10 Things You Didn't Know About Ireland

[SoCalDem]

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=7098616&page=1


Think Ireland Drinks the Most Guinness? Think Again
IrishCentral.com
March 17, 2009


Ponder these ten trivia tidbits while you're celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.


Your extensive knowledge will surely impress that lovely lass at the other end of the bar. Or at the very least, your friends.

Technically, It Is an Offense to Be Drunk in Public in Ireland

This has to be one of the least enforced laws in the history of any legal system. If the letter of the law were to be enforced in this area, half the county would have to be incarcerated every weekend -- but it is indeed true. Regulations introduced last year allow the police to issue on-the-spot fines for anyone caught being drunk in a public police In Ireland. In reality, however, the police are generally pretty happy for you to get as hammered as you want, as long as you aren't bothering anyone else, and aren't in any immediate danger of hurting yourself. So drink up! (But do it safely.)

An Irishman Founded the Argentinean Navy

William Brown, who was born in Co. Mayo, is acknowledged as the founder of the Argentinean navy, and was also an important leader in the Argentinean struggle for independence from Spain.

His family left for Philadelphia around 1786, when he was nine. He started off seafaring as a cabin boy, and ended up fighting in the Napoleonic wars, where he was captured as a prisoner of war. Then he escaped the Germans, before eventually ending up Montevideo, Uruguay, where he became a sea trader, and later ended up founding the Argentinean navy, which was involved in a war against Spain. Today there is a statue of Brown in his hometown of Foxford, Co. Mayo, which was unveiled in 2007, the 150th anniversary of his death; in Argentina, where he is regarded as a hero, there are two towns, around 1,000 streets and 500 statues, a city and a few football clubs, named after him.


snip ( for the rest)

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I will always love Ireland and intend to return there later this year.

[rvablue]

2. Thanks SCD, nice post to celebrate the day! n/t