February 2006 – Something Odd!

Clashes in Dublin over loyalist march

Clashes in Dublin over loyalist march – burning cars, missiles thrown, vandalism and looting.
Yesterday a group of Unionists/Loyalists marched through Dublin in memory of all the victims of Republican violence. The Government hoped it would happen peacefully but I don’t think anyone really believed that.
I’m glad the Unionists didn’t march through Cork, it probably would have been worse.
If you recognise anyone in the footage or pictures, call Garda HQ on 01 6660000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 250025. Thanks ElBlogador for those numbers.

This is covered in much more detail with pictures:

Indymedia, photo essay of the day (via)
Dublin Riots on Flickr
A picture tells a thousand words
footage of rioters
Dublin samples a Bite of Northern Ireland Troubles
Three of those arrested aren’t Irish
Todays Dublin Riots links to Dublin Riots Flickr pool
I predict a riot (I’ve never voted for Sinn Fein anyway, this riot guarantees I won’t)
Dublin Riot Photos
Never been in a riot
RTE reporter attacked and called “Orange Bastard”
Video of a group of young men destroying a car. One wears the Irish flag over his shoulders as he smashes the side windows with a metal pipe. Very patriotic.
The Dublin riots from a PR perspective
Finally, a call for the return of the march to Dublin. See the comments there for a taste of how divided our nation is. I liked this bit: “an aesehole is still an arsehole, it doesn’t matter where he goes to church.”

A sad, sad day for Ireland.
The Sunday Times has coverage of the background and riots:

Who let the mob run free?
Under siege from ‘madmen’
Torn and bleeding, Bird makes the news again – Charlie Bird, RTE journalist, was attacked by nationalist rioters and called, “Charlie Bird, youâ€™re an Orange bastard”.
Loyalists forced to retreat as riots halt Ulster love march
Republicans told: ‘Do all in your power to stop it’ – “The text messages were sent out to republicans and sympathisers early yesterday: get to the GPO at 10am, they said. Between 150 and 200 people responded to the call, but they did not congregate so as to avoid coming to the attention of gardai.”
Outcry over action of ‘thugs’

Here’s a video of rioters overturning a car and smashing it. Citizen reporting is alive and well. (via)

(links via Irish Blogs)

The Joker by kittens

This music video for the Fat Boy Slim cover of “The Joker” is brilliant! Featuring kittens, kittens and more kittens! So, so cute! (via Cute Overload!)

Ghostrider.. gulp

Holy crap, this guy is a lunatic! Driving at up to 290kmh and a little above sometimes, Ghostrider drove the 68km between Stockholm and Uppsala in less than 16 minutes.
In another video he chased a BMW Z3 and both drivers drove like maniacs on public roads. Did you see how the motorcyclist cut in on the inside of a car on a roundabout?

In related news, a new EU report due this week is critical of Ireland’s road safety record. 5 people were killed in one accident alone last weekend. It’s carnage on the roads.

Site registration – why make it hard?

I used to work at a company providing financial data nd services online. When a potential customer wanted to register they had to go through about 6 pages before they were a member of the site. Unfortunately we were constrained by outside forces but having to go through Terms and Conditions, personal details forms, choosing a product, choosing exchanges, agreeing to exchange agreements and more to register was always going to be a major obstacle!
That’s why I smiled when I read today’s OK/Cancel. 🙂
Thankfully at the new job, signing up is a lot easier!

Vote in the Irish Blog Awards!

I just voted. I didn’t vote in all the categories because there’s only so much time in the day, but I did look through the blogs and posts of the sections I voted on. There’s some really great blogging talent in this small little country of ours!
If you’re curious, I didn’t vote for myself in any category, but don’t let that discourage you from voting for me of course! I just don’t feel comfortable voting for myself.

Have you voted yet?

The Political Leg of the IRA

I rarely see the Late Late Show, but happened to catch part of the interview with Toireasa Ni Fhearaoisa, the Sinn Fein Mayor of Kerry. She made headlines, not for what she said, but unfortunately for what she wore!
I heard a comment later from her or someone else that if a male politician’s fly was undone there wouldn’t have been half as much coverage!
I’m still not going to vote Sinn Fein, but the next election in Kerry will be closely watched…

Lost again

I just watched the first episode of the new series of Lost. Wow, very gripping, creepy and chilling. That scene with the young boy and whispers in the dark made my skin crawl!
Yes, I’m a week late, I had it recorded on the ol’ Sky+ and watched it tonight. The next episode is on in 5 minutes, but despite my curiousity about who Desmond is I’ll watch it in a few days time!
Much later… Lost Rhapsody is Bohemian Rhapsody by Wierd Al and the cast of Lost! (via)

Meteor Stealing From Customers

It would appear that Meteor have adding a surcharge for downloading ringtones off their website. Even downloading a special “free” ringtone priced at €0.00 attracted a delivery charge of €3.39.
Who downloads ringtones? Kids and teenagers mostly, but of course the parents pick up the tab.
Don’t get smug if you’re an O2 customer, they charge for delivery of their ringtones too but couldn’t offer a means of calculating the cost.
Want a ringtone? Use Audacity to edit your favourite mp3 to your liking and copy it to your phone. Copying to the phone is left as an exercise for the reader but could be as easy as purchasing a USB card reader. (via Dave)

I'm glad I work from home

Every time I go out on the roads I play Russian Roulette. Why is it that huge container trucks keep pace with me on the national routes at 100km/h? Aren’t they supposed to be speed limited to 80km/h? Why is it that on the 50km/h stretch of road into Blackpool I’m routinely overtaken by motorists and lorries doing 60km/h and more? Why was I overtaken on a dangerous bend yesterday by someone who crossed an unbroken white line into the “fast” line and swerved into my lane right in front of me again when he was blocked by a slower driver? Where’s the social stigma of speeding?
Fear of penalty points has worn away. Maybe motorists should be locked up overnight for bad driving.
RaimÃ©is comments on the death tole on Irish roads so far this year. 50 dead and it’s only the start of February. That’s an awful carnage.
United Irelander also has several links to other bloggers talking about this terrible waste of life, and links to statistics from the Gardai going back to the year 2000.
Who can you complain to? Try Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen TD at minister@transport.ie

Muhammad vs. the Holocaust

This morning, like a lot of people, I heard that an Iranian newspaper is looking for cartoons about the Holocaust. Reaction from Israel was expected, but where are the riots and demonstrations in Europe? Maybe later when people have had their breakfast.

Haven’t seen the comics yet? face of muhammed has ’em and a quick look at technorati returns many interesting posts:

This is the kind of thing they should have done from the start rather than destroying stuff.
The Bigger Picture from an article by Victor Davis.
Yay! Someone who’ll be devoting “a few days to violent protesting, burning flags, torching embassies, and chanting death threats.” Finally!
And Dugg says that “Arab newspapers already lampoon Jews, Christians, Europeans and the Holocaust on a daily basis. Having a contest on the subject would be sort of like the MoveOn.org having a contest to lampoon the President of the United States.”

Then there’s the hipocrisy of a peaceful religion acting violently against anyone who criticises them.

Later… Andrew Sullivan writes that it’s your taboo, not mine and, “Freedom means learning to deal with being offended.” (via)

Be careful, it’s a crazy ol’ world out there.