What if Ireland would be more secular society.
Here is a quote from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, season 4, episode 16:
"No more ceremonies to attend.
No more blessings to give.No more prophecies to fulfill.I'm just a Starfleet officer again.All I have to worry about are The Klingons, The Dominion and The Maquis.I feel like I'm on vacation."
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Friday, October 14, 2016
Epitaph of Nobel
I'm trying to find reasons why the artist formerly known as Robert Zimmerman should not get the Nobel for Literature. Norwegians are already giving the peace price for anybody just for pretending to try.
Jean-Paul Sartre refused of the mentioned acknowledgment because he didn't want literature to become an institution. Later on he changed his mind but the Swedish academy of Sciences wanted to respect the artist's previous stronger performance and declined. And Bob still played a concert in a small Danish pub at the change of the Millennium.
Darion Fo's sarcastic and playful playwrights are short stories compared to some of the previous winners. The ones that kind of gave precedent for Harold Pinter's win. Both were mostly playwrights and were never considered truthfully authors in the long play of marathon novelists. And Bob wrote even shorter pieces.
Doris Lessing wrote a lot about white people living in Africa, about strong and sneaky women, and about men who were not destined to do big things but to fail in the long run. Men and women spent hours to finish her books. And Bob's lyrics still make people think is "it an accident made into a rhyme, or a rhyme to make the poem stand?"
At least all the winners have written. The Norwegian assembly should learn about the premises of making notes of great people at work. If Dylan would have won the peace prize somebody would have criticized the peace prize again for giving it into the wrong hands.
At least he wrote something about peace. We should give literature prices for people who write pieces about peace. We should do it in all categories. I believe that was Nobel's idea. Peace out.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Comfortable monologue for oneself
I meant to publicsh thszich here:
http://dublimat.blogspot.ie/2016/09/comfortable-monologue-for-oneself.html
My Rant (written for a female actor, can also be a male)
1. Only to be spoken out loud
2. Where people can smoke
3. Inside
4. Can also be done outside
5. Has to be to the letter
6. The speaker, or the spoker, or the midnight joker
7. Must get it right on the first run
8. Must be
9. Alive
10. Thinier than the olympic athletes
11. But not as thin as the female beauty contestants
12. Could be cool
13. If they would rule
14. The dynasty that they become
15. would be fun
16. Tiny breasts or little buts they shall not have
17. Bigger bottoms they might keep as they are --
18. this should rhyme, resonate, or dare I say it
19. Somebody died
20. more intelligent, more kind, more animal than you and I
21. Nature says, nature does, and it doesn't hold, oh dear, your eye
Rest in Peace
I'm glad I can bury
Into the hole
All that is whole
http://dublimat.blogspot.ie/2016/09/comfortable-monologue-for-oneself.html
My Rant (written for a female actor, can also be a male)
1. Only to be spoken out loud
2. Where people can smoke
3. Inside
4. Can also be done outside
5. Has to be to the letter
6. The speaker, or the spoker, or the midnight joker
7. Must get it right on the first run
8. Must be
9. Alive
10. Thinier than the olympic athletes
11. But not as thin as the female beauty contestants
12. Could be cool
13. If they would rule
14. The dynasty that they become
15. would be fun
16. Tiny breasts or little buts they shall not have
17. Bigger bottoms they might keep as they are --
18. this should rhyme, resonate, or dare I say it
19. Somebody died
20. more intelligent, more kind, more animal than you and I
21. Nature says, nature does, and it doesn't hold, oh dear, your eye
Rest in Peace
I'm glad I can bury
Into the hole
All that is whole
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Metal Gear Solid going all Irish
I have a tendency of watching a lot of game-related videos on Youtube. I try to explain to myself, that it is part of my work. But with all the hours spend watching those would get my employers sued for slavery, so let's say that I do it do keep myself up to date. Who am I fooling? I'm watching videos made at the age of Early Internet (also referred to as E.I.).
