I miss my favourite radio station in NYC..

Today I had a craving for some educational commercial free radio again.

Broadcasting from the Empire State Building on 99.5, WBAI is completely funded by listeners. The amount of stuff I've learnt listening in is amazing.
I remember spending my Thursdays off last year in the NY Public Library feeding on their amazing collection of books and free internet access, treking around the organic markets & wholefoods on the subway (the signal would drop out of course) all the while tuned into WBAI.

Organic growing, Alternative health practices, Nutrition, Controvertial 9/11 conspiracy theories, Democracy Now, LGB programing. All without a single advert.
Now that beats talk to Joe!
All programmes are available to download to your mp3 player here:
http://archive.wbai.org/

7 Days in September

5 Years after 9/11, this documentary covers the tradegy from different perspectives. Various amateur camera men talk about their experiences and feelings during the week following.

There are a couple of scenes that really struck me. One was the shot of subway passengers emerging from the underground in an absolute state of oblivion to find a blue sky day transformed into something akin to a nuclear holocaust. Another was from September 12th when people gathered at 14th Street Union Square (a place I grew fond of during my 3 months in NYC) to light candles, sing songs and reflect. Some sang "Give Peace a chance". A call that fell on deaf ears. I just remember the day so clearly walking home from Clonkeen, the fear I had of the conflict & strife that would enevitably arise from the agressive right wing in power in the US.

There is no doubt, this event was the most significant global happening that occured in my lifetime and I fear the west has opened a can of worms in the Arab world that will never seal shut..

The end of intellectualism...

When it all falls down

Israel is obviously seen as the U.S's Middle Eastern proxy war outlet.
I'm learning more and more about their involvement with the state every day.
"During the Bush administration, from 2001 to 2005, Israel received $10.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing—the Pentagon's biggest military aid program—and $6.3 billion in U.S. arms deliveries."
Foreign Policy in Focus

The United States can never be viewed as an independent peace broker (even if it made an attempt) given the amount of military assistance they export to Israel.

Never mind about winning hearts, negotiations, promoting understanding.
Support for this war is powered by stirred up emotions. The U.S public has been won over, ever since September 11th, 2001 with the fear of an idealism called "terror", whilst creating the basis for a great increase of subscription to such a philosophy through further war.

Leaders are claboring for hearts, using overly simplistic language, appealing to the lowest common denominator. The U.S. president seems to consider the whole situation as a fun board game. At the recent G8 summit near St Petersburg, Bush was recorded chatting casually to Tony Blair, whilst chewing on a bread role about how the situation could be sorted by just sending 'her [Condi Rice] in'.
He landed into the room like a school child, giving the German chancellor a brief back massage as a reward for her conservative views.
It seems obvious that he doesn't see the current situation as serious at all.

Intellectual debate is so commonly discouraged.
Aggressive right wing AM talk show hosts in the states have created an emotional, simplified view of the world much to the delight of the sheep population.

"You mean you're going to break down this oh so complicated world for me AND tell me who to vote for?" "Oh goodie.. now I'll more time to watch tv"

The other day, I was watching CNN US (not the international version). The reporter was in Northern Israel commenting on the progress of the war (well, just smiling and speaking generally about press releases really).
He said, "What you're hearing is the good guys sending shells out".
Then there was a letter from a viewer read out commenting on how unbiased said reporter was.

Terrorists are human and have the same range of emotions as everyone else. They've got a reason for being motivated to aggregate the feeling of anger and do what they are doing.
Until that motivation is removed, it will obviously continue.

Of course if that motivation is that your wife and children, mother and father were massacred in their Beirut appartment as they slept by a badly targeted laser guided missile, then I'd imagine not much is ever going to quell your anger.
That is not to validate their reactions. I don't condone any violence what so ever, regardless. Lobbing missiles randomly into Northern Israel at the risk of civilian life is equally deplorable. Israeli life is no less important than any other human existance..

The GOP is willing to stall any talks in order to clear out these 'hopeless cases' (as I'm sure they're refered to).. conveniently forgetting that in the process they're creating more.

