I had a Sligo townie accent, and I tried to adapt a British-y accent. I ended up with something happily neutral though a tad effete. The townie accent would be a working class one, for lack of a better term. Eventually I moved to Dublin and ended up with something verging on an American accent because of American friends and nerds in general. When people started asking me if I was American all the time I started trying to change to a general "culchie" accent and at this stage it's just a bit of a mess Ireland has a surprisingly large array of accents for its size, there's probably one for each county. >> ^messenger:

Very curious to know what place's accent you had, and what place's accent you changed to. Your profile says Ireland. Was it a specific county?>> ^lampishthing:
I did the same thing, actually. There are accents which are identified with stupid all over the world I remember making the conscious decision in primary school one day: "I don't want to sound like that.">> ^messenger:
FWIW, Stephen Colbert grew up in South Carolina, and changed his accent as a child. He talks about how he understood that the local accent was shorthand for stupid, so he chose to speak with a standard American accent from childhood. He talks about it here: http://videosift.com/video/Stephen-Colbert-on-60-minutes around the 9:45 mark.

See this all the time in Dublin, Ireland. Usually the mother is also in pyjamas. Don't ask. It's a local thing.

Many thanks! I only ever heard the instrumental medley clip from the "Fall from Grace" release, I didn't know this existed. I always wanted to master the melody on the guitar or piano, I love the way it flows. Thanks again.

In reply to this comment by oritteropo:

In reply to this comment by ulysses1904:
How about showing us "Rocky Road to Dublin" now? The Pogues do a great instrumental version of it.

In reply to this comment by ulysses1904:
How about showing us "Rocky Road to Dublin" now? The Pogues do a great instrumental version of it.

How about showing us "Rocky Road to Dublin" now? The Pogues do a great instrumental version of it.

>> ^marinara:

First of all, I was privileged to be out there with a lot of brave and beautiful people. I'd like to give my own account of what happened on Saturday, because the mainstream coverage I've seen has been universally laughable, not that that's any surprise.
Folks were mostly gathered up in Oscar Grant Plaza by about noon, and the march started around 1 or 1:30. There were probably between one and two thousand marchers. There was a sound truck playing music, and the mood was festive and happy. Parents brought their children along, and the whole thing felt a bit like a roving dance party in the streets. There was also a bus following along which the police detained about halfway through the first part of the march on some minor infraction like people weren't all wearing their seat belts or something.
When the demonstrators reached the first target building, it was already heavily surrounded by riot cops, and people didn't even try to get near it. I don't think anyone was actually expecting the "secret" target to stay secret, given the open nature of the movement and the heavy infiltration. By this point police had begun targeted arrests against certain individuals which were evidently on their list of organizers or repeat "troublemakers". Nonetheless, the marchers were being quite peaceful and were prepared to just continue the march around the city. The police weren't having that though, and they fired a number of smoke grenades into the crowd, which caused a bit of a panic since many people initially thought it was teargas. Minor injuries were incurred amongst the marchers.
A number of older demonstrators as well as people with children decided that this was a good time to call it a day and headed away from the main police line and crowd. Police then rushed in and attempted to arrest some of the parents for endangering their children. I'm not sure exactly how this turned out, but I was told that a number of parents were able to get away with their children.
Police began to close on the demonstrators who decided to continue the march through the city. Soon after police began to deploy actual tear gas along with beanbag rounds and paint balls apparently intended to mark people for later arrest. Police claim that people were throwing things at them after this. I didn't witness demonstrators throwing anything, but it is possible. I don't find it to be a constructive activity, but I also can't blame people for being angry after a peaceful march was attacked. Medics responded to high numbers of chemical contamination and blunt force trauma cases.
As the march continued, police started to use a new tactic which recklessly endangered lives and led to many injuries. They would form up in a line behind the marchers and then on some signal charge towards the back of the march with their batons at the ready. Although attempts were made among the demonstrators to keep everyone calm, inevitably many people started running as a natural reaction to seeing a line of angry club-wielding police charging at them. Lots of people got knocked down in the press of bodies. People helped up whoever they could, but I have no idea how many people were injured during this or how badly. The police continued to use this tactic all the way back to Oscar Grant Plaza, charging forward for a block before stopping for a minute or two and then charging again. This charging tactic served absolutely no crowd control purpose, as they were pushing people in the direction the march was already going, and they could have just marched behind the demonstrators keeping pace, since nobody wanted to get within arm's reach of them anyways.
Anyways, people regrouped at OGP to rest, wash up, seek medical attention, and eat. After some time, a decision was made to march around downtown Oakland again. The march was somewhat smaller this time, but probably still around 1,000 people. Oaklanders don't give into police intimidation easily. The march eventually became a bit of a cat-and-mouse game as lines of police tried to surround the marchers and "kettle" them in for mass arrests. At one point fairly early on the police nearly succeeded, but a temporary chain link fence was pulled down allowing most or all of the marchers an escape route. Later on, a group of ~50-100 demonstrators did get blocked in on a section of Broadway without any side streets. Police then rushed in, jabbing, pushing, and beating people with batons until they were forced back into a corner near a YMCA building. Some people may have escaped through the YMCA building, and police used this to claim that the protesters were trying to take over the building, although I'm fairly certain this was never the plan since the YMCA was open and operational, not abandoned. Once the group of demonstrators was blocked in and completely surrounded, police announced that this was an unlawful assembly and ordered them to disperse. A few people tried to leave with their hands raised and were promptly thrown on the ground, beaten, and arrested. The police undoubtedly thought that they were quite clever with the Catch-22 situation they had constructed, but I doubt any of the subsequent arrest charges are going to stick as a result. Getting the charges to stick was probably not the point though.
The demonstrators were pinned into the corner like this for probably 40-60 minutes before enough police buses and vans showed up for mass arrests to begin. As the time approached, the police suddenly singled out on of the demonstrators and yanked him out of the crowd, threw him down and cuffed him. It is likely this was one of the people on their special list. A small bag of powder (possibly meth) was planted on him as he was dragged away. Given the fact that everyone knew they were going to be arrested for the past half hour or so, it is utterly illogical that this person wouldn't have ditched the drugs if they really were his. He was overheard to say that they weren't his, that he didn't do drugs, and was willing to take a drug test right then and there to prove it.
Police later arrested a large number of demonstrators near OGP using similar tactics. Apparently some demonstrators got into City Hall, although I'm not sure if any arrests were made in the building. Some people were taken to jail in Oakland, others to Santa Rita (a much nastier place) in Dublin. Some were cited and released the next day, others are still in police custody.
Given my impending court appearance, I don't want to discuss the exact involvement I may or may not have had in any of the above. I think, however, this provides a much more accurate picture of what went down than has been presented in the mainstream media, and I thank you for taking the time to hear the other side.


