A report has just been issued by the United Nations Environment Programme.About 400 experts on natural resourc have contributed to this report .The executive director of Unep summarised that ,in short, over the past 20 years ,while the financial wealth of our planet has risen by about 30%, the 'natural' capital , e.g.water, land , the air and atmosphere,biodiversity and marine resources ''continue their ,seemingly , inexorable decline ''.
Mr.Steiner (thats his name ) in short says that environmentally we are already 'living beyond our means.Two statistics ,from the many included in the report: (1) ''fresh water stocks in West Asia have declined from 1700 cubic meters per person per year,in the 1980's to 907 meters today .By the middle of this century this is likely to fall still further to 420 cubic meters per person per year ''. (2) ''Biologists have now classified 30% of amphibians , 23% of mammals and 12 % of birds as threatened ''.
The three major environmental problems are (according to the report ), a growing human population , climate change and the mass extinction of plants and animals.According to Unep's Global Environmental Outlook , we as humans are now living way beyond our means.....
Speaking of living beyond our means there's a story from Zimbabwe featuring a woman ,with the unlikely name of Nomatter Tagarira , who apparently conned Robert Mugabe's government out of Z$ 5 bn (thats five billion Zimbabwan dollars , about € 2.42 million ,or if you prefer an Irish Government Minister's ''walking around 'money), anyway to get back to the other banana republic, , this woman apparently convinced the people in power that she could supply enough diesel fuel for the next hundred years simply by striking a rock with her staff (I presume they mean a wand ).
Apparently she had discovered an underground tank of fuel , hidden since the country's civil war in the 1970's....she was described as a 'spirit medium'....she is now ''awaiting trial''.
It took the government a year to realise that they had been conned.....she should have come to Ireland ...she would be still in business....
This week our 'clowns in power' have given us ...yet more gangster murders....yet more cut backs and cock-ups in the HSE , more lies from Ministers and senior civil servants , even good oul' Gaybo is getting in on the act ,with the sudden change in the Provisional Licence laws.
He (Gaybo ) has been made a fool of by 'cunning ' Bertie to take the attention off the grotesquely greedy increases he (Bertie ) , his ministers and so-called 'top'civil servants have given themselves....everyones a 'winna' except the poor fools who pay taxes (please don't tell me politicians and civil servants also pay tax , gross or net these people are feeding out of the public trough....).
Who elected these people....and why ?
....
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Milk/papers etc./Rathgar in the rare oul' times..
An insurance company has a radio ad. running currently and , as well as advertising their 'products' they give a little free advice at the end ...today's gem advised people who are going away on their hols to be sure to remember to cancel their milk and newspaper deliveries.
What world are these ad.guys/gals living in ?...I can't remember the last time I heard of youngsters doing paper-rounds and it must be at least 15 years since milk was delivered door-to-door in Ireland.Maybe I'm wrong maybe there is some other world out there where all these things still happen...milk delivered daily to each home,in glass,one pint bottles ...the milkman waking up the birds with his ( oh yes ..always his..) joyous whistling, Dobbin , the horse ,waiting patiently for his master...the waking citizens listening to the receding sound of clinking milk bottles..or the paper-'boy' , not exactly with''shining morning face'',popping the 'early-early' edition of the Times (gotta be the Times) through the letter-box ,not , as in America , tossing it on to the neatly-manicured, lawn ( Irish weather and lawns unsuitable this form of delivery).
Is there a world in which this happens ,apart from the minds of the ad. people ? I do remember when even fresh bread was delivered door -to -door in suburban Dublin , Johnson,Mooney and O'Brien had tall two-wheeled ,horse-drawn,bread vans..the lovely smell of freshly baked loaves,turnovers,'pans', 'vienna' rolls and the taste of the still-warm crust......all delivered to your door each day by a (usually ) friendly , deliveryman , who was proud of his job.
Before the days of washing-machines in each home , the Laundryman used to call twice a week,once to pick up the dirty laundry and the accompanying list , and later in the week to deliver the , now crisply starched , clean laundry.
