Bakker Bugle Blog Say it three times fast. In Luxembourgish.

11 November 2007

Settled In

Filed under: mental state — Anita @ 21:34

I’ve noticed over the past few weeks that we have settled into our lives here in Dublin. Work has become more routine for me and Will seems to have exited his “tourist” phase and entered his “daily living” phase. When life starts to become more routine, the creativity of the BB staff becomes a bit stale. We here at the Bugle vow to fight that staleness with the freshest and most exciting content that we can possibly find!

Between now and the holiday season, the Bugle will continue to bring you interesting and exciting reporting. The BB B & B will be opening for some guests from the US. The holiday season in Ireland is almost upon us and we should have some specials stories relating to that. The Bugle will also be going back into history and reporting on stories from the fall that were missed at the time, including more from the trip to London and other thrilling events that happened here in Dublin.

Stay tuned!

Quantitative Context: How big is Ireland?

Filed under: ireland — Will @ 17:43

Let’s talk about population first. The population of the island of Ireland is about 6 million persons. About 4.25 million of them live in the Republic of Ireland (the twenty-six counties). For the rest of this post, “Ireland” means the entire Ireland: Northern Ireland and the Republic (that is, all thirty-two counties).

Since so many readers of this blog are American, I’ll use US states for comparison. Illinois has a bit more than double the population of the island of Ireland.

The states that have approximately the same population as Ireland? (more…)

Good game

Filed under: sports — Anita @ 10:54

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’ve been really thrilled to get the NFL on our satellite. We were especially excited because we realized Sky Sports was broadcasting the “Game of the Season” between the Colts and the Patriots. The only downside — the game started at 9pm Dublin time. Recognizing that there was no way I was going to stay up until after midnight on a Sunday just to watch a football game, we set up the DVR and headed to bed.

In the States, delaying the game would have been a challenge. There would be no way to avoid knowing the outcome. But Will and I were confident that none of the newspapers in Dublin would report on outcome. We were right, so Monday night, we settled in to watch the game.

I’ve always liked Peyton Manning and I grew up close to the Colts, so I sat down and put my cheers behind Indy. Will was indifferent. Both of us, however, really enjoyed the game. (We watched it over two evenings.) While the outcome could have been better, the actual football played was excellent. The caliber and quality of the play was terrific.

I don’t know how many other games we will get to see this year that will be as excellent as that one, but I do know that I’ll be checking the schedule each Sunday!

4 November 2007

“You are square. Go back to your hotel.”

Filed under: culture,dublin,entertainment — Will @ 19:36

Anita and I bought tickets to see Andrew Bird this Saturday night at a venue called Tripod. Tripod is a ten minute walk from our place, in a converted train station. The tickets were waiting at the box office.

There are two other music venues in the same train station: Crawdaddy and Odeon. I walked past the train station more than once a week, and yet I didn’t know where the entrance for Tripod is. So on Friday afternoon, I walked completely around the building. Tripod was closed, of course, but I still couldn’t find anything resembling a box office or an entrance. My best guess was that Crawdaddy and Tripod shared an entrance on the ground floor, since Tripod was on the first and second floors of the building.

No worries — we just left a little early on Saturday.
(more…)

31 October 2007

Halloween in Ireland

Filed under: administrative,culture,ireland — Will @ 16:50

Are you wondering about the significance of Halloween in Ireland? Have you wondered why your co-worker Pádraig Ó Branagáin calls October 31st “Samhain“?

Look no further than the part of this blog’s sidebar entitled “My Web 2.0 Links”! The staff have free reign over this part of the blog, and you’ll find that they select timely links to satisfy your idle curiosity. If you need to catch up, just click on the title itself.

Just one of the many services provided by the Bakker Bugle. By the way, Keely, your comparison of Project Minutiae with The Week is apt! Due to financial regulations, however, I can’t discuss whether there are any plans to divest the Bugle’s Web Log, as a distinct product, in the future. For now, enjoy the free subscription.

30 October 2007

Commenter of the Fortnight & Poll of the Fortnight

Filed under: administrative,award — Will @ 20:46

First things first: The Commenter of the Fortnight is Jaime B, mostly due to her comment relating the “ominous and quite condemning description of hurling by Philip Stubbes in 1583.” hurley30oct2007.jpgThe staff of the Bakker Bugle are proud of their inquisitive minds and thorough approach to research, and they detect a kindred spirit in Jaime’s contribution. Jaime B is, therefore, the winner of the coveted Broken Hurley.

It’s worth revisiting the hurling post to appreciate Jaime’s find. It also recalls the question asked here in August, “Is Hurling Violent?” That discussion is currently on hiatus, but we may need to bring it back in the near future, given Mr Stubbes’s observations.

An honourable mention must go to Dave, for bringing a celebrity to the ranks of the Bugle’s commenters.

Second: A new poll for our faithful readers! The “Web Log” post, just prior to this one, is little more than a collection of links. Here’s the story:

The staff find interesting tidbits as they diligently research primary topics for the Bugle. And, once in a long while, they drift around the internet — only on break, of course. Day after day, the staff bring Will these links, eager to share them with the Bugle’s readers.

But the staff don’t work for free, and Will demands high quality writing for Bugle Blog posts. Some of the links are lost, and others become stale.

An enterprising member of the staff made a business case for posts like “Web Log” and Will and Anita were impressed. Phase One of Project Minutiae is market research. Hence, the current Poll of the Fortnight.

Web Log

Filed under: administrative — Will @ 20:33

A collection of links with just a little guidance for each one.

What’s News in Ireland? These links represent the stories that seem to dominate the newsmedia of Ireland.

