Long ago, perhaps before high school (1964-1968) I read a novel by Otis Adelbert Kline. It was set on Mars, a Mars similar to that of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoom). The villain was Sarkis the Torturer and there was a particular scene that stuck in my mind over all the intervening decades. I recently tracked it down. The novel was The Outlaws of Mars. From Chapter XII:
TAIMÍN: Thug tú do dheargéitheach.
COILMÍN: Nach tú fhéin a dhíbir é, ag ceapadh gur cheart dhó aithris a dhéanamh ort, dhá choinneail ag sclábhaiocht ó dhubh go dubh is ó bhliain go bliain. Nach bhfeicinn an flashlamp leagtha ar an iomaire agat is tú ag iarraidh a bheith ag cur cupla iomaire fataí théis do lá oibre.
TAIMÍN: Ní raibh lá ar bith sách fada dhomsa, ní hé fearacht go leor eile é.
COILMÍN: Rófhada atá siad anois dhuit. Róbharainneach a bhí tú, a Taimin. Chuile phunt brúite síos i sparán agat agus ruóg air a bhí chomh fáiscthe le tóin lachan.
TAIMÍN: Ba é mo chuid fhéin é.
COILMÍN: Cén mhaith an deabhail dhuit é anois? Rinne tú éagóir ar do mhac dhá fhágáil ar phócaí folamh. Is minic a thug mise luach deoch do do mhac.
TAIMÍN: You gave an utter falsehood.
COILMÍN: Didn’t you yourself drive him out, thinking he should imitate you, two detained in slavery from dawn to dusk and from year to year. Don’t you see the flashlight placed on the ridge you have when you are tryimg to plant a ridges of potatoes after your work day.
TAIMÍN: No day was long enough for me, unlike so many others.
COILMÍN: They are too long now. You were too thrifty, Taimín. Every pound pressed down in your purse and the purse-string on in as tight as a duck’s butt.
TAIMÍN: It was my own.
COILMÍN: What the devil good is it to you now? You did your son wrong leaving him with empty pockets. I often gave your son the price of a drink.
| deargéitheach | Utter falsehood | m |
| díbir | Drive out, banish, expel | |
| aithris | Narrate, recite; imitate | |
| coinneáil | f | |
| iomaire | ridge | |
| sách | Full, sated, satisfied; Sufficiently, enough | |
| fearacht | Like, as, in the manner of | |
| barainneach | Thrifty; careful, parsimonious | |
| brúite | Pressed, crushed | |
| ruóg | Waxed cord; Tanned cord | |
| fáiscthe | Squeezed, compressed; Tightened, tight; Well-knit; compact; Trim, tidy; neatly dressed | |
| éagóir | Injustice, wrong; unfairness, inequity | f |
A few years ago I ran across some discussions of GPS:
Now there are similar concernes about AI:
Following up on Replacing an old HP computer for $35: Debian 13 is now out, so I deleted the Debian 12 installation on that machine and replaced it with a fresh installation of the new version. The first thing I did was download debian-13.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso and put it on a USB stick with Rufus. Installing from this failed, with a message that some obscure file was corrupt. I don’t know if this was a file on the iso or one that had been downloaded in the installation process. A second attempt also failed.
MEAIG: Is that you, Lily a leana? Lily? Come here to Mamó and give me my clothes is grá mo chroí thú. Ach cén deabhal stodam atá inniu ort? Lily? (De scread.) Come here, a bhitch! . . . Come here a deirim … Scread mhaidne ar do chuid spreangaidi caola. Put down the kettle is déan dhá bhlogam tae, a leana… Lily… Lily? Come here to Mamó a deirim … Ná raibh tú [d.l. 68] ar choinleach an fhómhair, muis, a scubaidin bhradach, ag imeacht is t’imleacán??] leis. Ach cá bhfágfá é is an bhriogaill de mháthair atá agat! Ag cur corannaí ina tóin is airde péint uirthi. Lily? A, muise, tiocfaidh tú aríst nuair atá airgead ag teastáil uait. Ach tabharfaidh mise maide ar airdín a chúil dhuit.
MEAIG: Is that you, Lily child? Lily? Come here to Grandma and give me my clothes you are the love of my heart. But what devilish huffiness are you today? Lily? (With a scream) Come here, bitch! . . . Come here I say. A morning scream your spindle-shanks. Put down the kettle and make two cups of tea, child. Lily… Lily? Come here to Grandma I say…. You were not on the autumn harvest stubble, indeed, you little theiving hussy leaving and with your navel with him. But where would you leave him and the irritable mother you have! Putting crowns in her and paint on her highest backside. Lily? Ah, indeed, you will come again when you need money. But I’ll give you a stick to beat your back.
