Emmet Ó Briain
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emmet.quiddity.ie
Emmet Ó Briain
@emmet.quiddity.ie
2.3K followers 540 following 2K posts
research. language. lay ethnomethodologist. broadstone based.

mundane methods of pedestrianism + active travel

also: D7 Play Streets, almost always (running) in the phoenix park

worst taste in music: @yesboyicecream.bsky.social
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emmet.quiddity.ie
(There was also an unexpected victory yesterday for Daniil Dubov against Praggnanandhaa in the Chess World Cup 2025. As with football, the chess commentariat often bemoan the excessive emphasis on preparation in contemporary chess and the lack of variety in modern play. Dubov's different...!)
November 14, 2025 at 10:15 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
An incredibly large proportion of the most interesting (to me) sites on the internet come from a single person's dedication to a niche interest.

Here's one of those sites, which is all about World Football Elo Ratings, including historical ratings: www.eloratings.net/about
November 14, 2025 at 10:15 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
Bill Wyman & Mandy Smith…
November 13, 2025 at 9:30 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
because of society, right?
November 12, 2025 at 5:36 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
😘🤌
"But I now understand better where my aversion to storytelling comes from: it does not resonate with who I am. When I look back on my life it's not a storyline I see but something resembling an archaeological dig; here and there some deposits, some stones churning their way to the surface, a potsherd gleaming in the mud".
November 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
The story, whether political or personal, like any grand narrative, applies a closed structure to our experience "that has nothing to do with life as I have come to know it ..."
My annoyance also stems from the fact that storytelling often seems to be a perfunctory trick. Thankfully the times when you could skip the first five paragraphs of every long read with their obligatory personal anecdote are behind us - that is storytelling at its most limited. But when you're lured into reading an article or listening to a podcast via a story, it still often feels rather blatant. The essayistic style which blends non-fiction with narrative elements, held together by an authentic narrative voice, has become mainstream. What I like most about that style is its fragmentary and rambling quality - in other words, the non- storytelling aspect. I think my allergic reaction to the planet-saving story that's supposed to put everything right has to do with the finality and completeness such a story must possess, tying up all the knots and serving up meaning. That has nothing to do with life as I have come to know it. But I will come back to this later.
November 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
Some do!
November 11, 2025 at 9:29 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
November 9, 2025 at 10:44 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
“…The reality of immigration attitudes is they move around, reacting to both the reality and the rhetoric in the media and from politicians.”
Immigration is an emotive subject, among politicians and commentators as much as the public. This means that when public opinion swings in favour or against "our side" we tend to think that's the matter settled for good, and are either triumphant or disconsolate. The reality of immigration attitudes is they move around, reacting to both the reality and the rhetoric in the media and from politicians.
November 8, 2025 at 3:32 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
💡
A major driver of immigration becoming such a central societal and political issue is a growing concern about asylum seekers perceived as coming illegally - but this is built on an extraordinarily wrong view of their scale.
November 8, 2025 at 3:30 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
separately (while I have the chance!), would you happen to know where this orphan reference in Thomas Schelling's Strategy of Conflict is from? (I first read this example over 20 years ago + always cite it during shootouts!) where he cites "an observation, quoted by Koffka" - is Köhler the source?
November 4, 2025 at 12:36 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
Someone shared this Derry City jersey-as-map with me too!
November 4, 2025 at 11:21 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
Dublin 7 has a rich heritage of sustainable mobility-themed jersey design/branding …

I love the LUAS logo across the front of the Brendan’s jersey and the Bohs kit in a Dublin Bus seat style is just a really clever idea!
November 4, 2025 at 11:20 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
hostile horticulture/ defensive planters @abbey street
November 1, 2025 at 8:56 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
Broadstone Plaza in French
October 30, 2025 at 12:37 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
most significant design movement of the last decade
October 28, 2025 at 12:59 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
feet on the floor @ 4
October 26, 2025 at 10:50 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
donore @ 4
October 26, 2025 at 10:50 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
all the lads @mile 4

(huge numbers going at < 2:30 < 2:40 pace at mile 4)
October 26, 2025 at 10:50 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
Calm before the storm … (actually there’s a bit of a wind)

At the 4 mile mark…
October 26, 2025 at 8:38 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
“A family based in north London seeks an extraordinary and experienced Tutor to support their youngest child on his first steps to becoming an English gentleman”

£180,000 a year 🤓

jobs.tutors.international/advert/612
October 24, 2025 at 6:34 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
from the FT "The Anglosphere needs to learn to love apartment living" (2023) -

archive.ph/aes3V#select...
Forty years ago, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland had roughly 400 homes per 1,000 residents, level with developed continental European countries. Since then the two groups have diverged, the Anglosphere standing still while western Europe has pulled clear to 560 per 1,000. Unsurprisingly, the same pattern is reflected in house prices, which have risen further and faster in most anglophone countries since the global financial crisis than elsewhere.
October 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
Good shout! I haven’t been following Ruth Wodak’s stuff for years but her post-shame stuff looks very relevant to these conversations!!
October 22, 2025 at 10:47 AM
emmet.quiddity.ie
game of the pawns - white gives up their queen in exchange for eight extra pawns 🤓
game of the pawns
October 19, 2025 at 1:09 PM
emmet.quiddity.ie
although I think strategists in every other opposition party really should be wondering how they have failed to shift the needle in any meaningful/consistent way in the current political climate
October 18, 2025 at 6:57 AM