Irish whiskey resources

A few:

Sláinte: The Irish Whiskey Blog

Irish Whiskey Notes

The Irish Whiskey Society. Not much on that home page, but some discussion in the forums. Those of us who do not get to Ireland regularly can only dream of tasting the essences discussed there.

What Does John Know? I hope he does not know anything about me. He knows plenty about whiskey.

St Patrick's Day approaches, and my thoughts turn to booze and stepdancing.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is coming

Joe Felice has some thoughts on the Nativity: "Born In a Manger."



Thanks to Lynn at Violins and Starships, who says, "Please, listen all the way to the end." I'll echo that: please, listen all the way to the end.

Welcome in another May

Sing today we may, we may, for cruel Winter's gone away.



If that doesn't make you feel good for a few minutes, I don't know what will.

Last year's May Day post.

Historical origin of Danny Boy

For St. Patrick's Day, The Origin of Danny Boy. Briefly: an ancient Irish air, transcribed from the playing of a blind fiddler, was found by a lawyer/songwriter to match a lyric already written; the result endures. At greater length, at the link. Thanks (indirectly) to The Phantom at A Tangled Web.

Presidents' Day

Which Presidents, though? In light of the last couple of posts about the CPSIA, which might have to get a tag, Calvin Coolidge, who said, "It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones," seems an appealing President for today. Another line, "I am convinced that the larger incomes of the country would actually yield more revenue to the government if the basis of taxation were scientifically revised downward," sounds like an anticipation of the Laffer curve. John J. Miller, at The Corner, points to his own Reason piece from 1998, in which he reviews three books that were new at that time.

I've mentioned Coolidge favorably here a few times before, but I have never read a full-length biography. I certainly did not know until I read the Miller article that he had translated Dante's Inferno into English.

I can't help wondering what would have been the alternate history had Coolidge run and been re-elected in 1928. Hoover and Roosevelt were both tinkerers, experimentalists, activists; Coolidge knew how to leave something alone.

Happy birthday, Professor Althouse

Credit where credit is due. If anyone deserves credit for the mere being of this weblog, it's Althouse.

Thanks, Professor!

See if this will go around for yourself and all the great commenters:

Here's a cake, swiped from someone [Janet Margul?] on GEnie so long ago that I no longer have any idea, in the old ascii boxology style:

            ()     ()     ()    ()    ()
            ||     ||     ||    ||    ||
            ||_____||_____||____||____||
          (|VvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVvVv|)
          (|\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\|)
           |  *   *  *  *  *  *  *  * * |
     ______|____________________________|______
    (((((((((((((((((((((3))))))))))))))))))))))
    (((((((((((((((((((((3))))))))))))))))))))))
     |                                        |
     |                                        |
     |\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\@/\|
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's a digital cake, so it can't get stale.

Happy St. Stephen's Day

Hoping everybody's Christmas was merry and bright.

Here's a wren song for St. Stephen's Day. Here's another. Here are the wren boys in action, from County Clare. And a collection of material on St. Stephen, along with lyrics and sheet music. Today you'll probably want the cached version.

Merry Christmas to all

Much fun for the whole family was had last year with the list of Christmas cracker jokes. The link in last year's post does not work any more, so here's a fresh link that works this year. Hmm; some of these jokes are familiar from last time. Here is another batch of jokes with just a couple of repeats from last time.

Veterans Honor rose

If I get another rose bush, it's going to be one of these.

Thanks to Althouse commenter Bissage.

Scary

Trick or treat! (Received in email from Bud.)

Memorial Day sidelight on Francis Scott Key

Or, "everything old is new again." While looking around for something for a Memorial Day note elsewhere (I finally settled on "Decoration Day" by Longfellow), I came across an 1805 piece by Francis Scott Key.

Song

WHEN the warrior returns, from the battle afar,
    To the home and the country he nobly defended,
O! warm be the welcome to gladden his ear,
    And loud be the joy that his perils are ended;
In the full tide of song let his fame roll along,
To the feast-flowing board let us gratefully throng,
Where, mixed with the olive, the laurel shall wave,
And form a bright wreath for the brows of the brave.

Columbians! a band of your brothers behold,
    Who claim the reward of your hearts' warm emotion,
When your cause, when your honor, urged onward the bold,
    In vain frowned the desert, in vain raged the ocean:
To a far distant shore, to the battle's wild roar,
They rushed, your fair fame and your rights to secure:
Then, mixed with the olive, the laurel shall wave,
And form a bright wreath for the brows of the brave.

