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Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.

offsite link Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!

This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".

According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.

People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.

offsite link AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.

offsite link Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza

Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support

With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza

offsite link China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty

A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Tue Sep 30, 2025 00:41 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Could Lithium Batteries Be Programmed to Explode? Mon Sep 29, 2025 19:05 | Dr R P
Israel's pager attack on Hezbollah highlights a frightening possibility: that lithium batteries could be programmed to explode. Yet another reason to avoid Chinese EVs, says the Daily Sceptic's robotics expert.
The post Could Lithium Batteries Be Programmed to Explode? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Sadiq Khan?s Plan to Spend ?66 Million on Wokery in Crime-Plagued London Mon Sep 29, 2025 17:10 | Will Jones
Crime is soaring in London, but Mayor Sadiq Khan is planning to spend ?66m on woke projects over three years ? and has just awarded himself a pay rise to ?170,282, making him the highest paid politician in the land.
The post Sadiq Khan’s Plan to Spend ?66 Million on Wokery in Crime-Plagued London appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Ryder Cup Parable: What Europe Gets Right and the EU and USA Get Wrong Mon Sep 29, 2025 15:31 | Clive Pinder
Europe's Ryder Cup victory shows that, unlike the DEI-obsessed EU, the nations of Europe win when they respect merit, says Clive Pinder. And unlike the USA big shots, they know how to work as a team.
The post The Ryder Cup Parable: What Europe Gets Right and the EU and USA Get Wrong appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link J.K. Rowling: Emma Watson Poured Petrol on Trans Attacks Against Me and is ?Ignorant of How Ignorant... Mon Sep 29, 2025 13:12 | Will Jones
J.K. Rowling?has accused Emma Watson of "pouring more petrol on the flames" of an attempt to cancel her by trans activists and said the Harry Potter actress is "ignorant of how ignorant she is".
The post J.K. Rowling: Emma Watson Poured Petrol on Trans Attacks Against Me and is “Ignorant of How Ignorant She Is” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

MDEG Publishes Wildlife Protection Leaflet

category cork | environment | press release author Thursday April 19, 2018 15:20author by MDEG - Macroom and District Environmental Group Report this post to the editors

Publication Marks Anniversary of Gougane Barra Inferno

The Macroom and District Environmental Group have published a new leaflet aiming to protect wildlife in Ireland.
Outside
Outside

The leaflet titled Protecting Wildlife in Ireland from Hedge Cutting and Gorse Burning marks the anniversary of the catastrophic gorse fires that burned hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat at Gougane Barra in April 2017. [1]

Macroom and District Environmental Group PRO Ted Cooke said: "The benefits and functions of hedgerows were considered of such importance that at our groups first AGM in April 1985 their conservation were listed in the group's mission statement. Their centrality as wildlife corridors across Ireland's landscape provide the critical network for genetic exchange and dispersal for mosses, lichens, fungi, amphibians, wood-mice, shrews, hedgehogs, stoats, bats and the larger mammals, mayflower, primrose and woodbine, the roosting, resting, hunting, nesting and breeding of our resident and migratory wild birds and thousands of species of insects. We also know that where ten or more consecutive meters of hedgerow is lost the local colonies of bats are disrupted."

The leaflet says that the 1976 Wildlife Act was introduced to protect nesting birds stating: "...growing vegetation cannot be cut, grubbed, burnt or otherwise destroyed between 1st March and 31st August of any given year on any land not yet cultivated." [2]

Mr Cooke continued: "A healthy, working, stock-proof hedge comprises four storeys: the ground-field storey, the shrub layer, the under canopy, and the canopy, which gives it the structural diversity of natural woodland. Farmers well know the benefit to their cattle of browsing the wild plants of the field boundary, especially ivy to calving and lactating livestock. Simply observe cattle 'under the wet pelt of a November hill the colour of fox' as they gather for shade, shelter and sisterhood under the hedges. Farmers and growers have free access to nature's own pest control corps - many of our wild birds feed of crop pests. Additionally a dense road or field boundary filters and traps particulate matter down to 1.5 micron in size."

