#Wordle #dailyWordleClub #Wordle1745 Wordle 1,745 3/6*
🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛
🟨🟩🟨🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩Fell out quickly for me.

Depends on what (cuisine, price point,vibe) you fancy. There're lots of choices.

Fine sunny day with blue sky & white fluffy clouds over Whau River mouth where it is high tide & there are boats moored.

The heavy morning fog cleared to a lovely sunny Autumn day. Whau River mouth is much nicer when you can see it. #publicTransport #Auckland #TamakiMakaurau #bus #somethingBeautiful #aucklandscenes

Spaghetti with garlic butter, whole prawns, wilted rocket, chilli.

Steamed mussels with butter, garlic, white wine sauce, parsley garnish.

Steamed mussels with butter, garlic, white wine sauce, parsley garnish.
Spaghetti with garlic butter, whole prawns, wilted rocket, chilli. #cookingDiary #kai #food🍜 🍽️

Curry Chicken Noodla Laksa ($17)

Signature Hainanese Chicken on Rice ($16).

Dynasty BBQ Noodle House (New Lynn).
Signature Hainanese Chicken on Rice ($16).
Curry Chicken Noodla Laksa ($17)
They have a Malaysian chef & these are superb. Be warned though the laksa chicken is poached then added on top, not cooked in the laksa, but it's done well.

#AucklandEats #kai #food 🍜🍽️

Cucumber salad with crunchy peanut

Panfried soup bun with pork filling (2 portions).

Prawn & pork wonton soup.

Scallion oil noodles.

Little Yum Dumpling (Albany) lives up to its name.
Cucumber salad with crunchy peanut.
Scallion oil noodles.
Prawn & pork wonton soup.
Panfried soup bun with pork filling (2 portions).
#AucklandEats #kai #food 🍜🍽️

Spiderweb decorated by morning dew droplets.

Heavy fog in the neighborhood as seen from home deck.

Second day of weekend with heavy fog this morning. Water droplets (morning dew) on spider web on deck. #Auckland #TamakiMakaurau #somethingBeautiful #aucklandscenes

Look I’m an old leftist punk that brawled with nazi skins and I have literally nothing in common with these people but when I see a soccer mom with a Trans Kids Belong sign screaming FUCK ICE at the top of her lungs I whole heartedly welcome my unlikely new comrade

Victorians get free public transport for a month in bid to ease surge in fuel demand Allan government says measure is temporary as energy shock from Middle East conflict sees petrol prices soar

Hey look, a government actually taking proactive steps to reduce fuel demand. Meanwhile, over in NZ, we get "just keep on driving"...

Where Te Whau Pathway connects to the Northwestern Path, on the western bank of the Whau River, just before the Te Atatū turnoff on SH16 heading west. A colourful sign shows the full vision for the eventual connection through to New Lynn and beyond; the sign is the shape of a leaf of the Whau tree. In the background you can see the beginning of the boardwalk itself, marching out towards the mangroves - it has corten steel handrails and concrete pillars painted with local flora and fauna. A labour of love and a work of art.

A selfie of a pair of smiling nerds on bikes (she wears a helmet that says “nutcase”, he’s wearing a T-shirt from the podcast “The War On Cars”) scoping out this fab piece of infrastructure on a sunny Saturday - the path swooping wide and long behind them, alongside the mangroves of the Whau river. In the distance behind us just some of the many groups of people we encountered on our ride, out exploring and enjoying the new perspectives on our harbour city.

As well as viewing stations built into the boardwalk itself, there are a few access points down to the water. Here, towards the south end of the newest section, a happy family on bikes has parked up to get a little closer to the river and investigate the wildlife. (On the horizon you can see the skyline of downtown Auckland - spot the tiny Sky Tower!) And there were so many little kids out on wheels! One of the delights of safe walking and biking paths being they’re like a sanctuary and nursery for precious creatures - of which kids on bikes are one example - we should alway feel proud and fiercely protective when we seem them wobbling along like freshly hatched kākāpō chicks.

As we rode back up the path to head home, a group of people, some in wheelchairs, were setting out to explore. The width and gradient of the boardwalk seems to work well for accessibility - we saw several such groups of mixed ages, abilities and mobility assistance. Also some happy doggies! For context: you can access the top end of the path via the Northwestern Pathway, heading downhill from Te Atatū on the southern side of the motorway. The boardwalk is in two sections, with some concrete overland path in the middle that takes you past the Te Atatū Boating Club and a playground and some public toilets. So that’s another place you could enter if coming from afar - via Bridge Avenue. The path currently comes to a halt at Roberts Field, just past the bottom of Roberts Road - which still gives you a decent round trip of about 3km, a pleasant walk or ride or scoot. At the other end of things, towards New Lynn, some as yet disconnected sections of path exist, e.g. through Archibald Park and McLeod Park, and some on-road bike lanes along Portage Road that get you through to the shores of the Manukau Harbour. Will need some far-sighted funding to bridge the over-water gaps - and this brilliant new boardwalk truly helps make the case. Shout-out to the previous government for funding the boardwalk, a visionary move! And kudos to the current govt for confirming funding for 400m of path linking Ken Maunder Park and Rizal Reserve via a new bridge… Bit by bit, we’re getting there.

