This is the last of the baby posts, for a while. Only a day after Mairead announced she was pregnant, Jenny gave birth to baby Kate on Saturday evening around 8pm. Ray D’Arcy was on the radio this morning beaming and full of the joys of the world. Great to hear that on a Monday morning!
Tag Archives: irishblogs
What do I really do with my SSIA?
Tom Raftery interviewed Eddie Hobbs two weeks ago as part of the IT@Cork pre conference podcast. He covers a range of subjects including investment in IT and residential vs commercial property investments. I’m downloading it now and will listen to it shortly!
There are also interviews with other Conference speakers, including Salim Ismail and Hugh MacLeod. The IT@Cork Business Without Boundaries Conference is looking like a good event to attend. I’ll be there with my camera so expect some photos on my photoblog shortly afterwards!
Really I need a mugger who can file my Vat returns
Comedian Dara O Briain is interviewed by Rose Costello in the Sunday Times “Fame and Fortune” column this week. If you’ve never seen him on tv or perform live then check out the clips at the end of this post!
As a self employed person I took to heart his recommendation that, “Oh yeah, and if you’re self-employed, get an offset mortgage.” You pay tax once a year, all that dosh is building up in your current account, doing what? You might as well get it working and paying off the mortgage. As soon as my fixed rate loan period is up …
How much money do you normally have in your wallet and do you carry anything unusual or sentimental in it?
I never have cash in my wallet at any time — so take that, you brigands and banditos, you’ll get nothing from me. Instead I carry around months and months of receipts. Really I need a mugger who can file my Vat returns.
York Model Railway Station
Update! Dara was on Podge & Rodge’s show the other night! Here’s the obligatory Youtube video: (via)
How to make cocaine
Cocaine use is ruining many lives, the social side effects of paying for an expensive addictive habit ruins society but it’s also disgusting all the crap they use to make cocaine. As it’s an illegal drug you have to take what you get: petrol, cement, calcium oxide, ammonia, H2SO4 and of course coca leaves. This video takes you through the process of from picking the leaves, chopping them, spraying them wth the above chemicals and filtering. Ugh. Everyone should see this video. It might stop someone experimenting with it in the first place.
The Swearing Lady has been reading about Cocaine use in Ireland and the UK. It’s being cut with carcinogenic chemicals to increase yields so on top of the chemicals above drug users are really f*cked. (via and I’d swear Damien linked to the movie a few days ago too)
Edit: the video that was here is long gone, but here’s a text description of how to make cocaine. Reminded me of Breaking Bad reading that.
Today FM's Mairead Farrell is Pregnant
News hot off the radio is that Mairead Farrell of the Ray D’Arcy’s show on Today FM is five months pregnant. I don’t know what it is but everyone seems to be either pregnant or just after having a baby. What’s in the water?
Back on July 24th, Ray and Jenny announced that Jenny was pregnant, and she’s now on maternity leave. The baby should be popping out any time now. I’m surprised the birth hasn’t happened already! We’re now waiting on an announcement from the recently married Will Hanafin and I wonder who will replace the lovely Mairead when she’s out on leave?
It’s almost a year since the US book was launched! I was there, and got some great photos of Ray, Jenny and Mairead. Such a lot has happened in the last year!
For your viewing pleasure, here’s the team doing the Ok Go dance, before anyone was pregnant!
And, oh my God, if you want cringe worthy tv, here’s Rodge and Podge interviewing Ray..
BarCamp in the Sunny South East
News from Keith is that plans are underway for a BarCamp to be held in Waterford sometime early in the new year. After their positive experience at the BarCamp in Cork, he and Tom Corcoran are planning it, and they can make available, “the facilities of the WIT centre in Carriganore – a superb building situated on its own campus.” Sounds good!
Plans are at an early stage yet, but I think I’ll be able to make the drive there for the day. I haven’t been to Waterford in ages and it’ll be nice to see the place again. Would anyone like to hear about WordPress, WordPress MU or WordPress.com? I’m not saying I will, but maybe …
Check out the Wiki too. That will probably have the most up to date information.
Do not delay – how to spot a fake charity flyer
Update! (2009-10-28) 3 years later and the Do Not Delay website has been updated. Thanks to this comment for pointing it out. Their About the Project page gives a detailed account of what they do in Lithuania:
Six years ago, the Lithuanian rate of deaths caused by breast cancer was the highest in Europe.
DO NOT DELAY, a breast cancer awareness program, was initiated by Agn? Zuokien? in 2003. Today, the number of deaths is significantly lower.
The Do Not Delay team includes professional doctors – specialists of their field who face breast cancer cases on a daily basis.
The Pink Bus travels to the most remote locations in Lithuania to deliver the message to all women – “Take care of your health, pay more attention to yourselves for your own sake and for the sake of those who love you!”
It would appear from this that “Do Not Delay” are in fact a charity in Lithuania. They’re not registered as one in Ireland or the UK however. This report by the Fermanagh Herald covers some of the same concerns I have and I will repeat my advice below. You’re better off handing your clothes in to a local second hand shop. At least then you’ll be certain the proceeds from the sale of those items will go to registered charities in your locality.
The original post continues below:
It’s not unusual for junk mail to be delivered to my door. Thankfully there’s a lot less of it than the electronic equivalent. Over the summer a number of flyers made their way to my doorstep, supposedly from charities looking for old clothes to sell to raise funds. Unfortunately only one of those was from an actual charity and they collected the clothes at a local carpark.
The latest one is from donotdelay.org. I was going to let it pass but my neighbour had a bag out for collection this morning which prompted me to grab the laptop and show them this page on letterbox spam. That page points out that donotdelay.org redirects to nedelsk.lt, which asks for donations to be sent to this bank account in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Azzara Vš?
