Well done to Padraig Harrington, who finally won a major today. He won the British Open in a four hole playoff against Sergio Garcia.
Well played fella.
RTÉ News:
The President and the Taoiseach have sent their congratulations to Irish golfer Padraig Harrington who has won the British Open Golf Championship.
He beat Spain's Sergio Garcia in a four-hole playoff at Carnoustie in Scotland to land his maiden victory in a major and the first by a European for eight years.
Harrington, 35, completed the extra holes in 15 shots (level par) after the two Ryder Cup colleagues had finished the championship locked together on seven-under 277 following an incident-packed day of high drama on the east coast of Scotland.
Garcia, who had led the championship from day one, returned a closing two-over 73 while Harrington had a four-under 67.
The Taoiseach said: 'This is an incredible personal achievement and I am delighted for him and his family as I know how close he has come to winning a Major on a number of previous occasions.
He becomes the first Irishman to win a major since Fred Daly won at Hoylake in 1947.
'I know of Padraig's dedication on the practice ground and single-minded determination to improve his golf.'
After his victory Harrington said: 'I have come a long way. When I turned pro I would have settled for becoming a journeyman.
'It's been great to be named as someone who could win a major but that brings its own pressure. To actually go and do it, well I don't know what to think.'
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Paddy's Day Is Moving - Be Careful When Marking Your Mini Mental Tests
The Roman Catholic Church has made a decision to move St Patrick's Day religious celebrations to 15 March next year.
However, parades and other celebrations will continue on 17 March.
The decision to move the feast day was taken after it emerged that the traditional 17 March religious festivities clashed with the second day of Holy Week.
Tourism Ireland says civic celebrations will continue as normal on 17 March.
Irish Examiner
However, parades and other celebrations will continue on 17 March.
The decision to move the feast day was taken after it emerged that the traditional 17 March religious festivities clashed with the second day of Holy Week.
Tourism Ireland says civic celebrations will continue as normal on 17 March.
Irish Examiner
Friday, June 22, 2007
Real Life Dougie Howser
This was reported in today's Irish Examiner:
Boy, 15, carries out C-section
By Muneeza Naqvi
THE 15-year-old son of two doctors has performed a filmed Caesarean section birth under his parents’ watch in southern India in an apparent attempt to gain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest surgeon.
Instead, the boy’s father could be stripped of his licenses and might face criminal charges, officials said yesterday.
Dr K Murugesan showed the recording of his son performing a Caesarean section to an Indian Medical Association chapter in the southern state of Tamil Nadu last month, said Dr Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of the association. The video showed Dr Murugesan anaesthetising the patient.
"We were shocked to see the recording," said Dr Prasad, adding that the association told Dr Murugesan his act was an ethical and legal violation.
Dr Murugesan owns and runs a maternity hospital in the city of Manaparai, Dr Prasad said. The family could not be immediately reached for comment.
Dr Murugesan, who could possibly be prevented from practicing and face criminal charges for allowing his son to perform the operation, expressed no regret and accused the Manaparai medical association of being "jealous" of his son’s achievements, Dr Prasad added. "He said this was not the first surgery performed by his son and that he had been training him for the last three years."
Dr Murugesan told the association he wanted to see his son’s name in the Guinness Book of World Records.
State health secretary VK Subburaj told reporters the government would investigate.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Games Podcasts
What games podcasts do you watch/listen to?My Recommendations:
Audio:
Gamerscore Blog : Lunchtime Conversations
Kropotkins UK Gaming News
Short Attention Gamer
Xbox Live's Major Nelson : Blogcast (MP3)
Video:
1up.com - 1up Show
GameTrailers.com - Nintendo Wii Spotlight
GameTrailers.com - Video Reviews
GameTrailers.com - XBox 360 Spotlight
X-Play Daily Video Podcast
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Synchronicity at the Open
Went to the Irish Open on Sunday at Adare Manor. The weather was variable but cleared up nicely in the afternoon.
Padraig Harrington went into the last round three shots ahead and was two shots ahead teeing-off on the 17th. A bogey for Harrington and a birdie for Dredge on the 17th made them all square and that's where they stayed after 18.
The par 5 18th was chosen for the first play-off hole. Dredge hit his third shot into the bank of the river Maigue and the title was Harrington's.
