Where's the coal man?

While I'm moaning about the price of things, the natural gas bill came in the other day. Whoa! The bill for Dec-Jan is 31% higher than last winter's bill. Our usage was up by 6.5% so most of the increase is due to higher gas prices.

Almost time to start burning books.

Cheaper to call

I can't get over how much the cost of sending letters to Britain has risen recently. I'm doubting myself, but I seem to remember that a few years ago it was the same cost to send a letter to Liverpool or London as it was to send a letter to Galway or Cork. Now it's 48c for a letter within Ireland, but 75c to send a letter to Britain (same as anywhere else on Earth).

It seems to me that the Post Office expects us to send e-mails and/or text messages rather than sending a letter.

Curling explosion

The New York Times reported yesterday that curling is experiencing a massive interest thanks to the t.v. coverage of the games in Turin. I'm sure a lot of that is just flash-in-the-pan type interest, but I can see the appeal too.

When I was learning to drive, I turned in at our local curling club to make a U-Turn. I was in a hurry to get right out of there because I had no idea what went on in that building and was afraid someone I know would see me coming out. I can't remember what I imagined, but ice, stones and brooms wasn't it.

I don't think there's anywhere to curl in Ireland, but it seems there is an Irish Curling Association.

Severing ties with China

I like to think of myself as a friend of Taiwan. Still, I think President Chen of Taiwan is N-U-T-S if he thinks that the US is going to leap to Taiwan's defense if things get hot between them and China. I hope he knows what he's doing by cutting what are, after all, only symbolic ties.

Fiction and/or non-fiction

To my layman's perspective it seems odd that someone who wrote a book that is "non-fiction" would get all that upset to see that their radical rewriting of history was being adopted and adapted into a best-selling novel and, potentially, a hit movie. Yet, that's the basis of the lawsuit against Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown by Holy Blood/Holy Grail authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.

I've read both books and there seems little doubt that Brown borrowed heavily from Baigent & Leigh's book. (Interesting that the third member of their team, Henry Lincoln, doesn't seem to be involved in the law suit.) Still, weren't they just setting the record straight? I suspect that they're just raging with envy because Brown had the good sense to take their work of 'history' and turn it into a big money maker as fiction.

Gardaí's intelligence

I don't comment on things that are featuring on the Newshound, but I don't think I'm really violating that principle too much by saying that if the Gardaí have gaps in their intelligence with regards to who organized Saturday's disturbances, it doesn't fill me with confidence when I consider the Gardaí's efforts against al Qaeda.

Saturday in Dublin

I was in Dublin on Saturday, but I had left and gone home before anything started. It was pretty quiet when I was there. I didn't see anything other than a number of Welsh Rugby fans looking for that first pint before breakfast.

If you want the details and the political reactions/implications of what happened on Saturday, go to the Newshound. If you're looking for blog coverage, go to Slugger O'Toole. Dick from Back Seat Drivers was there and he posted some pictures. I haven't had time to go through the blogs in any detail, but I'm sure that Saturday's 'events' are well covered.

The Emerald Diamond

I have no idea if The Emerald Diamond, the movie about the Irish National Baseball team, is any good, but I admire filmmaker John Fitzgerald's PR skills. More on the movie's premier from the NY Post (thanks Eddie) and the Westchester Journal News.

Baseball in the UK

I only just found this article from the London Times, January 5. Although baseball has been vetoed for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, there's a possibility that there will be a regular season Major League game at the Oval cricket ground in 2008. The game is supposedly going to feature the Yankees and Red Sox (somehow I doubt that, really) and be played around July 4.

Great idea, but shouldn't the game be played at the Baseball Ground?

Gala

Okay, I'm willing to concede that figure skating is a sport - barely - but what sport has a "gala" after the competition. The gala features basically the same entertainment, but without any medals. So, no pressure. I just can't picture the World Series finalists playing a an exhibition game after the championship is decided. And, this goes for pretty much any 'real' sport.

Iraqi civil war

One aspect of the possible Iraqi civil war that rarely gets mentioned is that there's no good reason to assume it will involve only Iraq. There are Sunni and Shia Muslims spread throughout the region. Would either one of those groups be willing to sit back and see how things play out in Iraq? During her recent tour of the Middle East Condoleezza Rice was told that sectarian violence could spread throughout the region (& beyond? - what about Pakistan?).

I've heard a few people compare Iraq with Lebanon. However, what rarely gets mentioned is that Lebanon was a Christian vs Muslim battle - the Lebanese Christians didn't have a large sympathetic population in neighboring states.

I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel on the Iraqis yet. I still believe a national unity government is possible and that common sense will keep the bulk of Iraqis working towards a peaceful and prosperous future. But, that scenario sure doesn't look inevitable this week.

USA! USA! USA!

The US won its first ever curling medal today. They beat Great Britain to take the Bronze.

By far, these guys (men's and women's teams) were America's classiest competitors at the Games. You can keep your sulky speed skaters, fussy figure skaters, snarky skiers, silly snow-boarders and haughty hockey players. The curlers - all the teams - are a throwback to what I remember about the Olympics from when I was a kid.

Hiatus

I guess the News Letter doesn't take its web publication too seriously. Their web site was not updated on Feb. 22 or Feb. 23 and they've just decided to plow on with Feb. 24. I guess I'll never know what they had to say on those two days.

Irish reaction to the cartoons

I forgot to mention this. You might remember that I was skeptical that the Irish public "abhorred" the publication of the Danish cartoons, although President McAleese said we did. Well, she was right.

