National Concert Hall Christmas Lunchtime Concert

Many thanks to everyone who attended the ASITS trip to the The National Concert Halls Lunchtime Christmas Concert on Wednesday December 10th, the concert was entitled "A Russian Christmas" and featured the RTE Orchestra and special guests

I think everyone who was there will agree that it was a great success and a really enjoyable festive treat. We regret that due to limited tickets a lot of our members were dissapointed but we will be organising more events of this kind in the future and we look forward to seeing a s many of you as possible there.

Dail Eireann Visit

A big thank you to Chris Andrews TD and his assisstant Lynda for all their help in organising two tours to Dail Eireann for ASITS during the month of December. In all almost 40 members got tour the beautiful government buildings and sit in the public gallery. Once again due to a huge interest in this tour we hope to be running this again in the near future, we will keep you imformed of this and other outings in the pipeline.

Spanish Computer

Spanish Computer

By John Fernandes

Submitted by Eamon Henry

A Spanish Teacher was explaining to her class that, in Sapnish, unlike english nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

"House" for instance, is feminine: "la Casa."

"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."

So, a student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer"should be a masculine or a femine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The mens group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la Computadora"), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("el Computador"), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can,t thinkk for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realise that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

THE WOMEN WON.

Show this to all the smart women you know....and all the men that have a good sense of humour.

By John Fernandes

CHILDISH NOTIONS ABOUT INQUESTS AND HANGMEN
Verses by Eamon Henry. 5 August 2008

PREFACE: As a young child in the 1930s, I formed several wrong ideas about the awful things that happen. These wrong ideas I organized to form lurid pictures of significant occurrences. The first piece of verse below, composed about 1975, is entitled “The Inquest”. If a person were found dead, this might result in an inquest involving a coroner, a jury of seven men, and a verdict, all happening in the local pub. A man might have a great heart, and yet also have a bad heart, resulting in a coronary, relating to the coroner, who did major surgery on the corpse, with the jury looking on. An outcome could be a “corned heart” which might possibly be like corned beef.
The second piece of verse below, also composed bout 1975 and entitled “Smoked Shoulder”, is about bad men getting severe punishment later. The hangman could do butchery on the corpse, leading to “smoked shoulders”. The cannibalistic outcome of the latter I found myself unable to stomach!
THE INQUEST:Strong men hard-hatted seven stood in Farley’s bar in broad daylight.Enough red whisky they imbibed, to sober them and make them right.Impeccable in frock-coat calm they wait the Coroner with bag.The corpse laid out on table-top says not a word of blame or brag.
Officially he sets to work with pincers, hatchet, saw and lance.He corns the heart, coronary! He then cuts out the eyes that glance,the bloody brains, the puddings all, the liver, lights and kidney-clot.The seven men are watching close to quite ensure he corns the lot!
He puts the pieces back inside and stitches up the flesh and skin.His work complete, he turns now to hear the Verdict from the men.The Foreman of the Jury speaks the right reply: “A work of art!”In childhood, thus my notion was, of Inquests, Juries, corned heart !


SMOKED SHOULDER:
He cut two ladies into lumps, and sent them off in travelling-trunks.The hangman had him at the end. He stretched a neck and lost a friend!
The hooded hangman, capped in black, cut up his corpse and sold the back.The shoulders, hung on hooks in town, were dried and smoked till yellow-brown.My mother brought a shoulder home. ‘Twas smoked and brown and long-time dead.I thought it came from hangman’s hook. “It is a pig” is what she said.

The Mirror
Submitted by Angela Hickey


Each year my mirror seems much older,
Somewhat duller and a fraction colder,
The glass which always gleamed and twinkled
Now appears all scratched and wrinkled.

Appears more blotchy, tired and droopy
Confused and haggard, dazed and loopy
Sadder, slower, grimmer, glummer
I think that I’ve been sold a bummer.!!!!!


I found this little gem among my late Mums belongings and I feel it tells it’s own tale.
It all depends on how we look after that mirror.

REFERENDUM RESULTS, ACTUAL AND POSSIBLE
A note by Eamon Henry. 22 July 2008

This short discussion offers a statistical (regression) analysis of the Irish (12 June 2008) Referendum results, of voting on the Lisbon Treaty. For a turnout of 53.1 percent, there was a NO vote of 53.4 percent, implying a YES vote of 46.6 percent.
Readers not familiar with statistical analysis are asked to accept “on faith” the results presented below via “Simple Regression” analysis of YES percentage as depending on TURNOUT percentage across all 43 constituencies. The next paragraph gives results in technical format. There follows a non-technical discussion. The actual Yes and Turnout percentages, by constituency, are given as an appendix table below, having been extracted by me from the Irish Times of 17 June 2008. The “Data Desk” software package has been used by me to give the regression results shown below.
I first present some simple results. Of all 43 constituencies, only 9 gave a Yes result above 50 percent. Of these 9, five were in the Dublin-Dun Laoghaire area, including Dublin South East constituency, which had a 61.6 percent Yes for a 49.6 percent Turnout. The regression results are as follows (and rather technical). For a fairly loose-fitting Rsquared of 15 percent, a highly significant (99 percent probable) positive coefficient emerged, namely an average 0.779 percent Yes extra for every 1 percent extra Turnout. This coefficient has a “standard error” of 0.289. Based on an assumed “Normal distribution” background, we can have about 95 percent probability that in repeated referenda of similar voter behavior, a lower limit Yes connecting coefficient is given by the average coefficient 0.779 stated above less twice the standard error value 0.289, that is a value 0.201 (given by 0.779 less twice 0.289). What this means in practice will be explained in what follows, as illustrating how to project or estimate results for non-voters supposedly voting.
We first apply the regression average coefficient to the non-voters supposedly going out to vote, as per each extra 1 percent of the electorate (across all constituencies). Call this the “naïve” assumption. A connecting coefficient of 0.779 rounded to be 0.8 indicates that an extra 5 percent turnout would give an extra 4 percent Yes. In other words, 58.1 percent turnout (actual 53.1 plus 5.0) would yield 50.6 percent Yes (actual 46.6 plus 4.0), namely a Yes majority.
By contrast, let us apply a “lower-limit pessimistic” connecting coefficient of value 0.201, as derived above. To obtain an extra 4 percent Yes would now require an extra 20 percent Turnout , via connecting coefficient now only about 0.2. In other words, a 73.1 percent turnout (actual 53.1 plus 20.0) would yield 50.6 percent Yes (actual 46.6 plus 4.0), namely a Yes majority.
It is clear that a larger (than 0.2) assumed connecting coefficient would require a smaller (than 73 percent) turnout to obtain a Yes result larger than 50 percent. These results are interesting, in providing some “parameters” regarding possible voter behavior in a repeat performance.

Appendix: Lisbon Treaty Irish Referendum (12 June 2008) Results by Constituency.

Constituency Yes Percent Turnout Percent
Meath East 50.9 50.7
Laois Offaly 56.0 54.3
Kildare North 54.6 51.5
Clare 51.8 52.5
Dublin North 50.6 55.3
Dublin NorthCentr 50.6 61.1
Dublin SouthEast 61.7 49.6
Dublin South 62.9 58.4
Dun Laoghaire 63.5 58.8
Dublin West 47.9 54.5
Dublin NorthWest 36.4 52.9
Dublin NorthEast 43.2 57.2
Dublin Central 43.8 48.8
Dublin MidWest 39.6 51.7
Dublin SouthCentr 39.0 51.6
Dublin SouthWest 34.9 53.6
Donegal NorthEast 35.3 45.7
Donegal SouthWest 36.6 46.5
Sligo Leitrim 43.3 52.6
Cavan Monaghan 45.2 53.4
Louth 51.9 53.4
Mayo 38.3 51.3
Roscommon.Sth. Leitr 45.6 56.9
Longford West Mth 46.3 51.4
Meath West 44.5 51.9
Galway west 46.1 50.00
Galway East 46.9 49.8
Wicklow 49.8 60.8
Tipperary North 49.8 58.5
Limerick East 46.00 51.4
Carlow Kilkenny 50.0 50.9
Kildare South 48.5 48.7
Limerick West 44.6 51.8
Wexford 44.0 52.8
Kerry North 40.4 51.3
Tipperary South 46.8 55.4
Waterford 45.7 53.4
Kerry South 42.6 53.1
Cork North West 46.1 55.6
Cork East 43.0 50.6
Cork South West 44.4 55.3
Cork South Central 44.9 55.0
Cork North Central 35.6 53.4

A Story to tell.
Submitted by Angela Hickey

Hi to one and all at ASITS, at Terenure Enterprise Centre.
This is my first time trying to use the Blog so bear with me please.

Sunday the 13th July, I was up very early, and was delighted to see the SUN SHINE!!
Thankfully it wasn’t Friday the 13th as I was leading a walk for my walking club in Dalkey and Killiney Co, Dublin.

