Free Fees - This is a No Brainer!

Here's something of a No Brainer if you are unemployed for at least three months and are thinking of taking a course. The National College of Ireland is offering Free Fees for a number of courses:

• Certificate in Business Studies
• Certificate in Entrepreneurship
• Certificate in Web Technologies
• Higher Diploma in Web Technologies

The Web Technologies courses can be done full-time (day) or part-time (evening). See the NCI website for more details on each course, or contact the excellent Admissions Office on 1850 221 721.With the exception of the Certificate in Business Studies, you will need to have a degree to be eligible to register for the course. If you don't have a degree, note that NCI operates a Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning (RPEL) scheme meaning applicants who do not meet the normal academic requirements may be considered based on relevant work and other experience.

The Web Technologies courses are brand new, and have generated a lot of interest and indeed some excitement. You don't have to have a technical qualification to be able to go on these courses, so if you think you would like to learn more about about the Web - this course could be for you.

Please pass this message along to anyone that you think might be interested.

Silver surfers promise golden years for ICT industry

Silicon Republic (Ireland's Technology News Service) reports that "Silver surfers promise golden years for ICT industry". The report states that...

"computer use amongst older people was increasing on a yearly basis, and that huge opportunities exist for the ICT industry to connect with older customers" 

...and that...

"According to CSO data, about one third of those aged between 50 and 64 use computers and the internet regularly". (Glad I am in this third!).

ICT companies need to make their products more attractive to older people - avoiding things like "sectoral abbreviations and acronyms" and instead using plain English. Older people want to be able to do things like buy books/tickets/music just like everybody else. They also want to "surf" the web, and in my experience, love looking up things like census returns and being able to email family. There is a large market going untapped, and in 20 years time, a quarter of the world's population will be over 65 (this will of course include me).

So the message to budding entrepreneurs and start-ups - why not look at the "silver surfer" as an opportunity to do business. The on-line world is still very youth-centred - Facebook just doesn't cut it with older people. Initiatives such as Age Action's "Getting Started with Computers" for the over 55's are getting more and more seniors to use computers - and they love it.

We (us 50 to 65 year olds) are waiting!

My Great-Grandfather - James Burns

I stopped by the Public Library in Pearse Street at lunch time today today in order to investigate my great-grandfather James Burns. My Mum's Dad was Patrick (Paddy) Byrne, and a son of James Burns. We are unsure of when the name changed from "Burns" to "Byrne" - I have previously written about finding the Burns family in the 1911 census returns. Pearse Street Library has a micro-fiche catalog of all deaths and burials in Mount Jerome cemetery in Harold's Cross, South Dublin.

I had to get a Researcher's card in order to access the archives, but this did not take too long and in a few minutes I was studying the Mount Jerome records for deaths and burials for 1925 - the year I was sure my great-grandfather died. It did not take too long to find a record of James Burns who died on 7th March, 1925 and was buried on the 10th March. The following image is created from a  printout taken of the record (click to see a bigger version):

The cause of death is given as "Heart failure" and he died in the old Adelaide Hospital. His age at death is given as "69" which must surely be a mistake - my records show he was born in 1874 which would have made him 51 years old at his death in 1925. He fought in the First World War, so he must have been younger. The 1911 census shows his age as 37. It's curious that he is listed as 69 - the notice is signed by his wife (Margaret) who died in 1965. The 1911 Census shows that she is listed as "Cannot read", so this may have been signed for her. James Burns is buried in Grave 33, Section A, Sub-section 414. I will endeavor to find this grave in Mount Jerome at the earliest opportunity.

My great-grandmother Margaret (Coburn) Burns is shown as living in 29 Rathmines Terrace - we know she had eight children, it must have been a struggle for her. The address might be a lodgings as the family moved to Dublin in the 1930's from Lorrha, Co. Tipperary. Strange to see this after all this time - he has been dead for 85 years.

Greed is the knife & THE SCARS RUN DEEP

Here's an interesting piece of graffiti on Dublin's East Wall Road (just before the start of the M1) - I took this photo while out for a walk at lunch time:

Apparently this is a line from a Damien Dempsey song and is part of a Maser/Damo project of graffiti "art" around Dublin. This one is a bit more serious than some of the others - it has a message for us all (and I mean everybody). Greed was rampant in this country up to 2007 - you might argue with f*^kers like Ivor Callely that it is still rampant. Unfortunately the scars will run deep for a long time.

I watched a Reeling in the Years programme on RTÉ last evening - the year was 1980. This was the year that John Lennon was shot, and when Charlie Haughey told us with a very sincere voice on TV that we were all "living beyond our means" (another f*^ker). In years to come, RTÉ will no doubt be showing news from 2007-2010 - I'm certain that many Irish people will look back in shame on what has happened to our magnificent little country in so short a time. Greed played a big part - we (including me) all thought we could could get rich quick. We can all now see the scars.

BTW: when watching Reeling in the Years - did Kerry (football) and Kilkenny (hurling) win every All-Ireland final?

Typo vigilantes go on spelling spree

Here's an interesting article from today's Irish Times - Typo vigilantes go on spelling spree. Two Americans, Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, have crossed America correcting spelling and grammar errors on signs as they went along. The even got arrested and fined! The fruits of their efforts are published in a new book - The Great Typo Hunt (this link is to the Amazon page where the "Look Inside" feature allows you to see some more examples). 

I am one of those people who has a thing about typing errors. All modern word processing software has in-built spell checking. I am typing this post in a Google Chrome browser, which shows up errors as I go along. There is really no excuse for spelling errors - every email I send is checked for spelling before it is sent. It is rare that one of my emails does not have a typing error - thanks goodness for spell checking. I don't want people to think I can't spell. Checking spelling is quick and easy to do - why doesn't everybody do this?

If I see spelling errors in a document, I am certainly already on my guard - if there are typos, what other careless errors are there in the document? As part of my job, I read a lot of student essays, projects, and dissertations - and it is a bad start for the student if I detect typos on the first page (this happens a lot). Even my own College is not immune - we were exposed in June 2008 by the Irish Independent for having "its" instead of "it's" on a huge sign. We made the news two days running over this - culminating in a tongue in cheek article by John Walshe "Found: Good home for stray apostrophe"!

PS:

I have read over this post several times to ensure that there are no typos! (I hope I got them all).

