BREAKING NEWS118 jobs will be lost at the Flextronics plant in Limerick by Christmas it was revealed Saturday.SIPTU members working at the plant were told the news at a special meeting which was convened today. Initial reports this week said that a 100 of the 290 jobs at the plant were to be lost.Meanwhile the Limerick Blogger reports 65 voluntary redundancies are being sought at the RR Donnelly plant in...
DEVELOPING NEWSThe Limerick area was placed under a reported Tornado Watch as a heavy bout of severe rain and wind moved into the region Saturday.The Tornado and Storm Research Organization known as TORRO, have placed the Midwest along with most of southern Ireland under a Tornado watch from 11am Saturday until 1am Sunday the 9th of November.The Independent and privately supported research body which is based in the United Kingdom and focuses on tornadoes and severe local storms said in an alert issued that “Tornadoes up to T3-4, wind gusts to 60mph, occasional CG lightning, hail” were all possible in the areas...
Another example of a beautiful minimalist ceramic work from Nuala, a graduate from Galway IT ceramics......
Bulb via [PYGMENT] November 6th, 2008 at 23:00
This is a piece for the final year of Ceramics in Galway IT, it’s by Naula a friend of ours. I can’t hope to remember what it was all about (it was deep) but I loved the minimalism.
Clare, my fiance, is featured in the current issue of Ceramics Review. Limerick Art College was the only Irish college covered in this years review and Clare was one of the two students featured. I order a copy on-line we’re expecting it in the post soon...
Just an update on the current Finnish e-voting farce where 232 votes were lost due to `usability' issues with the voting machines, this Finnish EFF (see their statement). This might seem pretty small but this was only a pilot in three small areas and actually accounted for 2% of the electoral register. The problem happened when after a voter had inserted their smart card to verify their identity, selected their candidate by typing his/her number and pressing okay, then a verification screen was shown and some voters did not press the okay on this screen but removed their smart cards which caused the ballots to be lost. The instructions on the machine said that the only way to cancel a vote was by clicking the cancel button and then removing their smart card, this of course didn't help...
Clouds via [PYGMENT] November 5th, 2008 at 23:00
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Fragile via [PYGMENT] November 5th, 2008 at 14:37
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In case you had to work today or just fell asleep on the counch in the early morning hours, here's a link to President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech. I'm really happy to see the change in the US, it'll still be a bit of a battle for him to get all his policies past the Senate given the current results leave open the potential for many fillibusters but it is definitely a new dawn for America. Who'd have thought that they'd elect a black man to sit in the Oval office, it is really a day that shows the American dream is possible for one and all. Ireland will have to wait a few more months to see if the taxing of overseas American companies (FDI) will be taxed according to his earlier plans but today its a happy day for the world as America has shown democracy in...
Just a quick note that I will be playing under the guise of escalation746 this Saturday evening at Baker's Place, as part of the ongoing micronite series. Doors open at 9pm and I'll be on early, so don't be late! As the evening goes on the minimal techno dance fest begins, with Dapayk aka Mareck Bois keeping the house hopping.My own contribution will be a little more noisy and free-form, but have no fear the beeps and bloops will be never too far...
If, like me, you’ve tended to find yourself in more than your fair share of embarrassing situations, you might want to read on. I’ve decided to finally publish a useful list of outs for those embarrassing moments. You may need to tweak these a little to suit yourself but you’re more than welcome to do so.
You find yourself in a nice restaurant with a girl you’re desperately trying to impress. Everything’s going swimmingly. She even likes your Jack Palance impersonation and she agrees with you when you assert that Westlife should be sentenced to life in a sound-proof prison. You notice her little idiosyncrasies and you find them adorable. You also notice that she has a refined sense of personal hygiene. All of this is happening but something else is too....
Where is the radical reform in the civil service ? Sunday Times figures show that almost every civil servant in the country has received a pay increase. The Government seemed happy to let the civil servants write the budget and now we find that the oversight process for employees in the civil service, the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) has standards so low that in essence the civil servants are writing their own pay rises. According to the Department of Finance, the pay bill for 2008 will be €2.1 billion up 6.7% from 2007 (€1.9 billion). This sparks the questions about pay freezes, reform, and job security of civil servants. Its worse in the wider public sector where the average wage increase is around 8.9% or so and adds €1.5 billion to the wage bill per...
