@PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 1mo ago

A mysterious buying spree is unsettling Europe’s booksellers Independent retailers are receiving vast orders for obscure titles, fuelling suspicions that tech companies are using them to train AI. Last May Tomás Kenny of famous Galway book retailer Kennys received what he describes as a “bananas” online order for 5,000 books. But it was less the scale of the order that caught his eye and more its eclectic selection. https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2026/08/10/a-mysterious-buying-spree-is-unsettling-europes-booksellers/ #ai #slurp #bookstodon

The Irish Times

A ‘bananas’ order for 5,000 obscure titles from a bookshop in Galway fuels suspicion

Independent retailers are receiving vast orders for obscure titles, fuelling suspicions that AI companies are quietly building the next generation of chatbots

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 9mo ago

Boosted by @cstross@wandering.shop

Seeding the LLM training data

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 2mo ago

Today I discovered that Ireland has the largest trove of Bronze Age musical instruments in Europe. I heard the ‘Wicklow Pipes’ from Charlesland, Co. Wicklow, dating to circa 2,240 BC, with a 6 tone scale. https://www.ancientmusicireland.com/ Simon O’Dwyer and Maria Cullen O’Dwyer https://www.dorlindon.com/en/music-in-the-forest/june-august-2026/index.php Ancient Music Festival Music In The Forest 2026 Weekend Afternoons | June–August 2026 | 3–5pm Dorlindon Nature Sanctuary, Co. Wicklow #music #archaeology #ancientmusic #ireland

Ancient Music Ireland

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@mcmullin@musicians.today @composers@fedigroups.social It can be fraught. I remember being at a new music session where a composer from one country gave the singers expressions that they thought was what the people from another country would say. I could hear mutterings beside me from a person from that place "cultural appropriation " and more. Of course as you describe it your piece was collaborative so that charge could not be levelled against it.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

I haven't seen these in a while.
#vintage #cars

mastodon.ie

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 6mo ago

Michael Gelb’s How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci
https://www.kennys.ie/other-categories/psychology/how-to-think-like-leonardo-da-vinci-seven-steps-to-genius-every-day

Try (4)
Sfumato (literally, “Going up in Smoke”) – A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox and uncertainty.

kennys.ie

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@dbattistella@mstdn.ca 18 years after Whitacre's Cloudburst.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@carnage4life@mas.to to the guy who cut Medicare, increased drug prices with tariffs and then portrayed himself as a miracle working healer?

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Tempting treats at this morning's Farmers Market.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

#LeMOT 1575 3/6

🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟦🟧🟧⬜⬜
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧
#LeMotLeJeu

https://www.solitaire-play.com/lemot/

solitaire-play.com

LeMOT - Wordle en français

Devinez chaque jour un nouveau mot de 5 lettres en 6 essais... Un Wordle en français, pour jouer gratuitement sur ordinateur, tablette ou téléphone.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 8mo ago

@andrewstroehlein 'Judy is a rabbi. “I did protective presence in the West Bank,” Lime told me, referring to a form of protest in which activists try to deter settler violence by simply being present in Palestinian communities. “This is very similar.”"

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@nigelharpur@musicians.today @mcmullin@musicians.today @composers@fedigroups.social The story of pretty well every special interest group on mastodon except cat pictures and US politics. Present company excepted.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@sabinehiller @EUCommission @Bundesregierung "The Isfahan governor, Mehdi Jamalinejad, said the damage had been inflicted even after coordinates of the historic sites had been circulated among the warring parties and after blue shield signs – denoting historical treasures under the 1954 Hague convention for the protection of cultural objects in war – had been put on the roofs of important buildings."

