February, 2006

Via Notnem, I came across the Creative Ireland website and this forum thread, featuring Photoshopped ‘alternate endings’ for Saturday’s rioting in Dublin.

There’s some really inventive versions including a War Of The Worlds invasion, Gardai holding back rioters and Oliphaunts from Lord Of The Rings and this wartime shot with Zeppelin hovering overhead….

I’m glad some folk can see the funny side of this. I was in stitches!

Update: This thread has hit the big time. It’s been covered by The Star and there’s three more pages of photo’s since I last visited. Some great Star Wars piss-takes, Independence Day and near the end a pic of the Orange marchers in big green hats and carrying bags from Roches Stores! Congratulations to all the talented buggers who contributed to that thread!

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 // News & Media, Northern Ireland: Politics

Who’d have thought it guys and gals? The Levee Breaks is on Keele University’s Northern Ireland Government & Politics On The Internet list under weblogs.

Joining the Levee Breaks team on this esteemed list are the guys at El Blogador, the Balrog crew, Ireland Free, JoBlog and United Irelander.

One of the most rewarding things about running a blog is being able to see who’s linking back to you. Having said that, I had no idea that my opinions and those of my part-time collaborators were so well regarded in the academic community! Congratulations to everybody else who’s listed on there too!

Question to other bloggers: What’s the strangest site to link back to you?

Monday, February 27th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Let’s have a bit of light debate (for a change) about your favourite places in Northern Ireland. We’re asking the question in the poll in the sidebar.

I’ve popped a few options in there for you: Belfast, Ballycastle (my home town), and Lisburn (Belfast-lite?) - you can add any other places or vote for whatever’s already there. At the end of the week, we’ll see what the most popular location is. Hopefully…

I’d like this poll to be a big one, so those of you with blogs out there…you know what to do

Friday, February 24th, 2006 // General

Well, this one’s been up for a few weeks. I’ll admit I forgot that the poll was there for a while! Having said that, 87 people had their say on the matter…

All counted, we have a slim majority (51%) of folk who think it’s time to sever the MLA salaries. 23% disagree and want to keep paying good money for no results. 26% didn’t give a toss and were probably here for the post about Paperdoll Heaven instead!

Anyway, I think it’s all academic. Stopping MLA salaries is a good idea, but it’s never going to happen.

The politicians will continue to run around in circles, chasing the same old issues but ultimately doing nothing productive. The DUP will drag the peace process out for years before grudgingly going into Government with Sinn Fein. And for some reason - science will one day explain - we will all sit passively by and watch as it all happens.

Friday, February 24th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I’m not sure how deep some of you are into your blogging. I think the furthest extent some people go to is to add their blog to all of those crappy directories that are out there.

I go a little bit further. Rather than checking other blogs daily, I subscribe to RSS feeds. RSS feeds are little files your blog supplies which get updated each time you publish a new post. Little RSS reader programs check your RSS feed for updates and notify you automatically when there’s new posts to read. It’s actually a little bit like email.

Another useful blogging tool (and the point of this post) is Technorati. Technorati is primarily a blog search engine, but can do a load of other things for you. It can tell you how many blogs are linking back to you, how popular you are in the blogosphere and it allows you to tag your posts to make it easier for people to find your posts.

Anyway, they’ve just launched Technorati Favorites, a service that allows you to bundle all your favourite blogs together in one place.

For instance, you could line up Slugger, El Blogador, Desolate Row, Big Ulsterman, etc all in one place. It’s great for a bird’s eye view of what’s happening in the blogosphere and the best bit is, you can share it out. Here’s my list of favourite blogs as an example.

Friday, February 24th, 2006 // General

Here’s a conversation I didn’t think I’d be having with my four-year-old daughter. At least not within the next two decades.

We were sitting in the kitchen this evening and Ray sauntered down from her room with a box of toy jewellry. “Mum, can you help me put on my necklaces?” she enquires in sugary tones. “No problem, pet,” comes the reply and soon both are busily covering the girl in plastic jewellry from top to toe.

After they’re finished, Ray swans around the kitchen playing the princess. We all tell her how pretty she looks and then she breaks the big news. She’s getting married! To a boy in her nursery class. The whole thing’s arranged it seems and nothing can stop the “big day”:

Me: “Ray, after you get married, you’ll be Brian’s wife. You’ll have to move into his house and live with him and his family….”

I trail off, waiting for the inevitable cries of protest. The smile on Ray’s face freezes for the briefest moment. Then she turns away and reaches for her plastic hairbrush.

“Alright, but only after I brush my hair….”

Saturday, February 18th, 2006 // Family Life

El Blogador has posted a very interesting biography of the DUP’s Deputy Leader, Peter Robinson.

What an eye-opener!

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of Northern Irish politics, or its ‘personalities’, but seeing a man who refuses to talk to terrorists and criminals dressed up in his beret and toting a rifle is frightening.

What’s much more frightening is that the electorate are so blinded by their own biggotry that they can’t see this blatant hypocrisy staring them straight in the face. Yes, that goes for Loyalists and Republicans!

