The old arguments between what we will call creationists or intelligent designers and those who do not believe , or more correctly , those who believe that the universe is meaningless has begun again . This is a good thing because it focuses , once again , our thoughts on something other than what is happening now and causes us to think outside ourselves .
For those who have a faith or a belief it makes them think deeply about what they believe , and for those who have no beliefs , outside of the immediate , it causes them to conjour up some thoughts about their existence .
I have never really read Mark Twain but I believe he was once asked a question about the hereafter he said somethink like ''I existed for billions of years before I was born and it never caused me any discomfort....'' which is another interestimg thought , that instead of wondering where we go after we die we should be thinking about where we were before we were born .
These profound thoughts come to mind following the interview with Naula O'Faolain on the Marion Finnucan radio show .O'Faolain had been told six weeks before she was on the show that she had terminal cancer , totally out of the blue , she had attended an out patient clinic in New York with , what she thought was , a minor complaint , and was told , apparently in a causal manner that she had several secondary tumors .She did not wish to have chemo' and has now died .Her way of dealing with the devastating news affected all who heard her.
Basically no-one knows what is 'on the other side' and those who have a strong faith are the lucky ones because those who do not believe still have to explain to themselves about such things as infinity (Stephen Hawkins is working on that ), eternity (Richard Dawkins is working on that ) and of course as we gain more and more information in science and physics we know that there is no such thing as 'nothing '. Therefore all of us dust and spirit must end up some where.....now isn't it much easier to have a strong faith .....
(Overheard.....'where did yer man get all this rubbish......)
p.s I'll do a proper blog when something important comes along....
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Kevin Myers /Celbridge developement
The following from K. M.'s ,I.I. 16/4/08 :
"A fate is being proposed for the pleasant little town of Celbridge which is so monstrous , so implausable ,so fatuous . that it could almost come from one of Swift's ghastly ,satirical fictions about human conduct .But this is not satire nor is it fiction ,though Swift would recognise it as a towering example of utter Brobdingnagian (? sic ) folly.
Celbridge lies along just one side of the Liffey , and its spine , paoallel to the river , is a predominantly Georgian main street :and appropriatley so .
Jonathan Swift would often journey to Celbridge , to calm the passionate yearnings of his inamorata , Vanessa , at one end of the main street. At the same time at the far end of the same street , Speaker Conolly was erecting what is now the greatest surviving Palladian mansion in Ireland , Castletown : and roughly midway between Vanessa's home and the entrance to Speaker Conolly's great house , Arthur Guinness was later to start his first brewery .
Now there are very few exports that are known around the world . The tale of Gulliver's Travels is one , and the name Lilliput exists in just about all languages . In this creation Swift invented the literary form of the traveller arriving in a country which is so similar yet utterly different . Celbridge was never Swift's home , but , as a regular visitor , it was where he first heard Irish spoken . Indeed , the concept of Lilliput might well have had its spiritual genesis in this modest Liffeyside town , where the contrasting worlds of Hiberno-English and Gaelic cultures met .
It was certainlt the home if one other great international Irish brand . Arthur Guinness , Celbridge- born and bred , opened his first brewery in the town while still in his 20's .
As we all know , in time he moved his business to Dublin , and thence to the world . Not only did he start Irelands greatest company , but he also begat , perhaos Ireland's most distinguished family , who down the generations have contributed more to this country than any other .
Arthur and Jonathan could return to Celbridges main street today , and recognise it still ;they could walk up the drivway at its eastern end , where Jonathan might admire the finisjhed Palladian splendours of Castletown , which he saw building during his visits to Vanessa .
But if Kildare County Council , and a company called 'Devondale' (where do Irish developers get these absutd cod-English names from ?) have their way , our two visitors from the 18th century will be able to see the house and the gardens ans the entire town , on the north side of the Liffey dwarfed and violated by a vast new extension to Celbridge , fronting on to the southern riverbank beyond .
The school of architecture which seems to have inspired the proposed Celbridge New Town is the M50 Orbital:a jumble of characterless , bland , concrete blocks , only suitable for lining a motorway .Some of these blocks are eight storeys , made taller still by the greater height of the far bank .
