Exploring Northern Ireland's Causeway and Mourne Coastal Routes

I'm just home from my motorcycle trip around Northern Ireland's coast and had a great time seeing most places for the first time. Apart from many trips to Portaferry in Co Down in my College days and to visit relatives I had rarely been to most parts of the North. I plan a few blog posts about the trip, but I'm not going to waste too much time on the computer when the sun is shinning outside. Here's a few photos from my trip:

Culmore Point

Derry City Wall

Hezlett House

Mussenden Temple

Joey Dunlop

Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

Carrig-A-Rede Rope Bridge

Signposts on the Causeway Route

Pink fisherman and bike (in honour of Giro d'Italia)

Tee lovely coastal roads of Co Antrim

Signposts in Carnlough

Dunluce Castle

Getting an email virus (and passing it on) #embarrassed #sorry

A few days ago I suddenly got messages from people via email that they had received a suspicious email from me, and warned me that my email account was sending our spam or that it was hacked. I had previously received an email which I was briefly suspicious about, but it was from somebody who I know well that often tries new tools and gadgets - so I clicked on the link provided. I knew straight away that it was a spam and closed the page so fast I don't remember what it said.

Image source: Home-Computer-Support.Org

My sincere apologies to anyone who received an email from me with a Subject line of a word with a space in it. I'm embarrassed that I fell for the trick and also sorry for any trouble I have caused to anyone who was affected in the same way. It also taught me that I should tidy up my my Contacts list - many of the spam emails my account sent out were to dormant accounts.

Exploring Northern Ireland's Coast Line #roadtrip

Tomorrow I am setting out on my motorcycle to explore the coast around Northern Ireland from the Derry border at Muff in Co Donegal to the Armagh border near Omeath in Co Louth. In the Google Map below it is a distance of 491 kms (305 miles). 

View Larger Map

The weather looks good for the week ahead and I estimate that this will be a 3 or 4 day trip. In my trip last year and the year before around the Wild Atlantic Way I averaged 250 kms per day, but this time I will spend a bit longer in some of the cities and towns. The journey incorporates the Northern Ireland Tourist Board's Causeway Route which is officially 120 miles (193 kms) long. I plan to tweet and blog along the way, and to take plenty of photographs. With a bit of luck I will produce another book based on this trip - this time I plan to go through Amazon's Createspace self-publishing route.

St Michan's Church and the Mummies

I'm sure I am not alone in that there are many tourist attractions near where I live that I have never been to. For the umpteenth time recently I passed by St Michan's Church in Church Street on Dublin's North side, and for the umpteenth time I said to myself "I must go there some time!". Today I finally visited one of Dublin's most popular attractions. 

The church was first built in 1095 and while the crypts date from this time, the more modern church dates from three hundred years ago. Part of the tour of the church is to the crypts underneath where you can see the bodies below:

Image source: St Michan's Church.

The above bodies are thought to be at least 300 years old, with the body at the back (thought to be a Crusader) at least 800 years old. I touched the Crusader's hand which is believed to be a symbol of good luck.

There are plenty of other attractions in Dublin that I have never been to - some day soon I will visit Dublin Castle where I have never been to.

Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way - a "quintessential guide to this extraordinary odyssey" says 2FM's Ryan Tubridy #WildAtlanticWay

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being interviewed about my book by Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ 2FM in Bantry Co Cork. The Tubridy Show was covering the Wild Atlantic Way all week and I had been asked a couple of weeks ago to go on the show for the last day in Bantry.

Click here to replay the clip of my interview - it is just 7 minutes and 52 seconds long.

Revisiting the Wild Atlantic
Way in Bantry.

It's a long way to Bantry just to do such a short interview (it was a 440 mile/700 km round trip), but it offered a great opportunity to publicize the book on one of Ireland's most popular radio shows. Tubridy told me during a break before the interview that he had bought the book himself in Dubray Books in Blackrock and that he had been reading it all week. He genuinely liked the book and during the interview he called it a "quintessential guide to this extraordinary odyssey", said it was a "great guide", and that it "does what it says on the tin". Great comments - I couldn't have asked for a better reaction. Hopefully some of Tubridy's many listeners go out and buy the book. Thank you Tubs!