Google boss Eric Schmidt warns on social use of media

Somewhere in the USA right now is a teenager who in about 25-35 years time will be President of the United States of America. No doubt this kid will have a Facebook page, watch YouTube, play games on-line, look up naughty websites - i.e. he/she is being a teenager right now! There might even be people monitoring their activities right now (think sons/daughters of existing politicians, or school class representatives).

BBC News on-line reports that "Google boss Eric Schmidt warns on social use of media". He predicts that many young people of today will change their names "in order to escape their previous online activity". He further states that Google already knows "roughly who you are, roughly what you care about, roughly who your friends are". There are even Internet companies who can clean up your profile for you! Social media consultant Suw Charman-Anderson states in the same report that "As a society, we are just going have to become a bit more forgiving of the follies of youth".

I think we all have some things that we might like to airbrush out of our past. I have very few photos of myself as a child, and only a handful of when I was a teenager. My photo album has exactly 26 printed photos of me between the ages of 0 to 19 years old. Here's one of the 26 taken in 1978 showing me (18 - who's that hairy hippie?) with my sister Kayo (16) and my brother Joe (17) in our FCJ Bunclody school uniforms. No videos or film of exists of me that I know of, and certainly there are no social networking sites with silly posts and pictures of the latest party I was at. I'm satisfied that there is no incriminating photographic evidence from my past. Certainly, we partied hard when I was young, but I hardly ever saw a camera of any type - unlike today when there can be hundreds of photos and videos taken at even a modest party.

It's a sobering thought that something you write today as a youth could be used against you in years to come. Certainly in the USA there is a track record of digging up something from the past on a candidate's rival as part of negative campaigning. So a warning to American teenagers (and all others for that matter) - if you want to stand for election in 2040, make sure that you delete the flag burning and pot smoking photos right now. Somebody might be watching you!

Fail Funnies – Epic Failures And Unbelievable Stupidness

For a good laugh - check out Fail Funnies. I came across this site while Googling for images with the search word "fail". The site contains a lot of stupid stuff, but there are also plenty of funny photos and videos that will at least make you giggle - here's one of my early favourites:

There is of course only one thing funnier than laughing at yourself, and that is laughing at other people making fools of themselves. Much humour is very juvenile, sex and toilet jokes always get a laugh. We know it is silly, but laugh none-the-less. Fail Funnies is as silly a web site that you can get, but I will be checking back for more laughs. They also allow you to copy and paste their Funnies into your own blog (as I've done above).

A message to the guys at Fail Funnies - keep it up!

Follow up to "The System made a mistake" post

Last week I posted about my daughter Kate's effort to get her new iPhone 4 connected, when I ended up apologizing to a Shop Assistant for inferring that he had made a mistake, when I told him that "Computers don't make mistakes, people do - rubbish in, rubbish out". This was in response to his comment that the reason her phone could not be connected was that "The System made a mistake".

Well guess what? He did make a mistake! Kate's phone was finally connected last Wednesday (a week after buying it) by a savvy O2 Tech Support Rep who spotted in seconds that the SIM card and the SIM number that was entered into "The System" did not match. 

I take no pleasure in this (I try not to do smugness), but I do feel a little vindicated.

So the moral is: When some "expert" tells you that the "system made a mistake"? Challenge this, and do not accept he/she is always right and that you are an idiot.

Managing Change - Blackboard 8 to Blackboard 9

Laurence Technical University in Southfield Michigan, have come up with a novel way to promote a big change in their organization - an upgrade of their Blackboard system from version 8 to version 9. They are using a YouTube campaign to promote this change - the videos are based on the fantastic Old Spice ad campaign. They are funny, but also have a serious message to get people interested and excited about the change - watch...

...and...

Large upgrades to on-line systems in most institution are often met with resistance - we've all heard comments like "not again", "remember what happened the last time?", "why do we need to change - the old version works fine", and so on. Change must be managed no matter how big or small it is. Many Colleges, like NCI, go through major system upgrades during the summer - much unseen back-office stuff that often is not noticed by the end user. However - this summer we are switching from Lotus Notes to Outlook 2010, and from Office 2003 to Office 2010. I'm looking forward to these changes - I've been through a Notes to Outlook change before (in SmartForce/SkillSoft) and in general it was a smooth transition. It's a bit like getting a new postman! The change from Office 2003 to 2010 will be huge for most people - the difference between versions is a major one. Happily, we are practicing what we preach (Change Management is a module on a lot of our courses) - with tips, advice, instructions and much training being organized. We not using YouTube though - maybe next time.

I first read about the LTU videos above at Karl Kapp's Blog - Kapp Notes.

Academic Bankruptcy - a warning from the United States

I read (via @gsiemens) an article by Marc C. Taylor in the New York Times On-line, a warning on academic bankruptcy in the United States. Taylor writes...

Government support [for third level education] is being slashed, endowments and charitable giving are down, debts are piling up, expenses are rising and some schools are selling their product for two-thirds of what it costs to produce it. You don’t need an M.B.A. to know this situation is unsustainable.

There are clear warnings here for the US, and anyone from Ireland reading this will be familiar with the points that Taylor makes. The Leaving Certificate results are out today - most of the students who have got their results will be waiting nervously to see if they have done well enough to go on to College. More want to go to College than ever - yet there is less money to pay for their education. Our Colleges (including NCI) are working with lower budgets, and are expected to provide more education with less resources. Now we all have to do "our bit" in Recession, and there is certainly room for cost savings to be made across the third level sector in Ireland. Taylor makes the points (that are certain to become topics for discussion here in Ireland), that Colleges are now competing (sometimes aggressively) against one another for a shrinking pool of revenue, that there is a lot of duplication of course offerings (In today’s world, it no longer makes sense for every school to cover every subject), and that students (and no doubt their parent's) debt is exploding. Taylor states that Universities [and Colleges] should be looking for new ways to provide high-quality education to more students at a lower price, but other that proposing partnerships, does not explore in depth how they should do this.

The future is dark, but it is up to us all - academics, students, parents, and government, to make it bright. How to do this? - I don't know. We (Ireland) don't have enough money to do "everything", and I think we are gradually been weaned off the idea that we can continue to provide top class education (plus health service and social welfare) without making cuts - You don’t need an M.B.A. to know this situation is unsustainable.

The iClassroom - Book Chapter

Today, a copy of Critical Design and Effective Tools for E-Learning in Higher Education: Theory into Practice, edited by Dr Roisin Donnelly, Dr Jen Harvey, and Dr Kevin O'Rourke of the Dublin Institute of Technology (published by IGI Global), arrived in the post. I excitedly opened the book to look up the table of contents to see my own chapter iClassroom – Opportunities for Touch Screen Hand-held Technologies in Learning and Teaching. It is the first time I have had a chapter in a book - mine is one of 21 chapters and is in Section 2 which is about Effective Tools: Web 2.0 and beyond.

