They’re back.. via Slugger O'Toole
Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the TV..
LANGERLAND.TV from LANGERLAND on Vimeo....
“the Tandoori-red anti-hero with the serious cigar habit” via Slugger O'Toole
Reading through the list of films by Guillermo del Toro I realised that I’ve seen, and enjoyed, most of his work as far back as Cronos - even Mimic. Although Pan’s Labyrinth has been sitting on my DVD to-watch pile for some time.. I might give it a spin this weekend. The Irish Times also has an interview with the director of Hellboy II : The Golden Army ahead of its release - next Friday in the Republic of Ireland apparently. And if Peter Bradshaw’s review in the Guardian is anything to go by, and it usually is, Hellboy II will be sitting on that to-watch pile before long. Of course, if I knew my Hellboy history [or read a newspaper - Ed] I would have found this line from Bradshaw’s review less surprising - “The battle against...
Cassini returns to the plumes [on Enceladus] via Slugger O'Toole
It’s been easier to get a close-up view of Saturn’s moons than the Perseids this year. But then there is a telescope, of sorts, orbiting that particular gas giant. The Cassini-Huygens mission has already landed a probe on Titan, and snapped the spectacular image of Saturn eclipsing Sol, as well as providing evidence that Titan has liquid ethane on its surface. The Huygens probe took pictures too. But yesterday Cassini swept past Enceladus for a second time. Skimming through jets of icy water vapor and organic chemicals just 30 miles above the surface of the moon at a speed of 17.7 kilometers per second (40,000 miles per hour) relative to Enceladus, to send back more data and more images. There’s a fly-by update site and a blog too. Here’s... “So you’re saying there’s a chance?” via Slugger O'Toole
With a spectacular opening ceremony underway in Beijing, and Sarah Brightman currently centre-stage singing in Mandarin, spare a thought for the hard-working scientists at Cern. They’ll be spending their weekend testing the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator to ensure it’s properly synchronised with the Large Hadron Collider ahead of the official ‘switch-on’ on September 10. And there is some fascinating speculation on what the LHC will find here. All of which is more or less an excuse to repost the particle physics rap.. in case anyone missed it.. Hey, it’s Friday!...
Is this a habitable zone? via Slugger O'Toole
Well we have water on Mars and, as James Randerson says, NASA have a cool video of the panoramic view from the Phoenix lander. I’ve added some related audio clips from Mars Phoenix lander lead scientist Peter Smith of the University of Arizona and from William Boynton, lead scientist for the TEGA instrument. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University Arizona/Texas A&M University. And as Charles Arthur asks, “So, water. Anyone for terraforming?”...
“Back-up dancers prefer anonymity..” via Slugger O'Toole
Time for a little levity.. and a little science. Via the Guardian’s Ian Sample who spotted it here. As I noted previously, the Guardian’s had some great articles on the Large Hadron Collider at Cern. And as Ian says, “Yes, it’s a rap about particle physics, yes it mentions antimatter and the Higgs boson, but you know what? I quite like it. There, I said it.” And you know what? So do I. Enjoy the Large Hadron Collider rap! Seriously....
Desperation? via ElBlogador.com- The Voice of Irish Nationalism
It was quite clear that the McCain camp in the American presidential race were none to pleased at the reception Barack Obama got in Europe during his recent trip. However, the negative campaigning of the Republicans has taken a somewhat sourer turn in their latest campaign video- 'Celeb'. In it, they mock Obama's ability to command massive crowds around the world, interspersing images of the Democratic presidential hopeful and massive crowds with random attacks on his policies and pictures of such other 'celebrities' as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.The thrust of the ad is to question whether Obama's ability to fill studiums qualifies him to be a good President. The problem, though, is that the video says absolutely nothing about what McCain's alternative is. The fact that an American...
Timely advice.. via Slugger O'Toole
Some timely advice [*ahem* - Ed] from birthday boy Sir Mick Jagger. Happy Birthday, Mick! [That’s Mr Jagger to you - Ed]...
