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Diego   

The Greatest

A troubled legend. At his peak the best footballer I have ever seen play. RIP.

So sad to see this.  A hero from childhood- used to be fascinated with the things he would do with a ball while getting lumps kicked out of himself.

Splitting Dublin into 4 is a no brainer but until Central GAA and the other 31 Counties get some backbone and push it through we won't be seeing it.
Rural depopukation in the BMW ( and most other Counties) has been ongoing since 1845

Yup. The population of Mayo in the early 1840s was greater than that of Dublin.

Astoundingly that appears to be the case.

YLSNED

Had to google YLSNED.

YLSNED.

I'd imagine some people are saving money with outgoings down and no pubs/ clubs/ entertainment costs for kids, etc, but you'd have to worry for small businesses.
One thing that always bugged me was the supermarkets selling booze and the negative impact it would have on pubs, no more than how they wiped out an awful lot of small grocery shops and others.
I was talking to a neighbour who was saying that he has two daughters have been shopping online flat out.  That's another thing that will hurt retailers.  I know it's been happening ongoing for years, but this is going to tip the balance much more. 

Swanlinbar.

Known locally as "Swad", possibly because the mane Cavan bastards thereabouts imagine one syllable is cheaper than three?

Anyhow, I remember once hearing that Swanlinbar wasn't an Irish name at all, but rather was named for three (English?) people, Messrs. Swann, Lynn and Barr, who had owned/operated a Spa in the village.

On consulting Wiki, it appears that I was close(ish), but the details differ somewhat.
According to Jonathan Swift, writing in 1728:
"There is likewise a famous town, where the worst iron in the kingdom is made, and it is called Swandlingbar: the original of which name I shall explain, lest the antiquaries of future ages might be at a loss to derive it. It was a most witty conceit of four gentlemen, who ruined themselves with this iron project. 'Sw' stands for Swift (Swift's uncle, Godwin Swift, for whose memory he had no special regard, was the instigator of the ironworks and the person named. He lost his fortune due to the mismanagement of the business), 'And' stands for Sanders (Robert Saunders of Dublin), 'Ling' for Darling (Richard Darling of Dublin), and 'Bar' for Barry (Richard Barry). Methinks I see the four loggerheads sitting in consult, like Smectimnius, each gravely contributing a part of his own name, to make up one for their place in the iron-work; and could wish they had been hanged, as well as undone, for their wit."

Meanwhile, wiki notes that:
The earliest name recorded for the village was Sra-na-muck which means "The River-field of the pigs". The current official Irish name An Muileann Iarainn meaning 'Iron Mill' reflects the foundation of an ironworks in the town in 1700.

And Swift's typically humourous, if unsparing, comment was included in an essay of his entitled: "On Barbarous Denominations", which might be better referenced in the "Irish placenames that might make you snigger" thread:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JC4CAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=%22on+barbarous+denominations+in+ireland%22&source=web&ots=2wLJ_Vb7Az&sig=Wkjr3s91-eKvf2L0gzAL3XVu2XE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22on%20barbarous%20denominations%20in%20ireland%22&f=false

I didnt know that about Swad, interesting.

Thank you for that, I didn't think there was an Irish root to it, just a name that always sounded nice.  On a side note, not only are townland names in Irish often beautiful or interesting,  there's so much lore attached to fields and boreens with names attaching people or events, and over time, all that's left is the name, and I'm sure so many of those get lost in time too.
It's a fascinating subject,  if one could make the time to look into it.

Swanlinbar.
Gougane Barra.

This thread is now at 355 pages, and the earths population 7.8 billion. If the population continues to grow it will become unsustainable. There are two options to tackle this issue:

1) Take the Chinese Way, and only allow couples to have one child. This policy will of course need updated for Twinbook and Ballymun where coupling is just a seasonal thing.

2) Take the Chinese Virus, and let God's revenge do it's thing.

3) Find another planet, and build a big rocket to take us there.


I personally vote for (1).

I favour the approach of the  Golgafrincham ark from The Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy. In this case, a  plan was drawn up to evacuate the planet  Golgafrincham. Three arks were proposed and one was launched filled with all the middlemen of Golgafrincham, such as the telephone sanitisers, account executives, hairdressers, tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives, and management consultants.
The doctors, engineers, scientists, teachers etc were supposed to go on two other arks, but they never got around to launching those, for some reason.

Good plan in theory,  but didn't quite work out as anticipated!!

Got a lot of emails last night from students last night up in a heap.  What has annoyed me so far is announcements made without having the details ironed out in advance,  leaving a vacuum to be filled each time on social media fuelling hysteria and causing stress that could and should have been avoided.
Every year, there would always be a certain amount of 'bolters ', students that would get a result well above expectations.  Correspondingly,  there would always be one or two that, for whatever reason,  just wouldn't perform on the day.  What applying the curve and their previous averages will do is rule out deviations. 
It's all unknown territory for all stakeholders in education,  so some reassurance for the students in particular would be welcome. 

