Guns are designed to kill and usually do.

The story I first noticed in the Newtownards Chronicle and also on the BBC

Peace bird shooting MLA condemned
A Northern Ireland Assembly member has come under fire after returning from a holiday shooting doves in South America.

leaves me wondering if I should contact Jim Shannon about concerns I have about, what might be termed, gun sport. Since moving to the outskirts of Greyabbey over six years ago I've witnessed children, accompanied by members of a shooting club of some sort, shooting wildfowl. I've heard a couple of gunshots which coincided with me seeing a couple of dead hounds thrown into the back of a pick-up.I've seen dogs carrying live birds in their mouths over to the shooters who then clobber the birds to death.
With the recent case of Fergus Cleary being fined only £5,000 for shooting a five-year-old boy in the head at a school playground near Enniskillen it has made me question. Not only question the judges decision in that case, but to look at what the rules and regulations are regarding these gunmen. How safe are the general public in areas close to where these 'shoots' are carried out. I didn't want to contact the PSNI to ask them as I'm sure lots of them are involved in this type of activity and that I wouldn't like to be accused of wasting police time. So I contacted the Health and Safety Executive.
A guy from the Health and Safety Executive sent me copies of the information they have available for gamekeepers and using guns...

Employers and people who ‘conduct an undertaking’ involving the use of guns have a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to take all reasonably practicable measures so that no-one is put at risk. In this sense an ‘undertaking’ does not necessarily need to involve employment or commercial gain. The duty may extend to a wide range of individuals, including farm staff, gamekeepers, beaters, pickers-up, drivers, guests, volunteers and members of the public.

Articles on the leaflet included advice about...

• What the law says about guns
• Training and supervision
• Before you use a gun
• Passing a gun to a companion
• Using a gun
• Carrying guns
• Obstacles and difficult terrain
• Ammunition
• Storage
• Shooting
• Organised events
• Vehicles
• Hearing protection
• Clay pigeon shooting

It was reassuring to read...

Remember above all else:
Guns are designed to kill and usually do -
SO NEVER POINT ONE AT ANOTHER PERSON

As most of the shoots are normally on Saturdays I wonder are those that are involved aware that, as the leaflet advises...

You need good judgement and reactions - that means being calm and your senses not dulled by fatigue, alcohol or drugs.

Do the relevant authorities ever check that these gunmen's senses haven't been dulled by alcohol? I wonder are gun licenses even checked. What concerned me the most was reading, what the guy from the Health and Safety Executive quoted to me on the phone...

Remember shotgun pellets can travel 300 metres and a bullet from a deer rifle 4 km.

I've been within 4 km of a shoot and don't tend to wear bullet proof clothing, but keeping my fingers crossed seems to have worked so far.

What would you advise?

Letting on I'm analyzing keywords, but really I'm just wasting time...

I'd a semi-anonymous commenter, you know the sort who open a blogger account just to comment and create a blog which they'll probably never post on. Anyway, this person left a couple of comments on my last blog which led me to check up the stats for that blog. In particular the Keyword Analysis for it.

Starting with the most popular...

• caroline bennett
• japan has a new lads mag pin-up. saaya irie is part of a girl group called sweet kiss
• triana iglesias
• lateral coital position
• japan has a new lads mag pin-up. saaya irie is part of a girl group called sweet kiss, and is selling
• saaya irie is part of a girl group called sweet kiss, and is selling thousands of dvds and mag
• kerri moore
• triana iglesias nude playboy
• facbook porn
• sex closeup photgraphs
• coital alignment technique poisition
• triana iglesias model of the day
• korean playboy models
• triana iglesias pics
• coital lateral
• granny & granda porn
• coital position
• triana iglesias playboy previews
• song i want to play with my ding a ling
• crossgar swingers
• caroline bennett playboy

OK, I edited the keywords slighlty. The blog in question wasn't all about porn. Anyway, as I'd finished posting on that blog about four months ago I thought I'd do a bit of Googling and pick the first keyword search term that brought visitors to the blog.

A Google news search for that first keyword, or two, resulted in...

Dog Bite Not Terrible
Irish Voice, NY - 9 hours ago
Caroline Murphy for Dunnion (40 mins.), Nuala Carroll for Bennett (50 mins.). Referee: Eileen Jones (Dungannon, Co. Tyrone). Her Uncle Iggy was a standout ...

A Google web search...

Sculptures and ceramics by Caroline Bennett, Shropshire England

Sculptures and ceramics by Caroline Bennett in Shropshire England UK.

www.carolinebennett.co.uk/ - 10k

A Google image search...

A Google group search...