Enterprise code 124013046
Account no. LT267044060001204079
SEB Vilniaus Bankas
Bank code 70440
There’s a phone number too, 0044-28-3084-9971, which is a UK number and not exactly encouraging for an Irish person.
How do you spot the fake charity flyers?
- It will have a contact number but it’s more than likely a mobile number. In Ireland, that’s an 085, 086, 087 number. A landline number means that they at least have a base or premises in the country.
- The flyer should have a registered charity number. A registered business number is not the same.
- Ring your local authority and ask if the “charity” is licensed to make door-to-door collections.
- Use the Google search engine to find out about them. Use any registration numbers you find, an identifying website address, even search for text from the flyer. Any charity with the resources to organise a door-to-door clothes collection will have at least some presence on the Internet.
If you do have old clothes to give away, pop them into a bag and bring them into one of the charity shops in your local town or city. They’re always looking for quality saleable items. Here’s a list of Irish charities if you want to donate money. Some well known and reputable charities include Trocaire (they even have an rss feed!), Bothair and Simon Community.
If you live in the UK, this page has some useful information including how to report a fake charity.
“Do Not Delay” collect money for breast cancer research but you would be better off making a donation to The Irish Cancer Society who will put your donation to good use.
I’ll update this post from time to time with thumbnails and summaries of flyers that hit my door. Check back often!
Just as I was wondering when donotdelay would collect their clothes I spotted an old blue van parked outside. It’s a Dublin reg vehicle and quite old, given that it’s a van and presumably used for business. The reg is “97 D 45516”. I spotted a man in denims walking down the road. He ducked into a house at a corner for a moment then walked up a hill out of sight. I waited a few minutes and he returned with a woman. Both got into the van, drove down to the end of the cul-de-sac and about 5 minutes later drove past again. On closer examination of the photos below I recognised the top of the heart shaped flyer they had in their hands. One was delivered here a few weeks back. I might have it arond here somewhere.
Update: Another blogger received the same flyer. Hopefully someone will search online for “Clothing Collection For Breast Cancer Prevention Programm”.
2006-11-21 – a new leaflet was dropped in the door a few minutes ago. It has an Irish mobile number, 0876815133, and reg. no. 382101. No sign of a charity number.
Not every family in developing countries can afford to buy new, often expensive clothes, footwear and household things.
If you search for their reg no. the first link is a pdf file (view as HTML) from Dublin City Council. Councillor Naoise O’Muiri asked, in a question to the City Manager, if he can
confirm that the following agencies currently engaged in collections in the City Area have all applied for and received Permits: …
“Unwanted Clothing Collection”, no Reg No given, 087 0552513
He replied:
The Collectors referred to by the Councillor do not have a waste collection permit from Dublin City Council.
Chances are they’re collecting ilegally in Cork too.
2006-11-29 – “Thank you for help” – another flyer appeared this morning before 8am, they’re out early! Identifying text includes the above badly constructed sentence and: “we urgently need clothing that you and your family may never wear again” and “Company Reg. Nr. 5655565A”, “Phone: +353851670878” – another mobile number. No landline, address or charity number.
2006-12-05 – “We support Orphanages.” just fell in the door. Here are their details: Reg. no. 9027839, phone 085-1337528. That’s a mobile phone number.
Update! I have set up a new site, Clothingcollection.org where I post details about all the fake charity leaflets I get. I’m sure you’ll recognise a few of them!
It is so easy to make flapjacks!
A garage down the road sells chocolate covered flapjacks. I’ve bought a few in the recent past and savoured every bite but the last time I was down there they only had plain ones! What would I do? My life ground to a halt and in desperation I contemplated droving all over the country looking for the hidden chocolate flapjacks! Alas, it was not to be.
Instead I fired up my browser and quickly came upon this simple recipe to make flapjacks. Ingredients and recipe couldn’t be easier – two cups of porridge oat flakes, a few blobs of golden syrup, a lump of butter, salt and sugar and over a heated saucepan the mixture melts and oozes together. Melting chocolate over boiling water has the added bonus of scraping out the left overs after. Yum! I’m going to do make me some flapjacks this weekend!
I can finally lay the rice crispy cakes or buns debate to rest. It’s “rice crispy cakes”. I saw a packet of rice crispy cakes clearly bearing that proud name in our local shop, so it has to be cakes, not buns!
Crook gets his
Michael Crook is a shady character who convinced men on Craiglist to reveal photos and personal sexual information about themselves which he published afterwards to embarrass them. He sent a fake DMCA notice Boing Boing in an attempt to stop them publishing a photo of him but they’re laughing at him. Others have now taken up the cause including Thomas Hawk and Fark have a great photoshop contest! Thomas points out that his his real name could be “Scott Vogel”.
The DMCA is supposed to be used for copyright infringement, and he is being sued by the EFF for improperly using it for trying to silence critical sites. Good luck to them!
It’s great when a bully gets what’s coming to him.
See how easily you can get rich?
News this morning is that elected politicians in Ireland “will receive more than €1,000 for every day they sit in the Dáil.” Not bad eh?
“Get Elected” was one of the 30 ways to spend your SSIA on Eddie Hobbs’ show recently. He suggested that investing your €20,000 in an election attempt was a great way to invest your lump sum. Given that a TD will earn more than €103,000 that’s a great investment if you have the hair and height for it!
According to today’s Irish Independent, the average basic wage for a TD will increase to more than €103,000, while a golden handshake, amounting to €4.7m, will be paid to TDs and Senators who lose their seats in next year’s general election.