I can still see , in my minds eye , Rathgar Avenue , on a summer morning , in the 1950's ,the horse-drawn delivery vans ( usually there were more than one bakery , laundry ,or dairy ,company competing ),lined up behind one another , sometimes up to three or four vans in the immediate area ,
the housewives (well usually wives , occasionally housekeepers), gossiping with the deliverymen,while the horses waited patiently. (Mind you,there was a hidden benefit having all those horses about,as anyone who had roses to fertilise - in those days it was called manure -
was quick to take advantage of)
The whole neighbourhood had a buzz , women coming home from daily Mass , shop-keepers tending the 'outside' merchandise,the clanking of trams at the Orwell crossroads...the slight feeling of guilt for not being at school (the week -end morning routine was different) and of course shopping baskets...(everything had to be bought daily and in seperate premises....the Butchers...seperate shops for pork and beef,fruit and veg shops ,with their exotic smells, (at least exotic to our unsophisticated nostrils) ,game and fish laid out on ice beds,the Monument Creamery for milk cheese and dairy products,so 5 or 6 separate premises to get the daily meal fo the family...How did I get into this?
I'm off to watch'' Deal or No Deal'', see you later....
What world are these ad.guys/gals living in ?...I can't remember the last time I heard of youngsters doing paper-rounds and it must be at least 15 years since milk was delivered door-to-door in Ireland.Maybe I'm wrong maybe there is some other world out there where all these things still happen...milk delivered daily to each home,in glass,one pint bottles ...the milkman waking up the birds with his ( oh yes ..always his..) joyous whistling, Dobbin , the horse ,waiting patiently for his master...the waking citizens listening to the receding sound of clinking milk bottles..or the paper-'boy' , not exactly with''shining morning face'',popping the 'early-early' edition of the Times (gotta be the Times) through the letter-box ,not , as in America , tossing it on to the neatly-manicured, lawn ( Irish weather and lawns unsuitable this form of delivery).
Is there a world in which this happens ,apart from the minds of the ad. people ? I do remember when even fresh bread was delivered door -to -door in suburban Dublin , Johnson,Mooney and O'Brien had tall two-wheeled ,horse-drawn,bread vans..the lovely smell of freshly baked loaves,turnovers,'pans', 'vienna' rolls and the taste of the still-warm crust......all delivered to your door each day by a (usually ) friendly , deliveryman , who was proud of his job.
Before the days of washing-machines in each home , the Laundryman used to call twice a week,once to pick up the dirty laundry and the accompanying list , and later in the week to deliver the , now crisply starched , clean laundry.
I can still see , in my minds eye , Rathgar Avenue , on a summer morning , in the 1950's ,the horse-drawn delivery vans ( usually there were more than one bakery , laundry ,or dairy ,company competing ),lined up behind one another , sometimes up to three or four vans in the immediate area ,
the housewives (well usually wives , occasionally housekeepers), gossiping with the deliverymen,while the horses waited patiently. (Mind you,there was a hidden benefit having all those horses about,as anyone who had roses to fertilise - in those days it was called manure -
was quick to take advantage of)
The whole neighbourhood had a buzz , women coming home from daily Mass , shop-keepers tending the 'outside' merchandise,the clanking of trams at the Orwell crossroads...the slight feeling of guilt for not being at school (the week -end morning routine was different) and of course shopping baskets...(everything had to be bought daily and in seperate premises....the Butchers...seperate shops for pork and beef,fruit and veg shops ,with their exotic smells, (at least exotic to our unsophisticated nostrils) ,game and fish laid out on ice beds,the Monument Creamery for milk cheese and dairy products,so 5 or 6 separate premises to get the daily meal fo the family...How did I get into this?
I'm off to watch'' Deal or No Deal'', see you later....
Saturday, October 13, 2007
France vs England vs Ireland
Today England plays against France in a semi-final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.Ireland was knocked out of the competition two weeks ago.Yesterday on RTE radio's so-called sports programme this game was hardly referred to.The other semi-final between Argentine and South Africa ,was discussed in detail.I ask myself ,how can someone in our national radio station justify this obvious begrugery and lack of sportmanship.'We're not in it therefore its not of interest to us'...seems to be the reason.
Of course it rankles that our 'ancient enemy' is still in the competition with a reasonable chance of winning an historic double.To further frustrate us our sometime historical friend (General Humbert,Wolfe Tone ,Maud Gonne /Sean Mc Bride) France ,was the country that was directly responsible for our exit.(Cheval a horse of a man....or maybe ''A Man Called Horse'').
So our dilemma is ,who can we cheer for ? As far as RTE is concerned the answer is ,nobody.
