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DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 03 AT THE COLLEGE

March 27, 2023 by infomatique

27 MARCH BOLTON STREET

Today I experimented and used an adaptor to allow my Sony FX30 to use a Canon-Mount 25-105mm F4 lens and while I cannot complain about the quality of the images focusing was very slow. Also, not having an electronic viewfinder is a major issue for me, especially as I wear glasses.

Bolton Street campus has been a centre for technological education for over 100 years. The three storey neo-classical building was designed by CJ McCarthy and was built in 1908. It has since been extend in 1961 and again in 1987. Plaster representations of artisan figures decorate the hallway and corridors of this ornate building. The figures are casts from John Henry Foley’s models for figures at the base of the Albert Memorial on Leinster Lawn. Despite substantial extensions, the essential historic character of the building has been maintained and the building forms an important part of the surrounding streetscape. The campus is fully equipped with computer and electronic labs, lecture theatres with the latest audio- visual equipment and learning aids, fully equipped workshops, library, restaurants, students’ union area, and student recreation area.

Bolton Street, is just 5 minutes’ walk from O’Connell street and just six minutes’ walk to the Grangegorman campus.

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A MAGNIFICENT THREE MASTED TALL SHIP ARRIVED IN DUBLIN THIS MORNING

March 25, 2023 by infomatique

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT II

I last photographed this tall ship as she left Dublin 26th. August 2022.

Alexander von Humboldt II is a German sailing ship built as a replacement for the ship Alexander von Humboldt, which had been launched in 1906 and used for sail training since 1988. Constructed by Brennund Verformtechnik (BVT) in Bremen, the new ship was launched in 2011. Just like her predecessor, the Alexander von Humboldt II is operated by Deutsche Stiftung Sail Training in Bremerhaven which offers sail training for people between 14 and 75 years of age.

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt’s quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography. Humboldt’s advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring.

Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in the Americas, exploring and describing them for the first time from a modern Western scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in several volumes over 21 years. Humboldt was one of the first people to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular).

Humboldt resurrected the use of the word cosmos from the ancient Greek and assigned it to his multivolume treatise, Kosmos, in which he sought to unify diverse branches of scientific knowledge and culture. This important work also motivated a holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity, which introduced concepts of ecology leading to ideas of environmentalism. In 1800, and again in 1831, he described scientifically, on the basis of observations generated during his travels, local impacts of development causing human-induced climate change.

Humboldt is seen as “the father of ecology” and “the father of environmentalism”.

Three-Masted, Sailing Ship, Tall Ship, Dublin, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay,Alexander von Humboldt, Alexander von Humboldt II, Brennund Verformtechnik (BVT), Deutsche Stiftung Sail Training, William Murphy, Infomatique, Fotonique, Apple, iPhone, 12 Pro max,

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THE LINESMAN BY DONY MacMANUS ON CITY QUAY [THIS IS A FAVOURITE OF MINE]

This bronze sculpture, by Irish artist Dony MacManus, commemorates the tradition of docking in the area, which disappeared with the containerisation of shipping cargo. Located on City Quay, it was the winning entry in a public art competition organised by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to celebrate the new life of the quayside or campshires, along the River Liffey.

I worked for a shipping company back in the late 1960s and we employed people to do this sort of work but I not sure that we referred to them as linesmen and it may surprise many to learn that they were better paid than other dockers.

At the time we were in the process of switching to containerisation and reducing the number of casual workers which was bad news for many living in the area and it was especially difficult as nearly all the dockers employed by the company were, to some degree.family members [I was the only exception].

WHAT AN AMAZING DOOR AT 86 MERRION SQUARE

March 18, 2023 by infomatique

18 MARCH 2023

I am often asked why are doors so colourful in Dublin and unfortunately I must admit that I am not sure. Some claim When Queen Victoria died, it was decreed that all doors must be painted black in mourning. Instead, the Irish painted their doors every colour of the rainbow. Any colour except black .

I once went on a walking tour and the tour-guide offered up the following story: Two famous Irish writers George Moore and Oliver St. John Gogarty lived next door to each other. Legend has it that Gogarty would come home drunk and often knock on Moore’s door. To help Gogarty avoid this mistake, Moore painted his door green. Gogarty escalated by painting his door red and the colourful doors of Dublin trend was born.

No. 86 Merrion Square is distinguished from others in the terrace by its wide, five-bay façade. It displays typically elegant proportions and is enlivened by a good Ionic doorcase, complete with petal fanlight and 1988 hand-painted panels of the door. The building is enhanced by its intact setting, which contributes to the intact appearance of the square. Developed as part of the Fitzwilliam Estate, Merrion Square is one of the best-preserved Georgian streetscapes in Ireland. The north, east and south sides of the square are lined with terraced houses of eighteenth and nineteenth-century date, while the west side is terminated by the garden front of Leinster House. The houses maintain a relatively uniform building height and design, attributed to standards promoted in Fitzwilliam’s leases. Individuality was introduced through the design of doorcases, window ironwork and interior decorative schemes.

CEASES TRADING TOMORROW 19 FEBRUARY

February 18, 2023 by infomatique

THE CLOCK PUB ON THOMAS STREET

I decided to visit Thomas Street in order to photograph the Clock Pub which is scheduled to cease as a business tomorrow Sunday 20 February 2023.

During the Covid pandemic 349 pubs in Ireland ceased trading but there are many reasons for this and one is that many pub owners had, for various reasons, decided to retire or they received an offer that they could not refuse.

The Clock on Thomas Street is closing because the building has been sold.

WINDY ARBOUR TRAM STOP

February 13, 2023 by infomatique

GREEN LINE SERVICE FEBRUARY 2023

Windy Arbour (Na Glasáin) is a small suburban village in the Dundrum area of Dublin, Ireland. Situated between Dundrum and Milltown, along the banks of the Slang River (also known as the Dundrum or Slann River).

The name of the area was originally Irish Na Glasáin, “the green land”; this was Anglicised as ‘Glassons’. The name Windy Harbour or Sandy Arbour was later applied, referring to a landing-point on the River Slang. A starch mill was formerly located there. “Arbour” once had the meaning “grass plot, lawn, garden”; it is possible that the name was intended as a direct translation of glasáin.

Perhaps the most famous person to live in Windy Arbour was Irish patriot Robert Emmet, who grew up in The Casino, a manor house that is now known as Emmet House, where the Secretariat of Secondary schools in Ireland is currently housed. It is located next to the Catholic church on Bird Avenue and was formerly known as Carton House.

There is a primary school in Columbanus Estate known as Our Lady’s National School, Clonskeagh. The area is served by Windy Arbour Luas stop and by the number 17, 44 and 61 bus routes.