During a few rainy, cold days in June, I devoured two books: Jared Diamond’s Collapse, and John Waters’s Jiving at the Crossroads. It’s been years since I read an entire book in a day or two, so this was sheer joy for me. Plus, the fact that both of them were non-fiction makes the books themselves even more remarkable. (more…)
15 July 2008
10 July 2008
The BBB&B No-Rain Pledge™
Since its founding, the Bakker Bugle Bed & Breakfast has provided a special experience for visitors to Ireland. This spring, the BBB&B started making that experience even more special, through the BBB&B No-Rain Pledge™. (See below for more details.)
We are proud to announce the preliminary results of our innovative Irish Precipitation Undermining Programme. (more…)
8 July 2008
Heat Wave!
The best time to get coffee in Dublin is 12:45. There are few people waiting in line, and you can get a seat at one of the few tables on the sidewalk. Just as you get comfortable in your seat in the sun, the office doors open like the spillways of the Hoover Dam, and the parade begins. (more…)
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4 July 2008
Happy Fourth of July
Today is not a holiday in Ireland, of course. Still, there are plenty of celebrations of Independence Day here in Dublin. Anita will attend a party at one of A-Company’s offices, organised by Irish workers. Our local, The Pembroke, is decorated with a big poster of the Stars and Stripes, and red-white-and-blue bunting and balloons all over. The pub is advertising free hot dogs with the purchase of American beer. (Coors Light is all they have on tap; it’s embarrassing.) I’m curious to hear what the DJ plays during happy hour.
Dubliners, at least, always have a great interest in the US — more its politics than its economics. (more…)
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30 June 2008
GAA football & Euro soccer: Sunday = Sport Day
We had a great day for sports on Sunday. By far the most thrilling event was our first GAA match in person — and better yet, at the national stadium, Croke Park! Here’s the link for a short slideshow of our day at Croker, with plenty of information in the descriptions:
Photos of Croke Park, 29 June 2008, on flickr
The match was County Dublin versus County Westmeath, in the semi-final of the Football Championship for the Irish province of Leinster. (more…)
27 June 2008
Double-Take of the Week, Cultural Edition
Today, the listeners of a nationwide pop radio station in Ireland, Today FM, voted for the following song as their Friday Favorite:
Lynryd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”
An answer to your next question:
No, Today FM is not the kind of radio station that appeals to ironic hipsters.
13 June 2008
Lisbon Treaty: The Campaigns
At midday here in Ireland, the consensus was that the vote on the Treaty of Lisbon is too close to call. I find this remarkable, given that every political party holding seats in the Dáil (except Sinn Féin) endorsed the treaty. The major Irish political parties have impressive networks of party loyalists on the ground. Their networks seem more oriented toward mass mobilization than the US’s Democratic and Republican parties. While the US’s parties are fund-raising machines, they struggle with voters’ apathy and fragmentation on particular policies. So I assumed that the parties would get out the vote. But the relatively high turnout rate for this referendum appears to tell against ratification, according to the results so far.
Let’s look at the campaigns for and against the Lisbon Treaty, as I saw and heard them. (more…)
12 June 2008
27 May 2008
Memorial Day, for the United States
The Republic of Ireland does not observe Memorial Day on the last Monday of May. Indeed, there is no public holiday of the Republic devoted to the memory of war.
The Republic of Ireland’s orientation towards wars and soldiers reflects the nation’s extraordinarily complex history of warfare. I’ll mention a few, recent aspects of that history — and that will be difficult enough. (more…)
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19 June 2007
First impression of hurling
We put Sunday’s hurling match between Waterford and Cork on our DVR, and here’s a summary of our impressions of hurling after about 10 minutes:
