April 2007 – Page 3 – Something Odd!

Office space for the single worker

Do you work from home? Do you wish you could share the cost of an office space with like minded individuals?

Coworking.ie was launched a few days ago by Jason Roe and whose goal is to, “promote coworking in ireland, to provide a community space for coworkers to team up and to serve as a guide to people who are looking to go out on their own.” I love the notion of a “community of cafe-like collaboration spaces for developers, writers and independents”.

It’s a great idea and I for one will be subscribed to the blog and keeping an eye on developments. I’m not the only one: James and Justin have both expressed an interest in the venture.

This wiki page has more details on what coworking is with a long list of posts on the subject and links to coworking initiatives all over the world!

Ireland.com uses WordPress MU

Damien alerted me to the fact that the new Ireland.com blogs are using WordPress, and so with much excitement I hit the site and browsed around. A quick look at the source showed that they are in fact using WordPress MU which is rather neat.

Ireland.com is the website of The Irish Times, a major daily newspaper here. It’ll be great to see journalists blogging there, but only if they are allowed free reign. If they pull it off, they’ll bring a lot more attention to the site.

So far, only two blogs are operating. On the Record is a music blog written by Jim Carroll, and Price Watch by Conor Pope. Conor’s first post is Window or aisle? €15 please, a short post exploring new charges by Aer Lingus. I don’t see a Trackback link there but hopefully they’ll allow trackbacks and pingbacks sooner rather than later.

Welcome to the ireland.com blog page. We have two blogs, one written by music journalist Jim Carroll, using his weekly column On The Record as its cornerstone. This blog will shed light on the machinations of the music industry at home and abroad. From today, the consumer-focused PriceWatch section will also be carried in blog form on the site. Written by Conor Pope, the blog will be updated throughout the week and will allow users to post details of rip-offs, ask questions and perhaps even highlight bargains they have spotted.

Update on Sep 8, 2009 They’re not using WordPress MU any more unfortunately. Looks like a Windows based system, with ugly urls. The links to the blogs above are broken as a result. Disappointing.

Islamic toilet etiquette

I half-heard an interview with a young Muslim woman on Today FM a few minutes ago and decided to find out for myself what Muslims really think of squat toilets. The first link is this Wikipedia page on the subject which states,

The Islamic faith has particular rules regarding personal hygiene when going to the toilet. This code is known as Qadaahul Haajah [1] and is extremely prescriptive. The rules were established during times before the invention of toilet paper or toilet seats. In many parts of the Muslim World, squat toilets are the norm and toilet paper remains rare and its use a matter of dispute.

It should be borne in mind that none of the following points is contained within the Koran and all are derived from hadith sources and the collected opinions of people throughout history. The Koran is silent on any of the issues below including issues of sidedness such as whether one uses the left or right hand, order of stepping into or out of toilet areas, or which foot stress is placed upon. The only issue which it does touch upon in relation to toileting, is the one of washing one’s hands especially following going to the toilet which is mentioned in verse 5:6 of the Koran.

I recall from the interview Ray D’Arcy asked the woman if the Koran said that squat toilets should be used. She artfully dodged the question by replying that Muslims use squat toilets all over the world, while also implying that it was in the Koran if I remember correctly.

As Islam is now the third largest religion in Ireland I think the sales of new toilets might be affected by future trends..