Ramblings of an Irishman

Colgan Flight 3407

2009-05-13T19:11:00.006+01:00

Image courtesy of jetphotos.net

On the night of the 12th Feb of this year Colgan flight 3407 crashed on approach to Buffalo airport in New York killing 49 people. In the NTSB preliminary hearing into the accident it has bcome clear that the pilots engaged in idle conversation which was essentially distracting their attention at what was happening to the aircraft at a critical moment in the flight. As they configured the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 for approach the airspeed bled from a comfotable 185 knots to that appraoching stall speed at around 130kts. As there was icing conditions the crew had selected a function which adds several knots to the normal flight stall speed giving that extra margin of safety. However it would appear that the Captain, Marvin Renslow, may have perhaps misinterpreted the aeroplane's stall response (known as the stick shaker) and pulled back on the control column (instead of pushing forward in a normal aerodynamic stall), perhaps believing he was experiencing a tail-plane stall. A tail-plane stall occurs in certain icing conditions and is a poblem for certain types of aircraft. The SAAB SF340 which Capt. Renslow had previously flown was one of those aircraft. Although the investigation is far from over inital indications are that lack of concntration, fatigue, inexperience and inadequate training are all factors which led to this avoidable crash. Each of these factors deserve a blog post in their own right, detailing specific issues but for the moment this brief outline will be enough for us all to digest for the present.

Samuel Beckett Bridge

2009-05-11T16:12:00.004+01:00

Yes yes, its another new bridge for Dublin this time the newest addition is the Samuel Beckett Bridge which arrived into Dublin Port this morning from Rotterdam. The barge, on which this €59m structure lies, took eight days to traverse the English channel and the Irish sea before arriving into Dublin Bay. The bridge has four lanes, footpaths and cycle tracks and is due to be opened sometime next year. Next year? Why next year?!

Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry

2009-05-09T22:00:00.004+01:00

There really are some fantastic places in Ireland to photograph. Granted we are known as the Emerald Isle but sometimes the scenery is just crying out to be photographed in black and white. This shot is taken in Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry. In fact it is just off the Ring of Kerry scenic route and we are looking across the bay to Waterville. There's a great golf course there too and one which Tiger Woods has played himself during his own preparations for the British Open.

Ford Mustang

2009-05-07T14:10:00.004+01:00

Since I started driving I've been lamenting the lack of interesting and fun cars for sale in the Irish market. Ok so my main gripe is basically I want a Ford Mustang, is that a lot to ask for? Look at it its, graceful, sleek and damn fine. I can just imagine the raw sound of that beast and then the very name... Mustang. Yes I know boys with toys but I can dream...

PhD students? Manual labour? Never!

2009-05-05T22:44:00.004+01:00

The humour will probably be lost of most of you but I don't care so enjoy watching our PhD students getting their hands dirty doing some manual labour! Imagine that, actually avoiding their nerd qualities for once. I promise I'll come up with something more interesting next time!

Historical Irony ?

2009-05-03T15:34:00.004+01:00

When I visited the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C. almost two years ago I snapped this picture of two men reading the names of dead soldiers. To this day I cannot decide whether the t-shirt the gentleman on the right is wearing is a deliberate act of optimism or purely ironic given the context. Maybe you can decide.

Disassembly

2009-05-01T10:07:00.005+01:00

I got bored one day and decided to disassemble our old Dell computer, all ten years of it. I hadn't actually turned it on in the last three of those but it whirled up first go when I pressed the button. Too bad that was its last time to be booted up before it got booted out.

La Guardia Approach

2009-04-29T10:06:00.005+01:00

Taken by the Flushing Library on Main St., this Air Tran 737 makes a low swoop over the Queens suburb on final appraoch to one of LaGuardia airport's north-easterly runways. Those of you who visit my Twitter page will recognise this as the background photograph to it.

Patrick Harten

2009-04-27T11:46:00.005+01:00

(Photo AP)

Patrick Harten is the voice of calmness heard on the air traffic control recording from the Hudson river landing of US Airways flight 1549. Last Sunday (20th April) he competed in the Boston Marathon finishing in a time of 2:58:58 wearing the number 1549. Although organisers don't normally allow requests to use specific numbers, they made an exception on this one occasion allowing Mr. Harten to recognise his own role on that day in New York City. An air traffic controller by day and a triathlete outside of work his time to complete the course was a personal best. Ironically, the marathon distance is about the same as that from LaGuardia airport to Teterboro airport, the former the origin of flight 1549 and the latter the airport the one Mr. Harten tried to direct the flight to land. Life is full of miracles and coincidences... or is it?

