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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤

@hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social
590 followers 2K following 148 posts

Data Scientist (manufacturing) in the hills of Donegal. This is an AI slop free zone. #ai;dr

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 11/09/2026
OpenAI did not "lose control", the agents did not go "rogue" and there is no "swarm" that "escaped". all control and responsibility remains firmly in the hands of these "frontier" labs. most importantly this "rogue" narrative is an intentional and strategic marketing PR
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
mcc @dryad.technology · 01/09/2026
This is the single biggest physics discovery of my entire lifetime. Or something's wrong with one of the cables. One of the two
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
Dr Keith 🎃 Wilson @keithwilson.eu · 10/08/2026
“Keith Wilson, a philosopher of perception and cognitive science at UCD, ​said the media was committing the cardinal sin of doing ‘PR for the #AI industry’. ‘AI companies have a product to hawk,’ he wrote on Bluesky…” #GenAI #AIHype (h/t @thisisryanking.bsky.social) www.reuters.com/technology/a...
reuters.com
NEWSLETTER: 'Going rogue' draws critics amid widening AI hacks
Over the past week, cracks have emerged in the narrative around AI agents.
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
4 panel comic

Panel 1:
A post from “kavishj9611” that reads: 

“All the people who are anti-Al or want to slow Al progress, I have one question:
If Al disappeared tomorrow, could you still get through an entire workday without ChatGPT, Claude, or any other
Al tool?
Imagine Al was suddenly banned.
Would you actually be willing to give it up?”

Panel 2:
And Orange Guy and a Pink Guy are standing in a room that has two pipes in it. Both pipes are pumping raw sewage into the room. The characters are waist deep in it.
Orange Guy says smugly “Ok Mr “I don’t want to be in a room that’s filling up with raw sewage” let me ask you this”

Panel 3:
The sewage has reached their chests. Pink Guy is gagging. Orange Guy smugly continues “If all this sewage disappeared right now, could you get through the day without it?”

Panel 4:
The sewage is almost up to their eyeballs. Orange Guys says “Look at that shit floating past your face. Are you willing to give that up?”
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 05/08/2026
Not only could I still get through my day (because I spent over a decade pre LLMs studying my field) but I would stop getting AI slop from my manager on an hourly basis.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 02/08/2026
Lough Tay today.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 24/07/2026
I always look forward to @emilymbender.bsky.social or @abeba.blacksky.app eviscerating these articles which are frankly journalistic malpractice.
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
Tarja Porkka-Kontturi @tarjapk.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
she’s a 10 but Excel thinks she’s October
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Sam Tranum @samtranum.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
According to Irish Water, as of 2021, data centres across Ireland drank about 810 megalitres of water from the public mains a year. But that same year, Meta reported that it withdrew 928 megalitres of water for its data centres in Clonee alone. How is this possible?
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 24/06/2026
I can't think of any other industry that has governments lobbying for them. The fact that tax payers' money is being used for this kind of propaganda is BS.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 19/06/2026
"The average 100-megawatt data center consumes about 2 million liters of water a day". We currently have 97 data centres in the Greater Dublin area...and they wonder why people are becoming disengaged with water conservation?
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
EU, tech law CJEU: Member States can require age verification for porn, and ban rebroadcast of traffic cop information also ***a website that controls what viewers see via an algorithm is liable for the content*** curia.europa.eu/site/upload/...
curia.europa.eu
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Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 11/06/2026
Reflections on the Joint Committee on AI and my new working paper that shows how data centres could consume 55% of Ireland's electricity by 2040 and cause gas demand to rise. hannahdaly.ie/2026-06-11-J...
hannahdaly.ie
Reflections from the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence
The energy cost of data centres in Ireland
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
David Whitley @mrdavidwhitley.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Treating any communication platform that algorithmically selects which content to put in front of a user as a publisher, and legally responsible for that content, is the screamingly obvious solution that will deeply upset maybe seven companies and make life considerably better.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 09/06/2026
static.klipy.com
This Is Fine Dog Meme in Burning House
ALT: This Is Fine Dog Meme in Burning House
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ButtPoems @buttpoems.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
👍
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Una Mullally @unamullally.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The week Ireland's Department of Enterprise published a report they commissioned KPMG to author, titled The Value of Data Centres to Ireland.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 29/05/2026
Everyone should sign up to Ciara's (@ciaraioch.bsky.social) newsletter and buy her art. Where else would you get this kind of educational content?
Sketch of Medb washing. A wedge of cheese is about to hit her head. Text reads:

A Bitteen Of Irish Folklore
Medb might have been formidable, but she wasn’t immortal. While bathing in Inis Cloithrinn, she was struck by a piece of cheese slung by Furbaide Ferbend to avenge his own mother and immediately killed, making it the most fatal case of lactose intolerance in Irish mythology
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 28/05/2026
'From yesterday's (mostly white, mostly male) theorists to today's (mostly white, mostly male) tech billionaires, there's a marked continuity between who was in charge then and who's in charge now. "Data is a reflection of our history," as Buolamwini puts it. "The past dwells within our algorithms"
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
The Journal @thejournal.ie · 28/05/2026
Ireland's data centre energy drain: How our obsession with accommodating Big Tech has added €1.4bn to household electricity bills ... jrnl.ie/7052694
jrnl.ie
The data centre energy drain: How Big Tech added €1.4bn to Irish household electricity bills
New research by Friends of the Earth has found that soaring demand for data centres in Ireland has driven up energy prices, with Irish households paying the hidden cost.
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
Zombytrope @zoeytro.pe · 19/05/2026
Skeet by @jtp.bsky.social:
"half of all tech news lately is some variation of 'the computer company has discontinued their well known product, the computer'"
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 20/05/2026
"11 May 2026 — Fianna Fáil 'made a difference' in housing, Taoiseach says." You sure have Micheál
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 13/05/2026
Makes absolutely no difference without enforcement 🤷‍♂️ Local councils issued just 48 fines for dog fouling last year (and 14 didn't issue any at all) share.google/rp448RetMfhi...
share.google
Local councils issued just 48 fines for dog fouling last year (and 14 didn't issue any at all)
Cork County Council issued the highest number of fines for dog waste last year with 11.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 13/05/2026
@statsepi.bsky.social
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 12/05/2026
folx, I’ve been working on AI "ethics" for almost a decade now & hate to tell you there’s no such thing as "ethical AI" the only "ethical principle" that works is regulating the shit out of the industry & to take back control of our autonomy, fundamental rights, freedoms & right to exist w/out AI
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 08/05/2026
This is incredibly frustrating (again). Next week I am getting an 8kWh solar system with 15kWh battery installed for €12,200. This money could have installed 40,983 such systems to aid people struggling in the current cost of living crisis.
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Emily✨ @emilyoram.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Panic over x
An instagram post from Lego, where they’ve updated the ages on their boxes to say 4-100+ to celebrate Sir David Attenborough turning 100
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Spoo Keidick @donkeidick.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Good morning nerds!
A volkswagen feature
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 29/04/2026
It would be great if the jury could rule against both of them.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 29/04/2026
#stack414 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ⏱️ 1m 23s 🔥 streak: 93 puzzlist.com/stackdown
puzzlist.com
Stackdown
A new daily word game. Clear the stack to complete today's Stackdown.
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 28/04/2026
Step one: DON'T FUCKING GIVE "AI" YOUR CREDIT CARDS JESUS FUCK WHAT ARE YOU THINKING www.wired.com/story/the-ra...
wired.com
The Race Is on to Keep AI Agents From Running Wild With Your Credit Cards
AI agents may soon be buying your stuff for you. The FIDO Alliance has teamed up with Google and Mastercard to try to ensure that shopping in the near future isn't a complete disaster.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 28/04/2026
We should be MORE sceptical. "According to the NESC, Irish people are more sceptical about AI than many other countries. Only 38% of Irish respondents, as compared to a 47-country average of 46 per cent, are willing to trust AI systems, according to one recent analysis."
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 27/04/2026
#SpeirGorm
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 26/04/2026
Photo taken by my wife on the bank of the river Eske.
A Robin on a branch with a Dogwood berry in its beak on the bank of the river Eske, Donegal.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 26/04/2026
Lough Beagh in Glenveagh was beautiful in yesterday's sun.
Photograph taken looking south west along the length of Lough Beagh in the Glenveagh National park, Donegal. The Derryveagh Mountains can be seen surrounding the Lough on both sides.
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
this account is run by a human at NASA JPL who only posts real images with their receipts. it only has 11k followers compared to the 200k the ai slop space account has
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 22/04/2026
media.tenor.com
two elderly women are standing in a living room talking
ALT: two elderly women are standing in a living room talking
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 21/04/2026
“There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” - Alfred Henry Lewis
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 08/04/2026
"What a week, huh?"
"Captain, it's Wednesday"
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 07/04/2026
A much needed timeline reset.
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Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
My mood right now
Chris J. Suggs @chrisjsuggs

