musical shells

I have never seen a piano been hit so hard by a pianist, but it did create some great music. I attended the UCH last night for one of the Shannon International Music concerts, Joanna MacGregor & the Irish Chamber Orchestra. It was a really enjoyable concert with a varied mix of music that caressed and invigorated the senses.

I admit I know very little about music, and even less about classical music. Yet I could see the intensity and passion that Miss MacGregor puts into her performance. Often, she would lean forward hunching over the piano and you could see her smiling with glee like a mischievous school child hunched over a desk. Then she would recompose herself, proud and erect, concentrating and listening, like a teacher critically examining every note. She would conduct the orchestra at times when she was waiting for her next piece, always in control.

Some pieces resulted in a wall of sound being created, in particular the Libertango which was amazing. The pedal was to the floor as continuous notes reigned in on existing notes radiating a calvery of sound from the piano. I am sure there are names for such effects. Then there were other times when she pounded the piano with clenched fists and possibly even an elbow with such ferocity, amazing, I think even some members of the ICO were surprised.

After that I was peckish, so I went home to use the eggs that my mum's hens gave me, indirectly and probably involuntary, but I appreciate them all the more for that. I decided to make an omelette, which should be relatively easy but I am not getting it as nice as I would like, not sure what I am doing wrong. Oh well, I think I'll just have to get more eggs and practice :)

Sweet tomato music

The succulent sweetness of tomatoes invigorated with a warm chilli sensation makes Penne All'Arrabbiata a deliciously divine dish. I initially read the recipe in the Silver Spoon, albeit a friend's copy of it and I didn't have the wherewithall to write it down. I was surprised by how simple it seemed. Fortunately, the Italian Foodies were the saviour for my taste buds.

A reminder for the MBNA Shannon International Music Festival, a brochure can be downloaded here. I am looking forward to the Salsa Celtica and also Joanna MacGregor & the Irish Chamber Orchestra looks good.

Stony Gold Soil and well done MGB

I always knew people from Monaghan had hearts of gold, but now it seems they have fields of it also.

I am going to have to manage my time better. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to cook anything recently. And especially when I look at various food blogs and their delicious looking photos, makes me so jealous ;-)

Well done to Mr MGB for handing in his thesis. Great stuff!

elderflowery goodness, sherbert, and music

We completed the making of our Elderflower Cordial last night. There was very little to do, just strain the infusion mixture and then bottle it. I wanted to lick the bowls clean with the flavour of the thick sweet syrup, hmm delicious. It's a lemony taste enhanced with the flavour and smell of the elderflower. I must try making some Ice Lollies with it, or as there are lots of Elderflower sorbet recipes on the web, I might try some Elderflower sorbet.

When I searched for sorbet, for some reason, I searched for sherbert instead. This resulted in the perusal of this page after which I wouldn't mind making some sherbert. Its parent page has a number of interesting articles about various confectionaries, and its grandparent page has lots more articles about food and drink. It also explains how those rock sticks with words in them are made...

In other news, the Irish Chamber Orchestra have a brochure (PDF) for the MBNA Shannon International Music Festival. There seems to be some great acts on. Thursday night and Friday nights have tango and salsa music respectively, and the salsa gig is free. Hope the weather is good.

Respect our Elders

There was a fresh creaminess to the scent, which surprised me. I didn't notice it when I smelled an individual flower, but after bringing home a bag it was not long before the scent fragrented the kitchen. I had brought home a bag of elderflowers to make some elderflower cordial.

I was a bit reluctant to shake the flowers as per instructions because I could see the pollen clouding the air, and I didn't want to lose any flavour (whether pollen contributes to the flavour or not I didn't know, but waste not want not). After a spider tried to bungy jump down into my bowl of flowers, I decided to continue with the shaking. I was also unsure about how much of the stem to cut off, would this give a woodier flavour? (My waste not want not strategy disappeared in a puff of smoke, as I trimmed off much of the stem.)

