Negative Energy Eradication Stone

My sister-in-law's acting debut. She's the one with long hair.

Cure for AIDS?

Gambian president claims to be able to cure AIDS.

Sometimes Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

The first international football tournament for Catholic priests and seminarians is set to kick off in Italy on Saturday. This follows on from statemnts made by a senior cardinal that he would like to see the Vatican field a professional team in Serie A (Italy's top division). However, we won't be seeing the giallobianchi any time soon after the same cardinal quickly played down his previous statements.

I can't help but feel that the Clericus Cup has been inspired by the classic Father Ted episode 'Escape From Victory', which featured the All-Priests Five-a-Side Over-75s Indoor Challenge Football Match between Craggy and Rugged Islands. Rugged Island's star player, I seem to remember, was an elderly Italian priest.

Life is about to imitiate art when a five-a-side football tournament will decide which island will host the upcoming Friends of Ted festival.

Super 'Keeper Wins Dublin Gooners' Player Of The Season Award

The Arsenal's super goalkeeper, "Mad" Jens Lehmann, is pictured here with the Dublin Arsenal Supporters' Club's Player of the Season for the 2005/6 season. "Super Jens" was magnificent last season and may be in contention for the current campaign's award, although other players may challenge him for this honour.

Lehmann has been reported as saying that we wishes to leave the Arsenal at the season with a possible move back to Germany. I'm a big fan and would hate to see him go, although my heart still skips a beat when he comes rushing out of his area! Thankfully, he doesn't do this too often anymore. I'm not convinced that he would be easily replaced. Despite some recent solid performances in the cup competitions, I don't think "Fawlty" Manuel Almunia is good enough to be first choice 'keeper, and Mart Poom hasn't played at this level for some years. I've heard that Wenger is interested in signing Scott Carson who is currently on loan from Liverpool at Charlton Athletic. He has many admirers, but I haven't seen enough of him to make any sort of judgement. So, Jens, please don't go!

New Language Emerges In Cameroon

A new language for linguistically divided Cameroon has begun to emerge, so that schoolchildren can more easily communicate with one another. More than 250 indigenous languages are spoken and both English and French are official languages. Many speak only one of the official languages, so one way round is to speak a mixture of the two, which has led to the emergence of Franglais.

While I can be a bit of an English language purist, I don't see anything wrong with bending a few linguistic rules if it aids communication. Languages aren't frozen in time. They evolve and change to meet the needs of their users. If they didn't, we'd still be grunting and pointing at things.

I read that English as we know it developed out of a pidgin language that came about when the Anglo-Saxons encountered Danes living in the north and east of England (the Danelaw). While Old English and Old Norse shared some similarities (they were both Germanic languages), they weren't mutually intelligible. In order to make communication more easy between the two peoples, English lost many of its inflections and began to develop its more rigid word order during this period. Some Old Norse words worked their way into the language. For example, the third person plural pronoun they. Also, much of English's vocabulary is derived from Latin via French, which was a result of the Norman Conquest. A right mixture, indeed.

God Save The Queen To Be Sung At Croker

There has been much debate about the upcoming Six Nations clash between Ireland and England at the home of Gaelic games, Croke Park, affectionately known as Croker. There are some that believe that the hallowed turf shouldn't be violated by the detestable foreign games that are soccer and rugby. There are also some who are happy to share Croker with the "garrison games", but draw the line at hearing England's national anthem, God Save The Queen.

These armchair republicans find the thought of it an insult to those who died in Ireland's struggle for independence. What appears to rankle with them is Bloody Sunday when, on 21 November 1920, British forces opened fire on the crowd at a Gaelic football match between Tipperary and Dublin at Croke Park after 14 British agents had been earlier assassinated by the IRA. This resulted in the deaths of 14 people, including the Tipperary captain, Michael Hogan, after which the Hogan Stand is named. More died later that day. I've heard that that Republican Sinn Féin are planning a protest outside Croker on Sunday. Let's hope things don't turn out like the protests against last year's 'Love Ulster' parade. There has been some talk of Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, of laying a wreath before the game. While it may be a noble gesture, I don't really think it will help that much, and there is also some opposition, particularly from unionist circles.

