As I suspected there have been a bunch of articles about the eclipse this week. I’m also going to make a solar viewer with a cereal box.

Bionic Laura@bioniclaura.bsky.social · last wk.

We have our glasses ordered. Not seen much publicity here in Ireland about it yet but maybe after the bank holiday there will be more.

'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)

Read it here if you haven't yet. Today is the very best day of all days to read it for the first time. short-stories.co/@raybradbury...

There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

The voice-clock sang, breakfast was ejected, but no doors slammed. The garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. The house sat alone in a city of rubble and…

short-stories.co

Adam Rawnsley@arawnsley.bsky.social · yesterday

Today, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.

Heavy rain here falling through the leaves of the tree outside, people with no coats running along the street and a distant rumble of thunder.

Eamon Dunphy’s Rod Liddle Rant but it’s performed by an Indie Band by @bigdirtyfry.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENBp...

Eamon Dunphy’s Rod Liddle Rant but it’s performed by an Indie Band

YouTube video by Michael Fry (BigDirtyFry)

youtube.com

Lmao it's literally his birthday! What a gift.

Mojito Fiend@ronronzo.bsky.social · 2d ago

Apropos of nothing I hope Eamonn Dunphy is having a great day.

Did the gravedigger ghost bus tour last night and it was such a fun and spooky time. thegravedigger.ie

Inland Fisheries Ireland has launched an investigation into a “significant” fish kill in Co Dublin and has said it has established a "definite line of enquiry". It’s thought that over 500 fish have died in the incident on the Tolka River near Damastown. jrnl.ie/7119840

IFI following 'definite line of enquiry' after over 500 fish found dead along Tolka River

Inland Fisheries Ireland has said that a ‘definite line of enquiry has been established’.

jrnl.ie

This painting has pride of place in our house

eolaí the artist@eolai.bsky.social · 3d ago

Have a west of Ireland #painting. "Lough Nafurnace" in south Connemara I've painted a couple of times, first struck by it when I was in my teens and destined for the Gaeltacht. This painting came out of a time I spent alone looking at the lake thinking life wasn't half bad. #SpéirGhorm #ArtYear

Our former neighbours moved away a few years ago but they're back to visit us the last few days and we had the perfect evening just now with dinner and sitting out in the garden.

Apparently the unacceptable bit is not that 24 people died

Ursula von der Leyen@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 5d ago

The images coming from Ceuta are unacceptable. We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules. Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled. And returns must be swift, as our rules allow.

There were two hummingbird hawk moths in my garden in Dublin just now! Never seen one here before.

Bordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.

"What's the point of particle physics? Spend the money on hospitals." Here's a list of tech we can thank particle physics for: PET scanners X Rays Electron/Proton beam therapies Improved medical imaging with lower rad dose World Wide Web MRI Fusion reactors Electronics etc. The UK is so idiotic.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 6d ago

“LHCb is the canary in the coalmine for the future sustainability of particle physics and astronomy research.” physicsworld.com/a/future-of-...

Today’s earworm is You and Me by Alt J, a perfect little slice of summer.

It is putting it mildly to describe these people as a death cult.

It’s always the big gesture isn’t it? The ‘top of the range - world class standard’. I wonder how much more effective it would be to invest the same in multiple municipal pools - small, basic pools more accessible for communities.

And then class, humanity poured all its resources, its water, its books, the very air they breathed, into making the magic money machine and as we all know this started the second dark age as the machine did in fact, not do anything useful

Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele@drdragases.bsky.social · last wk.

No longer content with pillaging intellectual work and dismembering our environment (already critically weakened), AI companies are now hellbent on destroying books galore including rare editions. Shut down these nefarious enterprises already.

Aww! This dog looks really like my dog April. Must teach her this.

WeRateDogs@weratedogs.com · last wk.

This is Simba. He is a martial arts master. Specializes in taekwondog, but has a black leash in karate too. 14/10 (TT: frivasboss)

It is 2005. Jared Leto faces sexual misconduct allegations. It is 2012. Jared Leto faces sexual misconduct allegations. It is 2018. Jared Leto faces sexual misconduct allegations.. It is 2025. Jared Leto faces sexual misconduct allegations. It is 2026. Jared Leto faces sexual misconduct allega--

Scott Bryan@scottygb.bsky.social · last wk.

New BBC investigation. Four women accuse Jared Leto of criminal sexual conduct www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Excellent news

A part of him must have known this was a terrible idea. But he saw the danger and he passed along the enchanted way, and he said "let tabasco in the eye be the greatest horseplay" at the dawning of the day

Aidan O’Brien@aidanobrien.bsky.social · last wk.

Honestly? Every Irish person knows at least one of these guys. They're all called Cormac or Ross or Ivor, and they're the self-proclaimed "mad yoke" of the group, or as we like to call him, "that fucking dose". It will later transpire that their dad is a High Court judge & they become a barrister

I say this with nothing but love in my heart for the fatherland but can you imagine any other country looking at wildfires and thinking "quick, get a philosopher on the line"

Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

bbc.co.uk

We have our glasses ordered. Not seen much publicity here in Ireland about it yet but maybe after the bank holiday there will be more.

David Blanchflower BSc@davidbflower.bsky.social · 2w ago

Had a visit from my nephew. He didn't know about August's Solar Eclipse. Gave him a couple of Eclipse Glasses. Not much publicity so far about the eclipse doings. 🔭 🧪

RIP Bill Oddie. I don’t remember the goodies but I was a big fan of Springwatch and his bird watching. Someone who helped so many appreciate nature.

Coming later today... Fall of Civilizations Episode 21, available for Patreon subscribers!

Episode 21 is out now for subscribers! | Fall of Civilizations Podcast

Episode 21 is out now for subscribers! by Fall of Civilizations Podcast on Patreon. Join Fall of Civilizations Podcast's community for exclusive content and updates.

patreon.com

“While EU states like Denmark, Holland race ahead in green transition, Ireland is mired in the past. Our politicians seem more focused on engaging in populist follies like facilitating chaotic rural one-off housing” My take on #climate crisis in @thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie/readme/wildf...

Wildfires at home and abroad: The climate crisis is here, and Ireland is far from prepared

With wildfires raging across Europe and here at home in Tipperary, Kerry and Wicklow, the warning signs couldn’t be clearer, yet the government drags its feet on climate action.

thejournal.ie

I did not know about Gaelic football rules or the Mayo curse until a few weeks ago. Heck, as a German who never lived in Ireland, I couldn't have pointed out county Mayo on a map until a few months ago. But this is single-handedly one of the best moments of sport I've witnessed in my time! #Mayo4Sam