Month: February 2004
Bill Hicks
On February 26 1994, William Melvin Hicks, better known as Bill, the man who I consider to be one of the most visionary voices of the late 20th century, died. The world has not been the same since. 'The elite ruling class wants us asleep so we'll remain a docile, apathetic herd of passive consumers, and non-participants in the true agenda of our governments - which is to keep us separate, and present an image of a world filled with irresolvable problems, that they, and only they, might one day, somewhere in the never-arriving future, be able to solve. Just stay asleep, America, keep watching TV.' - Bill Hicks I first heard about Bill Hicks a little over three years ago. I was having a drink with some friends and I was complaining vociferously about my job. In particular, I was venting ire about the machinations of the evil marketing...
George Bush Plans Invasion of Ireland
The country's number one chieftain limbers up to single-handedly repel the infidel... Plans of a secret US attack on Ireland have been announced. This summer, an airborne invasion led by US war hero George Dubya Bush will strike at the very kidneys of the Irish countryside - Shannon Airport. As Aircraft carriers clog-up the Shannon estuary and Apache helicopters haunt the streets of Limerick, Chieftain Bertie humourless will be having his sword sharpened, and his armour polished. Clad in animals skins, his long flowing hair tied behind him, handsome Bertie will sit astride his horse 'Enda' and lead the brave men of Fianna Fail in a charge across the country to see off the American barbarians. This is, of course, bollocks. Sure won't wee Bertie be over beyond in the Shite House for Paddy's Day? Our brave Taoiseach today announced that Dubya himself will be visiting Ireland on June 25th...
EU Pollutant Emissions Register and the Slaney Valley in Ireland
Walsh finds that two of Ireland's biggest polluters are in his neighbourhood... Update on the Slaney story here » I read the Irish list of polluters this morning, as listed on the EU Pollutant Emission Register website. I was both appalled, yet unsurprised to find that two of the top 150 polluters in Ireland are less than 2km from where I grew up. It's a stunningly beautiful piece of countryside on the edge of the river Slaney in Wexford, South East Ireland/ One of the polluters is the Rennard pig farm, in Crossabeg. I can remember the stench of slurry whenever the prevailing winds blew up the river. Once, when I was a kid, I went wandering around, and my dog of the time, Oscar, walked on to the encrusted surface of one of the slurry pits. The surface cracked and he fell through, and nearly drowned. He stank for...
Virtue and Vice… and all things nice
Supreme decadance and ribald catholicism... I'm sitting here working on an article, sipping a glass of La Fee absinthe, and eating a hot-cross bun (Lent is almost upon us). Virtue and Vice... and all things nice.
Bush, Science and the New Holocaust
Lies, Lies and more damned lies from the White House So. Herr Bush and his staff have long been claiming that Global warming isn't even a reality. Not so according to a report written by Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network. According to them in a report which The Observer has got its hands on: "...abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents. Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.' " All together now, "Armageddon days are here again" Read the full article...
Alien Big Cat report from Co. Kildare, Ireland?
Big cat sighting near Naas! I received this email Tuesday 17th of February. It's from Sórcha Bracken-Conway, with the subject ' Large cats in Kildare?' We're posting it on her approval, and in good faith. As she says '...feel free to add the mail I sent ya to your site, I'd be interested in finding out if anyone's had similiar experiences!' The other day I was driving from Mullacash (outside of Naas, Co. Kildare) to Kilcullen with my boyfriend. It had just started to get properly dark as we left. About 5 or 6 mins up the road from his house we spotted something in the hedge up ahead of us. I slowed my car down quite a bit, it is a rural area and there's often some sort of wildlife about! We crept past it in silence until my boyfriend turned and said to me "What the hell was...
Alfred Korzybski: Science and Sanity online
As the man said - 'The map is not the territory'... The entire text of Alfred Korzybski's Science and Sanity is online, albeit in pdf format. I can't claim I've gotten through the entire book myself... it's been bending my bookshelf for quite a while now. The origin of this work was a new functional definition of 'man', as formulated in 1921, based on an analysis of uniquely human potentialities; namely, that each generation may begin where the former left off. This characteristic I called the 'time-binding' capacity. Here the reactions of humans are not split verbally and elementalistically into separate 'body', 'mind', 'emotions', 'intellect', 'intuitions', etc., but are treated from an organism-as-a-whole-in-an-environment (external and internal) point of view. This parallels the Einstein-Minkowski space-time integration in physics, and both are necessitated by the modern evolution of sciences. - Alfred Korzybski It is vital to have a constant awareness or habitual...
Electronic voting in Ireland
There's a lot of talk around about the introduction of electronic voting... It's in the news constantly here. And people are afraid... after years of fairly safe manual counts, electronic voting is raising questions of transparancy and accountability. Who watches the counters, when the system is implemented in four months time? There would be perhaps less paranoia, if it wasn't for the Florida debacle in the last US election. George Bush for president? Who woulda thunk it. Yesterday, the Irish government were knocked off their high horse by the opposition parties, since admitting that an independent panel would be necessary to verify the secrecy and accuracy of the system, and that voters should have a facility to abstain or spoil their votes. Whoohoo! Mind you, they're still holding out on the accountability aspect - they don't want a paper trail. I wonder why? Fine Gael, the Labour Party, and the...
Kangaroos in the Dublin Mountains, Ireland?
A question posted to the Fortean Times Message Board prompts a Blather response... Here's my response to a question posted on the Fortean Times Message Board Kangaroos in Ireland Posted by Vercingetorix on 2nd December 2003 Today I got off work a bit earlier than usual and rather than commuting straight home wandered into the Dublin/Wicklow mountains for an amble.Near the Hellfire Wood in the Dublin Mountains, where Kilakee Road and Cruagh Road meet, there's a viewpoint over Dublin City (that's a complicated way of describing it, its a popular spot in the summer/at weekends). About 4.15 today, as it was getting dark, I walked from here towards Glencree. I passed a gate leading into a largely cleared area just in front ofconifer forest. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a white flash and first of all thought of a hare. Then I realised the animal seemed...
Patagonia: This is Global Warming
Any doubts about melting ice, or climate change? Greenpeace have just published comparative photographs of the Upsala Glacier, in Patagonia, Argentina. They've published a 'before' image from 1928, and photography from last month. Glaciers in Patagonia are vanishing at rate of 42 cubic kilometres a year, faster than anywhere else on earth. There's various reasons for this, but human-induced change pays a major part. Greenpeace: In recent years the melting of the glaciers in Patagonia has accelerated which indicates human induced climate change. From 1995 through 2000 the rate of ice loss from the ice fields more than doubled. The sheer volume of melt water from glaciers is causing the sea levels to rise, increasing the risk of flooding in many of the world's coastal areas. It is also starting to cause problems for people who depend on the glaciers for their fresh water supply. This may cause enormous problems...