He added: "The bulk of County Cork's hedgerow network - our largest man-made monument in the county - date from the 1667 Enclosure Cattle Act. These are permanent features that impart stability to the landscape and hold the very soils and their fertility together, more especially in view of climate disruption, with its increasing extreme weather events that wash out precious soil nutrients, particularly metals and minerals. Consequently the phenomenon of soil creep invariably follows where field boundaries have been grubbed out. Additionally their service of intercepting leachate run-off and flood event mitigation protects our water courses, homes, farms and towns."

"That Cork County Council - despite its biodiversity action plan - along with the NPWS (National Parks and Wildlife Service), EPA and other statutory agencies charged with the guardianship of our hedgerows, continue to relegate to wholly untrained Hedge-cutting Contractors the so called management of our county's single most important ecological feature is ethically depraved."

The leaflet mentions the importance of allowing hedges to flower and fruit as a food source. Mr Cooke added: "Our bee-keepers well know the value of Hawthorn and Blackberry blossom to their bees, more-so their protein-rich pollen. As Mrs Harding of Cork said in 1990:

'How the town dweller longs for countryside blooming
And dreams of green meadows and by-ways o'ergrown
And summer airs laden with the perfume of flowers
Where songbirds sing loud and our honeybees roam'


"This re-emerging potential honey industry in the city and countryside is predicated on wisely managed hedgerows - Macroom Environmental Group's advice to both town dwellers and farmers is honour the provisions of the Wildlife Act and EU Birds Directive and plan to avoid disrupting nature from March 1st to August 31st."

The leaflet singles out EU farm payment criteria as a driver for land clearing.

Mr Cooke said: "The Macroom and District Environmental Group will continue to campaign and highlight the glaring conflict between the criteria of the EU Basic Farm Payment scheme and the provisions of the EU Birds Directive - that protects all birds in the wild state during each stage of their life-cycle.

"This conflict arises because the Basic Farm Payment scheme rewards land owners per acre of cultivated land, and while GLAS (formerly REPS) purports to reward retention of woodland and scrub features, the fiscal attraction of the Basic Farm Payment scheme drives the annexation of wild space. Additionally the government Harvest 2020 strategy that aims to increase milk production by 50% - and now the so called Food Wise 2025 Vision - is profoundly at odds with the absolute requirement that every human being supports natures recovery. Progressive overstocking of the national herd together with the so called 'wildfires' - themselves driven by the EU Basic Farm Payment criteria - now pose the greatest threat to Irish Wildlife at this time. Even the short term economic precarity of this strategy has been shown up by the current fodder crisis."

Reflecting on the one year anniversary of the burning of Gougane Barra Mr Cooke said: "Group members acknowledge Guagane Barra Hotel for providing us with the picture included in the leaflet of the incineration of our iconic Gougane Barra - the county's best loved site of pilgrimage and veneration".

"We reject the use of the term 'wildfires' - like Global Warming, the torching of our uplands is man-made. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is currently running at 403ppm (parts per million) - unbridled burning of our uplands, themselves major carbon sinks will very likely and finally break the climatic thermostat."

Mr Cooke concluded: "We humbly but loudly call for an awakening - within individuals and local communities as the primary stakeholders - and within our statutory agencies, to observe and implement our existing wildlife protection legislation. It is as clear as day that the criteria, the indicators and the verifiers underlying the policies both within the Food Harvest 2025 Vision and the EU farm payment scheme are inherently and dangerously unsustainable, and it is high time for policies that embody the concept of sustainability as defined at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit - to which the Irish State is a signatory - which says that sustainable development is measured by the health or otherwise of biodiversity at the local, regional, and global level." [3]

Copies of Protecting Wildlife in Ireland from Hedge Cutting and Gorse Burning are available free of charge in Macroom library and can also be viewed online, downloaded, printed. [4]

ENDS

For more information contact:
Ted Cooke: 0868789891

Links
[1] Article on Gougane Fire: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/fire....html
[2] The 1976 Wildlife Act: http://revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/1976/act/39/section.../html
[3] The Rio Earth Summit Declaration: https://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1ann...1.htm
[4] Protecting Wildlife in Ireland from Hedge Cutting and Gorse Burning leaflet: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/106572

Related Link: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/106572

Inside
Inside

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