Souvenirs of Vietnam

I went to the Gallery of Photography tonight for the opening of a new exhibition, Souvenirs of Vietnam by Liza Nguyen. The main photographs are of samples of soil that Liza brought back from a visit to Vietnam.

Nguyen traveled to Vietnam, the home country of her father, for the first time in 2000. As a sort of ritual, she began methodically collecting handfuls of earth from historically significant locations all over Vietnam, mostly places that have become synonymous with battles or atrocities from the war years. She brought the soil samples back to Europe and photographed them in a clinical, almost forensic manner, enlarging her prints to reveal the subtle textures and colors of the earth.

It sounds strange but the photographs are very novel because they have been blown up so large and they all look physically similar from a distance, apart from color, but close up the textures and shapes are totally different. The fact that they are all samples from the main battle sites of the Vietnam War adds to the interest as I found myself examining the photographs to see if I could find any residue of war.

On the second level there are some smaller photographs printed like books of postcards. These are photographs of the structures and weapons of war that still remain, mostly in museums. There are also several photographs of the victims of Agent Orange, a topic that could be worth an exhibit of it's own.

As with all exhibits in the gallery admission is free so its always worth a visit.

Drivers Licenses

I was away for the weekend so I missed most of the news coverage but I did see a clip of Martin Cullen giving an interview where he said it was too easy for people to get their driving license and too difficult to take it away from them.

Easy? Is he kidding? I know people who have gotten university degrees in less time than it takes to get a drivers license in this country. The fact that it takes a year to get a date for your driving test means that if you were unlucky and failed the test twice it could easily take up to 3 years for you to finally get your full license.

As for it being too difficult to take a license away, well if he took the licenses off everyone in the country who is a bad driver and made them sit the test again it would take 5 years to get a test instead of 1.

Fix the driving instruction and driving test fiasco in this country and then you can worry about taking peoples licenses from them. It should take no more than 1 month to book and sit a test and driving instructors should be properly qualified and licensed to be instructors. Then maybe there wouldn't be the need to take away so many licenses and the option would be available to punish minor offences by forcing fully licensed drivers back onto provisional licenses with L plates and make them sit a driving test again.

Remember Easter 1916, but only after Easter 2006

Like many others in Ireland I'm off work today. Good Friday is a bank holiday but is not a public holiday however many companies still give their staff the day off. In the Ireland of 2006 most shops cafe and other foot-fall based businesses are open and doing quite a brisk trade. Now I know that I shouldn't complain about some things being closed since I myself have the day off but in one particular case I think I have to.

Collins Barracks in Dublin is hosting the main Easter 1916 exhibition to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the rising, The Easter Rising: Understanding 1916. Following a major advertising campaign it would seem logical that the busiest time for this exhibition would be over the Easter holiday. I headed over to it today only to find the gates shut. You see it may be hosting the Easter 1916 exhibition but that's not a good enough excuse to get the staff to work on an Easter bank holiday. So it's closed today.

While I waited 7 minutes for a Luas tram to bring me back into the city center I counted 11 other tourists walking up to the gate only to turn around confused when it was closed. It might be open tomorrow but I wouldn't be too sure about Sunday or Monday.

Update Arpil 18th: I was away for the weekend and I took the train to and from Heuston. The museum was open on Saturday morning when I passed on the Luas and then on Monday night a sign on the gate said it had been open between 14:00 to 17:00.

Admitting Drink Driving

The new Road Traffic Bill has a provision that gives a motorist caught drink driving to admit the offense and take an on the spot fine and a 6 month driving ban. If instead they appeal the case to the courts they will face much stricter penalties.

Now on the Eamon Dunphy show this morning Eamon came up with a reason why this wouldn't work. If you are drunk and the cops catch you are you in a fit state to make a decision regarding your legal position. (Available on podcast, check here)

It's insane but you just know people will get out of drink driving convictions by going to court and proving that they were incapable of making decisions so they should not have been convicted. Then they will get off on the original drink driving charge because the correct procedures for bringing a case to trial will not have been followed after they took the on the spot fine.

It all makes me wonder if when a driver is caught drink driving, accepts the on the spot fine and driving ban will they be allowed to drive home? Probably.

Iranian Nukes

The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has announced that Iranian scientists have succeeded in enriching uranium. This is low grade enrichment which is suitable for nuclear fuel but not for nuclear weapons, though it is a big step in that direction.

More concerning is the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would make such a big announcement. It seems clear he is taunting America and must be hoping that Bush will react by sending in the bombers. That seems like a bloody good reason not to attack. Though I cant help but think that if Bush hasn't reacted and launched the missiles already its only because Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice have him pinned to the floor and wont let him get to the telephone.

I don't see how there can be any winners in this apart from the fundamentalists on both sides and they are the ones who will get first dibs on the bunks in the fall-out shelters.

