In the interim, I have a few fun internet things to post. None of them is a post of its own, but together, they might be nice.

Irish Lawyer Fergus O’Rourke points to interesting figures from the Economist, that explore the details about the mind of the Irish electorate.It seems that Europe is still popular in Ireland, and the final analysis seems to point to the notion that the case was simply not made for the treaty. It points to the fact that there is a clear need for an Irish political body which is pro-Europe, but more skeptical than our current parties.

Techdirt has an article on university patents and how they have harmed basic research. It’s an area of considerable interest to me, especially as I am moving towards a big research project. There is huge pressure in Ireland to get IP income out of research, but it seems to me that since most of the IP goes to startups, and that very few patents anywhere make money, the restrictive nature of the current model *is* hurting innovation. On the other hand, patents can work. The University of Nottingham has MRI (I think) machnes to thank for being differentiated financially from a whole slew of Universities in the UK.

You probably missed Hug a Developer Day, if you did, shame on you. Code Monkeys are people too.

Ok, I know everyone is sick of the election already, so I held these to the end: Hating Obamawith Gerard Baker in the Times. McCain is a lying liar by Krugman in the NYT.

When it comes to the EU, Irish political debate goes from the stupid to the random. The yes side trot out the dire warnings about lost influence and lost opportunity. They tell us that Ireland will be so hated that the only food we will be able to import will be leftover Soviet-era sausages, still in rusty radioactive cans.

On the other side, the No people warn us that we will all be conscripted into a European Vierte Reich, and that this new super army will be used to oppress the free dictators of the world. The No camp is somewhat undecided as to whether EU fascism is a puppet of American Imperialism, or its own brand.

The most recent additions to this movement have been a rejuvenated Catholic extreme right, who are anti-gay and worry that the EU will make us all gay. As Dixie has shown, the damage that gay rights have done to California have left it a dry, arid wasteland.

My favourite poster is one presented by flickr user Editor_tupp:

The vote is on Thursday, June 12^th. In ‘Coven tradition, I am not going to tell you how to vote, but I am going to say that if you don’t vote, you’re letting the terrorists/neo-cons/gays/straights/lolcats* win.

*delete as appropriate