Storage on Mezzanine Group: Riverwalk Towers

Thank you, Dion George On Nov 20, 4:41 pm, Caroline Bennett bennett.net> wrote: It is my understanding; the lock was placed on the storage room by the Washoe County District Health Department because of air quality concerns. I do not currently have any information about when the lock will be removed. ... 21 Nov by Dion George - 2 messages - 2 authors

And finally a Google blog search...

Caroline Bennett - owner of sushi bar chain Moshi Moshi by vinny130 Sep 2007 by vinny1
Caroline Bennett - owner of sushi bar chain Moshi Moshi by vinny1. Caroline Bennett - owner of sushi bar chain Moshi Moshi.
The News is NowPublic.com - Photos, Videos... - http://www.nowpublic.com/developing?filter=footag...

Now I might consider replying to the person's comments, or just not bother. I could delete their comments which might encourage them to actually start blogging and they could use their own blog as a way to respond to what I posted months ago. It sounds really drastic but I could delete all the blog posts which referred to them.

What should I do?

I know,because blogging occasionally gets a bit boring I'll hope they read this post and as I haven't enabled comments for it I'd encourage them to start blogging and if they want to respond to this I'll check my stats again and read the response.

Boy, is that the time?

Who? Why? What?

An Enemy of the People wins award

To celebrate the return of The Swearing Lady to the blawg =oz =fear

Yes she's back and it looks like she's offering a form of therapy for people who...

Pent up rage and stuff. Have anger issues. Growl at newspaper headlines. Have made an effigy of Bertie, Cecilia or Georgina Ahern and razed it to the ground after dousing it in petrol and setting it alight?

To find out how you can avail of the therapy on offer call at her site, tell her I sent you and she'll give you a 10% discount on the therapy on offer.

I've an alternative [stolen from alldeaf.com] for people who suffer from similar symptoms to those Sweary described. It's...

When you occasionally have a really bad day, and you just need to take it out on someone, don't take it out on someone you know, take it out on someone you don't know.

I was sitting at my desk when I remembered a phone call I'd forgotten to make. I found the number and dialed it. A man answered, saying "Hello."

I politely said, "This is Chris. Could I please speak with Robyn Carter?"

Suddenly a manic voice yelled out in my ear "Get the right f***ing number!" and the phone was slammed down on me. I couldn't believe that anyone could be so rude. When I tracked down Robyn's correct number to call her, I found that I had accidentally transposed the last two digits.

After hanging up with her, I decided to call the 'wrong' number again.

When the same guy answered the phone, I yelled "You're an asshole!" and hung up. I wrote his number down with the word 'asshole' next to it, and put it in my desk drawer. Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills or had a really bad day, I'd call him up and yell, "You're an asshole!" It always cheered me up.

When Caller ID was introduced, I thought my therapeutic 'asshole' calling would have to stop. So, I called his number and said, "Hi, this is John Smith from the telephone company. I'm calling to see if you're familiar
with our Caller ID Program?"

He yelled "NO!" and slammed down the phone. I quickly called him back and said, "That's because you're an asshole!" and hung up.

One day I was at the store, getting ready to pull into a parking spot. Some guy in a black BMW cut me off and pulled into the spot I had patiently waited for. I hit the horn and yelled that I'd been waiting for that spot, but the idiot ignored me I noticed a "For Sale" sign in his back window, so I wrote down his number.

A couple of days later, right after calling the first asshole (I had his number on speed dial,) I thought that I'd better call the BMW asshole, too.

I said, "Is this the man with the black BMW for sale?"

He said, "Yes, it is."

I asked, "Can you tell me where I can see it?"

He said, "Yes, I live at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Fairfax . It's a yellow rambler, and the car's parked right out in front."

I asked, "What's your name?"
He said, "My name is Don Hansen,"

I asked, "When's a good time to catch you, Don?"

He said, "I'm home every evening after five."
I said, "Listen, Don, can I tell you something?"
He said, "Yes?"

I said, "Don,you're an asshole!"

Then I hung up, and added his number to my speed dial, too. Now, when I had a problem, I had two assholes to call.

Then I came up with an idea. I called asshole #1. He said, "Hello."

I said, "You're an asshole!" (But I didn't hang up.)
He asked, "Are you still there?"

I said, "Yeah,"

He screamed, "Stop calling me,"

I said, "Make me,"

He asked, "Who are you?"

I said, "My name is Don Hansen."

He said, "Yeah? Where do you live?"

I said, "Asshole, I live at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Fairfax, a yellow rambler, I have a black Beamer parked in front."

He said, "I'm coming over right now, Don. And you had better start saying your prayers."

I said, "Yeah, like I'm really scared, asshole," and hung up.

Then I called Asshole #2.

He said, "Hello?"

I said, "Hello, asshole"

He yelled, "If I ever find out who you are..."

I said, "You'll what?"
He exclaimed, "I'll kick your ass,"

I answered, "Well, asshole, here's your chance. I'm coming over right now." Then I hung up and immediately called the police, saying that I lived at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Fairfax, and that I was on my way over there to kill my gay lover.

