Harrowing, messy, dignified blog post about trying to claim social welfare in Ireland (via @leoie and @cdasilva):http://bit.ly/9otqJa

Jesus. RT @buzzfeed: OMG! The U.S. Embassy in Tunis! http://t.co/aTnhFK2E (via @weeddude)

Speaker asks the crowd outside the Dáil to sit down on the ground. Everyone does it. Total silence. #savita pic.twitter.com/w4pXpIKZ

This is the greatest thing I have ever read. RT @morus1516: Your awful dates, in 140 characters by @rhodri: http://t.co/urzgQSM

This is rather lovely. Why Hypercolour T-Shirts Were Just a One-Hit Wonder:  http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/threaded/2013/01/why-hypercolor-t-shirts-were-just-a-one-hit-wonder/#.UP79F8i9kJI.twitter … via @smithsonianmag

People say internet comments are inherently awful but I just got invited to an orgy, so that's nice.

I don't know where to start. RT @gavreilly: Bertie Ahern, still popular as ever among the Westlife fans at Croker: http://t.co/fIhGD5bA

Ouch #notireland RT @jdickerson: Greece is not the Word RT @thegarance: The euro crisis, in one picture: http://t.co/JyiNLQId

RT @stephenoleary: Priceless - @dublinzoo will given children with red hair free entry into the Zoo as part of Orang-utan Awareness Week.

Art students in Montreal take credit for the fake video of the baby-snatching eagle:  http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/198830/viral-video-of-baby-snatching-eagle-declared-a-fake/#.UNLMJQh7oLw.twitter … (via @pauliehyland)

*applause* RT @bellamackie: Reddit has a thread about secretly gay celebrities. Just go and read the comments: http://t.co/JChGenOf

Best sign at the protest against student fees: "This shit wouldn't happen at Hogwarts" #demo2010

RT @fergal: Man forcibly removed from court by Guard. "See ya", he says to judge by way of a goodbye, "wouldn't wanna be ya".

The Irish Times *doesn't* hate the internet. Great column by @hlinehan blasting the (awful) recent opinion pieces:  http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2013/0110/1224328629264.html …

Westmeath Independent is liveblogging Athlone town council meeting about removing art:  http://bit.ly/VylIaC  (h/t @colettebrowne)

@pontifex Hi Pope!

Favourite typo of the day. Possibly ever: "... because at the time the vast majority of Ireland was effectively ruled by Garlic chieftains".

Chris de Burgh is on Sky News talking about Iran. This is not a joke. http://t.co/7i1toqTm

Did Dunphy really just give out about the Spanish not even singing along to their national anthem? Amazing. (via @seanfarrell_12) #ohdear

Clive James says he's definitely not about to die and smacks down the journalists who wrote that he was. Great read: http://t.co/smiq1gQZ