Other chapters cover a variety of subjects from Learning Design, to Virtual Worlds, Wikis, Games, ePortfolios, Web 2.0, Pedagogy 2.0, and Screencasting. Many familiar faces, whom I am glad to call friends as well as colleagues, feature in the book with chapters on the above subjects. It's almost a "Usual Suspects" roll of honour of Learning Technologists in Irish Academia - I will have great fun reading the chapters over the next few weeks. I have also got the book added to some module reading lists in the College.

My chapter is on what I called the "iClasssroom", and is about iPhones, iPods, and iTouchs in the classroom. This is not my term - Google it and you'll see that others beat me to it, though as I write this - a link to my chapter is the 10th item on the Google search. It is also an example of how quickly the literature can get out of date in today's classroom technology. Arguably the iPad will have a greater impact - it is not mentioned at all in my chapter as I did the final document submission in December 2009 when it was no more than a rumour of things to come.

The chapter can be purchased on its own for $30.00 - I don't get any of this. But I did get a free personal copy of the book worth $180.00 which was nice (that's it in the photo above). 

Roma jumps for Niall Mellon Trust

Yesterday - my wife Roma jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet to raise money for the Niall Mellon Trust! Roma is planning to go to South Africa in November with the Trust to help built some houses in the townships, and is raising money for this very worthy cause.

The jump took place at the Irish Parachute Club in Clonbullogue (about 5 miles south of Edenderry in Co Offaly). Yesterday was a very clear and warm day - probably the best day of the summer. Perfect conditions for the parachutists, and for us viewing from the safe position of having our feet firmly planted on the ground. Roma's companion in both fund-raising and making the jump was Gary Walker of Clonmel Healthcare who is very kindly contributing any funds he raises to Roma and the NM Trust (and he is a very good fund-raiser!).

We were kept waiting for about an hour - Roma and Gary's group were about the fourth to take off. This was good in the sense that they could see other parachutists doing the same jump that they were about to do, and landing safely. I had my camera and got just a few photos (it was difficult trying to focus on tiny dots in the sky - I got some nice ones of the wrong person). The first photo above was very close to landing - hence Roma's (elegant) preparation for landing with her feet up! From take-off to landing was almost exactly 20 minutes - the second photo above was of a jubilant Roma with John to whom she was harnessed to for the jump. Gary is in the background - equally jubilant after his jump. Both Roma and Gary were very much on an adrenalin high!

Afterwords they relived every second over a well earned beer and sandwich in the Athgarvan Inn near The Curragh. Next fund-raising event for Roma is a more sedate Coffee Morning - if any of my readers would like to contribute to her fund (all small, medium, or even large donations welcome), she can be contacted at Monkstown Pharmacy (01-2805693), or via email: "monkstownpharmacy att gmail fullstop com" (you can figure it out).

Way to go Roma!

"The System made a mistake..."

Don't you just hate it when someone blames a computer system for an error? I was in a phone shop in Blackrock today with my daughter Kate. Yesterday she purchased an iPhone 4 - moving from a pre-pay iPhone 3G to bill-pay. As usual, the guy in the shop told her it could take a couple of hours for the new SIM card to be activated - in the mean time her old SIM was deactivated. Easy change-over? No.

30 hours later, and several phone calls to both O2 and Apple, the new iPhone 4 is still not connected. Tech Support in O2 told her they would work on a fix to connect the phone, but that it could be next Wednesday before they would have a fix. Imagine the terror of a 19-year old facing the weekend without a phone?

I was having none of this, so both Kate and I went down to the shop (I wanted beer in Superquinn anyway) to see what could be done, or at the very least get her old phone re-connected. 

There's not much that a guy working on his own in a phone shop can do - to be fair he tried and looked up his system to check on the status of the connection ("in progress"). He then informed me in a very knowledgeable voice that the "system" had "made a mistake" - something to do with a "port". What a load of garbage, I was having none of this!

At this point I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and the Lecturer in Computing in me came out when I spouted (which I regret now) - "Computers don't make mistakes, people do - rubbish in, rubbish out". He immediately defended himself by assuring me that he had not made any mistakes and that he had entered everything correctly. I of course apologized that my comment was not directed at him. To his credit he gave Kate a free SIM to put in her old phone with a new number (it was not possible to reconnect her old SIM - the "system" doesn't allow this!).

Blaming a computer system is a convenient excuse for everything that goes wrong, and it is over-used. Most people don't know how they work (and I don't know much either I admit) - so it is easy to use as an excuse because most people will accept it unconditionally. We're supposed to just accept this and go away. There is obviously an error, bug, or no procedure in the software for connecting an iPhone 4 in a certain situation - it doesn't work because it is not programmed correctly. Programmers are people.

Back-to-School Gadget Guide

There was a time when "Back-to-School" simply meant perhaps getting a new set of pencils, a ruler, some copybooks, and of course a trip to the book shop with a list of books for the new year. For primary school in the 60's my Mum would almost always get us new shoes (brown and plain which we hated), some new clothes (plus older ones patched up), and a hair cut. Secondary school in the 70's needed a bit more planning as I was sent to a boarding school - each year we were loaded down with new pens, maths sets, plenty of copybooks, and enough "tuck" to last several weeks. For College in the 80's I needed little more that a pen, a notebook, a calculator - all I ever wore were jeans, sneakers, t-shirts, and a green combat jacket. 

Apart from a calculator, I did not need (or get) any gadgets - it was only during my postgraduate studies in 1986 and 1987 that I first used a computer (DEC 20 Mainframe, and later a Mac Classic). Things are different nowadays!

ABC News reports today about what gadgets modern students are recommended to get in a "Back-to-School" Gadget Guide (there's a 30 second ad first):

Today's students are nobodies without a printer, iPad, a Barnes & Noble "nook" (an eReader), a smartphone (a Samsung Galaxy in video), a "Zohm" (unsure of spelling) key fob to track your iPhone, a Microsoft Arc wireless keyboard, and lots of accessories to personalize your gadgets. Apart from a printer (recommended for school dormitories), all of the above will fit into a small school bag. It also seems to me that an iPad will do almost everything that the other gadgets mentioned in the report will do. Interestingly, the presenter also notes that many schools in the US now allow students to rent digital books rather than buying paper versions.

