Rothaí
@rothaiocht.bsky.social
I am an emigrant who writes love letters. Ireland :: California
Reposted by Rothaí
The media needs to recognize that there is a marked difference between the endemic problem of CSAM being posted to social media platforms and a platform giving users a tool to actively create CSAM.
January 2, 2026 at 6:02 PM
The media needs to recognize that there is a marked difference between the endemic problem of CSAM being posted to social media platforms and a platform giving users a tool to actively create CSAM.
Reposted by Rothaí
Most of last year was about The Book, but I did lots more science writing, too! Here's a 🧵of a few of my favorite stories, one for each month of 2025. The first is about geochemists solving a centuries old "cold case," identifying the volcano that erupted in 1831 and cooled the planet 🧪
‘Mystery volcano’ that erupted and cooled Earth in 1831 has finally been identified | CNN
Scientists have identified the “mystery volcano” that erupted in 1831 and cooled Earth’s climate. They have linked it to an island volcano in the northwest Pacific Ocean.
www.cnn.com
January 2, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Most of last year was about The Book, but I did lots more science writing, too! Here's a 🧵of a few of my favorite stories, one for each month of 2025. The first is about geochemists solving a centuries old "cold case," identifying the volcano that erupted in 1831 and cooled the planet 🧪
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Today, foreign-born people make up more than 20 percent of the population of the Republic Ireland—until recently one of the world’s classic “nations of emigrants”—and more than 75 percent in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait. 🧵3/10
January 2, 2026 at 4:12 PM
Today, foreign-born people make up more than 20 percent of the population of the Republic Ireland—until recently one of the world’s classic “nations of emigrants”—and more than 75 percent in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait. 🧵3/10
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Ex-Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun has Lunch with the FT and in one of those instances so rare that you know he didn't sign an NDA, says exactly why as.ft.com/r/e503690d-8...
January 2, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Ex-Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun has Lunch with the FT and in one of those instances so rare that you know he didn't sign an NDA, says exactly why as.ft.com/r/e503690d-8...
Reposted by Rothaí
call me crazy but it really feels like “World’s Richest Man Creates AI Chatbot That Generates Child Porn” would’ve been a huge international outrage requiring a governmental crackdown not even 24 months ago
January 2, 2026 at 7:06 AM
call me crazy but it really feels like “World’s Richest Man Creates AI Chatbot That Generates Child Porn” would’ve been a huge international outrage requiring a governmental crackdown not even 24 months ago
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Did you know Phylicia Rashad made a disco concept album honoring Josephine Baker? During her marriage to one of the Village People. youtu.be/hKBx1dF_nmc?...
January 1, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Did you know Phylicia Rashad made a disco concept album honoring Josephine Baker? During her marriage to one of the Village People. youtu.be/hKBx1dF_nmc?...
I hope the Microsoft Word AI guy on here reads this.
In what's now become an annual tradition, I've written another piece for The Gist about how and why I hate A.I.
On a bubble about to burst, a future rotted to its core, and the limits of the Mrs Doyle Theory of artificial intelligence.
www.thegist.ie/guest-gist-2...
On a bubble about to burst, a future rotted to its core, and the limits of the Mrs Doyle Theory of artificial intelligence.
www.thegist.ie/guest-gist-2...
Guest Gist: 2026, Our Already Rotting Future
Seamus O'Reilly warns of AI maximum bubbledrive this year.
www.thegist.ie
January 2, 2026 at 2:50 PM
I hope the Microsoft Word AI guy on here reads this.
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Was just thinking that Gone With the Wind will be public domain in 6 years.
Considering the tantrum the Mitchell estate threw about The Wind Done Gone, I think you all know what to do with that information.
Considering the tantrum the Mitchell estate threw about The Wind Done Gone, I think you all know what to do with that information.
January 2, 2026 at 1:24 PM
Was just thinking that Gone With the Wind will be public domain in 6 years.
Considering the tantrum the Mitchell estate threw about The Wind Done Gone, I think you all know what to do with that information.
Considering the tantrum the Mitchell estate threw about The Wind Done Gone, I think you all know what to do with that information.
