Tag Archives: In the news

Britney and Donncha's underwear scandal

Donncha O Callaghan Over the past week Britney Spear’s escapades while out on the town have made headlines all over the Internet but here in Ireland, sports fans have been witness to another underwear malfunction in the form of Donncha O’Callaghan’s superman attire at a recent rugby match! Ladies in the crowd were suitably impressed although the referee did tell Donncha to put his pants on before play could continue. Much to the relief of male supporters and the chagrin of the ladies I’m sure!

Yes, tv cameras were there and the coverage below (via) is just too shocking to show so click “more” to view the clip!

Continue reading “Britney and Donncha's underwear scandal”

After Budget 2007 I'm stinking rich

I was glued to the radio this afternoon like many people in the country listening to the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, announce the new budget. Also like many people I’ll be better off next year as a result of some of the changes he made.

The budget was great for pensioners and first time buyers, of which I’m one of the latter. The news isn’t so good if you’re addicted to nicotine. Still, the price of a pint hasn’t gone up. You might also be able to pay for those cigarettes with the 1% that was knocked off the top rate of tax. That extra €10/month in the children’s allowance could come in handy too.

Anyway, the country is glowing with smiles all-around, except for the opposition of course who complain that not enough was done or done in the right place. I wonder if anyone asked if Paul Stokes was going to get some?

If you want to compare how you’ll do in 2007 versus this year, then compare this 2007 budget calculator and the 2006 one. I’m not PAYE any more but if I was I’d be up a few hundred Euro apparently! Not stinking rich, but enough nonetheless.

The biggest clown in TV

Paul Stokes is at it again! Not content with barging in on a chat show last week he drove a car through a security barrier at RTE in Dublin, headed for the main doors, crashed into those before finally coming to rest a few feet away when his car bounced off the doors with the impact! He was detained by security and is to appear at Dublin District Court this morning.

If his GPS car system is so revolutionary why doesn’t he go through normal channels and develop it and create a business around it, and market the product just a little bit more sensibly? I can just imagine his conversation with a bank manager now if he does try to finance a startup.

Bosco.. where are you? All is forgiven!

(via Damien)

AIDS – Don’t Die of Ignorance

Today is a very important day in world health. December 1st is World Aids Day and each year is dedicated to a different theme. This year’s theme is “Stop AIDS; Keep the Promise – Accountability” and you can find out more about how the theme is chosen and who chooses it on avert.org

Irish television viewers will see a “high-profile television campaign warning about the rise of the Aids pandemic in Ireland” over the next few months and that may hopefully encourage people to get tested and improve awareness of the disease according to breakingnews.ie.

Some charities would prefer a softly-softly approach because the viewing public has become immune to distressing scenes but I can’t bear to hear the opening score of the following drink driving advert because of how it ends.

If you’re wondering, bloggers all over the world are talking about AIDS. Get into the conversation and make a difference.

It’s also my birthday today, and in a selfish sort of way, I wish they’d picked another day to raise awareness of AIDS! It’s a bit of a downer hearing about the AIDS epidemic in the media on my birthday, each and every year on this day. I guess the message is getting through, somewhere, hopefully.

Pat Kenny's bust up on the The Late Late Show

It seems that Pat Kenny was confronted on the Late Late Show last night and the video has already made it onto YouTube! I heard on the radio this morning that the man is in custody. Well done to Pat for coming back from the ad break composed and ready to carry on the show. I didn’t see the show myself, I was channel surfing elsewhere (Escape From Alcatraz was on which was interesting since I’d been there!)

For those not familiar with The Late Late Show, think of the host of the most popular chat show in your country being confronted by a drunken man shouting obscenities!

Thanks Donal for posting the video, that _was_ quick!

Update – The man who caused the controversy is Paul Stokes who has patented a system that uses GPS as a road safety aid. It helps stop cars crashing by tracking every vehicle on the roads and Mr. Stokes asserts the RTE and the Irish media are censoring him.

We’re Hoff and running

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John Arlidge of The Sunday Times interviews David Hasselhoff. The Hoff is traveling around Europe to publicize his new single, “Jump In My Car”. Have you heard it yet? It was played off the radio by pleading texts from listeners and laughter from DJs. The interview makes for a great read, he’s so full of himself it’s funny!