Only a couple of weeks ago my Dad showed me his old school in Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow which he attended in the late1930's. Definitely no gadgets then! He told me that many of his schoolmates did not wear shoes and he recalls taking off his own shoes just to be like the other boys. In 70 years we have gone from going to school in bare feet, to having an accessorized iPad. What gadgets will the students of 2080 be using for school? And what will they think of the gadgets that were used in 2010?

Credit where it is due - hurray for Philips!

We all love it when something we buy lasts a long time, or way longer than expected. My Mum and Dad had a Bosch fridge in their kitchen for almost 40 years - they bought it around 1960. It seems to me that electronic gadgets today are designed deliberately to last only a few years before they need to be replaced. Many now have chips that need updating and that eventually will no longer be supported by the manufacturers. You can be sure that a 1960 Bosch fridge did not have a micro-chip.

Yesterday my beard trimmer, purchased around 1995, finally packed it in. It still works, but a broken screw casing means that the blades could not work properly - so sadly, my Philips Trimmer Type HP 2525/A (so old that Google can't find it!) will soon be on its way to the small electronic section in Ballyogan Recycling Facility. After 15 years this gadget owes me nothing - I can safely say it is the oldest gadget in my house. Why can't everything last this long? We have been through several microwaves, TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, fridges (we should have bought a Bosch), and loads of other gadgets that often only last a short time - since 1995. Why can't manufacturers put on the label how long they expect a gadget to last - eg "Average lifespan of this device is XX years". What are they afraid of? 

For the record, I went straight to Arnotts at lunch today and only had one brand on my mind - I purchased a Philips QG3040 4 in 1 Grooming Kit with which I hope to keep my beard neat and tidy every week for the next 15 years. Wouldn't it be a good advertisement for their gadgets if they could show how long they last? You never see this.

Back to work (and blogging)

After a six week break (God it is great being a Lecturer), I went back to work today. A long break is great as there is almost always no hangover from when I was last in the office - I feel completely refreshed, though not quite delighted to be back at work.

Since I have been on holiday I cut back on blogging. Last year I had my laptop with me at all times (as I was writing my book) - this year I just had the iPhone, and decided to take a (almost complete) break from blogging. This year I have been averaging almost 20 posts/month, but in July there were just six - I'm back and ready for more posts.

I had thought that I would blog more about what I was doing during my holiday - but that would be boring (thanks for the tip Brian). However, I cannot let the occasion pass without a photo from the hundreds that I and my family took during the summer. The photo to the right was taken by my daughter Vicki in Chania, which is the largest town in western Crete. For me, the moment that I feel that I am on holiday always occurs when I have a beer in the middle of the day - something I almost never do. On this day we went to Chania and visited the many cute shops, and had lunch in the harbour where I had a delicious plate of deep fried squids right after this beer. Bliss!

I'm back to work now and wonder what the academic year ahead will bring. It is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National College of Ireland, so there should be some cool events to look forward to. Just before the summer break I was elected by my academic colleagues to the Governing Body of the College - a role I am honoured and very much look forward to taking on for the next three years.

I also hit Twitter today, and decided to add about 10 Twitterers (is that a word?) to my list of people that I am following. I am still undecided about Twitter - it does take from working time, but there is also some useful and informative stuff available. Having said that, as of today I am now following Barack Obama, David McWilliams, my daughter Claire, Matt Cooper, and Stephen Fry - all who have absolutely nothing to do with my job. 

It's good to be back on Blogger!

Book review: The Pacific (by Hugh Ambrose)

I have just completed reading Hugh Ambrose’s new book The Pacific, based on the lives of five men and their experiences in the Second World War fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. The Pacific is also an HBO 10-part miniseries which I watched on Sky before the summer. On TV this was a Saving Private Ryan type of experience with a lot of action and graphic detail of death and destruction during the fighting. The TV programme is based on the lives of marines Eugene Sledge, Robert Leckie, and John Basilone. The book is slightly different in that while it features Sledge and Basilone – it almost totally omits Leckie (for which Ambrose both justifies and apologises for), but also concentrates on Austin Shofner, Vernon Micheel, and Sidney Phillips. This works quite well in that Ambrose states that it was not just the Marines who won the war in the Pacific, but other parts of the US armed forces as well.

Ambrose’s accounts of Sledge and Basilone in the war are very similar to the way they were portrayed in the TV programme – these were two extraordinary men, and Ambrose paints a picture of bravery and devotion to duty that is both horrible and astonishing. Their experiences were horrific, Basilone (awarded the Medal of Honour) dies on Iwo Jima, but Sledge survives, having participated in some of the most vicious fighting of the war. It’s hard to imagine that Japan and the USA fought such savage battles only a generation ago.

While Sidney Phillips is a minor character in the TV programme, he features more in the book. Phillips, Micheel, and Shofner are perhaps more interesting to read about as their story is not covered on TV. All five men are fascinating and brave characters – they are almost hero worshipped by Ambrose who is clearly in awe of the marines and their fight in the Pacific. There is no sympathy for the “japs”, who were in a different way just as brave as the marines.

The book has a “thrown together” feel – it is very “bitty” and jumps around between the different characters far too much. I would have preferred a longer run for each character (as in the TV series), rather than the constant switching back and forth. One thing is clear though – this is an incredibly well researched book. For a book of a modest 449 pages of script, there is an astonishing 1,072 references. There are also quite a number of footnotes, many not needed in my view, and also some annoying repetitions throughout. Apart from these minor aberrations, the book is a worthwhile read. If you have not seen the TV series, make sure you do so as it will give an even better idea of what the men of The Pacific endured.

Book Review – John Lennon: The Life

John Lennon was a hero to many people, as he still is to me. Ever since I started to listen to him belting out “Twist and Shout” on an old Beatlemania 45rpm vinyl record on our mono record player at home in Ballingate, I have been a huge fan of the Beatles and Lennon. I remember exactly where I was when I heard he had been shot – I was taking part in a Trinity College marine biology trip to Ballyvaughan, Co Clare. I was standing at a fireplace in a cottage waiting for breakfast when our bus driver Vinny, (who was first up ‘cos he wasn’t drinking the night before!) told me the news. For others, the deaths of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Diana Spencer mark moments of shock in their lives - Lennon's senseless killing was the one for me.

