Posts from — June 2007

There’s a certain creationist incongruity between Audrey Bright’s assertions that a) web reporting is the future of journalism and that b) her pursuing a career in journalism is ‘God’s will’.

“Bright said she and her family have long been fans of the Fox News Channel. ‘We are proud of her, but we’re more proud of who she is in Christ,’ Yolanda Bright (Audrey’ s mother) said.”

Via: Greenslade

By Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJrovKgrTw]

With our (Catholic and Protestant) powers combined….

Via: The Dubliner

Can’t survive three days in a tent without a charged mobile? Let’s face it, who can? No fear, picnickers, because there’s now a way to charge your phone that’s in keeping with the metroboho vibe of Stradbally’s Electric Picnic.

Via Treehugger comes a link to a new wind-powered phone charge, that will sit atop your dome away from home and charge your phone. The device was commissioned by UK mobile firm Orange, and is due to be ready for the Glastonbury festival. Weighs in at just 150 grams.

Unlike last week, this one has been fairly good for training, as could be judged from Al’s reactions last night. I got home from work, and after a cup of tea, came downstairs in my running gear.

“Ah Jesus, Coomy. Is Friday not a jog-free zone?”

Hell no. We runners think not in terms of weeks. We operate on a one-run-per-daylight-period cyce. My runners stink seven days a week, and they don’t do that all on their own, Al. Consistency is key in marathon training.

Seven days a week is clearly bullshit but it’s important to make sure you’re at least running more days a week than not. [Read more →]

Announcing in public that I intend to do the marathon was a way of keeping myself honest – and motivated – to train and actually get down to the act ot running. If it’s out there, hopefuly people will hold me to it and make sure I go through with it.  I profess to be self-motivated, but in fact I’m the world’s worst procrastinator, and so I need something to spur me into action a lot of the time. I hold off doing things until the last minute, until the sweat of a deadline is thick as clotted cream on my forehead. Then, and only then, will I spring into action. The result is always satisfactory, if a little tardy.

So, in the interests of honesty, I’ll have to admit that Friday and Saturday of last weekend were not good days for the training regime. [Read more →]

If ever there was a “just doin’ my job, mate” moment, surely this was it. As I took part in a charity fun run for MS (from which my mother died a few years back), the traffic wardens were sneaking around, and slapped me with a $77 fine. It’s rare enough to get ticketed on a motorbike, but on a Sunday morning too? Like everyone in Australia, however, by 9.36am on a Sunday, traffic wardens have already got a full day’s work done.

I’m sure they have a heart somewhere, though, so I thought I’d sent them a little note with my payment. And I paid by cheque, too, rather than credit card or ePay. Just to make them earn it.

Looking forward to your donations, my friends. It’ll bring our fundraising team within $50 (€31.50) of our goal.

Text reads:

Enclosed you’ll find my payment for a parking fine, handed out while I took part in a charity fundraiser for MS in Hyde Park.

I believe this is a unique opportunity to illustrate what kind, generous people traffic wardens really are, and shed the stereotype of being a cold, heartless bunch of bastards.

Simply log on and make a small donation, say, $77 (the price of the fine).

Ball’s in your court, lads.

http://sydney.mswalk.org.au/?Irish+madness

Via Andrew Sullivan comes a link to a zealous young historian, who rightly acknowledges that referring to an ancient copy of a 18th-century Koran as ‘bookporn‘ might be a smidge inappropriate.

Describing the delicately-crafted gilt publication as ‘UNBEARABLY HOT’ might not go down too well with the fanatics, nor would the clearly sexual concept of the ‘torrential salivation’ it stimulates.

The Koran is not a one-handed read. Unless you’re Abu Hamza.

Day-job time, and the latest Irish Echo is at newsagents now. If you’re in Australia, there’s no better printed source of detailed analysis of the Irish election. We expose a visa-extension scam hitting Irish backpackers, which has seen several people sent home, having paid  up to $600 to a third party to extend their working-holiday for a second year.

I meet Mr iinet, the man who kisses Doovalackeys, and offer my take on how Irish voting policy could be tweaked to increase the turnout further. We have a real-life story from Michelle Byers, who came close to death from malaria in Tanzania, and look at the number of ExPads here who, like myself, are hitting the pavements in aid of charity.

Plus all the usuals, the hurler on the ditch, a look at the popular 457 visa, and plenty more besides.

Do I miss Ireland? Yes.

Do I miss the good people of Dublin? On the whole, no. Why?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbWgM9NvTik]

It’s easy to heap scorn on the Republicans. They make it easy.  But this time it’s the Democrats misbehaving, targeting under-fives with propaganda.
Note the subtle lettering on the building blogs blocks. Note the snooty Republicans (we assume) ignoring the beggar in the background, part of the ‘subtle (and not-so-subtle)
satirical swipes at the Bush administration and the Republican party’ that the author is so proud of.

Quote from happy, brainwashed tot on the homepage, littledemocrats.net: “I loved this book. It is my favorite book.”
-Kyleigh Gruhlke (age 5),

Shady Shores, TX

Awwww. Isn’t she cute? Someone get a politician to kiss her and a cameraman to capture it.

Via: Stay in Touch