I actually liked this project. It was a little difficult due to the fact that the step-by-step instructions were for PC users, but I was grateful for the conversion of commands listed in the discussion by the professor. It was really neat to send encrypted messages, use keys and secure the e-mail from everyone else. Sort of spy-ish!
It's very useful in a business to keep records confidential. Secure information so it is not leaked. In searching for an article I came across a press release about a company in Brazil that decided to use secure e-mail for exchanging documents within the Board because information had been leaked that could have affected their stock value.
However, the article that I chose was about Germany. The article posted on The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 17, 2010 and on Big News Now, which summarizes it, because WSJ online is a subscription service, says that Germany moved their national postage mail to secure email. A person still has to pay for each letter being delivered through secure email by Deutche Post, but they can pay a flat rate of $87 per year. Germans are climbing on board with about 1 million already signed up. About 100 companies have signed up for the service as well. I assume that secure mail has the feature of encryption and digitally signed e-mails, but it did not say so in Big News Now. It could have in the WSJ.
I think that this is fascinating with a whole country moving to email for regular mail. It uses less trees, is probably more secure for people and it is moving the country/ businesses forward in this "digital age."
All of the concepts presented this week in lecture were clear. I am a multimedia journalist. Let's face it, every journalist today must be, or will be in the future. Especially the photographers. I am photojournalist first and foremost, however, I have to be adept at videography, audio and putting journalistic multimedia packages together for the Web. The College of Journalism and Communications just recently just opened its multimedia portal for students called CMIR.
I normally upload my photographs in iPhoto, however I want to get Aperture and I have heard great reviews on Adobe Bridge as well. So, I may switch over. I edit in Adobe Photoshop, which you can buy as a student and get the student discount. The format I mainly use is jpg. Even though it is a lossy format, which compresses the image and loses a little bit of data every time, it is still the standard format in the photojournalistic world. For audio Audacity is a great, free software program. I have used it many times to edit audio for slideshows, to make recordings and to produce some great audio for my multimedia projects.
In video I am the least proficient, so it was interesting to learn about the inter-frame compression. This is a lossy format that transfers only the moving data from frame to frame. It is quite efficient because it does not transfer that static pixels. If there is a stationary object, and someone jumping around. The pixels are not moving around the stationary object so they are not transferred but the jumper is. It is called macroblocked. Only one block of moving data is transmitted. This helps in sending compressed videos. Also, the standard now is to save your videos with the H.264 format so that it can be viewed more easily on mobile devices. Let's face it, we are a mobile world and businesses are mobile as well. So, you must cater to clients and partners who want to view your videos with ease.
Businesses rely on multimedia heavily. If it is only a slideshow on their web site or a commercial slot in the SuperBowl multimedia represents a company in today's world. It shows who they are, it can demonstrate a product, aid in a presentation, land that giant client or allow them to expand their markets. The journalistic world relies on multimedia now more than ever. Our world is compressed just like the photos, video and audio because of the way we share things through multimedia. Think if the news didn't use multimedia. We would still be sitting down every morning to go through the print newspaper. Multimedia enhances our productivity and allows us to reach across the globe.
The Video above demonstrates what multimedia is. You have probably already watched it, but I thought it was useful to demonstrate all the amazing things that can come out of just photos, video and audio.
So, this post is all about George Frideric Handel. He was a German-English composer, who was born in the same year as Bach actually. He is remembered in Dublin for composing the Messiah. It was first performed in the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street Dublin, on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St. Patrick's and Christ's Church cathedrals participating, according to Wikipedia.
So, every year the Temple Bar Cultural Trust (Fishamble Street is considered the old area of Temple Bar) puts together a Handel's Day with festivities for young and old. I attended this event for The Liberty, to put something online for our viewers. You can view the above slideshow larger here. I will be posting a video either tomorrow or the next day. There was also a kids choir's performance, workshops, other musical events and a movie on the square.
This event was of Our Lady's Choral Society performing works of Handel's with Proinnsias O'Duinn conducting. This was the same street it was performed many years ago. It was actually a lovely day in Dublin. Only a light jacket required, if that. Later, I just lay in the grass at St. Patrick's park next to the cathedral and actually got some sun! Who would have thought in Dublin!
So, I have been neglecting the posting for a little bit. But will post everything that has happened in the past 2 weeks up very soon. Including photographs from my trip to Donegal with Molly, my roommate, her mother and her grandmother. The trip was fantastic and cannot wait to narrate the story with photographs. I also will put up more pictures of the Aran Islands, no doubt.
Click on the image and you can view it on Cooliris' Wall. It is a great feature thanks to Cincopa!
