Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.

Date: June 2012

The Free Universal Construction Kit

A set of adapters for complete interoperability between 10 popular construction toys. Only a few of those are readily available here, but it's a great idea all the same, intellectual property rights be damned! #link

###

Hulk Hogans the wrestler

Includes his catchphrase: 'just shut up or i will rip your top as well i swear.' Chris (Simpsons artist) is insanely brilliant and/or brilliantly insane. #link

###

Dublin City Council Beta Projects

I'm disappointed in this; it's mostly just street art that has no real value beyond the aesthetic kind. Which I guess is important, but in this day and age we need a lot more function than form - something that Hack the City is better at exploring, I feel. #link

###

Evolving Blogging

A discussion about the state of blogging today with some of the early blog pioneers. There's a lot of talk about comments, which is kind of beside the point -- the big point as I see it -- that blogging really died off because of Twitter. People like me must have been thinking 'Man, blogging is hard work, but this Twitter thing is easy.' And then Tumblr came along and that was it. But is blogging completely dead? Of course not! I'm writing this on a blog, aren't I? It's just that the audience and the culture are different now, if they even still exist. But were they ever really that relevant? They didn't exist when the earliest bloggers started and they still did their thing. #link

###

Time.is

Find out the exact time in any timezone. Just because. #link

###

What's my motivation?: Sam Bain on writing for TV

"My writing partner Jesse Armstrong and I have run the gamut. On one of the first sitcoms we were hired to write for, we were keen to be involved at every stage. We asked for an office, and the producer obliged by giving us a desk in the photocopying room. The symbolism could only have been clearer if he'd ushered us into a spare cubicle in the gents." Ouch. #link

###

Thieves Are Your Best Customers in Waiting

"These days the most common answer I get to 'Why’d you pirate that?' isn’t 'It was free' but 'It was the only way I could get my hands on it.' Or 'It was a bazillion times easier.'" My sentiments exactly. #link

###

Doug Furnas RIP

I recall being so excited back in 1996 when he and Dan Kroffat/Phil LaFon joined the WWF; finally a tag team that meant something! Of course the company dropped the ball and we never saw them again, but I always remembered. #link

###

The Bitch, The Stud and The Prawn

"Officials in the Inland Revenue had begun to notice more and more British films had actually amassed takings of less than £100. The tax men began to suspect something was up. One possibility was that all the films were so bad that no one would release them. In fact the reality was that for all these films it didn't matter whether they were seen in a cinema or not. Their real function was as a tax dodge for rich people." Adam Curtis on the story of George Walker and the rise of 'geezer capitalism'. #link

###

I bought an iPhone

So I finally joined the future and upgraded my mobile to an iPhone 4S. I’ve had it for a couple of months now, which I think is enough time to build a solid impression of what it’s like to use the thing.

I’m not going to go too much into the positives, because they’re pretty obvious, and I can’t really judge them against the competition. What I will say is that the retina display is impressive, as is the camera (from what little I’ve used it, and I haven’t shot any video yet), and the battery life is fair enough considering it’s more a mini-computer with a phone than a phone with computery extras.

More…

###

Chord reviewed

Cover art for Gmaj7 by Chord

My latest on Thumped is a review of Gmaj7, the third proper full-length from Chicago ‘power ambient’ ensemble Chord. Do check ’em out if you’re into drone type stuff.

###