Donal O'Donovan

Now 30 semi-state chiefs in line for huge pay top-ups after controversy over €430,000 for Housing Tsar The heads of 30 semi-state bodies are now potentially in line for massive pay increases, hard on the heels of a reported €430,000 for the Housing Tsar.

The big positive for Govt of Irish cabinets being capped at 15 members is the max of 30 feet that ministers can shoot themselves in.

Semi-state chiefs in line for huge pay top-ups after controversy over €430,000 for Housing Tsar

www.independent.ie/irish-news/p...

Mario Vargas Llosa: Giant of Latin American literature The Peruvian was called a "divinely gifted story-teller" when he won the Nobel in 2010.

Sad to see this. 'The Feast of the Goat' in particular is the most terrifying exploration of the inner working of the court of a dictatorship.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? A humorous exploration of the uncanny resemblance between AI company logos and human anatomy. Discover why circular, gradient-based designs dominate the AI industry, and what this design convergence t...

I’m glad people are out there asking the important questions about emerging technologies.

Such as “why DO so many AI company logos look like bum holes?”

velvetshark.com/ai-company-l...

In markets jargon what we are now seeing in equities is classed as an 'absolute shit show'.

Not too far from where the Ardagh chalice turned up.

And the name of a famous former Cricklewood dance hall.

And Musk's status shifts from kingmaker to client.

And promising to rebuild autobahns! It gets weirder by the day on this side of the looking glass..

This is huge. By way of comparison Angela Merkel was just about convinced, eventually, to do just barely enough to prevent a collapse of the euro after years of the debt crisis spiral.

Thanking the driver from half way down the bus as you exit via the middle door is entirely performative, there I've said it.

And the SNL people must be incredibly sound, to be widely regarded as makers of comedy.

They'll be hiring them back as over paid anr under interested consultants per every corporate mass cull in business history.

Donal O’Donovan: ‘Chic chalets’ will rapidly degenerate into backyard hovels and make a dire housing situation worse Desperate times call for desperate measures, but blanket licensing to allow subdivision of housing plots and a proliferation of back yard cabins is beyond desperate – it is idiotic.

My take on project cabin - and why it really means operation shanty
www.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

Excellent. A childish motion that won't build a single shed. Take that housing crisis.

Why would you report as fact a claim that even the person making it admits is entirely made up? www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

Did we change things so a Tanaiste can appoint senators now or is that we've all just abandoned the idea of having a Constitution?

French budget approved after François Bayrou survives censure vote Prime minister fends off his first no-confidence ballot and pushes through spending plans

Le vieux chief de la route difficile, as we say in English.
www.ft.com/content/d18a...

CIA Offers Buyout to Entire Workforce as Part of Trump Makeover The agency offered buyouts to its entire workforce in what officials said is a bid to bring it in line with Trump’s priorities, including targeting drug cartels.

Wait, if they sack all the spooks where does that leave Palintir?
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

this is modern journalism. @wired.com "built software to systematically check the status of 1,374 government domains. The tool runs periodic scans, tracking whether sites remain accessible, how their servers respond, and if the domain names still resolve."

Russian Oligarch Held Stake in Musk’s SpaceX Through Trust While He Was Sanctioned Citigroup administered Heritage Trust and decided it didn’t need to block the trust’s assets after Suleyman Kerimov was sanctioned in 2018, according to people with knowledge of the matter

Russian billionaire #oligarch Suleyman Kerimov held a stake in SpaceX while he was sanctioned - good scoop from Bloomberg
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A smart assessment, though I'd caution that Ireland is certainly not immune from anti-Semitism either.

OpenAI says it has evidence China’s DeepSeek used its model to train competitor White House AI tsar David Sacks raises possibility of alleged intellectual property theft

You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh etc
OpenAI says it has evidence China’s DeepSeek used its model to train competitor - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

So it doesn’t matter if you're a company in the US, China, or elsewhere. DeepSeek should be a cue to pivot HARD toward investing in far more efficient methods of AI development. Even if you care nothing about community & climate impacts, it’s just better business. 19/

On Thursday night I was at a dinner in Davos, where the example of US primacy given was that Nvidia’s market cap is bigger than the entire German stock market. Someone remarked that Europe’s only hope is that the Davos consensus (this time about US primacy) is always wrong. And lo…

This is why you don't design curricula around "jobs of the future".

We can't predict the future but we do know what general skills and knowledge will be valuable whatever job you do.

‘Learn to code’

Should’ve done a proper degree like sociology or political science

If you need a sense of how resistant Irish people are to infrastructure changes just check out reaction to the renaming / rationalising of Dublin bus routes. Yes, its nice you first shifted your now wife/played a walkman/mitched off school on the 46A. No, its not a reason to keep the route.

But also, 'How many radical leftists does it take to screw in a lightbulb' is a really old joke. A] 'The lightbulb is only a symptom, the whole system must be changed so join in our chant 'down with darkness, down with darkness..'

The idea they're entitled to take opposition speaking time while clearly part of the government is beyond ludicrous. The opposition are absolutely correct to stand their ground.

Elon Goes Full Seig Heil In Clarifying Moment I was at the gym this afternoon when I saw out of...

“Just what level of exuberant disinhibition led Musk to this moment or why this unmistakable gesture came so naturally to him … well, that’s really not my problem. Everyone knows what they saw here.” talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-...