Nick Larter @thremnir

Big pussy got grabbed by a strong woman.

Una, great read, but a lot of this goes back to a wider policy shift really. When the ITs were turned into TUs, it wasn’t just a name change. There’s a strong view that something was lost in the process, especially the regional and vocational focus the ITs had. There’s also a fair question about whether the restructuring pulled attention, funding and capacity away from other parts of the third level system, including research and teaching in other institutions, to support what was a very expensive transition and rebranding exercise. Then there’s the question of where students are actually coming from. In medicine and dentistry in particular, a significant share of places are filled by international students. Part of that is financial, because these courses are expensive to run. But there’s also a global demand side. International students tend to target English-speaking countries with strong international recognition. Ireland fits that space. But TUs don’t really operate in that bracket in terms of rankings or research intensity, and realistically I don’t see them moving there for decades. The high-ranking university model is a different animal entirely in terms of scale, funding, research output and ethos. That does have consequences. Irish students are still facing very high CAO points for medicine and dentistry because places are limited. At the same time, a portion of those places are effectively sustained through overseas fees. So you end up with a system where Irish demand is high, supply is tight, and international intake is doing a lot of the financial heavy lifting. The TUs do offer engineering courses, but so do many UK universities and students go to the UK for many reasons, Ireland doesn’t figure high on these students lists. There’s also the issue that some students coming here may not have access to these courses in their own countries, as they simply down meet the entry requirements there, so Ireland becomes part of a wider international pressure valve for medical education. That can make financial sense for some institutions, but it doesn’t always align neatly with Ireland’s own workforce needs or long-term retention of graduates. But that is unfair on Irish students as many of these university don’t want to increase teaching staff/technicians/labs as they can’t afford to! So now our students are heading to Valencia, Poland, Czechia etc,! Alongside that, there are ongoing shortages in medicine, dentistry, veterinary, pharmacy, physiotherapy, speech and language, radiography, agriculture and key trades. The old IT system was arguably more closely aligned with those regional and vocational needs, particularly in the trades. The concern now is that the TU model risks drifting further towards a traditional university structure without properly strengthening applied education or local workforce pipelines, while at the same time still not delivering enough capacity in the key shortage areas. And one point worth making as well is that the senior leadership in universities very rarely, if ever, speak openly on these kinds of structural issues. They’ve to mind their own patch and their university. All these universities actually compete with each other. Whether that’s due to funding pressures, reputational concerns, or simply institutional caution, it does mean a lot of the deeper policy debate tends to happen outside the universities rather than inside them. So what you end up with is a mismatch. Courses shaped by international demand and rankings. Funding models dependent on fee paying students. Irish students squeezed by entry requirements. And persistent shortages in the very areas the country actually depends on. The bigger question underneath all of it is whether higher education policy in Ireland is being driven by national need, or by institutional change, financial pressures and reputation. Thanks 🙏🏼 I’m very lucky to be able to voice my concerns. Others aren’t as fortunate.

Common Meadow-Rue, Thalictrum flavum, at #StJohnsFen yesterday, for #WildFlowerHour. The specimen on the right has been attacked by the gall midge Ametrodiplosis thalictricola:-

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The very pretty Ferruginous Sawfly, Tenthredo ferruginea, on the #LisdoonvarnaHeritageTrail this afternoon:-

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Albanians actually DID IT! The Jared Kushner-Trump linked development project has been SUSPENDED until further notice. LEGENDS 🇦🇱👊🏽

Ball hits Drone 😱 and Crashed #INDvsAFG Test Match Art - Drone Artist - Rishabh Pant

@Frances_Coppola Or pay a very modest annual fee for an account on a properly managed email service like #Runbox

Wordle 1,814 4/6* ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

At #StJohnsWood/#StJohnsFen this afternoon:- 1/2. Garden Chafer, Phyllopertha horticola; 3. The weevil, Liophloeus tessulatus; 4. The sawfly, Rhogogaster scalaris.

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At #StJohnsWood/#StJohnsFen this afternoon:- 1. Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, sheltering from the drizzle; 2. Green Oak Tortrix, Tortrix viridana; 3. Engrailed larva, Ectropis sp.; 4. Comma larva, Polygonia c-album.

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Longhorn beetles at #StJohnsFen this afternoon:- 1-3. Grammoptera ruficornis; 4. Alosterna tabacicolor.

