Donald Tusk, president of the European Council with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin last March


Hmm.

Brexit: Boris Johnson says ‘anti-democratic’ backstop must be scrapped (BBC)

Last night: Contact

Rollingnews

Update:

Meath TD and Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty

The resignation of Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty, on foot of the very expensive Public Services Card debacle, is not “compulsory”, but it is “mandatory” if we are serious about the creation of accountable governance.

Jim O’Sullivan,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.

Public Services Card debacle (The Irish Times letters page)

Previously: House Of Card

Rollingnews

To celebrate National Heritage Week.

Via the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland:

Mayo-born Kathleen Lynn was one of the first female medical doctors to qualify in Ireland, as well as a committed nationalist and activist.

As a young woman at the turn of the twentieth century, Kathleen Lynn became involved with the suffrage movement, Cumann na mBan and James Connolly’s Irish Socialist Party.

She fought in the 1916 Rising and afterwards, was elected to the First Dáil. In 1919, Lynn founded St Ultan’s Hospital for children, along with Madeleine ffrench-Mullen.

As an activist, politician, rebel and doctor, Lynn consistently sought to improve the lot of the poorest and least heard citizens of Dublin.

This exhibition is a graphic telling of her life story.

Kathleen Lyn exhibition, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, No. 6 Kildare Street, Dublin 2 until August 23, 10am – 4pm.

Hello you two.

An extremely rare Morrissey/Joni Mitchell Polaroid taken in Hollywood, Los Angeles in the early noughties.

Yours on eBay for a misery-inducing 2k.

Morrissey/Mitchell Polaroid (eBay)

Last night.

Semple Stadfium, Thurles, County Tipperary.

Yesterday: Semple Harmonic Motion

This morning

The latest quarterly Rental Report by Daft.ie is out.

In Dublin, rent growth in the last quarter was 4.5% compared to a year earlier, bringing average rents to €2,023 a month – with available rentals continuing to slow.

Daft economist Ronan Lyons says:

“Availability on the rental market remains at levels that were unprecedented prior to 2015…For example, in the Dublin market, there were just 1,541 properties available to rent on August 1st. While that’s up from 1,121 two years ago, it’s well below the average of 4,700 for the preceding decade….”

Average monthly rents hit record level for 13th quarter in a row – report (RTÉ)

Meanwhile…

This is how the Orion Nebula appeared to astronomers at the turn of the 20th century when advances in astrophotography opened up new vistas for science. To wit:

… his stunning image of the star-forming Orion Nebula was captured in 1901 by American astronomer and telescope designer George Ritchey. The original glass photographic plate, sensitive to green and blue wavelengths, has been digitised and light-to-dark inverted to produce a positive image. His hand written notes indicate a 50 minute long exposure that ended at dawn and a reflecting telescope aperture of 24 inches masked to 18 inches to improve the sharpness of the recorded image. Ritchey’s plates from over a hundred years ago preserve astronomical data and can still be used for exploring astrophysical processes.

(Image: George Ritchey, Yerkes Observatory – Digitization Project: W. Cerny, R. Kron, Y. Liang, J. Lin, M. Martinez, E. Medina, B. Moss, B. Ogonor, M. Ransom, J. Sanchez (Univ. of Chicago)

apod

Plans for the toilet facilities (above) in Bridgend, Wales included water jets to soak users if violent movement was detected

In Bridgend they need a new loo
But the council insists it’s not true
That a high pressure spray
To keep shaggers away
Is something they’re planning to do

John Moynes

Pic: RSC Architects

Broadsheet.ie