"…and Magda Goebbels made a great strudel.”

Microsoft and OpenAI have announced that their conscious uncoupling has progressed to the Memorandum of Understanding phase. Please respect the privacy of their children in this difficult time by not using Microsoft 365 Copilot. openai.com/index/joint-...

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic... "Boost GDP by $11B," you say? I'd love to see the maths behind that. There's a lot of one-offs in construction. I imagine they'd import as much of the specialist materials as they can. Annual component is electricity and water (ffs), and a handful? of engineers?

Remember to ask the docent at the British Museum exactly what moral leg they have to stand on when you shoplift from the gift shop. They love that question.

“A graduate starting salary is now between $50,000 and $60,000 pa. if you can get a job. That house is now over 35 times that starting salary.“ Article by Dr. Rod Carr, former chair Climate Change Commission.

I think it says a lot about NZ's Green Party being environment/ecosystem/science based rather than some of the cultural trends in other countries, that the Green Party had the fewest voters who had never had a covid vaccination 0.34%. 32.5% of NZ First voters say they never had a covid vaccination.

The maddest someone has ever gotten at me was when I talked about the child sized manacles Jefferson had at Monticello for 9 year old children. They could not cope with the idea that a child the same age as their child had been enslaved. And it made them angry that I made them know facts

Kudos to the subbie at Radio New Zealand.

Watching Hackers (1995) for the first time. Moody white tech dude as protagonist hasn't aged well. Star-studded cast! (Shaggy, Penn, zygote Angelina Jolie, ...) but none of the casting is as inspired as the choice of Halcyon by Orbital. That tune fucken BANGS. 🧵

AI and cryptocurrency insider talk all sounds like this. The visuals are so much better in nature though …

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa... Ok, software failure? Hardware failures? Australia finally invading? ETs invading? Now taking bets ...

> “No,” I reply. “My skill is keeping a straight face when someone tells me something, and inside I’m thinking: fucking hell.” She's not kidding. It's her superpower.

"Wait what? Babylon 5 is entirely dependent upon Earth senate for funding?" "Apparently so. They could tax residents." "Or charge docking fees." nek minnit "The Political Economy of Babylon 5", a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Econom

It is 1974, America only just leads Russia in technology. SQL promises to let users become programmers without writing code. It is 1980, America only just leads Japan in technology. 4GLs promise to let users become programmers without writing code.

Rewatching Babylon5 and realising that I married Ivanova. Well done, 1996 Nat. Well done!

Patient, sobbing: But Doctor, I AM Pagliacci! ChatGPT: Apologies. I didn't realise when recommending Pagliacci's epic show to cure your depression that you were the genius himself. I'm impressed! With regards to your initial question, I can recommend seeing the Great Clown Pagliacci.

Exchange student in front of me at the super, already in the Kiwi way with four blocks of Whitaker’s. Slaps a BUNDLE OF HUNDIES on the conveyer before cheerfully being told she’ll only need one of those.

Band Camp Friday! youmeeverybody.bandcamp.com/track/misdir... our new single is there for your purchasing pleasure!

Once again, a number of Voices for Freedom affiliated candidates are running for local government, this time they are hiding their more conspiratorial views and focusing on bland populist issues like rates and road cones www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

New single dropped! "Misdirection" is the second single from the upcoming album by our band You, Me, Everybody. It's the bluegrass banger. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzqU... Follow us on Spotify and eventually we'll be able to afford a coffee! open.spotify.com/album/342xor...

www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines... I reckon the price of the Wellington FBI office space just went up by ... oh, 15% of our export $ to USA.

InternetNZ update: all the FSU/Hobsons motions were rejected by voters at the AGM. However, the election for two board members saw one FSU member get elected, and one GC* (@dylanreeve.com) elected. *GC = Good Chap

“what is the crime?!” I scream as the police drag me away from the polling booth “…enjoying a succulent free Māori hangi?!”

Oh and … Companies that road work is outsourced to use cones to slow traffic and protect workers. Govt can prosecute LLC directors for not attending to worker health and safety. Except thisgovt also turned off enforcement. Make money, kill workers, no worries. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

If you haven’t tried ocean swimming, and you live in a part of the world where it won’t kill you, I strongly recommend it. A cold swim makes me feel alive and anchored. And if you have a swim buddy or group, it can be social time too. If I could, it’s how my every day would start.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, where sick people can’t see a specialist, hospitals have patients in hallways, the economy’s still in the shitter, and our kids can’t add … www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines... I feel like the social license for farming is something they'd want to keep an eye on. NZ has way more land for cows than for people in the midst of a housing crisis, and we don't even get butter for our bread and circuses ...

