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

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.
posted on May 19, 2008 - View this thread

"We need sperm donations... you need festival tickets... wanna strike a deal?" Ireland wants your sperm.
posted on Mar 13, 2008 - View this thread

"Jennifer Musa, who has died aged 90, was an Irishwoman of modest stock who took over from her husband as head of a tribe in the remote borderlands of Baluchistan; unveiled and uncompromising, she dedicated her life to the conservative Muslim tribesmen among whom she lived for 60 years until her death." 1992 New York Times interview. 1995 interview with The Independent. 2006 interview. Another 2006 interview.
posted on Jan 18, 2008 - View this thread

Photogalleries of Loyalist (UFF, UVF) and Nationalist (IRA) murals in Northern Ireland.
posted on Jan 14, 2008 - View this thread

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 on Jun 30, 2007 - View this thread

The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. It also tells you what's unique about Beast Cliff.
posted on Apr 4, 2007 - View this thread

Joyce Images—postcards of Ulysses. [A little backstory.]
posted on Apr 2, 2007 - View this thread

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

Elf Defense. A man accused of a stealing underwear from a shop in a knifepoint raid believed he was a female elf at the time. He was found guilty. The man believed he was playing Shadowrun at the time.
posted on Mar 9, 2007 - View this thread

Treacherous Irish Mountains
posted on Oct 25, 2006 - View this thread

Rat race got you down? Grabbing for the brass ring? Looking for a land of jobs and opportunity? Live the Irish Dream!
posted on Oct 20, 2006 - View this thread

The Irish government is planning to run a highway through the hill of Tara.
posted on Oct 7, 2006 - View this thread

Stateline windfarm in Oregon/Washington is the largest windfarm in the world (300 MW). Denmark's Nysted windfarm is the world's largest off-shore windfarm (165 MW). Ireland plans to build a 520 MW off-shore windfarm, while the London Array would produce a massive 1000 MW and be a major feaure in the English Channel. Norway announced a 1,400 MW windfarm in 2005. The world's largest single wind turbine (5 MW).. the worlds largest solar farm (300 MW) planned for New Mexico would cover over 3,000 acres.
posted on Apr 30, 2006 - View this thread

The Lafayette studio has one of the oldest histories of any photographic business in the world. It was founded in Dublin in 1880. The photographs can be viewed at the Victoria & Albert Museum but this site really shows them off in much more detail.
posted on Apr 19, 2006 - View this thread

'Shane's still alive?" That MacGowan is still standing, albeit not for long periods and not without help, is part of the reason the public is still fascinated with the group, which has reconvened for a brief US tour -- the Pogues' first stateside shows since 1989. (BugMeNot)
posted on Mar 10, 2006 - View this thread

The Incredible Aine Chambers has a website. Chock full of everything you need to know should you visit County Sligo, Ireland. Some are comparing her to Mahir - some folks commenting are taking the piss. But the fact is there is more energy and vitality in Aine's site than 100 blogs. Oh, and she's got video as well.
posted on Mar 4, 2006 - View this thread

Celebrate the most underappreciated holiday of the year! February 1st is St. Brigid's Day or Imbolc or Candlemas. St. Brigid of Ireland, the woman who some make a good case that she should be the Patron Saint of Ireland before Patrick. Others say she was the pre-Christian fertility or fire goddess of the Celts and that the Catholic Church co-opted her day as they did with many pagan pre-Christian holidays. Whether one celebrates Candlemas as a Catholic holy day or as a one of the Pagan cross-quarter days, it is also the Festival of Lights. Regardless, I have loved February 1st and 2nd since college as Groundhog Day is the most whimsical holiday of the year, thankfully it does not have a 2 month retail buying season building up to it. Tomorrow, I shall take a photo to Puxsutawney Phil to St. Brigid's Well in Kildare to celebrate properly.
posted on Feb 1, 2006 - View this thread

They fight OUR WARS Revenge of The Mutt People", by Joe Bageant is a striking essay about the hopelessness and pride of the impoverished decendants of Scots/Irish stock found in rural America. More information here. -from rigourous intuition-
posted on Jan 26, 2006 - View this thread

Body, volume, style and shine with long-lasting power. Clonycavan Styling Gel, along with mummification in Irish peat, works together with your freshly disemboweled corpse to protect hair from the disruptive power of 2000 years of rigor-mortis.
posted on Jan 17, 2006 - View this thread

During the middle of the 19th Century, a series of factors combined to create a new Irish patriotic movement. This organization was a revolutionary group dedicated to the overthrow of British rule in Ireland. It had its roots in both the United States and Ireland and was popularly known as The Fenian Movement, in honour of the Fianna, the ancient Irish warriors.
posted on Nov 19, 2005 - View this thread

The Irish Republican Army ceases, for all means and purposes, to be an army. And Ian Paisley, predictably, is unhappy about that.
posted on Sep 27, 2005 - View this thread

