disagree with Waters said, his expression is that of a frightened animal. And frightened animals bite. For as much as I respect the Irish Times, it’s not?the paper it was ten years ago. Online publications had siphoned off a fair degree of the traditional bridging readership of the Times. The Irish Times was the discounted paper I bought every day in college. Science on a Monday, Education (was it a Tuesday?) and Business on a Friday. It used to be 50 pence. Now, I can get comparable news online for free. I’m not the only one. You only have to look at the size of the Irish Times now to gauge how much less of paper it is compared to the heady days of late nineties.

John Waters’ beliefs represents a common enough opinion amongst those that view the enabling power of the Internet as the antithesis of order. To him, it seems, that the freedom of the Internet allows all of the shadowy vices of humanity peek through, pin us down and tempt us from good lives. Righteous paths.?

Freedom of information on the Internet is not societal anarchy, it’s democracy at it’s purest form. What he doesn’t seem to grasp is the stock of free will. Just because I can access virtually anything I want to read on the Internet, doesn’t mean that I necessarily choose to or wish to. Believing that the Internet is a poisoning influence on the morals of users belittles the fortitude of their judgement and their intelligence. Screaming it on national radio does nothing to further one’s case. Essentially, if we, as bloggers choose?to stone?John Waters for his opinions?are we any better than him?

Super busy at work this week and suffering with cold, I blame those without immune systems for giving it to me. I’ll be brief. Got out early too. Bah.

When ugly is better. Rolf Skyberg on how the perception of vanilla websites can help users expectations on security.

James details the effort of collaborative mapping Irish wifi networks. You can contribute info on the location of wifi networks on the island and share the access love.

So, freebies can compromise your computer’s security? Not Paranoid? You should be.

Can’t stop watching this.

Like everyone else, I’d like to see his stats on how much of the Internet is pornography. Isn’t that what real journalists do? Cite facts and not make numbers up? Bah, I’m off to read off the back of more public toilet doors.

How to air kiss. Check out the related wikihows.

If you’re interested in all things geekery, register for CreativeCamp in Kilkenny, March 8th.

Loving the powerpoints on the new InterCity trains. Got to see an entire disc of Battlestar. Nice.

Fústar’s “Manky Toy Monday: Galaxy Battles” Fústar always impresses me with his dedication to preserve our childhood fads in brine. Blog brine. Love it.

A higher-def Star Trek XI teaser. Via Michael

Battlestar Office-ica

The Internet Party. Via Matt.

I’m sad to see Jim Dubh close up shop. One of my regular music reads. RIP.

Nice webpart for viewing pictures in Sharepoint using Silverlight on CodePlex. Via John.

Uncov’s Ted kicks Pownce. Deservedly so.

Go to 9Types and see what kind of personality you have. What motivates you? All from Enneagram.

Thanks to everyone who came along yesterday to Blogger Coffee at the Marriott. It was an enjoyable meet in a very nice spot. Here’s a rollcall of who else popped along - Tim Bunce, Joseph Joe Johnson, John from F?star, Daniel Sullivan, Anton Mannering, Jessica Roy, Conn ? Mu?neach?in and Gabriela Avram.

So, here we are some five days after the Dublin International Film Festival 2008 site was to go live and nada. Even worse than that, old site has mysteriously gone missing. Very curious. Anyone know what’s up here. Bad DNS autoredirects. Bad form. The site was still delivered late.