St. Patrick’s Day Open Thread
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a celebration of all things Irish. I hope you’re all wearing green and drinking green beer in celebration. I thought I’d share some St. Patrick’s Day facts (from History.com):
The Celebration
- Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish. In 2007, roughly 41.5 billion pounds of U.S. beef and 2.6 billion pounds of U.S. cabbage were sold. Many St. Patrick’s Day celebrants enjoyed corned beef from Texas, which produced 6.8 billion pounds of beef, and cabbage from California and New York, which produced 581 and 580 million pounds, respectively.
- Irish soda bread gets its name and distinctive character from the use of baking soda rather than yeast as a leavening agent.
- Lime green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick’s Day parades and celebrations.
The Parade
- The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in the United States on March 17, 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City.
- More than 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades are held across the United States. New York City and Boston are home to the largest celebrations.
At the annual New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade, participants march up 5th Avenue from 44th Street to 86th Street. More than 150,000 people take part in the event, which does not allow automobiles or floats.
According to the History.com website, Irish is the leading ancestry group in the state of Delaware and in the top 5 in every state except Hawaii and New Mexico.
I hope everyone has a happy, fun and safe St. Patrick’s Day!
Tags: Open Thread
Green beer? Ew. Drink a Guinness.
Corned beef and cabbage cooking
Irish potatoes sent w/ the youngest to hand out in class
Office closing early
Time for the leprechauns to work some magic around here
Ah yes, a son on the bagpipes
A beautiful St. Patrick’s Day!!!
The latest jobs bill passed the Senate today, with 11 Republicans voting in favor.
The state of Hawai’i is sick and tired of obnoxious birthers:
I remember as a young Democratic lad out West, going to my state senator’s annual St. Patrick’s Day party in the basement of St. Dominic’s Church (the district was Jewish/Irish/Italian/Hispanic – all of our mothers were interchangable). Dennis Joseph Patrick Gallagher, who now serves as city auditor, would have the best whiskey, dancers, and served his grandmother Nellie’s Irish Lamb Stew.
One year, our version of Bella Abzug, State Representative Arie Taylor, who was African-American, was asked why she was there. Her response – “Well, you have the Black Irish, and the Orange Irish, I’m the Ebony Irish.” And with that, we all had a good laugh.
Tea Partiers outnumber Progressives 9 to 1
Tea partiers crash Democrats’ rally
redding.com ^ | March 17, 2010 | Damon Arthur
Members of the Shasta Cascade Progressive Democrats were vastly outnumbered at their own Redding rally today by members of the conservative Redding Tea Party Patriots.
The Democrats had planned a noon “Healthcare not Warfare Brown Bag Lunch Vigil” today in front of Rep. Wally Herger’s office today.
But 18 Tea Party members showed up before any Democrats arrived. By the time the shouting and debating was over, it was four Democrats to 36 Tea Party members.
Democrat Melita Bena of Redding said that even though her group was outnumbered, she felt it was a success.
“We’re not outnumbered. We’re all together. This is a fight against the elite,” said Bena, who carried a sign that said “Healthcare not Warfare.”