Philip Norman has written a fantastic account of John Lennon’s life. He paints a picture of a man who led an extraordinary life from the violence of the Blitz during which he was born – to the violence of his death. Lennon was no saint or scholar when he was growing up, and there is lots of detail about his school days, his family problems, and the early music beginnings. I was interested to see that he was not good at school, failing his O-level exams. How could this be for such a musical genius? It seems that while he was very intelligent, he had no interest in learning and rejoiced in rebelling against “the system”. Only his Aunt Mimi seems to have any control over him. I wasn’t as familiar with his first 20 years as I was with his last 20 years – Norman’s book provides a superb background to the formation of Lennon as a musician. It is very well researched and written in a very easy to read style.

There are many explanations about the background to some of his songs. As a Beatles fan I knew a lot of this already, but there was plenty of new stuff for me. His many love affairs and promiscuity are also detailed – he certainly got laid a lot! The book ends with his death and there is virtually no comment on his legacy. There is (for me) a pointless section at the end of the book where Norman talks to Lennon‘s second son Sean. This adds nothing to the book as Sean was just a child when Lennon died and had very few memories – the interview simply repeats Norman’s description of John’s time looking after Sean in the Dakota apartment.

At the time of his death I recall reading an obituary in the Trinity News. The last line is still imprinted on my brain and expresses my thoughts about his death: Fuck you Mark Chapman, fuck you.

Fr. Murphy Centre, Boolavogue

Today, Roma and I visited the Fr. Murphy Centre in Boolavogue, Co. Wexford. Fr. Murphy was a rebel priest during the 1798 rebellion who met his fate at the end of a rope in Tullow after the rebellion was over. The Boolavogue Centre really has very little about Fr. Murphy who was a lodger in a farm that was located on the same site. Much restoration of old buildings is done - this work is very good and gives an idea of what life must have been like 200 years ago. The tour of Fr Murhy's does not take long, but it is complemented by a display of old farm machinery from the 19th century.

Overall, the Centre is worth visiting, though don't expect too much on Fr. Murphy. An excellent account (Fr. John Murphy of Boolavogue 1753-1798) of Fr. Murphy's life is written by Nicky Furlong which I read many years ago.

-- Posted From My iPhone

Platanias, Greece

Crete was a new destination for me - after much research, we decided to rent a villa in Platanias on the western side of Crete. Our villa was one of two Rock Houses, and was very modern and comfortable. I was a bit worried that it was very close to the Rock House pub (which only opens at 10 o'clock in the evening), but there was no noise from the pub. The Rock Houses are an excellent place to stay - very central to all amenities in Platanias. All that was missing was a view - it is surrounded by high fencing to give privacy from apartment blocks close by. The photo to the right shows a view from old Platanias towards the small harbour - the white arrows points to our villa. Rock Houses - recommended!

Platanias is a busy town, with lots of restaurants and shops. Most of the holiday makers seemed to be from Scandinavia. We met no Irish people, and only one British couple. Even the TVs in the bars were broadcasting Norwegian football matches! Best pizza ever is in La Gondola restaurant - don't miss it if you are ever in Platanias.

The beach was very close by, but I preferred the pool at the villa - mostly because of the very gravelly and hot sand at the beach. We had a car, which was not really necessary - but we did go for lunch to Kissamos (twice), and also had a trip to Chania for the day. Lots of places to eat and drink - so much choice, but only a week to sample it. Apart from the mad feckers on motorbikes on the main street - Platanias is a safe and ideal place to go for a holiday if you don't want lager louts and noise, but is not too quiet either. I really enjoyed it here and would certainly go back again.

Athens

Our (Roma, Vicki, her friend Aoife, and me) holiday abroad this summer was a three part trip to Greece - the first stage was three days and nights in Athens. We stayed in the Classical Baby Grand art hotel on Athinas Street - a cool hotel that I'd recommend. It has a champagne bar, but we did not go there. Athens is a really lively place - while not cheap, we did eat out a lot. It's somehow part of holidays for us Irish folks to be having dinner in a street restaurant knowing there is no risk of rain. One annoying thing is the constant pressure from waiters at every restaurant trying to get us to come into their restaurant - it's important to keep a good sense of humour and remain polite. We were also constantly bombarded by street sellers peddling anything from pirate DVDs, to watches and bags.

The highlight of Athens for me was the Acropolis (see some iPhone videos in previous post). It's a long trek up in hot weather, but worth every bit of effort. There is a fantastic view of Athens, but all you can do is look in amazement at huge Doric columns built over 2,000 years ago. A pity is is in ruins (mostly due to an munitions explosion during a was in 1687), though there is some super restoration work still going on. There is a massive crane still in the centre of the Parthenon, and the evidence of shiny new marble is present in a lot of places around the building - no doubt these will age in time and look less like the patch-work it is today. An unmissable historic attraction - I hope I can see it again some time, I'll be back.

The rest of Athens was a combination of more sight-seeing, shopping, and the World Cup. I particularly enjoyed the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is an elaborate, almost ridiculous, but nevertheless a very serious ceremony. There was quite a bit of giggling (mostly from Vicki and Aoife), but most people respected the ceremony. The unfortunate guards were clearly very hot, with sweat visible on their tunics - I was astonished to see that they were not even allowed to wipe their own brows, a supervising soldier did this for them.

The quarter-finals of the World Cup were also taking place - I managed to catch most of all the four games, with Germany looking like world beaters after thumping Argentina 4-0. Again, it was a nice feeling to be watching football at the side of the street sipping beer. I did miss Giles and Dunphy, and Après Match at half-time - the TV station (NET) that was on in most of the bars showed continuous ads during half-time. 

Parthenon

On our short stay in Athens we just had to go and see The Acropolis and all its ruins. This is a fantastic site and even though it was quite early in the morning it was very busy. I had been here before in 2005 and had stood in awe at how buildings such as The Parthenon could have been built thousands of years ago without cranes, bulldozers, and bank loans. Once again I stood transfixed by the might of the Ancient Greeks. I got out my iPhone and shot two short videos - in this first, we are on top of the Acropolis...

For my second video, I was on top of a nearly hill which looked up at the Acropolis. According to an information sign I was in the posh part of the old city that occupied this site (the Greek word "Acropolis" stands for "city on the edge"). This also gives a great view of the centre of Athens...

Athens is a bustling, hot and dusty city - it is also very noisy with a lot of mopeds and motorbikes about. I really liked it. We were there for three nights staying in the Classical Baby Grand art hotel on Athinas Street. This is a comfortable hotel, though we did get a standard room for Vicki and Aoife, and a Deluxe room for Roma and myself. Unfortunately we couldn't tell the difference between the two and only saw on our bill that Roma and I were in the standard room while the girls got the "luxury" room! It's not worth the extra cost to get a "deluxe" room.

