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 was a lot of talk this week about the Baltimore whale, the storm that turned out to be something of a damp squib, and er, Lingerie Football. There was also child benefit for wealthy people, the latest line of defence from Seán Quinn’s family, and the Bilderberg conference (shhh, we’re not allowed talk about it).

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

The organisers of a Scrabble tournament in the US joked that they had yet to find anyone taking performance-enhancing drugs after they were forced to kick a 13-year-old player out of a Scrabble tournament when he was caught cheating during the week. Adam O’Sullivan had a question:

If they did drug test them would they only check for E’s?

What did you learn in school that you still use today? We threw the question open to readers with lots of random responses. Colm McCormack knew what he had gained from his years in education:

Learning my reeding riting and speeling stood me the test of time.

In one of the more bizarre videos in a week filled with them, US rapper Flo Rida made this ten second clip congratulating Leaving Cert students on Wednesday. From Migilito Incognito:

Using the Leaving Cert results to promote his new album… Now that is just Low, Low, Low, Low, Low, Low, Low.

Speaking of the Leaving Cert, Catherine Crichton supported the winner of the Teacher of the Year contest who described the exams as ‘cruel and unusual punishment’:

Good for her. The Leaving Cert is purely a memory test. Ironically, my dyslexic son’s strongest school subject is English which, as this article points out, doesn’t rely so much on rote learning but also tests creativity. Many dyslexics have memory problems, leaving them at a significant disadvantage in the great cramming/regurgitating race for points.

A lot of commenters were not impressed with Virgin airlines in Australia for barring men from sitting beside unaccompanied children. Rossa Mac Manamon had a solution that got a lot of thumbs up:

Perhaps men should be checked in as luggage into the cargo hold, in individual containers marked as hazardous. Or in a glider towed by the main plane. This would completely avoid the problem. Lets not forget also, it was men who perpetrated 911.

Sarah Bolger also got a lot of thumbs up for this comment about the British man with ‘locked-in’ syndrome who lost a High Court battle this week to end his own life:

He has stated (through voice activated computer) that he shouldn’t have to travel to a foreign country to die. His lawyers have also said that he is too unstable to make the journey. Absolutely heart breaking situation. Saw him on the news earlier and he was clearly devastated. Unfortunately the judges in this case have said its a matter for the government to change the law before ruling in his favour. Cannot imagine what he and his family are going through. So sad.

Adrian Nolan was unimpressed with commenters leaving off-topic posts on articles about how much NASA’s space programme cost (he got a lot of support for this):

For 2 billion quid we could put all the people who post comments about bondholders and bailouts on storys that have nothing to do with it on a rocket to the moon. For 1 billion quid we could make it a one way trip!

Bad news for Facebook shareholders: shares in the social media behemoth have dropped to a new low. Bad news for U2′s frontman, who invested in it. From Ruairí O’Mahony:

I was wondering why Bono knocked in yesterday looking for a lend of twenty quid. He said he would give it back next week but I’m beginning to doubt that now..

The X Factor is back on television screens tonight. Um, yay? Stephen Gregg explained why he thinks the show is past its sell-by date:

Many will complain that it is a dreadful show, and it is. But many of the same people will be guilty of enjoying the show at some point in the past. I myself used to enjoy the show very much.

Thing is, it’s not the same show anymore.

All it consists of now is an audition for Talented 15 year old Bieber babies and lunatics that should probably be getting screen for a wealth of mental illnesses. All for a few seconds of entertainment.

The year they started doing the auditions in public was enough for me, Money, that’s all it smacked of. I used to really enjoy watching people audition in the private rooms, I think it brought the best out of good singers, now they’re on stage, with backing music…that has zero appeal.

The show is long past it’s sell by date (like the Simpsons) but it makes craploads of money (like the Simpsons) so were stuck with it.

How did the royal family react to the news that Kate Middleton’s cousin has just taken off all her clothes for Playboy? No idea – but Kerron Ó Luain wasn’t too happy about it:

The one area of my life; porn, that I thought might be free from this royalist insanity is no longer sacred, ffs

Finally this caption competition of Enda Kenny inspired some rather excellent responses. Our favourite came from fitszenpatrik…:

Jaysus Katie you look different on the telly

… which inspired this from Abi Dennis:

reminds me of my step mother coming into me watching jon joe nevin in the final and going, they look like men…no really they really look like men! had to tell her it was men and katie had already got her medal

(Photo: INPHO/Cathal Noonan)

Spot a comment you think is good? Mail any suggestions to me at christine@thejournal.ie. Thanks!