it’s fitting that I was listening to the segment at around minute 18:00 of this podcast about recycling when I was putting the rubbish bins out. Most of the recycled material in Europe ends up in Malaysia, apparently. And it sure isn’t completely recycled. An EPA report stated that, “Plastics present a serious challenge. Only 28 percent of plastic packaging waste was recycled in 2021, a long way off the 2025 EU target of 50 percent. The majority of Ireland’s plastic packaging waste is being incinerated.” If a portion of that 28% of plastics is being sent abroad, then our […]
Podcasts
Dorothy Vs Hitler
I’d never heard of Dorothy Thompson, but I’m glad I’m listening to this podcast about her. She’s the, “woman who warned the world”. In 1939, Time Magazine called Dorothy Thompson a woman who “thinks, talks and sleeps world problems — and scares men half to death.” They weren’t wrong. Why don’t you know about her? She saw what happened to Palestinians after WWII. She spoke out about it and faced immediate pushback from Zionist organizations and the newspapers that published her opinion pieces. We need more Dorothys now.
Food
A pancake with lemon and sugar
It’s a simple thing, but it’s delicious. Some say Pancake Tuesday was invented by Big Sugar and Big Lemon to drive sales of their respective products.
General , In the news
Jane Fonda is an Inspiring Woman
“Make no mistake, empathy is not weak, or woke. And by the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.” While I have your attention, watch this video, where Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson interview Jane Fonda. It’s a great interview where you’ll learn about her activism and her life.
Mac
Don’t blindly follow AI instructions
I’m trying to share a Time Machine volume with another Macbook on my home network but it’s not working. I’ve tried Google, and read through a few Reddit threads, but I haven’t been able to get it to connect. So, I asked Perplexity for help. It helpfully listed a number of things I could try, but then I saw tip number seven. When you look up advice online, don’t copy and paste any instructions into your computer without knowing what it does. What does sudo rm -rf /Volumes/* do? It recursively deletes everything in your /Volumes folder. A little bit […]
Web
Press F to pay respect
I only recently found out why people sometimes comment “F” on Reddit threads. It comes from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014). At one point, you walk up to a casket at a funeral and have to press F to pay respects to the fallen soldier. As others on that Reddit thread said, I thought it had something to do with following a thread to get notifications. Just to prove how out of touch I am, it even has a Wikipedia page where the viral meme is described as iconic, but the authors of that page describe it well: “Press […]
Ireland
Ireland is Red Tonight
Storm Éowyn is battering the country with winds gusting to 130km/h. Hope everyone stays safe tonight. It started raining here around an hour or so ago, and I can hear wind gusting outside from where I sit. Status Red – Wind warning for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford Met Éireann Weather Warning Storm Éowyn: Gale to storm force southerly winds becoming westerly with extreme, damaging and destructive gusts in excess of 130km/h Impacts: • Danger to life• Extremely dangerous travelling conditions• Unsafe working conditions• Disruption and cancellations to transport• Many fallen trees• Significant and widespread power outages• Impacts […]
Music
Dick Van Dyke and Chris Martin in Coldplay’s latest video
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started watching this video, but it is so sweet and lovely, you have to watch it.
Cork
Kennedy Quay development on hold?
Today I learned that the development of Kennedy Quay in Cork is on hold because An Bord Pleanála decided to refuse permission to develop Marino Point. To save you a click, it’s because they never had any plans for improving the roads in the area. An Bord Pleanála decided this week to refuse planning to agricultural and chemical firm Goulding to develop port facilities at Marino Point in Cork Harbour, a decision that was two years overdue. Despite being located in Cobh, the impact of this decision will be felt most harshly in the city centre, with hopes that these […]
tv
Queen of the Cold Feet
My wife and I have started rewatching Cold Feet, and I couldn’t help but notice that we’re now older than the characters during their original run at the turn of the century. It’s a strange sensation to watch characters who are at a younger stage of life than I am now, especially since I once thought of them as older, embarking on family adventures that I wouldn’t consider for several more years. Anyway, in season 3, one of the characters is getting IVF, and they want some music. It’s weird how the nurse got the name of the song wrong, […]