I've felt for quite some time that research into "solving" human-related phenomena, as @abeba.bsky.social says, whether using tech or not, should be led by ahss researchers not stem researchers.

Even in a month full of notable highs and lows, one stood out: during September, the Irish grid emitted its least amount of CO₂ in a single month in modern times. Our estimate is 577k tonnes. A lot but, as the chart below shows, just a few years ago we were seeing months with almost *1.4M tonnes*.`

Ehhh ... as far as I can tell this is a recall of a pump. Not of a "heat pump". More than 100,000 heat pumps recalled over electrocution fears www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Renewable generation and pumped storage equalled 64% of yesterday's electricity demand, with a peak of 90% at 22:15. Fossil fuel generation (mostly gas) equalled 32% of demand. 3% of generation was exported, 7% of demand was met by imports.

Just as other European states should give credit to the Baltics for being correct in their assessment of Russia, other European countries should give credit to Ireland for being correct in its assessment of Israel.

Very little surprise here. As of now the good use cases of AI are quite limited in scope.

Harkin about Steen: "defend her right not only to have those views but also to articulate them in a presidential election" Just to be clear: no such right exists. If you nominate you express support, whatever you might like to think.

Totally agree: nominating someone to go on the ballot for President *is* supporting that person and their political position. There's no dancing around that.

Right! It's not very obvious yet in the charts but if you dig into the numbers it becomes clearer; we've been doing this for the last year or so, most recently in detail in our April recap. www.greencollective.io/post/monthly...

The reverse is much more likely to be true ...

Renewable generation and pumped storage equalled 52% of yesterday's electricity demand, with a peak of 81% at 16:15. Fossil fuel generation (mostly gas) equalled 35% of demand. 2% of generation was exported, 15% of demand was met by imports.

Would reducing immigration materially improve the housing crisis? A nuanced piece from Michael Byrne in today's Irish Examiner www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Very strong piece today by @brianhonan.bsky.social arguing that the new EU chat Control regulation could be a recipe for a surveillance state www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Did you see this? mikelovesrobots.substack.com/p/wheres-the... I though it was an interesting take on what's going on in software.

Not too surprising: LLMs have their place, and using them outside that slows things down. Their place is much smaller than the tech marketers, and some comp sci academics, have been saying ... and probably a bit bigger than the most extreme critics suggest.

I think I finally understand this thing about the "Ireland" rugby team using that song Ireland's Call as an anthem. Ireland doesn't have a national rugby team. I never fully appreciated that. It makes sense to me now. #NZLvIRE #WRWC25

this should be a compulsory read to everyone in higher education regardless of your proximity to AI

Wouldn't it be nice functionality to be able to select contacts (across all apps) whose msgs would give no alerts on a schedule? E.g. I can schedule that work contacts don't create an alert outside of chosen working hours. Does any such thing exist?

Brilliant exploration of AI. Those academics advocating widespread "embracing" of AI have some soul searching to do.

Further suggestion, if any were needed, that this far right rubbish in Ireland is being driven and controlled from the UK. Anti-immigration? Give me strength! They're not anti-immigration, they're anti-democracy and against human rights.

Just finished The Hostage on Netflix here in my house. General agreement that it was quite good, but that it probably works better if the viewer is British. It feels like we're missing some important cultural reference points that might make it make more sense.

Coffee is always beautiful. And not just because of the fluid dynamics

From yesterday's "Irish Grid Monthly": August's electricity generation mix, with gas comprising just over half of domestic generation and wind one third 🏭🪁 The full report's available now to all our newsletter subscribers; sign-up link in our bio.

Partner with Europe’s top HPC talents! The Call for Internship proposals for the EUMaster4HPC programme is open. Host Master’s students in #HPC, tackle real-world challenges, and connect with future experts. Learn more on eumaster4hpc.uni.lu/internships/

“The change shows how ambitious policymaking can directly improve health in large cities. Air pollution is often described by health experts as a silent killer. Both PM 2.5 and nitrogen dioxide have been linked to major health problems, including heart attacks, lung cancer, bronchitis and asthma.”

One can understand a lot of sensitivity due to history: history that has, from discussions with German friends at the time, as much social impact as catholicism in Ireland. But c'mon Berlin. It's genocide, and undeniably ethnic cleansing. Israel can be a perpetrator of horrendous acts.

