The picturesque square in Rosscarbery.

On one of my excursions to Rosscarbery, I came across a big stone known as The Weather Stone. It reads If this weather casts a shadow, it’s sunny. If it doesn’t, it’s cloudy. If wet, it’s rainy. If cold, it’s cold. If hot, it’s hot. If white, it’s snowy, but if it jumps…. IT’S AN EARTHQUAKE!

I burst out laughing and I think it showed me some of the Irish sense of humour. Besides, this big rock is overshadowed by a leafy tree that gives gorgeous purple flowers with the arrival of the Spring. It is also located on what it’s known as Rosscarbery cathedral as this picturesque village in the heart of West Cork held once a city status.  

As one goes down the small road to meet the main one, one will arrive to meet the lagoon, which is in fact a estuary parted by a causeway. Varied species of birds and swam fly around or swim in the clear water. At low tide, one side of the lagoon is nearly empty, but there are always puddles of water mixing with the sand. 

Rosscarbery is said to be a walker’s paradise, and sure it is. A walker may take one from the easy, two mile walk starting from the square and up to the pier to more strenuous ones lasting several hours. Whichever one we take, it will most definitely be a grand day in the open air.

It is also a place to see megalithic monuments along the way to crown it up with the Stone Circle.

Stones that tell stories.

It is in this spot where a group of people gather to watch the Summer or Winter solstices, lighting a fire and awaiting for the sun to rise. I found it a great experience to sit by the fire together with other folks, singing along and playing instruments till night let way to a new bright and summery day.

The battering sea in West Cork coastline -never the same.

A picnic on the grass surrounded by all hues of green and, perhaps, a swim in the sea will mark a good end to the day, not without having a pint of the black stuff at any of the pubs in the square while awaiting for the bus to go back home.

While I was there, I did walk a lot and I watched breathtaking landscape that I know I will never forget, even if, I am away from this land that seems so far away from bustling cities and maddening crowds. 

It rains a lot in Ireland, but worry not; the climate is so changeable that one can never be sure what it’s going to be like in the next few hours and it may happen that after lashing rain, the sun will bright up when one least expects it

I never said good bye, because I always thought that saying it means one doesn’t have an intention to go back. On saying it, one is closing a door behind and doesn’t intend to open it again. Yet, I will. I most definitely will and it will be one more chance to delight with the green and the battering sea. It will be one more chance to join in the merry atmosphere of a traditional session, sing along and toast with a pint of the black stuff exclaiming, Slainte! Cheers! All the best!

The Blarney Stone is a historical stone, or actually part of the Blarney Castle in Ireland where it was believed that kissing the stone can grant you the gift of gab. Yeah, it seems strange in this day and age, but who are we to question tradition? It’s not like I’m saying that Santa Claus doesn’t exist (OOPS!).

There is so much to know about conversation that anyone, even I, could ever realize. You can go though watching talk shows; radio programs; clubs dedicated to public speaking; ordinary conversations; certain rules still apply when it comes to interaction through words. It may sound tedious, I know, but even though it’s your mouth that’s doing the work, your brain works twice as hard to churn out a lot of things you know. So what better way to start learning to be an effective communication is to know the very person closest to you: yourself.

1. What you know.

Education is all about learning the basics, but to be an effective speaker is to practice what you’ve learned. My stint as guest at every Toastmasters’ meeting I go to taught me that we all have our limitations, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn to keep up and share what we know.

2. Listening.

It’s just as important as asking questions. Sometimes listening to the sound of our own voice can teach us to be a little bit confident with ourselves and to say the things we believe in with conviction.

3. Humility

We all make mistakes, and sometimes we tend to slur our words, stutter, and probably mispronounce certain words even though we know what it means, but rarely use it only to impress listeners. So in a group, don’t be afraid to ask if you’re saying the right word properly and if they’re unsure about it then make a joke out of it. I promise you it’ll make everyone laugh and you can get away with it as well.