Pouring the sugar syrup into the bowl wilted the flours into a soggy mess. So now it was a matter of waiting and letting the flowers emit their flavour into the sugar syrup. Some of the recipes I found suggested waiting five days but I am going to stick with the 24 hours.

blaming exercise and food

The blame games have started already, sigh!

I made a nice simple lil salad the other night. Brocolli, feta cheers, tomatoes and a balasamic vinegar dressing. It is from the first Avoca cook book. It should include roasted hazelnuts but I didn't have any to use. Apparently, I should be eating more fish, so I am going to try some Mackerel with some Citrus dressing next, although the Italian Foodie's branzino e patate al forno recipe looked really good and simple also.

I was in the Limerick Sports store today investigating tackies. They had asked me to bring in my old ones, to establish their inclination. So I brought in my current pair and my old pair. They reckoned that my old pair may have contributed to my various foot/heel problems as they had no support nor cushion, although I thought they were great. They thought my current pair of runners were great but told me they were neutrally inclined and that they only had a couple of months left in them. So now all I have to do is get back exercising, though will probably avoid the steps for a while.

Ryan Tubridy had an Italian chef on this morning. They really shouldn't be allowed to talk about food that hour of the morning. He described a very simple dessert he liked - a caapuchino cup of ice cream with an espresso and a shot of amaretto, sounded delicious.

Buongiorno Bella!

A lovely break away, which involved two lovely people getting married, with lots of other lovely people attending. The location was Formia in Italy, a coastal town in between Rome and Naples. Fortunately, there were no rubbish strikes :-)

The weather was lovely and the food was delicious. Some people informed us that they had English soup, which disappointed me as I think I would have loved it. We were in one restaurant, Ristorante Da Veneziano (I think that's the name) where the Chef (who worked with Richard Corrigan) came out and asked us what we would like, really really nice. I had spaghetti with a with seafood which was delicious and then a Mille-feuille for dessert, which was so simple and so tasty.

We went to Pompeii on a day trip. I was not expecting the ruins to be so large, I don't know why but I wasn't. Its a strange place, you get to appreciate a lot of the ingenuity of the builders, from using clay pots in the floors for extra amplication in the amphitheatres, to the planning of shops and houses. Then there is the brothel which had some paintings of couples in different poses. There was a very simple sign carved into the street pointing to the brothel for sailors coming up from the port, no marks for anyone guessing what it was.

We flew with Ryanair. There were lots of people checking baggage weights and sharing stuff to balance the weight limits, one forgets how little 15kg is. Then there was the constant sales pitch, relentless, from fecking ringtones or phone cards to scratch cards. As for the landings, how they get away with it I don't know. They must be wrecking the planes with the heaviness of the landing. The landing in Rome was bad, but the landing back in Dublin was the worst I was ever on. I was expecting it also, because the plane was delayed in Italy, so I knew they'd be rushing to get us in. Everyone's heart stopped I think with apprehension at the landing. Then to add insult to injury, they played some idiotic tune, like a trumpet blow, to say how good their time keeping was.

Get new keys, Politics of Security and lack of intention

Can you trust your keys? In case you missed the whole OpenSSL shabackle with Debian, have a read of this and/or this. It describes how some developers made a change to the OpenSSL package in Debian. This change reduced the randomness of generated keys, which wouldn't be a good thing. Here are some links where an OpenSSL developer initates the blame game.

Something that I pops into my mind a lot but I don't allow the thoughts to progress, is the nature of the intention of source code. Something that I see, often, is source code that does not specify its intention, either directly or indirectly. This makes it more difficult for people to make changes to the software later on, as they have to investigate what the software was supposed to do, as opposed to what it does, which takes a lot of time. So please be explicit and communicate your intention.

random chatter

I had lots to write about last week but when the blank text window appeared on my screen, my motivation wilted almost immediately to a lethargic state. I am sure I was going to rant about stuff but obviously it wasn't important enough to remember, then again I do remember wondering how insects's eyes manage with bright lights when they cannot blink. Perhaps my importance priority mechanism is messed up.

Technical Revenue has an interesting article on why he works at Google and also a couple of articles about business and start ups. I somehow found the blog via another Google blogger's article on Java performance. Some more Google bloggers can be found here.

I should at some stage try some of the recipes from the Limerick Italian Foodies. I hear some good things about them. Hopefully, I will get a chance to enjoy lots of Italian food next week in Italy, looking forward to it already.

Well done to the Munster team for a near perfect professional performance on Saturday. And a major acknowledgement must go to the fans, it is amazing the passion that most Limerick people have for the Munster team and for the game of rugby, very impressive.

ping

ping

a morning baptism

I just heard about a very interesting Polish tradition called Wet Monday or Dyngus Day. Do traditions migrate as people migrate?

bloggers

I was just glancing through some "popular" Irish blogs; I have the word popular in quotes because I don't what value of popular they are. They seem so self-indulgent and so self-important, my blog probably suffers similar ostentatiousness, which leads me to wonder about the quality of blogging and our rationale for doing it.

ramble ramble

An old colleague of mine has a company blog, where I saw a novel use of gaming. Downloading a game over bluetooth in a shop, allows the person to get discounts based on their score in the game. The blog also has a picture of a rollable display which looks cool.


How to link parenthood with software development.

A free book I think..

Wireless Pacemaking

Sometimes, you just don't think about what things contain a wireless device. Then again, I am fortunate enough that I have not had to think about something like a pacemaker. When you do think about something like a pacemaker, you can see the benefits of wireless technology. One could obtain diagnostic information or even, if necessary, fine tune the pace maker without requiring physical access to it.

Of course it is only a matter of time before you start to wonder about the safety of wireless technology in such a device. Technews brought the whole subject to my attention. In their news round up, they listed an article from a research group who found that they could hack into a pacemaker and get it to perform various actions.

And today, Technews reports that some electronic equipment such as digital frames, ipods, and sat-nav devices, come with viruses preinstalled. They suspect that these incidents are accidental and occur when a test PC is accidentally infected by an employee, but if you were a conspiracy theorist...

I wonder can you get a virus checker for a pacemaker?

no publicity is bad publicity

I hadn't seen the list of modern evils until I saw Skitz's post.

Genetic manipulation, does that mean conceiving a baby is a sin?

Environmental pollution, does that include belching or flatulence?

Inflicting poverty, does that include inflicting poverty on yourself? To give a beggar money or not to give, that is the question?

Violation of fundamental rights of human nature, which rights are these?

Drug trafficking and consumption, is the sacrifical wine included in this?

still wondering

An article on the BBC website instigated the thinking about cultural rights in a global context in my wee mind.

The article portrays the perspective of a Japanese whaler on whale hunting which is banned by the International Whaling Commission. Japan still hunts whales for scientific purposes.

Initially, I compared the hunting of whales in Japan to bull fighting in Spain and fox hunting in Ireland. These are activities that invoke much passion amongst the pro and anti groups. Then I started wondering about activities that deeply affect people, such as forced marriages, genital mutilation, and the caste system. I am still wondering...

randomness

Should you wash your hair or not?

More potato news from Peru, where they have more varieties of potato than any other country.

I wouldn't be surprised if current politicians were using opposite members' horoscopes for political gain.

But I don't feel like dancin'
When the old Joanna plays
My heart could take a chance
But my two feet can't find a way
You think that I could muster up a little soft, shoop devil sway
But I don't feel like dancin'
No sir, no dancin' today.

On that note, am giving up dancing for a while, need more time to get other things done.

A blue Work Life Balance

Is there a subliminal message in having a Work Life Balance day and then having it on the 29th of February? Is this a corporate conspiracy?

For some reason a blue potato seems wrong. Why I do not know, but it does...

Fine Stuff?

Initially, I thought EUR1.68 billion was a nice bit of money until I realised that the same people make that much profit in a single quarter. I wonder what the EU will do with the money?

scary

It is interesting and possible a little worrying how certain items can attract news coverage around the world. From New York to India to New Zealand, there is much interest in the Irish entry for the Eurovision this year. I can't imagine what Dustin will be like with all this coverage.

