3/17/25 - St Patrick's Day, Travel, and Get Some TVs
- bribriny
- Mar 17
- 5 min read
Monday 3/17/25
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
St. Patrick's Day takes place on the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, who is thought to have died in 461. Contrary to what many may think, St. Patrick was not Irish—he was born in Roman Britain, in what is now England, Scotland, or Wales. At the age of 16, he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland to be a slave. During his time in captivity, he turned to his Christian faith. He escaped six years later, began religious training, and later returned to Ireland as a missionary. Some credit him with bringing Christianity to the country, but it is believed a bishop known as Palladius had been doing mission work there since 431. It is likely Patrick ministered to those who were already Christians, while converting others.
Many legends surround St. Patrick. One says he explained the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by using the three leaves of the native Irish clover—the shamrock. Years later, during the seventeenth century, the shamrock became a symbol of Irish nationalism and pride against British rule.
There is also a legend that says St. Patrick banished snakes from Ireland. It is a snake-free island, but it had been before Patrick arrived. Some see the snake story as being an allegory for his banishment of pagan ideology.
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Celebrate:
Act Happy Day
Camp Fire Girls Day
Corned Beef and Cabbage Day
Doctor-Patient Trust Day
Dribble to Work Day
National Wellderly Day
Submarine Day
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This weekend is in fact the lowest grossing at the domestic box office year-to-date with around $54.7M for all films, lower than Super Bowl Weekend ($55.8M). How is that possible during a spring break with kids off?
1. Novocaine $8.7 Million
2. Black Bag $7.5 Million
2. Mickey 17 $7.5 Million
4. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up $3.1 Million
5. The Last Supper $2.8 Million
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76% of Americans say they'll celebrate St. Paddy's Day in one way or another this past weekend. 88% of people under 35 said yes.
48% would wear green. Women are more likely to do it, 53% compared to 44% of men.
28% hit the bars. 32% of men and 24% of women.
26% ate Irish food, like corned beef or shepherd's pie.
23% had a festive boozy beverage, like green beer or Guinness.
22% cooked Irish food.
19% watched a St. Paddy's themed movie or TV show.
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The site "WalletHub" ranked the best cities to celebrate in . . . and yes, Boston is #1 again.
Chicago was second last year, but fell four spots to #6. They base it on everything from beer prices to how many St. Patrick's Day events there are.
The 10 best cities for St. Patrick's Day in 2025 are . . .
1. Boston
2. Reno
3. Savannah, Georgia
4. Santa Rosa, California
5. Worcester, Massachusetts
6. Chicago
7. New York
8. Henderson, Nevada. (Just outside Vegas.)
9. Buffalo, New York
10. Pittsburgh
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A new poll on America's top favorite ways to hear music.
1. Streaming services got 38% of the vote.
2. Live concerts, 15%.
3. RADIO with 14% of the vote.
4. CDs, 13%. A lot of cars still have CD players.
5. Vinyl records, 12%.
Only 4% said MP3s on their phone or iPod. And just 1% said cassette tapes are their favorite way to listen to music in 2025.
When you combine all those groups, the average person spends $274 on music a year: $100 on concerts . . . $75 on streaming services . . . $53 on CDs . . . $46 on records . . . and ZERO dollars on us.
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A new report used internet search data to find each state's "dream travel destination." It's not THE #1 spot . . . but the one that each state is searching more intensely than other states.
Here's what they came up with:
1. Hot Spots: A bunch of us just want to be warmer. 10 states picked Florida cities including New York - Miami and Pennsylvania - Orlando. Four more picked Hawaii. Three want to hit up Vegas. Two want to enjoy Southern California. And five are fine with Arizona, either Phoenix or Tucson.
2. Coincidentally, people in Arizona want the COOLER temps of Seattle, as do people in Alabama, who are searching vacations in Denver. Floridians and Georgians are looking to go to New York.
And speaking of the South, there's some trading spaces going on . . . Mississippians are just looking for a shorter trip over to Houston. And people in Louisiana want to hop over to Atlanta.
3. There's one other DOMESTIC travel dream. The people in Wyoming are apparently searching a trip to Minot, North Dakota.
4. As for international trips, South Dakota is looking to get to Japan . . . as is California and Hawaii. Thailand is the destination for Oregon and Nebraska. And people in Oklahoma are looking for a culture shock in Dubai.
5. There are some typical Caribbean-style destinations, with a series of states zeroing in on Jamaica, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Cancun, Costa Rica, Panama, and Puerto Rico.
Two states, Virginia and Maryland, are really hot on El Salvador, which is interesting.
One, Massachusetts, is eyeing Europe. Greece, specifically.
Canada didn't get ANY love, but Mexico did. People in Illinois want to go to Mexico City, along with Texans.
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Have you ever wished that you DIDN'T have to go to the neighborhood sports bar . . . and that the bar could come to you, in your OWN living room?
With March Madness around the corner, this is perfect: Samsung is offering a "Buzzer Beater Bundle," which includes EIGHT TVs for $10,307.42.
The eight screens are:
A 98-inch 4K TV
a 65-inch 8K
three 65-inch 4K TVs
three 55-inch 4K.
You can arrange them on different walls like at a sports bar, or put them together on one very intense "accent wall."
Samsung is promoting the bundle to extreme sports fanatics who can't miss a game. t $10,300, you're getting the TVs at a nearly 30% discount, saving you around $6K.
The package does not include the wall mounts and installation, which could cost around $200 apiece. The offer is only available now through March 22nd.
By the way, I don't have much knowledge of College Basketball, but that doesn't stop me from making a bracket and even having a group!
Want to be part of it for nothing? And win nothing? Go here by 10am Thursday.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - E is the most common letter in English, followed by A, R, I, and O. Q is the LEAST common, followed by J, Z, X, and V.
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Check out the web version of this briefing, along with The Anniversary Song of the Day and more content, on the web at https://bribriny.wixsite.com/brianbriefing
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