http://www.jmadden.eu Ramblings on technology, politics, music and whatever else comes to mind ... Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:20:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Irish government are planning to introduce a "mandatory" supplementary pension scheme for all workers who are over the age of 22, and earning over a certain threshold. The full details aren't yet concrete, but the general idea is to try and force the employed population of Ireland to save ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2010/03/04/government-mandatory-supplementary-pension-scheme/ I just e-mailed the below to the five TDs representing my constiuency (Limerick East). I suggest anyone opposed to the NAMA legislation do similar. We need to voice our opposition to those charged with representing us. The below may be used in full, or in part, by anyone wishing to contact ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2009/08/05/nama-legislation/ I just read an opinion piece titled "Signs of hope on world economy" on the Irish Times website and wanted to write some of my thoughts on it. Surely the comments of Ben Bernanke, or any economic advisor, holds very little weight now. If these people really are the experts they're ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2009/05/07/comments-on-signs-of-hope-on-world-economy/ I read a lot of news articles, blogs and email newsletters relating to the economy and investing. Recently, Ireland has been mentioned more and more often. The general opinion outside of Ireland seems to be that we're balancing on the edge of a cliff, and looking more likely to fall ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2009/02/19/how-much-trouble-is-ireland-in/ I just updated my server to Debian Lenny, which was released on February 14th. So far, the only issue seems to have been my Wordpress installation. I was getting errors in the Apache error log that the wordpress.wp_terms table didn't exist in the database. I had to manually browse to /wp-admin/upgrade.php ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2009/02/17/upgrade-to-debian-lenny/ I've had an iPhone 3G for about 2 months now, so I said I'd post my thoughts on it. I bought the phone primarily because I wanted a useful mobile device for e-mail, and also because I love new gadgets! I must say though, I'm very impressed with it. As expected, the ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2008/09/27/iphone-3g-review/ Today, Bloxham Stockbrokers released 10 policy options for the Irish government to "protect the domestic economy while positioning Ireland for future sustainable growth". While I agree with most of them, points 1 through 3 I don't agree with. These are Cut taxes. (only way to boost consumer confidence is through increased ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2008/09/11/bloxhams-10-points-to-save-the-irish-economy/ I wanted to post a roundup of some recent music bits and pieces. Firstly, there was some sad news last Tuesday (19th August). LeRoi Moore, the saxophonist with The Dave Matthews Band died, following complications arising from an ATV accident earlier in the year. He'll be sadly missed. Last weekend, myself and ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2008/08/25/latest-music-roundup/ There was more bad economic news last weekend, with the announcement that Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, and Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve, were stepping in to support the two largest mortgage lenders in the USA, Fannie Mae and Freddie ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2008/07/16/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-rescue/ With things finally settling down after the wedding and honeymoon, I said I'd post about the wedding day. Myself and Louise thoroughly enjoyed our day. It started out early in the day. My family were in our house in Castleconnell, and Louise was in her mother's home in Caherdavin. Lou's cousin, ... http://www.jmadden.eu/index.php/2008/06/15/our-wedding/