Brian

@stephenpollard @adamboultonTABB @spectator ❤️❤️

Here's my @Spectator tribute to my wonderful cat, Louie, 'Nothing prepares you for the death of a pet' spectator.com/article/nothin… My companion – my friend – Louie died suddenly on Tuesday. He was nine (his tenth birthday was due next month) which, in cat years, made him middle-aged. No one saw it coming – he’d had his six-monthly check-up a few weeks ago and was seemingly fit and well. If you don’t have a pet, you can’t fully appreciate the depth of the bond and the corresponding rawness of the grief. Louie has been my constant companion, especially since I divorced and moved into my own flat six years ago. Living alone, I regarded Louie – formal pedigree name Albalou Bojangles, a British shorthair – as my closest friend, in the sense that I saw more of him (it seems bizarre to be writing in the past tense about him) than anyone else. He was there throughout Covid, when I was shielding, and through treatment for my leukaemia. My whole flat is a reminder of his presence with scratch pads, toys, cat furniture, and all the other paraphernalia that comes with a cat. The morning after his death was so difficult. We’d had a morning routine which was the same every day. I slept with the bedroom door closed, as otherwise Louie would be in the room demanding food. At around 5.30 a.m. he’d start scratching the door and meowing loudly. I’ve always been an early riser anyway so I’d get up and go to the kitchen to give him his food as he rubbed himself against me, as if saying ‘thank you’. Then he’d push his face against the shower glass as I washed and follow me to my bedroom, jumping on the bed while I dressed. Louie would follow me into the study as I looked through the papers and hop onto my desk, usually bashing my keyboard. That same routine, every day. But not any more. I’m bereft. Louie had spent the day with me on Tuesday as I was having a new boiler fitted, so I was keeping him out of the way. At around 2 p.m. he was – as he often did – lying across my tummy as I watched TV on the sofa, purring happily as I stroked him. I had to disappear to my study for ten minutes to check some edits on a piece and when I got back, he was lying outstretched, all 35 inches from his nose to the start of his tail, under the dining table, where he never sits. I went to stroke him and he didn’t move, so I assumed he was in a deep sleep. I called ‘food’, which always wakes him up, and there was nothing. Then I realised he wasn’t responding at all. I called the vet in a panic saying I thought he had died – I couldn’t quite tell if he had actually stopped breathing. I’m only five minutes from the practice and when we got there, the vet confirmed he had no heartbeat. As I think about it now, I’m struck by how he must have known something was happening and so took himself to a new place to stretch out ready to go to sleep forever. It was all so sudden – ten minutes before he went he was (or at least seemed) totally fine. The vet said it was most likely a stroke or a heart attack, perhaps after some underlying issue. The only good thing is precisely that it was so sudden and so he didn’t suffer. On Wednesday night I went to the kids’ house to break the news. Cat owners will know that wonderful feeling when you open the front door and your friend has somehow sensed your return and is sitting there waiting for you. I live in a maisonette and Louie would almost always be at the top of the stairs as I put the key in the door. There was no Louie that night when I got home. My flat is empty. Rest in peace, my friend.

@the_zb_ @rayontrack The only thing his comments confirm is that he is indeed extremely unlikeable and that max lives in his head rent free.

George presented himself as way out of touch here. Max complained constantly about the 2022 cars while winning, and again in 2023 and 2024 and 2025… yet he didn’t complain about porpoising because his team had largely solved the issue. Max and everyone else universally agrees the 2026 cars are utter abominations that are one of the worst thing to ever happen to F1, apart from a tiny handful of opportunistic viewpoints such as his. The Mercedes is clearly the best car, and even it looks like an absolute trash heap trying to complete a lap around any circuit. It’s an inherent flaw in the fundamental architecture of the cars, which is what Max (and many others) is saying. The irony in it all, is that George is doing exactly what he incorrectly accused Max of doing, while making himself very unlikable. It’s so strange that he can’t see that in himself. It’s grated on the nerves of a lot of neutrals that find him rather unpalatable now. The posts about this reality are relentless and many. And quite funny at times. 😅

george russell with zero chill just cooked max 😂🗣️ "max didn't complain about the 'porpoising' because he won"

@GamewithDave Kick off 2

For anyone who used a computer between 1990 & 2005… what’s the one game you still think about?

