Dublin Pride's Youtube Channel

Remember how the Hedgehog brought you the news about the Gay Map of Dublin, courtesy of the Gayglers? Well the Boys and Gals were also developing a Youtube Channel for people to upload video during the event to make it a truely interactive event.


You can see the Youtube channel at here. The guys and gals at Dublin Pride have kicked things off with the posing of a challenge of "What does Pride mean to you?".

Currently there is some interesting commentary clips from people at the Launch of Dublin Pride in the Mansion House yesterday. Have a look at the first clip of the girl from the George!-plain simple and to the point. :-)

Liked it?

Nominate it.

The DLR Experience

Image via Wikipedia

Well it is coming up to that time of year again. Yes you are right it is Referendum time. *sigh* it seems like only yesterday when we voted in the last referendum on the EU Constitution, then the bleeding Damn Dutch and French rejected it! Bah. Anyway I will not be making my opinions known on Lisbon just yet-It will happen in the near future, I promise.

However back to the story at hand. I will be living in Dublin for this referendum, which means of course that one has to change one's electoral vote to the infamous (for many reasons) Dun Laoire-Rathdown County Council electoral area. So in order to change my address, I called Corporate Services in DLR this morning and they were most pleasant. I shall have to wait for her to send out the supplementary electoral register form, fill it in, get a guard to sign and stamp it and then send it back to DLR. Relatively straight forward I hope.

I do however have a reason for this post, mainly to remind people-ie students or otherwise-who have moved since the Electoral Register was compiled last January to get in contact with their local county council and change their vote to their new area. As the Referendum will be held on the 12th of June 2008, you have up to 14 days prior to that to get registered and get your names on the list, which means that Thursday the 29th May is the last day for it. If you don't have a change of address, You can check the electoral register from the web to ensure you are still on the list at the Dept. of Local Govt's website or alternatively you can view the register at any County Hall or Library.

Fianna Fáil Fundraising.

Ok, now I am not going down a "Bertie-bashing, FF-bashing, Govt-bashing, Party-bashing, economy-bashing" route with this post. I just wanted to point out the irony of something I came across on the Fianna Fáil website.

Below is a copy of an image for the Superdraw, which will generate income for FF HQ, via Cairde Fianna Fáil. No problems with that. It's legit.

The irony I find in this is the BMW series 1, which is offered at 1st prize. Now if I was to win this car, which I could not because I am not a member of Cairde Fianna Fáil, I would be a right cranky person, when I got the car and realised it was above 1.6l. Then I would remember that all 1.6L cars Motor tax went up by the Government, whose main party(Fianna Fáil) coincidently are in part both benefiting from the purchase of the ticket for this draw (€50), but also receiving a continual tax revenue from this car, and the 2nd & 3rd prizes in motor tax for the next 10-15 years. Now thats what I call putting the country before profit.



Source:Fianna Fáil website

Youth workers criticise alcohol advertising code

Youth workers criticise alcohol advertising code
07/11/2007 - 14:11:17

Youth workers are today criticising the alcohol industry's voluntary advertising code, saying it is too weak and is not being fully adhered to.

The criticism follows a report by the Alcohol Marketing Communications Body, which has identified a number of breaches of the code.

The complaints include cinema advertising, screening of ads in the morning and insufficient information on advertisements.

Youth Work Ireland says the code is too liberal and allows ads to be aired at inappropriate times when young people are tuned in.

It wants the Government to honour its promise to legislate in the area if the industry's voluntary approach failed to work.

Source: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhmhojojmhau/

The Road Safety Authority's new Safety Measures:

So the RSA finally has grabbed the Government's balls and forced them to act even moreso than the paying of lip service to the issue, which has been the norm hitherto, on the Road Safety Issue. The measures which they have announced on Learner drivers are pretty standard run of the mill measures, which could have been introduced a long time ago, given the political will necessary for example After failing a Driving test, applicants were able to drive away from the test centre! I should know I did it twice myself.
Did I feel guilty about that, maybe. Did it stop me driving my car. No. Because why? It was not an offense to do it & I was not breaking the law (I was also on my second provisional license as well, which meant I could do it legally without a fully licensed driver!). However One thing I am glad about all this, is that I am no longer a Learner driver anymore so this does not affect me majorly in any way!
HOWEVER in saying that, complacency is a driver's worst enemy & just because you have had your license for some 50years, 25 years, 2 years, 2 minutes, is no reason for the flouting of legislation & road safety advice.


------------------------------------------
Government announces crackdown on learner drivers
25/10/2007 - 19:17:28

Learner drivers who flout laws on travelling unsupervised were today warned they face hefty fines in a major road safety crackdown.

Provisional licence holders must have a fully qualified driver of at least two years experience in the car with them from next Tuesday, under the new provisions.

There are presently around 420,000 provisional licence holders in country.

The measures form part of the Government's latest road safety strategy which it vows will prevent 400 deaths over the next five years.

While 126 specific actions were outlined in the plan - all with built in timeframes between now and 2012 - an expected imminent reduction in the drink driving limit has yet to be decided.
[.................]

Gay Byrne, RSA chairman, said the new measures were necessary as inexperience was one of the major causes of road accidents in Ireland.

"It's absolutely statistically true that the 17 to 26-year-old male - and it's a male problem, not a female problem - are among the most dangerous drivers on the road," he said.

"Because young men suffer from a disease which can only be described as '17 to 26' - that is the disease in itself."

Contd: http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/?c=IRELAND&jp=mhmhmhqlaukf&d=2007-10-25


-------------------------------------------

Also


Learner drivers' cars to have speed restricted
25/10/2007 - 20:30:23

Technology will be installed in every car used by a leaner driver that will cap its power, under plans unveiled today.

Road safety chiefs want to limit the acceleration or capacity of engines being used by inexperienced motorists as part of a crackdown on road deaths.

Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), said that once the right device or technology is found new laws will be brought in to make it mandatory.

“We are searching to find the most appropriate way of limiting the power of a car – that already happens for motorcycles,” he said.

The road safety chief said bringing in restrictions on car engine size for learner drivers alone was too simplistic.

“That wouldn’t work and that would have all sorts of issues for our community,” he insisted, at the launch of the Government’s five-year road safety strategy.

“What we have to find is the mechanism to limit vehicles, mechanically or otherwise, that keeps people as safe as possible without denying them access to [safety] features that are on bigger cars.”

Mr Brett said research is already under way to find the most appropriate way of stopping inexperienced drivers getting behind the wheel of powerful cars.

The technology is also likely to limit anyone else using the same car.

contd: http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/?c=IRELAND&jp=mhmhmhqlauey&d=2007-10-25