Friday, 29 May 2009
You are your dog
Surveys that tell you just what you thought was the case before they started no. 1234 -
By email - A study discovered those who considered themselves working class prefer to own breeds such as Dobermans, Rottweilers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and Alsatians.
Middle-class folk like to own breeds such Old English Sheep Dogs, Golden Retrievers and Rough Collies.
Upper-class pets include Pugs, Gordon Setters, Affenpinschers and Afghans.
Researchers who polled 5,000 British dog owners found that over 30 of the nation's favourite breeds can be categorised by their owners 'social class'.
A spokesman for pet computer game www.celebritypedigree.com, which commissioned the extensive month long study, said: ''There is definitely a class divide when it comes to owning a dog."
Middle-class folk like to own breeds such Old English Sheep Dogs, Golden Retrievers and Rough Collies.
Upper-class pets include Pugs, Gordon Setters, Affenpinschers and Afghans.
Researchers who polled 5,000 British dog owners found that over 30 of the nation's favourite breeds can be categorised by their owners 'social class'.
A spokesman for pet computer game www.celebritypedigree.com, which commissioned the extensive month long study, said: ''There is definitely a class divide when it comes to owning a dog."
You are 43, drive an open-top Mercedes reg no ------, you've a holiday home in Croatia and your wife's called Samantha. And mine's a Creme de Menthe over ice, please . . . my Doberman loves it . .
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
That wonderful spot
On a visit to Grianan of Aileach a while back, I met 'Unknown Swilly', one of its great protectors and a student of the past of this part of the world. She's unimpressed by recent work at the monument by the Office of Public Works, and wrote three years ago -
Whoever attempts the telling of the story of Ailech of the herds after the noble Eochaid, it is robbing the sword from the hand of Hercules."
Grianan Aileach's demise and dilapidation has been of great concern to me for the last six years and it is most unlikely that it will go away any time soon, rather the opposite.
Since the day I stood for the first time in front of this force of grandeur and pride I have been bound by its spell, and it does personally hurt to see how one blow after the other is served while Grianan Aileach is already on its knees. Utter inalation by restoration. Grianan is being taken apart piece by piece until it as well will join the long line of failed deceptions and will be discarded, so that one day a strange gathering indeed will stand on its remains and conclude, that it is hardly worthwhile to keep all this rubble on such a magnificent spot.
This is a journey of crossing over and its outcome is not as decisive yet as taking the sword from a hero's hand.
I'm planning to have a closer look at her site - http://unknownswilly.orgfree.com/grianan.html
There's a the theory that Grianan was a spot specifically for sun worship, the walls built to concentrate the minds of those inside on what was happening in the sky, rather than the magnifcent scenery all around. She mentioned the idea that the ancient fort of Aileach was actually in another, much more defensively-orientated, location - Elaghmore, not far away.
Check out -
http://unknownswilly.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/letter-to-the-editor-1838
Whoever attempts the telling of the story of Ailech of the herds after the noble Eochaid, it is robbing the sword from the hand of Hercules."
Grianan Aileach's demise and dilapidation has been of great concern to me for the last six years and it is most unlikely that it will go away any time soon, rather the opposite.
Since the day I stood for the first time in front of this force of grandeur and pride I have been bound by its spell, and it does personally hurt to see how one blow after the other is served while Grianan Aileach is already on its knees. Utter inalation by restoration. Grianan is being taken apart piece by piece until it as well will join the long line of failed deceptions and will be discarded, so that one day a strange gathering indeed will stand on its remains and conclude, that it is hardly worthwhile to keep all this rubble on such a magnificent spot.
This is a journey of crossing over and its outcome is not as decisive yet as taking the sword from a hero's hand.
I'm planning to have a closer look at her site - http://unknownswilly.orgfree.com/grianan.html
There's a the theory that Grianan was a spot specifically for sun worship, the walls built to concentrate the minds of those inside on what was happening in the sky, rather than the magnifcent scenery all around. She mentioned the idea that the ancient fort of Aileach was actually in another, much more defensively-orientated, location - Elaghmore, not far away.
Check out -
http://unknownswilly.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/letter-to-the-editor-1838
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Iranian President - clarification
On this blog recently, there was a suggestion that the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been in dereliction of his duties as a blogger by failing to post regularly on his blog, 'Personal Memos'- http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/
In particular, it was remarked that his second last blog, posted in November 2007, began with the line - "Since my last post on the blog, a few months have passed." This remains the case.
The Personal Blogging Manager of the President's media corps, Mr. W.W.W. Int R. Knett, has been in touch to point out that there has not been an entry in this blog for some days.
This is due to a technical fault.
