The New York Times have "Chart[ed] the web of debt exposure among sagging economies"
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Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
24 October, 2011
18 September, 2011
13 September, 2011
Foul play reported at show by psychic Sally Morgan
On Sept 11th, while psychic Sally Morgan was displaying her amazing abilities in the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin, several of the audience (who had paid 40 quid a ticket) reported that they heard a strange voice at the back of the room relaying information to her.
They told their story to Joe Duffy on RTE radio (12th Sept show):
Sue went to see psychic Sally Morgan last night in the Grand Canal Theatre. She was great in the first half but during the second half Sue began to hear somebody talking loudly at the back of where she was sitting. She thought it was somebody heckling but she soon realised that everything he said Sally was repeating on stage. He would say a name like David and she would repeat it onstage. Other callers who were also at the show tell of similar experiences.
At the very least, it seems that a few believers are now skeptical of Sally's professed psychic abilities. One woman reported that while she was queing at the end of the show to get a book signed, the woman in front of her asked Sally about one of the names she was calling out during the show. The woman in question had realised too late that this name was relevant to her. Shockingly, Sally allegedly dismissed the grieving woman, who had forked out €40 for the ticket and presumably another sum for a book, saying that she was finished relaying messages for the evening. In other words, give me your money and get lost. End of story.
It's sad that even some of the women that called into the radio show, who heard the man relaying information to Sally, still think she is a genuine psychic and cares about her grieving audiences. There is only one thing that Sally and her staff are interested in - I'll leave it up to you to work it out.
Of course, that 'voices in the head' are used as part of a psychic's show is not a new discovery. They've been doing it for years. Most famously, the faith-healer Peter Popoff was exposed as use this technique by James Randi back in the 1980s. This incident is detailed in the below video, in which he also embarrasses Uri Geller on the Tonight Show.
Sally Morgan be warned.
(Source)
01 June, 2011
Obama leaves his mark on Ireland
Literally!
In case you hadn't heard, Obama's indestructible, missile-proof, bullet-proof super car, nicknamed the 'Beast', met its match in the form of the ramp outside the US embassy in Dublin. Check the video below to see the beached Beast:
Well, I happen to walk past the very spot it happened every day, so I took some photos (click to enlarge)...
And a close up of Obama's mark...
Ha ha!!
27 May, 2011
Sovereign Independent - much huff and puff but no substance
I became a member on Skeptic Ireland yesterday and upon reading a recent post there, my attention was drawn to the Sovereign Independent website - a real goldmine for conspiracy theories and New World Order nonsense. The co-editor is called Neil Foster and in this post he attacks an article in the Irish Independent (a real newspaper) by Ed Power which pokes fun at conspiracy theories. Here is an excerpt from Power's piece:
Spend just a few minutes on the internet and it becomes obvious we live in the golden age of conspiracy theories. From climate change (concocted by Al Gore and grant-hungry scientists) to September 11 (a CIA plot to stir up resentment against the Arab world) there is, it seems, a crank hypothesis for everything.
He provides a list of popular conspiracy theories including the JFK assassination, the origin of AIDS and even that Stephen King shot John Lennon! At the end of the article, Power mentions a few theories that actually did turn out to be true. These include the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study on black men conducted by the American government, CIA-funded propaganda during the Cold War, and finally the assertion that Ireland's economic problems were caused by a greedy cabal of bankers (this last one is obviously being referred to as a conspiracy theory tongue-in-cheekily, as it is widely known to be patently true)
And so, how did Neil Foster of the Sovereign Independent respond?
Well, he was angry. Very angry. In fact, such was his outrage at 'this piece of gutter journalism', I fully expected him to show us all how to critically analyse an article in a proper journalistic manner....
But no. As it turns out, Foster is the real 'gutter journalist' here. First of all, his article is littered with nasty rants using terms such as 'moron', 'comic book garbage' and 'junk fuelled buffoonery'. Hardly journalistic prose worthy of a Pulitzer, now is it?
Furthermore, Foster is livid at Power for not considering the mounds of 'EVIDENCE!' that support his Orwellian worldview of secret societies and Big Pharma cabals that are moments away from taking over the world. Oh, and the word EVIDENCE! is always capitalised - don't you know that's a sign of a reputable journalist.
And what EVIDENCE! does Foster present?
Firstly, on the subject of Osama Bin Laden he begins with John Hill, who produced the 'Ripple Effect' DVD supposedly showing that the London 7/7 bombers were tricked into getting the tube by the UK government so that their movements could be caught on CCTV and the bombings later pinned on them. Indeed, according to Hill, the innocent young men were supposedly murdered in Canary Wharf and never made it to the site of the bombings. Foster claims that Hill and his crank theories were vindicated in a court of law:
I wonder if [Ed Power is] any relation to Peter Power, the lackey, or accomplice in the 7/7 London Bombings which interestingly are not mentioned in this hitpiece. I wonder if that’s got anything to do with the FACT that a jury found 10 to 2 in favour of John Anthony Hill recently in his ‘Ripple Effect’ trial?
'In favour of' Hill. Hmmm... This ambiguous sentence seems to be implying that a jury vindicated Hill's beliefs that the London 7/7 bombings were orchestrated by the UK government. I guess Foster has proved his point.
Oh no, wait. On closer inspection, Foster is simply manipulating the truth here. What a surprise!
All of Hill's nonsense was, of course, thoroughly debunked and indeed Hill was shown to simply be a bit of a loony - it has even been alleged that he claimed on his website to be the Messiah, and he also claimed that George Lucas was told the script of Star Wars telepathically by The Force. Following completion of his DVD, Hill sent it out to the judge and jury foreman in a trial linked to the attacks. For sending the DVD to people directly involved in the trial, Hill was arrested for perverting the course of justice. Indeed, it was this charge for which the jury found in his favour - that he didn't pervert the course of justice - but they most definitely did not endorse any of the claims in his conspiracy theory DVD, which is what Neil Foster is clearly trying to imply as EVIDENCE! to support his article. He truly is a beacon of journalistic honesty, this Foster chap!
The next piece of EVIDENCE! put forward by Foster is to support his claim that Osama Bin Laden was already dead prior to the recent announcement that US troops had killed him. The extent of his EVIDENCE! actually just turns out to be a 2007 interview by Benazir Bhutto in which she claims he is dead. Never mind the fact that she clearly implies in an interview a week later that he is, in fact, alive (she goes as far as saying that 'Osama Bin Laden is rubbing his hands in glee as he as he looks at what's happening in Pakistan'). Foster's EVIDENCE! amounts to cherry-picking whatever he likes from the internet to support his preconceived ideas. His mind is clearly muddled by confirmation bias.
This is the extent of the EVIDENCE! offered by Foster to support his claims, an irrelevant court decision and a cherry-picked comment, none of which he actually links to or presents references for.
But the final piece of 'gutter journalism' displayed by Foster is simply amazing. It turns out that he apparently can't even read. Here is what he has to say about the segment of Power's article on 'Conspiracy theories that turned out to be true' (Power's original words in bold, followed by Foster's response):
‘The American government conducted medical experiments on poor black men’… This is ADMITTED by the American government!
As is this… ‘The CIA Paid Journalists to Write Propaganda’ although the past tense shouldn’t be used because they still do it today! Try reading ‘Who Paid the Piper: CIA and the Cultural Cold War’ – By Francis Stoner Saunders.
But of course the whole hitpiece is designed to divert attention from the last ‘theory’ in your comic strip suggesting that it’s farcical to suggest that:
‘The Irish Economy Was Destroyed by a Cabal of Bungling Bankers, Incompetent Politicians and Sycophantic Regulators’
I’ll add the words you deliberately left out in this line:
‘The Irish economy was DELIBERATELY destroyed by a cabal of CRIMINAL bankers, CORRUPT, TREASONOUS politicians and BOUGHT & PAID FOR ‘REGULATORS’
Look around the country Power and see the effects of this ‘conspiracy theory’ in every town and city in the country where people are losing their homes and businesses, bankers are raping the country, the IMF is taking the country and unemployment is now reaching pandemic proportions; a PANDEMIC deliberately released upon the western world by a criminal elite who are openly pushing for a world government to save us all from ourselves.
The day is coming very soon when those responsible for this corruption will be taken to task and those in the mainstream media, and the lackeys they use to try to attempt unsuccessfully, to discredit the truth, (are you listening Jamie?) will also be held accountable for their inaction in warning the Irish people on matters of great importance, destroying their lives and those of future generations.
That's right folks! In his rage, Foster ploughed straight into his vitriolic rantings without even realising that Power was clearly pointing out that these particular examples are, in fact, true.
Not only that, but he deleted my comment pointing out the above, along with two comments from a person called Jamie, from Skeptic Ireland, who also happens to disagree with him (Foster attacks Jamie in the article too). Freedom of speech obviously isn't a priority for the Sovereign Independent.
Two things Mr Foster:
1) Understand when something is being said in jest.
2) If you are going to accuse others of 'gutter journalism', in your response try not to use ad hominen insults, completely debunked EVIDENCE! and cherry-picked facts. Oh, and try to read the article properly and not delete dissenting comments.
14 March, 2011
Atheists to converge on Dublin
The World Atheist Convention is taking place in June (3-5th) right on my doorstep in Dublin.
The speakers will include:
• Richard Dawkins UK (evolutionary biologist)
• Lone Frank DK (neurobiologist, science writer)
• Michael Nugent IRL (chairperson Atheist Ireland)
• Paula Kirby UK (secular consultant, activist)
• PZ Myers USA (author science blog Pharyngula)
• Jane Donnelly IRL (education officer Atheist Ireland)
• Dan Barker USA (Freedom from Religion Foundation)
• Rebecca Watson USA (Skepchick blogger, podcaster)
• David Nash UK (professor, expert on blasphemy)
• Ivana Bacik IRL (Irish Senator in 30th Oireachtas)
• Aroup Chaterjee UK (physician, activist, author)
• Annie Laurie Gaylor USA (Freedom from Religion Foundation)
• Mark Embleton UK (president Atheism UK)
This couldn't be more accessible to me. I literally work across the street from the building where the convention will take place. Even so, I'm not sure if I'll go. I saw several of these speakers at TAM London last year and although I'm sure they might have different talks, for some reason I'm not all that pushed on going. I'd actually prefer to just go to the evening social sessions, assuming there will be some. Perhaps if some of the nice folks I met at TAM decide to go, then I'll attend the convention itself.
Let's wait and see...
14 February, 2011
Ireland's economic problems - explained in an Irish way
Mary is the proprietor of a bar in Dublin. She realises that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronise her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).
Word gets around about Mary's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Mary's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Dublin. By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Mary gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Mary's gross sales volume increases massively.
A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognises that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Mary's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets.
Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses. One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Mary's bar. He so informs Mary.
Mary then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since Mary cannot fulfil her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs. Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks' liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.
The suppliers of Mary's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations. Her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.
Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a € multi-billion, no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in Government. The funds required for this bail out are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Mary's bar.
Now, do you understand the Irish economic situation in 2011?
[Not an original - source unknown]
05 February, 2011
We like our horses, so we do...
Take a few minutes to watch these two videos. Both are from Limerick in Ireland, both involve horses/donkeys, and IMHO both are bloody hilarious...
Warning: If swearing offends you, don't watch the second one - you've been warned!
12 January, 2011
Back in Ireland
There hasn't been much action on my blog in the last two months due to personal cicumstances. I have moved back to Dublin having spent the last 14 months in London. I had a great time over there but it was time to come home (for a variety of reasons that I'm not going to go into).
Anyway, I'm back doing frontline research again. And by a strange twist of fate it turns out that part of my research will be on the type III secretion system in bacteria (below on the left). This system shot to prominence during the Dover trial, as it is the very system that is proposed to be an evolutionary precursor to the flagellum (below on the right). See more about the relationship here, and a great talk by Ken Miller on it here. Of course, my research will be with respect to the infectious elements of the type III secretion system and so it is unlikely to overlap with its interesting role in refuting intelligent design.
01 October, 2010
A reply to homeopath Sheelagh Behan
I recently co-authored a letter to the Irish Times in response to a letter from homeopath Sheelagh Behan, in which she offered a defence of homeopathy following an earlier anti-alternative medicine article by Paul O'Donoghue (founding member of the Irish Skeptics Society). The letter wasn't published and so I have posted it here instead.
Madam,
Sheelagh Behan's defense of homeopathy (letters, 17th September) uses some fairly common strategies employed by homeopaths to bolster their art, but she fails to actually provide any compelling reasons to endorse the prescription of water for medical conditions more serious than dehydration. Her arguments can be summed up as a combination of the fallacies; i) appeal to the people, ii) appeal to authority, and iii) pseudo-scientific language.
i) Yes homeopathy is widely used; so were leeches, but no matter how many people used them they were never more effective than a placebo. Science is not a democracy - it relies on reproducible experimental evidence.
ii) Regarding the two studies actually mentioned; the first, a study of E. coli in Dutch piglets was published in a journal entitled "Homeopathy", an outlet unlikely to critically examine homeopathic hypotheses. The second, namely Luc Montagnier's study of electromagnetic signals from DNA in water did not even directly test the power of dilution but instead attributed an effect to dilution following a *filtration step*. Indeed, unfiltered bacteria gave no signal at all when diluted, in direct contrast to the central tenet of homeopathy. Also, the electromagnetic signals reported following filtration were mostly unaffected by dilution rather than enhanced by it, and the authors make no claim to have shown a mechanism for homeopathic efficacy. All in all, their results might be true, but using Occam's razor one would first need to rule out simpler explanations, such as the filtration process introducing a contaminant that may emit the signal. (Edit: see here for a thorough rebuttal of Montagnier's study)
iii) Lastly, hormesis, the belief that a little poison is good for you, is neither widely accepted in toxicology nor does it validate homeopathy's second principle of so called "potentization". It is closer to Murphy's law (which isn't a law) or the 80-20 rule (which isn't a rule) than to any scientific law and it does nothing to prove there is any trace (or memory) of the original "remedy" left after so many dilutions. If there are such traces (or memories), then patients would also receive the effects of whatever else the water has previously diluted.
While people in any free society should have the right to seek whatever treatment they prefer, they should be completely informed as to what they might be paying for, whether directly or through health insurance premiums. Homeopathy makes claims that its treatments are more effective than a placebo and, therefore, does not reliably inform patients and the public.
As Dara O'Briain says, when alternative medicine works, it simply becomes *medicine*...
30 September, 2010
How Ireland compares to other Eurozone countries
A nice overall comparison of the economies of the Eurozone countries can be found here, although it hasn't been updated since June 2010.
All this on the day that our finance minister, Brian Lenihan, announced that the support for Anglo Irish Bank would cost from 29.3bn euros to a "stress scenario" bail-out of up to 34bn euros ($46.4bn; £29.2bn). The cost would push the Ireland's fiscal deficit to 32% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Mess.
14 September, 2010
When a complete moron meets an absolute idiot
Irish politicians can be stupid, like Dermot Ahern. Or very stupid, like Willie O'Dea. But occasionally they are so stupendously stupid that it defies all belief....
Meet Conor Lenihan (our complete moron).
This man is the Minister for Science, a position you might think entails encouraging the best in science and rational thought. Why then, you might ask, did this complete moron agree to attend the launch of "The Origin of Specious Nonsense", an anti-evolution book by a crank called John May (our absolute idiot)?
Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with idiots launching books, but I do have a problem with a highly-paid public servant - who is supposed to be the Minister of Freakin' Science - actively promoting it. The fact that he eventually withdrew from the launch is irrelevant. He should have never even flirted with the idea. Hell, he should have been fundamentally opposed to it to begin with!
Let's have a quick look at what he almost gave an official Irish government stamp of approval to. From May's website:
Eh, what? H2O is oxygen. Oh and evolution doesn't explain astrophysics, THEREFORE IT'S WRONG!!!!!! TAKE THAT EVOLUTIONISTS!!!!!
His painfully stupid '15 tennis ball' analogy shows his complete ignorance of evolution, probability and large numbers. As I explain here (scroll down to no 12 on the page), his error is that he is predicting in advance what the outcome will be - all balls to land in a circle in correct order. This is not analogous to how evolution works so he is simply attacking against a strawman. The balls have to end up in some orientation, just as life had to evolve in some way. In fact, it is actually evolution deniers who believe that life improbably *poofed* into existence fully formed. May is so stupid that he doesn't even realise his astronomical numbers argument goes against his own beliefs.
But not only is the subject matter laughable - it is full of grammatical errors. Indeed, he is clearly unimpressed by the modest comma and yet he can't seem! to! fit! quite! enough! exclamation! marks! in! (hmm, a true sign of a scholarly genius?). Bad grammar is no crime of course, but along with the basic language used in his book (see here for a sneak preview), this suggests that May is less than proficient in the brain department (fittingly for a friend of Minister Lenihan it would seem). For example, take these quotes as attributed to May in the Irish Times:
In publicity material for the launch of his book on the theory of evolution, Mr May accused “Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel C Dennett, et al” of having “sacrificed reason on the altar of Chance, Mutations, Randomness . . .” Mr May called on “the world’s atheists, scientists, evolutionists plus tens of millions of their duped followers” to stop pretending they had “any facts whatsoever to support the greatest deceit in the history of science”.
No facts! Eh, try here and here for starters.
Furthermore, with respect to the bolded phrase above, an acquaintance of mine who is a notable Irish physicist and accomplished debater mused...
We used to get first years to work the phrase "sacrificed [noun] on the altar of [another noun]" into their debates as a kind of an in-joke in debating circles. It was such a hackneyed cliche that it would be a silent nod to older debaters from other teams that these were freshers and to go easy on them.
Speaks volumes.
22 June, 2010
Justice pour l'Irlande
Well, about as much justice as we can hope for.
France finished bottom of their group at the World Cup, losing 2-1 to South Africa today. Their miserable campaign has included two losses, in-fighting, resignations, player strikes, players sent home, red cards and unhappy French politicians.
Is there a moral to this story? Probably. How about don't cheat your way to a World Cup? I'm not saying Ireland would have done much had we qualified, but we couldn't have been as pathetic as this disgraceful French team.
On top of everything else, Raymond Domenech refused to shake hands with the South African manager at the end of the game.
What an imbécile!
28 May, 2010
I'm no economist...
10 December, 2009
14 November, 2009
The Most Important Thing In The World...
That's right. Football.
C'mon Ireland!!!!!!
For those who don't know, Ireland are in a two-leg playoff with France to reach the World Cup Finals in South Africa next summer. France are 25 places ahead of Ireland in the world rankings (9th vs 34th) but I still think we can do it. The French public (and some of the players) can't stand their manager, Raymond Domenech. He has neglected to pick players before based on their star sign!!! And he even got booed by the crowd at the French masters last week. Look at the players laughing as the crowd boo him!! - video is of poor quality
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Edit: We played quite well but lost 1-0 thanks to a deflected shot........ Gutted!
06 November, 2009
Goodbye Ireland, Hello England
As the title suggests, yesterday I packed my bags and moved to England. North London to be precise. I start work on Monday as an associate editor at a major scientific publishing company. I am ten parts excited to one part nervous.
Today will be spent apartment hunting and doing a few bits and pieces to prepare. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to post here in the near future as I'm sure it'll be a hectic first few weeks but I will do my best to continue this blog as time allows.
Roll on Monday...!!
24 September, 2009
Ronnie Wood at lunch time!!
I found out earlier today that Ronnie Wood (from the Rolling Stones, kids) was planning to play in a shopfront on Grafton Street. It's part of the Arthur's Day, which is being celebrated all over Ireland today. 'Arthur' being Arthur Guinness, and 'Day' being Guinness' 250 anniversary.
I work at the top of Grafton Street, so I called over to have a look see.......oh yeah!!!!
09 July, 2009
Father Ted Was Fiction, Right...?
Most days I'm proud to be Irish. 
Some days I'm not...
It has been 14 years since her last major apparition in Ireland, but the Virgin Mary is back and this time in the lowly form of a tree stump in Limerick...
This time more than 2,000 people have signed a petition to prevent the stump’s removal, while hundreds of worshippers have been gathering to recite decades of the rosary and to light candles. Nightly prayer vigils are being held.
At least there's one sensible person down in Limerick though:
Asked what he saw in the stump Mr Reddin replied: ”I see it as the grain of a tree myself.”
01 May, 2009
Stupid Goddam Blasphemy Law
This is beyond ridiculous.
Dermot Ahern and the rest of the Fianna Fail bozos are actually considering bringing in a blasphemy law. If it's passed, a fine of up to €100,000 will be imposed on blasphemers.
This can't possibly be happening, can it? I mean, Jaysus, like, what's the problem...?
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