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• Post #4465369

  "To wrap AI into the art of learning when we have overwhelming proof of the harm it does to developing minds is feeding snake oil to the people we should cherish most. We already have counterfeit AI people infiltrating our media: we must not risk sending out young people into a hard world armed only with counterfeit knowledge. We should treat it with the same urgency with which we would treat a wildfire." - Katherine Rundell https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/aug/08...

• Post #4450248

  Went to Belfast for the Fleadh today - it is absolutely hopping! They are putting on a great show. It must be surreal for people who remember it in the bad old days.

• Post #4427782

  The response from the RSA and the Minister to this is, as usual, appalling No commitment to actually act on this, no mention of enforcement, just expressions of concern and appeals to drivers to be more considerate. Because that always works, right? RTE news : 'Deep concern' as Lollipop people spat at, abused at work http://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0807/1586860-lollipop-people-abuse/

• Post #4397717

  "Those deaths, and any resulting irrational shifts in policy are the price we now have to pay for a decade of failing to assign real accountability for disinformation to social media platforms, and for not forcing them to do better. And as the EU’s digital rulebook enforcer, a big part of that blame sits right with us here in Ireland." Great analysis of the #Ceuta incident by @LizCarolan@mastodon.ie, emphasising Ireland's own culpability in what happened. https://www.irishexami...

• Post #4255314

  Shortly after 10pm this evening, the last of the evening light on Blackrock Diving Tower #Galway

• Post #4095244

  Extraordinary sculptures by Seán Henry at the Festival Gallery in #Galway

• Post #4006033

  Is there a word for that blind belief that the climate emergency won't require any changes to our behaviour if we can only harness the power of some future, yet unproven, technology? "Ireland will remain dependent on gas unless we embrace nuclear" - Michael McDowell https://archive.fo/P743Z

• Post #3969110

  TIL that Sam Davol, long time member of band The Magnetic Fields, runs a not-for-profit organisation with his wife Leslie which works on activating public space. "Davol’s interest in placemaking was partly inspired by several decades of touring with The Magnetic Fields.'The things I have seen in Europe in particular over the years have deeply influenced the ways I wish New York could be', he says" https://archive.fo/M51Fp Here's a link to their work: https://www.streetla...

• Post #3962397

  Just so we’re clear. If you are 16 years old and you live in Ireland, you can drive the vehicle on the left, but it’s far too dangerous for you to drive the one on the right.

• Post #3959743

  This just sums up our current government. Having failed to enforce existing legislation around the use of e-scooters they are going to bring in more legislation which they won't enforce. It will have zero impact on the safety of people using e-scooters and create further barriers to their use for those who want to use them legally. https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0720/1584131-escooters-ireland-meeting/

• Post #3746919

  I missed this Irish Times letter on Thursday - glad to see someone calling this out. "Photos of people enjoying the sunshine do not tell the full story It is surely way past time for presenting heatwaves as benign and welcome opportunities for fun"

• Post #3745798

  I had a weird experience this evening. I was cycling across town from O'Connell Street to my home in Rathmines. It was very busy in the city centre, lots of traffic but I made good progress on my bike. I pulled onto my street and then took a side street to get to the back lane where there's a gate into our back garden. As I got off the bike outside our gate a taxi pulled up on the side road and stopped at the end of the lane. The driver called out, "so that's where you live!&quo...

• Post #3703542

  My 13yo came home from his friend's house earlier talking about "this guy in England with a bin on his head who's winning an election". Who said the youth aren't politically engaged, eh?

• Post #3681403

  The good denizens of Wikipedia are doing a superb job in capturing the absurdity of the upcoming UK parliamentary by-election in Clacton... 2026 Clacton by-election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Clacton_by-election

• Post #3567219

  Top Government adviser calls for action to roll back ‘gold-plated’ environmental legislation – The Irish Times https://archive.fo/8UxAi Seán O'Driscoll was a director of AIB when it had to be bailed out by the State. He then blamed unions for the banking crash. He was a major shareholder in Barryroe which was refused a permit by Eamon Ryan for an oil exploration project off the coast, faced insolvency, and, in 2023, was taken private by Larry Goodman, with many other investors losing out...