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Galls of the midge, Ametrodiplosis thalictricola, on Common Meadow-Rue, at St. John's Fen this afternoon:-

Of course, kilts are worn every single day in Ireland 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

KolkataKnightRiders @KKRiders

2 days ago

🇮🇪 ✈️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ✈️ 🇯🇵

206 138 5K 2.0M 145

On the #LisdoonvarnaHeritageTrail this evening:- 1. Red-Necked Footman moth, Atolmis rubricollis; 2/3. The moth Argyresthia pygmaeella; 4. Black Snipefly, Chrysopilus cristatus.

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Grey seal, #Liscannor this evening:-

China has begun deploying underwater data centres as a way to reduce the enormous cooling demands of modern artificial intelligence infrastructure. One such facility is located off the coast near Shanghai, positioned roughly 35 metres below the surface of the ocean. It reportedly houses close to 2,000 servers, including high performance GPU systems designed for AI processing, 5G applications, and other large scale computing tasks. The concept is based on using the surrounding seawater as a natural cooling system. Conventional data centres require large amounts of electricity to prevent servers from overheating, especially when running AI workloads that generate significant heat. Cooling can account for a major share of total energy use. By placing sealed server modules underwater inside pressure resistant units, operators take advantage of the consistently low temperatures found at depth. This reduces the need for traditional air conditioning and mechanical cooling systems. Reports indicate the site has achieved a Power Usage Effectiveness score of under 1.15, which suggests that a greater proportion of its electricity is being used for computing rather than supporting infrastructure. For comparison, many standard data centres operate at around 1.5 or higher. The project is said to have been developed by HiCloud Technology alongside Chinese partners, with an estimated cost of around 226 million dollars and a capacity of approximately 24 megawatts. This approach reflects a wider trend in the technology sector as demand for AI computing power continues to rise rapidly. Engineers and companies are increasingly exploring alternative designs such as offshore facilities, floating platforms, and experimental cooling methods in response to growing energy requirements. Underwater data centres remain an emerging solution, but they highlight the scale of innovation being explored to manage the environmental and energy pressures of modern computing.

Smells a dead mouse from a mile away. Eats anthrax for breakfast. Prevents epidemics just by existing. The turkey vulture — the most important bird nobody respects. THE NOSE: → Best sense of smell of any bird on Earth → Can detect ethyl mercaptan (decomposition gas) from 1+ mile → Gas companies add the same chemical to natural gas lines → Turkey vultures have circled gas leaks — engineers follow them THE STOMACH: → Stomach acid: pH ~1 (nearly pure hydrochloric acid) → Destroys anthrax, botulism, cholera, hog cholera → Eats diseased carcasses that would otherwise spread epidemics → Essentially a flying biohazard disposal unit THE BALD HEAD: → No feathers = bacteria can't get trapped when eating carrion → UV sunlight sterilizes the bare skin → Same reason vultures sunbathe with wings spread (UV sterilization) THE FLIGHT: → Soars for hours without flapping (uses thermals) → Distinctive "wobbly" flight with wings in shallow V → Can cover 200 miles per day searching for carrion WITHOUT VULTURES: → In India, vulture populations crashed 99% due to a cattle drug → Result: rotting carcasses, feral dog explosion, rabies epidemic → Tens of thousands of human deaths attributed to vulture decline Respect the cleanup crew. You need them more than they need you.

Painted Lady butterfly in the garden, guarding my radishes :)

A few moths from #Lisheenvicknaheeha last night:- 1. Gold Swift, Phymatopus hecta; 2. Common White Wave, Cabera pusaria; 3. Ash Bud moth, Prays fraxinella; 4. The Tortrix moth, Celypha lacunana.

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Now that Gaza lies in ruins—shattered, like a beloved face after a long brutality—Israel moves with a terrible confidence to the next act: The act of leaving every soul there not merely wounded, but permanently disabled. Injured, sick, hungry, homeless, without work, without hope. This is not war’s collateral damage. This is design. As my friend Gideon Levy writes—and he knows, he knows—this is the prelude to expulsion. Think of it: a society without teachers, without doctors, without social workers, without engineers, without clerks. That is not a society. That is a holding pen. A slow erasure. And when nothing functions—no school, no hospital, no office, no heart—then it becomes ‘easy,’ they tell themselves, to scatter the people to the four corners of the earth. Like seeds from a broken pod, except no soil will take them. We must name this. Not with rage alone, though rage is honest. But with the cold, clear tears of recognition: they are making life impossible so that departure becomes the only ‘choice.’ And the world watches, adjusts its spectacles, and calls for restraint. Restraint! There is no restraint in a slow drowning.