This afternoon.
Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Protestors representing the more than 1,000 Debenham’s workers who have lost their jobs, and have been told the company does not have sufficient assets to fund their agreed redundancy package.
Top: Ballybunion Co. Kerry last Friday.
Pix 2/3: Valentia Island on the morning of Pieta’s Darkness Into Light sunrise Appeal on Saturday.
(Thanks Joanne)
Behold: the mighty gas giant Jupiter getting its Hallowe’en pumpkin on: captured in infrared by astronomers at the Gemini North Observatory in Hawaii. To wit:
Gemini was able to produce such a clear image using a technique called lucky imaging, by taking many images and combining only the clearest ones that, by chance, were taken when Earth’s atmosphere was the most calm. Jupiter’s jack-o’-lantern-like appearance is caused by the planet’s different layers of clouds. Infrared light can pass through clouds better than visible light, allowing us to see deeper, hotter layers of Jupiter’s atmosphere, while the thickest clouds appear dark. These pictures, together with ones from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Juno spacecraft, can tell us a lot about weather patterns on Jupiter, like where its massive, planet-sized storms form.
(Image: International Gemini Observatory, NOIRLab, NSF, AURA; M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley) & Team; Acknowledgment: Mahdi Zamani; Text: Alex R. Howe (NASA/USRA, Reader’s History of SciFi Podcast)
Carlosfandango writes:
In their wisdom and in the absence of new programming, RTÉ has added some new shorts on the iPlayer. This is one I was delighted to be associated with (nearly ten years ago) in a previous life, and previous world!
Look out for the great crowd dancing scene at the end. Practiced in the loading area of the ilac centre and shot early on a beautiful summers morning (on a Sunday). Everyone learned the steps at home from a video we uploaded on YouTube. It was pretty special to see hundreds of strangers dancing in sequence.
Previously: Moore Street Mumbai Style
Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to the UN, at the Institute of European Affairs (IIEA) event in the Morrison Hotel, Dublin in 2018
Yesterday.
A list of the names of officials with US President President Barack Obama’s administration who allegedly requested the “unmasking” of former national security adviser Michael Flynn in intelligence reports was declassified (but not yet released).
Names of US persons ‘whose identities are included in the intercepted communications of foreign officials’ are usually redacted by US intelligence agencies. Requesting that the identity of an individual be revealed is not a crime but ‘disclosing an identity publicly or disseminating it for political purposes’ can be.
Via CBS news:
Former Obama administration officials, including former national security adviser Susan Rice, have previously acknowledged making unmasking requests, but have forcefully denied leaking any classified information or otherwise using unmasked identities for political gain.
According interview transcripts released last week by the House Intelligence Committee, Rice told congressional investigators she had “no idea what the hell a political unmasking” was.
….Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who was a part of President Obama’s national security team, also testified that she had made unmasking requests, citing a “significant appetite for intelligence,” but said she did not recall making a request related to Flynn.
“Any time a U.S. person or entity’s name came to me disclosed or annotated or where I requested it and it came back, I never discussed it with another member of the human race,” Power said. “I have no recollection of making a request related to General Flynn.”
Power also denied ever leaking information to the press, she said.
“I have never leaked classified information. I have never leaked names that have come back to me in this highly compartmented process. I have, in fact, never leaked, even unclassified information,”
Intel chief declassifies names of Obama officials who “unmasked” Flynn (CBS)
Previously: Fools Rushed Flynn
Update:
Zzzup?
Colette Kinsella writes:
My cat Ted, and his permanent position on the filing cabinet beside my desk. I’m constantly inspired by his disciplined work ethic.
Put the sound up on the video (above) – he has the face of a cherub and the snore of a Hell’s Angel. When he’s not sleeping, though, he helps me make inspirational science videos…
Meanwhile…
Colette adds
My other cat Ziggy on vocals (usually, Ziggy plays guitar).
Earlier: Companion In Madness
Your pet in lockdown to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘My Pet In Lockdown’
TLDR? Adenosine Triphosphate.
A sobering reflection on life, the Universe and everything from the always fascinating German education design studio, Kurzgesagt. To wit:
Picture yourself as a slinky falling down an escalator moving upwards – the falling part represents the self replicating processes of your cells, the escalator represents the laws of physics, driving you forwards. To be alive is to be in motion but never arriving anywhere. If you reach the top of the escalator there is no more falling possible and you are dead forever.
Previously: Coronavirus Explained
Fluffybiscuits is here.
Fluffy’ writes:
I know Eurovision 2020 is cancelled but there are a few shows on…Below is a flavour of what’s coming our way this week…
You can also vote in our own contest, Monday is our First Semi Final at around 8.15pm. There’s many ways to vote, Either through the link here, Send me a message or vote via a online system on the night itself…
Tonight, Wednesday, May 13
• 7pm – ESC Fan TV’s Eurovision 1974 re-watch (Facebook)
• 7pm – WiWi Jam at Home (Wiwibloggs YouTube)
Thursday 14
• 7.30pm – Charlie Hide’s Alternative Eurovision Quiz
• 8pm – Eurovision Song Celebration: Semi Final 2 (Official Eurovision YouTube)
Friday 15
• 6pm – OGAE UK Eurostars at Home (Facebook)
• 7pm – Eurovision Fan Contest & Live Reveal of OGAE Polls (OGAE International YouTube)
• 9pm – OGAE UK’s Virtual Euroclub (Twitch & Facebook)
• 9.30pm – Eurovision at 60 (BBC 4)
• 11pm – Dana: The Original Derry Girl (BBC 4)
Saturday 16
• 3am – From Abba to Azerbaijan (BBC Radio 2)
• 9.30am – Eurovision 2020: Big Night In (SBS Australia)
• 10am – Graham Norton (Radio 2)
• 5.40pm – Pointless Celebrities (BBC 1)
• 6.25pm – Eurovision 2020: Come Together (BBC 1)
• 8pm – Eurovision 2020: Europe Shine a Light (RTE 1/BBC 1)
• 9pm – Graham Norton, Douze Points (Radio 2)
• 11pm – TOTP2 Goes Eurovision (BBC 2)
• 10pm – The A-Z of Eurovision (BBC 2)
• 10pm – Eurovision Kings and Queens of Pop (Radio 2)
• 2am – Ken Bruce’s Ultimate Eurovision Countdown (Radio 2)
Sunday 17
• 8pm – EurovisionAgain (Twitter & Facebook)
• 8pm – Retrovision 1974 (Facebook)
All first semi final songs here.
