A multi award-winning graduation short by Veronica Solomon of the Film University Babelsburg. To wit:

What would you be willing to do for them to love you? LOVE ME, FEAR ME is a reflection on the roles we play and the shapes we take, the stages we chose, the audience we try to impress and the price of acceptance.

curiousbrain

Taoiseach Michaél Martin

This afternoon.

Responding to Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty’s comment that there is a ‘dysfunction and chaos’ in Government that is undermining public confidence….

‘..Micheál Martin insisted “the overall message is very, very clear.”

He said the measures announced by the Government on Tuesday are aimed at ensuring there is a balance of keeping people at work and keeping community transmission as low as possible.

Yesterday, the Green Party leader and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan acknowledged that there are contradictions in the advice relating to limits on indoor gatherings compared with schools having indoor classes of 20-30 pupils.

However, the Taoiseach said “there is no confusion about the fundamental issue” of trying to protect lives and livelihoods and stop the increase in cases of the virus…The numbers have gone up substantially in the last two weeks compared to a month earlier. That’s it. The numbers have gone up. We have to respond,.”

Taoiseach rejects claim of confusion over Covid-19 messaging (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

Ah.

Here.

This morning.

Nagle Community College, Cork City.

Really?

REALLY!?

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

Utah, USA.

This morning/afernoon

UCD O’Brien (cough) Centre for Science.

Paul Reid, CEO HSE (above) rejected claims that the test and trace system is falling apart and described such claims as ‘alarmist and unhelpful’.

Via RTÉ:

Health Service Executive CEO Paul Reid said the 14-day incidence of Covid-19 is at 25.4 per 100,000 leaving Ireland the third highest in Europe for new cases.

He said there have been clusters in private households, workplaces and sporting events.

He said:

“We want people to come forward for testing and have demonstrated that the system is meeting demand, which it did last week.”

He also said that in some cases there were up to 50 close contacts of a confirmed case identified.

Assistant Professor at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at TCD Tomás Ryan said earlier this week that Ireland’s test, trace and isolate system was never fast enough and is now falling apart.

HSE rejects claims test system ‘falling apart’ (RTÉ)

RollingNews

Like the Earth, the sun rotates, as it does, it changes in both subtle and dramatic ways. To wit:

In the featured time-lapse sequences, our Sun — as imaged by NASA‘s Solar Dynamics Observatory — is shown rotating though an entire month in 2014. In the large image on the left, the solar chromosphere is depicted in ultraviolet light, while the smaller and lighter image to its upper right simultaneously shows the more familiar solar photosphere in visible light. The rest of the inset six Sun images highlight X-ray emission by relatively rare iron atoms located at different heights of the corona, all false-coloured to accentuate differences. The Sun takes just under a month to rotate completely — rotating fastest at the equator. A large and active sunspot region rotates into view soon after the video starts. Subtle effects include changes in surface texture and the shapes of active regions. Dramatic effects include numerous flashes in active regions, and fluttering and erupting prominences visible all around the Sun’s edge. Presently, our Sun is passing an unusually low Solar minimum in activity of its 11-year magnetic cycle. As the video ends, the same large and active sunspot region previously Video Credit: SDO, NASA; Digital Composition: Kevin M. Gill mentioned rotates back into view, this time looking different.

(Video: SDO, NASA; Digital Composition: Kevin M. Gill)

apod

The votes are in.

Last week, with an exotic €25 Golden Discs voucher on offer, I asked you to name your favourite song not in the English language?

You answered in your hundreds.

In fact, it was a best-ever voucher competition and an amazing playlist of fabulous foddin choons.

So many, I have to give away TWO vouchers to two winners.

Third Place:

Place des Grandes Hommes By Patrick Buel

Johnny Keenan writes:

‘Back in 1990 when my sister came back from France, she brought back a VHS with French songs. She thought it might be of benefit to me and my brothers, in learning the language and culture. One song/video stood out. Beautiful melody. It was in black and white, and you didn’t have to know French to follow the story. Which was grand for me. It’s about a reunion. I never thought about it in 30 years, until today.The VHS is long gone, school days over, family and friends move on. Turns out the video for the song is in colour. With the passing of time you really do see things in a different light…’

Runner-up:

Con te Partiro By Andrea Bocelli

Janet dreams of big guns writes:

‘I used to love having this timed for when I turned the corner onto the Seine [Paris, France] at the crack of dawn, the light, the emptiness and all that beauty just for me with this reaching crescendo in my headphones, well it would bring a tear to a glass eye…’

Joint winner:

7 Heures Du Matin by Jacqueline Taieb

Smith writes:

‘This tune really captures the effortless cool of Nouvelle Vague France. Jacqueline Taïeb of Tunisian descent blazing a sexy, powerful, feminist, rock n roll trail.’

Joint Winner:

Sweet Lullaby by Deep Forest

Mr P writes:

A song I fell in love with in my early 20’s knowing nothing about it…Little did I know that I would end up in the country it came from [Solomon Islands] and lived there for a couple of years in the south Pacific Ocean… give this 1.5 minutes of your life.. it is beautiful, here is a recording of an islander singing the original traditional version:

Nick says: Thanks/merci/danke/grazie, etc.

Last week: Win Nick’s Voucher

Golden Discs

Hostels In Ireland tweets:

The old Hotel of the Isles at Lettermullan became an An Óige property on 17th April 1953 and would continue to be so for a further 13 years until 1966.

(Pic: Norman Campion)

Crowne Plaza Hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand is now an isolation facility with fencing separating the building from the public.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand

Jordan Schachtel writes:

Military has been deployed to make sure people don’t leave their quarantine camps, which are mandatory for COVID-19 positive individuals and their families.

From what I understand, police are prohibiting the press from taking photos and videos of the current situation in the facility, citing privacy concerns. Still, it would be nice to know what the heck is going on there.

Found a couple testimonials from the mandatory quarantine facilities. Military checks in “constantly on our well being but also our adherence to the rules.”

The first person in the conversation had a sore throat and was sent to the quarantine camp as a precaution.

Of course, the families are left out of the decision making process, but don’t worry, the state knows what’s best for them!

A lot of the rebuttals from the Kiwis point out the fact that they are being quarantined at nice hotels, as if that justified the incarceration of citizens without any due process.

What starts as a nice, contained arrangement ends up a very different situation when the virus inevitably surges through the population. What happens when they start running out of rooms? White collar prison-style incarceration quickly goes south.

What happens when you run out of nice hotels to put COVID infected people in them? The not-so-nice makeshift “hotels” prop up in your local neighborhood which require a different policing structure to ensure compliance.

Unfortunately, this represents the mainstream viewpoint here. They have bought into the pseudoscientific delusion that they can fully eliminate the virus. So of course, forced incarceration is on the table. It will not end well when the bubble bursts….

Time to look at our quarantine hotel contingency plan (newsroom.co.nz)

Pic: Stuff.co.nz

Broadsheet.ie