Halfbaked - Tour Guide, hapless but mainly happy!

The Back-story Pt 1. Once upon a time a Tour Guide called Halfbaked went to Sligo. Got hijacked by Queen Mebd and her rather scary Champion called Fergus. Now destined to travel Ireland visiting her old haunts (and new ones) with an ever growing band of companions. @sligotourism

For anyone who has lost or forgotten theirs, feel free to copy, read, laminate and carry this one. Applies from Recruit to the most senior appointments!

@Springboks Classic photo, especially given the 15 minutes of pure chaos that preceded it ;-)

Your #Springboks team to face Ireland in Dublin tomorrow 🇿🇦 #ForeverGreenForeverGold

Words for the Weekend 🥳 Pick your winner ⭐️ A B C D (Follow for more)

@medievalgill x.com/DaithiThe/stat…

There’s a twelfth century Irish tale called Gúaire’s Burdensome Poetic Band and I’ve always thought what an excellent actual band name that would be.

‘Answering the call’ is a powerful film about the hopes and effort to save one of Irelands most endangered species: the Corncrake. It premieres at the @TriskelCork this Saturday as part of the @CorkFilmFest and features @NPWSIreland and the Corncrake LIFE team.

Couldn't make it up! thejournal.ie/man-drove-stol…

@rayofoghlu Agriland is good at reporting these. Also, here is a PQ answer from earlier in the year. 16 assorted 2025 WLA prosecutions to date at May, bulk of these S.40. Wed, 28 May 2025 – Parliamentary Questions (34th Dáil) – Houses of the Oireachtas share.google/aUoJCNA7YHbz3P…

@DaithiThe Send a link there friendly bot. I'll send mine. Its an answer to Ministers Questions.

The state has prosecuted a grand total of 1 hedgerow removal this year. 1

Interpretation. 1. Questionable methodology. 2. Nobody cares. 3. Lip service / greenwashing. 4. People "care" but don't engage. Any which way - no conservation without engagement. 😢

UK, Ireland, Spain, and Netherlands are in the bottom 10 of this list of 61 countries for nature connectedness. Britain one of least ‘nature-connected’ nations in world – with Nepal the most | Environment | The Guardian theguardian.com/environment/20…

Hmm, not good at all. Such beautiful places, so low on the list!

Definitely Infantry trained that doggo. Exerce Perfectione.

And so it begins! A pity, because both are special places. Halfbaked had the pleasure of leading many groups to both establishments. Victor hated having his "polytheistic open-air temple" described as a tourist attraction. Hopefully it regains some peace.

Seriously, does anyone care? It seems not. Seems like a very small segment of society is doing anything practical about this. So much more needs to be done. irishtimes.com/ireland/2025/0…

@goodreads "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

@HannahIamthest1 Give credit to Peter Badcock, Images of War. Solar Images of Heat. Arbiter of movement in this thirstland, The sun slides spitefully Across its uncontested void, Reducing, just at noon, What isolated shade there is

I am over 50, and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing backwards. Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35. For starters, researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every ten seconds. Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a month, leaving us more than 280,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy. Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry.' We're bad-tempered and impatient, and maybe letting us kill some ***hole that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while..... An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10am. Old guys always get up early to pee, so what the hell. Besides, like I said, I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical ******. If captured, we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainteaser. Boot camp would be easier for old guys.... We're used to getting screamed and yelled at, and we're used to soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling. They could lighten up on the obstacle course, however..... I've been in combat and never saw a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any push-ups after completing basic training. Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too..... I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet. An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave or to start a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head. These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way. Let us old guys track down those terrorists..... The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple million hacked off old farts with bad attitudes and automatic weapons, who know that their best years are already behind them. HEY!! How about recruiting women over 50.... in menopause! Do you think MEN have attitudes? Ohhhhhhhh my goodness!!! If nothing else, put them on border patrol. They'll have it secured the first night! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

OH NO! This old oak tree #Letterkenny has been cut down overnight despite people protesting against it happening!!! From #HighlandRadio highlandradio.com/2025/09/03/bel… #trees #Donegal #Ireland @OrrCaroline @GregHughes2

After seeing the photograph of Cormac McCarthy's living room (containing around 1000 books, 5% of his total personal library), I'm reminded of what Umberto Eco once said: "It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones. There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion. If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice! Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity." 🎯