As you may have noticed, I’ve been winding down That’s Ireland in recent weeks. During that time, I have been working on a new blog, which is now online.
MichaelNugent.com will be mostly about two issues that I’m very passionate about:
Understanding why and how people are happy, because happiness is the underlying reason that anybody wants anything, and
Promoting atheism, because I believe that the idea of gods is bad for society as it makes good people do bad things.
Ironically, my interest in happiness started when I wanted to be a success. I studied what very successful people have in common. Step one: to succeed in anything big, you must start with a passionate desire. So I did an exercise to help ignite that desire. For each aim, I asked ‘why do I want this?’ and for each answer, ‘why do I want that?’ I soon discovered my underlying motivation. Beneath all of the layers of sub-reasons, I wanted anything for exactly the same real reason: because I believed getting it would make me happier. But would it? Many people remain unhappy despite fabulous success. So I shifted my focus from seeking success to the reason I wanted it… happiness.
My interest in atheism is much simpler. I am an atheist because I reject the idea that gods exist, in the same way and for the same reasons that I reject the ideas that that the earth is balanced on the back of a sea turtle, that homeopathy is more useful than a heart transplant, that Rapunzel wove her hair into a ladder or Rumpelstiltskin wove straw into gold, that stepping on a pavement crack will break my mother’s back, that a deposed Nigerian prince wants to email me several million dollars, that Uri Geller can bend spoons with his mind, that I am in danger from vampires or zombies or broken mirrors, or that I am protected by angels or leprechauns or horseshoes.
Congratulations to all of the winners at the Irish Blog Awards, and thanks to Damien and all who helped to organise the event. I’ve been blogging for several months now, but it’s only since the nominations for these awards were publicised that I realised how many excellent Irish blogs there are. >>>(more…)
I respect the initiative and hard work behind the Irish Blog Awards, and I am pleased that That’s Ireland is on two shortlists. However, the judges have removed Towleroad, an international gay news blog that includes Irish-related content, from the shortlist for Best News and Current Affairs Blog, with the needlessly offensive explanation: ‘Woah nelly. Not Irish by any definition.’ >>>(more…)
Feebee also has a book out next month, called Trying to Conceive, in which she gives advice to Irish couples who are trying to cope with infertility. Coping, she says, involves about 10% of going through the motions of treatment and 90% of dealing with the emotional side of it, and this advice is reflected in one of the most emotionally engaging personal blogs that I have ever read.
Feebee won the award against some strong competition. The other four blogs on the Digital media Awards shortlist were the appropriately-titled Head Rambles by Grandad, the ironically-titled Humble Housewife by Deborah Hadley, the appetising Ice Cream Ireland by chocoholic Kieran Murphy, and the informative Limerick Blogger by Paddy, Squid and Dead Battery Entertainments.
Here are links to, and summaries of, these four blogs. >>>(more…)
The Irish Blog Awards 2008 are divided into twenty or so categories, and many blogs appear in more than one category. Here, in alphabetical order, are links to every blog that is on the long list of any of the categories. You can check them out by name, or just click at random somewhere on the list and you will find yourself on one of the 400 (and a bit) Best Irish Blogs of 2008.
The Irish Blog Awards 2008 are now underway. So far, blogs have been nominated onto long lists (some very long) in the categories below. These will soon be narrowed down into short lists, and the winners will be announced on the 1st of March. Here are the complete long lists, along with last year’s winners.
Thanks to all who nominated That’s Ireland in best blog, political blog, news/current affairs blog and newcomer; Bionic Bohs in best sport and recreation long list; and Fianna Fail’s 50 Ways to Laugh at Voters in best blog post.
Today is exactly six months since the first post on That’s Ireland, which was this video about Ireland’s 2007 Eurovision entry, They Can’t Stop the Spring by John Waters. By coincidence, it had nearly the same title and chorus as a twenty-year-old song, Can’t Stop the Spring by the Flaming Lips.
So thank you very much for reading or commenting on or linking to That’s Ireland between May and today, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops over the next six months.
If you’re of an age to appreciate it, I’ve just added a piece to my Bionic Bohs blog about the home leg of the 1977 UEFA Cup game between Bohemians and Newcastle United at Dalymount, which took place thirty years ago today. It is one of my personal highlights of that season. Here’s the link.
If you like Irish football and/or cultural nostalgia, I’ve started a new blog this week called Bionic Bohs. It’s about my experiences as a Dublin schoolboy in the 1970s following Bohemian football club, along with some of the flavour of Irish life generally in the 1970s and some of the history and tradition of the other League of Ireland teams of the time. Please have a look and let me know what you think. Here’s the link:
Graham Linehan has relocated his Hompendium of Dorithies to WordPress, and decorated it with a glorious banner illustration by Michael Kupperman. So stop reading this, and update your bookmarks to this address:
I’ve just spent an hour on Twenty Major’s blog. Some of it made me wince, as he intended, and much more made me laugh out loud. Twenty Major is a provocative mix of Father Jack on steroids, Chris Morris (the satirist, not the footballer) and a politically-aware version of Viz, so you could see it as inspired genius or juvenile puerility. I’m going mostly with inspired genius. >>>(more…)
