Raiméis

Just a reminder about the Irish Blog Awards, nominations are closing in just 3 days time (on Jan 23rd) so get your nominations in while you still can.
If you’re not sure who to vote for just start with the list of blogs in the right hand column of the Raiméis front page or head on over to Irishblogs or Planet of the Blogs for links to other great Irish blogs. They’ve a beautiful top pwize for best blog, eh, a box of USA Assorted biscuits … eh wha? an iPod Nano? I’d take the biscuits.

The news these days is dominated by pretty much the same stories, suicide bombings and/or coalition “precision” bombings in Afghanistan/Pakistan, suicide bombing and/or coalition “precision” bombings in Iraq, suicide bombings and/or other bombings elsewhere on our wee planet, not to mention Iran telling Israel “go fuck yourself” while charging up the aul nuclear reactors and Israel responding “yeah? well you fuck yourself!” and everyone else saying “you can’t develop nuclear energy, only we can.” No matter where you look there’s some conflict ongoing; Haiti, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania, Pakistan, Colombia and a hundred other countries; The Ivory Coast, Eritrea & Ethiopia and North Sri Lanka are all on the brink of war. The present is fairly shitty and in my opinion the future might be a lot worse.
Perhaps i’m somewhat prone to the odd bout of depression but whenever I look to the future i’m seriously worried that things could get fairly nasty within a short few years. I’ll be the first to admit my grasp of international politics is not what it should be and my predictions for the future are only those of an average Joe but this situation with Iran and the ongoing war against ‘terrorism’ worry me.

What if Iran decides to build a nuclear stockpile, what then? What can be done? Can you reason with a hardliner like the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Will UN sanctions only piss them off more? Israel say they can’t allow a hostile nation like Iran to have nuclear weapons so what’s their plan? Invade Iran? With every second cunt and his uncle owning a gun in the region, a strong defence force and of course the possibility of nuclear weapons making up part of the arsenal any war with Iran is going to be a nightmare, whether the opponent is Israel or an international coalition we’d be looking at serious loss of life. If the US thinks Iraq is bad i’d imagine Iran would be a hundred times worse.

“This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table.” —George W. Bush, Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 22, 2005

The US’s “economic colonialism” and their actions in Iraq is pissing a lot of people off, especially those in the Muslim community. A colleague of mine, a Muslim from the Middle East, a very decent and level headed chap has come to detest the US (more specifically George Óg) and since the start of the Iraq war is no longer too keen on the UK. For a variety of reasons the US seems to have an issue with a whole host of nations across the globe. Even assuming we resolve differences with Iran will North Korea be the next war zone?

Our generation (uz in W.Europe) has been spared any serious conflict. Previous generations have had to suffer two world wars and a number of independence struggles, will the next generation, our kids, face the third world war? Will the war on terrorism escalate to a degree where we’re all targets of an invisible enemy living within our own borders? Or am I blowing this out of all proportions?

I’m off to take my anti-depressants.

Deadly. I was just checking the weather forecast on Wunderground.com and noticed that the website is available in Irish (the standard site menus/headers)! Excellent, it’s quite rare to see international sites in Irish, apart from Google or the like. (Welsh is there too)
Btw, unless your browser language is Irish you’ll need to set the language preference (link in left hand column).

I hope you can forgive the lack of activity here recently. I’ve managed to contract some sort of bug and my head has been pounding for over a week now so it’s been hard to focus long enough to get a post out. You’d think the cold temperatures* would kill all these bugs but somehow they manage to get through. Anyway there’s a post or two in the pipeline, will be online soon enough.

*It’s -20 today, probably the coldest day of the winter so far here in the south, it’s quare nippy i’ll tell ya!

Via Slashdot, Nikon UK posted a press release yesterday announcing that they will end production of 35mm cameras, including many lenses and other related accessories, so they can focus on the growing digital market. I guess it’s obvious companies would go this way, digital cameras are becoming more popular than ever and that’s where the profits are. I’m sure 35mm will still be around for many years to come though.
Even though i’m in the hunt for a good (i.e. cheap) digital camera I can’t bear to part with my Minolta 35mm camera. There’s something more “real” about using film cameras IMO. And if it’s good enough for Daithi’s missus it’s good enough for me

As the title sez, Thunderbird 1.5 is due out tomorrow. I’m not sure yet if the Irish version will be released at the same time or not, I guess we’ll find out tomorrow (probably US time) but i’ll update you if I have any further info (for those that like to keep ahead of the posse ‘n all that).

Oh no, are they serious? Steve Staunton to be new manager of the Irish soccer team? Prepare for a few more years of shite results in Lansdowne Road.

I’m trying to get back into 3D modelling again, I totally suck at it so it can be hard to muster the motivation sometimes. Anywayz I started working on a gun recently, the model is about 90% complete, here is the first render, some fixes and fine tuning still needed, you can easily spot some of the mistakes (dodgy colour shading etc).

I can’t believe my eyes. Co. Clare FF Councillor Flan Garvey has said that rural dwellers should be excused from drink driving because for many of them the pub is their only social outlet and since they live locally they will be more familiar with the roads and would drive more carefully. Is this lad right in the head?? There is someone killed on Irish roads every day of the week, alcohol is responsible for many of the deaths and this lad thinks the law shouldn’t apply to those living rurally?
I fully accept for many people the local pub is their own social outlet but what’s stopping them staying off the drink for a few hours in the pub then opening a few beers when they get home? Or if they must have a drink what’s wrong with going by shank’s mare or getting a taxi?
Flan, fyi, 630 people were killed in drink drive related accidents in Ireland in the five years 2000 – 2004, and a further 162 North of the border during the same period. Alcohol is estimated to be associated with at least 30% of all Irish road accidents and 40% of all fatal accidents.

The GAA may name a trophy or stadium after Michael Collins, at least that’s the wish of GAA Prez Sean Kelly. Personally I’m quite surprised we don’t already have a trophy/stadium named after the Big Fellow who was surely one of the most charismatic and inspiring Irish leaders of the last century.