Damien Mulley

As seen on Break.com

Damn. Rocket explodes. Made way more entertaining with dramatic music and the concerned voice-over. Still looks cool.

I mean this Hell. 100,000 visitors, well chuffed with that. Thanks to everyone who visited here and a special award goes to google for bringing so many people to mulley.net. Still no way as impressive as the million visits Gavin got.

But yeah, the movie rocked. From the creative team of the Three Colours trilogy. The little woman and her empty wine bottle showed up too.

Another fine threadless t-shirt is reprinted. Ordered.

Justus Khoncke ft. Meloboy – “Hot Love (Freiland/Frei)

Via Beirut recommending songs on Said the Gramophone.

Ze Frank does a Jarvis Style Dell Hell on Delta. The most expensive 600 bucks they never handed over. Begin the jihad.

Turkey supporters / Brazilian supporters.

Fiona De Londras has a post on Gay Pride up on IrishElection. Update 2: Suzy has a post too on this.

(Update 3: To clarify I thought Fiona’s post was wonderful and there should be more coming out stories for people to read and relate to.)

I’m totally cynical about gay pride parades. (See my views about the Pride parade in Cork last year.) To me it’s a once a year spectacle where all those afraid to leave their hairdressing salons and gay bars come out in force and let people know that gays exist. Like people didn’t know this. To me it’s quite insulting that the parades use the idea of furthering gay rights when it’s just another excuse to put on mascara and glitter and get drugged and drunk. How many that partake in those parades have ever actually campaigned for equal rights? Fiona is a tiny minority.

How many actually live in the world outside the clammy incestuous gay community? The parade seems more like a bunch of queers invading the straight world for a half day and then they’ll all disappear into the gay bars again by nightfall. They should be proud of who they are all the time and without the crutch of the drag queen in 10inch high heels. A community that demands integration but hides out in gay bars and refuses to mix with any of the rest of the community doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously. Though the Pride parades of nowadays seem to suggest they don’t want to be.

There’s a lot more to be done in regards to equality in this country yet I don’t see most of those attending the parades as the ones doing it.

EDIT: Hello to the QueerID folks that Declan sent this way.

A short while ago the Sunday Times had a story about TDs and Senators not able to get broadband despite wanting to get it. The story covered those who were annoyed at not being able to get it or those who never applied because they knew they were in an area that did not have broadband. ComReg, Dempsey and the other excuse-searchers are now saying lack of demand is the main issue with broadband. People simply don’t want it. Pure bullshit given that so many in the Oireachtas applied for broadband and they wouldn’t be the most astute with technology. The Times story never covered the costs for this project.

A quick summary:
€20,130 installation costs and no modem with this.
€13,000 for project management and install support costs.
Total Project cost: €33,000 ex vat

€65,880 per year for the broadband service itself plus €17,694 for tech support.
Recurring costs: €83,574 a year for the service

Full FOI request below:

Dear Mr Mulley

I refer to your recent request under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003, seeking access to records pertaining to the tender issued by the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Office’) for the supply of broadband services in the homes or Constituency Offices of Members of the Oireachtas.

In relation to your request, please note the following:

1. Names of the successful bidder/bidders:

eircom

2. Details of the tender itself, including the technology used in the provision of broadband:

The solution proposed by eircom (and subsequently accepted by the Office) was the eircom Business Starter broadband service, delivered over standard DSL, using eircom’s existing copper lines. This service provided 2Mbit/s download (later upgraded to 3MBit/s), and 128 kbit/s, thereby meeting the minimum upload requirement, and exceeding the minimum download requirement as set out in the Office’s request for tender (RFT). The contention ratio for this fixed line DSL is 24:1, with service presentation via RJ45 (as required in the RFT), with fixed IP addresses assigned to each site.

The Office did not avail of the Netopia routers offered by eircom, opting instead for a secure router, firewall and switch configuration (supplied by Siemens Business Services under a separate competitive tender process).

3. Details of the project plan

A formal project plan was not devised, although broadband via DSL was provided in a timely manner at sites identified by the Members (i.e. either at their homes or Constituency Offices) on a geographical basis (serviced by local eircom engineers), and also based on the availability of the Members/their staff to provide access to the site. Of the 152 Members requesting DSL/broadband, 122 qualified for DSL, and 30 failed line tests. However, as more exchanges are DSL-enabled, the number of Members provided with DSL/broadband has been increasing over the past number of months.

4. Breakdown of the technology used to supply each Member of the Oireachtas:

Broadband is only provided to Members via DSL (over existing copper lines). Where DSL is not available, the Members may have a PSTN or ISDN connection.

5. Breakdown of the costs – set-up/ongoing:

Set-up costs were €165* per site, plus €13,000* (for the entire project) for dedicated implementation tech support (€5,000*) and project management (€8,000*).

Ongoing costs are €45* per month per site, plus €17,694* for Year 1 Maintenance and Support, and €17,694* for Year 2 Maintenance and Support.

* Note: all costs quoted are exclusive of VAT