There is no connection but human: Why it is vital to value human creativity in the age of AI Generative AI does not write, design or paint: it generates statistically closest patterns; these are probabilistic automation systems, which make them fundamentally different from human cognition or ...

Journalists and media need to stop repeating tech companies’ marketing pitches, and policymakers must stop prioritizing the imagined urgency over safety and human rights.
#GVSpotlight

globalvoices.org/2026/04/16/t...

An extremely wide eyed ginger and white young cat looking at the ceiling while sitting on a bed

A number of hours ago there was a small winged insect creature up near the ceiling in this bedroom and it may not be possible to sleep tonight because what if it comes back

On a flavour of hyper focused research report writing high! Simultaneously exhausted because my brain woke me up every 15 min last night thinking about research things 🤓

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, says there are no plans for a new round of talks with the US, adding that Washington is not learning its lessons from past experience and that this will not lead to good results.

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.news/3i78ht

An ‘ordinary’ storm with extraordinary impacts: what made Wellington’s deluge so intense? Wellington’s extreme deluge was caused by an unfortunate combination of weather factors. But a warming climate is upping the odds of more of these events in future.

theconversation.com/an-ordinary-...

Listen to @cubaraglanguy.bsky.social

#nzpol

An ‘ordinary’ storm with extraordinary impacts: what made Wellington’s deluge so intense?

Wellington’s extreme deluge was caused by an unfortunate combination of weather factors. But a warming climate is upping the odds of more of these events in future.

We turned rivers into road and wetlands into suburbs.

Extreme weather turns them back to rivers and wetlands.

This is what the #ClimateCrisis looks like.

Iwi leader voices need for government to support marae with severe weather The Government says it won't set up another dedicated fund to reimburse marae for their work leading up to Cyclone Vaianu.

Iwi leader voices need for government to support marae with severe weather

TODAY??!!? He’s having a swipe at that TODAY? 🫥🤯🫠

In extreme weather events, communication is v important:
🔌 keep devices charged
🔋 prep any backup power options (portable power banks, generators, EV) you may have
🧑‍🧒‍🧒 check in with whānau and have a plan for what you’ll do if you lose comms
📻 have a radio (windup or battery operated) handy

Flood map for those who need it:

gis.wcc.govt.nz/LocalMapsVie...

Our campuses will be reopening at 8 am on Wednesday, but we will keep you informed through our website & social channels should this information change.

The Hub at Kelburn is open if you can't make it home, otherwise please check WREMO updates for emergency community hubs that have been activated.

The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority. Due to the risk to life and probable travel disruptions, all campuses are closing. Please prioritise your safety and head home now if you can.

Wild unpredictability of extreme weather is a key impact of climate change. We are in a new era: localised, extreme weather of greater intensity where the existing models for prediction don’t apply well anymore 😭

🌧️🔴 Update - Red Heavy Rain Warning 🔴 🌧️

- Red Heavy Rain Warning for Wellington (2pm Mon – 9pm Tue)
- Red Heavy Rain Warning for Wairarapa (2pm Mon – midnight Tue)

More information: metservice.com/warnings

A map showing rainfall intensity across the Wellington region, labelled “1 hour rainfall total (mm) ending 20-04-2026 04:00 (NZST)”. There’s virtually no rain north of central Wellington, and a tiny blob of 75mm+ over the southern suburbs.

I don’t know how you’d even begin to try forecasting that. This map (from graphs.gw.govt.nz/envmon/daily...) shows how localised it was. Apparently the mayor said it was 3x the local record rain intensity.

77mm in one hour in Berhampore. That’s just an incomprehensible rain intensity anywhere at any time, let alone in Wellington in Autumn. We used to use 7mm an hour as a threshold for “heavy rain”, and this was more than 10 times that.

Scoop: NSA using Anthropic's Mythos despite Defense Department blacklist The government's cybersecurity needs are outweighing the Pentagon's feud with Anthropic.

Hey babe your fave AI company is besties with the military and the NSA

"The military is now broadening its use of Anthropic's tools while simultaneously arguing in court that using those tools threatens U.S. national security."

www.axios.com/2026/04/19/n...

I’ve been running a home weather station on and off for like 20 years, and I’ve never seen lightning like this. Incredible stuff.

The human face of science funding cuts - Expert Reaction - Science Media Centre Kiwi scientists share how funding cuts have impacted their research and careers, in a new report from the Save Science Coalition. Many of the profiled researchers have been made redundant or have moved...

The human face of science funding cuts – Expert Reaction

Had a cool meeting today where I needed to share I’m aphantastic and they were so cool about adapting around it and wanted to understand it because they’d ’never worked with someone with aphantasia before’ and such delight in both their openness and to say ‘not that you know of, but oh you have!’ 🙌

I once had ‘fuck off lady don’t be so emotional’ screamed at me for slapping a car hard when I had to jump out of the way and it still stopped just in time to not seriously injure me.

“How did you run out of fuel?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

This is an excellent summary of why it's always ladies' night in spaaaaace.

Extreme weather scientists warn of impending funding drought 'Some nerd sitting in an office' doesn't seem like exciting research to fund but it's answering urgent questions about severe weather, a climate scientist says.

🍃🌹🌿Extreme weather scientists warn of impending funding drought:
Senior #climate scientists say the major funding for extreme weather research is drying up just as the country needs it the most #ChangeTheGovt #PartyVoteGreen #nzpol #cyclones #flooding #droughts
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Extreme weather scientists warn of impending funding drought 'Some nerd sitting in an office' doesn't seem like exciting research to fund but it's answering urgent questions about severe weather, a climate scientist says.

Complex systems approaches have huge potential to improve our ability to predict, prepare for and recover from increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

CHRISTINA KOCH GREETING HER DOG AFTER RETURNING FROM THE MOON IM GONNA CRYYY 😭😭😭