Yesterday evening, Joe Higgins a leading member of the Irish Socialist Party and the Committee for a Workers International gave a press conference in Santiago.

The Press Conference took place at 19.00 hours, in the TallerSol Cultural Centre, in the ‘Barrio Brasil’ in downtown Santiago - a well known rendezvous for artists, filmmakers and cine and arts lovers.

Joe explained that the team of the Irish language (Gaelic) TV was in Chile filming about the current political and social situation in Latinamerica, following the journey of Che Guevara through the continent. But Joe Higgins, in the name of all his team, also expressed his solidarity with Elena Varela, the Chilean journalist and author of ‘Newen Mapuche’(Mapuche Strength), who was arrested while she was filming another project about the struggle of the Mapuche people. The Irish TV team requested the immediate release of Elena Varela and her film material. Joe announced the launch of an international solidarity campaign, with this purpose, with the participation of the organizations and members of the Committee for a Workers International. source cwi

From 26 September 2008 onwards all battery retailers will be required to take back, free of charge, waste batteries including rechargeable batteries including those incorporated into electrical and electronic equipment and/or battery packs. Any person depositing waste batteries at the premises of any battery retailer will not be obligated to purchase any product or products from the retailer concerned. more.

a years supply

Brian Greene asks
why no wind up remote controls? no wind up! a shake of the trolls and there is enough power to beam a tiny IR signal 12feet!
will shops take back mobile phone batteries? no. but phone shops should.
what batteries are safe to dispose of for land fill? none
why not operate a money back scheme? like the soft drinks glass in the 1970’s
will new ipods have removable batteries according to this directive?

BBC ALBA TEST- service begins mid Sept 2008 on 12seconds.tv
[media network] [wikipedia entry]
Location: 28.2 deg east 11.954 GHz Horizontal SR:27500 FEC:2/3 Label:6736

Today is gonna be the day the DTT Trial ends. RTE point people to Aertel 169 for more details.

What was the trial? it tested MPEG2 DTT in Ireland to a closed audience on about 1000 homes, what format will DTT in Ireland be? MPEG4. The Trial did test MPEG4 on one of the MUX but in the main the test was of MPEG2 multiplex. MPEG4 is of higher quality and better spectrum efficiency. The MPEG4 in Ireland will be DVB-T1 MPEG 4 (afaik) and the UK will adopt DVB-T2 MPEG4 when it introduces MPEG4. MPEG4 signals from RTE from August 4th will not work with digital ready TV sets unless they are MPEG4. Most STBs for DTT & integrated digital tv tuners are compatible with the trial that ends today but are not MPEG4 ready. see article below re same from a few weeks ago in SiliconRepublic.

RTENL say

RTÉNL will commence DTT engineering test transmissions during the week commencing 4^th August 2008. The system will operate with MPEG4 encoding only and is in accordance with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland’s (BCI) requirement that DTT receivers should support MPEG4 in its Guide to Submissions for DTT Multiplex Contracts (see www.bci.ie). Please also see ComReg documents 07/90a & 07/90b at www.comreg.ie . The Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources trial used both MPEG2 & MPEG4 encoding. Standard UK “Freeview” type set top boxes will not be able to decode these test transmissions.

bold added by me

Consumers warned TVs may not be ‘digital ready’

11.07.2008

Irish consumers thinking they are buying digital TV sets capable of handling digital TV may end up with defunct technology as digital terrestrial TV DTT, when it launches, will be on a new MPEG4 standard, it has emerged.

At present three consortiums – Boxer DTT comprising BT and Swedish broadcaster Boxer Group; OneVision consortium including TV3, Eircom, Setanta and technology firm Arqiva; and EasyTV Limited consisting UPC and RTÉ – have been shortlisted by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland BCI for the three DTT licenses that will be awarded later this year.

Until lately, DTT trials in the Dublin and Dundalk areas have been based on the MPEG2 standard. However, a move to MPEG4 will allow providers to offer high-definition television and other interactive services.

The move to MPEG4, while described by broadcast enthusiast and web developer Brian Greene as showing foresight, will make most people who think their TVs will be ready for digital TV see their investment ruined.

