Has anyone else ran out of patience with scumbag taxi drivers blockading our towns and airports?I rang the cops yesterday in a panic when I heard about their shenanigans in Dublin. My child was crossing town on a bus. Ten minutes later, and everyone on that bus would have been held captive for hours by the caprice of the cabbies.On the radio, I could hear interviews with baffled and frightened tourists trying to get to their hotels, irate parents trying to get the kids and shopping home, annoyed drivers blocked from moving in any direction by a completely illegal blockade.And what did the plod do? What do they ever do? Absolutely nothing. While our economy is going down the shitter, these mongs are permitted to block the airport and the commercial heart of the city without any punishment,...
I've fairly simple criteria for what it means to be Irish.Are you from Ireland? If you can answer yes, then you're Irish in my book.Of course, not everyone sees it the same way. And according to a new study by a Protestant academic, apparently Irish Protestants are seen by many of their compatriots as somehow being a lesser form of Irish.Which is frankly despicable, especially in this day and age when the Irish Times and the many, many statefunded multicult quangos spend so much effort trying to insist that people from distant continents who arrived here in the last few years to scam our welfare system are, in fact, 'new Irish.'Let's be blunt - Irish Protestants are Irish. Some may like, as indeed some Irish Catholics like, to carry other passports too. But they're no less Irish for that...
I've learnt quite a bit this week.Apparently, 'Rhino-dating' is what happens during speed-dating nights when you sit down opposite someone of the opposite sex and they spend the entire three minutes criticising your clothes and ranting about how brilliant they are, then at the end of the night they collar you on the way out the door for some abuse, because they're shocked you didn't choose to see them again.I've been rhino-dated by the Irish service sector this week, and it wasn't too pleasant.There was the fuel firm who took my money, promising me my heat within 24 hours, 48 max. It took them five days to get around to delivering to me in the end.And that was only after I had to call them daily, have others call them daily, and even threaten to sue for my money back. And on the rare...
Twenty Major reckons the obligatory pension (translation: more tax) is his tipping point. He's leaving if it's implemented.I couldn't blame him.I'd do it myself if my circumstances permitted it. After all, when the rats are leaving the ship, why should the hard-pressed crew remain as the tide rises above the neck?The bankers have fled to their hidey-holes in Spain or Canada already. The cabinet are bailing out one by one.Why stay to pay for their mistakes, their incompetence and yes, their crimes?If you can, go. No one will thank you for remaining behind, except of course the aforementioned bankers (whose debts you'll pay) or the aforementioned politicians (whose pensions your 'pension levy' will fund).There's a really simple choice here - stay and get shafted, stay and fight back, or...
It seems that 92% of those taking the new taxi 'knowledge' exam are failing it first time, and some 80% are failing it even after repeating.At last, an exam in Ireland which doesn't suffer from rampant grades inflation.But sadly the test only applies to those who entered the industry since last July. The regulator wants all existing taximen to sit it by 2012. So far, so good.However, I see that SIPTU is warning that if existing drivers are made sit the test, they would 'withdraw their services'. Is that a threat or a promise to the public?Because if 400 taximen who are so afraid they don't know their way around decide NOT to work, I for one would be delighted. I'm fed up with dealing with 'You show-I go' merchants, or those who think it's okay to smoke and eat in the cab, or those reliant...
It's been the coldest winter since 1963 here in Ireland, apparently.And we're not unique. Most of the planet has been experiencing exceptionally cold weather this winter.This goes quite a long way towards explaining why you don't hear the words 'global warming' being bandied about so much any more.These days, the buzz words are 'climate change'. I'd be inclined to refer to climate changing by its old-fashioned title, 'weather'.But plenty of the true believers in the cult of anthropogenic global warming are still keen to claim that armageddon is imminent, and it's all your fault and mine for, well, existing basically.Global warming, yesterday.On BBC Radio 4 today, they were covering the British parliament's grilling of the lying scientists who conspired to fabricate data, cover up the...
Algeria's police chief has been shot dead this morning.The authorities are now searching for half a dozen Irish citizens with ringlets and little black hats....
