This morning/afernoon.

Montrose Park, Beaumont, Dublin 5

Taoiseach Micheál Martin (above second right) and Minister for Education Norma Foley (above far right) visited Scoil Fiachra National School where they were given a tour of the school and a briefing on the work undertaken to mess with young heads prepare the school for reopening.

Where are your scary perspex PODS?

Amateurs.

Previously: Breathing Breaks

Julien Behal/Photocall Ireland

Earlier…

Pianist Paul Butler playing at the unveiling of a free to use piano on the platform of Pearse Street Station in Dublin, September 9, 2017

Cheering commuters daily.

Loved by all.

There was only one thing for it.

Plonk.

This afternoon.

Pearse Street Station, Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

Thanks Graeme Kelly

This afternoon.

Further to The Irish Examiner‘s front page story earlier that 564,000 people had deleted the HSE Covid-19 response app.

Nama Wine Lake tweetz:

A maximum of 1.17m people are using the Irish Covid19 tracking app.

When the app was launched, the Department of Health of Health said 60% of the population needed to use it for it to be effective (60% of 5m = 3m), though they later said 2.2m. So, we’re just 50% to the minimum needed.

Why have so many people deleted the app?

There were battery and overheating issues.There’s also privacy and the Dept of Social Protection banditry at Dublin Airport which is now to be formally investigated by the Data Protection Commissioner….

Covid tracker app deleted 500,000 times (Cianan brennan, Irish Examiner)

Emergency Statutory Instrument with updated rules for child placements in foster homes signed off on August 21

Anne T writes:

Why would ‘normal foster care’ approvals be suspended? Why would the government be recommending a more ‘flexible approach’ to same. Genuinely confused. Is it a health thing? How does Covid-19 even factor into foster care in anyway?

Anyone?

SI 312: Child Care (Placement of Children in Foster Care) (Emergency Measures in the Public Interest – Covid-19) (Amendment) (No.1) Regulations 2020

From top: DART+ West line to Maynooth; the proposed Spencer Dock Station

This morning/afternoon.

The public consultation for DART+ West (Maynooth & M3 Parkway) is now live (at link below)!

The Dublin Commuter Coalition writes:

This will increase the passenger capcity from 4,500 to 13,750 in 2025. One of the biggest changes is the potential relocation of Docklands Station to Spencer Dock (abnove.

Spencer Dock, ‘subject to further assessment’, will become a fully fledged station right in the docklands with five platforms and a direct interchange with the Luas Red Line.

It’s proposed to close six level crossings: Ashtown, Coolmine, Porterstown, Clonsilla, Barberstown and Blakestown.

Consultation (here).

Fight (below).

Maynooth DART extension will see six level crossings closed (RTÉ)

Behold: NGC 7293, aka the Helix nebula, ‘The Eye Of God’ or “The Eye Of Sauron’  – one of the closest to Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae. To wit:

How did a star create the Helix nebula? The shapes of planetary nebula like the Helix are important because they likely hold clues to how stars like the Sun end their lives. Observations by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and the 4-meter Blanco Telescope in Chile, however, have shown the Helix is not really a simple helix. Rather, it incorporates two nearly perpendicular disks as well as arcs, shocks, and even features not well understood. Even so, many strikingly geometric symmetries remain. How a single Sun-like star created such beautiful yet geometric complexity is a topic of research. The Helix Nebula is the nearest planetary nebula to Earth, lies only about 700 light years away toward the constellation of Aquarius, and spans about 3 light-years.

(Image: C. R. O’Dell, (Vanderbilt) et al. ESA, NOAO, NASA)

apod

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