BTW, there was a piece in the Irish Times yesterday about the blog of the president of Dublin City University. His latest update is about Newcastle's make-or-break game with Aston Villa . . . http://universitydiary.wordpress.com/
BTW2, was reading somewhere recently (probably also in the IT) the argument that Iran is not a totalitarian state and does tolerate dissent and electoral change. Some interesting postings on the Ahmadinejad's site, such as this one -
Freedom & Liberty 2006/12/13
In the Name of Almighty God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
In Amir Kabir University gathering - when a small number of individuals in the presence of the absolute majority of the university students and associates and the president of the country – with an absolute total freedom – without being worried – insulted the elected president of the people, I had a feeling of joy. Unintentionally, it reminded me the circumstances of those days and years that I was a university student; the days before revolution such as...
In particular, it was remarked that his second last blog, posted in November 2007, began with the line - "Since my last post on the blog, a few months have passed." This remains the case.
The Personal Blogging Manager of the President's media corps, Mr. W.W.W. Int R. Knett, has been in touch to point out that there has not been an entry in this blog for some days.
This is due to a technical fault.
BTW, there was a piece in the Irish Times yesterday about the blog of the president of Dublin City University. His latest update is about Newcastle's make-or-break game with Aston Villa . . . http://universitydiary.wordpress.com/
BTW2, was reading somewhere recently (probably also in the IT) the argument that Iran is not a totalitarian state and does tolerate dissent and electoral change. Some interesting postings on the Ahmadinejad's site, such as this one -
Freedom & Liberty 2006/12/13
In the Name of Almighty God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
In Amir Kabir University gathering - when a small number of individuals in the presence of the absolute majority of the university students and associates and the president of the country – with an absolute total freedom – without being worried – insulted the elected president of the people, I had a feeling of joy. Unintentionally, it reminded me the circumstances of those days and years that I was a university student; the days before revolution such as...
Quite a few politicians in our neck of the woods could be getting similar feelings of joy before it's all over, by the look of things . . .
On being asked for his impression of Churchill
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Back in harness . . .
Just back from a week off and began with a pretty busy day yesterday.
Leading the news, of course, was the petrol bomb attack on the home of Sinn Fein MLA Mitchel McLaughlin in the Bogside. It seems that in response Sinn Fein are now ramping up the public pressure on the 32CSM and the Real IRA, asking the 32CSM to condemn these attacks and the Real IRA to withdraw the threat to Sinn Fein members.
There was always the very real danger of a serious split in republicanism as Sinn Fein moved further into the peace process and away from the territory of armed struggle. What's been remarkable is the success the party had in preparing the ground and its constituency, bringing so many people along on what was by no means an easy journey, and minimising the opposition. It's another example of how communication is key in any process of change - all those statements, discussions, private and public meetings which were held along the way.
However, it's often the case in times of major change that there's a vacuum created before new arrangements bed down. We see it in newspapers, which are under threat from other media channels - particularly, it's suggested, the internet - yet nobody seems to have discovered a way for these channels to pay journalists to actually collect the news (we could by back to paying for news sites soon, but will it work?). The policing of 'nationalist/republican' areas is another case in point. The Provisional IRA are off the scene, but there's a question mark about how the PSNI can fill that gap, in the short term at least. That leaves an opening for bored and disaffected young people for a start - witness some of the stuff happening in the Bogside - and also for those who would pose as the new defenders of the community.
Sinn Fein's strength has been its presence at grassroots level in these areas so the 'hearts and minds' stuff that we used to hear about so much has moved house . .
We're living in interesting times (check out http://web.archive.org/web/20070110191145/hawk.fab2.albany.edu/sidebar/sidebar.htm)
Eric Frank Russell, who's to blame.
Leading the news, of course, was the petrol bomb attack on the home of Sinn Fein MLA Mitchel McLaughlin in the Bogside. It seems that in response Sinn Fein are now ramping up the public pressure on the 32CSM and the Real IRA, asking the 32CSM to condemn these attacks and the Real IRA to withdraw the threat to Sinn Fein members.
There was always the very real danger of a serious split in republicanism as Sinn Fein moved further into the peace process and away from the territory of armed struggle. What's been remarkable is the success the party had in preparing the ground and its constituency, bringing so many people along on what was by no means an easy journey, and minimising the opposition. It's another example of how communication is key in any process of change - all those statements, discussions, private and public meetings which were held along the way.
However, it's often the case in times of major change that there's a vacuum created before new arrangements bed down. We see it in newspapers, which are under threat from other media channels - particularly, it's suggested, the internet - yet nobody seems to have discovered a way for these channels to pay journalists to actually collect the news (we could by back to paying for news sites soon, but will it work?). The policing of 'nationalist/republican' areas is another case in point. The Provisional IRA are off the scene, but there's a question mark about how the PSNI can fill that gap, in the short term at least. That leaves an opening for bored and disaffected young people for a start - witness some of the stuff happening in the Bogside - and also for those who would pose as the new defenders of the community.
Sinn Fein's strength has been its presence at grassroots level in these areas so the 'hearts and minds' stuff that we used to hear about so much has moved house . .
We're living in interesting times (check out http://web.archive.org/web/20070110191145/hawk.fab2.albany.edu/sidebar/sidebar.htm)
Eric Frank Russell, who's to blame.
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