Felix 2.0

Irish Peculiarities, part ∏

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:31:03 GMT

This is the plaque outside of the Department of the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach (pronounced "Tee-shock") is the Irish prime minister. What I find peculiar about this plaque is not that the spelling seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the way the word is pronounced -- that is pretty much standard for Irish.

It's that the Irish and the English version of the inscription have two different spellings for "Taoiseach".

Iarnród Éireann discovers time travel

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:33:45 GMT

The weather forecast for tomorrow ...

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:13:41 GMT

I think I'll be staying in bed.

Dublin painted in the best possible light

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:40:49 GMT

The best possible light being either at night, or during sunset.

For your viewing pleasure: First a picture of Customs House at night, snapped on the way home from a recent dinner party. And three pictures of the Guinness brewery, taken today from the roof of my apartment building.

Merry season!

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 09:23:55 GMT

Happy yuletide, winter solstice, saturnalia, festivus, kwanzaa, hanukkah, crimbo, or whatever else you happen to be celebrating! And all the very best for 2008 -- may all your wishes come true.

Fred@MFF

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:50:41 GMT

Pictures from MFF are starting to surface -- here's some of Fred (the bunny) being assaulted by various predators. The didn't eat him in the end though; instead they were very very nice to him! Great big hugs to jaeger_fuchs, terkwolf and gaz_a! Oh, and tiger_sammy, you're hogging the camera! We all know that you didn't catch that!

I'm collecting the pics I can find on the web in this album:

Fred@MFF

On the road again ...

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:26:35 GMT

In Chicago for the weekend for MFF (great time meeting old and new friends), flew over to SFO this evening and staying in the bay area till 12/05.

Pop culture

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:28:25 GMT

Maddie McCann as a stencil, found under the railroad bridge on Pearse Street, Dublin:

If you made it this far, you are truly part of pop culture.

Living on kitty time

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:45:26 GMT

Kitty time only has two distinct times of day: "high time to go to sleep" and "far too early to get up".

Pics from EF13

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:22:58 GMT

... posted on Flickr!

Some of my favourites:

The pictures on Flickr are about 100 from over 1300 we took at EF, mostly from the fursuit parade, the variety and the pawpet show. The Flickr thing is more of an experiment; I usually store my online photos on PicasaWeb, but I thought I'd give Flickr a try. I might get a pro account if it turns out that I like it.

Protect your luggage

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 23:30:29 GMT

Snapped in the arrivals hall at Frankfurt airport (FRA) on a recent trip:

Translation:

Don't walk home with the wrong one! Avoid unpleasant mix-ups in life. With an electronic passport from the Bundesdruckerei.

Isn't someone taking away your suitcase just now? Avoid unpleasant mix-ups in life. With an electronic passport from the Bundesdruckerei.

Now if only they would explain to me how an electronic passport will help me find my luggage again ...

EF13 Con badge

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:29:42 GMT

Yours truly, as depicted by the very talented Akeyla:

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:24:49 GMT

I don't care about the noodles, but can I have the cute boy?

(From a Spar ad.)

InterCity in Éireann

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:25:24 GMT

Ah, the comfort and convenience of modern rail travel. Whizzing silently through the countryside, lounging in soft plush seating, with coffee, drinks and snacks served at your side ...

... or so it would seem. In other countries. Not in Ireland.

I have never ridden a train in Ireland (apart from suburban and light railways.) But the hulking behemoth that I see lumbering into Connolly station occasionally, straight out of the 1970s, spewing filth and pestilence in the air, does not endear me to the idea.

For comparison: On the left hand side, you see a current German InterCity train. On the right is an Irish InterCity, photographed a couple of weeks ago at Connolly Station:

This is a CIE 071 class locomotive that is still in regular service. Ireland's rail network is not electrified (apart for the suburban railway between Howth and Bray), so all trains are diesel trains. Even the "Enterprise" express between Dublin and Belfast is a diesel. In covered stations like Connolly, even breathing is challenging at times due to the diesel exhaust of the trains. I don't even want to imagine what riding one is like.

Der Himmel über Dublin

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 19:55:29 GMT

Whatever you have to say about the city, Dublin has some of the most amazing skies that I have seen so far.