Muhammad Ali Visits Ireland, Meets Distant Relatives [WTF]

WTF!? Really? I'm too perplexed to even make a "fighting Irish" pun...

DUBLIN — Muhammad Ali made a sentimental journey Tuesday to discover his Irish roots, and met distant relatives during celebrations at the local town hall and a nearby castle.

Thousands lined the streets of Ennis, western Ireland, to cheer his motorcade as the three-time heavyweight champion visited the home of his great-grandfather Abe Grady.

Fans adorned streets with red, white and blue bunting and flags, while shop windows competed to display the most impressive posters honoring Ali – including one tongue-in-cheek portrait of him appearing ready to knock out an unpopular Irish politician.

Ali, who is 67 and battling Parkinson's disease, fought only once in Ireland, knocking out Alvin Lewis at Dublin's Croke Park on July 19, 1972.

Ali offered a few playful jabs to cameras but made no public comments and steered clear of throngs of autograph-seekers Tuesday, among them hundreds of kids whose schools closed early for the event. Police blocked off roads and kept crowds in line with railings.

Grady settled in Kentucky in the 1860s and married a freed slave. One of their grandchildren, Odessa Lee Grady Clay, gave birth to Ali – then Cassius Clay – in 1942.

Genealogists pinpointed Ali's Irish links in 2002, but Ali had never visited Ennis.

His visit to Ennis Town Hall was broadcast live on big-screen televisions outside, where locals also took in a live concert by traditional musicians, including best-selling accordionist Sharon Shannon.

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Transparent Pool Table [GADGETS]

I want this...someone spot me 40k!

As part of his senior year ID project, Australian Craig Nottage designed a transparent billiards table; now he's founded his own company in Adelaide, Nottage Design, and made the table a reality. A special combination of glass and resin provide the same resistance you'd get with felt, but are completely transparent; the tubing of the slick ball-return mechanisms are also exposed. At AUS $40,000 it ain't cheap, but it's nice to see someone turn a senior project into a reality--and build a company around it.

Via Ibn

Your request is being processed... Obese Airline Rights: Canada Court Rules The Obese Have Rights To Two Seats

This is amazing...I am not the "slenderest" but I mean if I did weigh so much that I needed 2 seats I would expect to pay! I side with Quagmire on this one...fat folks need love too...but they have to pay!

In the words of

OTTAWA (Reuters) -- Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.

The high court declined to hear an appeal by Canadian airlines of a decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency that people who are "functionally disabled by obesity" deserve to have two seats for one fare.

The airlines had lost an appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal in May and had sought to launch a fresh appeal at the Supreme Court. The court's decision not to hear a new appeal means the one-person-one-fare policy stands.

Read the whole story here.