obama

i'm very glad this technology is being forced onto us everywhere on all levels

Gutting of Zero Carbon Act crashes bipartisan climate consensus It took more than a year of painstaking cross-partisan negotiation to land the Zero Carbon Act. Now, the Govt is gutting it unilaterally, Marc Daalder reports

Asked whether he’s sure technology will allow the Government to meet its climate goals, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts replies: ‘Can we be sure about anything in life?’
newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/06/g...

Congratulations Kevin!

In contrast to how Star Wars handled the rebuilding of the Republic in the Sequel Trilogy, Gundam considered the success of a republic against a fascist enemy to be itself a stepping stone to misguided patriotic fascism.
I think this would have been an interesting take in Star Wars.

Whether the "You wouldn't steal a car" anti-piracy campaign stole the music is up for debate, but I found today that the font they used throughout was a pirated clone (XBAND Rough) of a real font (FF Confidential).

The ‘Piracy. It’s a Crime’ campaign used pirated music, *and* as it turns out, also used pirated fonts. Incredible.

It's really important to recognise that this isn't a 'fixed part' of how capitalism operates. Pre-Jack-Welch CEs didn't think like this, they recognised that their products and services were the value of the company. Welch's rorting of financial regulation to hollow-out corps is the model now

When YouTube refuses to give you basic functionality - playing while not an active window - unless you pay up - that's what Cory Doctorow calls "enshittification" but it's also this vampire ticket-clipping mentality of pay-walling basic services. It doesn't improve the world, it only takes from it

The problem now is there's a whole generation of people who are so brain-fried from this expectation they have essentially been driven to gambling.. through apps, through crypto, through de-regulated often international sports betting. Not all, but a big chunk of AI products are also this.

There's a whole generation of 'innovators' who have taken on this mentality, that the 'smart' move is to create cattle-gates for consumers, so you can add nothing to the world but gain passive income from the captive-annoyance of others.

The biggest evidence we live in late-stage capitism is the complete divorce between producing wealth and producing anything of actual value. Take "fin-tech" as an industry... providing the same services (payment gateways) that used to be free, but adding a surcharge is considered "innovation"

All told, my romantic life has been a lot less win-her-a-gigantic-teddy-at-the-fair based than media lead me to expect.

Climate Change (Restriction on Civil Proceedings) Bill

This is an outrageous attempt at removing a vital course of action for challenging big polluters who threaten all of our futures with climate chaos.

bills.parliament.nz/v/1/08176357...

#nzpol #ClimateLitigation #CimateChange

NZ Fist constitution from 2022, point 52.2 discussing list ranking candidates ‘…the need for different genders, social groups, ages, and ethic groups to be represented’

2 and a smidge years old, the constitution of NZ First
#nzpol

As I save “Belinda Curtains” into my phone to reduce future missed-call-anxiety, it occurs to me that this is pretty much how we got last names.

Why we left Twitter: Staying True to Our Values in the Digital Age Ditch the toXic air. Breathe fresh with us on Bluesky 🦋

You heard it here first already! But we're proud to have made some important decisions to stay true to our values and say bye to X/Twitter and cut all future spending on Meta.

Read more about our decision here.

350.org.nz/why-we-left-...

People Watching: End of a 'Morning People' dance party, 8am on a Thursday morning, Whammy Bar in Auckland

‘Forbidden Words’: Github Reveals How Software Engineers Are Purging Federal Databases A project called "Remove-DEI" shows the tweaks used to remove "forbidden words" from a database about childhood school readiness.

New: Github reveals some of the code and banal back-and-forth discussion used to clean a federal database of "forbidden words" in a dataset that tracks spending effectiveness for Headstart, which affects "America's most vulnerable young children":

www.404media.co/forbidden-wo...

But you wouldn't know from the article, which only mentions 'climate conditions' half-way down!

Reading comments lately - I'm not sure all that Hitler time in social-studies really sank in.

lol, a clip of a Tesla's vision system trying to understand a train

labyrinth.zone/notice/Aq5V7...

NZ's climate credentials on the line in 2025 In February alone, New Zealand will set a new Paris emissions target and repeal a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, Marc Daalder reports.

Two key events in February will set the direction of New Zealand’s clean, green reputation for the rest of the year – and perhaps even many years to come.
newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/14/n...

Always remember

Elon devouring his site

oo oo, Do Joel next

Work today.

Happy Zelda day for all those who celebrate

a question for the ages

I respect the efficiency

However, ASMR rating on microwave beeps, zero stars.
Kettle flicks to off:

... hot drink time.

New Zealander here... I've honestly never boiled water in a microwave so I can't weigh up pros and cons, but there's something satisfying and ritualistic about 'boiling the jug'.

Boiling water in a microwave seems inherently more faff... what do you heat it in? Do you need to remove it with a mit?