As this was my first time to lead a walk for my club since my illness three years ago, I was really looking forward to a nice walk, in an area I love to walk in.

When I arrived at the starting point at Glasthule Dart Station, I was pleased to see that 14 club members were there to join me in the walk.

We set off up the Mettles(by the side of the rail/dart line) and continued up the Atmospheric rail path and up to Dalkey Quarry, the views from here out over Dunlaoire Harbour and beyond were just fantastic, we could have been anywhere on the Continent, but no we were in our own little land, and it was pure magic. We did about four hours walking around the area, taking in the old miners cottages on the way up to the quarry, where the stone miners lived years ago, when working the quarry and sending the stone down on trams to Dunlaoire for the building of Dunlaoire pier.

We had a very enjoyable walk and the SUN STAYED OUT FOR US,!

Yes I know we don’t use capitols for the above, but it is not often this summer that the sun came out and stayed out for the day.!!!

Anyone interested locally in joining me for the odd walk in the area here, when the day/evening is dry.?

It’s a great pastime, costs nothing and a healthy way of filling in a few hours, while gettint to know more about our neighbourhood?.

Cheers from Angela Hickey.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ms Gilroy and the YSI (young social innovators) class 2008 from St Colmcilles Knocklyon who showcased their project "Rights of the the Elderly" at the Young Social Innovators nationl showcase final at the RDS, and won €500.

The students who undertook the project with the help of ASITS members were a great help with our mobile phone workshops.

On behalf of all ASITS members and everyone at Terenure Enterprise Centre we would like to send our congratulations and a big thank-you.

Well done everyone!!!

Pondering Old Age

How do I know if my youth is all spent?
Well, my get up and go has got up and went.
But in spite of it all I am able to grin when I recall where my getup has been.

Old age is golden - so I’ve heard it said –
But sometimes I wonder when I get into bed,
With my ears in a drawer and my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table until I wake up.

Ere sleep dims my eyes I say to myself,
“Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?”
And I’m happy to say as I close my door,
My friends are the same, perhaps even more.

Now that I’m old my slippers are black
I walk to the shops and puff my way back.
The reason I know my youth is all spent,
My get up and go has got up and went.

But I really don’t mind when I think with a grin,
Of all the grand places my get has been.
Since I have retired from life’s competition,
I accommodate myself with complete repetition.

I get up each morning and dust off my wits,
Pick up my paper and read the “obits”.
If my name is missing, I know I’m not dead,
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.

THE EVOLUTION DEBATE: TWO UNPUBLISHD LETTERS
Author: Eamon Henry. Date: 17 July 2008

Preface:The two letters of mine given below were not published by the Irish Catholic weekly newspaper. As preface, I quote a comment on the more recent one by my son Manus aged 45, a member of staff of the Department of Engineering Research at Oxford University: “The whole Science/Religion debate is one I have followed over many years. On the one hand, pretty bizarre religious/educational practices do occur in the US, but on the other hand there are serious attempts to debate the issues, whereas the establishment in Europe blocks any serious, populist critiques of science’s over-stretched claims. I wish you luck with your letter, but I’m not holding my breath.”The two letters follow, in chronological order.

Rooney on Dawkins (28 January 2007)
Dear Editor,
The letter from Professor John Rooney in your issue of 25 January 2007 raises several points on which I strongly disagree with his views as stated. Given that his expertise is in Physical Chemistry and mine relates to Mathematical Economics, we each can hold similar or different convictions on matters outside our areas of competence, namely aspects of Philosophy and Theology. My approach below is to comment briefly on each paragraph of Dr. Rooney’s letter, which implies that readers need to have his letter to hand, as well as mine.
I would wish the name “Science” to be qualified by descriptive adjectives, such as “Physical”, “Geological”, etc., in the context of the letter’s first paragraph. I agree that proximate causes (Occam’s Razor most narrow view) might neither prove nor disprove the existence of deeper causes. These are what the “Meta” (meaning “After”) part of the word “Metaphysics” signifies. As soon as we know our Physics well, we can move on to a deeper level of human thought about causes, whether primal or final.
His second paragraph rules out “Intelligent Design” views, thus directly contradicting the “Five Ways” (meant to be taken together) of St. Thomas Aquinas, which point towards a reasonable “First Cause”. Pages 57-70 of Peter Kreeft’s 1990 book Summa of the Summa give the actual discussion of St. Thomas in English translation, with copious notes by the author. “Whether it can be demonstrated that God exists” is the descriptive heading of this part of the Summa Theologica. St. Thomas finds the answer “Yes” to this question of Cosmology.
My comment on his third paragraph is covered by my last paragraph above. In the next paragraph we find “Evolution” presented as a fact, with Homo Sapiens emerging from it. Many educated people have regarded “Evolution” as a totally unproven theory – a wishful-thinking view without a shred of supporting evidence – right from its beginning about 1860. A. N. Field’s book The Evolution Hoax Exposed (TAN Books 1971 issue) gives numerous grounds for rejecting this theory. Christian views on the problem of evil have a long history, through St. Augustine to C. S. Lewis. A brief summary is that God can draw greater good out of the evil due to the exercise of Free Will by some of his creatures, which is why God gave them rational Free Will, and not merely irrational instincts.
Regarding “Orthodox doctrine”, which for Christians ought to mean “God’s Truth” on the sin of Adam and Eve and its consequences, clear statements appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (VERITAS 1994, paragraphs 355-400). I offer no apologies on this score.
The final two paragraphs comprise an imaginative but tentative view of what it all might (or might not) amount to. A “transcendental” possibility would seem to offer a new approach, not covered at this point in time by Philosophy, Theology, or the Physical Sciences. However, an “ice and water” mix of Pantheism and Dualism might come within an asses’ roar of what Dr. Rooney seems to be dreaming about. We must allow both concepts as wide a range of metaphysical meanings as possible. Thus, perhaps, everybody might feel happy!Yours truly, Eamon Henry

Communications Science Analysis of “Intelligent Design” (6 July 2008)
Dear Editor,
In your issue of 3 July 2008, you published an article by Professor William Reville, of title “Intelligent Design”. In its summary section, various claims for “Evolution” producing “Design” are made. Two such claims are as follows: 1.The argument for intelligent design of living organisms fails to stand up against the theory of evolution by natural selection, just as Paley’s argument failed 150 years ago.2. Science shows us that the design we find in the biological world was produced naturally and unconsciously over deep time by the natural forces of natural selection.
A few definitions of terms are needed, to help us to be clearer on what we think we are talking about, as follows. I use the most relevant definition, as given in the Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary (1991 edition):Evolution: a process by which species develop from earlier forms, not by special creation, as an explanation of their origins;Design: a preliminary plan or sketch for the making or production of a building, machine, etc.;Intellect or Intelligence: the faculty of reasoning, knowing and thinking, as distinct from feeling;Life: the condition which distinguishes active animals and plants form inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, functional activity and continuous change, preceding death;Cybernetics: the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.
The two claims stated in the first paragraph above are totally rejected in a book by A. E. Wilder-Smith, of title “The Creation of Life: a Cybernetic Approach to Evolution”, first published in 1970 by Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois. The author’s academic qualifications as such are quite impressive: D.Sc., Ph.D., Dr.es Sc., F.R.I.C. His varied career as a researcher and recognized expert in Organic Chemistry and Pharmacology is summarized at the back of his book, and need not be detailed here. What all this amounts to is that we may take his findings seriously.
Technical detail must necessarily be limited in a letter like this. The book’s Chapter 12: Quantitative Considerations and Prospects (pages 239-255) presents the core of his argument. The following is a summary of a few of his findings. The Darwinians (like Professor Reville) insist that information stored on genes (or DNA spirals) arose originally by spontaneous random processes. Such an assumption, per information theory, is mathematically unsound. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that entropy (i.e. disorder) increases with time in any closed system. In other word, codes and order will decrease with time, if left to themselves. Genes are chemical structures of a highly ordered non-random nature.
The vast amount of information which all living creatures bring into the closed system of the universe has been pre-coded upon the genes of their first parents. Evolution, said to begin without any such pre-programming, runs counter to the findings of every thermodynamicist and communications engineer. Information theory requires a programmer to account for the increasing complexity of the whole program of evolution. The evolution theory as it stands provides for no information source to account for this increasing complexity.
I trust that these few thoughts will help the quest for truth.Yours sincerely, Eamon Henry

A DEAD STORK AND A HOT NIGHT
Two pieces of verse by Eamon Henry. Date 15 July 2008

Introduction:
The first piece of the two verse compositions following is my own English translation, made in 1974, of the Gaelic poem “An Bonnan Buidhe” (meaning “the yellow bittern or stork”) by Cathal Buidhe Mac Giolla Gunna (Charles the yellow-haired Kilgun) born about 1690. He comes upon a dead yellow-coloured stork during a mid-winter session of ice and snow. In a light humorous vein, he compares himself closely with the bird, now dead, and sees them both together as comprising a brace of long-suffering yellow-haired topers!
The second piece, of title “A Frank Admission”, is my personal thoughts on a hot September night in Barbados during my 1999-2000 work-stint down there, and needs no further comment on what it has to say. Rather solemn stuff!