BBC News - Two million more Britons come online in last 12 months

The BBC reports that nearly two million more Britons have come online during the last year, over half of which are over 50, according to new research by the UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM). It's usually OK to assume that Ireland is not that different than the UK, and that these figures are comparable with what is happening here. The BBC also reports that the majority of internet newbies were made up of over-50s, with more men than women joining up, and that Internet services are increasingly targeting the older generation.

The report also states that the older generation are attracted to a range of sites, including travel, genealogy, fashion, video and community sites. Interestingly, I have never heard of any of the 10 most popular Internet sites for the over 50's listed in the report (I wonder what the top ten Irish sites are for over 50'?):

• RealAge
• Flixxy
• Saga
• WA Shearings
• Fifty Plus
• FamilySearch
• Hand Picked Hotels
• Lurpak
• JacquieLawson
• Cruise.co.uk

It's no surprise to me that the over 50's are the fastest growing group who are accessing the Internet. This is why initiatives such as Age Action's Getting Started with Computers are so important to encourage more of our older people to get on-line. The chart below shows the breakdown for Internet audience this year - surprisingly the figures for male over 65's is much higher than for females of the same age (while the breakdown is much more even in other age groups).

More from 1958 An Fiolar

The 1958 edition of An Fiolar is an interesting book about Cistercian College Roscrea (CCR). The copy I have (temporarily) belongs to my Dad and is missing the front cover and perhaps a few pages at the beginning. Many features and articles are in Irish, which I am sorry to confess, I can barely read and understand. Also, the Irish is printed in a Gaelic style font which makes it harder to read. 

There are some mentions of my family in the book: my Dad Joe, and my three grand-uncles (my grandmother Kathleen's brothers) - Tim, Charles (Charlie), and Patrick (Pat) Hurley. I remember Charlie and Pat very well, but I'm certain that I never met Tim who lived in Cardiff, Wales. 

Uncle Charlie was a priest - everyone in the family called him "The Mons" (Monsignor). I recall a photo of him meeting with Pope Paul VI on the mantle piece of my grandmother's house in Kimmage - it was the centre piece. I know he was Parish Priest in Ballybrack, South Co. Dublin (where he married my Mum and Dad in 1958), and that he ended his days as a priest in Harrington Street, just off the South Circular Road. Indeed, after he died, my late uncle Charlie and I went to his house and cleaned it out of some of the finest furniture before the Archbishop could get his hands on it. He died on 16th January 1985, and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery (though I remember his funeral very well, I have not been able to find his grave since). The picture to the left is a photo taken from An Fiolar (p232) - in the book, the "Very Rev. Dr. Charles Hurley" (CCR 1908-'12) is described as P.P. Ballybrack, Co. Dublin, entered Clonliffe in 1913 and went to the Irish College, Rome, in 1917. He took his D.D. and was ordained on 28 February 1920. On returning from Rome he was appointed to Carlow the same year.

Later in the book, my grand-uncle Tim Hurley is also featured (p269). The citation in the book states: Timothy J. Hurley (1910-'14) is a medical practitioner in Cardiff, Wale, since 1924. In 1931 he married Rosa Patricia Keane of Co. Galway. He likes plenty of exercise with golf club, walking stick or spade.

On page 284 the citation for my Dad (no photo) states: Joseph O'Loughlin (1944-'48) is a farmer in Carnew, Co. Wicklow. He is county secretary of Macra na Feirme and devotes most of his free time to a noble cause - the promotion of rural organizations.

Finally, the only mention of my grand uncle Pat, is in the list of Alumni (p440) - 1916-'18 - Hurley, Patrick, Newmarket, Co. Cork. 

Fr. Alberic Murphy O.Cist.

Fr. Alberic (James) Murphy was a Cistercian monk in the Mount St Joseph Abbey in Roscrea, Co Tipperary. I believe he is one of the Murphy's of Lisrobin (West Cork) and is most likely an uncle of my grandmother Kathleen Hurley (whose mother Bridget was a Murphy). Three of my Hurley grand-uncles (Charlie, Tim, and Pat) went to Cistercian College Roscrea (CCR) - more about Charlie and Tim Hurley in a later post. 

My Dad tells me that Jim Murphy was involved in the building of some of the Abbey in the late 1880's, and liked it so much that he joined the Monastery. He later studied in Rome and became a priest. I'm not sure what age he was when he joined the Monastery, but there is some evidence that he was 27 in 1901. The 1901 census returns for the Community in Mount St Joseph shows a 27 year old James Murphy from Co. Cork as a "Member of the Community". Ten years later the 1911 census shows as 36 year old James Murphy as a "Clergyman - Professor" at the top of the list of names in the returns (which also show my grand uncles Tim and Charlie as students of the College).

According to a special edition of the Cistercian College Roscrea An Fiolar, published in 1958, it was in 1905 when the abbot of the Monastery asked the then Brother Alberic to be the first Bursar and Dean of the College. The picture above is a scan from the book (p146). Another book marking the Centenary of the College Céad Blian Faoi Rath published in 2005 mentions Fr Alberic as having never preached or heard confession.

I remember seeing his simply marked grave in the cemetery beside the Abbey while I was in school in CCR - my jaded memory thinks the cross on his grave states that he died in the 1940's. As the first Bursar and Dean of the College I'm sure he would have had many stories to tell about the founding of the College - I'm certain that he would have been a very interesting person to have met.

Sandymount Strand Revisited

While out for a walk this morning I decided to go out across Sandymount strand as far as I could, as the tide was out. While out in the middle of the strand, I was reminded of the last time I was this far out - 21st April, 1986. It was a peaceful place with nobody around - I had it almost to myself. I decided to whip out my iPhone and record my thoughts about returning to the scene of my closest brush with death so far. I published the video to YouTube while still on the strand. The newspaper clipping is copied from one of my early posts on this blog.

First time I have been mistaken for an old person!

Yesterday was the last day for the Age Action Getting Started with Computers programme in Ballybough Community Centre. I was a tutor on this programme for the last four (of six) weeks - I finished up a similar course in Rathmines last week. Getting Started is a training programme for older people to encourage and help them to use computers and the internet. Classes are run by volunteer tutors with small groups of learners, in local, non formal learning settings. It has been a very enjoyable experience for me, despite the fact that six two-hour classes is very little time to teach more than the basics of using a computer.

Nevertheless, my students were able to surf the web, and send & receive emails by the end of the course. They loved trying out booking flights, buying books, checking out eBay, as well as looking at the 1901/1911 census, and newspapers. All overcame a certain fear of using computers and are keen to continue - some have even bought computers, or have easy access to a family computer.

As part of yesterday's class, we were visited by a group of students from the Discover University programme being run by the National College of Ireland. They were taking part in a problem-based learning project - their problem was to figure out a way to get more young people to volunteer for programmes such as AgeAction's Getting Started course. They had camera and videos and also interviewed some of the older students - they also interviewed the tutors, me too! Everybody on the course enjoyed the visit by the students.

I got a good laugh when one of the Discover University students (I'd say he was about 16 years old) approached me for an interview. He had just finished interviewing Ronnie who I was tutoring. I assumed he wanted to interview a tutor - imagine my surprise when he started asking questions such as "How did I find out about the course and why I wanted to learn about computers". He thought I was one of the Getting Started students! As I am probably 35 years older than him, it must have appeared to him that I am an old man.

Now where did I put the Grecian 2000?

CAO surge as adults seek place in college

John Walshe (Education Editor of The Irish Independent) writes in today's paper about an increase in the number of over 23's seeking places in third-level. He reports that a record 14,606 mature applicants have sought places through the CAO out of a total of 77,126 applications to date. Walshe also reports that this increase in places comes at a time when the colleges are under severe financial pressures and have to reduce their staff numbers by 6pc over a two-year period. (In a side comment he expects this reduction in staff to be complete by the end of December). The article cites Dundalk IT as a popular place for mature students.

In the National College of Ireland we had great success in attracting mature learners returning to full-time education this past year - we had a significant increase in the numbers on computing courses. While many students have done well in their first year, some others have had a tough time re-adjusting to full-time education. Starting studies all over again sounds easy, but it's not. However, with our excellent learning support staff - the vast majority will pull though to go into their second year.

Mature students add a lot to a class. In semester II of the academic year just finished, I had a first year class that had a mix of students in the late teens and early twenties - to one guy who is older than me. The mature students are very good at attending classes, and paying attention. I find it a pleasure to have them in my class. I often think that it would be good for school leavers to work for a few years before going to College - I feel that they would get more out of it compared to going straight into College from school.

Business School swaps Google Apps for Microsoft Live@edu

Computer World reports today that a French Business School is swapping Google Apps for Microsoft Live@edu - this is another step in the direction of Cloud Computing in education. Live@edu offers hosted e-mail service, which includes calendar and contact management, instant messaging, video conferencing and 10GB of storage space. Staff and students will also use Microsoft Office 2010 and have access to Sharepoint Online. Interestingly, the applications will run in Microsoft's European data centers - and not in the School itself.

I think that this is something that we in Education are going to see more of.

I have not followed the debate about Cloud Computing very closely. However, I do know that many organizations have reservations about security of data in the Cloud. The Gartner Group recently reported that there are seven security risks associated with Cloud Computing:

1. Privileged user access
2. Regulatory compliance
3. Data location
4. Data segregation
5. Recovery
6. Investigative support
7. Long-term viability

Consider item #3 - when you use the Cloud, you probably won't know exactly where your data is hosted. In fact, you might not even know what country it will be stored in. Gartner recommends that you should raise these issues with vendors before selecting a cloud vendor.

Road Trip to Cork

I traveled to Cork yesterday afternoon to attend the NCI Open Evening in the Imperial Hotel on the South Mall. We did not have a successful evening as very few people turned up to inquire about our courses - I was very disappointed at travelling so far for so little.

However, I did get to ride my Harley-Davidson down the Motorway that is now completed from Dublin all the way to Cork. It was a super afternoon, and I took just two hours and five minutes to complete the trip, slowing down only at the two Tolls, and for the last few miles to conserve petrol as I had to switch to the reserve tank at Watergrasshill near Cork City. Indeed - the lack of a Service Station on this route makes for a tight trip - the 160 miles it as the limit of the capacity of my petrol tank - especially if riding hard. I averaged 75mph on the way down (excluding the toll stops), so decided to be a bit slower coming back (70mph) - which made for less petrol being used.

The road was surprising quiet for mid-afternoon - I expected it to be quiet on the way home (I left Cork at 8.00pm). I couldn't help thinking that this was an awful lot of road for so little traffic. I had the road to myself on a lot of occasions. Was a Motorway all the way to Cork really needed? A dual-carriageway would have been just as effective - and a lot cheaper. Anyway - it is there now, so I won't recommend that it be dug up - long may it continue to link Dublin and Cork.

1901 and 1911 Census

The digitization of the 1901 and 1911 census return forms by the National Archives has generated much interest in in people's families and ancestors. I have had good fun looking in to my own family history, and I know some of my wider family read this blog, so I thought I'd summarize what I have found so far.

I have found three of my four grandparents - my Mum's mother Kathleen Cullen has eluded me so far, but I will find her if she was recorded on census night. The three that I have found are the O'Loughlin's and Hurley's on my Dad's side, and the Burns (Byrne's) on my Mum's side.

O'Loughlin

My grandfather PJ O'Loughlin was born in 1904 so he features only on the 1911 census. He is listed as "Pattie Loughlin" here with his father, "Joseph Loughlin",, his aunt "Mary Loughlin", and a servant "Eugene Loughlin". They lived in Barnacurra near Newmarket in West Cork. According to my Dad the "O" was lost at a Christening when someone got so drunk that the name O'Loughlin was entered incorrectly on the birth certificate! My great grandfather "Joseph Loughlin" is also listed on the 1901 census here - he lived in Tooreenclassagh (also near Newmarket), and is listed on his own.

Hurley

The Hurley family were easy enough to find. My grandmother Kathleen Hurley features in the 1911 census here, as living in Church Street, Newmarket. For the 1901 census, she was not yet born, but her family are listed here. It's not clear that they were living in the same house - the 1901 record shows "Residents of a house 74 in Newmarket (Newmarket, Cork)", while the 1911 record shows "Residents of a house 2 in Church Street (Newmarket, Cork)".

Burns (Byrne)

I finally tracked the "Burns" family down in the 1911 census. My Mum's maiden name is Byrne - all her family use this spelling of their name. However, just last weekend she told me a story about her Dad (Patrick) having difficulty getting a passport in 1956 when he was emigrating to Canada. There was no trace of a "Byrne" birth certificate, but it was found under the name "Burns" instead. Having had no luck looking for my Mum's family under the name "Byrne", I quickly tried the "Burns" spelling and found her father here (see also graphic to the right) in the 1911 census straight-away. Patrick (Paddy) Burns is listed as a 5-year old - the only other member of this family that I remember is Uncle Jimmy who is listed as a 1-year old. The family are recorded as living in "Ballyquirk (Lorrha West, Tipperary)". Both my great-grandparents, James and Margaret, are listed as "Cannot read".

The availability of these census records is fascinating. In one of my recent AgeAction Getting Started classes for over 55's, where most of my students are in their 60's and 70's - all were amazed at finding relatives and neighbours on streets where they grew up. It's hard to justify the cost of completing this project in times when there are spending cutbacks on schools and hospitals - but I consider it money well spent. The National Archives is experiencing a huge amount of traffic to their resource - long may it continue.

Book Launch: Critical Design and Effective Tools for E-Learning in Higher Education: Theory into Practice

Today I attended the launch of the book Critical Design and Effective Tools for E-Learning in Higher Education: Theory into Practice. It is edited by Roisin Donnelly, Jen Harvey, and Kevin O'Rourke of the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), and is published by IGI Global. The book is a collection of stories that provide those who work in higher education a source of both information and inspiration. The stories are told by some 40 professionals from all across the English-speaking world, detailing their theoretical and practical perspectives on the impact technology has had and will have on the learning experiences of higher education graduates (from IGI Global Description page).

The book features 21 chapters, and I have written chapter 9. My chapter is entitled iClassroom – Opportunities for Touch Screen Hand-held Technologies in Learning and Teaching. The chapter is mostly about the use of iPods, iTouchs, and iPhones in education. The Abstract of the chapter is as follows:

Hand-held technologies such as Apple’s iPod/iTouch/iPhone devices are now capable of being used for educational purposes as well as for entertainment. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the issues, content authoring, usage, workload, and pedagogical consequences of creating an iClassroom for mobile learning based on these devices. Use of podcasts and vodcasts by students, and their rate of success are varied as shown by studies reviewed from the literature and carried out by the author for this chapter. Several strategies for reducing workload at an individual and institutional level are proposed for adoption by educators. Key recommendations from this chapter are an increased emphasis on evaluation, usage of models for developing content, and an inclusion of iPod/iTouch/iPhone devices as part of an overall architecture for m-Learning.

I was delighted that both my initial proposal and final draft were accepted, though the timing was unfortunate in that I had to write and edit this chapter while I was also writing my first book. I am also conscious that the chapter will date very quickly - for example, the iPad has been released since the chapter was completed.

The book launch, held in The Courtyard in DIT Aungier Street, was a bit odd in that printed copies of the book are not yet available. So instead, the eBook version was formally launched by Professor Brian Norton of DIT, who used a Sony eBook Reader to do the honours. It was a bit like "Hamlet without the Prince" in that the main part of the excitement of a book launch is getting your hands on a copy of the book.

The book's web page on the IGI Global site is still short on detail, and I still don't know what many of the other chapters are about. I'll post more detail at a later date when I actually get my hands on a copy of the book.

World Cup Memories - 2002, and 2006

Ireland made it to the 2002 World Cup finals, but there was only one show in town - Roy Keane and the Saipan incident. Nothing divided the country like this since the Civil War - you were either for or against Roy on this. Keane was sent home for this rant against manager Mick McCarthy:

“Mick, you're a liar... you're a fucking wanker. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person. You're a fucking wanker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your bollocks.”

Charming!

When the finals got underway we could concentrate on football, even though the Keane story dominated the media here. Our first game was against Cameroon - we were in Westport for my late mother-in-law, Mary Rose Bourke's 70th birthday party. Early the next morning Matt Holland's goal finally banished Keane to the inside pages. A late draw against Germany and an easy win over Saudi Arabia set us up for a Last 16 match with Spain which we lost on penalties. It was good while it lasted, but disappointing to go out like this.

Other memories include: lots of surprise results, Ronaldo's rediculous haircut, fantastic Korean support, golden goals, Senegal's surprise win over France, Beckham's penalty winner against Argentina, Turkey's impressive advance to the semi-finals, and watching the final in Dublin airport with the final whistle going as I was the last person to board the plane.

The most recent World Cup finals in Germany in 2006 showed a return to the old order with the traditional powers of football getting a return to form. All four semi-finalists were European (Germany, Italy, France, and Portugal), but there were few goals in the final stages. Penalty shoot-outs also featured strongly - with the Swiss, Argentines, England, and the French in the final losing out.

Things to remember the 2006 finals for: a man who slept in front of the TV in the hotel in Westport to get a good seat for the Ireland vs Cameroon match, crowds in parks watching on big screens, flamboyant football from the Germans!, Wayne Rooney sent off, Zindane's head butt on Materazzi in the final, new countries in the finals for the first time: (Ghana, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, Ivory Coast, and Angola), and superb defending from Italy captain Fabio Carnavarro. 

Ronnie Lee Gardner executed by firing squad in Utah - Telegraph

Up to a few minutes ago I had never heard of Ronnie Lee Gardner, but I noticed a lot of news items on Google news that his execution had just taken place. Gardner was convicted of the killing of a lawyer (ironically - this lawyer was against the death penalty) in a court house shoot-out. Not much doubt about his guilt, and there were no pleas for mercy on the grounds of wrongful conviction.

I suppose what makes me write about this (and ignore the many other executions that take place in the world) are three things:

1. The suddenness of getting this news on Google without even searching for it - it was even on Twitter (see this article in The Vancouver Sun)
2. Realizing that as I write this the guy has been dead less than an hour
3. The fact that he had been on Death Row for 25 years before being executed 

In the past I have been a supporter of the death penalty - I am not proud of this now. Western Europe has long since abandoned the death penalty and it has not been used in Ireland since 20th April 1954 (Michael Manning hanged for murder). The is no appetite for it here now. 

Point 3 above is the hardest one to understand - in Ireland, a life sentence for murder can mean serving as little as 15 years in jail (sometimes even less). Few serve as long as 25 years. In Utah, you get a life sentence and then they execute you. While this message is very clear and easy for even the dumbest criminal to understand, it clearly has made little impact on the crime and murder rate in Salt Lake City (where the execution above took place) which is rated as "safer than 2% of the cities in the US" by NeighborhoodScout.