Ways for AI to kill you without you even using it. Yay

Dr Morgane Merien introduces you to Hoake ki te Taiao City Nature Challenge - it is on from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 April. Our Insect Neighbours exhibition can help your bug spotting! my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/city-nature-... ^DR
#Christchurch

Receiving a flu shot doesn’t just protect you, it protects all the people you would have passed your flu on to. Among those people may be some who are frail or old.

It takes five minutes, it may save a life and will certainly save some suffering.

Get a flu shot.

Flash flooding in Wellington - Expert Reaction A state of emergency has been declared in Wellington, as torrential localised downpours flood suburbs with little warning. Other areas across the North Island have also been affected, with more rain…

A state of emergency has been declared in Wellington, as torrential localised downpours flood suburbs with little warning.

We've gathered expert comments on landslides, sewage spills, cleaning up mould, and more.

www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2026/04/20/f...

I found ”What Moves the Dead” properly creepy, but still loved it despite my low horror tolerance level 😁

Got an ISBN in 24 hours. Yay for the National Library.

A Māori staff member browses the books in the Māori collection.

NEW VACANCY: Kaitakawaenga Māori - Permanent, Full-time, based in Linwood, applications close 11.55pm, Sunday 26 April.
More info including job description:
www.cccjobs.co.nz/jobdetails/a... ^MT

Ours is probably not that surprising - the manuscript for the original paper on the SWORD protocol for depositing items into repositories :)

The damaging events are on the right hand side of the graph. The right hand side of the graph is where we live now.

Here is a version for local use of the amount of officially declared States of Emergency for climate related reasons

Yes, libraries are invaluable for their collections and services they offer, but also social contact without the expectation to interact with anyone or spend money is so important to so many people

A kauri tree looking towards the canopy.

PhD opportunity- fully funded with stipend, fees and project costs covered. Explore the role of phosphite in treating kauri dieback disease. Applications due 8th May. Please spread the word!
newzealandecology.org/phd-explorin...

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you’re under absolutely no obligation to justify yourself to anyone if you choose to spend the entire weekend reading a good book, making multiple cups of tea, and indulging in a borderline scandalous amount of cinnamon rolls.

Bon Jovi concert, Western Springs, 1989. Photograph by Stuart Page. Record ID: 273-PAG035-05. Auckland Library.

New music exhibition at Auckland Council Libraries

"Encore! explores how live music has shaped central Tāmaki Makaurau and the connections formed between musicians, reviewers and audiences across generations. "

www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/encore.html

The New York Times is now blocking The Wayback Machine from accessing its articles.

That means you'll no longer be able to view archived versions of NYT stories published in 2026 and beyond on archive.org.

(All those posts you see tracking changes to NYT headlines and ledes? They relied on WBM).

Excellent! Thanks @legallyfeminist.bsky.social and @sarahhbickerton.bsky.social "meaningful progress on online safety requires enforceable platform obligations, independent regulatory oversight, and a model grounded in accountability, prevention, and substantive gender equality."

I don’t know what tax bracket you have to be in to care about govt spending or debt but I know I’m not in it. Literally could not give a shit. I’m in the tax bracket where I want kids to be fed, homeless people to be housed, people to be able to access and receive quality healthcare timely.

Can I enrol to vote in #NZ?
YES if you are 18 years or older, a NZ citizen OR resident for electoral purposes, and lived in NZ for >12 months or more.

Resident for electoral purposes = you’re living in NZ lawfully and aren't required to leave within a specified time.
vote.nz/enrolling/ge...

A tūturiwhatu (New Zealand dotterel) foraging amongst the shells at Omaha this morning. 🪶🇳🇿

2 charcuterie bread boards in clamps

A stack of 3/4 finished charcuterie bread boards

A finished long grain strip charcuterie bread board

The thought of a new Nikon lens can wait, I’ve got Mums funeral to pay for now.

Will have these charcuterie boards up on my store next week.

ENROL YOUR TEENS PEOPLE! You can pre-enrol a 17 yo too. Just do it! Go to vote.nz

A Trans-Tasman partnership for #1Lib1Ref For many in the Northern Hemisphere, the #1Lib1Ref (One Librarian, One Reference) campaign is synonymous with the colder days of January, time spent keeping warm indoors, and the celebration of Wik…

#1Lib1Ref 15 May to 5 June in the southern hemisphere. #wikipedia

This Potential Exoplanet Is Earth Sized but May Be Colder Than Mars A new analysis of old mission data may have revealed a possible Earth-sized planet orbiting the K-dwarf star HD 137010.

New planet alert: This one looks like it’s about the same size as Earth, but much chillier and on the outer edge of its star’s habitable zone.

eos.org/articles/thi...

Read more in our April theme: eos.org/themes/at-lo...

On a rising trend before the effects of the war.

StatsNZ have just released March Selected Prices data. On the understanding that we are yet to see the flow through effects of the war fuel shortages on food prices, this is the rolling 12 month Food Index (to smooth all potential seasonality), showing the continued rising trend since late 2024.

Win all 16 books shortlisted for Ockham Announcing the greatest book giveaway prize of all times

Have you headed to Reading Room's almighty 'win all 16 Ockhams shortlisted books' competition run by @newsroom.co.nz? Go to it!

newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/05/w...

Holacanthella paucispinosa on the cover of this month's issue of Nature Ecology and Evolution. Photo by Frank Ashwood

Breaking news: giant springtail from Aotearoa NZ made the cover of @natecoevo.nature.com!

This amazing pic of H. paucispinosa by @frankashwood.bsky.social should lure readers to the global study by @zheng-zhou.bsky.social et al on soil animal trophic diversity 🌍🌿🕷️🪱🪳🧪
www.nature.com/natecolevol/...

A graph of the counts of korimako (NZ bellbirds) one each of my bike ride to and from work between Christchurch and Lincoln between 2005 and 2025. The numbers of the endemic song bird have increased hugely over this time period, from less than 5 birds counted per ride in the first five years to over 50 birds counted on some rides in the past five years.

A graph of the counts of mallard and greylard ducks on one each of my bike ride to and from work between Christchurch and Lincoln between 2005 and 2025. The numbers of ducks have increased hugely over this time period, from less than 10 birds counted per ride in the first five years to over 100 birds counted on some rides in the past five years.

Here's some good news about local birds here in NZ.

Today I've been editing the final draft of a MSc thesis by Stacey Lewthwaite. Stacey has been applying her data skills to my 20+ year dataset of species counts between Christchurch and Lincoln. The bulk of her […]

[Original post on mastodon.nz]

A kākāpō chick at a nest. Credit: Andrew Digby

There are currently 94 #kakapo chicks alive, with 59 on Anchor, 22 on Whenua Hou, at least 10 on Te Kākahu and 3 in hospital. We lost a chick to a freak flooding of a nest earlier this week on Anchor. #kakapo2026 #conservation #birds

I believe that in order to take some small step forward, the word “bird” should be replaced with “saur” in all common names. Mockingsaur. Secretarysaur. Red-winged blacksaur.

HUMMINGSAUR

Comic. One... two... THREE! [text in red] X Deprecated [line break] One... two... three... GO! [text in red] Deprecated [red curly bracket around top two lines] Too easy to mix up [line break] Three... two... one... GO! [text in green] [check mark] ISO Standard [caption] If I were in charge of ISO, the first thing I’d do would be to standardize the way people count out loud before doing something in sync.

Countdown Standard

xkcd.com/3232/

When you are a working parent that cooked chook at the supermarket is part of “the village”.

I dont do the traditional kiwi roll coleslaw dinner but I do get ~3 lunches for 2 adults and a toddler.