Inventory....

Kilkee, Ireland

France

Books:

- Freakonomics (ISBN 006089637X)
- Le Magasin des Suicidés de Jean Teulé (ISBN-13: 978-2260017080)

Irish Monopoly

A new edition of the game Monopoly is to be published: The Here and Now All Ireland edition.
Instead of the streets the (not all 32) counties are appearing, and the railway station are replaced by the four provinces (Munster, Ulster, Connaght and Leinster)... the full list can be found at monopoly.ie. Some interesting stuff there, the Kingdom (Kerry) is on the low end while Limerick and Roscommon are the highest end. Cork is the 2nd more expensive item of the board (Champs Elysées in the french édition).

Radiohead - New LP .... New trade

That's it the new Radiohead LP will be availaible October 10th... on download first, not via iTunes or anywhere else directly from he band itself, via their website, without any record company....
It's called In Rainbows


More news:

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/

http://www.greenplastic.com/

http://www.ateaseweb.com/

[EDIT] Seems the news is exciting a lot of people, particulary from Freakonomics, who would love to see the results of Radiohead sells.

More material well being or...

Heard Friday, an interesting interview of Greenspan, former head of the federal bank, he got an interesting point about the choice facing our societies: "more material well being or more tranquility, we can't have both as current data suggests".
For him, instability ( economic bubbles) are rooted within our economic system, and therefore are part of its growth. In other words, people can't keep being richer and at the same time achieve piece of mind, as the instability of the capital create growth and unease.

I tend to agree on part of his analysis, and here the question, what do we really want: more cars/ipod/flat screen or more happiness ?

Paillardises [FR]

Grand Vicaire (Le)
Bis pour chaque vers)

Chez nous le méchoui, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait l’barbecue,
Ma maman fait le mouton,
Et le curé l’embroche…
Et le grand vicaire, toujours par derrière
N’a jamais pu l’embrocher.

Chez nous le jardinage, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait la charrue,
Ma maman elle fait les bœufs,
Et le curé laboure (la bourre)…
Et le grand vicaire, toujours par derrière,
N’a jamais pu la bourrer.

Chez nous l’évasion, c’est une coutume
Mon papa c’est la prison,
Ma maman c’est les barreaux
Et le curé la lime…
Et le grand vicaire, toujours par derrière,
N’a jamais pu la limer.

Chez nous la glace, c’est une coutume
Mon papa, c’est le cornet,
Ma maman, elle fait la boule,
Et le curé la lèche…

Chez nous la boulangerie, c’est une coutume
Mon papa prepare la pate,
Ma maman la petri,
Et le curé la fourre…

Chez nous les baskets, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait les Reebok,
Ma maman fait Adidas,
Et le curé la Nike…

Chez nous les vendanges, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait le raisin,
Ma maman fait les bouteilles,
Et le curé l’embouche…

Chez nous la pétanque, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait l’cochonnet,
Ma maman elle fait la boule,
Et le curé la tire…

Chez nous la basse-cour, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait le goret,
Ma maman fait le canard,
Et le curé lapine…

Chez nous les rideaux, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait les anneaux,
Ma maman fait le tissu,
Et le curé la tringle…

Chez nous la couture, c’est une coutume
Mon papa prépare les fils,
Ma maman c’est les aiguilles,
Et le curé l’enfile…

Chez nous la boulangerie, c’est une coutume
Mon papa c’est le mitron,
Ma maman prépare la pâte,
Et le curé l’enfourne…

Chez nous les crêpes, c’est une coutume
Mon papa il fait la poêle,
Ma maman elle fait la pâte,
Et le curé la r’tourne..

Chez nous la gymnastique, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait le salto,
Ma maman fait la rondade,
Le curé la culbute…

Chez nous la chasse, c’est une coutume
Mon papa c’est le faisan,
Ma maman c’est la bécasse,
Et le curé la plombe…


Chez nous les cadeaux, c’est une couutme
Mon papa fait le paquet,
Ma maman fait le ruban,
Et le curé l’emballe…

Chez nous la fête foraine, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait les jetons,
Ma maman fait la voiture,
Le curé la tamponne…

Chez nous l’anatomie, c’est une coutume
Mon papa il fait les jambes,
Ma maman elle fait les bras,
Et le curé la tronche / la tête…

Chez nous les légos, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait les clipos,
Ma maman fait les duplos,
Et le curé l’emboîte…

Chez nous la bricole, c’est une coutme
Mon papa fait le marteau,
Ma maman elle fait le clou,
Et le curé l’enfonce…

Chez nous le gazon, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait le terreau,
Ma maman c’est la pelouse,
Et le curé la broute…

Chez nous les conduits, c’est une coutume
Mon papa fait les tuyaux,
Ma maman la cheminée,
Le curé la ramone…

.....

