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Building Momentum

Posted in Biographical, Maynooth, Politics with tags , , on September 29, 2022 by telescoper

There may be no longer be any momentum in the direction of building a new Student Centre at Maynooth, but over the last few days I’ve been studying the details of the review of the “Building Momentum” pay proposal for public services employees over the next couple of years. The proposal has been put to a ballot of members of various public sector unions, including the one to which I belong, the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT).

Unlike what happens in the United Kingdom, there is a single agreement covering all public sector workers and the unions that represent them and, also unlike the United Kingdom, University staff are treated as public sector employees, rather like civil servants. We are all members of the same pension scheme too, also unlike the UK.

Back in August, there was talk of industrial action over the inadequacy of the Government’s existing offer given the recent increases in the cost of living, but the ballot on that was suspended to allow voting on the revised offer that emerged from a review, perhaps in response to union pressure. As IFUT explained,

Arising from this review a set of proposals were agreed in August which include additional pay increases for members in 2022 and increases in 2023.  When the additional increases are taken into account, members’ pay would increase by a minimum of 9.5% during the period covered by Building Momentum (2021 – 2023).

Although expressing reservations, which I share, IFUT states

After careful consideration and scrutiny of the proposal, and taking into account the views of the membership as expressed by our Council, the Executive Committee advises that IFUT members should vote to accept these proposals.

I would have preferred if a bit more could have been done for University teachers at the lower end of the pay scales but, on balance, together with the cost-of-living measures announced in Tuesday’s budget, I think it’s a reasonable compromise, which will bring some degree of certainty to the financial situation of many people. I have therefore voted to accept the offer.

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The Cancellation of Maynooth’s Student Centre

Posted in Education, Maynooth with tags , , , on September 28, 2022 by telescoper

Here is a promotional video made just two years ago which describes an exciting and much needed new Student Centre at Maynooth University:

According to the Youtube page

This video is the first time we can share with you the vision for our new Student Centre. It gives you an impression of the dedication of MSU and MU in delivering a top-class student experience. We cannot wait to see the physical works begin and we will keep the student body updated as the project progresses.

Well, yesterday the student body was “updated” alright. The project has been abruptly cancelled by the Governing Authority. The reason is

The project has been adversely impacted by rapidly escalating costs, linked to technical construction issues as well as hyperinflation.

Not to be pedantic, the current economic situation in no way corresponds to “hyperinflation” as it is normally defined. However, it is true that costs are increasing especially in the construction industry and this will have put pressure on the University Management who took the easy way out by cancelling the project. I believe this to have been a very wrong, and indeed reprehensible, decision.

Students at Maynooth University voted in 2015 to pay a special levy of €150 per year specifically to fund this new Student Centre. Current students, who have just started the new academic year, will have paid this year’s levy – about 14,000 of them. All that money taken from students (many of whom struggled to afford it) has now been written off. Not surprisingly students feel that they have been fleeced. I say “not surprisingly” because they undoubtedly have been. It’s a scandal and a disgrace.

If you are on Twitter you can see some of the reaction under the hashtag #WheresMyLevy.

Here’s an example:

At very least the amounts collected should be returned. Whether that can be enforced by law is an open question.

The decision to sneak this announcement out while Ireland’s media were preoccupied with yesterday’s budget can have been taken for the purpose of burying it. The story did, however, make it onto the BBC website, and I’m sure the national media will follow. I hope this escalates to the highest levels of Government. I have written to my TD and I’m sure others will do likewise. Universities should not be allowed to treat their students like this.

UPDATE: The story is now on the main RTE News site.

MORE UPDATES: the story is now in the Irish Times, Irish Examiner, and The Journal, to name but three. There has also been lots of radio coverage. Student recruitment is going to be interesting this year...

The sum that has been wasted on this project in consultancy and architect fees up to now is so far undisclosed by Maynooth University, but I’m sure a Freedom of Information request will reveal it…

I’m afraid the decision to terminate the Student Centre is symptomatic of the current management of Maynooth University, which seems to think of students as mere commodity, and academic staff as a insubordinate servants. I could write about other reprehensible failures of governance here, but will refrain from doing so until proper procedures have been completed. Suffice to say that there’s a struggle going on for the soul of this institution, and at the moment it’s not going well.

