daddy's gonna buy you a satellite
Thirteen satellite images of Belfast, giving 100% coverage. If Tristan is reading this he might be reminded of staring down a stereoscope at satellite images of Iraq, picking out interesting geological features. Then again, he may not. This here is Bangor and Holywood, Donaghadee is off to the right, hiding it's light(house) under a bushel. Or something. This area was the subject of my final year geology dissertation.
This is God's Own Country, C.S. Lewis said that heaven on earth would be to move Oxford and plant in the heart of County Down, what higher recommendation can there be?
In other news I think I've said enough to get banned from Slugger O'Toole, I hope Mick doesn't take it personally, I don't mean him any harm, he was right anyway, I don't like Northern Ireland politics, maybe I did take that out on him in the 'Is Slugger a Weblog' thing. Anyway, getting barred would be good for me, before I came to Slugger I was fairly apolitical, reading some of the stuff that get's posted in the comments can make a person their own brand of extreme, I don't want that.
«18 CommentsMarch 26, MMIV»
Reader Comments
About This
You've arrived at the homepage of Stephen Stewart. The archive is available here for those who want it. This site is happily hosted by Dreamhost. Click for more?
More!? OK then, but I can't help feeling that this will be a disappointment to you.
I work as a web designer in Belfast, and I live by the sea in a shoe. You can see me here, doing my livejournal pose as idoru called it. If you need to you can email me at carisenda -at- gmail -dot- com.
My hCard
Recent Comments
- Cybez on One's too many an' a hundred's not enough
- Nelly on One's too many an' a hundred's not enough
- adele on And the sky was made black with unescaped entities
- adele on And the sky was made black with unescaped entities
- sharon on Fifteens
- Nelly on Mother is it just a waste of time?
- Stephen on Mother is it just a waste of time?
links to other people's sites
Recommended Viewing
- 300
†
Does exactly what it says on the (comic book) tin. Loved it. - Little Miss Sunshine
†
Very funny, disturbing (the beauty pageant) and completely messed up -- but in a good way. - Laputa: Castle in the Sky†
Story great, characterization a little on the weak side -- though the big robots are cool. - Porco Rosso
†
Stylish, funny, exciting. - Grave of the Fireflies†
Very sad, which was a little unexpected since I didn't know much about it before watching it. Can be a little too slow in places though, otherwise it's very good. - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind†
The story can get a little dense at times what with the various factions, but still really enjoyable, inventive and engaging. - X-Men: The Last Stand
†
Opportunity, talent, money - all blown. Over 3 films X-Men has hinted of something great that could have been, this last one says "No, sorry - not going to happen". Bah.
I was just coming over here to find your email address to write you about the comments you left at Slugger and find out if a card was forthcoming. There are a lot of extreme views on slugger, but maybe with time, and patience, some people’s opinions will mellow. I’d like to think so anyways.
I’m no better, as I just proved.
although your outburst was directed at both sides rather than an us-vs-them thing. I’ve gotten myself embroiled in the flag threat too (since someone was trying to use the Quebec 1995 referendum as an analogy) but in a calmer way.
Maybe the first time I was playing on a level playing field, but the second comment was just an undressed response to the ubiquitous ‘all unionists are murderous rascists’ lie. Comments like that don’t deserve a calm response, they deserve what ever muck is in that gutter to be thrown right back at them. And no sensible forum should allow either thing to happen, so I expect the red card.
it really makes me wonder why I visit slugger every day…
I stopped reading Slugger awhile ago. Haven’t been back, but I checked out the thread you linked to. Your first comment seemed to be the only sensible reply on that post…the second one, well, I suppose it might get you a card, but plenty of people on there say far more hateful things than that and get away with it.
‘Ignorant people sleep in their beds like the doped white mice in the college lab’
this line has just finished on my stereo. Slugger is full of ignorant people. Shouting at one another. You are not one of them. You are as well-balanced and sensible and rational a person as anyone I know.
The tripe that got bandied in that thread was just trash. Old mindsets spueing hate. I will be the first to admit that there was bad treatment of Catholics/Nationalists during the 70s and a bit beyond, but things aren’t like that now. It is perpetuated by a minrotuy for their own end. There is poverty on both sides, lack of education on both sides, distrust on both sides.
Erg, I stop now, else I morph into a troll myself.
You know, I’ve been reading Slugger almost since Day One. Time was, I was one of the only people that ever commented there. While I’m glad that Mick’s audience has substantially grown and he’s received deserved recognition for his work, I used to long for the days when Slugger wasn’t filled with such festering bigotry and contempt.
Then I just stopped reading the comments. Clicking on them is like agreeing to go out on a blind date with someone you know to be nasty and ugly by reputation. You knew what you were in for and only have yourself to blame for any of the bad times that may follow.
I have to say, however, Stephen, that I felt a bright twinge of pride when you told that one fellow to “go @#$% himself”. That’s worth even the most eternal Red Card.
Ironically you can’t swear on this weblog, mt-blacklist shoots you down. But thanks everyone, you’re like little invisible good-advice-dispensing pixies. I bow to your pixiness. :)
I’ve said it before, but how big a difference would Slashcode make over there!
Slashcode would probably make it worse. You’d have modpoint wars, metamoding wars… Besides, have you seen /. recently? Shadow of its former self.
It would have those problems, aye, but in my opinion they’d stack favourably against threads running close to 1000 comments, and the obvious stone chuckers.
TypeKey in the next release of Movable Type might slow some people down intially, but eventually community moderation is the best compromise IMO - one or two people couldn’t possibly handle the unpaid work load of moderation, that’s for sure.
Stephen,
You won’t even be getting a yellow for that. It’s getting to the point where I might be forced to suspend the comments. I don’t have time to police that and try to write semi-intelligent things about NI.
I wish I could help with your addiction, but I can’t in all conscience bar you for speaking your mind. ;-)
Mick
PS, I used to walk that coast from Holywood to Bangor and back, just after half ten Mass on a Sunday. A 5 hours round trip!
It’s a nice walk or ride in my case. From my house to Holywood is about a 50 mile round trip, you’d hardly notice it though. It’s my favourite route, unfortunately cycling is actually banned along most of it, now there is an NI issue I could sink my teeth into, cycling access.
Typekey will be exciting, although I’m loathe to put it on my site because it’s just one more hassle for the non-technology minded commenters to overcome (like my mom).
Is cycling access a big problem? The issue here is about the level of risk involved, there’s some local doctors who want trails on the North Shore shut down because of the high incidence of major injury - so that’s been a big deal within the bike community here. Road access is really good though, lots of designated bike routes.
Effectively everywhere round here (except the roads obv) are covered by bylaws prohibiting cycling. It sucks.
that’s shitty, you guys seem to have better access for hikers so I’d figured you might have better (not worse) bike access too. The more people start riding though, the better access will get, it’s happened here.