How good is Te Whau Pathway? SO GOOD!😍

The newly opened boardwalk is gorgeous…and it’ll be even better when it goes all the way from the Waitematā to the Manukau: tewhaupathway.org.nz

Such a lovely way to introduce people to the awa, the bike network—and all the different ways you can get around.💚

ODT headline from 2020 (replicating headlines across all papers) Covid-19: 14,000 could die in NZ if control efforts fail

To me, it's always one of NZ's greatest ironies that having avoided the very worst, so many became bitter & angry for avoiding the fate of other countries

Leaders responsible for saving so many lives & leading world's best pandemic response, driven out by misinformation & trolls

Ever since Covid, I operate a deep pantry, buy a few extras with every shop, and stock up when my staples are on special.
If you are able, I recommend you do the same.

I hate that politicians are allowed to lie.

I hate that political candidates are allowed to lie.

I hate that, after they've lied, there are no consequences for them or their career.

If you are still in doubt as to what we avoided in NZ re COVID (b/c the Labour Government cared about your life, listened to experts & did the politically difficult things required in the face of open undermining from NACT for POLITICAL GAIN) then listen to this UK account of their 2nd wave…
#nzpol

Three stage plan:

Short term: Reduce our reliance on oil-based products.
Medium term: Secure enough supply to transition.
Long term: migrate to other products where possible.

That means more solar/wind/thermal/whatever and less oil/LNG/nitrogen/helium/whatever where we can.

I think we need to celebrate the death of Sora a bit more. This is a technology that, just MONTHS AGO, we were being told was going to literally destroy Hollywood and Disney was going to give them a BILLION DOLLARS and NONE OF THAT EVEN REMOTELY HAPPENED

#Wordle #dailyWordleClub #Wordle1744 Wordle 1,744 3/6*
🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩Easy three.

*cough* Three Waters *cough*

8. Too many engage in what I call “The Populist Playbook,” where lies and disinformation are deliberately spread and then used as an excuse to delay or derail badly-needed urban change in cynical ways. Chances are you’ve seen this where you live. It’s dishonest manipulation. bsky.app/profile/bren...

Nothing like an actual crisis to prove you can't run the government like a business. So Christopher Luxon is the master of delegator huh? None of that matters because in a crisis the public and lets face it the media, want the prime minister to step up and lead us through it. Steady the ship #NZPol

The Lord of the Rings: Toughest quiz ever Think you know Tolkien’s 1,000-page epic? Pit your wits against this quiz, commissioned from me by BBC Arts Digital in 2020 but now with extra questions!

Reasonably happy with my 23/30.
steady.page/en/1349b33e-...

Enjoy! (I did!)

Anderson Cooper:There was that rumour that you had a male appendage, Lady Gaga: Maybe I do. Would it be so terrible? My fans don't care and neither do l.

the best way to describe my feelings about people occasionally assuming I'm a trans woman is this Lady Gaga interview where she told Anderson Cooper she doesn't give a fuck because it doesn't matter

Meanwhile in NZ the incredibly successful response is being very deliberately forgotten while the current government tries to attack the previous one for what the inquiry found to be issues once all the people hadn't fucking died because of the incredibly successful response

#Wordle #dailyWordleClub #Wordle1743 Wordle 1,743 4/6*
⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛
⬛🟨⬛⬛🟨
🟩⬛⬛🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩Took me ages.

We have moved, in my adult life, from "you can't trust Wikipedia because they don't even have any gatekeepers" to "we gotta rely on Wikipedia to hold the line because universities have been coopted"

#NZpol Oil crisis v. COVID-19 pandemic

It seems to me a fundamental difference to the COVID-19 pandemic is that was responding to a large number of unknowns.

We were dealing with trying to learn on-the-fly the nature of the beast, and devise means to mitigate it.

1/3

View of Wynyard Crossing a.k.a. Te Wero Bridge after dinner. Bridge span is lit up in blue but the rain was coming sideways.

The Agedashi tofu & Beef tataki were superb. The chicken kaarage was crispy on the outside & tender inside, but I thought it needed more seasoning. The service was friendly but not terribly polished. I'd happily eat the tofu & beef again.
(Weather was horrendous...)
#AucklandEats #kai #food 🍜🍽️ 2/2

Interior of restaurant dining room.

Agedashi tofu: tofu, bonito flakes, spring onion, nori, chilli

Beef tataki: beef, ponzu, garlic, onion, spring onion, sesame oil, microgreen

Karaage chicken: chicken, lemon, white radish, mayonnaise

AOI (Modern Japanese. Wynyard Quarter).
Agedashi tofu: tofu, bonito flakes, spring onion, nori, chilli
Beef tataki: beef, ponzu, garlic, onion, spring onion, sesame oil, microgreen
Karaage chicken: chicken, lemon, white radish, mayonnaise
#AucklandEats #kai #food 🍜🍽️ 1/2

A conversation got me thinking about how much I appreciate the mahi of @juliefairey.bsky.social in posting the minutiae of Auckland council proceedings.

Remember, doing such requires quite a bit of energy & effort on top of the things that are actually part of her job, but she does so regardless.