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Books
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A flexible library service for the 21st century?
Following Alan’s piece on libraries, I picked this ‘advertorial’ from Google plus this evening… about how a US county library system is cutting costs and improving flexibility in their free at the point of delivery services by enabling the whole library service act as a functioning unit as opposed to the one discrete library… read our review » -
The lost art of reading (or drowning in too much information)…
Here’s a great review of a fascinating book (H/T reader Rory) on how the Internet is destroying our capacity for intelligent, focused and critical thought. It opens thus: …here is the news that Ulin brings in this slim, meandering book: that reading is “an act of contemplation”; that such an act becomes more difficult in [...] read our review »
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…if University education were universally available and availed of, the country would collapse in one generation
The words of Brian O’Nolan, variously Brian Ó Nualláin, Myles na gCopaleen, Myles na Gopaleen and, of course, Flann O’Brien. That O’Nolan was referencing his own dissolute student days at UCD only mildly distracts from the prophetic undertone of his words: I paid no attention whatsoever to books or study and regarded lectures as a [...] read our review »
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Comment on Thoughts on the DUP’s victory
on 19 May 2011 at 10:50 pm
I strongly suspect that the Provos wish they had targetted Peter Robinson long ago. He has proven to be the most adept politician in Northern Ireland.
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Comment on Queen’s Visit: Time to move on but not to forget…
on 19 May 2011 at 10:44 pm
“A guilty conscience goes a long way.”
All the way to the bank apparently.
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Comment on Her Majesty’s challenge for the opponents of Irish
on 19 May 2011 at 10:37 pm
“Alf….Dumped is a strange term for a language heavily in daily use in the Western regions as well as inclusion in everyday phrases throughout all other regions..”
Cavanman,
It’s alive and well then? Right so.
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Comment on Her Majesty’s challenge for the opponents of Irish
on 19 May 2011 at 10:35 pm
I don’t know anyone who opposes the Irish language. They simply don’t like having it forced upon them by republicans who have publicly stated that they view every word as a bullet fired at the union.
Back in the day Orange banners were inscribed in Irish. You can thank the Sinners for putting the damper on that sort of inclusivity.
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Comment on Her Majesty’s challenge for the opponents of Irish
on 19 May 2011 at 10:30 pm
Joe,
Your apology is accepted.
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Comment on Queen’s Visit: Time to move on but not to forget…
on 19 May 2011 at 10:27 pm
“It always is a good idea to try and learn from your political opponents – check out SF’s wage structure.”
Largely consisting of the Queen’s shilling.
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Comment on Her Majesty’s challenge for the opponents of Irish
on 19 May 2011 at 10:23 pm
“Yes, Cavanman,
That remark says a lot about Alf. I have listened to locals on the west coast using Irish as the daily language of commerce and presumably in their homes. I lost my (fairly limited) ability through years of disuse and I regret it.”
Joe,
Perhaps if you took the time to read what Alf actually said you might be able to work out that it was not Alf who felt that way. The Irish people themselves in the nineteenth century came to view the Irish language as being used by backward yokels. That is why they stopped using it and actively stopped their children from using it.
The death of the Irish language had nothing to do with British oppression. The Irish dumped it themselves.
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Comment on Marion Price sentenced to permanent prison isolation – no trial or reason required
on 19 May 2011 at 10:09 pm
Anyone wondering about how republicans behave on their prison protests should watch this documentary about Strangeways Prison for an insight into how their actions are viewed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1b5F1qort0
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Comment on Her Majesty’s challenge for the opponents of Irish
on 19 May 2011 at 10:01 pm
“The language of backward yokels”
What kind of rancid sneering leads to that opinion?!
Breathtaking condescension for a language used across the island to varying degrees with no trace of embarassment. Not everything is filtered through a Northern lens…”
Cavanman,
Take it up with Feargal Keane. He is the one who pointed out that Irish people north and south viewed the language as such in the nineteenth century. They saw it as a barrier to progressing in life and that is why they actively discouraged its use.
It was northern Presbyterians who kept it going.
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Comment on Marion Price sentenced to permanent prison isolation – no trial or reason required
on 19 May 2011 at 9:57 pm
Mark,
I wouldn’t read too much into the pragmatism being displayed by the prison service. The law decrees that she be locked up. Common sense decrees that her excuses for causing trouble should be diminished as far as possible.
She can call herself a POW or fantasise about being in the same league as the chaps in Colditz etc. In reality she is just another criminal who has been clocked as being liable to cause trouble in prison. Just like the fat ‘Little Britain’ lookalike bloke in that Strangeways documentary the other night.
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