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POPSIrish Pub In A Box Farther on is a rack of dusty sports trophies. At my feet are assorted battered leather items and a few pairs of ageing ice-skates. And towards the back are row after row of enamel advertisements, rusty road signs, and mirrors decorated with now-defunct brands of whiskey. In short, it's the sort of thing you probably see above the bar and stacked in the corner cabinets of your local. But this is the mother lode. In fact, the chances are that this is where your local got it from. I've been brought here by John Heverin, managing director of Ól Irish Pubs Limited - a Dublin company that designs and builds, well, old Irish pubs, from Stoneybatter to Sacramento - who is showing me exactly what goes into the design of a traditional pub. His company's collection of bric-a-brac, as it's known in the trade, is the largest in Ireland.
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POPSThe Winter Solstice ...and space travel. I haven't studied astronomy enough to understand fully how we came to know this. The axis is, after all, an imaginary line. But here's an eloquent perspective on that question from a Candlegrove visitor. Solstice means... standing-still-sun Such precision we have about it now! Winter solstice is when... ...because of the earth's tilt, your hemisphere is leaning farthest away from the sun, and therefore: The daylight is the shortest. The sun has its lowest arc in the sky.
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POPS50 Funniest Short Job Descriptions Ever # Tell forty year-old men it’s okay to behave like fourteen year-old school girls: Printing Press Production Coordinator # Provide arcane information on a need-to-know basis: Chief Accountant # Shepherd clients through the process of setting their products on fire: Consumer Products Tester # Manage urban renewal and pest control: B-52 Bomber pilot # Persuade kids that it’s really fun being wet, cold and scared out of their minds: Sailing Instructor # Draw up plans for something that will not be built according to those plans: Civil Engineer, Transportation Design # Teach kids to be evil…or so they say: Video Game Creator # Ensure that stupid people stay in the gene pool: Lifeguard
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POPSLongest Serving Monach-In-Waiting Turns 60 There were media reports of an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now Charles' second wife. And then the tragic death of Diana in a car accident in Paris. Now, at 60, he seems happily remarried and is clearly proud of his two grown sons, both popular royals in their own right. During six decades he has carved a niche as one of Britain's leading charity patrons, raising around $150 million a year for 20 charities. "People do pay attention," said Fitzwilliams. "There are jokes about his talking to plants, but he has earned the right to be taken seriously." Prince Charles, asked in a recent BBC interview how he defined his role as prince, said, "I didn't. I made it as I went along as you have probably seen."
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POPSMoofers Demand Topless Meeting ecohacking (also known as geoengineering) – the use of science in very large-scale projects to change the environment for the better/stop global warming (e.g. by using mirrors in space to deflect sunlight away from Earth). hockey mom – like a soccer mom, but one who is supportive of her ice-hockey playing kids, as popularized by Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin link bait – content on a website that encourages a user to place links to it from other websites luchador – a wrestler, an exponent of lucha libre rewilding – the process of returning an area to its original wild state/flora/fauna etc.
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POPSOxford Word Of The Year 2008: Hyperlmiling
mileage or even great mileage, hypermilers seek to push their gas tanks to the limit and achieve hypermileage, exceeding EPA ratings for miles per gallon. Many of the methods followed by hypermilers are basic common sense—drive the speed limit, avoid hills and stop-and-go traffic, maintain proper tire pressure, don’t let your car idle, get rid of excess cargo—but others practiced by some devotees may seem slightly eccentric: • driving without shoes (to increase the foot’s sensitivity on the pedals) • parking so that you don’t have to back up to exit the space • “ridge-riding” or driving with your tires lined up with the white line at the edge of the road to avoid driving through water-filled ruts in the road when it’s raining The hypermiling movement has been criticized for its alleged promotion of driving tactics that are considered dangerous or illegal, such as overinflating tires, rolling through stop signs, and following closely behind large vehicles to cut down on wind re
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POPSRita Rudner Quotes Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them. My mother cleans them. Rita Rudner Some people think having large breasts makes a woman stupid. Actually, it's quite the opposite: a woman having large breasts makes men stupid. Rita Rudner Some women hold up dresses that are so ugly and they always say the same thing: 'This looks much better on.' On what? On fire? Rita Rudner Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose all respect for humanity. That's how rich I want to be. Rita Rudner The time you spend grieving over a man should never exceed the amount of time you actually spent with him. Rita Rudner The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping up and down. Rita Rudner They usually have two tellers in my local bank, except when it's very busy, when they have one. Rita Rudner To attract men, I wear a perfume called "New Car Interior."
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POPSWhen Your Eyes Twitch & Your Ears Itch When Your Ear feel Hot and they get Red RAT (11pm to 1am) Someone special is about to come and tell you something which could change your life. OX (1am to 3am) There is an auspicious event that is about to happen. This event brings great happiness. TIGER (3am to 5am) There is gathering of people eating and merrymaking and it is very auspicious. RABBIT (5am to 7am) There is someone from another country coming to visit you. It is very auspicious. DRAGON (7am to 9am) You will receive wealth luck and something auspicious is about to happen. SNAKE (9am to 11am) You will lose money and friendships. This is an indication of betrayal and is inauspicious. HORSE (11am to 1pm) There are things to eat and an auspicious event is coming. It is beneficial indeed.
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POPSThere's No One As Irish As Barack Obama Theres no one as Irish as Barack OBama Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys Recorded by Peter Creighton Nov 2008. ... Here's a link to the victory party in County Offaly where Obama traces his roots to! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9GPU3g7VSM
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POPSThe Origins of Halloween... the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. "To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
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POPSBubble-wrap Baby Survives He was transferred by air ambulance to the Queen Mother Hospital in Glasgow to receive specialist care. After 24 hours, doctors said his chance of survival had increased and, on the fourth day, Mrs Craig was allowed to hold her son for the first time. She said: 'He felt so light it was just like holding a ball of wool. 'His skin was completely see-through and he was covered in wires and tubes, keeping him alive. But every day that he hung on he gave us more hope.' At ten weeks he had laser eye surgery to stop him going blind as the blood vessels in his eyes hadn't developed properly. After 17 weeks in hospital, when Gregor had reached 7lb, he was allowed home. He has to have daily oxygen, and his parents had to learn how to resuscitate him if necessary. Mrs Craig said: 'He is now a happy six-month-old and incredibly all he seems to have is some slight hearing problems. It's a small price to pay for having him here with us.'
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POPSCourtroom Quotations # Lawyer: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?" # Witness: "No." # Lawyer: "Did you check for blood pressure?" # Witness: "No." # Lawyer: "Did you check for breathing?" # Witness: "No." # Lawyer: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?" # Witness: "No." # Lawyer: "How can you be so sure, Doctor?" # Witness: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar." # Lawyer: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?" # Witness: "Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewher
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POPSHow To Write A Bestseller Novel # The dangerous condition should appear to be mitigated at some point in the book but come back to haunt the characters. # Avoid any long descriptions that slow down the pace. Practice keeping the pace of your novel brisk by allowing no paragraph to be more than five sentences. (You can relax this prohibition later in a few places if you find it absolutely necessary.) # Start your book with something that grabs the reader's attention. Make your first sentence shine.
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