in the back garden.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
CAPTCHA ?
See below for the background. I have now started to experience a build up of spam comments on random posts, so I have decided to revert to my previous configuration. This was unmoderated comments but with the CAPTCHA option in place to block spam comments. I would just remind potential commenters that it is possible to keep changing the required code, by clicking on the circular arrow after the code entry box, until you get one you can read.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Please don't be deterred from commenting.
The above is the kind of thing you are faced with when you try to comment on this and many other Blogger blogs. The idea is to filter out automatic spam by establishing that there is an actual human being at the other end of the comment.
Alan Turing would turn in his grave. This is a test for telepathic geniuses and I'm not sure I want to confine my comments to this source. As far as I can make out from my Blogger settings I do not have any choice in the sort of test I choose. There is only one bog standard version.
So, in order to make it easier for commenters, I am removing this standard test from my comments section. As this is most likely to lead to a raft of automatic spam comments I am introducing moderation to avoid the the spam messing the whole thing up.
This is a pity, as I have consciously avoided moderating comments in my blogs up to now. I did have to introduce it in my website guestbook a long time ago after the book became unreadable due to spam.
An annoying feature of moderation is that comments awaiting moderation can either answer questions posed or change the tone of an argument and subsequent commenters may look foolish for not having seen them. However, in my case, the volume and relative (in)frequency of comments is unlikely to make this a major problem.
Regular readers will know that I welcome critical comments as much as any others and the only thing I will be filtering will be spam (and any potential libel or other legal problems which I would have deleted anyway but from which I have been mercifully free so far).
I am introducing this new configuration on this blog only for the moment until I see how it works out.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
BINMAN
There was a time when our binmen were true professionals. They hoisted our metal bins on their shoulders and dumped the contents into that quaint lorry with the slidey side doors. They took pride in their work and had a relationship with their clients which usually climaxed with a knock on the door at Christmas at which point either money or cigarettes changed hands.
They knew a lot of things, not all of which came from observing the rubbish as it left the bin. They knew, for example, that they were binmen.
And today, even in the face of this awful tragedy, the sub headliner at the Press Association does the honours.
Having passed through the politically correct extavagance of things like "refuse disposal engineer" the media eventually tended to settle for more prosaic titles like "waste worker" (per the Irish Times).
However, given the behaviour of the current crowd, who not only treat the plastic bins as if they were made of titanium but then plonk them in the middle of the driveway so you have to shift them to get your car back in, I think a more appropriate title would be "Rubbish Collector" with all the ambiguity that title implies.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Un Fricot
I know about France. And I understand La Francophonie. But this one has me beat.
The mission of the French Institute (Alliance Française) is to spread the French language and culture (Langue et Civilisation Française). That I know too.
So, when I go to the Institute's restaurant (La Cocotte) I generally expect to see French dishes, and when I see a revolving sequence of regional dishes (Plat Régional) I certainly expect these to be French.
Today's plat régional is from Jersey, and despite it's chequered history, Jersey is British. That is to say, it belongs to the HM the Queen.
However, as far as the French are concerned it is clearly being claimed as part of that empire which we will call La France Gastronomique.
Time for Les Crapauds to man the Martellos.
The Frogs are on the march. Again.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Royal
The fourth in a series of five lunch-time lectures on Alfie Byrne's Dublin: Dublin in the 1930s was given by Conor Doyle on Dublin's Theatre Royal in Dublin City Hall on 23 October 2012.
Conor is the son of Chick Doyle, the famous International badminton player in the 1950s and 1960s. He is a nephew of Noel and Ursula Doyle, who performed in the Royal, and godson of Jimmy O'Dea, to whom Ursula was married. So he was more than qualified to do this talk and he told it like a family story, a theatre family, that is.
And there wasn't a dry eye in the house when he was finished.
That was hardly surprising. There was something about the Royal that didn't apply to the other theatres in my time. It was the people's theatre. Dubliners felt a sense of belonging when it came to the Royal, and its passing was like a death in the family. It is the line in Pete St. John's song Dublin in the Rare Old Times that chokes me up every time.
The final version of the Theatre Royal was built in 1935. It was huge, with seating for nearly four thousand people. It attracted a host of international stars in its day. It was barely on the road when WWII broke out and that put an end to the international stars for the duration of the war. But this gave a huge opportunity to a host of Irish performers, who never looked back, even when the international stars started coming again after the war was over.
Conor had a raft of photos to show and stories to tell, and there were more contributions from the audience after the lecture proper. Some of these stories can be heard in the NearFM radio programmes referred to below. For others you will just have to wait and see if Mary Clarke, our city archivist, can persuade Conor to repeat his lecture in the future.
