Category Archives: Misc

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Mark Zuckerburg writes:

I’m proud to share that Facebook’s sixth data center is now under construction in Clonee, [Co. Meath] Ireland. This will be our second European data center, after Luleå in Sweden.

Data centers deliver all of Facebook’s services to you. They’re some of the most complex machines ever created.

Clonee Data Center will be one of the most advanced and energy efficient data centers in the world. It will feature the latest server, storage and network designs developed through the Open Compute Project, and will be powered by 100% renewable energy.

One interesting engineering detail is that we’re cooling the facility with outdoor air, but because this is near the Irish Sea we’ll be using an indirect air cooling process to filter the salt from the air.

We’re glad to be investing in Ireland, to become a part of the Clonee community, and to continue building the massive infrastructure that connects our global community.

Zuckerberg shows off plans for Irish Facebook data centre (Silicon Republic)

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Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in Citywest Hotel Dublin at the weekend

“Easter 1916 was a cold and passionate dawn, for a new Ireland. In 100 years we have built on the new day the Rising leaders gave us. We founded a new state, we declared a Republic, we joined the European Union. At long last, we put our children first and respected the Magdelene women. We made marriage equal. It is that sense of generosity, compassion, strength, and imagination that will be the making of us as a people, a nation.”

Enda Kenny speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis at the weekend.

In response, Claire McGettrick, co-founder of the Justice For Magdalene Research project tweeted:

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In addition, readers may wish to recall a post from 2014, based on a BBC report about then 83-year-old Mary Merritt who spent 14 years in the High Park magdalene laundry in Drumcondra, Dublin.

It was reported that Ms Merritt told former Senator Martin McAleese – author of the McAleese Report into the magdalene laundries – about how, one day, she broke a window and ran away from the laundry. She went to a priest and begged for help. The priest raped her before giving her sixpence. The gardaí then brought her back to the laundry. Ms Merritt became pregnant as a result of the rape. Her daughter, Carmel, was taken by the nuns and put up for adoption. Ms Merritt didn’t see her daughter again for another 40 years.

Ms Merritt’s testimony of her rape was not included in the McAleese Report.

September 2015: Justice for Magdalenes Research Submissions to UN Human Rights Committee and Committee on the Elimnation of Discrimination Against Women (JFM)

Previously: The Magdalene Report: A Conclusion

‘Apologise To Me Before I Die’

Waiver Away

Pinkwashing

Read Enda Kenny’s speech in full here

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

Suicide Squad

What you may need to know:

1. The Comic-Con trailer didn’t have enough gratuitous shots of Margot Robbie’s bottom. That’s been fixed.

2. It’s now confirmed that Ben Affleck’s Batman is in this. Too much?

3. Stop what you’re doing and watch this fan-cut of Batman v Superman. It‘s pure genius.

4. Jai Courtney is the spit of Tom Hardy.

5. We’re still not sold on Jared Leto’s Joker. Losing the grill would be a good start.

6. Broadsheet prognosis: Very, very frightening (thunderbolt and lightning).

Release Date: August 5.

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Michael Collins (1996) is getting the 20th anniversary treatment.

Neil Jordan’s film – starring the late Hans Gruber as Eamonn de Valera, Liam Neeson as the Big Fella and Julia Roberts as the Voice of Ireland – might not be historically accurate, but it’s still a great watch.

As part of this year’s ADIFF [Audi Dublin International Film Festival] , there will be a special screening on February 20 at the Savoy Cinema, followed by an on-stage Q&A with Jordan and cinematographer Chris Menges (The Killing Fields, The Mission).

Festival director Grainne Humphreys sez:

“Everyone remembers the excitement in Dublin when it was being filmed and so many people were part of it as extras. The resulting film was and is the great film of the period from Neil Jordan at the height of his filmmaking powers. I expect it will resonate with the festival audience just as beautifully as it did 20 years ago.”

A Blu Ray edition with new director’s commentary is released on 4th March, and the digital format will be in cinemas nationwide from March 18.

Audi Dublin International Film Festival

Previously: Shooting Michael Collins