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Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
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Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human [...] read our review »
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Comment on Quote of the day: “Isn’t this where you used to meet Gerry Adams?”
on 29 August 2011 at 10:20 am
That is a piece from this morning’s Irish Times by the way, very interesting! Sorry if its been blogged about before!
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Comment on Quote of the day: “Isn’t this where you used to meet Gerry Adams?”
on 29 August 2011 at 10:19 am
Mmmm, I’m sure this is going to throw up a nice little convo!. GA and SA: http://z6.co.uk/2w
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Comment on You’ve heard of a pub with no beer, but a Church with no God?…
on 8 August 2011 at 4:05 pm
Why is that relevant SBH? I don’t want to get flippant (and for the record, there is evidence of inter-colony cooperation between certain species of ant), but the point is, bees do not need to go to mass to know that sacrificing themselves for the sake of others in the hive is a ‘good’ thing. There are other reasons for all animals acting in a ‘good’ way.
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Comment on You’ve heard of a pub with no beer, but a Church with no God?…
on 8 August 2011 at 12:45 pm
SBH: “Every culture considers it virtuous for the strong to help the weak. This is completely counter to evolution.”
No its isn’t. A strong colony survives. Not strong individuals. Get that, and you’ll get the underlying logic for ‘morality’ as an inbuilt, instinctive, genetically-based mechanism that improves cooperativity — and its development as part of the evolutionary process.
The clue is in your own post: “In every society, even those that developed largely independantly of one another the same general morals exist.” That is because the basis for morality is acquired and not learned.
And can you answer my question on bees and ants? Why do they work so well together? Why do individual ants or bees sacrifice themselves for their colony?
From: http://shrvl.com/3Dwiz
“There are many examples in nature of insects sacrificing themselves when a colony or nest is under attack, such as when bees use their stings to defend the hive and die in the process.”
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Comment on You’ve heard of a pub with no beer, but a Church with no God?…
on 8 August 2011 at 12:14 pm
SBH. Unfortunatelty, the base and literal interpretation of ‘survival of the fittest’ is a massive simplification. There are many example of cooperativity that confer an evolutionary advantage. This is excellently demonstrated in bee hives and ants nests, to give just two examples. Do you think bees and ants rely on the teachings of God to act ‘morally’ to better the overall colony? What is driving them to act in a ‘good way’ towards each other?
Found this quote here: http://shrvl.com/R8V2r
“Moral instinct itself is rooted in the laws of nature (Physics) via the working of the brain. Morality is latent in the laws of nature. It finds expression through the process of evolution”
Evolutionary theory is not about the survival of individuals with a certain genetic makeup, but how well that genetic make up persists in this earthly realm. Morality confers an evolutionary advantage through maximising the chances that we reproduce and the genes are passed on (even at the simplest level of reducing, rather than eradicating, the chances of killing each other). Morality makes perfect sense from an evolutionary point of view. While it is impossible to close the God versus evolution debate, I think you will agree that there is another very plausible explanation for the presence of universal morality other than ‘God’.
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Comment on Closing hospitals and the ‘ungovernability’ of Roscommon…
on 8 July 2011 at 3:02 pm
Blisset, see my earlier comment for how badly the HSE are rating Galway in exactly that arena. http://lb.vg/31Npz
My main point is not about ‘time to travel’ per se, but that I can’t find any info on hard clinical endpoints that supports the so-called clinical rationale for the closure. Outcomes are affected by multiple variables, and so far I can only find negatives on the basis of an already under-performing (not at the frontline staff level) A&E unit and a longer travel time. just two factors that would act negatively on outcomes. I have a suspicion that any ‘improvement’ is based on taking a cohort of patients in Galway versus a cohort in Roscommon, and not on the necessary multivariate analysis that would include all relevant factors.
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Comment on Closing hospitals and the ‘ungovernability’ of Roscommon…
on 8 July 2011 at 1:41 pm
It may be lack of time to search the site properly, but I can’t find any data from HIQA that says that a person living in Roscommon with an acute need for A&E has a 4-fold greater chance of an adverse health outcome by being treated in Roscommon Hospital versus Galway. Have factors such as ‘time to treatment’ been incorporated? For example, from DeVon HA 2010.
“Time to treatment for symptoms of ACS can be a matter of life and death. Data suggest up to half of patients with ACS experience sudden death prior to arrival in the emergency department (ED) 3. In addition, degree of myocardial necrosis is related to length of the ischemic episode 4″
I just want to be sure that the clinical case for this closure is as strong as stated. On the other hand, if it is an economic one, let that be stated transparently too.
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Comment on Closing hospitals and the ‘ungovernability’ of Roscommon…
on 8 July 2011 at 12:02 pm
Have a look here for how poorly the A&E in Galway is rated. http://lb.vg/31Npz (the ‘red light’ associated with ‘Emergency Department to Acute Admission Waiting Time’ means it is need of what the HSE call ‘urgent attention’). It is almost certainly already underfunded and under-resourced, and is now going to absorb a larger caseload.
I am raising an eyebrow at the outcomes data.Would anyone be kind enough (if they know) to point me to where there is any detail on what/how outcomes were compared? .
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Comment on Friday thread: Embeddable anxiety
on 27 November 2010 at 9:22 am
Forgot a massive one from the late 18th century. Rabbie Burns A Man’s A Man for A’ That
Paolo Nuitini gives it a modern twist here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOBcFt5tevY
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that.
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man’s a Man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that:
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that:
The man o’ independent mind
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that;
But an honest man’s abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities an’ a’ that;
The pith o’ sense, an’ pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a’ that,)
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s coming yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.
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Comment on Friday thread: Embeddable anxiety
on 26 November 2010 at 5:31 pm
Surely Woody Guthrie is the ‘King’. Can you beat this verse for the present times?
Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
Pretty Boy Floyd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4YKUJZI5Bg
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