Posted by maca on March 14, 2008
Just thought i’d give you a bit more information to coax you FCÁ/RDF’ers and weekend warrior wannabees into trying out airsoft.
Where to play airsoft
There’s literally millions, well maybe 20, places around Ireland where you can do it. The best way to find sites/clubs to contact the Irish Airsoft Association for sites down south or Airsoft Ireland for sites up north.
You can also check this map to see where other airsofters are located and take a look at the airsoft section on boards.ie.
Unfortunately many of the sites/clubs don’t have websites but some that do include S.A.C Longford, Meath Airsoft Group (Bebo), HRTA Dublin, G-Tac Galway and Airsoft Carlow.
What you need
1. Cash. At any of the “skirmish sites” you can rent all you need. For an example of pricing check out the Drogheda site’s pricing.
2. Equipment: you can buy all you need from airsoft retailers for AEG’s or army surplus stores for equipment. The minimum you would need is an AEG (gun), face mask or goggles, some bb’s (ammo) and protective clothing.
There are plenty of extras you can buy but wouldn’t need initially.
Retailers
I’d recommend buying your AEG’s off Irish retailers because most guns need to be downgraded to comply with Irish laws.
These would be the main Irish retailers (though there are a few others):
Airsofteire.com – seem to stock the high end expensive stuff but they offer a great service with excellent helpful communication.
Eirsoft.ie – offers a great range of low and high end AEG’s and decent enough prices. Communication is quite poor though.
Mainirishairsoft.com – not as good a range but some nice items; also high end stuff.
I’ve just bought a small item off Airsoftscotland.com who have a nice range of airsoft related equipment, shipping can be expensive though.
There are a ton of other retailers out there of course, including ebay, a quick Google search will find you tons; just be cautious about importing AEG’s from abroad.
Types of games
Some good information of types of games here.
That’ll get you started. Will try to post more information as I discover it.
Posted by maca on March 12, 2008
I just started a new hobby … airsoft.
It’s a bit like paintballing but without paintballs and paintball guns. So actually it’s nothing like paintball.
In airsoft you shoot 6mm hard plastic balls with guns that look and feel like the real thing. The only similarity to paintball is the type of games you play i.e. capture the flag, defend the fort, hostage rescue, run around the round bales, run around square bales and a few rusty barrels etc etc.
I should clarify, I haven’t quite started just yet. I have my first gun (AEG = airsoft electric (runs on a rechargeable battery) gun) on order and am expecting it to arrive in the coming week or so; it’s a Heckler & Goch G36C with a cool red dot sight. Voilá (without the sight):
I’m really looking forward to getting started the only problem is that if it’s as addictive as I imagine I’ll be forced to invest in extra guns and combat gear etc. The Americans seem to take it very seriously and buy all the latest and greatest equipment available including some guns which can cost up to US$4000!!
There’s no fear of me spending that much money on what is essentially a toy gun! The missus would use it on me!
It looks like a great sport and is one of the fastest growing sports in Europe. It’s actually only been legal in Ireland a short while and seems to be really taking off. The first “All-Ireland” is currently being organised for April.
For more information to satisfy your curiousity brúigh ar na nascanna thíos (click the links)!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoft
Irish Airsoft Associaiton
Airsoft Ireland (NI based site)
EDIT: This is next on my shopping list, the Steyr Aug A1.
Posted by maca on March 12, 2008
Ok, i’m not an animal lover at all really.
I like chicken, but that’s different. I like cow, also different. I like sharks especially Great Whites/White Pointers; it’s the ‘i’m so goddam powerful I could bite you in two but i’ll just swim arrogantly by and scare the bejaysus out of you’ thing that I find absolutely awesome.
But I have to take my hat off to dolphins such as Moko who just rescued two stranded whales in New Zealand; damn but they’re impressive creatures … and probably taste better than chicken to boot.
edited, draft 2
Posted by maca on March 11, 2008
I was just typing the word “generator” into the Google search box a few mins ago, doing a search while a few tabs loaded and for some reason it typed backwards! So instead of “generator” I got “rotareneg”. Never seen that happening before, how odd! Must be a fault in the matrix.
