"The footage is particularly notable as dozens of cops around the country have been caught abusing Flock and other ALPR systems to stalk ex wives, ex partners, and random people."

Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social · yesterday

New: 404 Media obtained footage of investigation and arrest of a cop who used police surveillance databases and license plate cameras to surveil and stalk a woman. "We’ve told them over and over again 'You see a hot chick, you don’t look them up in a database.'" www.404media.co/i-saw-a-shin...

"All films that left indelible impressions, and all films made by first timers." thespinoff.co.nz/pop-culture/...

Why 2026 is the most exciting year for debut New Zealand films in ages

A steady stream of bold debut local features have provided a much-needed beacon of hope in 2026.

thespinoff.co.nz

"Many tech companies now trying to manage A.I. slop are also the ones enabling it. In July, Meta promised to support a European pact to make A.I.-generated content more identifiable . . . the company also released an image generator that automatically opted in public Instagram accounts."

Donovan Schaefer@feelingtheory.bsky.social · 3d ago

10,000 hot dog guy gifs working around the clock for 10,000 years wouldn't be enough for this article

The strongest finding in my reanalysis is that social sciences and humanities are dramatically underweighted in NZ (humanities receives just one fifth of the share of funding it does in the SAEs), and these aren’t well covered by the government’s four new funding pillars. 6/n

"Law enforcement on the streets of New Delhi used lathi – long wooden sticks (some studded with iron rings and nails) – and tear gas on the country’s young people. Symbolically important for the world’s largest democracy, the leader of the opposition was arrested and briefly detained"

The Spinoff@thespinoff.bsky.social · 2w ago

Why New Zealanders should care about the student protests in India

"After the births, I arsed around something chronic. I was at home for more than six months each time, idly waking up every two to three hours all night. . . dropkick vibes means I’m a woman, a mother and unsuitable for the workforce" Full of zingers! 👏👏👏: thespinoff.co.nz/politics/29-...

Am I still a woman? NZ First has me confused as all hell

I have a pussy and a pair of tits but I don’t know where to shop for clothes, shoes and chocolates.

thespinoff.co.nz

"the process of the obscuring of women's contributions, cryptogyny, often goes hand-in-hand with the theft of women's contributions through attributing them to men, part of what is known as great man theorising"

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · last mo.

There are more openly anti AI women than men, so if you see manels (panels of all men) or events where there are very few or no women involved on the academic speaking side (not in the organisation/teaching), it's safe to conclude that there is something very strange afoot to say the least. 1/n

"buried with a powerful arsenal of weapons . . . which archaeologists have continued to dismiss as "purely symbolic" But. . . "evidence the princesses knew how to use them, based on the state of the muscle attachments on their bones, and the signs of injuries" www.sciencealert.com/ancient-egyp...

Bones of Ancient Egyptian Princesses Reveal They Were Kind of Badass

Ancient Egyptian princesses actually knew how to use the weapons they were buried with, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

sciencealert.com

AI generated influencer account pushing fake charity with AI videos of blanket donations in Gaza and Ugandan orphanages, “our newest children in Africa”. Uses a celebrity AI aesthetic to bankroll the creators' luxury lifestyles: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...

Australian influencer Lily Jay's tangled web of AI manipulation

Receiving millions of views online, the Lily Jay Foundation claims to help children across the world. She was even given an award for her work. But what is real and what is AI-generated? ABC NEWS Veri...

abc.net.au

There are very good reasons why professors become professors rather than billionaires. "Luxon said the goal was to "brutally commercialise our science system. I want professors to become millionaires " www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Luxon 'constantly underwhelmed' by slow AI uptake in NZ businesses

Christopher Luxon says he is "constantly underwhelmed" at the slow adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology by Kiwi businesses.

rnz.co.nz

This is a man who fundamentally sees not a single solitary valuable thing about research except any monetary return it can provide, and what his government is doing to our research system illustrates this perfectly

Yorrike.@yorrike.bsky.social · 2mo ago

From the most underwhelming PM in New Zealand history. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Don't laugh. "Memorandum of Understanding" is how we say inshallah in my culture...

The American Anthropological Association has put out a very clear statement in response to a new report claiming the humanities and social sciences are ruining themselves with left-wing bias. Would be good to see more such robust responses to these familiar yet deeply unhelpful accusations

@anthrofuentes.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Setting the Record Straight on Anthropology @americananthro.bsky.social on the Vanderbilt Report...Yes. And still more to come... americananthro.org/advocacy-sta...

Oh Girls 👏👏👏👏

World Bollard Association™️@worldbollardassoc.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Only bollards can deliver this much happiness. #WorldBollardAssociation

"The ruling also arrives as the Government reshapes New Zealand’s environmental laws and reviews the place of Treaty obligations . . Court’s repeated emphasis on Te Ture Whaimana as the primary framework guiding restoration of the Waikato River is. . . significant" www.teaonews.co.nz/2026/06/09/r...

River iwi celebrate landmark victory after more than a decade of legal battles

River Iwi say a landmark Environment Court ruling strengthens efforts to restore the Waikato and Waipā rivers while reaffirming Te Ture Whaimana.

teaonews.co.nz

Timothy Cook writes about the subtle effects that long-term use of AI models can have on researchers’ reasoning. Read more on the LSE Impact Blog 👇 #ResearchIntegrity #AI

LSE Impact@lseimpactblog.bsky.social · 3mo ago

💥New | "Participants who co-wrote with an opinionated language model produced both prose that matched the model’s suggestions and shifted their own stated beliefs on surveys taken after the writing task was over" ✍️Timothy Cook #AcademicSky #AcWri #ResearchIntegrity

My article "The Manners of Digital Distraction" is out in Visual Anthropology Review. Based on ethnography in Thailand, it highlights the role of bodily manners in attention economies. doi.org/10.1111/var.....

