Photos from laihiu, MARTIN @ SHA, bigcatslover, ddsnet, and Lee Wei-I.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day on the horizon, the Library of Congress today posted over 100 delightful photochroms of Ireland from from the Detroit Publishing Company. Take an armchair trip to the green Irish countryside, indulge in a seaside stroll, or look for your Irish kin.

Got a photo taken from the same view as the ones in this collection? Show us your Then & Now series in the Flickr Commons group.

Historical photos from the Library of Congress. Contemporary photo by SciFiGeek.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race started on March 6. During the course of the race, teams of dogs and mushers will cover 1,161 miles (1,868 km). To see more photos as they come in try a search for Iditarod sorted by most recent.

Photos from pwrplantgirl, Alaskan Dude, uzumewinter, auroraanc, Cold Press Publishing, and akphotograph.com.

Take a look at 3 Flickr viewers, each of which displays Flickr photos “on black”, offers continuous scrolling, and allows you to authenticate with your Flickr account to comment or favorite to enhance your Flickr experience. Of course, each app is showing photos that are hosted on Flickr, with attribution and links back to the photo pages on Flickr.

Fluidr presents photos quickly and seamlessly. It even includes some EXIF data, the description and geodata as a map right next to the photo. Our favorite feature? Surprise! It gives you a random selection from one of the 4 billion photos in the Flickrverse. It couldn’t be easier to discover something new.

Darckr delights in its wealth of photo viewing options, from being able to see photos large to creating a skinnable background. We enjoy the ease of which you quickly add links to your photo’s descriptions to view them on black in Darckr. You can even quickly catch-up on your contact’s recent uploads with comment boxes built right into the page and one-click commenting on multiple photos.

Flickriver is a classic. Alex continually updates this application, adding new features which are sure to delight. Besides excellent and uncluttered browsing, you can also get a dynamic badge to display on your profile or website, showing off your own or your group’s photos. We really enjoy pulling up random selections from groups to find hidden gems buried in the pool. The map integration is stellar; search for a place and the map appears at the top of the page.

Learn more about the App Garden in our FAQ.

Photos by spieri_sf, Warriorwriter, anda74, Abizeleth, dog ma and iceman9294.

Applications by haelio, Laurent Henocque and iosart.

Favorites are a great way to explore Flickr. You’ll almost always find jewels leading you to new photostreams and groups that you’d otherwise have never found. So next time you’re looking at someone’s photo, mouse over their buddy icon and click “Favorites”. The above photos were found by looking at one of my contact’s favorites, finding a photo, checking out that person’s favorites, etc.

Photos from Arman-h آرمان, Jim Patterson Photography, jasontheaker, LOlandeseVolante, Matilde B., and [Adam_Baker].

Stephanie Fysh has curated a wonderful selection of photos to commemorate International Women’s Day over at indicommons. Check out her post for more Women of the Commons.

Photo from the Library of Congress.

From the Mailboxes <3 gallery by Violet Echo.

Photos by A Outra Voz, Pixmaniaque, David.Bridges, nihiels and Power RGB.

People are discovering their relatives in photos from The Commons, the world’s public archives on Flickr. It’s fascinating to read the connections.

My grandfather Benjamin Franklin Metz b 2/21/1883, d 3/22/1954. Opening Day at the Polo Grounds, NY 4/10/1913 – Braves 8, Giants 0. This photo was probably taken within the next day or so, as others in this group have a date of 4/11/13 or 4/12/13 written on them. Game 2 against the Giants was played 4/17/13 at home in Boston. – pfmetz

Oh my gosh! How bizzare! Walter is my great great grandfather… – Patricia Snook.

Walter Brickett is also my grand grandfather too!! wow we’re related ,small world right! – Henry8362.

Hi Henry! Ha ha, we’ve just read your comment with the family recovering around the christmas dinner table, after a HUGE meal. My grandma is Walter Sydeny’s Daughter, the oldest son of Walter Septimus…. My grandmother is very interested, and amazed that you can connect so easily online! – Patricia Snook.

Sylvia Sweets Tea Room: My father, John Dayos started Sylvia Sweets Tea Room in the early thirties. He had worked for many years at Liggett’s Drug Store across the street as a “Patent Man” but after getting married in 1929, he soon decided he wanted to own his own business as so many Greek immigrants did. – soistaile.

Click through the photos below for more personal stories:

Try out a search of the Commons (or browse the photostreams of a particular institution) to see if you can have any personal connections there. You can share these stories with other members in the Flickr Commons group. We’d love to hear them!

Photos from the Library of Congress, Australian War Memorial, Smithsonian Institution and Swedish National Heritage Board.

It was back in June 2007, when we launched Flickr in 7 additional languages, localizing in 15 countries. Today, that number has grown to 22* with India being our most recent addition last December.

To celebrate, we’ll be hosting three regional events. Please save the date:

Delhi, April 16th    Bangalore, April 21st    Mumbai, April 23rd

Whether you can attend or not**, please share a photo in Hello, India!, a companion group for our events. As with our previous events, photos from the Flickrverse have been a highlight of the evening. The full details are available in the group.

Photos from $aintVikas, j.fisher and anu1243.

* Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, United States, United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

** We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

We’ve just overhauled our system emails to be more informative and have a more consistent look and feel. These messages are designed to alert you to activity about you or on your photos, and keep you in touch with what’s happening with your friends and family on Flickr. If you don’t have these emails turned on, maybe now’s a good time to try them out. (Nudge, nudge)

The Contact Notification email is a good example of the new messaging style. When someone adds you as a contact, you’ll now see their recent uploads, contacts you have in common, and photos in which they’ve been identified. You’ll see similar types of changes, as well as a more consistent look, across our system messages, whether you’re sharing a photo with someone, checking your recent activity, or corresponding with a fellow Flickr member.

Some other improvements you may notice:

• Share a set/photostream – cuter design (natch), and link to slideshow
• Share a photo – mapped location for geotagged photos
• Invite to Flickr – includes photos of and by the inviting member
• Welcome to Flickr – reminder of account information plus some helpful getting started information.

These emails are a great way to have Flickr activity like comments, favorites, new uploads, and member messages delivered to your inbox. Head over to Your Account to review and manage your email and notification settings. (If you prefer plain text, set your email reader accordingly.)

These changes are about making the messages we currently offer more useful and attractive. We can’t guarantee they’ll make you more attractive or smell better, you’ll have to log in to the site for that.

If you have questions let us know in this Help Forum topic.

Happy emailing!

Photo from S Megol.