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I think this deserves a thread of its own, given the importance of the deceased to the peace process.

Albert Reynolds did a great deal to bring about the conditions for the 1994 ceasefire, which set the wheels in motion that led to any subsequent progress. This concentration on the peace process probably distracted him from other issues and may well have contributed to his short tenure as Taoiseach.

He was a businessman, he did great work in the previous decade in bringing Irish telecoms into the modern era in part because he realised the important to business of this. I imagine that had he continued to have influence in more recent years that he would not have been so quick to build an economy on people building and selling houses to each other, but might have shown some concern for the real economy and so limited the damage caused by speculators.

I think this fixture is now inevitable.

Can Meath get the show on the road again? It isn't so long ago that Wexford shocked Armagh in a quarter final having been hammered by Dublin in the Leinster final. In that case Wexford had a game to get organised and probably Armagh underrated them, but also Wexford deep down didn't expect to do well against Dublin and this might not be the case for Meath. Armagh should not underestimate Meath, who have proved tough nuts on numerous occasions. Armagh are not Dublin, but the likes of Jamie Clarke would find space in the Meath defence on show today.

Report on the radio that the club championship will be run off in the calender year. This is fine for Cross people who get a day out at Christmas and useful for Armagh and Roscommon managers. But it does mean that most club teams are finished up quite early in the year, unless leagues etc carry on after the championships.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/incredible-accuracy-in-45-challenge-from-club-footballer-631931.html

Oops!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kfS8iz2NaLE

Lamborghini  Aventador

• Has 700 horsepower
  Does 350km/h at top speed
  Goes from 0 – 100km/h in 2.9 seconds
  Features a v12 engine
  Has a body  built of carbon fibre.

"Before we go back on tour in the Fall of 2014, I want to challenge myself, the band, and crew.  In '97, we were lucky enough to play Croke Park, the stadium was under construction. 130,000+ of some of the greatest fans in the world. I was quoted then as saying 'When this stadium is finished, I would love to come back and try to fill it again...this time to the brink.'...and we're back to do just that."

http://www.aikenpromotions.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/2122.html

Garth was followed a couple of years later by Armagh dominance of football, let's hope history repeats itself.

It seems that Cullyhanna's finest has conducted a series of interviews with Paisley to be on the BBC Paisley:
Genesis To Revelation - Face To Face With Eamonn Mallie starts on BBC One NI on Monday 13 January at 22:35 GMT

Paisley has done as much as anyone to cause the mess we are in today. He used a lot of strong language the caused other eejits, without any of these nuances the Paisley himself would see, to take up the battle. But he is still a more complex individual than some of the monochrome drones on the Unionist side, so the documentary should be interesting.

Latino immigrants not wanted

For those of us in Europe (note this is a somewhat restricted version of Europe)
http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/europe

And for the North Americans among us
http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/northamerica

I'll bet you the Europeans beat the Americans.

It is better to give than receive

some suggestions

Colm Cooper
BCB1 to give an All Ireland Club medal


for lawnseed
from all of us pedants


for Lar naparka
from Syferus John Dillon: A Biography


to mylestheslasher
from the Iceman
A dictionary of Irish Saints

Good thread on boards.ie about Ireland's grimmest place on Streetview

some of the usual suspects
Limerick & Limerick

Ballyfermot

Range Rover country in Kildare

Athlone (but not the plush Rossie side, of course)

and storied Dungannon

I was expecting to see a programme about Hector and Nolan swapping places, but it is not on?
http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/hectorbreaksfortheborder.html

what's happened?

Can anyone give me a half plausible reason why the draw for next years championship is completely drawn at this time of year?

I don't think this has been posted before. Wierd Korean drama about NI troubles, even Tyrone is not like that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnso41pInU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdrplyolhR0

it is probably revenge for us slagging Kim Il for shooting his ex.

Whatever about the pros and cons of the parade in Castlederg, it is not a town known for good community relations, I always think of Castlederg and Kilkeel as the prime examples of divided small towns.

With the flegs etc in Belfast you are often dealing with people living in ghettos who never meet a Catholic and who have stereotypical ignorant views of the South etc. Even "nationalists" in Belfast are disconnected from normal Irish life, as overnight events show. But in Castlederg these loyalists do know Catholics, they do buy their diesel in the South and normal Irish life all around them, including the likes of the GAA with recent Donegal/Tyrone rivalry.

What does it say about the future of the country that such places remain so bitter and divided?

http://geoguessr.com/

see a picture on Streeview and guess where it is!

I got 10,123 on the first 5 attempts. Easy enough to identify Australia or Russia, not so easy to say where exactly!

John Sheahan reminisces on now. End of an era. Catch it on RTÉ+1.