This hilariously named 'town centre 'is said by the planners to be an 'organic' development :but the 'o' word is another meaningless piety of our times. New Celbridge is as organic as DDT : in other words mere modernistic cant and developmental humbug .
Its one thing to build factories and shops near Celbridge : quite another to create ludicrous juxtapositions , a narrow river's -width apart. On the Liffey's left bank , Lilliput , on the right , Brobdingnag . On one side , naturally brewed Guinness on the other Milwaukee industrialised lite . Here stands Sir Edward Lovett Pearce's great mansion , with its majestic francini ceilings of Castletown : and there overlooking it , lies a hideous chunk of the LA beltway .
Of all the travesties perpatrated ion the name o9f progress , this surely must be the grimmest :for Castletown House was the first test of independent Ireland to recognise , restore and cherish its pre-independence , unionist legacy . And the man who was the pioneer of this was Desmond Guinness , decendant of Arthur . So the new,post -independence tolerant Ireland was born in Celbridge , and its great declaration of intent was the Palladian mansion which Desmond rescued from ruin 40 years ago .
Well if Kildare County Council and Devondale have their way , visitors to Castletown will soon be able to drive down a tidy little Georgian street , overlooked by huge office blocks . Then they will enter the splendid traffic jam outside castletown , caused by the new bridge which is to connect the new and the oldtowns .
Yet this horror will not have been done in the immediate post -independence Ireland , when ignorance and naivety allopwed many terrible things to be done , but by our new , enlightened Ireland , which in Celbridge once recognised the glorious legacies from the past and now knowingly chooses to over power them with brutal modernism.
Yet , I must be missing something . For tragically , incredibly , Kildare County Council ,has already zoned the 98-acre site for commercial development .
Furthermore , the creation of a Burbank -like Retail Mall and Industrial Park at Celbridge also has the surrort of all sitting TDs in Kildare and most of the county's councillors . That notwithstanding , if you share my horror at the perfectly monstrous proposals for the town , you have until April 21 , at the very latest , to lodge your objections. "
"A fate is being proposed for the pleasant little town of Celbridge which is so monstrous , so implausable ,so fatuous . that it could almost come from one of Swift's ghastly ,satirical fictions about human conduct .But this is not satire nor is it fiction ,though Swift would recognise it as a towering example of utter Brobdingnagian (? sic ) folly.
Celbridge lies along just one side of the Liffey , and its spine , paoallel to the river , is a predominantly Georgian main street :and appropriatley so .
Jonathan Swift would often journey to Celbridge , to calm the passionate yearnings of his inamorata , Vanessa , at one end of the main street. At the same time at the far end of the same street , Speaker Conolly was erecting what is now the greatest surviving Palladian mansion in Ireland , Castletown : and roughly midway between Vanessa's home and the entrance to Speaker Conolly's great house , Arthur Guinness was later to start his first brewery .
Now there are very few exports that are known around the world . The tale of Gulliver's Travels is one , and the name Lilliput exists in just about all languages . In this creation Swift invented the literary form of the traveller arriving in a country which is so similar yet utterly different . Celbridge was never Swift's home , but , as a regular visitor , it was where he first heard Irish spoken . Indeed , the concept of Lilliput might well have had its spiritual genesis in this modest Liffeyside town , where the contrasting worlds of Hiberno-English and Gaelic cultures met .
It was certainlt the home if one other great international Irish brand . Arthur Guinness , Celbridge- born and bred , opened his first brewery in the town while still in his 20's .
As we all know , in time he moved his business to Dublin , and thence to the world . Not only did he start Irelands greatest company , but he also begat , perhaos Ireland's most distinguished family , who down the generations have contributed more to this country than any other .
Arthur and Jonathan could return to Celbridges main street today , and recognise it still ;they could walk up the drivway at its eastern end , where Jonathan might admire the finisjhed Palladian splendours of Castletown , which he saw building during his visits to Vanessa .
But if Kildare County Council , and a company called 'Devondale' (where do Irish developers get these absutd cod-English names from ?) have their way , our two visitors from the 18th century will be able to see the house and the gardens ans the entire town , on the north side of the Liffey dwarfed and violated by a vast new extension to Celbridge , fronting on to the southern riverbank beyond .
