This sneaky Russian tried to avoid a speeding fine when driving in Ukraine by pretending that they could only speak English. This might have worked a few years ago, but it seems these guys ran into an officer whose English was even better than theirs.
Welcome to Ukraine 
If I did anything criminally wrong, such as cycling my bike at night without any lights, driving whilst intoxicated, raping or sexually abusing someone, or perverting the course of justice, you can bet your ass that I would find myself clasped in irons and in the custody of the local constabulary or in front of a magistrate before you could say the words “Vatican City”.
Yet in Ireland, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland is still walking the streets a free man, still in his position of power and executing the duties bestowed on him by the Pope as the primate of all Ireland (North and South mind you) without so much as a recalling to Rome by the Vatican or a visit by a member of An Garda Síochána.
All this blind-eye turning is going on amidst a background of revelations that Cardinal Brady KNEW about the abuse of one victim when he was informed back in 1975 by one of those children – Brendan Boland who was then 14 – gave the then Fr Brady the names and addresses of other children who had been abused. Cardinal Brady failed to pass on to the parents or the police and told them to keep silent about it, but did not himself inform the civil authorities.
The assaults were carried out by Fr Brendan Smyth who went on to abuse several children for a further 15 years after the investigation, and attacked the sister and four cousins of one of the children interviewed by Fr Brady.
Fr Smyth was eventually sent to jail for 12 years for dozens of offences carried out over decades.
So why are politicians only asking for Brady to resign? Why are they not calling for justice and insisting on the authorities to issue an arrest warrant. Afterall, there’s enough to suggest that he could be implicated for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice, and even as an accessory to child abuse under the 1937 Act.
Seems he is protected from on high….literally!
At a press event in London on Thursday that it described as an “unpacking,” Samsung indeed rolled out an impressive array of hardware and software enhancements that the company hopes will help it retain its ranking as the top cellphone-maker in the world.
The biggest feature (literally) most consumers will notice is a stunning 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen. That’s about a half-inch larger than Samsung’s Galaxy S II, and significantly bigger than the 3.5-inch high-resolution display on the Apple iPhone 4S. Despite the large screen, the S III actually is a bit thinner than the iPhone 4S (8.6mm vs. 9.33mm) and is slightly lighter as well (133 grams vs. 140 grams).
Besides the screen, consumers are likely to be most interested in the Galaxy S III’s operating system and whether it is closing in on Apple’s iOS, which has been widely considered the market leader since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. The Galaxy S III will run the so-called Ice Cream Sandwich version of Google’s Android OS (version 4.0). But it’s the features that Samsung has built on top of the OS to address some common cell phone complaints that could help chip away at Apple’s mindshare lead. For example:
“Smart stay” is intended to solve a problem every phone user has encountered: the screen dimming when you want it to stay on, such as when sharing an email with a friend. Just as you hand them the phone and say, “Check this out,” the screen dims as part of its power-saving routine. Making matters worse, getting back to that email also requires entering a password to unlock the screen. With “smart stay,” the new Galaxy phone uses the front-facing camera to detect if someone is looking at the screen. If it sees a face, the screen won’t dim.
Samsung also touted “S Voice,” which it described as being a cut above the current state of the art in voice recognition and response technology.
During a demonstration, Samsung showed how someone driving a car could operate the phone without taking their eyes off the road. Saying “Hi Galaxy” puts the phone into a mode to recognize voice commands. From there, the user can ask, “How’s the weather?” or say, “Take a picture.” (Of course, you’ll need to look at the screen to see the forecast or take a picture.)
Anyone who has caught themselves in a lengthy texting conversation and thought, “This is ridiculous, I’m just going to call you,” will appreciate what Samsung calls “direct call.” While texting, if you raise the phone to your ear, it will automatically dial the person you are texting with.
“Smart alerts” are intended to help cut down on unnoticed calls from important people in your contact list. If you leave your phone on your desk and miss a call from your boss or wife, when you return and pick up the phone to put it into your pocket, it will vibrate and display the missed calls.
“S Beam” lets you tap phones with another Galaxy S III owner to easily transfer files or documents.
“Pop up play” lets the user watch a video while surfing the Web or answering email. The video simply becomes a small box that overlays on any other apps that are running, like picture-in-picture on a TV.
As for the 8-megapixel camera, Samsung made several enhancements:
Zero lag from the time you tap the screen to the capture of the image.
The ability to take a photo and be ready to take another in less than 1 second
A burst mode that captures 3.3 photos per second
The ability to capture still photos while recording HD video (very handy if you’ve ever tried to capture a child blowing out birthday candles and can’t decide between a still photo and a video).