THE YELLOW STORK:
A sad day’s work, oh yellow stork! Your poor shanks stretched after all the crack!
Not for food, I think, but through want of drink, are you lying flattened upon your back!
Great Troy destroyed makes me less annoyed, than your corpse laid out on the stone’s bare top.Not a harm you brought, no deception wrought, you deserve good wine, not bog-hole slop!
My handsome scout, the heart goes out to your quiet head laid at my feet!How often I have heard your cry, while you drank your fill in the marshy peat!I Charles your friend will meet my end, from the drink, they say, let them think the worst!It will not be so, but like gallant crow, that lately died of excessive thirst!
Oh stork so young, my heart is stung, to see you there among the whins!The rats will stay at your wake all day, and it won’t be nice, when the sport begins!I am quite put out that you didn’t shout, that the times were bad, that your strength did fail.The ice I’d break on Vasey’s lake, you could have your fill of Adam’s ale!
My sad lament does not extend to blackbird, crane, or song-thrush fair.Of my stork I sing, great-hearted thing! Like me in his thirst and his yellow hair!His life he spent on drink intent. For myself betimes there’s the day or nightWhen each dram supplied goes down inside lest I die of thirst, a fearful plight!
The wife has said I’ll soon be dead unless I change my tipsy ways.My blunt reply: she speaks a lie, for the drink will rather prolong my days.Our stork, you note, had a well-oiled throat, yet he died last night of drought profound!So, good friends, don’t fret! Keep the wind-pipe wet! For no drop ye’ll get in the graveyard ground!


A FRANK ADMISSION:

Barbados gave a sweaty night, between the showers of rain.The throbbing drums of vans from slums did cause his ears to pain.The chirping frogs with barking dogs had joined in loud affray.They’d keep it up without a stop until the break of day.
He rubbed below with cream from tube, to try and stop the itch,And spray-gunned a mosquito, to kill blood-sucking bitch.While beetles all, both great and small, climbed up and down and flew. He laced a shot of rum with juice to boost his strength anew.
There are cool days and quiet nights without the sweat and noise,And these indeed could come again as deeply valued joys.The bracing air of Dublin hills refresh his thinning blood,Like throbbing cry of kestrel’s young tree-hopping through the wood.
Like hare and deer and whirring grouse and all the things that moveAmong the heather and the woods upon the hills above.He misses them but hopes indeed to find them all once more Where they will be when he is gone – a happy thought to store!

LOCAL ASTRONOMY – A FEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A note by Eamon Henry. Date: 23 September 2002.

Introduction:
Recently I asked myself a few questions on astronomical matters within the Solar System. Not only did I not know the answers, but I could find no answers within easy reach, either. So I decided to do my own sums. I share with you the answers. I hope you enjoy them!

A few constants etc. are needed. Force = mass * acceleration, where * means “multiplied by”. Powers of 10 such as 10 to the 7th power (meaning 7 tens multiplied together) will be written below as 10(7). One divided by 10(7) will be written 10(-7) . The constant “pye” (3.141592654) will be written pye. R to the power of 2 will be written Rsquared or R*R. (This unusual notation is to fit blog text conditions, which do not accept superscripts for powers of numbers or of symbols.)
The unit of force is the “Newton”, which gives to a mass of one kilogram (kg) an acceleration of one metre (m) per second, per second. So all units will be expressed in kg and m, with lots of powers of 10 as well.
At a long distance, massive bodies act with gravitational force upon each other as if all the mass were concentrated at the centre of gravity of each such body.
We need G, the universal constant of gravitation, of value 6.67259*10(-11)

The basic fact is that a body in orbit has a centrifugal force on it per kg mass (to make it fly away) given by V*V /R, where R is its distance from the “centre of force”, and V is its velocity in metres per second. It is kept from flying away by the force of gravity between it and the body it is orbiting, given by G* M1* M2 /( R*R) , here R being the distance in metres between the centers of the two bodies and M1 and M2 their masses in kg. So we have two formulae to calculate what we want, which is a useful check, as will appear below. We keep life simple by assuming circular orbits, of length 2*pye* R, which is alright because many planetary orbits are ellipses nearly circular (a circle is an ellipse with its two foci together).

Given values of mass and distance for Sun, Earth, Moon, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter (mostly in Britannica 2002 but some in Patrick Moore’s “Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars”), we can now ask and answer a few questions:

What gravitational force does the Sun exert on the Earth, on average?
What gravitational force does the Earth exert on the Moon, on average?
How do these forces compare?
What gravitational forces of Sun and Moon affect the sea tides on Earth (diameter 12756 kilometres, same as 7926 miles)?
What force of gravity do Venus, Mars, Jupiter exert on the Earth, when they are at their nearest, approximately? How does this compare with the Moon-Earth force?
Calculate the parameters of a typical artificial satellite orbiting the Earth only a few hundred kilometers up.
Calculate the parameters for a satellite to rotate at same speed as Earth, so as to stay above a fixed point of the Equator (not to complicate our problem unduly).



Masses and Distances and Velocities:

SUN: mass: 1.99* 10(30) kg; mean distance 149.59285* 10(9) metres from centre of Earth

EARTH: mass 5.976* 10(24) kg; equatorial radius 6378,000 metres.

MOON: mass 73.506* 10(21) kg ( 1/ 81.3 of Earth); mean distance 386.0637* 10(6)
metres from centre of Earth.
VENUS: mass 4.87* 10(24) kg; shortest dist. from Earth’s centre 42* 10(9) metres

MARS: mass 6.418* 10(23) kg; shortest dist from Earth’s centre 78.4036*10(9) metres

JUPITER: mass 18.99* 10(26) kg; shortest dist from Earth’s centre 628.4036* 10(9) metres

Shortest distances have been generally approximated as the difference between their average distances from the Sun, as their orbital planes are fairly close together. Venus: mean distance from Sun 108* 10(9) metres.
Mars: mean distance from Sun 228* 10(9) metres
Jupiter: mean distance from Sun: 778* 10(9) metres.
Average velocity of Earth 29784 metres / second on assumed circular orbit of radius average distance from Sun and for 365.25 days period (of one complete circuit)
Average velocity of Moon 1036 metres / second on assumed circular orbit, of period 27.1 days (during which Moon completes 360 degrees of rotation around Earth).

Gravitational Force Results:

Sun on Earth : 35.44* 10(21) newtons ,using V*V /d formula (centrifugal formula)
35.14* 10(21) newtons, using G*M1*M2/(R*R) formula (gravity formula)

Earth on Moon: 20.44*10(19) newtons, using centrifugal formula
19.66*10(19) newtons, using gravity formula.
Thus, the Sun-Earth force is about 179 times (3514 / 19.66) as great as the
Earth-Moon force. A value of about 173 is given by 3544/20.44.

For the other three planets, I have used the ratio of their gravity formulas to that of
Sun-Earth to obtain as follows for approximate shortest distance effect:
Venus 0.56 ( about ½ ) of 1 percent of Earth-Moon force
Mars 0.02 ( about 1/50) of 1 percent of Earth-Moon force
Jupiter almost (0.98 of) 1 percent of Earth-Moon force.
We may notice how relatively small these last three planetary forces are, with Jupiter’s largest being hardly 1 percent of the Earth-Moon force. If these three planets vanished overnight, we would suffer no noticeable changes in our present orbital behavior.


Ocean Tides on Earth:

The Moon pulls on the Earth with an equal and opposite force to that estimated above,
19.66*10(19) newtons, per gravity formula. We may divide this by Earth’s mass 5.976*10(24) kg, and obtain 3.290*10(-5) equal to 0.0000329 newtons as average Moon gravity-force on each kg of Earth’s material.

Ocean tides on Earth are due to variation in the forces of gravity of both Sun and Moon across the diameter of Earth, to be calculated by the inverse distance squared on nearest surface point versus that at opposite surface point of a diameter. G and the two masses are the same, but the distance changes.

So, for the Moon, we compare 1/(386.064 less 6.378)squared with 1/(386.064 plus 6.378)squared, and get 0.000006937 compared with 0.000006493, the first being 6.84 percent larger than the latter. This means, relative to the Earth’s centre, a force some 3.42% larger on the surface point nearest the Moon, matched by a force 3.42% smaller on the surface farthest behind. This causes the tidal bulge towards the Moon at its side, matched by a tidal bulge “falling behind” at the back. These differences are in Moon gravity-force units.

