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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 3d

Patrick Hillery was once voted Sexiest Head of State by readers of Der Spiegel?

Might need more evidence than this:
https://www.oireachtas.ie/ga/debates/debate/seanad/2008-04-15/2/

#aras25

Seanad Éireann díospóireacht - Tuesday, 15 Apr 2008

Death of Former President: Expressions of Sympathy. Seanad Éireann díospóireacht - Tuesday, 15 Apr 2008

www.oireachtas.ie

Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Six presidential elections had one candidate (and therefore no actual vote). Out of, I think, a total of fourteen, including the very first.

#aras25

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 4d

1973 was the most recent previous Irish Presidential election with only two candidates (though there will be three on the ballot this time, so I guess maybe we still officially have three, even after Jim Gavin's withdrawal?)
#aras25

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Just started reading a parallel text edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Loving it so far. If you know bits of German and French, and can mentally vocalize different pronunciations for the unfamiliar spellings (and two obsolete letters) the #middleenglish is quite enjoyable to decipher […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 6d

Amusing detail abut the process of agreeing the alphabetical list of #storm names between the Netherland, Ireland and the UK. The Irish suggestion of the girl's name Fíadh was regarded as problematic by the UK because it would sound, if you have a #nonrhotic #accent , like the rather too bad-ass […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 8d

Probably not the immediate mental image most people have when they think of #potus #geraldford

Gerald Ford, former US President, in his football-playing university years

Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 14d

If the UK national ID card does end up officially branded the "Brit Card", suspect they're going to find out pretty quickly that "Brit" is not a fun demonym in NI, not a UK equivalent of "Kiwi" or whatever.

Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 16d

Wally George was Rebecca De Mornay's father?!

This also means Wally George came close to being Leonard Cohen's father-in-law

Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 22d

I'm late to a cultural phenomenon, as always, though this time just a few years instead of a few decades.

That prechorus in #cmat 's Nashville, where she talks about small lies, "but here's the big one", and goes into the chorus, is really quite brilliant #songwriting.

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 27d

I first heard of Quaise Energy on Jacob Goldstein's podcast What's Your Problem? It looks as if they've now made a lot of progress in creating a working deep-geothermal power plant. Quite the irony if all that money spent on nuclear fusion ends up being remembered primarily as the origin story […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 29d

The Hitler condolences thing was fairly dealt with. It was nuts, and there isn't really any way to wish that away.

The neutrality during WW2 was poorly outlined though, maybe because it was too big a subject for the running time. It didn't mention the Donegal Corrider or the other ways the […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · 29d

Overall, pretty fair. Missed quite a lot of nuances, I thought, and *way* too much Fintan O'Toole. I think he got over five minutes uninterrupted.

It didn't really get across that Ireland had a very conservative Catholic population to begin with, and a decades-long emigration problem (Ireland's […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Sep 8

This is a very fair appraisal of William McGonagall, and an interesting theory similar to one I hold. Whatever WMG's true intentions, I think it's fair to say at this stage his work has staying power, and appalled fascination is still fascination […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Sep 8

I'm presuming this excerpt to demonstrate how the keyboard part of Strange Little Girl sits very well on Spanish #guitar conforms to fair use.

As I said, could have been written for #classicalguitar !

Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 31

#traitorsirl seems to work pretty well. Uncloaked very much so.

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 30

I'll be interested to watch this. He's long overdue a more nuanced portrayal
https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2025/0830/1530867-eamon-de-valera-anniversary/
#devalera #ireland

Rise and rule - 50th anniversary of de Valera's death

www.rte.ie

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 26

@baoigheallain Bit of a coincidence that you did this yesterday too! Parallel lives!

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 26

@baoigheallain Yeah, the advice you can get online is mostly along the line of "never adjust the tensioning bolt yourself". This saddle was never set up properly (I have a second one, so I knew this one was different: wobbly at the nose instead of tight) but turning the bolt never fixed it […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 25

After a few years of use on the road, I finally figured out how to get the tension bolt snug into the nose of my #brooks #b17 saddle; I used a tiny locking pliers to clamp it into the metal cup, and that also stopped the bolt rotating when I turned the nut on the bolt using the Brooks wrench […]

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Reposted by Dermot Ryan

David Roberts @volts.wtf · Aug 23

To put all this much shorter: the right's vaccine denialism is not the left's fault. They didn't arrive at that skepticism because of something the left did. They SAY that, of course, because they blame the left for everything, but liberals don't have to take them at their word! They lie a lot!

