General « Thurles Information

Happy New Year

Wishing all our readers and subscribers, where ever you reside, a very happy and prosperous new year, in 2010.
If you are out and about, remember to stay safe, have fun and be sure to spread good cheer!
Do remember that temperatures tonight are set to drop to as low as -9°C.
Severe frost is anticipated, so do drive, if you must, with extreme care and bear in mind that not all roads will be gritted.

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Perseid Meteor Shower

Sky watchers around Co.Tipperary will have a good chance of spotting the annual Perseid meteor shower which is expected to be quite spectacular, weather permitting, for anyone prepared to stay up late tonight.

The Perseid meteor shower has been observed in our skies for the last 2000 years, with the first known information about this meteor shower recorded in the Far East.

However, the absence of clear skies will not be the only drawback to those wishing to view this spectacular event, as the moon will also be high in the sky and its light will outshine some of the fainter meteors in the shower train.

Also referred to as the Burning Tears of St. Lawrence, the Perseid shower is made up of bits of debris from the parent body of the Comet Swift-Tuttle.

Note : St. Lawrence, whose feast day is August 10th, was burnt to death in AD 258 on an iron stove. Once when ordered by the Roman Emperor Valerian to turn over the treasures of his church – he presented the poor of his parish.

This debris, some no bigger than a grain of sand and at the largest no bigger than a marble in size, was laid down over the centuries as the Comet orbited the sun. In August, each year, the Earth passes through this stream of debris and the skies above the Northern Hemisphere become peppered with little bits of space debris which create this meteor shower spectacular.

Meteors visible to the eye in this display, can number as many as 60 per hour entering Earth’s atmosphere at an incredible 133,200 mph.

For best viewing advantage move away from interference caused by town and city lights. Rural areas usually allows you to view as much sky as possible with little distraction. If you have a lightweight folding deck chair and a rug bring them with you for added comfort as the temperature tonight will be quite low.

The Perseid meteors will appear to originate in the north eastern sky, near the constellation Perseus, and shoot off in many different directions.

Meteor showers and also random shooting stars are, as a general rule, best viewed during the predawn hours.

Mortgage Interest Relief – Suspended – May 1st 09

revenue Persons who purchased homes since 2002 will have their mortgage interest relief cut off with effect from 1st May, until they can demonstrate their true entitlement. This move by the Revenue Commissioners means that mortgage holders presently registered as owning up to 230,000 homes will face higher mortgage bills.
This move comes despite assurance in the recent Supplementary Budget that homeowners would continue to claim relief for the first seven years of their mortgage.

Quote: Supplementary Budget April 2009 Documents:-

Annex C – Mortgage Interest Relief
Mortgage Interest relief will only be available now for the first seven tax years from the date on which a mortgage is taken out. This means that any taxpayer who has received mortgage interest relief for more than 7 tax periods will no longer be eligible for such relief from 1 May 2009.

Those home owners affected include 118,000 persons who may have switched their mortgage provider in search of better deals or those who have received top-up mortgages. Banks and building societies presently deduct the tax relief at source in an agreement with the Revenue.

Letters of notification from the Revenue Commissioners will start to issue in the coming weeks, asking them to provide details of their present mortgage and evidence that the money has been used solely for the purchase of their principal private residences in the State, rather than for other purposes, such as new cars, second homes, educational fees, or to pay existing debts.

The relief is presently worth up to €900 a year for a working couple who jointly hold the mortgage on their principal private residences in the State.

It has presently been determined that mortgages on a possible 57,000 properties in the 26 counties will no longer be entitled to mortgage relief from Friday next. The present owners of as many as 230,000 other homes will also lose their relief until the Revenue Commissioners are convinced that a true entitlement exists.

People fully entitled to mortgage interest relief will have the backdated moneys credited to their accounts once this Revenue exercise is completed.

Easter Egg Origins.

easter-bunny The Easter egg, distributed widely to children at Easter time, symbolises the start of new life, just as when a chick hatches from it’s shell, a new life is born.

The western name for the festival of Easter derives from the Germanic word Eostre. The pre-Christian Saxons had a spring goddess called Eostre, whose feast was held on the 21st March, the Vernal Equinox. Some believe that Eostre was associated with eggs and hares symbolising the rebirth of the land in spring and the more modern introduction of the Easter bunny.

The ancient Persians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration, which falls on each Spring equinox. The Nawrooz tradition has existed for 2,500 years. The decorated eggs are one of the core items to be placed on the Haft Seen, which is the Persian New Year display. The sculptures on the walls of Persepolis show people carrying eggs for Nowrooz, to their king.

It was St. Gregory or Pope Gregory the Great who first ordered his missionaries to make use of old religious sites and festivals, and absorb them into Christian rituals where possible. The Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ was ideally suited for merging into the Pagan feast of Eostre, and many of the pagan traditions were then adopted into the Christian Easter festivities, thus encouraging pagans to turn to the Christian faith. It is through this folklore, the association between hares, and eggs originated.

The modern world has seen the introduction of the ‘Virtual Easter egg‘. Latter is an intentional hidden message, which can be secreted into movies, CDs, DVDs and computer programmes. With the rise of cybercrime and the increase in malware, many companies and government offices now forbid the use of software containing Easter eggs for security reasons, as there is now genuine concern that programmers could hide undocumented code, thus making it easy to access stored personal or confidential information.

A happy Easter to all our readers.

The World We live In – Some Interesting Facts

Did you Know?

The inhabitants of Uruguay are guaranteed free medical care because public hospitals are free of charge.

The Kingdom of Bhutan is a smoke-free country. In 2004, Bhutan became the world’s first country to ban smoking in public places and the selling of tobacco.

Andorra has no airport or rail network. The only forms of public transport in Andorra are taxis and buses.

In the country of Oman, all cars are fitted with an alarm that sounds if the driver exceeds 120kn/h. (Gay Byrne take note.)

It was not until 1924 that Native Americans were awarded full citizenship in America.

Russia has the second highest level of immigration in the world.

Nepal is the only country in the world whose state religion is Hinduism.

In the Philippines divorce is illegal.

On the Solomon Islands there’s no T.V. because the islanders feel T.V. could damage their culture.

Europe’s largest city is Moscow.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest petroleum exporter.

In 2007 the world’s most expensive city was Oslo.

Approximately 85% of New Zealand’s indigenous plant species cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

It is now believed that the world’s oldest writing system originated in the area presently covered by Serbia, western Romania, southern Hungary and eastern Bosnia.