Name: Poetic Justice League: Word War Fun (poem) @DaithiDublin
Uploaded: 2026-09-21T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: Poetic Justice League: Word War Fun (poem)

Poetic Justice League: Word War Fun (poem)

DaithiDublin 2026-09-21 | Poetic Justice League: Word War Fun (poem)

Dont Trust Your Eyes

DaithiDublin 2015-03-02 | The bigger the screen and higher the quality the better here.

Perceptions are only that. The moving images in this vid are called 'anomalous motion illusions' and they are all two dimensional images. Just by playing around with the placement of colours in relation to each other they fool our brains into perceiving movement.

The dress hoo-hah last week was probably so startling because we're only used to seeing these illusions as diagrams or illustrations. You don't often get to see them in real life. Unless it resembles a Medieval representation of an iron age housewife, in which case it's called a miracle. ;¬)

Alarm your eyeballs here

Akiyoshi's illusion pages (for the 'anomalous motion illusions):
http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html

The Blue and The Green, by Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer):
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2009/06/24/the_blue_and_the_green.html

Devil with the Blue Dress: An Explanation, by Stephen Pinker:
dropbox.com/s/hmc3zq4czkzpmt6/Devil%20with%20the%20Blue%20Dress%20On%20explanation.pdf?dl=0

It's impossible to know why things go viral on the internet, or hyper-viral as #TheDress did last week. I think that one went extra viral because it tapped (in a palatable way) into something intensely subjective that many of us aren't used to being challenged on: the reliability of our perception of the world.

It's one thing to talk about your disagreements in an abstract way, but to stand shoulder to shoulder with someone, both staring at the same image we both agree is right in front of us, and each of us seeing something completely diffferent is really challenging.

We weren't disputing shades of the same colour, and whichever combination *you* saw there were thousands or millions of others who agreed with you. So neither one could dismiss the opinion of the other. We were faced with a situation where we had to agree wholeheartedly to accept an opinion that conflicted with the evidence of our own eyes.

Nobody was considered stupid or deluded for seeing what they saw, and, peculiarly, nobody I spoke to acted superior for having seen what turned out to be the actual colours. One person seeing the figure of Mary in a tree-stum is a loony, ten people make it a miracle. In this situation there were just too many seeing each combination to do anything but accommodate them without agitation.

I think there's a few lesson to be learned from the incident. I'm definitely of the opinion that it was *not* a frivilous waste of time, or some media manufactured diversion. It struck a chord because it went to the heart of that existential anxiety we all have about not quite knowing what's going on most of the time. That nervy sensation that you're kind of clueless and coasting and dreading the moment someone finds out.

We'd do well to take the acceptance and empathy demanded of us last week and apply it more liberally in other areas of our lives. We'd do well to accept that certainty isn't absolute. And we could definitely afford to remember that we don't have to agree with someone to accept them.

*********

Hello, hello, hello!! Especially to the regulars who read my description waffles. Long time no do anything me. It's been almost a year since I've done anything here. Very busy year for me, personally, and a nice break mentally from the commitment of time I used to give to this channel. I've had pangs off loss from time to time, and I've often thought of my friends here.

This video was just a bit of fun that managed to give me an outlet for some ideas I've been mulling over recently. And seemed like a good excuse to slip back into DaithiDublin and test the water.

As I type this I haven't yet visited my channel or G+, just came straight to upload. It's funny, but I have a similar kind of tingly anticipation to the one you get going back to an old haunt. A school reunion type vibe where there's some folk you can't wait to see again and plenty of dicks you never liked in the first place.

Now I'm thinking I should probably shelve that idea for now and make it a vlog. A rambly 'howerya' to everyone. Right now, specifically, I'm going to hit publish and smoke a joint with a red hot cup of tea. It's been a long day.

Smell yis later. ;¬)
_
Daithi

International Dawn Chorus Day 2014

DaithiDublin 2014-05-04 | Inbetween catching worms the early birds go all Twitter up in this shit. This is set to some out-takes from a montage video I'm putting together at the moment. A few moments of chill. Enjoy. ;¬)

http://www.idcd.info

This Sheepish Skirmish (Poetry War)

DaithiDublin 2014-04-01 | Sheesh!
The story so far(ce):
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh6GdIsuXe4FMMTEhEvFJjje3friCdM1l

Mr. Poet and Mr. Dip, I'm beginning
To wonder what makes you two tick.
I called for peace an calm
And the prevalence of cooler heads.
Instead you form an attack
Waging war in the threads.

My entreaty was no Palpatine scheme
Stirring up dissent from behind this screen.
And yet here we are,
And now satellite souls
Are entering and raising the bar.
Not too high, but high enough
Top merit a few words
To dismiss their fluff.

Loreleila accuses us all of simply
Measuring down below.
A contest to produce the
Highest urethral flow.
But Loreleila, if elevation is the gauge
And not a measuring cup,
The winner will be the one
Who can do it standing up.

Warbles frets we might diminish the poetic arts,
That playing war turns poetry into a farce.
He's a gentle man, I know he feels hurt,
But war is just what I was trying to avert.
That said, this isn't a war, it's not even a battle,
We've heard nothing yet but sabres rattle.
War requires at least two armies to fight,
Not a bunch of clowns who can barely write.

This is a pathetic war, it's more like a skirmish,
The soft voiced flailings of downtrodden hermits.
I've had harder battles deciding which beer.
Please tell me there somebody out there
Who can kick this one up a gear.

Kill Your Friends - A cautionary tale for aspiring musicians

DaithiDublin 2014-04-01 | A reading from John Niven's excellent novel 'Kill Your Friends', for Loreila's spoken word collaboration: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSHhE-D3tZDGR2YtdEIIDch11CnSoIqvn

Set during the Brit-Pop of the mid to late 90's this novel is a whip-crack sharp look at the cutthroat business of buying, making and selling music. The protagonist, Stephen Stelfox is one of the best anti-heroes I've ever read. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, he will not do to either make himself successful, or eviscerate his competition.

The novel is currently being shot for a film due for release later this year, but why wait, treat yourself now:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kill-Your-Friends-John-Niven/dp/0099516675

Los Poetas Vengadores: Jaccuse Mr. Poet & Mr. Dip!

DaithiDublin 2014-03-30 | The Poetic Justice League was disbanded almost two years ago, but today we find ourselves in need of stronger defences than ever before.
I call on all members of the newly formed Los Poetas Vengadores (The Avenging Poets) to stand vigilant as we face our greatest threat to peace since the Poetry Wars of 2012. Nobody wants to see a repeat of that dark period of our shared history, but if the citizens of YouTubania are to remain unmolested by foul rhymes in their feeds then act we must.
Pray, if that's what you think will help , light candles, anoint your screens with holy water or sacrifice your pets on scarlet alters at moonrise. Do these pointless things if they make you feel secure. But any man, woman or child reading these words who wants to make an actual difference in these tumultuous times - scribble poems for peace but prepare yourselves for war!

Subscribe to these potential combatants to maintain due vigilance:
Randrew Poet (aka Andr0idThePoet)
youtube.com/channel/UC1TiwEiAg1h4clkp2PqedLw

RefriedBeanDip
youtube.com/user/RefriedBeanDip

A reminder of former times:
Poetic Justice League: Word War Fun (poem)
youtube.com/watch?v=WeksdT8AkMs

I accuse
Mr Poet and Mr Dip
(Two dudes I find hip)
Of inflaming poetic passions
Gentlemen stand down,
Holster your pencils
Your adjectives and nouns
Clear your throats and
Take a moment to breath
It's been almost two years
Since our verses brought tears
And blood to the ears
Of our innocent view-ears

I like how you both read
I think of each voice as a gift
If peace is to succeed
Poetry battles we do not need
Should be avoided
At any cost
We've been here before
Turned rhymes into
Weapons of war
The battle of 2012
As any survivor will tell
Was literally a literary Hell

So how can I convince you
My compadre mio's
That it's not worth doing it again
Let me think, ehm..
.. Ok, Seeing as I won the last war
..I-I know we never..sat round a table
didn't signed papers or hold talks
But to me sitting here
It seemed patently clear
I was the best of a pretty bad bunch
So let's be polite and not
Fall victims to the spite
That threatened to drown us before
When we last penned dirges
Full of rhyming couplet splurges
In stanzas so trite
Delivered in meters too far left of what would have sounded right
And we plunged into war, sinking up to our necks in shite.

