Twittering

Won't be blogging for a while, folks. It's easier and quicker to do updates on Twitter.

Banks versus mattresses

At the height of the bank scare when we didn't know what to expect from one day to the next, I did threaten to take the few pennies out of the bank and put the lot under a mattress. But I should add that I'm still very much in control of whether a mattress gets binned or not. That's very important.

Search for million-dollar mattress

"An Israeli woman bought her elderly mother a new mattress on Monday and threw out the old one — only to discover that her mother had hidden her life savings inside. When she went to look for the mattress, it had already been taken by binmen in Tel Aviv." (Full story)

The life savings came to $1 million. Now, you see, if my stash had been close to $1 million, I'd have split it up. One eighth under the mattress, one eighth in the freezer, one eighth buried in the garden, one eighth in the toilet cistern, and so on and so forth. This poor woman was bang-on not to trust the banks. Her mistake was to have no imagination.

How high you would climb to save the planet?

From Greenpeace Australia Pacific Blog:

"How far would you go for what’s right? Would you risk arrest? How high you would climb to save a planet?

"In 2007, six volunteer activists scaled a 220-metre chimney at a UK coal power station to protest against government plans to build new coal plants. If the action wasn’t breathtaking enough (vertigo sufferers be warned), a landmark court case followed, with supporting testimony by the world’s leading climate scientist, Dr James Hansen of NASA. The New York Times listed the defence of “lawful excuse” as one of the ideas that defined 2008.

"Inspired by their story, internationally acclaimed director Nick Broomfield made a 20-minute film celebrating the spirit of direct action. A Time Comes (Bright Green Pictures) follows the protest of the Kingsnorth Six and the court case that made history. Watch the full movie [20 mins]."



I confess I've only watched the trailer. I can barely look out a third floor window without getting creeped out.

RTE News online - get a grip!

For heaven's sake. I went to this page on the RTE website to read about the recovery of bodies from the downed Air France plane. At time of writing there are no less than THREE moving ads (Flash) on the page -- one for O2, one for Guinness, and one for Paddy Power. How is anyone supposed to read a news story without half-blinding themselves with that lot going on?

I've just refreshed the page. One ad has changed content, and the others have changed position. But they're all still 'Flashing'. And I haven't read the story.

Sometimes I think RTE deliberately sets out to annoy.

Update:

Uh Oh ... I've just been to this page and it has three Flash ads too.
Right. That's me finished with the RTE website.

Il Silenzio -- Britain's Got Talent is over

I watched the 'Britain's Got Talent' final. I couldn't resist. And I admit that the controversy surrounding Susan Boyle and that poor kid Hollie Steel who broke down last night, was part of the reason I watched. But I also wanted to see Susan Boyle sing again. I heard that some very ignorant people said during the week that she can't sing and has no voice. Such utter lunacy. I'm glad to see that she came second, and equally glad to see that fantastic dance group, Diversity, walk off with first place. I hope those lads get the best, and not the worst, out of their new-found fame. They're brilliant.

I also loved the sax player, Julian Smith (watch him there), and his performance reminded me that years ago I loved the trumpet solo, Il Silenzio, and had it as a single. I'm posting it below as my version of "your international moment of Zen". To round off a rather tense evening.

I sincerely hope none of the competitors comes to any harm from the stress induced by that explosion of reality TV. Some of the personalities -- young and old -- were well able to handle it. Some weren't. I do wonder about pushy parents. And the possibility of heartless demands (towards "good" TV) that may have been made on contestants backstage.



(Sorry about the graphics ...)

Go away Fianna Fáil - and the rest too

I've just put this notice up on my front door. In big print.

It's always galled me that millions of trees are cut down so that my (and your) front porch can be littered with paper -- from dubious claims to collect used clothing for the "poor" and leaflets for dodgy gutter-cleaners and tree-trimmers, to unwanted free newspapers. I am obliged to follow the law against littering the streets, but there is no law against people littering my front porch with useless crap which I then have to recycle.