The Right Honourable Dr Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam whose no-nonsense negotiating as Labour Secretary of State for Northern Ireland helped forge the province's landmark peace accord has died at 55 after a long battle with cancer. In reaching agreement in the Northern Ireland she got the IRA to restore their cease-fire - and defended the ceasefire when it seemed all but broken - she stood up to Ulster Unionists but paid an extraordinary visit to Northern Ireland's notorious Maze prison to meet with Loyalist and Republican inmates and shepherded the multi-party talks to a successful conclusion. Remarkably, she even devolved her own role as Secretary of State. Billy Joel was right: only the good die young.
posted on Aug 19, 2005 - View this thread

Were these guys birdwatchers, or IRA members training FARC guerillas in improvised explosive techniques? Suddenly, mysteriously back on Irish soil, the "Colombia 3" - James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley - have caused a shitstorm for Bertie Ahern and his ministers; especially in the wake of the newly announced IRA disarmament.
posted on Aug 11, 2005 - View this thread

Under an agreement signed between Ireland and the US last week, US investigators, including CIA agents, will be allowed to interrogate Irish citizens on Irish soil in total secrecy. Suspects will also have to give testimony and allow property to be searched and seized even if what the suspect is accused of is not a crime in Ireland.
posted on Jul 21, 2005 - View this thread

"Our demands most moderate are , we only want the earth". Today is the birthday of James Connolly.
posted on Jun 4, 2005 - View this thread

Poguetry: "The Parting Glass: An Annotated Pogues Lyrics Page".
posted on Mar 17, 2005 - View this thread

Hurling, the national sport of Ireland is known as the fastest (mpeg) field sport. It is one of many Gaelic games unique to Ireland, collectively they are known as the GAA. The origin of hurling date back at least 2000 years and is prevalent in many Irish legends (rm). Playing hurling (wmv) requires great skill and bravery, it’s described as cross between field hockey and lacrosse, but with the ability to hit the ball like a baseball into the air. Equipment mainly consists of the hurley and the sliothar (ball), while many players wear helmets, many choose not to. Every year, the All-Ireland Championship is played in Croke Park where the top two counties compete. All hurlers are amateur athletes, there are no professionals. Its popularity is on the rise in North America as well as Europe. The women's version of hurling is called camogie.
posted on Mar 16, 2005 - View this thread

"It's time for the IRA to go out of business." So says a US envoy after the IRA offers to kill suspected murderers of a Belfast man (hoping to mollify claims that they held up investigation of the murder). Britain and the US have called for an end to the IRA, as "criminality will not be tolerated" in a democratic party. Meanwhile, one suspect turned himself in. Things aren't looking bright for St. Patrick's Day.
posted on Mar 9, 2005 - View this thread

This was not a lucky crime, this was a well-organised crime A gang stole at least £20m ($40 m) in cash from a Belfast bank yesterday. Many suspect the involvement of one of the paramilitary organizations which collectively made off with over £43m during 22,000 armed robberies during the Troubles using the tiger kidnap. Only one problem: most of the cash was in Northern Irish notes. Which sometimes are not even accepted in the rest of the UK.
posted on Dec 22, 2004 - View this thread

Atlantis has been found, and it's... Ireland? So says Swedish geographer Ulf Erlingsson, who thinks the sinking of the island in Plato's story may have referred to the inundation of Dogger Bank, which connected Britain and Denmark. Sorry Spain. [Via MonkeyFilter.]
posted on Aug 7, 2004 - View this thread

Challenging Bush. The White House has thrown a bit of a tantrum over Irish reporter Carole Coleman's confrontational approach to interviewing the president (watch the interview here or here). No-one's allowed to interrupt him any more, apparently.
posted on Jun 26, 2004 - View this thread

I have been in torture photos, too. Gerry Adams speaks out. "News of the ill-treatment of prisoners in Iraq created no great surprise in republican Ireland. We have seen and heard it all before. Some of us have even survived that type of treatment. Suggestions that the brutality in Iraq was meted out by a few miscreants aren't even seriously entertained here. We have seen and heard all that before as well. But our experience is that, while individuals may bring a particular impact to their work, they do so within interrogative practices authorised by their superiors."
posted on Jun 5, 2004 - View this thread

Smoking banned from the Irish workplace (including pubs) from March 29th
Looks like all of us smokers will have to comply. Personally, I can't wait for the ban to come in as it will be further incentive for me to fight the addicition. Hopefully the ban on smoking at my office will mean it'll be easier to stop. All that said, I wonder how it's going to be enforced? The way I see it, the only way it could be properly enforced is through the public being prepaired to report transgressions to those charged with enforcing the law. Maybe the fear of that will make sure that business owners see to it that their workplaces are smoke free.
posted on Feb 18, 2004 - View this thread

The Death of the Irish Pub? "The smoking ban is the work of one man, Michael Martin, the Minister for Health and Children, and one of nature's killjoys... He is generally thought to regard the banning of nicotine from Irish pubs as a personal crusade, explaining that he once tried smoking but didn't enjoy it."

