@dwmalone.bsky.social
Parish sale today at North Strand church / St Columbas School. Starts 10am.
November 8, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Parish sale today at North Strand church / St Columbas School. Starts 10am.
If you like a a traditional parish sale, and you're somewhere near North Strand next Saturday, then you could do worse than this...
November 1, 2025 at 5:51 PM
If you like a a traditional parish sale, and you're somewhere near North Strand next Saturday, then you could do worse than this...
Today is the day that we walk from Dunsink Observatory to Broombridge and sing Happy Birthday to the quaternions.
I once bought a telepathic abacus for a friend's birthday. They didn't really like it, but it's the thought that counts.
#mathsweek @diasdunsink.bsky.social
I once bought a telepathic abacus for a friend's birthday. They didn't really like it, but it's the thought that counts.
#mathsweek @diasdunsink.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Today is the day that we walk from Dunsink Observatory to Broombridge and sing Happy Birthday to the quaternions.
I once bought a telepathic abacus for a friend's birthday. They didn't really like it, but it's the thought that counts.
#mathsweek @diasdunsink.bsky.social
I once bought a telepathic abacus for a friend's birthday. They didn't really like it, but it's the thought that counts.
#mathsweek @diasdunsink.bsky.social
Lots of people like Fractals, but they don't always make good friends - they are *so* full of themselves. #mathsweek
October 15, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Lots of people like Fractals, but they don't always make good friends - they are *so* full of themselves. #mathsweek
Here's what appeared on the polls with flags North Strand a couple of weeks ago.
October 12, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Here's what appeared on the polls with flags North Strand a couple of weeks ago.
"Oh my days" is a relatively new thing to me - I learned it from YouTubers and only say it if I'm imitating them. However, it has *really* taken off in the last few years - see the Google Ngram below (which does contain things like "oh! my days are spent in vanity" in the flat bit of the curve.)
September 24, 2025 at 12:40 PM
"Oh my days" is a relatively new thing to me - I learned it from YouTubers and only say it if I'm imitating them. However, it has *really* taken off in the last few years - see the Google Ngram below (which does contain things like "oh! my days are spent in vanity" in the flat bit of the curve.)
And, if you're a fan of my graphs that will make you squint, here's an animated graph of the distribution of CAO points from 2017 to present.
August 27, 2025 at 6:25 PM
And, if you're a fan of my graphs that will make you squint, here's an animated graph of the distribution of CAO points from 2017 to present.
There are still a lot of students on max points - over 1% of them. This used to be quite a bit lower, and the higher number explains why we have some courses on 625 points needing random selection.
August 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
There are still a lot of students on max points - over 1% of them. This used to be quite a bit lower, and the higher number explains why we have some courses on 625 points needing random selection.
Here's the mean and median points achieved by LC students in this year's CAO. They are slightly down, but not a lot, as might have been guessed from the LC results. For comparison, I've included the average points for six LC subjects - it is below the CAO curve by about 12 points.
August 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Here's the mean and median points achieved by LC students in this year's CAO. They are slightly down, but not a lot, as might have been guessed from the LC results. For comparison, I've included the average points for six LC subjects - it is below the CAO curve by about 12 points.
For your amusement, Births registered in Ireland from 1989 to 2024.
August 27, 2025 at 9:47 AM
For your amusement, Births registered in Ireland from 1989 to 2024.
And what are the average points awarded like? Well, they are actually pretty much like last year - a continued slight downward trend in many subjects, but I think the biggest dip I've spotted is geography and computer science. But it doesn't look like a cliff edge by any means.
August 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM
And what are the average points awarded like? Well, they are actually pretty much like last year - a continued slight downward trend in many subjects, but I think the biggest dip I've spotted is geography and computer science. But it doesn't look like a cliff edge by any means.
How are different subjects doing in popularity? As a fraction, English and maths up slightly, Irish down. Geography slightly recovering from a downward slide. Modern language trends contributing. Politics and Computer Science doing well for new subjects.
August 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM
How are different subjects doing in popularity? As a fraction, English and maths up slightly, Irish down. Geography slightly recovering from a downward slide. Modern language trends contributing. Politics and Computer Science doing well for new subjects.
The number of people doing the Leaving Cert is now higher than in 2000, though it has some way to go before it beats the number doing the leaving in 1995.
August 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM
The number of people doing the Leaving Cert is now higher than in 2000, though it has some way to go before it beats the number doing the leaving in 1995.
