First, you tell me to get a hobby; now it's an “appropriate hobby”.
Aidan O’Brien
@aidanobrien.bsky.social
Tech Regulation, Internet Governance, Disinformation, & Human Rights Researcher & Analyst with @edmoireland.bsky.social (previously C4ARR and @isdglobal.bsky.social) Would honestly rather be talking about movies. (He/Him)
A conspiracy theory that "The Real IRA" are coming out of retirement, joining forces with Loyalist paramilitaries to ethnically cleanse Northern Ireland of migrants is doing the rounds on social media. And like would yis ever cop yourselves on.
Society needs a term for “People were rightfully upset, but also it was a really good bit.”
Aidan O’Brien@aidanobrien.bsky.social · 8h agoFirst, you tell me to get a hobby; now it's an “appropriate hobby”.
Stick this on the list of 'crimes that shouldn't be punished if they're funny enough.'
Aidan O’Brien@aidanobrien.bsky.social · 8h agoFirst, you tell me to get a hobby; now it's an “appropriate hobby”.
First, you tell me to get a hobby; now it's an “appropriate hobby”.
If you were confused about what happened in Ceuta last week read this piece by @lizcarolan.com who's looking at how it blew up online and who's behind it... www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
Liz Carolan: Migrants pay a deadly price in Ceuta disinformation disaster
All the layers of neglected dysfunction in our information environment have come together into one deadly, toxic mess for Moroccans in Ceuta, writes Liz Carolan
irishexaminer.com
A youth-led uprising in India stirs hopes of greater solidarity among Indian Dubliners. Late last month, a small group gathered on O'Connell Street to support the "cockroaches" movement that had taken to the streets in their country of birth. www.dublininquirer.com/a-youth-led-...
A youth-led uprising in India stirs hopes of greater solidarity among Indian Dubliners
Late last month, a small group gathered on O'Connell Street to support the "cockroaches" movement that had taken to the streets in their country of birth.
dublininquirer.com
I am absolutely a sucker for a good Ea-nāṣir meme.
Aidan O’Brien@aidanobrien.bsky.social · yesterdayMany people are asking this.
There are two kinds of people, Those who think this is an insane piece of overreaction. And then there's those of us who have worked in low budget film-making and theater...
Pixie Casey@pixiecasey.bsky.social · yesterdayin insane local news, the 26 year old director of a rocky horror production was arrested for sending threatening messages to himself in order to get the play shut down bc he didn’t want to deal with cast drama www.mynbc5.com/article/rock...
“Ireland, Europe’s most ridiculous country”. Yeah, your boss is running for re-election against a bin, Dick.
Data centers (and their impact on energy costs) was not a significant issue during the Irish fuel protests in April of this year. That has *changed*, and narratives about the impact data centers are having on our economy, environment and quality of life is now prevalent among the Irish far-right
Katie Drummond@katie-drummond.bsky.social · yesterdayData centers have become one of the U.S.'s most potent political flashpoints, uniting coalitions on the left and right like few issues do. We sent @mollytaft.com on a journey into the data center resistance. The Unabomber, Steve Bannon’s tech guy, and Bernie Sanders made appearances along the way:
The “cowardly French” and the “incompetent Irish”, at its heart Brexit was the last gasp of imperial British exceptionalism. In their minds Britain was being held back by its small minded, feckless, cowardly partners and would thrive once it was unshackled from the EU and “forged its own path”.
Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts are amazing even now. He animated the sequence by himself for more than four months -- without computers or even an easy way to check his work. We're looking into how he did it: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/how-ray-ha...
We’ve just rented a projector so the kids can watch some films over August and we’re trying to source and buy treats and snacks. Ionad Hind Rajab is about more than education. It’s about getting back a little bit of childhood. 👇
The Journal@thejournal.ie · 2d agoAn Irish artist has helped establish a children's centre in Gaza that provides food, education and psychosocial support to children displaced by the war. Adam Doyle, better known as Spicebag, tells us why he helped create Ionad Hind Rajab. jrnl.ie/7117887
I've never seen someone actually *do* the boots meme IRL. Max *are* they less popular, or do people not have the disposable income for better quality products?
