Phil's blog

I've spent the last week trapsing around NSW, starting at the Central West Astronomical Society's 2009 Astrofest in Parkes - home of 'The Dish' (better in HD!):

Thanks to everybody who celebrated with us at our Ceilidh, whether you were there in person or in spirit.

Thanks to our wonderful family and friends who helped before, during and after the event - you were great! :-)

And special thanks to:

Welcome to Karen and Phil's online Guestbook for their Wedding Ceilidh

On Saturday I dragged Neil Creek, a long time and astronomically minded friend, to Heathcote. A contributing factor was that I knew we'd both enjoy pointing his brand new Canon 5DmkII at the heavens, and in particular towards Comet Lulin.

Am I jealous.. you bet :-)

Welcome to Karen and Phil's Ceilidh at the Albert Park Yacht Club.

A Ceilidh (sounds like 'kay-li') is a traditional Gaelic social dance originating in Ireland and Scotland. Before discos and nightclubs, there were Ceilidhs in most town and village halls on Friday or Saturday nights and they are still common today. The Australian Bush Dance is derived from the Scottish Ceilidh and traditional dances from other parts of the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe.

Originally, a ceilidh was a social gathering of any sort, and did not necessarily involve dancing. The 'ceilidh' was an evening of literary entertainment where stories and tales, poems and ballads, are rehearsed and recited, and songs are sung, conundrums are put, proverbs are quoted, and many other literary matters are related and discussed. So if you have a song, a story or anything else you'd like to share at our ceilidh we'd love to hear about it!

It's a good thing Andy (and Toni's camera) came on the launch ride after all:

With apologies to The Age and Leunig, but this had to make an appearance online.

Now why not visit The Age or buy a book from leunig.com? (I at least already own one Leunig book)

Through a combination of luck and good fortune, Kaz and I have three different Canon cameras - a venerable 20D DSLR, an ultra compact IXUS 70 and most recently the G9. Phil wants to know how much he sacrifices when he takes the G9 cross country skiing instead of the 20D and Kaz wants to prove that the G9 she chose to keep (after Phil won it) is really better than the IXUS 70.

via Calculated Risk:

Greenspan and The Simpsons (20 seconds):

Greenspan and Casablanca (19 seconds):