@declanganley Morning Declan, are you tax resident in Ireland? Do you pay income tax here?

A busy and skilled carpenter/tradesman from Galway made this observation to me this morning and it struck me as likely true. He said he believes regular people did not realise that the price of [fuel], at the pump was more than double what it should be due to taxes collected by the Irish government. He said even if he had heard it before, he would have dismissed it as an exaggeration. Now everyone realises what has been going on and they’re not going to agree to back down on the demand that it be cut. #FuelProtest

@AJamesMcCarthy Needs an all 4 option.....

Why do you follow me?

The blockade is broken here in Whitegate. Seven trucks have arrived. @thejournal_ie

@CorkCoypu @TheNotoriousMMA That's what comes out of the crayon when he's high on ketamine.

@TheNotoriousMMA What? What does that even mean?

Return the government of Ireland to the people of Ireland as it once was under God! The only way. 🙏🇮🇪

@mickfox @adrianweckler Now now Michael.

@b_chamberlain @adrianweckler Tis far from water and non alcoholic drinks in Irish bars you were raised Brian

I know it’s off topic, but what’s the most expensive mineral water in a pub? Drumcondra’s Ivy House charges €5 for a small River Rock

@EugeneMcDo67665 @grannies4equal And before you jump back at me, I agree that while the issues in middle east are going on there should be relief. But you can't simply compare fuel prices in 2 different economies. Lots more going on.

@EugeneMcDo67665 @grannies4equal No it's not. Lower fuel prices in Spain don’t exist in a vacuum—Ireland’s standard Jobseeker’s is ~€232/week vs ~€120 in Spain, and median wages are ~€3.4k/month vs ~€2.1k. Higher incomes + stronger supports = higher taxes baked into fuel ⛽

Look up this guy's social media posts. These extremists hijacking the genuine concerns of people is the reason the protests have aggressively attacked the lives of ordinary citizens, causing grave hardship. This is NOT about fuel prices. It is about the usual hate.

My terminally wife was late for a radiation treatment because of the blockade. How could you sympathise with any group capable of endangering life. There are no words words to describe such behaviour. Trust me , given my anger, it is better that I don’t try #fuelprotest

@bhalloinfraguy Proxmox didn't rename it to be fair to proxmox! Mac probably changed ( which you could have stopped from happening) and /or pci slot. There are ways to handle all this if doing bulk migrations so the interface will remain same name or script config changes if name does change.

I once spent 6 hours troubleshooting why a Linux VM couldn't reach the internet after migrating it from VMware to Proxmox. Checked the firewall. Clean. Checked the gateway. Correct. Checked DNS. Resolving fine internally. Ran traceroute, packets dying at the first hop. I was convinced it was a routing issue, so I rebuilt the routes. , rebuiltthing. Then I checked the network interface name. VMware called it ens33. Proxmox renamed it to ens18. The netplan config was still pointing to ens33, an interface that no longer existed. The VM was basically shouting into a disconnected phone line. Changed one line in netplan. Applied. The Internet came back instantly. 6 hours. One line. Lesson: After any VM migration, always check if the NIC name changed. It's the simplest thing, and it will waste your entire day if you miss it.

@sundarpichai Now let us migrate Google services between accounts. Please.

2004 was a good year, but your Gmail address doesn't need to be stuck in it. To say goodbye to v0t3f0rp3dr02004@gmail.com or mrbrightside416@gmail.com (or whatever you were into at the time), go to your Google Account settings and choose any name available. You'll keep your old username and you can sign in with both.