787 Dreamliner

2009-04-25T14:06:00.013+01:00

(Photo courtesy of the Boeing Company)

As the airline world falls foul to the deepest recession since World War II there are exciting times ahead in the Pacific Northwest of the United States where the Boeing company will soon roll out their newest and most ambitious incarnation since 1994. The blogosphere is rife with speculation that the new 787 Dreamliner will roll out of the factory in Everett, Washington late on Sunday night to the flight line in preparation for its first flight by the end of June. From an engineering perspective the aircraft is a break from the traditional nuts and bolts regime of aircraft manufacture. Sections of the aircraft have been assembled as single completed units in facilties all over the globe and then joined on the final assembly line in Washington. But as pointed out by Boeing's own blogger Randy Tinseth, this is the first new aircraft to have its production completely documented by blogs, enthusiasts' photographs of shipments and assembly line manufacture. It might be two years behind schedule but I'm sure it will be well worth the wait for not only us the passengers but the airlines themselves who have ordered a staggering 850+ all before it has even flown.

The Pigeon House

2009-04-23T10:10:00.004+01:00

The twin smoke stacks of Poolbeg power station (known locally as the Pigeon House) are almost an institution of the Dublin skyline, being visible for miles around the city. Although they are a regular theme of Dublin photographs I particularly liked the silhouette effect the hazy weather conditions portrayed that day. Aside from this the contrast of themes in the picture I found were particularly interesting: carefree Spring kite fliers next to the raw industrial might of a coal-fired power station.

Midday moonlight

2009-04-21T18:06:00.004+01:00

This photo was taken by me on Bull Island in north Dublin on an April afternoon. The photo depicts the kite of a kite surfer riding the waves out of frame. The object is remeniscent of a crescent moon low on the horizon and gives rise to the title of the photograph.

Only in Ireland would you get paid more for being unemployed...

2009-04-19T11:39:00.003+01:00

A friend of mine recently brought this article to my attention in which an unemployed man with with four children actually earned more money by being on unemployment benefit and allowances than he did when he was in full time employment. The author of the above article claims that he actually earns over €10,000 more. Only in Ireland would something as ridiculous as this actually happen and its no wonder that we are in the biggest financial hole we've ever dug for ourselves. But of course nothing is going to change this as unions still run this country and we will always be the most backward thinking nation in the developed world as long as this continues.

NYC baby...

2009-04-17T11:07:00.005+01:00

New York City beckons once again as I return to my stomping ground of summer 2007. Its a funny place really as it didn't make much of an impression on me when I first visited nine years ago; hmmmm.... nine years ago, how time flies and makes you feel old. Port of entry on this occasion will be good ole JFK terminal four and then onto my temporary residence in Queens for the week. Now the question is what to do there for the week? Having spent four months living in the city I got to cram a serious amount in in my spare time. The new Citi Field stadium and catching a ball game is top of the list right now. Its looking like its going to be a clash of the titans, Nationals -v- Mets (insert copious amounts of sarcasm). Ah yes, the Mets. The team that blew the 2007 season in the last month of the season. Do the new stadium proud gents just this once. Let's go Mets!

Emigration rant

2009-04-15T23:00:00.004+01:00

Given the general prospects of becoming an employee of some unexciting engineering company in the near future, I think its about time I decided to up and leave this home of mine and head elsewhere. The big question however is where? Dublin is great, I love it but I need something new and lets face it the weather stinks. Although I've never been, San Francisco somehow sounds appealing.

Its interesting in light of my recent postings on emigration and immigration, that I might be part of a similar story in time to come. Maybe I'll document it on this blog for "all" to read. Hello, anyone out there actually read this?!

Finally, I'm giving serious consideration to pro-blogging to supplement my measly income; but my interests are so varied that I'm a jack of all trades and a master at nothing, hence writing about a topic at length and regularly might be challenging. I'm open to suggestions!

Mormons

2009-04-14T19:31:00.005+01:00

Again a bus story, not so mcuh comical but observational... about Mormons. Two of them were sitting on the top deck in their suits with name tags and decided to make out goals for their day. The first was to hand out four "pass-along cards"; don't ask me what they are. Strategy was also part of the discussion, how could they strike up conversation with Irish guys? Well they decided to go for the old reliable - sport, namely football and failing that talk about what they do in school. Okay so nothing too out of the ordinary but what I thought was somehwat amusing was they randomly decided to test each other on Mormon trivia! You know, I wouldn't normally comment on this only that they were talking so loud and almost spoke with a robotic fervour, the only break from this straight-laced routine being a quick bob of the head and a smile when they heard Lady Gaga's "Pokerface" on someone's iPod.

Road to nowhere...

2009-04-11T20:16:00.007+01:00

This was taken a few hours before the official opening of the M1 motorway linking Dublin and Belfast. With all the construction traffic clear and only final preparations being made there was a distinct lack of anything nearby. The perfect photo op.

Just your normal everyday family...

