Long-suffering response

I caught some footage of Bush's speech before the UN General Assembly yesterday, and thought his choice of words was interesting. He was talking about Burma.

(No, it's not that he flaffed a little over Aung San Suu Kyi's name; God love him, he must have practiced that for aaaages.) He said that Americans were 'outraged' by the situation in Burma. Now, outrage to me suggests an initial reaction, it's kind of a response to being shocked by something: "They're doing what? You're kidding! I am outraged!"

But Bush's next sentence said that the situation had been ongoing for 19 years, which just plain undermined his first statement. Either a) Americans have just noticed the situation, which doesn't look good, or b) they knew all along and have been quietly outraged for 19 years, which doesn't look good.

I'd have left a good buffer before I mentioned the 19 years -- or else suggested that the situation this year was even more outrageous than normal, and that's what precipitated some US action.

I just noticed - U2's Walk On (dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi) is playing in the background. Love that symmetry! And you can see an amazing live version of Walk On right here...

Winds of change

On the site of the Guinness Brewery, there's an odd tower capped by a verdigris onion-shaped dome. When I was researching Dublin last year, I learned it was a remnant from an earlier alcohol-business: Roe's Distillery. In the nineteenth century, George Roe's Old Malt Whiskey was famous, and its premises boasted the largest pot-still in the world. This odd tower was the distillery's windmill.

It was builts in 1805 to grind corn. As windmills go, it's supposed to be one of the tallest in Europe. It was a smock windmill - the copper dome had big sails attached, and both dome and sails rotated in the wind. It kept its sails until the 1860s, when steam took over.

At the end of the century Dublin Distillers' Company took it premises, and then Guinness in the 1950s. It's called St Patrick's Tower these days. Driving through Dublin this summer, I kept a look-out for it among the cityscape, and sure enough - there was the windmill! It was like a tale coming to life.

Nowadays it's in the heart of the Digital Hub, which has a lovely symmetry - the windmill is still at the centre of the city's lifeblood. Thanks to Sean for the photo.