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The Evening Fix... now with added man smells

Here’s what we loved, learned and shared today.

Don’t look down… until you have to. Here’s the view from Felix Baumgartner’s capsule after it hovered 128,000 feet – that’s 24.2 miles! – above Earth. Then he jumped, setting a new world skydiving record. (Red Bull Stratos/YouTube)

HERE ARE THE things you need to know as we round off the day in three easy steps.

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#QUINN RALLY: Over 5,000 people have turned out at a rally in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan in support of Sean Quinn and his family – though later estimates put the crowd at closer to 10,000. The rally comes five days ahead of Quinn’s return to the High Court after being found in contempt of an order not to move overseas assets.

#BUDGET 2013: Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has ruled out any prospect of asking the EU and IMF to delay our deadline for meeting their deficit target – saying the Irish people want an end to successive austerity budgets. A junior minister had earlier suggested Ireland could seek an extension given the IMF’s recent change of heart about the impact of austerity.

#MURDER: A murder investigation is underway in Co Cavan after a man was stabbed to death at an apartment in Cavan town last night. The man – who is reported to be a non-national who only arrived in Ireland this week – was attacked at about 11pm last night.

#PROPERTY: Property website Daft.ie has released an analysis suggesting property prices have stabilised in the last six months. The analysis is based on prices from the new national property price register.

#MIDDLE EAST: There’s renewed tensions in the Middle East after Turkey and Syria banned flights from each others’ airspace. Tensions between the two countries have been fraught in the last fortnight; Syria says Turkey is helping to arm the rebels.

#SKYDIVE: Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner has set a new world record – skydiving from 24.2 miles above the Earth. Baumgartner’s record dive – which was streamed on YouTube and witnessed by millions – also saw him set world records for the fastest unsupported freefall, and for the highest altitude ever recorded by a manned balloon. The image above is his view, just as he jumped.

THINGS WE LOVED:

Lightning illuminates the ancient Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis hill in Athens. The city’s been hit by thunderstorms, just as negotiations on a new €13.5 billion austerity deal creep toward a conclusion. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis)

THINGS WE SHARED:

  • This girl tried to draw Pokémon without ever having seen them first. The results are… well, a bit odd.
  • Lawyer Jason McCue reckons the best way to defeat terrorism is through PR – making new recruits feel like they’re buying a bad product. Here are his thoughts, delivered in a TED talk.
  • You may remember the legendary Old Spice ‘Smell like a man, man’ commercials from a couple of years ago – an ad that made an old product cool again. Here’s a behind-the-scenes video of how some of the more ludicrous stunts were pulled off in one take which is doing the rounds again:

(Video: /YouTube)

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12 Comments
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    Mute JD
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    Feb 25th 2014, 1:03 PM

    Whatever about LeBeouf at least Baldwin is a good actor. Hunt for red October and glengarry glen Ross spring to mind.

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Feb 25th 2014, 7:22 PM

    True…LaBeouf is an arrogant tool and an absolute crap actor. Would be missed like a case of the runs.

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    Mute mister
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    Feb 25th 2014, 1:10 PM

    He’ll be back. I like Alec Baldwin as an actor but suspect he’s like any other celebrity who finds the spotlight addictive.

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    Mute Mark Carroll
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    Feb 25th 2014, 1:46 PM

    I don’t care I still love Alec Baldwin as an actor!!

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    Mute SeamusO'Suilleabhain
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    Feb 25th 2014, 1:37 PM

    Interesting article, I don’t get the James Franco references though.

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    Mute Banking Bad
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    Feb 25th 2014, 2:31 PM

    One of Lisa’s articles has finally made it more than a few comments and views without massive criticism.

    Bravo Lisa ;’)

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    Mute Jane Travers
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    Feb 25th 2014, 4:27 PM

    It didn’t, actually. There was a critical comment almost immediately, which I and another commenter rebutted, but when I went into the article to reply again the comment had been removed. Almost instantly.

    I have to say, I thought that was very strange, especially as my complimentary comment was removed as well.

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    Mute Charles J. Ahern
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    Feb 25th 2014, 11:37 PM

    Yeah, why was this removed Jane?

    #RightToCensor

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    Mute Jane Travers
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    Feb 26th 2014, 12:34 AM

    No idea, Charles. Would love an explanation from the Journal tbh.

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    Mute hjGfIgAq
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    Feb 26th 2014, 9:54 AM

    Hi Jane, happy to oblige – any replies to a comment which is removed are deleted along with the original. So if your comment was in response to something which broke the comments policy, that’s why it’s no longer there.

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    Mute Jane Travers
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    Feb 26th 2014, 10:03 AM

    I understand why my reply was removed Jennifer, I just don’t understand why the original comment was removed. Yes, it was critical of the article, but surely criticism is free speech?

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    Mute hjGfIgAq
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    Feb 26th 2014, 10:13 AM

    Ah, I see! If a comment makes personal remarks about the author of a story then it’s taken down. Comments criticising the content or argument of an article are obviously welcomed, but there’s a distinction between that and ad-hominem insults. “Play the ball, not the player” and all that.

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    Mute Jane Travers
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    Feb 26th 2014, 10:21 AM

    Ah, now I see! Thanks for the clarification, Jennifer.

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    Mute hjGfIgAq
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    Feb 26th 2014, 10:38 AM

    No problem :)

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    Mute David Thomas
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    Feb 25th 2014, 1:44 PM

    I’m REALLY gonna miss him!

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    Mute Hakuin Murphy
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    Feb 25th 2014, 2:15 PM

    Years from now, Alec sitting in a bar:
    “Oh yeah, I used to be famous. It’s a tough racket…” *swigs drink*

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    Mute derrickmccormack
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    Feb 25th 2014, 3:16 PM

    what was the point of this article

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    Mute Some Feen
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    Feb 25th 2014, 5:54 PM

    Arec Bawrrin

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    Mute Nigel Briganti
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    Feb 25th 2014, 2:14 PM

    Who cares.

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    Mute Diarmuid Lenihan
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    Feb 25th 2014, 4:18 PM

    I’m strongly considering doing the same.

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    Mute Catherine Mill
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    Feb 25th 2014, 6:22 PM

    No mention of Alec and his domestic violence? or does that not matter?

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