Tracks dispo en streamin [FR]

L'excellente émission d'Arte Tracks est maintenant visible en streamin a partir sur site de l'émission tous les vendredis.

On the english side new seasons of weeds, and here it's start with an interesting life lesson:

Irish Activity

Video Selection

Yo what's up bro....

Who said youngsters wer not polite and did not say hello properly ...

The wind .. sympthatetic ecoimagination spot


Still him and he finally find a job and a pupose:

Tele Libre (FR)

Le collège de France met en ligne ses conférences.

Etienne Mineur Blog d'un graphiste

la télé libre : http://www.latelelibre.fr/

Bergman death

Underwater Ireland

Just a link of National Geogrpahic adventure:
Underwater Ireland by the National Geogrpahic

Franco-philie on irish Radio

Listening last night Tom Dunne on Today FM (Pet Sounds show), and guess what i've heard, the last single from the Rita Mistsouko (album Variety): L'ami ennemi.
Amongst others here is what you can heard in french over teh past few days:

MALAJUBE ( MONTRAL – 40 ) Quebec

LES RITA MITSOUKO ( C’EST COMME CA ) France

LES RITA MITSOUKO ( L'ami ennemi ) France

Quebec... nouvelle scene ???

Another great band from Quebec.... Malajube "Montreal -40"

Kilkee

Scuba Diving Links in Ireland

• Aughinish Diving Club
  
• Scuba Diving forum on boards.ie
  
• Diving Site in Kilkee
  
• Scuba Web Shop (Spain based)
  
• Diver Warehouse (UK)
  
• Aqualung
  
• Met Eireann Costal forecast
  
• Irish Sailing Association (PowerBoat)
  
• Irish underwater council
  
• Waterwold Diving in CastleGregory (Kerry)
  
• Mevagh Dive Centre Donegal
  
• Baltimore (west Cork) Dive Center
  
• Valentia Island Sea Sports
  
• Dive Center Kilkee
  
• Beuchat [FR]
  
• CMAS
  
• French Diving Federation
  
• Aqua Sète [FR]
  
• Insa Bulles [FR]
  
• Emmanule Georges [FR], Theorie Niv 1,2,4
  

8th Final

• It was the 8th final of the french championship, for Clermont Auvergne (ASM) , and we lose it again ... snifff...
  
• Thousands of irish drivers only got provisional license: as indicated in the Irish Independent, 101 000 are on their third ( or more ) provisional license, which means they are unqualified driver who failed the test. Worst part you don't need to had a single driving lesson for that, you only need to apply for the test ( without even have to pass it ) in order to have your provisional license renewed. There is something like 20% (431 895 is the exact figure) of the drivers in ireland who only holds a provisional license.
  

Such a perfect day

Perfect saturday, morning scubadiving in Castlegregory, and afternoon on the beach....

The only lowlights of the day: 1. No girls were serving the tea on the boat ( Mika will understand, and no they were not there at all) 2. No waves... damn

Irish Forum

A nice Irish forum, full of useful information: boards.ie.
I particularly enjoy the threads about Scuba Diving.


Today Medium Windows Media Player (previous one)

1. What do you think of me, random music player?
    Cocoon - Bjork
2. Will I have a long and happy life?
    Pinocchio - Radio Bemba osund System - Manu Chao
3. What do my friends really think of me?
    Venus as a boy - Bjork
4. What does my S/O think of me?
    Hey Joe - Poppa Chubby
5. Do people secretly lust after me?
    Heartbeats - Joze Gonzales
6. How can I make myself happy?
    Skin - Maria Doyle Kennedy
7. What should I do with my life?
    Go to Mexico - Cassandra Wilson
8. Why must life be so full of pain?
    Almost Done - Morcheeba
9. How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
    Sweet Goddess love and beer - Poppa Chubby
10. Will I ever have children?
  Get a kick out of you - Lisa Ekhdal
11. Will I die happy?
   Sweey Scented Figure - Scott Matthews
12. Can you give me some advice?
    Elusive - Scott Matthews
13. What do you think happiness is?
    I am waiting for the day - Beach Boys
14. Do you have any advice to give over the next few hours/days?
    Seeing things - Zero 7

