Year: 2004
Screaming for Perspective
97 Books and no perspective, ro_G goes about restocking the bookshelf. With our Daev off to devote a couple of months of his life to blogging the oceans with Greenpeace, I have been forced (thanks Daev!) to put my recent two and a half year stint in Business School in perspective. I have just counted the books I have acquired during the course and was astonished to find that my business books total 97 distinct titles! While 23 of these are about psychology or organisational characteristics (i.e. some form of human interaction), another 19 are on the murky subject of corporate finance, while a further 11 are concerned with how to successfully ply your business across national borders. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not turning into a leftie, I do own 25% of a business in the US supplying cheap Mexican labour (who I'll never meet), and I do...
NSK Passport Office in Dublin
NOTE: BLATHER.NET DOES NOT ISSUE NSK PASSPORTS So stop asking us! 'Art is fanaticism that demands diplomacy...' Happened along to Dublin's Project Theatre last night, and finally (after a decade of procrastination) obtained my NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) Passport. I had my photo taken, joined the passport office queue, and chatted to other new wannabe citizens. I waited as an NSK official typed up my passport, pasted my photo in, stamped it, signed my letter of welcome to NSK State, and then shook my hand. I am now a citizen of the non-geographic global State in Time. You have been warned. NSK may be 'merely' an 'art project' - visiting Dublin as part of a week long Slovenian takeover of Dublin, but its important enough to warrant the attendance of the Slovenian ambassador. NSK has gone mainstream. I was talking to one businessman (suit) and all, who had come across...
Carrowkeel Megalithic Tombs – Sligo
On his hands and knees, Walsh explores the passage tombs of Sligo... What, in the name of all that is good and questionable, is Sligo County Council playing at? On approaching the hamlet of Castlebaldwin, there's a brown 'official' sign, announcing that Carrowkeel is 3km to the left. Taking the turn, I find that 500m up the side road, there's a fork, and another road sign. This one clearly states 'Carrowkeel 5km'. A kilometre further, and there's another sign, pointing in a vague direction. 'Carrowkeel 6km'. Are the good county councillors on drugs? If not, should they be? Are the people who put up the signs, mad, or blessed with a fine sense of the absurd? Or are the Bricklieve and Curlew mountains home to some weird quantum-bermuda-pentangle-ufo-monster-mystery, where time becomes a loop, or a spiral, or the shape of a punctured Gaelic football? Or maybe it's the feckin' aliens....
The Return of The King: The enigma of Roy Keane…
National hero or national disgrace? War in Japan Roy Keane - Photo: Shane Whelan, a2zsoccer.com I can still remember it. Like it was yesterday. I was sitting at my desk, purportedly working, but in reality killing time on P45 when a wee small voice (that of Mr. Burns actually) shrieked at me through my headphones. Rigging my pc this way was the only way that I could ensure that I would know when mail had arrived. The message was two lines long: "Roy Keane has been sent home from the World Cup! Fu*k!" Within about sixty to ninety seconds, all pretence of work had ceased in the office. The company server came close to crashing and bosses were pouring out of offices, frantically shouting at someone to get onto ireland.com to find out what the hell was going on. War in Ireland The next 24 hours were to see the...
Michael McDowell Wants More Gardai With Guns
Tough on crime, or tough on the symptoms of crime? The Irish Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, appears to have forgotten the role of the Garda Siochana (Irish police force). Surely they're meant to prevent crime, as well as responding to it? An article in last Saturday's Irish Times (April 17th 2004), stated that the minister had said that 'the increase in gun crime could put at risk the unarmed status of the Garda'. This followed the release of statistics showing a 54 per cent increase in the discharging of firearms in the first three months of this year. The minister was quoted as saying that "if the present trends continued indefinitely the question would arise as to whether it was sustainable to keep our police force unarmed." He refers of course to uniformed gardai. While uniformed police in Ireland are not armed, plain-clothes detectives routinely carry firearms. He told...