This is Connie Connell, one of the Royalettes, who married my mother's cousin Paddy Medlar.
And this is Phyllis Conroy, also one of the Royalettes, who married Paddy's brother John.
I was always a great fan of Jack Cruise, one of the stars of the Theatre Royal. He also did seasons in Butlins in the 1950s, which is where he gave me this autographed copy of his stage character, John Joe Mahockey
Conor, along with Aine Clancy and Susan Tomelty, has produced a four-part, four hour long, radio documentary on the Royal for Near 103.3FM, a Northside community radio station headquartered in Coolock.
Check out an earlier lecture in the Dubliners: One City, One Book series earlier this year.
And you might like to follow up on Alfie Byrne, or on an aspect of his participation in the 1932 Eucharistic Congress, or see the seat in his honour at the junction of Alfie Byrne Road and the Clontarf Road (on the Northside).
Monday, October 22, 2012
A Blasht from the Pasht
In the 1950s I went on a school trip to Armagh city. As usual I had my camera with me. Well, on this occasion it wasn't my camera. I had one on loan from cousin Ciaran. Mine was a bellows 116 camera and pretty conspicuous. His was a neat little 16mm which took two shots for every conventional 35mm frame, so you got over 60 shots per roll of film.
In August 2004 I put up a web page describing my trip. At that time I had free hosting from Tripod, but only 2MB for the whole site. So I optimised my pictures like mad, both in size and resolution. I ended the page with a general shot of the city from the Cathedral steps. It was even fainter than the version of it above, and you can clearly see from the blockiness of the sky how much it was optimised.
Anyway, there the matter rested until this morning (2012) I received an email out of the blue from a chap called Marc. He had come across my page and was particularly interested in this photo which he said showed his house. He wondered if the photos were my own and, if so, might I have a larger, better resolution, shot so that he could see how his house looked in the 1950s.
It was a long shot, in more ways than one. But I managed to come up with the negative and scanned it at a massive 2400ppi. You can see the result above and the house is clearly visible on the far side of the road, opposite the Cathedral gate. It is a listed building. It was built, towards the end of the nineteenth century, by an industrialist as his town house, and he also built the 31 houses behind it for his workers.
This (above) is what it looked like at full size. (Click on the image to see it at max.) Marc was thrilled and showed it to his mother who told him something he didn't know. There had originally been an iron railings outside the house, but this had been taken away and melted down during WWII. In the meantime a wooden fence had been put in its place and that remained there until about 1955. You can see the fence in my photo. So he learned something new and I got a better dating on my trip and photos.
I am always telling people, particularly those who are following up their family history, that they should have a presence, however minimal, on the web. That way people can find you and you never know what they might be bringing to the table.
So, thanks a lot Marc. It's been a busy morning.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Ground Zero
This is the new TCD biosciences building. You're in Pearse St. at the junction of Sandwith St. looking towards the Westland Row and Tara St. intersections.
I pass here regularly and have been keeping an eye on the site since it was a ground level car park. It now looks more or less finished, but you never know what lies behind a new building façade these days.
Clearly, the intention was to let the ground level to some sort of retail activities. No doubt the rent from these was expected to offset some of the mortgage/loan service costs.
So far this has not worked out and the ground level windows and doors have huge, very lifelike, photos behind the glass, depicting a newsagent's, a coffee dock, and something else I can't quite fathom.
It struck me to wonder yesterday if these images had in any way been customised to the locality they were now displayed in. So I had a quick look at the magazine shelves to see if there were any Irish publications on display.
Divil a bit. A panorama of globalised civilisation? They all looked American (USA) to me.
And the newspapers? Those that I could see and identify were American: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the Arizona Reporter.
Then there was the coffee dock. The newspaper was something called Arts Entertainment. Certainly not one of ours. But, wait a minute. There is something odd about the girl's t-shirt.
Indeed there is. She is wearing it inside out. The photo is not reversed as the menu and newspapers are OK. So what is this then. The t-shirt is for College Heights Christian School, which has a catchment area in four US states and gives a first and second level Christian education. Did the shoot director figure this was too specific for the stock photos he was shooting and ask her to turn it inside out? Intriguing.
But there was a limit to the globalised input. One of our own, with blue paint and brush, had gone around obliterating invisible nipples. Well, some of them, anyway. Yes, the paint is on the outside of the glass!
And again. Maybe John Charles was right about Trinity after all and Maria Duce should have been given freer rein in its day.
It's a wonder our graffiti person left the bra strap showing, but then there's no accounting for taste.
I passed this way again today and, thankfully, most of the ground floor units are occupied.
You will remember this one from above, and the miracle is ...
... four years on, one blued nipple still survives.
