Blather Meets… Noam Chomsky
<!-- © Blather.net/Walsh--> Recently, Blather's academia correspondent, Johnny Mayonnaise, went to Massachusetts and unexpectedly encountered the world-famous Noam Chomsky! In Johnny's written report for Blather, you can almost feel you're there in the room with him: I find myself in a long corridor of an institutional building. I'm being shown around by a young lady whose face I don't recognise. I do, however, recognise the building. I saw it in a documentary film entitled Manufacturing Consent. It is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "This is Noam Chomsky's office," I remark to my hostess, pointing to a door on the left. "I know," she says, opening the door and leading me in. When I get in, I see that she is already at the other end of the room. Noam Chomsky is there too, sitting on a sofa. She asks him if it is okay for me to come in and...
Fortean Times Uncon 2006
Black magic theatre, 1920's horror movies, pony-tails, waistcoats, murdered Prime ministers, ghost hunting gear, drummers of the Damned and a lot of hot air about some dead Italian artist and his poxy code... So. That was the Fortean Times UnCon 2006. It was, as always, a mixed bag – some wonderful events, some not so wonderful. Overall the uncon was as enjoyable as I hoped it would be. The talks were varied and entertaining and the side-room events were intriguing to say the least. The book that cannot be mentioned But, I have, as always, my complaints. Most notably concerning the avalanche of DaVinci code-related material. Every book-stand groaned under the weight of DaVinci/Sauniere/Rennes tat and two of the central talks revolved around the mystery. Whilst Rat Scabies (founder member and drummer of punk band the Damned) maintained a healthy sense of humour and irreverence during his talk on Rennes...
Devil Take My Soul: the music of Son of Dave
'Always talk about the money, always talk about the honey, baby, all my brothers say, what's your name?...Devil take my soul, if he want it, bring you back to me, for just one more night...' It’s a rare event these days that having heard a song on a radio station, I scramble through drawers and shelves looking for a pen to write down the name of that song and the artist who sang it. Rarer still that I go online the following morning and order the album. And, I assure you, it is even rarer than that the album doesn’t turn out to be a pile of over-rated, disappointing cack. 'Fallen off my stool here...' But bizarrely enough, this is exactly what happened just this week when I heard a track by ‘Son of Dave’ this Sunday last and promptly snapped the album ‘O2’ up. And it is superb. Blindingly,...
Diggin in the Dirt: Niall (sausage the second)
Continuing with the detailed exploration of Ireland's most amorous homicidal maniac, Niall of the Nine Sausages, Blather.net's graverobber in residence, Ender Wiggan, delves deeper into the sources behind the story of Niall. The fifth century A.D. in Ireland has been called ‘the Lost Century’. In archaeological, historical and linguistic terms, there’s almost nothing in existence that can be definitely placed within that century. It’s a black hole where much of the discussion is prefaced by presumption and logical guesswork based on what came after. Paddy Probably the earliest written evidence of actual historical reality is two documents attributed to the man called Patricius, who later would become St. Patrick. Though the earliest surviving forms of his ‘Confession’ and Letters to the ‘Soldiers of Coroticus’, are contained in the ‘Book of Armagh’, dedicated in 807 A.D., the use of the Latin language contained within them, are thought to be that of...
Happiness: The Chinese zombie ships of West Africa
Right now, I'm on board the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, off the coast of West Africa, working on a pirate fishing campaign. It's been an expedition of extremes - the beauty of nature, and the harshness of human existence. Last week we visited an anchored fleet of rusting Chinese vessels, with marooned fisherman on board... We're in the big African Queen inflatable, cruising alongside an anchored trawler. It's more rust than metal - the ship is rotting away. The foredeck is covered in broken machinery. The fish deck is littered with frayed cables, and the mast lies horizontally, hanging over the starboard side. A large rusty Chinese character hangs on railings above the bridge, facing forward. It reads 'happiness'. Read More: The Chinese Zombie Ships » Boingboing.net: Chinese "ghost ship" fishing boats rotting off of W African coast, Thursday, March 30, 2006 I've been quoted in TIME!: Greenpeace Goes Fishing, Thursday,...