4. Eye Contact

There’s a lot to say when it comes to directing your attention to your audience with an eye-catching gaze. It’s important that you keep your focus when talking to a large group in a meeting or a gathering, even though he or she may be gorgeous.

5. Kidding around

A little bit of humor can do wonders to lift the tension, or worse boredom when making your speech. That way, you’ll get the attention of the majority of the crowd and they’ll feel that you’re just as approachable, and as human to those who listen.

6. Be like the rest of them

Interaction is all about mingling with other people. You’ll get a lot of ideas, as well as knowing what people make them as they are.

7. Me, Myself, and I

Admit it, there are times you sing to yourself in the shower. I know I do! Listening to the sound of your own voice while you practice your speech in front of a mirror can help correct the stress areas of your pitch. And while you’re at it you can spruce up as well.

8. With a smile

A smile says it all much like eye contact. There’s no point on grimacing or frowning in a meeting or a gathering, unless it’s a wake. You can better express what you’re saying when you smile.

9. A Role Model

There must be at least one or two people in your life you have listened to when they’re at a public gathering or maybe at church. Sure they read their lines, but taking a mental note of how they emphasize what they say can help you once you take center stage.

10. Preparation

Make the best out of preparation rather than just scribbling notes and often in a hurried panic. Some people like to write things down on index cards, while other resort to being a little more silly as they look at their notes written on the palm of their hand (not for clammy hands, please). Just be comfortable with what you know since you enjoy your work.

And that about wraps it up. These suggestions are rather amateurish in edgewise, but I’ve learned to empower myself when it comes to public or private speaking and it never hurts to be with people to listen how they make conversations and meetings far more enjoyable as well as educational.

(1)   Ulsterman 1

The Ulsterman formerly of Triond and who still is very much a part of Triond’s Hot Content List writes about US President Obama. He says that a White House insider informs him of all the goings-on there. It is felt by many that he is the political version of Triond writer Mnofdichotomy. The latter gives fake stories about “dead” celebrities while the former allegedly gives fake stories about the living celebrity in the White House. I emphasize the word “allegedly.”

See his Triond profile at http://www.triond.com/users/Ulsterman or his website at http://theulstermanreport.com/.

(2)   Ulsterman 2

How many of you have heard about the great train robbery of August 1963 in Buckinhamshire, England? It is so called as it was one of the biggest train robberies in England if not the biggest. Fifteen men robbed a train while there were two key informants that were not at the scene. One of the key informants was a man known only as “the ulsterman.” Quoting Wikipedia it says:

“The two key informants who brought the idea to robbers’ attention were solicitor’s clerk Brian Field and the unknown “Ulsterman“, who has never been identified or caught.”

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Robbery_%281963%29 . He was said to have had an Irish accent perhaps leading to the nickname “Ulsterman.” That leads us to the next term “Ulsterman.”

(3)   Ulsterman 3

One of the four provinces of Ireland is Ulster. The provinces are Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. Ulster is to the top of Ireland and is the red region in the picture below.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Any man coming from that Northern Ireland region can be called an “Ulsterman.”

So if you should hear that Ulsterman did this or that, in all fairness, do not be too quick to say that it was the Ulsterman of Triond fame. Do not mix up the Ulsterman that helped pull off a train robbery in August 8th 1963, with the Ulsterman that joined Triond in August 11th 2009. One has to do with a train the other with Triond though both can be regarded as informants. This is not a plug for Ulsterman but for fairness and to compare and contrast history. My sole interaction with him was when he commented on my wordplay quiz about top Triond writers entitled Take The Trionder’s Triond Quiz on Seven Top Content Writers | Writinghood.

You may be interested in reading the following articles:

The Hot Content List Writers and The Order They Joined Triond | Writinghood

Take The Trionder’s Triond Quiz on Seven Top Content Writers | Writinghood

Breaking News: Ulsterman May Not Have Left Triond | Webupon

Shelpeare’s Definitive Guide to When Triond Writers Joined | Writinghood

If you want to write online and earn royalties why not join Triond here:

Triond – Publish Writing, Poetry, Music, Video & Content Online

I wouldn’t say that I was a model student. Yet, I don’t think I cheated on exams. Or perhaps I did few things. I can’t remember it, but if I did, they were few naive things. It goes without saying that I didn’t have one of these mobile phones to connect with my colleague who was just outside.  Oh, cool!

