Friends! I am in an ongoing 'discussion' (tussle) with the Ministry of Education regarding a new attendance policy they are implementing for David Seymour's pleasure. I've written a few things about this now, here's the latest: andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/the-minist... Please share!

Crossing the Sumida now on the way to get the kids their flu shots. Wish us luck 🤞

I came across this Ogden Nash poem today… seems apt. 😬

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas, With sign up going live!🎶🎵 So here's the Bluesky Secret Santa AoNZ, with some friends from Mastodon along for the ride. We hope you are looking forward to some fun, and that we can bring it to you 🎄 Official hashtag: #SecretSantaAoNZ App: secretsanta.nz

Proud of my husband, Chris Coad's photographic work in this exhibition. (which doesn't show well in the poster, but you can see his work here too: www.chriscoad.co.nz/new-gallery) #tewhanganuiatara #wellington #photography #exhibitions

Wait, what??!!

Changi chips, mmmm

This week, my health insurer (NIB) sent a letter saying they were moving to 20% co-pay, and removing some benefits within a month. Written like they were doing me a favour 🤦‍♀️ Seriously unhappy. Have other Aotearoa NZ health insurers started to do this too?

Perfect! 😁

💯 this. Please.

Thread… 📘📒

If you're talking to a reporter make sure AT THE START you know the status of the conversation. eg: "Hi, happy to chat. Is this for a story? Are you looking for a comment on the record or is this just to help you understand the thing?" Sort it. Say it. Before you see it (in print).

😬

‘call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that causing an entire country to fear for its own safety if they don’t award you a Peace Prize kind of disqualifies you from ever getting a Peace Prize.’ Yup!

One curious thing on this site about speaking out against the encroachment of LLMs is that inevitably you get accused of being anti-tech. I don’t hate technology. I’ve used machine learning in my own code before. But I also recognize that oligarchs are so hellbent on pushing this tech for a reason.

"All self-respecting river kingdoms have vast supernatural plagues, but the best the Old Kingdom had been able to achieve in the last hundred years was the Plague of the Frog*. (*It was quite a big frog, however, and got into the air ducts and kept everyone awake for weeks)" - Terry Pratchett.

Portland is awesome!

Lego, some of the greatest manufacturing ever… 💜Lego

Matthew 15:29-31: And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them after verifying their citizenship status.

LinkedIn is not worth the stress, time and energy. Seriously irate with this platform. I created an account and started entering my personal details. Came back to it three weeks later AND THE BLOODY SITE WON'T LET ME IN. It insists on me providing proof of identity from a government ID, yeah/nah...

Grim, very grim ... theconversation.com/ai-systems-c...

From the original Swedish researchers.

💯👇

My new small museums for mental health w'shop is on Sat 4 Oct Recent compelling research shows that collecting & arranging collections neatly alleviates anxiety & lifts mood. Includes: 🌿2 hr zoom-we'll make & photograph small museums 🗝️30% off my Etsy shop: workshops.emmamitchell.uk/courses/smal...

I’ve been too unwell to work for most of this year due to a breakdown. If you enjoy my photos & have a spare second or two might you be able to RT my workshop in my previous post? It would help so much. Thankyou 🌿

Seventy women translators of the past By Marie Lebert [version of 15 September 2025] For International Translation Day on 30 September marielebert.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/w...

Great idea! www.aut.ac.nz/news/stories...

Please vote (and donate if you can). Our birds need support. www.birdoftheyear.org.nz

Truth! 😂

LOL, no, really? Who’d have thought! 😉

Aotearoa New Zealand! Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau, Bird of the Year 2025. Celebrating 20 years! Voting opens 15 September. I love the illustration (cartoonist not named…) www.birdoftheyear.org.nz

Under-rated post! 😂

Tēnā koutou, Ko Tauhou au - I'm new around here, some might say I'm a stranger, but others may recognise me as an old friend. There's a follow button you can press on my profile if you'd like to see me pop up from time to time in your feed. #Kikorangi

Wrote a poem Dark Witch Rising

This is a beautiful garment. Let me show you what makes it special. 🧵

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Go Horseman #4!

Worth also noting these are former ministers who have had serious threats to their safety, to their families, from some of those involved in this inquiry and their fellow travellers. They are still participating and cooperating, in a way that keeps them safe and doesn't escalate conflict.

"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people

💯!

💯👇

A mesmerizing time-lapse of the Sun in ultraviolet light, captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft over a month. -Credits: NASA

🤦🏻‍♀️

Wait, what???😱

I see grocery/takeout shaming discourse going around again, so this is your periodic historian reminder that cooking from scratch daily while working has never been sustainable, and for millennia everyone either relied on takeout & restaurants or ate in huge households w/ big dorm-like group dining.

Germany gave people €1,200/month no strings attached. They kept working, slept better, switched to better jobs, and even gave more to others. Turns out, when people aren’t drowning, they swim further. #UBI doesn’t kill ambition, it frees it.

I think it's be better practice to have these things apply to the election AFTER the next one, whatever the proposed change is. Even when things are done for good reasons, it helps avoid even the impression of self-dealing.

Sick of everything being Orwellian or Kafkaesque. I demand more Scarrylous situations, where animals drive vehicles and run small businesses.

Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security.    Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.   Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. —Harry Truman, 1952