Movember...

I am all for good causes, and this is one.

Prostate cancer is a killer of men, and it is killing us in ever-increasingly large numbers. Early detection is key. Any man who is 40-years-old really should consider getting checked out. Movember, the month formally known as November, also raises funds for depression.

Movember started in Australia. It has already spread to a number of other countries, including the USA, The Netherlands, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, Ireland and Spain. Each of these countries has an official Movember. However, there is plenty of informal support in most other countries throughout the world.

So, if you can get involved, then you should. Men's health is important too!

By the looks of things, I am off to Target to buy a T-Shirt.

Maybe I should post photographs of the facial hair...then again, maybe not!

Hmmmm...

A change of pace. I figured that a photo to make you smile would make an interesting change from what I have been posting of late; for you and for me.

This photo was sent to me as part of an Irish joke. It also included a sentence about it being a 'real' photograph. I am always a little weary of real photographs and the internet. The cold hard reality is that there are some real masters out there of the technology and software who can manufacture 'real' photos.

I cannot make the writing out on the street signs so the photo could really be anywhere. Maybe someone recognizes the buildings or the signs. Supposedly the footpath is the one outside the Royal Hospital in Belfast.

It is kind of funny and put a smile on my dial. People really cannot be that silly can they? Those bollards, at least one of them, must lift out and then can be replaced and then locked, right?

Oh well!

Sprite or Guinness Anyone?

Apparently, this TV ad for Sprite (not sure about the Guinness one though) has been banned!

I wonder why?

I found these videos over at this site. I have included some tags to this post that are designed purely to push up my visitor stats (I will let you know if it works in a postscript).


EMBED-Banned Sprite commercial - Watch more free videos



EMBED-Guiness Good Times - Watch more free videos

Ryanair and Vertical Seating

Ryanair are the masters of self-promotion and generating publicity. This is irrespective of whether it is a raunchy calendar of barely clad female cabin staff or suggesting that it is time for pay-as-you-use toilets on aircraft.

So, in keeping true to form, Ryanair has indicated that it is in talks with Boeing about modifying some of its future aircraft orders to incorporate the concept of "vertical seating". To the rest of us this will become known as the standing section of the plane.

Ryanair is Europe's leading budget carrier. So, in that sense the idea makes sense. Standing room only should to all intents and purposes let them cram more people onto a plane and therefore improve profits.

The idea of vertical seating is that there will be a pole or some kind of small stool to lean against according to Stephen McNamara, Ryanair's spokesperson on this one. However, the reality is that it is likely to be more of a standing position than a sitting one.

On short haul flights, this is probably an interesting avenue to explore. Nevertheless, it would seem that the whole rationale of this idea would be that buying a standing room only ticket would have to be cheaper than a traditional seat. If it is not, then why bother to pay the same or more to stand?

I wonder what is next on the Ryanair cost-cutting agenda?

But, for now, it is "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will soon be landing at Birmingham Airport, please return to your standing positions and fasten your standing belts, thank you! And, thank you for flying with Ryanair!"

Justice Michael Kirby -- Criminalizing HIV

Australian High Court Judge Michael Kirby has spoken about the growing pressure on States to criminalize the transmission of HIV. Justice Kirby while addressing a criminal law conference in Dublin was speaking about the rising rates of HIV infection in Australia and the pressure to see those that transmit the virus punished.

It is Justice Kirby's view that criminalizing the transmission is going to have a a negligible effect on transmission rates, if any effect at all. The idea of criminalizing the transmission of HIV is likely to be counter-productive as this would be best described as a punitive measure.

The money that the State is likely to have to throw at this to make the policy of criminalizing the transmission of HIV would be better spent on research and development that leads to a vaccine and eventually a cure.

The fact that HIV is no longer the immediate death sentence it once was because of significant advances in the effectiveness of antiretrovirals and other drugs has meant that people have become much less cautious in protecting themselves. Perhaps psychologically the idea of a chronic illness is more palatable and less scary than rapid progression to death from an AIDS related illness.

I know Justice Kirby and I once wanted to clerk for the man. Justice Kirby has lost friends to the disease. So, in that sense he has a personal perspective on this.