| stodam | Huff, huffiness | m |
| Scread mhaidne | confound | |
| spreangaide | Long thin limb | f |
| blogam = bolgam | mouthful, cup of tea between meals | m |
| coinleach | Stubble; stubble-field | m |
| scubaid | hussy | f |
| bradach | Thief, plunderer | m, a |
| bhriogaill = briogaid | Touchy, irritable, person | f |
| cúl | back [of something] | |
| cúil | corner | f |
| airdín | ???? | |
MÁIRÍN: An mí-adh mór a stór… ‘Grá mo chroí thú, a Mháirín.’ B’in é an focal deiridh a dúirt sé isteach i mo chluais. Muid ag pógadh a chéile sa gcarr théis a bheith ag damhsa sa Seapoint — ní raibh aon chead a dhul níos faide sul má bheifeá pósta ag an am sin. Muid ag cogarnaíl go [d.l. 61] grámhar i gcluasa a chéile, ag gealladh gur in ascaillí a chéile a chaithfeadh muid an chuid eile dar saol. Ní hé an chaoi ar iarr sé orm an bpósfainn é ach gur shocraigh an bheirt againn le chéile go raibh sé in am againn bualadh faoin saol théis cheithre bliana a chaitheamh ag cuirtéireacht. Éanlaith an aeir a mheabhraigh dhúinn go raibh sé ina bhreacadh lae sul má d’fhág sé slán agam. Bhí sé théis carr nua a cheannacht agus muid ag samhlú go raibh bóthar an tsaoil chomh fada leis an tsíoraiocht amach romhainn, ach ni raibh an tsíoraiocht i bhfad ó bhaile. Bhí cupla deoch ólta aige ach níor mheas mé go raibh stró ar bith air, marar ina chodladh a thit sé. “Grá mo chroí thú, a Mháirín,” an focal deiridh a duirt sé. Maraíodh ar an mbealach abhaile é. Ag casadh Aíll na Caróige. D’imigh sé den bhóthar. Bunoscionn a fritheadh é fhéin is an carr ar maidin.
MÁIRÍN: A great misfortune, my dear… ‘My heart loves you, Máirín.’ It was the last word he said into my ear. We were kissing each other in the car, after dancing in Seapoint — There was no permission to go further than that before you were married at that time. We were whispering lovingly in each other’s ears, promising that we would spend the rest of our lives in each other’s arms. It wasn’t the way he asked me to marry him, but that the two of us agreed together that it was time for us to meet life ogether after spending four years courting. Birds of the air reminded us that it was daybreak before he left me. It was after buying a new car and we imagined that the road of life before us was as long as eternity, but eternity was not far from home. He had a couple of drinks but I don’t think he was stressed at al, if he had not fallen asleep. “You are the love of my heart, Máirín,” the last word he said. He was killed on the way home. Turning the Cliff of the Crow. He went off the road. He and the car were found upside down in the morning.
| cogarnaíl | cogarnach1, f. (gs. -aí). 1. | |
| grámhar | Loving, tender, affectionate; Lovable, amiable. | |
| ascaill | armpit | f |
| éanlaith | birds, fowl | f |
| meabhraigh | Commit to memory; remember; Recall, remind …. | |
| breacadh an lae | daybreak | |
| samhlú | Imagination, fancy | m |
| síoraíocht | eternity | f |
| meas | Estimate, value, judge; deem, consider | v, m |
| stór | Store; Stock, provision; Abundance; treasure | m |
| stró | Stress, exertion; | |
| aill | Cliff, precipice | f |
| caróg | crow | f gs caróige |
| Bunoscionn | Upside down | |
JACKIE isteach le trádaire rice cakes srl. agus MAIRIN trasna agus amach an taobh eile ag baint di miotóga rubair níocháin agus ag fail réidh le deiseanna níocháin.
JACKIE: Cupán tae anois is na cosa a shíneadh go fóilleach.
MÁIRÍN: Beidh mé leat anois ar an bpointe.
JACKIE: Buíochas le Mac Dé go bhfuil sé sin déanta. Tá an oiread urláir le niochán sa teach seo is go maródh sé capall.
(MAIRIN ar ais le mala mór bronntanas.)
MÁIRÍN: Cuirfidh mé na bronntanais faoin gcrann ar dtus. Beidh siad chomh excited le gasúir ar maidin.
JACKIE: Is[?] an bhfuair tú bronntanas do chuile dhuine acu?
MÁIRÍN: Ara, underwear is stocaí is rudaí beaga do na créatuir nach bhfuil aon duine ag teacht chomh fada leo. Caithfidh mé an treabhsar seo a ghiorrú cupla orlach do Taimín sul má chuirfeas mé sa bparcel é.
JACKIE: An ndéanfaidh mé an tae anois?
JACKIE enters with a tray of rice cakes, etc. and MÁIRÍN crosses and comes out the other side taking off her rubber washing gloves and preparing the washing supplies.
JACKIE: Now a cup of tea and a stretch of the legs for a while.
MÁIRÍN: I’ll be with you in a moment.
