At the start of the week, several former google executives launched a new search engine. The website is called Cuil – ‘an old Irish word for knowledge’, according to its founders. Cuil is – among other things – the Irish …
Monthly Archive: July 2008
Jul
30
Summer Re-runs
The main news item last weekend was an opinion poll showing an increase in the number of Irish voters who would reject the Lisbon treaty if a second referendum took place. Most reportage was taken up with government ministers who …
Jul
29
Polling The Police
It’s been reported that over half of our police think they should be armed. You can always tell it’s the silly season when stories like this pop up. Growing up, I could always tell when summer had officially started it …
Jul
28
Police Action
‘Lack of evidence keeps cases from courts’, RTÉ reports in a headline summarising the annual report from the Director of Public Prosecutions. My first reaction to the headline was the Homer Response. ‘That’s reassuring’ was my second reaction. My third …
Jul
25
Experience
Consider the following: Biffo and Dermot Ahern were solicitors. Micheál Martin, Mary Harney, Mary Hanafin and Noel Dempsey were secondary school teachers. Mary Coughlan was a social worker. Brian Lenihan was a lecturer and qualified barrister. Willie O’Dea was a …
Jul
25
Fences Make Good Neighbours
‘The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim …
Jul
23
You’ve Got Mail
I’ve been wallowing in schadenfreude all day, thanks to a news item from Seattle. Having pleased guilty last March to fraud and tax evasion charges, Robert Alan Solway was sentenced to 47 months in prison after pleading guilty in a …
Jul
22
Identity Theft
The internet is broken. Or at least, there’s a gaping big hole in its security. Security researcher Dan Kaminsky spotted the flaw in the foundations of the internet, the DNS (Domain Name Server) system several months ago, then worked in …
Jul
21
Post Hoc
News that dole claimants will have to collect cash in person at post offices was warmly welcomed today by the Irish Association of Thieves and Highwaymen. ‘This is just the kind of shot in the arm we need,’ spokesman Dennis …
Jul
19
Home Sweet Home
From the memoirs of Jeremiah Curtin, an American who travelled to west Donegal around 1890: ‘The morning after my arrival in Carrick, I went to Teelin point to see the people and get an idea of their knowledge regarding myths. …