Then I called Channel 9 News about the gang war going down in Oaktree Blvd. in Fairfax .

I quickly got into my car and headed over to Fairfax. I got there just in time to watch two assholes beating the crap out of each other in front of six cop cars, an overhead news helicopter and surrounded by a news crew.

NOW I feel much better.

Anger management really does work.

Bite me...

go on, you know you really want to

Maybe there'll be a Paraphilic Arts Festival sometime.

Gay Newry reported last week about...

the historic first year of Outburst!, a queer arts festival for Northern Ireland. Outburst is Northern Ireland’s first annual lesbian/gay/trans art festival...

I could just imagine yer man Mervyn up in Ahoghill

Mervyn "Did you hear there's a quaer Arts Festival in Newry?"
Billy "Do you think it'd be worth going to?"
Mervyn"Och aye, there's some quaer artists going to be at it"
Billy "At what?"

I'll not go there :-)

My Happy Planet

On the wall of the Northern Ireland network page @ facebook every 2 or 3 days a message is posted by Caitlin Lee. The latest, which reads much the same as every other message she posts there...

Caitlin Lee wrote at 6:44am hey! My friend told me about a site useful for language learners. It's called MyHappyPlanet! This is where you can learn languages fast and easy! It’s a social networking site so you can add friends from different countries and you can talk to them and learn their native languages! Thanks! http://myhappyplanet.com/register.php?refid=6GAcDPHm

Responding to one of the many similar messages to the one above that she posted, I enquired...

Caitlin. I'm planning on travelling to Nigeria @ Easter and would like to learn Hausa.

The reply to my inbox on facebook read...

Hi

Between You and Caitlin Lee

Caitlin Lee

3:01pm November 24th

Report Message

There's no Hausa in the My Happy Planet list. :( However, there are members in My Happy Planet that are from Nigeria..just enter search for "Nigeria" in My Happy Planet. :)

So I had to respond. As I had initially posted my enquiry on the Northern Ireland Network Wall I thought that this conversation should be kept public. My response...

Cyber Scribe wrote
at 12:51pm

Caitlin Lee.

Thanks for your message...

"There's no Hausa in the My Happy Planet list. :( However, there are members in My Happy Planet that are from Nigeria..just enter search for "Nigeria" in My Happy Planet. :)"

I don't think that'll be of any help as Nigeria is a country with over 500 languages in use.I'm not prepared to start hunting through that website My Happy Planet, you keep advertising here, with the possibility of being unsuccessful in my search.

If I wanted to learn Ulster Scots, which isn't listed, where would I start? :-)

Hopefully the story will continue...

So I cannot be accused of 'buying time until I post again'...

(Yes, it's still Buy Nothing Day)

I thought I'd highlight another campaign, it's the ‘Save Prehen Wood’ campaign. The Derry Journal reported recently

Developers get go-ahead for ancient woodland

Baffled residents, who have fought with developers for more than two years, say they can't understand a decision to allow houses to be built near Derry's diminishing ancient woodland. Despite efforts by the Prehen community to protect the area, which contains trees of more than 200 years old, planning permission to begin work on four houses was confirmed this week.

Prehen Wood
The wood at Prehen, acquired by the Woodland Trust in 2003, is predominately beech with an oak canopy and hazel/holly understorey. There is good beech and oak regeneration. Prehen Wood is home to at least 60 different types of plants, including bluebells, lesser celandines and wood anemones which bloom in profusion each year. Birds such as sparrowhawk and long-eared owl live in the wood, as does the endangered red squirrel (every day local volunteers put food out in special feeders to make sure they stay). The entire wood has Tree Preservation Order status and was designated a Site of Local Conservation Nature Importance in the 1990s. The wood has terrific views overlooking the city and River Foyle with free public access across all of the site and waymarked routes.

The campaigners are requesting...

Although the Derry City Council has voted against this development and the local people have made it clear they did not want it approved, Environmental Minister, Arlene Foster has overruled their decision and sided with the developers. (This is very suspect. Is Seymour building it?)

We need protest emails sent to:

private.office@doeni.gov.uk

There is a likelihood that only the subject heading of the mail may be read, therefore we ask that both your location and reference to the Prehen Woods are marked clearly in the e-mail Subject Heading area. For example:

"Stop Destruction of Prehen Woods -protest from Belfast, N.Ireland" or "Save the Prehen Woods Now - sent from Londonderry, N.Ireland" "Save Prehen Woods Wildlife - Derry, N.Ireland"

Whatever you like, but it is important that the nature of the protest be known, and of course the subject, Prehen Woods.

When all the world is becoming more environmentally aware why are the politicians of Northern Ireland approving more and more planning applications which encroach upon ancient woodlands and areas of natural beauty in our towns and villages.

