Continue reading »]]> Tuesday, John Murray held a phone-in to find a listener with the lowest bass singing voice in Ireland.

As a throwaway remark, voice coach Paul Moussoulides said research showed listeners of both sexes preferred male voices on the radio.

What research?

WomenOnAir founder Margaret E Ward spent some time looking for this frequently cited research.

It turns out what “everybody knows” is based on a single 1935 study of 80 listeners.

1935. Think about that. A time when Marlene Deitrich was considered a crazy rebel for daring to wear pants.

One study, 77 years ago. That’s why there are more men on radio?

Apple has a reputation for knowing what it’s doing. So why does Siri have a female voice? Or the Enterprise computer? And the Tardis.

“It’s much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes,” says Stanford professor Clifford Nass. “It’s a well-established phenomenon that the human brain is developed to like female voices.”

That’s just one study. And it’s about technology, not radio.

But at least its contemporary.

So next time someone tells you something “everybody knows”, ask what exactly they know.

Especially if a man is telling you.

Image via MorgueFile

Continue reading »]]> For a while, I’ve been toying with an column idea. Call it The Raised Eyebrow. Part Flat Earth News, part questioning conventional wisdom.

Last week, an editor agreed to a column. Depending on how it worked out, more might follow.

One idea came from a throwaway Prime Time line. “Sean Sherlock’s website was hacked”, apparently during Anonymous attacks in response to “Ireland’s SOPA“.

Anonymous targeted justice and finance, but I was unaware Sherlock’s website was hit, or when.

Then Magdagate happened, and I did that instead. The story ended up as a timeline, run in conjunction with Pat O’Mahony’s interview.

Meanwhile, I’d done some work on Sherlock’s website, to little avail.

His hosting company won’t comment on individual accounts.

The Department referred me to his constituency office.

Despite several messages, Sean never called back. Maybe he’s busy phoning Irish teenagers.

“I’ve given it to Sean, its up to him if he wants to call you,” a constituency worker said.

Sherlock’s website was attacked in one sense, of course.

Donncha O’Caoimh pointed out the site used copyrighted icons.

The site went down shortly after O’Caoimh blogged, and was amended version.

So, can anyone enlighten me on the Sherlock hack?

Sean Sherlock addresses the Dáil during the Copyright S.I. debate

Continue reading »]]> BBC News carries a story about a ‘Jack the Ripper manuscript‘, discovered in a museum two years ago and about to be published in book form.

But the ‘confession’ as described in the article sets off several alarm bells, not least that the purported author, James Carnac, seems never to have existed.

Two sections of the manuscript ‘describe the real-life killings; the third is “a very contrived, very poor fiction”.’

In other words, it sounds like no more than an interesting take on the notorious Victorian serial killer, a work of fiction written in the first person.

So far, so Blair Witch.

Unfortunately, the BBC report goes one further, reporting at length the opinion of “Ripper historian Paul Begg” speculating the ‘confession’ may be the real thing.

Begg doesn’t appear to be a historian in the conventional sense of the word, though he has produced several popular books on Jack the Ripper and other historical mysteries including the Mary Celeste.

So a guy who makes a living writing Ripper books is hyping the authenticity of a “Ripper diary”.

Nothing wrong with that, but why does the BBC find it acceptable to give him a free platform to sell his book?

Image via Morguefile

Continue reading »]]> I write. As a freelance, I hold copyright on those words. “Ireland’s SOPA” wants to protect those words. But copyright already protects them.

My words have been pirated a few times. The first time, articles were cut and pasted wholesale from a website and re-used.

Not by a pirate website, but by an old-established company. We eventually settled for a rather handsome sum.

More recently, a story I wrote was lifted by two media companies, and placed on websites.

One was outside the jurisdiction. The publisher sent me a very nice letter when I complained, which basically said he had no intention of paying.

The second was a media company in Ireland. The claimed they got the story from a different source. I know this to be untrue.

A story I wrote once appeared on a blogger’s site. When I contacted him, he apologised, and removed it immediately.

It’s not greedy teenagers who are pirating my work. It’s respectable old media companies.

My submission to the Copyright Consultation Committee argued that my problem wasn’t teenagers torrenting my precious words, but lack of a small claims court to resolve my issues with these old media companies. “Ireland’s SOPA” won’t help there.

[Image by Faduda. using background from Morguefile.com]

Continue reading »]]> The average industrial wage is a moveable feast. Last year David Cullinane told me he took home €530 a week. Pearse Doherty takes home €540 a week at present. That’s the thing with averages. They change over time. How Sinn Féin managed a wage increase when incomes are falling is a question for another day.

In accounts published yesterday, Pearse Doherty revealed he employed a constituency worker costing €24011.24. Since Pearse presumably pays employer’s PRSI, I’m guessing the employee’s gross wages are less than that figure. Pearse himself took home €29170 net.

In 2009, Pearse donated €6000 to Sinn Féin. SIPO has yet to update their website to show donations in 2010. Pearse’s accounts for 2011 show no similar donation.

Earlier on twitter, I was told I was “the only one saying SF draw the AIW from the taxpayer. Doherty gets AIW rest to party”.

Yet that cannot happen. Pearse’s account show he is paid €57550 by the Oireachtas (€93K less taxes). He then uses part of that money to pay an employee.

Contrary to what my twitter debater thinks, Pearse couldn’t possibly hand over €24011.24 to the party. That would be illegal. The maximum allowed donation is €6348.59.

