flickr.pandas.getPhotos is, as Kellan points out, “quirky” but awesome. It is essentially a firehose (three firehoses, actually) of realtime Flickr data updated every 60 seconds (not every 60000 seconds as the documentation seems to indicate). That means the “ling ling” firehose, for example, exposes about 172,000 photos per day. I’m still experimenting with the data. It sure is fun to watch. (Well, your mileage will vary… it’s fun for me.)