Unemployment at its highest level for 11 years, did I see? And THAT INCLUDES THE COVID AND LOCKDOWN TIMES. Thanks to the Ardern government that protected jobs and businesses at the time.
Marsden
@marsdennz.bsky.social
He/Him, Webdev from Ōtautahi, Aotearoa (Christchurch, New Zealand). Interested in #SocialIssues, #BoardGaming and #TabletopRoleplaying.
Here’s the latest stop motion animation from my Tiny Angry Witch team. (I’m the writer, I can’t take credit for the animating!) It’s one of our longest, and it nearly drove us all mad, but we’re really proud of getting it made! 1 x Tiny Angry Witch 1 x broom No AI
Tamatha Paul in general debate talks about a homeless man dying on the streets of Wellington on Monday night in the freezing cold. This regime has a body count #nzqt
and when you consider how cameras and eyeballs work, how you look at a mirror is significantly different from how you look at a screen.
Joseph Rezek@rezekjoe.bsky.social · yesterdayI was in a friend’s rental car and in place of a rear-view mirror there was a mirror-sized digital video feed of the back of the car. They replaced one of the most reliable & intuitive safety features in a car with a digital surrogate that could glitch at any moment. KEEP ANALOG SAFTEY FEATURES
@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
(children) "... have reasons for behaving badly. Our politicians have no such excuses. They’re well-paid adults with access to what’s likely the most generous housing scheme on offer at any workplace."
The little shits are coming from inside the House
Act wants to deal with the little shits in the classroom. Perhaps they should clean up the ones on their own turf first.
thespinoff.co.nz
I'm going to alienate some people now. Abortion is a critical part of gynecological care. Full stop. Hormonal birth control is used by many individuals simply to regulate difficult menstrual cycles. Legislators who don't understand the minutiae of reproductive biology should SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Let me take a minute to tell you how bonkers this is. The first election I worked was (I think) 2008, before there was really any advance voting. At every election, if you weren't on the roll, we let you cast a special vote and then worked out if you were eligible afterwards. Two reasons: 1/2
Marc Daalder@marcdaalder.bsky.social · 2d agoThe 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. newsroom.co.nz/2026/08/03/t...
This thread all checks out. There's a distressing number of these tales I am familiar with/have been present for.
Rocky Flats Chimney Sweep 🇺🇸@midlifesuezcrisis.bsky.social · 2d agoOne like one random DOE/NNSA story 🤷♂️⚛️
Cats in snow. Robyn was very excited, Kestrel ran around a bit, Callie just "nope, it's cold" and stayed inside. #Cats #Snow #CatsInSnow #BlackAndWhiteCats #Pets 1/2 - Robyn
Reporting success as failure because despite delivering research outputs beyond expectations it cost money
RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social · 3d agoCost blowout puts fees for foreign PhD students under review
"The tell isn’t that fake citations look wrong. It’s that they look too right. Too convenient. Too perfectly aligned with whatever point the AI is making. Real academic citations are messy. " #Technology #AI #AIDetection #Citations #Librarians (rock) www.llrx.com/2025/12/how-...
How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian – LLRX
llrx.com
Little Andromeda has missed out on major Creative New Zealand funding, with its founder questioning whether the South Island is getting a fair go.
Zero funding for theatre a ‘middle finger to Christchurch creatives’, councillor says
Little Andromeda has missed out on major Creative New Zealand funding, with its founder questioning whether the South Island is getting a fair go.
dlvr.it
Also. I would point out to men that your idea of "likeable" is the same dude who makes our skin crawl and makes us feel uncomfortable. The reason we don't say anything is because of blather like "you just need to get to know him". No, we don't.
Good on ya #Ōtepoti #knitters. "But as word of Crofters Yarn’s troubles spread across Dunedin, the community stepped up to help ... attendance at the public knitting sessions has exploded, and knitter numbers have tripled over the past few weeks. " thespinoff.co.nz/society/02-0...
‘I felt sick’: How one Dunedin knitting group fell foul of the law
Knitting is not supposed to be a dangerous hobby, but it led one Dunedin woman into a rather woolly situation.
thespinoff.co.nz
This is good (and is also kind of the same argument/discussion that the Americans on here keep having about how "stock market line go up" does not translate into "feeling good about your finances" in a real sense
Vote for hope in November! Toitū te Tiriti 🇳🇿@mrjeffhowell.bsky.social · 4d agoA long-ish thread on PM Luxon's foot-in-mouth speech in Rotorua this week, and a theory on why it happened. 1/
This policy would directly lead to physical abuse of disabled and neurodivergent children. Tell your friends. I'm absolutely serious.
RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social · 4d agoACT candidate Paul Henry unveils plan to let teachers use 'reasonable force' on 'little shits'
The majority of these kids have disabilities, are non speaking, developmentally delayed, etc. Neither schools nor parents are getting the funding they need for adequate interventions, training, or support. Fining parents exacerbates the financial strain. Manhandling kids leads to abuse. #nzpol
Cam Bennett@cambennett.bsky.social · 4d agoAlways punitive with the right. They haven’t met a problem that can’t be solved by simply adding more punishment. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/...
This is INCREDIBLE news
Ada Palmer@adapalmer.bsky.social · 6d agoEndometriosis takes nine years to diagnose. That’s about to change. NICE has approved two tests: a saliva test reading microRNA markers, and a gut-sensor test returning results in 45 minutes, sparing women the keyhole surgery currently needed. buff.ly/QX3jHk8 #ShareGoodNewsToo
One has to wonder if the PM would have been quite so condescending and patronizing if it had been a male asking the same question 🤔🤔🤔 FTR Melanie Short is the very capable and competent head of the Rotorua Business Association.
henry cooke@henrycooke.bsky.social · 5d agoThe full comments the PM made at the Rotorua event, which the PM's office say Labour are mischaracterising as a "patronising lecture". www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...
The case of an autistic 11yo who was thrown into hospital and injected w antipsychotics has stuck with me. The reports came out recently but I remain concerned that little will change - and deeply worried for the future of my own daughter. Read more: open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...
The System is the Risk
The Waikato Hospital inquiry exposed catastrophic failures. It also revealed what happens when disability support, mental health services, and healthcare are stretched far beyond their limits.
open.substack.com
Survivors of abuse in care hand-delivered flowers to Parliament. The flowers were picked from the grounds of hospitals and care residences that were sites of abuse, and marked 2 years since the damning findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry. My #cartoon today #NZpol #AbuseInCare #ChildWelfare
I like this notetaking example. it is a good case of how gender works. Notetaking has never been about producing a transcript. It is a bureaucratic skill in the 20th c. organixarion because it is SENSEMAKING. Those women socialized to take notes? They have been doing men’s metacognition for them
Jennifer Romig @jennifermromig.bsky.social · 5d agoNotetaking in meetings is tiny case in point - used to be some predictable social assumptions who would do it; now anyone can offer to do ”notetaking” by turning on the AI listener. Further interesting scenario is human recollection / notes (taken by habit by a person) conflict with AI summary
“What people are not getting is that we can’t turn this back – the CO2 to a large part remains in the air for thousands of years,” said Rahmstorf. “Some people think we can wait and, when it gets too bad, then we reduce emissions and things will get better again." www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘We can’t make it better again’: what Europe’s wildfires tell us about the climate crisis
In this week’s newsletter: As France and Spain battle huge fires in this summer of relentless heat, will it be enough to spur us to take action?
theguardian.com
You did not seek out and hire dozens of kiwi graduates and teach them how to build and run amazing software engineering teams. You did not lay off a bunch of friends in 2015 after learning hard lessons about tech VC funding. You got a pay packet. Get over yourself.
Reading this, and enjoying the analysis of Labour as a repressed party which can't ever do what it wants (as opposed to TOP, which will do, while not admitting to wanting it) andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/opportunit...
Opportunity Cost
Labour’s repressed desire and the rise of the political decaf
andrewdicksonnz.substack.com
White racists: "For most of New Zealand’s history we were over 90% of the population" For most of Aotearoa's history it was utterly dominated by birds. Mammals should stay on the beaches or in the ocean where they belong, or piss off back to Pangea (bats are birds. Its official).
Charlie Mitchell @comingupcharlie.bsky.social · 5d agoPart one of my investigation into a group of young men trying to import “remigration” into New Zealand politics www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3610...