A similar exercise for the Sun gives a ratio difference (from unity) of only 0.0001728 Sun units across the Earth’s diameter. But when we multiply by 179, to get it in Moon units, we obtain 3.1 percent difference, meaning a force 1.55% (in Moon units) more (than at the Earth’s centre) on the face towards the Sun, matched by a force 1.55% less on the opposite face away from the Sun. Without the distorting effects due to gravity pulls of Moon and Sun, the tidal waters would stay as parts of a perfect sphere about the Earth’s centre, for Earth here assumed to be approximately a perfect sphere.

I need only say that the outcome is the sum of percentages 3.42 and 1.55. Thus, Sun and Moon together give a +5.0 % on the nearest facing surface at new moon, matched by a –5.0% at the point farthest behind. A week or so later the Moon is pulling sideways, relative to the Sun, and we have low (neap) tides. At full moon, the effect (and tides) are again about the same as at new moon. We may see how each “falling behind”, relative to the Earth’s centre, is in effect the same as a negative force pulling in the opposite direction. So Sun and Moon do not tend to cancel out their tidal effects at full moon, although they are on opposite sides of the Earth. The fact is that tidal maximum is much the same. However (Moore page 9), Earth is about 147 million km from the Sun in December, but farther away (152 million km) in June. So this winter nearness to the Sun does cause higher tides in winter.

Satellites:
We equate the two formulae, with gravity force on left equal to satellite mass multiplied by centrifugal acceleration on the right, Msat being satellite mass and Mearth being Earth’s mass:

G* Msat* Mearth /(R*R) = Msat*V*V / R
Here R is the distance of the satellite (on circular orbit) from Earth’s centre.
This reduces to (per kg of satellite mass)
R*V*V = G * Mearth, and the right-side product has constant value 39.8754* 10(13) .
So we have to find values of R and V to satisfy this equation.

1) A near-Earth satellite
Given that the Earth’s radius is about 6400 km, allow 400 km as satellite height above the Earth (assumed here to be a perfect sphere) and thus take 6800 km as satellite distance R from Earth’s centre, which is 6.8 * 10(6) metres. This gives V*V as 58.6402909*10(6), so V is 7657.7 metres (about 4.8 miles) per second. And the orbit length , 2* pye* R is 42.72566 million metres. For the given value of V, it takes 5579 seconds to make one circuit, which is 92 minutes and 59 seconds, roughly an hour and a half, in good agreement with what we have found to happen in the real-world experience. And this satellite supposedly passes over at about 400 km above Earth’s surface.

2) A satellite to stay above a fixed point of Earth’s equator
This means the satellite has a period of about 23hours 56 minutes (86160 seconds), as it makes one complete circuit of its circular orbit in the same time as one rotation of Earth.
So we have 2*pye*R /V = 86160, which gives R / V = 13712.79
And again the other equation gives R*V*V = 39.8754* 10(13).
This leads to V*V*V = 29.078982* 10(9), giving V as 3075.105 metres per second.
And R is found to be 4.2168248 * 10(7) metres, which is 42168.25 km (26,203 miles) above Earth’s centre, roughly 22,000 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Joys of a small Telescope

JOYS OF A SMALL TELESCOPE
A note by Eamon Henry; 10 July 2008

Introduction:Using a small telescope is an acquired taste. A definite advantage is secured, if the first period of viewing is in rural “pitch-dark” conditions. Nebulae and planets can be found and enjoyed, such as the great nebula in Orion, much more easily than under the lit-up conditions of our urban areas.
What follows covers a few obvious themes. First considered are the main features of a “refracting” telescope, in which one views directly the object of interest. By contrast, in a “reflecting” telescope one looks into the side of the telescope tube to see a mirror-reflection image. Next, we list some usual problems encountered in using small refracting telescopes. As an easy first object, the Moon is discussed. Less easy, but of great interest, are a few Solar planets, viewable even in the glare of city lighting. Finally, one may ask what pleasure is to found from such viewing, even in freezing cold winter nights out of doors.
A Small Refracting Telescope Described:
A refracting telescope essentially comprises four parts: 1) a hollow opaque tube with a lens (the “object lens”) at the front; 2) a second much smaller lens (the “eyepiece lens”) fitted in at the back of the hollow tube; 3)a stand of three or four legs to support the tube; 4) a viewfinder (or “finderscope”) attached to the side of the tube. This viewfinder is a small telescope (of magnifying power say five-fold) to find the required typically small star-like object in a larger field of view. Centering this object in the viewfinder cross-hairs should make it visible within the field of view of the main telescope itself, if the viewfinder has been properly aligned in its attachment to the main tube.
Such a small “toy” telescope requires to be kept on viewing-target by hand, whereas more expensive models have electric motors to keep them pointing at the target, by adjusting for the Earth’s rotation, which in some 15 or 20 seconds can move the target-point right across the field of view and out of sight. Other features of the small “toy” type are that it can be rotated horizontally upon its stand, and screws allow elevation of the tube to point upwards as required, with possible further screw fine-tuning of this direction. Also, the eyepiece lens can be moved forward or backwards so as to adjust focusing on the clearest possible image view. This last aspect is rather important.
A small refracting “toy” telescope of Japanese make could cost up to 500 Euros nowadays. The typical main tube is up to one metre long, with the object lens of diameter 6 centimetres having a “focal length” of 90 centimetres (cm). The eyepiece lens can vary, but a sensible lens for this particular telescope is a lens of focal length 1.25 cm. The “power of magnification” is given by the ratio of these two focal lengths, that is 90/1.25, which is 72 for this particular combination. In other words, this lens combination will magnify any object 72 times, which is quite respectable, and works wonder for the Moon. An eyepiece of shorter focal length will give larger magnification, at the cost of a much weaker image of worse quality. Patrick Moore’s book Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars (1986, Cambridge University Press) gives a very helpful background to the user of a “toy” telescope. Patrick advises a maximum magnification of 50 times per inch of object lens diameter – thus a 6 cm object lens should not be used to magnify an object beyond about 118 times ( 50X6/2.54).
Once assembled properly, the telescope should be left in one piece, except for manipulating the legs for storage indoors. The legs need to be based on a firm level surface, during times of viewing. They are typically connected together by a few light chains, to allow maximum distance apart when supporting the telescope during use.
Some Common Problems:
Several problems are commonly experienced by viewers using the small telescopes described above. Some of the more obvious ones are listed as a) to e) following:
a) A comfortable field of view is possible for the tube pointing between say 10 degrees and 45 degrees above the horizon. Pointing higher involves bending back or other similar neck strain by the viewer. The most comfortable position is to be seated on a small chair behind the telescope legs (typically of wood or plastic and some four feet long) and thus have some comfortable flexibility of shoulders and neck, in following the required tube direction.
b) Getting used to the image being inverted. Thus, a local view of a tree-top shows the top of the tree at the bottom of the picture seen through the telescope.
c) Earth’s rotation causes the target point to move across the field of view from right to left (usually). The inversion effect give the opposite of what we see as the Sun moving across the sky from left to right during the course of the day.
d) Clouds or haze make viewing impossible. Typically the best conditions occur during a clear frosty night, but even here some dew can form on the object lens during a lengthy session out of doors. The lens can be dried off, of course, given that the dew has been recognized.
e) Glare and general brightness, caused by urban street lights and traffic, destroy all delicate features of objects being viewed. The Moon is so strong that it is not seriously affected. Likewise, our four nearest planets have light strong enough to give their outline shapes. But gas-clouds (“nebulae”) are mostly eliminated from possible viewing. By contrast, in a situation of rural “pitch-dark” viewing, the planet Jupiter is surrounded by a globe of light, with possible star-like points indicating its four largest satellites. And gas-clouds such as the great nebula in Orion and the Crab Nebula are clearly visible, with some features showing.