The republican party in the United States and many who support it disgust me.
(*generalisations follow*)
They are full of idealistic shit.
They prance around, going to church and portray a spic and span image to the masses. They take a high moral ground consistently by objecting to things like stem cell research (which has great potential for those with terminal illnesses) and abortions.

Meanwhile, for those who are out of the womb, there is a wreckless disregard for life.
It's almost as if the redicule and challenge from their liberal collegues they received when they were in college of their insulated and isolated views have led to a paranoia and aggressiveness.
The world is out to get us, pests are eating our crops. Bomb them all, spray everything with pesticides. Us good, them bad.
Put me in a bubble called the deep south with my SUV!

I've asked many American's on their view on politics and they plead apathy.
I suppose there's just too much to debate and also a certain level of embarrassment that they're represented by these people.
Also, they probably are sick to death from Europeans asking these questions anyway.

Phew.. I'm ranting... and being emotive

Another Trip

Time to decide where to next. The travel bug is itching away.

Top contenders: Prague, Somewhere in Estonia or Gothenburg.
I love a bitta travel.. after the daangerous destruction of my mariaaage

Succumming to popular culture

So I started watching Big Brother out of peer pressure of course ;-)
I spent the first few weeks refusing to watch it, but ended up being lured in.
No fun in being oblivious during conversations.

Last night they had a novel transfer of certain members into a prison setting next door.
Certain members got to be prison guards, the others were prisoners.
What the guards didn't know was that the prisoners have access to a secret room that has a chocolate fountain with strawberries and marshmallows in addition to mud baths and a bar.
Oh how the guards gloated about their power and luck at their position.

BB is obviously clichéd pop tv, but I like the way they're looking outside of the box slightly between this and a second house revealed a few weeks ago, rather than continuing with the standard house.
Reminded me a bit of the crystal maze last night as they dug under the bed to find the entrance and rushed back into their cell when they heard an inspection was about to be carried out.

Dubai: Then & Now

I thought this was amazing..

Dubai in 1991



Dubai in 2005





Amazing what a bit of oil does to you?
Now imagine it's depletion..

Physical inactivity is depressing..

• It is.. but no point in banging on about it. This is I.T. Humans were designed to move.
  Gym time shortly..
  
  

• Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is one of the longest words I came across today. It's not something you'd want to have AFAIK.

• Superfluous is my word of the day:
  1 a : exceeding what is sufficient or necessary : EXTRA b : not needed : UNNECESSARY
  2 obsolete : marked by wastefulness : EXTRAVAGANT
  

• Google have launched Google Spreadsheets. They're really invading on Microsoft's space now, with the recent launch of a trial Text editor ala Microsoft Word.
  People can colaborate on a spreadsheet together without the need for anything but a connection to the web and a browser.
  I have wonders about the safety of sensitive financial data with these things though if bigger sompanies start using it. I signed up for the first-come-first-served trial and it looks gut!

When the Energy finally ran out...

These things always send a tingle down my spine..

Energy 94 says goodbye...

Our local bum

Like with many city streets, we have a local bum resident next to our office. Quite a jolly fellow he is too.
He sits on the steps on Leeson Street near the bridge. I think it's fair to say, he's a man that enjoys a drink every now and then (when he's not asleep) and a wide variety of traditional hits.

His favourite broadcast originates from the west of the isle: A good mid-afternoon céile from Raidió na Gaeltachta can often be heard blaring from his battery powered, 1970s-esque transistor. Just when you think the speakers are going to blow, the passer by moves out of range of his sweet tones. Moving on for lunch, tea, coffee, perhaps a bottle of champagne, we must spare a thought for him all the while.

Today, the man was checking out a set of tapes belonging to him. Yes, tapes still exist in certain sections of society.
Who needs a girly ipod when you could bring a filthy gorgeous boombox that's been through the cold war onto the 46a?

