Stuff for a Tuesday afternoon

Take that Apple...





Britain does indeed have talent it seems...





Speaking of talent...






Super Sweet 16...making me shout at the telly...




Daft Hands...





The real transformers...




How to use Google instead of peer-to-peer software...

Kids! Don't take drugs! They mess with your head (Part two)

Driver comes a cropper in police chase

It may look like the latest aliens to land on our planet have been drinking and driving, but these bizarre patterns, discovered in a corn field in Holland, have a much more mundane explanation.

They were made by a drug user who was attempting to escape from police in his father's car. The man had been using cocaine.

Four police cars were damaged in a desperate attempt to prevent the crazed driver from reaching public roads, but they could not save the crop from irrepairable damage.

In the end, the man was captured when he crashed the car into a ditch.

Linky

Bagger Vs Blogger

Airline lost your bags? Don't even think about complaining!

Sky Handling Partners - The Return - So who’s signing me up for dating websites?

"Charity" Clothes collections AGAIN

How many are there? I don't think I've received a duplicate leaflet or sticker yet!



No specific charity or cause mentioned on this one. The Reg No. down the end of 5655565A turned up nothing on the Companies Registration Office site.

When I entered that number into Google however, it turned up some posts on other Irish Blogs:

Holy Schmoly

The Sceptical Preacher

Sweetnam's My Blog






This one on the other hand looks a bit more convincing. It claims to be collecting for the "European Bridge of Health Alliance". Quick search on Google. No results found.

And don't be fooled. You can be pretty sure that none of the money raised from collecting the clothes will go towards 'fighting breast cancer across Europe'.

Re-Make Monday

First, there was the Financial Regulator ad re-make...

Now...

The best one of them all...

Holy Moly...Crazy Dude On A Bike...




And the original...you toothless witch...

This week "Charity" clothes collection stickers

And so to this weeks three clothes collection stickers...

This one is for CCIL.

A quick look on Google for CCIL gives back:
Clearing Corporation of India Ltd
Chester County Inter Link
Canadian Council of Independent Laboratories
Canadian Council on International Law
Chinese Church in London
Chicago Christian Industrial League




I'm quite liking the way this one has a get out clause. It claims to be collecting for "Children's cheltered housing".






This one has a company registration number for Northern Ireland and a website

The New Government

The new Government of Ireland

An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
An Tánaiste Brian Cowen

Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food Mary Coughlan
Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism Seamus Brennan
Minister for Communications & Natural Resources Eamon Ryan
Minister for Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon O'Cuiv
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea
Minister for Education & Science Mary Hanafin
Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Micheal Martin
Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government John Gormley
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern
Minister for Health & Children Mary Harney
Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform Brian Lenihan
Minister for Social & Family Affairs Martin Cullen
Minister for Transport & Marine Noel Dempsey

Chief Whip Tom Kitt (and Minister of State, Dept Of Defence)
Attorney General Paul Gallagher

Minister Of State, European Affairs Dick Roche

Just the cure

I'm having a stressful day...SR has suggested I try this:



Stressed Execs Get To Smash Hotel Room

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish hotel chain is running a competition for stressed executives to let off steam in a fashion usually reserved for rock stars -- by smashing hotel rooms.

NH Hoteles will allow 30 people chosen by a team of psychologists to help demolish the interior of the 11-year old NH Alcala hotel in central Madrid as part of its refurbishment, it said.

The chosen 30, armed with mallet and hard hat, can destroy any part of the 146-room building, NH said, from bringing down walls to smashing windows.

The demolition will take place on July 3.

"I am in no way a violent person"

This made me squirm in my seat today...from the BBC:


Woman jailed for testicle attack

A woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend's testicle with her bare hands has been sent to prison.

Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: "That's yours."

Monti admitted wounding and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

'Pulled hard'

Sentencing Monti, Judge Charles James said it was "a very serious injury" and that Monti was not acting in self defence.

The court heard that Mr Jones had ended his long-term but "open relationship" with Monti towards the end of May last year.

The pair remained on good terms and on 30 May she picked him up from a party in Crosby and went back for drinks with friends at Mr Jones's house.

An argument ensued and Mr Jones said there was a struggle between them.

In his statement, Mr Jones said she grabbed his genitals and "pulled hard".

I am in no way a violent person Amanda Monti

He added: "That caused my underpants to come off and I found I was completely naked and in excruciating pain."

