Essentially just one Wikipedia paragraph for the Arch Eradicationist who successfully led the yellow fever elimination program across the western hemisphere, nearly eliminated smallpox there, and dramatically reduced malaria and yaws during his tenure too! Sad. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_So...

Fred Soper - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

One year $150M contract to a small Texas firm that lacks immigration law experience

Politico@politico.com · 19h ago

26-employee Texas law firm gets $150M to represent 24,000 children in immigration court

Take a close look at who funds The Opportunity Party. Whether built on fitness empires, software companies, or bitcoin fortunes, these donors hold vast wealth outside of real estate. That is no accident; it is precisely why the meteoric rise of donor money must be questioned. #nzpol

This To Do list photographer deserves a Pulitzer or something

Simon Marks@simonmarksfsn.bsky.social · 4d ago

This is magnificent. (I heard about it on the BBC World Service shortly after noting down that I need a new bar of Fruit and Nut and some crisps).

This is magnificent. (I heard about it on the BBC World Service shortly after noting down that I need a new bar of Fruit and Nut and some crisps).

Steve Herman@newsguy.bsky.social · 5d ago

Treasury Secretary Bessent exposed a "to-do" list during today's Cabinet meeting at Camp David indicating he was contemplating US purchases of $5 billion to $10 billion ‌worth of Japanese yen, a Reuters photo shows. www.reuters.com/world/asia-pa...

What a great job! (For someone with serious Wikipedia editing skillz)

Wikimedian in Residence Job in Parnell, Auckland - SEEK

Create and improve Wikipedia articles, organise community events, and engage with local, national & international Wikimedia communities.

nz.seek.com

Mark Bregman's comment on this should be its own article @newsroom.co.nz @tmurphynz.bsky.social newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/31/g...

Govt science reform uproots the tree it needs to bear fruit

From Auckland University - Comment: Defunding basic research risks starving NZ's deep-tech startups before they begin, writes Dr Nicola Gaston.

newsroom.co.nz

This is going to make it very difficult to know which sports we should ban them from.

Kat Kerlin@katkerlin.bsky.social · last wk.

Some avocados are female in the morning and male in the afternoon, while others are on the opposite schedule. This helps them avoid self-pollination. How do they do it? A @ucdavis.bsky.social study explains. www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/st...

NZ fluoridation dashboard launched as study confirms benefits for children

NZ fluoridation dashboard launched as study confirms benefits for children

The launch of a new interactive online tool allowing New Zealanders to check whether their drinking water supply is fluoridated coincides with the publication of an analysis that confirms lower rates ...

phcc.org.nz

It is 63 years since 1963. Ask me how I know *cracks knuckles*

1989: Margaret Thatcher, "Water privatisation I believe will go very successfully indeed. It will go very successfully indeed" 2026: BBC News, "Both terminals at the UK's second busiest airport, Gatwick, are without running water.. Toilets can't be flushed"

"Shocking in the extreme... The Environment Select Committee’s recommended changes to the Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill wants to shift billions in environmental costs to councils... #nzpol

Resource management rewrite risks shifting billions in environmental costs to councils

Comment: Proposed resource management changes strip environmental limits and hand sweeping powers to ministers, leaving councils with huge costs, writes Dr Greg Severinson.

newsroom.co.nz

Greg - ‘is hegemony people moaning about their hedges’ - imagine an imperial army of old coots shaking hedge-clippers

So we wrote up everything we learned, and it's an actual (small) book now. Tamsin is in Paris at Wikimania with a boxful, handing them out, but you can download the whole thing for free. This was all funded by a small grant from the Wikimedia Foundation. meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Wi...

Certain people have tried very hard to find the hidden health risks of coffee, and in some ways it's a tribute to scientific method how comprehensively unsuccessful they've been

There are about 15,000 jobs advertised today and... - 174,000 people officially unemployed - Another 144,000 people who want more hours - A further 80,000 potential jobseekers (underestimate) This is a failure of laissez-faire economic management on an absolutely tragic scale.

Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface

I don’t usually watch Q&A but watching Jack Tame eviscerate Paul Henry made my day

The NZ Government spent $8M to bring the Michelin Guide here. $8M is the entire yearly government funding to all food banks, who feed 500k people a month. newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/17/s... #NZPol

Starry-eyed Tourism NZ buried the downside to fund its $8m Michelin gamble

Previously secret documents imply that the famous international restaurant guide essentially guaranteed the award of at least one star to a restaurant, if the NZ Government paid its $1,901,250 fee.

newsroom.co.nz

Every NZ quake drum felt it #EQNZ

My pal (photographer Ken Downie) is looking to rent out his ground floor mid-century flat in Birkenhead, Auckland. He is a truly lovely guy.

155/155 Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead, North Shore City, Auckland

cool retro 1960s style one bedroom flat quite large

trademe.co.nz

For some reason, I'm thinking of Reilly, Ace of Spies. Sam Neill would have made a great Bond

Sam Neill’s 20 best roles

The New Zealand actor, who has died at the age of 78, delivered stellar performances for more than 40 years. Here’s our pick of his best roles

theguardian.com

I wish more journalists would point out that Sen. McConnell and Rep. Tom Kean (missed 4 months of work) are/were essentially on paid sick & medical leave. The same employment protection they’ve spent their careers blocking other Americans from having.

Listening to RNZ's Waiata 100 countdown. Last few to go. Greg, my beloved, a Flying Nun loyalist - Now they're playing the crap stuff

Trump's second-term pardons and sentence commutations have wiped away more than $2 billion in fines and restitutions. "The 47th president has serially exceeded the most infamous corruptions in U.S. history while generating a fraction of the outrage." A wonderfully researched story

Ethan Zuckerman@ethanz.bsky.social · 4w ago

Comparing the Trump administration's corruption to historical US precedents: reason.com/2026/07/09/t...

Trump is precise here. Although Harold II sought to blame Trotskyite revisionists within the ranks for his defeat at Hastings, it was shrewd Norman capital investment and the resulting industrial innovations -- including overwhelming air superiority -- that proved decisive for William the Conqueror.

A good summary of the state of Wikipedia: under attack from the US right wing and Russia, its servers hammered by bot scrapers, losing pageviews to the resulting AI summaries, and trying to broaden and diversify its 250,000 volunteer editor base.

Wikipedia Is Battling for the Soul of the Internet

nytimes.com

Yes, [citation needed]. Rat numbers are normally controlling cat numbers, not the other way round.

When you’re too corrupt even for Sepp…