As steward of the .nz domain, InternetNZ's governance directly affects the resilience & accessibility of our Internet. As a charity, its good works promote a fair, inclusive, and accessible Internet. This year’s board election is one of the most important in the org's history, and we need your help.

I fully agree with Jonathan's ranking for the InternetNZ elections. In particular: * Adam Hunt is my #1 candidate. I worked alongside him, have known him for years, trust his ethics, his knowledge, and his competence. I know the INZ board will be better with him.

As a long time member of InternetNZ, and later ex staff member, the election that’s just opened for voting is as pivotal a moment as the organisation has ever seen. If you’re a member, please vote, on board members and then on some expected AGM motions (which have yet to be announced).

charity.wtf/2025/07/09/t... @charity.wtf has a very resonant, very timely, very personal post here. Well worth a read.

@charity.wtf Thanks for that post. Your notes about how the struggle is what brings ideals to life: beautifully put. Managing a company has also made me change some of my beliefs that were untested before. Also looking for purpose at this point (52, yeesh). Good luck on your journey for it!

I agree with this. I also think defence is necessary and needs investment and R&D. I do not know whether RocketLab’s presence is a net positive. I know an engineer who left RocketLab for the freezing works because the pay is better and problems more interesting. All these things can be true.

Remember being told by numerous people that Rocket Lab wasn't going to be a military risk etc etc & to back 'space industry' out of NZ... it was all bullshit of course. if you were unable to assess that it's an utter failure to understand the way the world works www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

our country rn

News organisations could approach groups like NZIER: www.nzier.org.nz/publications... Health Informatics NZ: www.hinz.org.nz/news/701852/... Or use MBIE's data explorer: mbienz.shinyapps.io/migration_da... Here's the data on visas for radiographers I got from that:

I do wish someone neutral (ie not the union) would establish WHY there are staff shortages everywhere in NZ’s health system, so RNZ could report the Why as well as the barest of facts. And maybe then be able to say whether govt budget & policies will fix the problem. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Good news, Auckland! Your chronic banjo drought is about to break! My band, You Me Everybody, plays the absolutely unique Devonport Bunker on the night of Monday June 30th. Do not miss! Here's a younger us smashing the song used on Netflix's show "Sweet Tooth" www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6sZ...

My band (You, Me, Everybody) is playing in Katikati near Tauranga on Friday June 27th. If you or your friends are nearby, we'd love to see you for a night of acoustic music by and for people who care. We'll even play our new single! www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXwK... Ticket info: www.yme.nz/tour

Y’know Tesco, I’m not sure that’s the best abbreviation to use when the product is toilet roll.

There's a thread on AskReddit asking, "People who have had to drain their life’s savings on a single event, what happened?" 99% of the answers are depressing American stories about medical bills, 1% is an Australian who found a wombat burrowing under their house.

If you loved the original Airplane movie by the Zucker Brothers, I have GREAT NEWS for you about the "Airplane 2025" remake! You can AVOID IT like it was CANCEROUS ASS SCORPIONS MADE OF LAVA. Because, cognitively and creatively, it is. Shun, eschew, flee, and avoid. -2 infinities.

ah, the ceaseless march of technological progress

When you’re driving home, what’s the sight or corner or sound or whatever that signals “I’m almost home!” for you? For me it’s cresting the Whangateau hill and seeing our home across the harbour. Strong second place: coming down Golf Hill outside Warkworth. Hills do it for me, I guess.

For those not part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Bluesky, who wish to vicariously share in the positivity, today is Opening Day for mid-winter secret santa, a nationwide volunteer coordinated gift exchange event, organised via Bluesky under the hashtag #MWSecretSantaAoNZ

OMG, today is Opening Day for #MWSecretSantaAoNZand I almost missed it! EXCITEMENT! OK, I'll document my opening in this 🧵 ...

Every time you’re confronted with the current world’s richest man — who gives zero to any charity or to help any fellow men but did think buying an American President to nuke American global giving was awesome — remember what some of the previous richest men did: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/m...

Some of yall can't handle two high-agency males going at it and it really shows

And you’re probably thinking, well, the technology is already here, it’s going to determine what happens, alas. Well, technology, even very widespread technology, does not always determine how people act, often in fundamental ways. Let me give you a little parable by way of example: