Yellow rain warning for NI: There are reports of some flooding in areas affected by overnight rain as a yellow… http://t.co/pXRQAORTGx
— UTV Live News (@UTVNews) October 3, 2013
Yellow warning for rain in NI (UTV)
File pic: Belfast flooding June 2012
A shocking, guilt-inducing, interactive app whatsit which calculates how many times you’re likely to see your parents before they pass away.
But why?
The makers say:
“We believe that increasing awareness of death can help us to make the most of our lives. The right kind of reminders can help us to focus on what matters, and perhaps make us better people.”
Nonsense.
*phones Ma*
Calculate here
Thanks Cormac McCann, via Austin Richards
If Ireland were on #Mars it would be in the Northern Lowland Plains. #WSW2013 http://t.co/Tna1DQNHXi pic.twitter.com/LdVIAcPT61
— PlanetGeog@TCD (@Planetgeogblog) October 3, 2013
Oh.
An epic timelapse tribute to New York by production company The Seventh Movement, composed of 321 shots originally made for ESPN’s coverage of the 2013 US Open.
Music: Jamie N Commons – Rumble And Sway (Monsieur Adi Remix)
Illuminati, dude.
Yesterday evening – with a pair of free tickets to Mistaken for Strangers TONIGHT at the OneToOne Music Documentary festival at the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin to give away – we asked: Were YOU in a band?
You responded in your dozens.
Runners-up.
(Oik) “I want these tickets because I was in a band called Girl Attack that didn’t make it because we were a bunch of 10 year old divas who couldn’t accept the lead singer was more talented and deserved her role. We were definitely going to be the next Spice Girls, damn egos!”
(Rozling) “I want these tickets because I was in a band called Love Divided that didn’t make it because we all moved to different countries.truestory.jpg.”
(Monkeman) “I want these tickets because I was in a band called Sphincter Pig that didn’t make it because of musical differences, and weed, lots of weed…”
(Dash Rickwood) “I want these tickets because I was in a band called Johnny Blue and the Superkings, we didn’t make it because various members neglected to turn up for various events/rehearsals. Damn, for all I know, we’re still going.”
Winner
(Gustav) “I want these tickets because I was in a band called Hard that didn’t make it because when we were 14, at our first gig in our school with my parents in attendance, we got on stage, punched the air (thinking we were hilarious) and yelled “We are Hard!” which was followed by the loudest, ear-piercing microphone feedback that seemed to last for an eternity, cutting out the power completely in the process.
The four of us stood on stage frozen for at least five minutes while being heckled and laughed at before we were told to leave the stage as the sound engineer scrambled to fix the problem. Even though we hadn’t even played one note, the band disbanded soon after for obvious reasons. School was hard.”
Thanks all.
OneToOne Music Documentary festival (Lighthouse)
Previously: Were You In A Band
Thanks Tom Lowe
Two University of Bath undergraduates Carmen Cheng and Matthew Guy have created a maze with a jagged surface where they can control the direction of liquid using the Leidenfrost effect.
It occurs when a liquid comes in contact with something really hot – about twice as hot as the liquid’s boiling point, the liquid never comes in direct contact with the surface; vapor acts as a barrier that keeps the two separated.
Previously: What Happens When You Drop A Red Hot Ball Of Nickel Into Water?
What you may need to know:
1. Let’s give it up for Saoirse Ronan, shall we?.
2. She’s been Oscar nominated, starred alongside Bill Murray, James Gandolfini and Marky Mark Wahlberg AND been in RTE’s The Clinic.
3. She’s in the next Wes Anderson movie. And Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut.
4. She just auditioned for Star Wars. And turned down Avengers 2.
5. She’s the greatest living Carlowwoman.
Release Date: Tomorrow
Highlights from the weapons-grade feline love-in that was the 2013 Internet Cat Video Festival in Minneapolis.
Henri, Moustache Cat, Grumpy, Colonel Meow – all the A-listers.
You can peruse the complete list of featured videos at the Animal Planet site.
Last night the Government lost the vote in the Seanad on the Upwards Only Rent Review Bill 2013.
We asked Legal Coffee Drinker what’s it all about.
Broadsheet: “Legal Coffee Drinker, what’s the Upwards Only Rent (Clauses and Reviews) Bill 2013 all about?”
Legal Coffee Drinker: “It’s a Bill, initiated by Senator Fergal Quinn [above], designed to abolish upwards only rent review clauses in pre-2010 leases.”
Broadsheet: “Upwards only rent review clauses?”
Legal Coffee Drinker: “Most commercial leases provide for five-yearly rent reviews. An upwards only rent review clauses is a clause which provides that the rent on review cannot fall below previous rent or rents. It is designed to protect landlords in a falling rent market but can be extremely harsh on tenants.”
Broadsheet: “Upwards only rents? In this market? How come these clauses haven’t been abolished already?”
Legal Coffee Drinker: “Well, it’s not for want of people asking the Government to abolish them. In 2009 legislation was enacted prohibiting upwards-only rent review clauses in post-2010 leases; but by 2010 most tenants knew better than to agree to a upwards-only rent review clause anyway…
“What no Government to date (despite pre-election promises) has been prepared to do is invalidate upwards only rent review clauses in pre-2009 Act leases, which are the ones causing the real harshness.
“One reason given for this is possible unconstitutionality in interfering with parties’ rights and obligations. Another possible reason is that the Govenment doesn’t want to annoy lenders who granted mortgages in the belief that these clauses guaranteed rents. Of course, they don’t really, because a landlord, no matter how much the law is in their favour or how good their legal team, can’t get money off a tenant which that tenant doesn’t have.”
Broadsheet: “So the new Bill? What does that do?”
Legal Coffee Drinker:“Initiated by Senator Fergal Quinn, it does precisely what the Government was asked to do, and didn’t – it abolishes upwards-only rent review clauses altogether.”
Broadsheet: “And yesterday the Seanad voted in favour of the Bill, despite the Government specifically asking them to vote against it. What’s the significance of that?”
Legal Coffee Drinker: “One of the main criticisms of the Seanad, put forward by the ‘Yes’ campaign in the Referendum, is that it has no useful purpose and will never act differently from the Government, because the Government controls its composition and can therefore always secure a majority vote.
“This is an argument which was made on a previous thread, and it’s not an entirely unfair one given the history of the Seanad – there are only a very few occasions, until yesterday none of them particularly recent, when the Seanad as a body has failed to approve Goverment bills or has voted in favour of a Bill with which the government does not agree.”
Broadsheet: “Is this simply a desperate attempt to justify the Seanad’s existence?”
Legal Coffee Drinker: “You could call it that. You could also call it a message, from the Seanad, that it has the potential to act independently; that it is not the lapdog of the Government and that it is prepared to exercise its powers – one of which, Article 27, was discussed in a previous post – so as to act as a check and balance on the Government when necessary. Perhaps a message communicated rather late in the day, but, some might say, better late than never.”
Broadsheet: “And will the Bill now be passed?”
Legal Coffee Drinker: “Not a bit of it, unless there’s a Dail rebellion. Bills initiated in and passed by the Seanad have to be approved by a majority of the Dail before they can become law. But the approval of the Bill can only add to the pressure on the Government to do something about upwards-only rent review clauses, and weakens the argument that the Seanad, being merely a government lapdog, has no useful role to play as a check and balance. People who – like me – might have considered voting YES tomorrow may perhaps [drains coffee] reconsider in light of the, extremely belated, discovery by the Seanad of its teeth.”
Broadsheet: “Thanks Legal Coffee Drinker.”
(RTE)