The trip also offered an opportunity to revisit the Wild Atlantic Way. I had stayed in Bantry on the second night of my journey. Bantry is close to the Whiddy Island  Discovery Point, and for a short time I relived the Wild Atlantic Way.

Book Review: "One Summer: America 1927" by Bill Bryson

Holiday reading doesn't come better than Bill Bryson's new book which is centred on the year 1927 - I bought the Kindle version for £3.49 which is fantastic value. I have read two of Bryson's books before: "A Short History of Nearly Everything", and "At Home: A short history of private life", and his new book follows the same witty and informative style.

Image source: Amazon.

1927 was the year Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic and there is a lot of coverage of not just this flight, but many other aviation stories as well. Lindbergh, along with President Calvin Coolidge, Babe Ruth, Henry Ford, and Jack Dempsey made most of the news in 1927. Other events such as the trial of Ruth Snyder (executed in 1928) and the executions of Italian Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti, plus the continuing Prohibition keep each page of the book as a mine of interesting information. Bryson has a great skill in linking events together and keeping the reader's interest. He has skilfully avoided providing an encyclopaedia of events that occurred in 1927 by linking in the build up to each story (and also providing a follow on of what happened next).

Bill Bryson is also a very funny writer and makes a potentially dry subject of events in one year into a super read. This book (especially at £3.49 for the Kindle version) is well worth reading, and I certainly enjoyed it. 

Recommended!

Brief Holiday in Spain and the Price of Beer

I'm just home from a few days in Spain - we stayed in Terrazas de la Torre Golf Report near San Javier. Beautiful hot weather - approx 32C each day, though a bit too hot for golf (we played just 18 holes). As you can see below I had a beer or two - the first was a pint of Heineken for a ridiculous €5.60 in Dublin Airport on the way out, while the second was a pint of San Miguel for just €3.00 in a golf resort in Murcia. Why is Dublin almost two times the price for beer? I suppose tax accounts for a lot but I'm certain that there is more to this blatant profiteering! However, I will admit that they will never put me off buying beer no matter what price they make it!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Rip-off prices in Dublin Airport

A nice pint in Spain for €3.00.

Mrs "D" and Uncle Pat

One of my fondest memories of growing up was visiting my Grand Aunt Eileen and my Grand Uncle Pat in their house at 130 Kimmage Road Lower. Eileen and Pat were brother and sister to my Grandmother Kathleen Hurley - all three grew up in the town of Newmarket in Northwest Co Cork (in this house on Church Street). In the photograph below of my Mum and Dad's wedding day (22nd October 1958) my grandmother Kathleen is third from the right at the front (wearing fox furs), just over her left shoulder is Eileen, and the jolly looking slightly balding man third right in the back row is Pat:

One of the things I had listed for myself to do during the holidays was to find Pat and Eileen's grave to add to my family tree. Yes - this is a little bit morbid, especially on a fine summer's day. I knew they were buried in Mt Jerome Cemetery in Harold's Cross sometime in the late 1970s. I called to the office at the cemetery and the location of their grave took seconds for the attendant to find. He gave me a map and off I went. It took a while to find the grave - for future reference the grave number is 460-39579. The number "460" refers to the section, and "39579" is the grave number. To find it, walk along the road known as "Yew Walk" in the middle of the cemetery until you reach Consecration Walk. Turn left, and take the 4th path on the right - the grave is the 23rd plot in from Consecration Walk. Uncle Pat died on 27th December 1977, while Eileen died on 7th January, 1981.

Eileen was always known in our family as "Mrs D". I believe that her husband died not long after they were married and she never married again or had any children. In the 1911 census for Residents of a house 2 in Church Street (Newmarket, Cork) she is listed as 9-year old "Ellen Agnes Hurley" while Pat is listed as 10-year old "Patrick Peter Hurley". They were lovely people and always had a great welcome. It's sad to think that it has taken me over 33 years to re-visit their grave - but at least I now know where it is.

Unfollowing 500+ Twitter Accounts #liberating

Recently when trying to follow someone on Twitter I got a message telling me that I was not allowed to do so. It turned out that I had reached a 2,000 follow limit - I had no idea I followed this many accounts! I use TweetDeck as my Twitter client and I had recently noticed that sometimes the tweets roll by very quickly because I follow so many people. 