This week Jonathan, my boyfriend, came to visit me! He came for his Spring break and his 21st birthday on March 11th! It was fantastic to say the least. We went to Howth, a coastal town in County Dublin, about a 30 minute train ride from Dublin. It cost 8 Euro for a train ticket for a day. We got this ticket because you can hop on and off the train at different points the entire day. So we figured we would go to a couple locations. We wanted to go to Portmarnock, which is a strand (beach) area on the Dublin coast, and also Malahide, where a castle is supposed to be. We went to Howth (pronounced Hoth - long "O" sound) and walked around a bit. We saw live, wild seals! The humans would feed them fish bought at a store/market nearby and the seals would pop up by the edge. You couldn't see them until they got a couple feet from the surface, so it looked like they were coming out of nowhere. They were also huge! We saw a cliff in the distance and Jonathan decided he would get to the top of the cliff. So, we set out in search of a way to get up the cliff in the distance. We found a couple trails on the way that led down to some cliff faces a couple hundred feet above the water and Jonathan beckoned me to come. The trails were narrow and steep and made me extremely uneasy. However, I went. We crossed one point where the trail was so narrow that the next moment you realized you just step on the side of an open edge that completely fell off into the depths below. It was intense for me, because I think one of my biggest fears is being unstable in height situations. We found a fresh stream that ran into the ocean and stepped across slabs of rock. Jonathan decided to go out on a ledge for a photograph, but I refused to go and get my picture taken.
So we went back up to the main road and walking up steeply is easier than going down steeply.
So, we eventually found the main trail that went around the mountain/cliff and there was only one warning sign relatively medium in size and it just told us to stick to the main trails. That's it. I love Ireland for this fact. No railings in nature just a warning. In America, every precaution would be taken not for your safety but just not to get sued for the littlest things!
So, we walked the trails and it was magnificent! Gorgeous scenery, real cliffs, thorny brush, flowers, etc. Families even took their children up there. You were literally walking a couple feet from the edge of cliffs. It was beautiful and definitely worth the trip. So, to say the least, we didn't make it to the other places, but that's okay Howth was an amazing adventure. Jonathan definitely pushed me to my height limit, but it was amazing!
Check out the slideshow to get a taste of what it was like.
Also there are great seafood places and also markets there.
A fantastic find!
Blarney is gorgeous. The Blarney Castle is truly wonderful. We arrived on a day when the sun was shining and even though it is still winter the grounds seemed to shine with the green and life of Spring. The grounds has a couple arboretums with so many different trees. I personally love trees, their shape, color, height and even their biological makeup. The Castle is gorgeous but monsterous in height. The dungeons have tiny places you can crawl through, but the ground is muddy and damp and me and Molly decided not to go down that way. The caves are more spacious but a big puddle blocked the pathway so we climbed along the slippery rock for a while and then turned back. I had my camera bag on my back the entire day and with the weight it is extremely hard to maneuver in small spaces. Speaking of hard to maneuver, once you are ready to kiss the Blarney Stone, which gives you the gift of gab. It is at the top of the castle and you must climb a winding stairwell to the top. I believe it is around 100 steps. This is the most nerve racking part because the stairwell is extremely small, like obese Americans would not fit. A rope runs along the side which you have to hold on to to feel secure in the least. I had my camera bag on my back and it was scraping the wall. Once you get to the top it is gorgeous though. The Blarney Stone which is a slab of rock given to Cormac McCarthy (one of Ireland's greatest chieftains). To kiss is you must face a fear of heights. You have to lean back while laying down and hold on these two bars to stabilize yourself and then you kiss the rock. A guy is there holding you so you don't fall because there is a gap below yourself that you can see all the way to the ground, however there are two bars that prevent people from dying. The rock is also cleaned every once and a while. I will upload my picture kissing it soon. A photographer is there taking everyone's picture to sell in the giftshop for 10 euro a piece. We took a picture of the picture, even though that's not aloud As for the rest of the grounds. It is beautiful. You can have a picnic, walk around for hours. Visit the gorgeous Blarney House which looks like a mansion and has its own private grounds. I cannot describe the beauty you will see on a clear day. It something you have to feel, have to experience, because I could write forever on the topic. Look at the soundslides posted to get a small sense of it.