Fianna Fail were never going to take the axeing of O'Dea lying down.It didn't take long for them to wheel out some dirt on possibly the cleanest TD of all, Not-so-clever Trevor Sargent.The government is rocking, right now. The gaps are opening up. Cowen can't keep it together much longer, especially with Dermot Ahern bootboying around the place as he has been.Trevor's gone, and will eventually be the focus of the Greens again when this regime falls and the Gormley era is consigned to the unrecyclable bin of political failure.In the meantime? Why not do as I do and crack open some popcorn and a nice beer and watch another government minister forced to quit....
With a title like that, you're possibly expecting another economic rant from me.Nope, it's option two on this occasion - this rancid government.I wish I didn't feel compelled to pen my outrage on these two topics so often. It's wearying and depressing to return again and again to stare into the abyss and yell back what I see.God only knows what you lot feel about it.(Well, actually, Statcounter knows. And he says you're way more interested when I write about dead porn stars, or tattooing in Goa, or music piracy, or Irish whiskey, or the farce that is Ulster-Scots. Anything, in other words, other than the above two conversation-stoppers.)So I'll try to think of posting about tattooed porn stars pirating Ulster-Scots albums or something similarly gripping later this week.Remember when John...
In
fine gael,
Fine gael,
Martin Cullen,
mary harney,
willie o'dea,
labour party,
enda kenny,
brian lenihan,
fianna fail,
brian cowen,
greens
. . sorry I have neglected you but working in a gym often means you never get a chance to spend any time under the bars! Do not fear as I have set aside time to spend with you this week!Why so busy? Well with work and everything else I am still trying to find my routine although this month has had a bit more order than the madness of January. I have also been arsing about in other ways. First up I missed a Saturday weights session to spend time with my old work chums at an indoor climbing centre here in Belfast. I used to spend a lot of time in there about 10 years ago giving it the full one arm spider monkey antics but alas its been years since I've went toe to toe with a rock face. This time the rock face kicked my ass.Unfortunately the pictures all came out blurred as I am afraid of...
The name Darius Guppy probably doesn't provoke much recognition in Ireland, even though he lived her for some time.A brief precis of his life thus far might run: privileged schooling at Eton, followed by more of the same at Oxford where he chummed around with top Tories David Cameron and Boris Johnson as part of the odious Bullingdon society, followed by his father's spectacular bankrupcy, which in turn led to Guppy Jr scamming Lloyds insurance to make up for the cash he believed Lloyds had stolen from his family.Guppy was caught, prosecuted and jailed, then vanished into obscurity on release, firstly in Ireland and latterly in South Africa.In short, he's the sort of rum bloke that the British aristocracy churn out all the time - the well-spoken crook.But he's no fool and no idiot. And...
These are the passport photographs used by the Israeli hitsquad that murdered a Hamas leader in the Gulf last month.At least three, possibly four, posed as Irish, thereby putting at risk every single genuine Irish person on the planet who travels to the Gulf or indeed any other state with sympathies for Palestine.These people are extremely dangerous and need to be found and tried.And the terrorist government of Israel must issue an apology to the Irish people for hiding behind our good name while they go about their spineless murders....
I've blogged before about how parents who give their children stupid names should be up on child abuse charges.It's a global problem, generally committed by the lumpenproletariat whose imagination, stunted by a childhood diet of smokes and deepfried food, leads them to brand their offspring with the name of whatever pop star, white wine, car model or city happens to be in front of them at the time of birth.But surely there must be a special ring of Hell set aside for people who, given perfectly reasonable names by their perfectly normal parents, jettison that in favour of some eye-popping nonsense.I'm not talking about actors and writers assuming stage or pen names. I'm talking about Celtic Tiger eejits who decided to 'rebrand' in order to feed the ravenous monster that is their...
I've been to Turkey, and I've nice memories of the place.It was full of beautiful ancient Ottoman buildings, and earlier remnants of other awe-inspiring eras like the Greeks and Romans and Persians.The people were urbane and friendly, the beer flowed freely, the transport infrastructure was impressive by Irish standards and the food was wonderful.So I can see what people mean when they claim that Turkey is a European nation, that deserves to take its place in the European Union.But of course, when I was in Turkey, I didn't leave Europe. I was in Istanbul, a city under its previous incarnations as Byzantium and Constantinople that was for long periods European in culture and still is by geography.But on the other side of the Bosphorus is another Turkey - the real Turkey. The huge Asia...