• Post #3476844

  "Stopping vehicle growth could save lives, space, and billions in energy costs" Researchers Want To Tax Cars By The Inch To Stop Carspreading | Carscoops https://www.carscoops.com/2026/06/carspreading-car-size-study/

• Post #2532258

  The human cost of the insistence on continuing to pursue the Galway City Ring Road project. https://www.connachttribune.ie/news/we-want-to-be-able-to-move-on-with-our-lives-galway-ring-road-families-whose-homes-face-demolition-7180813

• Post #2273751

  Why do Sinn Féin hate people who cycle? I cycled to every one of my radiotherapy sessions when I was being treated for cancer and I've cycled, and will continue to cycle, to my regular post-treatment check ups. Sheltered, secure cycle parking is not a luxury or an extravagance. It's a necessity. RTE news : €127k bike shed at Kerry hospital a 'pure waste' - SF http://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2026/0507/1572156-dail-leaders-questions/

• Post #2137122

  The @greenparty_ie leader Roderic O'Gorman is doing an AMA on Reddit if anyone has any questions for him. https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/1snii6d/roderic_o_gorman/

• Post #1967157

  You just know that Sinn Féin will ditch the left alliance and jump into bed with Dumb and Dumber if the numbers stack up. RTE news : Rise in support for Independent Ireland and Aontú - poll http://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2026/0502/1571477-opinion-poll-ireland/ #iepol

• Post #1967153

  We had our annual Street Party today and it was a glorious day with music, dancing, a barbecue, a dog show, and street games, and best of all, no cars. We've being doing it since 2013 and it is a highlight of the calendar for neighbours of all ages!

• Post #1967151

  Today is the 110th anniversary of the birth of Jane Jacobs, the writer and activist who is celebrated for her writings and campaigns for a human scaled urbanism. What's less known about her is that in her later years she published a book, "Dark Age Ahead", which predicted a new Dark Age which she characterised as a mass amnesia where even the memory of what was lost is lost. Her arguments seem all too familiar today.

• Post #1871297

  Sinéad O'Sullivan's latest piece argues that Ireland as a state has voluntarily institutionalised Vimes' Boots Theory and it is costing us a fortune.

• Post #1850610

  Things that Mastodon doesn't notify me about, which make it a better place: X favourited a post you boosted X boosted a post you boosted X favourited a post you were mentioned in X boosted a post you were mentioned in X favourited a reply to your post X tagged you in an image X added you to their list *Cycling Pr!cks* #algorithms #MastoDaoine #Twexit

• Post #1834090

  "Ireland found a way to be rich without ever needing to develop itself, believing that “tax revenue” meant “prosperity”. The farmers on O’Connell Bridge and the nurse emigrating to Melbourne are both living inside the consequences." A must read from Sinéad O’Sullivan https://www.butthistime.com/p/mind-the-gap WARNING: I've belatedly discovered that this blog is hosted by Substack which has a questionable business model that includes hosting Nazis. Apologies for unwitt...

• Post #1733520

  The process by which the 1926 Census was digitised is extraordinary - a mixture of hi-tech digitisation, manual conservation, meticulous cataloguing and good old fashioned proof-reading. A mammoth task to get the data into the accessible form it is in today and incredibly, it is all free to access - no subscription to Ancestry.com req'd. And presumably they now have to go through the whole process again to prepare the 1936 census for publication in ten years time. http://www.rte.ie/b...

• Post #1632324

  RE: https://flipboard.com/@thenewsdesk/top-stories-in-business-fagf35eez/-/a-IhjNDaAOTPGefWZAEmp_UA%3Aa%3A43591897-%2F0 Alternative headline: "AI industry strains global resources"

• Post #1497788

  Some charming street furniture in Waterford's Cultural Quarter

• Post #1336596

  @LizCarolan, former head of Digital Action, is launching a new newsletter on technology and politics in an Irish context. In her own words: "So if you care about Irish democracy, and what things like the AI revolution might mean for it; and if you are interested in Ireland's role as the de facto regulator for the internet (and what that means for our national economic model), follow along - subscribe and spread the word." Subscribe here: https://www.thebriefing.ie/wh...

• Post #1336590

  A great round up of election news from @LizCarolan #irpol #EU24 #EP24 #LE24 https://www.thebriefing.ie/ad-spend-roundup-and-last-minute-shenanigans/?ref=the-briefing-newsletter