I know this radical suggestion may prove controversial, but perhaps if university managements really want to get the best out of their staff and students then maybe they shouldn’t treat them like shit all the time?

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Phone Matters

Posted in Biographical, Maynooth on September 27, 2022 by telescoper

Yesterday I managed to smash my mobile phone. It had been on the blink for some time because the screen was coming loose from the body of the phone, but it still worked OK. Yesterday however I managed to drop it on the floor whereupon it fell to bits and died. I took it to a local repair shop to ask if they could fix it. The guy there shook his head sadly and said it would cost €250 to repair. Since it was 5 years old anyway, I thought it was best just to buy a new phone, which I did, for about €350 (complete with screen protector).

It was even a struggle to get the SIM card out of the wrecked phone because the frame that holds it had twisted. In the end I managed. The new device therefore has the same phone number as the old one. It would have been a pain to have had to change that!

Dead Phone Society

I found it quite scary to realize how much I depend on my smartphone. Not only does it have apps for private things, such as banking and social media, but I also need it to authenticate access to work things from home as these have multi-factor authentication (MFA) that requires an app.

I was able to recover most things fairly straightforwardly but I still haven’t got the authenticator to work. I’ll probably have to take a trip to IT services to get that sorted.

On the bright side I managed to get the new phone to connect to eduroam, something my old phone never did…

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Exploring the Cosmos at Maynooth

Posted in Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , on September 26, 2022 by telescoper

I’ve had a very busy day so far, what with giving my first lecture to the first-year Mathematical Physics students accidentally smashing my phone then buying a new one and trying to reinstall various necessary apps on it and now having a Euclid telecon, that all I have time to do now is post an advertisement for a special event on Maynooth Campus next Thursday (6th October) called Exploring the cosmos: from Exoplanets to Black Holes. As you will see, the title really on describes the first half. Here is the official blurb:

On the 6th of October, at 6.30pm, in the TSI Building Maynooth University will host an all-ages event to explore the vastness of space. Using stunning visualisations Maynooth University Astrophysicists will examine star and planet formation, peer back in time with our physicists trying to image the very edges of our visible universe, and take a journey into the unknown as we trace the origin and evolution of black holes.

Programme:

18.30 Welcome

18.35: Emma Whelan: “Planet Hunting: How Maynooth University Astronomers are Searching for New Worlds”.

As of this month over 5000 exoplanets or new worlds have been discovered orbiting far flung stars millions of light years away from us. Emma will explore the hunt for exoplanets – planets outside our own solar system – and what scientists can learn about them. Emma will take you on a behind the scenes tour of the techniques astronomers use for finding new planets and the new insights astronomers hope the James Webb Space Telescope will bring.

18.55: John Regan: “Black Holes in Our Universe”

Black Holes are among the most exotic objects in our Universe. In this talk John will discuss the basics of black hole formation, how we can detect them today and the future of black hole hunting using gravitational wave observatories that Maynooth University is a part of. John will also discuss some of the strange effects you might encounter near a black hole – like time slowing down!

19.15: Tea & Coffee Break

19.45: Creidhe O’Sullivan: “Observations of the early Universe”

Creidhe will take us back to the origins of our universe. In her talk she will show you how scientists observe The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) – a specific type of radiation left over from the Big Bang – and what it can tell us about the early Universe and its formation. Creidhe will also take us close to home and talk about the experiments that Maynooth University are involved with to observe the CMB.

20.05: Peter Coles: “The Cosmic Web”

Peter’s talk will focus on the large scale structure of the Universe and the ideas that physicists are weaving together to explain how it came to be the way it is. Over the last few decades astronomers have revealed that our cosmos is not only vast in scale – at least 14 billion light years in radius – but also exceedingly complex, with galaxies and clusters of galaxies linked together in a cosmic web of immense chains and sheets, surrounding giant voids of empty space. Cosmologists have developed theoretical explanations for its origin that involve exotic concepts such as dark matter and dark energy, producing a cosmic web of ideas that is in many ways as rich and fascinating as the Universe itself. Peter will also discuss the Euclid mission – a large ESA mission to map the geometry of the Universe and better understand the mysterious dark matter and dark energy, which make up most of the energy budget of the cosmos. Peter is involved in the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission.