Gentlemen, peace in our time rests in your hands
Which means... ...we're fucked.

Stuffocation

DaithiDublin 2014-02-06 | Beginning the process of unstuffing my life.

There's a weird, cyclical artefact in this clip: sorry about that.

The RSA video I mentioned:
Why We've Had Enough of Stuff
youtube.com/watch?v=SUXqwMKmtfQ

And a good guy to go subscribe to:
TheSkepticalAtheist
youtube.com/user/TheSkepticalAtheist

I'm taking my time with this process, and there's a lot of shifting things around from one place to another going on. I'm sorting my stuff into impromptu categories and looking at each category and deciding enmasse whether or not it's a category of stuff I even want to have. That's been a handy trick. I've dumped a lot using that method, bypassing the need to sort through each item and make individual decision.

I'm no longer a tiler / handyman, so there were vast amounts of grotty work clothes that went in the bin. That was actually really satisfying, because it was almost a lifestyle that I was throwing out. I jettisoned an entire career in one plastic bag.

I've kept less than 50 DVD's, but they are all ones that I love and have fond memories of, like John Hughes' teen flicks that came out when I was also a teen. Some are old TV shows like Columbo, Fawlty Towers & Farscape, or live comedy shows (Billy Connoly) that are hard to find online. I look at what remains and it occurs to me that they are a finite set. They will not be added to.

Of course, the added shelf space gives me room to take books off the floor. It will be harder to dump books, but I think I'll manage a few. All in all it's a curious process. I watched a video earlier today by Slaxxxer and he'd cut off his dreads which he's had for most of his adult life, apparently. I'm feeling something of the same weight being lifted.

Do you know what I had an absolute shit load of? Receipts. Receipts for tobacco, receipts for bread and milk, receipts for things I don't remember ever owning, and some of over 8 years old. Also, scraps of paper I'd drawn plans for shelves on and the names of songs I'd heard on the radio; every letter I'd ever received from my van insurers; broken pens; pencil butts; unidentified pieces of plastic; empty boxes; empty envelopes; brochures for places I've never been. There was also about a dozen empty beer bottles and cans that I don't remember drinking: I don't drink in my room because that too sad for words, but you'd be surprised what makes it's way to the places you spend a lot of time.

Now, I'm making it sound like I was living in squalor. It wasn't quite like that. At least, that's how it feels and that's what I tell myself: I'm just really good at storage.
Maybe when I finish this process I'll look around and wonder where the fuck I found the space for so much junk? And why did it take me so long to realise it actually *was* junk?

Christ, my life needed a reboot!

wishing you ill (poem)

DaithiDublin 2014-01-22 | This short poem is about honesty used as a shield, and self-awareness used as a weapon, when love devolves into battle.

In May of last year, Fred (conferencereport) asked for poems for a project called YouPoet, and I filmed the negative images here but found no words to go with it. Then, just before Christmas, Loreleila asked a simple question on Google+: Who.Are.You?

The bones of what follows came from that. Much love to both for their constant inspiration.

The music comes from the YouTuber, NoisesStrange:
youtube.com/user/NoisesStrange

Ambient Noises - Soundscape 1
youtube.com/watch?v=8ykNts_tGKQ

Wishing You Ill

You think you know what I am better than I know myself.
You think it will hurt me to hear what I am.. ..from you.
You think that much of yourself.

But sweetheart, you have a blindspot when it comes to me.

I am just an old hot water bottle filled with tea and self-pity. I am the sound of disappointment echoing in an empty can; the last stationary spin of the room before a drunkard's lights go dim.

I am an unfurled fiver flaked with powder; the bang of a gavel in open court. I am the row of X's on an unopened birthday card from the mother of a grown child, too busy.

I am that slow head hung walk back home from the bookies on payday. I'm a training wheel hanging loose on a missing child's bicycle, and I am far, far harder on myself that you could ever hope to be.

But I am also the owner of tomorrow morning's crooked half-smile, as I consider once more how lucky I am, to be rid of you.

I know what I am, but I dread what you are.

********

Love blooms in shadows as we conceal from our amours all those nasty cracks in our character that only a friend can ignore. We hide them in hopes of finding that we have found a lover as forgiving as a friend.

We rarely do, and when we don't we should count ourselves lucky if we can untangle ourselves with a little dignity left intact.

When it doesn't work out so cleanly as that then we sometimes see how close to each other love and hate can be, and that's closer and crueler than Reverend Harry Powell's fists.

One stop, solo, on a squeaky bus to Bray

DaithiDublin 2014-01-03 | I am a passenger.
(garryentropy remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7L_Z1BNEqo)

Being the only passenger on a bus is a rare treat. If I was ridiculously wealthy I'd ride around in a chauffeur driven double-decker bus, occasionally stopping to pick people up and take them home for free. I'd sit amongst them, pretending to be as bewildered as they are by the whole affair, as the inscrutable driver refused any explanations but insisted on taking them wherever they wanted to go! ;¬)

The minimum fare on a Dublin Bus is now €1.80 and might only take you a few hundred metres, which makes travelling by bus more expensive than a car journey. I've been reliant on public transport for the last year and a half and unless it's pelting down rain I'll now walk most short journeys instead. We're supposed to be encouraging people out of their cars but I'm about to get myself a new one because public transport is just no kind of substitute. Something is wrong with that.

Unprincipled Me - A Failed Argument

DaithiDublin 2013-12-13 | I did something I *really* dislike in others, and I'm wondering why. I misrepresented some notable and indisputable facts about Nelson Mandela in order to make a critical argument about the cult of personality.

Now, I realised my error reasonably quickly (but would have preferred not to have made it at all) and rectified the error at a cost to my own credibility, which is no less than I deserve. In the grand scheme of things it's a trivial and unremarkable matter, but in my scheme it's pretty big stuff. I have to second guess myself much more vigorously from now on. I always thought I did.

I should also perhaps take more time to make certain that those I'm arguing with aren't making the same mistake, and leave them room to admit their own errors. And not be too cynical with those who do.

I'm hoping this makes me more careful, and in the long run turns out to be for my benefit.

Three videos that I'd like to link to are:

Geoff Heisenberg's "Crazy PMs and a Great President"
youtube.com/watch?v=nER0bmwj2uM
(In which I make something of a similar, but much more restrained argument)

Sugelanren's "Nelson Mandela. Need i say more?"
youtube.com/watch?v=V-FvlBmadDI
(In which Huck covers the kind of personality protection I was referring to)

Lorelei La's "What Mandelas Death Reveals"
youtube.com/watch?v=sJ0NcusRyFY
(Which I wish she'd posted sooner!)

VIDEO RESPONSES to this video:

Arguing for the sake of it. by sugelanren
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnyza7byEFw

Re: Unprincipled Me (Daithidublin) by Chaotic Nebula
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aabLbF2iIWI

Also, as promised, here's the link to my recent Desertphile video, which I'll remind you has ratings and embedding disabled, and comments on approval - though none will be approved from now on. This is just for the sake of the record and preservation of data. I've also renamed it from Desertvile to the original, because that title no longer fits the man.
Concerning Desertphile: http://youtu.be/5jj6iCdaRgg

The video is also available on YouDoubled and you are free to join that site and leave comments there: http://youdoubled.com/watch_video.php?v=OBD9XGD4WHOU

Its An Earls Life

DaithiDublin 2013-11-22 | Wherein Earl finds himself in Dire Straits.

Part 1: Earl-y Morning Drinking
http://youtu.be/0OS0rEItq88

Nothing much to add to this, except... perhaps.. a recurring invitation I like to give out whenever I put one of these compilation type videos together. These are great fun to do, and not particularly difficult these days. Some of you reading this will have never created or uploaded a video, but you might have always wanted to if only for a subject, and a way to gently ease yourself into the mysteries of uploading. If that describes you then read on, please.

Well, the subjects and the materials are right in front of you. Think of YouTube as an enormous box of audio-visual Lego just waiting for you to dip into and rearrange. Whatever you come up with will be necessarily unique to you.

This video, as an example, was pretty time consuming. I watched several hours of Earl's back catalogue before I even opened my video editing software. But I knew the first scene and the music to go with it before I even got that far, so when I came to start compiling this clip I already had a skeleton to work with and all I needed to do was start adding clips as I went along. Some clips determine what comes next, and the music dictates the rest. It's just like painting a house: the structure is there, just pick your colours and get stuck in.