Now of course, it's worse. Elections. No canvasser has had the courage to knock on my door. But they're shoving tons of paper in the letterbox.

Let's see if this puts a stop to their gallop. If it doesn't, I'll collect all election leaflets and post them to Fianna Fáil Head Office with no stamp on the envelope.

Are all deaf people insomniacs?

I don't watch much TV, but having been up late two nights in a row, I noticed that both BBC and UTV were showing programmes around 1.45am which featured signing. Are they suggesting that all deaf people are insomniac? Or do deaf folk have to stay up this late to watch their favourite programmes?

RTE seems to have a series called 'Hands On', which airs at 10.40am on Sundays, but it's all about "issues relevant to the Deaf Community". Are drama and film for the hard of hearing relegated to the small hours on RTE too?

I looked for a list of programmes from RTE that include signing but this is all I can find.

Want a pocket piglet?

Something to brighten you up after previous (important) posts.

"What Goes Around Comes Around"

You'll want to see these.
From The Inspiration Room:

"Big Ant International have won a Gold Pencil for Design (Public Service Poster) at the One Show Design Awards held this week. Four posters were designed to wrap around poles, campaigning for an end to the war in Iraq, pointing to the Global Coalition for Peace web site. Grenades, rifles, missiles and tank guns come round the pole to catch up with the aggressor in each poster. What goes around comes around."

Go here to see the posters. They're brilliant. You can't appreciate the idea from the tiny one I posted above.

[Thanks to D for the tip-off!]

Clerical Rape Victim Confronts Irish Minister

From the commentary on YouTube: "A question is asked [on RTE's 'Questions and Answers' programme, 25 May] about the Ryan Commission report on child abuse within institutions run by the religious orders in Ireland. After the panel had spoken the questioner responded ..."

Senior Interrogator Rebukes Cheney for Torture Speech

I didn't hear him say that torture is both immoral and illegal. However he is rebutting a specific claim made by His Dickness, Cheney, and talking also about American hypocrisy.

Sound off at http://bravenewfoundation.org/

Fishy but true

I don't have dementia. Really. I don't. But I did something yesterday which -- if I wasn't such a quick-witted, lively, intelligent, young-at-heart super-woman -- might make me, well, wonder.

I was looking forward to my dinner of fresh haddock. Un-processed, un-breaded, un-messed-with-by Bird's Eye or Donegal Catch. Just fresh haddock from Howth. Of the white fish available in Ireland, I find it the meatiest, with the nicest flavour too.

I was planning to bake it and have it with a couple of veg. So I heated the oven, threw a dash of sunflower oil into a pyrex dish and put that in the oven to heat. Meanwhile, I tossed the fish in well-seasoned flour, and quartered a lemon.

When I thought the oil was hot, I took the pyrex dish out to check. The texture of the sunflower oil looked a bit odd - thin and foamy - but nevertheless, I picked up the floured haddock and chucked it in. Then I got a strange smell. I bent down closer to the dish and sniffed.

Fumes. Pungent fumes. Domestos. Kills 99% of all known everythings. Not sunflower oil.

I glanced sideways, and the Domestos bottle was sitting where I'd left it on the worktop. I'd been about to cook haddock au bleach.

A "new gesture of recognition"?

There's no point in me saying very much about the scandal of the abuse of little children by Catholic religious orders in Ireland. It's all been said on other blogs, in newspapers, on radio and TV.

I find it hard to talk about anyway, because it's disgusting. Depraved. Plus, intensely hypocritical, given that the Catholic Church purports to teach, preach, and follow the words of Jesus as the 'Son of God', the same Jesus who is said to have said: "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."

The children should have been forbidden. They should have been prevented and safeguarded from going anywhere near these perverts and their institutions of sadism. Many more children should have been prevented from going near individual priests in parishes all over the country.