I love answer 13,14,9, 7 ... but for the rest it's a bit cryptic.... may be i better should look at my horoscope:

Today the world will seem like a mirror, because you will see a bit of yourself in every person you interact with. Your empathy is turned up to the max, and you may suddenly have the urge to become someone's teacher or mentor. It makes sense, because there is someone in your life who could use a pointer or two -- and you know that you are the perfect person to provide them. Make time for a few lessons early today, and by the afternoon you'll see progress.

Sounds good .... except what it seems i am going to mentor some guy.... poor guy ... LOL

God only knows

I discover a fantastic stand up comedian: Sarah Silverman, you can see the introduction she made to the MTV awards here on dailymotion and some more on youtube.


Songs of the week

• God only Knows - Beach Boys
  
• Who'll stop the rain - CCR
  
• FXXX & Call Me - Maria Doyle Kennedy
  
• Keep the car running - Arcade Fire
  

Statistics of the week : Brain Age best = 23 worst = 27 ; Unit of alcohol 4 ; Pub = 3 ; Weight = 95kg ; Cycle = 0km ; ScubaDive = 0 ; X-Ray = 1

Go Clermont

Clermont auvergne is in final of the TOP 14 (the french championship), after a fantastic victiry over Toulouse in semi-final. So it's all heads to the 9th of june, for the great final in Paris against the Stade Francais. It will be the 8th time Clermont (ASM) is in Final of the championship.

Allez les bougnats !!!

40 years of Sgt Pepper

Today 1st june, we are celebrating the 40 years anniversary of the mythic album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. And on this occasion Tom Dunne on the radio Today FM, play during 3 hours the full album with some pieces it was influenced from (Pet Sounds) and it has influenced. Elected by the Rolling stone magazine, as the best album of all times, here the list of the 5 first (out of 500, the full list you can find on Rolling Stone website):
1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
3. Revolver, The Beatles
4. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
5. Rubber Soul, The Beatles

Which bring us to my personal list of favourites album:

1. Tostaky - Noir Désir
   
2. Amnesiac - Radiohead
   
3. Néon Bible - Arcade Fire
   
4. If I could only remember my name - David Crosby
   
5. No Quartr - Page and Plant
   
6. CCR Live in Europe - Creedence Clearwater Revival
   
7. Whaterver the weather - Dionysos
   
8. Strange Days - The Doors
   
9. Hells freeze over - Eagles
   
10. Baduizm - Erykha Badhu
    
11. Fuzzy - Grant Lee Buffalo
    
12. Pearl - Janis Joplin
    
13. Burtsing Out - Jethro Tull
    
14. Live from Mars - Ben Harper
    
15. Grace - Jeff Buckley
    
16. Daemon Days - Gorillaz
    
17. Début -Björk
    
18. The cover records - Cat Power
    
19. Wish you were here - Pink Floyd
    
20. Rory Gallagher - Rory Gallagher
    
21. Stoosh - Skunk Anansie
    
22. Since I left you - Avalanches
    
23. Rhum, sodomy, & the lash - The Pogues
    
24. Who's next - The Who
    
25. Express Way - Troublemakers
    
26. The best band... - Franck Zappa
    

Limerick some place of interest:

Maria Doyle Kennedy

Just seen Maria Doyle Kennedy in Dolans. Excellent... I am probably gonna buy the album, you can listen to some of her song on her space on mySpace.

And if you are in Limerick this saturday night, another DJ battle is organised in the Underground (Baker-Place / Wicked Chicken).

Lomography

Lomography or a way to enjoy photography. here's the rule:
1. Take your LOMO everywhere you go and whenever you go.
2. Use it any time - day or night.
3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but a part of it.
4. Shoot from the hip.
5. Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible.
6. Don't think.
7. Be fast.
8. You don't have to know beforehand what you've captured on film.
9. You don't have to know afterwards, either.
10. Don't worry about the rules.

