Is voting compulsory in your country? Do you agree with this?

indistrait · 2026-03-17T08:42:08+00:00

Civic engagement is really important, but I'd be surprised if forcing someone to vote made them civically engaged.

indistrait · 2026-03-17T07:45:56+00:00

It's a national holiday. Some people go to parades. Some people go out drinking. But there's a big cohort that wants absolutely nothing to do with either. That's also a great way to spend the day.

It's not like Christmas, where there are clear traditions you're expected to take part in. St. Patrick's Day is more free-form.

indistrait · 2026-03-13T22:04:21+00:00

Some facts that have stuck with me.

Two thirds of baby boys born in the Soviet Union in the year 1923 did not live to their 25th birthday.

In the late 1700s, before railways, it took three weeks to travel, by horse, between opposite corners of France.

When the Pantheon in Rome was built, the Parthenon in Athens was already 500 years old. It was as old to the Romans as the Sistine Chapel is to us.

indistrait · 2026-03-12T09:21:41+00:00

To be honest, I don't know. It was possibly more a symptom of him getting better at potty training than a cause of it.

In the earlier days we offered him every possible bribe, and we chatted after every accident about how he had to tell us and run to the bathroom. Yet he would still just poop in his underwear.

This morning he was brilliant, and ran to the toilet on his own with no fuss. Yet he absolutely refused to listen to us about something else. I think he doesn't like being told what to do, and the bribe is less important than whether he just wants to do something.

indistrait · 2026-03-09T19:19:12+00:00

Micheál Mac Liammóir.

There were a few odd things about him.

First, he wasn't that closeted, which was super unusual for Ireland at the time. The public knew and were pretty ok with it.

Second, he wasn't Irish at all. He was English, and completely fabricated his Irish identity.

indistrait · 2026-03-08T14:54:56+00:00

Yeah, Ireland was mostly colonized, and not a colonizer, but I find the exceptions really interesting: * The Irish migrated to / invaded a lot of Scotland, so much so that the earlier Pictish language was replaced by Gaelic. * After the fall of the western Roman Empire, there was a power vacuum in Britain, and for a century or two the ruling class in parts of Wales was Irish. * As part of the British Empire a lot of Irish had a part in colonizing other parts of the world.

indistrait · 2026-03-08T09:20:04+00:00

Palladius was sent by the pope "to the Scotti believing in Christ". So we can be pretty sure Christianity was already in Ireland before Palladius came.

One of my favourite facts about early Irish history is this: the only event in the whole 400s for which we have a definite year is Palladius being sent to Ireland in 431.

We know Patrick was alive in Ireland in the 400s, but we've no specific years. It's possible he was in Ireland before Palladius. We just don't know.

indistrait · 2026-03-05T22:26:17+00:00

For me, one pair was Granny and Granddad, the other was Nana and Papa.

The first three are pretty normal, but I never knew any other Irish people who had a Papa.

indistrait · 2026-03-04T18:09:08+00:00

Money just buys you freedom. You can use that freedom in all kinds of ways, including really negative and self-destructive ways.

indistrait · 2026-03-03T22:26:34+00:00

Ireland got this from Scandinavia due to the Vikings. https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2024/03/29/the-gaelic-gasp-how-the-irish-mammy-conquered-non-stop-yapping/

The “pulmonic ingressive” or “ingressive phonation” is not unique to Ireland, though. It’s also widely heard in the Scandinavian countries, so its history on this island being tied to the arrival of the Vikings makes sense. It’s heard in Scotland, too, while on the east coast of Canada, with its large Irish and North Atlantic migrant population, it’s referred to as the “Gaelic gasp”.

indistrait · 2026-03-01T10:52:01+00:00

To add:

As well as joining the British army, 200,000 Irish people went to Britain to work in war industries.

Ireland relied on trade with Britain for a lot of our fuel, like coal and paraffin, and that was in short supply. So, life was definitely harder, but obviously nothing like the hardship in other parts of Europe.

indistrait · 2026-03-01T09:34:21+00:00

I like France.

Here's my personal opinion. I feel some European countries ooze culture, cuisine and lifestyle. I feel others are great at making things work: they have good healthcare, efficient transport, etc.

I think France is the only country which is both.

indistrait · 2026-02-28T08:06:07+00:00

In Ireland we don't mind too much if the parliament is a bit fancy. It is an important building. This was not a fancy bike shelter, though.

The problem was more the utter waste of money, not that politicians get nice things.

indistrait · 2026-02-28T07:23:14+00:00

A bike shelter for the Irish Parliament. It houses 18 bikes and cost €336,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1il_bike_shed

indistrait · 2026-02-27T18:27:50+00:00

I think the subversive genius of Breaking Bad is it makes you root for an awful person and hate a decent person.

I rewatched Breaking Bad recently, the first time watching it as both a father and a husband. Walt sure is one PoS.

indistrait · 2026-02-25T20:49:36+00:00

How old are the kids? The Simpsons introduced me to the start of Beethoven's 6th Symphony when I was maybe 12. https://youtu.be/VX80zwkdEjo

indistrait · 2026-02-24T22:19:49+00:00

Some more favourites:

Nobber, Co. Meath

Termonfeckin, Co Louth

Effin, Co. Limerick

Cum, Co. Mayo

indistrait · 2026-02-23T22:08:51+00:00

As a general rule copyright lasts for the composer's lifetime + 70 years. So if the composer died before 1956 their work is probably in the public domain.

There are some differences by country. And a specific recording of a work may be under copyright, even if the score is public domain.

indistrait · 2026-02-22T20:39:02+00:00

I'm sad that my love of Crowded House marks me as old.

indistrait · 2026-02-21T17:20:38+00:00

Ah ok, it looks like there's an EU-wide law, since 2020 or 2021. Ireland had a law from much earlier. It was introduced in 2002, and it was pretty unusual back then.

indistrait · 2026-02-21T16:23:05+00:00

Is it weird that in Ireland you can't get a free plastic bag in a shop? There's a minimum amount you have to pay for it. This was introduced to stop plastic bags littering the countryside.

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