Show me the way to Vermont

Pictured last week in the Yarra Valley, near Melbourne in Australia:

Phoebe Prince

This is a story which has got no attention in the Irish press, although it concerns an Irish girl who recently moved to Massachusetts (South Hadley) from County Clare, went to school in South Hadley, and then killed herself as a result of bullying there.

Speaking as someone who moved from Ireland to Massachusetts also, the whole "US High School" thing is very confusing and I can only imagine what it would be like to move from a small village in Clare into a US high school.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/03/30/standing_up_for_phoebe

Ireland leaves the PIIGSty

Ireland famously was included in the "PIIGS" group - Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. But now Ireland may have exited the group, having implemented tight budget controls:

“Ireland has left the pigsty for the time being and it has come out smelling of roses,” said Stuart Thomson, who helps oversee more than $100 billion as chief market economist at Ignis Asset Management in Glasgow, Scotland. “It doesn’t face the same problems that the southern Mediterraneans face this year.”

From Bloomberg this morning.

Dunkin' Donuts in Dubai

Mind the Melodica Deathship

Looks like good advice. Seen in Tara Street DART Station in Dublin:

The British Government's guide to finding faggots in Methuen

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a handy listing of "British Shops in Massachusetts". But, with my Irish radar on, I can't help noticing such entries in the list as "Cape Cod Irish Village", "Erin's Own Irish Imports", "Irish Imports Ltd", the "Irish Speciality Shop" and the "Irish Cottage". hmm...

Thwaites Market in Methuen is the real deal though. It is described as a "Retailer and importer of British meat pies and meatballs, pork pies, sausages, scotch eggs and faggots." It's good to know that the Her Majesty's Government is providing a helpful service for seekers of pork pies, scotch eggs, and faggots in Methuen.

Irish Government "Losing your job" Website

A sign of the times: http://www.losingyourjob.ie/ .The last item in the menu is a useful guide to "Leaving Ireland". I'm always impressed by the usefulness of the Irish Government sites, but this one if a bit depressing.

It''s interesting that if you view the page about leaving Ireland in Irish (as Gaeilge) then you see nothing (http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories-ga/ag-bogadh-tire/imeacht-thar-lear/eire-a-fhagail) but if you switch over to English then you see all the info. I guess they don't want the Irish speakers leaving :-) Or maybe the person whose job it is to translate the page to Irish lost their job and left the country.

The US is not quite at the point where the government would have a page about unemployment which includes tips on "Leaving America".

A collection jar for the IRA

Today's Boston Globe shows a photo of a money collection jar labeled "IRA". It's ironic that it's shown in a paper representing an area which historically collected a lot of money for the IRA, and that the photo has nothing to do with the actual IRA at all:

http://www.boston.com/business/taxes/gallery/yearendtaxtips?pg=4

Martha Coakley's weird accent

I guess I'm not the only person who thinks that Martha Coakley has a weird accent - a quick Twitter Search shows people remarking on her accent.

Listen yourself to this YouTube video and draw your own conclusions. With the lilting and the off-sounding vowels she sounds to me like she's from Fargo via West Cork. Certainly not Massachusetts though.

Massachusetts farm for sale - with promise of US Green Cards

The Irish Times reports a home, farm, and restaurant business for sale in Tully, Massachusetts (near Orange) which comes with the promise of a Green Card also, if the buyer employs 10 or more US citizens.

At about $1.5m (about 1 million euro) it's still a lot cheaper than the equivalent property in Ireland.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2009/1126/1224259470681.html

Quincy "Best place to raise kids in Massachusetts"

Judging by the photo in BusinessWeek, it's also the home of giant people who sit on the sidewalk teaching their kids to read:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/11/1117_best_places_to_raise_kids/22.htm

Yousef Islam jeered at Dublin concert

A priceless quote here:

Radio presenter Gerry Ryan, who was there, said he had never seen such a “level of hate and bile and viciousness” from an Irish audience. He heard one fan shout at the singer: “play Peace Train, you f***ing b******” .
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1117/1224258981275.html?via=mr