Knocking at the door of $18k; just about 2 weeks left to subscribe to THE SKULL & LAUREL and help us plan for a long-term home for short New Weird Fiction in its infinite guises🖤☠️

www.kickstarter.com/projects/mad...

You have to love Irish snow.
‘Imagine water, but like, it’s freezing cold and can gather in piles before it soaks in:’

I’m so smug about this I can barely stand to be in the same room as myself.

Study shows how solar farms can revive insect populations Within five years, insect abundance tripled at these two solar farms.

"Native grasses and flowering plants were reintroduced in early 2018. Five years later, total insect abundance had tripled, while native bee numbers were up 20-fold. The most numerous insect groups observed were beetles, flies and moths."

The roots and traditions of Nollaig na mBan There are many Irish folk rituals associated with January 6th, the last day of Christmas and the day known as Nollaig na mBan

It's Nollaig na mBan here in Ireland! (Jan 6th!)

The twelfth and final day of Christmas, January 6, is known in Ireland as Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Christmas / Little Christmas.

Time to take down the decorations!

www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Hootenannyyyyyyyy

Hootenannyyyyyyyy

Enjoy!!!!

I haven't put up even one decoration this year, James. Not out of any bah humbugness. Love the season. But I just can't be arsed this year

So RTÉ refused to broadcast TENI statement.

You can réad it here.

teni.ie/teni-stateme...

If you need support
Gender Identity Family Support Line
+353 (0)1 907 3707

Simon Harris tried when he was Minister for Health started to try reform Trans Healthcare, these two gatekeeper refused to engage with the Minster or take part in the process, causing the committee and working group to collapse.

#Transrightsarehumanrights.

It's super important that allies stand up for trans folks here as trans people often have their own social media posts shown to them by ther service and are threatened with the withdrawal of care if they talk about their bad experiences.

I had no idea Ian Gibson was dead. A huge influence on me as an artist. Go in peace and thank you for enriching my mind.

2000AD Halo Jones launch cover, 1984

Ian Gibson’s family are having a GoFundMe for funeral costs and a proper headstone. Comic artists don’t die rich, even the very best ones. Reckon all the joy the man gave might make it worth throwing some pennies in the hat, if he made your growing up cooler, funnier, richer.

gofund.me/40276a97

A hand with the thumb squeezing the pointer finger down until it makes a pinhole.

As someone with severe nearsightedness, I wish more folks knew this trick. Focal point focusing using nature's camera obscura: Your hand. By squeezing your pointer finger in an okay-like hand position, you can generate a hole small enough that looking through helps akin to wearing glasses.

😂😭😂😭😂😭

Dear GOD people don’t ask a writer how their sales are going. Unless you’ve seen them on the NYT bestseller list, that’s a declaration of war.

Huge Cyberattack Knocks Ukraine’s Largest Mobile Operator Offline The interruption could pose real danger in a country where many rely on phone alerts to warn them of impending Russian bombardments.

Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, Kyivstar, said it had come under a powerful cyberattack on Tuesday that knocked out service and affected internet access for millions of people. The country relies on phone alerts to warn of close Russian bombardments.

Recipients of Basic Income for the Arts Report a 10% Decrease in Depression and Anxiety Research on the first six months of the pilot scheme shows that artists and arts workers spend more time on their practice, less time working in other sectors, and have improved life satisfaction.

Preliminary results from the first 6 months of the basic income pilot in Ireland are out and artists spent 3.5 hours more per week on their art and 3 hours less doing other work (in other words 0.5 hours more work per week overall). Depression and anxiety also significantly decreased by 10%.

The UN General Assembly is voting on the Uniting for Peace resolution this evening. If you want Ireland's Ambassador to the UN to vote in favour of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, you can call the Department of Foreign Affairs on 01-4082000 and tell them that. A lovely, patient woman answers your call and asks you to say your name and the above, and it is recorded.

Thanks to Kunak McGann for letting me know about this. Please pass it on

A huge chunk of clients I see as a therapist wouldn’t need me if they had UBI. It’s soul-destroying work to be a counsellor when someone’s mental health is impacted by their material situation because no amount of talking can lift someone out of poverty.

I wonder how many more times we need to prove that the only people who collectively work LESS with UBI are new parents and students, aka the people we hypothetically WANT to be able to work less

I’m sure it will perpetually be “after the next study is complete”

“Were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world that is safe,” Biden says at the White House Hanukkah party as he reaffirms support for Israel against its war against Hamas.

This is something very dangerous for him to say as the president of the country with the second largest Jewish population. Jewish safety in the US does not depend on other countries; it depends on democracy and fighting back the creep of fascism and religious fundamentalism.

Children of Jailed Narges Mohammadi Accept Her Nobel Peace Prize At the ceremony in Oslo, the Iranian activist’s twins also read a speech from their mother calling for a “globalization of peace and human rights.”

The children of Narges Mohammadi, Iran’s most prominent human rights activist, who is locked inside an Iranian prison, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. In a speech Mohammadi prepared, she called for a “globalization of peace and human rights.”

I have to agree with the New European

Meta’s new AI image generator was trained on 1.1 billion Instagram and Facebook photos "Imagine with Meta AI" turns prompts into images, trained using public Facebook data.

Imma keep it short this time:

Companies are using our work without compensation. That's the point of AI

The endless debates over whether this is "true art" or not, or whether it's gonna take over the world some day, are a distraction from the indisputable fact that this is pure exploitation

Putin declares goal to reshape global order, funds major military surge In his previous speeches, Putin laid bare his intention to destroy Ukraine. Unfortunately, he was not taken seriously

“Looking closely at Putin’s recent speech, it’s clear he’s more confident and willing to escalate the flames of war beyond Ukrainian borders. Dismissing his statements as just propaganda…as was done in 2021, would be a mistake.”

euromaidanpress.com/2023/12/08/p...

One of the most exhausting things about being a freelance artist can simply be the lack of routine. Routine actions save on decision-making, which is mentally tiring. If your work day changes all the time, and you have to constantly initiate different kinds projects, it can drain you long-term.