It can be slow going and occasionally frustrating when you can't find the right visual or you can't figure out how to do what you want to do. That's ok. That's just a normal part of the process. And the process is fun dammit!

You won't be happy until you're done and you won't be done until you're done.
(ha! you were expecting an antimetabole there, weren't you? You may not know it yet but you're only a brief google away from seeing I'm right!) ;¬)

There's no point going any deeper than that here. If you're new to all of this and are starting to get even slightly curious about the process, then send me a PM and I'll happily offer any help I can. The only extra point I'd make to you is that my computer and the free video editing software on it are about a year older than YouTube itself. As in 9 years old right now. They're vintage. They're outdated and under spec'd. They don't like talking to my camera, and nothing is straightforward with my kit and nothing on it is impressive. But there are ways to deal with those problems that don't cost money. Bang up-to-date technology is *not* needed. Making do is good enough.

So why bother? I'm afraid I can't answer that for you, but I can promise an experience that will give you a whole new perspective on YouTube. It's estimated that something in excess of three quarters of all internet users are lurkers*. For whatever reason, they choose not to be active participants. I'm not sure why that is. The only way to make the internet more 'you' shaped is to put yourself right in it. Putting yourself into it can be an exhilarating ride, and something I'd recommend to anyone.

Music:
Dire Straits
The Man's Too Strong
From the album 'Brothers In Arms'

A note on music:
I will not be penalised for using this, or any other song. As I type this in the upload window the video has already finished uploading and is sitting in my video list as a private video. When I'm done here I will go to my Video Manager page and I expect to see that a copyright claim has been made on the music in this video. I will be asked to click a button stating that I acknowledge that claim. The only consequence of that will be the appearance of an ad on or near this video that I presume goes towards royalties or some such. That's fair enough. Lawyers will not being beating down my door, and I wanted to use *this* song. Royalty free music is fine, but it just isn't the same.

* to examine the accuracy of this figure you will need a flashlight and a pair of latex gloves. And plenty of lube. ;¬))

Earl-y Morning Drinking

DaithiDublin 2013-11-22 | Well, it was after 5am when I started so I'm calling that a morning drink.

Earl's cinematic birthday video:
45 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkuAPF9xomA

Part two of Earl Day:
It's An Earl's Life
http://youtu.be/kd0tgDd87eg

If you don't know who Earl is, but you're the kind of person who is curious enough to read video descriptions, then that curiosity might just lead you to a very curious YouTuber indeed:

Earl has wisdom but he's not about wisdom.
He has character but he's not about that.
Earl likes to drink Malt Liquor, but he's more than that.
He likes to bike.
He likes to camp.
He likes to wake up in secluded places familiar only to himself.
He likes to accompany his dog, Akela, around a far-off delta.
He likes to sail his own ship (or paddle his own canoe).

And Earl likes you. But he's not all about you. I have no idea what Earl is all about, and I hope I never find out. He's just one of the people on here that I like to listen to and whose world I enjoy exploring. ;¬)

GoogleFuss and the future of YouTube

DaithiDublin 2013-11-11 | Thinking beyond the slew of complications Google+ integration with YouTube has created.
Links Below.

I gave him a bit of grief here (a simple difference of opinion), but Captain Andy is definitely one of the good guys, and well worth your subscription:
http://www.youtube.com/user/andyfromsheldon

Vic Gundotra, Google Senior Vice President of Social's October 29th presentation,
A Morning with Google+:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al0k1Dia6E0&feature=share&t=12m32s

Google's Salar Kamangar: 'we are channelizing YouTube' article:
http://bluepantsdesign.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/googles-salar-kamangar-we-are-channelizing-youtube

Now, I have tried very hard to be objective about the changes taking place, and on reflection I've failed to do that. Meh. That was inevitable. We're doomed to be individuals, and that's what attracts us to YouTube. Or, that's what attracts us to this corner of YouTube.

I know Google must think of the bottom line, and their plans *will* serve us, perhaps as a secondary benefit to serving the advertisers, but they will still serve us. Just as all of their products over the years have served two masters there's no reason to think the future will be any different.

A little reassurance would go a long way, but they are notoriously bad at presenting to their user base. Facebook emails all their users when changes are imminent, and even though we might oppose or feel wary of changes there, we have to acknowledge that they do let us know in advance. ..most of the time!

Captain Andy is right to say that we will settle down to this new interface in time. And WayofThePasta is right when he says that resistance is futile. And those who fall on that side of the argument will be vindicated, I'm almost certain of it. I won't feel foolish for having voiced dissent or opposition should that happen. I won't feel sheepish when I am found engaging fully with the new set of tools we're being compelled to adopt. I look at news articles from The Guardian to CNN to the NY Times, to Cnet and beyond in the media at large, and also on the bloggosphere and here on YouTube, and see the widespread anger and frustration expressed my by fellow YouTubers and I feel hopeful that perhaps in some small way that Google will take a little more care in the future to be sensitive to the passions of its users. Far from being freeloaders, we earn them money. We are a part of this project as crucial to its success as all those clever developers and futurists whose amazing products we all love.

That's something crucial to take away. We *all* love Google's products. We love them so much that we resent Google replacing them with something else. It's Google's products we scream in defence of. And bearing that in mind I'm confident that between us all, Youtubers and Googlers alike, we'll sort this out. And if it was too easy, well, would it be so worthwhile?

Raheenaclig: its very old but not very big! ;¬)

DaithiDublin 2013-11-06 | This is *not* a history lesson! This video is in response to an open request from the excellent YouTuber, Archaeos0up, for his viewer's favourite local archaeological heritage.

To keep yourself up to date with the past, subscribe to Archaeos0up here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Archaeos0up

My original plans to travel to the Boyne valley and visit the passage tombs at Newgrange, Knowth & Dowth, as well as my personal favourite ancient site in Ireland, the Loughrew cairns, were dashed by a week of dreadful weather. What that forced me to do was delve a little deeper into the historical legacy of my immediate surroundings. Well, you could blow be down with a feather, but I've stumbled upon a heap of fascinating locations with interesting stories dating back to the pre-Cambrian, over 550 million years ago! This could very well turn into a sporadic series of videos.

Current local knowledge of this derelict wee chapel is scant at best, and every source I came across added a tiny bit more to the picture. There are different opinions on the translation of the name; on the meaning of those translations; on the dates for the chapel's construction and destruction, it's uses and abuses and the characters who have owned and inhabited it. Some go as far as to call it the oldest chapel in Ireland. Well, I'm always wary of superlative claims, but that tells me. at least. that at some point in the past it meant a great deal more to the natives than it seems to do now.

Some complain that it stands unprotected from the corrosive power of youth, but in this at least, I don't agree. It doesn't seem to have any true historic significance, and even in a state of disrepair it remains a testament to this region's long history of settlement. There are a few fading pieces of graffiti, sure, but I've seen far worse on bus shelters. And if this site remains intact I am sure the hard red quartz will outlast the thin covering of paint that is already wearing away. The smugglers who hid there paid it no greater respect.

Around about here I would normally leave a set of links to follow for the curious among you. This time I'll leave just the name: Raheenaclig. A few clicks from now you too could be pointing out my many errors and omissions!! I won't spoil that pleasure. ;)

Or you could do what I did to reach this point: look closer at where *you* live. Find the mysteries in your own back yard. There's no telling where you'll end up. Or when..

Let me know if you find anything!

Maria & Al ¦ You And I

DaithiDublin 2013-10-18 | This is just a short wedding video I shot for my friends, Maria & Al. They're strangers to you but I'm hoping that won't prevent you from enjoying this wee clip. Love sometimes wins. ;¬)

Music:
You & I
Ingrid Michaelson

From the album "Be OK" - available now
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/be-o...

Opening a Parcel from Loreleila

DaithiDublin 2013-10-01 | YouTube comes to my door. Read on....
Response to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mUcwnQybRo

When Loreleila spotted a curious looking mirror in one of my videos recently she developed object-envy for it, and I happily fulfilled that yearning by sending it to her, along with an odd assortment of objects I thought she also might like.

