Archive for the ‘Society and culture’ Category
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
The Irish Times aren't generally known for coherent or incisive editorials, but their reaction to the Ryan report makes for sobering reading:
We have to call this kind of abuse by its proper name – torture. We must also call the organised exploitation of unpaid child labour – young girls placed ...
Posted in Citizenship, migration, race, and ethnicity, Education, Prisons and crime, Society and culture | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Amidst a BBC report on Roma migration in Europe is this note on education policy in Hungary, which :
In Hungary, an earlier policy to give money to schools for the mentally disabled, to which a disproportionate number of Roma were sent, was abandoned when it was realised that it encouraged ...
Posted in Citizenship, migration, race, and ethnicity, Education, Society and culture | No Comments »
Monday, August 18th, 2008
If ever you go to Dublin town, a hundred years from now...
So that line's from Patrick Kavanagh, but it came to mind on hearing of the passing of Ronnie Drew today. The music of Ronnie and the Dubliners has been a constant in my music-focused radio shows, so it's poignant ...
Posted in Radio, Society and culture | 2 Comments »
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
A follow-up to my recent posting on the break-down of national pay talks in Ireland. The unions have now developed guidelines for local bargaining platforms:
Under the guidelines, unions are to seek flat-rate increases of €30 per week for low-paid workers and rises that match inflation - about 5 per cent ...
Posted in Labour issues, Society and culture | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
Approximately 225,000 people left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina flooded most city neighborhoods in August 2005. A sizeable number came from the 9th ward. Some 1800 people died during the floods; later, hundreds more succumbed to stress-related ailments. [Saul Landau]
My parents visited the US recently, and we took the opportunity ...
Posted in Citizenship, migration, race, and ethnicity, Income and poverty, Political activism, Society and culture | No Comments »
Monday, July 21st, 2008
The American Federation of Teachers - with which my union, the GEO, is affiliated - has voted to endorse a bill to provide Universal Healthcare in the United States:
HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system in the U.S. by expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to every resident.
HR ...
Posted in Political activism, Society and culture | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
The latest edition of Comreg's Quarterly Report (pdf) is now available, and it's got some interesting nuggets hidden in it. First, VoIP is now showing up in call volumes - although Comreg only tracks certain VoIP services, and not internet-based offerings such as Skype. There's a suggestion in the report that ...
Posted in Computing Technology, Society and culture | No Comments »
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
Back in 2004 I posted an item about an artist who had been arrested and charged with terrorism-related charges. Steven Kurtz had been using (harmless) bacteria as part of various art projects, as part of his work with the Critical Art Ensemble. He has recently - 4 years later - ...
Posted in Political activism, Prisons and crime, Society and culture | No Comments »
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
WRFU had a stand at the Urbana Farmers' Market (video) today, and I was there from 10-12. It's really a nice atmosphere, and a good chance to meet with a range of people. It's still early - no corn that I saw (though of course there was kettle corn), more flowers than ...
Posted in Personal, Radio, Society and culture | No Comments »
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
When I'm talking with my students about their news diet, at least some - though not as many as you might think - will mention the Daily Show or similar satirical content. I've repeatedly commented that my sense is that the Daily Show doesn't inform viewers about what's happening in ...
Posted in Corporate media, International Affairs, Society and culture, Trivia | No Comments »