**I need to give attribution, this blog was posted on reddit by a so called street medic attached to occupy oakland

First of all, I was privileged to be out there with a lot of brave and beautiful people. I'd like to give my own account of what happened on Saturday, because the mainstream coverage I've seen has been universally laughable, not that that's any surprise.

Folks were mostly gathered up in Oscar Grant Plaza by about noon, and the march started around 1 or 1:30. There were probably between one and two thousand marchers. There was a sound truck playing music, and the mood was festive and happy. Parents brought their children along, and the whole thing felt a bit like a roving dance party in the streets. There was also a bus following along which the police detained about halfway through the first part of the march on some minor infraction like people weren't all wearing their seat belts or something.

When the demonstrators reached the first target building, it was already heavily surrounded by riot cops, and people didn't even try to get near it. I don't think anyone was actually expecting the "secret" target to stay secret, given the open nature of the movement and the heavy infiltration. By this point police had begun targeted arrests against certain individuals which were evidently on their list of organizers or repeat "troublemakers". Nonetheless, the marchers were being quite peaceful and were prepared to just continue the march around the city. The police weren't having that though, and they fired a number of smoke grenades into the crowd, which caused a bit of a panic since many people initially thought it was teargas. Minor injuries were incurred amongst the marchers.

A number of older demonstrators as well as people with children decided that this was a good time to call it a day and headed away from the main police line and crowd. Police then rushed in and attempted to arrest some of the parents for endangering their children. I'm not sure exactly how this turned out, but I was told that a number of parents were able to get away with their children.

Police began to close on the demonstrators who decided to continue the march through the city. Soon after police began to deploy actual tear gas along with beanbag rounds and paint balls apparently intended to mark people for later arrest. Police claim that people were throwing things at them after this. I didn't witness demonstrators throwing anything, but it is possible. I don't find it to be a constructive activity, but I also can't blame people for being angry after a peaceful march was attacked. Medics responded to high numbers of chemical contamination and blunt force trauma cases.

As the march continued, police started to use a new tactic which recklessly endangered lives and led to many injuries. They would form up in a line behind the marchers and then on some signal charge towards the back of the march with their batons at the ready. Although attempts were made among the demonstrators to keep everyone calm, inevitably many people started running as a natural reaction to seeing a line of angry club-wielding police charging at them. Lots of people got knocked down in the press of bodies. People helped up whoever they could, but I have no idea how many people were injured during this or how badly. The police continued to use this tactic all the way back to Oscar Grant Plaza, charging forward for a block before stopping for a minute or two and then charging again. This charging tactic served absolutely no crowd control purpose, as they were pushing people in the direction the march was already going, and they could have just marched behind the demonstrators keeping pace, since nobody wanted to get within arm's reach of them anyways.