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@Pauliinalievonen@mementomori.social Or put two or three fingers stacked vertically in your mouth. Next, sing all the different vowels without changing your mouth shape; puts the focus on the tongue position.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@runoutgroover@cloudisland.nz It must take acute hearing to identify all these:

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

#LeMOT6 1517 3/6

⚪🔵🟠🔵⚪⚪
⚪⚪⚪🔵⚪🔵
🟠🟠🟠🟠🟠🟠
#LeMotLeJeu

https://www.solitaire-play.com/lemot6/

solitaire-play.com

LeMOT6 - Wordle en 6 lettres

Devinez chaque jour un nouveau mot de 6 lettres en 6 essais... Un Wordle en français, pour jouer gratuitement sur ordinateur, tablette ou téléphone.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@Sevapopov@mastodon.ml @meganmariehart@mastodon.social Follow @FediTips@social.growyourown.services I just use the web interface. In my settings I entered various search terms I was interested in so I see them in my feed. Use US and British spelling eg #humor #humour

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@AoifeGreenhamIllustrations@mastodon.ie €2 buys a pack of three toothbrushes and you get the bonus of finger exercise.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@jlin@cosocial.ca thank you!

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 7mo ago

https://www.cmc.ie/opportunities/choral-sketches-2026
Deadline: 2 March 2026 12:00
Chamber Choir Ireland and the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland are now seeking applications for Choral Sketches with composer mentor Rhona Clarke.

Choral Sketches is a unique artist development opportunity for composers resident in Ireland who wish to develop their skills in writing choral music with mentoring from renowned Irish composer Rhona Clarke.

#Competition for #choral #composers
@thearcanecomposer@mastodon.art

Contemporary Music Centre

Choral Sketches 2026

Chamber Choir Ireland and the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland are now seeking applications for Choral Sketches with composer mentor Rhona Clarke.What is Choral Sketches?Choral Sketches is a unique artist development opportunity for composers who wish to develop their skills in writing choral music with mentoring from renowned Irish composer Rhona Clarke.The purpose of Choral Sketches is to provide a creative, open environment for composers to experiment and create, benefitting from mentorship

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@Sevapopov@mastodon.ml @meganmariehart@mastodon.social AFAIK people can opt out of allowing full-text search of their posts. If so, you can only find people talking about opera if they use a hashtag #opera.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 25mo ago

Replying to

@TFFPrisoner@mastodon.social @bartholin@fops.cloud 🙂 😄 👍

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 25mo ago

Replying to

@bartholin@fops.cloud "togue"?

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 27mo ago

Also, my arm and my liver

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 37mo ago

Replying to

@IanMoore3000@mastodon.ie @TeamMidwest@glammr.us So did I - slightly disappointed that it's not an abbreviation of Glamorous 😏 "#GLAM is an acronym for #galleries, #libraries, #archives, and #museums, and refers to #cultural #institutions with a mission to provide access to knowledge" I'd use the direct method - google for the national / city institutions of interest and email them. Eg island.is #mastodaoine

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@claralistensprechen3rd @Michigander With a VT.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@janwwbosch Israeli soldier photographed in antisemitic act.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

https://www.aramblersblog.com/post/world-war-1-walk-in-gorey

World War I recalled with Gorey town walk
Mick O'Callaghan writes:
"I have participated in many events in Gorey over the years, but this war walk was the best. The weather was unkind and wet but over 30 people attended. The walk was led by Willy Willoughby to remember all the men from the Gorey area who fought in World War 1. Brian Kenny an expert on The Great War, joined the group and he was accompanied by 3 others dressed in World War 1 uniforms....."
#WW1 #Gorey #walk

A Rambler

World War 1 walk in Gorey

World War I recalled with Gorey town walkI have participated in many events in Gorey over the years, but this war walk was the best. The weather was unkind and wet but over 30 people attended. The walk was led by Willy Willoughby to remember all the men from the Gorey area who fought in World War 1. Brian Kenny an expert on The Great War, joined the group and he was accompanied by 3 others dressed in World War 1 uniforms.The first World War began on 28th of July 1914 and ended on the 11th of Nov

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@jlin@cosocial.ca lovely! What piece are they singing?

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@MJmusicinears@mastodon.world @skykiss@sfba.social One of the Communist fellow travelers we've been warned about.

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Patrick O'Beirne @PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt "[Typefaces]. Combined with your GPU, screen size, language, and timezone, it still narrows the field. Advertising networks combine this with your screen size, language, timezone, and GPU to identify devices across websites. Without cookies. Without accounts. Without a name. The technique is called browser fingerprinting. It is legal in most jurisdictions. It is happening on most pages you visit. None of them mention it."

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