Author Archives: gmcdavid

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About gmcdavid

Retired IT professional with a wide range of interests. Married. Three sons, two with autistic-spectrum disorders and the third being transgender with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. From Chicago but now living in the Twin Cities metro, Minnesota. Episcopalian. Carleton College (BA 1972, physics) and Stanford University (MS 1974, Applied Physics; MS 1976 Statistics).

Rang Gaeilge, 4ú lá mí Eanáir 2023

Duinnín in Áth na Lachan (tuilleadh)

Dineen in Duckford (continued)
  • D’úsáid sí a lán gallúnaí.’
    ‘Bhuel, bhiodh jorum beag de dhith ar an mbean bhocht agus gan slí eile aici chun é a fháil. Chuirinn an jorum síos as leabhar ina ghallúnach,’ ar sise, gan náire.
    ‘Go maithe Dia dhuit é,’ arsa an Duinníneach agus thug sé drochfhéachaint uirthi
    .
    ‘Istigh ansin, sa snug a d’óladh sí é?’ ar seisean, agus lámh aige ar an mbosca faoistine.
    ‘Ó, ná téigh isteach ansin, a Athair,’ arsa Mrs. Byrne.

    She used a lot of soap.
    ‘Well, jorum would be needed by the poor woman and she would have no other way to get it. I used to put jorum from the book as her soap,’ she said without shame.
    ‘God Bless you,’ said Dineen and he gave her a wicked look.
    ‘In there, in the snug she drank it?’ he said, with his hand on the confession box.
    ‘O, Don’t go in there, Father,’ said Mrs. Byrne.

    díth Loss; deprivation, destruction; Want, lack; need, requirement f
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Rang Gaeilge, 29ú lá Mí na Samhna, 2022

Duinnín in Áth na Lachan (tuilleadh)

Dineen in Duckford (continued)
  • Niorbh fhada go raibh an Duinníneach agus an Constábla de Brún ar a mbealach go teach Fayley Toole in Áth na Lachan mar ar tharla an marú coicís roimhe sin. Lár mhí Iúil a bhí ann. Bhí an lá ag scarbháil i ndiaidh báisti, rith maith uisce sna claiseanna ar thaobh an bhóthair agus na loganna lán báistí. Talamh cothrom, feirmeacha beaga, bó ag féachaint thar chlaí anseo, asal ag grágaíl ansiúd. ‘Dein cur síos dom ar do chara Fayley Toole, a Bhill,’ arsa an Duinníneach.


    Bhí a ghairm maite aige do Bhill agus é éirithe cairdiúil leis.[d.l. 153]

    It wasn’t long before Dineen and Constable de Brún were on their way to Fayley Toole’s house in Duckford where the killing had taken place a fortnight before. It was the middle of July. The day was drying after rain, there was a good run of water in the gullies on the side of the road and the hollows were full of rain. Flat land, small farms, a cow looking over a fence here, a donkey braying there.

    ‘Describe your friend Fayley Toole to me, Bill’ said Dineen.

    He had forgiven Bill his profession and had become friendly with him.

    scarbháil Hardening, drying, crustation f
    clais channel; gully, ditch. f pl claiseanna
    log place, hollow m
    cothrom Level; balance; Equal, equable, measure. m
    claí Dike, wall; fence m
    grágaíl (Act of) cawing, croaking; braying; cackling; squawking f
    gairm call f
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Firefox problem with Ubuntu

Following up on Jammy Jellyfish and System Updates I have been using Tyrone, my newer Ubuntu 22.04 system, for my daily work. In doing so I found an issue with Firefox: The “Save page as” “Print/Save to PDF” commands were not working on that machine under Ubuntu. I tried various Firefox troubleshooting options, but they did not help. The commands work fine with Firefox under Windows, and also with Firefox under Ubuntu 22.04 on another system (Donegal), which, however is an upgrade from 20.04 rather than a clean install. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox

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Rang Gaeilge, 25ú lá Mí na mí Dheireadh Fómhair, 2022

Duinnín in Áth na Lachan

Dineen in Duckford

leannán, áin, pl id, m., a lover, paramour, concubine, favourite, leman ; also fig. a chronic ailment or infirmity . . . L. peacaidh, an habitual sin… L. sidhe, an endearing phantom, a phantom lover, al. fig. of a delicate person: an bás, death, is a L. sidhe for all (SR): L. sidhe is used smt. like musa as a source of poet. inspiration.

peaca sin m
peacach sinner m gs npl peacaigh
  • ‘Mo nia, Bill,’ arsa Penelope de Brún leis an Athair Padraig, ‘tá sé cráite. bhí air a chara, Fayley Toole, a ghabháil, é a chúisiú i ndúnmharú, ar orduithe óna Sháirsint.
    ‘Do nia, Bill de Brún atá san R.I.C.?’ arsa an Duinníneach agus amhras an Náisiúintóra ina ghlor.

    ‘My nephew, Bill,’ said Penelope de Brún to Father Patrick, ‘he is tormented. He had to arrest his friend, Fayley Toole, who is accused of murder, on the orders of his Sergeant.’

    ‘Your nephew, Bill de Brún is in the R.I.C.?’ said Dineen with the suspicion of the Nationalist in his voice.

    nia nephew m
    cráite Agonized, tormented, grieved
    cúisigh Accuse; charge, prosecute
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Mining Our Biblical Matriarchs

A workshop on Friday, September 2, 2022 at Chicon 8, presented by Sally Wiener Grotta

The women of the Bible (Eve, Esther, Miriam, etc.) have been amongst the West’s most enduring female archetypes. As lush and varied as any mythology, their stories have been reinterpreted by every generation’s artists, clerics, and political leaders, according to how they expected women to be. However, these archetypes have been largely overlooked by modern spec fic authors. In this workshop, we’ll have fun challenging and toppling common preconceptions about various women of the Bible, as we mine this rich mother lode for SF&F story ideas.


The following are my notes and amplifications. I am solely responsible for their content and any mistakes.
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Rang Gaeilge, 27ú lá na mí Mheán Fómhair 2022

Duinnín agus Professor Moriarty (tuilleadh)

Dineen and Professor Moriarty (continued)
  • ‘Tá an leabhar a d’iarr tú ar an leabharlannaí gan oscailt fós agus tu ag réiteach chun imeachta. Tá dhá leathphéire stoca cniotdilte, bána ort. Ní hi an bhean chéanna a chniotáil an dá cheann mar ta na greamannaí sa stoca nua ar do chois chlé níos rialta ná na greamanna sa cheann eile atá lán greamanna iomraill. Ní chaithfeá stocaí corra murach tú a bheith corraithe. Déarfadh mo chara, an Dochtúir Bhatson, gur chaith tú stocaí corra i ngan fhios duit féin chun aird a dhíriú ar fhadhb atá ag déanamh imni duit. Siceolaíocht.”

    ‘The book you asked the librarian for is still unopened and you are preparing to leave. You are wearing two half-pairs of white, knitted socks. It is not the same woman who knitted both because the stitches in the new sock on your left foot are more regular than the stitches in the other which are full of missed stitches. You wouldn’t wear odd socks unless you were odd. My friend, Dr. Watson, would say that you have worn odd socks without knowing it to draw attention to a problem that is worrying you.’

    greim Grip, grasp, hold; stitch m pl greamanna
    iomrall Aberration, error m
    rialta regular
    corr odd
    corraigh Move, stir
    díriú Direction; aiming, guidance m
    síceolaíocht síceolaíocht f
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