Chinese New Year, 2011

Anouilh

Generating an online identity takes time and energy. When a "nom de plume" was requested on chat rooms years ago, I opted for a persona that would cause a bit of discussion. Jean Anouilh was my favourite writer for several years during my teens. His ascerbic wit, shot through with a fey romanticism was just right for the time and, while he is less visible nowadays, his quotes appear regularly on many sites. The pronunciation and spelling of the name, however, led to some humourous interchanges...

I've Been Around...

the World for sport again.

Co-incidentally, we had booked a ferry crossing from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead months before the ash plume played Molly Bawn with air travel, so it was reassuring to get to visit family without any obstacles.

Hours on the motorway is part of the package, but the anticipation, as usual, turned out to be worse than the real event.   Several years ago I got hit by a truck (twice within moments) while driving in England.   Everybody emerged without a scratch, due in no small measure to the fact that I had rested every afternoon for days, in anticipation of the journey and was in top driving form.

However, although I did not in any way lose my nerve, my co-driver is now so traumatised by the memory that I have not been invited to drive again...

This has many advantages... notably it leaves time for taking photos of interesting sights along the way.

The best way to travel in England, however, is by train.   We took the slow train from York, through Harrogate, stopping at every tiny station along the way and even catching a glimpse of the gorge at Knaresborough through a misty window.

Our first trip to Leeds was a great success.
The chocolate cake in the Art Gallery restaurant, an ode to the tilers craft, was top notch.

Can't wait to go back again soon...

Dublin in Winter

Cognitive Windows of Opportunity

I'm back gardening...


It is the only activity where exercise and fruitfulness come together in a relaxed way.

The apple, pear and plum harvest has been exceptional and I'm looking forward to making jelly.

There is much to preoccupy my thoughts as I head into the overgrowth with a red handled secateurs and a determined grin. Gardening makes me happy and wipes down the windows of perception in a way that no drug or brain enhancer could.

These thoughts persist thanks to having read
"The Dark Fields"
by Alan Glynn.
The protagonist, led astray by a brother-in-law who could have stepped straight out of "The Duchess of Malfi", takes to lashing down a brain enhancer called MDT-48.
It does not do him much good in the long run, but his rise to success on the stock market could inspire some of the dullards who are trying to run the World's fiscal affairs at the moment.


Thanks to Damien Mulley who gave the book a Fluffy Thumb's Up
this week.

Malahide Castle, the Talbot Botanic Gardens

>br>

Memories of Country Life

Voyage Into the Unknown

Well, let's put it this way, having read about all the confusion
caused by missed bits in computer programming I'll be staying
with the more secure areas of photography for some time to come.
My ethical problems in relation to this new technology are almost
on the verge of being simple-minded.
Living in a small city, I tend to have great qualms about uploading
photos of people on the street, in case they may not like it.

These are paltry concerns when compared to the life and death
realities that many computer professionals face daily.

"Computer Ethics and Professional Responsibility"

presents the alarming proposition that cause and effect
are no longer predictable, once computers are involved.

Far from causing fear, this idea has opened up a vast
area of curiosity which should keep my Winter reading very
lively indeed.

But the prospect of writing code takes on a
link to social responsibility that may
prove a burden?

Web 2.0 is Here to Stay

It seems that the Internet will soon outstrip the World's mainstream media in productivity and, in some cases, quality.

The article linking to the Title Bar here gives an insight into the history
of how it all started.

Nay-sayers who find much to criticise in the output from the Net forget that
it offers an opportunity to those who would never consider journalism or
the formal professional art world as a forum for their work.

If you think that the machine is taking over
the option to make personalised widgets is always there.

Cherchez la Femme

Award winning Irish bloggers are gathering mainstream media attention at last.

This article in today's "Irish Times" re-introduces
some very well-known faces to fans.

I Must Get My Categories Sorted Out Before I Write This Post

If you do a web search for "Grannymar" and "Fury" you will be
as surprised as I was to find that an ageist slur has been made
against her and, by association, against Grandad.

Here is where I must start to tread very gingerly indeed.
Not only has the Great Spam Buster in the Virtual Sky
stopped any possibility of my posting any response to
Grannymar's distress, I have started THINKING.

This activity, attempted on a cold March afternoon in Northern Europe,
is probably not a good idea. I should be uploading some of the increasing
body of photographic work which is the result of leaving the house far too often
in the past few weeks. I should be making a rhubarb, orange and almond pie
for my nearest and dearest. I should be learning yet another foreign language...

But instead, I'm sitting here wondering how Grannymar might best get an
apology for strange refences to "silver" bloggers and "weird web" and other
catchy phrases that sub editors seem to produce like the proverbial rabbits out
of proverbial hats.

Should my solidarity include "Coming Out" as a practising Granny.
Probably a bit extreme, as I continue to feel as lively as a Spring Chicken
and could never make much sense of ageism. A true grandmother is a wise
and venerable person, in my mind, It somehow seems to be a status earned over
years rather than a glib label.

Grannymar, through her fine contribution to the Irish Blogging
Community has earned this status and well deserves her
Award.

Perhaps she can take some comfort in the fact that journalism deals very often in labels and is meant to be superficial and entertaining.

The problem lies in linguistics, I'm afraid, and until somebody wakes up to the fact
that words can be hurtful when printed and directed at well-meaning people, the world
of print journalism will continue to be the mixed feast that it is.


Here, for what it is worth, is the reply I typed in an effort to get my thoughts
round this complex subject:
"You are right to protest, Grannymar.
Captions are not necessarily written by the
journalist who writes the piece, however.
Often even hacks are puzzled by the unusual
slant a catchy headline can put on their work.

If any editors should ever read this,
it's worth recording that I tend to go
to the Internet rather than to the mainstream
media for news and ideas and I don't tend
to think much about age when I read a piece
that is well presented.

Ageism has always been a feature of European
society. And it's not correct, I agree.

Well done on writing such a clear analysis of your experience,
and an apology would be in order."

The title bar here leads to a well written and respectful article
in the Daily Herald
about
older women and how they contribute to the lively
tapestry of everyday life.



It seems that I'm in the process of developing a hybrid new
sub-genre in the Blogosphere, that of the Outsider Poster,
who, unable to access other Blogs, comments in the Exosphere,
hoping to be heard.

What shall this genre be called?

Exospheration?

Irish Blog Award Preparation Has Reached Fever Pitch

I'm a great fan of Bock the Robber's extravagant
literary style. Heaven knows why, as his outbursts often scare
the bejaysis out of me.

Today, courage firmly in hands, I posted to his blog.
The result was suitably surrealistic.
Trigger happy, as usual, I managed to link my name to
a very entertaining piece about how to control your waiter
when eating out. I had meant to place a neat link to
ModernTwist2 there, but it was not to be.

Several attempts to rectify the situation left me with
messages that did not make sense, or that made me look
like a poisonous
SPAMMER.

Success, however had been partly achieved.
The comment worked, even if it was not the full comment I would have desired.