Blather.net Comments

Comment on "The Bilderberg group ride again"

Mon, 19 May 2003 20:55:00 +0000

See also: Who pulls the strings? by Jon Ronson, from his book Them: Adventures With Extremists

- daev

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Tue, 20 May 2003 12:07:00 +0000

Wasn't he in 'Jack & Sarah'?

A trained actor reduced to the status of a bum indeed.

- Dennis

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Tue, 20 May 2003 12:21:00 +0000

I think he became a tester at an internationally reknowned E-learning company.

- Badegrboy69

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Tue, 20 May 2003 12:24:00 +0000

I meant 'renowned' of course. God damn stubby fingers.

- Badgerboy

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Tue, 20 May 2003 14:30:00 +0000

In real life? I think the *real* person - that Withnail was based on - died quiet young. This is based on my hazy memory of an interview with Bruce Robinson.

Some alternative endings:

http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0094336

- daev

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Tue, 20 May 2003 14:32:00 +0000

On the DVD Robinson says that there was a guy he knew called Jonathan Withnail. What happened to him is unclear.

Someone else mailed me to say: "Withnail was based on Bruce Robinson's best friend from drama school, Vivien MacMillan (I think that's his surname). This larger-than-life hedonistic thespian died of throat cancer in his early 40s.

Robinson was quoted as saying "I could never believe that the biggest coward I'd ever met could become the bravest man I have ever seen in so short a space of time. They ripped his voice out."

This is tragic and true. But you did ask."

- damien

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Tue, 20 May 2003 14:36:00 +0000

It's the script:

http://dillonstars.hilken.co.uk/reedallbootit/script.htm

- daev again

Comment on "Raven Watch"

Wed, 21 May 2003 12:54:00 +0000

Ravens aren't hard to find:

1. I am a member of Ravens Cycling Team. The Raven is the symbol of North Dublin, Fingal whatever.

2. The ruined castle 1 mile from my family home in Wexford is home to a pair of *very* territorial ravens. Anyone coming within 300m of the castle will get buzzed and 'given out to'. This is classic raven behaviour, they don't like anyone their turf.

3. In December, I was cycling up Mont Ventoux, in Provence, wearig my Ravens team kit, and I got buzzed by a raven - it flew right by my face!

4. In January, I was staying in a chalet/condo thing in Yosemite, California. Every morning I was woken up by a pair of garrulous ravens on the veranda. I was skiing in Badger Pass during my stay, and there was a constant raven presences over the slopes.

5. I rarely visit the Dublin or Wicklow mountains without seeing ravens. One day a couple of years ago, Square Eyes and I were out mountainbiking on Three Rock. We stopped at the very top of Fairy Castle for a breather. A raven landed within about 3m of us, after hanging in the wind looking at us. Scary.

6. Ravens are more often than not found in male/female pairs. If there's a third, it's usually an adolescent.

7. They are *extremely* acrobatic. They have become birds of prey the hard way. They don't have the classic hovering or swooping manoevres of hawks, kestrels, etc. but can put amazing feats of aerobatics: multiple barrel rolls, flying upside down a few feet from the ground, and so on.

8. Look for them on cliffs by the sea. Saw several hanging around the car park of Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Antrim.

- daev

Comment on "Raven Watch"

Wed, 21 May 2003 12:56:00 +0000

*coughs*

well, i have seen a few hanging around westminster abbey...

- damien

Comment on ""Who ye gonna call boi?""

Wed, 21 May 2003 13:13:00 +0000

Check out this one, about the now demolished Coolmoney House, at the Glen of Imaal army camp in Co. Wicklow:

http://www.blather.net/archives2/issue2no39.html

- daev

Comment on ""Who ye gonna call boi?""

Wed, 21 May 2003 13:15:00 +0000

A young linen worker, named Helena

Live GhostWatch:

Blunden, died after a tragic fall in a Belfast mill in 1912. There are many people who believe she still haunts the mill today. The printing company which is now based in the mill building alerted us to unusual, eerie encounters with a ghostly inhabitant.

http://www.irelandseye.com/ghost/

- daev

Comment on ""Who ye gonna call boi?""

