Latest news with #Volcano
RTÉ News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
10 must-see events at Galway Arts Festival 2025
John Crumlish, Chief Executive of the Galway International Arts Festival, picks his own 10 must-sees at the 2025 edition of the west coast arts extravaganza, which runs from July 14th - 27th. In a festival like the Galway International Arts Festival, with so many great acts, productions, exhibitions and installations it makes it difficult to choose just ten from the large programme we will bring to our audiences this summer – but, gun to my head, here's my ten. 1. I am going to start with a dance/theatre world premiere called Scorched Earth created by the wonderful Luke Murphy. Luke premiered his previous production Volcano at the Festival and it was a great success, it subsequently went on to win Best Production at the Irish Times Theatre Awards. Scorched Earth is part crime-drama, part psychological thriller, part theatre, part dance, and no doubt will be another triumph for this very talented Corkman. 2. In the Heineken Big Top we will be presenting twelve great concerts, everything from Sophie Ellis Bextor to Mogwai, but here I choose The RTE Concert Orchestra with Mari Samuelson, performing a programme of work by contemporary composers including Arvo Part and Bryce Dessner from The National. For me, most importantly, the programme will include a performance of Max Richter's fabulous reimaging of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. A real treat on the very last day of GIAF 2025. 3. For the first time ever, we will have a second Big Top running throughout the Festival which will be located in the Claddagh. There we will be presenting Sabotage by NoFitState. a big visual physical spectacle full of unforgettable moments. 4. We also have a festival first with an underwater world premiere, Oh... by Mikel Murfi, set in the main tank of the Galway Atlantaquaria. 5. Another world premiere, this time from Irish National Opera. Mars, is based around four astronauts and their AI interface's journey to, and exploration of, the red planet. 6. Celebrating their 50th birthday, the marvellous Druid theatre company present new productions of Macbeth and Riders to the Sea. Happy Birthday Druid! 7. in recent years, GIAF has brought a strong sustainability focus to what it does and there are several exhibitions and installations in the 2025 programme dealing with aspects of the environmental and climate crisis including John Connelly and Conor Maloney's innovative installation, Funeral for Ashes, which pays tribute to the ash tree and deals with the terrible dieback it is facing. 8. David Mach returns to Galway with a large-scale site-specific installation called Burning Down the House. David's previous work at GIAF provided one of the biggest gallery attendances we ever had and I would predict this work will also prove to be hugely popular. 9. We also pay tribute to Micheal D Higgins as his presidency comes to an end with both an outdoor and indoor photographic exhibition at Galway City Museum celebrating his life and work. 10. In our First Thought talks series, we will, as usual, cover a range of topics including the relationship between autism and talent, the war in Ukraine, the crisis facing rural GAA clubs, conspiracy theories and misinformation, amongst others. One to look out for is the talk with photographer Eman Mohammed discussing her work which focuses on the terrible destruction of Gaza (Eman also has an exhibition of her work in the festival on the subject). So that's my ten... I could have picked a totally different ten, and if you come to the Festival this July you can decide whether I am right or wrong in my picks. See you in Galway!
South Wales Guardian
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Ben Miller to perform comedy show at Ammanford theatre
The NYC-based scientist-turned-comedian will bring his show, Volcano, to the theatre on September 13, at 8pm. Mr Miller, who was the first ever stand-up comedian to be selected as the artist in residence at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, will share his unique experiences from this 'terrible idea' in his performance. The show will explore a range of topics, including volcanology, entomology, Hawaiian history, and more. Mr Miller has performed at top comedy venues in New York City, such as Broadway Comedy Club, Carolines, and The Stand. He has a wide range of experience, from being ranked as the top roast battler in NYC to successfully diffusing bar fights while on stage. Mr Miller also boasts a degree in Materials Science and Engineering. His debut hour, Stand-Up Science, was a complete sell-out at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now touring internationally, Mr Miller's shows are recommended for ages 18 and over. Tickets for his Ammanford performance are priced at £15.50.