This is the Jameson Whiskey aging in barrels. From months to years. It takes about 3 years so age properly some even age longer. The longer it ages the darker the color gets and the more it evaporates. Below is a whiskey tasting I took part in along with 7 other people. We were given 3 shots of whiskey a little watered down and a glass of water to take the taste out of our mouths after each taste. We were given Scottish whiskey, Jameson and American whiskey (our friend Jack Daniels). Because the Scottish whiskey uses peat in the smoke fire for the malted barley it actually has a smokey taste to it. Jameson uses a different technique in the distillation process, and I believe it has a smoother taste. Jack is only distilled once as compared to three times with Jameson. Whiskey tasting is just like wine tasting, you smell it, taste a little and then swish is around in your mouth and swallow. At the end we got a complimentary glass of Jameson. Jameson is definitely my favorite whiskey. Above is the Middleton Distillery. Half of the Jameson made is kept in Ireland and half is exported. The water wheel you see used to power the mill. The red windows are abundant in the distillery to prevent fires. It is important to keep the air circulating so the crop inside doesn't burn up. Above is what the whiskey is distilled in. Above is the two chimneys for the distillery. The left one is for the new distillery and the right one is the old brick.
So, I haven't updated in a while. So here are some photographs of my trip to Cork, Blarney and Cobh. I went with about 118 international students from Griffith College. We went by bus and it took about 3 or 4 hours to get there. We stayed at a hostel. My first experience with a hostel actually. It sort of felt like a submarine or a some place you would sleep in a ship. There were about 3 bunk beds (to fit 6 in a room) with one bathroom. The room was long and narrow, but the bathroom was larger than the one I currently use in Dublin. However, I forgot that hostels aren't like hotels and forgot a towel for the shower, and only brought a washcloth, but made do with that. Anyway, the hostel was quite nice and the free breakfast is always a plus. Tea, coffee, orange juice cereal and toast was included in a seemingly unlimited supply. So every morning we loaded up so that dinner or a late lunch would be our only meal needed, with a snack in between. So, the college had an itinerary planned out for the weekend, but if we got up early enough we could explore Cork and the nights were free as well. Cork is a city similar to Dublin, but does not have as many people or vomit as far as I could tell. A river runs around the city center where the shops, museums and a couple gorgeous cathedrals. The hostel receptionist told me that in the Fall almost half of the heart of the city was under water from the heavy heavy rainfall that occurred. However by this time the city was back to normal and beautiful. On our first morning, me and a couple other Americans decided to go into town and the receptionist pointed out some places on the map to visit. I was the only person to ask so I chose the English markets which wouldn't be open the next day, Sunday. I truly enjoy markets because of the sites you see and the bustle that is created with buying and selling goods. Meat, cheese, bread, eggs, vegetables, chocolate and more is sold in the market which is covered and seen above in the photographs. There are also vintage shops and other shops in the market. I even saw a tiny gallery displaying art. At night the city is quiet except for the pubs and clubs. Staying at the particular hostel we stayed at we got a 15% discount on drink at a certain pub down the street. On the second night it was Molly's birthday at midnight (my roommate) so me and a couple of people gathered a bunch of students and Griffith people and sang Happy Birthday at the top of our lungs. We also went to another club and the bouncer warned us it was an older crowd(meaning 30s) but we went in to have a drink anyway. On our way back a fight broke out between some guys and since Ireland doesn't really have guns, their weapon of choice was belts. We watched for a little bit until the Garda showed up and then broke it up, but the Garda does not carry guns either only batons. Nothing happened after that and we walked on. Below I'll talk about the adventures in the Jameson distillery and the Blarney Castle.
Tonight I went to Mass for the first time with my roommate Ruth and her boyfriend Sean. It was a really traditional mass. Prayer was read in Latin, there were five alter boys, incense, bells and all. I was brought up nondenominational- meaning protestant to the Irish. Anything not Catholic is Protestant. The Protestants oppressed the Catholics of Ireland for 100s of years, meaning England oppressed Ireland for 100s of years. But who didn't the British oppress? Anyway, I received ash from the priest, I had to kneel down while he said a short prayer in Latin before putting his thumb to my forehead. Later we took communion in a very traditional manner. The priest fed us the eucharist on our stuck out tongues while saying a prayer ( I heard corpus christi- meaning body of Christ). I don't know any of the rituals even how you are supposed to cross yourself, or kneel with your right knee before sitting or before the altar. But, it was a very interesting experience and I am really glad I went. The priest talked about how ash Wednesday and Lent is not just an excuse to take off a couple of pounds or leave off the fags (cigarettes) for a while, but a preparation for the death of Jesus Christ (Easter). He was a little intense and forceful, but it was interesting. Ruth and Sean both agreed that normally mass is not as formal, the priest congratulates the recent victor in the local kids football match, etc., etc. Also, what Americans call Fat Tuesday, Ireland calls Pancake Tuesday. Everyone eats pancakes at all meals. Well not everyone, but we had pancakes, which are American crepes. They are flat and fold up. Alison, Ruth's good friend upstairs is going to culinary school and made us pancakes with caramel, marshmallows, and nutella. The pancakes were perfect! Ruth assembled them and they were too good to be true. I'll keep you updated on other traditions, Cheers!