Posted by maca on February 29, 2008
It’s the end of a web era. Poor aul Netscape Navigator has been dying a slow death for a number of years and has now been dealt the final death blow as AOL will no longer support the browser as of tomorrow, March 1st.
I feel like we should hold a wake or something. Netscape was the first big browser used by over 90% of web users in the mid-90′s; until Internet Exploder came along; it’s market share is now around 0.6%.
Although the browser will soon disappear within a short while in body it will still remain in spirit in the guise of Firefox [FF 3 coming out very soon] and Firefox clones such as Flock [1.1b out now]. AOL are of course recommending people switch to either of these two browsers.
IE8 is due out soon enough, beta testing begun a while back, and it is expected to support some advanced CSS stuff such as CSS tables which, with my limited knowledge of CSS browser support, should mean css tables can be more widely used. Which is nice.
CSS tables, fyi, should provide designers with an easier and more robust way of producing multicolumn css layouts.
Now if only people would make the switch from IE5/6/7 asap without holding on to old browsers for donkeys years we’d be in a much better situation.
Anyway … Netscape Navigator … all the best me aul mucker!
Posted by maca on February 29, 2008
How many of you are working today? Have any of you been given the day off?? Not a chance here.
Being on a fixed annual salary today is ‘ride your employee’ day; the day you have to work for free, for no extra pay. Isn’t that nice? It is if you are an employer.
It’s something we should start to complain about. Ok it’s only a single day and maybe you don’t mind working one day for free but we should make use of the day not just give it to our employers.
It only comes once every four years so why not make it a ‘national holiday with a cause’?
Call it Save the Planet Day if you’re a greeney;
or National Appreciation Day where you go and (re)learn a bit about our history or visit some historical sites etc etc etc.
There’s lots of things we could do with our time on February 29th rather than spend it in work for free!
Posted by maca on February 25, 2008
Sinn Fein assembly member Jennifer McCann plans an event in Stormont to commemorate PIRA terrorist Mairead Farrell … in return the DUP said it plans an event to commemorate the SAS “to celebrate the role of the SAS during the Troubles”.
I’m so glad I stopped following activities up North; it’s just the same old tired bullshit all the time.
Posted by maca on February 22, 2008
Posted by maca on February 12, 2008
Any fans of rock paper scissors out there … no? Oh well, I thought this was cool anyway … rock paper scissors 15, that’s right FIFTEEN different hand gestures and rock paper scissors 25, that’s right TWENTY FIVE muthafuckin’ hand gestures!
That’s some hard core shiiit right there maan!
Posted by maca on February 12, 2008
Time to brush up on your Italian! Looks like Trapattoni is set to take over the ROI manager’s job once his once his contract with Salzburg is up at the end of the season!! Benvenuto Trapattoni!
I for one am quite happy to see him take over the Ireland job; just look at his honours ffs:
AC Milan
Coppa Italia Runner-up: 1974–75
Juventus
Serie A: 1977, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986
Runners-up: 1980, 1983, 1992, 1994
Coppa Italia: 1979, 1983
Runners-up: 1992
European Cup: 1985
Runners-up: 1983
Cup Winners’ Cup: 1984
UEFA Cup : 1977, 1993
European Super Cup: 1984
Intercontinental Cup: 1985
Internazionale
Serie A : 1988–89
UEFA Cup: 1990–91
FC Bayern Munich
Bundesliga: 1996–97
Runners-up: 1997–98
German Cup: 1997–98
AC Fiorentina
Coppa Italia Runners-up: 1998–99
SL Benfica
SuperLiga: 2004–05
Taça de Portugal Runners-up: 2004–05.
FC Red Bull Salzburg
T-Mobile Bundesliga: 2006–07
Speaking of Italian, Antonio, come dite “Go on ya good thing!” in italiano?
