Born, like other comic book characters, out of an otherwise trivial but life-changing animal bite, the Rabid Librarian seeks out strange, useless facts, raves about real and perceived injustices, and seeks to meet her greatest challenge of all--her own life.
Hozier has become one of the most famous faces in music after his debut album went stratospheric, so he should be pretty well known at this stage.
The writer of the piece below even acknowledges that Hozier is, in fact, Irish, but she still claims that her publication are "happy to take him to our British bosom".
Um...no. He's Irish, from Wicklow, not from Northern Ireland, not from Britain, not British. What, if I were a famous musician, would she claim me because I happen to have genetic roots in Britain, even though I'm American? Doubtful. What about an Indian singer, since they 'used to be part of the British Empire'. I'm sure that would go over really well, too.
The controversial religious group - famous for their homophobic attacks and hate-filled speeches - took to Twitter to share photos of its members protesting the monumental yes vote in the Irish Gay Marriage Referendum last week.
But there was a problem – the colours of the flags were reversed to orange, white and green - transforming the flag from that of Ireland, to that of the Ivory Coast .
For reference:
Flag of the Republic of Ireland
The colours of the flag of Ireland (also known as Éire in Irish), are 'green representing the Gaelic tradition of Ireland, orange representing the followers of William of Orange in Ireland, and white representing the aspiration for peace between them.'
Flag of the Ivory Coast
The colours of the flag of la Côte d'Ivoire 'were intended to symbolise the following: the orange colour stands for the land, the savannah found in the northern part and its fertility, the white represents peace, and the green represents hope and also the forest of the southern part of the country'.
So in both flags, white symbolises peace. It's a shame that the Westboro folks don't seem to know the meaning of peace and all it entails. But what do you expect of bigots?
Ireland appeared poised to become the world’s first nation to approve same-sex marriage by a popular vote on Saturday, with early vote counts showing strong and broad support for a measure that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago in what had traditionally been a Roman Catholic stronghold.
Not long after counting began at Dublin Castle, a government complex that was once the epicenter of British rule, the leader of the opposition, David Quinn, director of the Iona Institute, conceded the outcome in a tweet: “Congratulations to the Yes side. Well done.”
Both proponents and opponents said the only remaining question was the size of the victory for approval. Ronan Mullen, an Irish senator and one of only a few politicians to oppose the measure, predicted the win would be “substantial.” The official results will be announced this afternoon.
Oh. yes. If it can happen in Ireland, it can happen here, if not this summer by legal opinion, then eventually through referendum. I want to go to my friends' wedding. Please let it happen soon. This makes me so happy. Congratulations, Ireland!
Instead I got a notice that they were to be here today, tomorrow, and Monday (the original notice didn't mention Friday). I was really hoping they had come, worked, and finished, and that I could get things back together before the weekend, but alas, that will probably not be the case.
So now I'm home, eating black bean soup and a Parmesan bagel, and considering taking a nap because I worked very hard today and I'm a bit pooped. I'm finally making some progress about catching up on things there. I got The Blues Brothers in the mail today; maybe we can watch it at my friends' house instead. I also got the latest Victoria magazine and an entertaining catalogue called Alberene Royal Mail (http://www.albarene.com), which has all sorts of great gifts from Britain and Ireland inside, whether it be green men, illuminated manuscript ties, train station clocks, clan tartans, tea cakes, jewelry, and glass reproductions of famous window panels. They even have my phone booth toffee tin bank that I got years ago, along with others, including one of Big Ben and another of a thatched cottage. You can even get a replica of the Magna Carta should you wish. :) I should show this to YWKWIA and Brenda.
Savita Halappanavar was in agony but her doctors remained obstinate.
The 31-year-old dentist was 17 weeks pregnant on Oct. 21 when her husband Praveen rushed her to a hospital in Galway, Ireland. After an examination at the coastal city’s university hospital, Halappanavar was told she was miscarrying.
Over a three-day stretch, Halappanavar and her husband asked repeatedly that her pregnancy be terminated.
Doctors refused, saying that they could still detect a fetal heartbeat. At one point, Halappanavar was told, “This is a Catholic country,” according to The Guardian.
Halappanavar was neither Irish nor Catholic, but died due to a constitutional amendment passed in 1983 that states that one is an Irish citizen from conception. Thousands of Irish women go abroad to end their pregnancies in a country where abortion is not available. She did not have that recourse, as she was undergoing an emergency miscarriage. Now she is dead, her case mishandled by a profession that promises to 'do no harm', who in turn are bound by a backwards property of the constitution that means choosing a dying foetus over the health of the mother.
No one likes the idea of abortion. I certainly don't care for the idea of abortion in place of birth control. [And I stress that birth control is a better option. It amazes me that some people oppose that, as well, even though I understand their reasons. But it does prevent the more invasive abortion.] But I think that's relatively rare that you have women who just abort at the drop of a hat. The two people I have known to have had one made very difficult decisions and were certainly not doing so blithely. But I think women have a fundamental right to safe medical services for abortion, no matter what the situation. And the idea that a woman should carry a pregnancy to term in the case of rape or incest is insulting to women everywhere. Or, in this case, risking the life of a woman, I think it should be criminal.
