They will shaft you equally regardless of when you buy. For perspective though, Dublin - Cork return is €59, and Dublin - Belfast return is €50.

Regarding hotels, I'd wait for Merekat to weigh in on that one, but I'd say probably no need to worry. We are an inherently lax populous.

I presume all those dates were actually supposed to be in July by the way?


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Still, I think most of the problem is just a mental hurdle to overcome, - Cloaked User

avoid the Guinness Storehouse. It's a fucking tourist trap. I liked everything about Dublin when I went last year except the Guinness tour.

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<ni> komet: You are functionally illiterate as regards trashy erotica.

No, I'm not baffled by the other side of the political spectrum. As you say, a considerable amount of thought has gone into pretty much all political philosophies, and they are at least internally consistent. The way I see it, anyone involved in politics is (prepare yourself for a controversial statement) trying to make things better for everyone, they just disagree on how to achieve that.

What I do find baffling is that even after I have calmly and clearly explained my beliefs, the morons on the other side persist in clinging to their patently wrongheaded and childish views.

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DFJ?

If you're doing daytrips in the Dublin transport area, get a rambler ticket for the bus - they also work on the airlink (though the aircoach - a private company - are nicer). Rail tickets are unreasonably priced imo but they are the same unreasonable price constantly and there's limited places you can go. In particular, they don't serve some of the key tourist attractions within 30 miles of the city. There can be huge queues for the Belfast train.

Accomodation in the city centre can be pricy but there's lots of it. If you want something a bit different I recommend here.

Oh and beer/coffee?

I often shy away from arguments with people on the right not because I can't understand where they're coming from, but because we disagree on so many things and to such an extent that you can't find any real starting point and the argument branches off all over the place.

On the whole though, I'd much rather argue with someone who has different views. I might learn something. I've got strong views but I'm quite open to new ideas (the result of being a repentent communist I think, and having to accept that I was woefully, totally and completely wrong about something).

I get frustrated with some of my friends who insist on talking about politics solely to shore up their own views, though it can be funny seeing them seize up when someone unexpectedly makes a well-made opposing argument.

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It's political correctness gone mad!

your politics bit
cured my insomnia
thank you, and good night

I well understand the theories "on the right" here in the US and even agree with some of them. Where I part company is on the refusal to accept not the other side, but reality itself. I mean, I understand Rumsfield's theory of doing more, with less...what I don't understand is their refusal to accept that it simply does not work. I understand (and even agree with some) conservative views on smaller government. What I don't understand is the willful refusal to accept that the current Republican party has massively expanded government. I understand the idea of stopping well-armed tyrants preemptively. What I don't understand is the willful refusal to accept the evidence before and after the war that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. I understand the idea of going out and getting the bastards that perpetrated 9/11. What I don't understand is the willful refusal to notice that the Bush administration has done little or nothing to actually accomplish this.

It's not differing views that offend me...it's willful ignorance. "Truthiness" is sadly not a joke.

It's very different from say, the Reagan administration, where you could have lots of arguments about trickle-down economics and the US presence in Central America and whether it really was Reagan's defense policy that caused the Soviet Union to collapse. But at least in all those arguments it seemed as if both sides were operating with the same actual facts.

(This is ignoring the things that truly piss me off, which is the way the "other side" is intent on throwing away all our liberties using one of the smallest threats this country has ever faced as an excuse. Somehow we didn't need to give up what our ancestors fought for when threatened on two sides by two different empires but we have to because of a bunch of disorganized idiots with AK-47s and boxcutters.)
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I forgot to mention: I've been reading a lot of Stross lately. I enjoyed "Iron Sunrise". "Accelerando" is better, though uneven. It deserves the Hugo nomination.

I've also enjoyed his "Merchant Princes" series. It's quite good. It's superficially fantasy, but not of the elves and dragons sort. It's really just the modern world, with one twist and everything the logical conclusion of that. The twist is that members of a certain family are able to "walk worlds" from an alternate Earth to ours. It then goes on to very logically follow how such a family would use this to gain power.

(Though I'm not sure I will forgive him for ending book three in a cliff-hanger...at least he seems to write fast.)

One oddity, though, is that he sets much of the action in the US (though the heroine is British), but the Americans use lots of Britishisms like "flat" and such. Funny, because those are often edited out for American release even in novels set in England.
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