35 years ago today

From History.com

1972 : Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland

In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators are shot dead by British Army paratroopers in an event that becomes known as "Bloody Sunday." The protesters, all Northern Catholics, were marching in protest of the British policy of internment of suspected Irish nationalists. British authorities had ordered the march banned, and sent troops to confront the demonstrators when it went ahead. The soldiers fired indiscriminately into the crowd of protesters, killing 13 and wounding 17.
The killings brought worldwide attention to the crisis in Northern Ireland and sparked protests all across Ireland. In Dublin, the capital of independent Ireland, outraged Irish citizens lit the British embassy aflame on February 2.
The crisis in Northern Ireland escalated in 1969 when British troops were sent to the British possession to suppress nationalist activity by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and to quell religious violence between Protestants and Catholics.
In April 1972, the British government released a report exonerating British troops from any illegal actions during the Londonderry protest. Irish indignation over Britain's Northern Ireland policies grew, and Britain increased its military presence in the North while removing any vestige of Northern self-rule. On July 21, 1972, the IRA exploded 20 bombs simultaneously in Belfast, killing British military personnel and a number of civilians. Britain responded by instituting a new court system composed of trial without jury for terrorism suspects and conviction rates topped over 90 percent.
The IRA officially disarmed in September 2005, finally fulfilling the terms of the historic 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. It was hoped that the disarmament would bring with it an end to decades of politically motivated bloodshed in the region.

And now that the bloody wankers in Sinn Fein have ratified PSNI, I expect to see more of the same. Time to grab yer nearest firearm in Northern Ireland.

I'm such a fookin' geek

This thing was my amusement-type reading over the weekend. Turns out that Cataloging article Jablonski mentioned was one of the chapters from it, republished in the Cataloging Quarterly. If you can twist yer brain in that Dublin Core kinda way, it's actually sorta interesting. Gives ya way more than you ever needed to know about metadata theory and use. Posted in case there's somebody else out there who's vaguely amused by Cataloging, not that I really expect to find anybody. Later

Joys of marriage

You can wear a pair of these babies around the house, and wifee can't laugh at ya.



Even if ya do it with a hooded Tony Hawk sweatshirt and a pair of AC/DC lounge pants. Wouldn't get laid doin' that as a single guy. Ha!

Mandatory Republican vid posting

Sounds a tad crappy, and the shakey cam may cause a bit of motion sickness, but here ya go. Shebeen playing "Kinky Boots" live in a small pub. Can't agree that they're the "greatest" Republican band out there (I'd save that for the Irish Brigade m'self), but they're definitely one of the tops. If only they hadn't aligned themselves with those ass kissers in Sinn Fein. *sigh*

Four color horror

Since all the old Golden Age comic book creators are dyin' off, here's one of the Silver Age. Berni Wrightson published in House of Mystery, Heavy Metal, and did a bunch of the 70s and 80s graphic adaptations of stuff like Poe, Lovecraft and Stephen King. If yer into horror, and/or comics, and you don't know him, check him out. His Wiki entry's here, and this page has all kindsa cool scans. Edu-tainment over.

Robert Anton Wilson- Illuminated

Well, it finally happened- the guy who produced Discordianism & the Illuminatus Trilogy has passed on. Here's his last blog entry, excerpted by BoingBoing:

"Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying.

Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd."



You can read more about him here. I grew up on this guy's stuff (yeah, I was a weird kid). Hail Eris, chummer, see ya on the other side.

Old Spice on the Chin

Bruce Campbell does an Old Spice Commercial. Terribly amusing- he never actually mentions the product



If you have it, you need more of it. If you have more of it, you don't need less.

Policing Issue in NI

So, how do I think Sinn Fein's gonna react to the PSNI issue in Northern Ireland? They're gonna roll over and take it, that's how. Doesn't matter how many meetings they have or how much they say they respect the Republican view. They already gave up on the Paisley issue, what's to prevent them from just giving in to the rest of the demands imposed by the Brits and their little doggies? So what happens after that?

South Armagh




In London and in Dublin
they pretend to speak of peace
They say give us your weapons
and we’ll make this bloodshed cease
But the south Armagh sniper
he’s heard their lies and double-talk before
He won’t be fooled or cheated anymore

The Armagh sniper
he hasn’t gone away
His rifles oiled and loaded
he’s just waiting for the day
So if the British government
should break their word well then
The sniper will go back to work again
I’m a-comin back boys