Saddens me that anyone would mess with Fire Water . . .

I must be new because I've never heard the name "Publican". I like it.

That is a reasonable fine for that kind of crime.

I was baffled by their precise measuring of shots. 35ml every time. Kind of hard to get a stiff drink doing it that way.

Death would be too good for anyone that waters down liquor. The tripe they sell at grocery stores here in Ohio is offensive enough (40 proof max).

Ireland: Proving that not all governments are broken.

Water?? Feck...

That settles it. If McCain is elected President, I'm moving to Ireland.

Americans have been watering down their beer for years and the majority of people don't seem to mind.

No taserin'?

Which is a great idea, of course, if you're serving minors.

I think they got off easy.

So do I need to carry around black/gun powder to proof alcohol at my local watering hole now?

At first I was going to say that he got off easy. But since it was only vodka he was watering down I'd now say it's a reasonable fine.

mrapier: I must be new because I've never heard the name "Publican". I like it.

Then what do they call people who own pubs in the US, or bars as you call them? Barowners?

Stoneyford? Sweet lord, that must be one of the most dreary, wind-blown, desperate parts of Kilkenny. It's literally a wide road and a few houses. God help the poor bastards living there, and now to add to their problems this joker is watering down their only form of escape.

Thats worse than finding roaches in the kitchen over there

I came here for the hero tag

/was not disappointed

An tSaoi: mrapier: I must be new because I've never heard the name "Publican". I like it.

Then what do they call people who own pubs in the US, or bars as you call them? Barowners?

god.

TFA:: "Mr Malzard was ordered to pay costs of €363 and expenses of €818."

Do they have feng shui fines in Ireland now, or what?

An tSaoi: mrapier: I must be new because I've never heard the name "Publican". I like it.

Then what do they call people who own pubs in the US, or bars as you call them? Barowners?

Enablers.

They found the concentration of alcohol in his vodka bottles to be less than the standard 37.5 per cent proof.

I don't know how they do it in Ireland, but across the pond here percent and proof mean two different things.

This is why I love Ireland so very very much.

Fine for watering beer in Ireland: $3,400

Fine, under King Ethelbert* of England (as advised by Saint Augustine--not that old bore, St. Augustine of Hippo--the other one), for

killing a nobleman - 300 shillings;
killing a commoner - 100 shillings;
killing a freedman - 40 to 80 shillings;
killing a slave - 50 shillings.

Source: http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h04eng.htm

killing a Welshman - 20 shillings (this may be wrong--I'm extrapolating from other sources which say the fine was one fifth that for killing an Anglo-Saxon commoner. In fact, I recently saw one of those Tony Robinson history shows and they estimated that a nobleman was worth GBP50,000 in today's money.

This allows us to calculate that:

one shilling was worth GBP 167 (no wonder only rich people ever saw one) and thus:

a nobleman was worth GBP50,000;
a commoner was worth GBP16,670;
a freedman was worth GBP6,680 to GBP13,360;
a slave was worth GBP 8,350.

My guess is that any Irishmen in England at that time would be slaves and therefore worth less than GB8,350. Pound is worth less than $2 at the moment. So an Irishman would have been worth roughly $16,000 at the time.

That seems very reasonable: at the time Irishmen had short life spans, were as ignorant as dirt (despite being more civilized than the Anglo-Saxons) and there was a severe over-supply as far as the English market was concerned.

Given what a peasant or slave could scratch out of the earth in the way of a living, those were possibly quite fair damages. Consider that the families of people killed by US (and other) troops and corporations in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, India, etc., are lucky to get $2,000 for their nearly beloved, very fair.

It may be a pure technicality in the eyes of the English, but the Irish are white and therefore worth eight times as much as an Indian peasant.

If you have ever wondered why the Welsh hate the English, just remember they practiced on them what they later did to the Scots, in practice for what they later did to the French and the Irish, in practice for what they later did to the Wogs and Fuzzy-Wuzzies of their First and Second Empires.

In other words, the Welsh hate the English because they know them better than anybody else in the world.

But I digress. If there is one thing Brantgoose is good at, it's digressing. (I'm moderately good at transgressing, can ingress and egress like anything, but digressing is my forté.)

The whole point of this essay is to calculate that an Irishman's life is apparently worth V kegs of watered beer at IXth Century rates.

"A shilling a day is pretty good pay." vide "A dollar a day is pretty good pay."

At least in the time of King Ethelbert, a shilling a day would have been excellent pay, even for a clerk.


*Dilbert's sister?

If I do move anywhere outside of the states it will be to western Ireland, in the vicinity of Galway.

brantgoose: My guess is that any Irishmen in England at that time would be slaves



So Irish were slaves to the Brits? Interesting, previously-unknown piece of history you have thrown upon us.

Ultraholland - Galway is lovely but full of filthy hippy types.

Cormee: Galway is lovely but full of filthy hippy types.

I spent six weeks outside of Clonbur doing some geologic field work and made maybe three trips into Galway. The surrounding areas (Connemara, The Burren, etc) are just beautiful. I farking adore that place, hippies aside.

Fark needs a Damn Straight tag.
Anybody with more skills than I care to help the cause?

With all the great Irish whiskey and beer, why drink vodak?

brantgoose: IXth Century rates.

Except Aethelbert ruled in the late 6th/early 7th centuries...

I don't understand why anyone is surprised, is it legal in the US to do that? I know anywhere else you would have the trading standards people after you.

