Wheres me jumpa

It has taken me nearly two years to go see Bodies The Exhibition. I first heard of it while in New York with Minnie two years ago and was sorry I did not get to see it back then. The exhibition has been in Dublin for a number of months now and at the weekend my sister and two nephews popped along.

Tickets were 20EUR for each adult and 12.75EUR for each child. The Ambassador Theatre has been completely taken over for the exhibition.

I was expecting wall to wall full body displays but in fact most of the displays are single body parts or collections of body parts. Each display  comes with an explanation of its purpose and how it was prepared.

One of the most interesting displays was a healthy set of lungs, beside a smokers lungs. The latter was black throughout and must surely be a detterent for smokers who saw it.

My nephews were fascinated by a display of every vein and artery in the human body. The veins were injected with a solution that hardened and allowed the veins to be extracted in tact

Another highlight was a display to show the positioning of body fat. A body was split into three cross sections. The left and right cross sections showed the front and back of the body so you could see how overweight the person was. The middle cross section showed how the body fat looked from the inside. You could see a layer of fat all the way around the body. The layer got thicker around the hips / stomach region.

We went through the exhibition quickly, about 45 minutes to get all the way around. You could easily spend longer in there. The exhibition is closing in July and is well worth a visit. My sister and I loved it and our 11 and 8 year old nephews loved it.

• Spent the evening cursing my neighbours for playing loud pop music,turns out I just live too close to Croke Park! That That, pfft! #

• My new favourite Simpsons episode:

  http://url.ie/1ngf #

The June bank holiday weekend brought with it the finest weather of the year. On Monday, Minnie and I decided to head to Howth. After some slow moving traffic, we arrived in the village and made our way to start of the Howth Cliff trail.

We have never ventured far across this trail before and despite our choice of flip flops for footwear we decided to venture further this time. And it was well worth it the sore toes afterwards! We walked out about 1 km and I really cant wait to go back and walk it fully. The green cliffs roll right down to the blue ocean. The noise of the bird population there is incredible, almost like walking by a school yard!

When we returned to the village we passed through a market and tried the falafel wrap at The Lebanese Food stall and it was delicious! Before walking out the pier to watch the many boats and ski jets pass us by.

• Long weekend goodness!! #

• Well done Shane Lowry! #
• Two hours of Desperate Housewives tonight, what in the name of god have I done to deserve this persecution! #
• @lecraic I pity me too! @mneylon, I need a second cable tv connection! in reply to lecraic #

While listening to The Wide Angle on Newstalk this morning, I learned that the English Politician Expense row is unlikely to recreate itself over here, because Irish TD’s do not need to itemise their expenses! No receipts are required for a TD to claim his/her full entitlement to a particular expense.

Mileage, overnight expenses and office costs can all be claimed without receipt or proof having actually incurred the expense. In the public sector, expenses seem to be an opportunity to earn extra cash. Compare that to the private sector where you have to fight tooth and nail to get back money you have actually spent.

Our government has cut so much yet has turned a blind eye to needless haemorrhaging of tax payers money in the public sector. Lets start saving money in the public sector with this expense issue, bring in a receipt based system.

I have often seen comedy nights advertised on the various gig listing sites. Last night I finally went to one and it is definitely something I will be doing again. The venue was The International Comedy Club. We were not sure what comedians would be on but it turned out to be George Fox, Willo White, Kevin Gildea and Fred Cook.

The club is tiny and people cram in on stools to laugh out loud or heckle the new material on trial. We went to the late show, which meant there was a few people with too many beers in them in the crowd. They annoyed everyone around them, even the comedians, so next time I’ll go to the early show!

Tickets are 10 euro for over two hours of comedy so this really is a good option for a cheap night out!

• The wedding season kicks off today. Ive stocked up on aldi toasters and kettles which should last me through a summer of weddings! #

• 3 hours to pass in an airport, what to do, what to do. #
• @CormacMoylan here, here. Didnt hear the original broadcast but Frank answered in it in a controlled and effective way. in reply to CormacMoylan #
• @mneylon true, but you cant argue with their products!
  http://url.ie/1hus in reply to mneylon #
• @mneylon rather than blame some subconscious process, I blame the designer, for effective prodcut placement! in reply to mneylon #
• Steven Seagal, a man’s man! #