After our outstanding experience last year, we were not about to let the 2008 Dublin City Cycle pass us by. On Sunday, we woke to a sky that looked ready to rain at any moment, but we were rewarded for our bravery by a dry and pleasantly cool morning.
The year’s route was on the southside (whereas last year’s started on the northside). Just like last year, we were delighted by cycling down streets that are normally dominated by motor vehicles. (more…)
It seems like just a few months ago that we celebrated Constitution Day 2007. Today, it’s Constitution Day again for the United States of America, commemorating the signing of the new country’s constitution, 221 years ago, by the members of the Constitutional Convention. (more…)
Our absentee ballots for the Nov. 4 election in the US arrived today. Happy Day!
The Bugle would like to use this occasion to remind you that we are approaching the registration deadlines for most localities. (Illinois is Tues, Oct. 7; Missouri is Wed, Oct. 8; New York is Fri, Oct. 10; Iowa is Fri, Oct. 24; and in Wisconsin you can register on Election Day.)
If you’re not registered to vote at your current address, right now is the best time to do it. There are several organizations that will to help you register with online resources. Here are three; pick any one — just do it today!
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Here at the Bugle, the Olympic fun doesn’t stop just because the events in China came to a close!
The Bugle staff wants to know: Which Olympic events are the best preparation for the coming collapse of civilisation as we know it?
We’ve given you a few choices regarding the end of days, but what we really to see is your own ideas in the comments. Write a comment with the name of the event and the reason why that event’s greatest athletes will survive the post-apocalyptic wastelands. We’ll add it to the polls and you might just win the Post-Apocalyptic Prize*!
Dave asked,
Great Britain enters a team into the Olympics, not the UK. So, I think that England, Wales, and Scotland play as one team. I think that Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland also play as one team in the Olympics. In FIFA Soccer competitions, all of these “countries” enter their own teams. What’s going on?
Note that this is even weirder considering that Puerto Rico, a territory of the US, has it’s own team in the Olympics. I just don’t get it.
First, an introduction to the relevant parts of the Olympic Charter. (more…)
Radio Telefís Éireann (RTE) is the Irish national broadcaster, and it is my source for the 2008 Olympics on television. Its coverage consists primarily of three programs: Olympics through the Night, Olympics AM, and Olympics Today. All three consist of live broadcasts as well as overviews and highlights. At any time from about midnight to 4pm, the Olympics is broadcast on one of RTE’s two television channels — but never both to this point.
I record all three programs every day, so I see all the events that RTE chooses to show — although I see many of them at 12x or 30x speed. RTE’s choices are shaped by the sports for which Irish athletes qualified and the events of (putative) Irish interest. These are quite different from what I remember of US coverage, but that should be no surprise.
Still, I am surprised by what I’ve seen. (more…)
Where are all the baby pigeons? In my garden, for one.
About six weeks ago, pigeons built a nest on the balcony of the second floor of my building (that’s the first floor for European readers). Every day, they make an unholy mess of my basement-level deck and the nest sits precisely above a spot where I like to sit in the sun.
Today, the flying-rat-spawn (as Anita calls it) ventured from the nest. (more…)
Anita left me the car on Monday and the sun was out. Naturally, I headed south into the Wicklow Mountains. (Technically, I stayed in County Dublin some of the time, but you get the idea.)
I wanted to spend some time outside the city, and the harshness of the Wicklow Mountains always attracts me. I’d planned to bike on the Military Road at some point during the week. The weekend was beautiful (as you saw at the Kings of Concrete). But rain was on the way and it was getting too late for a real adventure.
A walk up Kippure Mountain was perfect for my purposes. (more…)
I learned about the Kings of Concrete festival late last week, and I barely remembered to go at midday on Sunday.
It was a gorgeous day, probably the warmest yet, and the sun was beaming its love upon the whole land. Just to walk to the Dublin City Council building was a joy. (more…)
It was summer today!
Hip hip, hooray!
It was a really warm day!
Maybe it will stay…
People swarmed all over the public spaces of Dublin’s city centre today, to enjoy one of what may be just a few summery days of the year. I had a few errands to do, and I found myself compelled to take the long way round. (more…)
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