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 23

@volts.wtf Yeah, don't know what more people could realistically want from mRNA vaccines. They're pretty much a once-in-a-century leap forward. Karikó's story of perseverance in the face of indifference is inspiring.

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 23

Very thorough reply from #jackwhite to #trump

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · Aug 22

Trump doesn't seem to see that some people are still immune to his threats.

Jack White criticized Trump's Oval Office decor. The White House then called White a "washed-up, has-been loser... masquerading as a real artist." And White, undeterred, posted an absolutely blistering takedown in response.

officialjackwhite
"Jack White is a washed up, has-been loser posting drivel on social media because he clearly has ample time on his hands due to his stalled career," wrote Cheung. "It's apparent he's been masquerading as a real artist, because he fails to appreciate, and quite frankly disrespects, the splendor and significance of the Oval Office inside of The People's House."--White House Communications Director Steven Cheung

Listen, I'm an artist and not a politician so I'm in no need to give my answer or opinion on
anything if I'm not inspired or compelled, but how funny that it wasn't me calling out trump's
blatant fascist manipulation of government, his gestapo ICE tactics, his racist remarks about
Latinos, Native Americans, etc. his ridiculous "wall" construction, his attacks on the disabled
his attempted coup and mob insurrection and destruction of the sacred halls of congress,
his disparaging sexist and pedophilic remarks about women, his obvious attempts at
distraction about being a close personal friend of Jeffrey Epstein and his inclusion in the
Epstein files, his ignorance of the dying children in Sudan, Gaza, and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, his lack of empathy for military veterans and those struggling with
poverty, his attempts to dismantle healthcare, his obvious wimpy and pathetic kowtowing
to the dictators Putin and Kim Jong Un, his nazi like rallies, his attempts to sell merchandise
and products like Goya beans through the office of the President, his fake "gunshot to the ear"
that he showed no medical records or photographs of his constant, constant lying to the American people, etc. etc. No, it wasn't me calling out any of that, it was the fucking DECOR OF THE OVAL OFFICE remarks I made that got them to respond with insults.
How petty and pathetic and thin skinned could this administration get? Masquerading as a
real artist? Thank you for giving me my tombstone engraving! Well here's my opinion,
trump is masquerading as a human being.

officialjackwhite
He's masquerading as a christian, as a leader, as a person with actual empathy.
He's been masquerading as a businessman for decades as nothing he's involved in
has prospered except by using other people's money to find loophole after loophole and grift after grift. His staff of professional liar toadies like Steven Cheung
and Karoline Leavitt have been covering up and masking his fascism as patriotism and
"ample time on
at golf than
helping ANYONE in the country. Improve. Anything. There
progress with him, only
smoke and mirrors and tax breaks for the ultra wealthy. So maga folk, enjoy your
concrete paving over of the rose garden, your 200 million dollar ballroom in the White House, and your gaudy ass gold spray painted trinkets from Home Depot, cause he ain't spending any
money agenda. on helping YOU unless you fit into his white supremascist country club rich idiot.
No intelligent person can defend this
low life fascist. This bankrupter of casinos. This failed seller of trump steaks, trump vodka,
trump water, etc. This man and his goon squad have failed upwards for decades and have
fleeced the American people over and over. This professional golf cheat, this grifter who
has hundreds of thousands of deaths from his inaction of the pandemic on his hands,
this man that the majority of the country somehow were fooled into supporting and
voting into office (through the flawed electoral college) and their love of reality
television stars. Being insulted by the actual White House that this particular conman
leads is a badge of honor to me, because anyone who trump supports and likes is a villain
who gives nothing to their fellow man, only takes what can benefit themselves.
And no I'm not a Democrat either, I'm a human being raised in Detroit, I'm an artist who's
owned his own businesses like his own upholstery shop and recording label since he
was 21 years old who has enough street sense to know when a 3 card monte dealer is a
cheap grifter and a thief.

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 22

Just noticing US people online recommending #proportionalrepresenttion voting systems as a remedy against #gerrymandering. They do make it harder, but attempts are still made, as Ireland's "Tullymandering" election showed (also showed that gerrymandering under PR, as in FPTP, can also have the […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 21

Just remembered that years ago when I mentioned in passing the concept of robbing a #postoffice when I lived in CA, my interlocutors were baffled: What, to steal stamps?

But it turns out the #usa did once have postal #banking , and, like in Ireland's protean bank run around 2008, people did try […]

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Dermot Ryan @dermotryanie.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy · Aug 19

@baoigheallain Yeah, good point. I'd imagine (though what do I know) that governments don't have to automatically follow through on these reciprocal agreements; especially if one party is using terrorism classifications *extremely* loosely.