Items of Interest

A Dark Room Text Adventure

You are in a dark room. The fire is dwindling. A haggered stranger enters. What happens next is up to you.A dark room is a fabulous text based adventure game that can be played in the browser, and can easily eat up your afternoon :-) (H/T to Anna Murray for sharing)

Life

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Podcast of the Week: Motherfoclóir on Peig

#234

In this episode of Motherfoclóir about Peig, the team finally let loose with both barrels on the Peig myth. Peig Sayers lived on the Blasket Islands off the coast of Kerry at the turn of the 20th century. Her auto-biography in Irish about her hard life on the islands was on the Leaving Certificate Irish exam curriculum until 1995.

Gaeilge

History

Podcast

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Efficient Solar Panel Patterns

#234

Researchers from the University of York have tested the efficiency of patterns on solar panels for energy absorption and have discovered a pattern that can increase absorption by 125%!

Environment

Innovation

Tech

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Mission Protocol

#234

Mission Protocol is a code of conduct that technology companies can adopt to ensure that their work and mission are well defined and committed to be free from harassment, abuse and other principles. The mission protocol provides a versioned standard that companies can use and display as a badge on their website.

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FT Pandemic Graphs

#234

The Financial Times Visual & Data Journalism team have compiled a monster article full of graphs telling the story of the COVID-19 pandemic so far.

Data Vis

Life

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David Attenborough's A Life On Our Planet

#233

This week I watched David Attenborough's excellent documentary film A Life On Our Planet on Netflix. David himself describes the film as his witness statement of the destruction of the bio-sphere that he has witnessed in his lifetime. It is harrowing viewing but ends in an optimistic call to action about what needs to be done to stop ourselves from destroying the planet. It is mandatory viewing for everyone, especially for those with children or in positions of power or influence.

Environment

Life

Motivation

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RTÉ Illuminations

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RTÉ launched Illuminations this week, a fantastic collection of commissioned Irish art exploring the complex shades of lockdown. A range of literature, poetry, film, photography and visual art pieces from a host of Irish artists are described and on display on the beautiful Illuminations website.

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Improvements To The Travelling Salesman Problem

#233

The travelling salesman problem is a famous network optimisation problem that hasn't been improved upon in forty-four years, until now! Researchers Nathan Klein, Anna Karlin and Shayan Ovies Gharan at the University of Washington have created a new algorithm that improves on the general traveling salesman problem, by 0.2 billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a percent!

Science

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Strategic Foresight & Pandemic Planning

#233

Kristel Van der Elst has agreat post on the MIT Technology Review about using strategic foresight to plan for uncertain times. A handy skill in the pandemic we now find ourselves. She lays out a sequence of stels aimed at identifying as many explicit scenarios and opportunites as possible and taking the emotion out of planning for them.

Business

Life

Motivation