This morning I see in the Irish Times:

Archbishop calls for ‘new gesture’ from orders behind child abuse
"The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has called on Catholic religious congregations to make a 'new gesture of recognition' of the abuse carried out in institutions they ran."

I'm not reading any more of it. "Gesture" my arse. Bland apologies and "gestures". They're all meaningless -- unless the perpetrators, those still alive, are brought to face justice in the courts of this land.

Years ago pictures of women knitting while watching the guillotine in operation astonished me. They don't any more. I wouldn't do it myself, but I'm past being astonished.

RSI - Arggghhh!

I know, I know, it's probably very boring if you don't have it, and I've posted about it before. I now know that what's needed is to exercise the arm differently until it's back to normal - along with my neck and shoulder. No sling this time, but different activities. (If you DO have computer-related RSI, there is some good info at that link above.)

Body in boot of crashed car

Years ago I was prescribed a tablet that caused me terrible insomnia. I could go to sleep around 11.30pm or midnight but was always awake again, for good, around 2.30am. This went on for the better part of 18 months and it was very hard in wintertime waiting for the dawn. To occupy myself - if I was still in bed - I used to try to figure out the plot of a crime novel: the perfect murder.

Now, don't get me wrong. There was nobody I wanted to kill, and I can barely kill a spider without remorse. What I was doing was an academic exercise that was sufficiently complicated to take my mind off my sleeplessness. There was so much to work out: the method of killing, the careful covering of tracks, the disposal of the body, all without incurring the slightest suspicion. The subject and the object never arose. It was the method I was trying to compose for my fictitious novel.

I was forcefully reminded of my efforts when I read a headline this morning:

Body found in boot of crashed car in Dublin
'The cause of death is as yet undetermined but gardai are treating the incident as homicide ... the car had crashed into a wall'.

There are no perfect murders with Murphy's Law.

Or, to put it another way, The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft agley.

My Roots

Pipeline-Istan

Everything You Need to Know About Oil, Gas, Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan and Obama

This is essential reading for anyone who has been watching the progress of the "Global War on Terror" (now re-branded by Obama as "Overseas Contingency Operations".)

"Yep, it all comes down to black gold and "blue gold" (natural gas), hydrocarbon wealth beyond compare, and so it's time to trek back to that ever-flowing wonderland -- Pipelineistan. It's time to dust off the acronyms, especially the SCO or Shanghai Cooperative Organization, the Asian response to NATO, and learn a few new ones like IPI and TAPI. Above all, it's time to check out the most recent moves on the giant chessboard of Eurasia, where Washington wants to be a crucial, if not dominant, player ..."

Full article here (and you'll watch your evening news with fresh eyes.)

Martin Sheen: "GW is a mass murderer"

Newstalk 106

"Af-Pak" update, courtesy of CLG

CIA and ISI together created Taliban: Zardari

In a new revelation, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the CIA of the United States and his country's ISI together created the Taliban. "I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and CIA created them together," Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview. In the interview, which was given to the NBC on May 7, Zardari also accused the US of supporting the military rule of Pervez Musharraf who was alleged to be taking sides of the Taliban.

Probe into burns suffered in Afghan battle --Rights groups: Use of white phosphorus over populated areas can indiscriminately burn civilians and constitutes a war crime.

Afghanistan's top human rights group said it is investigating whether white phosphorous was used [by the US] in a U.S.-Taliban battle that killed scores of people, which could further deepen controversy over an incident that has already sparked public anger. Doctors have said villagers wounded in the fighting had "unusual" burns. Afghan doctors told The Associated Press they have treated at least 14 patients with severe burns the doctors have never seen before.

'US drone kills eight in Pakistan'

Missiles fired by a suspected US drone have flattened a house and killed at least eight people in Pakistan, close to the Afghan border, officials say. The attack took place in Sra Khawra village in the South Waziristan district. There have been three dozen alleged US strikes since August - killing about 340 people - most in the North and South Waziristan tribal regions.