Britain faces airborne threat from Germany

61 years after the end of World War II Britain is once again under attack by airborne raiders from Germany. This time there are no bombers, fighters or waves of V2 rockets. Instead it's them pesky German swans.

It turns out that the swan found dead in Scotland is now reported to have come from Germany. It's not known if the bird flew across and died quickly or floated across after it died. Either way it would appear that this was the first bird to come to Britain with bird flu (and be found) and may not have had time to infect others.

That's good news for the chicken population of the British Isles who should now be able to get back to clucking around outdoors without having to keep an eye out for incoming swans.

National Dreams

I placed my annual Grand National bet on Saturday and, continuing an inglorious tradition, I lost. I'm not a gambler, viewing betting as basically a mugs game, but since I was a kid I have always placed a bet on the Grand National. After years of picking a horse randomly, based on which name stood out most I had never won a bet, or even placed to the best of my knowledge. It's actually getting a little annoying.

Last year I altered my strategy, I just randomly picked a horse whose odds were around 25 to 1 and also bet on one of the favorites. Again a dismal failure, but to rub salt into the wound the horse I had initially selected, using my previous strategy, won. So I altered the system again. I decided I should ask the one man I know who follows the horses for his advice. A few horses got mentioned but I settled on Ross Comm and Haute De Gamme as my two each-way bets for this year.

I was full of confidence as I placed the €10 bets. I couldn’t loose. Both horses were reported as having a chance and so long as one of them made it into the first 5 I should at least break even. Easy money I thought... unfortunately not.

Ross Comm put in a brave show full of eagerness and energy. In fact so keen was he that he caused a false start. Perfect, I thought, he'll give the others a run for their money. Springing into an early lead and leaving the other horses in his dust. He fell at the 4th!

So now I was left with Haute De Gamme as my sole interest in the National. Unfortunately as the race progressed I began to doubt that he had even made the starting line. There was not a mention of him. I wandered over to the newspaper page on the wall of the bookies to join the other new betters checking their horses colours. Black with light blue stripes. I looked at the screen with a reduced number of runners still in the race, no sign of him. Wait, did the commentator just mention him? Yes he did, I was sure of it. So Haute must still be in the race.

The other horses were dropping like flies so I figured he was bound to make it to the top 5. Maybe he was in 6th? The commentator was only calling out the top 5 and the last runner so I couldnt tell what other horses were in the race. One faller could be all that stood between me and an end to my Grand National curse. As the race drew to a conclussion there was still no mention of Haute de Gamme and no sign of the black and light blue colors. As the field strung out it began to dawn on me that unless several horses did a Devon Locke on it I wasnt getting my money back. In fact if Haute De Gamme was still in this race he must be in the pits getting refueled or something.

Finally the race ended and the results were announced. Haute De Gamme was not one of the 9 finishers. I went home wondering if he had even started. Yesterdays Sunday Times and the BBC then informed me that he had started but had fallen at the 20th fence, which was probably when the commentator mentioned him.

There ends another Grand National. Next year I think I'll throw a dart at a newspaper and bet on which ever horse it hits.

Cold April

It was bloody cold today in Dublin. So cold that there were heavy hail showers and the hail lodged and turned parts of Dublin white for a few minutes.

Pesky Wabbit

A super sized rabbit is terrorizing a quiet corner of English countryside. Yes really. An unusually large rabbit is plundering allotments and has driven the allotment owners to take desperate action.

"It is absolutely massive. I have seen its prints and they are huge, bigger than a deer. It is a brute of a thing."

Hmm, I wonder, could it possible actually be...... a deer...?

Mr Smith, who has kept an allotment for 25 years, added: "We have two lads here with guns who are trying to shoot it, but it is clever."

They have hired two "sharpshooters" to hunt down and kill the beast. Better not be a deer then, I'm sure I've read you can have your hand cut off in some parts of England for killing the Kings deer. But the hunter doesn't sound like a Robin Hood.

"It's a monster," said Brian Cadman, 17, one of the guards charged with terminating the rabbit. He said he could not wait to glimpse his prey for the first time. "Only a couple of people have seen it so far, but I've seen the evidence and I think it's going to be a biggie," he said.

Ah, if only someone would have given me a gun, a license to kill and international press coverage when I was 17 I could have chosen totally different path in life. International big game hunter, or James Bond.

Criminals buy bullet-proof vests, McDowell buys stab-proof vests

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has announced that the Gardai are to get issued with stab-proof vests and that a tender process will start.

Michael McDowell says there have been trials carried out on different models of vests to choose the most suitable for this country.

I may be taking a wild stab in the dark, but I'd guess the Gardai might have more use for bullet proof vests? After all these days bullet proof vests and guns seem to be standard issue for criminals so it's only a matter of time until the Department of Justice has to buy bullet-proof vests to replace the new stab-proof ones.