In the conflict resistless, each toil they endured,
    'Till their foes fled dismayed from the war's desolation;
And pale beamed the Crescent, its splendor obscured
    By the light of the Star Spangled flag of our nation.
Where each radiant star gleamed a meteor of war,
And the turbaned heads bowed to its terrible glare,
Now, mixed with the olive, the laurel shall wave,
And form a bright wreath for the brows of the brave.

Our fathers, who stand on the summit of fame,
    Shall exultingly hear of their sons the proud story:
How their young bosoms glow'd with the patriot flame,
    How they fought, how they fell, in the blaze of their glory,
How triumphant they rode o'er the wondering flood,
And stained the blue waters with infidel blood;
How, mixed with the olive, the laurel did wave,
And formed a bright wreath for the brows of the brave.

Then welcome the warrior returned from afar
    To the home and the country he nobly defended;
Let the thanks due to valor now gladden his ear,
    And loud be the joy that his perils are ended.
In the full tide of song let his fame roll along,
To the feast-flowing board let us gratefully throng,
Where, mixed with the olive, the laurel shall wave,
And form a bright wreath for the brows of the brave.

This one might be due for a revival. Everybody knows the tune.

To welcome in the May, oh

Hurray, hurray, the first of May! So, to welcome in the May, Hal-an-Tow. Long version, the song when it's at home:

Shorter version, in a smoky pub, with more careful harmonies:

Hal-an-Tow,
Jolly Rumbelow,
We were up
Long before the day, oh,
To welcome in the Summer,
To welcome in the May, oh …
The Summer is a-comin' in, the Winter's gone away, oh.

Happy New Year

In case we want to sing this, later:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne?

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary foot,
Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl't i' the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine,
And we'll tak a right guid willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine;
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

Robert Burns World Federation offers this side-by-side.

To your health!

Some cheese with those Christmas crackers?

Some in the US may not be familiar with Christmas crackers. In England, they are an indispensible part of Christmas dinner. You grasp the ends and pull, there's a bang, and things fall out on the table: usually a paper crown, a tiny toy, a piece of paper with a joke on it. Harry Erwin writes a weekly letter from England to Jerry Pournelle. This week, he links to an article in the Independent that includes a long list of Christmas cracker jokes. Just a few, to get you started:

What are the small rivers that run into the Nile?
The juve-Niles.

How did the Vikings send secret messages?
By Norse code.

What kind of lighting did Noah use for the ark?
Floodlights.

I'm feeling merrier already.

'Tis the season

My first Christmas with this blog, so here's something sort of seasonal:

And here is a bit of necessary explication: I want the government to give me more presents. Thanks, Prof. Althouse; and Merry Christmas to all.

Mark Steyn's Thanksgiving address

Blessings close to home.

Speaking as a misfit unassimilated foreigner, I think of Thanksgiving as the most American of holidays.

Christmas is celebrated elsewhere, even if there are significant local variations: In Continental Europe, naughty children get left rods to be flayed with and lumps of coal; in Britain, Christmas lasts from Dec. 22 to mid-January and celebrates the ancient cultural traditions of massive alcohol intake and watching the telly till you pass out in a pool of your own vomit. All part of the rich diversity of our world.

But Thanksgiving (excepting the premature and somewhat undernourished Canadian version) is unique to America. "What's it about?" an Irish visitor asked me a couple of years back. "Everyone sits around giving thanks all day? Thanks for what? George bloody Bush?"

Well, Americans have a lot to be thankful for.

[…]

Three hundred and 14 years ago, the Pilgrims thanked God because there was a place for them in this land, and it was indeed grand. The land is grander today, and that, too, is remarkable: France has lurched from Second Empires to Fifth Republics struggling to devise a lasting constitutional settlement for the same smallish chunk of real estate, but the principles that united a baker's dozen of East Coast colonies were resilient enough to expand across a continent and halfway around the globe to Hawaii.

Americans should, as always, be thankful this Thanksgiving, but they should also understand just how rare in human history their blessings are.

Prosperity, democracy, liberty: these are not normal conditions of humanity. They are rare and usually fleeting. Take them for granted, cease to guard them, and they will soon be gone. RTWT and give thanks.

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.!

Fourth of July fireworks in Ocean City were postponed to the 5th on account of wind. Having the holiday on Wednesday seems to extend the mood to the whole week.