I hope everyone had a good one!
Archive for October, 2005
Halloween
Monday, October 31st, 2005Blog worth
Friday, October 28th, 2005
Testing Flock
Thursday, October 27th, 2005Hmm Looks interesting.
TV tonight
Wednesday, October 26th, 2005Timewatch looks good tonight, BBC2, 9pm.
We follow in the footsteps of Julius Caesar’s bloody eight-year campaign that saw a million die, a million held hostage and 800 cities destroyed.
There will also be a preview of ‘Rome’ just after, the highly successful series that has been shown on HBO in the US. I think it starts on BBC on November 1st. I caught a glimpse of the series when I was in New York, with HBO On Demand – and it looked really good.
Globalization drives a wedge into EU
Monday, October 24th, 2005I like this quote from Ann Mettler of the Lisbon Council, concerning France’s economic policies:
“France has not internalized a very important transition that is happening in Europe right now, which is the shift from the industrial economy to the knowledge and services economy,” said Ann Mettler of the Lisbon Council, a market-oriented research group based in Brussels. “Its interest groups, which are very strong, are still trying to preserve the industrial age.”
Sums it up pretty nicely.
The rogue money printers of Pyongyang
Monday, October 24th, 2005By asking for the extradition of Sean Garland, has the US government blown the lid off what looks like the biggest money laundering schemes in history? In the IHT, John Cooley writes that for the first time the US government has acknowledged that North Korea prints ‘superdollars’ to support its economy. The Federal Warrant charges:
…Garland, who denies his guilt and was released on bail pending receipt of U.S. extradition papers, arranged with North Korean agencies “for the purchase of quantities of notes and enlisted other people to disseminate” the bogus money, known as superdollars or supernotes
And this is another story I hadn’t heard:
In the summer of 1998, the U.S. Treasury refused comment when the Japanese Navy seized a North Korean ship stuffed with superdollars. The Japanese police, backed by the Tokyo field office of the U.S. Secret Service, rounded up intended distributors in Japan. Within 48 hours of the ship’s seizure, officials in Tokyo and Washington had muffled the affair.
I wouldn’t mind my own mint in the attic.
Village Magazine
Monday, October 24th, 2005I hadn’t checked in a while, but Village have a redesigned website that actually has content now. The links seem to be permanent ones too. All of the content is free to read, but I imagine only subscribers will get full access to all the archives.
I like the design too, all they need now is a blog to boost the pagerank from 4/10 upwards.
Apple faces iPod Nano litigation
Monday, October 24th, 2005As an owner of an iPod nano I can say that my one at least is incredibly easy to scratch. Even sliding it into your jean pocket, as Jobs demonstrated at the launch, was enough to mark the colour screen. I will be posting detailed photos shortly.
Magdalen Laundries
Monday, October 24th, 2005Anthony has posted a transcript of the interview Vincent Browne did with Kathy O’Beirne. It makes for harrowing disturbing reading, read it, but be prepared.
Britain and Ireland
Friday, October 21st, 2005Just attended a seminar in Croke Park on a new website just launched, britainandireland.org. It is a very interesting idea and I will certainly be keeping an eye on it.
The launch got some coverage on Newstalk 106 this morning and on Ireland.com.
Mick Fealty from Slugger, and co-guest with me on de telly, is helping with the new site.
More on it later.
Rory Carroll
Wednesday, October 19th, 2005Rory Carroll missing in Baghdad? I hope he will be ok.
Freedom of the press in Dubai?
Wednesday, October 19th, 2005A curious development given the bad state of press freedom in Dubai:
Sheikh Mohammed, Dubai’s Crown Prince, has called for a new era of press freedom in the United Arab Emirates. In mid-October, he waxed poetic before 500 journalists at his palace, saying, “The UAE will continue to be an oasis of freedom, democracy and co-existence. It will also remain a podium for true words.� But while local reports heralded the speech, they failed to mention that the UAE ranks a lowly 137th (out of 167 countries) in the 2004 Index of Press Freedom, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog in France. “Links between the media, the governments and powerful businessmen are so close that self-censorship is often the only way possible for journalists,� wrote the organisation in its annual report on the region.
Still, many journalists working in Dubai and the UAE claim conditions are improving. International correspondents are largely free to report what they wish, and even local media organisations, which usually face more pressure, can now criticise government policy and state-run businesses—commentary that would have been impossible even five years ago.
An affair to remember
Tuesday, October 18th, 2005One of the stranger stories you might hear from the UAE:
A camel has been condemned to death after a worker was caught having sex with it in the remote emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. The man, a Bangladeshi driver, was sentenced to three months in jail for his dangerous liaisons. His employer reported him to the authorities after spotting him making regular visits to the camel barn, Gulf News reported.
Ras Al Khaimah is one of the poorer and more traditional sheikhdoms that make up the seven United Arab Emirates, and its judiciary tends to be more conservative than its neighbours’ (Dubai is about an hour’s drive away). Reports said authorities ordered the camel to be killed in accordance with Islamic or sharia law, because its meat was considered tainted by the man’s performances.
Surely the camel was just minding its own business? Why does it get condemned to death?
Podcasting question
Monday, October 17th, 2005Can anyone from the podcasting/audioblogging world recommend a good high quality but inexpensive microphone?
Police: Wife of TV legal analyst slain
Monday, October 17th, 2005This could turn into an even bigger trial than the ones Daniel Horowitz is involved with.
The wife of prominent defense attorney and TV legal analyst Daniel Horowitz was found slain in the entryway of the couple’s San Francisco Bay area home, authorities said Sunday.
Horowitz, currently leading the defense in a sensational murder trial, called 911 Saturday evening to report that he found his wife, Pamela Vitale, dead in their home, police said.
Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies said Sunday that the death was being investigated as a homicide. An autopsy was planned Monday to determine how she was killed.
“We talked to a number of people last night, but there’s nobody in custody. We’re still trying to establish a motive,” said spokesman Jimmy Lee.