There is an EU directive requiring that pigs have access to "manipulable materials".
A happy unstressed pig is a tasty pig.

It would be more original and plausible if he declared independence from Scotland but wanted to recognise the sovereignty of the crown and maintain a relationship with the UK as a crown possession (Isle of Man, Channel Islands) or overseas territory (Bermuda, Caymans, Gibraltar). The world just doesn't have enough off-shore banking centres proudly flying the Union flag.

maybe their cunning plan is to use photoshops so crappy that their ads get featured on popular blogs

Very civic minded of Burger King to educate kids about the contemporary airport experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6YhNcEbOHE

http://www.broadbandspeedtest.net/

that's a grievous insult to horses and people with down syndrome

I agree that the range shown is silly but solid fuel ranges can heat your home and hot water as well as baking your bread or boiling your kettle. I still have relatives who cut turf and use it to heat their home year round.
I wonder could you use a solid fuel range to heat your home "sustainably" through the Winter if you lived somewhere like Vermont. How many acres of crop wood/biomass/whatever would you need?

Yes just go to Europe to see how "Liberals Have Ruined the World" It's truly awful. Every day is worst than the last, but even with the plummeting dollar it's still cheaper than a Disney Resort.

electronic voting is off the agenda in Ireland too.
it may be slightly more time consuming and laborious but nothing beats the transparency of pen and paper and open count...

Most neutral accent? I thought this one v hard to place. http://tinyurl.com/dejxp

I love the diversity of regional accents in Ireland and Britain. Clickable map here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/index.shtml
You can hear Irish accents if you poke about on rte.ie. A program like farmweek usually will have a range. http://www.rte.ie/radio1/farmweek/

unicorn chaser stat

@20 "Jeff" feels hard cos he gets to claim he supports "the lads".

Here's a link to a BBC story about the bugging of Gerry Adam's car in 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/555715.stm

I don't doubt that "Garda Intelligence" or MI5 spend time looking at the various "dissident republican" groups like the 32 County Sovereignty Movement which is allegedly the political wing of the RIRA and considered a foreign terrorist organisation by the US Govt.

"I live in Ireland and I've never heard of this Dublin 32 County Sovereignty Movement before."
Well most Irish people don't pay any attention whatsoever to this stuff, why would you?

"Why is an organisation which is purportedly Irish Republican being registered in the US?"
The loonier the organisation the more likely they are to rely on Irish Americans for funding. Sinn Fein still relies on fundraising in the US for a significant portion of its funding for example.

That seems far too big to have been produced by an "intelligence agency".
Plausible deniability!

could you put a worm farm in there?
or would that freak the cats out?

+1 w/#13 above. also the inevitable neonazis (and its not just "europeans who haven't dealt with their antisemitic past" thanks) using the figures to make lego nuremberg rallies and death camps then posting on youtube. public relations disaster

My understanding is that the large euro denominations were introduced to please the Germans who were used to 200DM and 500DM bills. Very handy if the use of credit cards isn't as widespread as elsewhere and of course when you need to visit your friendly and discreet banker in Switzerland or Luxemburg. Some (most?) eurozone countries don't circulate these bills.

@28 Why are you calling the girls "Chavs"?
They don't seem to be complaining either:
"It was quite scary at first but everyone was really friendly.
"It was a good experience - just not really what we had gone on holiday for."
quite stoic really considering what happened.
It also sounds like the hospital and social services in NYC did their job. The mother was cured of her illness and the girls were looked after. The "under investigation" letter just sounds like routine followup.

Hopefully animals will be DNA tagged so when you go to the butcher you can see where your meat was born raised and slaughtered and what it was fed and medicated with.
The US has been way behind in tracking animals at least in part because agribusiness isn't interested in drawing attention to problems that exist and generally go unnoticed in the industry.
Anyone who is interested in the quality of their steak should be in favor of getting more information about the animals that provide it.
But if you don't care about what you put in your mouth yeah worry about the cost.

Ireland. Irish Republic or Republic of Ireland is ok too if you want to make sure people know you are talking about the country rather than the island.

@23 The name of the country is Ireland. "Republic of Ireland" is not the name of the country in your "language of commerce" (I had a good laugh at that) or any other language, no matter what FIFA think. Check Bunreacht na hEireann if you like.

Cory needs to turn his BS filters on

um "Republic of Eire"? The name of the place is Ireland.

Almost all state aid to companies is illegal in the EU but there is likely nothing to stop the council setting up its own wifi corporation if it really wanted to. Except of course economics and lack of demand. Chicago recently scrapped a similar plan too not sure what excuse they used.

/concentrates hard on the Bush presidency.

@ Nex and Teapunk:
What is the German for "grail" since clearly you are discussing a receptacle of metaphor and legend rather than a mere beverage container that can be defined by form or material.
I prefer the Irish anyway: "Beirt Bhan, Cupan Amhain"

I bet Doug Morris has some great stories about the music industry's past but by his own admission he is in a post beyond his competence. Why doesn't he resign?
If I were a Vivendi shareholder I would be asking
questions at the next agm.

Don't piss me off or I'll inform on you.

#7 "tibbets finally rots where he belongs."

He deserved to die with a clear conscience and he deserves your respect. What vast moral dilemma did you wrestle with today? Organic vs FreeTrade? Tall vs Grande? Congratulations.