EVERY SATURDAY MORNING we like to take a look at all the best comments left on the site by you lot over the past week.

There’s been a lot of discussion this week around the Higgs boson, TDs expenses and the Orange Order holding a parade in Dublin, as well as the Ulster Bank problems, ghost estates -  and of course, the weather. Always the weather.

So here, in no particular order, are the standout comments from the week.

There was an all-too-brief period on Wednesday when Ireland was almost – ALMOST – completely rain-free.  Gerry Ryan had this warning about temperatures creeping up:

21 degrees, that’s only 4 degrees below the official melting point of Irish People. Careful now.

The likely discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN was one of the big talking points of the week. Responding to someone who was critical of the amount of money that has gone into CERN, Aidan Church pointed out what it had done:

When we’re all dead and gone the valuable work completed in organizations like CERN will be the only thing we have to give future generations whether they make discoveries or not. Every generation to come gains from these projects as we have gained from those before us. It’s pretty ironic you’re critical of their budget using the World Wide Web, a medium which one of their scientists created.

Big Lebowski reference alert: in a discussion about whether it was right to refer to the Higgs boson as the ‘god particle’, one commenter noted that then name ties a lot of things together. From random:

They should call it the rug particle if it really ties things together, man.

Should people get to know their neighbours better? A lot of people in the comments under this Read Me said they were happy enough not to know the people around them. Danny McLaughlin was one of the exceptions:

We have a fantastic community spirit in our estate. Admittedly, it’s all to do with our kids. They are growing up together and as a result, all the parents have become great friends. We have cleanup evenings and the turnout is great. Every one has pride in the area.[It's] just a normal enough estate in South Inishowen in Donegal. It’s about 8 years old. Like I said, the majority take pride in the estate and help to maintain it. We had a tragedy recently, everyone has come together and helped the family. There are those that don’t bother, but most feel part of the community.

Meanwhile Declan Noonan had this story:

I’ll never forget my mother hiding behind the curtains looking at a neighbour across the street and saying “look at mrs so and so looking out her window at the neighbours!” classic :)

There was a lot of debate about the Pride parade which took place in Dublin last weekend. Alistair Thacker explained why he goes to it every year:

hbenroe, I have nothing in common with many of the people at St Patrick’s day parades. At lot of people there are loud, drunk and embarrassing and it makes me cringe. It’s not how I want to see Ireland represented However, I still go, because I’m proud of Ireland and want to celebrate that. If I achieve nothing else by going, at least I ‘dilute’ the number of drunks with plastic hammers.There are may reasons to go to a pride parade. My wife and I go every year to just to show support. I’m embarrassed by straight people who are homophobes – they don’t represent me and I want to balance it out by showing my support.

If you feel that pride parades don’t represent you, then, in my opinion, that’s all the more reason you should go: show how you DO want to be represented. Don’t wave a flag or blow a whistle, walk quietly with the crowd. Show the world that not all LGBTQ people fit the stereotype.

Patch the dog made the headlines this week when he ended up in Dublin’s Pearse Street station after jumping on a train in Kilcock.

Continent Simian had a prediction for what awaited him when he got home:

Right now, that poor dog has absolutely no comprehension of the methods being used to return him home. Tiny pulses of electro magnetic energy arranged in tweets and pages, slipping along wires, blasting through air. Thousands of silicon machines marshaling these pulses into a 2 diminutional representation of his little furry face.

The dog has no idea.

At least, not until it gets home and checks the web. Then it’ll be mortified.

And Margaret Donnellan got over 250 thumbs up for this ruff – sorry – pun:

He must be very well TRAINed.

:-/

Do you like travelling by air? Rónán O’Suilleabháin had this this comment on Thursday’s poll:

I tend to have a bit of a moan about it. The checking in, the queues, the charges, the small seats, boredom on long haul flights etc. But I actually still enjoy it. I think I just fall into conversations where you moan about flying. I actually like the flights. It’s sitting around Heathrow in the f**king tiny Wetherspoons for hours waiting on a connection that bothers me the most. Since I moved to Dublin though, even connections aren’t as bad, as I’m not waiting on a flight to Cork.

I was 18 when I first boarded a plane and that was an amazing experience for me. I couldn’t believe how quick we got off the ground. The power of the engines was incredible and I still sometimes get a rush at the power taking off.

Nowadays my enjoyment is more down to the experience on a particular airline. I took a transatlantic on Air Canada last year on a plane with so dated an interior that they were still projecting movies onto a wall. Compare that with flying Virgin Atlantic about 10 years ago and getting my own personal SNES built into the entertainment system.

All that aside though, nothing compares to the train. Got trains going on my summer holidays every year as a kid and I still feel that excitement standing on the platform listening to the engines. To this day, passing through the tunnel to Kent Station still brings a smile to my face from time to time

The US government has officially said that mermaids don’t exist. Jane Ward was sceptical:

Well of course there’s no evidence. Mermaids are smarter than that.

A lot of people liked these billboards that have popped up around Dublin from the mayor of Poznan, thanking Irish people for bringing the fun to the city during Euro 2012. Katie Does was a fan:

Works. I never really considered a holiday in Poland but after all I’ve read and seen now it’s on my list if I can ever afford a holiday again. I’d quite like to see Poznan for myself, even if there is unlikely to be singing in the streets!

(Photo: Journal.ie reader Mac)

Spot any comments which you think should make comments of the week next week? Mail christine@thejournal.ie