This video details her real-world response to that package. What I didn't know when filming this video, and which I found out from her letter, was the significance of the items she had sent. The two pieces of stone were from Santorini, Greece, the site of the enormous volcanic eruption that has been linked to Atlantis and the Exodus stories in the Bible.
The book of poetry was actually penned by Loreleila's grandfather. I had admired her video reading from his journal.
The card with the letter inside I had completely disregarded in the video but was in fact a Loreleila original, created by the light of an oil lamp during a power cut. It features a bubble-blowing dragon!
The little spoon was indeed from Boscastle and is apparently a 'tea-caddy spoon'. Well, if it's a spoon for tea then, really, it should have my name on it!
The piece of slate with the slogan 'For You' came from the same series as those featured in another favourite video of mine where Loreleila surreptitiously placed several such stones in gift shops around Cornwall.
The piece of crockery came from Loreleila's garden, and could be far older than I suspect. I may seek an expert opinion on that... ..Mr. s0up!
The chicken is - of course - a cockerel. Trust a city boy like me not to spot the difference immediately. ;¬)
The matchboxes cam from a teenage collection fed by Loreleila's father's world travels.
And The Prophet? Well, everyone should have a copy of that on their shelf. I certainly do, and now Loreleila's spare has become mine. I press that book on people from time to time and I always get a bewildered reaction. As in, what is an atheist doing promoting such a book? My answer is always the same - "because it's brilliant, and it's wise and it's compassionate and just read the damn thing!"

Eulogy for Eric - (Part Two)

DaithiDublin 2013-09-23 | Part One: http://youtu.be/JHmw3i3y_R4

For Eric's music as Billy Bob Kickarilla Cash Jr., visit:

For the excerpts from his vlogs used in these videos, see:

Interview • Eric Clayton Heard • All About Bob • 7.18.2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWTTOY7ge3A

RV Life, The Fucking Thumbs, Blade Runner • Eric Clayton Heard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpIvbPvGg58

And here's one he made featuring me that I never even saw until last night. It was so nice to hear him laugh at my accent. Shit, I didn't know it was that funny! ;¬)

The Virtual Dubliner • Eric Clayton Heard's • VLog HD 2.0.9 • 8.20.2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaKn4YC5nVw

Eric's good friend Raggy Ragsdale also made a short tribute video. As musicians, they had so much more to talk about with each other, and an unspoken understanding of what drove them both. My thoughts are with you, too, Raggy. I know you have lost a dear and valued friend.

A Friend has Died. Eric Heard, Billy Bob Kickarilla Cash Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OZFzuRvowQ

Eulogy for Eric - (Part One)

DaithiDublin 2013-09-23 | Part Two: http://youtu.be/RwbUUsX69Mg

Eric Clayton Heard has had a hand in something you have probably sung along to at one time or another. Just what that might be is impossible for me to say. I only met him long after that part of his life had finished, and he never tried to take credit for any of it.
His alter-ego Billy Bob Kickarilla Cash Jr. was all the evidence I needed to back up the claims he never made! I worked as a sound engineer for several years in my early twenties so I had some small insight into the things he did in that RV. My admiration for his achievement, especially in light of the horrendous (nightmarish) condition he suffered, is beyond estimation. I went through some pretty soul destroying pain myself as I lost my teeth, but even at that I had periods of relief. Enduring intense pain like that without hope of relief is something I can scarcely imagine.

Links and further details can be found in the description box of part two.

Video Response: How do you use Google?

DaithiDublin 2013-08-28 | Google requested a video response, so here's mine.

This is a response to (and currently awaiting approval):
How do you use Google? (by /user/Google)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNFf44pWuL8

If you want to voice your protest to the plan to remove video responses, then don't bother responding to each other - no-one will ever notice. Perhaps if we all responded to Google's own YouTube channel then at the very least somebody may be made aware of our objections.

From YouTube's official Creator & Partners blog explaining the 'sunsetting' of video responses:
"...you can continue to encourage fans to upload videos with specific titles, hashtags or descriptions (e.g., Video Response To Taylor Swift's Video "22"), so you can find these by searching for them. If you want to highlight them, you can use playlists and channel sections instead of displaying these videos below yours. Any video responses you or your fans have made will still be available and discoverable."

Several points about that. First off, this concept that we are all 'fans' seems so sophomoric and juvenile, and borderline insulting. Secondly, simply putting 'video response' in a video's title might make it 'discoverable', but that's just not the same. Tag video series, competitions, ongoing conversations, creative projects are all reliant on video responses actually appearing under one specific video. Having to specifically search for a video is an incredibly ineffective alternative. The example given, from Conan O'Brien (Video Response To Taylor Swift's Video "22") has over 1 million views - and *IT IS A VIDEO RESPONSE*, not simply titled as one.

All the examples YouTube ever seem to give are of channels with subscriber counts in the millions or at least the hundreds of thousands, and the videos normally have similarly enormous view counts. This is incredibly unrepresentative of the common experience of all but a tiny minority of YouTube users and channels. It is these big channels that are unrepresentative. As one commentor pointed out, only 1% (insert accurate figure here) of YouTube users ever upload a video, should that function be removed, too?

The ordinary users who contribute to those large figures are the very people who *do* make use of the video response function. Large channels and users don't. What made YouTube great and successful was the ordinary users who made, watched and shared videos and built communities around them. If that created a platform for large channels to generate high viewing numbers, and therefore a source of revenue for Google, then that's great. Betraying those ordinary users can't be good policy, however. Only last month Yahoo! outperformed Google in searches, for the first time in 5 years. People *will* look for alternatives if you make too many changes to a winning formula. YouTube is enormous, but that doesn't mean it can't lose some of its relevance and begin its decline to irrelevancy.

I'm not suggesting that this one issue is likely to do anything like that, just that we're not frogs in boiling water here. If the water gets uncomfortably hot we'll just find another pot.

It might be that there is some incredibly effective alternative to yideo responses that YouTube has in store, but there's nothing to indicate that yet. If there is one, then just bloody tell us, and stop interfering with video creator's ability to drive engagement. The overwhelming majority of users do nothing more active on this site than click play and leave comments. What will they watch and comment on when the small video creators leave or stop producing the few videos where *their* views and comments are recognised? A comment on a Jenna Marble video, for example, will stay on screen for approximately 10 seconds. Even these non-video making users of YouTube will soon lose in interest in that.

You know what? I'm stopping here, because I could go on and on about this topic, but I'm afraid that the only people who will read are those who feel the same as me. The chances of anyone in a position of influence in Google actually reading or responding to this is vanishingly small. But how I'd love to be proved wrong.

The creator blog can be found here:
"http://youtubecreator.blogspot.ie/2013/08/so-long-video-responsesnext-up-better.html

Music:
Easy Lemon, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?feels[]=Bright&Search=Search+by+Feel

Im sorry, David Randall Curtis (poem)

DaithiDublin 2013-08-28 | There's only one way to apologise to a poet.
Transcript, info & links below.

For those who don't know him, David Randall Curtis is your next favourite thing. You can find him here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DavidRandallCurtis

The music in this video comes from the excellent (and self-taught!):
http://www.youtube.com/user/NAUDORDS

HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN BLUES by Naudo Rodrigues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6yjyT-rHSs

Briefly, David put out a video 2 months ago, selling off the last copies of his book, 5 HOURS IN THE DARK. I got in touch with him and promised to buy a copy. I just needed to wait a week or so until I had the cash to spare. A lot happened in that week. Most of it would fit nicely into a Neil Simon play, or a nursery rhyme about horses, nails and kingdoms.
In other words, life doesn't have to try very hard to bamboozle me, and I'm often singularly incapable of un-boozling the bams. One day I'll figure out why. I just have a dread feeling that it will be my last, and my final sounds will be "Aha!" and "Doh!"

David's book video:
DRC poetry book 5 HOURS IN THE DARK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPuZPK0yqug

I'm sorry, David Randall Curtis
--------------------------------------

I made you a promise I never kept
but it has been something that
turned around in my head as I slept
dreaming of failure
and regret.
I'm sorry, David Randall Curtis

I promised you I'd buy your book
oh, to have that book
would be like
a kiss from Gordon Ramsey
to a cook
I'm sorry, David Randall Curtis

I promised you enough for a fix
and all I delivered was another
dollop of life's hard licks
I left you dry
but unfortunately not high
know I didn't do this for kicks
I am sorry, David Randall Curtis

I won't bore you with the facts
explaining away my negligence
with a deficit of tact
I am just disordered
in the way that I act

So I'm sorry, David Randall Curtis
for trust betrayed
by payment delayed
drinks undrunk and
joints unmade

And if you're sold out
well, that's my look out
I'll still proceed as previously agreed
if only to put my own conscience at ease
but for the sweet love of Jesus
don't waste it on things that you actually need
or you'll be the sorry one,
David Randall Curtis

Some Comic Verses (6x1)

DaithiDublin 2013-08-20 | A few (of my) favourite comic rhymes. Transcripts below.
For MrAndroidThePoet.
Go on, give him a click:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrAndroidThePoet

ANT AND ELEPH-ANT

Said a tiny Ant
To the Elephant,
'Mind how you tread in this clearing!'

