Yearly Archives: 2014

maryann

They ruled through masses and mass congregrations
They took this child and her child’s life
Her cross bared her stripped her
Not even time for stations
No explanation why their final destination was this grotto…
Losing in this lotto.

JJ Kikola – (They Were) Deaf To Her Child’s Cries

A tribute to schoolgirl Ann Lovett, who died attempting to give birth in a grotto in Granard, Co Longford, on January 31, 1984.

JJ explains the background to the song here.

Previously: Forgetting Ann Lovett

JJ Kikola

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Tributes to Dale Creighton at the  footbridge at St Dominic’s Road, Tallaght, Dublin this morning.

Dale, who was 20, was buried on Saturday, with mourners led by his parents Rhoda and Darren, his sister Danielle, and girlfriend Rebecca. He died of injuries sustained during an assault on New Year’s Eve.

Tragic Assault Victim ‘Gave Gift Of Life To Others (irish Independent)

DRI

Earlier this month DRI [Digital Rights ireland] faced closure if it couldn’t raise the money needed to pay legal costs [incurred following a failed application for a right to speak in a court case whereby record companies were demanding internet blocking].

Well…

 “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve received and we’ve more or less hit our target and will be able to cover the costs.”

Co-founder of Digital Rights Ireland, TJ McIntyre, speaking in yesterday’s Sunday Business Post [behind paywall].

Yay.

Previously: Fight For Your Digital Rights

Screen Shot 2014-01-20 at 00.50.00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU8iEwu1JIQ

Ahead of tonight’s concluding part in Eamonn Mallie’s interview with Ian Paisley (Lord Bannside), the DUP has launched a pre-emptive strike on their former leader. LAD [Loyalists Against Democracy] managed to grab a specially-edited NSFW preview (above).

Last night’s DUP statement included:

“Lord Bannside [Paisley] is entitled to his own opinions – however, he is not entitled to his own facts. The party deeply appreciates the contribution Lord Bannside made to Northern Ireland and to the growth of the DUP…We are saddened to see Lord Bannside harm his own legacy. In his later years as party leader, many colleagues shielded his frailty from public view, to avoid embarrassment and protect his legacy. Those people are hurt by untrue and bitter comments contained in the documentary.”

Party leader Peter Robinson in his satement said:

“This is not the Ian Paisley we knew. As someone who faithfully served Dr Paisley for many decades I will make one final sacrifice by not responding and causing any further damage to his legacy beyond that which he has done himself. Rather than return insult for insult, let me bless him with the mercy of my silence and wish him well.”

In tonight’s programme Ian Paisley says his relationship with Peter Robinson is irreparable:

“His ways are not my ways. He has to answer for how he works.”

Eileen Paisley says of senior DUP members:

“They assassinated him by words and deeds. Treated him shamefully.”

Baroness Paisley goes on to say in a clear reference to Iris Robinson:

“We knew where sleaze did come from. Came from Peter Robinson’s home. It came from his family.”

Paisley: Genesis To Revelation – Face To Face With Eamonn Mallie concludes tonight on BBC One NI, at 10.35pm.

Paisley: Robinson is a beast; his ways are not mine (Sam McBride, Belfast Newsletter)

Previously: Staying In Tonight?

Shots Across The Border

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Around 20 years ago, a government housing expo in the Gangnam district of Seoul in South Korea featured a town designed by leading local architects.

As well as making maximum use of the limited available footprint, this house – Ga On Jai – built by Iroje Khm Architects neatly encapsulates four distinctive Korean techniques of Korean architecture: Ru (internal support with one facade left open); Madang (the inner court); Cheoma (cantilevered roof) and Doldam (stone masonry wall).

designboom

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Ciara writes:

This article [from The Guardian] about the ‘return’ of female pubic hair has got  a huge amount of comments, (though not a great article, methinks) mostly about Cameron Diaz’s ‘bush’ and how that feminist lot shouldn’t get their knickers in a twist, that there are a lot more worthy causes. However I commented, as it coincided with a subject that I have been casually researching over the last year or so

Yes there are women who remove all pubic hair as a personal preference, However do not fool yourself into thinking that a culture pressurising women into pubic hair removal does not exist. This became clear to me when I attended a GP last summer with swollen glands, the first question he asked me was had I waxed, shaved or removed pubic hair recently? I thought what a really strange question. He then explained to me that it is “a very common occurrence to develop lymphatic and glandular infections caused by bacteria through the removal of pubic hair”, and that he was” merely factoring this into the process of eliminating”.

I asked him had he often seen this and he replied “that the number of young women presenting with general lymphatic infections from the practice of pubic hair removal (particularly in holiday times and summer months) was becoming an “astounding and worrying occurrence”. Afterwards I asked other GP.s I knew, had they also experienced this rise in lymphatic infections among young women due to the removal of pubic hair? and all of them said it had become a very common problem, due to the practice of the removal and of having no pubic hair, as the hair is there to protect against bacteria etc..

I asked other women what it was that persuaded them to remove all of their pubic hair?” Most of the answers indicated, that like many fads or fashions the pressure seemed to develop from other women and the fashion industry, Others said it was a matter of “heat and grooming”, “to look good in bikinis” and that any evidence of pubic hair (a natural feature) “was deemed to be dirty and disgusting”, but no-one was able to tell me “why pubic hair was now seen as dirty and disgusting?”.

So I decided to ask men what they thought. I asked about 50 individually men between the ages of 18-30, what their preference was? Every single one of the men on every single occasion told me that they “preferred a women to have no pubic hair”. I then asked them to draw a quick sketch as to what they thought a vagina should look like.

On each and every single occasion ‘bar none! the individual men drew a vagina that looked to resemble the vagina of a pre-pubescent girl not that of a woman who had progressed through puberty. Above is one of the sketches all of which (48 or so) were practically identical. When I asked them to draw a sketch of a penis all the images ‘bar none had pubic hair. (It is worth noting that I also asked a considerable number of men over the age of 35 and many replied that they “liked a woman to have pubic hair”.) 

 

Related: It’s the year of the bush – time to rediscover all female body hair (Emer O’Toole, Guardian)

Sketch via Ciara

Meanwhile…