Hello again, Ms. Michaela McCollum Connolly, Belfast and british teen Ms. Melissa Reid are being held in a Lima prison facing charges of smuggling 11.5kg of cocaine. According to Irish former consul to Peru the proisecution are more likely to charge Ms. McCallum Connolly with the crime and she could face 15-25 years if convicted. If the system decides to charge both girls they could face up to seven years in jail. The consul said that an appeal is most likely in which case the charge would probably reduced to seven years incarceration.
The consul explained that the anti-drug squad in Lima could take up to six months before the girls are charged and proceedings begin. However, Irish priest, Fr. Sean Walsh, based in Peru and working with street children, says that the prosecution could take up to two years before proceedings commence.
A Channel 4 documentary Dispatches claims that Ryanair frequently fly with the minimum of fuel required and that cockpit voice recordings of serious incidents ‘disappeared’.
Ryanair hit back at Dispatches saying it was ‘false and defamatory’ and that it ‘wrongly impugned’ the airlines excellent 29-year safety record.
The programme honed in on July 2012 when 3 Ryanair flights were diverted from Madrid to Valencia airports; all three flights issued emergency Mayday fuel alerts after such incidents.
Pilots who spoke annonymously to the programme said they were ‘under pressure’ to keep fuel reserves to a minimum.
A survey conducted by Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG) asked 1,000 Ryanair captains and first officers about Ryanairs safety culture. Apparently the ‘overwhelming majority’ believe Ryanair ‘does not have an open and transparent safety culture.’ Ryanair who does not recognise the Ryanair Pilot Group dismissed this survey saying it had been carried out by rival airlines.
Meanwhile the IAA said it does not rely on such surveys that are ‘often motivated by industrial relations and employment issues.’
Russian Mr. Dmitris Similanets (29) faces trial in the US over alleged hacking 160m credit card numbers in the alleged largest ever cybercrime that cost over 300m dollars.
Mr. Dmitris Similanets, who is charged with allegedly being a member of a cybercrime ring, denies the charges that could apparently send him to jail for decades. The hearing is in the federal court of Newark, New Jersey.
Irish rugby star Jonathan Sexton, reportedly earning E52, 000 is the second highest-paid rugby player in France. Only English rugby player, Johnny Wilkinson earning E56,000 per month earns more.
INSPIRATION: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover.
- Mark Twain
ON THIS DAY: 1704 - The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.
1792 - French revolutionaries took the entire French royal family and imprisoned them.
1784 - The United States Legislature met for the final time in Annapolis.
1792 - French revolutionaries took the entire French royal family and imprisoned them.
1784 - The United States Legislature met for the final time in Annapolis.
1889 - A patent for a coin-operated telephone was issued to William Gray.
1907 - The first taxicab started on the streets of New York City.
1907 - The first taxicab started on the streets of New York City.
1932 - Adolf Hitler refused to take the post of vice-chancellor of Germany. He said he was going to hold out "for all or nothing."
WORDS TO THE WISE:
I lay in a meadow
Until the wrinkled serenity
Entered into my bones,
And made me into one
With the browsing kine,
The still greenery,
The drifting clouds,
And the swooping birds.
- Alice James (1848-1892)
I expand and live in the warm day
Like corn and melons
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1892)
SACRED SPACE:
A CLARE BENEDICTION
May the Lord show His mercy upon you;
May the light of His presence be your guide;
May he guard and uphold you;
May His spirit be ever by your side.
When you sleep, may His angels watch over you
When you wake, may he fill you with His grace.
May you love Him and serve Him all your days,
Then in heaven may you see His face.
May the Lord’s loving kindness surround you;
Keep you safe as you journey on your way:
May He lead you and inspire you as
He grants you the gift of each new day.
May He bless all your loved ones and cherish them;
Every friend, every stranger at your door:
In the name of His Son, our Saviour Christ,
May God bless you, now and ever more.
