Topics

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tolkien-tv-show-seeks-burns-victims-amputees-extras-080903129.html

After my Dad passed I am in charge of my mom and her wishes/care. It  is tough as you have siblings and other family members/family friends thinking they know what your parent/s wishes are when sick. My mom had surgery and I am getting feedback from other persons who do not know the short term and long term care requested. It is aggrevating as other people do NOT know what conversations we had prior to surgery. I urge everyone to get a living will/power of attorney for their parent/s or themselve/s.

https://news.yahoo.com/reported-mass-shooting-zealand-mosque-021920539.html?hl=1&noRedirect=1

Whats the best way to get to Listowel from Dublin Airport for a group of 12-15 (mostly seniors)?

Looking at bus/train service.

Bastards who steal your packages from your residence are all the rage, this guy fights back in a fun way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo

Not that kind!

Looking at the Temple Bar one and its interesting to watch. Those bicycle cabbies are making a killing.

Any other good ones to watch?

PAul McCartney live in concert @ NYC Grand Central Station on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QGxFpSb6Sc

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/safeco-field-streaker-might-looking-deportation-report-232915518.html

Does Hell Exist? Pope Francis Says No In New Interview That Could Change Catholic Church Forever.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/does-hell-exist-pope-francis-155354139.html

This is a pretty good read:


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-an-undocumented-irish-immigrant-became-an-unofficial-us-diplomat/2018/03/07/58766a64-1324-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html?utm_term=.b90ebe04c971

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/priest-arrested-florida-road-rage-incident-pulling-gun-061424277--abc-news-topstories.html

The weather will play a factor this weekend as they are calling for storms on Friday and Sunday throughout those days.

Top three should be Hideki, Rory and Henrik with Hideki winning by 3-4. 25 ea to win.


Looking at the odds throughout the field I am throwing 10 each on the following to win for best ROI.

Koepka         40-1
Duffner         50-1
Horschel       65-1
Snedeker      80-1
Niebrugge   275-1

Looking for some info on Yoga and was wondering if anyone is doing this. I would like a good tutorial website or book that I could follow at home. Need to get my back and legs more mobile/limber for the upcoming golf season and yoga seems like it would work the best.

Any info/links?

This looks promising if true.
Play the clip on the page

http://brilliantlightpower.com/brilliant-light-powers-suncell-announced-on-cnn-international/

10 days till opening ceremonies.

Which events are you looking most forward to?

For myself:

Sprints
Decathalon
Discus/Shot Put/Javelin
Long Jump
Swimming
Female Beach Volleyball

Looks like the "Greatest" is on his way out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-boxing-ali-condition-idUSKCN0YQ00M

Former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali was close to death in a Phoenix-area hospital on Friday, a source close to the family said, as speculation swirled about his health.

Ali, one of the best-known figures of the 20th century, was hospitalized this week for a respiratory ailment. Family spokesman Bob Gunnell has said that Ali, 74, was in fair condition, but media reports have said he was in rapidly failing health.

Asked about Ali's condition, the source said: "It's extraordinarily grave. It's a matter of hours."

The source, who had spoken with Ali's wife, Lonnie, added: "It could be more than a couple of hours, but it's not going to be much more. Funeral arrangements are already being made."

Gunnell did not respond to repeated requests for comment about Ali's condition.

Ali has suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than three decades and has kept a low profile in recent years.

The Radar Online website reported on Friday that Ali had been placed on life support, citing "an insider."

The Reuters source close to the family could not comment on that report.

Ali's last public appearance was in April at the "Celebrity Fight Night" gala in Arizona, a charity that benefits the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center.

At the height of his career, Ali was known for his dancing feet and quick fists and his ability, as he put it, to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

He held the heavyweight title a record three times, and Sports Illustrated named him the top sportsman of the 20th century.

Nicknamed "The Greatest," Ali retired from boxing in 1981 with a record of 56 wins, 37 by knockout, and five losses. Ali's diagnosis of Parkinson's came about three years after he left the ring.

Ali, born in Louisville, Kentucky, as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, changed his name in 1964 after his conversion to Islam.

Ali had a show-time personality that he melded with dazzling footwork and great hand speed. His bouts with such fighters as Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman made him an international celebrity like boxing had never seen.

He became a symbol for black liberation during the 1960s as he stood up to the U.S. government by refusing to go into the Army for religious reasons.

Ali made a surprise appearance at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, stilling the Parkinson's tremors in his hands enough to light the Olympic flame.

He also took part in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012, looking frail in a wheelchair. He has been married four times and has nine children.

Ali's daughter Laila, a former boxer, tweeted a photo of her father kissing her own daughter, Sydney. She thanked supporters for their wishes for Ali, saying, "I feel your love and appreciate it!"

