JK Rowling, Penis Enlargement, And Kim Jong Il’s New Toy: It’s Pub Talk

It's all too easy to get bogged down in the daily grind and miss the stories that are going on around us – but fear not, you won't be left out of the loop, thanks to our handy guide to this week's hot topics.

This epic burn from JK Rowling

When a Twitter user, seemingly high on emotion following the Tories’ win in the UK election, sent a vile message to JK Rowling, he probably just thought his desperate plea for attention would be ignored.

He wrote:
Fuck off you Labour C**T. All you lefties are finished in this country, especially you JK bitchface.

But rather than simply ignore it, the Harry Potter author sent back an absolute zinger of a reply to hit the troll right where it hurt:

.@sjosiah0 The Internet doesn’t just offer opportunities for misogynistic abuse, you know. Penis enlargers can also be bought discreetly.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 8, 2015

Bravo, dear Joanne. Bravo.

The Lusitania

It was 100 years on Thursday since the boat sank, and while the story may not be as widely known as the Titanic – despite the Lusitania representing a much more pivotal role in history – it was great to see the great steamer being done justice across the media for just one day.

In particular, if you have time, do check out this documentary broadcast on RTÉ on the night of the anniversary. 18 Minutes That Shook The World tells the story of the sinking, the aftermath and the context in just 48 minutes, but packs in a remarkable amount of information and intrigue along the way.

UK Election

The Tories slammed it, Labour fluffed it, SNP bagged it and UKIP scraped it. And wasn’t there someone else? Oh yes. The Lib Dems.

But we rather forgot about them.

In fact, the only group that had a worse election than Nick Clegg’s party – who lost more than 80% of their seats in Westminster in a fell swoop that would make Fianna Fáil blush – were the pollsters, whose predictions about the makeup of the Parliament were woefully off. Woefully.

Anyway, here’s some Lego to make it all okay.

Elections can be boring, but #LegoParliament never disappoints. http://t.co/EEy5eUVgcZ #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/KZMVATXQGW

— Mashable (@mashable) May 9, 2015

Kim Jong Il’s latest plaything

It’s a submarine that launches nukes. Because why wouldn’t he want one of those?

Weather

No. Not even going to dignify this item with a picture, because you all know too bloody well what it looks like.

In fact, don't even dignify it with a discussion this evening. Don't give it the attention it so desperately craves.

Mother Nature, if you're reading: you're some wagon sometimes, you know that?

And if you’re stuck…

We did another infuriating but ultimately brilliant quiz. If we may say so ourselves.

This time, you have to guess the Dublin location from the picture clues... and while some are fairly straightforwards, some will take some intense teamwork to crack.

Go for it.