It was time to unfollow some folks to make room for some new accounts - but how to do this without anyone noticing or offending? fllwrs.com is a Twitter service that gives you a record of who follows and unfollows you every day - I never seem to know the who the folks who unfollow me are. It seemed to me that unfollowing a few accounts would be easy to do - there's no way I personally know more than a fraction of the people I followed on Twitter. So off I went and started clicking the unfollow button. I was surprised to find so many accounts that I had no idea who they were and no recollection of following them in the first place - so these were easy to unfollow. So were some accounts that I knew no longer existed or had not tweeted for a few years. Easy also to unfollow were those accounts who did not follow me. Accounts that I did not recall and had no biographical information were also unfollowed. In fact, before I knew it I had unfollowed over 500 accounts! As I write I follow 1,499 Twitter accounts - down from 2,000. It was a re-markedly liberating thing to do and I certainly recommend it to all to clean out their Twitter accounts from time to time.

Image Source: 10 Reasons I May Not Follow You Back.

Book Review: "Peace and War: Britain in 1914" by Nigel Jones

The centenary of the start of World War I is just a few weeks away and there will no doubt be many new books published to mark this event. Nigel Jones has written an interesting take on the Great War as he describes Britain (and Ireland) in the lead up to and the beginning of the war. I had read a review of this book in the Irish Times, and at just £2.99 for the Kindle version (£25 for print version) it was excellent value.

Image source: Amazon.

The book is divided several interesting sections (and some uninteresting sections). This includes a chapter devoted to Ireland and the question of Home Rule. I had not realised how close Ireland was to Civil War in 1914 and that the Great War effectively interrupted our own march to internal strife. Other chapters of interest are on Votes for Women, Liners, Clubs, and "The Season". Of less interest to me were the chapters on Poets and Painters. Jones could do with a geography lesson - in the chapter on "Liners" he describes the Britannic (sister ship of the Titanic) being launched "into the waiting waters of Lough Neagh", which of course is an inland lake 25kms away from Belfast Lough where the ship was actually launched.

One thing that comes through in this and many other books on World War I is the inevitability that Europe was drifting helplessly towards war with nobody willing to stop it. As Jones points out at the beginning of Chapter 12: "Britain was not ready for war", but she fought anyway with a huge volunteer army that included thousands of Irishmen (including my great-grandfather - James Burns). Jones has written a super book with a different angle on this cataclysmic event that will appeal to all readers of popular history. Recommended.

On The Pat Kenny Show talking about the #WildAtlanticWay @NewstalkFM @PatKennyNT #NTFM

Yesterday I was invited on to the Pat Kenny Show to talk about my new book "Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way: A Motorcycle Odyssey" which was broadcast from the Trident Hotel in Kinsale, Co Cork. The theme of the show was about the Wild Atlantic Way and it was a great opportunity for me to plug the book. I arrived in plenty of time and I could see the format of the show before I went "on air". The Newstalk staff put me at ease straight away, and Pat himself was very relaxed.

Before the show I had been asked by the show's researchers to send in some items from the book for Pat to ask me about - I was a  bit nervous as I did not know in advance which ones he would ask me. I even made an error when I said "year" instead of "day" when talking about the Blacksod Lighthouse. Before I know it the interview was over - it lasted exactly eight minutes. Below is the embed code from Newstalk website - my bit starts at 19:30 and ends at 27:30:

After the interview I had great reaction from the locals and even sold two books afterwards in the nearby Vista Bistro where I met an old school pal who lives in Kinsale for lunch. It was a long way to travel for such a short interview, but hopefully more exposure on a great show like Pat Kenny's will promote the book and add to sales!

Video in Education - DIT e-Learning Summer School 2014 #elss14

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting at the DIT e-Learning Summer School in the Bolton Street campus. My talk was on "Video in Education" and my theme throughout was "sharing content". The talk was attended by about 60 people who were really good at responding to questions and offering to share some of their own experiences. My introduction was recorded by Bernie Goldbach (@topgold) with whom I shared the morning session:

Despite the fact that my talk was about video, I forgot to check that everything in my presentation worked. I had embedded a video of "Voix et Image" to start off from the beginnings of my own journey into technology and education - but it did not play. So I had to switch out from PowerPoint, search for the video on YouTube, and play it. Below are my slides from Slideshare:

Video in Education - DIT e-Learning Summer School 2014
from Eugene O'Loughlin

Many thanks to the organisers of the Summer School for inviting me to take part for the third time - see you all again next year!