The reasons for our antipity toward England,(or Great Britian,or the U.K. or 'across the water' as our media people sometimes euphemistically,refer to that other island that is John Bull),these reasons are well documented in our history books .Our relationship with France is more based on our conception that 'our enemy's enemy is our friend'.We also misunderstand the true relationship between England and France.These two countries have a 'love-hate' relationship with each other that no other country will ever understand.Bound together by history and geography ( and literature),often seeming to severly criticise each other they still managed to jointly complete two of greatest engineering projects of the twentieth century....the channel tunnel and the Concord (the reason Concord eventually failed was to do with economics not engineering).The eponomymous ''Two Cities'' of Dickens famous novel are now joined together in space and time (approx 2 hours apart).
Likewise we in Ireland are so closely bound to U.K. (etc...) we hardly notice .Just witness the row going on in Limerick because Aer Lingus pulled out of the Shannon/Heathrow link.We are now causually 'crossing the border' through the North simply to get to weddings in Donegal....,despite the fact that there is a different currency and laws (speed in m.p.h. rather than k.p.h.)
Our relationship with France is different,of course we called them in during our various rebellions against the British,but as far as I can remember from my Irish history,we also called in the Spanish,and even , during the 1916 Rising , Casement endevored to bring in the Germans I think we found the French aloof ,mainly because we had never really taught the French language.But our writers like Joyce and Beckett have found France a country in which they were very much at ease.Stephen Roche who won the Tour also settled there ,I remember our (?) most famous international thespian , Michael Mac Liammore , was known to have commented ,when presented with one of France's highest accolades,''why me ?I have done nothing for France ,except love Her.....
So let us all cheer ,let the best country win and may our rugby team be ready for the next world cup.....with Eddie O'Sullivan still in charge....
Of course it rankles that our 'ancient enemy' is still in the competition with a reasonable chance of winning an historic double.To further frustrate us our sometime historical friend (General Humbert,Wolfe Tone ,Maud Gonne /Sean Mc Bride) France ,was the country that was directly responsible for our exit.(Cheval a horse of a man....or maybe ''A Man Called Horse'').
So our dilemma is ,who can we cheer for ? As far as RTE is concerned the answer is ,nobody.
The reasons for our antipity toward England,(or Great Britian,or the U.K. or 'across the water' as our media people sometimes euphemistically,refer to that other island that is John Bull),these reasons are well documented in our history books .Our relationship with France is more based on our conception that 'our enemy's enemy is our friend'.We also misunderstand the true relationship between England and France.These two countries have a 'love-hate' relationship with each other that no other country will ever understand.Bound together by history and geography ( and literature),often seeming to severly criticise each other they still managed to jointly complete two of greatest engineering projects of the twentieth century....the channel tunnel and the Concord (the reason Concord eventually failed was to do with economics not engineering).The eponomymous ''Two Cities'' of Dickens famous novel are now joined together in space and time (approx 2 hours apart).
Likewise we in Ireland are so closely bound to U.K. (etc...) we hardly notice .Just witness the row going on in Limerick because Aer Lingus pulled out of the Shannon/Heathrow link.We are now causually 'crossing the border' through the North simply to get to weddings in Donegal....,despite the fact that there is a different currency and laws (speed in m.p.h. rather than k.p.h.)
Our relationship with France is different,of course we called them in during our various rebellions against the British,but as far as I can remember from my Irish history,we also called in the Spanish,and even , during the 1916 Rising , Casement endevored to bring in the Germans I think we found the French aloof ,mainly because we had never really taught the French language.But our writers like Joyce and Beckett have found France a country in which they were very much at ease.Stephen Roche who won the Tour also settled there ,I remember our (?) most famous international thespian , Michael Mac Liammore , was known to have commented ,when presented with one of France's highest accolades,''why me ?I have done nothing for France ,except love Her.....
So let us all cheer ,let the best country win and may our rugby team be ready for the next world cup.....with Eddie O'Sullivan still in charge....
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Gambling on horses..tut,tut,tut.
Champion jockey Kieran Fallon finds himself in some difficulty ,apparently because he managed to win (his horse ,that is ) 5 out of 17 races that a gambling syndicate had bet on him to lose.This new idea where it is possible to effectivly bet on a horse to lose rather than win needs some clarification.