Bless you now and ever more.
Feast of St. Clare 11/8/2013
SMILE A WHILE!
What’s brown and steaming and comes out of Cowes?
The Isle of Wight ferry.
Why did the teacher put the lights on?
The class was so dim.
A greengrocer is six feet tall
Has a forty inch waist and
Size eleven shoes.
What does he weigh?
Vegetables
Until next time
Valerie
Letter from the editor:
Dear Reader,
Latest news about Mr. Mandela issued by the MediClinic, Heart Hospital, Pretoria say that ‘Madiba is in a critical but stable condition. The ninety-six-year old South African icon is spending his sixth week in hospital since his admittance on June eighth.
On Sunday last, July 14th, 2013, former President Thabo Mbeki said he believed that Mr. Mandela would soon be discharged to recuperate at home. While journalistic interest may be dwindling crowds and nations pray and send warm wishes for a full recovery to a man who inspires countless people.
When Mr. Mandela was in hospital for four weeks papers began telling us that he was in a ‘vegetative state’ and that it would be kinder to ‘switch off the machines than allow him continue suffering.’
I am with the many people who wish him well and hope he returns to full health soon. However are the words ‘vegetative state’not a gross insult to every one? How could any human ever be in a ‘vegetative state?’ Certainly unconsciousness, coma, paralysis, deep shock, and trauma, are all part of human existence, but why put such an awful name on deep coma? To me it adds insult, grave insult to injury.
Mr. Bryan Jennet, wonderful Scottish neurosurgeon, coined the unfortunate, and in my opinion inadequate phrase in 1972. I first became aware of the phrase following the Hillsborough football disaster in Liverpool on April 15th 1989 when many people were left unconscious for years; some of whom are alive but in a deep coma to this day.
Am I being too touchy, or ridiculous? I honestly do not think so. All humans merit respect at every level: is it disrespectful if not downright offensive to describe someone in a coma as being in a ‘vegetative state?’
Mr. Jennet was a founder member of The Department of Neurological Sciences, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, which continues to be a world leader in its field. Surely this brilliant man could have coined a better phrase to describe such a disturbing human phenomenon?
Suspecting that I misuderstand what the word ‘vegetative’ actually means I consulted the dictionary and found the word was one of a series of words beginning with ‘vegetble’ and ending with ‘vegies’ described as ‘food: another spelling of veggies.’
The word itself is described thus:
Vegetative ; adv.
1. of plants: relating to or typical of vegetation, plants, or plant growth.
2. involving growth, not sexual reproduction: relating to, involving, or typical of the growth and maintenance of an organism rather than its sexual reproduction
3. reproducing asexually: describes reproduction, especially in plants, in which individuals develop asexually from specialised structures such as bulbs, rhyzomes, or runners
4. having sedentary lifestyle: leading a physically or mentally inactive life
5. medicine: relating to persistent coma: characterised by the reduction or absence of the usual mental or physical functions, often as a result of injury to the brain.’
Being in a deep, prolonged coma has nothing to do with vegetables has it? Please doctors and medics concerned with profound brain injury, can we have another term to describe deep, long lasting coma. After all no one is a head of cabbage!
On a personal level, I find myself torn here. In April 1985 after fleeting lapses in vision and a lifetime of headaches and nausea I had some tests: a brain tumour and hydrocephalus were diagnosed, in Southern General Hospital by the wonderful Professor Graham Teasdale.
A shunt was fitted and two weeks later the brain tumour was removed. A year or so after surgery pain was significantly less and in 1987 I went to New York. I am deeply nay profoundly indebted to professor Graham Teasdale, his team, and all the staff in Ward 65 for their unfailing professionalism, caring, focus, and kindness. I cannot write enough good things about them and without them who knows where I would be? Not writing this article and that’s for sure.
This letter a plea requesting change of a term bandied about to describe a human tragedy. In no way is it an indictment against the hospital or indeed medical personnel.
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