Ireland is loosening the backing up of banks

It seems that the Irish politicians are figuring out, that it's not in the best interest of the poor or the rich, to guarantee banking in this country. At least when it comes to socialising deficits and letting the bankers to go with the profits.

Michael Noonan announced that Ireland will stop giving that special care to bankers. But will this be enough for the economy to go "normal"? This is Captain Hindsight talking, but it doesn't seem fair that banks will be paid if somebody can't afford to pay their loans, but those who owe to banks still owe to the banks. I might be a bit slow, and my education is based on the Finnish educational system, and my opinions are only based on to the people I trust my money with, but it seems a bit - no exaggerations - unfair.

It would seem fairer for all the participants in the economical field to have comparable changes of opportunity to win, and in cases of losing, having same probable consequences. Now it seems that many households are still holding the dead man's hand, while the banks win championships of poker with ten-deuces off every year.

But at least this country hasn't lost it's sense of humour. Government will probably still get their vote of confidence through every voter's own argumentation. On my behalf, I should use more of my time tuning into the political field of Ireland, just in case it would help me to understand how politics is understood by the so called common man.

While waiting a bus

You would think that it would be hard to start thinking about transportation for hobby. I mean, there are like 6 billion people here, and nobody really has a small talk subject ready for transportation the same way they do about weather. When people talk about transportation, they are not really engaged to small talk, but preferably they are trying to find a scapegoat for why their project is late, sometimes the project being the individuals themselves who are late for meetings, work, children, or something similar, which they try to avoid anyways. Luckily I had time to think about this little intro while I was waiting for a bus for 45 minutes.

Dublin bus just raised their ticket fares a few months ago.  Reasoning behind it was, that people would start using more buses, which is good for environment. Hmmm. There is something I would like to point out, but it seems they are right. Education and health is only appreciated if you want to pay money for it. Look at all those pharmaceutical companies which are getting billions of euros, just for promoting health. So if they would double their fares people wouldn't be using anything that buses.

I think people use buses when they are on time and are helpful for people trying to move themselves from a location A to a location B. Those yellow things seem to achieve that goal sufficiently, and local people here know that those timetables that are shown on bus stops are really for movies. Because, wouldn't you, if you were a movie producer or a director making a movie in Dublin, want to have a bus stop for the scene involving a timetable? That's apparently the sole reason for those markers. It's also easier to find a bus stop.

Going in and out of buses is fairly an easy process. When going in you throw some money in a box and tell the driver how much there is in the box, and the driver prints you an ticket stating that amount. Someone, more intelligent and creative than I am, might find a way to abuse this. I'm just trying to have correct amount of small change readily available at all times. I'm very good at it. I never have large amounts of change.

Like a Pope

It started as an idea: "Will 'downshifting like a pope'" become the new euphemism to mean relaxing, taking it easy, the zen of traffic, or something alike. But the whole world seemed to be open. This serious, although senile ex-nazi with an imaginery friend, is a meaningful icon for so many of us, that it was almost unavoidable that there would be some other remarks made about the resignation of the Pope.

One of my good ones was that if the Facebook, which seems to be a popebook for awhile, had a possibility of making someone a pope. "Somebody poped you. Do you want to pope him/her back?" could be the future feature of Facebook.

Although Facebook had a bad start in the stock market, when they released a lot of stocks, which lost lot of their value in a short amount of time. Luckily, Facebook is still kicking and making money, it's like a miracle. They had the quickest fall of stock price in near history, but the company didn't have to go bankrupt. Could that be like "going Pope". Like losing value, but still kicking.

When Benedict the 16th (or how the Latin-speaking world remembers him as Benedict the XVI) gave out his shock resignation, I think many thought that "one cannot just pope and stop". I even believe that if it's true that Benny's bodyguards have to give a vow promising to take the bullet for the guy; the vow probably includes that you should "never lose the Pope". This could also be a part of his personal assistant's job description. At least if you think how seniles the CEOs have been.

As living in a Catholic country, which is somehow known for a vast use of drugs (including alcohol), it would be reasonable to assume that there would be a game for children to test their ability to pronounce English words as fast as they can. "How much dope would a pope dope, if a pope would dope pope" might be very soon a part of the official curriculum for children under eight. I won't go any farther that road on my thought. It seems that lots of Pope's employees have done that journey and gotten away with a few Ave Marias.

I shouldn't pope too much, as there is probably going to be a debate of what it means if the Disco Guy of Vatican stops discoing. And by disco, it can be fair to say, that haven't seen during my whole life a guy who is so much into gaypimp-style, and still be in a closet. Seriously dudes, that hat, those shoes, and that amazing long gown. Seriously, what the pope?!?

Whites Tavern - The oldest in Belfast

Oldest Tavern in Belfast. First legal pints served somewhere in the early 1700th century.

No More War -Tarja

"No more War! Tarja from Finland" Previous Finnish President was Tarja Halonen. Here she is probably building her legacy.

Belfast's Graffiti wall

Where I come from, street art is a real debate. In Belfast there's really cool wall full of graffiti, poems, greetings, and so on.

Belfast's spotting

Pro tips for visiting Belfast from Dublin.
- Buy tickets beforehand. 31 euros with a train both ways versus 55 euros for a trip longer than a day.

- If you want to use the Hop-on hop-off bus, buy tickets beforehand from the internetz. Adult tickets cost 12.5 Pounds. Compared to 9 pounds bought in advance.