Prehen Wood is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust, who after a search on their website today for Prehen Wood I could only found...

Prehen Now owned and managed by the Woodland Trust, Prehen Wood is mainly beech, with some oak and holly. Volunteers have undertaken a feeding programme to help conserve the red squirrel population here. Find out more here.

They state on their site BackOnTheMap.Org.Uk

We also want you to help us protect ancient and long-established woods that are under threat.

So it looks like I've more than one e-mail to send.

Buy Nothing Day

Yes today is Buy Nothing Day...

a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping.

So far today I have not bought anything and I intend not to buy anything.

SHOP LESS - LIVE MORE!
Everything we buy has an impact on our planet. Buy Nothing Day highlights the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. The developed countries - only 20% of the world population are consuming over 80% of the earth's natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage and unfair distribution of wealth.

As consumers we need to question the products we buy and challenge the companies who produce them. What are the true risks to the environment and developing countries? The argument is infinite - while it continues we should be looking for simple solutions - Buy Nothing Day is a good place to start.

I think we also need to question our own attitudes. Do we need the latest gadget, the latest download? Does it really matter? If there were a few more individuals who didn't copy their neighbours, their friends and their work colleagues and started to think for themselves about what they spend their money on it'd make the world a happier place to live in.


I am not going shopping today. I'm not going out to a restaurant. I'm not going to buy a newspaper. I'm not going to the pub. If my car runs out of petrol , I'll just have to walk.

Night Night, sleep tight.

Before I start another 6 hours of snoring interrupted by sleep I like some light bedtime reading. So tonight it's about lights, Christmas tree lights. The story...

Sinn Fein in Christmas tree row

A community group has objected to a Sinn Fein deputy mayor turning on Armagh city's Christmas tree lights.

The party's leader on the council said she was shocked to hear that the group has refused to allow councillor Noel Sheridan to carry out the function...

Amagh's deputy mayor is now famous. I hope in the next thrilling instalment of this story we find out who the community group is. Maybe that's for tomorrow nights bedtime story.

Night night sleep tight, don't let the...

Podcast of the day...

...from my fave podcaster HERE

Blog post of the day

Blame It On The Underlings Why Doncha?

Twenty-five bloody million? It's stories like this that makes signing and sending off that cheque to the NO2ID defence fund so easy to do.

Revenue and Customs says it does not think the records - names, addresses, date of birth, national insurance numbers and bank accounts - have fallen into the wrong hands.

Does not think? They're a bunch of incompetent bloody arseholes.

Still want a biometric, bells & whistles, you'll pay a fucking fortune for ID card? Because you've got nothing to hide, have you? (Except your privacy and your bank details) And it will help to defeat terrorism. And you rather fancy living in police state. And it's brilliant the government having control of every single aspect of your life. Means you don't have to take responsibility for anything. You don't have to worry about a thing. The nice government will do it all for you.

The conversation continues here...

Endowed with the power of speech.

Lucky 13?

For those who missed the water-football on Saturday night...



and the news today...

The Irish Football Association are calling for David Healy to be rewarded by UEFA for breaking Davor Suker's 12-year record in a European Championship qualifying campaign.

Healy goes into the final match against Spain here on Wednesday on 13 goals, three ahead of Croatia's Eduardo da Silva.

The Northern Ireland and Fulham striker set a new best at the weekend with a glorious winner in the 2-1 victory over Denmark.

He is clear favourite to finish head of the pack overall in the qualifiers - but there is no Golden Boot on offer, or any prize whatsoever.

Now the IFA are backing manager Nigel Worthington and believe the record scorer should have some silverware.

President Raymond Kennedy said: "I fully support Nigel and we will be writing to UEFA to see if we can put the wheels in motion to get something done.

"To score 13 goals for a small country is a marvellous achievement when you look at the bigger names playing for superior nations, who have more chances to score.

"The nice thing about David is he is very down to earth. He does not have any airs and graces. He is very much a team player."

If Northern Ireland beat Spain, if Latvia beat Sweden...

The blogging adventures of Pól Ó Muirí.

If you're a regular reader of the Belfast Telegraph I'm sure you've read Blog 1: Marty mc: a deputy first minister's blog and Paris hilton: cultural attaché to ulster. Back in June when I'd first noticed Marty Mc: a Deputy First Minister's Blog I thought that we might see Prince Charming Martin McGuinness being spurred on to take up blogging, but I was wrong. Instead of Our Marty, Pól Ó Muirí has started to blog on a proper blog entitled El Blogador. It's not a blog that I've read very often as the tag line 'The Voice of Irish Nationalism' has put me off reading it, but with Pól Ó Muirí now blogging there I'll visit it more often.
Welcome to the real blogosphere Pól!