Scroll.in
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
‘Volcano': Eunice de Souza's poems invite deeper reflections despite their seemingly light surfaces
The first poem in Volcano, Eunice de Souza's collected poems, 'Catholic Mother', which appeared in her debut collection, Fix, lands like a quiet but devastating punch. Its brevity doesn't dilute its force. Instead, de Souza uses silence and subtlety to deliver a critique more potent than rhetoric. In 'Marriages Are Made', she lays out a cynical checklist for what constitutes a 'marriageable' woman, and the loaded title does not escape notice. 'Feeding the Poor at Christmas' and 'Sweet Sixteen' are fine examples of how she wields humour as both shield and sword. I recall reading 'Sweet Sixteen' a few years ago and marvelling at how de Souza turned adolescent innocence on its head, skewering societal expectations with piercing wit. Her endings, often abrupt, are like trapdoors – pulling the reader into deeper reflections beneath seemingly light surfaces. Fierce satire In 'Idyll,' barely 17 lines long, de Souza writes, 'When Goa was Goa / my grandfather says / the bandits came / over the mountains / to our village / only to splash / in cool springs / and visit Our Lady's Chapel.' This poem was published at a time when Goa was still a Union Territory. In his Introduction, Vidyan Ravinthiran writes that de Souza doesn't repeat but frames (critiques, palpates both diagnostically and cherishingly) the structure of anecdote. He goes on to explain how the word 'idyll' was originally, returning to Theocritus – not a pastoral heaven, but a poem about such a place, a literary genre. He draws attention to how another voice rises, ironical, impatient with the rose-tinting of the past, and serves as a resistance to the present mode, a mode of disapproval. In the poem, 'Mrs Hermione Gonsalves', through the monologue of a woman obsessed with her fading beauty and her dark-skinned husband, de Souza paints a portrait of racial and class prejudice. The poem's closing, almost comic in tone – where women flee from the sight of Mr Gonsalves, thinking the devil himself had arrived – is satire in its most unrepentant form. De Souza seeks neither sanction nor sympathy; her satire stands independent, fierce, and undiluted. We mustn't forget that, teaching as she did in Bombay University as early as 1969, de Souza occupied a unique space in a transforming India – one where educated, working women still had to navigate deeply entrenched patriarchal norms. In the poem 'My Students', she addresses this with characteristic humour. Ravinthiran observes how even his own students at Harvard University found her voice startlingly fresh and contemporary, despite its decades-old origins. Her poems repeatedly challenge religious piety and passive femininity. In 'Bequest', she turns the lens inward, revealing her vulnerability. She longs to be a 'wise woman,' smiling endlessly and emptily like a plastic flower. In all candour, she suggests that self-love must become an act of radical charity – bequeathing one's heart like a spare kidney, even to an enemy. The poem's startling self-awareness points to the deeper struggle: the real enemy is often within, and the absolution lies in confronting ourselves honestly. Unsentimental and pragmatic This leads one to question: Can de Souza's work be classified as confessional poetry? While I am against reading a poet's work as autobiography, it's difficult to ignore how her poems draw from fiercely individual insights. In the poem 'Advice to Women', one reads, 'Keep Cats / if you want to learn to cope with / the otherness of lovers. Otherness is not always neglect / Cats return to their litter trays / when they need to.' Stripped down of any emotional drama, this poem in its sane voice says how 'the stare of perpetual surprise / in those great green eyes / will teach you / to die alone.' One encounters her refusal to sentimentalise or philosophise unnecessarily. 'Forms without ache are futile,' she states in 'Otherness/Wise', quoting a painter friend, before admitting she'd rather it weren't so. The hard-to-miss image of de Souza, whom I have known only through her poems, is that of her gazing long to the light beyond the window, a parrot perched on her head. Therefore, a particularly vivid memory is piqued, reading her 2011 poem, 'Pahari Parrots' where, 'At the sight of Campari the parrots make / little weak-kneed noises / Toth pulls the glass one way / Tothi the other/both hang on when I pull / It's a regular bar-room brawl.' This balance between detachment and empathy, irony and affection, is what sets her poetry apart. Even in the face of loss and mortality, de Souza resists sentimentality. In 'Mid-Sentence', she peels down language to its core: 'Finis. Kaput. Dead.' It is blunt, almost jarring in its simplicity, particularly within the landscape of Indian English poetry, where death is often draped in spiritual abstraction. In 'My Mother Feared Death', she writes: 'Alive or dead, mothers are troubling / Mine came back and said, 'I'm lonely.'' It's an honest, unsentimental recognition of grief – painful, yes, but also clear-eyed and unsparing. Reading de Souza's poems is also deeply personal, reminding me of the conversations with my atheist father, who with his wise humour and sharp sarcasm pierced through pretences. Her poem 'Sacred River' offers a mundane, almost absurdist portrayal of a river visit, far from the ornamental spirituality often associated with prayer rituals at the ghats. One does not miss her empathy for animals. I am yet to come across a pregnant half-starved stray dog in a poem. She deploys language as easily as a shovel when she says 'a white man playing at being a sadhu/ top knot and all,' concluding 'nothing stops faith/ it will be heaven to get out of here.' Few poets have confronted romanticised symbols as bracingly as de Souza. Take, for instance, where she admonishes: 'Koel, stop those cries/ I can't take it this morning/ We'll survive somehow.' The line encapsulates so much of de Souza's ethos: unsentimental, pragmatic, and dryly humorous. Ravinthiran writes that de Souza's poems are essential to him for their tight technique, the speech rhythms in them that never cloy, but mostly for the push-and-pull they evince, outlining piecemeal, a personality pursuing an impracticable equilibrium. Melanie Silgardo, who had known de Souza for more than forty years, first as a student, then publisher and friend, says about de Souza's poems that 'she honed and whittled till she got to the nub of things. Her language was always precise, her cadence colloquial, her punctuation minimal, her ear exact.' Volcano prompts a reflection on the many silences – literary and personal – I've allowed to persist. Eunice de Souza's work doesn't ask for admiration; it demands attention. And in doing so, it reshapes how we think about truth, satire, womanhood, faith, and poetry itself. It is not without reason that one chances upon Arvind Krishna Mehrotra's 'Elegy for E': 'She's dead / you still dial her number / You dial Fix / You dial Dutch Painting / you dial Almond Leaf / It always connects / She always answers / The phone herself / How does she do it / Line after line?'
Daily Mirror
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Major blow to Brits as iconic seaside village admits 'crippling' issue
A tiny but insatiably popular seaside village has revealed a huge shakeup to one of its most beloved attractions, urging Chancellor Rachel Reeves to acknowledge the difficulties it is facing A tiny seaside village has unveiled a major shakeup directly affecting UK holidaymakers, as it confesses to a 'crippling' problem. Renowned for its 3.2-mile-long golden sandy beach, rows of flashing arcades, and stellar fish and chip shops - Ingoldmells is a vibrant, no-thrills resort that has long attracted droves of tourists. Located in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, and just a stone's throw from the popular town of Skegness, this tiny village has one huge attraction: Fantasy Island. The theme park boasts over 30 rides including the stomach-churning Volcano which shoots visitors vertically into the air, as well as the Odyssey and Millennium roller coaster. For younger adrenaline-seekers, the dodgems, Sea Storm, and Rhombus Rocket are great options. Fantasy Island also hosts Europe's largest seven-day market - which sells everything from clothes to cosmetics, and delicious bakery items. "There are so many things to do at Fantasy Island!" the resort states. "Our exhilarating rides and roller coasters will test even the bravest thrill-seekers' nerves, while those looking for something more family-friendly will have plenty to choose from. We have Discovery and Adventure for the thrill seekers and Little Explorer for the little ones." However, in a huge blow for the village - Fantasy Island has confirmed it is reducing its opening hours during the quieter periods, citing industry-wide struggles. According to Lincolnshire Live, the park will now shut its rides on Mondays and Tuesdays outside of the busy summer season, although the market and arcade will remain open daily. A spokesperson from Fantasy Island told the publication: "Whilst our rides remain open every day during the summer, we have made the decision to restrict our opening outside of this peak period. This reflects the challenges currently facing the tourism and hospitality sector. "The recent budget has had a crippling effect - particularly due to increased wage costs, soaring electricity prices, and a broader lack of understanding and support for our industry. This, coupled with growing caution in consumer spending, makes it increasingly difficult to operate sustainably outside peak periods." The spokesperson called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to acknowledge the difficulties that coastal attractions are enduring, emphasising their importance to local economies and job markets. This move follows the recent shakeup to employer national insurance contributions (NIC) which took effect in April. MP for Boston and Skegness, Richard Tice, warned the hospitality and leisure industry in the region is 'dire'. "I've just been with one of the biggest employers in Skegness, they are employing 40 less young people than they were this time last year," he said in a video posted to social media. "The knock-on effect of that for suppliers and the hoteliers, hearing of many more hotels closed, up for sale, theme parks, shut for two days a week to deal with the horrific national insurance increases. I think Rachel Reeves is in for a massive massive shock. The news on the front line in the coastal resorts in Skegness is dire." When approached by the Mirror about Ingoldmell's blow, a government spokesperson for HM Treasury did not explicitly reference the village - but insisted it was a 'pro-business government'. "Economic activity is at a record high with 500,000 more people in employment since we entered office," they said. "We are protecting the smallest businesses from the employer National Insurance rise, shielding 250,000 retail, hospitality and leisure business properties from paying full business rates and have capped corporation tax at 25 per cent - the lowest rate in the G7. We delivered a once-in-a-Parliament budget last year that took necessary decisions on tax to stabilise the public finances and fund public services, including the NHS. We are now focused on creating opportunities for businesses to compete and access the finance they need to scale, export and break into new markets." The Mirror has contacted East Lindsey District Council for comment.
Techday NZ
10-06-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
iFLYTEK wins CNCF award for AI model training with Volcano
iFLYTEK has been named the winner of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation's End User Case Study Contest for advancements in scalable artificial intelligence infrastructure using the Volcano project. The selection recognises iFLYTEK's deployment of Volcano to address operational inefficiencies and resource management issues that arose as the company expanded its AI workloads. iFLYTEK, which specialises in speech and language artificial intelligence, reported experiencing underutilised GPUs, increasingly complex workflows, and competition among teams for resources as its computing demands expanded. These problems resulted in slower development progress and placed additional strain on infrastructure assets. With the implementation of Volcano, iFLYTEK introduced elastic scheduling, directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based workflows, and multi-tenant isolation into its AI model training operations. This transition allowed the business to improve the efficiency of its infrastructure and simplify the management of large-scale training projects. Key operational improvements cited include a significant increase in resource utilisation and reductions in system disruptions. DongJiang, Senior Platform Architect at iFLYTEK, said, "Before Volcano, coordinating training under large-scale GPU clusters across teams meant constant firefighting, from resource bottlenecks and job failures to debugging tangled training pipelines. Volcano gave us the flexibility and control to scale AI training reliably and efficiently. We're honoured to have our work recognized by CNCF, and we're excited to share our journey with the broader community at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon China." Volcano is a cloud native batch system built on Kubernetes and is designed to support performance-focused workloads such as artificial intelligence and machine learning training, big data processing, and scientific computing. The platform's features include job orchestration, resource fairness, and queue management, intended to maximise the efficient management of distributed workloads. Volcano was first accepted into the CNCF Sandbox in 2020 and achieved Incubating maturity level by 2022, reflecting increasing adoption for compute-intensive operations. iFLYTEK's engineering team cited the need for an infrastructure that could adapt to the rising scale and complexity of AI model training. Their objectives were to improve allocation of computing resources, manage multi-stage workflows efficiently, and limit disruptions to jobs while ensuring equitable resource access among multiple internal teams. The adoption of Volcano yielded several measurable outcomes for iFLYTEK's AI infrastructure. The company reported a 40% increase in GPU utilisation, contributing to lower infrastructure costs and reduced idle periods. Additionally, the company experienced a 70% faster recovery rate from training job failures, which contributed to more consistent and uninterrupted AI development. The speed of hyperparameter searches—a process integral to AI model optimisation—was accelerated by 50%, allowing the company's teams to test and refine models more swiftly. Chris Aniszczyk, Chief Technology Officer at CNCF, said, "iFLYTEK's case study shows how open source can solve complex, high-stakes challenges at scale. By using Volcano to boost GPU efficiency and streamline training workflows, they've cut costs, sped up development, and built a more reliable AI platform on top of Kubernetes, which is essential for any organization striving to lead in AI." As artificial intelligence workloads become increasingly complex and reliant on large-scale compute resources, the use of tools like Volcano has expanded among organisations seeking more effective operational strategies. iFLYTEK's experience with the platform will be the subject of a presentation at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon China, where company representatives will outline approaches to managing distributed model training within Kubernetes-based environments. iFLYTEK will present its case study, titled "Scaling Large Model Training in Kubernetes Clusters with Volcano," sharing technical and practical insights with participants seeking to optimise large-scale artificial intelligence training infrastructure.