The bright boy whom others mocked on

I’ve always loved reading the pages of The Irish Times on the Leaving Certificate (Ireland’s Certificate that qualifies to go to University) and the student’s frenzy to take up the exams. I really enjoy reading on their results to see who has done brilliantly or who has done poorly. I also enjoy their Transition Year Projects in the different schools. On reading this, it allows me to know in what counties students do well and achieve good results on their exams and in which ones they don’t do so well. For what I’ve seen and read, it is in rural areas where children tend to do worse on exams. This is typical and it is the same everywhere.

The boy was from Dublin and he had achieved wonderful results on his Leaving exams. However, I heard some bad comments among my colleagues at work who had passed through the same nightmarish situation (Oh, isn’t he a brainy one, this lad from Dub? or Oh, he mustn’t have had anything else to do apart from studying…) Having achieved A’s and A’s + in all his subjects and having received offers from the most prestigious universities, in his interview, he seemed to me quite a normal lad, but he said something that I agree with and it is what I have thought “If one studies consistently during the year, good results are guarantied”.

It is very true. If one studies the year round consistently and to really learn on things good marks will follow. Even with an average IQ, one can get brilliant results, if one puts seriously at it. 

So, no more mocking on these students who achieve brilliant marks from these who do poorly. Some of them have used their time to study with a discipline, while, others have been partying or lazing about most of the time. Then, exam time arrives and they find they know nothing. They will blame teachers, tribunals and the government. Everybody will be blamed, except them for not having used their time wisely.   

I have known many ways to cheat on exams. They go from sort of tattooing one’s arms and legs with formulae, verbal tenses, names and dates, writing small notes to hide in lipsticks, watches, necklaces and even in tiny earphones, not without mentioning the most modern one of using mobile phones, but unluckily for the cheaters, teachers seem to have noticed about it and telephones aren’t allowed in exam halls.

Working out good cheats takes work, time and patience. Then, I think wouldn’t it be better and easier to use time wisely to study and try to do our best the year round till exam time? 

In doing so, it will certainly give them time for partying and enjoyment too. This is the way I did and I, therefore, could allow myself to go on excursions or a break away, a concert or a play, while, some of my peers spent nights studying until dawn and after a handful of coffee cups and even drugs to keep awake. At this time of the year, it isn’t surprising that amphetamines and the like are best selling ones at chemists as soon as the good weather is around.

Salpa alone is better known as a lingerie model. Irish woman he is considered the public is very similar to Kim. In fact, while in Ireland, Salpa too often dressed up anddressed Kim’s appearance.

As quoted from the Mirror, Thursday, January 12, 2012, Salpa admitted there are manywho say to him if he is very similar to the artist and socialite Armenia’s bloody. Salparecounted his experience when he was walking in his city, not infrequently he wasasked to stop and photograph together because it is considered as Kim.

Indeed, if observed, there are similarities between Salpa with Kim. They both have darkhair, high cheekbones. arched eyebrows with the same lip shape. Salpa also oncejoked, he wanted to have implants like Kim’s.

Previously, Kim had also demanded a clothing brand that uses a model that looked like him, Melissa Mlinaro. Melissa obviously was upset that Kim make an ad that starred.

Cinderella story of the “Mighty Quinn” as friends called him, made him a celebrity in the economic boom experienced in Ireland from the 90s to the collapse of real estate and financial bubble in 2008. Quinn, who grew up in a simple farmers family, amassed a fortune worth billions of pounds after founding a business conglomerate that includes concrete plants, a hotel chain, wind turbines and real estate.

However, last November it seemed that all this is history for the Irish tycoon. Quinn has been declared bankrupt by a court in Belfast, and Anglo Aiiris Bank, in difficulties during the crisis and nationalized lack of choice by the Government of Ireland, said Quinn that he was left with a capital of 11 thousand pounds, and his assets ended up in an old Mercedes and a land area of ​​650 hectares.