But alas! Cruel fate!
She was crushed by the weight
Of an Elephant, hard of hearing.

-Spike Milligan
http://www.poemhunter.com/spike-milligan

MASHED POTATO/LOVE POEM

If I ever had to choose between you
and a third helping on mashed potato,
(whipped lightly with a fork
not whisked,
and a little pool of butter
melting in the middle...)

I think
I'd choose
the mashed potato

But I'd choose you next.

- Sidney Hoddes
http://www.paulcarey.net/Music/Play_With_Your_Food.htm

OF PYGMIES, PALMS AND PIRATES

Of pygmies, palms and pirates,
Of islands and lagoons,
Of blood-bespottled frigates,
Of crags and octoroons,
Of whales and broken bottles,
Of quicksands cold and grey,
Of ullages and dottles,
I have no more to say.

Of barley, corn and furrows,
Of farms and turf that heaves
Above such ghostly burrows
As twitch on summer eves.
Of fallow-land and pasture,
Of skies both pink and grey,
I made a statement last year
And now have no more to say.

- Mervyn Peake
http://www.mervynpeake.org/poet.html

THE HERO

Slowly with bleeding nose and aching wrists,
After tremendous use of feet and fists
He rises from the dusty schoolroom floor
And limps for solace to the girl next door
Boasting of kicks and punches, cheers and noise,
And far worse damage done to bigger boys.

- Robert Graves
http://www.poemhunter.com/robert-graves

TOO FAST TO LIVE, TOO YOUNG TO WORK

I'm the James Dean of the dole queue
You've got to admire my cheek -
Trying to work out how to live fast and die young
on seventeen-fifty a week.

A legend in my own cubicle
All alone, not one of the mob
I'm the James Dean of the dole queue
A rebel without a job.

- Mark Jones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqaqGCyl2Kw

THE PRETTY YOUNG THING

A pretty young thing from St. Paul's
Wore a newspaper gown to a ball.
The dress caught on fire
And burned her attire
Front page, sporting section and all.

- Anonymous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3uvukT3R4Y

Life in the past lane (AnekantaFred via Earl)

DaithiDublin 2013-08-01 | I totally forgot to say 'Hi' to everyone. Forgive my rudeness gents, and y'know.. ..hello. ;¬)

The path to here begins with Anekantavad:

Suicidal Existentialism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMtoYhjCU3M
And it meanders through video responses up to the point Fred breaks the chain with:

How Long is Good?
youtube.com/watch?v=VOycijmR64w

Earl responded to that video and this one is a response to Earl's video, not because it fits but because you can make it fit if you want to, and I wouldn't have made this without it.

Confused?

Welcome.

Paedophiles - From the Pews to the Tubes

DaithiDublin 2013-07-06 | Now, before we start, we need to face some hard facts: we're not going to be able to ride into town like John Wayne and just clear out the paedophiles. It's not going to happen and anyone who thinks they can do that is just codding themselves. It won't happen.

If we're to remove this kind of behaviour from YouTube the approach will have to be a little more circumspect. These men have found in YouTube a loophole in the restrictions that have been put in place to control their online presence. If they don't break YouTube's Terms of Service or Community Guidelines in any way, they can't be legitimately flagged, and that makes it unlikely that any legal route outside of YT can be brought to bear on them.

We need tools to remove them from this site. The easiest permanent option is to petition for YouTube's own rules to be changed. With a few good amendments to the ToS & CG's we'd have those tools. I don't think it would take a great deal of convincing to get those amendments put into place. The problem with the system as it stands is that you are required (quite rightly) to supply YouTube with some supporting evidence for your claim that a channel or user is breaking the rules. This amounts to one or all of three things:

Comments the user has made on videos.
Comments the user has made on channels.
Videos the user has uploaded.

By not engaging in any of these activities these paedophiles are exploiting a loophole in YouTube's policies. The broader problem, as I have discovered over recent days, is that all of the other online reporting tools also use online forms for reporting. They require that the issue being reported falls into certain categories of behaviour that are covered by whatever laws the body in question are bound by.

There are several hot button offences, such as soliciting, or attempting to meet, or sending obscene content to a child. All of the sites I tried for info on reporting these guys only had those options, among others, and no scope to report activity outside of those criteria. What these paedophiles are doing doesn't fit their model, and I think they are using that as a loophole to openly keep in touch and share videos. Who knows what could be going on behind the scenes with PM's, private videos, YouTube hangouts?!

I don't think YouTube is even remotely prepared for that possibility, and it looks like nobody else outside of YouTube has considered it yet.

The channel I was able to get removed, GOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES, was operated by a user called venascortantes1690. He amassed a large following, and an enormous favourites playlist with videos of both boys and girls, from toddlers to teens.
Like the other paedophiles being examined, he did not break the three golden rules listed above. But he slipped up. I managed to track down only 2 comments that he had made in the past three years, and one of them was enough to have his channel removed. In the 'additional information' section of YouTube's 'Report Abuse' form I laid out my concerns about the user, and the cumulative effect of his behaviour in compiling his playlist.

I filed my abuse report under the Child Endangerment option. I'm sure that this kind of report is red flagged and a real live human being assesses the claim. No automatic flagging system in place here! YouTube employees are human beings, just like you and me. And if these people who abuse our site are brought to their attention they can be trusted to do the right thing.

It is a matter of bringing the channels and users to their attention. Unfortunately, as it stands this can only be done in a very few circumstances. I will list two channels below that are very obviously paedophiles. The first one, DaddiPedo has never made a comment, or uploaded a video. He cannot he flagged in any way that I have discovered, yet. The second, PaidophilosET, has made two comments in the past year. I will link both the videos these comments appear in underneath his channel. This user has (and has had) many other channels. I have a strong suspicion as to the identity of this user's main channel, with which he regularly comments on political matters.

youtube.com/user/DaddiPedo
See this user's playlists to see what the problem looks like on YouTube.

youtube.com/user/PaidophilosET
This user also compiles playlists, and has commented on the following videos:
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=wX52FIXLeYI
youtube.com/all_comments?v=_X1vpALjZ_s&page=1

Other users can be found by following the trail of subs. This is a tough problem to solve and any advice, help or suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Suicide Survivor (2/2)

DaithiDublin 2013-06-30 | These aren't deep thoughts. They don't fit the standard model for talking about suicide. If I seem to be in good humour it's because I was. It was a lovely, sunny morning.

Whenever suicide is handled in the Irish media the coverage alone would cause a depressive episode in the happiest of people. This comes from a grave mistake. It presumes that all suicidal people are permanently suicidal. It comes from the belief that sombre music, black and white photography and muted, understanding voices are essential for compassion. In fact, it's both patronising and ineffective.

Many suicides occur in moments of despair, with no advance warning. In many cases the individuals themselves failed to anticipate the danger they were in. But that isn't a useful narrative for the media. A depressed person, slowly loosing touch with life and falling deeper into a depressive state is a much more interesting story arc.

By focusing reportage only on those people who fit that category, many potential suicides fail to recognise the dangers they are in. Waking up on the day I made my own suicide attempt, that possibility was as far from my mind as you could possibly imagine. I woke up hopeful, and one day closer to my plans for travelling to India a few weeks later. I would finish out the month somewhere on the road to Goa.

That's not to say that I was struck out of the blue by events beyond comprehension. I was in financial difficulty; I had lost a successful career; I had lost the love and respect of family and friends, and I had accomplished all of this with selfish abandon. But that very selfishness insulated me from worrying too much about any of those problems: it was going to see me right in the end. I was certain of that, and in time all of those problems would pass.

Nothing could have convinced me that I was not up to the job of handling my problems, or that one minor argument would sweep my feet out from under me. How was I to recognise the danger I was facing, when all I knew of suicide was that the media told me it was the end point for depressives, and that folk wisdom told me it was the last refuge of cowards? I was neither.

Suicide is not a simple subject to handle, but reducing it to stereotypes ignores the glaring fact that its causes and signs are as varied as the people who find themselves overtaken by it.