In other related news, I saw a group of Romanian tourists sitting outside Trinity college on Friday night on a big rug. I had to smile when I saw them chugging down 6 packs of Yakult they've been giving out free the past few weeks, like Vodka consuming trollops at a houseparty. Symbolic of the spread of our 'Actimel' fix-it society. Get wasted and sort it out with an Actimel in the morning. Go homeless and sort it out with a 6 pack of Yakult tonight!

Store Wars, Grow your own food!

The world has gone on an unsustainable path. Farmers have lost their ability to farm without an arsenal of non renewable, toxic chemicals.
"Pfft", say some price savvy consumers. Do people really believe pesticides only harm insects? Neurotoxins couldn't possibly affect human's neurological system in the amounts on Fruit & Veg they say. The thing about it is, they're on everything non organic we eat, in increasing amounts.
When scientists measure the effects of pesticides, they only measure one portion of one food.
You can expect the average Banana or Apple to have been sprayed 50 times before you pick it off the shelf. I suspect it has contributed to an increase in Auto immune conditions, where the immune system attacks the body's organs it's supposed to be protecting.
Speaking as Sjogren's sufferer myself.

And don't think washing it helps that much. Many pesticides & fertilisters are taken up into the roots of the plant from the soil to form part of the food.
The resulting soil is left arrid and useless for future generations without further chemical investment.

Even the pesticide laden stuff isn't always that cheap any more.
These things are petroleum based and we all know we're running out of that stuff.
Tesco selling mediocre Rasperries at 5.49 a punnet and oranges for 4.99 per bag doesn't inspire much glee.

I just discovered, thanks to Wikipedia, Cuba has outlawed non-organic produce! Ever since embargos started to crumble the country, Cuba got smart. When Russia stopped exporting subsidised pesticides and foods to Cuba, the country switched to widespread urban plots.
Everyone got involved in producing their own food, becoming self sufficient, curbing external vulnerabilities.

You can be guarenteed that the food that they are now consuming is many times tastier and more nutritional that what the population used to subsist on.
Have you ever stopped to notice just how bland supermarket tomatoes are these days? Mass produced in Dutch green houses, they merely serve as red water holders. Utterly tasteless.

It is my dream for everyone in this nation to become comletely self reliant again. For electricity, food, everything. The current state of relying on imports for everything leaves us open to conflict and debt in the long term as energy resources run out.

We started growing this year. Broccoli, Cauliflower, Parsley, Cabbage, Spinach, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Strawberries, Blueberries, Apples, Pears, Plums, Peaches, Nectarines.. all in one small south Dublin garden! Gonna post some photos of how it's going soon..

Meanwhile.. here's a Store Wars interval:

Istanbul airport ablaze

A fire seems to have erupted from the cargo holding area at Istanbul's Airport in Turkey.
Any link between yesterdays air event and this would be wild speculation. Probably some flamable material being improperly transported..

CNN

3 weeks in the gym & DJing at the weekend

I've been going to the Gym almost 3 weeks now doing mostly machine weights.
Progress is slow, but I've been increasing weights every day I'm there. Every second day is a rest day. You must remember, I'm going from skinny mc weakling.. I've had to eat more in order to give the muscle a chance to grow.

Playing it by ear.. but so far so good. What's keeping me focused is the fact that I'm keeping track of the weights I'm lifting.

I DJ'd for a girl's 21st on Saturday in the Radisson. A bit of pre event stress, mainly due to the fact that the place didn't have any speakers or an amp. These have to be collected and paid for in Ranelagh, brought to the venue and then back up.
Whilst I make clear that this stuff has to be rented if the venue doesn't have them from the get go, I got a bit of hassle about it this time around.
They said they definately could not pick up or drop back the system.. thankfully my brother & dad stepped in and came up with me.
I was asked and ended up working over 5 hours for the same price (which was already very reasonable).. In which I did not break once.
I still enjoyed getting everyone up to the dance floor and don't feel too bad about it - they got their moneys worth anyway!
That's it on the renting thing. No more. I'm purchasing my own gear. I won't leave myself vulnerable to being walked over again over this issue

Breaking: A risk to Greek - Turkish peace?

A heightening in tensions is likely to follow between the two NATO members after a mid-air collision caused the death of a Greek fighter pilot this afternoon.