It's a very different experience watching golf live and on TV. In most arena based sports the spectator and televsion viewer end up with similar experiences becuase they both see pretty much the same thing. However in Golf the TV viewer has the advantage of being transported from hole to hole instantly whereas the spectator has to either stick with a group of golfers or stick on a particular hole.
We went with a mixed approach. We followed Harrington for the first three holes and then got a great position on the 8th green to wait their arrival and watch other groups play through. We then made our way to the back nine and got a good vantage point for the 18th green.
You miss a lot of the action while on the course. The spectator can say that he was there when it happened, but the TV viewer can say he saw what happened. This I fell is the reason that golf isn't a popular spectator sport with the participant/spectator ratio being much higher than in other sports.
In the end we enjoyed our day and saw the important action in the play-off on 18.
Padraig Harrington went into the last round three shots ahead and was two shots ahead teeing-off on the 17th. A bogey for Harrington and a birdie for Dredge on the 17th made them all square and that's where they stayed after 18.
The par 5 18th was chosen for the first play-off hole. Dredge hit his third shot into the bank of the river Maigue and the title was Harrington's.
It's a very different experience watching golf live and on TV. In most arena based sports the spectator and televsion viewer end up with similar experiences becuase they both see pretty much the same thing. However in Golf the TV viewer has the advantage of being transported from hole to hole instantly whereas the spectator has to either stick with a group of golfers or stick on a particular hole.
We went with a mixed approach. We followed Harrington for the first three holes and then got a great position on the 8th green to wait their arrival and watch other groups play through. We then made our way to the back nine and got a good vantage point for the 18th green.
You miss a lot of the action while on the course. The spectator can say that he was there when it happened, but the TV viewer can say he saw what happened. This I fell is the reason that golf isn't a popular spectator sport with the participant/spectator ratio being much higher than in other sports.
In the end we enjoyed our day and saw the important action in the play-off on 18.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Eddie in Clohessey's
I was at the preview screening of the new Irish Rugby fly on the wall documentary in Clohessey's Limerick on Tuesday. The programme tracks the players through the recent season. Gives some brief glimpses into the training and dressing room, but the main sucess of the programe is to reveal the players reactions to the games.
The programme will be shown on May 28th at 9 p.m. and will be available for purchase on DVD after that.
Eddie O'Sullivan was on hand to give a brief interview afterwards, but unfotunately none of the players attended.
The programme will be shown on May 28th at 9 p.m. and will be available for purchase on DVD after that.
Eddie O'Sullivan was on hand to give a brief interview afterwards, but unfotunately none of the players attended.
Monday, May 07, 2007
The All Ireland Schools' Basketball Finals
We went to see Cillian coach his Killarney school team to the final of the All Ireland yesterday. Some of my photos are now on Flickr.
The team beat Scoil Íosagáin from Dublin in the final. The final score was 30-22.
They beat Skibbereen in the Semi-Final.
All Ireland Schools First Year A finals (UL):
Boys: Castleisland Community College, 49, St. Joseph’s, 38. Cal Oranmore and St. Aidan’s, Cork finished joint third.
Girls: Presentation, Killarney, 30, Col Iosagain, Dublin, 22. Presentation, Listowel and Mercy High, Skibbereen finished joint third.
The team beat Scoil Íosagáin from Dublin in the final. The final score was 30-22.
They beat Skibbereen in the Semi-Final.
All Ireland Schools First Year A finals (UL):
Boys: Castleisland Community College, 49, St. Joseph’s, 38. Cal Oranmore and St. Aidan’s, Cork finished joint third.
Girls: Presentation, Killarney, 30, Col Iosagain, Dublin, 22. Presentation, Listowel and Mercy High, Skibbereen finished joint third.
Why Willie. Why Oh Why?
Having been recently exiled to Limerick my vote has been transfered from Cork South Central to the Limerick East constituency. I received my first call from canvasers yesterday evening and it turned out to be the Minister for Defence himself, Willie O'Dea.As all canvasers do he asked for my vote. I told him that it would be difficult to vote for Fianna Fáil this year due to the way the Government are treating the doctors and nurses. I cited the bullying by Mary Hearney in the contract negotiations and the insulting comments by Tim O'Malley, where he stated that some people liked to have waiting lists as it made them feel powerful.
