November 2007 Archives

Digital fingerprint will come into play in the near future, as soon as a few months away. This will mainly concern people who are living in Ireland but are neither from EU nor an Irish citizen.

It will apply to all non-nationals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) -- the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway -- who are registering to live here. The fingerprints will be put on their registration cards. Tourists will continue to get a stamp on their passports.

The AFIS captures and stores palm prints, as well as the traditional 10 fingerprints, making it easier for forensic experts to match smaller marks taken from crime scenes.

(From Indo online: Full article)

Yay, finally, all routes normal again. (Now I can get more buses to DCU.)

Finally, it can be done. Getting married in approved places like hotels can finally be done now. Well, before it was at the civil registry discretion whether they allow it, but now folks can get married anywhere, well under "fixed structure"...

This rules out beaches, mountain tops and marquees.

I was getting a lift from a friend after a practice session for our radio assignment in DCU, when she drove onto Parnell Street. At the cross-roads, all I saw was neon lights with lots of Chinese letters in front of us! It was just like driving into Chinatown. Heh, was very strange indeed.

I should have taken a picture. Maybe I will next time. It will have to be evening time to catch the full effect.

From RTE News, further confirmation of Dublin Bus strike tomorrow: Dublin commuters face disruption

Due to industrial action by bus drivers in Harristown Bus Garage, services operating from this garage will be disrupted on Monday 12th November 2007.

The main areas which will be affected are Finglas, Swords, Ballymun, Blanchardstown, Donabate, Portrane, Dunboyne, Littlepace, Tyrrelstown, Damastown, Portmarnock, Kinsealy and Kilmore.

The following routes will have NO service:
4, 13, 13a, 17a, 27b, 33b, 37x, 39x, 39b, 40, 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d, 70x, 83, 102, 105, 127, 129, 142, 230, 237, 238, 239.

The following routes will have a LIMITED service:
27x, 37, 38/a, 38c, 39, 41, 41c, 41x, 43, 70/a, 270

All other services will operate as normal.

For more information click here or phone 01 8734222 on Sunday 11th November between 12noon and 22.00hrs and on Monday 12th November from 6am.

Check out the pictures shot by this guy.

But this one from the BBC News site is even better, see for yourself.

It's a joke. Homeland security are tightening entries by Irish visitors. So for all those going for a cheap xmas shopping trip to NY, be prepared!

It is now likely to be replaced with a new system called "Electronic Travel Authorisation", much like the controversial "Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening" that was introduced on internal flights in the US two years ago.

If the system were introduced here it could mean that anyone who shares a name with someone imprisoned for IRA or other terror group offences, could be stopped from boarding flights. Thousands of people could be affected.

Now, didn't I say it is crappy now! Hopefully more information will come along about this new security measure.

In the coming weeks see price hikes of tinned tuna, baked beans, dairy produce, wheat (which means bread is included in this. Dominos Pizza will be increasing their prices this week because of this) and fruit juices (my family and I consume so much fruit juices).

This was all due to the weather being too wet, too cold, too hot, flooding and increase in prices of dairy products.

Great, just great. *notes of sarcasm there

Ireland's Anti-Racist Week will from 5th November to 11th November.

In Limerick, there will be a few seminars taking place for both employers and employees. An information booklet "Newcomer’s guide to Limerick" will be launched by the mayor on Wednesday, November 7th.

(From Limerick Post)

The booklet will be available in several languages including Polish, French, Mandarin, Portuguese and Czech as well as several other Eastern European and some African languages, and will contain essential information for recent immigrants from finding out about local schools and churches to accessing health care.

For more info, click here

Via americanbornchinese.wordpress.com, this link to an audio clip on the discussion panel on discussions between ABCs and Chinese immigrants.

Some of the concerns rings home true for me here as well, e.g. I had to speak Cantonese at home when I was young. My brothers and cousins are lucky enough to speak English in front of our parents. One of the things that I would be thinking of would be, when I have kids, will they be fluent in Cantonese? I want them to keep part of their culture. Apart from talking to my mother, I don't want my kids to grow up and think that we did not teach them Chinese (written and/or oral). I see that from what I see in the IBC forums that some teens are kicking themselves for not taking to learning Chinese culture seriously. Maybe it seemed too old fashioned, been told by your parents to do things almost always means the opposite for teens. Everyone has been through these phases.

For those who are lucky to learn Chinese, you are the lucky ones. Go to HK, and see the difference from being able to speak the language. The traders are not as despicable. This perhaps applies for all other languages as well.

One mother commented that she is finding it hard to convince her teenager that it's good to learn Chinese, and the one answer that stumped her was "So?!?". I hate that kind of apathetic reply, but that's teenagers for you though. The fact that he kept saying that Japanese keeps coming out with cool stuff does not help her argument at all.

I wonder if anyone who reads this blog, or check out the forums, the experiences by the people who spoke in that clip, does that apply to you as well?