I’ve just bought myself a Schecter guitar. WHAT???? Well, if you’re a music head, you’ll know. They’ve been off the radar for the last few years but I placed my order today and hope to take delivery of it during the week. Should all go well, I’ll tell you a bit more about it. Should all not go well, I’ll be telling you a hell of a lot more about it....
If you’re in the vicinity of Limerick City this Bank Holiday Monday 27th of October, you’re in for a treat if take yourself to Foley’s pub. Limerick gets bad press - mainly from Dubliners trying to shine the unwanted spotlight anywhere but there - but there is a veritable plethora of musical legends in the City. Sunday night, same venue, sees the amazing Eamon Hehir and his band, who count my favourite guitar player, Dessie O’Dwyer amongst their ranks and on Monday, you have the return after many years of Joe and John Browne.
These brothers have played in many bands ranging from the original Reform to the O’Malley’s the Bootleggers and of course, Joe Browne and the Durty Dawgs. I’m not going to pigeon-hole them because they’ve such a unique...
From my silence here you might imagine I've been doing no programming at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. While it is true that my commercial and open source projects are pretty well at a standstill, I have been working with a variety of languages for music composition and processing, so you can soon expect some sort of follow-up to the articles I wrote on music control languages, Chuck, etc.How soon? Well, maybe I shouldn't have said anything at all! I am deep in a Masters in Music Technology at the University of Limerick, the one run by the Roman Numeral Department (as only I call it). Properly it's the CCMCM, The Centre for Computational Musicology and Computer Music. here I am being forced to confront the wonders of Java, Max/MSP and Csound.It is the last of these that...
As you all know, AC/DC are back. For years they were a guilty pleasure of mine but I don’t care to hide it anymore. I am an AC/DC fan. Sometimes you’ve just got to put away the soapbox and flow along with the riff. Here’s a great take on AC/DC by a band called Hayseed Dixie.
Hayseed Dixie - Hell’s bellsby......
(My goal was to create a sound art piece for a conference on Jean Baudrillard. This blog entry collates some of the thoughts I encountered on the way.)Baudrillard's writings address a predominantly visual world. He wrote of objects in mirrors, took photographs of absence, and sharply probed a hyper-saturated mediascape that was dominantly ocular. In an interview for CTHEORY in 1995 he was asked to comment on sound as distinct from image. His response was to conflate the two into the "audio-visual", admitting that "the sphere of sound, the acoustic sphere, audio, is really more alien to me than the visual."Investigating sound through Baudrillard draws a blank. But from this empty silence I will construct the scaffolding for my piece, like a spider's web in the night. (You walk unknowingly...
This Saturday at 5:30pm, if you happen to be in Mainz Germany, drop by the Antiquariat am Ballplatz to hear me debut a new sound art piece. I have the honour of kick-starting Die Gegenwart Von Jean Baudrillard, a two day conference organised by Caroline Heinrich. Among the six papers is one by Alan Shapiro, friend and author of the fantastic Star Trek book I blogged about back in 2006.This is a very particular conference, a personal approach to this enigmatic thinker. It includes a harpsichord recital, a song or two, and a paper by Marine Dupuis Baudrillard, "Rhapsodie Amoureuse Ou 'Transfert Poétique De Situation'". It's all part of a festival of French culture in Mainz, organised by the Instituts Français.My problem going into this project was significant. How can I...
DEVELOPING NEWSA major Garda investigation has been launched after a husband and wife were tied up by an armed gang in a robbery in Kilmallock Sunday night.The couple, owners of petrol station in the town, were at their home when a gang of about 5 men gained entry to the house around 10pm. They forced the man to go to the petrol station where a large sum of money was handed over. Its reported that at least one of the men was armed with a handgun.The man and his wife were then tied up at their house before the gang made off with the money in the couples jeep. The couple managed to raise the alarm a few hours later.Gardai have appealed for anyone who may have seen anything to contact their incident room at 061...
A man has been killed in a road accident in Co. Limerick Sunday night.The man, thought to be in his early twenties died when the car in which he was travelling in, careered into a ditch on the N69 road near Loughill around 9.15pm. A woman in her twenties who was also travelling in the car was taken to Limerick regional Hospital. Two other passengers did not require treatment.The scene of the crash, around 3 miles out of Loughill on the Glin road remains sealed off by Gardai while technical examinations are carried...