AI moments of pride...
July 19, 2025 at 5:00 PM
AI moments of pride...
This was the last question on paper 2 of leaving cert higher maths this year. Seems like a tricky enough question to finish on, given optimisation (beyond finding local extrema) isn't on the course?
June 12, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This was the last question on paper 2 of leaving cert higher maths this year. Seems like a tricky enough question to finish on, given optimisation (beyond finding local extrema) isn't on the course?
I love that this year's JC has taken the chance to include maths puzzles from the socials... (2025 JC Maths ordinary level Q7)
June 7, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I love that this year's JC has taken the chance to include maths puzzles from the socials... (2025 JC Maths ordinary level Q7)
(The map is not an isolated incident - here's one generated by a colleague. On this try, is also coloured Ratlin Island in the way I would have expected.)
May 31, 2025 at 8:03 AM
(The map is not an isolated incident - here's one generated by a colleague. On this try, is also coloured Ratlin Island in the way I would have expected.)
I made this prime number for @zaltzcricket.bsky.social using the generate-a-prime-with-properties trick that gets taught in cryptography for key generation. (2960 digit in the shape of the @thebugle.bsky.social logo with random digits appended to make it unlikely it had been considered before).
May 12, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I made this prime number for @zaltzcricket.bsky.social using the generate-a-prime-with-properties trick that gets taught in cryptography for key generation. (2960 digit in the shape of the @thebugle.bsky.social logo with random digits appended to make it unlikely it had been considered before).
Does anyone know what this yoke is? It is cable tied to a lamppost and looks like it might be a prism target for a theodolite, but there's no one there doing measurements. There is another on a lampost a ~100m away. Forgotten? Some kind of ongoing measurement? Sensors?
April 6, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Does anyone know what this yoke is? It is cable tied to a lamppost and looks like it might be a prism target for a theodolite, but there's no one there doing measurements. There is another on a lampost a ~100m away. Forgotten? Some kind of ongoing measurement? Sensors?
I was wondering this myself. I suspect secondary schools are just passing their peak, but the numbers applying to third level will keep increasing for about the next 3-4 years. The CAO and LC numbers are mainly in-line with the population increase.
March 22, 2025 at 1:47 PM
I was wondering this myself. I suspect secondary schools are just passing their peak, but the numbers applying to third level will keep increasing for about the next 3-4 years. The CAO and LC numbers are mainly in-line with the population increase.
Here's the number of (established) leaving cert students from '90 to '24. There are multiple ways to count how many take the LC - this is from table showing candidates by county/gender (and older sources). The increase seems to roughly in line with the increase in birth rate about 17-18 years ago.
March 22, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Here's the number of (established) leaving cert students from '90 to '24. There are multiple ways to count how many take the LC - this is from table showing candidates by county/gender (and older sources). The increase seems to roughly in line with the increase in birth rate about 17-18 years ago.
I also like this story, from around the time of his death, which I think shows that his somewhat wry and cheeky sense of humour was also accompanied by him not taking himself too seriously.
March 21, 2025 at 8:53 PM
I also like this story, from around the time of his death, which I think shows that his somewhat wry and cheeky sense of humour was also accompanied by him not taking himself too seriously.
Maybe surprisingly, he also had a liking of Jane Austin, and recommended studying her books to anyone who wanted to know the world. He was also, seemingly, interested in some of the details from Persuasion.
March 21, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Maybe surprisingly, he also had a liking of Jane Austin, and recommended studying her books to anyone who wanted to know the world. He was also, seemingly, interested in some of the details from Persuasion.
Note, the TCD examinations are still running and being updated. See the new regulations from the 1895 calendar below. Interestingly, Miss Salmon living in the Provosts house is involved - she's Salmon's daughter and also in CAISM.
March 21, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Note, the TCD examinations are still running and being updated. See the new regulations from the 1895 calendar below. Interestingly, Miss Salmon living in the Provosts house is involved - she's Salmon's daughter and also in CAISM.
Since @hankgreen.bsky.social is in Dublin and mentioned the "over my dead body" story in TCD, I though I would redo my thread on women in TCD. A lot of this is in the book "A Danger to Men?", and particularly Lucinda Thomson's excellent chapter.
March 21, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Since @hankgreen.bsky.social is in Dublin and mentioned the "over my dead body" story in TCD, I though I would redo my thread on women in TCD. A lot of this is in the book "A Danger to Men?", and particularly Lucinda Thomson's excellent chapter.