The Truth: Otters Are Sexy
But we're not as crazy about mink... Ms. Wurzel Tod brought a BBC News article to our attention. It's about the River Trent in England. A certain Mr. Philip Precey, from the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, is quoted as saying. "But if you say to them it's about otters, that's something big and sexy, a big animal... people understand otters and then we can explain all the other things." For bloody years now, we at blather.net (well, me anyway) have been raving and ranting (mostly while in our cups) about the intrinsic sexiness of otters. Forget anthropomorphic comparisons, forget Mr DeBarra and his obsession with 'weasel sex', otters have it sussed. Think about it. One male otter was recorded as having 37 waterfront homes, each about 1-1.5km apart. They make mudslides for playing on. The eat fresh fish every day. They're good dancers. They're playful, exhibitionistic and intelligent. What's not to...
Oliver Plunkett and other dead stuff…
Severed Heads! Skulls! More blasted photographs! Ok, yet more stuff from the Fortean Society foray into north Leinster. St. Oliver Plunkett's head rests in a glass shrine in St. Peter's Church, in Drogheda. He was recently beatified, but will probably still be referred to as 'Blessed Oliver' - his previous title. In our Fortean group, however, he will referred to as 'The Severed Head'. A native of Loughcrew, Co. Meath, Ollie was a 17th century Archbishop of Armagh, and was martyred at Tyburn in 1691. Whatever the charges against him, he was apparently executed for contravening the penal laws, which forbade the practice of Catholic rites. His sentence: "Well, however, the judgement which we must give you is that which the law says and speaks. And therefore you must go from hence to the place from whence you came, that is Newgate. And from thence you shall be drawn (...
The Hill of Slane
A few pictures of another Irish hill, where St. Patrick practiced the old Irish art of arson... In Christian mythology, the Hill of Slane is alleged to be where St. Patrick lit the first paschal fire to piss off the pagan kings at the Hill of Tara. Read more about the Hill of Slane » We visited it at the backend of our itinerary... after Newgrange and Dowth. Unfortunately, while we were there, the weather deteriorated, so I didn't get to shoot as many pics as I'd have liked. Gargoyle: A carved head on the tower at the Hill of Slane A griffin crest on the wall of the ruined monastery at the Hill of Slane The walls of the ruined monastery at the hill of Slane The walls of the ruined monastery at the hill of Slane (2)
Photographs of Dowth
Following our pictures of Newgrange, here's some shots of nearby Dowth... Very close to Newgrange but not at all 'developed', this unloved and decrepit 5,000 year old mound was a firm favourite on our recent Fortean Society escapade. While the passage at newgrange is illuminated at sunrise during the Winter solstice, at Dowth, the small passage is lit up during the solstice sunset. Read more about Dowth » A view of the mound Newgrange, as seen from the top of Dowth The Entrance Stone The Entrance Stone Inside one of the chambers A weather-worn spiral on a foundation stone. A spiral on a foundation stone. Foundation stone with sun symbols A sun symbol on a foundation stone A sun symbol on a foundation stone
Photographs of Newgrange
Taken on the recent Fortean Society Outbreak... These photographs were taken on a recent expedition into Co Meath, under the auspices of the Dublin Fortean Society. For more about Newgrange, visit knowth.com. All photographs are © 2004 Dave Walsh. If interested in using any of these images, please contact Dave Walsh. High rez versions are available to purchase. Newgrange, as seen from the top of Dowth Newgrange, from the gate The Entrance Stone Entrance stone detail Entrance stone detail Newgrange, entrance Newgrange, entrance Standing stone Detail of foundation stone Detail of foundation stone A view of the boyne valley The Standing Stones From near the front From the front The view of the boyne, from the visitors centre bridge More Photographs of Newgrange from the 2004 Winter Solstice » All photographs are © 2004 Dave Walsh. If interested in using any of these images, please contact Dave Walsh. High rez...