The Moon as an Easy First Object:
Moore’s book has “Lunar Landscapes” as its Chapter 9, giving both photographic and verbal description of the Moon throughout its four-week cycle. The Moon is so large and bright that one could view it from indoors through a clean glass window. A magnification of 72 times gives some remarkable views of craters and cracks. Being large implies that the viewfinder is not needed, unlike the case of a planet. Also, one can get some experience of adjusting for the object moving slowly across the field of view, so as to get back again to the top right point of starting a second pass, and so on. This helps towards similar adjustment for a small object like a planet.
Planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn:
Venus is the easiest to recognize, as the “morning star” and the “evening star”. It is usually very bright, and appears as a clear orange-coloured half-moon shape, which can vary in size. Mars is small but strongly red in colour, and will show only an oval red disk. Jupiter gives a very bright and steady light if visible in the late evening, and shows (in urban conditions) an oval-shaped yellow-green globe. Saturn also is rather bright if visible in the late evening, and in the telescope looks silvery-grey, with suggestion of partial ring as well as globe under magnification 72 times. All of these planets, of course, on average pass over us as much during our day-time as during our night-time, so that viewing them after sunset between say 6.00p.m.(winter time) and midnight is possible only in some years during October-March. Regarding Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, if recognized at say 6.00p.m.fairly low-down in the eastern sky, they gradually progress at same time 6.00p.m. from east to west over the following six months.
What Pleasure is to be Had in Viewing:
A few thoughts may give the basis for satisfaction through these kinds of telescope viewings, even with a “toy” instrument.
No telescopes were available, as far as is known, before about 1600 A.D. Even the ancient brilliant Greeks were not able to invent a telescope, simple though it is as comprising two lenses in a tube. The best-known names of earliest viewers, who adapted telescope designs for their own purposes, are Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and Isaac Newton (1642-1727). Thus, with at least 70-fold magnification we are seeing the heavenly bodies in a way that nobody could see them before 1600 A.D. The Moon excepted, things above generally could only be seen as points of light. Comets, of course, showed large on occasion.
There is also great satisfaction in being able to look “here and now” at some bright object in the sky, rather than depending on someone else’s pictures. As a final advice, in suburban conditions, one should find a dark alley or the centre of a large open space in a park, to improve viewing. Getting away from direct glare of lighting helps considerably towards a satisfactory viewing result.

Newgrange and the Sun-God

NEWGRANGE AND THE SUN-GOD
A story by Eamon Henry. Date: 31 January 2004.

The BBC Horizon program of last Thursday night discussed a bronze disk found recently in north-east Germany, and dated to about 1600 BC, and identified with local copper-mines as its raw material. The disk has religious symbols of the Sun (life-giver), crescent Moon (indicating time-change) and the Pleiades(“seven sisters”) star-group used as a calendar for spring-to-autumn agricultural work. This disk also has the “Sun’s Boat”, later found in Egyptian religious carvings, which supposedly carries the Sun around and back under the earth to be in place tomorrow morning.

Under such stimulation I yesterday revisited our National Museum (Kildare Street) to look again at a roof-stone from the Newgrange sun-temple (built probably during 3500-2500 BC), which interests me a lot because it has line etchings scored by chiselling. Helped by some Gaelic words explained in Dinneen’s Irish-English Dictionary(1927 edition), I can better explain Newgrange as Dagda the Sun-god dying at the mid-winter solstice, but (if sky is clear) shining at sunrise of some four mid-winter mornings into the centre of the Newgrange “temple”. He thus fertilizes the womb of mother earth, which gives (new) birth to his son Aongus (the ancient Irish god of sexual love). Dagda has another name “Eochaidh Oll-Athair”, the second word meaning “Father of all things” i.e. Creator-God. Aongus is frequently called “Aongus an Bhrogha” meaning “Aongus of the fairy mansion” i.e. of the Newgrange sun-temple mound. In the 17th-century Gaelic “Fiannic” literary fiction, this same mound is called “Brugh na Boinne”, meaning “the fairy mansion beside the river Boyne”, and is treated as the home of the same Aongus.

We expect all etchings at Newgrange to be directly connected with the Sun-god. I now can make some sense of some of them, as follows:

FIRST: The roof-stone has its etchings filled and blackened by pitch or some such material. I see clearly a horse’s head, ears and shoulders facing right, above/behind which appears the sun-disk giving out rays like curly hair. Then further behind (and to the left) are undulations suggesting sea-waves. So this could represent Dagda on his horse rising out of the sea at morning and/or possibly passing above or through the western sea so as to get back again for tomorrow morning. The horse-head may have a studded cap on top, but with clear bridle strings and rein coming in the right place towards a rider’s hand. There is also a leg with bent knee in the right place for a rider, down the horse’s flank.

SECONDLY: There are several spirals etched on the Newgrange pillar-stones, not yet the “Maze of Crete” design, which I will treat below. Starting at mid-winter sunrise, the Sun does a low loop in the sky and then supposedly returns under the earth to repeat a slightly larger higher loop starting slightly to the left of yesterday’s. And so on to mid-summer, at which it makes the largest highest loop through the sky. Your imagination must guess (for circa 3000 BC) how it loops down below on the way back. Such etched spirals represent this 3-dimensional process, on a flat surface.

THIRDLY: From mid-June to mid-December the Sun apparently repeats the process in the opposite sunrise direction (left to right). But suppose (to avoid confusion) we treated this as a “mirror-image” of the loops of mid-December to mid-June, then we would have a double set of loops (supposedly close together). This could well be the origin of the “Maze of Crete” design, not appearing as such at Newgrange, where five complete spirals (some having connecting ends) appear, as well as several partial ones, on the large stone in front of the Newgrange actual passage entrance. The mid-winter Sun shines through the “roof-box” and shaft directly above this stone, into the central chamber, if the sky is clear.

POSTSCRIPT:
As a brief background to all this, we may draw on the “Chronology of World Events” (in particular, page 1688 of the Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary, 1991 edition). The period 4000-3200 BC mentions “Farming spreads to western and northern Europe…construction of monumental tombs in megalithic technique in .. British Isles…Use of horse …on steppes north of Black Sea… Plough and cart widely adopted in Europe”. The period 2500-2300 BC mentions “Beaker cultures bring innovations (copper-working, horses,…woollen textiles) to Atlantic seaboard”. So we may conclude that by roughly 2400 BC the Boyne valley area around Newgrange had farming (both tillage and livestock, including horses), with ploughs etc. But we should also allow the possibility that etchings on any stones of the Newgrange sun-temple could have been made long after the original structure was built.

The Sun-god was (and still is) crucial for crop-growing during the spring and summer. I now consider an etching on the lower left-hand corner of the roof-stone, namely two heavily-etched squares joined at one corner. These could represent two tillage-fields fenced in, to keep grazing animals out. Or, they might represent one tillage-field and one field for grazing animals e.g. cows.

Inside the lower square near one edge is a T-shaped small carving (heavily-scored). This could represent the vertical (coulter) and horizontal (ploughshare) blades of a plough. It could also represent some other farming implement such as a pick-axe. Nearby in this square is a heavily-scored dot, which could represent a grain-seed being sowed.
We see many groups of these square or diamond-shaped etchings on the pillar-stones of the Newgrange passage into the inner chamber, and elsewhere. They might represent tillage-fields and grazing animals being put under the aegis of the Sun-god.
Below to the right of these two squares, on the roof-stone of central interest, etchings appear which suggest a pear and apple together, and separately a further pair of cherries or fruits or nuts joined together.

But, most interesting, top left on the roof-stone are several circular etchings together forming a (lower) biggish half of a sun-like object, with spiky rays coming out below. This makes sense as the crescent Moon. Below this and facing left, is a quite credible donkey’s head and neck. So we could interpret this as the Moon riding a donkey across the sky in the opposite direction to that of the Sun - which it surely does as it apparently moves from west (new moon) to east (full moon) over the first two weeks of every lunar month. And to the farthest left at the top we find wavy lines facing the Moon’s donkey – these could credibly represent the changing sea tides, always observed as matching the changes in the Moon.

GAS METERS

GAS METERS
An incredible tale by Eamon Henry 1 July 2008

Who could believe that this is a true story, only with changed names of persons and places? Many years ago there lived a young couple named Jack and Jill and their children on the outskirts of a large town. Their home was supplied by town-gas, with the meter being read every two months and a follow-up bill sent by the gas company. Everything was fine until one sunny June morning, when a boy on a bicycle read the gas-meter and triggered the chain of strange events to be described below.
The typical bill would be some two to four pounds, making roughly twenty pounds for the full year. Following the visit of the boy on the bicycle, the bill received was six hundred and seventy two pounds plus some shillings and pence. At going prices, this would cover gas costs over more than thirty years. There was definitely something seriously wrong!
The wife Jill called on her man to research the problem, starting with the gas-meter itself. In the old days, boys on bicycles were required to do hard work in earning their living. That may explain why gas-meters were hidden away in dark dusty holes under stairs, as far back from light and air as possible. Her husband Jack after strenuous efforts emerged sneezing from the glory-hole, but bearing in triumph an un-attached gas-meter. Simple calculation linked this with the daft amount on the bill. It was an old meter, taken out of service some time earlier when a new meter was installed, but read by the boy on that fateful June morning.
Some follow-up action now proved possible. The clerks who sent the bill for six hundred and seventy two pounds could be confronted by the facts. Visiting their office at the gas company, Jack was surprised by their reaction. The amount on the bill was defended as valid. Only after a heated argument was it agreed that this bill be ignored, and the next bill cover the previous two periods. As for taking away the old unattached meter, so as to avoid future mistakes, this was no concern of theirs. All meter fitting and removal was done by a servicing firm located in another town. Jack at this point heard a faint but clear cracking sound within his mind. This last straw had broken the back of a camel that lived somewhere deep inside!
With no regrets nor apologies available from the gas company clerks, nor any admission of mistake, Jack saw clearly the final necessary act. Justice must be done. He secured the old gas-meter on the carrier of his bike, and a little later on a sunny July morning carried it into the gas company office. He placed it on the desk of the most aggressive clerk of his last visit with the words “This belongs to you”. Jack could see that the man was becoming rather angry, as he turned away and headed out. But the joy swelling up inside made him break into song as he stepped out onto the sunlit street. No other song but “I did it my way”!

