🧵Spotted at a Country Summer Fete in Aotearoa New Zealand: A small human (5?) is strutting ahead of his sister announcing loudly to the universe: "I AM THE FRONT MAN!" Little Sister (3?) stops in her tracks. Little Sister looks OUTRAGED! Little Sister roars: "NO! I want to be the FRONT MAN!" (1)

What do these companies have in common? -Cigna -Comcast -General Mills -Allstate -Marriott -Hilton -Walmart -Amazon -Microsoft -Meta All promised after January 6, 2021 to stop funding lawmakers who tried to overturn the 2020 election. And all have broken that promise.

My knees are lighting up like it's about to rain

Did you see the post circulating on here about Uber Eats calculating a "desperation score" for drivers? A lot about it was all too plausible with the ways delivery and gig economy companies mistreat and cheat workers, but it turns out this post was fake

In today’s NZ Herald -

On this day in 1977, the Bastion Point occupation began. In 1976, the NZ Government announced that a 60-acre section of “public” land at Ōrākei was to be sold to the highest bidder. Named Bastion Point by cartographers, Ngāti Whātua knew it as Takaparawha... 1/2 www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/papa

My mantra for 2026

🍵NEW YEAR, NEW SWEETS😋 The New Year in Japan starts with a wave of 'firsts': hatsumōde (初詣 'first shrine visit'), hatsuyume (初夢 'first dream'), and hatsugama (初釜 'first tea ceremony') to name a few. There is one sweet in particular we begin the year with in the tearoom...hanabiramochi.

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.

Daron Parton in today’s NZ Herald -

Sending you some purrsitive energy to start the week 🐾🤍

This is Ollie. He found a perfectly placed carrot snack on his walk. Simply can't believe his luck. 13/10 best day ever (TT: maxime_aries)

The Speaker says parliament doesn't need to be subject to the #OIA, because he has a parallel system which excludes almost everything (including this), has no oversight from the Ombudsman, and where he usually doesn't even bother to respond. This is a perfect example of why he's wrong.

For decades, Canadians eagerly rushed onto US tech platforms and services. But now the drawbacks of that dependence are on full display. For @policyalternatives.ca, I explain the economic and political consequences of a US-dominated internet — and why digital sovereignty is imperative.

always

Javier, our CEO, hopes your holiday break was everything you needed it to be. It is understandable if you need a bit more time to get reacclimated this morning. He hopes 2026 brings you love, happiness, and plenty of good dogs. He is comfortable handling that last one ❤️

This is Herschel. She spent 15 minutes at the gym before deciding to switch her New Year's resolution to self acceptance. 12/10 (IG: cfsbk)

My cartoon in today's www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3609... America Vs Venezuela - the oil war is on and they're no longer hiding it... #Caricature #PoliticalCartoon #UsaVenezuela #USAOil

Love this from Guillermo del Toro

Discworld QOTD, from The Color of Magic "'We know all about you, Rincewind the magician. You are a man of great cunning and artifice. You laugh in the face of Death. Your affected air of craven cowardice does not fool me.' It fooled Rincewind."

A back-to-work cartoon for @newscientist.com

My niece in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, has made a snow dalek that's featured in the Aberdeen Press and Journal. #proudaunt

“What do we call it when a stronger person decides to rob a weaker person because he can? It is just gangsterism. We are the most dangerous gangsters in the world today. Not in the sense of being charming rogues or alluring antiheroes. We are the bad guys.”

This poem is dedicated to anyone heading back into work and having to endure dull conversation about what they got up to during the Christmas holidays.

Jan 1926: Travel ad from Underground «Underground»

I like this video

It’s almost like New Zealand’s mania for ‘light touch regulation’ isn’t actually effective in protecting ordinary people’s rights, whether it be privacy, health & safety, to take industrial action, to participate in a democracy that has integrity…

so cool, love the internet our tech overlords have built

New space open today Purpose.gallery Before and after

Discworld QOTD, from Equal Rites “Zoon tribes are very proud of their Liars. Other races get very annoyed about all this. They feel that the Zoon ought to have adopted more suitable titles, like ‘diplomat’ or ‘public relations officer’. They feel they are poking fun at the whole thing.”

Me: The label featuring an Irish patriot transported in 1867 by the British to their penal colony Down Under, for treason against the Crown? Fenian Hugh Brophy, who bears a resemblance to, oh, I dunno...? Wife: ... Me: Sez here he had aromatic notes of dark cherry, currant, and chocolate!

I happen to know quite a bit about Venezuelan oil. TL;DR it’s hard to extract, notoriously investor-endangering, isn’t needed (global crude is oversupplied to the tune of 3.3 min bpd) and isn’t easily refined (it’s too dense so always sold at a heavy discount) www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...

Sunrise, Monday, 5 January, from Okitu Beach, Aotearoa / New Zealand. Back to work for many today after a lengthy break-Kia kaha. ✊🏽 Ata mārie / Good Morning ☀️

When you realise tomorrow is the first Monday of the year.

can someone stop making this merchandise so fucking relevant please eatf.art/usa

A 2000 study calling weedkiller Roundup safe for humans was heavily influenced by its manufacturer, Monsanto. Now the scientific journal that published it has retracted it. Environmental groups, farmworkers and RFK are bearing down on glyphosate: www.twincities.com/2026/01/02/a...

CHECK OUT OUR SPECIAL NEW YEAR'S EDITION OF SORROWSCOPES! TELL YOU FRIENDS. TELL YOUR ENEMIES. TELL THE MONSTER INSIDE YOU THAT WILL NEVER BE SLAIN

Aries: Live, laugh, lower your expectations.

Still can’t get over this. Coming from lived comms experience of orgs that have multiple layers of scrutiny and approval before anything gets near the public - a post on a deeply questionable social media platform, with no official press release from the Beehive is an Overton window shift in itself.

finally, we're living through precedented times

Why haven't our stupid and rich New Zealand government politicians done this as well. One sitting politician had 25x non declared rentals #nzpol

FYI Auckland

"We will be monitoring this delicate situation to make sure there is no unnecessary loss of innocent oil” chaser.com.au/world/ally-l...

Take a break from the madness. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat after me: snow train. Snow train.

for real