Clearly countries going on intercept missions like these is open demonstration of their hostility to one another.

BBC News

Deciding our Energy futures

.. Well, ok this is a UK tool, but relevant to us too as we depend more and more on importing rapidly depleting energy sources from unstable parts of the globe.
It encourages people to toy around with where the UK will source their electricity required to power the country in 2020.

I went for:
Keeping Current Usage of Nuclear (no new plants) = 80bn kwh
9225 new Wind Sites + other renewables (shower the country with Wind Farms) = 320bn kwh
Carbon Emissons = 0 tonnes
.. and just a slight increase in bill costs

Electricity Calculator [BBC News]

An Inconvenient Truth hits cinemas over the summer.

A day for peaking

Life's full of Peaks and Troughs.
Today's gotta be a Peak type day. The temperatures are up near the 20s.. Sun drenched extended lunch in Stephen's Green. Day off tomorrow.

Downside is.. Good weather ends today. Working on Saturday.

Other than that, started in the local Gym last week and sticking to it. Doing more weights related stuff at the moment rather than fluterin' around on a treadmill, which I do not need.
See how it goes. Loughlinstown. Lush it is not.
I notice everything is alot easier in there when you eat well... You just need to have alot more of it. Shit in, shit out as they say..

Declan's 25th Birthday is on Saturday night at his gaf on "de northside".. Haven't been out at all since Galway which is an unusually long stretch. Should be a great night!

Wise Quotes

In work we have a quote of the day when we log into our computers.

Here's a few ones I thought were good:

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it" - George Moore (Travel is the 'ish, home's where it's at)

"How often misused words generate misleading thoughts" - Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) (Communication clarity is everything)

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity" - Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 - 1895) (not loosing all enthusiasm all of a sudden, coz yer a mature 20 something aul fella/wan)

"A wise man is he who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has" - Epictetus, Philosopher and Roman Slave (Think Adrian Kennedy contrasting mentality.. "rah rah.. life's shit.. nothin' to do but steal cars!")

"Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand" - Chinese Proverb (A common frustration, sitting in a lecture merely listening, isn't always the best way to absorb information)

"Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people." - WB Yeats (i.e. Dumb it down a knotch!)

There's one every day, any goodies, I'll share them here...

Bush approval ratings hit new low, 31%. Iran prez wants to be his pen pal..

Georgina keeps fallin'!
A very slow process, but I think the American public is starting to awknowledge the dangerous turn their country is taking.

"Historically it's been pretty devastating to presidents at this level," Franklin says. Even Republican members of Congress are "now so worried about their electoral fortunes in November that he has less leverage with them than he normally would with his own party controlling Congress."

USA Today

Meanwhile, the Iranian president has written a very diplomatic letter to Mr. Bush which is trickling into the US media. Hopefully a large number of US citizens will get to see this letter. I do feel any sense of reason from the Iranian's has been filtered out by the US media thus far (I chip into CNN/Fox quite alot). Iran's population is highly educated and there is plenty of intellectualism about. Clearly if a country gangs up on you in order to intimidate, negative sentiment will be expressed against that country and this is negativity is being used against them.

Ahmadinejad’s letter to Bush

RTÉ's Mark Little took a trip over in the past few weeks and showed a different side to Iran interviewing some local rappers!
Watch [Real Player]

Last night

Out the night before too but: One. fucking. blur.

I was a state. Couldn't find my coat. I don't know what possessed me to leave D2 at 1.30 to get the last Nitelink, but somehow I had sense.
Literally stumbled to the bus and arrived at 1.59. The door closed behind me and we were off.

Well, I've never felt so sick since Hungary. You must think I'm a lightweight but fuck that. Something about the fact that the last thing I ate was 200grams of pure dark chocolate 10 hours previously.
Chocolate is a burden on the liver and I'm blamin' that.

I don't think it's cool, people going on about "how locked" they got, in fact it pisses me off more than anything else, but last night I lost my mind. It was alarming, but strangely appealing.