In a recently rare interview in the media, he said that the he is a victim of the global panic that gripped the markets and led to the collapse of Ireland. “People like me were stupid enough to enter the trap, and borrowed too much money from the banks that believed in them,” he said.

But bankers at Anglo Aiiris Bank, one of the financial institutions that provided generous loans to Quinn during the bubble, suspect that the tycoon’s confessions are false and using a financial manipulations he and his family control valuable assets, including shopping center real estate in Ukraine and the emerging Silicon Valley of India.

Queen’s bank debts are as high as 2.8 billion pounds, but the presence of bankruptcy, turn them to a lost debts. The financial system in the country still licking its wounds, and insolvency loans of Irish banks and insurance companies is estimated at 70 billion pounds.

“I suppose I was always very greedy,” admitted Quinn in his prophetic speech in 2005. “I was never happy with what I have and  was always looking for new opportunities.” Queen, was largely the name and face of Ireland’s economic boom, has also become who represented the collapse. It is difficult to predict when would it be revealed if behind this face hidden an energetic entrepreneur which even if impulsive, lost everything he had, or a shrewd businessman who did not hesitate to evade repayment of debts in cunning ways in which state residents made his fortune.

After reading an interesting article today, written by Mats Persson on The Spectator’s blog; i thought it would be in my interest to upload this overview of the situation. Since David Cameron’s veto decision on Friday the media have been in a craze, portraying the outcome as being set solid in concrete and as Mats Persson wonderfully described it: “You would be forgiven for thinking that Britain is on the fast track to becoming the North Korea of Europe — eccentric and completely isolated from the rest of the world.” With all 26 EU countries apart from the UK signing up to the agreement we must be truly isolated and on our own?

Mats Persson director of Open Europe (Open Europe produces a round-up of all the news in Europe) points out that the reality of Britain’s ”so-called” isolation is quite different from what we have been led to believe - showing us the level of support in cabinets and parliaments around Europe – He writes:

France. For all the Sarkozy rhetoric, his main rival, the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, leading him by 18 per cent in a hypothetical second round clash, has said that: ‘If I’m elected president, I’ll renegotiate this deal…to add to it what it lacks today’, being particularly critical of constitutional limits on budget deficits.

Germany. Scratch the surface and the Germans aren’t overwhelmed either. In addition to the deal being seen as an insufficient to solve the crisis, the Bundesbank has warned that the proposed new IMF contributions could take Germany above the ‘bailout’ ceiling established by the Bundestag.

Denmark. The Merkozy deal appears to have split the newly elected Danish centre-left coalition. Danish Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal (of junior coalition partners the Socialist People’s Party), and PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt ( Social Democrats) have been accused of contradicting each other over whether the pact could restrict the government from pushing through its economic programme. The agreement is now pending analysis and approval in Folketinget, which will also consider whether a referendum is required (it’ll most certainly be avoided). A poll this week found that 54 per cent of Danes want the pact to go to a public vote.

Sweden. The Swedish minority government looks unlikely to get the necessary majority to get the package, as it stands, through the Riksdag. The leader of the opposition Håkan Jurholt has warned against becoming euro members ‘via the backdoor’. The centre-right coalition remains split on the issue, with PM Fredrik Reinfeldt saying that it would be a ‘bit strange’ for the country to join. Meanwhile, Swedes are becoming increasingly sceptical. A fresh poll out this week shows that over 80 per cent of Swedes would vote ‘No’ to the euro in a referendum, compared to 42 per cent two years ago, while support for EU membership has dropped from 55 per cent to 47 per cent in a year.

Poland. Opposition parties Democratic Left Alliance and the Law and Justice parties have warned that the deal would violate the Polish Constitution, and therefore needs a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Polish Parliament, which is far from guaranteed. Law and Justice has even threatened to over-turn the agreement once in power (which, it should be said, can be a while). The government maintains that the pact actually won’t impact on Poland until it joins the euro.

