donal's blog

So I just watched the first episode of the new series of other voices and I'm really pleased about the direction the programme is going... When RTE axed 'no disco' in April 2003, there was much anger among the music fans and musicians of Irleand. Nearly 3 years later and I think it's safe to say that Irish music programming is enjoying somewhat of a comeback. Other Voices started off as a very rough vision and this season seems have got the mix just right. The show has the buzz of 'no disco' along with excellent musicians and an understanding of what fans want: the RTÉ site is a far improvement on previous years; shows are available online to watch; the opinion pieces insightful and inline with popular belief. other programmes that have drawn a good following: pop4 has gone down a huge hit with the younger generation of music fans that can still understand the irish language but also a attract an older audience who enjoy the interviews which usually involve a

One of my pet interests is in writing standardized code... Today I came across http://www.prestigeproperties.ie/ and was horrified to find that people were still creating websites this bad for their business. I maintain a few websites and I try to keep them validated to at least one HTML / XTML standard. But as far as I know, having valid HTL/XHTML/CSS is fairly low on most webmasters priorities... and here's some quick stats on websites i visit often... BAND SITES http://www.theframes.ie/ (passed) http://www.mundy.ie/ (passed) http://www.markgeary.com/ (passed) http://www.micchristopher.co.uk/ (passed) http://www.turn.ie/ (9 errors) http://www.paddycasey.com/ (3 errors) http://www.roadrecs.com/ (56 errors) http://www.u2.com/ (23 errors) http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/ (15 errors) http://www.irishmusiccentral.com/ (207 errors) http://www.bellx1.com/ (17 errors) http://www.ash-official.com/ (7 errors) http://www.damienrice.com/ (11 errors) http://www.damiendempsey.c

about six months ago i decided to check out some more google products - one of them being ' orkut '... orkut is an online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends. it's a pretty groovy experience and i'm recently been using it quite a bit... When I originally tried it out, I invited a few people but they didn't sign up for whatever reason and i didn't find it much use - a case of being donal 'no friends'! ;) I've been playing around in the past week and found that lots of irish people i know have accounts - so i have added them as friends. once i found one person i knew, i found more people that they also knew and added. i now have ~ 10 people who have accepted my request to add them. Other things I like - you can specify communities so i've signed up for communities such as Redbrick, Pixies, The Frames, Josh Ritter and more... and created a few too for Mic Christopher, Mundy and a few other Irish bands... anyway - fe

So I've just got my first ever filling... not too bad so far - left side of my face is still pretty numb. I think i got a double dose of anaesthetic which meant i didn't feel a thing (though i did feel a bit like lisa simpson wearing her "braces" at one point! :) Anyway - just wanted to point out the good service that the Dental Hospital provide... They've nice modern facilties and it's all done very professionally. It's cheap too! So far my appointments have been first thing monday and last thing friday which is very convenient i must say...