So called bookmakers Betfair run a gambling operation which I can only compare to the stock market carry-on known as Contracts for Difference.With Betfair a person, (provided they have the appropiate dosh) can decide to offer to third parties good odds , on well-fancied horses,way above the odds they would be offered from the ordinary bookmaker,it goes something like this;Joe Bloggs knows that a certain horse (say, ridden by the champion jockey) will be on offer @ say, 2 to 1....Joe B. ,having come to an ''arrangement'' with the jockey,offers 3 to 1,lodges ,for argument sake , 150,000 (any currency) with Betfair,takes bets from the punters up to 50,ooo,knowing of course that the jockey will endevour to 'lose' the race.
Good -old -Joe B ,picks up 50 grand gets his own 150 grand back (less a small 'commission') from Betfair...and everyone's a winna......except those who lost , of course.
I hope you are following all this ....I'll be asking questions later..
Kieran Fallon's further problem arises because the races that he (apparently) won by 'accident' cost his co -conspiritors up to 500,000 , and he was obliged to 'make good' the shortfall , presumably by 'losing' other races for them.....he would not get his 'cut' until this was done....geddit!!!!!
This case could go on for up to 5 MONTHS......and the jockey who (with the help of a horse) won last Sunday's Arc de Triomphe horse race , will have to wait the outcome....I now hear that mobile phone information is not going to help Fallon's case...more anon....
No no ...just one more thing before I go...one example given says that on one occasion the syndicate put down 100,ooo with Betfair to win ,as they thought,a guaranteed 12,000....
So called bookmakers Betfair run a gambling operation which I can only compare to the stock market carry-on known as Contracts for Difference.With Betfair a person, (provided they have the appropiate dosh) can decide to offer to third parties good odds , on well-fancied horses,way above the odds they would be offered from the ordinary bookmaker,it goes something like this;Joe Bloggs knows that a certain horse (say, ridden by the champion jockey) will be on offer @ say, 2 to 1....Joe B. ,having come to an ''arrangement'' with the jockey,offers 3 to 1,lodges ,for argument sake , 150,000 (any currency) with Betfair,takes bets from the punters up to 50,ooo,knowing of course that the jockey will endevour to 'lose' the race.
Good -old -Joe B ,picks up 50 grand gets his own 150 grand back (less a small 'commission') from Betfair...and everyone's a winna......except those who lost , of course.
I hope you are following all this ....I'll be asking questions later..
Kieran Fallon's further problem arises because the races that he (apparently) won by 'accident' cost his co -conspiritors up to 500,000 , and he was obliged to 'make good' the shortfall , presumably by 'losing' other races for them.....he would not get his 'cut' until this was done....geddit!!!!!
This case could go on for up to 5 MONTHS......and the jockey who (with the help of a horse) won last Sunday's Arc de Triomphe horse race , will have to wait the outcome....I now hear that mobile phone information is not going to help Fallon's case...more anon....
No no ...just one more thing before I go...one example given says that on one occasion the syndicate put down 100,ooo with Betfair to win ,as they thought,a guaranteed 12,000....
Monday, October 8, 2007
Lies and statistics
Yesterday (Sun.7/10/07) the Sunday Independent printed about four or five full pages by various journalists on differing aspects of a survey commissioned by that newspaper.This publication had a glaring headline referring to the fact (i.e.result) that Bertie Ahern was still favoured by the 'public',were an election to be held now.
On reading on I discovered that this was a telephone poll and furthermore the numbers polled were 400.
The question must be asked how on earth this ''poll'' can be acceptable in any newspaper worthy of the name,no matter how 'professional' the pollsters are.Surely 400 from a population of over 4 million (by phone) must be the laziest ever carried out ,and then to practically fill their news with the so-called ''results''.
From memory of , statistical formulae , I think that the standard deviation , in random selection polls , to make any sense , . has to have some reasonable relationship between the numbers chosen and the population from which the samples are chosen .his nonsense is then used to make headlines and fill space....shame on you ..Sunday Indo.....
On reading on I discovered that this was a telephone poll and furthermore the numbers polled were 400.
The question must be asked how on earth this ''poll'' can be acceptable in any newspaper worthy of the name,no matter how 'professional' the pollsters are.Surely 400 from a population of over 4 million (by phone) must be the laziest ever carried out ,and then to practically fill their news with the so-called ''results''.
