Bakker Bugle Blog Say it three times fast. In Luxembourgish.

20 June 2008

Bugle P.I. — More Legal Trouble

Filed under: administrative,private eye — Will @ 17:52

The Bugle would like to apologize for the delay in further episodes of Bugle P.I. due to circumstances beyond our control.

The Bugle was placed under a gag order pursuant to a libel suit filed in courts in both the United States and Ireland. These gag orders prevented Bugle staff from publishing episodes and from explaining the delay. That order expired as of June 15, and no further legal hindrances are anticipated.

The second reason for the delay is a happier one. The Bugle is currently under negotiations for a book deal arising from the Bugle P.I. series. Our legal advisors suggested that we halt progress on the story until some fundamental issues in the negotiations were resolved. The status of those negotiations must remain confidential for the time being, but we are now in a position to recommence the story.

You can look forward to several episodes in quick succession, so please review the story so far in the next week or so. Cheers!

16 June 2008

Happy Bloomsday 2008

Filed under: culture,dublin — Tags: , , , , , , , — Will @ 13:40

June 16th of each year brings the worldwide celebration of James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses: Bloomsday. Many Joycean scholars make a pilgrimage to Dublin on this date, because the entirety of Ulysses occurs on one day, 16 June 1904. Joyce’s friends used the word “Bloomsday” when Joyce was alive! (more…)

13 June 2008

Lisbon Treaty: Ballad for an Undecided Irish Voter

Filed under: entertainment,ireland,politics — Tags: , , , , , — Will @ 17:48

Are you ready for a smirking, cynical over-simplification of yesterday’s vote on the Lisbon Treaty? If so, (more…)

Lisbon Treaty: The Campaigns

Filed under: ireland,politics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Will @ 16:47

At midday here in Ireland, the consensus was that the vote on the Treaty of Lisbon is too close to call. I find this remarkable, given that every political party holding seats in the Dáil (except Sinn Féin) endorsed the treaty. The major Irish political parties have impressive networks of party loyalists on the ground. Their networks seem more oriented toward mass mobilization than the US’s Democratic and Republican parties. While the US’s parties are fund-raising machines, they struggle with voters’ apathy and fragmentation on particular policies. So I assumed that the parties would get out the vote. But the relatively high turnout rate for this referendum appears to tell against ratification, according to the results so far.

Let’s look at the campaigns for and against the Lisbon Treaty, as I saw and heard them. (more…)

12 June 2008

The Treaty of Lisbon: Dazed and Confused

Filed under: ireland,politics — Tags: , , , , , , , — Will @ 20:59

Today, many Irish citizens will vote “Yes” or “No” to the Lisbon Treaty. For the past six weeks, Ireland’s political scene centered on this issue — one which I find even more complex than the notorious Mahon tribunal. The Bugle must admit, at the outset, that this post will not bring you the incisive analysis and deep insight that you’ve come to expect. In fact, it may be impossible for anyone to analyze the Lisbon Treaty from a neutral perspective right now — but we’ll get to that in a paragraph or two. (more…)

27 May 2008

Memorial Day, for the United States

Filed under: culture,dublin,ireland — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Will @ 18:56

The Republic of Ireland does not observe Memorial Day on the last Monday of May. Indeed, there is no public holiday of the Republic devoted to the memory of war.

The Republic of Ireland’s orientation towards wars and soldiers reflects the nation’s extraordinarily complex history of warfare. I’ll mention a few, recent aspects of that history — and that will be difficult enough. (more…)

25 May 2008

Africa Day at Dublin Castle, and other music news

Filed under: dublin,ireland,sports — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Will @ 21:20

Anita is leading a BBB&B tour of Corca Dhuibhne. She is showing Dingle how to have a good time, the Bugle way. (Rule 1: Food first, then fun.) As I tended to the maintenance of the B&B today, I heard far-away music reflected from the tall walls of my neighbourhood.

“Oh yes,” I thought, “today there’s a festival at Dublin Castle. That’s a long way for the sound to travel on such a windy day, though.” I finished my work in the afternoon and headed west to see the sights. (more…)

23 May 2008

Temporary Staff Re-assignment

Filed under: administrative,B&B — Will @ 15:06

The Bugle B&B is currently enjoying unprecedented success. Bugle management accurately predicted a major increase in the B&B sector, but due to the overall business climate, it also opted for a conservative approach to headcount and staff overtime during the Early Summer period.

The delightful weather of the past few weeks (together with Bugle’s world-class service) proved a boon for B&B guests, but behind the scenes, the ballooning business became troublingly busy. So, Bugle brass bounced Blog labourers to Beds and to Breakfasts. The bountiful beams and balmy breezes were a mixed blessing, because they built a brand-new burden for our Blog staff.

The Bugle is happy to report the capable employees of our blog division are helping keep our B&B operations at a 100% level of satisfaction. Unfortunately, customers of our blog have experienced reduced posting frequency and a mitigation of post noteworthiness metrics. We appreciate your loyalty during this time.

Today’s expatraveltainment industry requires adaptability. The Blog division of the Bugle family is confident that this period will grow a versatile knowledgebase that will serve all our stakeholders very well in the near future.

17 May 2008

The travel photos backlog: Budapest

Filed under: travel — Tags: , , , — Will @ 21:30

We’ve travelled a bit since our trip to Budapest in April, but we finally have our photos to share with you! We spent two nights in Budapest, so we have two sets for your viewing pleasure:

Turul and Gate

Budapest was exotic and lovely and most of all, quite warm. We enthusiastically recommend visiting the city to anyone who gets a chance. The buildings are like none other in Europe. The baths are not only historically unique, but a truly relaxing experience. (more…)

13 May 2008

Ray & Cindy Visit!

Filed under: B&B,culture,entertainment,ireland,travel — Tags: , , — Will @ 21:43

We have guests at the B&B! Last week, Ray, Cindy and Will visited two new destinations near Dublin: the Glendalough park in the Wicklow Mountains and the archeological sites of Knowth and Newgrange (which are part of the Brú na Bóinne complex).

Knowth

There’s lots of information and photos from those two days in the Flickr sets. This past weekend, we visited Switzerland. We’ll add those photos to overall collection of photos for their visit.

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