“look for what’s detectable..” via Slugger O'Toole
A fun and fascinating talk by physicist Freeman Dyson from 2003 begins with George Washington at Princeton, and grow-your-own-cat [or dog] biotechnology kits, before moving on to astronomy. Specifically the possibility of life on the Galilean moons of Jupiter, and further afield - such as the newly named plutoid dwarf planet Makemake with its surface of frozen methane - rather than say.. Mars.. Via TEDtv, via the Professor....
Earth as an Alien World via Slugger O'Toole
Nasa’s Deep Impact mission has been redirected since it “successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1” in July 2005. Now called Epoxi, its largest telescope had been intending to search for alien (exosolar) planets until a problem triggered the spacecraft’s safe mode. Epoxi is now heading for a second cometary interception with a fly-by of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, 2010. In the meantime it has been looking back wistfully at Earth and capturing these images of a lunar transit of a small blue planet from 31 million miles away....
“In the space of a few hours I lectured to more people than I had in my entire life.” via Slugger O'Toole
As noted on the BBC’s science section. A simply ingenious combination of YouTube and short videos on the elements in the periodic table by a team at Nottingham University has produced this informative online resource. They have a few more to add but among the elements they’ve already noted is the unique element Ununseptium. Professor Martyn Poliakoff’s introduction to the Periodic Table is here [and below the fold] and here’s the trailer for the project.
Professor Martyn Poliakoff on the Periodic Table
To which I can only add this.....
“Play La Marseillaise..” via Slugger O'Toole
BoingBoing have been listening to Edith.. but with Taoiseach Brian Cowen, along with other EU leaders, attending this year’s Bastille Day celebrations - and there will no doubt be a certain topic under discussion - I’ll restrict myself to saying, once again, Vive la France!...
“That’s all we’re doing..” via Slugger O'Toole
After the footballing visual metaphor BBC NI’s Politics Show got down to some post-match analysis. UUP leader Reg Empey returned to his criticism of an Executive with “no strategic overview” and identified “Sinn Féin’s classic tactic” of getting “a whole lot of issues together to do a package deal”. The DUP’s Simon Hamilton defended his party’s administering within the “indigenous deal” that is the Northern Ireland Executive and Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, determined to avoid the v-word (veto) in the absence of Executive meetings, said that his party was trying to ensure that “the Executive meets on an agreed agenda” - which seems to translate as ‘agree to meet...
“threatening to take the ball away..” via Slugger O'Toole
I’ll admit to being sceptical in advance, but BBC NI’s Politics Show just about got away with their use of a footballing visual metaphor for their review of the Northern Ireland Executive’s year - as long as you remember that there is no official opposing team playing against them. The jostling of the pitch-side reporter at the end was a nice touch too....
“I think the Foreign Secretary missed..” via Slugger O'Toole
Mick’s modest encomium to Charles Wheeler is on Brassneck and Brian’s personal recollection of the man and journalist is here. Jeremy Paxman provided his own tribute to the “sometimes irascible, inherently honest” Charles Wheeler for Newsnight. Part 2 is here and below the fold.
Here’s the second part of Jeremy Paxman’s tribute
Mick picked up on an important point in Martin Bell’s CommentisFree post
“In the 1960s, when he and Gerald Priestland ran the BBC’s Washington bureau (always an uneasy partnership), TV news was still in its infancy. Wheeler helped it grow up. His reports on the civil rights movement in the south were models of their kind, but also extremely bold. He broke away from the “on the one hand...
“she has to face up to the political reality..” via Slugger O'Toole
There’s a lengthy interview with Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, in the Irish News today [subs req]. But, as she said in a carefully presented pre-recorded interview on Tuesday’s Stormont Today, “I don’t believe most of what I believe in the papers” [sic]. Despite the Catholic Bishops’ concerns the minister is adamant that she has “brought forward very clear proposals” and that her critics “now have clarity”. The point emphasised in the Irish News was the apparent threat to by-pass the Legislative Assembly [subs req] - in the clip below, “I want to legislate for my proposals. If that doesn’t happen, well then I have to look at other...