My today's project has been to find all the parts of Metal Gear Solid the Irish edition, and by watching myself from the mirror I can count from my tears that I have failed. There are supposedly five episodes, and I've only been able to find 4 of them. Originally they were published on entertainment.ie gaming -channel on Youtube, and I can't imagine what kind of sick game they are playing.
7 videos and only 4 MGS!!!
edit:
This might be where it all started. (Watch: Metal Gear 'Scholid' is a thing and we can thank Viper Higgins for it)
Monday, June 6, 2016
The Onecoin Scam is trying to land in Ireland
It seems that the Onecoin has been trying to find it's way to Ireland, but so far without raising any public alarms. The CoinTelegraph presented the Onecoin as a Ponzi Scheme already last year, and it should be very easy to find through Google. That might be the reason why clever people have not shown that much of an interest towards this "New Bitcoin" as the Onecoiners like to call it.
So far it seems that a group, or an individual going with the name Onecoin Polska (Link to Facebook), has been promoting an event held at Fitzgerald Hotel on the 16th of February. According to their Facebook event 45 FB users were invited but zero people showed any interest into it.
This will not probably end here and that is why the public should be made aware of Onecoin, and how it is manipulating people to give money to their owners.
I've made a few pointers that a potential victim should be aware of, but before that I'll quickly explain what is a Ponzi Scheme. Ponzi Scheme is a scam where people are asked to invest their money for something that will bring great return on the investment, and promises are usually in epic proportions. It could be something like "double your money in six months" or something similar.
Onecoin recruiters are not afraid to use Bitcoin as an example. They will explain that Bitcoin's worth was 10 cents a coin at the beginning, and then it skyrocketed to thousand dollars. First of all, there are hundreds of crypto currencies available, and Bitcoin is the only one which market value has climbed so high so fast. If you take a look at coinmarketcap's list of crypto currencies. Secondly, you don't find Onecoin on that list. Thirdly Onecoin is not a crypto currency.
Recruiters might try to explain that Onecoin is as much a crypto currency as bitcoin is, and that they use improved block chains. Block chains is a technology describing how the virtual ledger can be validated, and how it can be made sure that nobody tries forgery. As all the information is shared inside the network, it is important to put complex cryptography in place. Onecoin, on the other hand, claims to use block chains even though they don't have any need for that. All the onecoins are located on Onecoins servers and there is no need for block chains. They will try to explain that their own computers will do "the mining" (confirming that all the transactions are legit, and that there are no conflicts in the database).
Be warned, and when confronted about Onecoin, please do your research. They might be telling you that internet is full of lies (which is true), and you should trust themselves for accurate information (which is not true). If you feel conflicted about their promises that you will be rich, and all the warning signs that internet is full of. Do yourself a favour, and do your research.
For the dessert. Here is one of those warning signs from the "Behind MLM" which has consistently reported ill-doings of the Onecoin. Also, please find a video below, where a true believer of Onecoin diss this report. This is the kind of language that they use, and they might be very aggressive in manipulating you to believe that everything else is a lie except what they tell you.
So far it seems that a group, or an individual going with the name Onecoin Polska (Link to Facebook), has been promoting an event held at Fitzgerald Hotel on the 16th of February. According to their Facebook event 45 FB users were invited but zero people showed any interest into it.
I've made a few pointers that a potential victim should be aware of, but before that I'll quickly explain what is a Ponzi Scheme. Ponzi Scheme is a scam where people are asked to invest their money for something that will bring great return on the investment, and promises are usually in epic proportions. It could be something like "double your money in six months" or something similar.
Onecoin recruiters are not afraid to use Bitcoin as an example. They will explain that Bitcoin's worth was 10 cents a coin at the beginning, and then it skyrocketed to thousand dollars. First of all, there are hundreds of crypto currencies available, and Bitcoin is the only one which market value has climbed so high so fast. If you take a look at coinmarketcap's list of crypto currencies. Secondly, you don't find Onecoin on that list. Thirdly Onecoin is not a crypto currency.