The ban was scheduled to start today, but has been delayed until March. It's one thing to have smoking banned in California and New York, but what's the point of pub that's not dark and smoky? And Scotland might be next...
posted on Jan 1, 2004 - View this thread

Sinn Fein "cashing in on the victims"? As Sinn Fein launch their new website they have been accused of "promoting the IRA and cashing in on violence". From a party which is bound by the Good Friday Agreement, is it acceptable to promote goods associated with the atrocities committed in Northern Ireland since the 1960's?
posted on Jul 23, 2003 - View this thread

Irish Marshall Arts. Will we see a new wave of films with high-flying Gaelic masters of fighting?
posted on Jul 10, 2003 - View this thread

Yoda in Ireland! What do you get when you combine a wizened Jedi master, the fabled Emerald Isle, and perhaps a pint too many of Guiness™? The best vacation pictures ever!
posted on Jul 10, 2003 - View this thread

The end of a stereotype? Ireland's Prime Minister wants to limit advertising and slap warning labels on alcoholic beverages in an effort to curtail teenage binge drinking. It doesn't seem to work too well here in the U.S., can it work in Ireland, the punch line of most drinking jokes?
posted on May 19, 2003 - View this thread

St Patrick - The Game ... Try to drive the snakes out of Ireland using a 357 Magnum instead of a staff.

And have a great St Patrick's Day. Who knows, it may be our last ...
posted on Mar 17, 2003 - View this thread

Ireland to ban smoking in pubs. The room ... spinning ... reality ... falling away....
posted on Feb 4, 2003 - View this thread

Ireland's road signs are notorious for getting travellers lost, but the Irish government has announced that it will finally do something about it.
posted on Jan 30, 2003 - View this thread

Ireland rated the most globalized country in the world. After calculating a globalization index that measures foreign travel, foreign investment, international political engagement, and Internet usage, Foreign Policy magazine declared Ireland the most global nation in the world, primarily due to the developing software industry in that country. The findings also show that Saudi Arabia had the greatest decrease in the 2002-2003 globalization rankings than any other country on the index. If Saudi Arabia is as closed off from the rest of the world as this index suggests, what does this suggest about the current "war on terrorism"?
posted on Jan 10, 2003 - View this thread

Welcome to Magdalene Asylums. Now a film, the Asylums were generally staffed by the Sisters of Mercy, and were found throughout Ireland and Scotland.
posted on Nov 29, 2002 - View this thread

"We're very sorry, but the DEA has asked us to arrest you." A Canadian citizen, on a connecting flight between Canada and Ireland, is pinched in the Netherlands at the request of the US government. To prevent him from testifying in a Canadian drug trial?
posted on Nov 2, 2002 - View this thread

Captain of Irish World Cup squad Keane sent home
This is big news here in Ireland. He's our best player - he keeps the team together on the pitch. But after some incidents in the past couple of days, and some prima donna style behaviour (something he's always been known for), he's been told to feck off. I think the manager did the right thing, but I can't help thinking that our chances of getting out of our group have been diminished...
posted on May 23, 2002 - View this thread

The Green Fields of Vietnam
There was an interesting program aired tonight on RTE (Irish TV), about Irish born soliders who fought in the Vietnam War. Although only one Irish born solider is officially listed as having been killed, there were 20 others, who gave their US address when they enlisted. It's believed that 2000 Irish born men served in that conflict (they had emigrated and a Greencard means you can be conscripted) but the vast majority of these remain unknown.
posted on Apr 23, 2002 - View this thread

Apparently, over the past months, the IRA has been secretly rearming itself. and many of the arms seem to be coming from the U.S.. Post 9/11, peace seemed to be coming to Ireland, but now it appears that just like in the Middle East we're back to business as usual. I believe in a united Ireland, myself, but I don't want a return to the barbarism of the past 30-odd years. The U.S. has pledged neutrality in Ireland, but I honestly dont know if that's the best course. I was honestly hoping that the Emerald Isle would set an example for the other conflicted nations but it seems it's not to be.
posted on Apr 21, 2002 - View this thread

I'd like to wish a happy St. Patricks Day to Irish readers, Irish-Americans, Irish-Britons, Irish-Australians, Irish-New Zealanders, and whoever is of Irish descent. And if you don't have Irish blood, go to the pub, drink some Guinness and you soon will!
posted on Mar 17, 2002 - View this thread

Is it time for a United Ireland? David Trimble, Protestant Leader, thinks a vote would decide the issue once and for all. Will Northern Ireland vote to leave the U.K.? Or will they even vote at all?
posted on Mar 9, 2002 - View this thread