A winding paved road with yellow edge markings curves downhill to the right, leading into a vast, lush green valley. The horizon reveals rolling hills fading into the distance under a dramatic sky filled with heavy grey and purple clouds. Near the horizon, a warm, golden sunset pierces through the cloud cover. The foreground features grassy verges, dark silhouettes of trees, and black-and-yellow chevron road signs, capturing a moody, expansive, and atmospheric evening landscape.

Dramatic Skies Over The Glen.

#photography #EastCoastKin #TeamPixel #Ireland #CountyTipperary #IrishLandscapes #MoodySkies #TravelIreland #Wanderlust #NatureLover

Sun dogs and the sunset on Montpelier Hill #TuesdayEve #weather

A close square macro view of a cluster of small vibrantly blue flowers. The cluster has about 6 closely packed little flowers, each just a few mm across. Each flower has five big round petals divided with a little yellow line where they meet the small yellow center. There are countless more clusters of blue flowers behind in soft focus.

Sunlit Forget-Me-Nots spotted while out walking in suburbia — nature does it's darnedest to brighten up even the most mundane places 🙂 #Bloomscrolling

U.S. HAS PUT IRAN NEGOTIATIONS ON HOLD AS THE CEASEFIRE DEADLINE APPROACHES, WITH JD VANCE CANCELING A PLANNED TRIP TO PAKISTAN AND TEHRAN YET TO CONFIRM PARTICIPATION IN FURTHER TALKS.

Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo

Despicable.

President Trump is said to be in talks to send Afghans who helped the U.S. war effort to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/w...

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur says the U.S. has paused Estonia's ammunition deliveries until the end of the war in Iran, at least. He said the main issues for Estonia are related to HIMARS ammunition and Javelins. news.err.ee/1610001736/u...

“THE RISK POOL.” …i.e., “those too weak to be allowed to survive”. …And *these* are the people who’re supposedly so concerned about the “unborn Einsteins”? Doesn’t seem like they’re too concerned about the *already-* born ones. 😡

a chart showing solar's generation rising

It was inevitable but solar's total generation finally overtook wind (and will overtake nuclear pretty soon too)

We fucking warned y’all that this was the goddamned end goal for those smart glasses.

Surprisingly the headline figure from the briefing was a projected general government surplus this year of €9.2bn, up from forecast €5.1bn.

Pressure on gov to spend, but they point out worse economic weather may be on the way.

Family of Scarlett Faulkner warn public about scam online fundraising pages Fake Go Fund Me pages said to be created for the family have been circulating online.

The family of Scarlett Faulkner has warned the public about same online fundrasing pages that have been circulating on social media.

Scarlett Faulkner died in hospital last week.
jrnl.ie/7018859

NEW: The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said there was no unanimity at today’s meeting of foreign ministers for a full suspension of the EU Israel Association Agreement.

EU Pushes €131B Defense Plan to Close Gap With Russia’s War Production The EU proposes a €131 billion defense budget to boost military production and achieve strategic independence, aiming to outproduce Russia's current output.

⚡ The EU is calling for a massive €131 billion defense budget to close the production gap with Russia and reduce military reliance on the United States.

united24media.com/latest-news/...

Russia uses AI to hack Europe, Dutch intelligence warns The Netherlands says Russian cyberattacks on Europe are accelerating.

Russia is deploying artificial intelligence to accelerate its cyberattacks on Europe, Dutch military intelligence warned today — and the threat is only expected to grow.

A low close view of a cluster of white star-shaped flowers growing in a bed of broad green leaves. There is a hint of a shaded woodland trail behind in soft focus, as well as tree trunks and branches and a little deep blue sky peeping through. The low warm evening sun is highlighting the flowers and a few of the leaves.

Some Ramsons (Wild Garlic) along a forest trail in Carton House Estate near #Maynooth catching a little soft evening light peeping between the bare tree branches. #Bloomscrolling

The knock-on effects of easing one-off rural housing rules Rural low-density development carries consequences that extend well beyond the costs associated with the site itself

The knock-on effects of easing Ireland's one-off rural housing rules. Rural low-density development carries consequences that extend well beyond the costs associated with the site itself, writes @frankgcrowley.bsky.social @ucc.ie @researchireland.ie www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Danny Healy-Rae loses Agriculture Committee seat after voting against government last week Fianna Fáil’s Michael Cahill will take the seat on the committee.

Danny Healy-Rae has lost his seat on the Agriculture Committee after he voted against the government last week jrnl.ie/7019371

15% of fossil fuels extracted each year are used to make fertiliser, run farms, process foods and transport them. In a very real sense our food is made from oil and gas.

We are about to feel a very painful food shock.
1/

EU members reject push to suspend association agreement with Israel Spain, Slovenia and Ireland failed to win the unanimity needed to limit the country’s preferential access to the single market.

EU foreign ministers have rejected a push to suspend the bloc’s association agreement with Israel following a debate that exposed the bloc's deep divisions regarding the Middle East.

Alternative routes for Middle East oil and gas due to Hormuz disruption The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil chokepoint, exposing the Middle East's limited alternatives for exporting its hydrocarbons.

Alternative routes for Middle East oil and gas due to Hormuz disruption reut.rs/4vFktNC

"Iraqi crude will be shipped from Mediterranean sites such as Baniyas and Tartus to Europe and elsewhere. The route is slower and more costly than pipelines, but provides a workable stopgap."

Why not change suppliers? Why don't the suppliers pay the tariffs? Why does it matter when everyone's price is going up - you're just as competitive.

These and many other questions answered by a real American with a real business hit by real tariffs.

Exclusive: US trade rep tells Mexican companies Trump tariffs here to stay, sources say U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has told Mexico's auto and steel industries they should not ​expect the renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to remove President Donald Trump's ta...

Exclusive: US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Mexico's auto and steel industries they should not expect the renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement to remove President Donald Trump's tariffs on their sectors, four industry sources said reut.rs/48gIO2l

I feel like it's poorly understood that Trumpism is *explicitly* about Trump and his allies getting to play by their own set of rules literally wherever possible

One or both of

1. Missing the drama of being "a war leader"
2. Will mysteriously change his mind after someone bets on a stock market rebound

At this point MAGA is just Stockholm Syndrome for people who don’t know where Stockholm is.

This is so good that I wish I had said it myself 👇🏼

Palantir's Manifesto Is as Subtle as a MAGA Hat Palantir's 22-point manifesto is nonsense, writes Dave Karpf. But it at least it is short enough to be clarifying, he says.

So much of Silicon Valley has reached the conclusion that there is money to be made from American authoritarianism, writes Dave Karpf. With its ‘manifesto,’ Palantir wants to remind you that it reached that conclusion first, he says.

This Is Just To Say

I have turned off
the AI features
that were in
the update

and which
you were probably
hoping
to monetize

Fuck you
they were stupid
so unnecessary
and so annoying

A patch of primroses in flower

Bluebells in flower receding into the woodland

I'm not a good observer, for one reason or another, and I don't know if bluebells or primroses attract pollinating insects, but in two hours of sunshine with no breeze at 12° or so yesterday, I noticed only one bee and not a single fly.

Moore Abbey Wood, Monasterevin

The Art of War: "go ask The Art of Common Sense if you won't believe me."