“What is Jump In My Car, my latest single out this month, really about?” he asks unprompted. Without pausing he answers his own question. “Essentially, it’s about driving along trying to get girls to jump in my car.”

Is that something he knows a lot about, I ask. He nods.

Just what does the star of Knight Rider and Baywatch get up to in his car these days? You’ll have to read this entertaining interview to find out!
Photo by Dwane Senior

Hammond may have brain damage

Richard Hammond, one of the presenters on BBC’s Top Gear, crashed in a jet powered dragster while trying to break the British land speed record of 300.3mph. He had reached 300mph on his first go, and was doing a final run when, “one of the parachutes had deployed but it went on to the grass and spun over and over before coming to a rest about 100 yards from us.”

Sky news updated their news story about the accident a few minutes ago. Richard Hammond suffered a “significant brain injury” but they’re hopeful he will make a good recovery. Watching them do crazy things on Top Gear from time to time it’s easy to forget that they’re actually taking risks. Unfortunately this time something went wrong.

Hope you recover soon Richard!

Much later.. News is getting better.

Clarkson revealed he had made Hammond smile during the visit by calling him “a crap driver”.

He told The Sun: “He was lying peacefully with a black eye but didn’t react so I tried something else.

“I said, ‘The reason you’re here is because you’re a crap driver’. He then smiled at me. It was an amazing moment, very moving.”

Later.. I just watched the final episode of the last series of Top Gear. That’s the one with the white vans. In a final race against Stig in a police car, Richard tipped over the small van he was driving when he tried to take a corner too fast. The van skidded a few feet before coming to a stop and he climbed out safely. I wonder did what Jeremy and James say come back to haunt them when they joked, “Richard might be dead. If you want a job in Top Gear send your application to I’m better than Richard Hammond..”

The Wikipedia page on Richard Hammond has a summary of events including the good news,

In the early hours of 22 September, Hammond took his first steps, just 30 hours after the crash, according to Jeremy Clarkson, and was moved to a general ward on 23 September.

Jeremy Clarkson responds in his usual way, making fun of and light of what happened. I don’t doubt that they did as much as they could to make his land speed attempt safe but reading Jeremy’s quote below, one has to wonder how many children does it take to force a man to consider his fate? Obviously not two, maybe three? No, probably four children.

I have too many children these days to put myself voluntarily in harm’s way. Hammond, however, isn’t there yet.

Top Gear is a great show but when Jeremy Clarkson’s flippant attitude strays towards serious matters it really irks me. Thank God, Richard Hammond is well on his way to recovery.

TCAL has photos taken from Sky News of the crash. Looks bad. Lucky man to walk away from that!

Richard Hammond Crash

Muhammad vs. the Holocaust

This morning, like a lot of people, I heard that an Iranian newspaper is looking for cartoons about the Holocaust. Reaction from Israel was expected, but where are the riots and demonstrations in Europe? Maybe later when people have had their breakfast.

Haven’t seen the comics yet? face of muhammed has ’em and a quick look at technorati returns many interesting posts:

Then there’s the hipocrisy of a peaceful religion acting violently against anyone who criticises them.

Later… Andrew Sullivan writes that it’s your taboo, not mine and, “Freedom means learning to deal with being offended.” (via)

Be careful, it’s a crazy ol’ world out there.

Carole Coleman: "I wanted to slap him"

Carole Coleman made headlines when she interviewed George Bush last year in the White House. Here was a reported who didn’t want to hear the same regurgated speel again and again.
In this extract, she tells why, I wanted to slap him, and recalls the aftermath of her intereview with “the leader of the free world” too.
(Side note.. nowhere is Carole COleman quoted as saying “I Wanted to slap him”, did the Times take creative license with the title of their lead story?)

Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan takes Bush on over his nomination of Harriet Miers to, “be one of only nice justices on the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers

Unicef bombed the Smurf village in a new ad campaign to raise money. This has been doing the rounds for a few days and as one Metafilter userpointed out, “what’s sadder, bombed smurfs…or the fact that people are so unfased by bombed people that we have to resort to bombed smurfs…news at 11”.
Says something about our “caring” society.

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