Anyways, people regrouped at OGP to rest, wash up, seek medical attention, and eat. After some time, a decision was made to march around downtown Oakland again. The march was somewhat smaller this time, but probably still around 1,000 people. Oaklanders don't give into police intimidation easily. The march eventually became a bit of a cat-and-mouse game as lines of police tried to surround the marchers and "kettle" them in for mass arrests. At one point fairly early on the police nearly succeeded, but a temporary chain link fence was pulled down allowing most or all of the marchers an escape route. Later on, a group of ~50-100 demonstrators did get blocked in on a section of Broadway without any side streets. Police then rushed in, jabbing, pushing, and beating people with batons until they were forced back into a corner near a YMCA building. Some people may have escaped through the YMCA building, and police used this to claim that the protesters were trying to take over the building, although I'm fairly certain this was never the plan since the YMCA was open and operational, not abandoned. Once the group of demonstrators was blocked in and completely surrounded, police announced that this was an unlawful assembly and ordered them to disperse. A few people tried to leave with their hands raised and were promptly thrown on the ground, beaten, and arrested. The police undoubtedly thought that they were quite clever with the Catch-22 situation they had constructed, but I doubt any of the subsequent arrest charges are going to stick as a result. Getting the charges to stick was probably not the point though.

The demonstrators were pinned into the corner like this for probably 40-60 minutes before enough police buses and vans showed up for mass arrests to begin. As the time approached, the police suddenly singled out on of the demonstrators and yanked him out of the crowd, threw him down and cuffed him. It is likely this was one of the people on their special list. A small bag of powder (possibly meth) was planted on him as he was dragged away. Given the fact that everyone knew they were going to be arrested for the past half hour or so, it is utterly illogical that this person wouldn't have ditched the drugs if they really were his. He was overheard to say that they weren't his, that he didn't do drugs, and was willing to take a drug test right then and there to prove it.

Police later arrested a large number of demonstrators near OGP using similar tactics. Apparently some demonstrators got into City Hall, although I'm not sure if any arrests were made in the building. Some people were taken to jail in Oakland, others to Santa Rita (a much nastier place) in Dublin. Some were cited and released the next day, others are still in police custody.

Given my impending court appearance, I don't want to discuss the exact involvement I may or may not have had in any of the above. I think, however, this provides a much more accurate picture of what went down than has been presented in the mainstream media, and I thank you for taking the time to hear the other sid

Dion Dublin did this against some unfortunate keeper several years ago in the Premiership. Goalies have to be aware all the time.

Thanks Deano I appreciate it.

In reply to this comment by Deano:
*quality

>> ^RFlagg:

Elevatorgate... Rebecca Watson (that Wiki link includes a summary of the elevator incident as well), founder of Skeptchick.com and semi-popular atheist blogger/vlogger, was a guest at the World Atheist Convention in Dublin. She gave a speech that apparently painted a misogynistic view within the atheist community and how women are under represented and the men treat the women who are there lowly. She was in the hotel bar with some friends after and at 4am announced she was going to bed. She got on the elevator and some guy followed her on. She says he cornered her and asked her if she wanted to come to his room for some coffee. She felt very uncomfortable and turned him down. She then made a blog post and video saying that you shouldn't approach a girl alone in an elevator and proposition her, and that was inappropriate behavior. From there elevatorgate blew up. Some accused her of over reacting, that it was just coffee, others pointed out it was "coffee" in his room at 4am. Many big names in the community took sides, and eventually even Richard Dawkins came out against her. It mostly fell across gender lines, many women noted how few women were at these conventions and pointed to the whole thing as an example of why, while many men said it was just coffee and one couldn't infer anything beyond that. There were notable exceptions on both sides, but the whole thing occupied the atheist blogsphere for a while.
If you look up atheist elevator incident on Google, you'll find lots of opinions and parodies of the incident. A large part of the community thought it was an over reaction, while the largest part of the community just got tired of it all. I personally was in the later category, but I do think it was inappropriate to ask her to his room, and she had a right to feel creeped out. Had he asked her to the hotel's restaurant/cafe and she reacted the way she did, then I would see the other point of view, but he asked her to his room. They didn't know each other, so I can see how that would be seen as odd... as a matter of fact I have a hard time seeing how anybody sees it as perfectly normal and okay, but a large part of the community did, or at least felt she over reacted to it (although it didn't appear she overreacted at first, it was after the community started reacting to it that the reactions started getting out of control on both sides).
Anyhow elevatorgate finally settled down, but still remains a hot button issue, hence the joke about elevators being a touchy subject at the end.
>> ^Boise_Lib:
>> ^RFlagg:
Loved and agreed with all of it. I also liked the "elevators are a touchy thing right now" at the end... a bit of an insider thing for the atheist community (and for the record I was largely on her side).