The school of architecture which seems to have inspired the proposed Celbridge New Town is the M50 Orbital:a jumble of characterless , bland , concrete blocks , only suitable for lining a motorway .Some of these blocks are eight storeys , made taller still by the greater height of the far bank .
This hilariously named 'town centre 'is said by the planners to be an 'organic' development :but the 'o' word is another meaningless piety of our times. New Celbridge is as organic as DDT : in other words mere modernistic cant and developmental humbug .
Its one thing to build factories and shops near Celbridge : quite another to create ludicrous juxtapositions , a narrow river's -width apart. On the Liffey's left bank , Lilliput , on the right , Brobdingnag . On one side , naturally brewed Guinness on the other Milwaukee industrialised lite . Here stands Sir Edward Lovett Pearce's great mansion , with its majestic francini ceilings of Castletown : and there overlooking it , lies a hideous chunk of the LA beltway .
Of all the travesties perpatrated ion the name o9f progress , this surely must be the grimmest :for Castletown House was the first test of independent Ireland to recognise , restore and cherish its pre-independence , unionist legacy . And the man who was the pioneer of this was Desmond Guinness , decendant of Arthur . So the new,post -independence tolerant Ireland was born in Celbridge , and its great declaration of intent was the Palladian mansion which Desmond rescued from ruin 40 years ago .
Well if Kildare County Council and Devondale have their way , visitors to Castletown will soon be able to drive down a tidy little Georgian street , overlooked by huge office blocks . Then they will enter the splendid traffic jam outside castletown , caused by the new bridge which is to connect the new and the oldtowns .
Yet this horror will not have been done in the immediate post -independence Ireland , when ignorance and naivety allopwed many terrible things to be done , but by our new , enlightened Ireland , which in Celbridge once recognised the glorious legacies from the past and now knowingly chooses to over power them with brutal modernism.
Yet , I must be missing something . For tragically , incredibly , Kildare County Council ,has already zoned the 98-acre site for commercial development .
Furthermore , the creation of a Burbank -like Retail Mall and Industrial Park at Celbridge also has the surrort of all sitting TDs in Kildare and most of the county's councillors . That notwithstanding , if you share my horror at the perfectly monstrous proposals for the town , you have until April 21 , at the very latest , to lodge your objections. "
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Democracy now?!
Recently the media were summoned twice within a period of ten days to press briefings at Government Buildings . The journalists , or The Fourth Estate as they are sometimes called , dutifully turned up , firstly to record the resignation of our current Taoiseach and then to record the 'beatification ' of his successor .Of course they were referring to the leadership of Fianna Fail also ,but we were effectively being told that this was our incoming Taoiseach .
Some of the journalists seemed to be there , on both occasions ,just to ask easy-peasy questions apparently to avoid hurting anyones feelings , in fact some seemed to 'tee-up' their questions to suit the known agenda of the recipient .
About a year ago the party now in power recieved 41% of the vote at our General Election . From this base they cobbled together a rag-bag coalition who have become our Government , but very much under the thumb of Fianna Fail
This Government has introduced , benchmarking for all public servants , notably referred to by Senator Joe O'Toole ,as an ATM (he was addressing teachers , but this applies to all public servants ).
This Government are now presiding over 1000 quangos ,they have increased the number of 'junior'ministers and of course the Taoiseach has made liberal use of his power to appoint fellow travellers to that most undemocratic of all bodies Senad Eireann.
Then we have our President , who was not elected the last time but 'nodded through' for a seven year term by Dail Eiteann ,
With all these people and their families , staff , and cohorts and with benchmarking (including the now almost unheard of Defined Benefit Pensions ) for public servants , this Government may have a permanent built-in majority in future elections simply based on the largesse they have passed on to those listed above .And considering so many of new tax-paying workers do not have a vote .
We are hearing mutterings recently about a reform of the public sector . Will this happen ? We have only to look at the farcicle response to Charlie Mc Creevy's DECENTRALISATION gimmick.
So maybe we can't go too far wrong by voting 'yes ' to Lisbon , the Eurocrats cannot be any less accountable than our present 'leaders' and anyway if we do happen to vote 'no' , we will just be told to do it again until we get it right , as with the Nice referendum.