The September 11th Conspiracy

I have been waiting for credible and reasoned documentation on the doubts on the story of the 9/11 attacks to emerge.
Unfortunately, the budget's of independent film producers tends to be limited and thus make themselves look uncredible.

I have very little doubt that there is alot more to the story than the general public has been led to believe.
The BBC's recent documentary series, "The Power of Nightmares" documents the historical role of government's to maintain control on their public through fear.
Control of the media by a small few means these realities are rarely examined and constantly beilittled.

Thankfully, the proliferation of high speed connections, independant blogs, improved independent video production and video sharing sites have opened up a new vessel of information to the world.

Make it your duty to spare 45 minutes of your time to view the following 3 Google videos on September 11th:
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

And comment..

Perhaps we should just look away and continue in obliviance?

Leisurely Saturday

I'm doing alot of walking these days.
Every day this week, I've voluntarily made it my duty to cover as much ground during my lunch breaks.
Working in IT means it's pretty important to contrast all that sedentary time. I'd pretty much stopped doing any form of excersise, bar walking to and from the bus during the project.

Last night, went to O' Neils after work with Sean, Connor, Petey & Pam. Few pints & a slap up meal and a half.
It's so deadly working in town, everything being that bit more local!

I've not bought a single item of clothing in months.
Today I certainly made up for it. Henry Street was snapped up, I tell ya.
I always work Saturdays. This is the first week of having it off in ages.
Went down Moore Street at the end, sun blazing. It's amazing. Haven't been down there in about a month, but they all know me still.
Got some plums, "Oh how'a'ya love, we've you're favourite fruit again today".
Walked by another stall to see another smiling woman I usually buy stuff off, "Back wracking up that credit card again, love?".
A visit to this place is the cheapest place to get weighed down!

A New Track

Today started gloriously. The sun scorched the pavement as my chariot, the 145 approached Leeson Street.

I stepped off and walked to my new place of work (for the next 6 months!).
Paper work out of the way, I was shown around the office, met all of my collegues and took a seat at my new desk.
Covered in dust and fragments of office furniture, I quickly set about clearing it up for use.

Flexi time, a system which allows employees to effectively decide their hours, as long as a target is met greatly pleased me.
I got a 2 hour break and strolled through a vast element of Dublin's south inner city, down Harcourt Street, through Stephen's Green, soaking up rays of Vitamin D in the mean time, walking all the way over to Grafton Street, taking another path back.

The time taken for travel daily has reduced from 1hr 15mins to 30mins in & out.
Life is good, so far!

Bye bye DCU for 6 months

We finally had our project demonstration on Thursday. It's been months and months in the waiting.

The demo is supposed to last around 15mins, but instead it lasted for 40 minutes. It was a fairly nerve inducing period of time. At the end, the lecturer said he liked our project and that it looked like a very good idea. yay!

Sampling pink fur on a night out is a very manly thing to do, recent research suggests.

• Thursday night was DIT's Diva Night in town, which involved Divina Devine, a deficating snake, Joanna Ryde & a large pink shoe. A 4am job. Forgot to go to the ATM and didn't have enough for the taxi in the end. Had to wake up members of the household for a lend. Oh deaaahhhh
  
  

• Friday night was Sean's pre 21st & celebration of project completion. Went to Fitzsimons. We were up on that lovely roof top, with the heaters and the flat screens and the chairs that are actually free to be sat on, on a Friday night... oh and the music at a level where discussion can take place... but I had to get the last bus as work followed in the morning.
  
  
• Saturday night, went down to Sean's 21st in Tinaheally on the train via Arklow. Treated excellently by the ma - Food, drink, cake... Oh man, I love the cake! We got locked, visited another 21st in the town, drank more, sang at the top of our voices in a cramped car and Dubbed up Wickla'!
  
  Tomorrow, I'll finally be starting work placement. Wohoo!
  

Project

Been a little quiet over the last few days. Was DJing last week for Anna's 21st up in Leopardstown which was great.
The project is nearing an end..Finally it's starting to come together and actually function!
Still lots to do, but atleast that frightening 'Can't see the shore' zone has been exited. It's all in Java servlets. Very dishy language, really. Almost like French.

