I’ve come to realise that people I actually know, ie friends and acquaintances, read this blog and some have strong opinions, for and against.
If you have a strong opinion about something written here, please say so in the comments. Even if you’ve vehemently the opposite opinion to what I express here, say so. If you’re [...]

Australian filmmaker John Safran is so fed up with Mormons ringing his doorbell early in the morning that he flies to Salt Lake City Utah and tries to convert Mormons to atheism.
Needless to say, the locals were not pleased. (short video)

There were nasty scenes in North Mayo early this morning, when the Gardaí (Irish Police) baton-charged local residents and supporters when they tried to block a convoy of Shell construction workers building a gas pipeline near their homes.
It seems extraordinary that the Irish police would baton-charge its own people to allow a multinational company [...]

There’s a superb time-lapse video of the demolition of the Ballymun flats over on the Dublin Community blog

The Glen Dimplex New Writer Awards are for the best book published in the last year in Ireland and the United Kingdom by a first-time author. Each category winner receives €5,000.
Philip Ó Ceallaigh, a native of Co Waterford who lives in Bucharest, won the fiction award for his short story collection Notes From a [...]

With apologies for late posting, but I’m posting it now for the record.

Memory – Art – Power is an International Symposium which examines the importance of archiving for cultural validation and development.
Thursday 19 October 2006
Memory – Art – Power brings together five leading cultural practitioners who are involved in the field of archiving [...]

The concept
“jamendo is a new model for artists to promote, publish, and be paid for their music.
On jamendo, the artists distribute their music under Creative Commons licenses. In a nutshell, they allow you to download, remix and share their music freely. It’s a “Some rights reserved” agreement, perfectly suited for the new century.
These new [...]

If you’re feeling depressed (eg about the cynicism of politicians), watch these short videos.
Free Hugs Campaign
and then
Inspiring Story - Free Hugs Campaign, Sydney
As it happens, the BBC has a story about the demise of the larrikin in Australian culture.

That a brain cell structure might reflect the structure of the Universe isn’t at all surprising, stunning though the comparison is, when you think that a daisy, a snail shell, a ram’s horn and a spiral nebula all conform to the Fibonacci Series.
You can see the pictures here -
A Brain Cell is the Same [...]

Yes, I know,the eyes just glaze over when people bang on about what we are doing to the earth. Every now and again one should lighten up, as Al Gore wisely did in If Al Gore Had Been President
*update: Google appears to have removed this video*
And then…
Al Gore’s Speech in NYU advocating replacement of [...]