dimblr.com Welcome Guest | Login or Register

In the papers 13 June
O2 loses copyright infringement case | PC shipment forecasts revised upwards
The Irish Times reports that Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown, which ultimately controls Eircom, is facing a review of AUD2.8 billion (EUR1.7 billion) in debt after a 28 percent share price collapse in one day brought its market capitalisation to levels at which its banks can seek early repayment. Babcock & Brown, which orchestrated the takeover of Eircom in 2006 by a specialist investment fund, has seen its value drop by 75 percent this year amid questions over the viability of its business model and investor worries about heavily indebted companies.
The paper also reports that tech giant IBM has advised 20,000 of its technical staff to drop Microsoft Office in favour of software from its Lotus subsidiary, which adheres to open standards. A memo from IBM’s chief information officer Mark Hennessy and vice-president Gina Poole was sent to staff on Thursday and although it does not explicitly mention Office, it talks about “a new, more integrated approach to desktop productivity software” that is facilitated by using Lotus Symphony.
The same paper says the European Commission has signalled it will back down from its push to create a new European telecoms authority, in the face of opposition from EU governments. EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has proposed a package of measures to update the union’s telecoms rules, including a plan for a new European communications authority. The European Parliament has proposed an alternative body of European regulators in telecoms, dubbed Bert. “I am looking at these different approaches with an open mind,” said Reding.
The Irish Independent notes that John Nagle and John Williamson, the two ousted top executives at e-payments firm Payzone, have built up a 17 percent stake in the company ahead of an extraordinary general meeting vote on Monday on a planned EUR40 million fundraising round. Nagle also said he had sent notification to Payzone seeking another EGM, where he would propose the removal of senior independent non-executive director David Mills from the board.

enn.ie

Air travel to Europe is about to undergo a significant change, one that is likely to spell more choices and cheaper fares for travelers.
Starting today, the so-called open-skies agreement goes into effect, allowing airlines based in the United States and Europe to fly across the Atlantic between any two airports in each region. Before the pact, trans-Atlantic flights were governed by separate agreements between the United States and individual European nations. The pacts required airlines to take off or land in their native countries, and limited which airlines could serve certain airports.
For example, British Airways flights bound for the United States had to originate in Britain. And only two U.S. carriers were permitted to land at Heathrow Airport, near London: American and United. UK-based Virgin Atlantic began daily flights last April between Heathrow and Chicago, and currently has six daily flights every day seven days a week between New York and Heathrow.
With the open-skies agreement kicking in, those restrictions are lifted, essentially letting the open market dictate all trans-Atlantic routes between the United States and Europe. For instance, Continental, Delta and Northwest will be able to serve Heathrow for the first time.
This year, San Francisco, Orlando and Washington all received their first scheduled non-stop flights to Dublin on Aer Lingus under a related transitionary arrangement. And Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, the Irish no-frills carrier, has said he plans to start a new airline that will fly from secondary European markets like Liverpool or Birmingham to a half-dozen American cities like Baltimore or Providence, R.I., for a base fare as low as 10 euros, or about $15.50 at the current exchange rate.
“We don’t even begin to get a glimmer of the possibilities of open-market competition yet,” said Jerry Chandler, who writes Cheapflights.com’s travel blog and has been tracking the new open-skies flights. “There could be a lot of flourishing of routes in markets that currently don’t exist, especially from smaller U.S. cities to European hubs.”

chicagotribune.com

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! I’m never quite sure what to make of this particular holiday, since it immediately brings to mind losers wearing green hats and guzzling green beer — or worse, parades that won’t let the gays in. But in an attempt to accentuate the positive, here are seven (that’s lucky!) delightful Irish people and things:
I’m still not entirely sure she can live up to all the hype, but American Idol contestant Smithson was greatlast week. I hope she’ll continue to rock out, though I really don’t think the Ann Wilson comparisons are right. There can be only one Ann Wilson. But kudos to Smithson for bringing Heart to the masses.
2. Roisin Connor (Siobhan McCarthy)
Donoghue’s novel Hood, about a lesbian whose partner has died unexpectedly, is funny, heartbreaking and unforgettable. I really enjoyed Stir-Fry and Slammerkin too. And those are just a few books in a growing body of work. Read our interview with Donoghue here.
This 1998 film based on the Brian Friel play has its flaws, but it also has Meryl Streep, which is good enough for me.
Yeah, she’s loud, she’s polarizing, she’s too much — but I miss her. Every time she and Chastity Bono show up at the end of The Big Gay Sketch Show, I think, “Rosie, come back to TV!”
I’ve loved her since The Lion and the Cobra, and even though I’ve occasionally questioned her sanity, I’ve never questioned the brilliance of her voice. Or the beauty of her face — if I had that face, I’d have a buzz cut too.
Though like the cynical Irish person I am I’m not celebrating. And the next person that calls it Patty’s Day gets a smack. I need a drink…
(Don’t ask and Marlene won’t tell)
The Corrs! Three really hot girls (and one cool guy), what’s not to love?! I mean, their music is amazing and they are gorgeous.
Still, three girls that hot and not one of them plays for our team? SO unfair.
Oh but in my mind they do. Well, at least Sharon (left) always has. But my heart belonged to Caroline (middle girl). Ever since I was 12. Was it the drums? The aweful clothes? The often parody-ed sillyness? Ah well. Memories, memories.
Thanks for posting a pic! Blast from the past. Must go and obsessivly listen to "Runaway".
Considering my 3/4 Irish heritage, one could say that I take this holiday a little too seriously perhaps. Thanks for the list. Oh, and don’t forget The Cranberries. Talk about a smoking front lady who is Irish!

