Daragh Ó Briain

@daraghobrien

Flumping along in the world of data since Long Ago. Posts as @castlebridge-chief here & on Mastodon at CEO @ Castlebridge.ie. Doctoral candidate at UL looking at #DataGovernance. Author of several books on data stuff.

170 Following1,451 Followers1,937 Posts

Bluesky

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Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Jun 13

Over a long career I have had the honour and good fortune to become friends with some of the pioneer experts in my field, some of whom went on to do other exciting things. So when one of them,who I hadn’t seen for some time, invited me to a social meet up I got myself to France to sit and chillax.

Photograph of a sleepy French village square with deep blue sky.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· May 20

Quote with a fictional band that is not Spinal Tap

The Rutles: All you need is cash movie poster

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· May 17

One of the benefits of my company’s environmental policies is that for some conferences I go to I travel by boat and can take the (electric) car. That means I can spend my decompressing time doing something I enjoy…

A fender ukelele and a red sunburst Epiphone dove on a chair in a hotel room

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Apr 28

#DataQuality matters. Paying off a reservation for a family holiday. The math isn’t mathing here and it’s now *impossible* to may a card payment because apparently @irishferries.bsky.social owes me money now(?!??) Saving screenshot for future use in training.

Screenshot of payment summary webpage for travel booking. The page lists Total Cost = €710, two card payments totalling €410, leaving a balance of €300. Below that a “Balance Payable” figure is displayed: €-110. Below that the option for card payments totalling shows €0.00 as the amount payable.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Apr 21

I resemble those remarks.

Space marine from Warhammer 40k drinking from a polkadot patterned coffee mug. Caption : “Heresy? At this hour?”

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Feb 23

But before that…

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Feb 23

No cheating, your last saved pic of a celebrity is your therapist.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Feb 9

So, it appears Amazon have flagged the content for “maintenance” with no reason or fix date given. Perhaps the licensing fee for Paramount content is what paid for the Melamine movie. I am curious if it is a wider issue or just Ireland or just gingers or just me.

Screenshot of chat with Amazon support:

There were multiple reports the last time I reported it. It has been a known issue for several days.
Reece | Customer Service
Content has been flagged for maintenance. No specific reason has been given.
When it will be released, no date given.
Personally and to my knowledge! believe the only time l've even seen this flag with no date is when Amazon is in talks with the Production company of content viewing on our website.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Feb 9

Is anyone else in Ireland getting this error message when trying to watch Star Trek stuff on Amazon Prime (yes I know.. but) Affecting some other Trek titles as well. Raised it with support and got an interesting explanation.

Screen shot of Star Trek Academy on Amazon Prime showing “This video is currently unavailable” error message

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Feb 6

Apparently the titles are “flagged for maintenance” with no date for release. Only time support have seen this is when production companies are in negotiations with Amazon. (Cc @adrianweckler.bsky.social)

Screenshot of support chat with Amazon where support staffer explains that the only time they have seen shows blocked by being put into “maintenance” with no date is when production companies are in talks with Amazon.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Jan 12

The moment @paulbernal.bsky.social won the Internet for the month of January. Irish politicians might want to consider this for reach and responsiveness.

Screenshot of a thread of skeets.
Paul Bernal asks if a reference in an American recipe to “Dutch Oven” means something like a Le Creuset pot.
9 minutes later famous cookery writer Nigella Lawson responds “Yes”.
Paul responds: “Thanks! I thought so…”

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Nov 24

A movie that takes place where I am from.. Well.. around the corner from where I am from (literally).

Movie poster for “The Van”, the third in the “Barrytown” trilogy.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Nov 23

In the year of our Lord 1806 We set sail from the coal quay of Cork. We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks For the grand City Hall in New York.

Pope Leo standing at a microphone with one hand to his left ear.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Oct 21

Who is solving the Louvre robbery? Right answers only. If @tupped.bsky.social is up for it.. one of Dublin’s unsung literary heroes.

Screenshot of a green book cover.
The book is “McGarr and the Method of Descartes” by Bartholomew Gill.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Oct 21

Oh look. Here’s another example of someone who appears to have two different views on things (24hrs apart) because their work requires it.

Screenshot of Fionnan Sheehan’s article in Irish Independent 21st October 2025 headline: “Don’t mention the banks –the left is unified in ignoring Catherine Connolly’s repossession cases”

Screenshot of Fionnán Sheehan article in Irish Independent 20th October 2025. Headline: “Catherine Connolly was right to represent banks in home repossessions”

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Oct 8

Looking at #Amazon to get a copy of the #DataEthics book I co-authored with Katherine O’Keefe. Almost €20 in the difference. For the same book.

Photo of Amazon.ie listing for “Data Ethics” by O’Keefe and O Brien. Price is €66.03.

Photo of Amazon.co.uk listing for “Data Ethics”. Price is €46.10

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Sep 14

Coddle for the win on a wet and windy day when I have a whack of lurgy.

Photo of home made coddle in a white bowl. Coddle is bacon chunks, sausages, carrots and onions slow cooked in a vegetable stock. Broth is yellow, possibly due to the heretical addition of Dijon mustard to the mix during the slow cooking.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Sep 9

So, whenever I see people saying ChatGPT said a thing, I always wonder what the prompt was.

Goose chasing man meme.
Top caption: “what was the prompt you used to get that result in ChatGPT”
Bottom caption: “show us the prompt mother fucker!!”

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Jun 29

I am skeptical. Apparently I transcend arbitrary (US defined) class boundaries.

A radial chart showing pseudoscience findings about social class based on food preferences.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Apr 30

Haven’t we all at some stage.

Screenshot of Withnail and I standing in rain looking miserable. The caption is “we appear to have accidentally gone to Cavan”

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Mar 24

#Starbug

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Feb 12

Is it wrong that I am saving screenshots of AllWrong Mosk’s discussions of US Government data to use as illustrations of why fundamentals of data management are now core skills for executives in all industries?

Screenshot of Twitter exchange where AllWrong Mosk abuses a commenter for thinking the US govt uses SQL, the basic query language for relational databases. AllWrong’s original post declares massive duplication of Social Security Numbers. Which might be perfectly valid in several circumstances in a relational database if SSN is a foreign key.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Feb 9

But when they seem to lack even basic knowledge of relational database theory that technical conversation starts wrong and gets worse fast.

Screen shot of Bluesky post commenting on Mike Lee and Elon posts on X claiming that there are duplicate social security entries which they claim is a clear indicator of fraud but is more likely foreign key relationships in database tables or transactional data using SSN as a surrogate key. But certainly not evidence of fraud.

Daragh Ó Briain@daraghobrien· Dec 28

So, DPC complaint under SI336/2011 filed. I think an argument can be made that s9 of SI336/2011 applies to location data of connected EV’s as they are mobile phones on wheels. (Right down to the SIM card and the need to plug them in to recharge). VW statements have said that data pseudonymised.