It's a fantastic location. For anyone with a little flexibility I would recommend taking a few days before the con and enjoy seeing the sights.

Out canvassing that is exactly the line I find lands. There's a straight line from Robinson->McAleese->Higgins->Connolly. If you liked the last 30something years of Irish presidents and you want it to keep going like that, Connolly is the only choice.

I think it started as #SmearTheBejaysis yesterday, and then #SmearTheBejaysus was added. I think the BejaySIS sounds more Dub, and BejaySUS sounds more "country" (and, as a Culchie myself, I'm kinda sorry now I went with the former), but isn't it great how it has united us all!

I definitely did not have Ivan Yates winning the election for Catherine Connelly, but I'll take it, ya gowl Also, Catherine Connelly steals funeral sandwiches & stuffs them in her handbag on the way out after giving a limp handshake to the bereaved family #smearthebejaysus #connellyforpresident

If there are no consequences then it is de facto permitted. If the consequence is a fine, well, a fine is a price. Vandalism on this scale SHOULD have consequences.

"see email chain attached" Oh no, what did PastMe agree to?

"even if it's AI, it's at least true" hard to overstate the damage this stuff is doing to people's brains. we're gonna be cleaning the slop out of archives for decades

If we'd set out to purposefully engineer the erasure of all forest ecosystems, we could scarcely have come up with better than a combination of sheep, goats, too many deer, and no natural predators. Only nuking the whole place would have worked more effectively.

Catherine Connolly breeds seagulls and trains them how to rob sandwiches and chips, then releases them into Stephens Green #smearTheBejaysus #speirgorm

Special plaudits to the Dept for Foreign Affairs fellow from the local Embassy for making good points on the play in the exact cadence of a lad tasked with providing sideline commentary on a schools final soccer match.

About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages

Californians, you can register to vote up to October 20th to vote in this election. They restored voting rights to those convicted of a felony (if they aren't still in serving time), so you can check at registertovote.ca.gov and register again if you want.

I genuinely cannot express how vital it is that you train yourself to recognize AI-generated images and videos for your own good because none of this is going away and many, many people are counting on you to fall for their shit

We are so looking forward to welcoming you!

At my first @octocon.bsky.social panel of the day (I know, I know, it's 4pm but I have been having a blast sitting behind the @norncon.bsky.social table) @pauljholden.com and @mikeowencarroll.bsky.social are being delightfully chaotic, and @paulcarroll.bsky.social is gleefully enabling them.

"in fairness, Catherine Connolly could spend her entire seven years in the office doing nothing but going from school to school doing keepy-uppies and it would probably have a better effect on social cohesion than almost anything else that the president can actually do"

At @octocon.bsky.social for a great day of conventioning! Have a blast.!

Make sure you swing by Liz Bourke. 2 euro per hardback, 1 euro per soft back! #Octocon #Octocon2025 #Fantasy #SciFi #ReadingCommunity

I hope to god the reporter and their editor are prepared to go to jail to protect their source here, because the regime will absolutely want to make an example of this man. Like all fascists, they know neighbors helping each other wins every time.

We need to stop the small number of people objecting to infrastructure AND We need not to annoy the small number of people objecting to saving the planet is an interesting set of beliefs to hold at the same time

My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking? Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but

Contrast this with the speech made by Micheal Martin at COP27, where he said: "If this generation doesn’t step up urgently, future generations will not forgive us. As leaders, it is our responsibility to drive the transformation necessary."

this is correct. and while you would get a nontrivial one off sum from a billionaire tax (not enough for a welfare state, but a lot), the ongoing point of that tax would be prevent billionaires from existing

Israel highlighting how many 100s of aid trucks they will now allow into Gaza is a tacit admission that they were using aid as a weapon of war, by the way. seems weird not to talk about this

Never forget that the rise of the frog resistance was foretold by a great prophet, many years ago, in a more innocent time. #PortlandFrog www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0fu...

It's eternally frustrating that the HSE has the blinkers on & only looks to UK when it comes to trans healthcare when Spain & Malta are right there! In Spain I can walk into a pharmacist & get estrogen patches. No GP, no traumatic assessments. Just medicine without the bullshit and no one is harmed.

Higher Ed in 2025 is opening your mailbox to see that your institution has sent you: 1. A Center for Teaching and Learning call to integrate AI into your classroom; and 2. An Office of Academic Integrity email encouraging you to crack down on students who use AI to cheat.

I get the assumptions and I know I look youngish for my age thanks to my pure heart and noble intentions and it's not like I'm deliberately dressing old or anything to combat it but damn, this is annoying

Just as we are beginning to understand the biochemical basis of this horrendous condition, the government appoints the man perhaps most responsible for the mischaracterisation of ME/CFS – Simon Wesseley - to its *overdiagnosis* commission. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

I just realized that the Portland Antifascist Frog has singlehandedly reclaimed amphibians from the “alt right”. Yet another way he is a Great American.

i'll tell you what's going to be "polarising" – crop losses, coastal flooding, more destruction and extended blackouts like storm éowyn

Yikes. Just got a message from my child’s school: some children’s books by Andrew Cope (inc. Spy Dogs, Spy Cats, and Spy Pups series) have a printed URL at the back. This used to go to the author’s website, but now goes to an “adult content” site. So, yeah… be careful with that URL 😳

Ah, the thing of seeing folks post 'bring back serialised novels!' and thinking 'well, yes, me and a whole pile of other folk're already way ahead of you there, we just need more readers to realise we exist' XD

WHAT ABOUT CATERPILLAR CAKES? PERCY PIGS? CREAM FLOUR? this is so stupid and embarrassing for any MEP who voted for this

The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…

"Unpaid carers are predominantly women, which might go some way to explaining why their contributions are ignored." Catherine Connolly speaking out following yesterday's budget on the continuation of the means test for carers, and the unfulfilled promise of a cost of disability payment.

Author and TD among five Irish people on board latest Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel #speirgorm #stopthegenocide jrnl.ie/6838266

Make sure you check out our programme for this weekend! Writing Comics 101, get crafty with a bookbinding workshop, The Power of Comics to Start the Conversation - we've got something for everyone! https://2025.octocon.com/programme-highlights-workshops-and-talks/ #Octocon #Octocon2025 #Fandom

To “add to the noise”, a designer creates new, welcoming flags. As the council considers whether to take down the tricolours proliferating across the city, Dan Eames is aiming to add to them.

“But it gives a better answer with AI turned on” Oh cool, search engines now randomly show just results or a summary of the first result that looks like an authoritative answer (that may be summarized correctly or not) or a generated generic answer that maybe correct or maybe not. Good stuff.

Honestly, when the financial press starts printing diagrams like this, isn't it time for a regulator to step in?

hi, cis folks in california! this headline leaves out that newsom has another 5 days to sign these bills into law. if you’d like to tell him he should do that to protect trans californians, you should to reach out. he also has a phone: (916) 445-2841 want to know what to say? next post! 🧵

Well, well, well...if it isn't the endlessly dismissed Left being proven 100% correct about someone for the one billionth time.

Because it feels relevant as we continue to evaluate the media and our representatives’ statements, my favorite way to identify the active vs. passive voice.

Got to love Dublin. #Speirgorm