Wed, 21 May 2003 17:00:00 +0000

Some interesting stuff concerning portumna castle comes in from intrepid reporter DenNiS of www.p45.net fame. According to young dennis his old man swears that Portumna castle has more spirits that a donegal wake.

Of special note was the wonderful story concerning fury the dog, which you can read all about at the following (rather hefty) link: http://www.acsltd.ie/project10.html

Anyhoo, some more info on the general history and shenanigans of Portumna Castle can be found here: http://www.irelandnow.com/castles/portumna.html

- damien

Comment on "Gilliam's 'Brazil'"

Thu, 22 May 2003 21:29:00 +0000

"I'm dealing with what I think exists now. It has a lot to do with the sensibilities of people. There is a feeling that things are out of control. It's as if the world were dreaming. Mind you, it's a terrible cheat in a way - writing about a thing like BRAZIL. We don't provide any answers. We just point out the obvious... but the "obvious" that people don't think about half the time. Since we are our most vulnerable when we laugh or cry, I hope people will catch themselves, laughing and suddenly realise, "I shouldn't be laughing at that, that's horrendous." That is a nice thing to do people. It helps us see we are all in it together"

- Terry Gilliam

P.S.: "Because I dislike being quoted I find I lie almost constantly when talking about my work."

- daev

Comment on "Blowing money on O'Connell St."

Fri, 23 May 2003 09:49:00 +0000

a job for Blather Paranormal Investigators Inc. Or the spirit of a certain Monsieur Robespiere and his choppity-chop device. I'm going to Paris tonight and will be visiting the catacombs on saturday or sunday. I'll see if I can bring his malaevolent shade back with me...

- damien

Comment on "The Odd Couple"

Fri, 23 May 2003 12:23:00 +0000

i reckon he's the wandering jew and she is anastacia romanov..

- birdbath

Comment on "The Odd Couple"

Fri, 23 May 2003 13:44:00 +0000

Right, at lunchtime, saw the again, lounging in the sun outside the dry cleaners. She's changed the green tam'o'shanter for a knitted yellowish wool beret with a bobble. Smart move. She's talking at yer man still.

- daev

Comment on "SARS: Cats From Outer Space"

Sat, 24 May 2003 10:57:00 +0000

HONG KONG -- As the SARS death toll mounts and scientists struggle to contain the global epidemic, new evidence has surfaced that the killer disease is the handiwork of depraved terrorist fiend Osama Bin Laden

more:

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/wwn/20030512/105275160006.html

- daev

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Mon, 26 May 2003 09:36:00 +0000

As far as I remember the comment about Vivian related above is true, from one or two bruce robinson interviews I have seen over the years.....so much for using Withnail and I as an antidote to the middle age blues.....ah fuck, now Im freaked out, and its monday.......

- Darren

Comment on "25th Hour"

Mon, 26 May 2003 09:51:00 +0000

This may seem a bit pedantic, but, well, call it age, its beginning to be what I'm known for. But the "champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends" is a quote that should be attributed to Tom Waits.......

- Darren

Comment on "25th Hour"

Mon, 26 May 2003 10:36:00 +0000

I didn't know that, and I'm quite the Waits fan... thanks

- daev

Comment on "Raven Watch"

Mon, 26 May 2003 14:18:00 +0000

feckin huge raven nearly took me out outside the factory in Texas last week. By gawd, this was viscous.

- ro_G

Comment on "SARS: Cats From Outer Space"

Mon, 26 May 2003 14:53:00 +0000

Found at:

http://www.d.kth.se/~d90-fbe/ufo.html

The UFO Story

If you drop a buttered piece of bread, it will fall on the floor butter-side down. If a cat is dropped from a window or other high and towering place, it will land on its feet.

But what if you attach a buttered piece of bread, butter-side up to a cat's back and toss them both out the window? Will the cat land on its feet? Or will the butter splat on the ground?

Even if you are too lazy to do the experiment yourself you should be able to deduce the obvious result. The laws of butterology demand that the butter must hit the ground, and the equally strict laws of feline aerodynamics demand that the cat can not smash its furry back. If the combined construct were to land, nature would have no way to resolve this paradox. Therefore it simply does not fall.

That's right, you clever mortal (well, as clever as a mortal can get), you have discovered the secret of antigravity! A buttered cat will, when released, quickly move to a height where the forces of cat-twisting and butter repulsion are in equilibrium. This equilibrium point can be modified by scraping off some of the butter, providing lift, or removing some of the cat's limbs, allowing descent.

Most of the civilized species of the Universe already use this principle to drive their ships while within a planetary system. The loud humming heard by most sighters of UFOs is, in fact, the purring of several hundred tabbies.

The one obvious danger is, of course, if the cats manage to eat the bread off their backs they will instantly plummet. Of course the cats will land on their feet, but this usually doesn't do them much good, since right after they make their graceful landing several tons of red-hot starship and pissed off aliens crash on top of them.

And now a few words on solving the problem of creating a ship using the aforementioned anti-gravity device.

One could power a ship by means of cats held in suspended animation (say, about -190 degrees Celsius) with buttered bread strapped to their backs, thus avoiding the possibility of collisions due to tempermental felines. More importantly, how do you steer, once the cats are all held in stasis?

I offer a modest proposal:

We all know that wearing a white shirt at an Italian restaurant is a guaranteed way to take a trip to the laudromat. Plaster the outside of your ship with white shirts. Place four nozzles symmetrically around the ship, which is, of course, saucer shaped. Fire tomato sauce out in proportion to the directions you want to go. The ship, drawn by the shirts, will automatically follow the sauce. If you use t-shirts, you won't go as fast as you would by using, say, expensive dress shirts. This does not work as well in deep gravity wells, since the tomato sauce (now falling down a black hole, perhaps) will drag the ship with it, despite the counter force of the anti-gravity cat/butter machine. Your only hope at that point is to jettison enormous quantities of Tide. This will create the well-known Gravitational Tidal Force.

- daev

Comment on "Blather Paranormal Investigators Inc."

Tue, 27 May 2003 14:12:00 +0000

http://paranormal.about.com/cs/ghosthunting/a/aa040703.htm

- no-one of importance

Comment on "Alcohol effect lingers on brain"

Wed, 28 May 2003 13:05:00 +0000

Good news for drinkers!

Booze may help decision-making says psychologist

Alcohol may make people to be more cautious in their decisions.

A Canadian psychologist says drunks may concentrate more and make better decisions.

more >>

- daev

Comment on "IFSC Familiars"

Wed, 28 May 2003 13:50:00 +0000

you realise this is becoming unhealthy don't you?

- damien

Comment on "IFSC Familiars"

Wed, 28 May 2003 13:51:00 +0000

what, my obsession?

A boy must have hobbies, y'know. We are, after all, professionals.

- daev

Comment on "Whatever happened to Withnail? (update)"

Sat, 31 May 2003 06:11:00 +0000

Well, I don't know what heppened to the real Withnail, but obviously in the movie here is what happened: Withnail moved to California and starred in films like "LA Story", "The Player", and Coppola's "Dracula". The "I" chraracter stayed in England and retained his Englishness to portray the mad inmate of an off-world prison colony, a time-traveling wearer of outdated but fabulous men's fashions, and a scholarly investigator of the paranormal.

- Chris in LA

Comment on "Spacebeagle: Mission to Mars"

Tue, 03 Jun 2003 12:03:00 +0000

more info from the ESA website:

http://esa.capcave.com/esa/marsexpress/

- damien

Comment on "Spacebeagle: Mission to Mars"

Tue, 03 Jun 2003 14:15:00 +0000

Did we already find life on Mars?

Just as Beagle 2 winds it's way to the Red Planet a new controversy emerges over a previous mission to the planet of war.

Dr Gil Levin, a former mission scientist on the Viking lander is claiming that he has evidence that the 1976 mission actually found life. Read more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2941826.stm

- damien

Comment on "Time Travel"

Tue, 03 Jun 2003 19:24:00 +0000

There's this crowd:

www.timetravelinstitute.com

I think they sent me membership stuff some time ago. From the future, presumably.

- daev