Boy falls off escalator May 27, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in World Affairs.Tags: escalator, turkey
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This is just nuts … some kid in Turkey is lucky to be alive after he ran away from his parents and hung on to the outside of a moving escalator – only to fall off when it reached the top.
Luckily for him a concerned passerby saw what was happening and positioned himself underneath to catch him when he lost his grip …
Jaysis, Mary and the carpenter !
Cover Spy May 26, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery, World Affairs.Tags: books, cover spy, coverspy, literature, new york
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A shout out goes to the folks behind the very interesting CoverSpy
People (well New Yorkers anyway) can send in the names of the books they see fellow commuters reading on trains or whatever and they are collated into an interesting page of insight on what New York is reading on any given day …
A Photo a Day for 8 years May 25, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Poetry & Humor.Tags: JK Keller, photo of face, video montage
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This man took a photo of his face every day for 8 years, stuck them all together in a video montage and hey presto …. he ages before your very eyes …
Living My Life Faster – 8 years of JK’s Daily Photo Project from JK Keller on Vimeo.
Wexford Town May 23, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Ireland & the Irish.Tags: carnegie hall, selina o'leary, singing, traveller culture, wexford
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Wow – what a nice voice ! Fair play to Selina O’Leary and Liz Connors who will shortly perform at New York’s famous Carnegie Hall.
Phrase of the Day #215 May 22, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Say it like it is.Tags: Robert Louis Stevenson
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“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Free kick of the Decade ! May 21, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Sports.Tags: football, free kick, paraguay, south america
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Irish Church Etiquette May 20, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Ireland & the Irish.Tags: church etiquette
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Isn’t it funny that when we Irish go to a mass or to a funeral or a wedding, we won’t sit in the first few seats or up near the wedding party AT ALL !!
Oh Jaysis no, we’ll give them a bit of space – they’ve probably got hundreds coming – stuck in the pub traffic.
Funny the things that make us “us”.
Jupiter loses a belt May 20, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in World Affairs.Tags: astronomy, great red spot, jupiter, planets, space
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Jaysis now there’s a headline that grabbed my attention as I scanned the news feeds this morning – Jupiter has apparently lost on of its equatorial belts … 
The squiggly lines immediately to the left of the “Great Red Spot” are what we’re on about – the spot itself is actually a huge, raging storm three times bigger than Earth ! The stripe has disappeared (and reappeared) before but astronomers here on earth are at a loss to completely explain the phenomenon.
I must dust off the old telescope and see can I see anything of interest.
Nigel Place May 19, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery.Tags: music, nigel place
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Nige on Balcony TV
Phrase of the Day #214 May 19, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Say it like it is.Tags: J.K. Rowling
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“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.”
– J.K. Rowling (and others I’m sure)
Paul McShane to captain Ireland May 18, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Sports.Tags: everton, Keith Fahey, northern ireland, paul mcshane, republic of ireland, shane duffy
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Paul McShane will captain Ireland in tonight’s training game with the Under-23 side …
Not a big fan of McShanes at all … but Sig. Trappatoni (arguably) has a better footballing brain than me !
The game will also be interesting because Shane Duffy (from Northern Ireland) will be sure to feature at some stage – this player is in the middle of an eligibility row having previously played at under-age level with the North.
Keith Fahey of Birmingham gets a belated chance as well. between tonight’s game and another training match on Friday (both behind closed doors), we should get a good idea of the strength of our peripheral squad.
The Ireland team is :
Westwood (Coventry); McShane (Hull), Duffy (Everton), O’Dea (Celtic), Cunningham (Manchester City); Lawrence (Stoke), Green (Derby Co), Fahey (Birmingham), Long (Reading); Best (Newcastle Utd), Sheridan (Celtic).
Fish sandwich – uuurgh May 18, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery.Tags: fish sandwich
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Mum: What would you like on your sandwich for school today Ana ?
Ana : Fish !!
Home Along the River May 18, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Poetry & Humor.Tags: hook head, ireland, poetry, waterford harbour
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An old one, but a nice one all the same …
Home Along the River
by the Rambling Man
“You’ll be alright now, son!” he would say;
My gills as green as the sea being sliced by our bow;
And around the rocky point we would lurch – the tall tower
giving calm to the swell; inching inside her protection,
which could never come quickly enough.
The rocks of Hook draw lines that keep the maddening current in tow.
At Dunmore, the yachts are making for home on the tide.
I stumble from stern to midships, keen not to miss a thing.
The harbour’s form burning it’s place in my mind.
“Call out the bays and the rocks now, son!” he would say;
“Because I don’t want to get lost!”
And I’d jump to attention, glad to be back on hushed water.
Slowly they passed us, the river easing us home …
Hall Bay and then Boyce’s, with Creadan Head to your back.
The hatch patterned seats leaving marks on my knees.
“There’s Dollar and Booley!” I’d shout
Their crowdless beaches a sign that our own harbour was near.
“Can we go digging for treasure?” I’d plead,
until I outgrew the tales of the old folk,
who were rich from ingots found simply out walking !
