Exxon's 'Universe of Energy' tends to the peculiar rather than the humorous ... After [an incomprehensible film montage about wind and sun and rain and strip mines and] two or three minutes of mechanical confusion, the seats locomote through a short tunnel filled with clock-work dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are depicted without accuracy and too close to your face. "One of the few real novelties at Epcot is the use of smell to aggravate illusions. Of course, no one knows what dinosaurs smelled like, but Exxon has decided they smelled bad. "At the other end of Dino Ditch ... there's a final, very addled message about facing challengehood tomorrow-wise. I dozed off during this, but the import seems to be that dinosaurs don't have anything to do with energy policy and neither do you." -- P. J. O'Rourke, "Holidays in Hell"
Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P. J. O'Rourke</p>
After all, what is your hosts' purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi. -- P. J. O'Rourke</p>
Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region, rioted over much needed spelling reform in the Soviet Union. -- P. J. O'Rourke</p>
Some people say a front-engine car handles best. Some people say a rear-engine car handles best. I say a rented car handles best. -- P. J. O'Rourke</p>
Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely. -- P. J. O'Rourke</p>
With the territory which afterwards became the county Cavan, Leitrim formed part of Brenny or Breffny, which was divided into two principalities, of which Leitrim, under the name of Hy Bruin-Brenny, formed the western. Being for a long time in the possession of the O'Rourkes, descendants of Roderick, king of Ireland, it was also called Brenny O'Rourke. This family long maintained its independence; even in 1579, when the other existing counties of Connaught were created, the creation of Leitrim was deferred, and did not take place until 1583. Large confiscations were made in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., in the Cromwellian period, and after the Revolution of 1688. Entry: LEITRIM
4. Michael (Michail) (1794-1850) was the father of Elena (1827-1888), a well-known novelist, who wrote under the name of Dora d'Istria. Brought up, as was customary at the time, under Greek influences, she showed premature intelligence and literary power. She continued her education in Germany and married a Russian prince, Koltsov Mazalskiy, in 1849, but the marriage was an unhappy one, and in 1855 she left St Petersburg for Florence, where she died in 1888. In that city she developed her literary talent and published a number of works characterized by lightness of touch and brilliance of description, such as _Pèlerinage au tombeau de Dante, La Vie monastique dans les églises orientales_ (1844), _La Suisse allemande_, &c. One of her last works was devoted to the history of her own family, _Gli Albanesi in Roumenia: Storia dei Principi Ghika nei secoli XVII-XIX_ (Florence, 1873). Her sister was Sophia, Countess O'Rourke. Entry: 4
Diarmait MacMurchada (Dermod MacMurrough), great-grandson of Diarmait Mael-na-mBó, as king of Leinster was by descent and position much mixed up with foreigners, and generally in a state of latent if not open hostility to the high-kings of the Hy Neill and Dalcais dynasties. He was a tyrant and a bad character. In 1152 Tigernan O'Rourke, prince of Breifne, had been dispossessed of his territory by Tordelbach O'Connor, aided by Diarmait, and the latter is accused also of carrying off Derbforgaill, wife of O'Rourke. On learning that O'Rourke was leading an army against him with the support of Ruadri, he burnt his castle of Ferns and went to Henry II. to seek assistance. The momentous consequences of this step belong to the next section, and it now remains for us to state the condition of the church and society in the century preceding the Anglo-Norman invasion. Entry: EARLY
CLONMACNOISE, one of the most noteworthy of the numerous early religious settlements in Ireland, on the river Shannon, in King's county, 9 m. S. of Athlone. An abbey was founded here by St Kieran in 541, which as a seat of learning gained a European fame, receiving offerings, for example, from Charles the Great, whose companion Alcuin the scholar received part of his education from the great teacher Colcu at Conmacnoise. Several books of annals were compiled here, and the foundation became the seat of a bishopric, but it was plundered and wasted by the English in 1552, and in 1568 the diocese was united with that of Meath. The most remarkable literary monument of Clonmacnoise is the Book of the Dun Cow, written about 1100, still preserved (but in an imperfect form) by the Royal Irish Academy, and containing a large number of romances. It is a copy of a much earlier original, which was written on the skin of a favourite cow of St Kieran, whence the name of the work. The full title of the foundation is the "Seven Churches of Clonmacnoise," and remains of all these are extant. The Great Church, though rebuilt by a chief named McDermot, in the 14th century, retains earlier remains in a fine west doorway; the other churches are those of Fineen, Conor, St Kieran, Kelly, Melaghlin and Dowling. There are two round towers; O'Rourke's, lacking the roof, but occupying a commanding situation on rising ground, is dated by Petrie from the early 10th century, and stands 62 ft. in height; and McCarthy's, attached to Fineen's church, which is more perfect, but rather shorter, and presents the unusual feature of a doorway level with the ground, instead of several feet above it as is customary. There are three crosses, of which the Great Cross, made of a single stone and 15 ft. in height, is splendidly carved, with tracery and inscriptions. It faces the door of the Great Church, and is of the same date. A large number of inscribed stones dating from the 9th century and after are preserved in the churches. There are further remains of the Castle and Episcopal palace, a fortified building of the 14th century, and of a nunnery of the 12th century. In the neighbourhood are seen striking examples of the glacial phenomenon of _eskers_, or gravel ridges. Entry: CLONMACNOISE
_History and Antiquities._--At the period of the English settlement, and for some centuries afterwards, this district was known as the Brenny, being divided between the families of O'Rourke and O'Reilly; and its inhabitants, protected by the nature of the country, long maintained their independence. In 1579 Cavan was made shire ground as part of Connaught, and in 1584 it was formed into a county of Ulster by Sir John Perrott, and subdivided into seven baronies, two of which were assigned to Sir John O'Reilly and three to other members of the family; while the two remaining, possessed by the septs of Mackernon and Magauran, and situated in the mountains bordering on O'Rourke's country, were left subject to their ancient tenures and the exactions of their Irish lord. The county subsequently came within the scheme for the plantation of Ulster under James I. The population is less mixed in race than in most parts of Ulster, being generally of Celtic extraction. Some few remains of antiquity remain in the shape of cairns, raths and the ruins of small castles, such as Cloughoughter Castle on an island (an ancient crannog) of Lough Oughter. Three miles from the town of Cavan is Kilmore, with its cathedral, a plain erection containing a Romanesque doorway brought from the abbey of Trinity Island, Lough Oughter. The bishopric dates from about 1450. A portion of a round tower is seen in the churchyard of the parish of Drumlane at Belturbet. Entry: CAVAN