This kind of observation is exceptionally difficult. And we need lots more of them! Fascinating stuff, and excellent work by Christian.

The source of these “Digital Rules” is in the Charter of Fundemental Rights. The Charter was brought in and passed as part of the Lisbon Treaty. It recognised a right to Data Protection as a human right. A Data protection right has subsequently been recognised by over 100 countries. Not the US.

Of course - the Irish sea. Where else? How about the North sea, or the English Channel? I guess it's the Irish sea because of these bonds of friendship between the UK and Ireland 🤷‍♂️

It's just amazing to watch as two major drivers of research and innovation voluntarily end their leadership in these areas. Understandable in some ways, but amazing. This from THE, a UK publication: the UK looking forward to decline of a bloated system, the US looking forward to gradual attrition.

After years of encouraging them to do so, "it seems a smidge ungenerous now to cast having to listen to men talk about their emotions as labour". Laura Kennedy on "mankeeping", "simmering resentment toward the opposite sex" and reciprocity in relationships.

This specific aspect of the ongoing evolution of the US reminds me of what happened to the UK with train engines in the early 20th century - they stuck with steam for far too long coz they were so good at it. Other countries moved on to newer tech and the UK lost its edge fairly precipitously.

Ouch. This potentially makes it illegal for any institution in the EU to allow Microsoft access to its data.

Hmm. Iceland and, possibly to a lesser extent, Ireland 😬

I'd love to understand why we don't just have a cliff edge and deflate those using last year's leaving cert results when considering for CAO points. The Dept of Education should have all the necessary data. www.rte.ie/news/2025/08...

Israel. No humane person can support that country's current policies.

ISRAEL BEGINS ITS ‘FINAL SOLUTION’ ATTACK ON GAZA CITY I am personally beyond horrified at the genocidal attack on the city by Israeli forces. This is the last step in what’s clearly a rolling racial and political extermination. I’m ashamed that my government has supplied arms to let this happen.

If I was managing developers and someone said you’ll have half as many devs but AI will produce more code. I’d be terrified because at some point I’m going to have to take responsibility for the system not working due to code nobody wrote and nobody with time to investigate it

Worth a read. Perhaps the only thing preventing progress towards Irish unity right now is the Irish government. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gonna be going to Berlin soon. Anyone got any strong recommendations for really nice restaurants that are good for vegetarians?

Ah c'mon Irish Times. Paper of record? This should read "Israeli plan for ethnic cleansing." At least that, if you don't want to say genocide. Not calling it what it is is an active choice with consequences. It certainly isn't neutral.

Paris proves congestion isn’t inevitable; targeted car restrictions could offer Dublin a smarter way forward. @independent.ie #Transport #UrbanPlanning #Dublin www.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

It will be a source of great pride for many Greens that the CEO of an oil and gas lobby group is lashing out at the lasting impact of our policies. "The Greens may be gone from cabinet, but their roots are still woven through the ground". Beautiful words. Thank you, Mandy.

"The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies.." But were themselves policy "..approved by Meta’s legal, public policy and engineering staff, including its chief ethicist." These lads have read 1984 alright. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Yep, ok. So Meta AI behaves occasionally as a paedophile/groomer - i.e. in a way that if an adult were to behave then we would likely get them for grooming. And we're to trust AI from companies like these in our schools and education system generally? For real?

And this is the *only* reason policymakers are being lobbied so hard to get public sector buy-in to AI. If they can lock the state, schools and universities in then they can ratchet up the costs to the taxpayer to try to recoup at least some of this investment. The situation looks pretty bad.

Great article. The intersection between politics and tech can go disastrously wrong: sometimes policies are much too tech-friendly (e.g. discussions around AI) and sometimes they are fundamentally hostile to the people, as here. Where are our comp sci academia? www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Hey guys, guess what? The EU presidency has switched from Poland to Denmark, which means that the group is now led by a country supporting Hungary’s plan to break encryption in all of the EU. (A plan which Ireland has “No Objections” to) You can read about it here: www.thegist.ie/the-gist-a-b...

A small update to the Dublin listings spreadsheet. New editions are heavily focused on musical events, some of which are happening in the very near future. Click on the link if you do not want to "miss out" on the "inside track". docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

"The order to kill Anas Al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, along with his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza" www.cnn.com/2025/08/10/m...