According to the Sunday Independent's poll 65% of people polled answered "Yes" to this question.

President McAleese told the Saudis that Irish people 'abhorred' the cartoons. Does that represent your opinion?

And, no matter how hard the Sunday Independent tries to say otherwise, the Irish people abhorred the cartoons and felt the President was right to say so in Saudi Arabia.

More on the ports

I found this article by Mansoor Ijaz fairly convincing.

Dubai was the first Middle East government to accept the U.S. Container Security Initiative as policy to screen all containers for security hazards before heading to America. In May 2005, Dubai signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to prevent nuclear materials from passing through its ports. It also installed radiation-detecting equipment — evidence of a commitment to invest in technology. In October 2005, the UAE Central Bank directed banks and financial institutions in the country to tighten their internal systems and controls in their fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

These are not the actions of a terror-sponsoring state.

I think the biggest difficulty for all of us who are NOT in the know is to assess the UAE's efforts to provide assistance in the War on Terror. However, Ijaz's description of the UAE does sound an awful lot like the ideal we'd like to see achieved in Iraq, no?

It seems patently hypocritical that America wants democracy in the Middle East, champions capitalism and global integration, pushes for reform, transparency, and anti-corruption practices in business, and then turns around and tells those who are practicing what America preaches, Sorry, we think you folks are a bunch of terrorists, so we don't want you on our shores and don't trust you running our ports.

Half mast maple leafs

The Americans are having a bad Olympics. Most of the big names (in these minor sports) seem to be letting them down. The British have one medal, but they are now out of both curling competitions so this can't be a good Olympics for them either. The Japanese have ZERO medals, which is pretty poor for a nation that hosted the winter games only 8 years ago when they won 5 golds and 10 medals in total.

Until yesterday Canada was having a pretty good games. They're fifth in the medals table. But, yesterday the Canadian hockey team was knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals. No Canadian medal in hockey, a sport that is pretty close to their national religion. I don't even think the US losing in baseball would come close.

Now, hopefully, the National Hockey League will realize the folly of letting its players take part in the Olympics. Let the Olympics be for amateur players or those from minor leagues.

The only people having a worse Olympics than the Canadian hockey team are the Canadian and American television companies that are broadcasting the games.

Port storm

I know next to nothing about what managing ports entails. But, I think I'm in pretty good company because I'm pretty sure that many of those who are outraged (bordering on hysterical) about the sale of American ports (by a British company) to a Dubai-based company are nearly as clueless as I am.

President Bush is getting it from those on the right and those on the left because he won't stop the sale. Mayor O'Malley of Baltimore has essentially said, "Give me British ports or give me death" while speaking about the port where the Star Spangled Banner was written.

First of all, I think it would probably be easier for al Qaeda to infiltrate a British company and gather useful intelligence than it will be to do so with an Arab company in charge. That company still wants to make money and they will be aware that everyone's going to be watching them closely. Second, the US Coast Guard & Customs authorities are still responsible for security at the ports.

Now there are people who just don't trust Arabs/Muslims and they're not happy about this deal. I can understand their reasoning. What I can't understand is how someone can be in favor our big nation-building project in Iraq, but at the same time think that your A-Rabs are just not trustworthy.

I also can't understand how those who get all riled up about racial profiling aren't just a little squeamish about their fear-mongering regarding Arab business owners, who will more than likely be thousands of miles away from the US on an everyday basis. If Arabs can't own a business formerly owned by a British company, how can they be trusted as members of the armed forces, police, etc.?

Exam question II

Just beneath the question I've mentioned below there's another True or False question: "Pearl Harbour was bombed by the Japanese airforce in World War II".

Why would anyone use the word 'airforce' in that question? I don't understand that. Is there some political motivation?

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor (no 'u'), but was it the Japanese airforce? I don't know. What if a kid knows enough to know that the attack was by the Japanese Navy and believes the air force is a separate entity from the navy. That's pretty much the language used today. Some kids might easily answer FALSE and I think you could make a good argument that they are correct.

Exam question

I was looking through the 2005 Environment & Social Studies Junior Cert exam and came across this True or False question: "Russia was an ally of Germany during World War II".

Now I could get all nit-picky and say the answer must be FALSE because Russia was not an independent state at the time, but a part of the USSR. Okay, this is a test for 14 & 15 year-old kids so I'll let that go. Let's assume they mean the USSR where they say Russia. Is it true or false?

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 essentially made the Soviets and Germans allies. Ask the Finns. Ask the Poles, who were allies of the British and French when the Soviets jointly occupied Poland with Germany. So, I think TRUE could be considered right.

But, of course, after June 22, 1941 the Soviets and Germans were definitely not allies so FALSE is also right.

I wonder what would have happened if a kid had answered BOTH. I'm sure whoever set the exam was expecting a 'FALSE', but I'd also like to bet that few of our Polish immigrants would accept that as correct. Their children might just argue with the exam board.

Why you should be a curling fan

Alex Massie spells it out:

After all, curling's advantages are many and great. It is a sport for normal people, not freaks of nature. Physical fitness is not of paramount importance —— nerve, poise, and judgment count for much more. There's no recourse to performance-enhancing drugs, unless you count a pre-match shot of whisky. And I'd like to think maturity helps.

On that note, curling is a sport in which character counts. Yes, you need courage and skill, but it's considered poor form not to buy drinks for your vanquished opponents. Showboating is frowned upon. There's no trash-talking.