JACKIE: Thank the son of God this is done. The amount of floors to wash in this house would kill a horse.
(MÁIRÍN is back with a big bag of presents.)
MÁIRÍN: I will put the presents under the tree first. They will be as excited as children in the morning.
JACKIE: [?]Did you get a gift for each of them?
MÁIRÍN: Here, underwear and socks and little things for the dears that no one is coming this far for. I need to shorten these trousers a couple of inches for Taimín before I put them in the parcel.
JACKIE: Shall I make the tea now?
| tráidire | tray | m |
| níochán | (Act of) washing; wash, laundry | m |
| síneadh | Stretching, stretch; extension, prolongation | m |
My backup desktop system, an old HP SFF box, failed. It was running Windows 10, Ubuntu 24.04, and Debian 12. Somehow it stopped booting correctly. GRUB would not show all the systems. My boot repair drive failed to fix it. I replaced the SATA SDD drive, but that did not help. So I replaced it with another SFF desktop for a cost of $35.
MEAIG: (a glór ag briseadh): Ní bheinn ag cur trioblóide ar aon duine marach gur imigh an siúl uaim.
MÁIRÍN: Amach ag ól deoch atá sé a dhul. Beidh sé ar ais faoi cheann uair an chloig. (Nod do Dharach.)
MEAIG: Go sábhalá Dia ar bhóthar is ar bhealach thú, a leana. Mionnaigh dhom anois nach bhfágfaidh tú anseo mé.
(Darach i sáinn.)
MÁIRÍN: ní fhágfaidh sé. Is beag an baol air. (Nod eile. Téann Darach i dtreo an lucht féachana go brónach.) Déan eadra breá codlata anois, maith an bhean, is ní aithneoidh tú thú fhéin nuair a dhúiseos tú. (Ag brú cathaoir Mheaig go dtí taobh na leapan.) Beidh tú breá compóirteach sa leaba seo anois, a Mheaig.
MEAIG: (uaill agus ag bagairt le maide): Nil mé ag dul in aon leaba ná deabhal fad mo choise! Coinnigi amach uaim.
MEAIG (her voice breaking): I wouldn’t be making trouble for anyone unless they walked away from me/if only U could walk.
MÁIRÍN: He is going out for a drink. He’ll be back in an hour. (Nods to Darach.)
MEAIG: May God protect you on your journey and path, my child. Swear to me now that you won’t leave me here.
MÁIRÍN: He won’t leave. There’s little danger to him. (Another nod. Darach walks towards the audience sadly.) Have a good sleeping time, good woman, and you won’t recognize yourself when you wake up. (Pushing Meaig’s chair to the side of the bed.) You will be very comfortable in this bed now, Meaig.
MEAIG (wailing and threatening with a stick): I am not going to bed nor anywhere farther than the length of my leg. Keep away from me!
| Mionnaigh | swear | |
| uaill | Wail; howl, yell; Light-headed, scatter-brained, person; vain person; Vanity, pride. |
f |
| bagairt | thbreat | f |
| maide | Stick, bar, beam | m |
(Tagann MAIRIN ar ais, tae i gcupán le gob as aici)
MAIRIN: Anois, a Mheaig, ól as a ghob é seo is ní dhóirtfigh tú é.
MEAIG: O, a Dheaidin, cén sort sine mhuire i seo? (Níl focal as MEAIG agus MAIRIN á tabhairt léi sa gcathaoir.)
DARACH: Tá a fhios ag Mac Dé go bhfuil sí meallta leo acu is mé a cheapadh go gcuirfeadh sí na spoir i dtalamh as cosa i dtaca.
COILMÍN: M’anam nach bhfuil aon mhaith ag tabhairt á ndúshlán istigh anseo, deirimse leat.
(TAIMÍN tar éis éiri agus dul ar a ghlúine os comhair Dharach.)
TAIMÍN: In Ainm an Athar is an Mhic is an Spioraid Naoimh, Aiméan.
DARACH: Cén sórt frakes atá seo?
(MAIRIN comes back, tea in a cup with a spout)
MAIRIN: Now Meg, Drink this from its spout and you will not spill it.
MEAIG: Oh, God, what kind of virgin´s nipple is this? (There’s no word from MEAIG and MAIRIN brings her to the chair.)
DARACH: The Son of God knows she is attracted to them and I would think she would put the spurs in the ground on the spot.
COILMÍN: My soul, there is no good in challenging them inside here, I say to you.
(TAIMÍN after rising has gone on his knees before Darach.))
TAIMÍN: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
DARACH: What kind of freaks are these?
| gob | beak, point, spout | |
| doirt | pour, spoll, shed | v |
| meall | Beguile, charm; entice; Delude, deceive; disappoint | |
| spor | spur | m gs npl spoir |
| taca | prop, support | m |
| dúshlán | Challenge, defiance | m |
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 