Finland. The Grand Committee in the Finnish Parliament has launched an inquiry into whether the country’s Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen potentially over-stepped his mandate in the negotiations in Brussels last week. In its current form, the deal is unlikely to pass Parliament as the majority rule for the activation of the ESM (meaning Helsinki will be stripped of its veto over future bailouts) will require a two-thirds majority in the Parliament to be compatible with the country’s Constitution. Such super-majority looks unlikely since the main opposition parties the Centre Party and the Finns (previously ‘True Finns’) both oppose the deal.

Czech Republic. Prime Minister Petr Necas told the Czech press, ‘It wasn’t possible to sign up to this international agreement for a number of reasons. But the main reason was this – nobody knows what’s in it’, saying that the deal will need approval from his Parliament. In addition, the Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek yesterday said that the suggested additional IMF contribution is ‘extremely high,’ estimated by the Czech Central Bank to be equal to 10 per cent of official Czech reserves, something echoed by Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

Hungary. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban will let the Hungarian parliament decide whether to agree to the deal, although with his Fidesz party enjoying a solid two-thirds majority, he could in theory easily push it through should he want to.

Netherlands. The situation is not fully clear, with the Social Democrats appearing to have backtracked on their previous request for early elections to be called if further transfers of sovereignty to the EU were to take place under last week’s agreement. With the Social Democrats, the government would have the majority needed to push through the agreement.

Ireland. Ireland will decide whether it needs to be put the agreement to a referendum when the details of the agreement are clearer (probably March), with chances for a vote seen as 50-50. Deputy PM Eamon Gilmore also said that ‘I believe there will be a lot of discussion on that between now and March. I will be surprised if Britain is not involved in that discussion’.

Estonia. The Finance Ministry has said that the country will not contribute to the agreed €200 billion IMF capitalisation, even though the country is a member of the eurozone.

So is it fair to reduce this myriad of opinions and political positions to a 26 versus 1 discussion? You decide on my blog JPMacauley.wordpress.com

What situation? 

The situation of where in the early 90’s when Greece and Ireland joined the European Union. They altered their financial books to appear as if they had good economies and were in a sound financial system. The Euro was shocked when Greece had riots and announced their bankruptcy and when Credit Rating Firms lowered Greece’s Credit Rating to the lowest possible grade. Which means that they are a Risky investment. 

The European Union, without the support of Britain and a couple other EU countries, came up with a plan to devise a more centralized governing body. All EU countries are split down whether they want this new centralized governing body or not. In fact most of those countries have split opinions about the Euro itself. 

Two situations

Euro Collapses and the entire world takes a hit and then keeps going. EU countries have to determine what curriency(ies) they are going to use.

OR

The  Euro picks itself back up and it the issue is resolved. 

This story was carried by the Northern Irish paper Sunday Life. And according to the paper, the teenage girl who is only 16 offered to sell her virginity on the popular trading website Gumtree. The teenage girl, whose name was not revealed chose to use the following shocking words for her advert title on the site: “Virginity for Sale” the body of the advert had the following words: “available to the highest bidder”.

According to the Sunday Life paper, the teen is the first in Northern Ireland to make such an offer on the web.

And within hours of her making that offer, men had inundated her with shocking offers.

When asked why she was selling her virginity, the teen had said that she was doing that to raise cash for a college course in art.  

Reporters from the Sunday Life paper eventually tried to stop the teenager from selling her virginity to a stranger, sensing the huge risk the girl was putting herself into.

The Sunday Life newspaper never released the girl’s name because of ethical reasons.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

I guess the best place to start would be;

Last week I was accepted in to Ireland’s only prestige college, Trinity College Dublin. I’m one of the youngest members to be accepted in a few years so that’s made me pretty darn happy!

I finally got my concert tickets to Asking Alexandria and NeverShoutNever! I cant wait to meet Chris Drew!

I’ve played a few concerts and got over my fear of crowds so in the future i can play to my full extent.

I might edit this later because, I cannot really think of what else to write so… Later?