Behold: the Trifid Nebula, aka Messier 20. Familiar to most stargazers, being 30 light-years across and a mere 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.  To wit:

As its name suggests, visible light pictures show the nebula divided into three parts by dark, obscuring dust lanes. But this penetrating infrared image reveals the Trifid’s filaments of glowing dust clouds and newborn stars. The spectacular false-colour view is courtesy of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers have used the infrared image data to count newborn and embryonic stars which otherwise can lie hidden in the natal dust and gas clouds of this intriguing stellar nursery. Launched in 2003, Spitzer explored the infrared Universe from an Earth-trailing solar orbit until its science operations were brought to a close earlier this year, on January 30.

(Image: J. Rho (SSC/Caltech), JPL-Caltech, NASA)

apod

Ryan Tubridy

On the Late Late Show…

Jennifer O’Brien writes:

It’s that time of the year again when over 200 singletons put their hopeful hearts in Ryan Tubridy’s hands for The Late Late Show Valentine’s Special, this year aptly taking place tomorrow evening, Friday February 14.

Assisting Ryan will be a cast that includes former Wet Wet Wet front-man Marti Pellow

Eilish O’Carroll, star of Mrs Brown’s Boys, and her partner Marion O’Sullivan, will be among the couples joining Ryan for a special segment entitled Love Will Find A Way.

The inimitable Mary O’Rourke will be joined by Pat Spillane and Sharon Higgins to give their “Agony OAP” life advice to millennials in distress

The famed three-chair challenge also returns, sending some audience members on a romantic and luxurious date… to The Late Late Show greenroom.

The Late Late Show Valentine’s Special, RTÉ One at 9.35pm.

Pic via RTÉ


Sinn Féin TDs elected last week

How wrong?

Horribly wrong.

Ahead of the general election, RTÉ’s political team predicted how the vote would go in each constituency online.

Many of RTÉ’s staff based their predictions on the 2019 local elections, during which Sinn Féin lost 78 seats across the country.

Here are some of the State broadcaster’s predictions versus the eventual results…

Cork East – four seats

RTÉ predicted: 2, Fianna Fáil (Kevin O’Keeffe and James O’Connor); 1, Fine Gael (David Stanton); 1, Labour (Seán Sherlock).

Of Sinn Féin TD and candidate Pat Buckley, the station said:

“Buckley stepped in as a new broom and kept the Sinn Fein seat in 2016. But his profile on the ground is said to be not what it needs to be…”

The result: Mr Buckley topped the poll and was elected on the first count with 12,587 votes, 23.1% of the first preference votes.

Labour’s Seán Sherlock took the second seat, Fine Gael’s David Stanton took the third and Fianna Fáil’s took the fourth seat – all on the eighth count.

Dublin Central – four seats

RTÉ predicted: 1, Fine Gael (Paschal Donohoe); 1, Sinn Féin (Mary Lou McDonald); and a battle between Social Democrats (Gary Gannon), Fianna Fáil (Mary Fitzpatrick) and Green Party (Nessa Hourigan) for the final two seats.

Of Sinn Féin candidate Mary Lou McDonald, the station said:

“Political observers will be closely watching the Sinn Féin leader’s vote after a series of disappointing results for the party in last May’s local elections. On that occasion, Sinn Féin said the party had failed to get its vote out. But recent opinion polls point to improved prospects for the party.”

The result: Mary Lou McDonald topped the poll and was elected on the first count with 11,223 votes, 35.7% of the first preference votes.

Green Party’s Neasa Hourigan took the second seat, Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe the third and Social Democrats’ Gary Gannon took the fourth, all on the ninth count.

Continue reading →

Glenda Gilson wearing Kangoo jumpers at the official launch of Thrive Festival 2020

The votes are in.

Last week, with a pair of tickets to give away to both the Saturday and Sunday of this year’s Thrive Festival in Dublin’s Convention Centre on February 29 and March 1 on offer, I asked you to name your favourite song about food or which mentions a particular food.

You answered in your dozens.

I am giving the tickets to two different winners: a pair of tickets for Saturday and another for Sunday in an effort to get four people fitter rather than the previously advertised two.

Runner up:

I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jelly Roll by Leon Redbone.

Gary Flood writes:

Classic jazz from a classy man.

Joint winner:

Beer & Sex & Chips n Gravy by The Macc Lads

Scottser writes:

Should be first on everyone’s list…

Joint winner:

Horse It Into Ya, Cynthia by Conal Gallen.

