Mike McHugh
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jymian.bsky.social
Mike McHugh
@jymian.bsky.social
230 followers 410 following 510 posts
Pixel-stained technopeasant wretch. Also, ideologically opposed to closing browser tabs.

Time and kebabs.

he/him
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jymian.bsky.social
Here’s what the 1994 reprint looks like - not sure if that counts as old, because it’s basically last … oh no.
Photo of a page from an old paperback version of Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood Volunes 1-3”. Black text on a cream-coloured page, reading: “After a day, birds came, foxes came, flies, butterflies, wasps came. Judd moved, Judd shifted, Judd gave birth. In his belly maggots warmed themselves, in a vixen’s den the good flesh of his thigh was fought over. After that, it was quick. The bones yellowing, the bones crumbling: soon, an empty space which he had once filled with thoughts and opinions. Darkness, light, darkness, light. He interrupted neither with his name.”
October 25, 2025 at 10:00 PM
jymian.bsky.social
My real worry is this bit. Probably because I was burned by the citizenship referendum.
Snippet from https://medium.com/@ben_fraser/a-presidential-show-72780b10fb9c, which reads "It may be that this strategy will pay off. Maybe their efforts to make us ignore what we know and deny what we see will succeed. Maybe I’m the one in the bubble and the real Ireland is loving the show."
October 23, 2025 at 9:55 AM
jymian.bsky.social
I had an - even then - old hardback of “Tell Me Why”. It was awesome, but got lost somewhere along the way. One book that survived is this Children’s World Atlas, which doubles as a history book now 😛
Picture of A First Puffin Children’s World Atlas, by Jacqueline Tivers and Michael Day. It’s from 1980, and includes sections on Western & Eastern Europe. Many countries described no longer exist.
September 28, 2025 at 9:07 AM
jymian.bsky.social
I feel like the small print should be a bit bigger in www.climatecouncil.ie/councilpubli...
Text snippet from the Climate Change Advisory Council's "Transport Sectoral Review: Annual Review 2024" which reads "a Emissions for the Transport sector do not include international aviation or navigation."
September 16, 2025 at 9:51 AM
jymian.bsky.social
Daniel Craig, best known for starring in the mid-90s comedy ‘Drop The Dead Donkey’.
Picture of a disheveled man (George, played by Jeff Rawle) menacing a younger, rougher man (Fixx, played by Daniel Craig), with a toasting fork.
September 4, 2025 at 8:01 AM
jymian.bsky.social
Blondshell was a great reason to go back to The Button Factory after I don’t know how long. Epic show, and finishing with Salad was 😍
Picture of a band playing in front of an audience. The band is Blondshell, and consists of 2 guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a singer. Their name is projected on the back of the stage. The singer is a blond woman, and she is the main focus of the shot. The bottom third of the shot is the audience: trust me when I say they’re having a great time. The picture was taken in The Button Factory in Dublin, Ireland, on Sep 2nd 2025.
September 2, 2025 at 10:00 PM
jymian.bsky.social
George Orwell said this in 1937, in The Road To Wigan Pier. (en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Roa...)
An extract from "The road To Wigan Pier" by George Orwell, from 1937: "I found — one might expect it, perhaps — that the small landlords are usually the worst. It goes against the grain to say this, but one can see why it should be so. Ideally, the worst type of slum landlord is a fat wicked man, preferably a bishop, who is drawing an immense income from extortionate rents. Actually, it is a poor old woman who has invested her life's savings in three slum houses, inhabits one of them and tries to live on the rent of the other two — never, in consequence, having any money for repairs."
August 29, 2025 at 2:19 PM
jymian.bsky.social
Coincidental, yet mutually reinforcing, juxtaposition in my timeline.
Screen shot of two BlueSky posts that appeared together in a feed. The top one says (summarised) "Stop using generative AI for anything that might kill you". The second one makes the point that ganAI would totally trigger a nuclear war, unlike Stanislav Petrov in 1983, above a quoted post that says (paraphrased) "Nuclear war experts are certain AI will be in the loop soon, but no-one knows what that means"
August 7, 2025 at 12:49 PM
jymian.bsky.social
If you see this, quote with a robot that isn’t from “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Dr. Who,” or “Transformers.”