read_more

•At least 11 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Irish; three were Irish-born.
•George Washington’s top spies were the Irish-American Roe brothers and their cousin, Nathan Hale.
•Charles Thomson of Derry, secretary of the Continental Congress, designed The Great Seal of the United States.
•The memorial honoring the defenders of Bunker Hill contains the names of 250 Irishmen.
•Twenty-two of the 54 American patriots killed at Lexington and Concord were of Irish extraction.
•The father of the American Navy was Commodore John Barry of County Wexford, Ireland.
•Charles Hoban of County Kilkenny, Ireland, designed and built the White House and repaired it after it was burned by the British in 1812.
•The Rough Riders, of whom Teddy Roosevelt was so proud, was founded by Irishman Bucky O’Neill.
•The Irish led labor organizing in America, and the father of Labor Day is Peter McGuire.
•Almost half of the Union Army in the Civil War was Irish, with 38 regiments having the word “Irish” in their name.
•The Congressional Medal of Honor has been awarded to 257 native-born Irish, more than twice the number awarded to any other foreign-born group.
•The inventor of the first working submarine was John P. Holland of County Clare, Ireland.
•America’s music has been influenced by troubadour Stephen Foster, song-and-dance man George M. Cohan and playwrights Harrington and Hart (all Irish- American).
•America’s first great playwright was Eugene O’Neill.
•The first woman to walk in space was Kathryn Sullivan.
•More than 30 percent of America’s top chief executive officers are Irish or of Irish descent.
•Seventeen U.S. presidents have had Irish roots.
•The five Sullivan brothers who went down with the U.S. Juneau had a destroyer named for them, and after it was retired, the name was given to a guided-missile destroyer in 1997. It marks the only time in American naval history that a name was not retired with its ship.
Source: Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Green beer and good cheer.
Parades and Irish accolades.
St. Patrick’s Day is many things to many people. But for lots of folks, the day is much more than merriment, though that’s part of it, too.
It’s a day for reflection and prayer, a day to give thanks and to look back. That’s the way it is for Dick Dalton, John O’Herron, Patty Corcoran and lots of other folks of Irish heritage, including many members of the local chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians at 701 Kinyon St. in Elmira. It is, first and foremost, serious business.

read_more

Firefighter Jerry Kennelly of Squad 41 in the South Bronx is from Limerick City, Ireland. He said he had toned down his accent, but fellow firefighters still struggled to understand him.
“What er ya doin’, boyo?” the policeman might inquire. “Do n’t be standin’ there,” the firefighter would command. “Get away with yee now.”
It is the Irish brogue, an unmistakable pattern of speech that was once so common among New York City policemen and firefighters that they became stereotyped in the American psyche as tough, garrulous and widely admired guardians of the public order who could spout lilting Irish aphorisms while wielding handcuffs or a fire hose.
But the brogue has become rarer with the depletion of the reservoir of newly arrived Irish recruits who for generations were pressed by their families into joining the Police and Fire Departments as soon as they qualified for United States citizenship.
“We still have a sprinkling of guys, but the faucet isn’t running like it did,” said Paul McCormack, deputy inspector of the police housing bureau in Brooklyn, who arrived in New York from County Donegal in 1986, joined the department in 1990, and is now its highest-ranking officer to have immigrated from Ireland.

