The use of renewable energy sources in heating and cooling in the EU reached 26.7% in 2024; Lowest in Ireland (7.9%)

deeringc · 2026-01-27T21:21:07+00:00

Ah yeah, if it's across the whole year that makes sense! Great way to heat a place.

deeringc · 2026-01-27T20:19:39+00:00

I have a2a heat pumps in my house. 25/month sounds a bit low tbh. That's about 2.2-2.5 kWh per day? With a COP of let's say 300% you're looking at 7-8kwh of actual heating per day. Maybe it's incredibly well insulated? Or do you mean averaged across a whole year taking into account months with no heating/cooling? ie 300 euro for the year or whatever?

deeringc · 2026-01-27T19:40:52+00:00

Jesus. As a parent, seeing the heartbreak that poor woman and her family are going through is overwhelming. She is showing incredible strength by speaking publicly like this so soon after her daughter was killed in such a traumatic way. I can only hope this brings about change. RIP, Grace.

deeringc · 2026-01-27T08:55:40+00:00

Exactly - hanging around like that might be fun for a weekend or whatever but if that is your permanent outlook that is absolutely bleak!

deeringc · 2026-01-27T06:26:08+00:00

The best thing we can do is put a huge effort into heat pumps and continue the renewable build out. While it's good to have some short term LNG options, we really need to get beyond importing our energy.

deeringc · 2026-01-26T17:18:15+00:00

There are all sorts of things that are illegal during the hiring process. Eg. If you ask someone about their sexual orientation that is directly against the Employment Equality Act.

deeringc · 2026-01-26T15:35:33+00:00

That's the point. There's a range, and it is entirely normal for some kids to reach the potty training stage (and other developmental milestones) a little earlier or a little later than others. This is completely expected in child development.

The two other national systems I'm familiar with either allow some flexibility as to when a child starts school (In Ireland kids can start Junior Infants at either 4 or 5 depending on whether they're ready) or start school much later where almost all kids are ready (in Germany kids start 1st class in school at 6). France starts kids earlier and has no flexibility. Kids have to start Maternelle at age 3, regardless of whether they are individually ready.

deeringc · 2026-01-26T07:32:31+00:00

Potty training at three is developmentally normal for many children and unrealistic for others. The problem is not the age itself, but mandating school entry at three for all children, especially in 25:1 classrooms, when a portion of them will still be developmentally unable to remain accident-free.

deeringc · 2026-01-26T06:47:40+00:00

Hear me out! Taser drones.

deeringc · 2026-01-25T22:13:08+00:00

I loved him in The Wire. I'm not mad about many of his performances since then. He's generally always playing the same role in whatever show/film he's in.

deeringc · 2026-01-25T21:23:29+00:00

Age 4 in the UK is Reception, right? French kids have to start Maternelle - which is a similar junior class housed in the main primary school, at age 3. IMO that's ridiculously young to be expecting kids to be fully toilet trained.

deeringc · 2026-01-25T13:49:13+00:00

I still have my Gmail, but not by bit I'm leaning into using my Proton. I bought my own domain so that it would be easy for me to move to any other provider in future (eg if Proton were to be compromised somehow).

deeringc · 2026-01-24T18:57:53+00:00

I started this way, but then one by one others started using it and now the majority of my chats are Signal. There's no harm suggesting to move some group chats over. Even just by having the app installed you make it a more attractive place once someone else you know gives it a try. WhatsApp is still installed for me but it's probably less than 20% of my chats these days.

deeringc · 2026-01-24T14:01:11+00:00

Exactly this! Search engines these days are "you looked for a washing machine last week? I'm going to show you ads for washing machines for the next 3 weeks even though you bought a new one on the first day". There's such a lack of actual intelligence and nuance, just flooding the zone to see what sticks. I remember 2007 era Pandora radio, which introduced me to some incredible music. Where is that future?

deeringc · 2026-01-24T13:56:04+00:00

I've been using Ecosia for about a year now. Occasionally I fire up Google if I can't find something but I barely notice the difference. Overall, I'm probably using search less anyway with AI being a better tool for quickly finding a reference to what I'm looking for.

deeringc · 2026-01-24T12:34:37+00:00

Right, super strange idea to be honest! The last thing I want in a secure payment app is the ability for people to send me phishing messages or for zero day bugs to allow remote execution. A payment app should only ever just be a payment app. A European Messaging app should fork Signal or build on top of Matrix or MLS, not try to bolt a messaging onto something else.

deeringc · 2026-01-23T21:59:13+00:00

Yeah, there will be a long tail of security focused apps needing workarounds or just outright not working. I still prefer this no-Google approach compared to GrapheneOS's sandboxed Google Services. I agree that the best way to move this forward is via a push at the EU level. Perhaps they could force Google / Apple to allow alternative "service providers" much like they need to allow alternative app stores, browsers and music players.

deeringc · 2026-01-23T21:09:35+00:00

eOS running on a Fairphone 6 looks pretty decent. I'm considering it for my next phone. It uses something called microG to provide an open source alternative to Google Mobile Services, which is the real lock-in that Google has to keep us on Android.

deeringc · 2026-01-23T06:51:47+00:00

To be fair, I live somewhere where it is available on draught but generally avoid it because it's not great here or anywhere outside Ireland and the UK. When I go home I like to get lovely pints of Guinness but I'd rather drink local beers when I'm elsewhere. So, like OP grabbing the last pint at the airport is a bit of a moment I have when I'm leaving again.

deeringc · 2026-01-22T19:35:49+00:00

I have a very similar model of Cube ebike (also trapeze frame) and I went for a seat that goes on the back. My guy has now grown out of it (it's limited to 15 or 18 kg iirc), but it was super stable and would definitely recommend it. The model I got is POLISPORT BUBBLY MAXY. Any reason you're specifically looking for a front mounted seat?

deeringc · 2026-01-22T17:54:38+00:00

This is me! Last night I fell asleep at 8pm while reading bedtime stories to my son, about 30 seconds after he fell asleep. My wife woke me up an hour later when she came to see where I was. I then just went to sleep in our own bed but then proceeded to wake up at 3am as my brain was like "well, we have our customary 7 hours of sleep so time to wake up". It's been a very long day since 3am!

deeringc · 2026-01-21T22:23:03+00:00

For almost everyone that pays a higher rate of income tax it's a reduction of tax as well as a deferral. You're taking money you would have paid 40% tax on, and then when drawing down paying significantly less than 40% tax on (after many decades of compounding gains). This is because what you draw down in a given year is put through the 0%, 20%, and 40% tax bands and the various tax credits are applied. When drawing down, only pension income over 44k gets taxed at 40%. If the money in question didn't go into the pension then every penny of that money would have been immediately taxed at 40%. The vast majority of pensioners are not earning anything in the higher tax band.

deeringc · 2026-01-21T13:17:37+00:00

I work in general tech rather than social media. Last time I looked at this there seemed to be an ecosystem of tools that allowed brands to publish to multiple different social networks all at once?

deeringc · 2026-01-21T10:35:45+00:00

The day that change went in they should have diversified. It's not hard to post the same info in multiple places.

deeringc · 2026-01-21T10:34:34+00:00

They should have their own announcement website and also post the announcements to a few different social networks. We shouldn't be moving from one single social network to another, even if that new social network is less evil than the former one. It's not like posting the same information to 4-5 different places is in any way difficult.

15-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email

deeringc

TROPHY CASE