A Northern Irish Lass blogging about?

Did you think I'd tell you straight away.

Her profile reads...

About me:

im a bubbley girly girl who loves to have fun been modelling for just over a year now and loving every min. I won zoos blogagrand last yr I WANNA BE A ZOO GIRL =D

lol

I'm from:

northern ireland

I'm a...:

bird

Top 'choon is:

I'm shit scared of:

killer pigeons tht eat ur eyeballs like in tht film

My three wishes are:

to be in zoo, to model world wide, lots of money

I'd blow a million quid by:

buying loads of sexy clothes & underwear and maybe a new car ;)

My top movie is:

green street, goodfellas, 23 , run fat boy run, finding nemo, c

The best telly show is:

scrubs

The best bands are:

♥ oasis, ♥ coldplay, ♥the kooks, ♥ artic monkeys, ♥ franz ferdinand, ♥ hard-fi, ♥zutons ♥ kasierchiefs, ♥ keane, ♥ the feeling, ♥ the killers, ♥

I kiss the badge of:

liverpool

If I could be anyone, I'd be:

The sexiest person in the world is:

frank lampard

I'd describe myself as:

tiny irish cutie ,totaly awsome, completey random, the girl next door,

For those readers who after reading that profile and really want to know where her blog is, it's in the Zoo. Finding this blog, if that's what it's called leads me to question "Would you approve of your girlfriend,wife or daughter kissing the badge of Liverpool?

Children in need, or is it?

Yes it's Pudsey on the loose ,the dreaded Children in Need, again. David Gordon, from the 'Tele', questions if the BBC Northern Ireland presenters working on the Children in Need programme get paid for it. I'd say if they do a job they should get paid for it and it's entirely up to them if they want to give any of their wages to a charitable organisation. It's what the charities spend the money on interests me. From encounters I've had with local charities and the people they claim to support I've found that 75% of their income and effort is spent on 'admin'. The word administration is a great word that is used to cover up what really happens to money that's donated.I understand that a certain amount of money needs to be used on 'admin', but the money that is misused I'm sure would shock us all. I remember friends that went on a free drinking weekend because a local charity had an extra £3000 to spend on an educational course. "Let's have a break and make up our own certificates and present them to the course participants on it". OK, I was slightly jealous I wasn't participating but glad looking back as I'd find that misuse of charity funds hard to live with. I know people who are in genuine need today who are members of charitable organisations and these organisations do, as they say, Sweet FA. Though the people who work for and run the organisations don't , as they say, have a care in the world.
So if you're thinking about donating to any charity, just think who your money is really going to.

So...

I said to the Mrs "You know that house-fire in Omagh, they think it was the father did it"
She replied "There'll be a lot of rumours going about but, as they say, there's no smoke without fire"

An excuse to get sozzled tonight.

A selection of Belfast's Finest Performance Poets present...

THE FUTURE GCSE POETRY SYLLABUS

Featuring:
Gerard McKeown
Michael Bell
David Smylie
Debbie Madden
Catherine Hawcroft
Dale Mawhinney

Followed by Open Mic for anyone else who fancies a go

Wednesday 14th November
8pm till late!

£2 on door. @ the Pavilion Bar, Ormeau Road Belfast

For further details contact: gerard@gerardmckeown.com

www.gerardmckeown.com

Victor Meldrew's catchphrase was...

"I don't believe it!" and those words are echoed by Moi when reading the story below.

Ulster Tourist Spots 'Maddie' In Bosnia

There was fresh hope again in the six-month long hunt for missing Madeleine McCann.

Private detectives hired by parents Gerry and Kate McCann...

Next week the detectives are due to visit a town near you, so if your daughter is a Maddie lookalike and you want some publicity you know what to do.

a poem, stolen from...

http://ParaPub.com

POEM OF ENGLISH

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!

What would Macdonagh, MacBride, Connolly and Pearse think?

The headline reads...

N. Ireland Rebels Announce Stand-down
A Northern Ireland separatist group announced an end to its militancy but stopped short of giving up its weaponry.

In a statement released Sunday, the Ulster Defence Association said "the war is over, and we are now in a new democratic dispensation that will lead to permanent political stability"

According to Wikipedia

Category:Irish rebels

• [+] Irish Republican Army members
• [+] Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood

[+] People who died on the 1981 Irish hunger strike

and

The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is a loyalist paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland, outlawed as a terrorist group in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and which claims its aim is to defend the loyalist community from Republican terrorism.

Is it easy to rewrite history?

Police cutbacks in the blogosphere.

Sergeant Simon says...

Another one gone

Feel a bit guilty as I hadn't really checked my sidebar for a couple of weeks, relying on that planet police place to see whats happening in blogland.

Unfortunately, it only tells of who has been posting. Not the ones who haven't.