Final Class of Long Semester

Today was my last class of Semester II - a Business Analysis class on the Higher Diploma in Data Analytics. It seems a long time since 27th January 19 weeks ago when I had my first class this semester.  This is much longer than normal and it was quite difficult to still be teaching while exams were taking place and had to be marked. The normal semester ended on 2nd May, and usually this means the end of teaching until September. This year, due to a late starting course, I am now finished with just a week to go before holidays. I still have a load of marking to do and little time to engage in normal academic activities in June such as attending Conferences and doing some research. I had also hoped to create a few more YouTube videos - I still might get one or two done before I finish.

Now for some of this!
Image source: MyCorgi.com.

Thanks to all students who stuck with me this semester - I hope I don't see any of you back in College for the repeats in August!

"Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way" on the book shelves #egomoment

I popped into Eason's Bookshop on O'Connell Street in Dublin City Centre at the weekend and couldn't resist checking to see if my new book was on the shelves. I got a bit of a thrill when I saw it right in the middle of the Irish Travel Guides section and of course had to take a photo! I asked at Reception if I could sign these copies which I was allowed to do - an Eason's staff member put a "Signed by Author" sticker on each book. 

Now I hope the books will sell and that I will not see them in the Bargain Basement in a few months time!

Book Launch: "Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way"

Last evening in the National College of Ireland, my new book was formally launched by Paul Feeley of Fáilte Ireland. The event was introduced by Dr Philip Matthews, President of NCI. I was delighted to see so many family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues join me to mark the occasion. We sold a good number of books and had some great chat about the Wild Atlantic Way.

The only pity was that my Mum and Dad were not able to come - I know they would have loved to have been there. I got great support from the College with many colleagues coming along, many who couldn't make it dropped by my office today to pick up a copy. 

Overall it was a very successful evening - thank you to everyone who came along for your support!

With Paul Feely (left) and Philip Matthews (right).
Photo by Deryck Tormey.

Paul Feeley enjoying my book!
Photo by Deryck Tormey.

"Ireland is the world leader in educational snobbery" says Donal Lynch

Jackie Lavin was right to question if costly college degrees pay off in the Sunday Independent sees Donal Lynch adding to the debate started by Jackie Lavin who said that our graduates "haven’t a clue". Lynch chastises academics who "bridle" and "sniff" at anyone who questions the job they do in Ireland's third-level colleges. He further thunders that our "third-level system has become bloated beyond all recognition" and that we can't afford such "bullshit" as "critical thinking". 

Hmmmmm...

Image source:
The Keep Calm-o-matic.

OK - so it is clear that Donal Lynch did not have a good experience in College where he "spent four years doing a law degree but I am not even close to being a lawyer". Perhaps he is angry that he did not get appointed to be a Judge, or get a top job in a law firm, or get a "high paying and meaningful job upon graduation"? Like Lavin, he is of course entitled to his opinion. But simply bashing Colleges and their Academics in a one-sided newspaper article, and accusing us of "educational snobbery" is in itself "bullshit".

If Lynch had paid attention in class he would have found that "critical thinking" might actually be useful in producing balanced articles in newspapers. The USA based National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction defines critical thinking as follows:

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

So - instead of jumping on the Bash our Colleges and Universities Bandwagon, please try to be constructive as well as critical and look at both sides of the debate. According to the latest figures from the Higher Education Authority, 49% of undergraduates and 71% of postgraduates are in employment 9 months after graduation - somebody is hiring these students who "haven’t a clue". Maybe we are doing something right after all!

PS

If above makes me an educational snob - so be it!

World Cup 1994 Twenty Years Later #WorldCup

Almost 20 years to the day most of Ireland was glued to the television for Ireland's first World Cup Finals group game against Italy. I recall watching the game with my in-laws in Mayo and like everybody else found it almost unbearable that Ireland scored so early and had to wait so long for the final whistle. Many things are memorable from this game - Ray Houghton's goal in the 12th minute, the Irish dominating the crowd in Boston, and Paul McGrath's display at the heart of the Irish defence. 