20.30: Finish

It should be a fun evening. After two years of being restricted to online events it’s nice to be able to do public talks like this in person. If you’re around please come along. The event is free but you need to register, which you can do here.

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Five Million Views in the Dark

Posted in Uncategorized on September 25, 2022 by telescoper

I just finished writing my notes for next week’s lectures and checked the blog statistics to discover that there have now been over 5,000,000 visits to this website. It’s been just over 14 years since I started blogging so that is about 360,000 hits per year on average, or just under 1000 a day. The actual daily figure varies considerably of course. It’s also worth mentioning that the number of distinct visitors is somewhat lower (just under 2 million). That means on average visitors come here about 2.5 times. On the other hand the visitor statistic probably overcounts because people may use different devices to access this site. Such details may matter to people who want to sell advertising, etc, but not to me.

I’m sure there are many blogs that get much more traffic than this one but I’m glad so many people have found things of interest here over the years, so thank you all for coming!

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R.I.P. Pharaoh Sanders (1940-2022)

Posted in Jazz, R.I.P. with tags , , on September 25, 2022 by telescoper

Yesterday I heard the sad news that yet another legendary jazz musician – the tenor saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders – has passed away at the age of 81. As well as having one of the iconic beards of jazz, he had a unique and instantly recognizable style on tenor sax, heavily influenced by African and Asian music, sometimes involving raucous flurries of notes, sometimes overblowing, biting the reed or growling into the horn to achieve unusual effects, and sometimes playing with a contemplative lyricism evoking a deep sense of spirituality.

Pharaoh Sanders began his recording career in the 1960s with John Coltrane on the great albums Ascension and Meditation. His playing then was avant-garde free jazz somewhat reminiscent of Albert Ayler but with a strong influence of Coltrane whom he influenced in return. Later on he embraced wider influences, including electronic instruments, as exemplified by the album Thembi. Later he moved away from free jazz improvisation to more traditional approaches. His recorded output decreased from the end of the 1980s but he carried on touring extensively and still creating wonderful music.

I’ve had the great privilege to hear Pharaoh Sanders play live on a number of occasions and he was terrific every time. He played at the National Concert Hall in Dublin just a few years ago but I was unable to make it to the concert.

I’ve been listening to Pharaoh Sanders tracks all morning to remind myself what a great musician he was. Out of all the superb tracks I could have picked going back to the mid-60s I picked this one, from the 1987 album Africa which I think exemplifies his later style very well. The track is You’ve got to have freedom:

P.S. You might be interested to know that the drummer on this track, Idris Muhammed, also played the drums on Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill way back in 1956…

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Launchpad Saturday

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , on September 24, 2022 by telescoper

Just a quick note to say that this afternoon I attended today’s Launchpad event organized by Maynooth Access Programme (MAP) on Maynooth University Campus for a panel discussion. Launchpad is orientation designed to support and ease the transition to third level for students who are coming to Maynooth University through entry routes supported by MAP (the Mature Student Entry Route, the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR), the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE), Turn to Teaching Progressed, QQI entry, or new students with a disability). 

The panel discussion I took part in was called Do I Belong Here? The answer, at least initially, was “no” because I went to the wrong room. I blame that on the fact I was wearing my new glasses. When I did make my way to the correct lecture theatre the discussion involved people from diverse backgrounds who have experience of finding their place at university and how to make a valuable contribution by retaining their identity and getting involved with opportunities and activities. I think it went reasonably well, and I enjoyed having the chance to chat to students afterwards in the foyer of the new TSI building.

On the way home afterwards I discovered that my local supermarket is selling bottles of Barolo at half price, so I bought one to have with my dinner which now beckons!

