Brian O'Neill 
I have taken to listening to RTE Radio 1 early morning show, The Rising Time. The gently introduce you into another Covid-19 Groundhog Day with some relaxing tunes. The other morning I pricked up my ears at a song that started: I like beer, and I like cheese I like the smell of a westerly breeze But what I like more than all of these Is to be on horseback. WTF? Thought I. is this a spoof song? You can’t …
In our first Slugger podcast we talk with Architect and Urban Designer Mark Hackett about his alternative proposal for the York Street Interchange project in Belfast. Roads expert Wesley Johnston gives his view on Mark’s ideas. We also have a general discussion about the road network after Covid-19. As Mark did a presentation to explain his ideas we have released this one as a video, but future episodes will likely to be audio. The idea for the York St Interchange was …
This is an interesting story from railjournal.com ONE of three conditions imposed on Air France in exchange for a €7bn coronavirus aid package is to stop competing with TGV services where rail offers a viable alternative. The ban on short-haul domestic air travel will apply to routes where trains offer a journey time of 2h 30min or less. This means Air France will no longer be able to sell tickets for domestic travel on flights between Paris and Bordeaux, Lyon, …
If like me you grew up watching Holywood War Movies you assume the Second World War was won by the plucky brits and their good looking yank buddies – The Russian role in the affair was conveniently airbrushed out of the story. But looking at the stats you soon realise that Russia was the most crucial player in the fight against the Nazis. The Red Army suffered 8,806,453 causalities in WW2 this compares to 407,300 Military deaths for the USA …
How are you getting on with the great work from home experiment? I have worked from home for most of my career so it is nothing new for me but I realise it will be a novelty for most of you. Your experience will vary greatly depending on if you have young kids or not. With our 4-year-old, I find it is next to impossible to get any work done while homeschooling and childminding. Whatever teachers get paid they should …
I used to travel A LOT. Up to ten trips a year sometimes: America once or twice a year, then lots of weekend breaks around Europe, then throw in a beach holiday or two in Majorca for good measure. All that travel came to a grinding halt five years ago when our son was born. We made two trips with him to the Netherlands when he was a few months old. But it was so much hassle travelling with him …
One of my favourite quotes is from the screenwriter William Goldman: “Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.” I believe this quote applies to all areas of life, not just the movie business. The older you get the more you realise we are all faking it and making it up as we go along. …
The very talented John Breslin runs the Twitter account Old Ireland in Colour. He colourises old photos and he does an amazing job – it is an essential follow. For today he put up the colourised photo of the Easter Rising leaders, it really brings them to life. His previous work is well worth checking out, I have included some examples below. Peig Sayers at her own fireplace 1946 Dunquin, Co. Kerry Photographer: Caoimhín Ó Danachair Source: https://t.co/xzEeoUzlwl @duchas_ie CC …
In these times of global crisis, it is reassuring that we have a strong leader of the free world. Donald Trump is many things, a humanitarian, a philanthropist, a voice for the downtrodden but best of all he is a scientist and medical genius. The latest advice from the Golden Sage is we can cure Coronvirus by injections of disinfectant and UV light. Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments are 'dangerous', doctors say, after the U.S. president said during a White House …
As you may know, TV Dinners is what Americans call ready meals. But how about a video dinner? I was chatting to a friend the other day to see how he was getting on during the big pause. He lives with his family in Belfast but his mother lives alone in Armagh. To make his mum feel less isolated he came up with a novel solution. Every night at dinner time he video calls his mum on his tablet, then …
Today is Earth Day and thanks to Covid-19 the planet has been getting a rest recently from the ravages of human damage. There is a popular theory in computer circles that as Artificial Intelligence gets more clever it will eventually realise that the best way to save the planet is to kill all the humans. As I typed that sentence I realised that is also the plot of the Terminator Movie… Anyway Michael Moore has a new movie out and …
Who knows what to believe anymore. There is so much data floating around it would make your head spin. The latest number-crunching from the number wizards over at the FT has the actual UK death rate over twice as high at the official rate. The coronavirus pandemic has already caused as many as 41,000 deaths in the UK, according to a Financial Times analysis of the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. The estimate is more than double …
The price of a barrel of oil is in freefall. From the New York Times: Oil that is scheduled to be delivered in June fell 12 percent Monday to about $22 a barrel, but at the same time a benchmark for oil to be delivered next month was essentially deemed to be worthless. Owing largely to a quirk in the way that oil prices are set, the May benchmark actually fell into negative territory, suggesting people who had oil to …
Just a quick post to keep you updated with some Slugger news. New Design As you might have noticed I did a bit of a redesign. The aim was to clean up the site layout and made the posts more readable. I changed the font to a serif one which is meant to be easier on the eye when reading large posts. I am still tweaking the design so do not let know if you have any suggestions or feedback. …
I am sure Boris was feeling bad enough recovering from COVID-19, opening yesterdays Sunday Times I am sure did nothing to lift his mood. Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster was the headline and just to reinforce the point the subheading hammered home the main accusations – ‘Boris Johnson skipped five Cobra meetings on the virus, calls to order protective gear were ignored and scientists’ warnings fell on deaf ears. Failings in February may have cost thousands of …
You would imagine it would be a simple enough process to track how many people are dying from Covid-19 but it seems like a lot of things in life it is more complex than it first appears. The government stats are 10,000 but they only track deaths in hospitals. But with experts saying around half of Covid-19 deaths are in care homes, this means we are vastly undercounting deaths. Then what about deaths in the community? The people who die …
I remember nervously queuing up for the BCG jab at school, I also remember how some in the class thought it was very funny to punch people in the arm the rest of the week, ouch! I just had a peek and my BCG scar is still there over 30 years later, but now there might be a reason to praise your school jab. Researchers have noticed a correlation between countries that have TB Vaccination and lower rates of Covid-19 …
At last Labour Party members have seen sense and decided to choose an electable leader. Keir won on the first round of voting, with more than 50% of the vote. For the few, not the many. pic.twitter.com/OxJzbsGs1F — The Socialist Party (@OfficialSPGB) April 4, 2020 Keir is a poster child for social mobility. From a working-class background he passed the 11plus and worked his way up to the dizzy heights of Sir Keir Starmer KCB QC. As you can see …
I have been thinking about the death spiral of newspapers. If the internet was not bad enough, along comes Covid-19 to wipe out sales and advertising revenue. In particular, I have been contemplating the fate of the News Letter. As you may know, it is the oldest English language daily newspaper still in publication, having first been printed in 1737. Now whatever you think of its politics or the opinions of some of its writers, you would have to agree …
The Orange Order has been given a £300k grant from the Ulster-Scots Agency for their ambitious plan to create a virtual Twelfth. Due to the Covid-19, all Orange parades have been cancelled. But the Order is hoping to use the latest Virtual Reality technology to give at-home members the experience of parading. The project is the brainchild of Banford Abernathy, founder of PurePet, a company that creates VR systems for training vets. Banford said: Three generations of my family have …