Morning Surprise

MORNING SURPRISE
A cautionary tale by Eamon Henry 1 July 2008

Shortly after six o’clock on a bright warm morning of early July 1923, a train from Dublin stopped in the railway cutting a bit short of reaching Mayfield railway station. This military tactic meant that the trainload of Freestate army troops – some three hundred in all – could not be seen from either the Mayfield station nor from anywhere in the surrounding terrain. The soldiers quickly fanned out towards and around Mayfield village for “stop and search” general procedures. In a surprisingly short time, two Lewis machine guns were mounted inside the windowed top of the local Protestant Church tower. These guns could fire on anything or anyone moving along any of the four main roads of the locality – a psychological as well as a military advantage.
Paddy McBride was a young unmarried man of the locality, aged about thirty, making a frugal living out of a small farm. He grew potatoes on rented “conacre” land, this year by way of a half-acre of spuds growing in a townland called Kilmackeown, this name in English translation meaning “the church of MacKeown”. As the time of year was early July, his potato stalks would soon need to be sprayed so as to protect them from the blight.
Paddy decided to cycle the mile or so from home to his potato crop and have a good look at the growing stalks, so as to see how soon he should organize their spraying. Shortly after nine o’clock as he rode his bike towards the intended destination, he found himself among some five or six Freestate soldiers, who had jumped out of hiding on the sides of the road. “Where are you going?” was the question. Paddy gave the honest reply: “I’m going to Kilmackeown”.
The sound of his words had a galvanising effect on the military men. Two of them pulled his arms back and handcuffed his wrists together behind. Another spoke: “MacKeown might be going to kill you instead. You are under arrest”. Poor Paddy could hardly have known that one of the top brass in the national army and police force, cobbled together only a year ago, was a man of the name MacKeown. Anyway, Paddy was escorted to a military lorry, his hands were released, and he was driven to the village. His bike was abandoned on the roadside.
Paddy with some dozen other young men was held in a large ground-floor room of a house in the village. They had seating available, and were guarded by a single soldier holding a rifle. The soldier sat beside the closed room door, and near him was a large window, opened wide for ventilation, its lower pane slid away up inside the upper pane. They had been told in a few words that “fairly soon each man would on his own be taken for questioning, and then let go if all went well”. Talking was not allowed, they were to stay silent. In the Army view, these young men were possible guerillas, but had had no guns or ammunition in their possession when arrested.
Paddy felt mounting anger and frustration, as the time passed by very slowly. He had done nothing wrong, and yet here he was forced to stay on such a lovely sunny day, with his bike at risk of being stolen and his potatoes needing attention. He was seated on a chair fairly near the soldier. He thought that, once out of the window, he could quickly get out of sight. He also thought that he would not be recognized nor noticed by soldiers not involved with him already, provided none of these spotted him coming out of the window. It was worth a try.
Paddy jumped at the soldier and knocked him sideways off his chair, while giving him a blow of his fist on the side of the head. He then rushed at the open window.
This soldier was like so many others of the Freestate Army. He had been in the British Army and had survived the trenches of the Western Front, throughout the 1914-18 War. He was battle-hardened and had experienced many worse emergencies. He really hated being knocked down by this “culchie pup”.
He quickly looked up from his sprawl on the floor and saw Paddy’s back large and dark in the open window. He just raised his rifle, which was still in his grip, and fired once. The bullet tore through Paddy’s heart and he fell outwards and passed from view.
Deep questions may be asked about Paddy’s misfortune. Deep answers are not available. He took a risk and it cost him his life. Paddy on his bike did not deserve to die, and yet his own act of folly proved fatal. A further comment might be that civil wars are always bad news, and can sometimes do great damage to people least involved.

A Good Neighbour

A GOOD NEIGHBOUR
A salutary tale by Eamon Henry 1 July 2008

The Irish Civil War of 1922-23 is the source of the story following, with names of places and persons changed. Harry Martin worked a small farm in west Galway. He was a noted Free State supporter and had canvassed for their party in various local elections prior to 1922. His local importance as a “Freestater” made him a prime target for elimination by the hard men of the other side. It so happened that around this time at age thirty he sometimes came and lived alone in the farmhouse on his land, as farm work required it. This farmhouse was a simple one-storey cottage having a kitchen and two bedrooms, with front and back doors to the kitchen.
Living in a rather different environment was John Sweeney, also aged about thirty, and a neighbour of Harry. From being a casual labourer, John had joined the “Connaught Rangers” section of the British Army. During the 1914-18 War, first at the Dardanelles and later in the trenches of the Western Front, he had survived where so many had been killed. He was horrified and sickened by what he had experienced, and looked for only a frugal but better way of life back at home, after being demobbed in due course.
John returned home and then worked on a casual basis on the farms of two of the hard men of our story. In their plot to kill Harry, ex-soldier John was recruited to take a shotgun on the outing, as a back-up member of the team. In the circumstances, a refusal would at least cost him their available employment, if not having more serious consequences. John thus became a very reluctant member of the execution squad. However, he was extremely careful to conceal his inner feelings.
The plan of attack was simple. John with the shotgun was to watch the back door. The other two men would force open the front door and try to confront Harry within. This would be done after midnight, to reduce the risk of possible spectators and hopefully to catch Harry asleep in bed.
What the assassins did not know was that whenever he stayed overnight at the farm, Harry lived in a state of high alert. This involved staying fully dressed at all times, and sleeping on a settle-bed in the kitchen. He kept his kitchen back-door only slightly bolted, but the two bedroom doors he kept locked. His windows already had steel bars fitted on the inside to prevent thieves, so that a window smash-and-enter was not possible. His kitchen front-door was locked and also heavily bolted. He used no light indoors, except for the occasional lighted candle, in the days before rural electric power.
The night of the attack was in late October, calm and dry but cloudy, with a small half-moon, and thus fairly dark. John was quite clear in his mind. He was not going to shoot a neighbour, a man he had known from their childhood “national school” days together. Their fathers and grandfathers had been neighbours and friendly. In John’s simple heart the feeling of “old decency” was quite strong. He would not let any lunatic make him kill his neighbour Harry.
When they arrived very quietly on foot, John with a double-barrel shotgun was sent around the side of the house, to take a suitable stance on one side of the back-door. Their assault on the front-door, which did not yield as they had expected, immediately aroused Harry. He quickly and quietly passed out through the kitchen back-door and pulled it shut behind him.
John stepped towards Harry and said in a whisper “Quiet, Harry! This is me, John. Run for it out the back, and you’ll be safe enough”. John could still hear the sounds of banging continuing inside the cottage. The two men on entry through the front door in almost total darkness found the kitchen apparently empty. Their next targets were the bedroom doors, which being locked resisted strongly their attempts to burst them open.
And then, with Harry safely away and running through his own fields at the back, John fired one shot up into the air. At this sound the banging inside stopped, and the two men came out the front-door and hurried around to the back. They found John bent down, as he searched through a cabbage plot. A break in the clouds let some more moonlight come through. John spoke briefly “I think he fell in the cabbage. In such bad light I can’t be sure”. Further searching found no dead Harry among the cabbage. The search was abandoned and the men went home.
Some time later, when things had settled down, Harry returned to grow crops on his farm, although he never again lived in the farmhouse. He found a wife and there were children. It caused some surprise among those who did not know the full story, how Harry and John became such close friends in the years that followed.

Yeats Library Tour

National Library W.B. Yeats Tour

Submitted June 13th


Thanks to everyone who came along to the National Library W.B. Yeats Interactive tour on Thursday June 12th.
It was a great day and a wonderful exhibition, if you did,nt make it along on the day it is well worth a vist before the exhibition finish's in January 2009.
Special thanks to our tour guide on the day Sarah O'Connor for making it both informative and fun.