Look after yourself pbat, there are days like that, but they come and go, just as surely as better ones do.  Give yourself a break- music, films, reading, chat a friend or relative on the phone- whatever is a distraction for you.
I've had days exactly like you describe. You keep dwelling on the negatives, or sometimes it's nothing you can pinpoint,  just an absence of happiness.  It's a sticky mess, hard to shake off, and it feels like it's pulling you down, and it feels like your thought processes are all over the shop. 
What works for me, now it did take a while,  is to try and train your mind to sectors.  You can't just block it all out, and trying that, or trying to pretend it's not there, takes a hell of a lot of energy.  Give yourself 20 minutes every so often where you think about it: analyse it, jot down lists, what you think is wrong,  what you think are problems,  what you think are weaknesses: whatever is on your mind for that 20 minutes,  then put the brakes on, and take time to clear your mind.  Listen to music: your favourites, old memories- it doesn't have to be happy-clappy, or eye of the tiger stuff.  Chat someone- a friend,  relative, whoever.  Watch a film or a documentary.  Read something.  This is 'you' time.  Later on, go back in your mind and how you feel.  It's like a boxing match: you train,  you spar, you fight a round, you take a break.  Or you can use a football league analogy and prepare for a match.
What's important is that, over time, you are calling the shots, and you are dictating the terms of when you are engaging.  That feeling you described today, I know that.  It feels overwhelming,  stifling,  it's wearing you down in a war of attrition in your mind, and that is hugely energy-sapping.  But it doesn't have to be played under those terms.  I'm 3 years on from my last bad bout of depression.  It's not a bed of roses since, and it's not going to make a rags to riches film anytime soon, but I have only lost a very few rounds since.  And I am getting to the stage that I'm pretty confident it will never have the same hold on me again.  And that's a good feeling.  It's there for you, too, and you'll get there.
One of the most significant lines I picked up on my journey was 'How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time'.
You take care, and the very best of luck to you. 
There will be better days ahead.

Just saw on the Scrubs facebook page,  Sam Lloyd,  who played Ted, has passed away.  RIP.
He was 56, apparently was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year shortly after the birth of his first child.  Very sad.

99% sure they used to play it for the GAA Goal of the Season options in hurling and football on Sports Stadium,  if I remember correctly?!

The Sun Always Shines on TV because it is generally filmed in southern California.

was it an RTÉ sports  stadium intro?

The Final Countdown was the intro, but they used an instrumental version of The Sun Always Shines on TV for continuity and the like. They did a recap of the 1987 Tour de France that ran over a few weeks, they used it for that.

James- so much more to them than Sit Down.
Ocean Colour Scene.
REM's first 4 albums all worth a listen.

Dublin- due to Spillane, mainly!!

As the protest is in week 2, the coverage from RTE has been negligible.  2 men hospitalised, and still nothing.  Farmers are wondering who is lobbying RTE, and what- or who's, agenda is being served.

Living in hope more than expectation of a famous Ros win, but anyway.
Tyrone are a seasoned outfit, and know what it takes to get the job done at this stage of the championship.  We aren't at that level yet, but if we want to be official members of the Big Boys Club, we have to start claiming scalps at this level.  We seem to be a lot stronger than last year, and definitely more organized defensively, so at the very least I'd be confident that it won't end up a massacre like last year.
Winning Connacht as we did broke new ground for us this year, and the next step is get a win in the Super 8s.  As usual before a big game for Ros, emotions swing from Ger Loughnane's 'We're going to do it' to 'We're doomed, I tells you'.  Tyrone, as I said, are used to this.  We have to get used to doing this. 
Best of luck to the Rossies, and safe travel and welcome to Tyrone fans traveling.  Hope yez enjoy the hospitality, but know that there won't be much hospitality within the white lines of the Hyde- again hopefully!!
Providing it doesn't become a blowout as has happened Ros so often in the past, it should make for a mighty battle, with a lot of intriguing match-ups in prospect.  So much at stake for the winner, in that they can focus full attention on beating Cork for a semi-final berth- and that's far from a forgone conclusion, by the way, but it'd be nice not to be looking to beat Dublin to survive.

A Ros win would be up there with my happiest moments in sport- the only thing that would take the sheen off it would be a Cork win v the T1000s.

Best not think of that!!

Planning restrictions are going to finish a lot of smaller rural gaa clubs.  In the underage championships, Division 1 is mainly big traditional clubs that have strong numbers, with maybe one or two amalgamations/ combination teams.  As you go through Divisions 2 and 3, it's the opposite- maybe one or two stand-alone teams, and the rest are combined.  To be fair to any of the combined teams I've come across, it's not like they are picking the best 15 players and leaving 18 or 19 on the bench.  They simply couldn't function as a stand-alone entity.
The GAA landscape across rural Ireland will eventually mirror successive government dismantling of rural Ireland.  First Garda stations, then post offices.  Guaranteed next up will be primary schools.  It's sad and worrying when you think about it.  I'm sure plenty will say suck it up, that's progress, and efficiency, and it's not feasible to to keep these kind of services open across the country, etc, etc.  Maybe they're right, but I grew up in the country.  It's home.  I got an education, I got a job away from home, I've lived in the city, I've lived in the town, but the last few years I've moved home and commute to work, and do a bit to help out at home.  Some day, please God, I'll be married and have kids, and I'd want them to grow up in the country.  I'd like for them to play with the local club, even if they'd be playing u16 at 12, just to make up the numbers as we've had to already.  But I fear that by the time all that comes to pass, our club will be no more.