But after you can also tried to put some lomo effects ( with Gimp ) on your digital pictures:

Here how to do it (with Gimp):
* Open a picture.
* From the menu choose ‘Image: Colors: Brightness-Contrast’ and increase the contrast by 30.
* From the menu choose ‘Image: Colors: Hue-Saturation’ and increase the saturation by 30.
* Choose the ‘Rectangular Selection’ tool.
* Open the ‘Tool Options’ dialog.
* Select ‘Feather’ and change the feather amount to ⅛th of the width of your picture.
* Select your entire picture. Choosing ‘Select: All’ from the menu will not work.
* From the menu choose ‘Select: Invert’.
* Create a new layer in the ‘Layers, Channels & Paths’ dialog.
* Change your primary color to black. Fill the selection on the new, blank layer.
* Change the mode of this layer to ‘Overlay’.
* Duplicate the layer.
* From the menu choose ‘Select: None’.
* Now select your base layer (the one with the picture on it).
* Create a new layer.
* Select the ‘Blend’ tool.
* Change the gradient type to ‘Radial’.
* Change the blend type to ‘FG to transparant’.
* Change your primary color to white.
* With the blend tool selected, click in the middle of the picture, and drag the line out to the farthest edge of your picture (if it’s a portrait, use top or bottom, if landscape, use left or right).
* Change the mode of this layer to ‘Overlay’.
* Change the Opacity of this layer to 80% (or whatever you see fit, you’ll see what I mean).


Filckr vision combines Google Maps and Flickr, and display teh latest upload on the website

Irish Election

Ireland just got a general election. They voted on thursday, and today saturday there are still counting ( and recounting the votes ) !!?!!!?

A bit of explanation is necessary. Irish voted thrursday for the Dáil Éireann eth lower house of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oireachtas Oireachtas] which is the parlement of the state. There are 166 seats elected for a maximum of 5 years ( but the Prime Minister can dissolve the Dail before that). A politican elected at the Dail is called a TD (Teachta Dála).
Ireland is divided ( which normally follow the counties limit, but subdvision can happen) in constituency, in order that each TD represent the same amount of people.
In each constituency there is 3 to 5 seats to be filled.
Other things, all members of the governement must be an elected TD ( there is less power separation between executive and legislative ), and the government composition is voted at the Dail. That means this election directly decide who is in power for the next five years.
Actually one of the member of the Dail is automatically re-elected (unless he resigned or die ):the Ceann_Comhairle

Now the fun part, how the TD are elected, and why does it 2 to 3 days to count the votes ( in a country where there is only 4 millions habitants ):
the system used is Single Transferable Vote which introduce proportionality in the results of the vote.
So it's not the 3 candidates with most votes in a constituency who necessarly got the seats.
First when you vote, you indicate a list of preferences for the candidates ( number 1 will be say candidate B, then 2 the candidate C... etc )
To be elected a candidate need to exceed a given quota ( calculated on the number of validat vote, basically : 1 + vote / ( setas + 1 ) .
Then one candidate exceed the quota, his vote are reported following the preferences indicated by the voter to the other candidates.

I can't imagine the mess when they are counting, and recounting ( at the moment saturday afternoon, 3 constituencies are recounting following reclamation from candidate )....

Update: That create some interesting TV show, RTE for example spend all friday and most of saturday airing a show going through each constituency, each count as they go along. Some constituency only got all seats filled after 7 to 8 count.
One interesting thing is with that kind of proportional system, one party can hardly get the overall majoroty on its own, it has to compromise and create coalition with smaller party.

For example, the overall majority is 84 seats, Fine Fael got 78, his current partner in the governement the Progressive Democtrats got 2... which means they need at least 4 ( out of 5 ) independants to join them ( or from another party, more likely green ).
The leader of the opposition Enda Kenny, is doing a different count: Fine Gael his party got 51 + 20 from the Labour + 6 from the green = 77, he needs the independant and all 5 independant and probably the 2 PD ( but his election program was vote for a change ) or Sinne Feinn ( but for some reason everybody ruled out to have a coalition with them ... from Ahearn to Kenny )... I don't quite actually understand him.

Limerick

Star Wars parody

A parody of the TV program cops... on Tatoine


And what happen when the monthy python meet Star Wars ( or was the dark knight a sith ? ).

Ratatouille

The next disney/pixar movie (in theater June 29th), looks fantastic all about cooking, i am already impressed by the copper casseroles, there is a 9 minutes preview on the website (enjoy).
Ratatouille Website

French are always complaining....