(From L to R)- Angela, Aine, Pauline, Christine, Eamon, Eileen,

Hopefully this is the first of many social outings for ASITS !!!!

http://www.nationallibrary.ie

Piano Lesson

PIANO LESSON
A cautionary tale by Eamon Henry; 24 June 2008

Jo brought home the good news to her husband Jim - a piano in good condition available at no cost, only take it away - thanks to a notice in the window of the fish and chip shop. For their daughters aged six and nine, they agreed that learning the piano would be very nice indeed. All they needed to arrange for was a van to move the piano from A to B.
However, better have a look at it first, where it resided, at number 7 Woodbine Close. As Jim reached number 7, a fly-past of cawing rooks on his left-hand side portended bad news, if Jim were an ancient Roman, but he wasn’t. He found that the man and woman who lived there were out, and didn’t have a telephone. Their teenage daughter could offer little help, and so piano discussion proved difficult. At all events, a time of collection for transport was agreed.
Jim found himself admiring the strength and skill of the four van-men, as they maneuvered that large and heavy object through the living-room door towards a gentle rest beside the fire-place. Next necessity was to get the piano tuned before the girls would start any practice. The report on this was unexpected. Rusty string-wires could of course be replaced, but the wide-spread woodworm could spread quite rapidly throughout the whole house.
Most people do not want their neighbours to think of them as being stupid. Jim and Jo were like that. To solve the problem, the piano must be brought out the back in the dead of night and burned, without any comment or discussion. What can a couple do in this situation, without involving other humans?
Jim took a handsaw and sawed the piano down the middle into two equal halves. He noticed how the saw-teeth made a higher sound while sawing through brass screws than while sawing through the wood. By lifting and pulling, Jo and he managed to move the piano halves out of doors and well away from the house, into the vegetable garden patch, now idle in mid-winter.
By midnight a merry cremation blaze engulfed the piano, whose wood flamed and sparkled. Through the glowing embers there gradually appeared a large iron harp. Jim felt behind and above him the shade of Tom Moore, who spoke clearly through his mind “Dear harp of my country, in darkness I found thee. Thy breaking heart sounds a final elegy”. And, indeed, in the strong heat, the wire chords burst asunder, sounding high, middle and low notes in a final wild threnody.
Such a noble harp deserved a decent burial. In the soft well-worked soil, a shovel could easily provide a suitable grave. As Jim shovelled out the soil onto one side of the hole, he spoke softly some words from Charles Wolfe’s poem “The burial of Sir John Moore” as a suitable burial service. “We buried him darkly at dead of night, the sods with our bayonets turning”. And thus, beneath a Yorkshire vegetable garden, that harp awaits its resurrection.
As they moved back indoors, Jo could feel that Jim was in a thoughtful mood. She fetched the whisky bottle and poured two generous measures. As she handed him one, Jim spoke: “Life can have its difficult moments”. No reply was needed as they drank in silence.

Patrick Egan - Remembers

Patrick Egan- Remembers

ASITS member Frank Egan submitted this personal memoir written by his Father Patrick Egan.

THE BEGINNING

When quite a young lad, I knew the Count and Countess Markievicz. My sisters stayed with them on a few occasions while they lived in Raheny. In the year 1912, when the labour strike was at its height in Dublin, I was then only fourteen years. Nevertheless I witnessed during the strikes and the great lock-out, and was present in O’Connell Street when Jim Larkin addressed the crowds from the balcony of the Imperial Hotel and succeeded in getting away when the R.I.C and the D.M.P. charged and wildly batoned people. The fight of the workers in those days was much akin to that of the national struggle against the common enemy. Madame’s name featured much in the news during those years. So it was in 1913, with two ex-school companions- Charles O’Grady and Larry Riordan- I joined the boys of Na Fianna Eireann. This was also the year I started my apprenticeship to the gilding trade in my Fathers business establishment 26, lower Ormond Quay. Both my parents died prior to 1910, leaving us nine orphans. Such was the circumstances as I entered the national movement.

We joined the Fianna early in 1913 at 34, Lower Camden Street and were drilled by Con Colbert, Cremins and Barney Mellows. We had outings to Ticknock, Madame’s Cottage, and Mrs. Mulligans at Barnaculle. This I think was the first year I participated in the Wolfetone Celebrations at Bodenstown. Larry Riordan, who was an apprentice at tailoring, made me a large tricolour flag, which I unfurled on the roof of home 26 Ormond Quay that Sunday, this marked the house out for special attention three years hence.

It was in this same year 1913 ( I think it was a night in October)that this flag featured in an exciting incident in O’Connell Street that I shall never forget. It was the night of the annual inspection and parade of the Boys Brigade held in Fowlers Hall, Parnell Square. They were our opposite number, and it was always an occasion to stage a counter demonstration by the Fianna lads. O’Grady, Riordan, I and some of the lads assembled at Parnell Square. The parade started from Fowler Hall, with Union Jacks waving, a band playing British marching airs and the usual force of Police. The small Fianna group headed the procession, singing and shouting Patriotic slogans. On the way down O’Connell street, I hoisted my Tricolour, fastened to a stick. This was followed by an outburst of shouting and shots being fired from the procession behind us. On turning round, I saw several men rushing towards me. I cannot say whether they were detectives of the brigade supporters. Finding myself alone still holding up the flag, I ran towards Nelsons Pillar, more shots were fired behind me. On turning round at the Pillar, I saw one of the men on my heels. So I pulled out a small .22 Harrington-Richardson revolver I carried; I pointed at my pursuer, he went down sprawling on his face. (In the excitement at the time I didn’t see al that had happened.) I made for under the canopy of the G.P.O., where I was joined by the lads who advised me to get on home as I might be picked out during the night. At home I found my gun still intact and learned some days later that it was Louis Ridgeway, Barber, Parnell Street, standing at the Pillar, tripped my pursuer who was taken to hospital in an ambulance. The Fianna boys followed to the Diocesan school, Adelaide Road, after several baton charges – the Flag came safely through…


IRISH VOLUNTEERS

I was present at the Rotunda Rink, Parnell square, in November, 1913, at the meeting to inaugurate the Irish Volunteers. I remember being jammed in the huge crowds gathered outside the entrance and seeing the large folding doors being forced open by the weight of the people and broken glass panels being showered down on us as we surged into the hall. I cannot remember all the speakers – there were Eoin McNeill, Sir Roger Casement, P.H Pearse- nor can I remember now anything particular that as said during the meeting.

Niagara Trip

VISIT TO NIAGARA FALLS

Submitted by Sheila Morris


Myself and my two daughters visited Niagara Falls in May. It was a Birthday treat for me!!

Catherine lives in New Jersey and Bairbre lives here.

They had been saving up all year to give me this treat.

Mum, Bairbre and Catherine

When we arrived it was raining and we could'nt see the Falls for the mist

We stayed in the Sheraton Hotel On the Canadian side overlooking the Falls

The next day it was sunny and we took a boat trip under the falls-It was spectacular!!!

The View form the Hotel

We looked around the town, it was terrible. Very "honky tonk", that was disappointing.

Catherine and Bairbre on the boat

We decided to take a trip, about a half hours drive from the Falls, to a town named Niagara situated on the Lake.

It was beautiful. No big Stores all little shops selling homemade chocs, and pastries. There were little Boutiques and lovely Restaurants.

Even the traffic seemed to be laid back!! It was so nice that we went back there for our evening meal.

We had booked 3 nights but cancelled the third night.

Tea Bag

Submitted by Al Connor

My first encounter with a “Tea Bag” was in the mid fifties, my Brother and I were travelling from Shannon to Toronto via New York and we arrived at the international Airport very early in the morning, not as yet having had breakfast and feeling hungary we proceeded to the café to get something to eat.
We ordered Bacon, Egg, Sausage etc, and tea, all of which arrived very promptly, except the tea that is, you see the custom was she brought the menu first thing.

Well the meal came and we tucked into it with great gusto and then called for the tea, and what a surprise we got, a pot of lukewarm water and two cups each with a whiteish looking bag thing in it, and a string hanging over the side of the cup with a small label at the end, no milk or sugar, but with a slice of lemon, this was the first time we really knew what the expression “Dishwater” meant.

Fast forward several years and I had settled down to living and working in Toronto having brought my wife and young family out to share in the good life.
We made many friends amongst them a couple from a small village in the “backwoods” of rural Ireland.

It was customary for this couple to send a parcel home to Ireland every so often and in one of these parcel’s they included a packet of tea bag’s for the folks back home to try, again as was the custom to arrange a phone call home, no small undertaking in those days, especially at Christmas time, well the phone call having taken place and all the usual gossip and news exchanged it was time to enquire about the most recent parcel “ and by the way how did they like the tea”.
“Oh it was very good”, came the reply and then after a slight pause, “but it was an awful nuisance having to cut open each individual packet”.


Al Connor – June 2008

Why Parents Have Grey Hair

Why Parents have Grey Hair

A cautionary tale- By John Fernandes


A Father passing by his son’s bedroom was astonished to see the bed nicely made up and everything neat and tidy.
Than he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the pillow. It was addressed “Dad”.
With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:


Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I am writing to you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with you and Mom.
I’ve been finding real passion with Joan and she is so nice, I know you would not approve of her with all her piercings, tattoo’s, her tight motorcycle clothes, and because she is so much older than I am.
Joan says that we are going to be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood enough for the whole winter.
We share a dream of having many more children.

