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Anyone keeping an eye on this? What do you think? Could the rest of the world be about to take a hit from China's troubles?

 I was going to post this on the Grinds-my-Gears thread, but it deserves a topic of its own.

It seems that just about every story posted on FB by an Irish news outlet, no matter how positive, usually draws overwhelmingly negative comments.

If it's the government tackling problem x, the chorus goes up: "what about problem y?" 
If the government tackles problem y: "What about problem x?"
If it's a worthwhile initiative to fix some long standing problem that's worth dealing with: "sure it's a joke" or "it's not going to work."
If it's officials on an international trip to drum up trade and investment, "sure it's only a junket."
If it's President Higgins saying something thoughtful, it's a tirade of personalized abuse mocking his height, personal appearance, or even his wife, usually coming from clueless morons who don't know how the constitution works, because he had to sign the water legislation into law.
If it's about Bono, it's the usual "pay your taxes you gobshite."
If it's about Bob Geldof it's the usual "shut up, who do you think you are being successful?"
If it's about any other internationally successful Irish artist: "Sure they're rubbish."
If it's about some bit of infrastructure being built: "sure what about the potholes on my street?"
If it's about helping migrants to assimilate, it's the timeless "what about the homeless" trope.

I'll bet the same whinging shower of apes making these moaning comments are the same people who go into a polling booth and make a point of voting for some tax-dodging, bribe-taking, convicted criminal who "fixshed de road" and forced the government to built a city-sized hospital in his small village just to "stick it to them."

When is the country going to grow up? When are people going to cut out the whinging and take a bit of responsibility for who they vote for? If you want the country to be run properly, vote for the right people. Demand an end to corruption. Demand transparency. If there's nobody decent to vote for, stand for election yourself. Take positive action. Do something about it. Don't just sit there whinging and refusing to believe every piece of good news.

Admins, please merge all spam threads by Tony (the ones about the same topic) into this one. It'd save a fierce amount of scrolling.

Thanks!

Starting a thread for Muppet and Franko to fight out their handbag battle in privacy while the rest of us get on with discussing Irish unity on the other thread.

Thought experiment: What would be involved in reuniting soccer in Ireland under a single governing body with a single national team? 

More soccer uptake in the north among nationalists? More nationalist-minded clubs forming in the north and getting voting rights in the IFA?   Better community relations so that nationalists would feel safe attending games in unionist areas and vice versa? Better community relations so that working class unionists would get behind an all-Ireland team the same way unionists support the all-Ireland rugby team?  Would the FAI clubs have anything to gain from going back under the rubric of the IFA? Would the two domestic leagues be improved if they were merged into a bigger league?

What are the obstacles?  What would need to happen to overcome them?

Please try to keep the usual "it will never happen" posts to a minimum, we've heard them all before and they add nothing new to the discussion. This is a thought experiment about how we could actually achieve this. I'd be interested in hearing from people with more knowledge of the internal politics of either of the two soccer associations.

Any suggestions? I've used Western Union before but I'm open to other ideas.

Fast Food Freestyle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvK-GLupgIw

"Objections have been raised to proposals to erect a statue of 16th century Blarney Castle owner Chieftain Cormac Teige McCarthy on a site overlooking the world-famous Cork village as part of Blarney Chamber's work to mark the anniversary."

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/village-row-over-plans-for-blarneysnbsp250th-birthday-345094.html?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

The story doesn't say what the basis of the objections is. What are the locals concerned about?

I'm curious about what it's like being an ex-pat in a non English-speaking country where you had to start at zero and learn the local lingo. I found it easy to settle in here in the states since I was already so familiar with a lot of it through TV and what have you, and understanding the language was a huge help. But what's it like having to settle in a place where you have to put serious thought into something as basic as ordering food or paying for stuff? Do you feel a bit helpless at first? Do you find yourself relying much on other people knowing English?

I remember when I visited Russia I felt like I had a superpower just by being able to read signs and say "that picture please" in a shop. Do you get a kick out of getting by in a tongue that's not your own?

The English-speaking world is a decent sized place, but I often feel limited in my travel options because I'm a bit put off by language barriers.

vote for her for President?

