Irish Students Up For €10K Google Prize

Here’s a cute item. Parents in Ireland are sharpening up their green pencils for their young artistic kiddies, as Google announced yesterday the launch of an Irish national competition for primary and secondary school pupils to design a St Patrick's Day homepage for Google, and the winning design will be seen across the world wide web.

The doodle, to be designed under the theme My Ireland around Google's famous logo, will feature on its Home Page in Ireland, UK, Canada and the US on March 17, 2009. The star pupil's school will also be awarded a €10,000 technology grant.

Adele Cooper, of Google Ireland, said the event was a fantastic opportunity for students of all ages to let their imagination run wild.
"Google has run this competition in the UK and USA, but this is the first time the winning design will be seen outside the winner's country," she said.
"The theme My Ireland can be interpreted in many ways so we can't wait to see how it will be represented in the doodles submitted by students in Ireland."

Each primary and secondary school in the Republic of Ireland can submit a maximum of six pieces of art to Google, which employs 1,500 people in Dublin.
A panel of judges will pick the best 104 designs which will go on-line in age and county categories. Google users will then vote for their favorite, with the top four going head to head in the national final. Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang will select the best doodle in Dublin.
Since 2000, the 29-year-old has been creating designs doodles for the web page. "Integrating technology into our schooling is central to our success as a knowledge economy and we are delighted that we can make this significant contribution to a school in Ireland," Ms Cooper said.

Schools must register for Doodle 4 Google by November 7 and submit entries by December 12.

Cancer Risk Is Cut By Breastfeeding By 5%

Mothers who breastfeed for a year over their lifetime, are five per cent less likely to develop breast cancer.


A study found that after breastfeeding, the body cuts the levels of some cancer-related hormones in the mother's body, and cells in the breast with damaged DNA, which reduces the risk of the disease.


Dr Rachel Thompson, of the World Cancer Research Fund, said: "It is something positive women can do to cut their risk of breast cancer."


World Cancer Research Fund

Happy 10th Birthday Google!

One day this month will mark Google's official 10th birthday, but which day is it exactly? Congratulations Google, Many Happy Returns And Many More!

This month will mark Google’s official 10th birthday, and on September 27th no doubt we will see another clever, special Google birthday logo, but the team at www.HomeBasedMums.com thought we would get our tribute out just a little earlier.

But did you know that just a little snooping can reveal quite another type of web altogether? If you are to go by their corporate history page, then Google is actually nearly 13-years-old. But the domain name Google.com was registered on September 15 1997, so that makes them 11 years old next week.But hey what does it matter anyway – it’s a Birthday celebration! Keep up the great work guys, and don’t stay up too late!

The team at http://www.homebasedmums.com/

Artistic Mum's Selling Handmade Crafts Online

Attention all you artistic mums out there. Are you looking for a proper, successful, dedicated place to sell your beautiful handmade crafts? Look no further – http://www.etsy.com/ is just the place. This giant virtual art, craft and design fair, is a great place to help sell you crafts online. Set up in June 2005, by a small firm called Iospace, and led by Robert Kalin of Brooklyn, etsy.com is a very large community with some amazing crafters and artists. Very user friendly, and has forums and communication tools and virtual labs where you can watch tutorials on how to make different things. They charge a listings fee, and a sales percentage when you sell, but for this you get your own cool shopfront and talent showcases. It’s a cool site. Check it out. Juliette

Orla Kiely: Pure Poetry. And Eco-Friendly too, hmmm....??

I know, I know! At $623 this is not an everyday splurge. But my God I would love this bag! This absolutely georgeous handstitched leather holdall with zip to close. Leather handles. Front and back open pockets. Inside details include cotton stem print lining, small zip and mobile pockets and key chain. I LOVE it. And autumn is coming….??? And don’t for get its been made from natural leather, tanned using only vegetable extracts, in an environmentally friendly manner! Its an ecobag! Could it be argued that Im doing my bit….? Hmmm

Joseph O'Neill and Family Life at Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel

When we think of Manhattan’s infamous Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street most people immediately think of its glamorous old days when it was home to the bohemian and notorious, to some of our greatest great poets, painters and punks. It was of course home to William S. Burroughs, Janis Joplin and Sid Vicious.

But would it surprise you to know that nowadays it is a haven of family life, and the family home of increasingly popular and extremely talented Irish novelist and lawyer Joseph O’Neill and his equally talented wife Sally Singer, the fashion news editor at Vogue magazine, and their three charming sons. Living on the eighth-floor their family suite is a lovely skillful and tasteful mix of glamour and domesticity.

What a seriously cool place to live and raise a family. For the three boys who are aged from 2 to 5, photos show them racing their little bikes down the hallway of not forgotten elegance.

"The whole place is magical," O'Neill says of it now. "It's a whole kind of story unto itself. You're in this village; you have a village life in the middle of the city, and the villagers are friendly and fascinating."

And often, of course, famous; while the O'Neills have lived there, Didi Ramone, Debbie Harry and Ethan Hawke have been among their co-residents. Not that O'Neill was on morning coffee terms with any of them; his favourite Chelsea story centres around the time he and baby Malachy were invited over for a cuppa by the late playwright Arnold Weinstein, who lived across the hall, and ended up spending the evening with Arthur Miller and friends.

But the Chelsea is "just a really basic, authentic place" for O'Neill and his family, he says; it's just home.

Read more in the NYT.....

Too Busy To Visit A Museum?

No problem. When you are too busy to visit a museum in person, or fancy visiting a museum in another country even, this handy website http://vlmp.museophile.com/ is a great place to start to find museums online. Enjoy!