Visual Anthropology Review | AAA Journal | Wiley Online Library

This paper is a photographic essay focusing on how people navigate the demands of visual citizenship in both virtual and physical spaces. It posits that theories of digital attention often overlook t...

doi.org

"The price we pay for AI today is not the real price. AI companies are still in the land-grab phase, burning cash to get governments and businesses hooked on their tools, so they are selling their services for a fraction of what they actually cost to deliver. ..That will not last."

Newsroom NZ@newsroom.co.nz · 3mo ago

New Zealand is badly under-prepared for mass deployment of AI in the public sector - and the latest Budget measures are being made without safeguards, writes Professor Alexandra Andhov

Alexandra Andhov says it clearly. NZ doesn't want to regulate AI, but it does want to replace 8700 public sector jobs with AI. The plan is to pay US based AI companies instead of New Zealand workers. To comply with US law, not laws designed accountable to Aoteaora. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Replacing public servants with AI could come with hidden costs, critics warn

The government's basic recipe for cutting the wage bill is to reduce the head-count and use of technology - but critics have a warning.

rnz.co.nz

"Between 65 and 80 per cent of Tuvaluans applied for the visa in its inaugural year in 2025 — roughly 8,700 people of its estimated 10,000–13,000 eligible global population — making it one of the highest migration application rates on Earth" www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05...

'We're not fleeing': The disappearing Pacific nation relocating its people to Australia

Tuvalu is building new land to hold back rising sea levels, but the majority of its people are applying to relocate to Australia. As they do, many are confronting a disturbing question.

abc.net.au

I’m sure this is a great idea with absolutely no risk of any negative repercussions.

Gizmodo@gizmodo.com · 3mo ago

ChatGPT Can Now Connect to Your Bank Account and See All Your Transactions https://gizmodo.com/chatgpt-can-now-connect-to-your-bank-account-and-see-all-your-transactions-2000759306

"“We shouldn’t be expected to individually document, fund, navigate and survive sustained campaigns of racist abuse,” she said. “The burden itself becomes another form of harm.” She called for a coordinated national framework to address online harassment"

D Jukic She/her@dejanajuk.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We see this play out week in week in across NZ, it’s racism in action & it’s swept under the carpet. “Wāhine Māori are often expected to operate at exceptionally high standards while simultaneously navigating hostility, undermining behaviour, reputational attacks and procedural harassment,” #nzpol

"The only dangerous minority is the millionaires" Seen in Barcelona during a 2026 May 1st demonstration

In other news, I have made DuckDuckGo my default browser.

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 4mo ago

Google agreed to let the Defense Department use its artificial-intelligence tools in classified settings, becoming the third AI company to reach such a deal in recent weeks and accelerating the Pentagon’s push to embed the technology in its operations. on.wsj.com/3OHOjR3

If LinkedIn is one of the social media sites most wallowing in AI slop, then perhaps Graeber's point that many white collar jobs in capitalist economies, are no more than "bullshit", is truer than ever.

Christian Schneider@anti-knowledge.com · 4mo ago

It feels like two-thirds of all the posts now on LinkedIn are AI-generated "here are five things I learned" nonsense. Dude, I just want to know where my friends work so it's not awkward when I have to ask them.

"I chose the title Dissimulation because it describes the process of using false appearances to hide a form of reality. It brings to mind a sense of trickery and illusion, which I think is quite apt when we are thinking about what is often called Artificial Intelligence"

Kin@cell-less.bsky.social · 9mo ago

A nice little interview with me on Digital Arts Blog plus a few photos of my work Dissimulation, a three-screen video installation about hidden labour in AI: www.digitalartsblog.com/artist-spotl...

For the past five years, Jen has sent me (and her larger circles of friends) an annual email tracking her food expenditure. Cool to see the fruit of this record keeping coming out in this analysis about UPFs and food justice. www.theguardian.com/global/2026/...

My family tried to eat fewer ultra-processed foods for five years. Here’s what we learned

Cutting UPFs from our grocery list was expensive, laborious and time-consuming

theguardian.com

"Whether or not we pay attention to the world’s “scentscape,” heat and pollution are causing it to shift. As temperatures rise, man-made substances release more scent molecules, and biodiversity loss due to climate change threatens the plants that scent the environment".

Prof Phoebe Barnard@phoebebarnard.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“We are blinded by vision” in the western world. What’s at stake by the loss of #scents in our world through #ecologicalovershoot and its symptoms, e.g. #pollution and #climatechange. Those who practice shinrin-yoku, or #forestbathing, will know this. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

Meta should be accountable for the content it is paid to amplify: "argues that Meta's artificial intelligence tools optimised and personalised fraudulent ads before distributing them, thereby making Meta an active participant, rather than a mere intermediary". www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest battles Meta over fake ads

Australian billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest is asking a US federal court in Silicon Valley to hold Meta accountable for scam ads using his likeness without permission.

abc.net.au

"A study by researchers at the University of Oxford found that LLMs routinely conduct their core reasoning in English, even when prompted in other languages. They translate the output at the final stage. A user receives flawless text . . . but the underlying logic originates elsewhere".

Ms Hooper@mshooper.bsky.social · 5mo ago

“The concern is that these perspectives become the new normal. Certain ways of reasoning about family life, education and responsibility may come to feel natural and self-evident. Linguistic diversity among AI systems is real and growing. Cultural worldview diversity, however, has not kept pace.”