June 18th, 1994. 21 years ago, Giants' Stadium, New Jersey. Ray Houghton's goal - Ireland 1, Italy 0.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_Av65L4R0

Just read an article in the Atlantic about so-called "rough rides." Apparently there's a plethora of nicknames for the practice of cuffing someone, throwing him in the back of a van, not strapping him in, and then driving around like a maniac to rough the victim up. "Bringing him to the front" is the act of sudden braking to slam him against the front panel, also known as a "screen test." In Philly they call them "nickel rides" after amusement park rides. If they've got that many names for it then it's a good bet that it's a fairly common practice.

For all this talk of condemning the rioting in Baltimore, which you have to do, I feel a bit uncomfortable with this American culture of hero worship for anyone in a uniform. If someone serves in the military you have to refer to them as a "hero" and thank him for his service, even if you know nothing about him or what he did when he was on tour. You don't know if he spent his time as a mechanic in the base or shooting up civilians on the street. And I certainly don't get this habit some people have of saying "I support the police." As far as I'm concerned I'll be grateful for when they do a good job the same way I'm grateful to the waitress who gives good service that I'm paying for.

I'd make an exception maybe for the likes of firemen since they're not generally armed and not in much of a position to abuse any power. But this doctrine of porcine infallibility makes me very uncomfortable and it will be America's undoing if they don't do a better job of policing the policemen.

Some amazing acts of defiance here. This is what you call holding out for the best possible deal!

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/04/and-then-there-was-one/390501/

Idea - The "flying mark" or the "555 timer" rule:

• Ball is kicked a distance longer than 20 meters.
• Players go up, one of them makes a catch.
• Player who makes the catch cannot be tackled for another 5 seconds, and his opponents have 5 seconds to put 5 meters between themselves and the point where the catch was made. Failure to comply by any one player results in a free to the man who made the catch, and the free has to be taken from the hands immediately. 

Advantages:

• Incentivizes longer kicks
• Rewards high fielding
• Discourages blanket defenses
• Blanket defenses can now only happen with shorter range passes (usually hand passes), so it's a disincentive to overly rely on the hand pass
• The five second rule incentivizes the catching player to quickly get rid of the ball, or start making a run if he has room.
  Keeps the game flowing without necessarily the interruptions you get in Ozzie Rules where there is a free awarded regardless

Disadvantages:

• How do you measure five meters in the heat of a game? Could be one more thing for referees to remember when they're already loaded with responsibilities.
• If the catching player holds onto the ball, everyone has to start counting to five to be able to tell when he can be tackled again. Adds another level of complication to the game, but we might be able to live with that.

Thoughts...?

This week I discovered that Blakes 7 is on YouTube. I think it's all up there. My productivity has plummeted and binge-watching has commenced. I never saw all of it the first time around either, so I'm seeing all the early episodes for the first time. Superb writing and acting. I wish the BBC or someone would do what they did for Star Trek TOS and re-do the special effects for the space shots.

PMQs was good crack yesterday. Funny so so much of the media missed the rise of the SNP over the years.

It's gold and white, so it is.

I say legalize it.

If Fox News were held to the same standard that Brian Williams is being held to now, they'd have to fire the entire staff.

As for Jon Stewart, I don't think this is the end of an era at all. He has effectively created a whole new genre. Colbert had a good run on his own show. John Oliver's just hired another load of investigative journalists for his show. I hear Larry Wilmore has his own thing going with his new show. Two critically acclaimed spinoffs and another probably underway. Established as a launch pad for comedy careers. Not a bad record.

What I like about the Daily Show spinoffs is they're all unique.  Colbert was a caricature of a blow-hard conservative TV pundit who's absorbed by his own righteousness. Last Week Tonight takes complex issues and presents them clearly and hilariously with a long segment that still manages to keep your attention. (Dunno what Larry Wilmore's show is like yet because I haven't seen it.)

A lot of variety in there compared to the standard late night US TV shows which all seem to have the exact same format. (Live band makes a big deal about the presenter, lead singer/musician of the band banters with the presenter once in a while, presenter starts with a stand-up routine monologue discussing the issues of the day, lists the guests, then brings them on one at a time. Presenter sits behind a desk on the right with a big fake classic microphone on it, guest sits on a chair on the left. Each show is identical. I can't even remember which one is which TBH.) 

The Daily Show crowd has been nothing if not innovative. It'll be interesting to see how it evolves now. And I can't say I blame Stewart for getting burned out.

There's a bit of crack now down under. Looks like that wingnut Tony Abbott could be on his way out. I'm not familiar with whoever's lining up to replace him but surely anybody would be an improvement on that intellectual zero.