Cupid Stunt

I got one of these for Christmas. I’ve been high on coffee for the past week.

Gonna save me a fortune on Starbucks.

What did you get for Christmas?

I see that a Sunday Indo journalist got an unexpected gift when he found some cocaine in his letterbox with the xmas cards. Of course he called the Guards, but only after “slitting open the cheap plastic bag to confirm that it was coke”, like we all would do of course. Just in case it was sherbet or finely ground white dog poo (you just don’t see white dog poo anymore, do you?). And how does your average Indo hack ’confirm’ that it’s coke anyway? Ian O Doherty on speed dial?

Of course the Gardaí offered the only plausible explanation for the unexpected gift, suggesting that maybe drugs were being “dropped free into letterboxes to get the occupants hooked.”

Yes folks, junk mail has evolved. I give you… junkie mail!

Yup. The ever-increasingly-farcical organization that is the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have begun to prosecute people who have ripped their legally purchased music CDs onto their computers. I came across this Washington Post article via Graham Lenihan’s blog. Technically it makes everybody who owns an mp3 player a criminal. 

If only they’d make anybody who buys a James Blunt album a criminal, full stop, the world would be a better place.

Anybody know who lives here? (Hint… ‘it was just resting in my account…’)

Click for proper sized pic

Edit: Trinity got it… our old buddy Father Ted!

Click here to see the house in the Father Ted intro

And here’s the placemark for Google Earth

Just for Google Earthers – the Father Ted Shipwreck from the opening scenes

Directions to Father Ted’s house:

If you’re ever out around County Clare for a drive, then finding Ted’s house is also a great adventure. There’s a family living there but they don’t mind people parking up outside for a photo op. First you’ve got to head for Corofin (that should be on your map). From Corofin take the R476 towards Kilnaboy. Keep an eye out for a turn off where there’s an old ruined church and little graveyard, it’s just before you get into Kilnaboy itself. Take a right turn down that road, you’ll pass a school and keep driving for quite a few miles. You’ll see the house appear on your left hand side. You won’t miss it!

There was a big earthquake here earlier this evening. Apparently the house did a bit of a wobble and our Christmas tree did the Shakin’ Stevens. I was in the toilet, reading a book.

(Shout from outside the door) “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“The whole place shook!”

“Well I did have tuna sambos for lunch. You know what they do to me.”

This is the second time I haven’t felt an earthquake that everybody else has. Well last time I felt a rumble but thought it was a truck passing. That was a 4.5. Tonights was a 6.8.

edit: I meant immune, of course, not allergic

To the person who keeps clicking through to my site by typing ‘irish rubgy’, ‘rubgy jersey’ and ‘irish rubgy jersey’ into Google…

R-U-G-B-Y

That is all.

(if you have dailysex dyslexia, I apologise)

There seems to have been a lot of new Ireland imagery added to Google Earth in the past few days. Updates for a lot of the west coast, midlands, south east, Leinster etc. We can now have a look at Slane Castle…

…and Shannon Airport… (don’t see any Aer Lingus planes…)

Click on the images for proper sized pics. I’d link to the fancy schmancy Google Earth .kml files if I knew how to but I’m sure somebody clevererer than me will. There’s plenty more so go have a look for yerselves.

edit: Here’s the direct Google Earth links…

Shannon Airport, Slane Castle

Try Pensionbook!

(clicky)

Does anybody actually find anything on Gubuwire remotely funny? Or am I just missing the point somewhere?

I’m not sure if I mentioned it before but I am currently living in New Zealand. Actually that’s a load of crap, I am sure I haven’t mentioned it before.

There are many things that Ireland can learn from New Zealand. (There’s a few things NZ can learn from Ireland too – you should see the tv here – thought RTE was bad?). Anyways, one of these things is – surprisingly enough – beer production.

There are quite a few really good local breweries here. Some pubs even brew their own beer. Dux de Lux in Christchurch brews several different beers on site specifically for purchase in it’s own bar and has won numerous awards for it. Then there’s Speight’s in Dunedin, the brewery which recently shipped a fully built pub from Dunedin to London to satisfy an ex-pat customer who craved for it’s ale. There’s Monteiths in Greymouth and the delicious Emerson’s, also in Dunedin. All of these breweries make many different types of beers, from pilsner to wheat beer to brown ale to stout and more besides. And they’re all widely available in supermarkets.

You just don’t get breweries like that in Ireland. Everything brewed in Ireland comes from either St James Gate or Murphy’s in Cork. Nothing wrong with their produce but a little bit of variety might help. Maybe it’s because with Europe on the doorstep there’s plenty of varieties of beer available from countries like Belgium, Germany, Poland etc so there’s no need to experiment in Ireland. All I know is I never had the choice in Ireland that I do here. And it’s all good shit (man).

New Zealand also has a ‘national’ beer, a lager called Steinlager. Don’t ever, ever drink it. It tastes like what you’d imagine camel piss might taste like after 3 months in the desert. It’s name was just something some bloke made up to make it sound German so people might think it’s good beer. Honestly. However, the people at Steinlager have been hard at work as of late, and this year released a new beer called Steinlager Pure. This stuff is all natural, no additives, and made from barley hops and yeast sourced solely in New Zealand. They’ve hit gold. This stuff couldn’t be more different than the original Steinlager. It tastes delicious and should you ever come across a bottle you will not be disappointed. However it’s unlikely this will be exported for quite a while, they can’t make it fast enough to keep the NZ market happy at the moment, so you’ll have to come to New Zealand yourselves to taste it.

After all that, I’m thirsty, so I’m off to have one right now. Cheers.

Next week: Sheep.