From memory of , statistical formulae , I think that the standard deviation , in random selection polls , to make any sense , . has to have some reasonable relationship between the numbers chosen and the population from which the samples are chosen .his nonsense is then used to make headlines and fill space....shame on you ..Sunday Indo.....
Monday, October 1, 2007
Health Service/Irelands Argie-Bargie/ 3.10 seen...
The cunning plan by the 'former'P.D. party has worked beyond their wildest dreams.They set out to create a two-tier society.I'm not sure whether this was Des O'Malley's original intention when he set up the party , but since Mary Harney and Michael Mc Dowell's, involvement, in leadership , there has been an obvious and determined move to 'privatise ' our health service, our education system,local services etc.The original 'plan' was to reduce the public service and bring on private businesses to fill the gap.This has'nt happened , in fact the opposite has happened ,the numbers in the public/civil service have ballooned and with the introduction of so-called 'benchmarking' system the costs of providing our administration have skyrocketed.
The shop-around mantra of Mary Harney and her ilk was supposed to introduce competition and thereby reduce prices.This 'plan'was undermined by Harney herself,most notably when she left the BUPA subscribers high and dry before Quinn rode in to 'save-the-day'.She also let down Smart Telecom subscribers when Eircom pulled the plug.Then we had McDowell's comment about a booming economy ' needing an under class'.
And of course we have now been lumbered with ,what is referred to as , Public Private Partnerships . Does anyone really believe that , in the current political climate and knowing from the fall-out from the Tribunals how bent our system is , that the PPP ( a typical civil service catch-all acronym) will not be run by big business , with the compliance of eager-to-please public servants?
So we have now ended up with the worst of all worlds , as far as certain sectors of our society are concerned ,(for example those who depend on our public health or educational services exclusively) and the best of times for the higher reaches of business and the upper level of public and civil servants who have guarenteed jobs and pensions in a cooling economy.These jobs and pensions will be funded by the middle -ranking tax payers........enough for now ...more anon....
Ireland's International Rugby Team was beaten yesterday by Argentina.Ireland's Callers have called for the resignation of the manager Eddie O'Sullivan.I seem to remember this same man being feted by the same Callers ,why it must have been all of ....say ...3 or 4 weeks ago....wow ...what a long time in the lives of the Callers.....I can believe that a player's form can change in the space of a few weeks.....but how the**** can a MANAGERS form change....Callers grow up and learn how to become SPORTSMEN.......
I have seen the re-make of the old Glenn Ford western ''3.10 to Yuma''.verdict?..Well done well worth seeing,they even used some of the lines from the original.....now if I was to critic.....se
.
The shop-around mantra of Mary Harney and her ilk was supposed to introduce competition and thereby reduce prices.This 'plan'was undermined by Harney herself,most notably when she left the BUPA subscribers high and dry before Quinn rode in to 'save-the-day'.She also let down Smart Telecom subscribers when Eircom pulled the plug.Then we had McDowell's comment about a booming economy ' needing an under class'.
And of course we have now been lumbered with ,what is referred to as , Public Private Partnerships . Does anyone really believe that , in the current political climate and knowing from the fall-out from the Tribunals how bent our system is , that the PPP ( a typical civil service catch-all acronym) will not be run by big business , with the compliance of eager-to-please public servants?
So we have now ended up with the worst of all worlds , as far as certain sectors of our society are concerned ,(for example those who depend on our public health or educational services exclusively) and the best of times for the higher reaches of business and the upper level of public and civil servants who have guarenteed jobs and pensions in a cooling economy.These jobs and pensions will be funded by the middle -ranking tax payers........enough for now ...more anon....
Ireland's International Rugby Team was beaten yesterday by Argentina.Ireland's Callers have called for the resignation of the manager Eddie O'Sullivan.I seem to remember this same man being feted by the same Callers ,why it must have been all of ....say ...3 or 4 weeks ago....wow ...what a long time in the lives of the Callers.....I can believe that a player's form can change in the space of a few weeks.....but how the**** can a MANAGERS form change....Callers grow up and learn how to become SPORTSMEN.......
I have seen the re-make of the old Glenn Ford western ''3.10 to Yuma''.verdict?..Well done well worth seeing,they even used some of the lines from the original.....now if I was to critic.....se
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