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Can you help find Tom Marsh?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on September 23, 2022 by telescoper

Yesterday I heard the worrying news that astronomer Professor Tom Marsh of Warwick University (UK) went missing on 16th September 2022 while on an observing trip at the European Southern Observatory facility in La Silla, Chile. Despite extensive searches over the last week he has not yet been found.

I know it’s a long shot but I’m posting this here in the hope that somebody somewhere might have information about his whereabouts.

There is also a statement from ESO here with further details

Marsh is described as white, about 192 cm in height, with balding grey hair and a beard. He is likely to be wearing a blue rain jacket, walking boots and a grey woollen hat. 

Please forward this as widely as possible!

UPDATE: 11/11/2022. Sadly, almost two months after being reported missing, the body of Tom Marsh has now been found. The cause of death has not yet been announced.

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Autumnal Equinox 2022

Posted in Biographical, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags on September 22, 2022 by telescoper

It’s almost that time of year again. The Autumnal Equinox (in the Northern hemisphere) takes place in the early hours of tomorrow morning (Friday 23nd September 2022)  at 02.04 Irish Summer Time (01.04 UT). That is way past my bedtime so I thought I’d post this a few hours early.

Although  the term `equinox’  refers to a situation in which day and night are of equal length, which implies that it’s a day rather than a specific time, the astronomical equinox is more accurately defined by a specific event, i.e. when the plane defined by Earth’s equator passes through the centre of the Sun’s disk (or, if you prefer, when the centre of the Sun passes through the plane defined by Earth’s equator). Day and night are not necessarily exactly equal on the equinox, but they’re the closest they get. From now on days in the Northern hemisphere will be shorter than nights and they’ll get shorter still until the Winter Solstice on 21st December at 21.48 Irish Time.

Many people take the autumnal equinox to be the end of summer. There is a saying around these parts, however, that `Summer is Summer to Michaelmas Day’ (September 29th), which is not until next week. I must say, though, though it doesn’t feel particularly summery today.

Anyway, this is Welcome Week in Maynooth and we’re due to start teaching first year students next week, on Monday 26th September. It seems to be a bumper year for our intake, with 113 so far registered. That’s more than we’ve had in the 1st year since I arrived here. Returning students commenced on Monday 19th. I already gave my first lecture on Vector Calculus and Fourier Series to this class yesterday; I have another with them tomorrow. We have about the same number of students in Year 2 this year as we had last year.

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Second Booster

Posted in Biographical, Covid-19 with tags , , , , on September 22, 2022 by telescoper

Today I took a trip out to Punchestown Racecourse for my second Covid-19 booster jab. The possibility of booking one of these opened up for my age group (55+) a few weeks ago and I booked one straightaway, but I was advised to postpone it because of a mystery ailment. That now having cleared up I decided to have it done today, ahead of the full start of teaching next week. In the meantime the booster process has been opened up to mere youngsters (50+) but it was easy to get an appointment.

As far as I know I have ever caught Covid-19, but I thought it wise not to take any chances with the new influx of students and the possibility of increased infection levels. My first booster was on 15th December 2021, so protection is likely to have waned considerably since then. As you can see, new cases have been falling recently in Ireland but the level of new infections (7-day average around 230 per day) is still quite high:

My previous jabs were at City West so I was a little surprised when I registered for my second booster that I was directed to Punchestown. It’s about the same distance from Maynooth to either venue, though, and when I got to the racecourse it was very quiet and I was in and out within half an hour (half of which was the 15 minute “recovery” period). The racecourse – used for steeplechases – is heaving at the time of the annual Punchestown Festival, but fortunately I didn’t have to dodge either crowds or horses, though it was raining heavily.

This time I had the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (“Comirnaty”), same as my two original shots; my first booster was of the Moderna (“SpikeVax”) variety.

I’ll be working from home this afternoon in case of problems (though I didn’t experience any serious issues with previous jabs). My next lecture is at 11am tomorrow (Friday) so I should be fine by then even if I experience any side-effects this afternoon.

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