The freeze frame at the end of Spinsl Tap 2 hits hard now. The End Continues.
January 2, 2026 at 2:06 PM
The freeze frame at the end of Spinsl Tap 2 hits hard now. The End Continues.
My kid never met her bio grandfather, but at her age—10—he was put on a train alone to migrate from the Indian Punjab to what Mountbatten’s incompetent partition designated as Muslim Pakistan.
That migration killed 3 million.
Fucked-up borders & withdrawals shaped her Irish & Pakistani sides.
That migration killed 3 million.
Fucked-up borders & withdrawals shaped her Irish & Pakistani sides.
January 2, 2026 at 7:38 AM
My kid never met her bio grandfather, but at her age—10—he was put on a train alone to migrate from the Indian Punjab to what Mountbatten’s incompetent partition designated as Muslim Pakistan.
That migration killed 3 million.
Fucked-up borders & withdrawals shaped her Irish & Pakistani sides.
That migration killed 3 million.
Fucked-up borders & withdrawals shaped her Irish & Pakistani sides.
Let’s rally around new surnames in politics willing to work around legacy donor lists and fintech puppeteers.
And recognize how brave it is to sign up for the abuse public servants face today.
And recognize how brave it is to sign up for the abuse public servants face today.
Mamdani: I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will do no such thing. The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations.
January 2, 2026 at 7:18 AM
Let’s rally around new surnames in politics willing to work around legacy donor lists and fintech puppeteers.
And recognize how brave it is to sign up for the abuse public servants face today.
And recognize how brave it is to sign up for the abuse public servants face today.
A Tale of Two Cities (with the stately Simon Callow narration) always puts this low, dishonest decade into the historical sweep of low, dishonest decades.
January 2, 2026 at 7:11 AM
A Tale of Two Cities (with the stately Simon Callow narration) always puts this low, dishonest decade into the historical sweep of low, dishonest decades.
Love Bernie. 💚💚💚
Nice touch - the trans announcer from the subway (“Stand clear of the platform edge”) is doing the announcing
January 1, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Love Bernie. 💚💚💚
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Mandy Patinkin just showed up at City Hall ahead of Zohran Mamdani's inauguration and sung with a bunch of kids from the PS22 chorus.
January 1, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Mandy Patinkin just showed up at City Hall ahead of Zohran Mamdani's inauguration and sung with a bunch of kids from the PS22 chorus.
Reposted by Rothaí
5 million-plus kindergartners now live in counties where schools don’t have “herd immunity” for measles, Washington Post reporters found.
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands.
Take a look to see what the kindergarten measles vaccination rates are in your area.
wapo.st
January 1, 2026 at 2:46 AM
5 million-plus kindergartners now live in counties where schools don’t have “herd immunity” for measles, Washington Post reporters found.
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
Reposted by Rothaí
E-cargo bikes sound pretty amazing in this new UK study:
"Parents’ and children’s enjoyment, curiosity, and sense of adventure encouraged additional travel, transforming routine journeys into playful and memorable family experiences."
doi.org/10.1016/j.tb...
"Parents’ and children’s enjoyment, curiosity, and sense of adventure encouraged additional travel, transforming routine journeys into playful and memorable family experiences."
doi.org/10.1016/j.tb...
December 31, 2025 at 2:43 PM
E-cargo bikes sound pretty amazing in this new UK study:
"Parents’ and children’s enjoyment, curiosity, and sense of adventure encouraged additional travel, transforming routine journeys into playful and memorable family experiences."
doi.org/10.1016/j.tb...
"Parents’ and children’s enjoyment, curiosity, and sense of adventure encouraged additional travel, transforming routine journeys into playful and memorable family experiences."
doi.org/10.1016/j.tb...
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I am sad indeed to learn of the untimely death of Mike Fossey, a pioneer in online funniness. Pls read this tribute by
@lukeoneil47.bsky.social: flaminghydra.com/in-post-memo...
@lukeoneil47.bsky.social: flaminghydra.com/in-post-memo...