It has been famously said that Sinn Fein aren’t fit for government in the Republic of Ireland. Well, neither Sinn Fein or the DUP are they fit for government in the North. Both parties are populated by extremists who cannot empathise with the ‘other side’, and in all the years of this conflict they still haven’t matured enough to learn to compromise.

And yet - much more shameful - are the great biggoted masses who vote by flag and nothing else. What can be done about educating the public about political deceit and double standards? Or are these things sanctioned by the voters themselves?

Over to you….

Friday, February 17th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I know its been a while since I posted ? a mixture of having a very busy life (?) and not keeping up with what?s going on in the world. However, one thing that I can not help but notice is the DAMNED postal strike. It is the most irritating and selfish thing for the postal workers to strike and not consider the damage they are doing.

?I agree with the basis and logic behind Unions completely and think that workers must be protected and Unions are a perfect way of ensuring this. I think Unions are there for a reason and this is why illegal strikes are so abhorrent to me. Are these people not thinking about the damage they are doing? What if the hospital / doctors had sent you or a family member a letter telling you about urgent treatment that you needed ? what if you or they did not get that letter and subsequently fell ill or worse, died? Would this illegal and altogether strange and vague strike seem justifiable to you? What if a car crashed into you and you latter found out that the car driver?s insurance was up for renewal but due to the strike he/she did not know that it had expired and was therefore uninsured? Would you think its OK because the postal workers were striking, that?s life?

These are just a few of the examples of the damage they are doing, never mind the monetary damage to small businesses in terms of lost revenue and damaged reputation. In addition, I am not altogether sure why the strike is even happening ? I have heard so many stories but the common thread running through all of them is bullying by management. If this is the case then industrial action is more than justified but illegal action is not. The word on the grapevine is that the strike is nearing an end ? its about time, lets just hope most of the damage done is not irreparable.

Thursday, February 16th, 2006 // General

Mrs Levee knows I hate Valentine’s Day. What good is a day spent professing your undying love, spelt out in sickly cliches of chocolate and roses, when the other 364 days are spent barely tolerating each other.

No, Valentine’s Day is a load of crap, and anyone who pours money into insincere shows of affection should be dropped immediately by their significant other. If you’re not making the effort every day, then your paltry box of chocolates is nothing more than a tasty, hi-calorie insult.

I started thinking about Valentine’s Day about a month ago and decided not to honor the day. I thought, do I love my wife? Yes. Do I show her enough? Not nearly enough. Instead of a crappy card, I decided my gift this year would be to try harder and to always have at the front of my mind the reasons why we’re together. So, for Mrs Levee, and the rest of you:

• We’re a team. Not always the best team, especially when we’re tired, but we try hard. And that’s the main thing.
• She looks after me when I’m not well. After that recent episode with my back, I was amazed at how much she did for me, I could only watch her in awe.
• She ‘gets’ my jokes. In fact, the other night, she appluaded my impression of the wheelchair guy in Little Britain by choking on her tea and spraying it out her nose…
• Given the point above, she’s obviously a touch of class!
• She cares about people. Even when I think they don’t deserve it, she invests time in people.
• I can’t imagine spending my life with another person. Yeah, okay, there’s my Jennifer Aniston fixation, but I think she knows there’s no chance of that happening!
• Besides, who else in the world would dance around the kitchen to Van Halen with me?

So, despite my assurances that Valentine’s Day would not be observed Chez Levee, I’d like to (very publicly) wish my wife a happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you have a lovely day, sweetheart!

I love you.

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 // Family Life

While looking through a couple of literary sites I came across an amazing site which?I am ashamed to say I had never heard of before. Given that the site boasts over 300 new members each day and that its title has been added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary as a new word I would have thought I would have happened upon it by now.

Many of you are probably already aware of the BookCrossing site, but for those who aren’t here’s what it’s all about.

Basically?next time?you read a good book that you want to pass on, register it with the bookcrossing site. You will be provided a unique BCID (BookCrossing ID number), which along with the website address you use to label the book. You also have an opportunity to write a journal entry on the book. Once this is done, release the book!

Releasing?a book can be done in many ways. You can give it to a friend and direct them to the website, give it to charity, or simply leave it on a park bench or cafe table.

You will subsequently be notified by email each time someone comes?to the BookCrossing site?and records journal entries for that book. Or to make?the book?easier for fellow BookCrossers to find you can create a release note stating where the book was released allowing others to Go Hunting for it.

When I found this site, I was sure it was an American thing. This sort of thing can’t go on in Northern Ireland right? Wrong! Imagine my surprise to find out that Northern Ireland BookCrossers have released 34 books into the wild in the last 30 days.

So tomorrow I am on my way to Queens University Quadrangle and Film Theatre,?I will then be touring the telephones boxes of both Bradbury Place and The Dublin Road and see what treasures I can find. If anyone beats me to it I’d love to hear what you found!

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 // Book Reviews