I am most gutted to find one of the best ones has gone. Has been reported or found out, and the management have obviously ordered it to be shut down.

Take a look at his last post before he is told to erase that too.

Farewell, Belfast Peeler. I shall miss your eye-opening tales of what happens across the Irish Sea. It is one of the few things that made me glad to be over here, putting the management problems into a new perspective.

Inspector Gadget says...

My usually impeccable sources at PSNI have gone very quiet about the demise of Belfast Peeler. No one seems to know anything.

Having patrolled the streets with officers from The Royal Ulster Constabulary (George Cross) I can confirm that these are not people who are bullied easily. I am assuming that he has been threatened with his job and pension.

But I used to read Belfast Peeler and I can’t remember seeing anything except common-sense, humour and commitment. Clearly these qualities are the modern enemy.

I hope Belfast Peeler continues to comment on this Blog, even if he uses a psuedonym.

The Sunday Life reported...

Over and out for PC blog

There are fears that the long arm of the law has felt the collar of Ulster's plain talking internet copper - Belfast Peeler.

For the man whose stories of day to day life as a PSNI officer have been an internet hit since July 2006 - seems to have written his last 'blog'.

Cop blogs across the UK have been buzzing with speculation that 'Belfast Peeler' has been gagged by his bosses since he typed his entry, ominously called 'The Last Interview', last month.

In it, the PSNI man revealed that he was being disciplined although he did not say exactly what he was being accused of doing wrong.

However, his backlog of entries has been deleted.

.............. .............. ..............

A PSNI spokeswoman said that the service did not comment on such matters.

But in a statement, she outlined the position of the PSNI on police bloggers, saying: "In terms of the general issue of police officers publishing their own websites, officers doing so would be expected to ensure that their actions do not contravene the PSNI code of ethics.

"Any identified breach of the code of ethics would be dealt with appropriately."

I hope that we haven't seen the end of The Belfast Peeler's presence on the blogosphere. It was interesting to get an insight into the life of a member of the PSNI. I'm sure a lot of people don't have the opportunity to talk to the police regularly and his blog gave the public that opportunity. Let's hope he's just taking a break from blogging.

In the meantime...

Good Luck The Belfast Peeler!

A little quiz.

A few days ago I posted on facebook

It's important to remember those who...

A few of my facebook friends responded

1. ...remember us.
2. died in the eternal fight against democracy.
3. ...have hands that do dishes.
4. make you smile!
5. are forgetful?
6. are in France for a month. :)

All of these responses were given by bloggers. The blogs they blog at are...

1. Grannymar
2. Manuel Stimulation
3. Gerard McGarry - Adventures in Drupal
4. My Forehead Is Bleeding
5. "Talk Northern Ireland"
6. iced coffee words

For this little quiz all you have to do is match the response with the blog.

Would Grannymar's response have been "It's important to remember those who...died in the eternal fight against democracy."

Who said what?

Now read the small print...
This quiz is not open to anyone associated with any of the blogs listed above, their friends, family or acquaintances. The winners of this little quiz will receive fuck all and to claim fuck all add me as a friend on facebook and then you will receive further instructions.

On the 11th...

It seems too easy to associate Remembrance Sunday with

The Battle of the Somme, fought in the summer and autumn of 1916, was one of the largest battles of the First World War. With more than one million casualties, it was also one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The Allied forces attempted to break through the German lines along a 25-mile (40 km) front north and south of the River Somme in northern France.

If you take a minute to look at The Royal British Legion website and what their welfare department does, it shows us some of the everyday issues still facing those who have served.These include...

• Poppy Funds: We can provide funds in a temporary crisis, such as homelessness, or assist with loans for property repairs and starting up a small business.
• Poppy Advice: We can offer advice on War Pensions, Compensation Claims and also give Careers advice for those leaving the Forces.
• Poppy Homes: A major part of our welfare work is to provide short and long-term care for ex-Service people and their dependants in our seven Poppy Homes around the country.
• Poppy Breaks: We have four Poppy Break Centres for those recovering from an illness or bereavement, located in some of the country's most popular, traditional seaside resorts.
• Poppy Travel: We offer pilgrimages and tours to war cemeteries, memorials and battlefields worldwide, with each designed as a relaxing and informative holiday.
• Poppy People: Volunteers are vital to our organisation - you can join as a Poppy Collector, or as a Caseworker, providing emotional support and practical assistance in the local community. We are also looking for more Hospital and Housebound Visitors.

On the 11th...

Reading through a few blogs.

A great way to spend a Friday night reading a few blogs. Instead of an occasional comment on the blogs themselves, I'll do it here. Sometimes, or should I say usually, I read through blogs and chuckle to myself and think about leaving a comment and then decide not too. It's a case of couldn't be arsed. If you're reading this and couldn't be arsed commenting that's good, at least there's two of us.