A picture of MekQuake, a robot tank, from 2000AD. They're crushing an unidentified humanoid under a tank tread, while saying "Big jobs! Big jobs!"
July 3, 2025 at 9:54 PM
jymian.bsky.social
I'm constantly reminded of the description of computer programming by Douglas Adam, but these days, the bit about short supply rings especially prophetic. The key difference is, people can learn.
An extract from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, which details a conversation between a bunch of mainly academics, and a visiting computer programmer. It reads: --- “Well, what we called a computer in 1977 was really a kind of electric abacus, but . . .” “Oh, now, don’t underestimate the abacus,” said Reg. “In skilled hands it’s a very sophisticated calculating device. Furthermore it requires no power, can be made with any materials you have to hand, and never goes bing in the middle of an important piece of work.” “So an electric one would be particularly pointless,” said Richard. “True enough,” conceded Reg. “There really wasn’t a lot this machine could do that you couldn’t do yourself in half the time with a lot less trouble,” said Richard, “but it was, on the other hand, very good at being a slow and dim-witted pupil.” Reg looked at him quizzically. “I had no idea they were supposed to be in short supply,” he said. “I could hit a dozen with a bread roll from where I’m sitting.” “I’m sure. But look at it this way. What really is the point of trying to teach anything to anybody?” This question seemed to provoke a murmur of sympathetic approval from up and down the table. Richard continued, “What I mean is that if you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain it to someone else. That forces you to sort it out in your own mind. And that’s really the essence of programming. By the time you’ve sorted out a complicated idea into little steps that even a stupid machine can deal with, you’ve certainly learned something about it yourself. The teacher usually learns more than the pupil. Isn’t that true?” “It would be hard to learn much less than my pupils,” came a low growl from somewhere on the table, “without undergoing a prefrontal lobotomy.”
June 11, 2025 at 8:49 AM
jymian.bsky.social
Seems like a bit of a gap to not mention why they're called wrench attacks, specifically: xkcd.com/538/
Screenshot from WSJ article from May 17th 2025, which shows the text "The assaults are often called “wrench attacks” because they rely on simple tools for inflicting pain to coerce victims, rather than sophisticated tools for hacking them." The article title was "Severed Fingers and ‘Wrench Attacks’ Rattle the Crypto Elite" Wrench attacks were made famous by XKCD, in a comic called "Security" from Feb 2nd 2009.
May 18, 2025 at 9:40 AM
jymian.bsky.social
Getdown Services are coming back to Dublin in November, and based on last night’s show, you’ll really want to be there. What a blast!
Josh Law (left) and Ben Sadler (right) who make up the band Getdown Services, in full flight at The Workman’s in Dublin on May 9th 2025. Josh is topless, moustachioed, and playing a guitar. Ben also has a moustache, and slightly longer hair, a black short-sleeved shirt, and is pushing a mic stand forward. The stage lighting in red and blue.
May 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM
jymian.bsky.social
@jonrosenberg.bsky.social And so the torch, I mean tee, is passed to a new generation 😉
Picture of a teenage boy wearing a tee shirt that must be over 20 years old. It is maroon, with a lemon on the front saying “my universe is pain and emptiness”. This is a Goats tee.
April 5, 2025 at 7:18 PM
jymian.bsky.social
Over on RTE, the mean streets of Cork are about to find out there are only two ways things can go: the easy way, or his way.

BOOLE
Colourised illustration of George Boole, taken from the The Illustrated London News of 21 January 1865 (if Wikipedia can be believed). Is shows a white man with a high forehead, stern features, and magnificent sideburns.His expression is a cross between a 1000 yard stare and disbelief that he has to deal with this shit again, whatever shit it is that is in front of him.
March 18, 2025 at 10:37 PM
jymian.bsky.social
Posting this without comment, mainly because what can you say?
