Weird news thread

[johng]

2003 to 2011. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pane ... TV_series)

[domhnallj]

2003 to 2011. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pane ... TV_series)

Then what show was I watching? This is going to nag....

[Broken Wing]

2003 to 2011. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pane ... TV_series)

Then what show was I watching? This is going to nag....

Don't Feed the Gondolas?

"The Panel" has been rejigged and renamed for years.

[domhnallj]

Don't Feed the Gondolas?

"The Panel" has been rejigged and renamed for years.

Thanks!

[Broken Wing]

Bizarre stuff in the USA indoor women's 3K:

Gabriele Grunewald was reinstated as the USA indoor 3,000 meters champion on Monday after her controversial disqualification at the 2014 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships this past Saturday generated widespread criticism throughout the track world.

After winning the women’s 3,000 meter run, Grunewald was disqualified when Alberto Salazar, the coach of fourth-place finisher Jordan Hasay, filed a complaint saying Grunewald illegally bumped his runner on the bell lap. Salazar’s complaint was initially overturned by race officials, but he kept pressing until Grunewald was eventually stripped of her title.

http://fansided.com/2014/02/24/gabriele ... -champion/

There was a feeling that Salazar brought the weight of his sponsors into play and it became a battle between the sponsor and USATF which the sponsor was winning. Good to see justice being done.

[Morf]

The Panel?

The very one now you mention it! I remember they used to have one unfunny woman inevitably playing the straight guy surrounded by comedians.

Aobhinn Ní Shuilleibhan made up for being a comedy vacuum by being a tremendously attractive theoretical physicist.

[fourthirtythree]

I just looked her up and she came attached to Ryan Tubridy <shudder>.

So no!

[Morf]

I just looked her up and she came attached to Ryan Tubridy <shudder>.

So no!

NSFW. My apologies.

[paddyor]

I just looked her up and she came attached to Ryan Tubridy <shudder>.

So no!

It was Fiona Looney, she's on that Irish loose women programme. Formerly a columnist(not sure what the point was ever - family matters?) with the Sunday Tribune and now giving her tuppence worth for the Daily Fail AFAIK. The panel was far better than Don't Feed the Gondolas by virtue of the fact it didn't feature Brendan O'Connor. Unfortunately it never featured Zebo so never really reached it's true potential.

Looney was dreadful and gave rise to a reaction like this in me.

Fiona know your limits!
I've no problem with Women(opinions/comedy etc.) but the token woman only served to reinforce the stereotype. Either you work the comedy circuit, learn your trade and work your way into and up the industry or you'll always be compared to Firona Looney!

I think the BBC will lose from this TBH

[Morf]

How does Fiona Looney keep ending up part of debates on sensible issues (where she contributes little) while at the same time being a talking head on TV3s Best Irish Girl Band of 1993 retrospective?

[Peg Leg]

How does Fiona Looney keep ending up part of debates on sensible issues (where she contributes little) while at the same time being a talking head on TV3s Best Irish Girl Band of 1993 retrospective?

Yer wan from the Ray D'Arcy show is worse..... much worse!

[paddyor]

Rochdale coma woman Sheila Holt told to 'find work'

[paddyor]

Irish Ukranians Not Russians

[blockhead]

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/pa ... 68597.html

A priest was forced to abandon an Ash Wednesday mass yesterday – after 30 of his parishioners had their foreheads burned by the blessed ashes.

Fr Eugene Baker had given out the ashes to everyone in the congregation when they started to complain about a burning sensation.

He was forced to stop the mass in St Joseph’s Church in Newtownshandrum in north Cork and advise the congregation to go into the church sacristy and wash the ashes off.

Fr Baker told independent.ie that he is surprised by the anomaly and he apologised to his parishioners.

He has sent the ashes to the public health laboratory in St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork for testing.

“It has never happened to me before. Has it happened to other people? I don’t know.”

“It happened immediately. There was a tingling sensation really - those who came to me afterwards said it was a tingling sensation.”

“They wiped it off immediately and they alerted me and I told people to go to the sacristy and wash it off.”

“It was about 30 people – they had all received the ashes before any alarm was raised. Some minutes afterwards, someone said it.”

The ashes used on Ash Wednesday come from burning the braches of palms used in Palm Sunday mass, which falls one week before Easter and marks Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem.

Fr Baker is still at a loss as to what happened.

“We don’t know to be honest. The people did get a burn on their forehead with the ashes.”

“Normally you have no trouble. Whatever happened I don’t know. It’s with the health laboratory in Cork anyway. We will wait and see.”

“I apologised to them that it had happened.”

“We stopped [the mass] in so far as to make people aware of the danger and to tell them to wash it off.”

Meanwhile, a number of parishioners in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Westside in Galway also reported the same burning sensation.

Fr Malachy Hallinan said that in close to 50 years of preparing ashes, he never came across an incident like it before.

He sent the ashes for testing and the results have indicated that the issue caused by the dryness of the ashes.

He said he had stored the palm leaves in a dry garage before burning them in his stove. There was no moisture left in the leaves, and this somehow contributed to the burning effect, test results have confirmed.

The priest confirmed he has had a number of calls from parishioners, and in some of these cases parishioners reported broken skin.

Fr Hallinan urged anyone who is suffering the effects of the ashes to seek medical assistance.

And he advised anyone who has taken the ashes home for the elderly or their relatives, not to use the ashes.

Tis the work of the divil himself!

[blockhead]

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/sp ... 69590.html

What does the Men's Council of Ireland have to say about this? Shocking!!!

[fourthirtythree]

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/sp ... 69590.html

What does the Men's Council of Ireland have to say about this? Shocking!!!

John Waters is busy penning a broadside from his new home in Uganda as we speak.

[IanD]

This.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26513506

It sounds like the plot from a 007 film. Jet disappears and not found 3 days later.

[IanD]

This.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26513506

It sounds like the plot from a 007 film. Jet disappears and not found 3 days later.

After a week missing they now say that the plane flew on for up to 7 hours.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26591056

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'deliberately diverted'

''The communications systems of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were deliberately disabled, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.

According to satellite and radar evidence, he said, the plane then changed course and could have continued flying for a further seven hours.

He said the "movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane".

The plane disappeared a week ago with 239 people on board.

Mr Razak stopped short of saying it was a hijacking, saying only that they were investigating "all possibilities".

He said the plane could be anywhere from Kazakhstan to the Indian Ocean.''


There was a joke about this being done by Russia to take Crimea off the headlines - Not so far fetched now.

[Hornet]

After reading about the trials and tribulations of Irish Rail over the last couple of days, and knowing that many countries have named trains, I wonder if Varadkar would consider a named train in this country. Could use this one from Peru's latest metro system. Great photo and headline opportunities when the train is full of TD's.

http://www.andina.com.pe/english/notici ... 79435.aspx

[IanD]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-glou ... e-26987446

Weird news it is.