Archive for June, 2007
“Gay Byrne and You Are Insufferable Arseholes”
If you missed it when it happened, here’s the infamous Paul Stokes interrupting Pat Kenny on the Late Late Show.
Add comment June 30, 2007
Prank Letter to Irish Bishops
Here’s a prank letter I posted to several Irish Bishops a few years ago. The reference to Father Horan is to the Irish priest who interrupted an Olympic Marathon race by knocking over a Brazilian runner. I’ll probably write more about him soon, but for now here’s my prank letter to the Bishops: >>> (more…)
Add comment June 29, 2007
Irish People Live for 58 Happy-Life-Years
Irish people are happy for 58 years of our lives, according to researchers at the World Database of Happiness in Rotterdam. Happy-Life-Years are worked out by multiplying happiness levels by life expectancy in each country. The Swiss are happiest with nearly 64 happy years each, just ahead of the Danes. Here are the top twenty nations for Happy-Life-Years. >>> (more…)
Add comment June 28, 2007
Ireland is 8th in the EU for Happy-Life-Years
The 58 years Happy-Life-Years that Irish people enjoy is the eighth-highest in the European Union, according to researchers at the World Database of Happiness in Rotterdam. Happy-Life-Years are worked out by multiplying happiness levels by life expectancy in each country. Here is how many Happy-Life-Years each of the twenty-seven EU nations enjoy. >>> (more…)
Add comment June 28, 2007
The Riverdance Rap
Here is an extremely surreal video from BenAndEric.com in Washington.
1 comment June 27, 2007
Prank Letter - Reply from Minister for Health
On Monday I posted this prank letter that I sent a few years ago to then Health Minister Micheál Martin. Here’s the reply that I got from the Minister addressing my bizarre concerns. >>> (more…)
1 comment June 27, 2007
Ireland is the 5th-Happiest Nation in the EU
Ireland is the fifth-happiest nation in the European Union over the ten years from 1995 to 2005, according to researchers at the World Database of Happiness in Rotterdam. And the Danes are nearly twice as happy as the Bulgarians. Here is how happy each of the twenty-seven EU nations are. >>> (more…)
Add comment June 26, 2007
Ireland is the 8th-Happiest Nation in the World
This is the first in a series of posts about how happy the Irish are.
Ireland is the eighth-happiest nation in the world over the ten years from 1995 to 2005, according to researchers at the World Database of Happiness in Rotterdam. Denmark is the happiest, and Tanzania the least happy, of the ninety-four nations that were regularly surveyed. Here are the top 25. >>> (more…)
6 comments June 26, 2007
Brazil 4 All-Ireland 3 - Derek Dougan R.I.P.
Derek Dougan, who died this weekend, helped to organize the first live football match I ever saw. I had just finished primary school when world champions Brazil came to Dublin to play an All-Ireland team. Dougan organized five players from the North, and John Giles six players from the Republic. And I got Dougan’s autograph! Here’s the story of one of the best days of my childhood. >>> (more…)
2 comments June 26, 2007
Don Baker Pranked on Naked Camera
One of the best pranks from RTE’s hidden camera series Naked Camera. Musician Don Baker hires a taxi, which is driven by the very funny PJ Gallagher.
Add comment June 25, 2007
Bee Flynn for Taoiseach in 2012!
Let me be the first to campaign for Beverly Flynn as Taoiseach in 2012. Three years ago Bertie Ahern said that Fianna Fáil was at a cross-roads, and that the integrity of the party depended on Flynn’s expulsion. Now that Bee is back, she surely ticks all of the boxes to be the next Fianna Fáil leader: >>> (more…)
1 comment June 25, 2007
Prank Letter to Minister for Health
Here’s a prank letter I posted to then Health Minister Michaeál Martin a few years ago. Another Minister, Joe Jacob, did an interview on RTE about possible terrorist attacks on Sellafield, and he flustered his way into making up a commitment to send iodine tablets to every house in the State. The tablets were of course useless, but they gave me the opportunity for this prank letter: >>> (more…)
Add comment June 25, 2007
Monday Quiz 1 - Sexy Legs and Summer Madness
On this week last year (June 25 to July 1, 2006):
- What bad news was the Admiral Brown Society of Foxford in Mayo upset about? (Admiral Brown was the Mayoman who founded the Argentine Navy.)
- Why did a judge in Manhattan give a warning to former Culture Club singer Boy George?
- Who told a Dáil debate about crime that he had once been mugged by two people ‘high on drugs’, and that he still recalled the scrape of the knife being pulled from a leather scabbard?
- Lisa Duffy came top of Social and Personal’s Sexiest Female Legs List. But what was unusual about some of the others on the list?
- Summer Madness, a three-day rock festival attended by over 5,000 young people from all around the island, began. But why was there a rule that tents had to be at least two metres apart?
Click here for answers: >>> (more…)
Add comment June 25, 2007
That’s Pirate Radio Part 15 - An Irish Tradition
In fairness to all of the Irish pirates, they were simply carrying on a proud Irish tradition that was started by the rebels of 1916. When Pádraig Pearse and James Connolly led their troops into battle, they also made the world’s first ever radio broadcast. >>> (more…)
Add comment June 24, 2007
Quiz - You Rip Open Your Ribcage…
Which Irish artist said this about how they create their music?
You put your hand in under your skin, you break your breastbone, you rip open your ribcage… Are you ready to do that? Or is rock ‘n’ roll for you just a pair of shoes and a haircut, or a certain sour existentialism or a certain sweet decay? That was one of my first definitions of art. Blood… In Ireland, that pain of opening your rib cage, it’s in us.
Answer just a click away >>> (more…)
Add comment June 23, 2007
Ten Most Fertile Places in Rural Ireland
There are three babies (under two years of age) out of every hundred people in Ireland. Jerpoint West in Kilkenny has almost eight babies for every hundred people, making it the most fertile place in the country. And Kilkenny has four of Ireland’s ten most fertile rural places. Here are the top ten. >>> (more…)
Add comment June 22, 2007
Ten Most Fertile Places in Irish Cities
Lucan North has almost seven babies for every hundred people, making it the most fertile area of any of Ireland’s cities. And all ten of the most fertile urban areas are in Dublin City. Here they are. >>> (more…)
Add comment June 22, 2007
Quiz - The Accidents of Father Larry Duff
On Father Ted, Ted often rang his old friend Father Larry Duff. Inevitably, Father Duff would be distracted by the phone ringing, and would have a bizarre accident. But who played Father Duff, and how many of his misfortunes can you remember? Answers are just a click away. >>> (more…)
3 comments June 22, 2007
When Fine Gael Raided the Cookie Jar
Yesterday I wrote that three current Ministers had opposed Fine Gael creating two new Junior Ministries in 1995. After more digging, I have now found at least eleven of them, including Bertie himself, who committed Fianna Fáil to abolishing those new jobs when back in power. This is what they said then. >>> (more…)
1 comment June 22, 2007
That’s Pirate Radio Part 14 - End of an Era
Some pirates applied unsuccessfully for local radio licences. Chris Cary, who told the IRTC that young people turned on radio stations and old people turned them off, then moved back to England with his partner Sybil Fennell. Sunshine boss Robbie Dale moved to Lanzarote to run a holiday apartment complex. >>> (more…)
2 comments June 22, 2007
