Rotten Weather, Dead Sharks And Dublin Destroyed: It’s This Week’s Pub Talk

It's easy to get bogged down in the daily grind and miss the stories that are going on around us – but fear not, you won't be left out of the loop thanks to our handy guide to this week's hot topics.

The BLASTED weather

Seriously, lads, this is supposed to be the start of summer.

At least we’re optimistic about it, though… kinda.

Irish weather optimism. #Ireland pic.twitter.com/K2hRiTXroq

— TwistedDoodles (@twisteddoodles) May 2, 2015

The Equality referendum

Speaking of the BLASTED weather, it weighed in on the marriage equality debate this week… though perhaps not in the way that many readers might have liked.

Dublin residents woke up on Tuesday to see Joe Caslin’s mural on George’s St severely damaged – but after some finger-pointing towards vandals on the ‘No’ side, it turned out that a combination of rain and high winds had done the damage.

It’s worth remembering, of course, that Mother Nature doesn’t get a vote.

Meanwhile, Cork this week treated us to a true snapshot of Ireland in 2015...

THAT Goal ad

An age-old problem when it comes to disaster relief is that would-be donors are too easily able to distance themselves from unfolding tragedies – and the Nepal earthquake is no exception.

Goal addressed this issue briliantly, however, with a scary but incredible mock-up of Dublin city centre in the wake of a disaster used to hammer the message home.

You can donate to their disaster relief efforts here.

Ben E King

The singer passed away yesterday at the age of 76, best remembered as the man who gave the world Stand By Me – one of the great iconic pieces of pop music, first released in 1961.

We all know what it goes like, but now's a good time to sit back and listen to it as if you're hearing it for the first time. That bassline, the percussion, that vocal performance, that climax... absolute gold.

RIP Grooveshark

The service that introduced many of us to music streaming went offline this week, following “mistakes” by the team who established the service.

Sad, really. This is like the demise of MSN all over again…

And if you’re stuck…

Conversation really not flowing in the pub tonight? Well get yourselves stuck into this Lovin Dublin quiz, where you need to guess the names of 14 pubs, restaurants and cafés based on picture clues.

So far, we’ve yet to hear of someone who got them all correct…