New Kaffeeklatsch
I have decamped to new kaffeeklatsch locations where exceptionally diverse convos enlighten me. Now I know I have reached the Retirement Zone.
Feeling Like a Cafe Stranger
My new routine involves being the first customer to order inside my local coffee shop. For more than an hour, I am the only man seated at a table.
Inside View of Topgold
I asked ChatGPT-5 to qualitatively review the current archive of my microblog. OpenAI says I write about educational technology and teaching practice; personal knowledge management and productivity workflows; and the social web/podcasting and online publishing culture.
Missed a Big Event
I had to look to see what happened in Glendale’s State Farm Stadium last week. Nothing appeared in my newsfeeds.
Clearing Desk After International Work
Just back after four days in The Netherlands where I enjoyed first rate collegiate collaboration.
Starting a New Phase #buzzquarter
I have started a new phase by occupying the largest creative space ever. The outside of the building says Questum. The outside of my door says Buzz Quarter. I am starting work here by dumping out the contents of a 15 year old briefcase I once carried between Dublin and Thurles. Some of its contents …
First Phone Upgrade in Six Years
I figured out I needed to get a new phone after several phone calls dropped whenever I turned my head. So I dug deep into my spare change to get a Samsung Galaxy S25 with a terabyte of on-board storage.
Learning about a Groyper Sniper
Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University by student Tyler Robinson. The battle of dumb and dumber in this edition of leopards eating each others’ faces wasn’t on my bingo card. This is a red on red crime.
Tall Garden Out the Back
We're at the tail end of a colourful summer with two very stubborn sunflowers towering more than eight feet tall behind our home. I watched my wife buy an assortment of plants, many perennials, during the past four months. I'm surprised (delighted!) to see how we've planted a forest of plants that …
Appreciating Free Local Bus Service
I can ride around my local town for free on a highly subsidised local link service. It’s an unexpected benefit and one that dozens of elderly people use every day.
Advice for Software Development Students
I’m on a university campus at the start of an academic year, sharing my experience about people with basic AI skills who get much more done during the day than people like me who graduated with the ability to write code with punch cards. And during coffee chats with university lecturers, I …
I Remain the Tallest
Remembering how young Dylan (now taller than his mom) was only tentative outside his primary school five years ago. At the start of his secondary school education, he’s up earlier and eager to walk into Raheen College in time to get offered the first sausage roll.
Summing Summer with Workflows
Thanking Alastair McDermott for two hours of helpful hints.
The power of Obsidian Micropublishing
Thanking Manton for keeping radio userland microblogging styles alive.
Spice Bag Loses Authenticity
We’re running #empower25 on the quiet campus of TUS.ie this week. One of the workshop tasks asks teens to use AI to produce a selfie avatar with cultural cues. So I asked Perplexity to make me as “a man looking like Robin Williams sharing a spice bag with friends from America on the …
First export from myRemarkable
Started playing with reMarkable PRO.
Undersea Cables in Ireland
We have walked next to Marconi House, near one of the east coast landing points of internet connectivity for Ireland. I’ve often wondered about the threat to those undersea cables. John Mooney shares my concern in a Sunday Times article “Underwater Warfare” today. The threat level …
AI Isn't Just for Business Things You Know
I bought a few copies of the Irish Independent in late April 2025 because there were several items pertaining to the way society is using AI. I heard about some of these items because they became talking points on prominent Irish radio stations.The Irish online safety commission is very concerned …
Russia Facing Guns vs Butter
The WSJ carries analysts from J.P. Morgan “that despite Moscow becoming more insulated from global trends because of sanctions and severed international ties, the tsunami generated by U.S. trade policy is unlikely to leave Russia unscathed.” Putin’s national-security state is in …
Trump Powerless When He Wants to Be
As NPR’s Steven Inskeep put it: “If I understand this correctly, the US president has launched a trade war against the world, believes he can force the EU and China to meet his terms, is determined to annex Canada and Greenland, but is powerless before the sovereign might of El Salvador. Is that …
News Clips from an American In Ireland
A wonderful thing happened this week in the world of podcasting. Joe Rogan left the top spot on Spotify Podcasts, unseated by voices coming from the Meidastouch Network. And I’ve started introducing my 13yo son to the cacophony of American political discourse.Dylan holds both an Irish and an …
Looking forward to Reconstruction
If a hot air balloon monitored arrivals to Battery Pier in the 1860s, the vessel carrying my German ancestors might have been captured moving dockside to disembark Prussian Lorenz Goldbach onto Manhattan. When my great great grandfather arrived in America, Reconstruction was just starting during the …
Insights from Ireland's AI Institute
Sandra O’Connell covers the clever rise of the AI Institute as she interviews Maryrose Lyons in today’s Sunday Times in Ireland. Twelve months ago Maryrose Lyons launched a new business, the AI Institute. As a digital marketing expert with decades of experience, her decision to go …
Purposeful Pivot Away from Scrolling
I'm with Cheyenne Macdonald, "In 2024, using social media felt worse than ever. These days, it feels like every gathering place on the internet is so crowded with content that’s competing for — and successfully grabbing — our attention or trying to sell us something that there’s barely any room for …
More than 30 Christmas Memories
I coasted down off the Rosslare ferry with my left hand drive BMW in mid-December 1994 and have celebrated nearly every Christmas since then in Ireland. I think I have negatives and slides in my attic from last century that might capture some of the earliest Christmases I enjoyed in …