THE SPECTRUM SECTION of the Sunday Times Magazine always offers excellent photojournalism and this week's essay is a "Tribute to a Fighting Spirit". My Sunday Qik coverage of the piece does the story little justice. It's a moving story from Texas where Deidrea and TK Laux discovered their unborn son had trisomy 13, a rare and fatal chromosonal abnormality. The Dallas couple made the decision to continue with the pregnancy, knowing that their child would not live more than a few days. In the image at left, Deidrea posed with TK and my Qik clip reduces the couple's grief to a few keyframes, including their visit to Hiett's LyBrand Funeral Home before the baby's birth, the hospital just after childbirth, the sad scene on the bathroom floor after the little boy died following his first bath, and at graveside. Little baby Thomas was born with a cleft palate, kidney and heart abnormalities, and six fingers on each hand. His genetic disorder affects one in 10,000 live births and it happens when a person has three instead of two copies of genetic material from chromosone 13. All other items I've culled from Ireland's Sunday broadsheets pale by comparison but I've several minutes covering themes of ethics, innovation, meltdown and technology.
ethics
Colin Coyle -- "Host offered to talk up sponsor" in the Sunday Times, 4 Apr 10. "Duncan Stewart promised to give positive coverage to a state agency, in an apparent breach of guidelines."
innovation
Colin Coyle -- "Brainwave, Anyone?" in the Sunday Times focus section, 4 Apr 10. "The jury is still out over Martine McAleese's appeal to the public for ideas to boost the economy."
meltdown
Richard Curran and Ian Kehoe -- "Anglo's €2.8 billion Quinn disaster" on the front page of the Sunday Business Post, 4 April 2010. The Irish Financial Regulator will not authorise the current management of Quinn Group to reclaim control of the company.
Aengus Fanning -- "If we could print out own money" is the front page editorial in the Sunday Independent, 4 Apr 10. "The truth is we are heading, surely and not very slowly, in the direction of a state-dominated economy, not a wealth-producing one."
Sarah McInerney -- "No withdrawal" in the Sunday Times. "We'll have to put more money into a zombie bank no one wants."
John Drennan -- "Polls have Fianna Fail in fear of total decimation" in the News section of the Sunday Independent. "The polls reveal that the electorate is poised to take out the party's senior ministers rather than more humble backbenchers."
Jody Corcoran -- "Even as Bertie's boom got boomer the omens were getting gloomier" in the Sunday Independent. "The axis between politician, banker and developer here is smbiotic, as was evcident throughout the tenure of Ahern."
Daniel McConnell -- "Nama won't shield us from toxic bank fallout" under the subhead "The rape of a nation" in the Sunday Independent.
Ian Kehoe -- "Receiver appointed to Rooney's broadband firm" in the News section of the Sunday Business Post, 4 April 2010. Two weeks ago, the Revenue Commissioners issued a winding-up petition against Ice Communications, in an effort to recover a debt. Several homeowners in my estate use Ice Broadband.
Cliff Taylor -- "Taxpayers count the cost" of the bank bailout in the SBP. The biggest risk is loans being taken on by NAMA turn out to be worth even less than the values being paid for them. If only we had never let our banks get into this state in the first place. Ireland has experienced failures in government policies, the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator and the bank boards.
Pat Leahy -- "Cowen survives his longest week" in SBP, 4 Apr 10. Linking Cowen to the banks and to Anglo is not a hard connection to make, and most people have made it for themselves.
technology
Gavin Daly -- "Major venture capital firms to bring €10 billion to tech tour" in the business interview section of the SBP, 4 Apr 10. The funders will hear investment pitches from 30 Irish and British companies.
Paul MacInnes -- "Forget Avatar, the real 3D revolution's in your front room" in the Discover Technology section of the Sunday Observer, 4 April 2010. Using a piece of software called SketchUp and printers at places like Thinglab, you could produe an intricate model of a car's suspension, whole hands in full size and lattice structures of snowballs.
Adrian Weckler -- "Talk, type and browse" in Computers in Business. Weckler cites the HTC Legend, the iPhone 3GS and the SonyEricsson X10 in his review of new products.
Lucy Siegle -- "Resomation" in the Observer Magazine, 4 April 2010. Resomation uses much less carbon than standard creation.
John Harlow and Chris Gourlay -- "iWant" in the Sunday Times, 4 Apr 10. "Apple flatters our secret vision of ourselves as sophisticated and popular, with dozens of friends who cannot wait to hear from us." And now we need iPads to truly bond and communicate.
Jennifer O'Connell -- "The brutal reign of terror that Phoebe Prince was subjected to at school before her suicide was horrific but not unusual." Jennifer's essay in the Sunday Business Post Agenda magazine causes me to wonder if school teachers should monitor Facebook and Twitter for evidence of cyberbullying.
Bonus Tech Link: "Best 10 dollar accessory of the year" is a cable.
Direct link to 10-minute Qik clip: http://qik.com/video/5853287
Last year: Qik News, 5 April 2009.
Three years ago (3 Apr 07) I wrote about nanoblogging but the term never took off.
Six years ago, 4 April 2004: "Return to fitness" (still hasn't happened).
Five years ago, 5 April 2005: "How do you know it's time?" and the hurt still pains me whenever on the Dublin road in Kilkenny.