Fearganainm writes:

Onions, burgers, cheese and onion crisps – what’s not to love? For the truly committed, or those who need to be committed, there’s a dance version…Kiltimagh gets namechecked and the whole oeuvre is redolent of a vanished Ireland – buíochas le Dia

Nick says: Thanks all!

Last week: Win Nick’s Tickets To Thrive

Thrive Festival 2020

President of Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald arriving at the General Election 2020 count centre in the RDS, Dublin 4, last Sunday; Dan Boyle

The only thing that can be said about the current situation with Irish politics is that the normal laws of political physics no longer apply.

The fall in support for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is part of an ongoing and continuing trend. The speed and depth to which that happens will depend on how each party responds to its current status.

At the start of the campaign Sinn Féin’s strategy would have been to hold on to as many of the Dáil seats it had won in 2016, thus the relatively low number of candidates that were put forward by the party.

We have seen a level of volatility never seen before in an Irish general election. We had been given some indication of this in the presidential election in 2017. Peter Casey rose from an opinion poll rating of 1% to an eventual 23% achieved vote, gained over a seven to ten day period.

That though was a free hit. It gave a means to protest helped with the knowledge that it would not affect the eventual result. The volatility in this general election has been informed by something different. This time a desire for change is as much about a change of approach as it is about a change of personnel.

The issue of housing, particularly for younger and first time voters, has been the issue that has provided the trigger that has informed this desire for change.

Kudos should be given to Eoin Ó Broin as Sinn Féin spokesperson on the issue. He helped win considerable support from the electorate, whose confidence in a strictly market led approach had evidentially evaporated.

So can a government be formed with the arithmetic the electorate has given us? It ain’t going to be easy.

What isn’t likely to work is any kind of confidence and supply arrangement. There can’t be an us and them situation where in opposition you can’t criticise what they do, because it has been enabled by us.

Nor is there likely to be any coalition of the left. This is because there are some on the left who don’t want to be anywhere near government.

This for them is an article of faith. You can’t be the vanguard for a class revolution when you become a mudguard for the establishment.

There could, and may yet be, a Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition that would need the support of up to ten independents. It is not an impossibility.

Eyes may be fluttered towards The Greens and or Labour/Social Democrats to bring about a more stable government. It is hard to see any progressive party agreeing to such an arrangement, with the two traditional parties that have been so roundly rejected by the voters.

The only other possible government would be Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin with a third and possibly fourth party.

There’s no guarantee that this will happen. There are many factors conspiring against it happening.

Fianna Fáil will continue to struggle with the knowledge that old certainties no longer exist.

The new reality is that the result of the election is that Sinn Féin should be in government. The party has earned the right to be in government. That right is now greater than the right of either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.

To secure government Sinn Féin itself needs to compromise. Its hunger for office means it is likely to engage. Whether others are prepared to compromise will determine whether a new government can come into being or not.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator and serves as a Green Party councillor on Cork City Council. His column appears here every Thursday. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle

Rollingnews


This morning.

On Cork’s 96FM Opinion Line with PJ Coogan.

Dee writes:

Corkwoman Elaine Daly (53) had a painfull fall outside her home in Larchfield, Cork City yesterday morning in freezing temperatures.

Her neighbour Vickie Thompson phoned an ambulance at 8.15am. When they called an hour later to ask why the ambulance had not come, the dispatcher responded that one was on the way and would take a further 105 minutes.

A Cork ambulance team, which came on duty at 10am and was reassigned the call, arrived at roughly 10.40 and informed them that the original ambulance dispatched was on its way ….from Dublin.

96FM

The Latchikos write:

At a festival on Achill Island in Co Mayo, a storyteller is in full flight and, while channelling a vulgar barman character, drops an F-bomb and some swearing.

He then gets interrupted by young nine-year-old girl and told “watch your language”.

The story then adjusts and takes on a wild energy culminating in a raucus dance party.

Wa-hey.

The video was taken when Aindrias de Staic and The Latchikos at the Achill Pure Magic Wind Surf Festival last autumn.

Aindiras is on tour in Co Cork this week with his spoken word/storytelling  show The Man from Moogaga which won Best Radio Comedy at the Celtic Media Awards.

Tonight, he’ll be in Bartlemy Parish Hall at 8pm; tomorrow night he’ll be at Ballynoe Community Centre at 8pm; on Saturday, he’ll be at The Mall Arts Centre in Youghal at 8pm; and on Sunday he’ll be at The Palace Theatre in Fermoy at 8pm.

Next Friday, February 21, he’ll perform at the Linnenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, Co Mayo. Tickets for all events at the door.

Meanwhile, Aindiras and The Latchikos will play Whelan’s in Dublin on February 27.

Thanks Aindrias

The Man From Moogaga

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