Firstly Fresh Blade who's getting very bold by saying "Oh, bollocks." I think she's using her blog as a reminder service and an excuse to use such terrible language. Fucking ridiculous ;-)
Counaga & Spaves post a YouTube video which I'll not watch, I do like the title of the blog post 'Bald patch @ 3'oClock. You talking about me?
Malcom's posted a picture which I didn't expect he would. I wonder if those two women are just taking a break from blogging.
Connall mentions 'political empowerment of women' If it wasn't a Friday night I'd read on, but...
What? They've another fucking video. I've already seen 10 minutes of the Dingle Family Album on TV tonight and that's enough for anyone.
At least Will Crawley hasn't posted a YouTube video. He mentions...

This Sunday, I'll be presenting a special edition of Sunday Sequence live from Enniskillen, marking the 20th anniversary of the Poppy Day Bomb. I'll be joined by local people who were present on 8 November 1987 when eleven people lost their lives, and by those who have worked hard to help Fermanagh's county town move forward beyond what was an appalling atrocity. The programme begins at 8.30am and we're followed at 10.30 by the Solemn Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

Hails, if this was 20 years ago, needs 50p. I've had similar experiences to her. I'll not share them, it'd only depress you.
Are you STILL reading?
GET WELL SOON Miss Read!
Alan's mentioned the iphone. I don't think I'll be getting one of them there phones for Christmas as I've been BAD.
hootchinhannah's coming home from Thailand.

I think I'll stop at that. I'm sure Jonathan Ross will be on TV , I meant Jonathan Woss. That's 'Wock n Woll' and I might go and get a Chinese, to eat.

Confucius say...

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.

Pull the other one, it's got bells...

The Evening Echo reports...

'Gentleman' Love Ulster rioter gets 18 months
A man described by gardaí as "the gentleman of the group" has been given an 18-month sentence by Judge Patricia Ryan for his role in the 'Love Ulster' parade riot in Dublin city centre last year.

Judge Ryan suspended the last nine months of the sentence after taking into account Ryan’s "sad family circumstances" and the fact that he is now the official guardian of his 15-year-old brother.

She said she also took into account what she described as the "very fair evidence" of Detective Garda Paul Murphy and the fact that Ryan wasn’t involved in setting the car alight.

Det Gda Murphy told Ms Caroline Biggs BL, defending, that out of the 70 people who were processed in his station in relation to the riots that day, Ryan could be described as the "gentleman of the group" and added that he was both "co-operative and easygoing".

He also agreed that
Ryan didn’t set fire to the car and his involvement was lifting the front of it to make it easier for others to overturn it.
He had apologised to gardaí for his "disgraceful behaviour".

Ms Biggs asked Judge Ryan to accept the "extraordinary evidence of Det Gda Murphy" and said that Ryan was "a decent individual", who had no problem with authority, but had rather got "caught up in the mob mentality of the day".

Did you know that the word 'gullible' is defined as ' Easily deceived or duped'. If I decide to start committing crimes, apart from blogging, I'll travel south to commit them. If I get caught and have to appear in court let's hope it's in front of Judge Patricia Ryan and evidence is given by Detective Garda Paul Murphy.

Now, I'm going to research the Ryan family tree.Let's start with Patricia Ryan,Thomas Ryan...

Tonight in de Nort West of Oierland

In St Columb’s Hall in a city some people call Derry, a book is being launched.

"I name this book Finding Lauren. May God bless her and all who read her".

The book...

A conspiracy of blackmail, corruption and family intrigue, set in 2005 set against the violent backdrop of the Northern Ireland of the 1970s and ’80s.

It opens in County Antrim in the home of the central character, seventy nine-year old widow Regina Monteith, who has long since buried her only son, William. We meet her as she is prepares to endure the eightieth birthday celebrations planned by her neighbour and home help, Betty. Regina must ensure two things before she surrenders to the cancer which is slowly killing her – that the surprising fortune she has amassed over the years is passed on according to her wishes, and that the family secret, which could threaten this – the existence of William’s illegitimate daughter – goes with her to the grave.

Across the county, her estranged brother’s daughter, Cordelia Harcourt, begins the task of sorting out her dead parents’ papers, and stumbles upon confirmation that William had fathered a child to a singer, more than thirty years ago, when he was starting his career in the RUC. The existence of the child, or her mother, had never been acknowledged. Driven by an inherited sense of righting a perceived injustice, Cordelia takes an emotionally painful journey through her own past and enlists the help of an old college friend of the lover who irrevocably changed her own life.

