St. Patrick: The Movie - and other stuff

A popular legend says that St. Patrick chased all the snakes out of Ireland. Now M and I aren't scientists, but we do know how to Google up scientific facts. And not to rain on anyone's St. Patrick's Day Parade, but the fact is, there have never been any snakes in Ireland. Well, except for zoo specimens and the occasional pet. (Crikey!) The internet abounds with chapter and verse about how a snakeless Ireland came about. It's interesting--but a bit dry, unless you happen to dig science.

Let's face it, most folks would rather believe the legend, since it's easier than doing research. And many are content to watch the movie, which I think is already on DVD:

In other news, M says today's Celebrity Cipher was pretty clever:

"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."

--William Butler Yeats

In keeping with our theme of separating legend from fact, we have to say that this marvelous statement, widely attributed to Yeats, might have been thought up by somebody else. The problem is, it's hard to find exactly where Yeats said it. On the other hand, it's also hard to find it attributed to anyone else. But in any case, M says it describes the Irish mindset pretty well. (He's allowed to say that, since his pedigree includes a lot of Scots-Irish.)

I leave you today with this very Irish-sounding blessing: May the wind at your back always be your own.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybuddy!