Will you be working this year on a book or article that's going to need #maps? Let me help! I draw custom maps for a living! I draw each map by hand, to my clients' specifications, & each is unique. You can find out more on my website: surprisedeelmaps.com Here's some recent examples of my work:

Ōtepoti or Oamaru people. I have an old 20” Imac to give away. Its about 2008/9 & not upgradable to latest mac systems. There is a mac place in city that will take it but would rather give it to someone who might be able to use it. Please don’t make me turn it on:)

AI has huge potential, but harms (deepfakes, gendered abuse, bias) are real and rising. Sign the Open Letter calling on NZ leaders to deliver risk-based AI regulation & a national oversight body.

We're drawing the winner of our first prize for 2026 this Friday: Win tickets to Anchor Me – The Don McGlashan Story (the film opens in cinemas across NZ on January 15th). To enter the draw, answer the question in our newsletter by midday, Friday January 9th. Good luck! mailchi.mp/54cf9d3763c3...

#gratitude I have the best people around me. From the mail box lately: A: Book signed, dedicated & written by the wonderful @witchnwords.bsky.social B: Lollies from sis/BIL C: Cake & fresh raspberries from work colleague D: A beautiful artwork from the talented @cathsheard.bsky.social

Short notice deadhead announcement: I will be driving from #wellington to PN tomorrow with an empty furniture trailer behind me. If you have anything that needs to move in that direction, HMU with a PM.

It's never too late to start wearing a mask. It's never too late to stop using Chat GPT. It's never too late to start supporting your community. It's never too late to do better.

holiday reissue: The One Good Thing Left In Journalism (Spoiler alert: It's Uranus) - by @haydendonnell.bsky.social: www.webworm.co/uranus/

Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts is offering scholarships to help you start (or continue) your explorations in art, design, music or screen arts… Apply today! … Or forward this to someone you think might benefit from a $1000 head start www.massey.ac.nz/study/schola... #redesignnz

Rough vibes on this website today, likely because people feel Hopeless and Helpless Because Can't Stop It and No One Who Is Supposed To Is Trying To So Now We're Fighting Each Other™. I recommend activities such as book, or potentially instrument if you like instrument, or even do talk on phone.

Prices are as follows: $5 digital booklet only $7 UK digital booklet and print $10 Worldwide digital booklet and print I’m hoping that this makes my art more affordable

See a bridge, post a bridge

FYI Auckland

repost to give those 2 or 3 followers who always like your weird posts a little forehead kiss & a grilled cheese cut diagonally

I made a playlist

Dear Aotearoa Bluesky, This [handmade] dress needs a new home! Would anyone like it? I'm not looking to sell here, I just want it to be ✨✨loved✨✨. The fabric is cotton with about 20% polyester (❌). That's its ONLY drawback and why I can't wear it - I will remake with a different, better fabric.

I have annexed The country Whose resources I wanted And which you Were probably Hoping I could identify a giraffe It was the best clock Anybody drew I like McDonald's Hey look, a bird

In the interests of balance, I hope that the BBC also list the world leaders whom the USA haven't kidnapped.

We need to normalise the idea that there should be no cost for the things we need for basic human dignity and wellbeing.

This is an outrageous abdication of journalistic duty. Grok's apology was prompted by a human, as was its equally vehement self-defense. People are willingly hurling themselves into the AI trashbin at the bidding of oligarchs who will happily remove them from their jobs.

No cheating. Reskeet with the most recent pic of your pet.

maybe controversial but i don't think a country should be run like a company, because it's not one, but as a community because it is one.

The data is out there, but we're not powerless. Don't look for it. Don't use it. Refuse to engage with any media or gossip story based on it. Make it career suicide for anyone to use it as the basis of a story. Make it unacceptable in any group you're a part of to use the data in any way.

Quite correctly often hearing: "When someone is accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression." Because it's true. But we need to hear this more often: "When someone is used to absolute deference, the word 'no' feels like a mortal threat." Grasping that may save our lives.