Soccer-Ireland.com recalls McGrath's performance against Italy: "there was no hiding the fact that Paul McGrath was outstanding as he stayed as cool of mind as the air was hot, and was always vigilant in snuffing out sources of danger; altogether a more impressive figure than his fellow 34-year-olds, the creaking Baresi and Tassotti, at the other end of the pitch". That was as good as it got for Ireland before the heat of Florida derailed our World Cup hopes.

Paul McGrath is just two months younger than me and I met him in Gorey yesterday while he was collecting for Irish Dogs for the Disabled. I think he is certainly ageing better than me and still looks like he could tog out for Ireland. I asked him if he would and he said "I wish I could!". No doubt we could do with Big Paul at the heart of the Irish defence right now.

Just in case you forgot - Ireland won 1-0 against Italy on 18th June 1994. Below is Ray Houghton's goal on a day that Irish football fans will never forget:

Review: "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

Louie Zamperini was an Olympic athlete and an American POW during World War II. Now 97 years of age, his life story is documented by Laura Hillenbrand in her 2010 book "Unbroken". Never could a book title have been more apt.

Image source: Amazon.com.

Zamperini was a bit of a tear-away as a kid but had a talent for running. He took part in the 1,500 metres in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but despite a fast finish he came home in eight position, after which he briefly met Hitler.

In the war Zamperini was a member of a B-29 air crew that crashed in the Pacific. The statistics for air accidents involving American planes during the war are incredible - on page 80 Hillenbrand tells us that 35,933 planes were lost in combat and accidents but that in 1943 alone for every plane lost in combat, six were lost in accidents. His chances of survival were slim, but he did after 47 days at sea in a raft before being captured by the Japanese. He spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp. Later this year a film produced by Angelina Jolie, who turns out to be a near-neighbour of Zamperini's in Hollywood, is being released, below is the trailer for this movie.

Read this book to learn the meaning of the word "unbroken".

Jackie Lavin hasn't got a clue

I suppose one thing Jackie Lavin has a clue about is how to gain headlines while at the same time annoy the hell out of those who work and study in Ireland's third level colleges. This morning she is the most read item in the Irish Independent where Brian O'Reilly writes that she "stands by ‘Prime Time’ comments after online uproar". She is quoted in the article as having said:

"Realistically you could cut a year off most college courses"

"Our academics and colleges need to look at the way they do business"

"A lot of graduates haven’t a clue about the business they’re going into, they’ve only approached things from an academic and theory point of view"

"It’s time academics and colleges take a look at the real world"

Ranting!
Image source: FinanciallyPoor.com.

Hard hitting stuff! Brian Lucey of Trinity College in his excellent blog takes her to task in a fair and balanced article "Jackie Lavin – A Meme Girl for Irish Higher Education" - he writes that "Education is a complex matter while reducing it to simple soundbites is easy" and that "Trotting out tired, ignorant, tropes on TV is easy. Education is hard". 

Clearly, Jackie Lavin just didn't wake up one morning and decide to make headlines by slagging off students and academics. Perhaps she has reasons from her experience that all our graduates that we do produce actually do not "have a clue"? She even defended her comments by saying (quoted in above article) "I absolutely stand by everything I said". Fair play to her for sticking to her guns.

Needless to say, while she is entitled to her opinion, I disagree with her bullshit. Following on from comments by the likes of Web Summit's Paddy Cosgrave (see my blog post on this here), and Paypal's Louise Phelan (see my blog post about her here), it seems that students and academics are fair game for some "expert" comments by pundits and celebrities. It seems that Jackie Lavin and others like her are expecting perfect graduates who are experienced in everything she wants, know it all before they start, hit the ground running without any training, and of course make money straight away. 