Recruiters might try to explain that Onecoin is as much a crypto currency as bitcoin is, and that they use improved block chains. Block chains is a technology describing how the virtual ledger can be validated, and how it can be made sure that nobody tries forgery. As all the information is shared inside the network, it is important to put complex cryptography in place. Onecoin, on the other hand, claims to use block chains even though they don't have any need for that. All the onecoins are located on Onecoins servers and there is no need for block chains. They will try to explain that their own computers will do "the mining" (confirming that all the transactions are legit, and that there are no conflicts in the database).
Be warned, and when confronted about Onecoin, please do your research. They might be telling you that internet is full of lies (which is true), and you should trust themselves for accurate information (which is not true). If you feel conflicted about their promises that you will be rich, and all the warning signs that internet is full of. Do yourself a favour, and do your research.
For the dessert. Here is one of those warning signs from the "Behind MLM" which has consistently reported ill-doings of the Onecoin. Also, please find a video below, where a true believer of Onecoin diss this report. This is the kind of language that they use, and they might be very aggressive in manipulating you to believe that everything else is a lie except what they tell you.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Soldiers of Odin is now a platform for Unicorns and Glitter
The world might know Soldiers of Odin as a racist street patrol gang working underneath the Nordic Resistance Movement. They are registered as an non-profit organization in Finland, and has been working aggressively against anybody who disagrees with them, including a parody clown group called LOLdiers of Odin.
Group was very sure that they are protected by law, and nobody can represent them in public without their consent. In February Riikka Yrttiaho applied for Soldiers of Odin trademark, and got the approval late April. On their @soldiersofodin_ -Twitter account they published the news two days ago.
On the same day Finnish newspaper Iltalehti got a few quotes from Riikka Yrttiaho. According to her she has not received any communications from Soldiers of Odin, and she said "hopefully they will take it cool." The owner(s) of the new trademark plans to use it to create good, and fight against racism and intolerance. They don't have anything yet on the production line, but they are talking about producing tote bags and pink t-shirts. The profits they/she make(s) are supposed to go to a yet unnamed charity to promote good.
On the other news, the leader of the Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta was convicted for assault of a man and a woman. The assault included kicking a person on ground in the head. According to Lapin Kansa, a Finnish newspaper published at the northern parts of Finland, Mika Ranta got angry because Ranta's wife told to him that she got assaulted. Mika Ranta apologized to the victims as the assault against his wife wasn't true. He was convicted to 18 months of jail conditionally, and to 50 hours of community service.
In other media (this will be updated on my own discretion):
Yle: Woman trademarks Soldiers of Odin name for unicorn-themed clothing in anti-racism protest
Group was very sure that they are protected by law, and nobody can represent them in public without their consent. In February Riikka Yrttiaho applied for Soldiers of Odin trademark, and got the approval late April. On their @soldiersofodin_ -Twitter account they published the news two days ago.
"Greetings sweethearts! We just received information that our trademark has been approved! Stay tuned for glitter bags and t-shirts! #SoO #soldiersofodin
On the same day Finnish newspaper Iltalehti got a few quotes from Riikka Yrttiaho. According to her she has not received any communications from Soldiers of Odin, and she said "hopefully they will take it cool." The owner(s) of the new trademark plans to use it to create good, and fight against racism and intolerance. They don't have anything yet on the production line, but they are talking about producing tote bags and pink t-shirts. The profits they/she make(s) are supposed to go to a yet unnamed charity to promote good.
On the other news, the leader of the Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta was convicted for assault of a man and a woman. The assault included kicking a person on ground in the head. According to Lapin Kansa, a Finnish newspaper published at the northern parts of Finland, Mika Ranta got angry because Ranta's wife told to him that she got assaulted. Mika Ranta apologized to the victims as the assault against his wife wasn't true. He was convicted to 18 months of jail conditionally, and to 50 hours of community service.
