Category: 200 Words

December 2023. A baseless claim is posted to a Facebook community group. A far-right politician repeats the claim under privilege in Leinster House, without evidence. A website publishes the story, again without any evidence. This is how disinformation spreads. To use an idiom from 1980s horror movies, the call is coming from inside the house.… Continue reading Reformatting News: I

I have too many computers. My main laptop computer, the one I’m most likely to use for serious work, is a Lenovo Thinkpad X280. It’s a slim, sleek black machine. Black has always been a trademark identity for the Thinkpad range. Going back to when it was owned by IBM, their image was the computer… Continue reading In Memory

Anois teacht an Earraigh beidh an lá dúl chun shíneadh, Is tar eis na féil Bríde ardóigh mé mo sheol. Go Coillte Mach rachad ní stopfaidh me choíche Go seasfaidh mé síos i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo. I gClár Chlainne Mhuiris A bheas mé an chéad oíche, Is I mballa taobh thíos de A thosós… Continue reading Imbolc

The Tennant specials were fun. But also, damn you IMDb, I was promised Susan Foreman. Fairly sure what I’ve liked most is the return of the classic white and off-white Tardis control room after 18 years of guardrails, pavement grilles, salt crystals and airship girders. Christmas Day special, the Doctor dances. And sings. And fans… Continue reading Doctor Notes

You can follow my updates here. I’m also @faduda@mastodon.ie.

O brave new world, That has such people in’t!

I’ve been on Twitter for fourteen years now. Or I was, until last Halloween. My first experience of the site, the one that hooked me, was watching the Portraitgate story unfold in real time as a group of people on Twitter unpacked the story as RTE tried to memoryhole it. The last straw was the… Continue reading Exit X

So you’ve finally had enough of the Birdsite? It’s time to leave, but Threads isn’t doing it for you, and you can’t find a decent guide to Mastodon? Well read on. I’ll keep it simple. I won’t talk too much about instances or fediverses. Just follow these steps. 1. Join mastodon.ie Go on, I’ll wait.… Continue reading Mastodon For Migrants

The thing about independence movements is they lead to single-issue parties. All other differences are put aside as everyone agrees on the One Big Issue. This is why a war of independence is often followed by a civil war as all those differences resurface. Scotland is having one of those moments where the One Big… Continue reading Caledonia

I’ve been thinking again about the Mastodon experience for journalists. Mastodon isn’t Twitter. You’re not the main character over there. And the moderators actually moderate. Don’t be the guy walking into a quiet pub demanding they turn on the TV News at full volume. You’ll get barred. Sit first. Listen. Learn. Twitter trains people to… Continue reading Chill Out