Do tell. No--really do.
I'm not familiar with the inside stuff.



Thanks. That's interesting.

Elevatorgate... Rebecca Watson (that Wiki link includes a summary of the elevator incident as well), founder of Skeptchick.com and semi-popular atheist blogger/vlogger, was a guest at the World Atheist Convention in Dublin. She gave a speech that apparently painted a misogynistic view within the atheist community and how women are under represented and the men treat the women who are there lowly. She was in the hotel bar with some friends after and at 4am announced she was going to bed. She got on the elevator and some guy followed her on. She says he cornered her and asked her if she wanted to come to his room for some coffee. She felt very uncomfortable and turned him down. She then made a blog post and video saying that you shouldn't approach a girl alone in an elevator and proposition her, and that was inappropriate behavior. From there elevatorgate blew up. Some accused her of over reacting, that it was just coffee, others pointed out it was "coffee" in his room at 4am. Many big names in the community took sides, and eventually even Richard Dawkins came out against her. It mostly fell across gender lines, many women noted how few women were at these conventions and pointed to the whole thing as an example of why, while many men said it was just coffee and one couldn't infer anything beyond that. There were notable exceptions on both sides, but the whole thing occupied the atheist blogsphere for a while.
If you look up atheist elevator incident on Google, you'll find lots of opinions and parodies of the incident. A large part of the community thought it was an over reaction, while the largest part of the community just got tired of it all. I personally was in the later category, but I do think it was inappropriate to ask her to his room, and she had a right to feel creeped out. Had he asked her to the hotel's restaurant/cafe and she reacted the way she did, then I would see the other point of view, but he asked her to his room. They didn't know each other, so I can see how that would be seen as odd... as a matter of fact I have a hard time seeing how anybody sees it as perfectly normal and okay, but a large part of the community did, or at least felt she over reacted to it (although it didn't appear she overreacted at first, it was after the community started reacting to it that the reactions started getting out of control on both sides).
Anyhow elevatorgate finally settled down, but still remains a hot button issue, hence the joke about elevators being a touchy subject at the end.

>> ^Boise_Lib:

>> ^RFlagg:
Loved and agreed with all of it. I also liked the "elevators are a touchy thing right now" at the end... a bit of an insider thing for the atheist community (and for the record I was largely on her side).

Do tell. No--really do.
I'm not familiar with the inside stuff.

"A Dublin shopping center was the victim of a joyous flash mob attack on Sunday afternoon..."

Just once can't we end that with "that left 25 people dead and 44 wounded."

>> ^SDGundamX:

RELIGIOUS PERSON: "How can you look around and NOT believe in a God?" (:rolleyes).
NEW ATHEIST: "How come you believe in God and not Thor?" (:rolleyes)
ON THE FENCE: "You're both condescending and pretentious and I've got better things to do than listen to either of you."


This is basically my opinion. If I had time to go to an Atheist convention I'd fill it with something MORE IMPORTANT!

(LYRICS)

(Chorus opening)

There I was havin’ a good hard shit for myself
After the parsnips,peas,cauliflower the lump o leek and de brussels sprout
All inside in me,dyin’ ta get out it was and shur what could i do i had to go
And i’m readin de oul sunday paper,as you do you never know what you might see like and I turn the page and theres this big fuckoff ad for Eminem live in the point depot, and who comes in de door only my little brother Matthew(matcho)
Runs in the the door sees the ad runs downstairs to mammy “Eh mammy mammy Eminems comin to de point depot,mammy mammy Eminem live at the point depot can i go mammy can i please please mammy can i go?” Bastard!
Mammy tells me to go an get tickets I go and get tickets, I’m standin’ outside HMV for 17 an a half fuckin’ hours,with nothin but a flask of turnip soup I had last sundaay and a fuckin’ sleepin bag...Frozen to my balls I was and muppets all round me screamin’ an roarin’ an shoutin’ ‘cleanin out dere closet,cleanin out dere closet’ langers on a half a bottle of fuckin’ smirnoff ice, but shur what can you do wit em?, dere muppets de whole lot of em’
Nonetheless dey move,I move, we all move, I finally get up to de counter
“Eh 2 tickets for Eminem” “Thats 50 euro per ticket and 4.50 bookin’ fee”
“Whats the bookin' fee for?? I booked nothin standin here for 17 1/2 fuckin hours, no credit card, no nothin. Fuckin MCD robbin bastards,robbin’ bastards de whole lot of em but I’ll tell you 1 thing, ye met yer match lads Ha Ha!

