I mentioned to a friend during the lockdowns that the apocalypse involved a lot fewer leather jackets and punk haircuts than I imagined it would.

Will admit, I'm genuinely confused as to why the PM wasn't fronting this. www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

IEA has set out 10 ways to ease pressure from rising oil prices: they are focused on cutting demand fast. Found out about these from an Aussie client who is implementing 1-5 effective immediately. www.iea.org/news/new-pod...

It should never have taken until 2026 to achieve this but after decades of under-funding and managed decline in the late 20th century, this is a great outcome, a real turnaround There is though one claim in the article that as a historian I simply can’t let go as it is total ahistorical piffle:

So, the closure will continue for at least another 10 days unless Iran changes its mind.

New Zealand relies a lot on fertiliser and a lot of that is nitrogen based. 11% of the world's nitrogen based fertiliser comes from Qatar as a byproduct of LNG production. Qatar closed its LNG plant after it got blown up. Anyone know the impact of no nitrogen fertiliser? According to the assn:

just this week: -- OpenAI killed Sora -- Disney subsequently cancelled its investment in OpenAI -- Wikipedia is now banning LLM-generated content ...tell me again how this is all "inevitable" and you have to "get on board or get left behind"?

Oh yes, go talk to Sarah about Twitter (and electric motorcycles).

I had a great chat with @sarahhbickerton.bsky.social this morning discussing Twitter & #nzpol. If you’re interested in participating in this research, get in touch!!

Oh wow, end of an era ... thinking all the way back to the towers of the PowerMac time, the final Mac tower has been laid to rest. I know the majority of you folks won't get this, but for us Apple folk ... time to pour one out. 9to5mac.com/2026/03/26/a...

A conversation got me thinking about how much I appreciate the mahi of @juliefairey.bsky.social in posting the minutiae of Auckland council proceedings. Remember, doing such requires quite a bit of energy & effort on top of the things that are actually part of her job, but she does so regardless.

All of this, but the unsaid thing is that we do individualise pedestrian & cyclist responsibilities, but we collectivise car ownership as something we collectively should provide to drivers. This is about putting pedestrians & cyclists at the same level that drivers already have.

I saw this earlier this week. We live in the most incredibly STUPID timeline ever. Can't pay for social services, but totes have US$1B to bribe a company NOT to build the most cost-effective & economically sustainable form of energy because ideology. (don't blame the company for taking the money)

Yes, of course, trains are better. BUT getting a transportation sea change is an order of magnitude more complicated and slow than getting our existing transportation modes over to a new fuel source. And this shows how it is possible. Today.

Women riders in South #Florida are becoming more visible on the motorcycle scene, planning their own meetups, safety briefings and events across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c... via @miamiherald.com

The Jetsons lied to us

NZ Inc is running on empty in so many ways. Great stuff, as always, from @rodemmerson.bsky.social

"Yep, that's me ... bet you're wondering how we got here"

A red weather warning is in place in Northland, with the worst of the downpours expected to hit on Thursday afternoon.

Ok, that’s been quite the rain the last couple hours or so … woke me up coming down heavy on the roof.

Remember, if you’re interested in what REALLY “drives” a lot of regional growth & infrastructure politics, it’s pretty much this. Great drawing via Ian Lockwood.

But what if – stay with me here – there's a direct relationship between those rigid spending limits and the declining economy? Come on, Thomas, you can't just keep blaming all those missed targets on bad Treasury forecasts.

I am absolutely aghast that the Government hasn’t implemented any demand side measures to reduce fuel use. Absolutely aghast.

Why is this video five hours long? 😉😍🦫

*cries in Aotearoan*

Leaving asides *waves at virtually everything* ... I just said the Project Hail Mary film described as "anti-slop" and I couldn't agree more. Hell, even puppetry was used. And people love it. Just saying.

I think it is important to give credit to RNZ for "looking out the window to see if it is raining" in this article. Because we should note when media are being responsible in reporting claims, not just getting angry on cases of bad reporting www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Well, this does nothing for folks without kids or are on a benefit. Also importantly it does nothing about supply of fuel. Nor does it reduce demand on fuel. If anything, it makes demand worse. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/...

Left the cross parliamentary NZ democracy event yesterday with a strong sense we must clean up donations - I hadnt realised how lax it is -outside of 3 months before elections there are virtually no guardrails

Oh wow, massive news. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

I'm not ready to comment. I'm just very, very sad right now. #StarTrek variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Whelp, who could have predicted that Trump wasn’t going to do the thing he said he was going to do?

Well, that removal of Russian oil sanctions to help global oil prices seems to be going well.

This kiwi car dealer only sells electric cars and all their inventory is gone. Never seen that before.

Just spoke to my courier. He reminded me we have a very fuel-intensive freight system. Not a-lot warehousing cause it is mostly just-in-time. So unless those big diesel trucks are moving up and down the island, not a lot is going anywhere.

Mansplaining guys leaping into my mentions are so the easiest block of all blocks.

Just registered my motorbike for 1 year, and encountered the enormous increase in registration costs for motorcycles. Luckily I have a chunk of a discount thanks to my bike being electric, but for regular bike riders (over 600cc) they now have the highest rego costs of anything, including trucks.

I’m so glad I organised my flights to Europe next month to avoid transiting via the US. I’m going through Canada on the way there and Singapore on the way back. I know I’ll just be changing planes in both locations, but avoiding the US here is crucial I feel regardless.

This is now a national security and social cohesion policy issue, not an economic growth one.

It's only force majeure if it comes from the Majeure region of France. Otherwise it's just a sparkling shitshow.

Honestly, tempted, if just because such populist fear- & hate- mongering does such damage to a democracy

This is the gut of it for me: they’re terrified of failing. Uni is (or feels like it is) such a high cost high stakes activity that they can never be bad at something, never take longer to figure something out than their peers, never fail, never struggle. a constant “am I cooked” level of panic.

The US President casually announcing his intention to commit war crimes on social media. That's where you're at, America.

I'm noticing more people out on bikes. Some of them look as if they haven't biked in a while and are a bit uncertain about how to do it on city streets. Can drivers of motor vehicles please be patient and kind while bikers regain skills and confidence. And can Cabinet Ministers please say this too.

Driving a car in the city (even if it is an EV) reminds me why I hate driving a car in the city. 99% of the time I’m on the electric motorcycle or public transport, but sometimes I have to do carshare (like Mevo or Zilch) because I need a car. And gah, love road trips, hate city driving.

This is an incredible piece of research, and deserves you watch. It’s about conversion therapy, but so much on top of such but related, including the Cass Review. Content warning for pretty much nearly everything btw.

This gets to the most important point... Our entire economy is absolutely drenched in fossil fuels. If getting off them were as easy as taking the bus, we wouldn't be in a climate crisis.