In other media (this will be updated on my own discretion):
Yle: Woman trademarks Soldiers of Odin name for unicorn-themed clothing in anti-racism protest
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Why I love Grace and Frankie
For me, the Netflix has been the HBO of the 90's and the Television of internet for a time now. Netflix is doing what the local rental shops, and the TV should have been doing a long time ago. On a sidenote I have to say that it wasn't more than 20 years when we had to introduce ourselves over the phones, we couldn't see the calling number before hand, and we had to keep the phone plugged into the socket just in case. There were no myriad 'block this number', 'keep it on silent', and I miss those times only like once a year. Technology gap covered, move forward, yes please, and thank you sir, I will on the next chapter.
As it is pretty obvious from the first paragraph, I'm not a person who likes to go straight into business. With some sexual 70's innuendo -voice "ladies, please, I'm just a man". And with this side paragraph, which should have been edited away after proof reading - and here it's still - let's run into the business of writing.
When I was a reasonably young playwright - 20 something: I was writing some plays where most of the characters were ladies. I meant them to be without a gender, but with actors being around I really didn't have a choice. I had to genderize them for actors.
The nice part was that I didn't have trouble filling roles with female actors. Hard part was that there were not that many male actors. Before getting from this intro part to the actual point about the headline, I have to confess that I'm not an expert on Simone De Beauvoir's life, she only struck my mind with one sentence, and I'm paraphrasing now: ' the only reason that history doesn't recognize female writers or scientists, is because we were never given a chance." I don't know how to speak French, and somebody might translate it better. To me, it was something that needed to be recognized, I started writing fiction without gender. At least I tried.
For this part, it was a strike of luck that I was in theatre. For how would someone be able to imagine in groups that we should look past genders and to beyond, and not see our genders as cages that in so many ways might make us trapped in language.
So, Grace and Frankie starts. Season two now on Netflix. After the first episode my immediate response is to watch the next one. My spoiler free comment is that the atmosphere is the same as in the first one. There is the fragility of family relationships, and also the strength that comes with asking for forgiveness. If you've never seen the series, I'll just say that it starts with two couples, and in those two couples there were lovers, and the lovers were not always the ones inside those mentioned couples. Without the weirdness: there were GAYS! And two very old ladies. So old that even Jane Fonda (Who is actually older than the character she is playing [Ralph Macchio beaten]) can play a younger character.
Premise is two divorced ladies and their gay husbands. Do you want some slapstick humour with that one? You will not get it.
The show is just full of very written dialogue. It has the same kind of drama that I've seen in Frasier and The Oz (the jail series, not the fairy tale 'we're not in Kansas anymore'), and the same humour that I find in Archer (an animated series about chauvinist super-spy of ISIS (sic)) and Gilmore Girls.
In the end it is not just the wits. It's also about the roles, and the roles we think that don't need another look at at all. I gave the first season already a 5/5. How can I give the same for the second season after only watching the first two episodes?
To me, Frankie and Grace poses serious questions. Why do I enjoy watching these old people with children, who has more problems than they do, over a fast-action packed feature film featuring at least a very big guy, or a not so big of a guy, or a very very small guy, who is old, but doesn't smoke weed, and is terrified of hamsters?
As it is pretty obvious from the first paragraph, I'm not a person who likes to go straight into business. With some sexual 70's innuendo -voice "ladies, please, I'm just a man". And with this side paragraph, which should have been edited away after proof reading - and here it's still - let's run into the business of writing.
When I was a reasonably young playwright - 20 something: I was writing some plays where most of the characters were ladies. I meant them to be without a gender, but with actors being around I really didn't have a choice. I had to genderize them for actors.
The nice part was that I didn't have trouble filling roles with female actors. Hard part was that there were not that many male actors. Before getting from this intro part to the actual point about the headline, I have to confess that I'm not an expert on Simone De Beauvoir's life, she only struck my mind with one sentence, and I'm paraphrasing now: ' the only reason that history doesn't recognize female writers or scientists, is because we were never given a chance." I don't know how to speak French, and somebody might translate it better. To me, it was something that needed to be recognized, I started writing fiction without gender. At least I tried.
For this part, it was a strike of luck that I was in theatre. For how would someone be able to imagine in groups that we should look past genders and to beyond, and not see our genders as cages that in so many ways might make us trapped in language.
