Inside View

Christmas in Ireland

IT'S THE SEASON FOR searching for photos related to Christmas in Ireland. I've five years of Christmas memories recorded on Typepad's servers, including some shots taken with a Nokia Bluetooth camera (see left), a Sony Clie and others snapped with several Fujifilm cameras. I shot the little people walking on Grafton Street one wet December day in 2003. Today, those same kids probably have cameraphones of their own. They take, save, and share Christmas pictures of their own. Years ago, I never thought that every phone would incorporate a camera. Now, it's paramount because sharing moments will always evoke visual memories.

After Cleaning

Memory from Pennsylvania | Photo from The Telegraph.

AFTER CLEANING A NEIGHBOUR'S swimming pool, I used to find all sorts of interesting things--like spiders and frogs and turtles. But not one on top of another like a guy found in Virginia recently.

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Photo from Wrenn.

Bernie Goldbach has turtles in his journal.

Open Cockpit Blades of Glory

SOME DAY BEFORE THE END OF THIS DECADE, I will strap myself under a spinning rotor in an open cockpit and go chasing clouds. In the open front cockpit of the MT-03 gyroplane, you can see cows swat flies and you can watch rivers flow underneath your feet. You can see those things clearly because you don't have to squint through goggles of worry about a front-mounted engine spitting oil into your eyes. Underneath your bum, you get the solid feel of a light plane made out of bits of wood glued together and covered with fabric that horses like to eat. This kind of flying is just like I did when I first slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the sky on laughter-silvered wings. I like the MT-03 because it can land on a tennis court if you're good. And its footprint is less likely to sink into a wet Irish grass field. I'm saving my money for hours over Hampshire or for weekends at Wickenby Aerodrome.

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First, join the British Rotorcraft Association. Then visit Wickenby Aerodrome.

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Glow in the Dark Drummer

WE HAVE A DRUM kit in a dark room where this routine would work well. Enjoy!

Review of Spacious and Quiet Cork Airport Hotel

We found shelter from a gusty day, checking into the Cork International Airport Hotel for a lazy weekend. We cashed in some Christmas crackers for a short break to Cork, spending most of the money on after-Christmas sales. We didn't expect the first class room accommodation in the hotel but we got the special treatment when we arrived before a normal room was cleaned up. We didn't complain even though the minibar had no bottle opener. It turns out that the hotel has very clever bottle openers that you can see at the hotel bar and they go walking out the door when discovered inside minibars. There's a bakery on the premises and we enjoyed a bag full of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies at 10PM in front a 42" television screen in our suite. Both dinner and breakfast were fine, with the most notable feature being the seating. We sat in airline seats, in part of a dissected aircraft fuselage, and I flicked through web pages on my Nokia phone while using the free wifi that extends all throughout the hotel. Kinda neat being able to do all those things, while enjoying food much better than you would find aboard Aer Lingus crossing the Atlantic. We'll be back to the hotel when departing on an early morning run from the airport to London within a few month's time. Being able to make that early morning connection will save our family more than €110 on a short trip to England, meaning we're able to get a hotel room for the savings we enjoy on the flight.

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Rated 4/5 on Jan 06 2008 on LouderVoice

travel

Squirrel Massage

WITH SEVERAL FRIENDS sending messages on Jaiku and Twitter that they're taking breaks to get facials, back rubs and stress-reduction treatments, I thought it's a good time to get a massage. So I headed over to a mini set of photos about the lunch time adventures of an urban squirrel named "Rufus."

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via b3ta board

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It's Fun To Stay At The

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via Outhouse Rag.

Make This Page Dance in Circles

BORED? You can make the images on this page dance with a little Javascript snapped into the address bar. Copy the code below and paste it into the address bar, then use a few keystrokes to see the images circle around the place. Here's the code:

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.getElementsByTagName("img"); DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=(Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5)+"px"; DIS.top=(Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5)+"px"}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0);

After you paste the code into the URL address bar, use the following keystrokes:

CTRL + C
ALT + D
CRTL + V
ENTER

Enjoy!

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via via Ursi.

Things I Didn't Know About Camp Bernie

SOMEHOW PEOPLE are dropping into here on the way to Camp Bernie. If you haven't been to northwest Jersey, you might not know these things about Camp Bernie--things I learned without leaving Google.

Shooting Squirrels

IT'S SUMMERTIME in Ireland and that means out with the fly swatter and into the landscape where we can enjoy nature with things like shooting squirrels. No joke! Squirrels take their own pictures in Ireland and around the world. You just have to take time out to see them snap away.

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Photo by Scott Alan Johnson from the Photographing Squirrels" photostream. All rights reserved. See more squirrely photos at  http://fstopnature.com

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