Joan has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it and trading it with other people in the commune for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want.
In the meantime we’ll pray that science will find a cure for Aids so that Joan can get better: she deserves it!
Don’t worry Dad, I’m fifteen years old now and I know how to take care of myself.
Someday, I’m sure we’ll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your son, Chad

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Tommy’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that’s in my desk drawer.
I love you! Call me when it is safe for me to come home.

John Fernandes

REFLECTIONS ON THE W.B. YEATS EXHIBITION
By Edmund (Eamon) Henry; 12 June 2008

Foreword
This brief note covers our visit this morning to the Yeats exhibition at the National Library, at the kind invitation of the Terenure Enterprise Centre to our Active Senior IT Society, with Ms Ann Moriarty leading us. Some 2000 documents are available, including many of William Butler Yeats’ original manuscript poems and letters on actual display. A detailed coverage is not intended here.

A few aspects of this extraordinary man who lived between 1865 and 1939 will be touched on below. This writer has had Yeats’ poetry in his bloodstream since childhood, which may come as no surprise, given that he grew up on the edge of “the Yeats’ country”, only some four miles to the south of Knocknarea, the hill that features in several of Yeats’ poems in a County Sligo setting. His poem “The Lake Isle of Inishfree” and other similar pieces were on our national school menu.

Great Mental Energy
His large and varied output occurred from about 1885 right up to about September 1938, the date of his “epitaph” poem “Under Ben Bulbin”, through a period of some fifty-three years. The Nobel Prize for Literature awarded in 1923 indicates the unusually high quality of his output of poetry and plays. His successful launching of the Abbey Theatre about 1904, with Lady Gregory and others, is a further landmark achievement. He was made a Senator of the Irish Senate in 1922, which enabled him to promote his views on how to improve some aspect of education within the Freestate. Because of failing health, he resigned from the Senate in 1928. All this shows how Yeats could get things done so well.

Versatility with Strangeness
This writer claims little knowledge of Yeats’ dramas as such. However, it is generally known that he experimented widely with dramatic formats, including the Japanese “Noh” drama forms. His poetry also covers the full range of human experience, in fresh and delicate expression. In line with some of Francis Ledwidge’s greatest pieces, Yeats in his poem “The Stolen Child” describes “ferns that drip their tears over the young streams”, an indication of his sensitive handling of nature events, combined with elven (fairy) dimensions.

A “strange” or “un-Irish” aspect of Yeats was his heavy involvement with the occult, especially through his wife Georgie, a spirit medium, whom he married in October 1917. We may recall that this practice was much used by people such as Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of “Sherlock Holmes” the famous crime sleuth. Doyle wanted very much to contact the spirit of his only son who was killed in the 1914-18 War. Among all this there was the iconoclast Harry Houdini, who when allowed to join a séance frequently showed the fraudulent nature of the supposed communication with the spirit world.

Empathy with Plain People, the “Native Irish”
A very likeable quality of Yeats was his insight and empathy with “the plain people of Ireland”, as one might put it. This was by no means to be expected from someone typical of a Protestant upper-middle class background. Several of his earlier poems treat rural themes, about a Father Gilligan, a Fiddler of Dooney, and various other “native Irish” themes, from the native point of view. Having John O’Leary, a definite Fenian, as his chosen mentor might shed further light on this aspect. The so-called Irish Revival brought Yeats into the company of John Synge, Douglas Hyde, Lady Gregory and others, all intent on creating a culture based on the “native Irish” mentality and language, even if in English translation. It seems that Yeats did not know any Gaelic language as such. However, English versions of many folk-tales were available, such as Joyce’s “Old Celtic Romances”, which admittedly have a bit more to them than occurs for the fiddler of Dooney. The “Tain Bo Cuailne” (cattle raid of Cooley) gave in English translation much material to Yeats to work with, including the characters Cuculainn and Maeve, from early medieval sources.

Outlook Patriotic and Stoic
A further likeable quality of Yeats was his emphatic support of Irish Nationalist causes and persons generally. Several poems praise characters such as John O’Leary, the 1916 executed leaders, and Rodger Casement. A handicap for Yeats was his inability to read original Gaelic poetry and prose, much of which was not available in English translation. This implies that much written by the native Irish since say the year 1600 he could not directly access. A related problem may have been his not knowing the meaning of many place-names in their Anglicized versions of Gaelic originals. For example, in his poem “Red Hanrahan’s Song about Ireland”, he refers to a cleft on the south side of Knocknarea as “Clooth-na-Bare” as pouring out a rain flood. The Gaelic name is “Cluid na Bear” meaning “the nook of the bears”, indicating that wild bears used to live there at one time. This fact is quite worthy to bear mention in a poem, if readers will bear with my presumption! In this context, it is of course feasible that friends such as Douglas Hyde could readily answer any place-name questions he might raise.

In his “epitaph” poem “Under Ben Bulbin” he expresses the hope “that we in coming times may be still the indomitable Irishry”. We could think about this, in circumstances where only one out of two or three voters turns out to vote on an important political matter, in spite of vigorous advice from both Church and State to go and vote. Yeats’ hope is indeed close to that of at least a century earlier, expressed in the slogan “Erin go Brath”, meaning “may our Ireland last until the Day of Judgment”.

Regarding final things, his epitaph is contained in the same poem. Now carved on his tombstone at Drumcliffe, County Sligo, it reads: “Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by!”This outlook is close enough to that of the Graaeco-Roman Stoics of some two thousand years ago, which can be summarized as follows: “Keep your mind in a calm state, well above the level of passions which you must keep under control, and accept death as a perfectly natural and good event”.

Eamon Henry

Writers Workshop

Aim: This workshop is intended as a trigger to encourage older people to gather their memories and record them in written form using their computer skills so that they pass on a living heirloom to the younger members of their family.

Format: Kitchen Table Wisdom: Recreating the old ways of gathering around the kitchen table for news and everyday chatter about life, this intimate setting is a very inviting opener for sharing life stories and remembering events long forgotten.

Facilitator: Susie Minto has a deep love for stories and their energy. She enjoys telling all kinds of tales - traditional stories and legends from her Scottish roots and from many world cultures, as well as personal anecdotes and spontaneous stories straight from her imagination.
Please phone to book your place as there is limited availability

Seaside Joys by Tony Beatty

This is June and still very cold at times. We were in Courtown, Wexford for the weekend and it rained at night, there was also thunder and lightening that was very bad. There was no one in swimming or paddling.

I love the East Coast of Wexford. It always seems to be lovely and sunny in that area. That part of the country is very popular with Dublin people. They used to be delighted to get away from what we call the Concrete Jungle, (Houses everywhere).

In the last few years it has changed very much, with houses being built all over the place. The lovely fields and byways seem to be getting very scarce. I would say at the rate things are going, the whole county will be covered in a few years. I have been going to Courtown (Gorey) Co. Wexford for the last 25 years and always looked forward to getting away every weekend.

It was lovely to have peace and tranquility and be able to sit by the seaside on the lovely sand. Watching the fishing boats and the many different types of small crafts. It was also lovely to see the children swimming and jumping around in the waves and having a very good time. (I would feel like jumping in the surf myself)

I remember only a few years ago when the weather seemed to be a lot nicer. There was a group of friends went to the hotel on Saturday nights for a few drinks. We made up a lovely crowd who used to have a singsong.

We were after working hard all week and this was our only break away from the real world. It was not that we were good singers or big drinkers but it was great to let your hair down and relax. The family had their enjoyment all day and would be up early Sunday morning to go at it again. It was lovely to be fresh for the next week.

After a few weeks at the start of those early days we just met up and fell into getting on well and picking the couples we fitted in with best. Then we settled down and enjoyed the company. The different things started to come out (best singers, best jokers, pitch & putt players etc.) You enjoyed the singsongs and then started to include them at Birthdays and general get togethers.

One of the best things about these groups is you don’t get into their hair (annoy them). They are close but don’t know about your problems and you don’t know about theirs, unless they want to include you. ( In other words you’re close but not too close).

The group broke up over the years with some dying and others moving abroad. A big problem was also the hike in rents and upkeep. When we started the rent was 250 for 12 months. It is now E1035 and only 9 months is allowed even with the increase.

Another big problem is all the extras now. You cannot get anyone to fix the TV set or plumbing without the owner getting his commission. Other things like a wooden veranda on the outside. The owner gets his own man to supply and fit the material then he makes on both labour and material. The prices of these verandas vary from (E2000 to E3/4000) each.

In the 25 years we have got that much older and money is getting scarce. I don’t know How long our trips to Courtown will last

The children have all grown up and gone their special ways. It will be up to them to make their own memories of their own family’s seaside trips and holidays. But no one will ever be able to take away our memories and enjoyment of our seaside trips. Let’s hope they enjoyed them as much as I did in making them.