“a very predictable and boring discussion..” via Slugger O'Toole
Those end of term tensions surfaced at the last sitting of the Assembly on Tuesday when they were supposed to be discussing funding to primary schools. The following clip from Tuesday’s Stormont Today has some of the exchanges in that debate, notably Sinn Féin’s Barry McElduff’s somewhat unfair criticism of former Sports Minister Edwin Poots. The clip starts with Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson complaining about the “limited block grant” and the lack of “control of fiscal matters” by the Assembly. Although there’s no suggestion as to how Ms Anderson would use that control to produce a budget greater than that provided by the block grant.. And listen out for the “plastic parliament” comment [Does...
“Or do we search for another basis..” via Slugger O'Toole
A good assessment of the current position of political parties on the possibility of the devolution of policing and justice powers from BBC NI political editor, and blogger, Mark Devenport. From last night’s Stormont Today....
The Vikings are going! via Slugger O'Toole
They never did apologise.. and quite rightly so. Almost a year after they arrived, and after being on display at the National Museum of Ireland, Havhingsten fra Glendalough (The Sea Stallion from Glendalough) will set sail for Roskilde, Denmark, tomorrow from Custom House Quay, Dublin, at 11.30am tomorrow, whatever the weather. But, as they say themeselves, “The ship has spent a few days moored in the ‘finer’ part of Dublin’s harbour.” As before, you’ll be able to track their journey online - they’re taking a southern route this time [subs req]. So, in tribute to those Vikings, we remember, again, another great Viking victory at the Green Midget café in Bromley..... Mars Attacks! via Slugger O'Toole
Well, not quite. Or not yet anyway. Just an update on the news from the Mars lander Phoenix. This image of disappearing lumps (in the lower shaded area of the trench) has convinced NASA scientists that they are looking at, specifically, water ice near the surface of Mars - there’s a much larger animated comparison here. Tom Pike, of Imperial College London, on the eureka moment. And here’s an animation of the view north from Phoenix created from images taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on Sol 14 (June 8, 2008). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University/NASA Ames.... “Listen to the answer I am giving you..” via Slugger O'Toole
With the World Economic Forum issuing recommendations to G8 leaders, including the UK, on global warming on the basis of “the scientific rationale for urgent action presented in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report” [full statement here PDF file], it might help any local conversation if the new Environment Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, would provide some detail of the evidence on which he bases his beliefs - rather than general, and pejorative, comments about the environmental lobby’s “industry”, problems being created in order to seek funding, that the IPCC is “very very political”, “supressed a lot of evidence”, ostracised objectors, etc. There are criticisms of the IPCC out there, but they include the point...
“two crises to be examined..” via Slugger O'Toole
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he will visit Ireland next month and the Republic of Ireland’s Taoiseach Brian Cowen is to make a progress report to the European Council in October but, with a sceptical Czech President Vaclav Klaus declaring the treaty “dead”, the Czech Senate has referred the text to the constitutional court for a ruling not expected before October. Meanwhile the BBC’s Chris Mason was on Hearts and Minds last night with a good briefing on the situation, although he seems to have missed the “cacophonous din” noted by the Guardian’s European editor....
“unwarranted interference from public representatives..” via Slugger O'Toole
As Environmental Law specialist Sharon Turner [pdf file] said of the former Environment Minister Arlene Foster’s rejection of the recommended independent EPA, the new Environment Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, also appears to be “precisely missing the point” about the recommendation for the EPA to be independent. At least he’s not suggesting that Scotland will be following his example.....