On the trail of the fish thieves – pirate fishing!
blather.net's dave is off again, sailing the high seas. This time, he's on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, sailing from Cape Town, South Africa, on a search for pirate trawlers... So yes - here I am, posting to blather.net from somewhere to the West of Namibia. It's about 8:30 GMT (which is anything between 5 minutes and five hours ahead of Irish time). The sea is flat, it's hot and sweaty in the campaign office on the bridge of the Esperanza, and we're making for the Atlantic Tuna grounds. You can check the front page of blather.net for updates, or visit these sites: Read all about our adventures on the Defending Oceans weblog » Main Ocean Defenders website » Get involved: Become an ocean defender! » Check out my photo blog 'Abroad' »
Diggin in the Dirt: Niall of the Nine Sausages (sausage the first)
Welcome to Diggin in the Dirt: a new series of articles exploring all matters archaeological and historical, brought to you by archaeologist of the damned and Blather's grave-robber in residence, Ender Wiggan. Excavations shall commence with a study of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the infamous 5th century warlord and serial-knobber. Recently, many newspapers have been waxing lyrical about the latest genetic study from Trinity College, involving the tracing of an alpha-male type genetic ancestry in the northwest part of Ireland. Linked with the Uà Néill Dynasty, and their mythical founder Niall of the Nine Hostages, impressive estimates now proclaim that one in twelve Irish males (one in three in Ulster) share direct descent from him. And worldwide, between two and three million males may also be able to trace a common genetic connection to him. A Y-Chromosome Signature of Hegemony in Gaelic Ireland But just who was Niall when...
The Hellfire Club Tunnels and Caves, West Wycombe
In yet another episode in a never-ending series, blather.net returns to the lair of the English Hellfire Club - Sir Francis Dashwood's party-house at Medmenham Abbey, and the fantastically kitsch tunnels in West Wycombe. Back in 1998, blather.net visited the Hellfire Club tunnels, in West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire - which, in case you don't know, is about 50km out of London. Back then, I knew very little about photography - I pointed and I shot, and was pleased enough. Now, I know a little more, and hope I've presented some better images of one very, very odd place. I've already written extensively on blather.net about the Hellfire Clubs, both the Irish Hellfire Club and their English counterparts. So, rather than getting into an explanation of 18th century rakes and satanists, I'm going to stick with talking about our recent visit. In November 2005, a crack blather.net & Strange Attractor team descended...
Waking the Dead: Standing on the Bones of Irish Giants
Seven foot six and eight foot four. One coffin, two coffins, three. Concrete slippers, the smell of kippers and a funeral at sea. Ladies and Gentlemen, Blather.net and the stupendous Mr. Panting present the amazing, the fantastic, the spectacular tale of the Irish giants, Messrs. Charles O'Brien and Patrick Cotter. High-Kings? Or Just high? The remains of Charles O'Brien, the celebrated Irish giant, who died in 1783 from alcohol-induced illness, have long held a macabre place of honour in the collection of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. He was one of two Irish giants living in England at the end of the eighteenth century who were household names. The second was Patrick Cotter. Curiously, both men were said to claim to be direct lineal descendants of Brian Boru, the eleventh century High King of Ireland. Confusion seems to abound about O'Brien. There's the spelling of his name and even...
Wyrd!
Over the years at Blather, we have described many of the items we have covered as 'weird news'. Certainly we mean 'weird' in both its strict sense (uncanny, supernatural: like schools closing because of ghosts) and in its colloquial sense (strange, incomprehensible: like a corpse propped in front of a TV for two years without anyone noticing). But did you know that 'weird' originally meant something entirely different? The original word was a noun, whereas we use the word as an adjective (e.g. 'Barry is weird') or an adverb (e.g. 'Barry is acting weird')... AND it was originally spelt wyrd... To understand the concept of wyrd we need to look at history. Britain in the late Roman Empire was Christian, but from around 449 AD pagan Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) invaded and settled. They brought pagan beliefs, as described in Old English literature and Tacitus' Germania. The Germanic...