Some of the journalists seemed to be there , on both occasions ,just to ask easy-peasy questions apparently to avoid hurting anyones feelings , in fact some seemed to 'tee-up' their questions to suit the known agenda of the recipient .
About a year ago the party now in power recieved 41% of the vote at our General Election . From this base they cobbled together a rag-bag coalition who have become our Government , but very much under the thumb of Fianna Fail
This Government has introduced , benchmarking for all public servants , notably referred to by Senator Joe O'Toole ,as an ATM (he was addressing teachers , but this applies to all public servants ).
This Government are now presiding over 1000 quangos ,they have increased the number of 'junior'ministers and of course the Taoiseach has made liberal use of his power to appoint fellow travellers to that most undemocratic of all bodies Senad Eireann.
Then we have our President , who was not elected the last time but 'nodded through' for a seven year term by Dail Eiteann ,
With all these people and their families , staff , and cohorts and with benchmarking (including the now almost unheard of Defined Benefit Pensions ) for public servants , this Government may have a permanent built-in majority in future elections simply based on the largesse they have passed on to those listed above .And considering so many of new tax-paying workers do not have a vote .
We are hearing mutterings recently about a reform of the public sector . Will this happen ? We have only to look at the farcicle response to Charlie Mc Creevy's DECENTRALISATION gimmick.
So maybe we can't go too far wrong by voting 'yes ' to Lisbon , the Eurocrats cannot be any less accountable than our present 'leaders' and anyway if we do happen to vote 'no' , we will just be told to do it again until we get it right , as with the Nice referendum.
Monday, March 3, 2008
RTE
Recently Gay Byrne and others have been commenting on the inability of many RTE presenters to actually pronounce the English language correctly .The former Late Late Show (or in new RTE-speak 'Lace Lace Show ') host is correct , but no doubt will be ignored by the new arrogant establishment in RTE .
Ever since the licence fee became inflation-linked the attitude of the national broadcaster to the public has been a careless take it or leave it approach .Someone seems to have decided that just about anything will do .The quality of programmes have deteriorated at the same rate as the salaries of the presenters have increased .These same presenters seem to have built 'half-term'breaks for extra holidays into their contracts .The increase in the frequency and timing of advertising is particularly noticable on TV.
There sports department must have people hanging out of the ceilings , the recent coverage of the U.S. presidential primaries had about a dozen RTE people wandering around America telling us something that was already adequatly covered by other TV channels.
But the supreme insult from our National Broadcaster must surely be the introduction of puppets to provide us with 'entertainment 'RTE-style.
In a typical Kings - new -clothes approach people in RTE keep telling us how wonderful Podge and Rodge and Dustin the Turkey are and only fools would not enjoy this cheap and , sometimes ,vulgar presentations ,finally the lunitics have really taken over the asylum now that the giant brains in RTE have decided to send an updated Punch and Judy show to represent our country abroad.
Ever since the licence fee became inflation-linked the attitude of the national broadcaster to the public has been a careless take it or leave it approach .Someone seems to have decided that just about anything will do .The quality of programmes have deteriorated at the same rate as the salaries of the presenters have increased .These same presenters seem to have built 'half-term'breaks for extra holidays into their contracts .The increase in the frequency and timing of advertising is particularly noticable on TV.
There sports department must have people hanging out of the ceilings , the recent coverage of the U.S. presidential primaries had about a dozen RTE people wandering around America telling us something that was already adequatly covered by other TV channels.
But the supreme insult from our National Broadcaster must surely be the introduction of puppets to provide us with 'entertainment 'RTE-style.
In a typical Kings - new -clothes approach people in RTE keep telling us how wonderful Podge and Rodge and Dustin the Turkey are and only fools would not enjoy this cheap and , sometimes ,vulgar presentations ,finally the lunitics have really taken over the asylum now that the giant brains in RTE have decided to send an updated Punch and Judy show to represent our country abroad.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
There's gold in them thar' teeth.....
At Christmastime an article in the newspapers noted that there was an increase in the price of gold.... it had just risen to $800 per ounce , and bearing in mind the visit of the Magi with presents of gold ,frankincence and myhrr (?) I thought how little commerce has changed in relation to gold over the past 2000 years . We would all still be delighted by a present of pure gold .