Grave Concerns (1/2)

DaithiDublin 2013-06-30 | Part two:
Suicide Survivor (2/2):
youtube.com/watch?v=3Tq10LY76gM

Blame Earl Portland for inadvertently encouraging me to post this topic-hopping ramble about life, death and YouTube. I'm still restricted to 15 minutes (9 months and counting), so I've had to split this and there's a part two which is a smidgen more coherent and on-topic.

I'll try and fill in *some* of the gaps here. I want to stew a little more about agnosticism, so while taking a little break from that subject I decided to see if I could finally decide on a format for my response to yesimsandw1ch's 'Do Something' tag video which tackles the subject of suicide. While researching that I was thinking about reasons for living, and the various meanings people have for life. So I returned to the video by FeetToeBandito that I've always been fond of. It's a simple but honest video, by a plainly likeable man. I'd found him while looking at '2 Girls 1 Cup' reaction videos a few years back. His one really made me laugh, and led to a very memorable night of Tube-surfing as I watched his other videos and followed links to his friends.

Partway through that night I discovered he had died several months earlier. I found that profoundly moving for some reason and I subscribed to his channel, perhaps out of a desire to 'reward' his friends for keeping it open. It has survived several YouTube culs of inactive channels, so on that basis I'm guessing somebody still maintains it. I find something romantic about that notion, so I visit there from time to time.

Watching his 'Meaning of Life' video again last night, where he sits by his parent's grave I thought about my own dad's grave, and the fact that I hadn't ever been back to it, or those of the many people I know who are buried in the same graveyard. I thought also of a recent video by Earl where he advised a young YouTuber about overcoming vloggers block. Drawing those strands together, and without giving any constructive thought to it, I took my camera to the graveyard and began hunting for my dad's grave. It was only a little after 8am, and the office that could have given me directions to it wasn't open yet. This was no bad thing, as I could then wander aimlessly through the avenues and just see what there was to find.

When I saw the inscription on the grave by the rear wall it was like the hand of providence had led me there. So I sat down and just started rolling, taking Earl's advice. And so this jumble of loosely inter-connected thoughts fell out. There were connections to be made between these different ideas, but my internal auto-correct acted against it. I'm the guy who keeps interrupting his own story with cries of "Oh, I must tell you this first.." and as a stream of 'firsts' tumble out none make it to a second.

I'd really like to do more of this, hopefully with a view to improving! Hitting record still seems to put a filter on my thoughts. While trying to make sense I find myself leaping from one tangent to another, trying too hard to select the good ones and all too often leaving one unfinished or undeveloped while I hop on the next available idea.

It might be that I'll never get the hang of it. Or perhaps some ideas are just too taxing for me. Maybe this suicide video is giving me trouble because I've yet to resolve my thinking on my own suicide attempt. Answering those questions might be easier if I just post and be damned, and at least I'll have something to reference back to in the future. For my own benefit if for nobody else's.

The Meaning of Life - A video response (by FeetToeBandito)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLtaSOUOeGg

"Do Something" - PSA (by yesimsandw1ch)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKZXuOsc3iA

Coffee with Earl; Lampshade (by Earl Portland)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZCtDfrCRK8

The Mark of The Least

DaithiDublin 2013-06-26 | Not really a celebration, as such, just a figure I couldn't let go by without mentioning. No doubt by tomorrow the figure will have dropped back down to 658 or something. That's my subscriber count for you, up and down like the Assyrian empire!

Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. - Matthew 25:40

Fighting Tyson - Part 2: Common Ground?

DaithiDublin 2013-06-20 | Is agnosticism becoming a 'Get Out of Atheism Free' card? Are atheists alienating non-believers by their conduct?

Links below:

I've canvassed several friends recently, none of whom have any religious inclinations, about where they stand on the religious/atheist debate. The most I could get (and only from one or two) was something along the lines of, 'I suppose I'm an atheist, but I wouldn't call myself that because I don't want people to think I hate religion or have anything against religious people'.

Others had no idea what agnosticism was, but on reading a few lines off Wikipaedia were happy to call themselves agnostic. They were happy, not because they had found a philosophical match for themselves, but because with it they could excuse themselves from the pro / anti religion debate while appearing to have given it the thought they had no inclination of sparing.

The figures for atheists returned in national census reports seems at odds with the prevalence of non-belief. Far more people avoid the debate than take part in it. I wonder at that discrepancy and what accounts for it. I think it is accounted for not by any lack of conviction on the subject, but by a dislike for the perception of atheism. Some of the blame for that perception belongs with those reporting it in the media, but much of it must be laid at the feet of atheists themselves. The burning question is how do we address that problem?

Tyson talks agnosticism:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Atheist or Agnostic? (Big Think)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzSMC5rWvos

The Agnosticism of Neil deGrasse Tyson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0jLb9ooXgM

The Sound of Another Hand Clapping (response vid)

DaithiDublin 2013-06-06 | Well done Stuart, that deserves a semi-circle of applause! :¬)

Response to:
The Sound of one hand clapping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhIIaiEAVfQ

Fighting Tyson - Part 1: Asense or Nonsense?

DaithiDublin 2013-06-06 | I respect and understand Neil deGrasse Tyson's desire to distance himself from atheism, but I have to call him out on his reasoning.

Tyson talks agnosticism:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Atheist or Agnostic? (Big Think)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzSMC5rWvos

The Agnosticism of Neil deGrasse Tyson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0jLb9ooXgM

Music
Artist: Roy Budd
Track: Getting Nowhere In A Hurry (instrumental)
Album: Get Carter Soundtrack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEFLyvTsAqs

Artist: Air France
Track: No Way Down
Album: No Way Down EP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV6DaTQUy5g

Videos

W C Fields - The Temperance Lecturer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9kTBGZlcYQ

Conscientious Objector
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdJiJ53TexI

Bill Hicks on Smoking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD8bsfggCuo

Mum, I'm... a Vegetarian - John Bishop's Britain - Series 2 - Episode 2 - BBC One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-NyB_pbsE8

Abstinence Panties?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyzTlJedQYE

Links
The Pioneer Total Abstinence Organisation
http://www.pioneerassociation.ie/

War Resisters' International
http://wri-irg.org/from-off.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Resisters_International

Advocates for Youth
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/index.php

Virginology (the lunatic fringe!)
http://virginology.org/virgins-until-marriage.eu

Non-Smokers Rights Association
http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/cms/page1380.cfm

Can you add to this list of words? Tell me in the comments, please:
Teetotaller, Temperance, Vegetarian, Vegan, Virgin, Celibate, Abstinence, Non-smoker, Conscientious Objector, Pacifist.

There Wont Be Blood

DaithiDublin 2013-06-01 | In which I give blood. Or do I?

Links:

Irish Blood Transfusion Service
www.giveblood.ie/

Viking Splash Tours of Dublin
http://www.vikingsplash.com

Daniel O'Connell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_O%27Connell

The Spire
http://www.visitdublin.com/Asset/See_and_Do/The_Spire

So You Wanna Know What Jesus Would Do, huh?

DaithiDublin 2013-05-12 | Just some fun with Google images that distracted me from the other video I was supposed to be working on.

Easter Mishap - Jesus Falls Off Cross - Crucifixion Fail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYOXpDFCipU

Track: The Hanged Man
Artist: Bullet (Alan Tew)
http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=pn5dmg8tgs

I saw the crucifiction fail video just minutes after listening to this song from the excellent, second 'Later Lounge' compilation. Kudos to anyone who owns a copy, they're a must for fans of kitch cool. I'm definitely one of those! ;¬) All of these images came from a handful of google searches (funny jesus, stoner jesus, etc,) but an awful lot of them, no matter where I found them, have come from the excellent and hilarious:
http://jesus-everywhere.tumblr.com

This started out as a play around on Windows Movie Maker (yes, I *still* use it.. ..running on XP. What's it to ya?), but I got such a kick out of it I decided to post it. For those who have never posted a video but think they'd like to, this is an easy thing to do. Trust me. You could put more effort into making a point than I have here, but the nuts and bolts of a video like this are well within the grasp of anyone with a laptop or PC/Mac.

If anyone would like to know exactly how to put together a simple clip like this, drop me a PM and if I get enough I'll post an unlisted video to this one. If I only get a few PM's I'll answer them as they come.

On Copyright:
Obviously, I own none of this material. I make no profit from it, and offer it up in the form of parody for the purpose of education. This tips the balance in favour of "fair use" as permitted by: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. I realise no profit, monetary or otherwise, from the exhibition of these videos.