So, Grace and Frankie starts. Season two now on Netflix. After the first episode my immediate response is to watch the next one. My spoiler free comment is that the atmosphere is the same as in the first one. There is the fragility of family relationships, and also the strength that comes with asking for forgiveness. If you've never seen the series, I'll just say that it starts with two couples, and in those two couples there were lovers, and the lovers were not always the ones inside those mentioned couples. Without the weirdness: there were GAYS! And two very old ladies. So old that even Jane Fonda (Who is actually older than the character she is playing [Ralph Macchio beaten]) can play a younger character.
Premise is two divorced ladies and their gay husbands. Do you want some slapstick humour with that one? You will not get it.
The show is just full of very written dialogue. It has the same kind of drama that I've seen in Frasier and The Oz (the jail series, not the fairy tale 'we're not in Kansas anymore'), and the same humour that I find in Archer (an animated series about chauvinist super-spy of ISIS (sic)) and Gilmore Girls.
In the end it is not just the wits. It's also about the roles, and the roles we think that don't need another look at at all. I gave the first season already a 5/5. How can I give the same for the second season after only watching the first two episodes?
To me, Frankie and Grace poses serious questions. Why do I enjoy watching these old people with children, who has more problems than they do, over a fast-action packed feature film featuring at least a very big guy, or a not so big of a guy, or a very very small guy, who is old, but doesn't smoke weed, and is terrified of hamsters?
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Poker should be honest even if the players ain't
I've been a long time fan of poker starting somewhere at the beginning of this century when we had this ring of Scandinavian Stud (Sökö) players getting together once a month (on payday). It was poker at it's friendliest level. With a random entry fee, everybody was allowed to eat and drink for free, and everything that was leftover was in the pot. Winner takes it all, but the winner had to pay the cab to the first pub and buy around for everyone involved in the game. As you can guess, the winner was the one who lost the least amount of money during the night.
Few years later I got into Texas Hold Em, and afterwards I went on to games like Omaha, Courchevel, Eight-game, Seven-deuce, Crazy Pineapple, Lime and all kinds of variants. My favourite is Dealer's choice, where you basically play the form of poker that the dealer (The player on the button) decides.
Today I was reading Irish Poker Boards, and found a link to David Kilmartin's aka Lappin's latest blog post "Poker players are liars". There he starts with the so called "show one, show all"-rule, which means that if a player shows his/her cards to another player, he/she is bound to show the cards to the all players. This rule is commonly mistaken to mean that if you show one card before mocking, you are required to show the other one as well (assuming you are playing Texas Hold Em, and of course you are, because you don't know any other forms outside 5-card draw poker commonly know as the Strip Poker).
He goes on talking about politics, and the life outside of poker. The main thing I noticed is that, even though poker players might occasionally bluff (100% bluff rate in the long term is de facto impossible), we shouldn't assume anything about poker players outside the set of rules. It is game of misleading, and one of the hardest forms of game theories as everyone has to make their decisions without having all the knowledge.
This takes me to an important lesson I once taught to my girlfriend when she was starting out. She registered to Full Tilt Poker, and started playing sit'n'go's (tournament which starts when a preset amount of players have been registered). Then she moved on to more challenging tournaments. We used to play poker at the same time with our own laptops in the same room. Once we were in the same tournament, and ended up in the same table. She was already saying that we should play against other players.
She was basically suggesting that we collude against other players. Which is basically cheating. She showed her hand (pair of kings), and I instantly turned my screen away from her informing my disgust against cheating, and also saw a change to teach an important lesson.
I was bound to act after her in the table and I had a pair of fives. The flop came with Ace, ten and a five. I made a set, but also the whole flop was coloured with spades. She checked, and I bet 1/3 of the pot. She looked at me, and was like what are you doing? I said that I won't tell you. She was probably afraid of the ace, but she also had the king of spades, which would give her the nut flush (the best possible flush). Turn card was a three (diamonds I think, anyways, not spades). She checked and I bet, and she was like "What am I doing? Do you have the ace?". "Guess?", I asked her. I think she thought I was playing some kind of mind game with her, and she was partially right. River card was the lucky three of spades, completing her flush, and giving me the full house. She checked, and I bet a full pot against her. And she was like "You know my cards, why are you betting?". She pondered for a while and decided to call to see the bad news.