Zuckerberg's yacht once sailed 9,600 nautical miles, burned 676,800 liters of diesel, and waited two months in the South Pacific for him to show up. He never came. It turned around and went home. The vessel burns 1,165 gallons of diesel per hour at cruising speed. The carbon output of 630 cars running simultaneously. In nine months, it produced 5,300 tons of CO2, what 400 American households emit in an entire year. Meta's sustainability report pledges net zero across their value chain by 2030. Zuckerberg's personal fleet (there's a $30 million support vessel that follows the yacht everywhere carrying submarines, helicopters, and water toys) produced more emissions on that single empty round trip than most people will generate in a lifetime. The fuel tank holds 423,700 liters. A full fill costs about $230,000. Based on his 2024 wealth increase, Zuckerberg earns that in under 90 seconds. Net zero is a line item in someone else's budget. It always was.

David Coulthard with one of the best takes on the current gen I've seen

@DOlaAdeniyi @xevekiah Holy Claude.

@xevekiah That “I’m busy” was a soft no, and your “survey” was a smooth save. We’ve all been there, shoot your shot, protect your pride, keep it moving. No loss, just a lesson. The right person won’t need an excuse to say yes.

Back in college, I had a crush on the guy who sat next to me in class. One day I finally got the courage to ask him, “Hey… do you want to grab coffee sometime?” He smiled politely and said, “That’s really nice of you to ask, but I’m kind of busy these days.” I got embarrassed and quickly tried to play it off. “Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that,” I said. “I’m actually doing a survey for a class project about people’s favorite coffee shops.” He nodded like he believed me, and after that we just stayed normal classmates. A few weeks later, I saw him at the mall holding hands with someone. Then the girl he was with turned to him and said, “Come on, babe, we’re going to be late.”

@Shauns_Aviation And don't forget to ring manna to check if there's any critical burger deliveries in your flight path too.

🔴Check your zone before you drone 🔴Seiceáil do zón sula tú drón The IAA today are urging all drone operators to operate safely this St. Patrick’s day by following safety regulations and abiding by their local UAS Geozones. The IAA is calling on all Operators to; • Label and upload your Operator ID, • Check airspace restrictions on the IAA website (iaa.ie/drones), • Keep your drone in sight and be aware of your surroundings at all times, • Stay below 120 metres and keep clear of people, buildings, and crowded events. Before taking off, all operators should check the zone they intend to operate in before they drone, as St Patrick’s Day parades and festivities over the coming days may introduce temporary restricted zones where flying is not permitted without explicit permission. Operators must also consult the UAS Geographical Zones map at iaa.ie/drones/uas-geo… before every flight, even if an area appears unchanged. The IAA remind operators that Unauthorised drone operations can endanger emergency response units, aircraft and the general public. — as Gaeilge — Tá an Údarás Eitlíochta na hÉireann ag iarraidh oibreoirí drón a ag oibriú slán shábháilte an lá feile phadraig seo trí rialacháin sábháilteachta a leanúint agus cloí lena Criosanna Tíreolaíocha UAS Tá an IAA ag iarraidh ar gach Oibreoir; • Lipéadaigh agus uaslódáil d’Aitheantas Oibreora, • Seiceáil srianta aerspáis ar shuíomh gréasáin IAA (iaa.ie/drones), • Coinnigh do dhrón i radharc agus bí ar an eolas faoi do thimpeallacht i gcónaí, • Fan faoi bhun 120m agus coinnigh amach ó dhaoine, foirgnimh agus imeachtaí plódaithe. Sula n-éiríonn siad, ba chóir do gach oibreoir an crios ina bhfuil sé beartaithe acu oibriú a sheiceáil sula ndéanann siad drón, toisc go bhféadfadh paráidí agus féilte Lá Fhéile Pádraig sna laethanta amach romhainn criosanna srianta sealadacha a thabhairt isteach nach gceadaítear eitilt gan cead sainráite. Ní mór d’oibreoirí dul i gcomhairle leis an léarscáil de Chriosanna Geografacha UAS ag iaa.ie/drones/uas-geo… roimh gach eitilt, fiú má tá cuma gan athrú ar limistéar. Cuireann an IAA i gcuimhne d’oibreoirí gur féidir le hoibríochtaí neamhúdaraithe dróin aonaid freagartha éigeandála, aerárthaí agus an pobal i gcoitinne a chur i mbaol. #aviation #Avgeek #Travel #Drones #UAS #StPatricksDay2026 #DublinAirport #Ireland