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 …
Tall Garden Out the BackAppreciating 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.
Appreciating Free Local Bus ServiceAdvice 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 …
Advice for Software Development StudentsI 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.
I Remain the TallestSumming Summer with Workflows
Thanking Alastair McDermott for two hours of helpful hints.
Summing Summer with WorkflowsThe power of Obsidian Micropublishing
Thanking Manton for keeping radio userland microblogging styles alive.
The power of Obsidian MicropublishingSpice 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 …
Spice Bag Loses AuthenticityFirst export from myRemarkable
Started playing with reMarkable PRO.
First export from myRemarkableUndersea 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 …
Undersea Cables in IrelandAI 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 …
AI Isn't Just for Business Things You KnowRussia 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 …
Russia Facing Guns vs ButterTrump 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 …
Trump Powerless When He Wants to BeNews 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 …
News Clips from an American In IrelandLooking 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 …
Looking forward to ReconstructionInsights 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 …
Insights from Ireland's AI InstitutePurposeful 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 …
Purposeful Pivot Away from ScrollingMore 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 …
More than 30 Christmas MemoriesMy Cloud Shows Solemn Memories Along with Christmas Joy
Like many others, I let the cloud pull my photos up into storage locations. Three locations actually. The most irregular uploads happen with OneDrive and that’s the image at the top of this post. It’s from Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland on a table a few days before Christmas 2014. We …
My Cloud Shows Solemn Memories Along with Christmas JoyAt the OEB 30th birthday
After a day-long workshop and another day listening to educators share their best ideas, I walked into a celebration of the 30th birthday with OEB in Berlin. #EduSky
At the OEB 30th birthdayLooking at ways to see, scrape, and archive
I have a 5yo phone that continues to be smarter than me. My biggest discovery is realising that when I gamify my daily workflow, I become significantly more productive. I screencapped part of my Obsidian daily page to see what happens when I post to my microblog and then push the post into my …
Looking at ways to see, scrape, and archiveLiking Printful
I’m impressed by Printful after learning about the wide range of brands using its clever user-friendly platform–more importantly, its appeal is not having to maintain inventory. On-demand production with no inventory: Printful allows you to create and sell custom products without the …
Liking PrintfulDe-stressing with Donuts
I am trying to deal with mental health issues following the tumultuous US election. I don’t know if my 5yo Samsung phone will let me show the approach I’m taking.
De-stressing with DonutsWhat Happened to the Blue Wave of Enthusiasm
Wondering why a fresh blue wave failed to wake up America–it looks like Donald Trump will never need to leave the White House. What I’m seeing at sunrise after the 2024 US elections is a big win for Russia, a loss for Ukraine, win for big business, loss for the environment, big win for …
What Happened to the Blue Wave of EnthusiasmSharing things inside my shoulder bag
I’m planning a hands-on AI workshop for OEB.global at the end of November, sharing some of the contents of my sling sack. #OEB24 The workshop is billed as a “Hands-on Practical Workflows with AI Tools”. I need to make videos in square format, based on how this content pushed out to …
Sharing things inside my shoulder bagThoughts from Zuck about Free Speech and Misinformation
Zuck is grappling with the challenge of maintaining a platform that supports free speech while also combating misinformation. He has vowed to push back against government pressure to censor content in the future. Meta has changed its internal policies so it no longer demotes content while waiting …
Thoughts from Zuck about Free Speech and Misinformation