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Events

Getting to Barcamp Belfast

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Were not there yet but were getting there

We're not there yet but we're getting there
So I’m finally hitting my first ever BarCamp on Saturday in Belfast and I can’t wait. Here’s a little guide on logistics of getting there, particularly if you’re travelling from Dublin.

Registration is from 8.30am and talks will start around 9.30am so it’s a sprightly early start for all. Travel options:

Bus
Aircoach is probably the most comfortable bus option, leaving from Dublin Airport at 7am arriving in Belfast at 9.25am. €22 return/€15 single. Bus Eireann do a bus service through the night (shocker!) so you can grab a 6am coach that arrives at 8.30am if you like. Same price as Aircoach.

Train
First train up from Connolly to Belfast leaves at 7.45am arriving at 9.45am. If you book online in advance you can get it for a lovely €20 return as opposed to the €80 I’ve been quoted previously.

Night before
If like me you’re thinking that’s an awfully early start on Saturday to be primed for learning & proper enjoyment of nerdy talk, consider travelling up the night before. The more budget friendly options appear to be Travelodge, Days Hotel or Park Inn. You might be able to take in the pre-camp meetup in the bar on the ground floor of the Premier Inn on Waring Street for drinks at 8pm also.

If anyone has useful info to add whether it be about parking, travel or places to stay/avoid or whatever, leave a comment or email me steph@iamsteph.com and I’ll add it in. 

Barcamp Belfast website is here and the Twitter account is @barcampbelfast. See you there!

Web

Fine Gael website v2.0 up, overnight success???

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So the *ahem* NEW Fine Gael website just launched at www.finegael.org. So what’s changed since yesterday’s short-lived first incarnation? Let’s see.

finegael.org v2.0
finegael.org v2.0
finegael.org v1.0
finegael.org v1.0

Updates to new version:

  1. Colour scheme gone from blue to green (someone checked the FG branding guidelines, well done)
  2. Fonts – we’ve gone from lovely sans-serif to the less lovely serif (at least that was an easy find & replace job)
  3. Class names and IDs of pretty much all elements appear to have been changed in the source HTML & CSS (ouch, someone had a late night)

We’ve also got lots and lots of Paschal Donohoe all over the thing this time around but that’s another story. A decent effort at a coverup of blatant plagiarism but anyone who frequents the BBC website for their news fix would still spot the ‘inspiration’ or at least start rubbing their chin and say ‘it looks familiar but I’m not sure why’.

I will be emailing FG at lunch time. Can’t wait to see if I hear anything back. Guessing we still have no names of whodunnit in terms of overseeing the project/building the site?

Update @2.23pm on 17/01/09: Stu has been doing some more lining up while Vincent Gribbin is still adamement that the site is not a copy.

Update @5.20pm on 17/04/09: Commenter points out that FG have violated the terms of the BBC.co.uk website. Senator Paschal Donohoe replied swiftly to my email to say (paraphrasing) he hasn’t seen any news or heard anything about the site but will look into it when he’s back from his travels.

Web

Fine Gael rips off BBC website

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BBC    

BBC

 

Fine Gael
Fine Gael

Coz I’m a person who lives and breathes CSS from 9 to 5 I decided to dig a little deeper and boy was I surprised to see that their developers didn’t even bother to change the class names in the CSS files. 

BBC CSS file (sorry about quality)
BBC CSS file (sorry about quality)

 

Fine Gael CSS (again sorry about quality)
Fine Gael CSS (again sorry about quality)

Unreal. See www.finegael.org and www.bbc.co.uk for yourself.

Update: To prove I’m not a nut, I’ve just pulled copies of both CSS files to my local machine & made a lickle video too :) 

Update @11.20,  16/4/09: Seems www.finegael.org is now down completely. Stewart did some file comparing before the site went down, check the results here (thanks Stu). A web developer for the BBC has also added his comments. Had a chuckle to myself on the way to Handel’s Messiah at Christchurch reading the press release that went out to Fine Gael mailing list subscribers (which I have been since meeting Enda Kenny a few weeks back and him saying a new site was in the pipes). I’ll be emailing members of FG tomorrow to voice my views & following up on this post. I simply haven’t had time today.