BREAKING NEWSGardai in Limerick are appealing for information from the public in relation to the whereabouts of a missing Limerick woman.Nuala McHugh from Dooradoyle was last seen on Tuesday evening in near her home at Willow Court at around 5pm.She is described as being 1.67m tall of medium to heavy buildm with shoulder length straight brown hair and speaks with a slight Dublin accent.When last seen Nuala was wearing cotton trousers and a long brown jacket. Her family are said to be extremely concerned for her welfare.Via RTE News Gardai are asking anyone who may have any information to contact them on 061...
This would be funny if it wasn’t so close to the truth.
Sarah Palin interview with Katie Couric parodyby......
Oh Dear God.
I Love Sarah Palinby......
Before any of you start complaining, this is not a pornographic post. Yes, you could extract all kinds of tedious sexual innuendo from my blog title and the one about which I’m going to write. Look, if that your thing, you’re really wasting your time.
It’s funny how the American presidential election has almost become a sociological experiment. For the most part, people who support Obama go about their business without resorting to juvenile mudslinging, while those who support McCain will resort to all kinds of racist taunts and school yard name calling. I’m aware that I have accused certain McCain supporters of being inbred primates but that’s just a statement of fact. I came across Jackie’s Jungle - again, please refrain from sexual innuendo -...
A search for a missing elderly Limerick woman in Italy has been scaled down, Italian Police have said this evening.82 year old Mairead Geary was last seen on Friday when she said she was taking a cable car up to a viewing point on nearby Mount Mottarone near the northern Italian town of Stresa.Mrs. Geary is originally from Co. Clare but has been living on the South Circular Road for most of her life. Family members travelled to Italy on Sunday to take part in the search but have since returned...
Gardai in Clare investigating the activities of a number of criminal groups believed to be associated with gangland crime in Limerick, have arrested a man and seized a number of items during searches in Shannon.Shannon Gardai assisted by the newly established Regional Support Unit carried out searches at a number of properties in the town seizing a hand gun, some ammunition, drugs and pipe bomb components.The arrested man is being held at Ennis Garda...
DEVELOPING NEWSThe Jury in the trial of Niall Shannon has found the 20 year old guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol in returning the first of two verdicts against him.The jury of seven woman and five men returned with the unanimous verdict this afternoon however they informed Judge Carol Moran that they could not reach a unanimous verdict on a count of dangerous driving causing death and were “locked”.Judge Moran has since said a majority verdict will be accepted in relation to the charge saying the jury can also consider a lesser charge of careless driving.Deliberations are...
The jury in the trial of a man accused of dangerous driving causing the deaths of a Garda and a Fireman in Co. Limerick last year has retired to consider a verdict today.Niall Shannon an apprentice carpenter from Ballylongford Co. Kerry has been on trial at the Circuit Court since October 1st in relation to the road traffic accident in February of last year in which Garda Brian Kelleher and fireman Michael Liston were killed.In his closing address to the jury, prosecuting Senior Counsel, John O`Kelly said Niall Shannon had failed to react to what had gone wrong, had failed to take any action to avoid a collision and appears to have been speeding. Mr O`Kelly added it is known Niall Shannon had excessive alcohol in his system which may explain why he failed to stop and failed to slow...
Gardai from the Criminal Assets bureau have been granted permission by a judge to seize two vehicles from Limerick criminals believed to be involved in gangland activity in the city.Local radio reports today say the two cars worth around €100,000 were taken from two well known criminals. The order was granted by a judge this morning and Gardai quickly acted upon...
A Corbally man has been thrust into the media spotlight this week after he made the decision to raffle his house next month.Tony Browne intends to sell 800 tickets at €500 each to be in with a chance to win his Carrabullawn house. He purchased his house which cost €352,000 last year but lost his job recently and is now unable to make mortgage repayments.He told the Limerick Leader today,"I'll definitely sell them all. I'd say I could be starting a trend; there'll be more raffling houses after me as no one can sell them"Speaking on local radio Thursday morning Mr Brown said he plans to use some of the money raised to emigrate overseas.The local Limerick Leader newspaper says it has been bombarded with calls from people enquiring of how to buy a ticket for the raffle however Mr Browne...