So, my birthday was this past Saturday. I spent the weekend at Molly's (my roommate) family's house. Her grandfather was born in Donegal, the northern part of Ireland, and his cousin Madeline lives in Dunmore with her husband Robbie. They operated a B&B in Galway for a while and lease it out to someone else who now runs it. They are both happily retired. Their home was absolutely gorgeous. It felt like a B&B. Madeline had the best hospitality I have ever experienced of anyone. She made breakfast each morning. Gave me medicine because I was sick and even went to the local bakery and had them make a cake for me and Molly (her birthday is this Sunday). Robbie used to be a chef in one of his many trades. He fixed chicken, parsnips (from his own garden), carrots, potatoes and beets. It was delicious. The next night we had lamb, leek with white sauce, parsnips and potatoes. We had duck eggs from their own ducks as well in the morning. I also don't think I have had as much tea in my life as in that weekend. It was absolutely wonderful. On my birthday, Madeline drove through Connemara. Nothing is there except scattered houses and the most gorgeous scenery you have ever experienced. Words cannot describe the site. The feeling. I saw Galway, the Altlantic from the other side, sheep, a castle, the Twelve Pins (also Bens) which are the mountains, a gorgeous boarding school (Kylemore) which looked like a castle too and ate chowder in a quaint town called Roundstone, where the writer of The Riverdance owns a house nearby. I am posting some photographs, but I will link my Flickr so that you can see more of the beauty of Ireland.
They also had a border collie named Ness, short for Guinness. She was so affectionate and the best trained dog I have ever encountered. She just sat and let you pet her and did whatever they said without hesitation. They also had an iron fireplace, which they put turf (peat) in to fuel it. Everything you think of Ireland, the hospitality, the food, the good company and wonderful scenery, I experienced in that weekend. It was absolutely amazing. They also had antique furniture and an old-school bathtub and wash basin. The electric blankets were also a plus from my mattress in my dorm that I literally feel all the springs from. Enjoy west Ireland!
These photographs are taken of the Iveagh Market. I took them through a break in a window, which you can see above. The Earl of Iveagh opened this market in 1902 to give people a dry place to sell their goods according to warrenmountprimary.com. The market eventually closed down. However, during the Celtic Tiger, the major economic boom in Ireland, Dublin wanted to reopen the market, but eventually ran out of money. It now is boarded up and only holes in the windows are the only ways to see this gorgeous place. It is overgrown with wildlife and is coming out the sides of the buildings. When out of the recession and back into better times Dublin should reopen this beautiful piece of history to the vendors and peopel once more.
This is housing along a main road located in The Liberties. It is the fastest way to walk to class and it is lovely at sunset.
The sky can be breathtaking in Dublin. It backlights 3 buildings in The Liberties by the Iveagh Market, which no longer is in operation. Below is a cathedral against the black sky lit by the setting sun. These photographs were taken in a section of town called The Liberties. It is called The Liberties because back in the Middle Ages, the people were free from the government. However, they still paid money to the Catholic Church who ran the section of town. The Guinness brewery is located in this section and the Iveagh family, the family who owns Guinness, has donated a lot to the area. Such as housing, monuments, etc. The best Guinness in town is found at Capstan but called Fallon's by the locals. Guinness ensures this because the keg is kept right under the bar as opposed to under ground like most pubs. Of course temperature and the whole 9-yards also plays a part in the taste of beer, so other factors may play a part as well. I have yet to taste it myself, but I will no doubt update this when I do. The Liberties should not be walked through at night. Violence and drugs have risen in the area since the recession. There is also a brothel in this part of the city. However, it is not a bad part of Dublin and has a ton of history and culture in this area. I also live at the bottom of The Liberties (Dublin 8- the number of the district for The Liberties). Dublin's districts are all even on the southside of the river Liffey and odd to the north of it. I have never felt unsafe but would not walk down Thomas Street at night. I am in a newspaper class at D.I.T. and we put out about 3 newspapers a semester completely dedicated to this community. The newspaper is called The Liberty. I will be on their new web team this semester, which will correspond with the print stories. This has never been done at D.I.T. so I hope to make it a fantastic Web site along with the other team members. I hope to include multimedia, maps in Flash, photo essays and of course the stories will be up as well. The Web site will turn live the day we go to print on our first issue, which is March 9th. I will post a link. And it will improve throughout the semester.