These are super fun books. If you have even the slightest interest in urban fantasy/Mexican, Central & South American mythology/ghosts, you have to check them out.

There are now just 6 spaces left on my botanical illustration & mental health zoom workshop,10 Jan. I teach you: 🌿how to draw plants 🧠how creative activity improves mental health I trained as a molecular cell biologist & am also a professional illustrator: workshops.emmamitchell.uk/courses/bota...

There’s still time to order a piece of small, affordable art to end the year on a nice note. Details below.

Because I’m evilllll… Enjoy Rik Mayall out-performing a Beatle and Jools Holland at a charity gig in Nether Wallop!

Kia ora e te whānau, can we give this a massive push for the the rest of the year. His wife lost her life due to unnecessary health cuts & this is a chance to give her memory meaning www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin... petitions.parliament.nz/cc316e5b-e05...

I draw custom maps on commission. Maps for books, games, decoration, etc. Here are a couple of examples. There are more on my website, along with a contact form and info about cost, process, etc. If you need a map, I'm happy to help! surprisedeelmaps.com

Aotearoa Te Waipounamu & anyone with a connection to Ōtepoti: health equity/community solidarity Please sign & share this petition Sam set it up in memory of his wife, Sheralyn Petition is advocating for 24/7 access to the catheterisation lab at Dunedin Hospital

One last pimp of my calendar for the year. The two I put in the courier yesterday have been delivered in time for 2026 (love the overnight service around NZ). Only a handful left in stock. paullecomtephoto.nz/products/202...

It me.

How about a violent, sweary necromancer with anger management issues making really horrible life choices many of which involve murdering his problem away? The Eric Carter series www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/EC2/e...

If you haven't read the Eric Carter series yet, then I can assure you with great confidence that this is EXACTLY what you need to start 2026 off right. As opposed to the time that I started 2020 off by reading CRISIS IN THE RED ZONE by Richard Preston. True story, double handful of irony.

“Fuck generative AI” means exactly that. It doesn’t mean fuck it…but it’s cool if you use it for (insert thing here). It’s not about you or me; it’s about us. Writing. Painting. Music. Book covers. All of it. We stick together.

Ummmm …. 😳

I'm a Norwegian PI

Aquarius: Today you will annoy a bunch of whiny, pissy man-children for pointing out their shitty behavior. They will retaliate with stupid, straw man arguments, and show the world that yes, in fact, they are a bunch of whiny, pissy man-children.

Some some of my cheap stuff for your New Year's ebook reading: The Everything Box for $.99 Devil in the Dollhouse: A Sandman Slim Story for $.99 Across the Dark Water (a longish short story) for $1.99 The Secret of Insects (my story collection with a new Candy short) for $6.99

Folks of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland- I just got this awesome light summer cut at home by www.couriercuts.co.nz Highly recommend!

This is getting passed around a lot because of the way it's worded but it's important to note that researchers have not shown any such thing - they have shown that mice with similar biomarkers can have those biomarkers reversed. No human testing has occurred and shown recovery of cognition & memory.

It's that time of the year where the diet industry tries to hook you in. Reminder: 1. There is no moral value to food. 2. You don't need to do a detox: your liver, kidneys and skin are really good at doing that. 3. 'Clean Eating' assigns morality and status to how you eat. Check your privilege.

We have to choose good every day. We have to choose acceptance and equality and equity and justice. None of us are inherently beyond that. And the first step to doing good is recognising that you aren’t better than anyone else.

Terrible pic of a tūī having lunch. This is the first I've actually seen one of these bastards in the 'hood although I hear them every sodding morning. #birds

I want to do something positive to end what’s been a shit year. Change up the vibe etc. *lucky dip artwork* For $25 incl p&p I’ll send you a piece of art, many matted, no bigger than A4. Mixed media, mainly semi abstract landscape, signed. NZ only. DM me to order. Reposts appreciated.

for the love of God, people: do NOT let AI anywhere near your contracts (making, summarizing, assessing, etc.); down that road lies madness and sorrow and probably getting screwed real, real bad