Sunday 25 August 2013

Feeling sheepish in Wicklow




It takes all kinds, I suppose  -  even those who have a paraphilia with zoophilia. 

In other words, humans who are sexually attracted to (other) animals. 

They don't just exist in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, New Zealand and Yorkshire either - here's a case from the Netherlands, and here's another from London.

Then there's this one from a couple of years back which I'd forgotten about...

Irish Woman Dies after Sex with Dog  (8th July 2011, Pets.ie)

A Limerick woman died after suffering an allergic reaction to dog’s semen according to the Irish Daily Star.  The 43-year old mother of four willingly engaged in intercourse with an Alsatian in 2008, after arranging the tryst on an online bestiality chatroom.

The owner of the dog, Sean McDonnell, 57, is being charged with the woman’s death and could face life in prison if found guilty. 

Tests show that following sex acts with the Alsatian, she suffered a reaction similar to that of someone with peanut allergies. The woman fell ill at 7.30 on October 7th and
died just half an hour later. The Alsatian has been kept in quarantine ever since the incident.



Bloody hell... the world can be a scary place.  Especially if you are a sheep (or a dog).

And whatever you think about this off-beat post, let me assure you that I'm only joking in the video above.

I go driving in Wicklow soley for the roads, mutton else.




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Monday 19 August 2013

Top Gear v Fifth Gear. A triumph of nonsense over substance.

This post has nothing to do with Ireland or life in it, but we all need a break now and then.  Even me.

  It's about quality and public taste, and how the two are very often diametrically opposed – often helped by marketing people, all too keen and ready to exploit public dim-wittedness.

This is an international phenomenon.   History is littered with dubious, but successful,  products that eclipsed far better rivals. 

During World War Two, for instance,  the Luftwaffe had the Messerschmitt 109 – an aircraft inferior in most important respects to the Focke Wulf 190.   The later FW 190s were even a match for the mighty North American Mustang, yet the aircraft played second fiddle to the older BF109 throughout the war. The Messerschmitt was a bugger to fly and many of them were written off in take-off and landing accidents due to the wheels being too close together, a consequence of their weak wings.

Back in the 80s there was the VHS video system.  It was poorer than its rival Betamax, but that didn't stop VHS becoming the standard whilst Betamax was consigned to the cassette bin.   A triumph of slippery marketing types in large-framed Elvis Costello glasses and speckled suits.   You have to wonder how these people have made our lives worse than they could have been, with their cliche-crammed bullshit and bollocksology.

Then there is Top Gear and Fifth Gear.   Sweet suffering Christ, what an utter crock of shite Top Gear is, but that hasn't stopped it becoming one of the most popular TV series in the world, along with an execrable live touring show.    I stopped looking at it years ago, after they thought it would be a fabulous wheeze to take the wheels off a Jaguar XJS and put train ones on in their place.  They then drove the car on a track... a railway one.   Madcap stuff indeed, and quite possibly hilarious if you are three years old or are a public schoolboy.  

The only vehicle that features on the show these days is the one that carries the massive egos of its three journalist presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. By contrast Fifth Gear, which of late has been on Discovery, boasts at least three ex-racing drivers who know their stuff and actually review motor cars... sometimes even motorbikes.  

Despite all this, Top Gear can count its viewers in multiple millions; Fifth Gear, on the other hand, is relatively cult viewing.   

I suppose it all comes down to popular taste, which tends to favour the lightweight – but the power of the Beeb and slick marketing must play a part too.

"Marketing" remarked Edwin Land "is something you do when your product is no good".

Ouch.


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Tuesday 13 August 2013

€35,000 booze donation from Shell to gardai?

Multinational conglomerates like Shell are well used to operating in godforsaken Third World countries.   They know how things work, how to keep corrupt authorities sweet.   How to oil the cogs of power to keep them turning in the right direction.

Last Sunday’s Observer – and it would be a British, rather than an Irish media organ – claimed that a company contracted to Shell donated the Belmullet plod €35,000 worth of booze, after some particularly dedicated work against Corrib gas protestors.

See follow-up in today's IT, below.

You needn't expect much from  the "investigation" into gardai, by gardai, on the matter. 

They'll probably just clutch their heads and say they don't remember anything about it.




Senior garda examining claims alcohol was delivered to Mayo station
Lorna Siggins  Irish Times, Tuesday 13th August 2013


An Garda Síochána has appointed a senior officer to examine claims a company contracted to Shell E&P Ireland delivered large quantities of alcohol to Belmullet Garda station in Mayo. The Garda Press Office confirmed to The Irish Times last night that “a superintendent has been appointed to examine the matter”.

It is understood Supt Thomas Murphy of Swinford Garda station has been instructed to contact the contractor, OSSL, in relation to a number of allegations against the force.

The “examination” has been underway for more than a month, and is subsequent to inquiries previously conducted by the gardaí following “allegations” made to the district officer at Belmullet Garda station on December 7th, 2011, that “alcohol was distributed to members of An Garda Síochána on behalf of Shell E&P”.


Inquiries conducted in relation to the December 2011 allegations had “found no evidence of alcohol being distributed to members of An Garda Síochána by, or on behalf of, Shell E&P”, gardaí have said.


Tuesday 6 August 2013

Racist man in NTL jacket on Brighton train


Years ago, during a nine-year stint in London as an economic migrant, I was sitting in a pub looking at Leeds United v Someone-or-other in a match of no consequence to anyone in the pub but me (it was an Irish pub called Mulligans, in Stratford, East London) when a black man walked in.

He was a little the worse for wear, but wasn't really bothering anyone as such - unlike the witless, ignorant gobshite you will see in the video above.   

Anyway, one hero in the pub descended from his regular pew beside the bar, and ejected the reveler.   He came back dusting his hands proudly before declaring in a strong Irish accent (as is mine, by the way) "just because he's black doesn't mean he has to be stupid",  seemingly oblivious to similar bigoted attitudes towards he and his fellows in that pub and elsewhere in the UK.

I left in embarrassment.


Have a look at the video.  It needs no further comment from me.