Year: 2006

West Belfast Gaeltacht Quarter has tremendous tourism potential.

An interesting development. I know there are people from Ireland who read this blog. One of the options I’m considering for my Ph.d. pursuit is the enthnomusicology program at Queen’s University-Belfast. I’ve had some very positive correspondence with the faculty there, and am considering applying for possible entry in fall, 2007. If there is anyone who can help me and provide some basic information on living in the area of the university (I’d like to avoid having to purchase a car), I’d be grateful. Please feel free to leave a comment to this message or send me and email. Of…

No to Indian mascots, yes to leprechauns?

NCAA president Myles Brand says that the ban of American Indian mascots and images in postseason competition will remain firm despite resistance from schools that would be affected. Asked why the nickname ‘Fighting Irish’ is acceptable at Notre Dame, Brand said, “We’ve never had any Irish people come to us and say we find that offensive… We have cases where real people are being offended, not make-believe leprechauns.”

I guess I’m supposed to feel guilty.

I did an experiment on my Nahenahe.net podcast today, and did the podcast entirely in Hawaiian, without doing any prior announcement. I thought it would be an interesting experiment, and was curious what regular listeners would have to say. I got a few nice emails regarding it, however, one listener was not happy. Here is the subject of the email and text: “Since I do not speak Hawaiian, I will not be able to listen to your podcast anymore or buy Hawaiian performers CDs. Have a great day.” I was tempted off to fire back an equally sarcastic response, but…

My Name Is Yu Ming.

This is simply the best movie short I’ve ever watched. “A bored Chinese shopkeep learns Gaelic and moves to Dublin only to find the locals no longer speak their mother tongue. Follow Yu Ming as he pursues his dream of life in the Celtic world.” To put it into perspective, imagine this fellow learning Hawaiian and coming here instead of Ireland. I was nearly in tears at one point, and laughing my behind off the next.

Dan asks some valid questions,

and Dave offers some solid answers. I really didn’t get into it when I abandoned Manila for our weblog projects, but the lack of UTF-8 support (and no indication that it would ever happen) was the main reason I had to do it, and the reason why someday I’ll probably abandon Radio as well. Dave’s reasons are prefectly valid. However, was releasing it under GPL really expected to remedy these shortcomings? Perhaps there was a real expectation that someone would pick up the mantle, carry on and modernize the kernel. Perhaps it will still happen. More and more of my…

The Brave New World.

David McWilliams predicts that by 2031, Ireland is likely to have a significant black urban underclass, paying rent to a Chinese landlord class, a good chance that there will be a second-generation Polish Taoiseach, that Irish academia will feature a disproportionate number of Indians, yet the Irish language will be stronger than at any point since before the Famine.

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