Um.
We need a great reset new start.
Via Politics Watch
Yesterday: Caveat Renter
Drama Queens
at
This afternoon.
O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.
Sarah Shine (in trench-coat) and Kate Stanley Brennan (above), two of the artists who will take part in the Dublin Theatre Festival, launching this year’s programme which runs across the capital from September 30–October 17.
The festival includes 21 world premieres from Irish theatre artists alongside international work in a programme ‘that asks questions about our relationship with the city and the environment and welcomes us back to live performance’.
Wrong.
Behold: the ongoing ’Minecraft In Real Life’ project of Indonesian digital artist Aditya Aryanto.
Important work, you’ll agree.
Republic of Ireland supporters in Poznan, Poland during Euro 2012
Boo.
Hiss.
This afternoon.
FIFA and UEFA have confirmed away supporters will not be permitted to attend upcoming international games, meaning no Republic of Ireland fans can travel to the World Cup qualifier against Portugal in Faro next month.
It also rules out away supporters in Dublin for the games against Azerbaijan and Serbia at the Aviva Stadium.
The decision, due to Covid-19, applies to all visiting fans in UEFA Preliminary Competitions for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in the September international window, as well as friendly matches next month.
Irish fans not allowed to attend World Cup 2022 qualifier in Portugal (RTÉ)
Pic via Twitter
Meanwhile…
There will be no away fans allowed at World Cup qualifiers in September.
Decision made by FIFA.If you have booked Portugal, you won't be getting a ticket.
— YBIG (@YouBoysInGreen) August 11, 2021
Unless…
…you go disguised as a Portugal fan, combinado?
*taps nose*
Say When
at
This morning.
Brian MacCraith, chairman of the High Level Task Force on COVID19 Vaccination, tweetz:
6.2m vaccine doses administered to date; 89% of adults have received at least 1 dose and 78% of adults fully vaccinated (~60% of total population)…
Meanwhile…
The Health Service Executive has launched its portal for people to list their close contacts.
The link will be sent via text to people when they are notified that they are Covid-19 positive after testing.
The portal began operating today and the HSE said it will enable faster tracing.
When a person is notified that they are Covid-19 positive after testing, the HSE will now send them a text-message link, to a portal, to list their close contacts.
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that ping.
New HSE portal for people to list close contacts (RTÉ)
Alternatively…
Having your child vaccinated with a DNA or RNA viral vector vaccine, that is licensed for emergency use only, is of NO benefit whatsoever to your local friendly pharmaceutical company!
— Dr. Marcus De Brun (@indepdubnrth) August 11, 2021
Deplatform that man.
Meanwhile…
What can you say to someone that thinks like this? pic.twitter.com/J8JZmJJ6Z4
— Kealan Flynn (@Flyck66) August 11, 2021
Anyone?
Spaceballs
at
What does fire look like without gravity? Like this. To wit:
In the gravity on Earth, heated air rises and expands, causing flames to be teardrop shaped. In the microgravity of the air-filled International Space Station (ISS), however, flames are spheres. Fire is the rapid acquisition of oxygen, and space flames meet new oxygen molecules when they float by randomly from all directions — creating the enveloping sphere. In the featured image taken in the ISS’s Combustion Integration Rack, a spherical flame envelopes clusters of hot glowing soot. Without oxygen, say in the vacuum of empty space, a fire would go out immediately. The many chemical reactions involved with fire are complex, and testing them in microgravity is helping humanity not only to better understand fire — but how to put out fire, too.
(Image: NASA)
From top: Gary Neville (left) and Roy Keane; Rajan Zed
This morning.
Further to Roy Keane blaming yoga for his “worst performance” during a podcast with football pundit Gary Neville…
…Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, states:
“Passing blame of one’s crummy performance to highly beneficial yoga is quite out of line as many scientific/academic/clinical/etc. studies have revealed the multiple benefits yoga provide.
“President Michael Higgins recently reportedly commented that he would like to see yoga taught to school children across Ireland. According to US National Institutes of Health; yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. A research study by Trinity College Dublin indicated: Meditative and pranayama practices result in attentional, emotional, and physiological enhancements.
“Keane needs to wake up and wholeheartedly re-incorporate highly beneficial yoga in his life. He was clearly doing a disservice to himself if not fully availing the valuable opportunities yoga provide.”
Namaste.
Small bow.
FIGHT!
Yesterday: Roy Keane admits worst Man Utd performance came after yoga session (Daily Star)
From top: Miriam O’Callaghan (left) and Katherine Zappone; Fergus Finlay
Re the funding of UN SDSN, its annual accounts show $10m of funding, with some coming from unnamed govts. There’s no reference to it in DFA/Irish Aid’s reports, but it has a threshold for reporting funding. Katherine Zappone spoke at UNSDSN-linked events while minister.
— nwl (@nwl88444048) August 11, 2021
This morning.
Further to Merriongate…
…via Fergus Finlay in the Irish Examiner:
On July 18, I heard Katherine tell Miriam O’Callaghan on the radio that she would probably live in the US for the rest of her life. She’d visit Ireland, of course, but she had put her house on the market and was severing her connections with her adopted country. (The house is indeed on the market, with lots of promotional material about the work done by Dermot Bannon to modernise it, and an asking price of €750,000.)
She wasn’t asked hard questions in that interview and, as far as I know, it was the last interview she gave. She certainly didn’t mention that she was in conversation with senior ministers about work she might do for Ireland in the US. I wonder what kind of an interview it would have been if Miriam knew then what she knows know.
Then suddenly it was announced, unknown to most of the Cabinet, that she was to be appointed as “special envoy on freedom of opinion and expression” to the UN. No advertisement, no competition, no interview. She wanted it and she got it.
…If it was needed, there should have been a competition for it [the UN envoy role]. We have a large number of men and women in Ireland who would have made excellent candidates. If she was the best, the competition would have established that.
The proof of her sense of entitlement, sadly, lies in the fact that she never gave a single interview about the controversy. This was compounded by the fact that, when the next controversy arose — about her party in the grounds of the Merrion Hotel — all she could do was issue a terse one-liner telling the media to contact the hotel….
Did her party comply with the guidelines? You’d have to be there to know (I wasn’t)…
Fergus Finlay: Ireland deserves better from arrogant Government ministers (Irish Examiner)
Earlier: Cash For Cronies
My un-jabbed wife and sister in law attended the remarkable Tom Jones in Belfast. To get in they did a rapid antigen test, sent free from the NHS & self reported the result. She put in “ negative” and received back a text saying “ You are negative” Think about that for 1 second
— Winston Smith MD (@reasonoverfear) August 11, 2021
Oh.
Last night.
Custom House Square, Belfast.
Pic via CHSQ
This is not a CityTree. This is not a habitat or a food source. This does not reduce noise pollution or run-off. This does not prevent soil erosion. This does not connect us with nature, nourishing our physical and mental health.
This is shameful. https://t.co/sr2gq3i6cn
— Paul Dalton (@Simplyplants) August 10, 2021
How dare you.
Yesterday.
Climate change ‘electric trees’ in Cork city.
Anyone?