There are also some nifty software tricks that extend how those photos can be used. If you take a burst of photos, the phone will recommend the one it thinks is the best quality so you can discard the others. And if that picture is a group photo that includes people in your address book, the phone can recognize their faces and offer to send them a copy of the image.
For hard-core phone geeks, here are some other Galaxy S III specs: The screen is 1,280 by 720 pixels, it has HSPA+ connectivity, the removable battery is 2,100mAh, and it’s packed with a quad-core Exynos processor.
The phone will come in blue or white and in three memory sizes (16GB, 32GB and 64GB), with the ability to add memory via a microSD card.
The company did not announce pricing, but its top-end phones typically run $200 to $250, with the signing of a two-year contract. The 32GB and 64GB versions would likely cost more. The Galaxy S III goes on sale in Europe at the end of May and in the U.S. in June.
This is another little gem from videographer and musician Russell Houghton. It’s a wonderful mix of his super videography skills, married with his talented composing skills as a musician. Skating never looked (or sounded) so pretty!
For all you Apple-whores out there A cool refreshment made for those willing to suspend all logic and pay the price for Apple’s lavish attention to quality and design.
I love the lines – “If you’ve been drinking the juice, you’re ready to drink the water,” and “Literally twice as many hydrogen atoms as there are oxygen atoms”
But buyer beware – by breaking the seal, you accept a User Agreement that prohibits refilling the container with tap water, spring water or any unauthorized third-party water.
Here’s a good one for you….how many of you in your country of origin would see regular news reports of a major crime that took place which included CCTV footage of the crime itself and of course of the assailants, with the investigating detective then being interviewed and he/she asking for witnesses to come forward? Hands-up, how many?
Well, it seems that this long standing practice has suddenly found its way onto Dutch TV screens. I always wondered why so many of my Dutch friends had no faith in the Dutch Police. I had always assumed that it was more to do with the incessant doling out of fines for everything from illegal parking to cycling your bike with no light on, rather than actually doing real police work.
This theory was compounded further when experienced an attempted (and thankfully failed) burglary in our own home. The police came out, took a statement from myself and my neighbour, and then two weeks later I got a letter from the police saying that they would not be investigating the crime a) because nothing was stolen (but there was damage) and b) they had no evidence which they could use.
Their second point saw me go ballistic because they never even bothered to send out a forensics team to take fingerprints, which were clearly on show all over the fucking glass door! So of course they “had no evidence”, because they didn’t fucking collect any!! In fact the CBS (Central Bureau Statistiek) even quotes in their report that “the risk of being caught is also low for house burglary (7 percent)”. Well no wonder. If you don’t bother to investigate, then you won’t ever solve the crime! Not only that, but the Dutch Police tabled last place in terms of their own citizens belief that they are effective and control crime in their local area…..LAST!!
I also think that in order to avoid doing any work at all, the Dutch will go out of their way to do things such as “tolerating” something that is listed on their penal code, and then turning a blind eye, as long as it’s not really harming anyone. Good examples of this are the Dutch attitudes towards marijuana and prostitution. However, the statistics would suggest that this doesn’t work…incidents of rape in the Netherlands were the 7th highest in Europe. The fact that 55% of them were solved was down to the fact that the victim was able to assist with the arrest as she could provide a description to the investigating officers that result in an arrest and conviction.
But the police, who are currently complaining about their salary and pension benefits, and their behaviour in general appears to be do incorrectly incentivised. There are regular press articles about how police are given quota’s on doling out fines for this and that, or risk getting axed. This then leads to the type of policing one experiences here, where serious crime is largely left unsolved.
Which brings me to the point I was making earlier about methods of detection and using the greater public as a means, rather than a hindrance, to solving crime. Because recently, after releasing CCTV footage of two suspects wanted in connection of the murder of a jewellery store owner, the police found themselves inundated with tip-offs, identities and the whereabouts of the two suspects.
In fact this was even touted as an “unusual step” to release security camera footage. A lawyer, Sanne Schuurman, was quoted as saying ”It is unique in Dutch criminal law history that full surnames and photos are released so early in an investigation”. If you look at other civilised countries they wouldn’t think twice about publishing a photo and the full name of a suspect. They may of course position it more diplomatically, such as “wanted to assist with our line of inquiry” as used by the constabulary in the UK, rather than parading someone in front of the press, or the usual “perp walk” as so frequently demonstrated in the U.S.