read_more

But all is changed utterly, say the Irish hospitality industry and foodie buzz. The Irish have become prosperous and, of all things, European. I decided a food safari was in order to smell what was cooking. Here is a chronicle of some meals during my recent visit: a sampling of the new and old, a search for the best seafood chowder in the West, and how I came to love the blood of pigs.
A prudent travel plan is to eat what the country does best, and so it’s said that when in Ireland, eat breakfast three times a day. So my wife, Mary, and I start the hunt at Galway City’s Elles Cafe, a modern place advertising "certified organic coffee." Alas, a "classic" omelet has the lightness of a paving stone, with slices of bubble-gum-colored ham fresh from shrink wrap, and pieces of greenish tomato with a hunk of stem still attached. The coffee is certifiably appalling.
Ah, but lunch. Now we know what they’re talking about. On Quay Street, a pedestrian-only street of this medieval college town dedicated to fun, we find Trattoria Pasta Mista . It’s a true trattoria, like those found in every town in Italy, down to murals of local sites committed by a less-than-Sunday painter, moronic Euro-pop, crisp and professional service, and sensational food: plump mussels posillipo with fresh tomatoes, mopped up with toasted spears of Tuscan bread. Scarlet carpaccio on a nest of baby arugula topped by broad shavings of Parmesan. Prawn and crab ravioli topped by sweet sun-dried tomatoes strewn with bitter olives, creating an opposite-attracts love affair.

read_more

Joy Baer enjoys a wee bit of Irish luck when it comes to matters of cooking and life.
It was Baer’s good fortune to inherit authentic Irish recipes from her great-great-grandmother. Baer makes and modifies these recipes with her grown daughters, Melissa Viscek, 25, and Lauren Viscek, 23.
Like her great-great-grandmother, Baer enjoys spending time in the kitchen, in a home she says is blessed with abundance. Baer likes to cook for friends and family, side-by-side with her husband, Dave.
“A rich tradition of food and recipes has been handed down to us,” Lauren says. “Not every family has that.”
Occupation: Nationally known fresco artist (joybaer frescoes.com)
Special cooking interest: Preparing and adapting authentic Irish recipes
Why are you so proud of your Irish heritage? Life was not so easy for my Irish ancestors. My great-great-grandmother Kitty Gallaher was born in 1876 in County Cork, Ireland, during the potato famine. Her family knew starvation, immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago. They worked hard at a variety of jobs, helping to build our country into the strength it holds today.
Tell me about your great-great-grandmother. Kitty Gallaher White was the quintessential Irish lass with bright red hair and blue eyes. She was part of the women’s suffragette movement and was married to a very patriotic man named John Benjamin White, who painted his house red, white and blue.

read_more

Opening hours: Sunday: 11.30am–11pm; Monday to Thursday: 11.30am–11pm; Friday and Saturday: 11.30am–Midnight.
ST Patrick’s Day is almost upon us and even though I’m not Irish, celebrating the day is almost a prerequisite.
Starting the festivities a little bit early, and not having the time or the money to hop on a flight to Dublin, we settled for Irish pub O’Neill’s in Cardiff.
We’ve often popped into the pub for a few drinks but have never explored the menu further than an occasional bowl of chips, so I was pleasantly surprised with the food on offer.
There were the classic pub food choices such as burgers, fish and chips and steaks, but each had an Irish twist.
Meanwhile, there were some options on the menu you would expect at a restaurant, including mussels in white wine, goats cheese salad and a seafood crock pot. This came with salmon, mussels, prawn and smoked haddock in a creamy sauce with a layer of Colcannon (kale or cabbage mashed with potato) and grilled cheese.
And the pickers and sharers selection on the menu looked delicious. They cost £2.50 each or you can chose a combination of four for £7.95.
We went for nachos with chilli beef, beer-battered cod goujons, humous dip with pitta bread, carrots and cucumber, and goats cheese dip with pitta bread and red onion chutney.

read_more

Celebrity Dish: Irish Soda Bread
Makes one 8-inch round loaf
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Stir the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the buttermilk and stir with a fork until the dough comes together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for about 1 minutes.
The dough should be soft and sticky.
Shape the dough into a 6-inch disk and place in a greased pie pan.
Cut a and "X" across the top of the dough, about 1/2-inch deep.
Place the pan in the center or the preheated oven and bake for about 50 minutes, until the bread is golden brown.
Transfer to a rack and cool completely.
Serve immediately or wrap in a damp towel until ready to serve.
Bread is good the the day, but does not keep well overnight - it will turn hard as a rock.
Find recipes, Problem Solvers and Try It Before You Buy It, plus the rest of your favorite FOX 4 reports right here. Plus, link to reporter and anchor blogs.
Myfoxkc is now offering free widgets and RSS feeds. You can get our news, weather, and sports stripped down - the way you want it.

read_more