I turned on the iPhone call screening feature and it has ALREADY made my life better.

Like, 30 years ago - that’s a generation! Not just last century, but last *millennium*. Sooner the regressive race-baiting dinosaurs shuffle off the stage, the better for all of us. (No disrespect to *actual* dinosaurs; they were super cool in their own way and we probs need a better metaphor 🦖🦕)

A Raybon of National Significance, as it were: among the smartest and funniest of gentlefolk❤️ I vividly remember his deft ripostes (disguised as jokes) to racist stirring in the 1990s by politicians who should’ve known better. Unbelievable we’re still here 30 years later, same cast of characters 😫

Patrick Reynolds for a greater Auckland@patrickreynolds.bsky.social · 23h ago

Raybon is a national treasure, perhaps even a New Zealand first treasure: www.nzherald.co.nz/business/ive...

Poetry-lovers in Hawke's Bay - last year we had over 90 people come along, so get in quick for the 2026 Party of Poets. There's a bar! And tickets are only $5!

Look at that. Snow in Wellington.

Kaori snow, right down in the valley. There's our once a decade dump.

It's snowing. In Wellington.

From MZ and @asians4tino.bsky.social "To me, this issue is less about foreign diplomacy, offending China, or jeopardising trade relations. I’m more concerned about the further escalation of racial abuse against migrants of colour in Aotearoa."

Why we call Winston Peters ‘Lao Pi’ | E-Tangata

“Mandarin-speaking communities are so familiar with Winston, we have nicknamed him 'Lao Pi'. Lao Pi is like that grumpy neighbour everyone knows is a problem. Except he’s not a random neighbour. He is...

e-tangata.co.nz

“The Electoral Commission has told staff to turn away voters who aren’t on the printed roll and who say they’re unenrolled, but has no plans to count how many people will be affected.” So nice to see democracy in action, nothing to worry about here, love NZ’s accessible and clear election process.

Newsroom NZ@newsroom.co.nz · 2d ago

The Opposition says people who think they're not enrolled should lodge special votes rather than being turned away from voting entirely.

this post is so good and necessary and everyone should read it

My Favorite Thing: The Cat That Hates Me + That One SFF Author Who Hates Everyone (Thoughts on Exile) | Micaiah Johnson

The first time I fed Sasha she sliced open my hand and bit my leg so hard it bruised. The second time I fed Sasha she hissed and swiped, but

patreon.com

Micaiah Johnson@micaiahjohnson.bsky.social · 3d ago

Very nervous about tomorrow’s blog on Patreon so have some out of context quotes from it as a treat 💜

🆘 I need to find a threader on the Kāpiti Coast!! 🧵 Any contacts are much appreciated! Prefer home-based independent threader. She has to be Indian. Tbh, I don’t really feel the need to say that but I’m living in a place where Pākehā do all the things and threading is non-negotiable. lol?

@ladyhorrors.bsky.social on the Southern absence in national arts funding

If you don’t look you can’t see, or, the consequences of Southern invisibility in national arts funding

Erin Harrington on the lack of South Island investment in Creative New Zealand’s Arts Organisations and Groups (AOG) funding round, including the news that South Island organisations collecti…

flatcityfieldnotes.com

Not sure how much attention this will get, but it’s quite a big deal - Labour has pulled its support for the Govt’s controversial census ‘modernisation’ plans, meaning it no longer has the 75% majority it needs in Parliament: newsroom.co.nz/2026/08/03/g...

Govt’s census overhaul thrown into doubt after Labour pulls support

Opposition parties warn relying on government agency data instead of a full census risks undercounting Māori and minority groups.

newsroom.co.nz

Same Same but Different - Aotearoa's queer writers festival is this week. Check out their incredible programme, love to celebrate queer writing excellence: samesamebutdifferent.co.nz/2026-program...

A classic (i.e., it never stops being true, no matter how long it's been around).

@halltline.bsky.social · 2w ago

I saw an interview with a park ranger who was asked "Why can't they build bear proof dumpsters?" His reply was perfect: "There's a considerable overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest people."

This is super cool

Nature Portfolio@natureportfolio.nature.com · 3d ago

Did you know all living things emit a faint glow? They're called 'biophotons,' and ultra-weak ‘biophotons’ might be used to diagnose disease or could even represent a new signalling mechanism in cells, according to a feature in Nature. ⚛️ 🧪

a university is not for generating profit, it provides cultural enrichment via weird little gremlin people who love visigoths or haikus, and very occasionally a scientist who figures out faster than light travel

In the intro communication theory classes I've taught, this is one of our central topics. The practice of note-taking is a form of thinking, much like writing is in general. A lot of figuring out happens as you take notes, especially with practice and especially longhand. 1/2

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 4d ago

Anyway, your problem isn‘t finding the time to take notes. The problem is that taking notes is thinking and thinking has to be done by someone. women have been doing a lot of metacognition that looks like a task when it’s really thinking.

Country most famous for inability to get 'the right' people to have more kids by paying them? After Nazi Germany & the Soviet Union of course... Singapore lmao. If SG couldn't make good faith eugenics work, NZ defo can't make bad faith eugenics work, esp if it's just racist vote-chasing nonsense.

Byron C Clark@byroncclark.bsky.social · 4d ago

Birth incentivisation polices have never worked anywhere, but of course the target audience for this policy isn't actually perspective parents, it's people who are worried that other groups aren't having enough (white) babies www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361... Crossposted with @openvibe.social

It is funny that as more people get duped by AI, the response more frequently seems to be to insist that the models are developing godlike intelligence and we all need to be sooo careful when the real lesson is clearly that the human psyche can get absolutely one-shotted by personalized flattery

New baby hippo born at Berlin Zoo. Named Brötchen. Which means "little bread roll." You're welcome

Using lists of three is not an "AI tell." It's a common trait in human writing because our brains biologically want to make sure there's always one thing to marry, one thing to fuck, and one thing to murder.

Good piece! The bit about "here we show respect to each other" reminds me of the good old "we don't do that here" thagomizer.com/blog/2017/09...

This has received little attention, but is significant news. Paul Hamer, who I think was the last remaining historian member of the Tribunal and quite possibly the Tribunal's most busy member (currently serving on 11 inquires), has not been reappointed by the government.

Beehive NZ@beehivenz.bsky.social · last wk.

A new release is available from Hon Tama Potaka.

I am fucking BEGGING media to stop saying the government has removed election-day enrollment, or same-day enrollment. It’s the entire advance period. Please. Don’t confuse people.

There are some shit things from the 1990s - Friends, nu-metal, frosted tips, Winston Peters - in which it’s a discredit to us all that they’re still inexplicably popular in the 2020s

Incredible stuff from Avalon Nursery.

My girlfriend is a genuinely INCREDIBLE editor and has some availability if you need something edited! big small, she'll edit it all! (i just thought of this it's not approved). Read these reviews and follow the link to her website. She is great and kind and patient. Don't miss out

The 'Inv-Asian' migration wave of the 90s was dominated by nuclear family units. To be an Asian kid in the 90s like Lawrence (or me, though I was born here) was to grow up isolated & in the shadow of hatred and violence instigated by a guy who is currently the Deputy PM still doing the same thing.