it's the feast day of St Brendan the Navigator today. He is famous for his Voyage, a description of a journey said to have been undertaken by him and his monks around the Atlantic looking for, well, Paradise really. They got into a small leather boat and travelled around for seven years >

More of this please

who else would assume this specific face every time you meet a president

I’m not saying the day and the evening has got to spouse, but he’s loudly singing “chaos with Ed Milliband” to the refrain of “Guide me o thou great redeemer” Actually, it’s quite catchy

Ariana Grande's "7 Rings" for nationalist economists: "Whoever said money can't solve your problems / Must not have had enough money to solve 'em"

If you would like to be able to vote in the InternetNZ board election this year, today is the joining deadline.

In other words, act today to avoid a far-right takeover of Internet NZ. I joined for five or ten years - I don't recall - so I don't need to renew so often!

The unlawful extra-judicial killings continue, each murder undermining the international rule of law, affecting us all. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Now do pigs.

Feels flippant to use the term Streisand Effect here, but that's what happened. Japan ensured a statue very few people would've seen and even fewer would've understood won't be put up, and instead people all over the world are going to read about their system of sexual slavery during WWII.

This photo of aspiring Prime Minister Wes Streeting gets stranger the longer you look at it.

One to read to understand the recent news in the US.

This is not the main point, but I think "absolute unit" would be a fine translation for the monstrous boar in Herodotos 1.36.2, ὑὸς χρῆμα γίνεται μέγα, "in Mysian Olympos there arose a big thing of pig"

A Trumped-up case of the president suing his own government? A federal court queries whether there is really a dispute to settle when a party controls both sides My latest, for @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

This sounds like a good course (and it's a very good book).

Awesome stuff, National Library of NZ has now digitised NZ Listener up to 1969. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/... This is one month before the 1969 NZ General Election

Interesting thread (itself a QT) from an antipodean perspective, where the state does basically marry you after two or three years. Some interesting distinctions remain, however, especially in relation to the near-ubiquitous discretionary family trust.

OK this piece by @reckless.bsky.social about why AI is unpopular among most people (anyone who's not inflicted with "software brain") is just solid gold from start to finish

How Vigdis Hjorth’s Repetition reveals the hidden disenfranchisement of children: “It’s impressive, terrifying really, the kinds of things we can make ourselves believe.”

Important article for New Zealanders via @crikey.com.au. | FOI confirms Donald Trump’s grab of Australians’ biometric data is even bigger than feared www.crikey.com.au/2026/04/27/d... Time for some OIA requests folks. #nzpol #privacy

You've probably been wondering: "How many eels is a cottage worth in 14th C. England?" This is a reasonable question. I get it. And happily, I'm here to help! I included a chart showing this kind of equivalence in an article I wrote for HistoryExtra , but here's an excerpt! 🗃️🧪

I don’t want an excuse, I want a justification. :) My current areas of research are trans law, children law, criminal law, bioethics, and—increasingly—law in a time of fascism.

I’m a law professor. Please help me find a legal research project that would legitimately justify buying an entire copy of the Talmud.

Konstantin Lupanov (Russian, b.1977) "Father and Cat," 2019 Oil on canvas 90 x 110 cm #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt #catlover

Karl Völker (German, 1889–1962) Bahnhof [Train Station], 1924–26 Oil on wood 110 × 165 cm Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale) #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Not because it's a birthday or anniversary or anything - just an ordinary day to miss Sam Prebble and again commend his amazing music. bondstreetbridge.bandcamp.com/album/the-ex...

I mean tell me "we gradually transitioned from a democratic welfare state to full on race communism" doesn't sound like the set up to a banger lost Ursula K Le Guin novel

We didn't deserve this day.

Looks right for law, too, except our "data" are often precedents "tangled together" with the facts of the previous cases, and the facts of the case at bar, in similarly subtle ways; and in law we get to try and shape the laws, which is less feasible in the physical sciences!

Romy Elliott (British Artist, born 1990) "Lamb, Held", 2026. Acrylic on Canvas, 31 × 41 cm. Private Collection. #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Easter could also be a great time to apply for the Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence with us: 3 months at the IIML with a mentor and a $15,000 stipend in the second half of 2026, deadline 30 May! (Picture shows 2025 EPWR Nafanua Purcell Kersel) www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletter...

Scheherazade, having failed to keep the Dow above 50,000, was summarily deposed of the next morning.

NZ/Oz folks: turned off your alarm for tomorrow? (as appropriate, ceteris paribus, mutatis mutandis, your mileage may vary, void where not approved, may contain nuts)

Pretty winter mornings.

Here is a document a month later from the senior officer mentioned above, reporting the concern to no less than the Director of Special Forces (DSF). iiaweb-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/MOD-198-0001... >

Here is a document from March 2011. It is a typed record of a conversation between the note's author and another special forces soldier. The record was made at the recommendation of a senior officer to whom the conversation was reported. iiaweb-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/MOD-198-0001... >

The extraordinary documentary evidence at the heart of the UK Afghan war crimes inquiry - a thread. There is currently a public inquiry into alleged war crimes by UK special forces in Afghanistan in 2011-12. The ongoing inquiry has published some interesting and worrying documents. >

Today in design patents: D1120982 issued for a vehicle light with blinking eye animated graphic. This seems like a bad idea. #DesignPatents

i don't really know about other industries, but with software i have got to say that refusal to use ai at any place in development is acceptance of inability to compete. at the same time, refusal to maintain standards and quality through manual work is also acceptance of inability to compete.

The NHS is already overwhelmed and is now facing serious medical supply issues. This is a very dangerous combination. Well aware I'm repeating myself here, but it's important to continue banging this drum: take active steps to stay healthy. This includes FFP2/3 masking www.lbc.co.uk/article/nhs-...

This is what it looks like to have an implicit policy of privatisation (Reti: "not my overt policy", remember?). They destroy state capacity so that only a shoddy private service remains. It will take more than one term to rebuild.

May be of interest...

To me, it's always one of NZ's greatest ironies that having avoided the very worst, so many became bitter & angry for avoiding the fate of other countries Leaders responsible for saving so many lives & leading world's best pandemic response, driven out by misinformation & trolls

People talk excitedly about AI drafting their Court submissions for them. I think it would give me nightmares to submit AI drafted subs. This (quoted) is how the script for the nightmare would run. [Note: I do use AI for various data synthesis functions, just not drafting.]

If you use GitHub (especially if you pay for it!!) consider doing this *immediately* Settings -> Privacy -> Disallow GitHub to train their models on your code. GitHub opted *everyone* into training. No matter if you pay for the service (like I do). WTH github.com/settings/cop...

This is not that long ago... my new-immigrant forebears had been in New Zealand for 50 years by the time this had passed.

Meanwhile in NZ the incredibly successful response is being very deliberately forgotten while the current government tries to attack the previous one for what the inquiry found to be issues once all the people hadn't fucking died because of the incredibly successful response

"Perhaps most egregiously" is a helluva opening for a footnote discussing the federal government's actions in litigation.

BREAKING: Judge Brasel converts her TRO to a preliminary injunction in the access-to-counsel case about Whipple in Minnesota. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

This is a terrible and retrograde step for the recognition of trans people in India, which was already pretty damn bad. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/lok-sa...