As this article mentions, while many species become exctinct each year, it’s rare when we know the exact day that it happens. This may be the case for the po’ouli, one of the many native Hawaiian honeycreeper species that have become extinct or on their way there with the help of man. According to statics I’ve seen, Hawai’i is home to nearly 75% of the endangered plant and animal species in the US.
I have many things to be grateful for this year, but one stands out above all others.
That after 9 months in Baghdad, my son is still alive and well. I’m praying that I’ll be able to say that again next year.
Irish May Become An Official EU Language!
It was a while in coming, but I’m sure advocates of the language are celebrating this news, that Ireland will seek official status for Irish Gaelic. EU treaties, including the new European Constitution, have been translated into Irish, and it will also mean that European citizens may contact the EU institutions using Irish and expect a reply in the language.
MacFamilyTree 4 Rocks.
I highly recommend this software for any genealogy buffs who use Mac OS X. It was at version 2 when I first bought it. It was pretty good, but had a few glitches and interface issues then. It has progresses solidly since then. I was able to import a fairly large GEDCOM file from someone who had extensive history on one branch of our family tree with no problem at all, and it generates great looking HTML. It’s only $45, and major updates are $20.
How to get into Google News?
I tried to get my Hawaiian music news site “NahenaheNet” listed, and received a reply from Google that they could not include it because it included links to “outside” sites. Duh, isn’t that part of what a weblog does?
British Council USA.
With my Ph.d. abroad options seemingly down to Sheffield and Queen’s University Belfast, the British Council USA’s site seems to be a great resource for information on purusing my Ph.d. in the U.K. Lot’s of great information and a scholarship database for foreign students interested in study in the U.K.
Google Scholar.
This looks like a great concept; we’ll have to see how valuable it really is. A lot of scholarly material is locked up in the UMI ProQuest databases and I doubt that Google will be able to gain access to much more than the abstracts of these papers, if even that. I found one of my papers cited a few times, including two Spanish language entries. Interesting! I chose not to submit my MA thesis to UMI. Something about me paying them to include it so they could turn around and sell copies of it bothered me. I posted it…
Fortnight has a wonderful interview with Irish poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill.
One of her more interesting observations is that ‘the shift from Irish to English unleashed madness throughout the population…..the emotions were stuck in Irish and didn’t make it through to English. So their emotions would burst out in a totally inappropriate way over totally inappropriate things.’
Ethnomusic Ph.d at Queen’s University Belfast?
I got a very nice reply to my email inquiry to the anthropology department at Queen’s University Belfast. They have a Ph.d. program in ethnomusicology, and while their normal program (1 year at QUB, 1 year field research, 1 year of writing at QUB) wouldn’t work for me, there is a possiblity of making alternative arrangements. I’m hoping to meet with some of their faculty at the “ITCM” conference in Sheffield next summer, and, if the opportunity presents itself, to visit the campus on that trip. Stay tuned. If anyone reading this has any thoughts on QUB or the ethnomusicology…
Smoking Ban?
This story suggests there is far more to the woes of Ireland’s pubs than the recent smoking ban.