“Today, I begin a three-day trade mission in California which is all about securing jobs and investment for Ireland. From Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park on Thursday, I’ll be here for a Facebook Q&A and I want to hear your questions on trade, investment and job creation. If you’d like to participate, post your questions below and visit again on Thursday at 22:30 GMT. I look forward to it!. “Enda Kenny.
Oh yes.
Thanks Mark Hoskins
More to folly.
Thanks Nick Sutton, Brian Oliver and Pamela McCarthy.
Covers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie
Übergeek Tom Murphy took all the lines spoken in English in Star Wars: A New Hope and divided them up into 11,684 single-word clips.
He then alphabetised all 11,684 and cut them into a 48 minute edit of the film, appropriately called ARST ARSW. It opens with all 201 instances of the word ‘a’ and concludes with the single use of the word ‘zone’.
Tom adds the following ‘fun facts’:
The word “lightsaber” only appears once in this film.
There are 43m5s of spoken English, 81m39s of other.
The most common word is “the”, of course, said 368 times.
The word with most screen time is “you”, at 52.56 seconds.
There are 1695 different words, and 11684 total words.
The longest words are “responsibility,” “malfunctioning”, “worshipfulness”, and “identification”, all 14 letters.
Sir, the internet is not worthy.
Related: Eht Aepprs
James McAuley tweetz:
The poor, poor clucker…
Further to disquiet over the sale of state seaweed company Arramara Teo.
Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh spelled out some of the issues in the Seanad today forcing an extension to the consulatation process.
Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: “The Minister of State is possibly aware of the recent sale of the State-owned company called Arramara Teoranta that was in State ownership for quite a number of years. The company is a seaweed processing factory based in Kilkieran, Connemara. We have been told by Údarás na Gaeltachta that it was sold to a Canadian company. We wish the new company well and have no issue with the purchase whatsoever.
We have an issue with the licensing regime. My understanding is that the licence regime that covers the process is based on the 1933 Foreshore Act. The legislation states that the State owns the seaweed on our shores and, technically, the people who want to cut seaweed require a licence. It appears to us that the law has not been implemented to the letter until recently. However, there is a tradition, certainly in places like Connemara where I am from, for people to have a stripe or space on the shore to cut seaweed and sell it to the factory. Recently we have become aware that the National Parks and Wildlife Service, I think, wrote to at least one seaweed cutter informing him that he needed a licence if he wanted to continue cutting seaweed. On foot of that we noticed that a number of private companies had applied for a licence to gain the right to harvest seaweed along the foreshore from Kerry to Donegal.
We also know of a licence application that covers the area from Belmullet to Clare. Local seaweed cutters are quite concerned about the issue and are worried that it may affect their rights to cut and sell seaweed to the companies that operate in the industry. Before Arramara Teoranta was sold to Acadian Seaplants it applied for a licence for the area. A number of very large public meetings have been held to discuss the matter where the seaweed cutters, along with many public representative, expressed their concerns.
The local seaweed cutters stated that they would like an input into the resource and its management. They are very concerned about sustainably managing the resource. They are also concerned that the seaweed is cut well, that the best is made of it and that they can make a living.
There is a concern that if one company receives a licence it would have a monopoly and thus dictate the terms such as the times for cutting and the price. In addition, if it was not happy with a certain cutter it could put somebody else on his or her stripe of seaweed and get him or her to do the work. A number of smaller companies that work in the industry are very concerned that they will be squeezed out of the business.
My understanding is that these licence applications must go before a sub-committee in the Department, the sub-committee then makes a recommendation to the Minister and then the Minister has the responsibility of signing off or granting a licence to the cutters, company or the people who applied. I ask that none of the licences be granted until there is full public consultation with the seaweed cutters and people involved in the local communities.
This is necessary to see if this is the best model and the most sustainable way of maintaining the industry. Locally, the seaweed cutters have suggested that they would prefer a fair trade scenario where a co-op or organisation, comprising the seaweed cutters,was set up and would apply for a licence. If a licence was granted they would be able to negotiate with a number of different players in the industry to get the best possible terms and conditions for them and their workers. That is my question for the Minister of State and I hope she will look favourably on the request.”
Jan O’Sullivan TD: “…I urge people with a particular interest in, or a tradition of involvement with, seaweed harvesting to use the opportunity afforded by the public consultation process to make their views on the applications known to my Department on the applications in question. These consultations are expected to begin very shortly. They will be advertised in the local and national press and published on my Department’s website. I am aware of the interest that some applications have attracted and of the one referred to by the Senator. My Department is in the process of making all applications that are deemed complete available on my Department’s website and is issuing instructions to applicants on the public consultation procedures. Given the level of interest in these applications, I have decided to extend the consultation period from 21 working days to 30 working days…”
Transcript via Kildare Street
Sale of State seaweed company ‘shrouded in secrecy’ (Aine Ryan, Mayo News)
[Historian Catherine Corless (pic 4) and Tuam author JP Rodgers (above) who was a resident at the Bon Secours mother-and-baby home until he was fostered at the age of six]
Tuam Co Galway this afternoon.
Laura writes:
“The grounds where the unmarked mass grave apparently containing the remains of nearly 800 infants who died at the Bon Secours mother-and-baby home in Tuam Co Galway from 1925-1961 rests. The site is now part of the Dublin Road housing estate and records show that the former mother and baby home’s septic tank was in this location. The names of the children buried here have been confirmed by Catherine’s’ research and she hopes to raise funds to erect a plaque as a memorial to them. JP has written two books on the subject detailing his mother’s life and his own.”
Earlier: What About Dublin
(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)
‘Love Is’ – Funzo and Leiko T’ola.
An Irish hjp hop shout out to The Beatles with a video shot in Liverpool and some cheeky scallytastic Fab Four sampling.
Directed by Jonathan Lambert, produced by Alan Newman and mixed by Collie Collins.
Funzo’s ‘The Great Lonesome’ Album is now available on iTunes.
Dan sez:
Crash, boom and wallop, the mini digger just tipped over and in it went
More as we Dan gets it.
Jizai Okimono is a niche Japanese craft dating back to the late 1700s when metalsmiths found themselves with a lot of time on their hands as the demand for multi-plate armour waned. It involves the meticulous carving of hyperrealistic animals with fully articulating, anatomically correct joints.
Here, 25 year-old sculptor Ryosuke Ohtake carves a lobster from boxwood for an exhibition at Tokyu Department Store – a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that it was apparently his first attempt at the craft.
Jaysus.
Andy Sheridan writes:
“Seen in the children’s drawing area at the National Museum of ireland Collins Barracks [Benburb Street, Dublin]…kids today, eh?”