R.u.d.e.

So I was on the building site as per every morning today. The one with the frivolous riot on it a few weeks ago.
I was waiting for a bus. It's actually a joke how many times the 13 stop has been moved in the past year down O' Connell Street.
Well, I was eating at the time when a bus began to pull in. I took a step left and turned my head to survey my path and partially, my body when this stern looking lady walked right into me.
Now, I apologised, perhaps unnecessarily, but due to the fact that I was eating, the announcement was missing some of the higher frequencies and so did not impress upon our friend. The lady looked at me as if I was attempting to steal her handbag or some equivocably abhorent act.

Listen bitch, first of all, you should have also been apologising to me, for it was you who had the visual advantage as you stormed forth into me. Just because you're 40 something, dressed in conservative apparel and wear that superior-than-thou face doesn't mean you can evil me up!

If only one could express oneself in the 3 second window I had like I just did. I should have scornfully shouted: "Oh you'll hear from me!", "Check my blog later!"

London was great... The flu, was not

Thursday evening I lay my head down at 11pm. It wasn't long until, at 2.55am, my alarm was ringing.
I was being picked up by a taxi at 3.30am, myself being the furthest south on a route which would pick up college friends on the way to the airport.
26hrs later at 6.30 on Saturday morning, I finally got to bed after a night of chai tea and crumpets.


Similar sleeping patterns followed.
Saturday morning involved a trek around a pretty sumptious Camden Town. Going from stall to stall, it wasn't long before I'd spent large swathes of my money on Vegan-Mexi-curries and choco-berries, ooooohh the berries.
They weren't just berries, they were rich Belgian chocolate covered M+S berries.
Those damn roaming charges!! 99c per call on Meteor, even if it's only 1second! Better get to Leicester Square.The diet to be followed over the weekend was to be the "Sainsbury Strawberries & Vodka" diet.
High in alcohol, yet surprisingly gluten free and rich in antioxidants.

You see, I've correlated that not every time I drink do I get bloodshot eyes. On the odd occasion, I've no problems - confusing.
Since beer is filled with Barley, Rye, Wheat n' whatever, it's full of gluten. I now suspect this might be why I could drink large amounts of Vodka without the beer sans eye problem over the weekend.
The experiment continues!!Another night of drinking, another night of tea. Another 6am finish. This is Carol-Anne. When we first were talking dans l'hotel, I thought she was over emphasising the latter part of her name for novelty reasons, thinking it was Caroline.
I'm now known as Dav-eeed! Excellent..
Something possesed me to wear a tie out. It was a classy joint.. pfft! I could've done with an extra few layers instead though. We waited for a taxi for half an hour in sub zero temperatures.
Sunday night we were back to the tiles, exchanging clubcard points and the so forth.
Monday was our last day. Myself and Gary set off to discover London. We ended up back at Camden Market sauntering for some eats. Followed by the all important trip to "Goodge Street".
A wonderful meca where all walks of life can be found.
When we arrived we met an advertising executive and we are now planning on really lifting this place off the touristic ground!
It even has it's own Starbucks, which was very exciting to see.

A Tesco that insists on labeling all Cake products clearly. Great for when you really wanna' bit of CAKE fast!
A symbol of 60's chiqueness. The BT tower, which doesn't seem to hold the BT logo any more is a must see.
Surrounded by a concrete jungle, it is such a refreshing change from the green fields of home!
This soup is *almost* as good as dust served on a Ryvita.
We got lost on the way back to the hotel after exiting Kings Cross station on the wrong side on Monday morning. It's pretty big remember.
An unstable lady got our attention and we asked her for the directions. She pointed us in clearly the wrong directions and after insisiting the general direction she changed her mind and suddently remembered she sleeps underneath our hotel sometimes.
In an intriguing at best, conversation with the lady, she told us how cold and lonely it was living on the streets of London and how she only felt happy once in her life. That was when she was locked up in Kent.
She said she had a sense of security. She was warm and had a constant supply of food.
She reminded me of Patricia Kitten!
Next of all, as she told her story and we followed her, two men approached the lady. "What are you doing to these two nice boys doll", they said.
It took a few seconds for us to realise that these were undercover police checking her out.
I think they probably suspected that either we were pimps or she was trying to rob us.
We gave her £4 and told her we looked forward to receiving the Big Issues in the post shortly.Arrived home at 2am on Monday night/Tuesday morning after a trip to Swords for chats.
Back out Tuesday night.
Wednesday had the shivers - couldn't eat for 3 days. Woeful. Worth it.

