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

US Teacher Fired for posting a picture from the Guinness Brewery

A teacher from Georgia visited the Guinness Brewery in Dublin on a trip to Europe, and posted the obligatory photo of her drinking the "free" beer from the Gravity Bar. A parent then reported her "alcohol use" photos (she had another of her drinking a glass of wine) and she was fired. Hard to believe. Full story on CNN.com

The "Jedward" thing

During my trip last week to Ireland, it was hard to avoid the "Jedward" thing. These are twins (John and Edward, hence "Jedward") from Dublin who are contestants in the X-Factor talent show with Simon Cowell.

My cousin, who lives in England, told me that the received wisdom in England is that it is Irish voters who are keeping them in the competition. Having watched them on TV, I can confirm that they are not very good singers by the standards of American Idol, but then again that is not such a big deal. They certainly have been shifting a lot of magazines.

Full disclosure: I went to the same school as the Jedward twins - KH school in Palmerstown, Dublin.