Art, media, opinion and ideas
The NDD is the national database of telephone numbers in which a person may express their preference not to have their number used for any marketing purpose. In theory, this ought to kill cold-calls selling you phone services you didn't really want. Strangely, the telephone companies who were given the job of running this database seem not to have got it quite right.
As an excuse for this extended selection from the newly published Annual Report 2005 from the Data Protection Commissioner, I offer this threadbare explanation; For some years it was one of my duties to collate, collect and write the Annual Report for a State body. Since then, I think I can say I have been more closely attuned to the nuances of Annual Report writing than the average person.
Recently I noted that since I left college, where I had to actually study the stuff, I haven't been reading much poetry. Saddened to learn that "it's probably safe to say that Disillusioned Lefty's Culture Monday is,for the moment, dead", I thought I'd leap into the breach, and do my best to raise the tone of Mondays with "Poetry Monday".
Michael McDowell is intending to bring in a new Libel law, in tandem with a new Privacy Bill. This bill is intended to protect the privacy of famous and/or powerful people. It does not seem that it will protect ordinary people's privacy against intrusions by powerful people.
Still a long way to go before reaching the lows of the e-voting fiasco but Antoin has posted an excellent piece on the Rail Procurement Agency's expenditure of 9. 5 million on magic beans to help them grow an Integrated Ticketing System. Being Antoin, this isn't just a moan about the money having been spent.
Fat Chick Sits on Beckett's Face Originally uploaded by Editor_Tupp. I post this only so that I can use the headline. Though I do love the look on Beckett's face as the obese bird attempts to hatch his head.
In a conversation recently with a friend, we discussed what you might call "political philistinism". This is the conviction that art of any kind is worthwhile only insofar as it is politically useful. Thus Kipling is worthless, because he was an imperialist, Shakespeare nothing more than a cheerleader for patriarchy, and Jane Austen culpable for her narrow focus on the Middle Classes.
Is it just me or is everyone getting just a little bit overheated about the EL Paso affair? I note a certain self-righteousness about some of the posts, not to mention a rush to judgement. A few details seem to have been lost amid the kerfuffle:1.
The Customs House Portico Originally uploaded by Editor_Tupp. The OPW cite the Customs House Portico railings as the example of what they are trying to do to the Front Portico of the Four Courts. I thought I'd show readers what that Customs House portico looks like.
Neary Apologia Pg 1 Originally uploaded by Editor_Tupp. While the rest of Blogland have been discussing page 3 of this week's Sunday Times, I was more interested in the story that ran on the Front page, and carried on to page 2 under the heading "Neary was let down by state".
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