Continue reading »]]> Sitting in my inbox for a while now has been a letter from SIPO, along with various records of politicians’ expenses, all revolving around the issue of Sinn Fein and the “average industrial wage”.

On Friday, Pearse Doherty published a set of accounts on the Donegal Daily website, which makes it time to revisit the exercise. [Pádraig Mac Lochlainn did the same thing, so I'd guess we'll see similar disclosures from all SF politicians soon.]

Recap: Sinn Féin representatives regularly point out that they only “draw down” the average industrial wage. Others (myself included) have pointed out, they in fact “draw down” their full wage from the taxpayer, even if they choose to donate it to the party. How you spend your money doesn’t make it cheaper to pay you, in other words.

Doherty’s account can be read in detail here. In brief, in 2011, he earned (net of taxes) €48213.17, and expenses (tax free) of €57550.63.

Of this he “paid” himself €29170.

He paid an employee working in his constituency office €24011.24

He apparently spent the balance on various office and administrative expenses, including a computer, a carpet, phone and electricity bills, and an FOI request.

More to follow.

Continue reading »]]> Fine Gael senator Catherine Noone writes about a phone poll of local councillors attitudes:

“Two-thirds of Councillors from the two Government parties would support changes to the Croke Park Agreement, according to this survey carried out by my office. A total of 529 City and County Councillors responded to the phone poll, with 56% of the members from Opposition parties also stating they would support a renegotiation of the deal.”

No other information is given about who the senator’s office contacted. From the way it’s described, I suspect an attempt was made to contact all 883 local councillors in Ireland, reaching 529.

The trouble is, I have no idea how representative that 529 is, either of the general public, or of councillors as a subgroup. Does the sample contain any inherent bias? I can’t tell. Maybe older councillors are less likely to have mobile phones? Maybe some councillors are more or less likely to answer a call from Fine Gael? I don’t know, because I’m not told. And so, the poll result has no meaning.

As to the usefulness of the exercise? Well, at least the senator knows what way her own electorate is leaning, whatever about the wider public.

Image via MorgueFile

Continue reading »]]> Last week, the Sunday Independent front page carried a Ryanair story.

Michael O’Leary addressed a conference on innovation, the newspaper reported, where he outlined how the European Commission invited him to Brussels, but refused to pay for his flight because it was booked through Ryanair.

And he said he was told “there is a ban within on low fare flights within the Commission.”

It’s a great story, but no one from the Commission was asked for their side of the story, so I thought I’d check it out.

“The Commission of course allows for its own staff and for visiting experts to use low cost flights,” a spokesperson told me. “If they use low-cost airlines, speakers, experts at Commission events are entitled to reimbursement on the presentation of original supporting documents.”

“The misunderstanding that has arisen in this case is because the Commission for this specific event asked a travel agency to handle the transfers and accommodation for the speakers.

“Since low-cost flight bookings require immediate purchase by credit card at time of booking to guarantee the actual fare and since these fares are heavily restricted in case of changes or cancellations, the travel agency does not provide this service.”

Image via MorgueFile

Continue reading »]]> Kieran Allen.
Michael Clifford.
Karl Deeter.
John Drennan.
Diarmuid Ferriter.
Fergus Finlay.
Maureen Gaffney.
Constantin Gurgdiev.
Eoghan Harris.
Eddie Hobbs.
Gemma Hussey.
Pat Leahy.
Tina Leonard.
Diarmaid McDermott.
Sean McDonagh.
Michael McDowell.
Harry McGee.
Tom McGurk.
Joseph O’Connor.
Mary-Louise O’Donnell.
Niall O’Dowd.
Emer O’Kelly.
Olivia O’Leary.
Michael O’Regan.
Mary O’Rourke.
Fintan O’Toole.
Jim Power.
Terry Prone.
David Quinn.
Fionnan Sheehan.
John Waters.
Noel Whelan.

Fine people all of them, but here’s the thing. I’ve heard each one of them so many times on panel discussions, talking about everything from the latest euro-crisis to the mysteries of twitter, that I can pretty much predict their opinions on the topic of your choice. And yet I know that by the end of the week, I’ll have heard at least half of those voices again, some several times, sharing their worldview with Mary Wilson or George Hook or Pat Kenny.

And every time they share their now-predictable worldviews, they do a little bit to limit everyone else’s worldview too.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the researchers working for RTÉ, Newstalk and Todayfm tried to get through one week without any of them, and let us hear a few fresh voices on the airwaves.

On the wireless. Image via Morguefile

Continue reading »]]> Hang around the courts for a while, as many journalists do, and you begin to notice some odd patterns.

Consider these snippets from a google search of reports on drugs convictions, for example:

“16.43 grammes of cocaine valued at €1150″
“a kilogram of cocaine worth € 70000″
“962 grammes of cocaine worth €67340″
“932 grammes of cocaine with a street value of €65261″

The price per gram of cocaine in each of the stories above is, respectively, €69.99, €70, €70 and €70.02. That’s a remarkably stable market, spanning four years.

Press reports don’t always carry the exact quantity and valuation of drugs, but the price seems to be increasing over time. Older reports suggest a price of €68/gramme, newer reports indicate €72/gramme.

And some cross-examinations I’ve seen suggest that the garda price remains constant whether the contraband is pure, or heavily diluted.

Why does this matter?

Well, people now face harsher sentences for possessing the same amount of a drug which would have led to a lesser charge a few years ago.

And when Garda statistics are prepared, the value of illegal drugs siezed has gone up, even though the quantity may be unchanged.

Success in the war against drugs!

The Four Courts: Image via Wikimedia Commons