2009-04-10T10:46:00.003+01:00

Adventures of a junky

2009-04-08T11:57:00.008+01:00

I only wish I had a camera to capture this scene yesterday. I was standing on College Green waiting for the 11 bus when these two junkies approached. One male, one female and absolutely stoned off their faces. In fact I have yet to come across two individuals more stoned than they were. Obviously they were arguing over nothing, namely the disappearance of a 10c coin. In the ensuing exchange of non-coherent vocabulary (which I am led to believe was an example of the English language), it would appear that the mischievous 10c coin was a gift to this gentleman from the one "Deco" who I gathered gave it to him "on his bleedin death bed". Of course the woman strenuously denied about even knowing the existence of Deco, nonetheless he went on to blame "the blacks" for its disappearance. Sad.

The scene becomes more amusing though. They both boarded the bus with the aid of beer "disguised" in a coke bottle and a social welfare bus pass allowing unlimited free travel to these two complete utter wasters - the feces of human existance if you will. How they became entitled to this pass is beyond me, it normally being saved for the disabled and elderly. He took no longer than five minutes to climb the twelve steps to the top deck of the bus with his companion seemingly giving him moral support as he negotiated each step one at a time. Once upstairs the argument continued with intermittent exclamations of "ya bleedin' spastic".

Now it came time for them to disembark, oh and what a disembarkation it was. She inevitably reached the bottom of the stairs first and with the doors having been open for a good two minutes prior, eventually stumbled off the bus. He on the otherhand was still on step four of twelve as the driver closed the door and pulled off leaving our Romeo and Juliet separated. The obese stoned mess she was waddled after the departing bus all the while bellowing "ah heeeorr, he's bleedin still up stayors!". Several expletives were heard coming from the stairwell before he finally go the exit, banging his head off the door an making a prompt arrival into Ranelagh.

Folks, welcome to Dublin.

Boom to bust

2009-04-07T21:33:00.004+01:00

Ireland was once the benefactor of an enormous construction boom but now all of that has somewhat come to a grinding halt. The skyline of Dublin used to be littered with tower cranes that could be seen for miles around and jobs in the industry were occupied by mainly migrant workers taking advantage of our run of good luck. Now though, the above scene is a rarity. Building sites remain abandoned, some with projects partly completed. When we will see many of these monstrous structures littering out sky again is anyone's guess.

Midget doing press-ups

2009-04-06T15:53:00.002+01:00

This guy is pretty popular. He can be seen in Times Square subway station from time to time and I can tell you he makes an absolute fortune after each performance. Admittedly it is pretty freaky but who am I to stop him, its a top comedic performance!

An immigrant's tale

2009-04-05T12:32:00.002+01:00

For the best part of ten years now, Ireland has been home to those searching for a better life in an economy that was once described as "The Celtic Tiger". This photograph depicts the early morning commute of two of those people. Whether they are deep in thought, reading or sleeping a photograph like this would have been a rarity only a few decades ago. Once a group of emigrants scattered all over the world, the Irish are now returning the opportunity of prosperity once offered to them.

An emigrant's tale

2009-04-04T12:23:00.006+01:00

This is an airline ticket from January 1968 of a family member who emigrated to the U.K. The fare was a grand total of £6.60. Ironically, despite inflation, the advent of low fares airlines means its possible to travel to Dublin-London for much less than that today.

Joyriders

2009-04-03T10:49:00.005+01:00

With no consideration for the local community, these joyriders abandoned their wheels on the footpath approaching a busy intersection.

A "Non-educated Delinquent" rides atop a double decker bus

2009-04-02T11:34:00.007+01:00

This individal is not taking a nap but strived to draw attention to himself by donning a Metro newspaper as fashionable head wear. His accomplice meanwhile spent most of the journey describing how he was going to knife someone by "bleedin stabbin" them in the neck. The individual then proceeded to discuss how to sell the incident as part of a movie script to 20th Century Fox. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.

I heard he's a smoker

2009-04-01T19:23:00.004+01:00

(Original photo taken from Google images, the edit is by me)

Cloud surfer

2009-03-31T22:48:00.004+01:00

Cloud surfing at daybreak

Mr. Grumpy

2009-03-30T21:02:00.006+01:00

Taken at a small petting zoo in south London which is home to plenty of fowl, pigs, rabbits, budgies, goats and donkeys.

This is crazy...

2009-03-30T00:07:00.005+01:00

This is quite possibly the most ingenius video I have ever come across on Youtube. Its called the Rube Goldberg machine.

"Duplicity"

2009-03-29T23:51:00.002+01:00

Just saw "Duplicity" with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Pretty decent film, quite confusing at times but nonetheless entertaining. Its almost like the plot runs in reverse and I can safely say for the first hour I hadn't a notion what was going on. Whether its because I'm slow or stupid I'm not entirely sure but I caught up towards the end. The acting is good and the two work well on screen - well worth a look.