In two months the world will be focused on Rio Brazil and from everything I have read online and watched on the news it looks like a major clusterfuck. Zika Virus, Police Killings, Financial Crisis, Shoddy and undone construction, Presidential Impeachment/Political Crisis, Environmental Crisis and displacing citizens.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rio-olympics-2016-brazil-crises_us_573b53e7e4b0646cbeeb02c8

I hope that everything goes well and we get to see the world's greatest athletes perform but I would not go there with free tickets/transportation/housing. Seven years ago the world rejoiced at the Olympics being held in South America and I hope they can cheer after the closing ceremonies.

In order for an American to retire in Ireland the person needs to have a minimum annual income of 50,000 euros or 100,000 euros for a married couple for the REMAINDER OF THEIR LIVES!!!

How many would qualify for this if they were not from Ireland or an EU country?

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Ireland-rejecting-American-retirees-under-new-rules.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/083438dc-6058-11e5-a28b-50226830d644.html?ftcamp=traffic/partner/feed_headline/us_yahoo/auddev#axzz3mzns8SYm

Ireland's business and political elite will gather this week on a greenfield site near the town of Naas, not far from Dublin, to mark the opening of one of the biggest investments made by an Irish company in several years.
There, food manufacturer Kerry Group will launch a €100m global technology and innovation centre for its ingredients and flavours business, which has grown rapidly to become one of the world's biggest.

Kerry's investment was announced in 2012, when Ireland was still in the depths of its worst recession. Four years earlier, the global financial crisis burst the country's speculative property bubble — leading to the collapse of most of the Irish banking sector, and years of austerity and corporate downsizing.
Now, though, the completion of the project represents something very different: the re-emergence of a newly confident Irish corporate sector on the back of Ireland's economic recovery. It is resulting in levels of activity not seen since the boom days of the "Celtic Tiger" economy.
This new optimism is evident in the number of companies hiring again — unemployment has dropped from 15 per cent at the worst point of the slump to 9.5 per cent now. It is also reflected in a resurgence of mergers and acquisitions, driven by both Irish companies and an increase in foreign investment.
For investors, this holds out the prospect of improving financial and share price performance — driven partly by a weak euro — but also an increased commitment to long-term plans.
"Ireland is a much more pleasant place to be doing business in now than for the past few years," says Gene Murtagh, chief executive of Kingspan, a maker of insulating products based in the town of Kingscourt in county Cavan. "The mood has shifted — there is a belief that the country is crawling back to a sustainable path again."
This change in sentiment is becoming more widely shared. Last year, Ireland was the eurozone's fastest-growing member state. Economic growth forecasts for this year range between 4 and 6 per cent.
But, even as recently as a few months ago, the recovery was not clearly visible. When International Airlines Group swooped for Aer Lingus at the end of last year, it appeared to confirm that Irish companies were fated to be the targets of foreign companies.
Market recovery

That has not been the case. So far this year, three of Ireland's biggest companies have made substantial acquisitions abroad, including CRH's high-profile €6.5bn purchase of assets being sold by cement groups Holcim and Lafarge as part of their merger.
Irish companies are also making noticeably more optimistic forecasts for future trading as consumers finally start to respond to the improving economy.
"There is a consumer-led recovery under way and things are better than they have been for years," says Liam FitzGerald, outgoing chief executive of UDG Healthcare, the Dublin-based health services group that last week sold its Irish drug distribution businesses to US pharma group McKesson for €407.5m.
Mr FitzGerald says UDG intends to use the net proceeds of €277.5m to realise ambitious growth plans, including "the pursuit of further strategic M&A opportunities".
A weaker euro has played its part — helping Irish companies to boost their exports to two key markets: the UK and the US. Finance minister Michael Noonan recently said that exports grew by 13.6 per cent in the second quarter, helped by multinationals and Irish-owned companies.
Another important consequence of the economic recovery has been the improved fortunes of Ireland's banks.
Ireland is a much more pleasant place to be doing business in now than for the past few years. The mood has shifted — there is a belief that the country is crawling back to a sustainable path again
- Gene Murtagh, chief executive of Irish company Kingspan
In March, Allied Irish Bank reported its first annual profit since the banking collapse, swinging from a loss of €1.7bn in 2013 to a pre-tax profit of €1.1bn for 2014. Although mortgage arrears still plague their balance sheets, Ireland's banks are reporting stronger net interest margins and more buoyant corporate lending.
Not all sectors have benefited from the recovery. Ireland's construction industry, the most severely damaged by the crisis, is still struggling. Two months ago, housebuilder Abbey reported only "slow but steady progress" at its Irish operations in the year to April. While building activity is picking up, it is uneven, with sharp swings from quarter to quarter as the unwinding of the property crash — the most toxic legacy of the Irish crisis — continues.
Nevertheless, it has not deterred chief executives in other sectors from pursuing investments. Ashley Gardiner, the co-founder of a distillery in the picturesque setting of Powerscourt Estate, a Palladian mansion in county Wicklow, believes now is the right time for the launch of his €10m venture. He is hoping to tap into a surge of interest in one of Ireland's most famous products and sounds confident: "There is confidence in Irish whiskey and in Ireland Inc generally."

I find this market fascinating and obviously it is only going to grow tremendously over the century each year. Please place any new or upcoming projects/products in this thread.