But the point is this….it is high time that the Dutch police got off their arses and starting tackling and solving REAL crimes rather than their hitherto unsuccessful approach of issuing fines and upholding the rights of criminals rather than the victims. If they did that, then maybe the public opinion and support on their ongoing compensation feud might have had more supporters, rather than then laissez-faire attitude exhibited by most of my Dutch friends.
Evening all!!
Dutch politicians are generally regarded, both at home and abroad, as having a backbone akin to a jellyfish. So it comes as no surprise that the political establishment have seized upon an opportunity for cheap political capital whilst being able to give the false illusion of Dutch MP’s following their own rhetoric vis-a-vis austerity measures and belt tightening.
The Dutch have not had to endure the hair-shirt budgets as experienced in, for example, Ireland, Spain or Greece. But the political establishment here are hell-bent on cutting public spending and realigning budgets in areas that affect Jan and Rita Hollander so they can proudly say they are compliant with the EU’s fiscal budget restrictions, whilst neglecting to curb any spending that finds its ways into funding the coffers of the political elite in general….MP’s salaries, travel allowances and severence benefits all left untouched being a classic example.
So it is without a doubt a fortuitous event that Dutch MP’s have found a way of not appearing to not send anyone from either house to Euro 2012, and which they can attribute to their undying upholding of basic Human Rights and the right to a free and fair trial as their reasoning for not going to Ukraine, rather than the usual balderdash of budget constraints as heard in their usual verbose communiques….at least that’s their claim.
Yes indeed, Yulia Tymoshenko is the reason the Dutch are not going to Euro 2012. It appears that her plight is such a huge concern for members of the Dutch Upper and Lower houses. They are so concerned about her well being that they’re choosing not to go. They even managed to sound magnanimous by stating that no one should visit Ukraine until Tymoschenko’s situation improves.
True to form for the Dutch, rather than taking an ACTUAL political stand, such as refusing to allow the Dutch football team to partake in the competition, for example, they have instead decided that by somehow sitting at home and watching it on their TV is a truly effective way of making a real political statement. If you really wanted to make a political point, you would do something meaningful, by stopping your teams attendance and then escalating it to include trade and travel sanctions. Afterall, they did it to the Romanians when their flowers and veg was blockaded at the Romanian border last year.
Sadly though, I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up seeing MP’s and members of the Dutch royal family sitting in VIP boxes, lauding it up with their Ukrainian counterparts come match day.
And for those who won’t travel to Ukraine? Well there’s always Poland, isn’t there 
Unique, clever, original and innovative.
They’re literally making good time
An alternate url is here
Seriously….does anyone really think that the real reason Europe’s beer bellied football fans are heading to Poland and Ukraine this summer is to watch the footie?
If the latest raft of TV adverts are any indication, then that answer is an emphatic “No”. Here’s the latest advert from Paddy Power bookmakers about the English teams upcoming Polish trip and their obssession with the ladies. Given that more than half the team have paid for prostitutes back in Blighty, it’s obviously a real concern to England’s coaching staff, what with the reputation that both Poland and Ukraine have as being a favourite amongst sex tourists.
Sadly though, no matter how much PR and spin you put on it, until women’s rights are respected in both countries, this image of Eastern European women being nothing more than hookers is sadly phenomenon that is here to stay. Nevermind the fact that most women in Ukraine could out-smart the average Western college graduate with Ukraine graduating more holders of engineering, mathematics and science degrees than their western counterparts. Yes, the salaries are minuscule, especially when you compare them to the average industrial wage of the EU(12), but that’s the very reason why women, AND men, have travelled to Europe in the first place. This stereotyping is nothing more than cheap advertising which sinks to the lowest common denominator….i.e. our own lager lout, in-bred, bottom feeding football fans.
Looks like the summer of 2012 might be the “Summer of Love”, albeit paid for.
If there is one thing herself and I agree on, it’s that our dream home will have an “infinity pool” installed overlooking an amazing view….and that’s where the agreement tapers off…she wants a view of the ocean, and I’d like a little bit more than just a view of the open sea. But I digress, because if you also have the same penchant for infinity pools as we do, then you’ll love this idea.
The Bandra Ohm, was imagineered by James Law Cybertecture. Originally destined for Mumbai in India, this ground-breaking design was based around the Ohm (Ω) symbol. Fluid and dynamic spaces were designed to complete this highrise building – stunning undulating glass pools acting as balconies add drama to city views. Mind you, given the mish-mash of architecture and slum, I’m not quite sure what kind of view one would be buying. But this design does set out to prove that infinity pools easily be included as part of the scope of luxury apartment design.
Now, wear did I pack my speedo’s?
