(From top: ’Lonely Tree’ by David Hall; ‘Red Velvet’ by Helen Bradshaw; ‘Invisible Paris’ by Pierre-Louis Ferrer; ‘Utah’ by Luciano Demasi; ‘Tectonic’ by Matthew Stuart Piper; ’Hong Kong: The Golden City’ by Tran Minh Dung; ‘Zabriskie’ by Beamie Young and ’The Watchman’ by Blake Rudis.)

Winners of an inaugural Infrared Photography contest organised by online store and e-learning site Kolari Vision which invited submissions thus:

What changes when we switch to infrared, and which things remain constant? What beauty lies in the light that our eyes can’t see?

See all the winners here.

mymodernmet

This afternoon.

Streedagh, County Sligo.

Blubber Mmf.

Experts examine latest case of whale beaching in Sligo (RTÉ)

Behold: NGC 7089, a giant star cluster also known as Messier 2 after the 18th century French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier who first catalogued it. Prepare to feel small in the scheme of things. To wit:

 After the Crab Nebula, M1… is the second entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier’s famous list of things which are not comets. M2 is one of the largest globular star clusters now known to roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though Messier originally described it a nebula without stars, this stunning Hubble image [top pic, with details below] resolves stars across the central 40 light-years of M2. Its population of stars numbers close to 150,000, concentrated within a total diameter of around 175 light-years. About 55,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Aquarius, this ancient denizen of the Milky Way… is 13 billion years old.

Higher resolution image here.

apod

Thus afternoon.

Further to An Coimisinéir Teanga’s [Language Commissioner’s] Annual Report which finds that RTÉ is failing to provide a comprehensive range of television programming in Irish.

In 2017, over RTÉ’s two television channels, over 18,657 hours of content were broadcasted. Only 123 hours, or 0.7% of this content was in Irish.

Emma Ní Chearúil, of irish-language activists Conradh Na Gailge, writes;

Conradh na Gaeilge will meet with Director General of RTÉ Dee Forbes next week. We will commend their provision of the Irish language to date – on Raidió na Gaeltachta, RTÉ 2FM and their multimedia platforms, for example, but we will focus primarily on the questions raised in the Language Commissioners’ Annual Report and the following recommendations.

1. A Plan for the Provision of Irish Language Programming to be developed immediately

2. To build on the previous developments such as optional Irish language commentary for sports events, which could be provided for all national rugbaí games, international soccer matches and all GAA programming on RTÉ

3. A channel such as RTÉ Jr to be provided in Irish, which would be an excellent support for parents who are raising children with Irish, and an additional resources in supporting Irish in the education system.

Troid!

Conradh Na Gaeilge

‘Seriously deficient’ – RTÉ criticised over 1pc Irish language content (Independent.ie)

….INM’s chief executive Michael Doorly had raised the prospect of a sale in meetings with the Dublin investment community this week.

Sources were saying German media group Axel Springer had taken a look at INM in the past, while Norwegian group Schibsted has also been rumoured to have an interest.

INM confirms possible takeover approach (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

Telephone Explosions – Still Water

New single from Maynooth, County Kildare-based ambient dream pop duo and real life couple Dolores Fogarty and Adrian Mee from new album (available to pre-order here).

Telephone Explosions

Pic: Davina McGinn

A Paddy among the chaos.

Keano writes:

I returned to the madness of Parliament Square [Westminster, London] on ‘Brexit Day’ to witness, in this case, history not being made, as the UK was due to leave the EU on this day, March 29. Above is a flavor of some of that day featuring multiple protests by different groups…

Earlier: Angst Haben

A Limerick A Day

Broadsheet.ie