“Anything on sale in Irish TV shops that claims to be ‘digital ready’ will no longer be after 31 July when RTÉ switch to MPEG4.

“As DTT in Ireland will be minimum standard MPEG4, all UK TVs that are Freeview-ready will be obsolete in Ireland as they won’t get a Freeview signal and Irish DTT will not be compatible.

Greene said when analogue TV is switched off at the earliest at the end of 2012 or by the latest 2015, the leftover spectrum should be used to allow for parallel broadcasting of MPEG 2 so that people’s investments will be safeguarded.

Greene said it’s important that organisations ranging from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to BCI, RTÉ and various consumer bodies should be warning consumers not to buy products in the mistaken belief they are optimised for DTT just because they say ‘digital ready’.

“The state should warn retailers not to sell pig in a poke TV sets. If the set is not going to be Digital Ready MPEG4, then stickers should be removed and shoppers should be warned that UK digital TV sets will not work here,” Greene warned.

By John Kennedy

1972: today I found the old family Pong game so I had to find a 1980’s TV for the 70’s game& a ‘72 song for pong http://qik.com/video/143324

There is a challenge of integration in Ireland and dealing with racism is part of that challenge.  The case of Teboga Sebala has highlighted this challenge.  The Gaelic Players Association is totally opposed to racism in the game and in society.  We welcome the GAA’s statement yesterday as we feel it is important that the appropriate measures are taken to address this issue in terms of penalties while also working to address racism through education and promote integration within our games.

We are part of the Show Racism the Red Card campaign which has the support of players in GAA, Rugby and Soccer.  Racism should not be tolerated in any part of the game by spectators, players and volunteers.  If it is not dealt with, we will fail in our efforts to promote integration.

Co-ordinator of Show Racism the Red Card Mr Garrett Mullan said: ‘Racism is unfortunately experienced by as many as one in three immigrants and one in two immigrants from African countries in Ireland, according to an ESRI report in 2006. We have been working with all of the players bodies in Ireland to promote integration and to use players to educate and promote a positive message.

Chief Executive of the Gaelic Players Association, Mr Dessie Farrell added:  As a players body we condemn all forms of racism. We welcome the GAA and the Carlow County Boards pro-activity with regard to this incident. The GPA has been working closely with Show Racism The Red Card for the past four years and both the GPA and its members have supported the release of an educational DVD pack featuring players from all codes,  which was distributed to schools last year in an effort to educate children and young adults. We will continue to work and support the campaign to show racism the red card.

Both the Gaelic Players Association and Show Racism the Red Card are available to support any club in  dealing with this issue. Show Racism The Red Card has made contact with Eire Óg and will be running an initiative at the upcoming county final.

www.theredcard.ie www.gaelicplayers.com

Patricia Callan, Director of the Small Firms Association said in a press releases Ireland has the second highest National Minimum Wage (NMW) within the EU. The rate of €8.65 per hour is more than twice that of the United States, the largest economy in the world and 19% higher than the UK, our nearest competitor. It is thirteen times that of Bulgaria.

SFA - Press Releases.

but corruption in Bulgaria makes Irish corruption look tame.

The European Commission is to decide on Wednesday whether to block massive sanctions on Bulgaria for failing to tackle corruption. According to sources in Brussels, the Netherlands, France and Britain have taken the initiative to block hundreds of millions of euros in EU funds.

According to the Euranet programme, the sanctions could top 600 million euros. “When Bulgaria joined the EU last year, doubts arose whether the country would be able to tackle corruption. There have been few signs since then that any concrete steps have been taken.”, says editor Caroline Dijckmeester.

dotBG says “Perhaps the Small Firms Association who do justice to the acronym SFA should bugger off to Bulgaria where there is obviously a euro or two to be made on the exploitation of workers and more via corruption”

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let’s see it decommissioned & shut! and made safe. learn the lessons & move on to better cleaner power even if it is safe clean & atomic.

THE 100 MOST BEAUTIFUL FACES OF 2008 #66