THE BEHAVIOUR OF the institutional Catholic church in Ireland and around the world is certainly a stark example of both of these truths. But it is not the only example, even in contemporary Ireland. The Irish Amateur Swimming Association, for example, gave coaches the power to do what they liked to children and then engaged in a process of denial that was, albeit on a much smaller scale, essentially the same as that of the bishops.

The problem is not swimming, any more than it is Catholicism. It is power.

Fintan's utter predictability on any topic and John Water's claptrap were two of the main reasons I stopped buying the Irish Times every day a few years back.

But this piece just nails it. A perfect summary of the root cause of the problem. A direct riposte to those who think this is about believers vs secularists.

The aim of 1 in 1000 Running for Cystic Fibrosis, is to get 1000 women to participate in the Flora Mini Marathon on 7 June 2010.

We are asking each women to get at least 200 in sponsorship which will enable 1 in 1000 to raise the sum of 200,000 required to fit out and equip a new four bed Cystic Fibrosis unit in Our Ladys Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

Great cause. Ireland has the highest rate of CF in the world.

If you can't donate, why not go one step further and sign-up to be an organ donor? Sign your driver's licence and/or grab a card in any pharmacy.

The Startup Pass includes
3 tickets for the price of 2 All 3 tickets must be booked at the same time
Free FOWA Dublin micro sponsorship (worth 100)
Your link + 140 characters, emailed to all attendees one week before the conference
Automatic entry into the Start Up Pitch panel
5 lucky winners will get to pitch their web app to the panel of speakers and audience
Your company name and url displayed throughout the breaks on the main screen
A great way to get your web app known and talked about

Last year's first ever FOWA Dublin was a massive success that was completely jam-packed and had people still talking about it weeks later.

This is a fantastic opportunity for Irish startups and you should grab it with both hands.

Damn I wish I was in Dublin tomorrow. It’s on at 8.30pm and you can book on the link above. All the reviews are raving about it.

By replaying tweets, you can explore any topic that people have discussed on Twitter. Want to know how the news broke about health care legislation in Congress, what people were saying about Justice Paul Stevens retirement or what people were tweeting during your own marathon run? These are the kinds of things you can explore with the new updates mode.

I've just tried this out. Bloody brilliant. Imagine if the good sense that went into this had gone into Buzz?

Check this out for the results around the Irish Blog Awards: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&tbo=1&esrch=RTReplay&tbs=mbl%3...

We have some very exciting news Plink has just been acquired by Google.

I first encountered the Plink guys during the IQPrize. Whilst they didn't get the win, I confidently predicted they would be bought by Google or Microsoft in under 18 months.

Well they beat that by miles!

Fantastic news Mark and James. Totally deserved. Really really delighted for you both.

Innovation Award

• Conor O’Neill: LouderVoice
• Ed Hendrick: Sonru Ltd
• Eoghain Ryan: Mocks.ie
• Ian Lucey: Lucey Technology
• Tony Corrigan: TenderScout

Great line up of the best and brightest in the Irish web world. Head on over to IIA site and do some voting! Particularly in that Innovation Category :-)

The series turns almost didactic at times, but for a reason. Treme is a work of imagination that seeks to reacquaint the world with a struggling citys reality.

If it's even 1/10th the show that The Wire was, it'll be better than almost everything else out there.