Around The World Without Flying, Irish Guy Wages War On Thoughtless Living

by Chris Owen on

Traveling around the world without flying, Ireland’s Niall Doherty quit his regular 9-to-5 job a little over a year ago, choosing to pursue his passions and help others escape mediocrity. Living a nomadic life ever since, Doherty has never stayed in one place more than four months and is quick to reveal his secret to breaking away and doing life his way.

“I work online, meaning I can work from anywhere with Internet access,” says Doherty on his website, simply titled ndoherty.com. “I make most of my money from web design, but a few other income streams include affiliate marketing, donations and an online course I created to help people overcome fear.”

It’s that whole notion of helping others overcome fear that caught our attention. Based on his book, “Disrupting The Rabblement,” Doherty brings key ingredients needed in any recipe for an extended trip around the world where self-reliance is required.Teaching readers “how to think for yourself, face your fears, and live your dreams,” Doherty builds on a 1901 James Joyce essay, “The Day of the Rabblement,” in which Joyce criticized the Irish Literary Theatre for abandoning true and good things and surrendering to the popular will.

Today, says Doherty, 30, people have become the property of rabblement by watching TV regularly, eating processed foods, obsessing with celebrities and other activities.

Sound interesting? Think an around the world trip is for you? Doherty tells all on his website, detailing finances, where he has been and where he plans to go for subscribers (free) to his blog.

How does it all work?

To complete the next leg of his world tour, Doherty needed a way to continue from India, found out that Costa Cruises Romantica was sailing over the weekend and sent Costa the video below.

Costa had the space available and Doherty is currently sailing and blogging his way from Cochin, India, for six days to Phuket, Thailand. Check his Facebook for details or follow @ndoherty13 on Twitter.


[Photo credit- Flickr user Artiii]



TourWrist Brings New Views Of Old Places

by Chris Owen on

TourWrist has one of the world’s largest collections of geo-located virtual tours, acquired from consumers and panoramic photographers. Different than two-dimensional photos and static-shot video, TourWrist real world panoramic images can greatly enhance travel-planning efforts by offering a different, more detailed view of places we might visit.

A free service, TourWrist delivers a 360-degree view of places we might travel with over 30,000 panoramic images. Using the TourWrist smartphone app to view, shoot, publish and share panoramas is easy too. TourWrist comes loaded with panoramic photography tools, back-end infrastructure and tour viewers.

“If you’ve ever played with Google Earth, you zoom in and get this sensation of being able to go anywhere – but eventually you stop going back because it doesn’t let you do anything,” explained on CoDesign. Tour Wrist CEO Charles Armstrong. “Our goal is to give you the opportunity to actually explore these places.”

Visiting the TourWrist website, we can choose to see the best/everything in categories such as hotels and resorts; arts and entertainment; dining and more. A panorama of a luxury yacht caught our attention and provides a good example of just what TourWrist is capable of. Clicking our way around the yacht took us from one panorama to another, giving about as complete of a tour as possible without really being there.

In that yacht tour, we were able to view in different directions and move forward and backward into the scene, much like Google Street View, something we would not have been able to do not long ago. “Our interface is always in a constant state of improvement,” says Armstrong.



[Photos Credit: Flickr user drocpso]

Costa Concordia Wreck Removal Detailed On New Website

by Chris Owen on

Costa Concordia grounded off the coast of Italy last January and work has been ongoing since then to clear the area of all things cruise ship related. Taking a cruise ship that has fallen over on its side and getting it back upright is apparently a gigantic job that has never before attempted. This week, Costa Cruises, along with its salvage company, launched a website with detailed information, plans and images relating to the Costa Concordia wreck-removal project.

Parbuckling is the technical term for the process of rotating the wreck into an upright position and is said to be one of the most complex and crucial phases of the removal plan. The Parbuckling Project website gives step by step illustrations that show just exactly how the salvage team hopes to make that happen.

