Britney Spears’ father has agreed to step down as her conservator ‘when the time is right’

Many people have spilled lots of tears
For the freedom of poor Britney Spears
But don’t be so sad
For at long last her dad
Said he’d go, but maybe not for years

John Moynes

Getty

Behold: Mammatus clouds – the most stacked of all suspended aerosols. To wit:

Normally, cloud bottoms are flat. This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very specific height. As water droplets grow, an opaque cloud forms. Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets of water or ice that fall into clear air as they evaporate. Such pockets may occur in turbulent air near a thunderstorm. Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially dramatic if sunlit from the side. The mammatus clouds pictured here, lasting only a few minutes, were photographed over Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, just after a storm in 2012.

(Image: Michael F Johnston)

apod

Paul Reid, CEO HSE, at Dr Steevens’ Hospital for the weekly HSE operational update on the response to Covid-19

This afternoon.

Weekly HSE Covid Briefing, Dr Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin.

HSE CEO Paul Reid said ‘many children’ aged 12-15 have already received vaccination appointments for this weekend since the portal for their age ‘cohort’ opened this morning.

He said:

“Very encouragingly, by mid-morning this morning, over 42,000 children aged 12-15 have been registered on the online system”

Earlier…

Professor Christine Loscher, of Dublin City University

This morning.

Via RTÉ

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Professor Christine Loscher [professor of immunology at Dublin City University] said that the vaccines have an excellent safety profile in clinical trials among 12 to 15 year olds.

She said real-world data from wide-scale vaccination in the United States uncovered a rare side effect of myocarditis, or heart inflammation, in this age cohort that was not seen in the clinical trials.

The incidence of myocarditis is higher in this age group and while the reason for this is not understood, heart inflammation is a side effect of Covid-19 infection in some cases.

In the US, a total of 4.4 million children in this age group are now fully vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer vaccine.

She said: “The most important thing is that the real-world data tells us it is a possibility and tells us how to manage it and spot the signs.”

Vaccine portal opens for children aged 12-15 (RTÉ)

Earlier: Delivery And Logisitics

Meanwhile…

Oh.

“Toes” by Marta Barcikowska

The results are in.

Last week, with a “Toes” A2 limited edition giclée print by Galway based designer Marta Barcikowska (available at Jam Art Prints) on offer, we asked for your favourite place to swim in Ireland and why.

After much deliberation…

…Rosette of Sirius won with a coastal choice way out wesht, writing:

‘My parents well my Dad, had the foresight to buy land between Furbo and Spiddal [Connemara, county Galway] in the 70s when you quite simply could not give it away. A few family houses were subsequently built and and we’ve been coming to this neck of the woods ever since. I wanted something further afield, hence I get to play/swim closer to Roundstone. The biking and hiking at the pins is a lot better too. Glorious. Even the Winter is special. It’s hard, and it makes your work for it but Jesus it’s makes you feel… Irish.’

Fight!

Jam Art Factory

Jam Art Prints

Jam Art Print competition appears here every second Thursday.

Splutter.

He’s ours!

Wallies.

Wally the walrus resumes journey along Ireland’s south west coast (RTÉ)

Meanwhile….

…via Irish Times Letters:

Your article on the walrus currently off the coast of Cork states that after leaving Valentia Island the walrus was “later spotted in Wales before resurfacing when it hauled itself into a boat off Ardmore” .

In fact, the walrus has travelled further. In May this year, he was spotted in Cornwall, Brittany and La Rochelle; in June he was seen in Bilbao and Santander, before spending some time recently in the Isles of Scilly.

You further quote Dr. Emer Rogan, who said: “[It’s] difficult to say whether this animal is a male or a female.”

Photographs from Les Sables-d’Olonne have allowed citizen-scientists to identify the walrus as male.

I should also note that while in Wales he was nicknamed Wally.

Claire O’Toole,
Dublin 24

FIGHT!

Irish Times Letters

In the first part of a new series on the human body, German educational design studio Kurzgesagt explores the human immune system – an extensive biological system which…

…consists of hundreds of tiny and two large organs, it has its own transport network spread throughout your body. Every day it makes hundreds of billions of fresh cells. It is not some sort of abstract entity. Your immune system is YOU. Your biology protecting you from the billions of microorganisms that want to consume you and from your own perverted cells that turn into cancer.

Previously: The Biggest Black Hole In The Universe

From top: EU Covid Cert; Junior minister Ossian Smyth

This afternoon.

Via Irish Examiner:

There will be a “continuing requirement” on people to provide proof of vaccine status for at least another year, a Government minister has indicated.

Minister of State Ossian Smyth has said the EU’s Digital Covid Cert scheme is due to expire at the end of June 2022, but he expects it will be required beyond that.

“I think that there will be a continuing requirement for vaccination status, if not in Ireland, certainly to travel. And what we have seen with the Delta threat is that a new variant can emerge without warning which is stronger or more contagious and requires new vaccinations to deal with it. So with that in mind, I would expect the Covid certification is going to continue.”

Proof of vaccine status likely to be in place for at least another year (Irish Examiner)

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