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Open thread 3/17/23 — 28 Comments

  1. Going to be Corned Beef, Cabbage and Colcannon. I believe I have a Guiness for me and a Harps for my Wife.
    Colcannon – Mashed Potatoes, butter, Kale (wilted with butter), more butter, Leeks and more butter.

  2. In honor of St Patrick’s day, I reposed my review of Thomas Flanagan’s ‘Year of the French.” Ralph Peters called it “the finest historical novel written in English, at least in the twentieth century,” going on to say “except for ‘The Leopard,’ I know of no historical novel that so richly and convincingly captures the ambience of a bygone world.”

    https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/69165.html

  3. St Patrick’s day!! We celebrate the Saint that drove the snakes out of Ireland.. What is the true meaning of this??? And why is this celebrated??? St Patrick please report to the Vatican ASAP

  4. Well, British, anyhow, although the Welsh identification is not certain. Other authorities think he was born in what became England or even Scotland. Certainly Celtic, not Anglo-Saxon; those came later.

  5. Interesting historical encounter in the United States between two men of Irish ancestry: the first was Edward Pakenham, the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, born in County Westmeath and educated in Armagh; the second was Andrew Jackson, the youngest son of Andrew Jackson, born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, who came to South Carolina in 1765 with his Irish-born wife and two older sons, and died in a logging accident three weeks before young Andrew was born in 1767.

    The two men met at the Battle of New Orleans. Pakenham, the commander of the British troops, was killed in action during the battle– according to a letter Jackson later sent to James Monroe, the fatal shot was fired by “a free man of color.” Jackson had Pakenham’s body returned to Ireland in a cask of rum, which was the only way it could be preserved during the weeks-long voyage across the Atlantic (the same method had been used to return Nelson’s body to England after Trafalgar in 1805).

  6. The only Irish joke I know:

    Q: What’s a seven-course Irish meal?

    A: A baked potato and a six-pack

  7. Don’t have any good Irish jokes but I do admire the way they don’t seem at all offended by the stereotypes. I’m at bar one evening chatting with a guy born and raised in Dublin who moved to Chicago long ago. He’s telling me about the origin of term paddy wagon. It was for rounding up all the Irish running around drunk and barefoot. “Of course, that was long ago”, he says. “Now we wear shoes.

    His comedic timing was perfect, and my Guinness came out my nose.

  8. charles–

    Thank you for that video. On this side of the pond, AL and NL fans of Irish descent can get together at the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame:

    https://irishbaseball.org/hof/

    And here’s an 8-minute video on the history of baseball in Ireland:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18ahcPicCws&ab_channel=BaseballInternational

    The video notes that between 1880 and 1920, Ireland contributed an outsize number of players to MLB’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

  9. There’s actually a nice Irish pub-style place called “Two Fools Tavern” on Central in Abq. Fish’n’chips, Guiness, Harp’s, cottage pie, live Irish music.

    It gets crowded easy. I wouldn’t think of going today. It’s the only restaurant I’ve been to in Abq which has a community feeling.

    That’s what I noticed when I visited Dublin in the 90s. Pubs are not bars. Alcohol is served of course but there is a much more enjoyable, social feeling involved.

  10. Since I’ve been on this French kick, people are going with it and asking me when I’m going to France.

    Well, maybe, probably, someday, if I stick with French. However, I’m in no rush. Certainly not until I know the language better. I don’t see visiting France as necessarily a great idea for improving my French.

    Before I visited Dublin, I went first to London. I could not get a conversation started there to save my life, and, in theory at least, I am a native English speaker.

    However, I wasn’t even off the DART train from the Dublin airport and a deaf-mute Irish boy was engaging me in conversation using a sort of Ouija board for tapping words or spelling them out.

    It was great. I flew four hundred miles and suddenly everyone was friendly!

    My Irish friend cautioned me that the Irish are always friendly to outsiders, but Irish-to-Irish can be treacherous waters.

  11. I celebrate St Patrick in honor of my forebears, the Kellys (Erin go bragh!) and the Jones (St Patrick was a Welshman! — let’s not quibble about the details).

    Neo’s link on the wind farm post, to AceHQ, has an Irish song at the end of it.
    https://ace.mu.nu/archives/403607.php

    Songs of the Season

    It’s St. Patrick’s Day!

    I reckon that more than a few of you will be indulging in some Irish whiskey or some Guinness today. Enjoy!

    Of course, I’m not one to celebrate or promote alcohol abuse, but I do believe that funerals should be more celebratory than somber, and with a little whiskey, so did Paddy Murphy’s friends.

    Here is Tim Hicks and Alan Doyle with ”The Night Pat Murphy Died”.

  12. Every cloud has a silver lining for someone.
    https://notthebee.com/article/russia-says-sanctions-are-protecting-it-from-the-banking-crisis-facing-the-west
    “Our banking system has certain connections with some segments of the international financial system, but it is mostly under illegal restrictions from the collective West,” the spokesperson for Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said. “We are, to a certain extent, insured against the negative impact of the crisis that is now unfolding overseas.”

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