Video – Page 5 – Slugger O'Toole

Sinn Fein’s last minute pull out from cross party ‘St Pats For All’ video

Mick Fealty on March 3, 2014, 7:30 am

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Controversy in the Republic last night over an old problem for Sinn Fein, the St Patricks Day celebrations in the US, where they do things a little lot differently than they do at home. It concerns this cross parliamentary video supporting the St Pat’s For All parade in NYC… In the US, New York and Boston have continued to ban the participation of LGBT groups. In the case of Boston there’s been substantial progress towards change, but in NYC the …

Solar Dynamics Observatory: Year 4

Pete Baker on February 11, 2014, 5:00 pm

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Four years after its work began, and following last year’s three years in three minutes, Nasa have released another wondrous short video of a year of selected solar activity as viewed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Video via Nasa Goddard. Full-screen viewing recommended. Stunning. [Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory. Music: Stella Maris courtesy of Moby Gratis] The sun is always changing and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is always watching. Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO keeps a 24-hour eye on the entire disk …

“an unforgettable journey across the Red Planet.”

Pete Baker on October 28, 2013, 10:24 pm

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Curiosity may have been on the surface of Mars for over a year, but ESA’s Mars Express has been in orbit around the Red Planet for almost a decade. It’s one of a number of ways Mars is being observed, up close and personal. And, like the Hi-RISE camera on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express has some specialised instruments on-board for that purpose. Among them is the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The stunning 3D images in this video were taken by that camera. The video was released …

Lou Reed 1942-2013

Pete Baker on October 27, 2013, 10:21 pm

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Just a quick post to mark the death of founding member of The Velvet Underground, inspiration for 10,000 bands – see Brian Eno quote – singer, songwriter and general rock legend, Lou Reed, who has died of an unspecified “liver-related ailment”. He had a liver transplant in May this year after suffering liver failure. At the Guardian’s Music Blog Michael Hann does a great job of listing “Five rock themes we owe to his work“. And, separately, Sean O’Hagan collates “Six …

Time-lapse: Earth

Pete Baker on October 12, 2013, 2:58 pm

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As the Guardian’s GrrlScientist says, “Wow. Just wow.” And, “Oh, I recommend “full screen” mode.” Indeed. Adds – If you watch closely you can see Ireland and the UK pass underneath at around 2mins 30secs in. Time-Lapse | Earth from Bruce W. Berry Jr on Vimeo. Video credits Music: “Manhatta” composed and performed by The Cinematic Orchestra. (All rights reserved to their respective owners.) Film clips collected and edited by Bruce Berry. Images courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis …

Seamus Heaney: “But what about the river in the trees, boy?”

Pete Baker on August 30, 2013, 2:27 pm

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Seamus Heaney has died at the age of 74. The Slugger archive has a number of Heaney-related posts, although some links may be defunct. Among them one of my earliest posts noting Heaney writing on his fellow poet Czeslaw Milosz. More here, here, here, here, and here. And here’s a great montage of BBC archive clips from 2009 of “Digging”. [Photo credit: Felix Clay] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIzJgbNANzk?hl=en_GB&version=3&w=560&h=420] And a quote noted back in 2006. Sitting comfortably at last in the country-like kitchen of …

A year of Curiosity

Pete Baker on August 6, 2013, 4:33 pm

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One year ago, after “seven minutes of terror“, Nasa’s Mars Science Laboratory, the 900kg rover Curiosity, landed safely on the Red Planet and was soon taking a look around. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems] Full image and caption here. This scene combines seven images from the telephoto-lens camera on the right side of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument on NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity. The component images were taken between 11:39 and 11:43 a.m., local solar time, on 343rd Martian day, or …

“There’s no place like home…”

Pete Baker on July 24, 2013, 3:48 pm

| Readers 83

I didn’t ‘Wave at Saturn’ on 19 July when the Cassini probe, orbiting the gas giant, was taking a high-definition image of the view back home. I don’t think it encouraged a proper sense of perspective… But the resultant image is stunning. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute] It’s not the first time Cassini has looked home. Nor is it the only stunning image the probe has provided. But, as those involved pointed out “We can’t see individual continents or people in this …

“Drowning in the last hours of the day…”

Pete Baker on June 17, 2013, 2:48 pm

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Somewhat belatedly, here’s the annual excellent Bloomsday video. It’s tradition! Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Enjoy! Pete Baker

ODI: Ireland v Pakistan

Pete Baker on May 26, 2013, 4:46 pm

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A four from the last ball of the game by Kevin O’Brien saw Ireland secure a draw in Thursday’s rain affected One-Day International against Pakistan [Duckworth-Lewis applied]. Ireland’s 275 for 5 included 103 runs from 107 balls by Paul “that kid is a freak” Stirling. Going into today’s second ODI in the two game series, Ireland were confident of an upset against the test match playing Pakistan. Put in to bat, Ireland made a defendable 229 for 9. And they’ve picked up some early Pakistan wickets with the …

