Yearly Archives: 2013

Ranch2Last Saturday on the clamp crazy ‘Stretch of Doom’ in Rathmines, Dublin.

Anonymous writes:

A guy taking clamping on ‘that stretch’ in Rathmines into his own hands. The wheel was fully removed but he was still having trouble getting the chain off the axel. Guards arrived moments later. Who knows what happened after that.”

Well.

It just so happens…..

clamp1

-3Tim Conlon writes:

Guy clamped. Removed wheel. Garda arrive. Man runs off. 20 mins later bloke comes back. Garda make him put the wheel back on….

 

Previously: The Stretch Of Doom

NIallNiall O’Dowd, of Irishcentral.com, above, believes The Gathering has been such a success, it should be an annual event.

He writes:

“The Irish Americans I spoke to and heard from lapped it up. It seemed authentic to them too, and the welcome they received at those events, where they tapped into the family tree, went down very well.”

“In a world grown more global and more corporate every passing year, to have these touchstones of family and community that millions of Americans yearn for is vitally important.”

“That is why The Gathering has been a success, like the Notre Dame game in Dublin last year which allowed tens of thousands of Irish Americans an occasion to travel back for and feel an intimate part of.”

“…So what should be the follow up to The Gathering? It seems simple — a long-term project in every village and town to preserve local history, to reach out to exiled sons and daughters and to create occasions every two years or so where the twain shall meet.

“Call it The Homecoming and extend it deliberately to every parish.”

“On the governmental level the intent should be to publicize and spread the word about such homecoming events and continue to try and drive more visitors through extended access such as flights from American Airlines and United Airlines achieved this summer, and new routes from Aer Lingus will next year.”

 

Brilliant global marketing strategy.

Or clover-soaked Fifth Avenue blarney?

YOU decide.

Why The Gathering may be Ireland’s greatest tourist success (Irish Central)

Pic: Advertiser.ie

charlie-chaplin-at-the-age-of-27-1916-affleckokactorCharlie Chaplin, aged 27 in 1916.

Or the result of a Cillian Murphy/James Nesbitt telepod splicing accident?

(Original photo colourised by Redditor BenAffleckIsAnOkActor)

MORE: 20 Historic Black and White Photos Colorized (Twisted Sifter)

(h/t: The Third Man)

CSOO NET

New CSO figures show a total of 89,000 people emigrated from Ireland in the year to April 2013.

Of that, Irish nationals were the largest group accounting for 50,900, or 57.2%.

CSO writes:

“Total emigration from Ireland in the year to April 2013 is estimated to have reached 89,000, an increase of 2.2 per cent on the 87,100 recorded in the previous year. The number of immigrants also increased over the same 12 month period from 52,700 to 55,900 (or 6.0 per cent).”
“This has resulted in total net outward migration remaining broadly constant with the previous twelve month period (33,100 compared with 34,400 respectively). However, among Irish nationals, net outward migration is estimated to have increased significantly, rising from 25,900 to 35,200, while that of non-Irish nationals is estimated to have changed from net outward (-8,400) to net inward (2,100).”

Central Statistics Office

hubble

NASA sez:

What would it look like to fly through the distant universe? To find out, a team of astronomers estimated the relative distances to over 5,000 galaxies in one of the most distant fields of galaxies ever imaged: the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). Because it takes light a long time to cross the universe, most galaxies visible in the above video are seen when the universe was only a fraction of its current age, were still forming, and have unusual shapes when compared to modern galaxies. No mature looking spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way or the Andromeda galaxy yet exist. Toward the end of the video the virtual observer flies past the furthest galaxies in the HUDF field, recorded to have a redshift past 8. This early class of low luminosity galaxies likely contained energetic stars emitting light that transformed much of the remaining normal matter in the universe from a cold gas to a hot ionized plasma.

bookofjoe/NASAapod