Planets of the sexes!

I heard rumours recently that a certain book was being read late at night in the shadowy darkness of the Storm cinema near a wooden haven. This surprised me as reading and shadowy darkness do not generally work well together. The Gardai at Henry street were unable to comment on the matter. Apparently, their GPS navigator was broken and they could not find the area in question.

Initially, I dismissed the rumour as nonsense. However, after some investigating I was able to discover that a certain individual was stalking the stars in the area. Locals were shocked and appalled. "I am shocked and appalled" said one local. And so were the stars, it has emerged the individual was more interested in the planets than the stars, and in particular Mars and Venus than anything else.

After communications with NASA, I was able to get the individual to disclose some of his results. A detailed analysis is still in progress but already we can see a lot about the planets. We can see that Venus is wider around the waste than Mars, that Mars is able to withstand the cold a lot more than Venus, and while Mars is prone to eccentricity, Venus is much more prone to go ecliptic.

sporty weekend ahead.

The Irish Womens Rugby team are playing this evening against Scotland. Hopefully they will do well. Unfortunately, the game is on at 6pm which gives people very little chance to get to the game after work. It is a pity the game is not on a Sunday or even a precursor to the big game on Saturday, as might encourage more interest. It is also a pity that there is such poor coverage about the Womens' games, trying to get the result is very difficult.

There should be a good hurling game on Sunday in Limerick at 2.00pm. Port Omna (Gaillimh) are playing Luachna – Caislean Laighnigh (Tiobraid Árann) in the semi finals of the club championship, while Biorra (Uíbh Fhailí) are playing Cu Chullian (Aontroim) in Clones at same time.

What does the word Irish mean?

Is it just a synonym for a job poorly done? Recently, I have heard a number of people expressing frustration with the way something is done by using the expression "that's a bit Irish isn't it?". Generally, this reference occurs in relation to something done by the Irish government or by Irish companies. For example, when the NRA proposed the Nenagh bypass, people cried out for it to be made a dual carriage way. However, in their wisdom the NRA made it a single carriage way and now not long after been built they are ripping up parts of it to make it a dual carriage way.

One could argue that there are lots of good things that happen in the country, such as the achieving peace in the north, getting the smoking ban through, and putting in place plastic bag levy. Some Irish businesses have even redefined how Irish people live such as Ryanair in how they have transformed air travel in Europe. Is is possible that there are more bad things than good things, and has this resulted in the sad connotation that people have added to being Irish? Or are we a nation of begrudgers who do not recognise good things?

random comments on battle in a heavy weight.

It is strange when you are alerted to a place where a killing occurred. Especially, when you are just after arriving to a place. You would think that taxi drivers would not want to scare off potential future passengers.

However, I would recommend the Cottage restaurant in Warrington for its delicious Indian food. I had a Chicken Tikka Pathia which was scrumptuous. The service initially was excellent and then collapsed into non-existency which was a pity. I'd still go back for the food, and also to give the waiters a second chance.

It is strange that the English towns, that I have visited that they, seem deserted on certain nights mid week. While Tuesday night was student night, that is all I saw around students. Wednesday night was vaccuous, so strange. Even the McDonalds was closed at 10 oclock in the town centre.

Infoworld discuss some of the uses of GPS in mobile phones that are on display in the mobile world congress in Barcelona (previously known as the 3gsm congress). They mention Yahoo's idea of getting alerts when your friends come into town, which sounds a little big brother like. However, it does make me wonder how soon will a GPS dating service occur, if one does not already exist? People text a number in a pub and get alerted to possible dates in that pub.

Congrats and non rants.

Congrats to Ronan on his photography site for Travel, Landscape and Event Photography. Some excellent pictures in it.

Also congrats to the latest Doc.

Haven't written in ages, just been very busy. I had so many things that I wanted to give out about, hypocracy of politicians and ineptness of politicians, GAA and the situation with the Cork players, Sport and Feminism and excellence, and the silliness of fluid restrictions on flights.