Independent: Provisions of road safety laws delayed
Ireland has multiple licencing levels for driving ordinary vehicles. There are provisional licences, second provisional licences, and learner permits. Many adults did not obtain full licences, in part due to long waiting periods, and in part due to the difficulty of the exams. Ireland’s national government announced a harsh new policy last week, and flip-flopped several times since then.

Independent: Potential replacements for Steve Staunton
Steve Staunton was the coach of Ireland’s national soccer team. Ireland looked terrible and failed to qualify for the Euro Cup 2008. The FAI, the governing body for Irish soccer, are looking for his replacement.

Independent: Pharmacists in Ireland are well-compensated
Irish pharmacists began withholding methadone from recovering drug addicts, as a statement against decreasing reimbursements from the national government. This action is widely reviled as punishing the most vulnerable members of society.

Independent: Ordinary investors may be caught in Lynn scandal
Michael Lynn is a lawyer and property developer (thus combining the two most despised professions). He took multiple mortgages on properties by exploiting banks’ apparent willingness to overlook the previous mortgages and the fact that he was bankrupt. It looked like he fled Ireland, but he appeared in court today.

Random Interesting Links: There are things that I want to share, but I can’t take the time to “write up.” For example…

Irish Post: Dublin musician affected by Litvinenko’s Polonium 210 poisoning

Irish Independent: “I admit it, I’m a bigot about gingers”
A must for fans of South Park. The term “ginger” is fairly common here!

The Comics Curmudgeon
A blog consisting of hilarious analyses of comic strips. Anita and I are big fans.

BoingBoing: Irish Bureaucrats raid the national identity database
Shouldn’t this be a big news item in Ireland?

Irish Independent: EU reviews wire rope crash barriers
This type of barrier became very common in the US over the past few years. The EU discovers a disadvantage.

The Oldest Building in Dublin

Filed under: culture,dublin — Will @ 11:26

Dublin is a vibrant, exciting city. Compared to other European capitals, however, it is not chock-full of museums and historical sites that are obvious to the casual visitor. As I learn the history of Ireland, the city is coming alive with important places that I find exciting.

All that knowledge, however, didn’t prepare me for a simple question about Dublin — one which just about any visitor would ask: What’s the oldest building in Dublin?

517886986_8bfddbe5bd_m.jpgThe consensus answer is that Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest building in Dublin. It is already a major tourist attraction, so I discovered no hidden gems in finding this answer. Here’s the tour-guide overview:

This is Dublin’s oldest building, founded in 1038 by King Sitric of Dublin, then rebuilt in stone in 1169 by Strongbow, Earl of Permbroke, and restored in Gothic style in 1871. There is a crypt dating from 1172, and both buildings contain remarkable monuments, sculptures and other objects from over the centuries, including the embalmed heart of the Archbishop of Dublin (1180), punishment stocks, and a tomb oak carving from 1584.

The Cathedral’s board has more historical information for the curious. (The photo here is courtesy of Flickr member jtriefen.)

In the past, I found that the consensus view is disputed by experts (archeologists, architectural historians, and the like) so if I find an interesting dissent, I’ll write about it. I have not yet visited the inside of the Cathedral, but I’m sure that one of our visitors will have it on his/her must-see list. Or my own curiosity will take me there. You know how it works.

28 October 2007

The NFL on FOX SKY

Filed under: culture,expat,sports — Anita @ 19:53

When we moved to Dublin, we made the choice of getting the “local” (UK) satellite system, called SKY. We were amazed to discover this fall that SKY Sports is showing NFL games each Sunday. As we started to research exactly why, we discovered that Miami and the NY Giants were going to play a NFL game in the new Wembley Stadium, outside London. In the last few years, interest in American football has increased in Britain and now, we are reaping the rewards with games each Sunday. Today is the day of the big game at Wembley.

While we weren’t always the biggest NFL fans back at home, we have found that watching the early game on Sunday night is a relaxing way to end our weekend. We’ve even had Kathryn over for pizza and football, since she is a huge fan and hasn’t gotten to see a lot of games since she moved to Europe.

The strangest thing to overcome is the British accents talking about the game. It just sounds off. But, the beer commercials are just as good here as they are in the States. The ad firm for Coors took advantage of the combination of American and British accents. And, I think the folks here have an even bigger obsession with the cheerleaders that the guys back home. There was as much cheerleading as football in the previews on SKY Sports for today’s game.

Springfield and Shelbyville

Filed under: culture,ireland,travel — Anita @ 19:44

While on a short cab ride in Westport, Kathryn and I struck up a conversation with the driver. We both mentioned how we had visited Westport in August (with our respective families) and how much we enjoyed the town. Kathryn was there during the Arts Festival and she had a specific question for the driver. There were orange “heads” in the river, barely peering out of the water. She wondered if this was just for the festival, or if there were always orange heads in the river.

The driver proceeded to tell us the following story. First, it was a part of the arts festival. We learned that a term of endearment for fellow “Westportians” is Covey. (Will overheard this term during his wandering around during the day, as in “Hello, Covey” or “How are you doing, Covey?”)

Apparently, the town 10 miles over, Castlebar, is a much less desirable place. According to our driver, no self-respecting Westportian would ever want to live in Castlebar. In fact, people from Westport refer to the folks in Castlebar as “Fish-heads”, versus their own friendly “Coveys”.

Our driver said that the joke around town during the festival was that the heads in the water were the Castlebar folks, since they are Fish-heads. The whole town was enjoying the thought of the Castlebar citizens as silly fish-heads in the water.

It’s good to know that friendly rivalries are typical the world around.

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