'We demand a complete end to the bombardment of our villages ... and we are very serious about it.'
Karzai "very serious" on ending air raids: official

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "very serious" about a demand for foreign forces in Afghanistan to halt air raids, even though it was rebuffed by a top U.S. security official, his spokesman said on Monday. Afghans are furious about the [US] bombing of two villages in Western Farah province during a drawn-out battle last week, when homes full of civilians were hit.

After Afghan massacre, Washington says airstrikes will go on
By Bill Van Auken

In the final days of his trip to Washington, President Hamid Karzai demanded an end to US airstrikes in Afghanistan. In response, US National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones (ret.) insisted that the bombing of Afghan villages will continue, whether the country’s supposed sovereign government likes it or not. The juxtaposition of Karzai’s and Jones’ remarks speaks volumes about the nature of the US war in Afghanistan. It is a dirty, colonial-style intervention in which Washington dictates policy to a puppet government while unleashing military violence against an increasingly hostile population.

Courtesy of CLG

Lie to Me

I saw an ad for this TV programme today. I won't be watching it as the only Sky I have is Sky News, and I don't want any more of it/them.

But the ad made me think about lying and how I'd cope with someone who can "decode facial tics and body language" and "pinpoint criminality on an eyebrow twitch and some giveaway crow's feet". The answer is "useless". I'd be bloody useless.

All of us lie. Not necessarily for bad reasons. White lies have their place in life. A friend asking me what I thought of her new coat/dress/top (she had terrible taste in clothes) required white lies. Or at least half-lies. I've lied on the phone when I said "No, he's not here at the moment", so the "he" in question could gather his thoughts. I don't consider these lies. Not lies that do damage. Not harmful, horrible, deceitful lies.

But serious lying to someone's face -- no can do. Not because I'm perfect (hah!) but because I blush cherry-red from the neck up, have tremors in my gut and my facial muscles, and can't hold the person's eye for two seconds. To think that after seeing "Carve her Name with Pride" my ambition as a youngster was to be an heroic spy. (For whom, I have no idea.)

I even took to wearing trenchcoats, later on. I still like the look.

Stand-up comic Wanda Sykes at Obama's first White House Correspondents' Association dinner joked about VP Joe Biden not needing torture to talk. Along the lines of, "Just say, 'Nice day, Joe', and he'll talk for a week". That's me all over.

(Watch the videos at the link, they're funny.)

Speed and my lack thereof

This is my current connection speed. It's probably not half what my broadband service is supposed to be providing, but tonight I don't care much. I'm a bit care-worn. I'll see you Monday or thereabouts.

By the way, I read several quotes today.

One from Albert Einstein that appealed to me: "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value".

And one from Bill Cosby: "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody".

Sound thoughts to take to bed, don't you think?

Help your local Gardaí

Observed in Dublin's Hill St:

"Hunting people for Jesus"

Caught on Tape: Military Officials at Bagram Urge U.S. Soldiers to Evangelize in Afghanistan.

"Al Jazeera reports that, 'What these soldiers have been doing may well be in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution, their professional codes and the regulations in place for all forces in Afghanistan'. The U.S. military officially forbids 'proselytising of any religion, faith or practice'."

Full text/commentary: Alternet

Meanwhile, "The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey."

Read at CNN.com

Coughlan to be 'dumped' in Europe

according to Proinsias De Rossa.

Could we dump the whole lot of them in Europe? They could have a ball throwing shit at each other about the limit on the sale of vitamins or an acceptable shape for a carrot -- happily inflating their expenses as they go. I'm sure Europe would absorb the cost (given what the EU costs anyway) and at home we could start from scratch with a whole new litter.

Maybe the odd one would have a conscience.

Where did Swine Flu come from?

Two interesting articles.

One from Information Clearing House:
Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms

and from Alternet:
Are We So Addicted to Meat That We Can't See Where the Swine Flu Came From?