“both a significant and controversial matter..” via Slugger O'Toole
The first video from StormontLive in this post starts with BBC NI political editor, Mark Devenport, telling us what his anonymous sources have told him, but it’s worth listening closely to Assembly Speaker, the DUP’s William Hay, notifying the Assembly of the Northern Ireland Executive’s decision on an Alliance Party ‘petition of concern’ about the former Environment Minister’s apparent decision to reject the recommended independent Environmental Protection Agency. That ‘decision’ is referred to as a ‘statement’ in the Executive’s letter to the Speaker, which also notes that “the issue of environmental governance is both a significant and controversial matter” [approx 3mins 30secs in]. Despite...
Hasn’t gone away, you know.. via Slugger O'Toole
Former DUP leader, and former First Minister, Ian Paisley Snr, was in the Assembly this morning condemning the weekend bomb attack by the Continuity IRA on a police patrol in Fermanagh. PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has warned that “threat from dissident republicans remains high”. Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey followed Ian Paisley in condemning the attack but did so whilst contrasting the group’s apparent lack of support with his own party’s political mandate. The conversion to pointing to democratic credentials is welcome, but unfortunately for that argument, today happens to mark the date of a 1974 IRA bomb attack on the Houses of Parliament in which 11 people were injured - the bomb being placed in Westminster Hall. And a BBC report...
“She can’t continue to bury her head in the sand..” via Slugger O'Toole
The new Chairman of the Assembly’s Education Committee, the DUP’s Mervyn Storey, was on StormontLive today dispelling any suggestion that, with Sammy Wilson ensconced as Environment Minister, there might be a change in DUP policy.. [Don’t mention young-Earth creationism.. - Ed]...
“Won’t someone think of the children..” via Slugger O'Toole
On Stormont Live today Newton Emerson had some sharp criticisms to make of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s OFMDFM Committee’s report on ‘Child Poverty’ - notably the problem with setting targets based on percentiles of median adult income - in a discussion with the Committee’s Chairman, the UUP’s Danny Kennedy. For those unfamiliar with statistics here’s a detailed account of normal distribution. It’s also worth noting that, even when a government has the required tools to affect income re-distribution, alleviating poverty isn’t an easy matter. As this recent Guardian report indicates....
“We talked about a lot of issues..” via Slugger O'Toole
BBC NI set aside an hour and a half of the schedule for live coverage of out-going US President George Bush’s visit to Northern Ireland today. As it was there wasn’t much live coverage involved but there was an interesting discussion involving Queen’s University’s Rick Wilford which started with the ongoing US political involvement here, interrupted by a joint statement from President Bush, NI First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. Here’s part 1. Part 2 is below the fold.
Here’s the second part of that discussion....
“And the blood-red something..” via Slugger O'Toole
It’s Bloomsday again, which is all the excuse I need to re-post this still brilliant short video. Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Enjoy. Oh, and if you have a subscription, there’s a good digested read in the Irish Times.
From Michael Parsons in the Irish Times
“By yer man James Joyce isn’t it?” About a fellow called Leopold Bloom it all takes place on the June 16th in the year of Our Lord 1904 called Bloomsday after and his wife Molly Bloom or was it Nora Barnacle unusual name wonder where she was from you never know where people wash up Trieste wasn’t it or Zurich he died in did you see the ferry company is using him in those new...
“there are consequences to the decisions we have made..” via Slugger O'Toole
WorldbyStorm had some early thoughts on what happens next, after the Republic of Ireland’s Lisbon Treaty referendum result, but there are a couple of articles at OpenDemocracy worth reading. John Palmer argues that “As matters stand the Dublin government hasn’t a clue what to propose.” and has some thoughts on what the EU might do about the ‘democratic deficit’. In an earlier post I noted Garret FitzGerald’s identification of the disconnect in Irish politics and, with Taoiseach Brian Cowen talking about “consequences to the decisions we have made” and stating that “ there is no obvious solution before us here”, Johnny Ryan & Joseph Curtin have some suggestions to mend the “democratic...