Dec07
2011
If you’re around the Waterford area on Wednesday, 14 December 2011, why not come along to the annual Food & Wine Tasting Evening at the Grand Hotel and sample a wide variety of beers, wine and local food – all for just €8.
This is a fundraiser in aid of two local schools (Gaelscoil Philib Barún and Holy Cross National School) and is sponsored by Hickson’s Centra, Tramore.
Remember: Grand Hotel, Tramore – Wednesday, 14 December 2011 – 7:30pm – 10pm – €8 per person
Hope to see you there.
Aug07
2011
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my favourite toy, LEGO, so I thought I’d correct that with a crazy LEGO fact that stuck in my mind this weekend while watching National Geographic’s special MegaFactories: LEGO. So here it is:
The number of unique ways you can combine 6 classic (2×4 stud) LEGO bricks of the same colour is an incredible 915,103,765
That’s over 915 million different ways! So, if like me, you had to find out how they came up with this number, there’s a great story behind it here, along with some great numbers regarding combining of larger numbers of bricks.
Other great facts from this same programme were:
- Over 50% of LEGO’s entire annual sales take place in the 2 months before Christmas each year
- The LEGO factory in Billund, Denmark is technically the largest manufacturer of tyres in the world (great table quiz question!)
- Worldwide, 7 LEGO products are sold every second
Feb16
2011
The Central Bank of Ireland has launched a limited edition €10 coin to celebrate St. Brendan the Navigator. Whilst it looks to be quite an attractive piece of work, and is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, it is all rather too ironic to read that in the middle of a recession a €10 coin will cost you €38 to buy!
Source: RTÉ News
Jan21
2011
Some friends of mine are part of a group that are organising a formal celebration of the history and origin of Ireland’s national flag – more commonly known as the Tricolor – in the city where it was first unveiled – Waterford.
Jonathan Brazil has also written an excellent piece that introduces the planned celebrations far more eloquently than I ever could, so feel free to read his post too.
For more information check out http://www.1848tricolour.com and join in the festivities.
Jan09
2011
I’m often quizzed about a “Lily Mernin” who apparently worked as a spy for Michael Collins back in the early 1900′s. The Irish Times has printed another article about her recently, which is actually a repeat of a similar article from around the time that Neil Jordan’s movie of the same name was released some years ago. In any case, we believe she was indeed related (to my Grandfather’s generation).
This lady (and her efforts) is often referenced when the nationalism of my family name comes into question (Mernin isn’t a very Irish name is it?), as it sometimes does, but mostly in jest I should add.
Source: Irish Times
I’m often quizzed about a “Lily Mernin” who worked as a spy for Michael Collins. This article is a repeat of a similar one from around the the Neil Jordan’s movie of the same name was released some years ago.
Of course my family’s patriotism is also often question (Mernin isn’t a very Irish name) but this article puts paid to that theo…ry I think!