Aidan O'Sullivan

Accepting that people have a right to spoil their vote,

if there were 10 people in a room, 1 of them (maybe a tall person) spoiled their vote. The rest did not, and as much as 6 of the people in the room voted for CC

Presidential election count live: Humphreys concedes and congratulates Connolly on becoming next president Independent candidate predicted to win 64% share; spoiled votes set for historic high

Catherine Connolly will be the next President of Ireland

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

And thanks to you two!

Carving a ghost turnip, a Halloween jack-o-lantern for UCD.

And talked about the Halloween traditions in west Wicklow as a child, snap-apple, bobbing for apples, disguised, singing songs on neighbours thresholds for monkey nuts, apples and oranges and a few coins

… cough, 50 years ago…!! 😳🎃

📣 It is always a bit conceited to advertise a paper publication, but this project was great fun thanks to the fabulous team involved. If you are interested in miniature pottery, please take a look. doi.org/10.1177/1469... #Archaeology 🏺

The Hellfire Club, a ruin of a palladian style stone built hunting lodge on the summit of Montpellier Hill in the Dublin Mountains

Lovely day in the Dublin Mountains!

It was great to meet up with the Archaeologicl Society of @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social for a tour of the Hellfire Club.

We discussed prehistory, mythological landscapes and our digs and what they revealed about the story of this famous (or infamous!) place.

We’ll have to try it out

Apparently it was viewed 160,000 times - that’s easily enough to lose an election with a low turn-out

Yes, the people emailing are clearly serious and often with high scholarly achievements, but it’s far too late, deadline is upon us (academics spend months advising potential PhD students.)

But this feels unkind, and I suspect the posts are not in good faith

“Bring your family to Ireland?”

Ireland just opened a FULLY-FUNDED 2026 Government scholarship 🇮🇪 (save this) The Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (2026) is live. It funds research Master’s or PhD study in any discipli... TikTok video by ExplorewithFestus

I suspect a lot of university academics in Ireland are getting emails in the last few days from people around world seeking support to apply for a Research Council PhD grant

It seems likely it’s because of these TikTok videos, which also seem to be AI generated… there is something odd going on

The world's oldest cake - image shows 4000 year old stuffed pancake in the green-coloured bronze, clam-shaped cookware that created a sort of vacuum to cook and conserve it when heated up. The pancake looks quite fresh. Photo from the MSN news article, showing a screenshot of the arkaeofili instagram account - no individual photo credit is given on the site - sorry!

Vizier Pepy-Ankh wanted to have his cake and eat it!

Specifically, a delicious-sounding creamy honey-sesame stuffed pancake, preserved by ingenious vacuum-inducing cookware for 4000 years since the reign of Pepi II.

Discovered at Meir, Egypt, in 1913, it's officially the world's oldest cake. 1/

Convincing AI-generated videos and images are flooding social media ahead of the election Fake newscasts, arrest videos, protests, and even a passionate kiss featured in fabricated images.

It’s been taken down from Meta platforms (Facebook, instagram etc), but as you’d expect, X have not fully taken it down yet, and still on YouTube

It is what it is, and it’s intentional

www.thejournal.ie/factcheck-ai...

AI: Catherine Connolly condemns 'disgraceful' deep-fake video Catherine Connolly lodges a formal complaint after an online video appeared to announce her withdrawal from the election.

This is NOT a joke. If it was meant to be funny it would show her talking about her love of hang-gliding or something. Its intent is to keep her voters at home, it’s malevolent and deeply cynical, a direct interference in our elections. But by whom?

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Deepfake AI video depicting Catherine Connolly quitting presidential race removed by Meta Independent candidate in race for Áras condemns video, calling it ‘a disgraceful attempt to mislead voters’

A deeply shocking attack on Irish democracy

A deep-fake video shows a fake Catherine Connolly announcing her withdrawal from the Presidential election in two days time.
It also has deep-fake RTE newsreaders-using their faces and voices-to cover the false story

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Viewed by 1,000s already. A deeply vindictive and malevolent attack on Irish democracy - by whom?

Israel deports 32 activists aiding Palestinian olive farmers amid attacks Israeli army and settlers have carried out 158 attacks against olive pickers since the start of the current season

Israeli army and settlers have carried out 158 attacks against olive pickers since the start of the current season

It’s that time of the year again, when I carve a Hallowe’en turnip, in honour of this marvellous painted cast of an original turnip from Baile na Finne, Co. Donegal collected in 1910 and held in the National Museum of Ireland
#Halloween #Ireland #Samhain (pronounced “sow-in” (to rhyme with the pig)

I’ve begun to reduce some stuff, and put up other stuff that is just my small place in the world ... In reality, beyond sending support to US colleagues, there nothing I can do as USA collapses, endangering the world (eg the climate crisis). It’s up to you, American friends, it’s up to you …

Very interesting. Are there any books about British army approaches to photography and filming? These famous Desert Rats images are also reconstructions posed, and as I recall, that's not a dead German soldier (look at his socks and boots), but a live British soldier posing for the photographs

Riasg Buidhe cruciform stone Colonsay, a stone carved with a bearded face above a cross with spirals in the arms and a shaft ending in a fish tail.

Detail of face, Riasg Buidhe stone cross, Colonsay.

Reverse of Riasg Buidhe stone cross, Colonsay

Detail of vaguely phallic ornament on reverse of the Riasg Buidhe stone cross, Colonsay

Finally got the chance to meet this guy last week. A completely unique and haunting cross from Riasg Buidhe, Colonsay, in the gardens of Colonsay House. Its dating remains up for debate, ranging from the 7th to the 10th century AD www.trove.scot/image/384171

Back in the winter of 2012, it says here, we decided to position UCD School of Archaeology as a “leading centre for experimental archaeology in Europe.”

… 🙂

And so it begins?

Don’t throw out your books and photocopies yet…

ICE clearly needs guns, armour, guided missile warheads and chemical weapons to use inside America. I don’t see what the problem is…? 😳

Looking forward to this!

Tom Fabian on “Games of the Folk: Traditional games and the struggle for heritage”

I would close down the internet, but then we wouldn't have things like this

The amber gaming piece. Photo: Pierre Rosberg, Kalmar County Museum

A 28 mm high amber gaming piece from Harby in Ljungby parish, Kalmar county. Probably from the Viking Period, based on style.

Found as a stray find in 1873, now in the collections of Kalmar County Museum (inventory no. 904:1:3).

More here: digitaltmuseum.org/021021168191...

#FindsFriday

Well mine is a medieval fishweir, dated to 15th century, at Boarland Rock, Fergus estuary, Co. Clare, and the lower photo is of a marsh by that poster

Maya carving of a Frog (700-800 AD, crafted from shell and quartz), from the archaeological site of Topoxte in Guatemala 🇬🇹

The carving is now housed in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala City.

#archaeohistories

Maynooth University Maynooth University, Ireland offers an outstanding education in a range of undergraduate & postgraduate courses, led by internationally-renowned researchers and scholars.

It's that annoying time of the year again...
On 29 Oct, there'll be a one-day symposium on the "Samhain Industry" at Maynooth University @maynoothuniversity.ie @muahi.bsky.social:

www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/...

Apart from my colleague Lára Ní Mhaoláin, who'll be talking about...
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This is a geat post !