Max Dubler 🏳️🌈@maxdubler.com · 3d agoI don’t want to pick on this person but you can still buy Dr Martens that are made in their English factory using heritage materials and high quality Japanese-made Levi’s 501s that are just like the ones they made in the 80s. These are less popular than the cheaper, lower quality versions.
Of course it’s ChatG-TD Ken O’Flynn who is up in arms about the cost overrun of a bike shed O’Flynn who has wasted god knows how many hours of civil servants work answering his endless AI generated PQs
IrishCycle.com@irishcycle.com · 2d agoBike parking enabling 60 hospital staff to cycle to work is a win for the taxpayer Comment & Analysis: A cost of €85,000, or €1,416 per space, for a secure bicycle shed for the National Maternity Hospital is cheap compared to building car parking, which is estimated to cost €5,000 to €85,000 per…
This is what an actual *hero* of Irish music looks like:
Unlike what Minister Jack Chambers claims Ireland has one of the lowest per capita ratio of civil servants among EU member states. And significantly fewer than other high tax member states like Sweden, Finland and Denmark
Demanding to examine a child's genitals for them to play sports is fucking insane
Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d agoAn initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play
The fact that a major US bank closed 385 accounts tied to the US President for suspected money laundering really ought to be on the front page of every newspaper in America, and lead story on every news bulletin.
Capital One says it closed Trump Organization accounts over money-laundering concerns
The bank is asking a judge to permanently dismiss a lawsuit from Trump-affiliated businesses, arguing a monthslong internal review — not the Jan. 6 riot — explains why hundreds of accounts were shut d...
npr.org
Social media bans cannot be effectively enforced, and come with profound implications for everyone's human rights. Nevertheless the EU and Irish government seem hell bent on pushing through similar legislation here, without presenting a shred of evidence that such a ban will have a positive impact.
Ben Schwarz@benschwarz.bsky.social · 2d agoAustralia’s eSafety commissioner buried a report (released Friday afternoon) that shows the under 16 social media ban didn’t tangibly reduce teen social media use, and also resulted in parents tuning out of kids usage. We traded our privacy for no reason. theconversation.com/more-than-80...
Good piece. A thread on some comments I made yesterday on Times Radio. Two things can be true at the same time: 1. It’s very bad to have 60,000 people storm a border, and 70+ deaths. 2. European leaders' responses were opportunistic and disproportionate, and made incidents like this more likely.
Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 3d agoVance, Farage and Weidel posted fear-mongering messages about a Spanish migrant crisis that weren't true. They haven't retracted them. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Honestly, "jail for mother! Jail for mother for one thousand years!" hits a thousand times harder when you have witnessed Miette's true form and basked in her reflective glory...
Tricia Lockwood@tricialockwood.bsky.social · 3d agoForever This Time
"A city doesn't get hollowed out by too many visitors. It hollows out when too little of the city remains underneath them, when the thing they queued to see has been quietly sold off around them while they queued." Great piece on #Dublin by Conor McGuire in Western People.
Dublin is now a shell of its once former self - opinion - Western People
Dublin is now a shell of its once former self - opinion - Western People
westernpeople.ie
As of today, the use of AI becomes more transparent in the EU. Here’s how EU law makes sure AI works for you, in full openness ↓
Germany to ban Meta’s Pervert Glasses? Hamburg’s Data Protection Office warns that recording people in public with smart glasses violates privacy laws. The tiny LED indicator light isn't prominent enough to prevent secret filming in public spaces. 1/2 www.tagesschau.de/inland/innen...
Hamburger Datenschutzbeauftragter: Verbot von Meta Glasses möglich
Der Hamburger Datenschutzbeauftragte Fuchs warnt vor Meta Smart Glasses: Die Brillen, die kaum von normalen Brillen zu unterscheiden sind, ermöglichen heimliches Filmen. Ein Verbot sei nicht ausgeschl...
tagesschau.de
"Soon enough, he joined a crowd in the tens of thousands, many of whom were astonished to see Moroccan police urge them, as he recalled, to 'come to Spain.'"
Sam Tranum@samtranum.bsky.social · 4d agoRecent events in Morocco and Ceuta reminded me of this: "Morocco has a well known history of using migration to extort concessions from the EU" www.dublininquirer.com/ryanair-anno...