By the way, April Fools is cancelled tomorrow.

Keep your jokes to yourself because this whole year has been one already. We tired.

Tomorrow is March 32nd.
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Reposted by Sam Tracey 🌈⃤
Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
The AI bubble is not deflating! AI is here to stay! It's just uhhhhhhhh expanding in an inward direction
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 28/03/2026
My Straits? Dire.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 25/03/2026
👏👏👏👏
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 25/03/2026
This thread regarding the recruitment of Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner is damning although, unfortunately, not surprising.
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Sam Tracey 🌈⃤ @hillsofdonegal.eurosky.social · 24/03/2026
Bad day for the tech bros: www.cnn.com/2026/03/24/t...
cnn.com
Jury finds Meta liable in case over child sexual exploitation on its platforms | CNN Business
A jury on Tuesday found Meta violated New Mexico law in a case accusing it of failing to warn users about the dangers of its platforms and protect children from sexual predators.
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Ygrene @ygrene.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
the human body was not designed to know what the worst person in the world is doing every fifteen minutes
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 17/03/2026
"In our analysis of a long term data set of Virginia (USA) we found that it took $33 million of investment into data centres to create one job, around 400 times the cost of a job from IT investment that did not go into data centres" aprs.scot/resources/em...
Summary
This paper compares the job creation claims of developers planning hyperscale data centres
in Scotland with data gathered from actual figures from data centres globally and a new
analysis of a data set from Virginia (USA) relating to job creation across various sectors in
their economy. It includes a review of the job creation claims of proposed data centres in
Scotland.
In our analysis of a long term data set of Virginia (USA) we found that it took $33 million of
investment into data centres to create one job, around 400 times the cost of a job from IT
investment that did not go into data centres. Data centre investment has astronomically poor
value, in terms of jobs creation, compared to all other sectors, even Utilities, which was the
next most expensive sector for investment per job created at $2.2 million per job. Our survey
of evidence for employment levels in data centres in operation showed that most data
centres have between 20 and 50 direct employees once operational. Those reports that
define the types of jobs onsite at data centres report the employment opportunities being
mainly security and technicians. There is more employment during construction - with
1000-2000 construction jobs on average supported during the build out of data centres,
although it is not made clear whether these jobs are for the whole of the build and fit out or
just for specific periods.
We found that predicted job figures are hugely inflated when compared to real case
scenarios. For the developers who have provided estimates of job creation the mean
number of jobs created is 4146 per data centre. Job estimates made by Scottish data centre
developers do not cite sources or methodologies in the figures they have produced so it is
difficult to scrutinise the claims, however, even when construction, indirect and induced jobs
are taken into account, the figures seem extremely high compared to known examples of
actual jobs created by data centres.
In addition to employing extre…
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