Screenwriter
Sun, 20 May 2012, 9:40 pm | Donald Clarke
As the grey skies closed in and genuinely torential rain hammered the pavement, the main competition kicked properly into gear with the screening of Michael Haneke’s Amour. The Austrian director is now big favourite for the Palme d’Or with a collection of bookies that I’ve just made up. There were other things worth watching today. [...]
Irish Roots
Sun, 20 May 2012, 11:18 am | John Grenham
Genetic genealogy produces much sales patter and much jargon. mixing royal lineages with “SNP”s, “STR”s, “haplogroups” and what have you. But the principle behind Y-chromosome genealogical DNA testing is simple and logical. The Y- chromosome is passed intact from father to son. Life being messy, a tiny random mutation will occur every so often. This [...]
Politics
Sat, 19 May 2012, 3:54 pm | Harry McGee
The Green Party conference is taking place this weekend in Kilkenny. It’s a low key event with a a few hundred delegates, with a good deal of self-examination and talk of renewal. There could be few more suitable opportunities for a party in search of its soul than to go in search of its stance [...]
The Index
Sat, 19 May 2012, 9:25 am | Laura Slattery
My interest in all-things-Facebook is rapidly boiling down to one question: how important is Sheryl Kara Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, to feminism? Like Hillary Clinton, she doesn't ignore gender issues. And given she may yet emulate Clinton's political career, it's worth paying attention when she says things like "a world where men ran half our homes and women ran half our institutions would be just a much better world".
Pop Life
Fri, 18 May 2012, 3:50 pm | Una Mullally
If you haven’t already checked out The Racket, you should do so if you want some finely written narrative journalism in your life. Some refugees from the much missed Mongrel magazine are involved, including Davy Banks and Sam Bungey, and each ‘edition’ is built around a theme, the first one being Self Improvement. My [...]
Motors
Fri, 18 May 2012, 12:06 pm | Neil Briscoe
A touch of tyre Communism needed, perhaps? From each according to his pocket, to each according to his rim size.
On The Record
Fri, 18 May 2012, 10:45 am | Jim Carroll
First confirmed acts for the new Liss Ard festival taking place on the grounds of Liss Ard House, Skibereen, Co Cork on August 4 and 5 are as follows: Chic (second Irish date this summer so far for Nile Rodgers and co) Lisa Hannigan Toots & The Maytals Paul Buchanan (new solo album sounds pretty [...]
Pursued by a Bear
Thu, 17 May 2012, 5:58 pm | Laurence Mackin
Dance: The capital city is still in the grip of the Dublin Dance Festival, and the festival is taking a logical cue from Martha and her Vandellas by taking it out of the theatres and on to the streets. As well as the festival’s regular programme, which includes pieces by the groundbreaking Trisha Brown Dance [...]
Fash Mob
Thu, 17 May 2012, 10:30 am | Rosemary Mac Cabe
Smart move, Cannes people, for putting Diane Kruger on the jury and guaranteeing us all some serious fashion perving for the duration of the film festival. My only question is … where is Pacey? Also, I wish I was there. Lucky Donald.
Home Truths
Thu, 17 May 2012, 7:49 am | Edel Morgan
If you were to nominate a property that sums up where we are now, what would it be? In today’s paper (click here to read) I’ve written about the ten properties that say it all about the state of the market but do you agree with them? Or would you add a few of [...]
Innovation
Tue, 8 May 2012, 1:35 pm | Davin O'Dwyer
In yesterday’s Innovation Talk column, I admitted that I’m a bit sceptical about the potential for smart glasses, despite the rather cool Google Project Glass video – I’m just not convinced that they represent the future of mobile computing. I am convinced of one thing, however: they are not going to act as a replacement for [...]
Ultach
Mon, 7 May 2012, 9:00 am | Pol Ó Muiri
The Society of Jesus in Dublin are looking to recruit an Irish-speaking editorial assistant/administrator. The person appointed will work on the magazine An Timire and also for the society’s publishing house, Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradálta. Candidates must have a high standard of Irish and English, spoken and written, computer skills and some administrative experience. The yearly [...]
Mechanical Turk
Wed, 2 May 2012, 9:56 am | Hugh Linehan
Today we switched over to a new, unified comment platform to replace the two separate systems which existed up until now. Existing users will need to re-register for the new system, but we hope the benefits will outweigh the inconvenience. You’ll see that users now need a social media account – Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn [...]
Dead Rubber
Tue, 1 May 2012, 1:25 pm | Ian O'Riordan
It’s an operation transformation of sorts and straightaway Fionnuala Britton is making huge strides. Without much problem, it seems, Britton has secured the Olympic A-standard for the 10,000 metres, which she now intends targeting in London later this summer. Although already qualified in the 3,000m steeplechase from last year, Britton went into the Cardinal Invitational [...]
Minibyte
Mon, 30 Apr 2012, 11:29 am | Ciara O'Brien
If you’ve ever built something from spare parts siphoned from some home appliances, you’ll appreciate this: what happens when Dyson engineers are given some vacuum parts and challenged to build the fastest go-kart.
Current Account
Tue, 17 Apr 2012, 11:44 am | John Collins
In case you missed the news Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim was appointed new head of the World Bank on Monday. Whatever about the controversy over Dr Kim’s appointment he certainly seems to have a sense of humour – and a little talent in the singing and dancing department. The video below shows Dr [...]
Pricewatch
Fri, 17 Feb 2012, 10:06 am | Conor Pope
I was contacted recently by a reader who had a story which, I think, reflects the rotten state of the Irish personal banking sector. She has been with National Irish Bank for 20 years, has never had an unauthorised overdraft, defaulted on a loan, run up a massive credit card debt or behaved in any [...]
Legal Matters
Fri, 2 Dec 2011, 3:47 pm | Carol Coulter
There’s an interesting discussion going on about the proposed new body. Check out the websites of the Human Rights Commission, Trust and the ICCL, just to start.