La Cocotte
Click on any image for a larger version
I was in town yesterday afternoon and, while passing the Alliance Française in Kildare St., I was overcome with the need for a decent cup of coffee. So I went in to their café, La Cocotte, and sat me down in front of a cup.
There was a lot of activity around the place and it was clear something important was about to happen. The Director himself was walking around testing the sound system and people were poking about with lighting and such. I was told it was for a function, relating to a book, which was to take place later. A notice in the hallway told me it involved Philippe Djian whom I had never heard of. But curiosity got the better of me and, thanks to a cancellation, I was able to get my name on the attendance list. Just as well, as all non-listed persons were summarily ejected from the café shortly after 6pm.
Philippe Djian, who is described in the Alliance's current newsletter as "the heir to the 'Beat Generation' in France", and who has just written what I take to be a steamy novel, "OH ...", which is in contention for a prestigious prize next year, was to be interviewed by Loïc Guyon, chairman of ADEFFI.
I must say my french wasn't up to following much of the interview, particularly as I hadn't a clue who these people were at the time. However, it seemed to go down well with the audience and the Director looked thrilled. I learned later from Loïc that ADEFFI had Philippe Djian over for their annual conference and decided to throw in this public interview in the Alliance.
Needless to say, copies of the book were on sale and Philippe was happily autographing them and sorting out his diary at the end of the evening.
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Power of We
I'd like to comment on an aspect of The Power of We which has been expanding rapidly over the last number of years, and that is the Support Group.
Addiction
Most of us will have heard of Alcoholics Anonymous which has been on the go since early in the last century. Many will be familiar with Al-Anon which is a support group for relatives of alcoholics and even Al-Ateen which is for the children. These groups have provided support to people whose lives and heads and even their bodies are in a mess from contact with addiction.
These groups were followed by similar groups for support in drug dependency and gambling.
For a long time this sort of support activity was limited to a few areas like these.
Medical
But lots of people have lots of other problems which would benefit from mutual support and so support groups have grown up focussing on different diseases and medical complaints. There are even groups dealing with specific medications. That might sound a little odd to those who haven't come across them. But when you realise that all medication has side effects and that the pharmaceutical companies go out of their way to hide these you will see the value of such groups. Members not only offer each other badly needed phychological support and information, but by their very coming together often expose what Big Pharma has striven to conceal.
And they give members the ability to deal with their doctors/consultants from a base of confidence, something that can be vital to recovery, even if it can sometimes land you in trouble with medical practitioners who have gotten too big for their boots and have forgotten that you are the paying customer.
Media
Another area where "groupings" can offer serious value-added is in communications. Much if not all of the Main Stream Media (MSM) has got lazy or feeble or has been captured by big business or public administrations. Alternative media are now doing what the mainstream should be doing and their audience is usually on the internet. Commenters on such posts effectively form "support" groups, sharing information and experience. In that way, they contribute to a more open and freer press outside the MSM. Further interaction "social" media such as blogs and Twitter enhances this enormously.
The Future
So The Power of We is healthy and growing, at least in the areas I have touched on above.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Zero Gravity
I mentioned MAKESHOP in an earlier post. And in a comment I listed all those "science based" toys that I remembered from my youth which are still around.
One of the two which were a source of wonder to me in my youth, and which are no longer around, is the zero gravity toy (above). In this plastic frame, little plastic balls appeared to defy gravity and float in mid air. As I remember it was made in Israel, a country currently in the forefront of much scientific experimentation.
As it happened, the toy actually had as much to do with static electricity as with zero gravity. The apparent defiance of gravity came from the mutual repulsion of statically charged little plastic balls.
And if you look closely at the sides of the frame you will see that the balls are also trapped between layers of perspex so that the mutual repulsion drives them further upwards and keeps them apparently suspended in mid air.
The default position has all the balls resting at the bottom of the frame. So you shake the shite out of the frame to charge the balls. Just like rubbing an inflated baloon off your sleeve to make it stick to the ceiling, or a comb to make it pick up bits of paper.
God be with the days.
Monday, October 01, 2012
People in Glass Houses
The text on the window asks us to follow the steps of James Joyce. The subsequent fate of the window itself suggests an iconoclast.
That is all I have to say about the picture.
The taking of it was another matter. As soon as I had taken the picture I was approached by the doorman/bouncer of the establishment concerned and told in no uncertain terms that I could not publish the picture without the express permission of the owner. This is the first time that has ever happened to me. The nearest I came to it was in Love Lane some years ago.
Did he think I was going to imply that this was not a safe area of the city? Or that the landlord had served the stonethrower one over the eight?
It sure beats me. So, for the moment I have not named the premises concerned. But you are welcome to guess in the comments below. If we go down, we might as well all go down together.
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