Personally, I think it's ridiculous that we're having this debate. We're talking about events that happened over 87 years ago - before my grandparents were even born. There is no denying that the British did some reprehensible things. However, one has to put them in the context of the time. Britain, of which England is the main and driving component, was an imperial power at the time, and didn't do anything worse than its counterparts (although someone out there, I'm sure, will give example!). I'm not condoning what they did and Bloody Sunday was an unfortunate act, but it's time to move on.

So what's all the fuss about then? What exactly do some people object to? Here are the lyrics to God Save The Queen in full:

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen.

Not in this land alone,
But be God's mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world o'er.

From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O'er her thine arm extend,
For Britain's sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the Queen!

George is magnanimous,
Subjects unanimous;
Peace to us bring:
His fame is glorious,
Reign meritorious,
God save the King!

From France and Pretender
Great Britain defend her,
Foes let them fall;
From foreign slavery,
Priests and their knavery,
And Popish Reverie,
God save us all.

The fourth and sixth stanzas are questionable, to say the least, and the last is downright anti-Catholic. However, only the first and third stanzas are generally sung, and I can't see anything particularly offensive about them. There didn't to seem to be a problem when God Save The Queen was played for many years at Lansdowne Road. Many also seem to forget that many Ireland rugby fans are from a Protestant unionist background and probably won't mind it - some may even stand! I've even heard that it was played at Croker at the 2003 Special Olympics. I think that we should extend the courtesy of playing the national anthem of the visiting team, regardless of whether it is England or not. Should we take exception to the playing of Das Lied der Deutschen (the German national anthem) when the German football team visits later this year because the first stanza was used by the Nazis, and it fitted in with their expansionist plans?

That being said, I hope the courtesy ends there, and that the Boys In Green give the English a good pasting!

Cargo Cult Lives On In South Pacific

Apparently, the cult grew out of opposition to the oppressive rules of Christian missionaries.

Baader-Meinhof Gang Member To Be Freed

Brigitte Mohnhaupt, a former member of the Baader-Meinhof gang, is to be freed on probation after serving 24 years for her involvement in kidnappings and murders in the 1970s.

At Last! A Thesis Proposal!

For those of you who know, I am currently doing a part-time Masters in International Relations at Dublin City University. After months of procrastination, I have finally come up with a thesis proposal. I have decided to do a thesis on the role of language policy in state-building. Rather than type it out again, I've pasted the main idea below:

"Language is an important component of ethnic identity and, in many cases, often determines it. This thesis will theorise that language policy is a key element of state-building. Many new states actively pursue a policy of linguistic assimilation in order to create a coherent national identity, particularly if they possess large linguistic minorities. Linguistic policies can take the form of constitutional and official arrangements, and whether or not particular languages can be used in the public domain, e.g. the courts, the primary language of instruction in the education system, etc. Israel will be the subject of study, as it is a perfect example of a relatively new state that contained a number of ethnic and linguistic groups at the time of its creation in 1948. Focus will be on the part the revival of Hebrew played on the creation of a coherent Israeli national identity."

I want to do a thesis that I think is original and one that interests me. Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that I am fascinated with languages. It may not be an easy thesis to write, as there is information out there, but it may be difficult to draw it together. Also, some of the literature may not be in English and my Hebrew doesn't stretch much further than shalom, kibbutz and Knesset. Let's hope my thesis supervisor thinks my idea is a runner.

San Marino 1-2 Republic of Ireland

Phew! Talk about leaving it late. It was 3 more Euro 2008 points in the bag, but what a shite performance. Most of our players play in the English Premiership, whereas San Marino possess only one professional who plays in the Italian Third Division. They were seconds away from gaining their first ever European Championships qualifiers point. I know we were missing a few players through injury, but we played with a lack of urgency and the finishing was terrible. The players didn't look like they knew what they were supposed to do, which points to bad management. I won't be packing my bags to Austria/Switzerland just yet.

Some of you may be pleased to know that England lost to Spain 1-0 in a friendly at Old Trafford. However, I’m not allowed to be, as I’m married to a Brit.

Lithuanian Jews Revive Yiddish

I've read that although Yiddish is a Germanic language, it has borrowed heavily from Slavic and Baltic languages, particularly its eastern dialects. This, along with the language's Hebrew and Aramaic elements, make it almost incomprehensible to German speakers.