Wrafter Writes

Brings A Tear To My Eye

Mark — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:43:17 +0000

Google’s Gaudi Mishears “Ireland”

Mark — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:22:59 +0000

I was testing Google’s Gaudi application today, which allows searchers to find words buried in the audio channel of videos they watch.Being Irish, I decided to search the word “Ireland” and was intrigued to find Obama, Larry King, Rudy Guiliani and John Edwards all speaking about Ireland recently… except they weren’t, they were speaking about “Iowa”. Why? Well, it seems Gaudi needs a little more tweaking, when the word/name “Iowa” is spoken, it thinks it’s hearing “Ireland”. Shame. And I thought we were suddenly popular!

Clever…

Mark — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:01:27 +0000

If you intend to do something tough…

Mark — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:49:48 +0000

… publish those intentions, for even if you doubt you can complete it, other people’s expectations will make you do so.

So. I’m on my first week of marathon training. I’ve never run, or trained, in my life.

I intend to run the New York Marathon in late 2009.

Below, taken July 31st, my running-companion, personal-trainer, and myself - the day we received our training schedule. First run-out took place on August 4th.

Sober At The Free Bar

Mark — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:31:46 +0000

I was at a free bar on Friday night, American Apparel have opened a new shop in BCN, so they threw a night.

Every two-bit mod in the city was out - they’re so not used to free booze here - so due to the queue at the bar - it took so long to get to the bar, I only got one solitary beer all night! And if you’re wondering why I didn’t ask for something a bit stronger than a beer on that occasion, well, when I got there they reported that they had no clean glasses - I nearly said gimme a dirty one then - but anyways - tis a handy way to control free drink, with no available glasses.

French National Front, Irish For A Day…

Mark — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:14:05 +0000

… hard to believe. Quite bloody frightening. More here.

We caused a hell of a fuss

Mark — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:56:35 +0000

I was in Berlin at the weekend, and I picked up a copy of “Der Tagesspiegel”, a broadsheet struggling to communicate the message “Ireland” and “No”, visually. They did it in the following way:

Click for full view.

Spanish Media Calling Cowen “Biffo”

Mark — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:12:47 +0000

Interesting to see yesterday the national quality daily “La Vanguardia” of Spain calling Taoiseach / Irish prime minister Brian Cowen, a Biffo, though they translated the “Fucker” in Biffo (the first “F”) as “Fellow” instead. Last paragraph sees them calling him Biffo in the context of the story. Bizarre. I can’t see the Irish media calling Zapatero a Fucker from Valladolid! (Click on thumbnail for larger version).

German Wings Gaff

Mark — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:58:32 +0000

When will people finally learn once and for all that Ireland is NOT part of the United Kingdom.

Here’s a screenshot from their site taken this morning:

Turn Your Dwarf Into A Giant

Mark — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:15:57 +0000

Spam subject lines don’t often make me laugh, but this one did: “Turn Your Dwarf Into A Giant!”