Away I pop!

Off we go to London on Friday morning..
Leaving the house at 4am to get a 6.30 flight over.
Shall be quite the weekend, I shant doubt!
I cannot wait!

Neil's 21st

Neil Doherty horrendously abused by party goers

Saturday was Neil's much anticipated 21st and a great night it was too.
The attendies, too numourous to mention formed a reunion style atmosphere.
These included half of the contents of Bebo, RTÉ staff and the real Stephen Daly (the equally great fake also made it!).
Held at the awe inspiringly vast sprawl of Messrs Maguires, the night was a sensational success.
Yes I can say, Neil successfully celebrated the passing of the 21st year of his life.

Things got rowdy when a member of the crowd decided to "take the bus lane" and walked on the table to navigate the room's expanse, thus cracking my gift to Neil with her high heels. Oh well. A gal's gotta move!
A later arm wrestle that ended in a pint being knocked all over the table almost had a worse effect on the artefact.

Neil is caught red handed purchasing a Tracker Bar

Upon leaving Messrs, we seemed to meet every other 20 something from southern Dublin who were at an alternate event including Aoife O' D who's away in Italy (AFAIR), teaching.Jar say's: "Hotel!".

Anna leads us astray into Rasher Byrnes.. We successfully decide to reveal our identity to the general public as famous Irish tv presenters.
The Ireland AM team find an interviewee of the stringent caliber required for the show.

We've lost John. Are you John?
I. think. not.

As we approached the Nitelink, we asked for John of one last set of 'ladies'. One of them mentioned something about fun and that of course triggered me, followed by the ground into song... Girls Just Want to have Fun and fun is what they had. Poor Janet on the other side of Anna's phone was left puzzled as our rendition obliterated her conversation.

On Sunday myself, Neil, Anna & Mary(?) - [remember, I'm not good with new names!!] went for a bit of multi telephone action to Breakfast on Pluto again.
This was followed by GTI Dun Laoghaire.
It was strange, met Ciara & Sharon their. The last time was in there, 4 years ago, they were in there!

I passed!

Was out last night with Gary, Eoin & Paul..
Had to work this morning till 12.
The alarm went off at 7. I swear to god. The mind boggles as to how the brain integrates a beeping sound into a dream. Well, let's just say, I had an intense half hour of beeping.

Got a text at about 11.30: "Results are out".

I went up to the office to check them out.
My fingers quivered as I keyed in my username and password.
The delay between clicking retrieve results and actually seing them, whilst in reality only several seconds, seemed like an eternity.

Programme of Study: CAIS3

SEMESTER 1 2006 EXAMINATION RESULTS
P,P,P,P,P,P
Passed all 6!
Even databases, which I was fairly anxious about. I'm so happy right now..

February 14th, 1981

The Stardust tragedy film - Part I was on this evening. Very sad. As a regular nightclub attendie, it struck a chord.
Youthful energy, wasted.
I was left with a strong sense of anger towards those who designed an ideal house of death where emergency exits were chained up, fire extinguishers were left empty and the front doors opened inwards, not out.

It ended in silence - The credits rolled for 2 minutes..

Revisit 1981
keys: tradegy stardust star dust dublin disco fire stardust fire

The End of the Oil era..

RTÉ Radio 1's Philip Boucher Hayes has been doing a very interesting series all this week on Peak Oil on 5-7 Live.
Something which hasn't been reported very much in the mainstream before now.

The weeks reports are all compiled for listening here:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/fivesevenlive/1052492.html