Epsilon: I don't know how they do it in Ireland, but across the pond here percent and proof mean two different things.

100 percent (or degrees) of proof means that it would be about 57% alcohol by volume (the strength at which gunpowder will not explode when mixed with the liquor). So 37.5% proof will be about 20% alcohol by volume. I think you would just call it 37.5 proof.

brantgoose: Fine for watering beer in Ireland: $3,400

Fine, under King Ethelbert* of England (as advised by Saint Augustine--not that old bore, St. Augustine of Hippo--the other one), for

killing a nobleman - 300 shillings;
killing a commoner - 100 shillings;
killing a freedman - 40 to 80 shillings;
killing a slave - 50 shillings.

Source: http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h04eng.htm

killing a Welshman - 20 shillings (this may be wrong--I'm extrapolating from other sources which say the fine was one fifth that for killing an Anglo-Saxon commoner. In fact, I recently saw one of those Tony Robinson history shows and they estimated that a nobleman was worth GBP50,000 in today's money.

This allows us to calculate that:

one shilling was worth GBP 167 (no wonder only rich people ever saw one) and thus:

a nobleman was worth GBP50,000;
a commoner was worth GBP16,670;
a freedman was worth GBP6,680 to GBP13,360;
a slave was worth GBP 8,350.

My guess is that any Irishmen in England at that time would be slaves and therefore worth less than GB8,350. Pound is worth less than $2 at the moment. So an Irishman would have been worth roughly $16,000 at the time.

That seems very reasonable: at the time Irishmen had short life spans, were as ignorant as dirt (despite being more civilized than the Anglo-Saxons) and there was a severe over-supply as far as the English market was concerned.

Given what a peasant or slave could scratch out of the earth in the way of a living, those were possibly quite fair damages. Consider that the families of people killed by US (and other) troops and corporations in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, India, etc., are lucky to get $2,000 for their nearly beloved, very fair.

It may be a pure technicality in the eyes of the English, but the Irish are white and therefore worth eight times as much as an Indian peasant.

If you have ever wondered why the Welsh hate the English, just remember they practiced on them what they later did to the Scots, in practice for what they later did to the French and the Irish, in practice for what they later did to the Wogs and Fuzzy-Wuzzies of their First and Second Empires.

In other words, the Welsh hate the English because they know them better than anybody else in the world.

But I digress. If there is one thing Brantgoose is good at, it's digressing. (I'm moderately good at transgressing, can ingress and egress like anything, but digressing is my forté.)

The whole point of this essay is to calculate that an Irishman's life is apparently worth V kegs of watered beer at IXth Century rates.

"A shilling a day is pretty good pay." vide "A dollar a day is pretty good pay."

At least in the time of King Ethelbert, a shilling a day would have been excellent pay, even for a clerk.


*Dilbert's sister?

Blah blah. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go take a Cromwell in the washroom.

I've already set my mind for moving to Scotland or Ireland if the Progressive's win the next election.

The scales were now tipped duly in Ireland's favor.

TFA: Kilkenny

Those bastards!

Manic_Repressive: TFA: Kilkenny

Those bastards!

The penalty for watering down a drink anywhere should be death.

/DNRTFA

I second the "water down my drink and earn a one-way ticket to Allah" law.

A fine?

You guys run out of rope?

Swede: A fine?

You guys run out of rope?

RTFA, it was just vodka. Had it been whiskey, the estate of the deceased pub owner would've been paying.

brantgoose:

That's an admirable effort to compute the value of an Irishman, but I don't think the modern view (based on calculations made by the Union Pacific Railroad, et. al.) that "a Mick ain't shiat compared to a Chinaman" will be discarded any time soon.

Edd17: Epsilon: I don't know how they do it in Ireland, but across the pond here percent and proof mean two different things.

100 percent (or degrees) of proof means that it would be about 57% alcohol by volume (the strength at which gunpowder will not explode when mixed with the liquor). So 37.5% proof will be about 20% alcohol by volume. I think you would just call it 37.5 proof.

I don't know how they do thinks in Jolly Olde Nannystate, but even the most shiatfaced blackout drunk can convert Proof into Percent Alcohol. Here is a simple formula for the conversion, where X=Proof and Y=% Alcohol:

X/2=Y

It's that simple, unless you Limeys have buggered up yet another standard of measure, which wouldn't surprise me in the least.

/I'd fancy a dram about now. . .

most bestest goodest use of spiffy tag evar.

And I need to add as that I am under the influence that Fark needs an Awesome tag. That would be more better than Spiffy, no?

harden the f*ck up ireland!

/not obscure?

Cornwell: Swede: A fine?

You guys run out of rope?

RTFA, it was just vodka. Had it been whiskey, the estate of the deceased pub owner would've been paying.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

at first i thought the guy got just the right fine

then i found out it was the voddy



hang him



divine ambrosia is what that is. buy Russian vodka. except no substitutions

what is the worth of an irishman?
infinitely more than any prick who would ask this question.

irish make good vodak too (Boru)
russian is not the original, polish is.
ie. poland, not pledge...

doobiebrother: what is the worth of an irishman?
infinitely more than any prick who would ask this question.

irish make good vodak too (Boru)
russian is not the original, polish is.
ie. poland, not pledge...

no one has ever been able to prove who started using vodka first. the issue is and always has been hotly contested. i side with Russia because i have tried both and Russian vodka is considerably better