There are certain books (such as Nabokov’s “The Chess Master”) where having a dictionary is a non-negotiable necessity.

Boyar n. HISTORICAL a member of the old aristocracy in Russia, next in rank to a prince.

Full comic.

According to the article:

Under current equality legislation, schools are allowed to claim that hiring a homosexual, lesbian or bisexual teacher would undermine their religious ethos.

I’ve been thinking about such legislation. Turning it on its head, should a very open, liberal school be allowed not hire a dire-hard Tea Party conservative religious fundamentalist?

I find the debate a lot easier to think about this way; the answer more obvious. Religious teachers shouldn’t be barred from such employment, provided that they observe the fact that they’re in a liberal, accepting school and they should leave their conservative religious dogma at home.

(Of course, the bitter hypocrisy can’t go uncommented upon. A religious school is simply exercising its First Amendment right. If a liberal school existed in the same way, it’d be “pushing the gay liberal nazi agenda.”)

In short, nobody should be barred from employment based on some small part of their personality. (My belief that the media and people in general make people’s religion and sexuality into a much larger part what makes them a person than they should is a whole other post.) Religious folk should respect that they’re teaching in a liberal school in the same way that LGBT teachers should respect that they’re teaching in a Catholic school.

All that said, though, don’t forget that being exposed to opinions and lifestyles different to one’s own is one of the ways we learn about the world.

Have you noticed that your iPad doesn’t come with an owner’s manual?

This is an unacceptable practice, especially considering how the iPad gives you thousands of unique, practical and time-saving features.

Personally, I feel that the fact that so many other products are so complicated that they require lengthy owner manuals is the “unacceptable practice.”

Most of the debates that have gone before have been trying to ascertain whether a federal requirement that Americans buy health insurance is unconstitutional. However, it’s an academic point, really, as the Constitution doesn’t say anything about health insurance specifically.

I’ve always liked the idea of mandatory health insurance in the U.S., and subsidies for those who can’t afford it. I’m not in favor of Obamacare specifically, I’m in favor of a healthcare reform in itself. Without such a thing, insurance companies can continue excluding pre-existing conditions and millions of Americans will remain uninsured.

I think a lot of the backlash against mandatory healthcare stems more from Americans as a people more than anything else. A 2009 Harvard study found that 45,000 deaths annually are associated with a lack of health insurance. I can’t help but wonder about a scenario where 45,000 deaths were linked to terrorist attacks, and what Republican action to a state mandated response would be.

In short, though, healthcare reforms are good and, by extension, Obamacare is.

Image: Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, March 2010.

Jared busking on Cruises Street, the main pedestrian street of Limerick. With him is another Killaloe-native, Shelley.

This one’s from later on that evening, at Chris’ house. If memory serves, this was when he was playing “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers. I sang the melody line with Jared, Viv, and Colin providing their own harmonies.

You could have an ATM spitting free €50 notes with supermodels offering themselves up on the other side of the road and I’d still choose the steak.

That’s him giving The Butcher’s Grill in Ranelagh a fairly high accolate, if you ask me.

While you were wasting time with flowers, candy and/or restraining orders on Valentine’s Day, Green Day were getting down to business, beginning sessions for a brand-new album.

This makes me very happy.

Named A Change of Heart and thought-up-by (“written” may be too strong a word) by Jared, the plot of the show was simple enough: Kate and Jared met at a restaurant, where Kate broke up with Jared to focus on law school (Legally Blonde’s “Serious”). After a bitter line of dialogue, Jared then launched into Closer Than Ever’s “What Am I Doin’?”, before calling over a barkeep (yours truly) for some post-St. Patrick’s Day commiseration drinks. I played up my latent social awkwardness for this dialogue scene, where I become smitten with Jared and he gives me his number, suggesting that we grab a couple of beers sometime. I think that a lot of the humor of my ensuing solo (Bromance: The Dude-sical’s “The Phone Call”; where the character vacillates over whether or not to call the guy he met at a bar last night) stems from the fact that the it’s never explicitly stated whether the feelings felt are romantic or whether this is just a cripplingly-socially awkward guy who’s happy he made a friend.

I hadn’t acted in a long time before Change of Heart (I believe it was RENT in April 2010), and I thoroughly enjoyed treading the boards once more.

[1] Everyone in my school goes on a week of work experience when they’re in 5th Year — I’m working in Limerick Musical Society, observing rehearsals and making show programs.