Students arrive at our Colleges from schools with mixed abilities, and leave three or four years later with mixed abilities. I will not claim that all our graduates are perfect, but I'm proud to say that I and my colleagues had a role in transforming our students' lives through education in the short time that we have them. Most go on to be productive members of our society, picking up "clues" along the way. Many have overcome huge difficulties to to be able to go to College in the first place. Some have struggled to juggle life, family, work, study, and overcome disability. Nevertheless, at graduation day - a proud day for both the College and its students, we see pride in their efforts as they accept their degrees, diplomas, and certificates. I challenge Jackie Lavin to repeat the insults to our students she has said at any Graduation Ceremony in the country.

Jackie Lavin hasn't got a clue.

Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty in Killarney #GodHasNoCountry

Last weekend during Bikefest I stopped off at a new statue unveiled last October to my third cousin (once removed) Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty - as known as "The Vatican Pimpernel". The sculpture is by Valentia Island-based artist Alan Ryan Hall and it depicts O'Flaherty striding across St Peter’s Square in Rome. Though born in North Cork (where my ancestors come from) he was raised in Killarney where his father was steward at Killarney Golf Club.

Cousin Hugh once famously said "God has no country" when asked why he helped thousands of Nazi prisoners of war to escape during World War II in Rome. On the wall behind his statue you can see replicas of the following awards he received:

• Commander of the British Empire (CBE) from the UK
• Medal of Freedom and Silver Palm from the USA
• National Order of Honour and Merit from Haiti
• Bronze Medal of Military Valour from Italy

Revisiting the Wild Atlantic Way on Ring of Kerry #WildAtlanticWay

Last weekend while at Bikefest in Killarney, I took the opportunity to pay a quick visit to the Wild Atlantic Way between Killorglin and Caherciveen. Just like the last time I passed through this road, it was a dull day with light rain. The Dingle Peninsula to the north was barely visible. There are two Discovery Points along the northern side of the Ring of Kerry - Rossbeigh Strand and Mountain Stage. I was also looking for some photo opportunities with WAW signs. Unfortunately, Mountain Stage location is not yet sign-posted, but I did get to see Rossbeigh Strand which was badly damaged during storms last February. Much repair work was being done while I was there. The Way is well sign-posted, in some cases with just small WAW logos. Tourists should have no problem finding their way along this super 2,500 km route.

Bikefest in Killarney - a great gathering of bikers and bikes #irelandbikefest

I travelled the 194 miles (313 kms) home from Killarney to Dublin last evening with fond memories of my two days at Bikefest 2014. There were plenty of wonderful bikes on display, and the highlight for me was the parade through Killarney (see video below). I was there of course to promote and sell my book "Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way", but I did get the chance to see lots of bikes and chat with many bikers. On the left of my stand was the Christian Motorcycle Association, and I was honoured to have my bike blessed by their chaplain. To my right were Tallaght Powdering Coating where I got to chat with the owner (Andy) , and I will definitely think about the services for powder coating my wheels when the rust takes over.

Below is a selection of some of the photos I took at Bikefest 

The coolest bike at the show!	Gorgeous Harley-Davidson
Magnificent machine	Close up of tank of machine to left
Some of the new Harley-Davidsons available to demo	Some of the many bikes on view
Legend!	A Garda gets ready to lead the Parade

The video below (via jason gnanam) is taken in College Street in Killarney, and gives an idea of the number of bikes that took part in the parade (that's me passing in the orange vest 3rd behind the trike at 4 mins into video).

The Bikefest Parade

Setting out my stall for "Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way"at #bikefestireland #wildatlanticway

I was never any good at sales, and I found it difficult to put myself in the position of salesman at the Bikefest Ireland event at Killarney today where I was selling my new book about the Wild Atlantic Way. I got great help from the local organizers in setting up my stall and I had plenty of callers asking about the book. 

I sold a good few copies - not as much as I thought I would, but tomorrow is another day. The weather is great and everyone is in a very good mood. I am beside the Harley-Davidson demo rides stand where bikers can go for a 20 minute ride on a Harley. This was good for the number of people passing my stall. There are thousands of people here having a great time!

