Art cannot be created by committee and town planning is clearly an art form. Here Austrian architect Camillo Sitte in 1889 empathically laying out the case against urban planners (referring to the 1874 policy document of the Associated German Architects and Engineers Societies).

"The model American puts in 1600 hours to get 7500 miles: less than five miles per hour." — Ivan Illich, 1978

20 years of DNA findings: who are the Irish? The history books have been completely rewritten over the last 20 years - more than once DNA advances have separated fact from fiction What do they teach us on Irish & European arrivals? (1)

See; 2020 Cassidy et al: nature.com/articles/s4158… Beaker phenomenon: nature.com/articles/natur… Irish DNA atlas: nature.com/articles/s4159….

Reminder.

Mr. O’Meara is more correct about problems with Infrastructural development than most commentators. Excellent letter.

Print version of my new commentary ("Bill Gates’s climate comments are a dangerous distraction") on #COP30, Bill Gates and more, in the latest issue of nature: nature.com/articles/d4158…

Here is my read of the "peace plan" and how Kirill Dmitriev played the American media to force this thing into being -- with an incompetent White House scrambling to make it seem like this was somehow coordinated and well-planned. Including with my own "senior U.S. official" who

yesigiveafig.com/p/part-2-the-d…

Extraordinary press conference just now in San Francisco where SF City Attorney David Chiu has just announced a lawsuit against the largest manufacturers of Ultra-Processed Foods, including Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Post Holdings, Coca Cola, Pepsi, General Mills, Nestle USA,

#Otd 1928: 1st independent Irish coinage circulated. 8 coins: woodcock, sow & litter, hen & chicks, hare, wolfhound, bull, salmon & horse! The committee that chose the winning designs (from relatively unknown Englishman Percy Metcalfe) was headed by Senator W.B. Yeats.

12 Dec: In Old Scandinavia, farmers set out a Julenek, a sheaf of grain kept from the summer harvest, for the birds to feast upon at #Christmas. Called the “Remembrance of Birds,” this act of #kindness was thought to ensure good luck and a plentiful harvest the following year.

A valuable flute went missing yesterday from the owner's bike on the way to a lunchtime session in Cassidy's in Camden St. It has huge sentimental value and a reward has been offered. If anyone sees it, please send a DM. RTs appreciated.

This Yglesias piece in the NYT is really bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: nytimes.com/2025/12/18/opi…

We could have thriving rural towns and villages... farmersjournal.ie/news/opinion/o…

thejournal.ie/readme/opinion…

1/ Elon Musk faces a spiralling worldwide crisis and growing legal jeopardy over child pornography and nonconsensual sexual images being generated through his Grok AI chatbot. Multiple countries and jurisdictions have now announced investigations into X and xAI. ⬇️

Penny auction at foreclosed Michigan farm (1936). At penny auctions farmers would conspire to offer low bids, resulting in a low return to the creditor. The final buyer would then return the property to the destitute farmer. Hangman nooses served as a warning to squirrelly

Some wheat is sprayed with glyphosate just before harvest to help dry the crop. The weed killer is applied to wheat intended for human consumption. The EU banned this use. Some claim glyphosate is used for desiccation on only 3% of US wheat crops. We should end this practice.

Check out our new map (28 years of research). The 1766 Religious Census of Ireland is 260 today🥳🎁 Map shows parishes with surviving names or population numbers. Some parishes have a handful of names, others have 100s! virtualtreasury.ie/gold-seams/176… New user? virtualtreasury.ie/help