Ireland: The Land of Saints and Scholars

Millions of people around the world are wearing green today and drinking pints of Guinness, because everyone's a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and who doesn’t love an excuse to day drink, as well as get a free pass to assault and sexually solicit people. Kiss me, I’m Irish! Someone’s not wearing green! I myself never need an excuse to drink or sexually harass people at odd hours of the day.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City — which marks its 253rd year — kicked off at 11:00 a.m. this morning. The parade was born in the 1700s, then later adopted by Ireland and around the world. More than 2 million people are expected to come out and watch the colorful display of Irish pride from around the country as well as from Ireland. For the first time, an openly gay group will be able to march under a banner.

City officials in Chicago dyed a portion of the Chicago River green on Saturday in a tradition that dates back to 1962. Nowadays, the city turns the river green by dumping roughly 40 pounds of a secret formula powder into the river, Tom Rowan, the head of the river crew told The Chicago Tribune. Boats help churn the water, which mixes the environmentally-friendly powder, into the river turning it a maximum green in about 45 minutes, Rowan said. Environmentally friendly? Pretty sure dumping 40 pounds of chemicals into any body of water, especially one that is teeming with beavers, muskrats, turtles, fish, and birds, is not being particularly friendly to the environment.

Also known as the Republic of Ireland, Ireland is separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea. Half the size of Arkansas, it occupies the entire island except for the six counties that make up Northern Ireland. Ireland is famed for, among other things, its vibrant literary tradition, having produced many of the English-speaking world's most renowned writers, including Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, George Bernhard Shaw and James Joyce. Let’s take a look at the Land of Saints and Scholars.