Frank Harte is considered to be one of the greatest balladeers and song collectors in the Irish musical tradition. He specialized in the songs of Dublin City and saw himself as a "storyteller in song". [more inside]
posted by LN on Aug 22, 2008 - 13 comments

Viking invasion ends as longship sails home. The Sea Stallion From Glendalough, a replica Viking longboat (previously), is returning to Denmark.
posted by homunculus on Jun 30, 2008 - 13 comments

More than 100 nations have reached an agreement on a treaty which would ban current designs of cluster bombs. Naturally, the most militant nations (USA, Russia, China, India, Pakistan) have refused to negotiate (creating significant interoperability issues for allied nations such as the UK to the USA). The Cluster Munition Coalition is an excellent resource about the issue. [more inside]
posted by wilful on May 28, 2008 - 41 comments

Casual fans of Irish folk-punk bands like The Pogues, Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys rarely take the time to investigate the sources of their inspiration. Those who do, cannot avoid coming across the The Dubliners. [more inside]
posted by PeterMcDermott on May 19, 2008 - 39 comments

Longboat! The Sea Stallion, a reconstruction of a ship scuttled off Roskilde will sail from Denmark to Dublin, where tests on timbers from the wreck show the original was built in the mid-eleventh century. (Pillaged from a centre of Irish learning)
posted by Abiezer on Jun 30, 2007 - 23 comments

What is the air-speed velocity of the unladen golden plover? My goodness, my Guinness! Happy St. Patrick's Day, Metafilter.
posted by Miko on Mar 16, 2007 - 25 comments

Having sweated over the origins of the universe and split the atom, academics have finally tackled the question that has perplexed mankind since the dawn of time: what are the best chat-up lines? A study from psychologists at the University of Edinburgh tested 205 people for reactions to 40 vignettes of a woman approached by a man using "verbal signals of genetic quality" in different categories, and found the best rated approaches to be those revealing character qualities, wealth and culture, although the puzzling winning line proved a flop in real life tests. Unsurprisingly, a direct request for sex received a low score. Previous findings by the Japanese proved equally dubious. But there's still hope, as the code seems to have been cracked in Dublin, where since last year "there is definitely more pulling". The secret? A smoking ban, a lot of crowded pubs, and "smirting", an unexpected side effect of the health measure.
posted by funambulist on Nov 6, 2005 - 103 comments

Sometimes You Can't Fix You On Your Own. (Quicktime and Windows Media.) If there has ever been doubt about Coldplay's burning ambition to be U2, let it be put to rest.
posted by Saellys on Aug 5, 2005 - 85 comments

'To-day, 16 June 1924 twenty years after. Will anyone remember this date?"
posted by riviera on Jun 15, 2004 - 21 comments

Control Lightshow Over Dublin Sky From A Webpage. (link goes to /. with the story and links)
posted by tomplus2 on Apr 26, 2004 - 1 comment

Did you miss Paddy Dignam's wake? Ah well, there's still time to celebrate Bloomsday -- if you're in Dublin, you can (among many other delights) take a stroll across the newly-opened James Joyce Bridge. Or, if you have a spare $60,000, you could even buy your very own Ulysses first edition. As for me, I'll be hoisting a crystal cup full of the foaming ebon ale which the noble twin brothers Bungiveagh and Bungardilaun brew ever in their divine alevats, cunning as the sons of deathless Leda. (And as for Paddy? -- Dead! says Alf. He's no more dead than you are. -- Maybe so, says Joe. They took the liberty of burying him this morning anyhow.)
posted by scody on Jun 16, 2003 - 34 comments