The court heard that a friend saw Monti put Mr Jones's testicle into her mouth and try to swallow it.

She choked and spat it back into her hand before the friend grabbed it and gave it back to Mr Jones. Doctors were unable to re-attach the organ.

In a letter to the court, Monti said she was sorry for what she had done.

She said: "It was never my intention to cause harm to Geoff and the fact that I have caused him injury will live with me forever. I am in no way a violent person."

The letter added: "I have challenged myself to explain what has happened but still I just cannot remember. This has caused much anguish to me and will do for the rest of my life."

Well, Stone The Crows...Leitrim's In The News!

From BreakingNews.ie:

A campaign to lure city dwellers to work and live in Leitrim will be launched today.

Leitrim County Council and Leitrim County Development Board aim to attract new and relocating firms to the area, and encourage more people to work and live there.

The agencies have joined forces to promote Leitrim – A New Life, by boasting of the benefits of rural living.

The county, which has fewer than 30,000 residents, boasts free-flowing traffic, quality childcare, good house prices and beautiful scenery.

The campaign also includes a major Expo and conference in Croke Park, Dublin, on Thursday June 21, where the border county’s main attractions will be highlighted.

“This exhibition and conference will showcase Leitrim as an ideal place for a new life, for businesses and workers to relocate to and for companies to set,” said Leitrim County manager Jackie Maguire.

Below, blatant disobeying of the sign by Leitrim (Courtesy of Irish Independent)

What's This Ad For?

And the original

Clothes Collections

I don't know if it's the same for you, but on average, I get three of these a week through my letterbox:



Now I don't know how many spare or unwanted clothes you have, but I certainly don't have enough to fill three bags a week.

Lately, these collectors are getting scabby. They no longer supply the bag, but instead give you just a sticker, which they want you to stick on your own black sack, and leave out full of unwanted clothes and 'bric-a-brac'.

What really gets on my wick about them though, is that they pretend to be for charity or 'helping the poor'. They usually have a photograph on them of a starving African family or some religious type symbols like the one above. 99% of the time, you will see no organisation name, registered charity number or contact name on the stickers or leaflets.

This one is for the African Orphan Association:



Again, no registered charity number. It has the starving babies picture. A quick search on the net found no such "African Orphan Association" either. What is also odd about this leaflet, is that it claims to be "licenced by your local authority". I did a quick check online to see if the Dept Of Environment or County Council had any directives with regard to door-to-door collections, but couldn't find anything relevant.

The mobile number listed on the leaflet goes straight to voicemail.

Out of all the bags, stickers and leaflets that get pushed through my letterbox, only one was from a recognisable charity - Barnardos.

Great Leavin Cert Weather

Yes, it's now officially summer...I am wearing shorts into work and the novelty of cutting the grass wore off last Thursday!

Hurrah!

Comedians are funny

I was at home in Kilkenny for the long weekend for the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival.

I think it's in its 11th year now and still going strong. Tickets this year sold out pretty quickly, but I did manage to get to see two shows on Saturday night and one on Sunday night.



Dara O'Briain was by far the highlight of it for me, but then again I am slightly biased, cause I think he is uber funny.


Des Bishop surprised me. I saw him years ago at the Cat Laughs and he was funny, but I saw him since and he wasn't great... This year, his act was bi-lingual, and he was damn funny. Keep an eye out for his new tv show coming soon to RTE called "In The Name Of The Fada". Des is sitting the Leaving Cert Irish exam today too. So best of luck in that.



The Irish comedians were the highlight this year and have drastically improved over the years. When the Cat Laughs started first, you could count on one hand the amount of decent Irish comedians there. Nowadays, they are the top billing and rightfully so.

Neil Delamare, PJ Gallagher, Karl Spain and 'festival favourite' Barry Murphy were all very good. Saw an Aussie comedian for the first time too called Carl Barron who was a slow starter but turned out to be rather funny.



Of the three British comedians I saw two were reasonably funny - Michael McIntyre and John Bishop. The third, a guy from Scotland called Frankie Boyle. If you have tickets for him, get a refund now. He is uber shite.

Dom Irrera was back AGAIN. I've managed to land myself at a show that Dom's been at almost every year now. GET NEW MATERIAL DOM. Everyone else manages it, why can't you?

Lewis Black was back. Not as funny as last time, but good all the same.




He does too much American political stuff for an Irish audience...we all know your president is a loon.