December 31, 2025 at 11:26 PM
I am sad indeed to learn of the untimely death of Mike Fossey, a pioneer in online funniness. Pls read this tribute by
@lukeoneil47.bsky.social: flaminghydra.com/in-post-memo...
@lukeoneil47.bsky.social: flaminghydra.com/in-post-memo...
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They've started replacing the "welcome to the borough" signs so they say Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani instead of Mayor Adams.
December 31, 2025 at 11:10 PM
They've started replacing the "welcome to the borough" signs so they say Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani instead of Mayor Adams.
Trying to use up credits to get off Audible and full-time onto Libro.fm… but the Audible exclusive of Hugh Grant reading A Christmas Carol is excellent. He’s so talented.
And it makes me love the Muppet Christmas Carol’s faithfulness to the text all the more. www.audible.com/pd/B08QSKXDG...ow
And it makes me love the Muppet Christmas Carol’s faithfulness to the text all the more. www.audible.com/pd/B08QSKXDG...ow
Buy audiobooks & support local bookstores
Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks directly through local bookstores.
Libro.fm
December 31, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Trying to use up credits to get off Audible and full-time onto Libro.fm… but the Audible exclusive of Hugh Grant reading A Christmas Carol is excellent. He’s so talented.
And it makes me love the Muppet Christmas Carol’s faithfulness to the text all the more. www.audible.com/pd/B08QSKXDG...ow
And it makes me love the Muppet Christmas Carol’s faithfulness to the text all the more. www.audible.com/pd/B08QSKXDG...ow
Steve Bannon’s Limerick ex-wife got a lifetime ban from Aer Lingus for drunken air rage. Which took some doing back then.
#spéirghorm
#spéirghorm
December 31, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Steve Bannon’s Limerick ex-wife got a lifetime ban from Aer Lingus for drunken air rage. Which took some doing back then.
#spéirghorm
#spéirghorm
Excellent piece about investigative journalism.
As it happens, I have experience with high-level government demands to stop an explosive, accurate story from running, and I also have experience with 60 Minutes spiking a story I was involved in, so I have thoughts about the travesty at CBS. If you want some journalism anecdotes, here are a lot:
Watching Bari Weiss Murder Investigative Journalism at CBS
Notes from someone who's withstood White House demands to stop an explosive story—and who once even had a 60 Minutes piece spiked
www.forever-wars.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Excellent piece about investigative journalism.
Reposted by Rothaí
The most under-reported story of the year, IMO, is about the national implications of the extreme and wildly popular success of congestion pricing in New York City.
When you remove cars from cities, you not only make money for things the city needs; you make people in the city much, much happier.
When you remove cars from cities, you not only make money for things the city needs; you make people in the city much, much happier.
It's hard to think of another policy that is so fundamentally a free lunch as congestion pricing is
Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
December 30, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The most under-reported story of the year, IMO, is about the national implications of the extreme and wildly popular success of congestion pricing in New York City.
When you remove cars from cities, you not only make money for things the city needs; you make people in the city much, much happier.
When you remove cars from cities, you not only make money for things the city needs; you make people in the city much, much happier.
Those young people were burned alive a mile and a half from my home. Looking at that hidden back door handle is horrifying.
December 31, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Those young people were burned alive a mile and a half from my home. Looking at that hidden back door handle is horrifying.
Reposted by Rothaí
Reposted by Rothaí
our culture has been trying to One Weird Trick its way into fixing education as long as i've been paying attention. it's my belief that what kids need is stability in the form of unconditional love + MONEY
I have a thread on this at the other site but something that really pisses me off is the stupid command economy thing that we do every couple of years on education. We’ve got to train kids to get into STEM, no we have to do liberal arts, no they have to learn the code, no you need to be a plumber!!!
To be completely honest I have no clue why anyone thinks “let’s do job retraining” is relevant to a rapidly and erratically advancing technology that threatens an unpredictable set of tasks. We thought teaching everyone to code was the secret to job displacement in 2015!
December 31, 2025 at 4:24 AM
our culture has been trying to One Weird Trick its way into fixing education as long as i've been paying attention. it's my belief that what kids need is stability in the form of unconditional love + MONEY