And it turn out...it's true.A study by FDS International found exactly that: French workers are the world's biggest whiners.In the same study, it appears Irish complain least about their lot.

Brits ( 37% feel they don’t get enough holidays, putting them at No.1 in the Holiday Whinge rankings) enjoy an average of 33.5 days annual leave and public holidays – but despite having less holidays (29), only 13 per cent of workers in Ireland whinge about their lack of holidays.

The report is called: What Workers Want: A Worldwide Study
of Attitudes to Work and Work-Life Balance (by FDS International)

The study findings are based on (amongst others):
- satisfaction with issues including pay levels.
- work-life balance.
- average working hours.

---

Wisdom ranking
Got 4.2 at this test: Wisdom scorecard

NY times related article: The Older-and-Wiser Hypothesis.

American view of France

EOS 400D ... my new toy

Limerick view from the quay.

Wall in da house.

Ring of Kerry ...cloudy

On the road to valentia (island)


Valentia Island



View on the Skellig Islands from Valentia Island

Sea kayaking

Saturday: Glencariff sea kayaking with http://www.seakayakingwestcork.com/
Excellent, damn my camera fail me ....

See some shy seals, unfortunately the rain was back.

Forest Walk

Just walking in the forest near Lough Key...

Saturday: No Wicked Chicken, replace by a very nice concert from Fionn Regan in Dolans.
See Fionn Regan in the RTE program Other Voices.

Irish spring ... hot hot

It has been the warmest April recorded in Ireland, according to Met Eireann. And the driest at Shannon airport... I would not more agree... No rain for 2 weeks, then 2 days of rain, and now great sun.
For example, maximum temperature yesterday at Shannon airport: 16.7.

In the house the garden has seen its first roses....


A follow up, to the previous post, the good thing about food in ireland, is that you rediscover French food with an incredible pleasure, you might also rediscover the most simple pleasure ( french green beans just fired to be crunchy, with a nut of butter ).

Food in ireland

Seafood

Some thinking about food in Ireland. Even if Ireland is an island, surprisingly Irish people don't eat fish. I admit you can find the traditional fish and chip which consists of deep-fried fish (cod most of the time) in batter or breadcrumbs with deep-fried potatoes.

Sea Food is rare, even if there is an oyster festival near Galway ( to be consumed with Guinness), i've never seen people here eating blue mussel or other "fruits de mer".

The deep-fried approach seems the based of any cooking here, the specialty of one of my first Irish roommate was fried sausages at 3am when coming back from the pub ... lovely smell in the house.

There is a socking contrast between the brilliant TV program you can see here( mainly British: The F word, R Kitchen's Nightmare, ...etc... ) about food and the quality of the food you can find here. If I compare with France, we certainly don't have that many hours dedicated to food on television ( except Maiite and some lunch hours short programs ), but the education about food is done at school and home with much more variety and choice in your daily food.

Breakfast
Very symbolic the traditional Irish breakfast is composed of:
toasts, fried sausages, fried tomatoes, black pudding, baked beans, bacon eggs and coffee or tea.
And as you can see it's brilliantly fat ( and perhaps unhealthy ? ) !

Food is a common source of criticism for French expatriate here in Ireland as developed in an interesting point of view of French people ( in French ) about Food in Ireland (mfe.org).

Cheese
In one word, I am sorry, but cheddar is not real cheese ! Viva unpasteurized cheese !
The situation is slowly progressing, as you can now find some French cheese in supermarkets ( at prohibitive price )

On other milk product, I've never seen people eat so much butter with just a slice of wheaten bread ( at breakfast, during their tea break ), every restaurant will provide you with a couple of slices of bread and some butter.

The traditional cooking is simple (Irish stew, baked potatoes ), and only recently starting, with the country becoming economically healthier, to be a bit more varied and elaborated.
See History of Food in Ireland.

Nice restaurants in Limerick area:
- The Green Onion (Rutland St, Limerick) +++
- Copper & Spice (CornMarket St, Limerick) +++
- Brulées (corner of Henry Street and Mallow Street) ++++ (but expensive)


Some links:
- Italian Foodies (limerick)
- Marmiton (there is an english version but mainly in french)
- BBC Food (Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Bill Granger )
- Traditional simple Irish recipes

Cinema de quartier

Jean Pierre Dionnet dans ses oeuvres....

By the way, "El Topo" and "Holy Mountain" has been re-released in DVD.