I hope this case will open up a dialogue in Ireland and other places about providing the medical services needed to save lives despite, and providing abortion services to women who need them.
"Years ago, people were afraid. People, in their hearts, were aggrieved but they probably wanted to say it, but couldn't.
"We went to thank people for finally coming forward and giving us the information. After 31 years, the information came through. The pain is still the same whether it happened 31 years ago or seven weeks ago."
Sixteen people were murdered by republican paramilitaries and secretly buried in isolated areas of Ireland during the Troubles.
Nine bodies have yet to be found.
In 1999, the IRA admitted responsibility for killing and secretly burying nine of the 16, while one was admitted by the INLA.
I'm glad the family finally has closure. I wish the same could be said for nine other families. While I sympathise with the concept of a united Ireland, violence was never the answer. Much of the terrorism that played out on television screens here in the 60s and 70s came from groups in Ireland. We were fairly insulated from the actual violence, but with so many people of Irish extraction in America, there were a lot of different opinions, and there were people sending money to various sides of the conflict, I'm sure. Despite the continued sporadic violence, it has been much better, and for that I'm glad. Now if we could just see the Middle East settle down as well.
The exhibition features a range of rare items from the library’s collection of documents, letters, maps and art, many of which were deemed too valuable, light or air sensitive to be placed in regular display cases.
To overcome the problem, the National Library teamed up with Microsoft which has developed an interactive touch sensitive screen allowing the public to magnify and examine artefacts dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
“A lot of the items are very delicate and fragile,” said Elizabeth Kirwan an assistant keeper at the National Library of Ireland. “Traditionally if you wanted to see them you had to make an appointment with a section curator, get a reader’s ticket, put on a pair of white gloves and go to the relevant section to look at the material.
“What we have been able to do now with the technology is enable detailed access to the items both in the library and online.”
Among the library's holdings is a map drawn by Gerald of Wales about 1200 CE. It's nice that if you can't travel there yourself, you can at least experience some things online. The web address for the library is http://www.nli.ie. If you're a history buff like I am, be sure to check it out. Thanks, Steven, for the link to the story.
Today I was off work at both jobs. I only had three hours' sleep last night because I had to be somewhere by 6:45. People really shouldn't have to get up before the sun. But everything that needed to be accomplished was and I am now home for a little while and ready to sleep at least 2-3 hours.
I didn't see anything on the news that really struck me to blog about. One thing you might want to check out is YouTube's 2007 Video Awards voting, which they'll be announcing the 19th. I voted for 'The Guild' under Series, 'Doll Face' under Short Film, and the Mike Huckabee/Chuck Norris video under 'Politics'. There was also a piano-playing cat under Adorable and the University of Florida tasering at a Kerry speech under Eyewitness (okay, the tornado was cool in one of the other voters, but those storm chasers are crazy). I didn't really vote for any of the others. But you can vote once a day. Anyway, check it out.
Oh, and happy St Patrick's Day. Okay, so I'm pagan (you know, the things he supposedly drove out of Ireland, although they called them snakes), but I'm also got a lot of Irish in my background, and the holiday as we celebrate it in America isn't really religious. Of course, I forgot this morning and only by happenstance did I wear a top with pink roses and green leaves, so I had a bit of green on me. I ususally wear one that has purple and orange flowers on white with green leaves, because it has the colours of Northern Ireland (orange), the Republic of Ireland (green), and white, the colour of peace.
Okay, I know, I can be a loon sometimes. But I've been aware of the Troubles in Ireland since a Scottish teacher in Junior High pointed out to us that she wore orange instead of green to support the Protestants. Thankfully, a lot of the violence seems to have died down for now, and both factions, Protestant and Catholic, can hopefully co-exist.
I took a test in the newspaper to see how 'Irish' you are. It had a lot of cultural and historical questions. Out of fourteen the only one I missed was 'What was the boat that carried Patrick from Ireland to Britain carrying as cargo?' I said cattle (cattle being very important in Celtic cultures, but on second thought, a bit big for those boats) and the answer was wolfhounds. But everything else I got right, including that Patrick was a Briton who was enslaved by the Irish, and not Irish at all.
Here's some traditional Irish music, with lots of fiddles by way of celebration:
terribly depressing yet moving. Quite a few of my own ancestors came from Ireland. I think this song captures the experiences of some of those immigrants and the ones left behind. The song was based on actual letters written from Ireland to the songwriter's great-grandfather.
Another terribly depressing song I'll include here is 'Stretched on Your Grave'. I prefer the Dead Can Dance version rather than the Sinead O'Connor one. Here it is. What can I say--I'm both depressive and romantic. This particular recording has an annoying tendency for the volume to go down between verses early in the song, but it's the best I could find.
I've always thought it would be nice to play this at my memorial service. That or Kansas' 'Dust in the Wind'. What can I say, I'm not a 'Rock of Ages' kind of girl. And as long as I'm on morbid topics, let me just state publicly that 1) I want to be cremated and 2) do not want to be embalmed (I think it's just macabre) and 3) will haunt anyone who has me embalmed and buried. Enough said.