The site’s main features include background information about the project and the companies involved, up-to-date news, multimedia assets including videos, 3-D animations and pictures, thematic insights and technical details.Just completing the initial phase, anchoring and stabilization of the wreck has been done to prevent any slipping or sinking.

The next phase of the removal plan prepares the false bottom on which the wreck will rest after rotation in two separate phases.

First grout bags will be positioned and filled with cement to create a stable base for the hull.

Next, platforms will be fixed in place and a crane will be used to install water-tight structures called caissons on one side of the wreck.

Then the parbuckling happens, lifting the ship up on one side. To balance the wreck, more caissons will be installed on the other side, refloating the ship which has been resting on the platform shown above.

Its a never-been-done feat of engineering that takes technology from a number of unrelated fields to make it happen. Costa promises that the Parbuckling Project website will be constantly updated to reflect the different phases of the plan as the work progresses.

Getting the ship out of the way can’t come soon enough for environmentalists who recently found and rescued giant mussels from under the wreck, as we see in this video.




[Photo/Image Credit: the Parbuckling Project]

Art In Embassies Celebrates Serving Abroad …Through Their Eyes

by Chris Owen on


Art In Embassies (AIE) is a program of the U.S. Department’s of State and Defense that promotes cross-cultural dialogue and understanding around the world through the visual arts, sponsoring dynamic artist exchanges. For five decades the public-private partnership program has played a big role in U.S. diplomacy. This month, in commemoration of Veterans Day, the AIE program announced the 12 “Best in Show” photographs featured in AIE’s 50th anniversary “Serving Abroad…Through Their Eyes“ photography exhibition.

Last year on Veterans Day, military, civil service and Foreign Service personnel were invited to submit photographs illustrating their life while serving abroad. Over 3,200 images were submitted, 161 finalists were chosen then the 12 “Best in Show” were identified.

“These photographs depict themes of friendship, places, faces, loss or triumph, providing a window on the complexity, diversity and courageous work performed by America’s heroes throughout the world,” said the U.S. Department of State in a release.

Today, AIE engages 20,000 artists, museums, galleries, universities and private collectors in more than 200 venues in 189 countries. Over 58 permanent collections have been installed in State Department facilities throughout the world.

See all the finalists here

In the video below we see artist Tom Gosford talking about the installation of his work in the U.S. Tijuana consulate, and a look at the Art in Embassies exhibition in the consulate.




The AIE 50th anniversary celebration features U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton honoring five artists on November 30, presenting the first U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts for their outstanding commitment to the program.

[Photo Credit: U.S. Department of State]

Over The River And Around The Detour With Road Travel Info Sources

by Chris Owen on

“Over The River and Through the Wood” is a Thanksgiving song that many travelers will be humming if not singing in a couple weeks as they hit the road for holiday events. To keep the holiday mood light, many will turn to a variety of online and smartphone tools designed to make life on the road easier.

Sigalert takes the California Highway Patrol definition of “any unplanned event that causes the closing of one lane of traffic for 30 minutes or more,” and turns it into data drivers can use to plan their trip. Complete with personalized routing and traffic alerts via email or text, a subscription version ($2.95/month) gives rich data, but just stopping by the Sigalert website reveals a quick, detailed snapshot of traffic right now.

Frixo.com specializes in giving traffic reports for UK motorways, updated every three to five minutes using sensors placed on motorways and common roads. Speed limits, traffic incidents, information motorists will see on electronic road displays, road work information and weather conditions that might affect a trip are also listed.At Traffic.com, U.S. drivers can check their drive time in a side-by-side comparison with delay time and average speed for a road trip from home to grandmother’s house. Traffic.com also invites visitors to visit NavteqMaps24.com where the future of mapping is happening right now.

At the top of the list of road trip guidance helpers is Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive, now part of mapping solutions company Navteq. Making revolutionary new maps that are as detailed and current as possible, this is the one we want along for the holiday ride or anytime, as we see in this video:




[Photo credit- Flickr user epSos.de]