I must have bumped my head

Lately I've found myself agreeing with Kevin Meyers - this can't be good.

Today he's talking about just how incompetent our political leaders are (very)

The regulator who for 10 months failed to tell his minister about the financial horror story of Anglo Irish Bank, with nearly €90m missing from the books, was not sacked, but in due course retired, on full pension.

[snip]

In the middle of the greatest financial crisis in the State's history, our entire (and vastly overpaid) political class is still on holiday. We have thousands of unoccupied houses across the country, as part of a government-sponsored wheeze to avoid taxes.

The unfortunate solution as Mr. Meyers sees it (and I can almost agree) is to throw our lot in entirely with Europe and hope than some Brussels Satrap can do a better job than our own lot have done.

I don't know if I can bring myself to vote 'yes' next time out, I might abstain or spoil my vote but I think it's pretty clear that the Irish system has failed after a mere 80 years ..

So roll on Lisbon! Roll on rule from Brussels! Yes, I know that our political establishment want it also, but what logic can you expect from them? Hasten the day when a gauleiter or apparatchik of the EU administers our affairs, for we clearly are not capable of doing so ourselves.

Atheist Shame

Mildly amusing video.

Instruction Manual For Life

A beautiful animation about "instruction manuals", very much in the same vain as Blankets

How to Bend a Spoon with your mind

Electric Bath Duck — 'One use only'

link from boingboing

Excellent Beer Ad

'The Secret' 1 confirmed case of it working

'The Secret' is that stupid book about ... well ... stupidness, but here is actual testimony of it _really_ working. Amazing!

Please allow me to share with you how "The Secret" changed my life and in a very real and substantive way allowed me to overcome a severe crisis in my personal life. It is well known that the premise of "The Secret" is the science of attracting the things in life that you desire and need and in removing from your life those things that you don't want. Before finding this book, I knew nothing of these principles, the process of positive visualization, and had actually engaged in reckless behaviors to the point of endangering my own life and wellbeing.
At age 36, I found myself in a medium security prison serving 3-5 years for destruction of government property and public intoxication. This was stiff punishment for drunkenly defecating in a mailbox but as the judge pointed out, this was my third conviction for the exact same crime. I obviously had an alcohol problem and a deep and intense disrespect for the postal system, but even more importantly I was ignoring the very fabric of our metaphysical reality and inviting destructive influences into my life.
My fourth day in prison was the first day that I was allowed in general population and while in the recreation yard I was approached by a prisoner named Marcus who calmly informed me that as a new prisoner I had been purchased by him for three packs of Winston cigarettes and 8 ounces of Pruno (prison wine). Marcus elaborated further that I could expect to be anally raped by him on a daily basis and that I had pretty eyes.
Needless to say, I was deeply shocked that my life had sunk to this level. Although I've never been homophobic I was discovering that I was very rape phobic and dismayed by my overall personal street value of roughly $15. I returned to my cell and sat very quietly, searching myself for answers on how I could improve my life and distance myself from harmful outside influences. At that point, in what I consider to be a miraculous moment, my cell mate Jim Norton informed me that he knew about the Marcus situation and that he had something that could solve my problems. He handed me a copy of "The Secret". Normally I wouldn't have turned to a self help book to resolve such a severe and immediate threat but I literally didn't have any other available alternatives. I immediately opened the book and began to read.
The first few chapters deal with the essence of something called the "Law of Attraction" in which a primal universal force is available to us and can be harnessed for the betterment of our lives. The theoretical nature of the first few chapters wasn't exactly putting me at peace. In fact, I had never meditated and had great difficulty with closing out the chaotic noises of the prison and visualizing the positive changes that I so dearly needed. It was when I reached Chapter 6 "The Secret to Relationships" that I realized how this book could help me distance myself from Marcus and his negative intentions. Starting with chapter six there was a cavity carved into the book and in that cavity was a prison shiv. This particular shiv was a toothbrush with a handle that had been repeatedly melted and ground into a razor sharp point.
The next day in the exercise yard I carried "The Secret" with me and when Marcus approached me I opened the book and stabbed him in the neck. The next eight weeks in solitary confinement provided ample time to practice positive visualization and the 16 hours per day of absolute darkness actually made visualization about the only thing that I actually could do. I'm not sure that everybody's life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I'm very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily.

from an amazon review

A picture is worth a thousand words

One of the great things about religions is how much time they spend hating other people. Sadly in the modern world many people don't have time to read how the other guy is evil so this website presents it in pictorial form.





The first panel above is particularly amusing but it does explain why Ahmadinejad hates gays so much.

The priest in the fourth panel is identified as "Fr. O'Toole" which really miffed me. I'm Irish and was born a Catholic and if it turns out our guys are running the world then I want to know why this place isn't neater! At the very least we should all have giant TV's and cheap alcohol. Also, the other countries have to start letting us win things in sport.

Everything is recycleable

Skeptico has a load of new posts since I last checked his blog but I really liked this one.

It seems a wireless internet network in Glastonbury is being blame (by some) for all sorts of illnesses, but an enterprising woopert has developed a solution

Matt Todd, […] has started building small generators which he believes can neutralise the allegedly-harmful radiation using the principles of orgone science. The pyramid-like machines use quartz crystals, selenite (a clear form of the mineral gypsum), semi-precious lapis lazuli stones, gold leaf and copper coil to absorb and recycle the supposedly-negative energy.

Skeptico's golden response?

That’s what I like about new agers today. They don’t just want to get rid of the negative energy, they want to recycle it. This is sustainable woo!

I loved that!

Fatwa +20 years

It's 20 years since the fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie and Christopher Hitchens has some thoughts to share;

[on self censureship] So there is now a hidden partner in our cultural and academic and publishing and broadcasting world: a shadowy figure that has, uninvited, drawn up a chair to the table. He never speaks. He doesn’t have to. But he is very well understood.

link Assassins of the Mind

I have to admit I've never read Rushdie, although I have pawed his books a few times while browsing. In the end I've been a little intimidated by the standing of the man - like a modern Joyce. Someday I'll get over myself and pick up The Satanic Verses, could be a good New Years resolution ...

Happy New Year and All That.

This is my first day back at work since the 23rd (and even that was a half day) - what a great break.

If it wasn't for the fact I couldn't get to sleep last night I'd be totally refreshed.

something something Blindsight something

I felt a little like a blind man touching an elephant reading this but I think I understood just enough to post it;

A patient with bilateral damage to primary visual (striated) cortex has provided the opportunity to assess just what visual capacities are possible in the absence of geniculo-striate pathways. Patient TN suffered two strokes in succession, lesioning each visual cortex in turn and causing clinical blindness over his whole visual field. Functional and anatomical brain imaging assessments showed that TN completely lacks any functional visual cortex. We report here that, among other retained abilities, he can successfully navigate down the extent of a long corridor in which various barriers were placed. A video recording shows him skillfully avoiding and turning around the blockages. This demonstrates that extra-striate pathways in humans can sustain sophisticated visuo-spatial skills in the absence of perceptual awareness, akin to what has been previously reported in monkeys. It remains to be determined which of the several extra-striate pathways account for TN's intact navigation skills.

the link is from Peter Watts so I feel confident enough to nod dumbly in the corner;

Happily, the New York Times prints an English translation