I remember when first reading the novel 'Goldfinger ' and Ian Fleming's description of Fort Knox . Just imagine, a whole town , to simply store gold . But what was the purpose of holding this precious metal ? Apparently to give backing to the national Treasury of each country .
Of course we have moved on from 'the gold standard ' , as it was called .The USA moved away from the standard in 1971 and the UK moved about 30 years later under Gordon Brown .
We are now seeing (23 rd Jan) that , because of the severe problems on international Stock Exchanges , the price of , our old friend , gold is rising rapidly , $900 heading towards $1000 per ounce .
It is said that central Bankers hated the idea of the gold standard , probably because it worked , but despite the sophistication of world finances and the interlinking of the worlds stockmarkets the commodity most in demand as a hedge is still .......gold . Oil , diamonds are also in great demand ,but oil and diamonds are useful in their own right....energy and engineering...but gold apart from wedding rings and teeth does not seem to have a useful purpose ....except that it is rare.... it shows that we are still puny in our thinking .....when trouble comes calling we depend for our salvation on a commodity buried deep in a hole in the ground , millions of years ago to somehow , rescue us ....
They also say that historically the value of gold has fairly kept in touch with rises and falls of economies .
For example a 'decent suit for a gentleman ' would cost an ounce of gold at the following points in American history : during the War of Independence , the Civil War , the presidency of FDR , and of course today.
That would be about right , one could expect to pay $900 for a ' good suit '....today...
I remember when first reading the novel 'Goldfinger ' and Ian Fleming's description of Fort Knox . Just imagine, a whole town , to simply store gold . But what was the purpose of holding this precious metal ? Apparently to give backing to the national Treasury of each country .
Of course we have moved on from 'the gold standard ' , as it was called .The USA moved away from the standard in 1971 and the UK moved about 30 years later under Gordon Brown .
We are now seeing (23 rd Jan) that , because of the severe problems on international Stock Exchanges , the price of , our old friend , gold is rising rapidly , $900 heading towards $1000 per ounce .
It is said that central Bankers hated the idea of the gold standard , probably because it worked , but despite the sophistication of world finances and the interlinking of the worlds stockmarkets the commodity most in demand as a hedge is still .......gold . Oil , diamonds are also in great demand ,but oil and diamonds are useful in their own right....energy and engineering...but gold apart from wedding rings and teeth does not seem to have a useful purpose ....except that it is rare.... it shows that we are still puny in our thinking .....when trouble comes calling we depend for our salvation on a commodity buried deep in a hole in the ground , millions of years ago to somehow , rescue us ....
They also say that historically the value of gold has fairly kept in touch with rises and falls of economies .
For example a 'decent suit for a gentleman ' would cost an ounce of gold at the following points in American history : during the War of Independence , the Civil War , the presidency of FDR , and of course today.
That would be about right , one could expect to pay $900 for a ' good suit '....today...
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The 'Dead Zoo' , swordfish
Recently my six-year-old grandaughter asked me a question about a swordfish. Having answered her to the best of my ability I thought it would be a good idea to take her to see the one in the Museum of Natural History . Then I remembered it was no longer open. Apparently a staircase had collapsed when a group of teachers were using the non-public area and a decision was subsequently made by the Office of Public Works that the whole place was to be shut down indefinitly .
It is still unclear whether the whole premises was a danger to the public or whether the OPW took the opportunity of closing it down for some reason best known to themselves .
I remember visiting the 'dead zoo' as we called it at the time , when I was very young , seeing the swordfish , sawfish , hammerhead sharks and indeed the whole toolbox of exotic creatures , re-created rockpools that children could study in detail and at lenght , from the smallest insects to the huge whale skeleton hanging fron the roof . A place to go on wet Sunday afternoons .
Now this invaluable amenity is no longer available to the public .
There have been comments recently from represetitives of the OPW regarding the good works they undoubtly did at Farmleigh and the Collins Museum , and how the numbers visiting have increased following refurbishing .
Of course this is a good thing , but the OPW should remember that a museum is a place for learning and reflection , and expressions like throughput and footfall are more appropriate to shopping centres and supermarkets .