(Chorus)

Bus Eireann,deres another shower o right muppets altogether 20 euro a piece for myself an matthew....8 1/2 hours and I standin the whole fuckin way from Limerick to Dublin! When does it ever take 8 1/2 hours to go from Limerick to Dub..I’d fuckin’ swim to New York quicker! And It a broken down heap o shit an all it was and blated punctures and bumps,every bump was like a fuckin crater of a moon it was,
Nonetheless we finally get there had to queue outside de point depot for another 2 1/2 hours, half way through the queue some muppet feels my balls “Have you got a camera?” he says....Have I got a camera,I can’t stand the sight of the peroxide fuckers head an he’s askin me have I a camera?! I can’t take a shit,make a hang sangwich an de fuckers lookin’ back at me. I’m only up here for matcho you know!!
Jesus I get in I hadda queue for a burger ('cos Matthew wanted a burger) I hadda queue for a pint,I hadda queue for a piss! Everything,you can’t even make a phone call and some muppets on the line “Eh your call is important to us,please stay on the li….Fuck you ya bastard! Fuckin Eircom robbin bastards! Robbin bastards de whole lot of em,robbin de country blind, fuckin’ government don’t have a clue whats goin’ on in this country!
Nonetheless we’re pushin an we’re squeezin an shovin tryin to make it up to de front for Matcho (Hes only small hes only up to my arse,hes only six, like)...and of course I’m fartin de whole way up coz I couldn’t go to the toilet coz I couldn’t get inta de queue!! And his mouth was open an all and he’s dere “Ah Stan are we near the front yit Stan, Eh stan Are we near the front I can’t breathe stan eh... “We’re nearly dere now hold onto yourself boy!
We finally get there Hes all excited hes on my shoulders,I’m all excited coz hes all excited We came all dis way for you,just for you…..and you send out some black fella…..a big fat black fella an the back of his trousers down his arse. And him roarin into the microphone ‘Whos ur nigger,whos ur nigger ur niggers in da house, Jenny's on the block..” Well I’ll tell u one thing Jenny Suck my fuckin’ cock!!! We didn’t come all this way to see u or no one like u! Jez who are you? Nobody gives a shit about or no one else! We came here to see 1 man 1 man only, do me a favor will u?
GET OFF DA FUCKIN STAGE!!!!!!!

(Chorus)

Out you finally saunter with your vest wrapped round you good an tight,an oul hangy baggy pants on you and nonetheless an oul pair o nike runners on you
an you screamin into the microphone! how u were fucked in the arse when you were 5, Thats not my fuckin problem you know! We’ve all got issues we’ve all got problems,I’ve a wife that hates me,Ive a child that I love but shur what can we do about em? We don’t go rantin an ravin to the public about how fuckin brilliant we are, how our lives are all fucked up an I want to put my wife in a bodybag an drive her over the edge of a cliff. Well I’ll put you in my bodybag ya bastard! I’ll drive you over the edge of a bridge or a cliff or a mountain or somethin! Don’t go rantin an ravin with ur la de da de da bout your hoosit an wtsit in the world!! I have issues here in the world and I’ll tell u 1 ting!If I’m goin down I’m takin’ you with me coz ur nothin but an ape! And I’ll tell u somethin else,I’ll rip ur liver out thru yer arse! BASTARD!!!!

(Epilogue)

"Dear stan, you sad, sad little man....why do you think I should give a shit about you or your little brother Matthew, it's fuckin' apes like you that are making me a fortune, I'm worth a FORTUNE....I release an album, you buy the album, I release a single & you buy every single song off it, I mean why do you buy it twice...why why?? You queue for hours you buy tickets, I can't even get a passport leave my own country & the likes of you are still out there buying all my shit that I pump out...so what if I'm moanin' and groanin'?....I'm worth a fortune, I couldn't care less about you, anyone, no-one...I LOVE it...I'm worth so much money, it's SICK...I'm sick to my teeth with money...I'm loaded, I am loaded....I'm fuckin' LOOOOOOOAAAAAADDDEDDDDD!!!!"

(Chorus)

I was paying 35e a month for 25Mb broadband in Dublin. Apparently you can now get up 100Mb for 65e.

We're a few years behind the times in Ireland as a whole because our major telecom company was bought up by venture capitalists shortly after being floated on the stock market by the government (for the sake of competition).