Simon Gray

@protexblue.bsky.social

2010 Followers 469 Following

Part-time philosopher & historian. Full-time Student Adviser at University College Dublin. 🇮🇪 Blogger 🖊 / Podcaster 🎤 Husband, brother, playlist-&-bad-jokes lover (he/him; all views my own)

Two frames from an episode of the Simpsons show Homer talking to two colleagues. An imagined monologue by Homer is overlaid: "It was about this guy Odysseus and this incredible odyssey he undertook to get home. Every decision he made, made the odyssey longer. And on this odyssey, all these strange things happened to him. I think it was called 'the man who couldn't get home.'"
A still from "The Simpsons" shows Rainier Wolfcastle (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenneger) bending over and looking at his shoes. Not included is his line spoken aloud: "On closer inspection, these are loafers."
A collage where a number of past U.S. presidents and their pets (all in black and white) contrasts with Donald Trump and members of his cabinet (in colour, no dogs).
A road sign warns of a 10% downward inclination.
A traditional-style Chinese painting shows a bearded man, Mencius, reclining in robes on a chair with a book propped up.
The photo shows the cover of a book: "Trump and Me" by Mark Singer
A can of beer stands beside a glass filled with its contents.
An illustrated robot sits with its arms around its knees. We see it side-on and it is looking up to the top right corner. Behind it is a reddish sky and a series of undefined structures.
The picture shows a book called "The Oral History Reader"
A cover of an old version of Friedrich Hayek's book "The Road to Serfdom".
A black and white photo of Steve McQueen behind the wheel of a Mustang in "Bullitt" (1968)
A bar chart shows the returns from Ireland's 2025 presidential election. Catherine Connolly earned 63.9%; Heather Humphreys 28.8%; Jim Gavin 7.2%
In the midst of an crowd of Trump supporters, a woman holds up a sign saying "Drain the Swamp"
Beside a text in which Friedrich Hayek offers his idea that the electoral representation be confined to candidates of middle age, a handwritten note in the margin says, "Elitist crap!"
Beside a red and white 440ml can sits a glass of its contents: a dark red beer in a glass.
A photo from a concert by Father John Misty in Dublin.
An undated image of a Magdalene laundry, early 20th century. On either side of a mechanical wrangler stand young women in smocks, and a priest.
Algerian-French philosopher Albert Camus.
Signatories to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
The image shows a "flying column" of the Irish Republican Army -- a mobile guerilla unit, circa 1920.
The image shows the neoclassical General Post Office in Dublin, a black-and-white photo taken in 1946.
A man sits in profile, facing the left hand side of the image. He is leaning against a rough wall on a cobbled street. His legs are crossed and he is reading.
A copy of Elizabeth Anderson's book "Value in Ethics and Economics" sits in a table in the foreground and, behind it, there is a French garden with gravel path and branches hanging overhead.
The cover of Andrew O'Hagan's novel, "Caledonian Road"
The image shows a man standing in front of the grave of Algerian philosopher Albert Camus.
The Pont du Gard, a massive Roman aqueduct towering over the Gardon river in south France.
A picture of a can of beer (Dot Brew's Cold IPA) beside a glass containing said beer.
A screengrab of the BlueSky account of the so-called "Nation and Homeland Party"
A print version of the Financial Times which claims (due to an editorial error) that property damage, in this case perpetrated by Palestine Action, constitutes terrorism.
The image is an artwork showing a US flag. From the top left a hand cuts across it revealing a swastika beneath.
The photo shows Simon Gray (Student Adviser at UCD) speaking near a screen displaying information about the Collaborate 2025 conference at Munster Technological University.
2 speakers stand in front of a slide entitled "Defining Problems to Reveal Purpose [of a project]"
A slide titled "Challenges for (Student) Advisors" includes multi-cultural needs, workload and student attention spans.
A screen announces the opening of the 2025 Collaborate conference ("Working Together for Student Success"). The conference is taking place in Munster Technological University and is run by Student Affairs Ireland, NASPA and EuCA.
Homer Simpson is wearing an ICE uniform and saying to Marge Simpson, "The army said I was too heavy. The police said I was too dumb."
The photo shows an old, battered copy of Albert Camus's book "The Rebel"
A paragraph of text written by philosopher Emmanuel Levinas about his own intellectual history. The last sentence reads: "It is dominated by the presentiment and the memory of the Nazi horror."
The image is a photo of a book: "Key Philosophical Writings" by Rene Descartes (an edition by Wordsworth Classkcs of World Literature)
The image shows a glass of caramel-coloured beer with a can beside it.
The image is a banner for The Missives' blog and podcast. It shows Jodie Foster in the movie Contact listening on headphones with a satellite array behind her.
A slide from a presentation about equality, diversity and inclusion. The slide contains information about the philosophical roots of EDI.
A headline from RTE News in Ireland says, "Flute teacher appeals ruling he wasn't a whistleblower."
A photo of the front cover of history book "Killing Thatcher" by Rory Carroll.
The image shows a Facebook post from Fox News announcing an "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter. The headline featured in the story reports on a protest at a graduation ceremony and the unrelated image of Elias Rodriguez being arrested after two Israeli staff were shot dead in Washington DC.
Jo Littler gives a lecture about inequality; behind her is a slide featuring highlights from her book "Against Meritocracy"
A glass of amber beer stands beside the can it came from.
A screengrab from the BBC News website shows a picture where the numbers 8647 are spelled out with sea-shells on sand. Below the picture is a headline: "Ex-FBI boss interview by Secret Service over Trump seashell post." A sub-headline continues, "Trump accused [James] Comey of using the seashells to incite the presidence's assassination 'loud and clear'".
Jodie Foster plays Ellie in the movie Contact, standing on a shimmering beach.
Jodie Foster, playing Ellie in the movie "Contact", sits in the foreground with a large set of headphones. She is listening intently. Behind her is an array of satellites.
An image of astronomer Carl Sagan is superimposed against a night-sky image.
A scene from the movie "Arrival", in which the main character stands between two heptapod aliens in a smoky grey scene.
A post from Fox News shows Donald Trump smiling and pointing to fans off-camera while standing in front of a partially-obscured USA flag. A caption quotes Trump: "A year ago, we were laughed at. But nobody's laughing at our country anymore. We're the most respected country anywhere in the world."
A parody of Donald Trump, played by Joe Pesci on Sesame Street in 1994.
A Fox News story on Facebook declares Donald Trump's intention to re-open Alcatraz, AKA The Rock.
A bust of Marcus Licinius Crassus
A map of the Italian peninsula shows, in various coloured arrows, the movements of Spartacus's Servile Army and the Roman legions which pursued them, and where the legions were ultimately defeated.
A meme from the Simpsons