Oyez, Oyez, Oyez! @GeorgeWendt loves the #WildAtlanticWay (and a pint of the black stuff)

The Wild Atlantic Way is getting a lot of publicity at the moment and the latest well known person to praise the 2,500km route is non other than actor George Wendt - better known as "Norm" from the sitcom "Cheers". George is of German and Irish descent, so it was partly a trip "home" for him when he and his wife Bernadette recently visited Ireland for an appearance at Kilkenny’s Sky Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, 19 years after appearing at the maiden festival. He also found time to check out some golf and a pint on the Wild Atlantic Way. The video below is embedded from the official Wild Atlantic Way YouTube channel - he signs off with a pint in his hand and says "Well we did a lot of things today, but I'll give you a little preview of what I'm going to do tonight" - Welcome to Ireland George!

Check out the awesome Signature Discovery Points on the #WildAtlanticWay @YouTube Channel

Fáilte Ireland certainly knows how the whet the appetite for visitors to Ireland with a series of videos about the Signatory Discovery Points along the 2,500km Wild Atlantic Way route. There are 159 Discovery Points in total, of which 15 are so-called "Signature Discovery Points". I have been to them all on my own trip and wrote about them in my new book "Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way".

Below is the playlist of short videos about each of the Signature Discovery Points - I think that the Mizen Head (Cork) and Sliabh Liag (Donegal) videos were my favourites of all the places I visited. If you are planning a holiday in Ireland this summer, these videos are a must to check out.

Enjoy...!

Off to Bikefest in Killarney this weekend! #bikefest2014

For the first time ever I am going to a motorcycle festival. Each year Bikefest is held in Killarney in Co Kerry and attracts thousands of visitors every year. In addition to seeing lots of bikes (it's not just about Harley-Davidsons, I am taking a stand in the Bike Village and bringing along a few copies of my new book "Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way" in the hope that I can sell some of them to the bikers and visitors attending the event. The plan is to ride down early Saturday morning and stay over until Sunday evening. It should be an exciting event, but I have to confess that I am nervous about selling. It's hard to predict if I will sell any books, so I am bringing down a modest amount and hope that I don't have to bring any back!

Image source: www.irelandbikefest.com.

Cool Data Analytics, Trendsmap - Real Time Local Twitter Trends @trendsmap #HDSDA #analytics

There are many cool tools mapping Twitter information and I have been looking at Trendmaps where you can do things like trace geography of viral tweets and get a visual of what is currently trending. Lots of companies like Trendmaps are offering services like this and the model seems to be first a free "limited usage", followed by various packages from $9/month to €19/month in the case of Trendmaps. Given that Twitter only allows free access to about 1% of its massive database of tweets going back to 2006 for free, and charges from $500 for its so called "Twitter Fire Hose" per month - services like Trendmaps can provide access to Twitter data for a much lower cost for businesses.

Tools like this can also be used for education. Donal O'Mahony (@domaho) writing in his blog Elearning Island shows 20 uses of Twitter for educational purposes - his main use is for a History class where Twitter is used for an assignment. I think we will see more innovation in the analysis of Twitter for both business and education purposes. Twitter is now a valuable source of information for researchers.

Screen shot of Trendmaps tool.

Changing the car - a difficult experience

It's eight years since I last changed my car - I traded in a Volvo S40 against a 2005 Volkswagen Golf which was just one year old when I bought it. It was the longest I ever owned any one car for. Today I reluctantly traded it in for a 2011 Hyundai i30 1.6 diesel (pictured blow) imported from the UK. In the end I am pleased with the deal I got, but why do I have to go though the second-hand car sales game to do this.

Why is it that:

• dealers tell you that the car they are selling will hold its value, but years later tell you that it is not worth very much?
• as part of the sales process they tell you how brilliant the car they are selling is, and how rubbish your trade-in is?
• that there are no faults with the car that they are selling, but that your trade-in is "old", "scratched", "will be hard to sell", "will have to be sold to trade", "will cost to provide a warranty", or "will cost €100s to clean up"
• every dealer offers you a different price for your trade-in (€2,000 difference between highest and lowest I was offered for VW)
• every dealer has to ring someone while they check out your trade-in
• dealers offer you the "best price" that cannot be negotiated, but end up negotiating anyway?
• and finally - that no matter what deal you get, there is still a feeling that later on in the evening that the dealer is sitting in the pub over a beer telling his mates about the punter that walked in today and how much money he made on the deal

Anyway - I'm looking forward to driving the new (3-year old) car for the next eight years at least before I have to go through this ordeal again.