Takin' a break

2009-03-29T14:38:00.005+01:00

I was walking through the IFSC (Finance Centre in Dublin) when I saw this courier taking a break. I liked the lighting at the time mainly, but I think the subject is reasonably interesting too.

Graceful

2009-03-28T12:41:00.005Z

I was on board a flight in a holding pattern somewhere north of London on approach to Heathrow airport when I came across this 747 a few thousand feet below us. And before you ask no, this isnt a near miss. Even if it appeared four times closer I still wouldn't be worried. I've uploaded this for one reason: everything just seems graceful.

Car for sale

2009-03-28T00:02:00.008Z

(Screenshot from gumtree.co.uk)

I'm trying to decide if this is a case of the proverbial 'extracting the urine' or indeed actions of the completely inept. The choice is yours.

Potentially lethal water fountain

2009-03-27T11:47:00.008Z

I'm assuming this has nothing to do with the fact that the powers that be connected the water supply for this fountain to the same water pipes used to flush the toilets...

(click image to open)

Engineers at play

2009-03-27T00:14:00.005Z

Only engineers could come up with something as "ingenius" as this to get a ball down from a tree.

I hope they were clean

2009-03-26T15:07:00.006Z

It would seem that relieving oneself requires effort, concentration and the removal of spectacles.

Netbooks

2009-03-26T13:57:00.007Z

The netbook: its amazing only now it seems to be taking off, why did no one think of it earlier? I'm very tempted to buy one but it lacks the functionality I'd like. It needs to serve as a companion to my SLR camera while also be my web editor on the go. Currently the specs available only suit the latter and the fast, light solid state hard drives I'd like are in and around a measily 16GB so not exactly great for storing photos. Also Windows XP is still being offered, now that's a flashback to 2002. Hello, its 2009!

Give me Windows 7, an 80GB solid state drive, a processor to handle multimedia and then I might consider it. For the moment its a case of sit tight and let's see what happens. Size, weight and functionality is the key people.

Optimistic?

2009-03-26T00:07:00.009Z

One of our neighbours is obviously as tight as a worm's arse and won't pay for a larger skip. Despite this I'm glad he didn't pay for a larger one as the comic value of the photogrpah would be lost. I'm only disappointed I missed the removal of it.

Unbreakable

2009-03-25T15:54:00.007Z

Oh I'll be getting my money back, that is 100% guaranteed

Linux

2009-03-25T13:14:00.009Z

So I decided to download Kubuntu and try it out.

Initial impression: ehhh,what the f**k?
But I'm determined to get past the "ah this is a pile of shite, couldn't be arsed phase".

So far it doesn't seem to like my Macbook trackpad and having fiddled with the mouse settings it's definitely easier to draw blood from a stone than it is to move my pointer across the screen, sans traversing the trackpad with my index finger at least twice...

Pigeon lover

2009-03-24T21:00:00.007Z

The photo was taken in Greenwich, London where the remains of the Cutty Sark are moored / located. This guy just seemed fascinated with filming pigeons, so much so that I had to take a photograph. He spent most of the time laying down on the bench staring at the sky but once every so often he would sit up and film the pigeons.

2 to 2

2009-03-23T20:50:00.004Z

This photograph was taken in Canary Wharf at lunch hour. I was surprised how few pople there were in the area considering this is the financial heart of London but maybe that is a sign of the times we're living in right now, time being the central theme of the photograph.

My current career, seriously...

2009-03-23T11:25:00.013Z

Liquid feces

Sticks of concrete

Musical Irish talent

2009-03-23T00:09:00.004Z

even with a few glasses of wine this one oozes talent. third from left.

A great weekend for Irish Sport

2009-03-22T23:24:00.003Z

while BOD lifts the six nations trophy in cardiff after a wee peck on the cheek from the president, this blogger watched events unfold from a south london living room under the auspices of three welsh-supporting south africans, drinking english beer and eating a vegetarian barbecue **. there are many things wrong with that situation but what couldn't be mistaken was the fact that this was a great day for irish sport and credit where credit is due to bernard dunne for taking the world championship boxing title and making this a weekend to remember.

(Image from the Irish Times)

** our south african friends don't do barbecues, they do a "Braai". its afrikaans i'll have you know. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braai

The Ultimate Combination?

2009-03-22T23:11:00.002Z

I like the idea of blogging. Unfortunately my interests are varied and quite often one of my many attempted blogs will go dead for a long period of time so I've decided to merge my interests in travel, photography, technology, planes, trains and automobiles into one readable blog. There may also be a considerable amount of moaning too and general ramblings about anything and everything so, enjoy...