Told partly in flashbacks to the late 1960s, the search for Lauren takes them all through the archives of some of the bloodiest and most controversial days in the history of the North. It will prove a journey in which all the characters learn more about themselves and on finally finding Lauren they discover that the idealistic, ill-fated lovers of Cordelia’s imagination must be supplanted by a relationship which is a metaphor for all that was brutal, shameful and needlessly lost in a troubled era of Ireland’s social history

The author...

Felicity McCall
"I am a freelance writer, arts facilitator, actor, film producer and co-founder of the Derry-based writing and performance group, ‘Handful Productions.’ Broadcast journalism was my career for twenty years. Since going freelance in 2000, I have written three stage plays and co-written three others, all performed on the professional stage. A youth drama, Sofa Surfers, has been commissioned by The Playhouse for development in 2008. My research on the life of the Irish nursing pioneer Agnes Jones inspired the stage play (2004) and documentary drama film Agnes which had its premiere in Derry’s Guildhall in 2006 - as well as helping to win the 2006 Tyrone Guthrie Award for Scriptwriting. They have been staged and screened in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand and shown on Ulster Television. They are included in the 2008 European Capital of Culture programme. As producer and director of the film production company Brassneck Productions Ltd., I have a further screenplay, God Dammit, in development. Publications include the novels Reckoning and Finding Lauren, the graphic novel Amelia Earhart and contributions to two anthologies, Eve and Wonderful World of Webbers. As the Ireland officer for the Miscarriage of Justice lobby group, Portia, I edit and contribute to the yearbook, The Lynch Mob Syndrome.

I am a native of South Armagh, but currently live in Derry & Donegal. I also have a teenage daughter".

The publisher

Guildhall Press

It was founded in 1979 as a voluntary educational book-publishing trust by local school teacher, Ms Anne Murray. Its original aims were to research, write and publish all aspects of local history in an objective and factual way and to create a platform for reconciliation through education by publishing material that increased cross-community understanding and acceptance.

Since 1995, the scope of publications produced by Guildhall Press has changed from local history texts, to wider interest books concentrating on the history of the past thirty years in the north of Ireland, giving Guildhall Press the potential to operate in a larger market, whilst retaining its role as an active community organisation.

With the advent of the internet, Guildhall Press expanded its remit in to web publishing, initially to promote itself and its books and more recently as a designer of websites for local business and community groups.

Top of de mornin to ya!

Attention Bloggers! Do a Google for Denise Channing...

...and share the links to your blog post here.

In a virtual world...

For the second time in its history, the Cenotaph has been rebuilt. The first was in 1920, when the plaster-and-wood Cenotaph hastily erected a year earlier was replaced with the existing Portland stone version familiar to millions.

And now, the Cenotaph has been rebuilt in the virtual world of Second Life. An exact replica of the structure designed by Sir Edwin Luytens for ceremonial use in Whitehall, the virtual Cenotaph is surrounded by a field of poppies representing the sacrifices made by members of the Armed Forces from World War One to the present day.

The Cenotaph is the centerpiece of The Royal British Legion’s Garden of Remembrance, which will provide visitors from around the world with an opportunity to reflect on the human cost of war. Below is a link to a "machinima", a virtual movie, which gives a preview of what will be seen in Second Life.

“We are thrilled to be updating the traditional message of Remembrance through the contemporary medium of Second Life,” said The Royal British Legion’s Director of Corporate Communications, Stuart Gendall. “We hope that this will reach a new audience and motivate them to participate in real-life Remembrance activity – but it also offers a valid alternative for those who remain in-world.”

The Garden of Remembrance was developed through the generous voluntary contribution of Rivers Run Red, the world's leading agency in the virtual world market. Also, the eminent broadcasters Jeremy Thompson, Julie Etchingham and Eamonn Holmes donated their time for readings and narration during the moving Service of Remembrance.

Rivers Run Red CEO Justin Bovington said he was pleased to offer the project to The Royal British Legion. "We all know we live in a time of increased glorification of war, our virtual world project enables the online generation to participate in this unique virtual environment of pause and reflect."

Residents and visitors to Second Life can find the Garden of Remembrance by visiting the “poppy 2” island in-world to begin their journey to the Cenotaph, positioned at the centre of the nine island build. At 11:00 am GMT on November 11th, there will be a Two Minute Silence in-world to replicate observances around the country.

The Royal British Legion is in the midst of its annual Poppy Appeal, with a target of £27.5 million for it to continue its work safeguarding the welfare, interest and memory of the Armed Forces, past and present, and their families.

source - The Royal British Legion

If all wars could be fought in a virtual world, somewhere.

Facebook fun.

I'd a photo posted on my Fun Wall @ Facebook, an example of the

Safer Neighbourhoods bus advertising

Hampshire Constabulary staff and officers are appearing on the backs of buses across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight between October and December 2007, to promote Safer Neighbourhoods and the ability to find your local team through the force website.

The photograph...

I wonder what the word exhausting means to that police officer.