A turn to the North meant I could command at the wheel …
The diesel engine thrumming a comforting song.
“Keep her straight now, son!” he would say;
“And line up the two towers in your sights” …
Rounding the Barrack, we’d laugh and talk about how
those on the Strand would rather be out here with us.
Tied up and safely ashore, the boat strains ‘gainst the current,
longing to bear us again, home, along the river.
Treadmill Dancing – Classic ! May 17, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Poetry & Humor.Tags: treadmill dancing
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View here on YouTube … they’ve disabled embedding.
Irish National Famine Memorial Day May 16, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery.Tags: famine
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Today is Irish National Famine Memorial Day … let us remember those millions who died or emigrated.
Ar dhies De go raibh siad …
A Site for Nerds May 16, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery.Tags: wired.com
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A site for nerds, people who, as a kid, read phone books and atlases for fun (who me ?) and all around interesting stuff …
Let’s all text the Pope May 14, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Say it like it is, World Affairs.Tags: bigotry, fatima, gay marriage, pope, text the pope, the vatican
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Text-the-pope service launched in Italy …
I can only imagine why the powers-that-be in the Vatican thought this ‘service’ would be a good idea … sure, the dwindling faithful will text messages of support etc. but I think that the service will simply become unusable very quickly with the amount of abuse and profanity that it will receive.
Of course, the aides in the Vatican are then going to filter the bad ones out and only pass on genuine messages to the man in the funny hat but still, they might spend more time than they think weeding out a significant tirade against the man.
And while I’m on the subject of the Pope (is he still infallible on all things by the way?), he has come out (oops) yesterday in Portugal and said that gay marriage is “an insidious threat to society” … full stop. What ? So some men or women choose to sleep with other men or women and you feel threatened ? And you think the whole world is under threat from this ? Come on for f*ck sake !!
What business is it of his who a person chooses to sleep with ? Does he think the entire world might suddenly turn gay and there’d be no children bred forevermore ? … read, no more Catholic children to go to Mass and keep eejits like him in a job !
I mean in this day and age, he should really just shut up about things he knows nothing about !
Poster hung outside Anglo May 13, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Ireland & the Irish.Tags: bad spelling, corruption, ireland, nama, poster, revolution, st.stephen's green
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A poster of considerable size, depicting the villains of modern Ireland was hung from a crane outside the headquarters of Anglo-Irish Bank on St.Stephen’s Green this morning.
The poster, which aims a blow for the people of Ireland at the powers that be (and want to be), lists the figures wasted spent by this government on projects such as NAMA and the monetary black hole of a developers’ bank that is Anglo-Irish …
I wonder how long it will last before someone complains that it is offensive and has it removed. As of writing, I don’t know who is behind it but it certainly makes a point … (pity they just didn’t press F7) …
The revolution is coming … mark my words … as soon as “Britain’s Got Talent” is finished and we’ve no bread on the shelves !
A Prayer of Thanks May 13, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery.Tags: prayer
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Thanksgiving
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
– Emerson
Phrase of the Day #213 May 13, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery, Ireland & the Irish.Tags: edmund burke
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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
– Edmund Burke
On the phrase “Paddy Me Arse” ! May 12, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Ireland & the Irish.Tags: corruption, ireland, paddy me arse
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Paddy Me Arse, idiom, adj.
– half-hearted, lackadaisical, sloppy.
– done in such a way as to pass off one’s effort as being proper.
– e.g. That roof is a Paddy-Me-Arse job !
Have you ever pondered on the meaning and origins of the wonderful phrase “Paddy Me Arse”. It is the one phrase, I think, that above all embodies Gombeen Ireland – a land of milk and money corruption where nobody gets the correlation between their own inactions and the continuing exploitation by government.
So many examples could be cited but you know what ?
Heres some news for the people of Ireland !
WE AS A NATION, DON’T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHAT’S GOING ON!!
We as a nation do not care one iota about what is going on … really, we don’t. I mean when it comes down to it what are we doing to rescue the country ? Fuckin’ nothing. We’d rather watch the X Factor !
We are a Paddy me Arse people, obviously content to have reputations as hard drinking, sloppy, stupid thick corrupt Paddys and be happy about it.
Paddy Me Arse ! Gotta love us !
England’s 30-man provisional squad May 11, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Sports.Tags: england, fifa, world cup 2010
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England’s 30-man provisional squad for the World Cup finals. Sure they have it won already !
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.
Defenders: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.
LPGA player, Erica Blasberg, dead May 11, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in Sports, World Affairs.Tags: erica blasberg, LPGA, nevada
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I can’t believe this news – I am an avid follower of the LPGA and news has hit the web of the untimely death of 25 year old Erica Blasberg.
A more poignant account of the story can be found here, including some reaction from her obviously devastated parents … I just think the whole thing is so sad and I hope that the pressures of the game and life on tour hasn’t gotten to her and she resorted to something terrible.
Goes to show we just never know. R.I.P. Skip
Phrase of the Day #212 May 11, 2010
Posted by Rambling Man in General Bloggery.add a comment
“It’s the soul’s duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.”
– Rebecca West
The Rambling Man 