She was pissed off. I did explain to her that she gave me all the information, and she should be lucky that I only bet 1/3 of the pot on the flop. There was a longer tutorial against cheating in poker, and so on, but to my knowledge she has never cheated after that. And she does pretty decent on poker tables.
What was the lesson then? Well, as I see, Poker is a game of luck, deception, and skill. Poker is also a game of rules, and we should feel compelled to them at all times. I like to think poker is a gentleman's game even though it is not represented with such class in TV, and even less in the corner tables of pubs. In the long term, I would like to think, every time somebody cheats in Poker, one to-be poker player gets another reason not to get involved, so in the end, all poker players lose.
Few years later I got into Texas Hold Em, and afterwards I went on to games like Omaha, Courchevel, Eight-game, Seven-deuce, Crazy Pineapple, Lime and all kinds of variants. My favourite is Dealer's choice, where you basically play the form of poker that the dealer (The player on the button) decides.
Today I was reading Irish Poker Boards, and found a link to David Kilmartin's aka Lappin's latest blog post "Poker players are liars". There he starts with the so called "show one, show all"-rule, which means that if a player shows his/her cards to another player, he/she is bound to show the cards to the all players. This rule is commonly mistaken to mean that if you show one card before mocking, you are required to show the other one as well (assuming you are playing Texas Hold Em, and of course you are, because you don't know any other forms outside 5-card draw poker commonly know as the Strip Poker).
He goes on talking about politics, and the life outside of poker. The main thing I noticed is that, even though poker players might occasionally bluff (100% bluff rate in the long term is de facto impossible), we shouldn't assume anything about poker players outside the set of rules. It is game of misleading, and one of the hardest forms of game theories as everyone has to make their decisions without having all the knowledge.
This takes me to an important lesson I once taught to my girlfriend when she was starting out. She registered to Full Tilt Poker, and started playing sit'n'go's (tournament which starts when a preset amount of players have been registered). Then she moved on to more challenging tournaments. We used to play poker at the same time with our own laptops in the same room. Once we were in the same tournament, and ended up in the same table. She was already saying that we should play against other players.
She was basically suggesting that we collude against other players. Which is basically cheating. She showed her hand (pair of kings), and I instantly turned my screen away from her informing my disgust against cheating, and also saw a change to teach an important lesson.
I was bound to act after her in the table and I had a pair of fives. The flop came with Ace, ten and a five. I made a set, but also the whole flop was coloured with spades. She checked, and I bet 1/3 of the pot. She looked at me, and was like what are you doing? I said that I won't tell you. She was probably afraid of the ace, but she also had the king of spades, which would give her the nut flush (the best possible flush). Turn card was a three (diamonds I think, anyways, not spades). She checked and I bet, and she was like "What am I doing? Do you have the ace?". "Guess?", I asked her. I think she thought I was playing some kind of mind game with her, and she was partially right. River card was the lucky three of spades, completing her flush, and giving me the full house. She checked, and I bet a full pot against her. And she was like "You know my cards, why are you betting?". She pondered for a while and decided to call to see the bad news.
She was pissed off. I did explain to her that she gave me all the information, and she should be lucky that I only bet 1/3 of the pot on the flop. There was a longer tutorial against cheating in poker, and so on, but to my knowledge she has never cheated after that. And she does pretty decent on poker tables.
What was the lesson then? Well, as I see, Poker is a game of luck, deception, and skill. Poker is also a game of rules, and we should feel compelled to them at all times. I like to think poker is a gentleman's game even though it is not represented with such class in TV, and even less in the corner tables of pubs. In the long term, I would like to think, every time somebody cheats in Poker, one to-be poker player gets another reason not to get involved, so in the end, all poker players lose.
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