All we , as taxpayers , wish the OPW to do is to ensure that the place is kept secure , clean , structurally safe and the the giant gorilla's testicles are dusted from time to time .
Just because the place dates from the Victorian time does not mean that therefore everything about it is automatically out of date .
Children can , of course ,get all the information they require from the internet , but this does not , in my opinion , make natural history museums redundant . Seeing the actual physical creatures , up close and at leisure is important .
The excellent work that was done in the Collins Museum had a flaw . The Collins Museum was converted from an army barracks and because of that access and egress to and from the individual exibits is difficult , especially if one is in a hurry .
So please OPW return our 'dead zoo' as it was , as soon as possible .
It is still unclear whether the whole premises was a danger to the public or whether the OPW took the opportunity of closing it down for some reason best known to themselves .
I remember visiting the 'dead zoo' as we called it at the time , when I was very young , seeing the swordfish , sawfish , hammerhead sharks and indeed the whole toolbox of exotic creatures , re-created rockpools that children could study in detail and at lenght , from the smallest insects to the huge whale skeleton hanging fron the roof . A place to go on wet Sunday afternoons .
Now this invaluable amenity is no longer available to the public .
There have been comments recently from represetitives of the OPW regarding the good works they undoubtly did at Farmleigh and the Collins Museum , and how the numbers visiting have increased following refurbishing .
Of course this is a good thing , but the OPW should remember that a museum is a place for learning and reflection , and expressions like throughput and footfall are more appropriate to shopping centres and supermarkets .
All we , as taxpayers , wish the OPW to do is to ensure that the place is kept secure , clean , structurally safe and the the giant gorilla's testicles are dusted from time to time .
Just because the place dates from the Victorian time does not mean that therefore everything about it is automatically out of date .
Children can , of course ,get all the information they require from the internet , but this does not , in my opinion , make natural history museums redundant . Seeing the actual physical creatures , up close and at leisure is important .
The excellent work that was done in the Collins Museum had a flaw . The Collins Museum was converted from an army barracks and because of that access and egress to and from the individual exibits is difficult , especially if one is in a hurry .
So please OPW return our 'dead zoo' as it was , as soon as possible .
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
2008
So, starting a new year , my 68 th ,there is always a feeling of worry or concern about what the year ahead will bring to oneself and all those close to us .But of course a new year or should I say , New Year , is only an arbitrary event which only exists as a marker , agreed by us humans , in what we call time and therefore this exercise of celebrating a new year could be carried out by any of us at any given day of the year , our very own individual new years day.
Anyway we have started with the usual series of bad news stories , concerning tragic events which have happened and indeed those which are expected to happen or those which may happen.
These events are broken down over , environment , politics , financial , etc.
The most notable aspect of this years news is how much of this is being devoted , under all headings , to international events.
At the moment under the heading of politics , most of the world is concerned with the preliminaries of the coming US presidential election next November , under the heading of finance the state of the global economy is being discussed 24/7 on TV and radio .
And the environment is the most discussed because it effects all other aspects of life in this world.
But despite all the looming problems the most positive thing about the year ahead is that this world of ours is getting smaller and we are starting to understand one another more and more each day , of course we still have a long , long , way to go .....but even the possibility of Barack Obama becoming the next president of the USA , as things stand at the moment , he being of mixed race , only about 60 years after Adolph Hitler shows us all that this old world is going inthe right.......Happy New Year everyone.....
Anyway we have started with the usual series of bad news stories , concerning tragic events which have happened and indeed those which are expected to happen or those which may happen.
These events are broken down over , environment , politics , financial , etc.
The most notable aspect of this years news is how much of this is being devoted , under all headings , to international events.
At the moment under the heading of politics , most of the world is concerned with the preliminaries of the coming US presidential election next November , under the heading of finance the state of the global economy is being discussed 24/7 on TV and radio .
And the environment is the most discussed because it effects all other aspects of life in this world.
But despite all the looming problems the most positive thing about the year ahead is that this world of ours is getting smaller and we are starting to understand one another more and more each day , of course we still have a long , long , way to go .....but even the possibility of Barack Obama becoming the next president of the USA , as things stand at the moment , he being of mixed race , only about 60 years after Adolph Hitler shows us all that this old world is going inthe right.......Happy New Year everyone.....
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