Im supporting DerivedEnergy because it could be me

DaithiDublin 2013-04-29 | Petition:
change.org/petitions/government-east-jakarta-indonesia-free-kirk-elliot-neville

News report on the arrest:
http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/briton-arrested-in-indonesia-over-drugs-5

I may not have much time for Kirk, but 12 years (the maximum sentence) is too much time for a crime I could easily be guilty of myself. I feel helpless, and not incredibly hopeful, but if all I can offer him is support then I see no harm in trying.

If you do sign the petition, I think the consensus definitely seems to be to avoid any inflammatory remarks. He's in a hole, we need to throw him a rope not a shovel.

An Honest to God Resurrection! - Part 2

DaithiDublin 2013-03-20 | Yes, I do know that St. Patrick's Day was the 17th. And, yes, I know that that was Sunday, not Saturday. I can also (on good days) reliably tell 'up' from 'down'. As I slowly integrate myself back into society I fully expect my attention to such details to improve.

Tetris Shelving Project

DaithiDublin 2013-03-18 | Yes, this is how I spent my Saturday night. Don't judge me.

Tetrix, Tetris.. ..as if I know the difference!

All music by the incomparable Herbie Mann

'One Note Samba' from the LP 'Brazil Blues' (1972)
'Ekunda' from the LP 'Returns to The Village Gate ' (1961)
'The Night Before' from the LP 'Today!' (1967)
'Skip To My Lou' from the LP 'Our Mann Flute' (1966)

An Honest to God Resurrection! - Part 1

DaithiDublin 2013-03-16 | Attempting to relate the recent past and hoping the tangents lead somewhere useful. It will be a few hours before I can reply to comments as I'm a man on a mission today!

yesimsandw1ch's channel. Go sub, yada yada yada.. ;¬)
http://www.youtube.com/user/yesimsandw1ch

"Do Something" - PSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKZXuOsc3iA

Viooz film streaming site
http://viooz.eu/year/

Nice to be back :)

Bravo, Montana!

DaithiDublin 2013-01-29 | Status update 2/5/2013:
http://laws.leg.mt.gov/legprd/law0210W$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_DFT_NO5=LC0599&Z_ACTION=Find&P_Sess=20131

National Center For Science Education YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NatCen4ScienceEd

For the identities and credentials of the Bill opponents:

Testimony against Montana's creationist bill, HB 183
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX9QYMWsFzY

Montana Creationism Bill Has a Dull Hearing
http://sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/montana-creationism-bill-has-a-dull-hearing

Protect Montana public schools from creationism
http://ncse.com/taking-action/protect-montana-public-schools-from-creationism

Session video link:
http://leg.mt.gov/css/Video-and-Audio/avsearch.asp?vbill=HB183

Clayton Fiscus, Montana GOP Lawmaker, Wants Bill Requiring Teaching Of Intelligent Design
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/clayton-fiscus-montana_n_2197827.html

All clips used for the purpose of reportage.

Tasteless Joke (Tag)

DaithiDublin 2013-01-23 | I Tag the following:

http://youtube.com/user/deepashtray
http://youtube.com/user/MacNutz2
http://youtube.com/user/fluffymcdeath
http://youtube.com/user/SiriusMined

And OK, I'll give you the phonetic lesson from my channel page:

Dáithí is the Irish form of David. You don't pronounce the 'th' and it doesn't begin like 'day'. Here's the breakdown: it's like the word Dot, but take away the T and replace it with He - DoHe (not too slowly, but nice and quick-ly)

Increase The Quiche! (poem)

DaithiDublin 2013-01-22 | Losoyo recently made the preposterous claim that "Everybody hates quiche"!!
With this poorly considered remark he set off an international crisis that has brought us to the brink of destruction. This, is the mother of all Gates. And with this video I attempt to call on him to stop hostilities, before it's too late.

Increase the Quiche

There's as certain avian ovarian delicacy that's been the root of a lot of turmoil in the community. Recently. I call it that not to be PC, but I've only got 50% of the teeth a human needs.And quiche is hard for me to say, but it's easy to eat.

I'm stuck for words to express my perplexity, that such a simple dish has caused all this unpleasantry. How can something so soft and velvety throw up these dark clouds of bitternes and enmity?

Take it from me, with the proper Recipe, even Losoyo would agree, Quiche is not the enemy! So I'm appealing for clemency, and I'm asking Losoyo to clear up the discrepency and admit that he simply typed accidentally.

Perhaps he has never faced a plate holding a quiche baked as it's supposed to be baked?
If he could only taste that crumbly base into which those heavenly ingredients are placed, he would realise he had acted in haste and his judgement was misplaced.

So for the sake of our salvation and in the hope of avoiding any further unnecessary conflagration, despite my difficulty with a lot of this intonation, I propose a potential resolution to theis situation.

In an attempt to head off these animosities, I offer you Losoyo - and no other parties, this proper quiche recipe of which this is the only copy

The only condition I place is that you keep this to yourself and your tool in it's case!

because

This culinary alchemy
Must remain a mystery
Or else the Uber tasty pastry
Derived from this recipe
Could be lost to posterity
Or a similar iniquity
A comestible calamity
A blot upon reality
Inflicting a nutritional
Travesty on that wondrous
Eggy Majesty!

So, that's it. And I hope we can reach an agreement. Yes, you could call this rhyme a Pastiche

And yes! I'll admit it was compsed Under the influence of hashish

You can give me the beady eye
But you can't deny: I'm passionate
About my bloody Quiche!

Praise These Us! (poem)

DaithiDublin 2013-01-16 | This is a video tweet response for Andr0idThePoet. It comes in at 123 words, comfortably within the 140 word limit. It's challenging and fun, you should try it!

Music by my good friend Billy Bob Kickarilla Cash Jr:
Welcome To The Machine • Pink Floyd Cover • Square Tube, Round Heart Mix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTMsXM3Yo2A
Go subscribe. Like, yesterday!

Praise These Us!

These us walk on water
These us were born in a manger
These us raise up the dead
While these us confronted the moneychangers

These us turn water into wine
These us keep the multitude fed
And these us will take us into space
Leaving Jesus for dead

These us cure leprosy
These us help the blind to see
And these us enable the mute to talk,
The deaf to hear, and even, the paralysed to walk

We have taken the impossible
And we've made it happen
What we now call miracles
Will one day become ordinary

Our achievements never entered the godmaker's dreams
We have praised their gods long enough
It's now time to praise ourselves
And the redemptive power of our own minds

Videos used:

Brainiac Science Abuse-John Tickle Walks on Custard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkS1ymQ73oc

Cardiac Science Defibrillator Saves Takahiro Ono on Bondi Beach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjdUMrlqEPE

Occupy Wall Street: the story behind seven months of protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFOWci6yrSs

Kanonkop winery and vineyards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32RgZdG_nx8

Ethiopia food crisis - why the British Red Cross needs your help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7D0HA5Woas

NASA TV: Mars Curiosity Landing. JPL Control Room. Spine-chilling!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c69DwCpeW88

7 Minutes of Terror: Curiosity Rover's Risky Mars Landing | Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2I8AoB1xgU

Leprosy: treating disease and caring for patients
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPneqphn1_Y

Scientists develop 'bionic eye' - The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9473387/Scientists-develop-bionic-eye-which-could-restore-sight-to-the-blind.html

Bionic eyes benefit the blind
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2003/07/59634

How Stephen Hawking communicates?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbHygyExIIk

29 years old and hearing myself for the 1st time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsOo3jzkhYA

Berkeley Bionics: Introducing eLEGS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcM0ruq28dc

CERN in 3 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wtUr3iVVIw

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVjF_7ensg

Stunning Footage from Space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDEmtWLwMOM

Jesus Is Stupid

DaithiDublin 2013-01-08 | I'm doing a bit of a bdwilson job here, none of this is my work. I'm just the weaver.
But I love this montage, and wanted to share it.

Video credit (with original soundtrack)
:
Jesus is Stupid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By3YN68pRlI

From the following channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bigmentaldisease

There's some deadly videos on that channel that my Irish subs will get a laugh out of. The rest of ye might scratch your heads. But that's OK.

Music credit:

Composition - Dance No.1 in F Sharp Minor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zlQ4kfeJ3g

This is an original recording from the excellent CheekyVimto08
http://www.youtube.com/user/CheekyVimto08

He's more than your average YouTube atheist! Scroll further back into his archives to find a treasure trove of original music.