Photo of a Georgian door in Dublin, Ireland. The door says it’s number 30. The fanlight has 30 on it. A modern sign beside the door says Number 31. They can’t all be right, right? I think they’re just messing with the postal service (which never works out well for the messer).
March 12, 2025 at 11:53 AM
jymian.bsky.social
Walking into the sunrise on a crisp spring morning, with Papa Was A Rodeo playing - even if this is as good as the day gets, it’s pretty great.
An urban shot of a tree that has grown up and split around some overhead power lines. The sun is visible on the right of the shot, and house roofs are silhouetted on the bottom.
February 27, 2025 at 8:49 AM
jymian.bsky.social
This isn't specifically car friendly (as it's public transport only), but it's definitely pedestrian 𝘶𝘯friendly.
A picture of the pedestrian crossing at the bottom of Dawson St, Dublin, Ireland - a country that, you know, gets a lot of rain - taken just after a rain shower. The road is completely flooded, meaning that pedestrian who wanted to cross would need to wade through water. A red pedestrian light is visible, and there are about 17 people visible in shot, none of whom are the focus of the picture. Unsurprisingly, none are trying to ford the road either.
February 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM
jymian.bsky.social
If you see this post, quote with a bridge from your gallery. #Bikesky
A view of Niagara Falls, looking north to the Rainbow Bridge. There is an actual rainbow in the centre of the picture, looking like it ends on a tourist boat in the river below.
January 24, 2025 at 12:19 PM
jymian.bsky.social
Picture taken on Jan 16th 2025, in Dublin Ireland, showing a sky fading from a darker blue at the top to a paler blue at the bottom. There are pink fluffy clouds, reminding me of the Orbital track. Centered at the bottom is a silhouette of a chimney.
January 16, 2025 at 9:43 AM
jymian.bsky.social
On seeing this sculpture of a severed head, our eldest asked if it was Alfredo Garcia.

We may have fallen down a bit on their classical education.
Sculpture of a severed head on a plate - more than likely John The Baptist.
December 19, 2024 at 2:28 PM
jymian.bsky.social
I’m slightly worried that I’ve found a Prophetic Vending Machine, and it’s talking about the Irish general election 😬
Photo of a handwritten sign on a vending machine that says “no change administered”.
November 22, 2024 at 9:07 PM
jymian.bsky.social
I’ve definitely leaned on his definition of programming from the same book quite a lot 🙂 It’s a great book, but I wouldn’t read it for the plot.
Quote from Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, that reads: “What I mean is that if you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain it to someone else. That forces you to sort it out in your own mind. And the more slow and dim-witted your pupil, the more you have to break things down into more and more simple ideas. And that’s really the essence of programming. By the time you’ve sorted out a complicated idea into little steps that even a stupid machine can deal with, you’ve certainly learned something about it yourself.”
November 22, 2024 at 8:14 AM
jymian.bsky.social
If you see this, post a concert photo you took.
TMBG, just last night.
On the left of the picture, John Linnell of They Might Be Giants plays keyboards. Centered in the shot, the lighting makes it look like a shadow man with a light for a head is also playing keyboards. Taken at Vicar Street in Dublin on Nov 9th 2024.
November 10, 2024 at 10:20 PM
jymian.bsky.social
I was quite probably the oldest person in the room, but what a great room to be in: Upsahl gave an excellent show!
A woman standing in front of a neon sign of a blue ice cube with red flames on it. She is wearing a shiny red top, and has her right arm reaching up as her left hand holds a microphone to her face. She is mid-song, with her eyes closed. She is the American artist Upsahl, on her Melt Me Down tour.
November 8, 2024 at 8:17 AM
jymian.bsky.social
If you see this, post a picture featuring a lake
#photography
(inspired by
@kithrup.bsky.social)
View of the Toronto skyline on a cloudless day in September 2017, as seen from Lake Ontario. The nose of a yellow kayak is visible in the bottom of the shot, and there's a duck floating in front of it. The CN Tower is centred in the top of the shot.
October 28, 2024 at 11:19 AM