“…the only thing that’s real…”

Pete Baker on May 20, 2013, 12:16 am

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Apropos of nothing… Pete Baker

Three Years of SDO Data – Narrated

Pete Baker on May 11, 2013, 10:08 pm

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If you enjoyed the recent video from Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – “Three years in three minutes” – but would have liked more of an explanation of what was going on with our own local star… here it is again! This time, though, extended, and narrated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center heliophysicist Alex Young. [Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center] Pete Baker

“A major difference between the hurricanes is that the one on Saturn is much bigger…”

Pete Baker on May 1, 2013, 6:42 pm

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As I mentioned previously, Saturn doesn’t get the love some of our other gas giants do. [All hail our friend and lord, Jupiter! Keeping Ogdy at bay… – Ed] Indeed… [new link] But, with the help of Cassini, Saturn does provide some wondrous images. In some of its first sunlit images of Saturn’s north pole, Cassini has looked inside the mysterious hexagon-shaped jet-stream noted here, and spied an enormous hurricane. In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane’s eye is about 1,250 miles …

Solar Dynamics Observatory: Three years in three minutes

Pete Baker on April 22, 2013, 9:56 pm

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What it says on the tin. Three years after First Light, Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has released three stunning minutes of images compiled during its virtually unbroken coverage of the sun’s rise toward solar maximum. Enjoy! [Video from NasaExplorer on YouTube. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO] As they note in the associated text During the course of the video, the sun subtly increases and decreases in apparent size. This is because the distance between the SDO spacecraft and the …

“But we’re still part of the UK…”

Pete Baker on April 10, 2013, 10:02 pm

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The DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, and Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey, MLA, appeared separately on UTV Live this evening to give their thoughts on the 15th anniversary of the 1998 Agreement. Apparently Alex Maskey hadn’t arrived at the studio in time for the first segment… Whether by accident, or design, it was left to presenter Seamus McKee Paul Clark to ask the obvious question to Alex Maskey’s opening assertion. Here’s what the Sinn Féin MLA claimed The fundamental difference between before the …

Dublin 1982: What a difference thirty odd years makes?

Mick Fealty on April 1, 2013, 12:04 pm

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This is the Dublin I remember in 1982. The lighting gives it a slightly dour feeling, and you need to stop it every now and then to get the detail. The old cars, VW Beetles were once ubiquitous on southern roads in a way they never were north the border. GM cars were sold in NI as Vauxhall were badged in the Republic as Opel, with each model having different names. There generally seems have been much more French and …

Comet 2013 A1: Rendezvous with Mars…

Pete Baker on March 27, 2013, 8:46 pm

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Here’s something to think about whilst waiting to see if Comet ISON will fizzle, or sizzle. The latest Science at Nasa video looks at the trajectory, and consequences for Mars missions, of Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring). Discovered as recently as 3 January this year, this Oort cloud object will pass “extraordinarily close” to the planet Mars on 19 October 2014 – an actual collision, although unlikely, has not been ruled out yet [1:2000]. It’s estimated that an impact of the ~1-3 km-wide Comet 2013 A1, travelling at around …

Theresa Villiers: “I’m extremely pleased that we were able to answer the Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill’s request for a military helicopter…”

Pete Baker on March 26, 2013, 9:11 pm

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Following a request yesterday from the Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister, Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, to the Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, for “urgent access to helicopter support“, an RAF Chinook flew from its Hampshire base today to airlift supplies in order “to get food on the ground for stranded animals“. [It’s just “a transport helicopter“! – Ed] And the NI Agriculture Minister explained to UTV that the request was made “for helicopter support from the MOD” because it was “becoming very …

The ALMA Inauguration

Pete Baker on March 16, 2013, 7:05 pm

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As the BBC reported on Wednesday, having opened its eyes in 2011, and with 57 of its 66 antennas now ready to receive data on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Atacama desert, Chile, the Atacama Large Millimetre/Sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) was officially inaugurated on March 13. Here’s the associated ESOcast 55: The ALMA Inauguration. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO). Editing: Martin Kornmesser and Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Javier Perez Barbuzano and Herbert Zodet. Narration: Sara Mendes …

Friday Thread: Eradication of extreme poverty and the idea of momentum, inertia and jeopardy…

Mick Fealty on March 15, 2013, 2:00 pm

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Bono talks data poverty eradication at TED and, crucially, eradication of corruption. For which he proposes a familar solution: “The biggest disease of all is corruption. There is vaccine for that too. It’s called transparency. Open datasets.” First he may have to convince first world countries. Well worth taking the time to watch it all. But I picked those three words out which he uses to great effect to demonstrate how great potential can be killed by failing to do …