. . .because working with computers is a pain in the arse!The site is undergoing some maintenance as we shift hosting packages etc etc. Fingers crossed this gets sorted asap as I know many of you have no lives outside of the forum :-)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Henry Rollins - the end quote has appeared on more sites than I can count but this is the first time I have read the full piece. A great read and a truly awesome description of what it means to be strong.Iron and the Soul – By Henry Rollins I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. Completely. When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the...
Wow that was a quick month. So whats been happening this end? First off I want to mention a chat I had earlier with a top bloke down in DW. He came over to say hello and on touching a metal bar close to my seat he got a small static shock. I too have been getting shocks quite frequently and in fairness it was great to see someone else get electrocuted for a change! :-) Anyways he brought up the idea that static shocks are common among guys that take supplements and I think he had suggested zinc as one of the main culprits. Ive been trying to locate further evidence on Google but have came up short. I had never heard of this before today and would love to see some info if anyone has anything they can add!...
Obviously, men are evil and wrong. We already knew that.Even when women murder their own children in cold blood, it's not their fault but that of some man, somewhere, who drove them to it by callously leaving them, or having the audacity to sleep with someone who isn't a crazy child-killer.Yup, somehow, it's always a man's fault.We've seen this in some of the commentary about this sad case, where an upper middle-class affluent mum lost the plot and killed her two toddlers.Not one article has failed to mention that her husband left her insane ass before Christmas, as if that was the causative reason for the death of these two poor kids, and not their crazy knife-wielding mother.And plenty of online comment has sought to exonerate her entirely in the context of the allegedly clear and...
Who raped Martin Cullen?According to the Minister for Fun and Junkets, media intrusion into his life has been like being raped.Obviously, no cabinet minister would dare belittle victims of aggravated sexual assault by comparing their suffering to being written about in a paper, so presumably Cullen would only make such a statement if he was genuinely capable of comparing the two experiences.Hence my question: who raped Martin Cullen?Because frankly, if he has never been raped, then his statement is a thundering disgrace and a slap of contempt across the face of all victims of rape.But did anyone ever expect any better from the poison dwarf of this feudal court ruling the country?...
Tiger Woods and his many skanks.All the Olympic sprinters and their designer doping kits.That Hans Ritter UN weapons inspector chap who just got busted trying to seduce what he thought was a kid.Why do they do it? What makes them think they're going to get away with it?Ego is obviously one reason. (Because I can.) That at least accounts for the first skank, the first steroid injection, the first - um - inappropriate internet contact with a minor.But why keep doing it (whatever it is)? Why not quit the cheating (or whatever) once you've tried it and satisfied the curiosity?Perhaps the answer lies in Mr Ritter's back history. This is not the first time he's been found trying to arrange sex dates with minors, it seems. In fact, he's been at this crack for years.He's no moron. He...
Its mad how much life gets in the way of training. In fact I feel like a complete newbie having just completed a recent leg workout with as much gusto as a slug enjoying a salt massage. The good news is that we have started work in the new DW gym and it is class!What have I been teaching?TRX Station- This is great for rows. You can do a lot of stuff on there and some guys do everything on it but for me its just another nice tool in the toolbox. With guys and girls that struggle with chins you have have lots of horizontal / incline rowing variations you can fire in with the conventional moves. I didnt like chest on it but havent spent enough time on there to make my mind up yet. Lots of single leg options on their and I personally had great fun stretching out the hip flexors which is...
I woke up with nostricles in my frostrils this morning.That's when I realised the boiler had packed in again.I really, really am getting bored with being freezing all the time.Having to undergo a crash course in boiler engineering by mobile phone in the dark in sub zero temperatures was not one of my resolutions for 2010.But at least it's working now.Global warming, where are you?...
Okay, I made a few predictions about where 2009 was heading before it happened, so let's take a look back and see whether my crystal ball was on the blink or not.1. A severe crash in the housing market of Britain and Ireland, even worse than what's already occurred. The governments forced to intervene with banks to prevent massive scale repossessions and defaults.Half-right. Bizarrely, the British market rose slightly due to so little properties being on the market. Nevertheless that's only an indication of a delayed further crash.2. The credit card lifestyle bill finally lands on the mat. Plenty of people with no assets other than a few payments on a 08-D car are going to find themselves defaulting on some very expensive credit loans. The problem of arranging refinancing, from...