TradFest occurred about a week ago at the end of January in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. It included a market, outdoor music, dancing, traditional Irish jigs and reels, and a film festival. There were also bands playing in pubs at night. This occurred at the Meeting House Square on Sunday, January 21st, in the afternoon. The band encouraged everyone to dance and those who did not know how picked it up fairly fast. Enjoy!
This is the Liffey. The river that slices Dublin's North end from South end. I live the South part of Dublin. I took this picture quick because the wind whipped through me and almost tore my face off. Or at least it felt like it. However, I stood there and took in the beauty and thought," I am in Dublin, let it rip!" It is exhilarating to experience life.
St.Stephen's Green is a gorgeous park. It has 22 acres and a band stand which occupies bands in the summer. It is still green in the dead of winter and I cannot wait to update photos when it blooms in Spring. As you can see people of all ages try to feed the pigeons and ducks in the park.
So I went to the grocery today. Not a tremendously far walk there however, with two extremely heavy bags and snow/rain coming down on the way back it seemed a little different. I took reusable bags because in Europe or at least Ireland and Amsterdam they do not supply plastic bags for your groceries. You are also your own bag-boy. And they are super-fast and continue ringing up the next customer. I think it is efficient and America definitely wastes so much in the way of plastic. To grab a grocery cart you must put in 1 euro into the lock and the cart will unlock from the rest of the carts. When it is returned, it locks back in and you get your euro back. If I remember correctly from my French books in High school that is also how they do it in France. That is also how I knew what to do. Thanks Mrs. Cacciatore, and I never thought I would say that. The pictures are of graffiti on Ramsfield Street and a biker over the canal with pigeons in the background.
So, apparently you do not tip in Ireland... anywhere. Their minimum wage is so high that tipping is unnecessary even at the pubs. Nice!
For the phones: Many students get local plans... a pay as you go phone. Meteor and Vodafone are the most frequently used, but there are a couple other. My SIM card for my iPhone cost 10 Euro, then you "top up" (add minutes) at a local grocery or other stores. If you top up 20 euro per month you get a promotion for 30 days that you can enter a code and get free texts and calling to all Meteor carriers or free texts to any carrier. I think I will do the free texts to anyone because that is more convenient. Plus I will use the top up minutes (the 20 euro) for calling people. Everyone texts nowadays anyway. I have to jailbreak my phone, so I can use another network, using black rain by GeoHotz (George Hotz) who currently hacked the PS3 station in 5 weeks total. Pretty intelligent.
Also, if you mention that you are a student you get discounts at several places including pharmacies, clothing stores and other places I have yet to find out but will keep you posted. A student travel card is great too, it gets you discounts on trains, buses, food, etc. It is relatively cheap (mine, 12 euro) and will save mucho mulla.
In Dublin, Temple Bar is an area of town that has a ton of pubs, shops, markets, artists etc. However the pubs jack up the prices for the tourists so most of the Irish drink along Camden Street and other places. i.e. The Bleeding Horse (pronounced : The Bleedin' Horse, they do not pronounce the G in -ing- nor the H in -th- such as Tanks for Thanks) , Feile, etc.
We have two windows in our dorm that look out on to the river with swans floating down periodically. It also looks out onto the street and houses across the way. After the pubs Molly and I got a little lost but eventually found our way with our huge Dublin fold-out map (the data plan for iPhone's apps are too expensive internationally, so I got a local SIM card to use and also plan to unlock my iPhone). We walked along the river and found three swans. Super-thrilled because they are huge and unafraid of humans we proceeded to take a million photographs. Then walking a little ways down we feasted our eyes on a huge flock of swans and got more excited than normal people. They were gorgeous and just hanging out on the bank and in the river, so we snapped a million more. Hope you enjoy the wildlife of Dublin. P.S. the pigeons are also huge and unafraid.
This is my first Guinness draft from Ireland bought in Feile pub, which means festivities in Gaelic (or Irish as they say here). A guide from Griffith College, Paul, who works at the college took out "Team America" last night to several pubs. However, Team America was not quite accurate because two Finnish women were with us, one German guy, one Parisian guy and other international students were with us. Also, according to Paul, Irish is easy to learn, having only 11 irregular verbs. So I plan to learn Irish. So go have a Guinness, Erin Go Braugh- English Irish. Real Irish- Éire go Brách - (Ireland Forever) Sorry for the slight blur in the photograph I had to have my roommate, Molly, photograph me in low-light conditions and did not take a flash with me.
I am currently in Dublin, Ireland. This blog will be of the people, places and life of the Irish. I hope to document my travels and enlighten the world of the many things that make this country beautiful. Follow me on my journey...
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