The clip at the end comes from this video shot on the mean streets of Dublin. Using the audio from this exchange has become a hilarious meme here, with people attaching it to any number of movie and TV clips, or setting it to music. Whereas you might have been told to relax or chill out a year ago, in Dublin at least, you'll now be told "Ah here, leave it ou'

Skangers get a kicking on Talbot Street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv-4f_rvqsA

Skanger is kind of like redneck, or maybe 'white trash'.

My First Hitchmas

DaithiDublin 2012-12-15 | Hitch minus two.

Hitch's 2005 Slate article:
Bah, Humbug
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2005/12/bah_humbug.html

The song at the end is titled 'Goddamit Hitch'. I don't know the name of the artist who recorded it. She had a channel on YouTube that had this song as the only upload, with an accompanying video. It has been a regular on my playlists for the last year and a half since I first discovered it. I had intended to include that entire video as the ending to this one, but the user has removed (or made private) the video. I have PM'd the channel in question about my use of the song, and hope that there is to challenge to it. It's an amazing tribute, isn't it?!! However, I must accept that if there is a challenge then I will have to take down this video. So, in the meantime, enjoy...

Subscribers Are Not Your Friends

DaithiDublin 2012-12-09 | Finishing this video was a blessed relief! ;¬)

(please read the description)

Apologies for the choppy jump cuts on this video. I filmed about half an hour's worth of material but had to cut it down to under 15 minutes. I tried to keep the essence of what I was trying to put across, but it ended up as a condensed version of an abridged Reader's Digest treatment of what I wanted to say. But, it is what it is.

Unfortunately pennyfret has closed her channel. You can still hear her rendition of Pink Floyd's "Is There Anybody Out There?" as the backing to this video.

My 'Take a Fence' video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2KrVAtfkQM

Two channels with Playlists worth keeping on file:

The Four Horsemen of Atheism:
(Playlists for all things atheist, scientific & sceptical on YouTube)

http://www.youtube.com/user/dwknsdnntthtchnshrrs

Tales from the Hootersville's crypt:
(Playlists of full length films and TV episodes. Lots and lots of horror, but everything else besides. I've never failed to find something worth watching any time I've gone there. Including some surprisingly recent films. And, yes, there's titties too. Feel about that how you will. The guy's only the archivist!)

http://youtube.com/user/realhellhole

And as he was mentioned here, also go and check out the man who introduced me to Pennyfret:

Unworshipediety
http://www.youtube.com/user/Unworshipediety

Bray Head Cross basket ball hoop:
http://www.braypeople.ie/news/bray-head-hoop-mystery-3014048.html

And finally, to the memory of an old man who died this week; to the memory of a good friend to one of my friends; to the memory a man I know absolutely nothing about aside from his views on religion, but whose death has left a gap in my friend's life that we beautiful strangers can help to fill just by being here, and by taking part in the ongoing adventure that is the simple act of sharing: I ask you to raise a glass of your favourite tasty beverage (be that stout, beer, whiskey, vodka, jagermeister, redneck high tea, gin, poteen, coca cola, tea or even coffee), and drink your own toast to Mr. Edwards, as he returns to pieces.

Atheist Census: please take part (mirror, spread, etc)

DaithiDublin 2012-12-07 | http://www.atheistcensus.com

If you have already submitted your details and validated the email then your information has been counted and retained. If you submitted but did not get an email request for validation, then check your inbox before you go and re-submit your details, as validation emails are still being sent out from applications made before the DDoS attack.

From the site FAQ:

1. What is Atheist Census?

Atheist Census is a project to count and collect demographic information on the world's atheists.

2. What are the objectives of Atheist Census?

Atheist Census aims to build a picture of the world's atheists -- where they are, their genders and ages, their education and religious (if any) background -- and use that information to demonstrate the presence and importance of atheists in societies around the world.

3. Who is behind Atheist Census?

Atheist Census is a project of Atheist Alliance International (AAI), a global alliance of atheist/freethought groups and individuals. AAI's website is www.atheistalliance.org.

4. What will the information be used for?

Aggregated to the country level, the information collected by Atheist Census is freely available through the Atheist Census website so that atheists can demonstrate their presence in their own countries. AAI would be pleased to discuss other uses of the information with like-minded groups or individuals.

Coddle is a Doddle!

DaithiDublin 2012-11-30 | My variation on a traditional Dublin dish, Coddle, standard fare of the Dublin working class for centuries. (See below)

While it is so very simple to make and therefore practically impossible to screw up, I did use too many potatoes this time. Half as many would have been perfect. That much potato, simply halved instead of quartered as I did here, will give you something more like the 'proper' Coddle my mother makes, with a much thinner liquid body to it. But, as I said, even this tasted mighty. A perfect dish for either lazy or busy people (ideal for students!). And don't let the phallic appearance of the sausages put you off!

If anyone knows of any variations on this dish from those strange lands that exist beyond the confines of Dublin, I'd love to hear about them. Also, if you try it be sure to let me know how you got on.

A Hell of an Offer: Accepting Pascals Wager

DaithiDublin 2012-11-29 | Pascal's wager:

Even though it is not possible to know whether or not God exists, it is better to behave as though he does. If you live and behave as though God exists and you are right, you gain eternal life. If, on the other hand, you live your life behaving as though he exists and you are wrong, then you have lost nothing.

There is also the implication that by ignoring the wager and living your life as though God does not exist only to discover you are wrong, then you lose everything and will face eternity in the fires of Hell.

In this video I present a third option.

Music: Herbie Mann

You Never Give Me Your Money, Album: London Underground
Never Can Say Goodbye, Album: Push, Push

The Irish Blasphemy Law

DaithiDublin 2012-11-26 | Ask an Atheist's interview with Machael Nugent, Chair of Atheist Ireland, regarding Ireland's blasphemy law and the advocacy group's activites in general:
http://askanatheist.tv/2012/11/25/blasphemy-in-ireland

Michael Nugent's personal blog:
http://www.michaelnugent.com

Brief Wiki-intro to the participation of Catholic Archbishop of Ireland John C. McQuaid in the drafting of the 1937 Irish Constitution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Charles_McQuaid#.22Co-maker_of_the_Constitution.22_1937

Monty Python's 'Stoning'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk

Fair Use intended.

Playing With Razors

DaithiDublin 2012-11-24 | Movember unplugged...just shavin'!
(links below)

This is just a little fun, and seeing as I very rarely get to see my hairless face I thought I'd like to get it on the record.

Go sub:
fluffymcdeath - he's so much more than a hairy face.
http://www.youtube.com/user/fluffymcdeath

Music at start:
Laying Pipe, by Pornosonic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c_STKjrN_g

Music at end:
The Lonesome Boatman, by Roisin Dubh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kl-BiYhCCw

Injustice (Andr0idThePoet: Tag Response)

DaithiDublin 2012-09-20 | Specifically tagged
Unworshipediety
Eric Heard
fluffymcdeath
rozeboosje

Generally tagged:
You

Ray Bradbury is DEAD & E. L. James is ALIVE
Gerry Rafferty is DEAD & P. Diddy is ALIVE
Hal David is DEAD & Yanni is ALIVE
Peter Falk is DEAD & Chuck Norris is LIVING
Neil Armstrong is DEAD & Pat Robertson WALKS THE EARTH

But it's not all bad news...

Kylie is ALIVE & Anna-Nicole Smith is DEAD
Louis C.K. is ALIVE & Osama Bin Laden is DEAD
Stephen Pinker is ALIVE & Oral Roberts is DEAD
Aung San Suu Kyi is ALIVE & Kim Jong-il is DEAD

The good don't always die young, but the bad *always* die.

Music:
Yesterday - Herbie Mann

Casting an Aspergian

DaithiDublin 2012-09-06 | While some anticipate the end of the world in 2012, I'm thinking about a better future. One step at a time.

Crossing the Rubik on Numberphile

DaithiDublin 2012-09-02 | Numberphile Rubik's Cube videos:

God's Number and Rubik's Cube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF2J39Xny4Q

Rubik's Tube (or YouCube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tivvYl8ZRvA

Numberphile channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/numberphile

Brady Haran's website, with links to all of his channels and videos:
http://www.bradyharan.com

What have you learnt on YouTube lately?

Take A Fence

DaithiDublin 2012-09-01 | A penny for your thoughts...

Original video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIQMZieao-A
Pennyfret's channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pennyfret

Go Subscribe!