And what was Willie's response?
Well I don't know much about that. I'm the Minister for Defence and that's not my area. I'm the lcoal man here and we're looking for your vote.
What an erudite, insightful and strong defence of his party's policies. It certainly wn me over.
Good man Willie. Keep up the good work. Let's just hope that Ireland isn't invaded between now and Election Day.
Monday, April 30, 2007
NCHDs Boycott New Posts
The latest issue of the Irish Medical Times reports on the boycott of the newly advertised consultants posts, which are being offered under new conditions, by NCHDs from all medical specialities.
Junior doctor and outgoing President of Anaesthetists in Training in Ireland Dr Brian Pickering, told Irish Medical Times that their refusal to apply for the posts under the proposed Government contract is not about money, but about “professionalism”. “The overwhelming issue for us is not pay and conditions - the salary that is being presented is difficult to relate to but this is about professionalism and about being undermined by the Government and the Minister in particular. We will not be applying for these posts,” said Dr Pickering, who will finish his training in December and will begin applying for jobs abroad.
“As doctors, we are not in the business of promoting ourselves in the media, we are not seeking re-election, we’re not managers of enterprises, we don’t have the skills necessarily to present our message strongly to the public. It’s impossible to conduct an effective media campaign while doing a busy job and that is the problem. But we don’t want to become people who have to appeal in the media all the time to fight for a cause.
“At the moment we have a professional autonomy that allows us to make decisions we feel are in the best interests of patients and unfortunately the contract as presented to us destroys that, and this is where the strength of feeling arises. It doesn’t arise from €205,000 not being enough, it is down to the future working conditions and our relations with the HSE. They are being aggressive and I don’t think we can work with employers like that.” He said junior doctors who should be applying for posts are now planning to leave the country.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
6 Photos On Explore
On latest check I've got six photos on "Explore" in Flickr. Explore is a collection for the most interesting photos each day.
My photos are:
1. 2006_02_26 Ireland Vs Wales_0082,
2. Antigua,
3. Cruising On The Shannon_0061,
4. Africa 32,
5. I've Got You My Precious,
6. Aerial I
My photos are:
1. 2006_02_26 Ireland Vs Wales_0082,
2. Antigua,
3. Cruising On The Shannon_0061,
4. Africa 32,
5. I've Got You My Precious,
6. Aerial I
Thursday, April 05, 2007
The Road To Granada II
I'm starting the slow process of sorting and uploading the photos from our recent holiday in Andalucia. A complete update on our trip will follow.
Friday, March 30, 2007
First Xbox Live Arcade game to be downloaded 1 millions times is?
Albert Penello, director of global platform marketing for Xbox, has revealed in a little snippet of a quote to Reuters that Uno is the first game to be downloaded one million times from Xbox Live Arcade.
read more digg story
read more digg story
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Ireland 17-20 France
Niamh and myself were one of the lucky few (83000) to get tickets for the Six Nations Clash between Ireland and France in Croke Park last Sunday.
This was the historic first rugby match in the G.A.A. grounds.
THe match was a tense affair with Ireland pulling ahead in the dying minutes by four points. Unfortunately France drove down the pitch at the restart and scored a try and clinched the match.
It was like having your stomach torn out, losing at such a late stage and the most galling thing of all was that the French proceeded to do a lap of honour.
Well hopefully Eddie O'Sullivan will now take the opportunity to strengthen the squad for the World Cup and give some of the peripheral players the quality game time that they require.
Although having said that I don't think it would go down too well in the country if England beat Ireland in Croker.
This was the historic first rugby match in the G.A.A. grounds.
THe match was a tense affair with Ireland pulling ahead in the dying minutes by four points. Unfortunately France drove down the pitch at the restart and scored a try and clinched the match.
It was like having your stomach torn out, losing at such a late stage and the most galling thing of all was that the French proceeded to do a lap of honour.
Well hopefully Eddie O'Sullivan will now take the opportunity to strengthen the squad for the World Cup and give some of the peripheral players the quality game time that they require.
Although having said that I don't think it would go down too well in the country if England beat Ireland in Croker.
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