Happy St. Patrick's Day!

World's largest spherical panorama

Somebody once said to me, "Prague is a winter city." Well, here today, on the first official day of winter (although let's face it, winter has been here for a while already), let me take you to Prague.... This is pretty amazing.

From Wired:

360 Cities, a Dutch company, has created a stunning panoramic photo of Prague in the Czech Republic. “The creation of this image represents my previous five years’ obsession with all things panoramic,” says Jeffrey Martin, founder and CEO of 360 Cities. “If you’re stuck at home over Christmas, feeling humbuggy and don’t feel like hanging out with your family, you can explore Prague instead.”

What makes this panoramic photo interesting to viewers is that you can zoom in and out, move up or down or change your view–much like with Google Street View maps.

The photo has been assembled from 600 shots clicked by a 21-megapixel Canon 5D Mark II camera and a 70-200mm lens, set to 200mm. The camera was mounted on a special robotic device that turned it tiny increments every few hours. The resulting data from the camera was about 40-gigabytes.

The photo measures 192,000 x 96,000 pixels, or 18.4 billion pixels altogether.

Today's Something or Other #6

Do not click here. No, really, I don't think you can handle it.

Want to get involved and help out those less fortunate this holiday season?

One way you can help out is through the Children’s Aid Foundation's Surrogate Santa program.

The purpose of the Surrogate Santa Program is to raise the resources required to assist the children and families served by various child welfare organizations in Toronto during the holidays. For families who struggle to meet daily living expenses, the holiday season brings an added stress of the need for extra funds to provide their children with gifts and food.

Last year the program raised more than $200,000 and helped thousands of families and children in the community.

There are 3 ways to help:

1. Make a donation to the Surrogate Santa Holiday Fund
2. Sponsor a family in need this holiday season
3. Become a Virtual Surrogate Santa and get your friends and family involved.
   

For those looking to get more directly involved in charitable work this season, Blogto.com has a list of volunteering opportunities for the holidays.

The best reason yet to love April?

If the warming sun of the slow arriving Spring isn't enough to melt your cold, cold heart (and yes, April can be the cruelest month), perhaps this will change your mind about the fourth month of the calendar: April is National Grilled Cheese Month. (!?!)

Things to do on Good Friday when you aren't worshipping the baby Jesus

1. Party like a Romantic poet with absinthe and laudanum. Take out your quill and quire and hide all sharp objects.
2. Around the world at your local pub
3. Compile a list of your favourite lines from Ben Stiller movies
4. Write a letter to your MPP
5. Bad sequel marathon. Suggestions: Grease 2; Caddyshack 2; Stayin' Alive.
6. Foreign movie marathon watching "3 Colours (Bleu, Blanc, Rouge)"
7. Snakes & Ladders, Payday, Sorry, Monopoly
8. Conduct Fantasy Football mock draft
9. Write a dissertation comparing and contrasting "The Hills" with "Laguna Beach" - present to your friends or family at dinner
10. Surf You Tube
11. Determine the number of licks required to get to the centre of a tootise pop. Conduct secondary test to corroborate initial findings
12. Drink a dozen Red Bulls and see what happens
13. Craft plan to restore Leafs to glory

Perfect St. Patrick's Day Gift

Impractical? Yes

A waste of money? Probably

A cool must-have item for the Guinness lover? Absolutely!

GUINNESS® Kule Kube Refrigerator

Best Irish Pub Songs

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner it seemed like a perfect opportunity to take a look at the best / most fun Irish pub songs. Note: these songs aren’t all necessarily Irish, but they are all songs you can sway back and forth to while holding a pint of Guinness and encourage audience participation… either by singing out the words or shouting appropriate responses (right up yer kilt!; and she was!; hey wife!). Perhaps Celtic / East Coast would have been a more accurate description, but “Irish pub” provides a nicer all encompassing blanket. I've cited my preferred version when appropriate, but the best way to enjoy these songs is live down at the pub.

Top 10
10. Seven Drunken Nights - the Dubliners
9. Dirty Old Town - the Pogues
8. The Irish Rover - Dubliners & Pogues
7. Raggle Taggle Gypsy - the Mahones
6. Mari-mac - Great Big Sea
5. Whisky in the Jar - the Dubliners (go for the Metallica version if you really want to rock out)
4. Fisherman's Blues - the Waterboys
3. Barrett's Privateers - Stan Rogers
2. Fairytale of New York - the Pogues
1. Wild Rover - the Dubliners

Honourable Mention:
Black Velvet Band
Drunken Sailor
Farewell to Nova Scotia
The Mary Ellen Carter - Stan Rogers
Molly Malone
Twelve Pints of Guinness - Pagan Mary
If I Should Fall From Grace With God - the Pogues
Yeah, Yeah,Yeah, Yeah,Yeah - the Pogues
Devil's in the Kitchen - Ashley McIsaac
Sleepy Maggie - Ashley McIsaac
Rose & Crown - the Mahones
Cinammon Girl (live) - the Mahones

Put any and all of these into the music rotation and you have yourself a party.