Not communism, but the spectre of fake Europe.Fake Europe is the penumbra of countries that pretend to be European when they clearly aren't. Imitation may be the greatest form of flattery, but it gets irksome when these people are indulged in their delusions.Is anyone else annoyed that this year's European city of culture isn't even in Europe, never mind in the EU?It's just another example of a mouthy demanding country outside of Europe seeking to associate itself with a continent it doesn't belong to.Previous exponents of this include Israel, who despite blatantly being part of the Middle East nevertheless are in the European Broadcasting Union and compete in UEFA.And the EU has had to entertain hilarious membership applications from both these countries, plus other distinctly...
Dude Deadlifts 329 Pounds Then Passes Out - Watch more Funny...
Ok, let's leave the schadenfreude to one side for now. Iris Robinson is, apparently, an ill woman with a recent history of suicidal ideation.Of course, she's now utterly ruined as a politician and probably in her personal life too. Her husband, the first minister, is hanging on tenaciously after a heart-rending performance on TV. But with the fundie Free Presbyterian Paisleyite moralists in his party to answer to, not to mention more questions coming about his family finances, that may not last long.So where does this leave us? What have we learnt? Well, firstly we now have first class proof, as if it were required, that the DUP are NOT holier than thou. They are not more upstanding or of a higher moral calibre. They are just as prone to sin, sex, and screwing up as everyone else.We also...
Happy nearly New Year, y'all.Hopefully, you realise tomorrow is just another day, and you don't need to make lifechanging decisions while drunk tonight that will transform into mid-January bouts of guilt as you fail.You could stop smoking, lose weight or try to get a new job starting any particular day. Why do it alongside the rest of the herd? Is there camaraderie in failing en masse? I don't know.What I do know is that I think New Year's Resolutions are about as pointless as those 'Caution: Hot!' warnings on takeaway coffees - they're really only needed for the truly remedial.So I've decided to go with some New Year's Revolutions instead. Here are the revolutions I'd like to see in 2010:1. A Chinese counter-revolution. Seriously, fuck the Chinese Communist Party. I'd love to see them...
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Ireland,
Zimbabwe,
chinese,
drugs,
China,
Communist Party,
war on drugs,
revolution,
democracy,
burma,
belarus,
drug abuse,
economics
I grabbed a few pics the other day just to show you guys where I will be based in 2010. These show just a small area as I didnt get a chance to take pictures of the pool, jacuzzi area etc. Cant wait to get stuck in!!weights room upstairsPT...
It's that time of the year again, when most people defer cynical normality until the New Year, eschew common sense and start spouting goodwill to fellow men.But not Skinner, no sirree bob.For me, it's the season for casting a gloomy, pessimistic, jaundiced eye over the year to come, read the runes, scatter the entrails, gaze into the crystal ball and attempt to predict what the year ahead has to offer.We'll hold fire on last year's predictions until this year is officially up. (Though nothing's stopping you checking now.) Instead, it's full steam ahead with what's ahead in 2010.1. I can haz double-dip recession? Sort of inevitable at this stage, really. Credit card debt should do it for Ireland, which is tragically appropriate for what has happened to us as a nation in the mass delusion...
In
Russia,
Sinn Fein,
gerry adams,
world cup,
Africa,
south africa,
dollars,
Barack Obama,
rafa benitez,
Georgia,
ukraine,
2010,
chinese,
China,
unionists
As Delboy would say I am currently self unemployed! I finished up with Fitness First on Friday and head to the new DW bangor in Jan. On Monday we do a bit of a tour of the gym as it nears completion and if possible I will try to get some pics up although I am not sure if they have the weights etc all in yet. Training wise I have been tits up getting things done and to top it off still have this lingering cold giving me a bit of jip. If I can shake the cold of the plan is this -Train too hard, too often, too heavy. Then rest up.When you want to cause a bit of growth or overcome a plateau in training you can do 2 things. Either opt for more work or less. Less work is seen in the likes of power lifting and other sports where you deload at times to give the body and break and on return from...
Churry gets hands on and grapples Unionism at close quarters during a recent visit to Knutts Corner 'international' airport....